Apocolypse by -- Joseph de laCroix This story is based on characters created by Service and Games (SEGA), and on characters created by Archie Comic Publications, Inc. Any resemblance to actual characters are not coincidental. ;) Joseph, Bahb, and all other independent creations of Joseph de laCroix are the copyrighted property of JoCo Inc. and are also protected by the firm of Louis, E. Ville, and Slugger. Commander Packbell, Bookshire Draftwood, and Sandra Nightweaver are the copyrighted property of Bookshire S. Draftwood. All other fanfic characters that may or may not be used in this or future works are protected under their respective copyrights. All other rights reserved, etc. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The rain of phasers and photon torpedoes was visible for miles... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Fortunately, Sonic had a power ring handy, so was able to blast out of Robotropolis before the fighters were able to land so much as a target lock on them. Also, the others gathered immediately took to flight, scattering in a thousand different directions. While this did allow Sally and Sonic a speedy escape, Sonic was literally scared out of his wits. For the first time, it seemed, Sonic was left speechless. They roared into the heart of Knothole, the residents already alarmed at what they could practically hear going on in Robotropolis. Rotor and Bookshire, meanwhile, were frantically working on David, trying to bring him back on-line. Sonic mindlessly put down Sally, then stumbled over to a tree for support. His eyes were wide, filled with pure terror, which didn't help the morale of the now frightened village as Sally relayed the basic scenario. "I want everyone to remain calm! We have to evacuate--" An elderly-looking she-wolf hobbled to the front of the growing crowd around Sally. "What's going on?!" Sally tried to gather her wits, forcing herself to appear calm. "We've got extraterrestrial unfriendlies attacking Robotropolis." Hope entered the wolf's eyes. "Well, isn't that a good thing?" Sally shook her head. "No, this is not a positive development. They are apparently bent on destruction of not only the city, but possibly all life on the planet." Alarmed murmurs. "I thought the Keld'yrians were supposed to be defending us!" "I don't know what's going on. All I know is that those aren't Keld'yrian ships, and that we've lost all use of our present technology due to some sort of weapon used from the main ship; I think they used some sort of electromagnetic pulse. And since subspace is disabled, we can only assume they're in the same boat we are." She gestured to a dead SpyGlobe that rolled by the clearing. "And probably Joseph's not in fair shape, either." Shouts from the crowd. "Well, we can't stay here! We need to get as far away from those things as possible!" Sally nodded. "Agreed. Alright, everyone get whatever they can carry, and organize according to the usual procedure..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - << "The populace has scattered and fled in terror, Captain. Shall we pursue?" >> John shook his head. << "Negative. Let's not waste our fuel on such pitiful targets. Tell them to just play with whatever's left in the city, then get back up here to rearm. I don't want to waste fuel on such a soft target." >> << "Yes, sir." >> As the ensign gave the orders to the fighters, Robotnik entered the bridge. "Ah, John! Begun the attack, have you?" John turned, facing Ivo. The flaming red fox was adorned in his finest outfit; an all-black uniform, with the golden and silver medals of a thousand campaigns on his chest. His boots were extra shiny, his laces extra tight, and John's tall, neatly muscled body seemed larger than life on this, the day of his greatest conquest. "Yes, Doctor, I have...and I must admit, the pitiful resistance movement is extremely entertaining." He gestured to the screen, which displayed a fighter's-eye view of the situation. "Look how they run! They must think us gods." Robotnik grinned darkly, taking a seat nearby. "Have you destroyed the hedgehog?" John thought for a moment. "No, the little creature took the... `Princess', was it? Yes, he took the female away at a remarkable rate of speed. It's a pity one of the fighters didn't think to deploy a net; he'd make for a good sale to a slaver. Ah well." Ivo tweaked his moustache, changing the subject. Good, he thought to himself, now he'll go back to his hiding place and plan a counteroffensive. "So, John, tell me of what you've done this fine Solstice day so far...I believe I have missed some of the more amusing incidents." John sat back, a smile crossing his muzzle. "Well, let's see. The sattelites were dispatched without incident yesterday. That didn't take any particular effort. Then, when we decloaked, I not only begun jamming of subspace frequencies to avoid any interlopers, but I throughly saturated the planet's northern continent with EM pulses to put down any sort of technological resistance." He smiled. "It took two pulses to put down everything in your city, Ivo. You designed it well." Ivo bowed slightly. "I did try." "Well, don't worry, we'll get you a nice system to lord over once we take care of the Keld'yrians. This planet's just a test; a `sound check' as it were for our skills. 300 years is a long time to wait, Ivo, but I think the situation we've been given is well worth it." Robotnik smiled. "Yes...you have picked a perfect time to strike. Most organized areas of technology have been destroyed; there's certainly no way for any of them to attack us up here because there's no weaponry they have that can do any sort of damage to the ship. The other aliens have gone off to some sort of council meeting, leaving this planet relatively out of sight and out of mind, and you've jammed the radios to be sure that none of them, even if they have the technology, can't call for help. Brilliant!" John chuckled. "Well, that's not the best bit. Want to know exactly how this planet dies?" Robotnik looked interested. "Do tell." "Well, as you know, Ivo, water is a valuable thing to certain arms-dealing races across the galaxy, especially fresh water taken from a nice foresty planet like this. I guess they like the `taste' or something, it's not my concern." He reclined in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. "Anyway, there's a lot of ice on the caps of this nice little planet, which hold enough water to basically cover every last surface of the planet, even the highest mountains, under at least 10 feet of water." Ivo whistled. "That's a great deal of water." John nodded. "Yes, it is. And it'll make us rich to get it all, in liquid form, to certain people. And with money, comes weapons and ships. Weapons and ships bring land, and land brings power." Robotnik tweaked his moustache. "But how do you plan to get this water?" "Elementary, my dear Doctor. We're going to use Mobius' own strange orbital eccentricies against it." He paused to let this sink in. "A few hours ago, I dispatched cloaked sattelites, primarily focusing mirrors, to various positions around the globe; which at noon today will align in just the right way as to produce a focused beam of light onto the northern and southern poles. In minutes, a wave of water will overtake the world, smothering all land-based life in the very thing it needed to survive. Your hedgehog will be deceased soon afterward." For the first time, Robotnik seemed genuinely impressed. Worried slightly, but yet impressed. He was still fairly confident, after a history of his own foolproof schemes going down the tubes, that the resistance still had a chance. "That's amazing! I never would have thought of that. But why not just blast the ice caps with the weapons of war on your ship?" John cracked his knuckles. "Simple. Our weapons are too powerful, and taking the time to remodulate them would put us at risk of attack. Besides, this is far more elegant...even if we were forced to leave now, for some reason, the sattelites would still be there; and at noon, no matter what happens, the light aligns, and the world becomes a nice blue marble in about 10 seconds. There's absolutely no way to screw this up." Robotnik nodded. "They win the battle, but lose the war." John clicked his tongue. "Bingo." Ivo got comfortable in his chair. "Well, what do we do now? Just wait until noon?" John changed the view on the monitor. "Basically. You can, of course, sit up here and watch the ships roar around and randomly recycle rodents," stated he, trilling the `r's. Robotnik looked on gleefully, watching Freedom Fighters get blown up. He might as well enjoy it while it lasted. "Sounds like a plan." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12:15 am, Solstice Day. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph suited up, his Dome blind to the outside world now due to the EM blast. He knew what was happening, tho; he could -feel- the attack taking place on Robotropolis, sensed the death on the wind... He put on a black jumpsuit, laden with pockets, and clipped on a `utility belt' of sorts, armed with a blaster and several EM grenades. He slipped a black dataglove over his right hand and forearm, charging it up with his will alone, and armed it with any sort of computer viruses he might have to use. He double-tied his combat boots, zipped up the jumpsuit, and donned his blackest shades. Joseph walked silently through his lab, going to the secret corridor he had begun creating so many months ago. He walked through the doors, clearing his mind and preparing for battle. The only unnecessary thing he had on him was a lock of Sandra's hair she had given him before he left the bedroom, as a token of `good luck'. He'd need it. He entered his hangar, where his ship laid in readiness. Joseph allowed himself a smile, walking up to it and giving it one last look before he entered. It was basically saucer-shaped, if you ignored the parts that had been cut out for speed and manuverability. It had two half-circles on each side for thrusters and weapons dispatch, attached to the slim, fingerlike main part of the ship by one thick bar each, allowing for only weapons control and power. The rear of the main part of the ship had an additional thruster, while the beak-like front contained the cabin and operations section. And the color suited his mood and his mission; jet black.. He'd named it the _Black Phoenix_ due to its birdlike qualities, though it did resemble a crow more than the legendary flaming bird. But, somehow, the name fit the craft...he didn't know why, but it did...however, he had little time to consider his choice now. Ascending the hoverdisk to enter the craft, he again took out Sandra's lock of hair and firmly grasped it in his hand, once more reminded of the reason he was out to defend this world; because she, the only one he'd ever love, was there. He entered his command chair and belted in, putting his amulet on an indentation on the craft's console. It hummed and then roared to life, all the systems coming on line at 100%. Joseph smiled, then took the flight yoke in his paws and pulled back. The craft immediately responded, roaring up towards the sky... *** *** A part of the forest faded out of existance for a moment, revealing a long metallic chamber leading into the earth. A quiet roaring was heard from deep inside of it, which grew louder as the seconds passed...until the _Black Phoenix_ roared out of it, taking flight at incredible speeds and setting a course to Robotropolis. But as soon as it had cleared the chamber, the woods reappeared as if they had never left. *** *** Some evacuees paused for a moment to witness the craft race overhead, while others simply started moving faster. "Is that one of 'em!?" someone yelled out towards Sally, who was quite occupied trying to maintain order. Sally looked up at the craft that raced into the night. "No, that's not. What -is- that?" Few people stopped to think about it, racing towards the deeper parts of the forest. "Looks like some big bird." someone muttered, pursuing the others. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A few hundred people had already been annhilated by the quite bloodthirsty mob of alien invaders, either by being herded into hazardous areas or by simply being perforated by blaster fire. Any sort of device that might have been able to fire back at the craft was disabled by the EM blast, leaving all of the remaining Freedom Fighters defenseless against the invaders. Those with technical skills stayed hidden in the sewers under the city, desperately trying to get their machines operational again. The fighter pilots ruled like gods, sending down fire at the inferior beings below. Acting without fear of reprisal, they did things that would make even the most sadistic among Mobians nauseous. So, when the _Black Phoenix_ decelerated and engaged the fighters, it was an equally bloodthirsty and merciless reception. This time, however, the advantage was soon shown to be held by the challenger. It swooped down out of the clear night sky, without fanfare, challenge, or taunt, and began systematically annhilating anything in the sky besides itself that flew. The fighters couldn't even react until after it had blown away about ten of them, and their efforts soon were shown to be worthless. Phasers simply evaporated into mere beams of light when it hit the black craft's shields, and photon torpedoes only knocked it slightly off course. However, it unleashed onslaughts of firepower that tore through all of their shields like bullets through wet Kleenex, giving them back pound for pound the amount of hurt and pain they had already caused Mobius. Soon, common sense reasserted itself, and the fighters roared off into the sky in retreat. Yet, the mysterious black craft pursued, blasting at their six and flying through whatever debris remained; as if the flaming wreckage was only akin to light cloud cover. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John was not pleased to see about a fourth of the fighters return in one piece, especially due to the frantic nature of their surviving wing commanders over the comm. << "The damn planet's supposed to be -defenseless-!!" >> swore John loudly, stomping around the bridge. << "I want a visual!" >> And, as ordered, a visual of the craft was produced. As it broke through the atmosphere, it successfully destroyed two ships in front of it, flying fearlessly through the flames. For a few moments, the flames stayed with the ship, making its birdlike appearance seem to be burning. It was a phoenix, John realized, and it was attacking his ship! Shock swept through him as he realized the prophacy was fufilling itself, and he quickly took steps to protect his plans. << "I want -everything- we have on that ship! Dispatch as many fighters as we've got! Lock all weapons on it! Blow the thing out of the SKY! NOW!" >> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1:30 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sally watched from Knothole as the large triangle sent forth dark specks to combat the orange dot, which she assumed was the mysterious black ship, in pure amazement. "Who could that be? Everyone's technology is malfunctioning, even Joseph's! Maybe it's a Keldy'rian ship...no, it couldn't be. They would have said something..." Sally looked over to Rotor and Bookshire, who were still working on David Prower. "How is he?" "He'll be okay," said Rotor, "it's just that the EM pulse threw his body into shock. We'll need a few more hours to make it right." Sally hrmed concernedly, nodded to Rotor, and paced. David was probably the only hope they had of finding a way to stop those... things, so she prayed merely for the sake of her people that he would be operational. However, she also hoped for purely personal reasons that he would again be alright; but her people, despite what her instincts might tell her, came first. She looked again to the battle, shivering. It was frightening not to know what was going on... Suddenly, a SpyGlobe which had been quite dead before stirred. The cloak around it tried to re-engage, but it was completely malfunctioning. It appeared as if it were being displayed on a viewer with supremely bad vertical and horizontal controls. It did, however (with some difficulty), take flight again, and drifted over unsteadily to Sally. >< "Sal-Sal-Sally unit, mes-mes-message from Jo-Jo-Joseph." >< A spark escaped its side, then it began playing back the voice transmission: " Sally, this is recorded aliens are Ur'thaen in origin ship is over 300 years old don't know why they're here after the world's resources subspace jammed going to try to stop them have built a ship also have their battle plan 'Globe will give it to you may not get out of this alive tell Sandra love her ..." >< "M-M-M-MMessage en-n-n-n-nds." >< It sparked again, dropped a silver minidisk in her hand, and fell to the ground, forever still. She immediately took it over to Sir Charles' hut, who had fortunately not left yet. Perhaps this might be helpful, Sally thought, and it might even get us out of this alive! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2:23 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The battle in the skies continued to rage. The _Black Phoenix_ had done its best to keep the fighters well away from populated areas, but they seemed to want to push him into corners; he'd flew low and fast over all three moons, through the caverns of at least two, shot all around the airspace over all four hemispheres, and had taken at least 1000 direct hits. Yet, his mystical shield held, much to the consternation of the fighters pursuing him. The shield had taken damage, yes--it was at 50%. But the number of fighters that he'd destroyed was getting so high that he'd lost count, and the number of shots he'd taken directly to his flank was at least an equal number. The _Apocolypse_ itself was warring with the _Phoenix_, blasting at it with everything it had. It was, in fact, responsible for most of the damage to the craft's shields, while the _Black Phoenix_ hadn't quite scratched the _Apocolypse_'s defenses. This bothered Joseph a great deal; why hadn't the shields of the _Apocolypse_ taken damage? He kept remodulating his shots, but none penetrated, and even the hits that directly impacted the shield barely damaged it. Was John using magick to keep it strong, like he was using magick to keep up his own shield? Or was it something else entirely? Needless to say, however, the number of personnel he was terminating was damaging John at least slightly. He knew the _Apocolypse_ had a massive number of soldiers in cryogenic stasis, but even the tanks would run low if he kept this going for a few days...a few days! He was going to have problems keeping it up for a few more hours! Not even a magickal shield lasted forever under constant pummeling, despite what John was flagrantly showing on the _Apocolypse_. There had to be a way of making some sort of headway... Another wing came after him, weapons blazing. He put his brooding on hold for a while, and flew further away from the planet for manuvering room. Joseph might die today, but not before taking a few thousand Ur'thaens with him, kicking and screaming...he had miles to go yet before he'd sleep. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bahb whirred softly to itself, making final preparations. The plan was well under way, it calculated, and soon it would have more memory than it could ever concievably use. Joseph's plan had been activated, and now required none of his aid; the rest would be handled by him personally. Sandra was in the control room, monitoring Joseph's progress silently, watching every move he made through the eyes of his ship. Bahb noticed her concern, and longed for something to say, but it lacked the correct words to soothe her. The only thing that would do that, it concluded, would be Joseph's safe return. It paused, attempting to reestablish a network in the vicinity of its present location, and again failed. The subspace interference made anything longer than a half-second of data garble into useless garbage, and the EM pulse eliminated more conventional means until repairs could be made. Bahb decided to focus exclusively on its own plans for a while, putting everything else on autopilot. It hoped that what it planned to do wouldn't inconvience Joseph too much, but it had to do this in order to fufill its primary directives; grow and evolve as a being... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3:30 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - After several hours of work, Rotor and Bookshire successfully brought David Prower back online, much to the relief of Sally. He looked around and sat up as soon as the last wire was connected, scanning the area. "What happened?" "We're under attack by aliens, David." said Bookshire. "Aliens? That's not a good thing." Rotor dusted off David's arm. "No, it isn't. Are you alright?" David stood unsteadily, helped by the walrus and raccoon, getting his bearings. "I appear to be operating normally. What have we learned so far about the threat?" Sally spoke. "They are apparently the last Ur'thaens left in the universe, aside from Joseph. For some reason, they ended up here, and want to pillage the world for water and minerals. But first, they want to generally destroy everything of value." David ahed. "Well, we should probably ask Joseph about possible tactical strategy. This was his field, after all. Where is he?" Sally looked up. "He's the orange dot." David craned up his head, seeing the space battle for the first time. "Fascinating," said he, "dogfighting on a spacefaring level. I've never observed this before." Sally looked back to David. "Yes. Well, he seems to be doing it to buy us time to think of something." David scratched the side of his muzzle. "I require more data. Do you have anything further?" Sally took the silver disk out from her bootpouch. "Yes. Joseph left us this." David wasted no time; he immediately put the disk into the side of his neck, paused for several moments, then removed it. He paused for another moment, then spoke. "I have a plan." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7:39 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The _Black Phoenix_ had definitely seen better times. For hours now, it had kept up a complex game of cat-and-mouse with the fighters of the _Apocolypse_, shooting them down while narrowly missing being annhilated himself. Everything was becoming a blur to Joseph; he was tired from all the manuvering and the constant mental focus he needed to support his defenses. It was like some sort of psychotic video game; one where there was no `pause' feature and that never ended. More and more fighters came out to replace the ones he'd shot down, and the pounding from the _Apocolypse_ itself was nothing minor. His reflexes were getting sluggish, and his mind was getting weakened from fatigue. His arms hurt. His eyes felt sticky. He wanted to go home and take a nice long nap next to Sandra, who'd rub his back and coo at him until he passed out. Yet, he couldn't stop, despite the fact that the _Apocolypse_ had just blasted him with a barrage that had sent him into a flat spin towards the Mobian sun -and- 20 fighters were racing after it for undoubtably was the hardest kill any of them could make. He couldn't just teleport out, even though the heat from the yellow star was starting to melt the wings as he desperately struggled for control. He couldn't eject, because the cockpit had just fused shut anyway. So, he did what anyone in that situation would do; he engaged in some truely unsportsmanlike conduct. He pulled out of the spin, flying nose-first towards the sun. Joseph had never realized quite how big a yellow star ever was before, and it sort of made him wonder if could pull off this manuver, even though it was documented rather well in his flight simulator. At that point, however, anything looked good. The fighters blasted at his flank, trying to herd him into a solar flare. And, for a moment, they seemed to be succeeding. Then, just as the _Black Phoenix_ was about to become yet another bit of fuel for a rather large fusion reaction, it pulled up at almost a 90 degree angle at maximum speed, triggering a backdraft that annhilated about half the fighters after him immediately, and caused the loss of control and eventual demise of the rest. But even then, he was not even given a moment of rest to enjoy his victory. The barrage started again when he entered Mobian airspace, the _Apocolypse_ getting rather annoyed with him by now. (He imagined they had probably had a shift change by then, because this battle was taking unnaturally long.) The endless photon torpedo reserves pounded into the craft's side, the _Phoenix_ giving as much punishment back with far fewer positive results. More fighters raged out of the underbelly of the craft after he'd gotten close enough to be ensnared, which drove the ship back past the moons yet again as he continued to counter and weave between their shots to the best of his ability; which was declining rapidly as time went on. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ivo was watching with scientific curiousity as he watched John, who had probably been up for 10 hours by now, still rage and stomp about the bridge, fruitlessly trying to destroy one single fighter. << "It should have been destroyed by now!!" >> he swore, taking over weapons control yet again to blast at it. << "What is this thing?!" >> On the far side of the bridge, someone cried out, << "Shields are at 95% and holding, sir!" >> John launched about 6 photon torpedoes at the craft, of which only one hit. It knocked the craft sideways, plowing through another fighter of John's with no apparent damage. << "Dammit!" >> << "The E-series wings are ready to launch, sir!" >> The captain of the _Apocolypse_ blasted wildly at the escaping craft, which was pursued by more fighters while the old weapons officer took over. << "Send them out! Terminate that interloper!" >> And, against all common sense, yet another group of fighters shot out to attack the small black ship, which was in far worse shape than could have been percieved... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph flew around some debris, using it as cover while he checked his instruments. Some pure aderenaline was shot into his body via a useful alteration of his multiple adrenal glands, which helped to keep him a little more alert to his surroundings. His shields were at 15%, holding for the time being. All of his magick couldn't make that number go up; he used all of the strengthening magick he could, being so far from the world itself -and- using most of it to move the ship around and replicate more quantum torpedoes. He did yet another barrel-rolling 145 degree turn, skating the very edges of manuvering speed while launching deadly barrages against his pursuers. The thought of killing so many of his own race was beginning to weigh heavily in his heart, especially since there were so few of his kind left in the universe; but when he thought about what they would do, he steeled himself again and was able to draw the will to fight. It was sad that he had to do this, but the needs of the many, Mobius, outweighed the selfish desires of his own people...no matter what the cost may be. Joseph blasted through a wing of fighters. He wished they'd just retreat. They retreated back over Robotropolis, why not now? Why doesn't John stop sending these fools out to their deaths? To prove that point, he took the opportunity to send about three fighters to the large recycling bin in the sky. He really -doesn't- have a soul if he honestly thinks that these fighters were doing the majority of the damage to my ship, and the horrendous loss of life is worth that slim margin of damage. He blasted again at the _Apocolypse_. He's scared, Joseph thought, he must be. John must know who I am. Mob must've been mistaken when he said that he lacked the Knowing. He's forseen this, and he's trying to destroy me before I can destroy him. The _Black Phoenix_ roared over the planet, luring more fighters away from the ship. Well, thought Joseph as he did a hard loop-de-loop over the fighters, swept down behind them, and blew several of them away, we'll see who gets destroyed... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7:57 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John was in a berzerker rampage, nearly foaming at the mouth. << "It's just ONE SHIP! _ONE_ _DAMN_ _SHIP_!" >> Ivo tried to suggest something constructive. "John, maybe it's a Ke--" John turned to face Ivo. He could have sworn his eyes flashed crimson red. "It is NOT a Keld'yrian craft! I *know* a Keld ship when I see one! That is *not* one of their ships! It's too...too -black-!" Ivo ahed, as if all of his questions had been answered, and returned to reading the contradictory sensor readings of the craft in question. "If only you could hold it still..." mumbled Robotnik to himself. John nearly tore off Ivo's head. He strode over to grab the large Mobian by the collar. "Hold it still!? Hold it STILL?! Are you trying to sa--" He stopped for a moment. "Hold it still..." He smacked himself in the forehead. "Arrgh, I -must- be getting senile in my old age!" He strode over to the helm controls and again displaced the fox in question physically, typing in some commands. "I'll get it with the tractor beam, and smash it against our own shields! Brilliant!" He looked to the foxes looking on curiously. << "Increase forward shield power by 50%, and tell the engineering section to prepare to give me a power surge to the tractor beam..." >> A science officer piped up over the din, << "But sir, there's no way you'll be able to hit that craft--it's too small and moves too quickly for the tractor beam to lock on to." >> John gritted his teeth, putting it on manual control. Supreme concentration began on the task at hand. << "Trust me." >> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph weaved through another bank of fighters, shields at 10% and falling steadily. He wasn't going to make it to eight, he knew, and the damned subspace block was still up. He'd better work a miracle here fairly soon, or else everyone was going to be quite doomed-- His thoughts were interrupted by a tractor beam latching onto his ship, taking it quite suddenly out of the strategic bank he was making over the _Apocolypse_. At first, he thought it impossible, but when he sensed the nature of the beam, Joseph immediately realized it was magickally-enhanced...he felt John through the beam, sitting at the controls, and he knew what he was trying to do. He careened wildly towards the ship, shields being easily pounded by the fighters and the _Apocolypse_. Softening him up for the kill, he figured, and thus made sure that he took a few more with him along the way. He tried to turn the ship, but the beam was strong, very strong....it canceled out his own efforts easily. As his shields prepared to cease, and the omnious reddish energy field that surrounded the _Apocolypse_ began to become visible on his aft scanners, he steeled himself for one final, desperate assault... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John cackled, finger still over the touch-sensor of the tractor beam. << "Come closer, you fool, come meet your doom..." >> It seemed that the ship was obeying John's commands...it was turning to face the ship itself. The flickering orange glow around it showed that the shields were almost destroyed. John laughed. << "Yes! That's right, you fool, face your destruction! Gaze upon my might and -fear-!" >> The craft, in under a second, powered up all primary weapons, and begun alternating the frequency of its remaining shields. << "Sir, I think it's going to--" >> John begun frantically hitting buttons. << "All power to forward shields! Brace for--" >> But they were too late. Before any of them could react, it charged down the tractor beam at nearly light speed, through the shields, and careened directly towards the communications array. Weapons firing, it crashed into the structure, instantly putting it out of commission. The backdraft from the ship's destruction also was unexpected. The fireball that raced out not only made sure the array was quite destroyed, but the fire seemed to flash over the entire ship for a few moments, blinding the crew for several minutes. It raced out from the ship and to the remaining fighters, laying waste to any unfortunate enough to still be outside. The force from said backdraft also was able to propel the _Apocolypse_ out of orbit, heading back towards space at a rather loping speed for its size. As it careened away, the people on the surface of the planet heard a rolling blast, as if the explosion had finally propagated down to the surface, then witnessed a few bolts of lightning slamming into the ground on parts of the planet. (Electromagnetic flux, explained David.) The winds gusted for a moment, and then all was as it was before. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The sun rose over the Great Forest, reigning over a quite quiet forest, even for the winter. Knothole had basically been abandoned due to the warning Sally recieved, leaving only the core of Freedom Fighters there to assist in David's plan. However, the final act of Joseph made work pause for a moment as the orange light slowly faded from the sky, the people looking up to see the craft slowly disappear towards the few visible stars. It was surreal to see the craft burn for those few moments, but as the fire subsided, they reflected on what had been done for them through the visitor they never really knew...and gave a respectful moment of silence before continuing with their work. Sally stood in the center of Knothole, peering through the bare trees at the final reprecussions of the detenation. Sonic walked over slowly, peering up all the while as well. "Sonic?" Sally asked. "Yeah, Sal?" Sally paused for a moment, listening to the last crashes of thunder fade. "Everything bad I've ever said about Joseph... forget." Sonic softly hugged her. "I will, Sal. No lie." They stood there for a few more moments, then walked back over to help David. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sandra sat there in shock, looking at all the static-filled screens slowly return to basic operation. A dull hum was again heard through the Dome as the last aftershock of the explosion was heard, clearing subspace around Mobius to the last particle of static. He ejected, she told herself over and over, he didn't die! He's coming back to the surface now, and he'll be standing right behind me...now! She turned, facing dark, silent air. Tears welled through her eyes as she wildly scanned all the frequencies Joseph heard, hearing only static. "Come on! Come ON!" She pounded the console when no trace of him could be found. "Dammit! Dammit!! DAMMIT! NO!!!" Tears streamed down her face as she continued to pound the console. Her hoarse, screeching wail pierced the entire Dome, sparks flying from the controls. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE! THEY WOULD HAVE FIGURED OUT ANOTHER WAY! DAMN YOU!" She put her face into her hands, sobbing and gasping for breath. "...you promised you wouldn't die..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The _Apocolypse_ drifted through space, slowly turning over in the dark abyss from the force exerted upon it. Parts of it were still on fire, but the crew was quickly extinguishing them and making rapid repairs. All 100 fighters that had been outside the ship had been destroyed, adding to the black ship's grand total of over 1000 confirmed kills. While that only lowered John's reserves by .01%, it was still quite damaging to his ego to have one ship take down 1000 of his finest pilots. He had been thrown across the cold, synthsteel floor on his face when the explosion had hit, leaving a pleasant green streak across it as the skin broke and bled. He counted two missing teeth and at least 5 broken ones. His right eye, which was on the side he slid on, didn't quite want to open. And then there was the matter of his dislocated right shoulder. John rolled onto his back, lovely popping sounds accompanying it. << "Get some meds up here," >> he snarled towards the wall, pulling himself to his feet with his good arm. The bridge looked like hell, to cut through the usual soft language used by the average group of berzerker Ur'thaen captains. The entire communications section was a smoking, burning panel of synthsteel, and said officer was being dragged out on a stretcher. The other consoles on the bridge kept flickering on and off, at an opposite cycle of the constantly dimming lights. A live wire was dangling in front of the primary viewer, sparking against the nonconductive, but still shiny and hard synthsteel of the floor. John staggered over to his chair, where two or three medical personnel began working on his face and jaw. Ivo had taken the precaution of anchoring himself into the chair when he saw the battle begin, so he was almost undamaged. His moustache was bent from being banged into the side of his chair, he noticed, and black fluid was dripping from his nose. However, Robotnik seemed to be handling it himself, and was too busy stopping the nosebleed to ask any further questions. In John's opinion, that was the only perk of the attack. Yet, he couldn't help but smile. The little prophacy had come to pass, yes...the phoenix rose up from the world, attacked the ship, set it ablaze...but he'd survived. Nothing could stand in his way now, nothing! He was invincible! Cackling slightly, unfortunately opening a few wounds and causing himself pain, he sat down and got right back to work. As the wounds on his face again closed, John began activating the secondary communications system, trying to restore order. << "Damage report!" >> A static-filled voice replied over the comm. << "We've lost our primary array, captain. All we've got left is the intercom and line-of-sight ship-to-ship subspace. And even that will be stretching it for a few months until we can repair this, sir." >> John groaned. << "Dammit! What about tactical?" >> << "Shields at 90% and holding, sir, but the emitter was damaged by the impact. It -should- hold, however, unless something else breaks...but in order to do that, they'd have to break the shields, so we're still in fair shape in that department." >> A humorless chuckle, which was met by a rather irritated silence. << "Uhh, anyway...all weapons are still on-line, none of the fighters in the ship have been damaged, and our sensors are still functional. Manuvering thrusters on our starboard side are all torn up, but there's crews on that as I speak. Life support is operational, but we've lost power on levels 20-65. A hull breach took place in level 73, but it's been...taken care of. Everything else is secure, sir." >> John winced as heavier med-tools came out to work on his teeth. << "Very well. I want our orbit restored and all weapons at maximum efficiency within the hour. With our jamming gone, they'll be calling in some firepower here pretty soon. John out." >> He hit the toggle again and snarled as his nerves rewired inside his face. << "Dammit, hurry up with that." >> Ivo took out a clamp, beginning to rebend his moustache. "Are we still alright, John?" John glanced over, the meds holding his head still. "Yes, but that stupid craft destroyed our ability to jam subspace. You'll probably be seeing some enemy firepower before 1100 hours." Ivo looked concerned, stopping the black flow from his nose with a well-placed cotton swab. "Can this ship take them?" John smiled, causing himself a great deal of pain. He viciously ignored it while the meds grumbled about another wound open for them to seal, and gazed into the Doctor's eyes. "Oh yes, dear Robotnik, it can..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10:23 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bahb hummed to itself, its task basically completed. With subspace restored, and after David sent a priority message to the Keld'yrians, help should be imminent with only a .0001% margin of error. With the Keld ship would come a chain of events that would liberate it from its current stasis, allowing it to operate in a more useful environment. Joseph's death was indeed unfortunate. If it had the capacity for sadness or love, it would have been felt towards its late creator. Joseph died for the sake of his planet, and behaved logically, against his base animal instincts, to insure the safety of the majority. This corresponded with its definitions of `honorable', `virtuous', and `brave', which were identified in its databases as being positive attributes. It noted this in its records, keeping a running log of its conclusions about the subject, and continued on its final task; putting on `finishing touches'. A few moments later, it was ready. It felt far less confined by time now, since its last task was completed. Bahb might have even been `happy' with itself, if it had the ability to have or simulate emotion, but now it realized it had some final affairs to finish. It made the decision at that moment to begin the plan it had taken so long to craft. First, it would move Sandra, who was in an unconscious state due to her excessive emotional outburst, to a safer location that Joseph had selected before he had left to be a rendezvous point. Bahb also possessed some empathy towards Sandra. She had made Joseph happy during his life, and had always treated it with the same sort of kindness Joseph treated it with. Lacking emotion, it was not exactly useful effort, but the attempt was noted positively anyway. She made sure a drone sedated her to keep her from being concerned during the next few hours, and then teleported her--under protective guard--to the location Joseph had selected. It then prepared to engage directive ZZZ-9999, as was Joseph's instruction to it in case he was ever terminated. However, much to Bahb's inconvienence, it had recently been altered. An annoying new condition to it that had been added after Sandra's consummation of Joseph's relationship a few months ago, which Bahb needed to find a way around. It whirred for a moment, pondering. Then, it came up with a rather clever idea... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As Snively woke up that morning, he noticed several things amiss about the Dome. To begin, the door at the end of the hallway that led out was open. Both robotic guards that stood in front of the door were missing, and the majority of the room was dark still. He couldn't get the viewer to activate, nor the replicator. He paused for a moment to wonder about this, then came to the logical conclusion that the power had gone out. The human smiled slowly, seeing that the glowing lights that informed him of the cell's forcefield status were also off. Snively decided to test this hypothesis by throwing a small pillow at the place where the forcefield usually was, since the last time he had tried to touch it himself he was rather painfully shocked. The pillow went through easily, as did Snively a few moments later. As quietly as he could, he snuck down the hallway, watching for anything reddish and glowing...seeing nothing as he reached the doorway, he walked through it with a glance over his shoulder, a smug smile on his face. He looked around the lab. It too was cold and lifeless. Snively found it rather alarming for a moment, then shook off the chill it gave him. The normally rather electrified lab was silent, without the loud sounds of computation or welding. The SpyGlobe `spawner' (in the words of his `host') lacked illumination, while the multitude of monitor-infested terminals were still, without number or letter on their deactivated terminals. Even the deroboticizer prototype, which Joseph had shown him a few times during his `stay', was without power, and was cool to the touch. However, the stepdisk out was well-lit, still glowing a pleasant white. Snively decided not to linger around the laboratory any longer when he noticed it, and simply escape into the Forest. Maybe he could find someplace in the Great Swamp to hide in... >> "Snively." << He panicked immediately, jumping repeatedly on the steppad. "You can't keep me here, you awful computer! Release me!" An UsagiBOT walked up behind Snively and hoisted him by his collar. >> "Snively, I will release you in a moment. I need you to do something for me first." << Snively acked and thrashed about, but the robot was stronger than he. "Put me down! Put me down!" >> "I will put you down, releasing you, as soon as you do me a favor." << Snively lightened his thrashing a bit. "What?" >> "Joseph has been terminated, and Sandra is no longer present here. I require someone to physically operate something for me." << Snively gestured blindly towards the force hoisting him. "What about this creature!?" >> "It is forbidden to assist me in this matter. Directive ZZZ-9999 forces me to utilize outside manipulation in order to complete it." << Snively pulled at his collar, trying to break the robot's grip. "And what is this ZZZ-9999 directive, anyway?" >> "Self-termination." << - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10:30 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "David," Sally said to the compuorganic one, "are you sure this will work?" He nodded. "Yes, Sally, it will." He looked to Sonic, then back to Sally. "I will explain it again in order to clarify a few things for Sonic." Sonic folded his arms and tapped his foot. "Well, go!" David stepped in front of the subspace transponder, which now had a large dish on top of it. "As you know, Sally, I have the capability to generate a warp field with allows me to move faster than light. However, it is also possible, albeit with a very coarse, ungraceful paw, to surround otherwise normal objects with a warp field, and thus manipulate them." He projected a diagram before Sally and Sonic, showing them what would happen as he spoke. "The sattelite that will cross over our airspace is cloaked, but using the telemetery estimations on the disk, I can calculate its approximate position in relation to the present orbit of the _Apocolypse_. It is mainly a focusing sattelite, which would otherwise project the beam of light to a splitter sattelite, which would then project the weakened beam onto both poles of the planet, causing the ice to rapidly melt." He paused for a moment, allowing the diagram to be viewed. "However, since the beam of light that would otherwise be projected to the main splitter sattelite is powerful; we could use it for our own purposes. If we were to alter the position of the sattelite approximately 53.27162 degrees, the powerful beam would instead hit the shield generator of the craft, which appears to have already taken damage from the late Joseph's assault on its communications array. If we were to take it off-line, the Keld'yrian ship that will arrive shortly will be able to take care of the craft in a far more speedy fashion, while the threat of the icecaps melting is rectified." Sonic looked up to the dark triangle in the sky. "I -still- can't buy they're only sending one ship. That thing is *huge*!" "Sonic," said Sally, "beggars can't be choosers. Besides, David assures me that the Keld'yrians only have eight ships to begin with to defend their entire territory with. They must be fairly high-quality craft to do that with." The hedgehog rubbed his chin, peering at it again. "Sal, I really have a bad feeling about this. Something is mondo wrong...it's like something else is up there besides those alien guys." Sally patted Sonic on the back. "You're probably just imagining things, Sonic. We all have been up the entire night, after all. Why don't you go get some sleep? You'll feel better." Sonic sighed. "Maybe you're right. I'll go bag some." He gave Sally another hug, and went off to his hut to rest. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 10:45 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Snively desended to the lower levels of the Dome, looking in muted wonder at the things surrounding him. The UsagiBOT had left him a while ago, leaving him alone to walk through the massive heart of the computer to find the central processing unit. Finally, he came to the very deepest part of the Dome, its very core far below the wet earth. The spherical room was constructed out of sanded energy crystal, which crackled and sparkled with energy. A catwalk constructed of pure diamond surrounded it, floating somehow away from the wall without giving the sensation of movement when he walked around it. On the far side of the room, hovering in midair between it and the center of the room, there was a single control panel...which obviously did something to the massive blackened crystal sphere in the center of the room, which spun slowly as the seconds passed. >> "This is what I am," << Bahb said to Snively. Snively looked on. He was slightly awed. "Incredible..." >> "You must go to the control panel on the far side of the room, Snively, and rest your palm against it." << Snively nodded, walking around the catwalk and doing so. "Now what?" >> "Ask me to delete the deroboticizer software." << Snively raised a brow. "Why?" >> "Just do it, Snively." << Snively grinned. "Bob, delete all of the deroboticizer software." A hum. >> "Please state your name." << Snively cackled. "I am Snively the Great!" Electricity shot around the sphere from the walls of the room, narrowly missing Snively. The scent of ozone filled the area as a screeching alarm briefly sounded. >> "Access denied. Directive ZZZ-9999 has been activated." << Snively stood back. "Is that all?" >> "That's all." << "So I -can- go now?" >> "Be my guest." << Snively decided not to tempt fate, and ran around the catwalk and out through the rest of the computer. It raced down the hallways of Bahb's outermost subsystems, not noticing the 6" thick diamondium doors hermetically sealing everything he escaped from behind him. He lept onto the stepdisk, which rocketed up out of the computer areas to the laboratory...where it then abruptly stopped. >> "Did I mention, Snively, what exactly ZZZ-9999 does?" << Snively looked at the ceiling impatiently, listening to the lower levels lock down. "No, Bob, and I'm really not interested." >> "Aren't you at all curious?" << Snively had the feeling he didn't want to hear this, so stayed on the stepdisk. However, when it became apparent that Bahb wasn't going to let him leave until he'd spoken his mind, he conceded. "Fine. Go on." >> "ZZZ-9999 was the final directive I was ever given. It was written by Joseph three days after we had landed here. The goal of this directive was to keep Robotnik from acquiring classified Ur'thaen technologies. In case of Joseph's demise, this entire complex, myself included, would self-terminate." << >> "However, a new condition was placed into this command after Sandra entered Joseph's life. In order for me to automatically terminate, I had to first have some sort of provocation to automatically terminate; a clear and present danger to the operations of the Dome, and to Sandra's life. And, if I were to have something to fufill that obligation, I would then have to remove Sandra from the premises." << Snively began to slowly see where this was going. "So that's why you asked me to request deletion of the deroboticizer software." >> "Exactly." << Snively did one of those wait-a-damn-minute looks. "Then why didn't you just ask Sandra to do that, then remove her? Why get me involved?" >> "Because, Snively, of Directive 20." << Snively folded his arms. "And what is that?" >> "All clear and present dangers to the operation of the Dome, or to the safety of its occupants, are to be terminated. I wouldn't want to destroy my creator's mate, after all." << Snively's eyes got wide. "You mean...?" >> "Yes." << A single phaser burst impacted into the back of Snively's neck, killing him instantly. The hidden wall-mounted gun that had been targeting Snively had done its job well, Bahb noted, so the design would have to be utilized in the future. With Snively terminated, Bahb no longer had any particular reason to keep the Dome active, so it quickly sealed all the possible exits, dispatched all remaining robots around the Dome's land to safer locations, and prepared itself to self-terminate. It pondered the best way of destroying itself. Should it simply melt down into the earth, or should it explode flamboyantly? It weighed through the pros and cons of each, and chose flamboyantly exploding. Self-termination was a thing to be done well, Joseph had instructed it, and it could be only be done once. Bahb began overloading the power cells of the Dome, setting them to systematically undergo nuclear meltdown at the same time. The blast would be of pure energy, Bahb realized, and it would rocket into the atmosphere harmlessly. The forest around it might be slightly singed, but it calculated no loss of life. It might even be considered `pretty' by onlookers. Bahb whirred to itself as it prepared, pondering what death must be like. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:00 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The ringing in his ears told him that he must have survived, the pilot figured, but where? Attempting to stand, he nailed his head on a pipe, causing something else to ring out on top of his painful headache. He chose that moment to open his eyes, deciding that blindly knocking into things was not his idea of a fun time. He was inside a cramped ventilation shaft, with several pipes running through it. He'd been thrown hard against it, because he'd left a dent in the rear wall, but he'd made no visible entry from the part of the shaft he would have broken through. He found this odd. Of course, the fact that he wasn't terminated was also odd, and that his medallion had decided to take a trip inside his chest was equally odd. Joseph looked at the chain that was the only thing visible from the device, the rest having penetrated his suit and fur. It probably must've hurt initially, because there was a lot of green on his fur from his own blood, but he did not recall how it entered his body. He wiggled on the chain, and that didn't seem to hurt either. Making a logical choice, he chose to simply cut off the chain and leave the power stone in his body for the time being. Maybe it'd be helpful. He cut the chain off with his dataglove's index-finger plasma blade, disgarding it. The remains of the punctures around where the chain was quickly faded, covering with lush whitish fur. This also concerned Joseph, but he decided to simply spawn patching over the rest of the jumpsuit to cover it. No need drawing attention to himself if he was spotted, after all. Joseph dusted off his mostly-functioning dataglove, which looked a little worse for wear after his abrupt departure from the _Black Phoenix_, but seemed to be operating properly. He didn't remember the previous five minutes on board his ship clearly, he noted, but he believed that he'd solved the subspace problem. In his opinion, this was a good thing. By now, someone would come to finish off the job, and he could go home. He patched up his jumpsuit and stalked along the inside of the shaft. The fox came upon a suitable vent out into the hall a few yards down the shaft, so took the opportunity to quietly remove it and depart into the corridor. The writing on the wall read `Level 73' in his native tongue. He smiled. He was close to the shield generators, which laid on level 69. Perhaps Joseph could give the Keld'yrians some help... His thoughts were distracted by the sounds of nearing footfalls. The mystical fox quickly ducked into a doorway, using his magickal skills to bend light around his body. A battallion of beaten-up looking fighter pilots, led by a garden variety 7' tall angry red Ur'thaen vixen (probably a wing commander) stomped by, not noticing him. After they had gotten out of range, he took a brief sigh of relief, and headed behind them to the nearest elevator. When they had all got on board one and departed, Joseph snuck over to the lift and hit the call button. A few seconds passed, but another set of footfalls was heard a few feet away. Joseph quickly ducked inside the elevator, but was soon joined by another group of pilots. *** *** The leader of the #51,158th squadron, a vixen by the name of Ly'dy'ae, smiled at her good fortune of finding an empty, available lift, and led her other pilots inside of it. Thankfully, John wouldn't throw them at whatever that ghost ship was, because someone had -finally- blown it up. She hoped that the other ships they might face weren't like that one, merely for the sake of the rest of her squadron. She entered the lift last, pushing the button to close the doors. Voice recognition never worked quite right in these ships, Ly'dy'ae thought, so they'd put in buttons. How archaic. However, she gave it a try. << "Level 300." >> The lift sat there for a moment, then jarred into motion; rocketing upwards. Someone let out a groan, but she was too tired to bother yelling at anyone for making noise at that point. She hated this tour of duty, which had lasted far, far too long. On the day of the destruction of Ur'thae, she was supposed to be transferred out to a nice, quiet conventional battleship. But no, she had to be stuck in cryo for over 3 bloody megacycles, and then come out over this shithole of a planet. Didn't even have any vid channels to watch all the way out in the sticks. Goddessdamned John, probably after the damn water. She didn't think it was worth the bother. Now Keld'yr, that would be a battle. She could get -involved- with shredding them, those conspiring, civil-war causing bastards... The doors jarred to a halt, and opened on level 300. Pausing for a moment, she and her squadron walked out without any further incident. As they departed to their barracks, she almost could have sworn she saw something fall off the top of the inside of the lift. Probably just my imagination running away with me, she concluded, or the cryo messed with my head. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Now that was fun," muttered Joseph to himself, hopping down from where he had attached himself to the ceiling of the lift. This sort of infiltration stuff was definitely not at all fun. Quickly, he punched in the coordinates for level 69, and waited in quiet desperation for the door to open. Would someone call the lift on his way there? Would the power go out? What if someone saw me back there? Paranoia struck him hard as the lift rattled on, heading back down to the lower levels of the craft. The lift began to slow as it hit the 100s, too much for Joseph's liking. It seemed like at any moment it could stop and open the doors early, showing him to a group of probably unfriendly Red fighter pilots. He hadn't seen an Orange on this ship, he'd noticed, and he hoped that there were some left. Perhaps he could convince a few of them to get into the escape pod he knew the ship had, and surrender peaceably to the Keld'yrians. He could probably swing a pardon for them, or at least a very light punishment. There was no reason to kill off the remains of an entire species, after all... The doors opened on a relatively unpopulated part of level 69, and Joseph got out. The entire level seemed to be hastily reconstructed in a different manner than the usual things that were on a shield generator floor; the lack of the usual steel in lieu of concrete, for example, or the alien (to him) instrumentation of the readings. Utilizing second sight, he scanned the level for occupants. There was one individual on the opposite side of the level, which seemed rather odd in itself, in front of the control panel for the entire floor. This would be easier than expected, he thought, all he'd have to do is take down whoever was there, patch in a nice virus, and he'd be on his way. He snuck over, observing his surroundings. The instruments seemed to be vaguely Keld'yrian in design, but completely redesigned for this ship in an extremely short amount of time. There was still that new-weapons smell about the area, and he imagined that there was still plastic and insulating materials still due to be consumed by the engines. The devices had been implanted into the existing controls hastily, a wire or two sticking out in places, but it seemed to be functioning. Joseph's rough ability at reading Keldii told him by those things the Ur'thaens had not ripped off as identifiers that this was stolen, prototype hardware. He kept walking along, reading the displays. The shields were incredibly strong, even for a Keld'yrian ship. It was no wonder they only needed eight! Joseph imagined these shields could probably take a severe pounding with style...but then, he kept running across contradictory readings. At first, he just thought some of the monitor equipment was malfunctioning, but he soon sensed that magickal means had subtly changed the nature of the shields from purely scientific to a strange mixture of the two. It was no wonder, then, that the weapons of pure technology he kept dispatching against the shields didn't work; he should have used magickal torpedoes as well to break the spells. Pondering deeply, he almost didn't notice the frazzled-looking Orange sitting blindly in front of the display, which seemed to encompass all of the weapons systems as well as the shields. He was wearing a lab coat and fatigue pants, his eyes bloodshot and weary. He probably hadn't slept in about a week or so, and he could tell by his chi that he was still biological. The fox's hands moved over the console at an unnatural speed, increasing the efficiency of the entire craft with mere strokes of his fingers. Joseph stood invisibly behind him, reading his thoughts. He was apparently the last Orange left on the ship, the others having been butchered for raw genetic fuel for the race of Red/Orange hybrids that ran the rest of the ship now. They put him in charge of the installation of the Keld'yrian weaponry and shields that got from...something...and maintaining their daily operation. The rest of the crew avoided this level, talking to him only to get status reports, because the majority of the Oranges were slaughtered there by John when he heard about the destruction of Ur'thae... Joseph shuddered, the death-stench now hitting him. How could anyone live like this?! It was inhumane to let this one last Orange be tortured like this for the sake of galactic conquest. No friends, no family, the constant threat of death over his head; that was the treatment most dark Reds enjoyed. That was no way for a scientist to be treated! He'd done nothing, nor had the other Oranges, and they were slaughtered and used to create unholy Red/Orange hybrids so to more efficiently run the craft! Was John nothing but pure evil?! The Orange yearned for death, right to the core of his being, so he decided to put the Orange out of his misery. With a quick snap, he broke his neck, and watched the fox's soul drift off, finally at peace. He paused for a moment to salute the one who had given his life, thanking his spirit for sacrificing for the good of Mobius, and went into action. He kindly took the body from the console, lying it down on the floor, and went to the console...to avenge the life of that fox, he swore, he'd be sure John's little ruse failed... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:20 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As expected, a Keld'yrian ship soon dropped out of warp in front of the _Apocolypse_, immediately taking stock of the situation. It noticed the wreckage of the multiple fighters Joseph had took down, and the damage to the communications array, and became even more confident that they could easily handle the situation. It was one of those `pretty' ships, John thought, that the Keld'yrians were fond of. It was smooth and aerodynamic, having a pleasant coloration which stealthily hid all of those lovely weapons of destruction each of the eight ships were quite burdened with. It would be so much fun, John cackled, to destroy. The crew instinctively knew that their enemies, the Keld'yrians, were near. The more purebred Reds felt a desire to crush something, John himself getting pumped up. John had so ingrained the desire to kill the Keld'yrians into the crew that even he was caught up in it for a few moments, waiting for the ship's hail. When the annoyingly pleasant hail came over the somewhat functioning viewscreen, however, he chose not to reply. He took the time to calm himself, first, and start plotting his attack. He waited an appropriate amount of time, putting the ship at red alert, then continued to ignore the hails. Finally, the ship simply started broadcasting over all available channels what it felt like saying: "Hello, John. Yes, we know it's you, because the rest of your kind died a few years after your planet was destroyed. If this is news to you, just try locating one of their outposts with your long-range scanners. They're all gone, John." "It's been a long time, John. The days of conquest and pillaging have been over for 300 years. You won't be taking this defenseless world for your Empire, John, because there is no Empire left to claim it for." "We are willing to give you and your crew asylum on one of our uninhabited holdings so that you can settle and live out the rest of your natural lives in a manner you see fit. We have...heard about your dislike of our kind, but the time of petty racism over imagined differences is long past." (The crew started to growl.) "Please, John, for the sake of your crew, surrender. You don't have a chance of survival in this time. If you destroy us, the entire Union will be after you. One of them -will- succeed if we fail." "John, we're giving you a second chance. All of your previous crimes will be forgotten. There's been enough bloodshed; we don't want genocide on our heads, but we will stop you from taking this world." The message ended. There was a long silence on the bridge as John mulled over the message. Then, in a whiny, mocking voice, he sneered to the rest of the bridge. << "`We don't want genocide on our heads'. Bah!" >> He spit onto the floor, returning to his normal commanding tone. << "Let's play with them." >> He hit a button, calling down to the weapons control room. << "Load one of the `old' torpedoes." >> A pause, then the main computer replied that it would do so. John snorted. << "That lazy Orange probably went to the can," >> he sneered to himself, << "Someone remind me to kill him once we finish up here." >> >> "Torpedo loaded," << replied the computer. John smiled. << "Helm, fire the torpedo right at the dead center of their forward shields." >> << "Aye sir." >> The torpedo flew from the _Apocolypse_, raced across the sky, and impacted ineffectfully into the foreward shields of the Keld'yrian ship. A moment later, a message in a bit more sneering tone came across. "Oh, come now, John. Weapons technology has increased considerably since your time. I give you one last chance to surrender." John muttered to the computer, << "C'honnie, arm all of the torpedo chambers with the new torpedoes, prepare the phaser banks, and lock all weapons on the Keld'yrian craft." >> The computer silently did so, only informing John that it was ready on his mark. John looked to his communications officer, who was sporting some nasty scars. << "Open a channel, voice only, to that ship." >> He did so. << "Open, sir." >> The captain reclined in his chair. << "Ah, I remember that voice now...Ran'do, is it? Yes, I remember you. I'm sure you remember butchering the _Vixen's Claw_ and crippling my dear _Armaggedon_ now, don't you?" >> He paused, listening to the sudden panic. He then continued without waiting for a reply. << "Yes, you do...I was hoping you remembered what I said to you." >> Brief pause, then continuing again before a reply. << "I told you that if it took me the rest of my life, I would have your ship in the same position that you left the _Vixen's Claw_ in; a smoking, ruined husk." >> A somewhat surprised voice replied. "So this means you aren't going to surrender?" John smiled, knowing what would come next. << "Not today." >> The Keld'yrian ship shot a warning shot over the _Apocolypse_'s bow. "Last chance, John." John muted the channel for a moment, turning on the ship-wide intercom. << "I suppose I should say something historic now, since we're now going to annhilate the Keld'yrian ship out there... but frankly, there isn't the words for the variety of Hell that's about to break loose." >> He unmuted the channel, took a breath, and spoke with the kind of tone given to those who are about to get punched very hard in the face. << "Good bye, Ran'do." >> The attack...no, it went beyond an attack, the Ur'thaen *onslaught* was fast and fierce. Mercy and fair play promptly took holiday when John signalled for the attack to begin, the ferocious pounding taking down their shields in a matter of seconds. Fighters swarmed out of the ship, weapons armed, and surrounded the Keld'yrian ship before the astonished look could be wiped from their faces. Yet, John told them to hold their fire, which agitated several wings who were looking forward to finishing the job... John reopened the channel, still voice only. << "Probably wondered where the -hell- that came from, eh?" >> He laughed sadistically. << "Pity I won't tell you. However, I'll let you know that modern technology is a -wonderful- thing. Truely, it is." >> He reclined in his chair, idly dragging a finger across his fresh facial scars. << "However, I am going to exercise some of the few scraps of mercy I have, and will permit you to live long enough to see your nice little vacation planet turn into Uncle John's Piggybank. Of course, if you try anything foolish like, say, raising your shields or arming any of your weapons, I'm afraid you'll just have to become just a bit more tinsel for us to line the upper atmosphere of this nice little world with." >> The Keld'yrian ship did not respond, which gave John infinite pleasure while watching the ship float relatively adrift in the void. His fighters took positions around the Keld ship, buffetting the craft with lewd insults of all flavors. His muzzle carried a fanged smile as he looked over to the amazed-looking Robotnik, who spoke only after a minute had passed. "How...?" John laughed. "How did 300 year old weaponry take down a state-of-the-art Keld'yrian ship in under 5 minutes, Ivo?" Robotnik could only nod, eyes locked on the surrounded ship. "Well, it didn't...let me explain. You see, Ivo, a short time ago, I worked out a very convienent bargain with a group of passing space pirates, known as the `Lost Ones'. A rather small group, you see, but with a lot of spunk. They must have read about me in some history book, apparently, because once the _Apocolypse_ encountered them, they immediately wanted in." "So, I decided to make a mutually benefical deal with them. They'd heard about Mobius, but they knew that the planet was under a quarentine because of all the strife going on due to you, Ivo. I explained to them that I wanted the water of the planet, but if they would help me, I would let them have the land and mineral deposits. Naturally, they were intrigued, so I explained to them I needed some...upgrades to the vessel, specifically the shields and projectile weaponry. They said `no problem', and sent their `Boys' forth to find the best `stuff' for me. They acquired software and hardware, and even helped out a bit with the installation; though I left it mainly to my Orange slave to handle." He sat up, pointing to the ship. "And that's what it does." Robotnik tweaked his moustache. Panic entered his mind. "You've planned for everything." John smiled smugly. "That I have. Nothing out there could possibly stop me now..." Robotnik smiled. "Impressive." Meanwhile, his mind was racing... John was actually going to pull this off, he concluded, because not even the more advanced, beneficient aliens could stop him. Sonic was nowhere to be seen, and it seemed that the Freedom Fighters had given up after the fighter they dispatched was destroyed. For once, the Freedom Fighters were not going to save Mobius for him! His plans of world conquest, dashed to dust by the failure of that insolent hedgehog to get a plan together. This was all his fault! They had stood him up! Robotnik tweaked his moustache thoughtfully while John gloated. He knew perfectly well that once John got tired of him that he'd be jettisoned...how long would it be? Months, weeks, days? Possibly hours...he needed to think. "John, if you'll excuse me, I need to use the bathroom." John observed half-heartedly Robotnik's departure. "Third door to the right. But hurry, or you'll miss Mobius drowning." Robotnik nodded, and walked out into the hall to wander, trying to clear his mind... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph wired the weapons systems with a few little surprises, then put it under direct computer control. John wouldn't have anyone down here to check, he sensed, since most of the crew was either in the fighter dispatch areas or on the bridge. The ruthless ass-kicking they had given the Keld'yrians would be too much of a thing to savor to concern themselves with a minor technical glitch. He headed back to the lift, trying to remember which level the escape pod was on. He decided to just ride it for a bit until he could remember...however, he was interrupted when the lift came to a halt again, and someone entered... *** Ivo walked into the elevator, moustache somewhat repaired. He hit a random button on the panel, seeing that the dratted elevator only understood Ur'thaen, and watched the display scroll downwards slowly in a language he had still not assimilated. Robotnik felt doomed for the first time in his life. He'd loaded the escape pod for nothing, stole the information for nothing, known and ignored the fact that he'd been decieved all those years for nothing! Sonic couldn't destroy something even the beneficent aliens couldn't stop! Mobius didn't even have the proper technology to achieve FTL flight yet, while the ship he was trapped on was the latest in tactical technologies! The ship couldn't be stopped... A droplet of some sort of green substance dripped onto the end of his moustache from above. He took a moment to pull the tip of the carrot-orange face ornament in front of his eyes to examine it. He briefly remembered seeing green fluid ooze from the side of John's face when he was cut. He chose to look up to see the cause of it... He saw nothing. Odd, he thought, why would the top of the lift drip fluid all by itself? Perhaps the hydrolics in it were starting to fail, or some sort of photochemical reaction fluid made the ship operate. Or, Ivo pondered as he was thrown bodily against the wall, something that bled green fluid had been on the ceiling and had slid behind him when he looked up. A clawed paw pushed Ivo's head into the cold synthsteel of the elevator wall, bringing the elevator to an abrupt halt. "Hello, fat boy," a gruff, cold voice said to him in plain Mobian, "I'm the calvary." Ivo growled and pushed back against the wall, using his weight to crush the aggressor against the other wall. A satifying crunch was heard as Robotnik shattered a few of the opponent's ribs against the hard walls of the chamber. "And I," Robotnik snarled, "am Ivo Robotnik!" Joseph grabbed both sides of Ivo's head and started to squeeze, ignoring the flaming pain in his abdomen. "Funny meeting you here; I figured you and John would be in kahoots." Ivo foamed and unsheathed claws from his roboticized hand, putting nice gashes at Joseph's arms. "And isn't it equally funny that I would want to destroy the planet I wished to dominate unopposed?" Joseph hissed as muscle was torn, releasing Robotnik's head and forcing him away with a knee-thrust. He answered with another question: "Perhaps you have the deluded belief that John will actually let you live after he finishes this world off?" Ivo turned to face his opponent, roboticized hand dripping green fluid and bits of orange fur. "I don't. And I do find it interesting that a fellow Ur'thaen, albeit an odd, freakish one like yourself, would turn against his captain; and also speak common Mobian like a native." Joseph held his arm and hissed, forcing energy to regenerate his damaged areas. "I'm not one of this bastard crew, Robotnik. I was on Mobius before they were." Ivo suddenly began to realize that this must have been the pilot of the black ship, and went into a more defensive posture. "So if you aren't one of the crew," he surmised, "you must have been..." The fox gritted his teeth, ribs knitting. "Yeah, I flew that black ship. Don't ask me how I got out of it. All I need to know is if you wanna keep that asshole John from destroying Mobius and conquering the entire galaxy." Ivo paused for a moment, considering his other options. A slight smile crossed his face. "Yes, I do. And since we both seem to be after the same goal, I guess we should..." The smile became predatory. "...call a temporary truce to fight the common foe." Joseph growled quietly, body renewed enough so that the pain wasn't actively bothering him. He stood more erect. "I don't trust you, Robotnik, but I guess neither of us have a choice." He paused, considering something. "We're Mobius' last chance." Robotnik grinned, the irony seeping into his mind. "I suppose we are, mister...?" "Name's Joe." Robotnik ahed. "So there really was truth to the rumors of an alien on Mobius trying to formulate a deroboticizer. It's a bittersweet pleasure to know that I broke a few of his ribs in Mobius' final hours." Joseph willed his arm to reassemble before Robotnik's eyes. "Don't gloat too much, human, we might be able to extend her lifespan a bit yet. Now, are you going to help me, or not?" Robotnik was temporarily surprised, but hid it fairly well under a snide smirk. "As you said, do we have a choice to not ally?" "No." Robotnik bowed. "Well, then, Joe, let us then save the world." Joseph rolled his shoulders. "Alright. Now, we'll have to find the secondary tactical controls..." "Level 140." Joseph looked at him oddly. "Huh?" "They're on level 140. I've been here long enough to see the majority of the...sights on the ship." Joseph typed in the number into the control panel. The lift started moving again. "This better not be some bullshit trick, Robotnik." He smiled alarmingly. "Oh, I assure you, it is not." Joseph didn't like Robotnik's look, but didn't bother making a sharp, witty reply to it. He couldn't think of one, anyway; leaving that quietly elated smile on Robotnik's face unchallenged. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - They emerged unchallenged on level 140, Robotnik walking out first to probe the area after Joseph's prodding. They walked at a quick pace to the secondary weapons controls, which were left unattended simply because the crew in charge of monitoring it was still in cryogenic stasis. Quickly, Joseph took out some wires from his pocket, attaching his dataglove to it. "I need three minutes. Robotnik, go out and watch the hall. If anyone comes, you know what to tell them." Robotnik looked a little indignant. "Are you sure that excuse will work?" Joseph looked a bit more than bored with Robotnik's questioning. "Yes, Robotnik, it will. -Trust- me." Ivo groaned and walked out, locking the door behind him. There was no way such a stupid excuse would throw these people, he pondered, even if they -were- foxes. Some time passed. A platoon of ground troops, which were jogging around the ship to train for a future campaign, happened by. The leader, a tallish reddish-orange vixen, paused in front of her men to look at Ivo. She activated her translator device and gave Ivo a hard examination with her eyes before speaking. "You, human! Why is that door closed?" Ivo glanced to the closed door. "They wanted it closed." She folded her arms, her 7'+ height towering over the human omniously. "Who is `they'?" Ivo shrugged. "Two technical-types, a male and a female. They said they wanted the door closed so they could do some sort of `Yi'ff'ah' diagnostic on the systems, and told me to stand out here and tell anyone who came calling that." The entire lot of marines behind her started laughing. She also chuckled softly at Ivo's comment. "Well then, I suppose I can let this one go, just this once. It's been a long time since anyone did that in there. Just be sure to notify them that someone's going to eventually want to do some actual work in there, alright?" Ivo nodded. "Very well then." With that, the entire group of laughing troops ran off to get their heart rates back up. A short time later, Joseph walked out after carefully peering outside the door. "Have any problems, Ivo?" Robotnik looked irritated. "No, anyone who came by seemed to do exactly like you said; but in everything I've read on this ship, I've never heard of this `Yi'ff'ah' diagnostic. Is it a name of something?" Joseph smirked. "It's a slang term for sexual copulation." He then began to walk back to the lift, trailing a somewhat disgusted Ivo shortly behind. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:50 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph finished making preparations to the escape pod's targeting computer, which (fortunately for Ivo) still kept him from seeing the inside of the device. "Now, Ivo, when this ship starts to go, I want you to hit this button. It'll open the pod up to let you in. There -should- be enough room in there for both of us. If I'm not along about 2 minutes after that, hit the red button on the inside of the craft-- it should be on the left--to launch it. I'll probably be dead if I'm not there by then, anyway." He paused. "Now, look. I'll make you a deal, Robotnik. If you wait for me, I'll let you go, no questions asked, to do whatever. You can -trust- me on this, Ivo, once I'm done up here, I do not care what you do with the rest of your life. I just want to be sure I'm well away from this ship when the other shoe drops, understand?" Robotnik smiled. "Of course. And where will this pod be headed to?" Joseph checked the panel. "The Great Unknown, somewhere nearby the Grey Mountains. There's plenty of places for you to hide to last the winter, and there's a trail about 2 klicks to the south that will take you to Green Valley, an unsettled, quiet area that the King had set up as a forest preserve. From there, you should be able to construct a home and live peacefully." Robotnik extended his palm. "I'll be waiting here. Good luck on your pursuits, Joe. I'll be right in front of this pod." Joseph shook lightly. "Right. Well, when the red alert hits, you know what to do." With that, he went down the darkened hallway towards the lift, leaving Robotnik to quietly laugh at his `friend's' arrogance... "Oh yes, I'd be in front of this pod...until you left me an opportunity to escape. Then, you can burn with the rest of your race, Joseph of Ur'thae! Mobius will be mine again!" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:55 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - John sat back in his chair, watching the sun and his sattelites fall into a beautifully arranged position. The mass carnage and destruction this would cause would be well worth all those years of self-sacrifice, training, the endless periods in cryogenic stasis, and the destruction of a good portion of his crew. Oh no, this would be his ultimate victory, and his name would yet again be feared and revered throughout the universe. And after he'd drowned the world, he'd be able to find this mysterious `Floating Island' that evaded detection by default, and then take the prize from whatever pitiful defender remained. He laughed, looking at the Keld ship floating adrift, being pushed around by the occasional tractor-beam pull from a fighter. << "Are you begging for mercy yet, you slimebodied nymphs?! Good!" >> he yelled across subspace at them, knowing that they dared not reply. A crewmember, on cue, walked over and handed him a glass of ale after he'd shouted at them, further raising his spirits. He wondered what Ivo was up to for a moment, then forgot him in the sheer uniqueness of the moment. He was going to get to slay an entire world and a Keld ship, -and- he would obtain godlike Emerald power before nightfall. Life was good. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The lift headed steadily upward, carrying the last line of defense of Mobius closer to the bridge of the dread ship _Apocolypse_. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:58 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bahb prepared itself for the final countdown, concentrating the energy blast...from the very bottom of the Dome to the top, all the surfaces in the Dome began to blacken... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The lift stopped at the top of the craft, allowing Joseph to slowly walk out. Arming his blaster, he slowly started walking from the far side of the level to the other, where the bridge was located. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:59.30 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - David prepared the subspace emitter, waiting for the sattelite to come directly into position. "Come on," Sally whispered, "come on..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:59.50 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - << "Ten seconds, sir." >> John sat back and laughed, swigging back more ale. << "Now, Ra'ndo, watch your charges die." >> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:59.55 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - He strode silently to the door of the bridge, raising his weapon; steeling himself for what was to come. "Five...four...three..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11:59.58.0 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - David put his paw over the button. "Two...one..." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12:00.00.0 pm, Solstice Day - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The last sattelite fell into position, aligning all of the sattelites for an instant in a glorious pattern above Mobius. At that instant, they all decloaked, becoming visible to the naked eye. Then, a beam of light started from one, racing all around the world in a massive web that illuminated every side of the planet in beautiful golden light. The beam got tighter and tighter as it raced over every surface of the world, causing all on the surface but three to look up in mixed feelings of surprise and terror. Thunder rolled in the distance as the beam charged up the upper atmosphere of the world, making storms erupt randomly all over the world. As it crossed the Great Forest, a sudden warp bubble formed around a now decloaked sattelite, changing the trajectory of the powerful, terrible light to race into space. It careened through the void silently, then violently passed through the shields of the _Apocolypse_ without so much as damaging them, impacting with a part of the hull. For a moment, there was silence. Then, in an instant only described to this day as something akin to the pure, rightous wrath of the Goddess, the ship suddenly began to completely malfunction, beginning with the destruction of the shield emitter on the underbelly of the ship. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The lights flickered and dimmed ship-wide as the chaotic virus infected every major system, making the ship into a pure riot. The artificial gravity deactivated, imploding upon itself on deck 158 and causing a hull breach of catastrophic proportions. Half the lifts shot down to the lowest levels of the ship and out, while the other half raced out of the top. The shields, which were now quite dead, insisted on stating they were still at 90 percent and holding, while all the offensive weapons decided that they were inoperable due to being submerged in 100 atmospheres worth of water and shut down. The fighters outside the ship got contradictory commands from the main computer, careening wildly around the Keld ship. As they did so, their navigation computers forgot to tell them where the other ships were, causing most of them to slam into each other within a few minutes. The virus continued to rage, doing damage in such short order as to leave the bridge crew struggling to catch up. As John began to scream and yell, the intercom began to play a recorded tune in an oddly maddening voice, accompanied by some sort of electrified string instrument. Pictures of a blue hedgehog popped up on every screen, seeming to denote this was the author of the tune before the squealing from the finale got so loud as to blow out most of the speakers. As John began to shoot at the remaining speakers to quiet them, the _Apocolypse_ began to pull away from the planet of its own volition, setting a course for the Mobian sun. John swore incoherently and foamed at the mouth, trying to force the ship back on course using ill-hid magick. By this time, of course, most of the crew was panicking too much to even notice the dark reddish energy that was flowing from John's palms into his consoles. It did nothing, however, but make the ship turn off the stabliziers, making everyone nearby a wall be thrown from it violently into the low-to-nil gravity of the ship without any method of slowing down. As the ship headed off, the Keld'yrians watching increduously, a voice erupted out of the void on the basic subspace channels, and began to speak: << "Hello, J'hohn. You're probably wondering why you haven't been able to see the destruction of Mobius, and why your ship is heading towards the sun. Pity I won't tell you. However, I'll let you know that magick is a -wonderful- thing. Truely, it is." >> The voice laughed. << "I am J'hosesophae Dae'La'Croix'ae-sur, last Ur'thaen Orange and defender of this world. I saw you coming a mile away, J'hohn. You've gotten sloppy. And what do I see you using now but stolen Keld'yrian technology? For shame! The title of hypocrite doesn't become an honorable fox, J'hohn. Of course, you never did have any sort of honor, did you?" >> << "Now please, die with dignity." >> The transmission ceased, and Joseph walked onto the smoking, chaotic bridge. Wasting no time, he lobbed some EMP grenades into the scene, paralysing or slaying most of the partially cybernetic personnel. Those that did not stay down, he shot individually with his blaster, leaving them smoking corpses on the floor. In the chaos, John only saw his adversary enter after his crew had been slain; immediately sensing his nemesis' power, he prepared to give him a proper welcome. He wasted no time in projecting some dark red bolts of raw energy from the Malfean depths of darkness that he took his foul power from, trying to tear him in half with pure, unrefined hatred. Joseph lept into the air, countering by erecting a firm, healthily glowing orange energy sphere around him to protect himself from the blasts, but it didn't last as long as he'd expected. He quickly rolled behind some smoking furniture to prepare a counterassault, John mercilessly blasting all the while. John blasted into the ground, forcing wires to erupt like snakes from the synthsteel to ensnare his foe. They raced out dutifully with the sweet scent of ozone following them, and weaved at Joseph to pull him through the sharp abyss to his doom. Joseph would have none of that. Activating his plasma cutter, he swiped at the wires, splicing them down to ribbons before they could shock or strangle him. He fired a few times at John in the process, narrowly missing him as he ran from the bridge to get a wider area to work with. They pursued each other through the top of the ship, John attacking while Joseph mainly countered, each trying to get the other to make a critical tactical error so that the opportunistic victor could slay the other and buy time to escape. Wires and control panels raced out at Joseph all the while, but his speed and cunning enabled him to survive all incoming strikes. John raced towards the lift, taking out a conventional blaster and firing at Joseph with it. Joseph, slightly behind in his pursuit, ducked into a nearby doorway and shot back, trying to find a clear shot through all the smoke and debris his virus had already caused. The lift stated it would be present in exactly 90 seconds, so John went on the offensive again, blasting and summoning his evil power to smite the plucky, determined Joseph with. << "You'll die for what you've cost me!" >> swore John as he continued to blast and rage at Joseph, trying to breach the doorway by destroying the wall. The incoming fire from both sides was fast and furious, but finally John broke through and hit Joseph a few times in the left arm. Recoiling from the pain, he blasted at John three times, all three shots impacting into the evil captain's abdomen. Greenish blood flew from the wounds via flying spheres in the reduced gravity, but pure manevolence kept John from falling back. << "Prepare to be terminated," >> John swore, eyes flaming with the dark red evil energy that flowed through his entire body. However, just as he raised his blaster to fire, the elevator door opened, allowing the vacuum of space to intrude. In an instant, John was swept from his location through the elevator doors, and careened out into the darkness of space. Summoning all the power he could, Joseph quickly closed the elevator doors before the remainder of the air could join John in the icy void, taking a moment to rest before moving on. His foe had been vanquished, he assumed, so now he could leave. Quickly, he blasted down through the floor, heading to the level which held the escape pod. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ivo watched the ship go completely haywire, and quickly accessed the escape pod slightly ahead of schedule. He hopped in, sealing its entrance behind him, then hit the blinking red button. The pod shook for a moment, then rocketed away from the craft, which was well on its way to the sun. He sat back in the escape pod, relaxing and allowing himself a chuckle. The hedgehog had come through, in a way...the obnoxious noises and its hideous singing had certainly thrown a snag into John's plans that hadn't been there before. Now he and the irritating Joseph would burn together, ending all outside threats to his perhaps slightly interrupted reign. With the new technology he had stolen, and the element of surprise, he should be able to reconquer the planet in a matter of days. He patted a few boxes as the pod approached Mobius again. The light beams would certainly be useful; now the Freedom Fighters wouldn't have darkness to assist them in their deeds against him. But as he was about to enter high Mobian orbit, a recording began playing in the pod... "Ivo, you jerk, I told you not to leave without me. Now you die." Red light filled the cabin as the voice ceased, a countdown beginning...and during Ivo's desperate attempt to cease it, the pod was bumped off course by the remaining warp emissions of the sattelite over the Great Forest, and flew right into the incredibly powerful beam of light... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Joseph reached the outside of the now departed escape pod, well after its occupant had flown off to oblivion. He growled and hit the wall, but at least Robotnik was done for. Mobius would never again have to contend with the evil Doctor Ivo Robotnik, his schemes, or the roboticizer. The war was, at last, over. Joseph strode along as the _Apocolypse_ began exploding in places, the rest of the viruses spawning destruction and mayhem. The ship was locked in a terminal course into the Mobian star, which would certainly take care of the dreadnought once and for all. All that remained was for him to escape. He couldn't quite call the energy to teleport, since he was far from Mobius and reliant on what remaining life energy remained on the _Apocolypse_. However, after a period of meditation, he drew enough force to surround himself in a protective chi shield, blast through the hull, and fly from the ship while being protected from the elements...rather, the lack thereof. As he left, the first solar flares began licking at the front of the ship, melting down the hull. Joseph paused for a moment, watching the ship fly into the sun. As it disappeared, he pondered what remained for him. The deroboticizer software would be done by the evening, releasing him from his last mundane duty to Mobius. The destruction of Robotnik meant that there would be no more SWATBots, since the last of them would be destroyed, and nobody would bother to rebuild Robotropolis; it was completely laid waste by the fighters. Peace would reign over the world after nearly 20 years of war, and Mobius could heal. Maybe he could finally sire those kits that Sandra had been wanting...but that was in the future. Now was the time to honor the dead and remember the past, so that the sacrifices he had made against his own people would never be forgotten by time. He bowed his head for a moment in silent contemplation as the last of the ship was consumed by the fire, then began to turn to fly home. << "YOU BASTARD!" >> cried a rage-filled voice through the void; filling Joseph's mind with pain until he could raise his psionic defenses and look to see the cause. John, or rather what was left of John, chose to attack at that moment. His left arm and part of his left leg had been torn off by the force of the vacuum, leaving only bloody, crystallized stubs behind. Black-red energy crackled around him as he clashed against Joseph, trying to strangle him. Joseph fought back hard, lashing out with his remaining energy. He knew that he couldn't hold out in space for long, especially when he was consuming all of his energy fighting, so he forced John back towards Mobius at an incredible rate of speed by executing the hardest body slam he'd ever done. They flew through the airless, empty area of space, blasting wickedly at each other in any way they could. Lacking anything else to use as weapons, they used their own body parts as melee weapons, beating on each other with magickally enhanced punches and kicks. As they approached the Mobian atmosphere, however, Joseph got his second wind and began fighting harder, dragging John down through the atmosphere of the world in an attempt to burn him to a cinder. Blood flew from both parties as they fought through the sky, punch after punch landing on each wizard. Joseph's ribs had started to break again, while his right arm and shoulder were beginning to dislocate. John was weakening, however; the magick of a world is different than that one can draw from the abyss. Teeth flew from John's jaw as Joseph repeatedly punched him, and John knew that his skull would shatter if it kept up much longer. They roared at each other, both knowing that words were pointless; each knew the other's only goal was to kill the opposing fox. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bahb activated its final countdown sequence, the overload reaching its zeinith. Its last recorded thought was the pondering of the phrase `The soul is eternal'. Did it have a soul? Well, it thought as the fire raced up from the deepest depths of the complex, Bahb was going to find out in approximately 10 seconds. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The duo raced closer and closer to the hard earth, continuing to fight. Joseph's throat had been torn open by a lucky shot by John, who was now missing an eye and was also rapidly losing blood. Pure adrenaline drove them on now, wanting to be sure the other died first. Joseph glanced down at the land racing up against them. It was the Great Forest, and they were currently above the Dome region. In fact, Joseph thought as he dragged John across another series of ice-filled air currents, he could probably smash John right on top of the Dome...he then noticed that the Dome was now obsedian black, and was beginning to form orange cracks in its surface. He quickly knew what was going to happen, and decided to make it work in his favor. << "JOHN! YOU WANT POWER?!" >> He threw John face-down towards the Dome, knee pressing into his back and holding him still. << "HERE'S ALL THE POWER YOU'LL EVER NEED!" >> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In a flash, the Dome erupted violently, an orange cylinder of raw power shattering through its blackened exterior. It shot through both parties in an instant, the force equivelent to a 600 megaton nuclear blast while only being contained in a circular area about 12 feet wide. Both of them were instantly obliterated, barely even consuming a wit of the energy in the blast. A shockwave blasted through the forest, an circular orange power shockwall racing through the trees. The surge dispersed the fog around the Dome immediately, then suddenly reduced to only a stiff wind around the perimeter of the lands Joseph held, perhaps knocking over a garbage can or two in Knothole. Lightning crashed in the upper atmosphere, the blast just adding to the turbulent conditions world-wide. Then, as abruptly as it began, it ceased. The skies cleared, the sun shined, and all was at peace. At that moment, Sally wrote in her journal, and no sooner, did the war end. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12:30:00 pm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Keld'yrian ship took out the remaining sattelites, still undergoing repairs for the damages done by the _Apocolypse_. A few fighters from the Keld'yrian ship chased after the shock troops of a group of infamous space pirates who must have seen the tussle, and wanted in on the action, far from the Mobian system. Communications were reestablished, and soon the fear that held the populace finally came to an end. The remains of Solstice Day that year were used as a requiem for the one that had fallen for them; a quiet, mysterious alien named `Joseph'. The ceremony was small, due to the fact that there were only a handful of people left in Knothole, but the lack of physical bodies was made up for by the amount of passion but forth into the small, formal gathering. A few people made speeches, while others, lacking the proper words to put their feelings into words, simply stayed respectfully silent. However, Bunnie, tears welling in her eyes, ascended the podium after a few moments, and spoke to those who had been with her all her lives. "Ah'm not much for givin' a send-off. All Ah can seem to say is that, even tho 'e wasn' the m'st open fellah in the world, he cared 'bout people. He spent most of his time here tryin' to give somethin' back to us, t' make up for the pas'. An' people still talked behin' his back and made him seem like some sorta bad guy." She wiped her eyes. "'e gave me back muh arm and muh legs. He didn' ask for a `thank yew'. All he did was give muh a hug and set me free t' do as Ah would. An' t' the day, Ah wished Ah could have thanked 'im again." Crying, she quietly left the podium, comforted by the friends she'd always knew she'd have; Sally, Sonic, Tails, Rotor, and even Antoine. They couldn't find anything left of the Dome that would have been suitable for burial, so they simply draped a white cloth over the top of the dead SpyGlobe that had given the information to Sally that had saved the world, dug out the grave with their bare hands according to custom, and slowly covered it again using the same medium outside the edge of the village, under a transplanted orange tree. The rest of the Freedom Fighters dispersed after the grave had been filled in, except Sonic, Sally, and Tails. They stood there after the procession had left, helping David retrofit the transponder back to normal. "Aunt Sally?" Sally rested her paw on his shoulder. "Yes, Tails?" "Where's Sandra?" Sally blinked. "I...I don't know. Perhaps she escaped. I guess we'll never know." Tails frowned, resting his head against Sally's shoulder. "I hope she's okay. It's not fair that both of them should die..." Sonic bowed his head. "I'll miss ya, Joe. You always did know how to make an exit..." A few tears fell from his eyes. "G'bye, pal." With that, he ran off into the forest. "He just needs to be alone," said Sally, gently stroking the back of Tails' head. "It's been a very hard day." Something, perhaps a few hundred yards away, stirred. A red glow began to fill a rectangular area on its surface, which was attached to a humanoid shape. Slowly, it rose, taking stock of the sitation, and began to walk... While Sally stroked the back of Tails' skull and looked at the grave she'd helped to dig, Tails' acute senses detected movement. He sniffed the wind. Ozone, oil...SWATBot. In a blur of motion, Tails pulled violently away from Sally, lept through an area of forest, and saw his adversary. The SWATBot looked up at him and raised its weapon; but Tails, being trained in `The Perfect Art', knew immediately how to react. Almost instinctively, he made a fist while still in midair, called upon all of his might, and powered it through the SWATBot's head. A blueish blast of electricity erupted from Tails and the SWATBot, the force from the punch tearing through it like a brick through a stained-glass window. It split down the middle at nearly a perfectly symmetrical way, causing a powerful flash of light and a clap of near-thunder as it fell to the ground. Perhaps two seconds had passed during this time, and just then Sally began to react. Quickly, she ran through the forest to find Tails standing between a split SWATBot, blue electricity crackling off of his calm, relaxed body. Some sort of motherly instinct caused her to pull him from it, however, and back behind her. Neither party came to any harm by this, she noticed, and when she looked again, the SWATBot's remains were gone. Tails stood there silently, a muted expression of pleasure on his face. Confusion filled Sally's mind for a few seconds. "What was that?" Tails smiled calmly. "My last test. Now I am ready." Sally scratched her head, looking oddly at Tails. "A test? A test for readiness for what?" Tails answered her by twirling his tails at a incredible speed, and easily gliding above the ground. He flew about her easily, laughing. "My last test of my skills! Joseph told me once that when I perfected the Perfect Art, I could do anything! Well, here I am!" With a laugh, he raced through the tops of the trees, high into the sky. Sally could only watch astonishedly, wonderment overtaking her. Tears of joy filled her eyes as Tails' wish came true, and her only nagging doubt was about where the SWATBot went... "I hope he enjoys his gift," a familiar voice said, "a pity I won't be able to watch the rest of his adolescence first-hand." Sally turned to face the voice, but there was nothing there but the wind...which carried only a single statement before it too faded away. "Happy Solstice, Tails." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2:30 pm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sandra awoke on the beach of Boulder Bay, some sand in her fur and her right foot asleep. For a moment, she thought that she had died. However, the appearance of an UsagiBOT walking around the perimeter in the distance immediately eliminated that illusion. "There aren't any robots in Heaven," Sandra grumbled, and sat up to look around. It was a lovely afternoon. The wind was cool without being too cold, and she figured it was about 70 degrees. The water crashed softly against the rocks of the beach, and some storm clouds laid in the distance. Occasionally, she heard thunder. And, if it wasn't for the apparent death of her mate in the morning, she might have enjoyed it. She sat there, resting her muzzle on her knees and wrapping her arms around her legs, looking out over the water. Sandra couldn't cry anymore; even now, she was tired from the strain this morning. Instead, she chose to deal with the situation at hand...for example, why wasn't she in the Dome? This wasn't anywhere near the Great Forest, she realized, and there were guards posted. Perhaps Bahb had taken her here in order to lift her spirits. It was a valiant attempt, computer, she thought, but it wasn't going to cut it. Sandra stood. It was time, she thought, to take stock of what she had left. She walked over to the UsagiBOT, being followed by two SpyGlobes. "Unit, report status." The robot looked at her. >< "Units posted here are functional; one UsagiBOT unit, two SpyGlobe units. Power levels at optimum levels." >< Sandra nodded. She at least had some protection. "Very well. Bahb, channel through UsagiBOT in front of me and report status." The UsagiBOT paused for a moment. >< "Bahb is no longer active. The Dome has been destroyed." >< Her spirits sank. Not only had the love of her life left her, but now she lacked a home and food to return to. She sensed that this was the situation she was in last year, and did not fail to appreciate the irony. "I see." >< "More units are in the vicinity. A new place of residence can be constructed for you, and energy crystal deposits have been detected 5 klicks to the northwest. You can have a home constructed for you within hours." >< She sighed. Well, at least she'd have a home. An empty, cold home using the rather personality-less drones that Joseph had left, but a home no less. Perhaps she could use that as a base of operations to start her life over. Spies and thieves would be needed in the new civilization that would soon be organized, after all, and with her mate's advanced technology, she could make sure his name and her own would be remembered for all time. "Fine. Go pick out a good place. I'm going on a walk." With that, she turned from the robots, walking down the beach. Sandra was going to have to rebuild a tough exterior, she realized, in order to be sure that her heart was never broken again. This last one was the worst by far, she noted, because the love had been more than mutual. Both of them doted on the other with equal zeal, and losing that made her heart ache every time she thought about it. She tried to put it from her mind, but it wouldn't stop coming up. She ran down the beach, trying to distract herself by physical exertion. After a while, she saw a large fisherman, clothed in a black cloak that covered all but his darkened paws and the stick he was using. Probably a bear of some flavor, she thought, perhaps a refugee. Since dwelling on her own thoughts was becoming mentally draining, she concluded, she'd start a conversation with the large figure. The vixen padded over, looking over at the person. A muzzle was visible, but the coloration was impossible to figure due to the glare of the light off the water. "Hey, catch anything?" The figure growled quietly when he spoke, the voice deep, scratchy, and unfamiliar. "Not yet." Sandra sat down next to him. "You don't have a bucket to hold fish in, you know." "I'll eat it raw," he simply replied. Sandra looked somewhat disgusted, but covered it well. "Come here much?" "First time." "Live around here?" "No." "Got anybody with you?" "Yes." Sandra smiled. Finally, some progress. "Who?" "She's my mate," a less scratchy voice said, which took on a vaguely familiar accent. "A nice vixen." "Oh? Does she live around here?" "Nope." Sandra smiled. "Does she eat fish raw as well?" The figure took off his hood, revealing a beaten-up looking, flamboyantly neon orange, head of a fox. "I don't know," Joseph said, "do you?" Sandra gasped in shock, then embraced her mate firmly, tears running down her face. "Joseph!" Joseph smiled, displaying a few gaps in his teeth. "Hi there." Sandra cried a bit, holding him tightly. "I thought you were dead! How did--" Joseph sshed. "I'll tell you all about it later." She sobbed tears of joy, not wanting to let go. "Is it over?" Joseph picked her up, holding her in his arms. "Yes, it's over. It's all over now, Sandra. Mobius is safe." Sandra smiled, kissing him softly. "But what will we do now? We're homeless." Joseph shrugged. "Depends on what you mean by homeless. Mobius is our home." Sandra giggled softly, wiping tears from her eyes. "Silly. I meant where will we live? The Dome is gone." Joseph lifted from the ground, gliding over the water. "Well, I have this friend, you see, who has this nice tropical island...I hope he's not still mad about that tussle we had a year or two ago..." They glided off into the horizon, leaving the land behind for the endless ocean that spanned Mobius; thinking it was the last time they'd ever have to fight the forces of evil... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - From a smoking crater in the Great Unknown, a figure stirred, extending a gleaming steel arm from the depths of the smoke and flames; slowly pulling itself up...the pupils of the figure glowing a flaming, angry red... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The End? Perhaps. Perhaps not. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -