Last Boarding Call

[Yolanda Riona]

Posted by Mathias Greyer on Jun. 08 2008,14:16
[From Mystic Ruins]

The Valkyrie thumped and jostled rhythmically with each small air pocket and current as it soared low across the landscape on its one-way mission. Capitol city wasn't far now, and Slick, checking his watch figured that soon they'd seen the contrails of a dozen or so cruise missiles race past them into the line of ships that even now could be seen on Tails, rather poor quality display screen.

Unbeknown to Slick, he and his rag-tag team weren't the only ones in the sky. Because at that moment, another massive GUN air strike was closing in on the enemy from the north, like the Valkyrie, at low altitude to maintain the element of surprise. Not only that but this time, the flight wings were spread out far more then the first time. A single shot from the enemy cannons would only wipe out a small number of planes compared to last time.

Slick patted Tails on the shoulder and took his seat and fastened himself in. "Okay, we're almost there, get ready everyone. This is it, no turning back now."
Posted by Saria on Jun. 08 2008,16:29
"Sensor contact confirmed."

One of the many bridge techs noticed the incoming units, the odd thing is that they were all flying low. The bridge crew was felt t was a bit odd how they were all flying very low.

"Why are they flying low?"

A fox came by the female hedgehog and looked at the figure on the screens, before giving her an answer.

"I think they think we use 'radar'. It was a very old way to detect incoming units, it had the flaw of being unable to detect low flying units."

The hedghehog looked over her shoulder, she was a bit suprised to find someone with some brians, then again most of the brutes didn't work on the bridge, only the smart ones did. The hedgehog exchanged glances with the fox before the hedgehog spoke.

"What are you waiting for? Inform General Sarath now! Get the alert status up!"
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Jun. 09 2008,02:05
Tutley was throughly strapped into his crash seat, frowning a little as he tapped his feet. There was something he had forgotton....something important. He tapped his feet a little as he thought. If the invaders had tech like his planet did....

"Uh....Slick?", he asked him at the top of his lungs over the roar of the engine as he turned his head towards the back, "I think this flying bucket might be detected sooner than we'd like..."
Posted by Sarath Crescent on Jun. 09 2008,06:15
Of the eight remaining ships in Capitol, two were currently ground bound, Sarath's own ship being one of them, and the three from the Mystic Ruins assault were berthed in the harbour. The remaining three were already on combat alert and quickly formed up into a triangle wedge pointing in the direction of the contacts.

The problem was the contacts seemed well spread out, no doubt learning from the earlier phase cannon shot. In this case the phase cannon wouldn't be much use and wouldn't be charged in time anyway. Instead they opted for a much cruder but no doubt effective strategy to break up the incoming units.

As they were flying low the use of ground attack Bolter shells, like those used against F4 in the Mystic Ruins, would be highly effective. The three ships fired, the first volley of nine shots screaming through the air. Fired using a combination of high pressure gas and railgun technology their range was vast, longer in fact than any missile or weapon the approaching forces would have. They would have to get closer to counter attack.

The shells themselves weren't aimed at the approaching targets though, rather aimed at the ground just in front of them. With an explosive yield of several cruise missiles, each shell ripped into the ground, penetrated to its programmed depth and detonated. The ensueing explosion threw massive shower of rock and debris raining up into the air for several hundred feet ahead of the incoming planes.

Posted by Amy Rose on Jun. 14 2008,12:53
Beside Tutley, Amy had strapped in herself. She would have liked to stick around Tails, but she knew she had a habit of annoying him. The last thing she wanted to do was get in his way and completely throw off the mission. Wait, throw off the mission? When did she ever start thinking like that?

Either way, she sat there, waiting for the inevitable. Amy had come to realize that the worst part wasn't necessarily the fighting aspect of a battle but the wait before. She'd never been a candidate for patience, after all. But it wasn't just that. The tension building up towards the battle always bristled her quills. She couldn't wait to get off the ship, but all the same, she really was unsure of just what they were getting into and it was making her nervous. In the back of her mind, she dreaded the worst might have happened to Sonic, although she would never be one to express it. Always the brave face for her hero.

Then she heard it. Explosions from not far off. Had they been spotted? She had been confident with Slick's judgment up until now, save perhaps the killing bit. For him to be mistaken, she had a feeling it would be costly.

"Tails! What's going on?"

She could feel a tingling sensation creeping down her spine like a bad omen. Something wasn't right.
Posted by GUN on Jun. 15 2008,20:14
[Darn you Links, that's too darn good a counter-attack for me to just weasel out of.]

"Incoming salvo! ALL PLANES, BREAK FORMATION NOW!"

Elements of the lead planes broke off and climbed as quickly as their planes could carry them, but some of the unlucky ones found their engines clogged with dirt and their engines flamed out. And with many of those so close to the ground, the simply could not restart their engines in time before they were forced to eject or risk going down with their planes.

The attack succeeded in knocking down roughly 15 planes of 50 strong strike package. But now the pilots had climbed to almost 6000 feet and were screaming in on the enemy vessels like a hoard of angry wasps. They dove on their prey, keeping a wide spread between them to discourage the enemy from using their immensely powerful cannons. And now more then ever, the pilots had fire in their eyes as the streaked in well past the speed of sound to avenge their fellow aviators.

Meanwhile, from the ocean, a salvo of at least a dozen tiny, objects raced in from off shore. The only thing warning of their approach being the long white contrails of the rocket motors. The Endeavor's cruise missile attack was 10 seconds away from impact and moving well over Mach 3. Five missiles each raced to the ships docked at the cities harbour, while the last two targeted one of the vessels drifting above the city.

Tails would receive the targeting information as the missiles approached, identifying to him which ship their kamikaze attack would seek out. If all went to plan, five seconds after the missile salvo impact, the strike teams ship should be in position to launch its own rockets into the wound of the missile impacts and ensure the team an access point within the ship.

As for the other ships docked at the harbour, each missile carried a massive explosive payload and each was designed to penetrate bunkers. If the strategists had their math right, five missiles a piece should finish off what's left of the already wounded ships.
Posted by Saria on Jun. 16 2008,12:51
Saria came out of the evaluator and onto the bridge of the command ship.

"Report!"

A few of the operators looked over at Saria before going right back to their terminals as they passed along orders and information. The lead information specialist a female fox, turn to Saria to address her.

"General! We have contact coming in from multiply locations. We've already begun opening fire on the inbound contacts, however we have repor..."

One of the operators yelled out as he saw the rapidly incoming missles.

"Incoming long range projectiles on our ships!"

Saria turned as she knew they must be coming in fast.

"Time!?"

The operator checked the numbers and noticed how long till impact.

"5 seconds till impact!"

Saria knew that their was no time to give any orders, she would just have to have believe the captains of those respective ships could take proper action, as by the time she got them on the communication, the missiles would have already hit.
Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Jun. 16 2008,17:16
[Sorry this took so long. Finals week combined with several other trials shoved into my face made me unable to form a coherent sentence.]

Jack had been strapped in some time back. His silence almost made it like he was never there at all. His head rested in his hands, anticipating the action. A killer lay latent in the back of his mind, but it was too rattled and damaged from years of testing and moments of impact with the cold, hard earth. The very earth that lead him to this moment. Who would have thought that being a tree hugging hippie would lead to this?

Soon, he wound up just was rattled as the explosions below rocked and shook the vessel. The hedgehog bounced helplessly in his binds, the surprised yell he made being the first noise he made in what seemed like forever. He clutched the side of his seat to reestablishes himself.

"Someone's firing at us? So soon?" He says as he returned to his stoic demeanor. Well, no more time to worry about the past now.

Posted by Miles Tails Prower on Jun. 18 2008,06:03
[D: I regret to inform that Avii's disappearance has been do to her moving to the next city over.. because... uh...
...
... She'd dead. Avii died. (sorry for any typos; I have a busy fifteen-month-old sitting in my lap at the moment... and I'm tired. Will edit this when both issues have been resolved ^^;]

"There was no turning back when the Valkyrie lifted off," Tails stated with a bit of a chuckle; it seemed the previous worries had subsided for the moment; after all, the fox-boy was back in his element- that being piloting.

The system was a bit unorthodox, but it didn't take him long to get the hang of things- not that he had much time in the first place. The group wasn't in the air long before the action kicked up!

"Tails! What's going on?"

"Someone's firing at us? So soon?"

The fox watched the screens carefully, almost as confused as Amy and Jack. Luckily enough, GUNs' loaded on the display.

"Yeah. It looks like GUN sent in some of its fighters as well; the aliens are already retaliating. I think all the extra help is keeping their eyes off of us."

Their target was, more or less, dead ahead, as detailed by the army's target information. The Valkyrie jolted slightly as its impromptu pilot positioned it for it's explosive entrance, and only a short time later, the fox caught the sudden streak of a cruise missile shooting toward the targeted airship.

"Everyone, get ready..."

It wouldn't be long now...

[If ya want me to go ahead and ram the airship... say so and I'll edit. ^^]
Posted by Sarath Crescent on Jun. 21 2008,01:47
The ships in the harbour, who had recently taken off to engage Shadow, were now turning to bring their main guns to bear on the approaching planes. Although heavily armoured due to their forte of engaging capital type ships the cruise missiles would certainly leave a mark. The warning came too late.

"SIR! MAPW class weapons detected! Impact in five seconds!"

"What?!"

The captain didn't even have chance to issue an order before the missiles slammed home. For the first ship the damage seemed not so intense. The missiles primarily struck the bow, the armour plating mounted there simply fragmenting at the force of four cruise missiles striking it. The fifth struck home a moment later, the explosion causing an energy surge within the ships powergrid that successfully fried the controls and firing mechanism for the phase cannon. The ship listed to the stern, the thruster balance now off balance from the resulting impact.

The second wasn't so lucky, while three missiles struck randomly across the hull, another two made a clean hit on the main engines. Whilst not normally a problem the ship had already ben damaged in the previous fights and the armoured cowling surrounding the engines was weak. There was only a brief moment of silence before the entire stern section of the ship exploded, pieces of ship flying everywhere. Having lost a majority of its thrusters and its main engines the rest of the ship couldn't stay in the air, quickly nose diving into a nearby building and crashing to the ground before being covered by the afore mentioned building as it collapsed.

The final ship in the group was struck by the remaining two missiles, listing to the side as a nice hole was punctured through its armour. This ship was still air worthy though, trying to turn in order to bring its guns to bear.

The remaining three ships who were already in the sky continued to fire. While the direction of the cruise missiles was known, the source was not at the present moment. Inside the three ships various officers were trying to work out where the shots had come from in preparation for a counter strike.

[Feel free to charge in on the damaged ship whenever you like.]
Posted by Amy Rose on Jun. 25 2008,13:52
[Absence rule. Sorry, Tutley. D=]

Amy held fast to her seat. Although the ship only jarred here and there at the present moment, she knew soon enough they would be making a potentially suicidal impact with one of the gigantic cruisers. Her heart leaped out of her chest at even the slightest shudder, anxiety swelling up in the pit of her stomach. Any moment now, she thought to herself.
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Jun. 25 2008,17:03
(Sorry bout my absence, my parents forgot to pay the bill. -_-')

Tutley tapped his backpack, warning his chao that they were about to ram into the ship. He closed his eyes and held onto the seat, prepareing for the body jarring impact to come....or the impending being blown to bits by the explosion.
Posted by Mathias Greyer on Jul. 01 2008,20:15
[Sorry about the long wait.]

Even with the rumbling of the Valk's own engines, the resonate sounds of the missile impacts were clearly audible inside. The shock wave of the exploding enemy ship enough to even rattle their ship from this distance.

From Slick's position he could monitor Tails' control screens so he could see the damage done to their target ship. Tails had one of the holes the missiles punched into the enemy ship lined up for their approach, all he could hope for now was that nothing took notice of them until they made impact. "Firing main rockets!" He announced with a shout as he slammed home the firing switch to the dropships half-dozen or so rocket launchers. With any luck, whatever armour hadn't been destroyed by the missiles would be by the rockets. In theory widening and deepening the hole into the side of the ship so that they'd crash right into the heart of that monster.

"Prepare for impact!!!" Slick shouted as he watched in horror and determination as the ship consumed the main screen. They were only moments from impact now.

---

At about the same time, the rest of the GUN airforce had pressed into the heart of the enemies ship formations. "Green and Yellow flight, concentrate fire on the ship in overwatch position. We'll trash these ****'s one ship at a time if we have to."

"Looks like someone already disabled two of them, Sir, look!" A pilot called out exuberantly as he watched the ship fall to its death."

"Alright, stay focused! That's two less but there's still more of them. Get in close on these things and keep your speed up. Don't fly straight and level any more then you have to. These guys don't seem well equipped to handle tiny little ships like ours, but that doesn't mean they can't shoot back!"

"Like something out of Star Wars man!"

"Oh can it will you Green 3. Keep the comm clear!"

The fighters dove on the flotilla of alien battleships like a swarm of locus. Three aircraft screamed in, head on for one of the ships. The tail-end plane destroyed before ever getting close enough to launch its weapons by enemy fire. The second two began to jink and roll wildly to foul the enemy gunner's aim. They streaked down the centerline of the enemy ship, racing towards what looked like a conning tower; what they hoped was the ships bridge. They closed and fired off a salvo of eight missiles towards the structure. The two pilots had coordinated their fire so that their missiles should all strike in the same place to maximize penetration and damage.

As the two pulled away, the lead of the flight met face to face with a well aimed AA round and exploded into dust.
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Jul. 06 2008,07:36
(um...could we get a post order here?)
Posted by Links Prower on Jul. 06 2008,09:58
[Might be a good idea, ok here's one.

GUN/Mathias
Saria
Tutley
Tails (I moved him up so we could actually get you guys onboard XD)
Sarath
Amy
Jack

If that sounds ok run with it.]
Posted by Saria on Jul. 06 2008,17:02
"We've lost the Providence!"

The command crew had grown twice as loud as everyone as attempting to get information everywhere. Saria however carefully took one conversation at a time as she began to sort out the details.

"The Retribution’s phase cannon is down!"

"Armor on all impacted units are compromised, space flight is not possible. Normal flight is down by 35%"

The non-stop flood of status updates coming from different operators across the room as Saria attempted to piece together any important details.

"Enemy craft has crashed into the Wrath; ship is attempting to stabilize itself."

Collision? Wha? When they were they close!?

Saria didn't understand what they met by an enemy craft crashed into a ship. She knew about the small fast fighters they had but a collision shortly followed after a long range distance attack was clearly inefficient.

Why would you perform such a deadly stunt, especially when you have the advantage?

It wasn't uncommon for such things, in fact many worlds at the end of the take over would resort to those tactics, however this world wasn't in that area of 'desperation' just yet.

"What type of craft?"

The operator who mentioned the craft at first was taken back that out of all the people talking that she was singled out. Saria however did not take her surprised in a 'good' way.

"What craft!?"

She turned around and quickly looked at the logs, somewhat panicked cause of Saria. She turned back around.

"A.. a carrier... type."

They had seen some of the opponents units before, they had no clue of the names for them but the use of them was pretty obvious based on what happened before.

A carrier type!? Then...

"Get the Wrath on the line NOW!"

Another operator attempting to reach them he made a bang at his display and turned back to Saria.

"I can't! Communications array for the Wrath was destroyed by that long range attack! They have NOT switched to backup!"

Saria looked mad, they had backups in case the main communications was down but what good was it if the commander and crew failed to turn it on.

"Keep hailing them till they answer! Get a transport prep'ed for launch!"

If you don't have the technology to take us down, then why not use our own huh? If people just followed some basic process' we could have avoided this entire problem.

She personally wanted to see someone beaten heavily for this... and if the commander of the Wrath was alive after this, he would be it.
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Jul. 07 2008,08:19
[Skip my turn, Tails is next since I have a millisecond to post in, nothing I can really do. XD]
Posted by Links Prower on Jul. 07 2008,12:51
[Saria, the Valk hasn't hit yet if you read Math's post. It'll be Tails posting the impact.]
Posted by Miles Tails Prower on Jul. 07 2008,19:53
[Lulz @ post/pre-impact confusion. xD. And sorry for the wait.. been runnin around doin crap... you guys.. xD really shouldn't let me narrate these kinds of things.]

This was it; if there had been no turning back when the Valk took off, there wasn't even to be any looking back when it bore a landing strip into the side of the alien ship.

On one hand, Tails had crash-landed one-too-many times to be afraid of a crash.

On the other hand, the previous crashes hadn't been the result of intentionally driving an explosive-ridden carrier ship full of passengers into another, much larger airship. This hand all but slapped the other out of consideration, and the fox's fur stood on end.

"Prepare for impact!!!" Slick shouted watching the same screen-engulfing ship. Tails could hear the others bracing up, not that there was much to hold on to. It was a second before the imminent crash that a sudden ironic realization twanged to life at the front of his brain:

Aw, crud, we're really about to Cra-
---

The GUN fighters as well as Crescent ships would be quick to notice the large, fiery plume that erupted from the side of the Wrath, and those with sharp eyes may have glimpsed the last bit of the Valkyrie that seemed to be swallowed up by the enormous inferno. The ship listed to one side as its newest wound swelled from the pressure of the remaining explosions.

The Valkyrie itself had turned into a proverbial bullet, rattling around in its victim's metallic body for the better part of a few seconds, surrounded in its own roaring fires. The impact and less-than-smooth skid to a halt had done nothing in providing it's occupants a soft landing; in fact, a good bit of the fuselage had been torn clean off the frame, exposing its precious cargo to the insides of the enemy ship, while the only evidence of wings to be had were the holes left behind where they had been uncleanly ripped from the rest of the Valk. But, despite the rough-and-tumble entrance, the carrier had, by explosion and sheer force, broken through not only the outer hull but at least one other interior wall, finally coming to a stop and listing to the side with a metallic creak.

But, things did come to sudden halt. An ensemble of alarms were currently going off, and the small task force, rattled but no worse for the wear, was bathed in the eerie, red alarm light. The otherwise still scene, clouded with smoke, was complimented by the distant cackle of fire and howl of wind racing past the gaping hole in the Wrath's body.
---

Tails lay flat on his stomach, about a foot from his seat at the improvised cockpit of the Valkyrie, fur still standing on end. His half-closed eyes slowly rolled to the left, where a broken wire was showing sparks onto the floor of the carrier, and then resumed their forward position, staring in vain into the chokingly smokey compartment.

"We stopped," He spoke aloud to anyone who could hear, coughing in the ash-and-dust-filled air. "Everyone (or anyone) Okay?"

[That was fun....]

Posted by Sarath Crescent on Jul. 08 2008,06:19
[I finally get to post! Woohoo!]

On the Wrath, the command crew was just picking itself up off the floor. The series of explosions had knocked them all for six and the helmsman was now wrestling with the controls in order to keep the ship level.

"Damage report!" cried the commander, a rather tall looking skunk.

"Main power off line! Secondary power grid activated and stable apart from port side energy grid. Weapon impact has fried all electrical systems, operating on remote backup battery power in areas 12D through 13H."

"Phase cannon offline, main cannon firing mechanism jammed. Hull integrity down 72% in damaged area. Field grid generators offline."

"Main engines inoperable, engineering report say 4 hours to reactivation. Secondary thruster banks operating at 84% efficiency except in damaged sectors, those currently at 41%. Anti gravity system....holding."

The commander frowned, his ship was more of less a floating brick and a sitting duck to any further attacks. What came next was unexcepted.

"Sir! Foreign object detected in port hull structure! Object currently penetrated through section 12 and imbedded in section 14 through decks D, E and F! Profile suggests its too big for a missile or weapon."

"What? Get a team down there to investigate! Dispatch repair crews, main objectives are primary weapons and field grid! Communications?"

"Down! Attempting to switch to backup but power grid is erratic."

The skunk growled loudly, everyone on the bridge jumping sharply and getting to work.

Down near the Valk a team of soldiers was approaching the transport. It seemed it wouldn't be long before the group had company.

------------------

The three ships in the air continued to fire as best they could but now that the fighter groups had split up it was difficult to aim a cannon shot. The ship that had been attacked by the fighter planes, being surprisingly numble for a ship its size, had rolled to the side ever so slightly at the missiles came in. The result was a slightly off target hit...but a hit none the less. The missiles combined power blew a large chunk of the armour off the side of the conn tower but not quite enough to cause complete destruction.

Even so it likely made the bridge crew redecorate...in a manner of speaking.

On the ground below one would be able to see the final ship, Sarath's flagship the Monoceros beginning to power up...it wouldn't be long before it took to the skies.
Posted by Amy Rose on Jul. 13 2008,11:21
[Haha. Whoops. Sorry guys. I didn't realize it was my turn until now. This order has been a little crazy. ;D]

If anyone had been in Amy's vicinity, they'd have ringing ears. A high pitched scream had jerked out of her throat at the last second before impact. She now tried to unstrap herself from her seat, coughing all the while. The dust of the direct hit coupled with the emergency lights distorted everyone around her to the point that they were just red shadows. She head a voice coming from the floor not far off and instantly recognized it as Tails.

"Tails! I'm fine. Are you alr-" She stopped mid-sentence as a coughing fit choked her words, but she worked even more relentlessly at her straps. Amy remembered he'd been one of the few that hadn't been secured. Finally ridding of herself of the restraints, Amy hobbled over, taking a quick look at anyone she passed by on her way in case they needed any help as well. When she finally reached the twin tailed fox, she found that he was indeed on the floor as she had assumed.

Holding back another stream of coughs, Amy reached out a hand to him, giving what help he would allow her to. She kept an ear out for anyone else just in case, specifically for Slick and what orders he would have now that they were inside enemy territory.
Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Jul. 13 2008,13:34
Jack closed his eyes as the ship plowed its way into its target. Amys screams rung in his ears, apparently making up for the fact that he barely made a peep. He couldn't blame her. Sure it'd be cool if he could have looked in the face of death and laughed, but as stoic as he was, he wasn't fearless. In fact, fears cold grip tightened upon him as the vessel skidded against the metallic floor.

He felt his heart beating faster. Sweat formed on his face and under his gloves. His hands tightened their grip on the seat he sat in. His calm breaths turned into rapid hyperventilation. He shut his eyes. Grit his teeth. He was panicking. To make matters worse, when a wild animal panics, it can get quite dangerous.

If anyone looked at him in that exact moment, they would notice an unusual twitch, then a sudden change. His eyes went from desperate to dangerous, almost monstrous. His teeth seemed sharper, and his fingernails started to rip into the seat.

His calm demeanor was shattered with a crazed yell. No longer controlled by common sense, he busted from the vinyl straps that held him down. It could have turned nasty for anyone caught in this panicking animals rampage, if not for one thing.

It's a VERY bad idea to take off your seatbelt during a crash.

Jack flies forward just as the ship comes to a stop, slamming into the seat in front of him. Thankfully, he was saved from serious injury. Being your own airbag can do that to you. In an instant, the few seconds of Jacks attack left him no longer a beast. Just a very large, brown furred balloon wedged between his seat, and the seat in front of him.

"Everyone (or anyone) Okay?"

"Define "okay"" Squeaked Jack as his sanity returned. Sure, he was uninjured, but he just had the worst panic attack he ever had. Not to mention he's kinda stuck where he is.
Posted by Mathias Greyer on Jul. 13 2008,23:07
[Kudos on the last post Avii, couldn't have done it better myself XD]

Slick had been partially knocked out from the initial impact when his head slammed back into the head rest, but once the plane came to rest and the smoke and the sounds of the alarms brought him back to consciousness quickly enough. Right about then he noticed he seemed to be something pressing his chest into this seat. When he opened his eyes he saw Jack in his inflated self squished up in his face. "You mind? I got enough things on my mind without you're beach-ball body on it too." He grumbled as he shoved Jackie back as best as he could.

He coughed a few times once Jackie was out of the way and he took in a full inhale of the lovely fumes. He reached down to his neck and raised the bandanna there up over his nose to help filter out the air. "Everyone alright? Sound off!"

"Here, Sir." Boomer called out as he pulled out his combat knife and sliced the jammed seat harness. Once free the kangaroo grabbed his gear and trotted over to Slick to cut him free too. "Heck of a way ta run n' airline, eh Sir?"

"Trust me, I don't plan on trying that again anytime soon. Anyone else make it?"

"Don't forget me, Slick." Cutter called out as she unfastened herself, collected her kit and hustled over to meet up with her CO. "Looks like the Kid and Amy made it just fine too, boss."

"Good, check that tear in the hull, make sure we have an exit and let me know if you see trouble. Boomer, those radios still in tact?" The border collie saluted and took a position by the rip in the hull, weapon at the ready and kept watch.

"Aye, sir. Safe as a joey in his mum's poach they are." he replied holding up an additional pack in his hands.

"Good work, pass them around." The 'roo nodded and hopped over to everyone and quickly tossed each a small head set to each of them.

"Alright everyone, stand to." Slick announced quickly as he stood up, placed his own headset into his ear and grabbed his rifle and gear. "We don't have much time. We can't stay here, the fumes and the flames won't do us any good. I expect either a damage control team or worse, soldier to be showing up any second now, I want to set up an ambush pronto. We ought to catch them off guard before they have a chance to warn the ship to our presence. If possible I want to take at least one prisoner for interrogation.

"Slick! We got company!" Cutter cut in over the radio.

Slick whirled around towards Cutter. "Quick! Everyone out of sight, Boomer, Cutter, take up firing position behind those crash seats. Everyone get next to the opening, stay hidden, keep quiet and wait for them to get close. On my signal, attack and get in close, we'll provide support fire."

[Just a note here but I'm assuming the hole is not completely exposing the whole interior of the ship to those in the hallway.
Posted by Links Prower on Jul. 17 2008,13:11
[Skip Saria, Tutley/Tails go! Let's get this topic rolling shall we?]

Posted by Jocelyne Takira on Jul. 17 2008,13:21
[Agreed. Let's get this show on the road. =O]
Posted by Saria on Jul. 19 2008,20:27
[Sorry for being late!]

"Get a transport ready!"

Saria watched the viewer as the Wrath attempted to stabilize itself but still no word regarding it.

"General, your transport is being prepared. It will be ready in 5 mins, hanger 5."

She only glared at the screen as she wouldn't be able to get over to the Wrath for awhile. She turned around and left the bridge, heading into the elevator and descending down the ship. Her personal line click on as her operator connected to her.

General, I got bad news. Valkyrie Ruth injuries seem to have compounded and she is no longer is combat able, ever.

"I see."

She said that with no emotion but her face showed a hint of anger regarding that.

Valkyrie Hurst also does not appear to be responding to orders.

Saria was not happy because right now she could use them all at the moment and it appears that more then half of them were unable. Three Valkyrie were down or not responding and the only ones left was 2 Valkyrie, one of which was injured already.

"Tell Valkyrie Fora and Felia to met in Hanger 5."

Orders Sent, I've heard reports of resistance on other fronts. They are being handled but it appears this section of our army is not the only one currently having issue with resistance.

"More resistance? It is almost like they were holding back their strength till now."

The elevator stopped and Saria stepped out of it walking down the hallway and heading towards the hanger.
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Jul. 24 2008,09:55
[Also sorry. X_X]

The turtle looked left, and right after the crash, poking his head out his shell. He had retracted into his shell out of instinct, and luckily for everyone else, he was still secured in the straps.
Everyone okay?

Tutley snapped to attention. Despite being shaken up a little from the crash, he was perfectly fine, and so was his chao. He thanked himself for padding the insides of his backpack.

"Fine back here!", he called out.

He soon took his headset and gave a thumbs up before takeing up his position near the rip in the hull, and next to one of the ship's jammed doors. He drew his Crash Hammer and took in a deep breath, his heart raceing. "This better work....", he mumbled to himself as he took aim at the door, keeping his hammer out of sight from the rip.
Posted by Sarath Crescent on Jul. 27 2008,06:40
[Come on everyone...its been 3 weeks since I last posted here. At this rate this story arc will still going on next year! XD I'm moving us along but after this post you're in charge of the troops Saria.]

A group of five soldiers eventually made it to the site of the impact. They weren't expecting company in the slightest, half expecting to find some sort of massive unexploded missile or maybe a fragment of a building.

The section the Valkyrie had crashed into wasn't a vital section and was quite open due to its proximity to the outer armour layers...critical systems were kept nearer the heart of the beast.

When the soldier's arrived they stopped and gawked for a moment, completely taken aback by the sight of dropship stuck in the hull. So much so that they paused for perhaps a little too long...

----------------

Near the ground below the Monoceros was now slowly rising from the city park and approaching flight altitude. Sarath was still stood leaning on his sword having refused medical attention for the moment. As it neared the other ships in the sky it was clear to see that, while its general hull structure was much the same as the others...there were differences. Parts of the hull bulged in places and various masts and such like stuck out in places that did not match the other ships.

"We've reached flight altitude my lord," informed the helmsman.

"Good, all power to Kai systems...we'll show these fools what happens when they stand against the Imperium." replied Sarath with a small smile, "Activate."

"Activating Kai systems! 10 seconds to hull separation...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...hull separation in progress!"

As the countdown reached zero a loud rumbling noise filled the air. It was such that even the pilots of the GUN aircraft buzzing around the other three ships could likely hear it. Originating from the Monoceros it was clear to see its armour was moving...
Posted by Sonic on Jul. 27 2008,12:51
"Hey Tails, you guys close to getting ready to go yet?"

The voice of a certain hedgehog suddenly came out of the wrist communicator hidden under Miles Prower's glove. It was probably around this point that the young fox would remember he had been asked to call Sonic when they were ready to go so he could join them in their planned infiltration.

It was lucky for the team that Sonic was whispering, actually. His voice wouldn't be heard by the alien soldiers outside under these conditions, but since he thought that they were still back on the aircraft carrier getting ready the reason for his low voice was obviously his own circumstances. This little communication however would come a few seconds before any of Sarath's men actually arrived at the scene anyway.

"Just wanted to let you know I can't come join the fun. I went to check out Capitol; met the big boss Sarath and kicked his butt, but things got a little nuts when I tried to board his ship afterwards."

That would explain the unnaturally loud blasts echoing out of central park earlier.

"Good luck with your takeover. I'll see you guys at the after-party."

And with that the incoming transmission cut off, leading to radio silence once again. Around the time it ended footsteps would be heard from the halls outside as soldiers arrived at the scene of impact.

Posted by Amy Rose on Jul. 27 2008,15:58
Amy had taken notice of Jack's strange talent, but once you've been on an adventure with Sonic and had seen the things she'd seen, there wasn't much to be surprised about an inflating hedgehog. She had quickly taken a headset and clumsily adjusted the thing until it settled right. It was obvious she hadn't used one before, despite being around Tails' various gadgets and gimmicks. She staked out on the side opposite of Tutley's, her heart pounding feverishly. Her only relief was hearing Sonic's voice suddenly come in from Tails' communicator. He spoke too softly for her to hear, but at that moment all that mattered was that word came from him. Sonic was still alive, which gave her ever more the courage to face the invasion head on.

Footsteps approached the vessel shortly after Sonic's voice cut out and Amy nearly jumped out of her skin. She almost forgot her orders and started cracking pot shots, but her wits caught up with her brain. Almost breathless, Amy waited for the group to get in range.

Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Jul. 27 2008,19:44
[*high fives Sarath* ]

Jacks eyes look to the floor as the rounded hedgie deflates to a more manageable size. there's something about squishing your superior against the wall during a serious moment that's mildly embarrassing.

"Sorry, Sir" Jack sighed "Panicked."

Now smaller, but still a good six feet off the ground, Jack was out of the way of the others while he collected his own thoughts. Everyone was okay, including him. The monster that, for a brief moment, took over his mind in his internal pandemonium had vanished into the dark corners of his subconscious. Things were, all things considered, in the favor of him and his team.

Of course, that didn't last long when his ears picked up the sound of incoming troops. There was no more time to take comfort in ones own mind. It was time to act. The weightless hedgehog pushed off the nearest wall and drifted over to the turtles position. Rather then wait beside the door, Jack pressed his back against the wall, floating over the entrance. He put his hands to the ceiling to keep him from moving from this position.

From here, it was a waiting game. To the hedgehogs logic, any hostile who entered the room would never think to look directly up, until it was too late.

[I hope I'm not going out of turn. The wait has kinda been screwing things up.]
Posted by Mathias Greyer on Jul. 29 2008,19:40
[Nope, you're right on que as I recall...]

Slick listened with all his perception he could muster as he and his team waited patiently for their (hopefully) unsuspecting welcoming party to get close enough for his team to strike without warning and take them down before an alert could be sounded.

'One cry for help gets out and we're as good as dead' he thought as he heard step after agonizing step outside as time seemed to slow down. All other awareness was lost as he focused on each step as it gradually grew closer. The only other sound he could hear was his own, shallow breathing and the steady pumping of his own heart as his 'fight or flight' reaction built up.

'Almost there.... Slick reached down to his harness and removed a flashbang grenade from its mounting. He reached with his free hand for the pin and pulled it free with a mute click, but held the handle of the device that kept it from going off in his own face. One last step he heard from outside, now was the time!

He turned around behind the chair he hid behind and lobbed the flashbang out the hole in the ship so that it would land, by his best guess, in the midst of the hostile interlopers. But as soon as he'd thrown it, he ducked back behind the seat and waited. 'One... two... three...!' his silent count rang through his head as he mentally ticked off the timer of the flashbang's detonation.

Suddenly, a massive, deafening thud and blinding light would erupt from the hole in the ship, illuminating the entire interior for a brief second. "ATTACK!!!" Came Slick's order as he rose from his cover and brought his rifle to bear on the first target that came into view (still mindful to watch his fire since his team which would be charging in any second) and fired a quick three round burst.
Posted by Saria on Jul. 29 2008,20:35
[Since Sarath left me in charge of the troops...]

Two of the soldiers, a fox and hedgehog, had been walking towards the Valkyrie drop ship. They noticed the movement of Slick's hand as he threw the flash bang, they both raised their rifles.

Clang-Cla

They both distracted looked down at there feet in confusion. They stared at it for a second, as not native to the world, they had no idea what it was. It was on the third second they found out first hand as it exploding whiting out their vision, and even blinding the three begin them as they all started to try and clear their eyes.

"My eyes!?!"

"Damn it! Those..!"

"Sound the alarm!"

They all started screaming things at the same time, however they were unable to hear each other, as the explosion of the flash bang had left them temporarily deaf as well. The three soldiers in the back all attempted to pull back through the doorway, the rhino of them didn't manage it and instead crashed into the wall in his attempt and fell onto his rear. The rear fox attempted to backup, but tripped on the threshold of the door way and feel backward. The badger managed to grab hold of the entry way frame and used it to get himself around the corner and out of sight.

The two in the front, that had been by the flash bang when it went off, starting firing blind, in what they thought was the direction of the ship. The hedgehog was aiming far too high and was shooting lasers into the ceiling of the room, while the fox was shooting far too left, causing a small explosion cause he accidentally shot the fire suppression device and its foam exploded outward all at once. It ironically was close enough to the blazing fire caused by the ship's crash landing to greatly reduce the fire. This made it easer for people to exit the Valkyrie.

The first burst of bullets from Slick's gun went right into the front most hedgehog, a clear and clean body shot. The hedgehog fell backward with the clear shots he had taken to his chest.
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Aug. 03 2008,03:43
"ATTACK!"

And with that, the turtle swung his hammer as hard as he could into the jammed door, prying it loose as it severed from it's hinges and sending it flying at the enemy fox. He gave a brief nod to himself as he jumped out his self made entrance, and dashed towards the door. All the while, the stars and moon on his crash hammer were lighting up as he clutched his hammer.

"This is no time to hold back....gotta give it 110%!", he thought to himself as he rushed into the front lines of the fight.
Posted by Amy Rose on Aug. 05 2008,19:56
As soon as the initial flash let off, Amy swung out with both hands holding her pistol firm. The safety had been snapped off as she had waited, so there was no need to worry about it. Although her arms shook, she took aim. Albeit being the first one out, she just barely caught sight of the badger as it darted into a corridor. Figuring Tutley could take out the fox in the front, no problem, she fired off a few rounds instead at the downed rhinoceros, aiming for his legs. If he got back up soon, there would be trouble.

"There's one escaping!"

If he gets word out, we'll really be in for it!

Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Aug. 06 2008,10:33
((According to Jodie, it's my turn. I thought there were others, but I'll run with it just in case))

"I'll get him!" Jack yells in response to Amys alert. Most of the troops had been stunned or otherwise distracted from the fighting, from what he could see. The rhino on his backside being fired at, and the fox being handled by the turtle with a large hammer. This meant that he might be able to slip out on front of the group to peruse the escapee. The hedgehog pushes himself off the ceiling and out the door. Being lighter then air, the hedgehog floated up and over anyone outside before deflating about ten feet ahead.

Jack lands in a three point stance on the metallic floor before sprinting down the corridor the skunk had left. He was no Sonic, of course, so this chase would likely be a close one... He only hoped he could reach his target before he could call in his friends.
Posted by Mathias Greyer on Aug. 06 2008,21:24
"Cutter target left, Boomer, secure target right. If he moves or goes for his gun, drop him."

On cue, Cutter burst from her cover, took sight on the tripped up fox and fired a three round burst at the enemy soldier. Boomer meanwhile leapt from his cover and rapidly hopped across the hallway to the fallen rhino holding his gun at the ready. One false move and he'd unload his gun into the beast.

Slick, after issuing his orders, ran from cover and raced down the hall after Jack, intent on either catching the fleeing foe or gunning him down before an alert could be sounded.

He wheeled around the corner and saw his opponent, Jack wasn't quite in the way yet, so he leveled his rifle and squeezed off a single round towards the enemies back-side. It wasn't a fatally aimed shot though, he hoped that perhaps he could wound him so he could question the enemy soldier about this ship, its layout and its defenses.
Posted by Chadin on Aug. 09 2008,00:22
[Okay, sorry to post out of order folks, however, I feel this is important. For those of you not aware, I will be leaving for a two week vacation as of this Saturday afternoon. Obviously this is going to cause problems since Slick will be "out of action" for the next two whole weeks. I had hoped to role play him into a convenient plot hole where he could hide till I got back, but unfortunately timing just didn't pan out as I had hoped.

In any event I think for the sake of those my absence will affect, I believe it is best that once the fight here concludes that we all assume that Slick is making his way to the ships weapon control deck. Everyone else will go to the engineering and play out as normal without me until I get back. I apologize for any problems this is going to cause, but in the interest of the role-play I think this is the probably the best option. So until I get back, I hope you all have a great summer (whats left of it anyways) and I'll see you when I get back. (Hopefully with my batteries recharged). Farewell.]
Posted by Miles Tails Prower on Aug. 11 2008,21:40
[Kaz here. If I'm reading this right, there were two foxes...?]

Still amazed how well things were faring, Tails took full advantage of the enemies' confusion, and immediately jumped into the air above the fight, hovering just enough to launch him towards the only unoccupied target; Dropping from above, he place his right hand on the fox:

"Got'cha!" He said, activating the glove's jolt ability- He was still very uneasy about what Mathias had said about casualties. Tails hoped that the jolt would be enough to K.O. the fox without having to resort to anything fatal.

[>_> Might take me a bit to get into things- At least, if Avii doesn't show up. Moving on.... <_<]
Posted by Jocelyne Takira on Aug. 12 2008,15:35
[Taking over the helm for NPC's until Viper returns. I already asked him about it.]

The frontline fox had little time to react as the door from the Valkyrie came flying at him. His vision was still blurred from the flashbang. Direct hit! The door carried him with it for a few yards before losing the momentum and crashing to the ground, the fox underneath it giving a resounding scream before falling silent.

Amy's first shot merely grazed the rhinoceros due to her shaking, but the second hit home at his right calf. He hollered in rage, struggling to get to his feet but soon paused as Boomer trained his gun on him.

Cutter's shots managed to nail the fox in the side and shoulder. Falling had actually saved him from being completely annihilated. Unfortunately for him, Tails dove down on him soon afterward. The electricity quickly coursed through his body. He was out before he even hit the floor let alone breathed a scream.

Slick's aim was true. The skunk that Jack had been chasing down fell to his knees as the shot buried into his backside, just missing his spine. He cried out as he slouched forward, almost dropping completely to the floor.

[Ah-hahaha. Sorry for confusing you earlier, Jack. The skunk was indeed actually a badger.]
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Aug. 15 2008,08:38
The stars and moon on Tutley's hammer dimmed and returned to normal, as he came to a stop near the fox that was buried under a good 120 or so pounds of steel door. "Huh...took less time than I thought."

He took a look at the suroundings...all was clear. Slick had someone to interogate to find out where the weapons room was, so now was the time to split up.

"Alright, time we get outta here!", the turtle shouted out, as he pointed down the hall that would start their path to the control room. He thought for a brief moment. Even though he knew where everything on this class of ship should be at, he could still use a second opinion.

He took a look at the rhino before walking towards him. "All right.....tell me which level the bridge is on...unless you wanna end up like him.", Tutley said before pointing at said crushed fox.
Posted by Jocelyne Takira on Aug. 15 2008,13:49
[Skipping Amy, just so you know. ;D]
Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Aug. 15 2008,21:44
[Go ahead and skip me, too. Everything I could do has already been taken care of, so I have nothing to write.]
Posted by Miles Tails Prower on Aug. 17 2008,22:56
[That's... quite a bit o' skippin'. Um...]

As soon as he saw that all targets were down, Tails had already darted towards the hallway Tutley had mentioned, assuming that the others would follow. It wasn't until he reached the end that he realized the the others sounded distant. Wheeling on the spot, he saw that Tutley had stayed behind- Amy and Jack were also lagging behind.

"Er- Amy? What's the hold up?" Tails shouted down the hall. He wasn't one to stand in the way of progress, but any time wasted here could always prove for the worse. He had a feeling Sonic would've just zoomed off like usual, had the hedgehog come along.
Posted by Jocelyne Takira on Aug. 17 2008,23:21
[Alright, here goes! Chadin, you may beat me mercilessly later for this.]

The rhinoceros chuckled despite his dilemma. Perhaps it hadn't been apparent beforehand, but now that the dust of battle had settled, it was clear that he appeared distinctly larger than any regular rhino back on their planet. He suddenly made to ram Boomer. Of course, the kangaroo was far swifter, getting out of harm's way if even by a hair; the true damage had been done to his rifle.

With a bellow, the rhinoceros continued its sudden charge, picking up speed. Cutter began to fire rapidly at the rampaging mammoth for a creature, but it would take more than what she was dishing to cut it down quick. She dodged out of the way as it ran past and continued to fire.

Hearing the commotion, Slick began to backtrack... until he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Jack might not have seen it, but the badger was starting a crawl down the hallway. Which meant something ugly if he got word out of their infiltration.
Posted by Sarath Crescent on Aug. 19 2008,12:44
[Muwahaha...]

"Kai systems stable and responding...armour systems reorientating," informed one of the bridge crew of the Monoceros.

Sarath smirked to himself, not sat in his command chair, still bleeding and covered in wounds from his earlier battle with Sonic. "...Jettison armour plating...all power to Monoceros Kai systems. Prepare for ship separation...engines to full power."

With a small gulp the Kai System Operator tapped a final code into his console.

Outside the ship the armour plating stopped moving, giant gaps and holes all over the hull. Within a moment of the armour stopping the plates that had moved exploded outwards from the ship, giant chunks of armour plating jettisoning away from the ship and falling down towards the ground. Some of them were so big they took huge chunks out of the buildings they hit.

There was a momentary silence and then it happened. With the sound of twisting metal and shattering bulkheads something emerged from within the frame of the Monoceros. Like a snake shedding its skin, the Monoceros shed its outer layer of armour to reveal its true form.

[Linked for your pleasure: < http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v221/l...hagane.png > ]

Sleek and elegant, its hull shone in the light unlike the previous dull black armour. The other ships around her were nothing like the new Monoceros, those being akin to giant flying black bricks. Its hull bristled with numerous smaller cannons, still sizeable but not the same as the artillery guns on the other ships.

"Report status," stated Sarath.

"My Lord, Kai systems have been initiated successfully. Ship operating at 89% efficiency. Power grid fluctuating between 92 and 96%.All weapon and defensive systems are active. Main Phase Cannon holding charge at 36%."

"Status of other ships?"

"Archangel, Sentinel and Piar all functional and engaging enemy airforce. Retribution is...My Lord! Retribution is reporting intruders on board"

"What? ...So...they think sneaking onto one of my ships will get them anywhere? I doubt they'll stand much of a chance...but just in case. Begin charging sequence for Secondary cannon grid...target the Retribution. Deploy energy grid."

A murmur went around the bridge but Sarath's orders were not to be countered. Outside the ship a massive sphere of energy erupted around the ship, looking almost like a giant bubble in nature. It expanded to cover the whole ship...smashing apart several building tops that got in the way. Along its hull several of its mounted cannons spun to face the Retribution, pricks of light beginning to form deep within the barrel.

On the horizon four pricks could be seen cresting the sea line in the distance. It seemed the ships from Radical City were not far away now.

Posted by Sonic on Aug. 19 2008,22:59
[You should fix that link. I wanna see the new digs. lol]

Boom!Boom!Boom!Boo-

The sound of destruction began to sound from the outer hull of the Monoceros. Nothing grand-scale, but certainly something the people inside would notice from system reports more than noise. Many of the guns and cannon weapons on the outside of the ship were starting to go offline one by one at a drastic pace and always with the effect moving on to ones located in the same area. The series of disabled weapons was moving along the ship in a zig-zagging path. Clearly the monster of a vessel was under attack, but the bubble surrounding it should have kept the thing completely safe.

"I feel like I'm storming the Egg Carrier all over again. What is it with high tech ships and transformation sequences?"

Of course the answer to the puzzle was none other than the blue blur of greased lightning that was working its way across the ship, knocking apart advanced alien weaponry with rapid high-speed spin attacks right and left. The hedgehog responsible was literally leaving nothing but a trail of glowing blue wind in his destructive wake, barely staying in one spot long enough for anything to even try and target him back.

"All right, it's time you party-crashers learned what happens when you mess with Sonic the Hedgehog's planet!" the hero said as he went along at insane speeds, no anger in his tone but rather overflowing with excitement. That last head-first rush against the "Magic missile" had been too hard on the quickster's legs, but after making sure he had snuck a ride on the mother ship and taking some time to catch his breath and recover his juice, Sonic the Hedgehog was back on the job.

A few more bruises and aches than he'd had before thanks to that nasty explosion, but still ready to save the world.

One area of cannons in particular easily caught Sonic's interest as it charged up a sizable glowing array of building energy on the side of the ship. The funny thing was they seemed to be targeting one of Sarath's own fleet. On the spot there was only one reason for this that the speedster could think of.

'Tails! Amy!'

Sonic made a beeline for the canons, ignoring the other smaller gun turrets along the way for now. Once in range the hero's Homing Attacks were loosed in a flurry of aggressive blitzes, looking to reduce the attack on the other vessel to something that wouldn't kill the friends he had that were probably inside it, if not successfully reduce it to nothing entirely before they could fire.

Posted by Links Prower on Aug. 20 2008,02:10
[Consider it fixed. @_@ ]
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Aug. 20 2008,18:39
The turtle quickly assesed the situation. The longer they took fighting that thng, the lower the likelyhood of takeing over the ship. He had to end this quickly. Looking towards Amy, he pointed at his own feet quickly, and then at the rhino. He didn't flat out tell her, since the titan of a rhino may not have seen her. He tapped his backpack....

[Switching to tag team mode]
T.J. shot out the turtles backpack, and looked at it's owner. He was pointing at a rhino that was attacking those people he met earlier, so he must be bad! With a flutter of it's wings, it charged towards it foe at a speed you wouldn't expect from something so small. It was aiming a punch to the back of the rhino's head. Even though any chao looks helpless from the outside, when trained to fight, their power can match or even exceed that of your average furry.
Posted by Amy Rose on Aug. 21 2008,22:10
Although Amy seemed to have been looking at Tutley, her eyes were unfocused. She found herself shaking almost violently from the pressure she felt placed on her shoulders. Slick had said they would have to kill. Easy words to take for granted. She had intended for the rhinoceros to just be downed and not outright murdered, but even then, the blood spurring from the wounds had her feeling sick. She began to feel light headed and held a palm to her face, taking in one slow breath at a time.

And then she heard it. She spread her fingers just in time to see the lumbering giant on its feet and making to ram right towards her. Amy tried to let loose a high pitched shriek, but it only came out as a hoarse wail as it blundered in her direction.
Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Aug. 21 2008,23:12
[Yay! I've been dying to do this since the thread started]

Jack flinched a little as the skunk was shot down. He hated guns, and watching the bleeding sickened him a little. Jack turned his head to rid himself of the sight, unaware that the skunk was trying to get away.

Just in time to see the rhino get back up and continue his rampage.

Jack hadn't gotten far, so he had a chance to get back. It would truly be a test of speed, though. The hedgehog ducked his head down and sprinted with all his might back from which he came. He threw his arms back, building momentum as his ran became more haphazard.

Amys scream entered his ears. He had managed to get within ten feet of the large creature. The turtles chao friend was already working on defending the pink hedgehog. May as well give the little guy a hand... or is it two.

Jack skidded to a halt and threw his arms forward. At that moment, another strange element was added to the enigma of a hedgehog. His arms stretched out, an audible rubbery sound heard as they extended When they reached as far as they could, his torso stretched a bit as well.

Mun allowing, he grabbed a hold of the rhinos waist. From there, physics did the rest of the work. Jack pulled himself together, resulting in his body shooting forward like a newly released rubber band. He only needed to hold onto the big guy for a moment. Once Jack was shooting forward, he was let go.

Then things got stranger.

Jack was a few away before he was back to a normal shape... that wasn't going to last. Jack held his arms straight out and closed his eyes. This part he wasn't too thrilled about, but it was time he did his part. It looked like whatever made him inflate had kicked in. However, he looked like he was growing heavier. In fact, within seconds, the hedgehog had blown up to a huge, furry cannonball... and he was getting pretty close to his target.

[Hope I didn't try to do too much at once. This also had to incorporate what little I had of my last post into it]

Posted by Mathias Greyer on Aug. 24 2008,22:52
[Yay!! I'm back and feeling refreshed and recreated]

"Struth! That beasty just smashed my rifle in two!!" Boomer exclaimed with alarm as he discovered the damage to his weapon. But thinking quickly, he ran over and retrieved one of the enemies fallen energy laser weapons. "Oh yeah, time fer an upgrade!" He chuckled with self-satisfied mirth as he inspected his new toy.

Once Jack had entered melee combat with the rhino Cutter ceased-fire to avoid hitting an ally; much to her annoyance. She was probably more put off to having amateurs with the strike team even more so then Slick, and the added annoyance of her weapons' apparent lack of stopping power against the rhino despite putting almost a full clip into it didn't help her disposition any at all. "Real happy for you big-foot, now will you give us a hand here?" she growled angrily.

Slick turned and marched right up beside the fallen opponent. He slammed his boot into the already wounded back of his enemy, pointing his weapon straight at the head. "One more twitch and the next shot goes through your skull."

He turned his head towards the sound of the fight around the corner. "Hurry up and finish him off. We have more important things to worry about." He didn't mean to come off harsh, but time was ticking against them.

"Now, how's about you telling me where the engineering deck and bridge are on this floating scrap pile and I might just let you live. And be quick about it, I'm not a very patient person and I'm not in the mood for a wild goose chase."

If Slick had been where the rest of the action was he probably would have been estranged by Jack's surprising display of abilities. But as he was around a corner and focused on interrogating his prisoner, he couldn't. Boomer and Cutter however both watched in awe as Jack showed off his rather unusual abilities and waiting for the moment they could both act and subdue the enemy.

Posted by Jocelyne Takira on Aug. 27 2008,06:09
The rhinoceros grunted loudly, almost seeing stars as the chao wailed him in the back of the head. He might have been big, but said area was still pretty tender to be hit, and he was already in pain from all the shots Cutter had taken, even if he hadn't necessarily been downed. He tried to recollect himself, distracted as he swatted at the annoying little pest for a chao. Then suddenly was slammed by the now ginormous Jack and throw to the ground. He hit his head hard against some debris, compliments of the Valkyrie, and was out like a light.

The badger shuttered under Slick's trained weapon, responding with inaudible, spuddering words before he finally collected his nerves. He pointed down the corridor very slowly, his hand shaking.

"T-T-The b-bridge is down t-that way-y. I d-don't know w-w-where the engi-en-engin-- engineering r-room is t-though. I've n-n-n-never bb-been there, I swear!"

[Yolanda Riona]

Posted by Sarath Crescent on Aug. 30 2008,11:52
"My Lord! The secondary cannon grid is under attack!"

"What?!" Sarath looked to his side quickly. The operator who had yelled out looked scared for his life as Sarath glared at him, "WELL?!"

"My Lord! Energy shield is active, we're not detecting any external attack but the cannons are going offline."

"Bring up the external cameras, display on main viewer!" Within seconds a large screen had lit up showing a number of views from outside the ship. A streak of blue caught Sarath's attention. "Freeze frame 12 and enhance." The image stopped, zoomed in and de-fuzzed. It wasn't much but a quill and a shoe gave Sonic away. "Aaah, our friendly hero hedgehog survived that blast. Given his reputation I would have been disappointed if he hadn't. Cannon status?!"

"Rear 8 cannons offline, forward 12 online...forward 11 online."

"Tsk tsk...Ready cannon 1...fire!"

It happened quickly, the front secondary cannon on the Monoceros turned and tracked its target...moments later two bright streaks of light flew through the air towards the Retribution. A moment later they had passed directly through her hull and out the other side.

"Ready the Phase Cannon for firing, I don't care about the charge percentage. Put our bow to the Retribution and get me a channel to the outside of the ship," said Sarath quickly. Moments later an operator confirmed his request, "My dear Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Sarath's voice boomed out over the ships external speakers, "I trust you saw that shot, I can assure you that if you do not stop your actions there will be more of them. I imagine you wonder why shooting my own ship would make you stop yes? Well I happen to know that your allies are aboard...that crew is but a drop in the vast ocean of my empire and its loss will not harm my efforts. Now I suggest you stop your attack before I am forced to fire something much bigger..."

---------------

On the Retribution the infiltration team would feel the ship suddenly rock hard to the side. Warning sirens went off all over as the sounds of explosions filled the air. The hit hadn't hit the area they were in but it had certainly been strong enough to let everyone know they were in trouble...as if to reinforce this point an automatic message went off moments after the siren.

"Alert! Alert! Primary and secondary power grids disabled! Main power reactor shutting down! WARNING! Phase Cannon Fusion Reactor containment field failure! WARNING! Reactor implosion imminent! Estimate 2.3 minutes to core implosion! WARNING! All crew must evacuate immediately! Estimate 2.2 minutes to core implosion! All crew must evacuate the blast area! WARNING! Reactor implosion imminent...!"
Posted by Sonic on Sep. 03 2008,01:19
[So it is.]

Sonic had almost forgotten how much fun it was to break giant cannons moments before they could fire. It always gave him a little Nature 1, Technology 0 kind of feeling, which was something the Eggman had certainly drilled into the hedgehog's head over their many adventures against one another. As he screeched to a halt after clearing another cluster of weapons however Sonic's green eyes had to bear witness to the Monoceros shooting through one of its own ships. Sonic started running again, towards the direction of the larger weapons were that blast had come from. Moments later though a familiar voice started speaking out to him from the bridge, slowly bringing the speedster to a halt as he looked up around for the source and maybe for whatever camera had pegged him. No discoveries were made, but the hero did listen to Sarath finish his little explanation; one Sonic had already haphazard a guess of.

Sonic started laughing. Not bent over can't breathe kind of laughing but certainly a noticeable chuckle if any eyes were on him. "What?" he asked with a shrug to nobody. It was highly unlikely Sarath had microphones planted all along the hull of his ship that anyone would actually be able to hear him with. "Like you aren't going to blast it anyway?"

Despite his disbelief in the opponent's end of the bargain the hedgehog didn't start running again. He stayed where he was and, one fist resting on his blue hip, raised his right hand into the air above his head and spread his fingers wide while facing the direction of what he figured must be the bridge. It would look like he was waving hello(With a cocky look) except for the fact that his arm was just sticking straight up and not moving. For all intents and purposes... he did look like he was signaling an agreement, if not in quite as "desperate" an expression one would usually expect from an ultimatum victim.

'If you stop shooting it means I'm actually causing you some unexpected damage by being here,' the currently idle and foot-tapping blue blur thought. ' And if you don't... well then you're just underestimating Tails. No way he and Amy or the rest are going down that easy.'

Sonic didn't feel the least bit insecure about letting his not-so-little buddy handle their end of the situation for a bit. The two-tailed fox and he had certainly gotten people out of self-destructing doom fortresses before... actually they'd sort of made a career out of that very thing.

Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Sep. 03 2008,11:08
As soon as the ship rocked, the turtle knew they were in trouble. And then....



"Alert! Alert! Primary and secondary power grids disabled! Main power reactor shutting down! WARNING! Phase Cannon Fusion Reactor containment field failure! WARNING! Reactor implosion imminent! Estimate 2.3 minutes to core implosion! WARNING! All crew must evacuate immediately! Estimate 2.2 minutes to core implosion! All crew must evacuate the blast area! WARNING! Reactor implosion imminent...!"

The turtle's eyes grew wide in horror. Aparently the invaders didn't care much for their troops, all the while, his chao was panicking, it's arms flailing wildely is it sputtered out utter nonsense. "Change of plans; we gotta get outta here..NOW!", shouted a now VERY nervous turtle. He began to search for the nearest computer station. Hopefully, there would be one nearby.

Posted by Amy Rose on Sep. 04 2008,15:48
The sudden warning blaring from the ship accompanied by the shaking of the ship awakened Amy from her prior state of fear. Finally getting a grip on herself after catching herself on the wall, she looked to the others as a fierce blush accented her cheeks, contrasting her widened eyes. They'd been found out already? Just their luck! She noticed Tutley heading for a computer console, but stayed behind with the rest for a moment. She didn't know very much about computers and tended to leave it to Tails for that matter.

For a ship full of Sarath's men, it was awfully quiet. Too quiet. Part of her was already becoming impatient. What if they didn't find the escape pods in time? Then, what? They had no other way to get off the ship. To that, she walked across the room to Tutley, peering over his shoulder.

"Can't you do this any faster? If we don't get moving soon, we'll all be toast!"

Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Sep. 06 2008,18:29
The impact with the rhino had dazed Jack for a few moments. The hedgehog was flat on his back like a large, spkey lump on the floor. All that spinny slamy stuff took its toll on an untrained hedgehog such as himself. It's a good thing there was a ship rattling explosion that was nice enough to wake him right up. The rattling of the ship caused Jack to roll onto his stomach, allowing him to stand quickly without his still rotund body getting in his way.

"Well. It didn't take long for them to figure us out." Jack muttered before getting to work on shrinking himself back down. Understandably, it took a while to break matter back down, so Jack could do little else without getting in the way. Keeping as calm as possible during a situation like this, he moved back to join the other members of Slicks group.

"Now what?" It really was hard to sound serious in this state.
Posted by Mathias Greyer on Sep. 07 2008,20:43
The impact very nearly knocked Slick off his feet. Had he not been in a stable shooting stance he'd never have managed to catch his balance before falling right on his tail. It didn't take a moment's thought for Slick to realize what had happened. He knew the military had strict orders to not fire on this particular ship. And given the severity of the warning alert, he also knew that nothing in GUN's arsenal, save one thing could have possibly done such extensive damage in one strike. Which left only one horrifying reality. The enemy knew that one of their ships had been boarded, and that they were willing to kill all of their own troops in order to prevent them from capturing it.

Slick was awe stuck at the sheer disregard of the commander that had ordered such a thing. Being a dedicated soldier, to willingly kill fellow soldiers went against every vow and code of honour instilled in him since boot camp. And then, his anger flared. He didn't care if he died in the effort, but he'd make this butcher pay for such a senseless slaughter.

And without that individual present currently, he took his aggression and frustration out on the closest thing he could get. He strapped his weapon over his shoulder bent over, grabbed the wounded enemy soldier at his feet and hauled him up to eye level before slamming him against the closest wall. "Where's the hanger!!" He roared.

[color=teal]Meanwhile outside in the midst of the air battle, aircraft were starting to run out of ordnance after heavy engagements with the enemy ships. However, already even more aircraft were beginning to swarm in towards Capitol City from every possible direction. The entire enemy armada was completely encircled by GUN fighters and bombers at all altitudes. Aircraft were grouped in no more the a single pair and between each pair were miles of open air. If the enemy sought to destroy them now, they'd only slap down a single pair at best.

High above the war zone three pairs of heavy bombers flying at extreme high altitude were closing in. Within the bomb bay of each were packed 12 high explosive armour piercing bomb and slung under each wing were four long ranged penetration cruise missiles. "Echelon 1 to Echelon flight, we are now in range, fire at will."

All as one each aircraft deployed their heavy arsenal of weapons at various targets within the armada, including Sarath's flagship. In fact, two of the bombers had focused all their ordnance on just that one ship alone.[/teal]

Posted by Sarath Crescent on Sep. 17 2008,06:18
[Moving us on....]

Sarath smiled as he saw the gesturing of Sonic on the monitors, he had no idea what he was saying but it was no doubt some form of cocky reply to his earlier statement. He was about to issue another set of orders when a warning beacon went off to his right. "Report!"

"My L-Lord...oh god...the Retribution is generating a massive overload of phased particles. The reaction is going out of control....they'll experience a reactor implosion in two minutes! ....we have incoming armaments from 11 o clock high!"

"Full power to shield, hard right thrustetrs...set a collision course with the Retribution...arm the Phase Cannon."

Silence fell over the bridge as the magnitude of Sarath's orders came to light. None of them were questioned though and all were carried out. The bubble around the ship suddenly turned a deep blue, so dark it nearly blotted out the ship under it. As the bombs hit explosions and flashes lit up the sky, obscuring the entire ship and bubble from view.

The other ships in the sky didn't fare well. One was struck heavily, a huge hole torn in its starboard side as the engine reactor detonated showering debris all over the street below. Another was struck and veered sideways into a building, taking them both out. The third managed to shield itself a little behind the second but was still hit heavily. Its cannons stopped firing.

All that was left was to see what had become of Sarath's flagship, the dust and smoke finally starting to clear. Then suddenly an array of fast firing energy shots tore from the smoke, the continuous shots aimed straight into the path of the bomber wing. At the same time the blue bubble covered Monoceros burst from the smoke, its course heading straight for the Retribution. A glow was forming at her bow...

--------------

The soldier Slick had grabbed stammered for his life for a moment, words completely leaving him as the reality of the situation hit him. Finally he pointed down a corridor leading off to the side, "D-d-d-d-d-down the-e-e-e-re! Three levels down!"

"Warning! Phased Particle Reactor implosion imminent! Estimate 1.7 minutes until core implosion. All personel must evacuate immediately!"
Posted by Sonic on Sep. 20 2008,00:04
Sonic's raised hand slowly collapsed its fingers down into a fist, one by one as spans of a few seconds ticked by. Like a timer counting down to launch, once the thumb had joined its white-clad brothers the blue blur took off. Sarath seemed to be heading right for the ship he'd just fired upon at dangerous speed anyway, so the hedgehog hardly suspected he was the one breaking their little "agreement".

'Looks like the big guns are finally here,' Sonic remarked to himself, not meaning it as a pun in any way. It was nice to know that the shield which kept the alien mother ship safe also kept Sonic himself protected from the bombardment as he set about tearing up the vessel on his own. The hero decided to go where he could potentially do the most damage of all: The control center where Sarath himself gave the orders.

"Guess the direct approach wouldn't hurt... too much."

With that Sonic forced the last bit of wear and tear he could from his legs, more or less undoing all the good his short break had done him. The Super Boost left a whirling slipstream of blue wind in the speedsters wake as what was quite possibly the most powerful battering ram on Earth roared straight for the window of the main deck. The glass was certainly more than just bulletproof, but now he'd see if it was also hedgehog-proof.

At least Sonic knew they wouldn't have time to actually turn on any extra defences before he got there.
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Sep. 20 2008,02:59
The turtle overheard the prisoner, and nodded at the computer console. "He's telling the truth, let's move it!", he said as he set his jet boots to full power, and an down the said pathway, to make sure it was clear for everyone else. His chao looked back towards everyone else, and then flew after it's owner.
Posted by Shadow on Sep. 22 2008,16:31
The helicopter rose up from the streets of Capitol City, quietly slipping into the midst of the battle unnoticed. The pilot circled the area a few times, making sure to stay well away from the large enemy ships, then angled towards the Monoceros. Shadow leaned out the side of the helicopter to get a better look at the ship. That's strange, Shadow thought to himself. What's with the big blue bubble? could that have anything to do with Sonic? Shadow squinted to get a view of the ship inside the bubble, but what he saw didn't match the ship he had seen momentarily in Central Park. It was still far bigger than the other ships, but...

Just then the pilot turned to him. "Sir, that bubble is apparently a shield of some sort. Anything that tries to get through has so far been stopped or destroyed. How am I to get through it?"

"You won't need to," Shadow responded. The pilot began to protest but Shadow silenced him. "All I said was to get as close as you can. Unless you want this to turn into a suicide mission, you'll have to trust me. Just get me as close as you possibly can, and you're job will be done."

The pilot nodded and turned back to the controls. Shadow gripped the railing on the ceiling tighter as the helicopter accelerated, jinxing occasionally to avoid fire coming in from the enemy ships. Shadow kept his gaze fixed on the ship looming up in front of them, studying all that he could see of it and finding a suitable entry point. Any kind of marking or obvious feature would do; just something he could keep his mind focused on when the time came.
Posted by Amy Rose on Sep. 22 2008,19:24
"Slick, let's go!"

Whether she was speaking out of order or not didn't matter to her at that point. Her yell was a mix of both fear for their lives and the discouraging pain in her bowls from seeing the treatment of the critter Mathias currently had in his mits. Enemy or not, Tutley had gotten the information. It was unnecessary now to interrogate the wounded fur.

She darted after the turtle, caught off guard by his jet boots. They almost reminded her of a certain hedgehog, but she shook her head. Concentrate on getting out of there, she told herself. Reminiscing could be saved for later.
Posted by Jack-the-Hedgie on Sep. 24 2008,13:34
By this time, Jack was completely back to normal size. This was good, as it seems there was going to be quite the mad dash ahead. Head ducked down, Jack sprinted after the pink hedgehog and the turtle.

"She's right, sir!" the hedgehog called to his temporary superior. "This heap is going to blow, and we need to get off it. Now!"

That wasn't the only reason he said this, of course. He simply disagreed with Slicks interrogation tactics. This guy already looked as though he wouldn't be recovering from his injuries any time soon. Slick pounding him into the wall wasn't going to help matters. Of course, he didn't exactly forget that they were leaving him to die in an explosion, either...

Jack took a deep breath and continued. There was nothing more he could do...

Posted by Miles Tails Prower on Sep. 24 2008,18:08
[OOC: After a few complications that took weeks, and adding another week because I'm trying to figure out how to catch up, I'm finally back. Most genuine apologies. -_-;; [Kaz] ]

Meanwhile...

Tails was thrown into a fit of panic rivaled by nothing he had ever been unfortunate enough to experience- Ark incident included.


After the team didn't appear in the hallways behind him, it didn't take long for Tails to conclude that he had either:

A) Missed something.
B) Forgotten a part of the plan.
Or most likely, C) Left them behind

He had barely uttered "What's taking them so long-" when the ship's alarming evacuation call had sounded.

"Oh... that..." It wasn't until now that Tails had seen two huge errors with this whole situation. He wasn't with the group, and the Retribution was apparently going down. This disturbed him greatly.

Along the way, during his reckless charge into the ship, he started to remember something that didn't ease his mind at all. Somewhere, he had strayed off of the halls, taking a few turns that he couldn't remember how to reverse. Continuing down the hall until he spied a room with consoles place uniform along the wall, he took a quick detour. Tails' mind scrambled for thought- Every second here wasted was one closer to the ship blowing apart- with him in it.

As much of a rush as he was in, Tails tapped the ground impatiently as he worked the screen. The system here wasn't all too complex to get around, and he soon had a crystal clear layout of the ship.

Dead silent, Tails had quickly scanned the map for any possible route out of this area. The others were probably headed towards anything that would distance themselves from this impending doom. Most logical decision? Escape pods.

Further thought led Tails to figure out he wasn't exactly near them. Another glance proved that he had indeed strayed away from the group- by a considerable distance.

Remembering paths was hard when imminent destruction was locked on one's mind.

"That explains why I didn't run into anybody up here... They're all gone!!!" He gave himself a mental kick for leaving the group. A swarm of personnel running for their lives would be an indication that he was on track.

A final look at the screen to make sure he had the correct path in mind, and Tails took off, trying to keep the information in his head. The constant alarms only made it that much harder to keep a grip on his concentration.

Making a full-on dash towards the general area of the pods, Tails did the math in his head- Going top-speed, he'd get there just in time. As long as he stuck to the route and did screw it up, everything would be... comparatively, 'dandy'...

As long as he made it out. He was now weaving in and out of the corridors to the best of his ability.

Tails could only hope Amy was smart enough to do the same.
Posted by Mathias Greyer on Sep. 25 2008,21:23
Slick ground his teeth in controlled fury at the situation. Here he was, getting his chance to capture an hostile alien vessel (a first in its own right) and now, he was forced to abandon the mission thanks to a cold-hearted villain who would sooner kill all his own troops then let that happen.

He slammed the enemy soldier into the wall once more before letting his grip loose and letting him fall to the floor. Perhaps under different circumstances he might have taken him alive so at least he could take a prisoner that GUN could at least perhaps gleam some valuable intelligence from. But as the others had noticed even with medical attention rendered now, survival was a limited hope. And furthermore he'd only slow them down and time was now their enemy. His mission was a bust, so that meant his priority now was his team and ensuring they get away safely.

"Alright team, MOVE OUT!" Slick hollered, retrieving an enemy laser weapon as he returned to the group. "Cutter, grab those enemy weapons. We might be able to learn something from them at least. Boomer, break radio silence and get in touch with command. Warn them about the ship exploding and tell them to get clear."

"The rest of you, move, move, move! I'm not about to die on some alien junk heap. Get to an escape pod or a drop ship or something, I don't care!"

As instructed, both Cutter and Boomer policed every handy enemy weapon they could easily carry and along with Slick and no doubt the others took off in the direction of the hanger deck. "Sir!" Boomer shouted out in reply to Slick and immediately activated his long-range radio kit as he ran (or hopped) along with the others. "Mayday, Mayday, this is Sierra 1-1-7 to command. Mission has been scrubbed and are attempting to find alternate transportation. Hostile ship about to go nuclear. Potential blast radius and force of explosion unknown. Advise all friendly forces evac to safe distance till blast clears."

Slick didn't know how much time they had before this place blew, how long it would take to reach their means of escape, or... for that matter, where was Tails? "****, where's Tails?" Slick shouted over the alarms and odd explosion.

"Don't know, I think he ran off ahead of us during the fight." Cutter replied as she ran full tilt through the corridor.

"That's all we need." Slick groaned, keying his radio channel open. "Tails, this is Slick, where are you? We're heading towards the hanger, meet us there if you can. "We'll wait as long as we can, but if this place looks like its really going to blow we're going to have to bail and you'll have to find your own way out, fly boy." Slick didn't mean to sound inconsiderate with his warning, but all things considered, if anyone could get himself out of this mess without needing a vehicle to do so, it was Tails. After all he could fly, which was partly why he referred to him as such since it might remind him of his fallback option if he couldn't reach them in time. Not only that, but Tails was acclaimed to be able to keep up with Sonic, not a mean feat in itself. Slick just prayed nothing had happened to the kit. Leading a famous hero to his doom would be one rap he didn't need hanging over his head.

GUN quickly acknowledged the warning and immediately all aircraft were advised to get clear of the city but to maintain combat protocols to avoid severe casualties from further hostile long-range artillery barrages.

The bomber wing got hit hard. Four of the ships flew right into the path of the incoming ordnance and never even saw it coming till it was too late. The last two aircraft in the wing did however and managed to maneuver their lumbering beasts just out of the line of fire in time. But since they had already dropped their payload, both ships turned to leave the battle zone. That ship would be the next bomber flights problem.

[by the by, how many of Sarath's ships are left anyways?]
Posted by Sarath Crescent on Sep. 27 2008,14:19
[Ship update. Monoceros operational and active. One ship still in the sky, heavily damaged. Retribution, still flying but about to explode.]

"WARNING! Particle reactor overload accelerating! Containment field complete failure. Magnetic constrictors at 13% and falling. BREACH IN PROGRESS!"

The warning message couldn't be any clearer for those inside and the sight from the outside couldn't be clearer either. A sudden ray of light shot from the hull of the hull of the Retribution, seemingly burning its way out from deep inside the ships bowls.

It shot downwards towards the ground, vapouring two floors of a nearby building as it headed towards the ground. As it struck the ground broke apart on impact, reduced to its bare atomic molecules much like Bradford base had been but on a smaller scale.

Back on the ship the computer readjusted the time. "Containment now at 11%. Full core implosion in 97 seconds and counting....96....95...."

-----------------------------

On the Monoceros, Sarath watched as the first ray broke through the Retributions hull, the fox sitting up in his chair. "TIME!"

"95 seconds my lord."

"Time to impact and cannon firing?"

"Impact in 93 seconds, cannon firing in 89 seconds."

"There was enough time." Sarath almost relaxed before a sudden and rather unpleasant guest arrived. With a crash one of the main bridge windows shattered into a million pieces. The emergency shutter closed over the window breach almost immediately but it wasn't quick enough to stop their new visitor.

One of the bridge officers had been killed in the impact, shards of reinforced glass pinning him to the floor. Everyone else was coughing due to the smoke pouring from one of the smashed computer units.

Sarath meanwhile simply turned in his seat, leaning back against the chair arm as the dust began to settle. He didn't have to guess who it was.

"Welcome...although using a door may have been more civilised," he said closing his eyes for a moment, "I assume your here to negotiate...you may want to look outside before you do any more damage to my ship."
Posted by Sonic on Sep. 27 2008,18:20
Sonic broke his super boost after impact to keep form slamming into another wall and using up more leg strength than necessary. Luckily his entrance had put people as off-balance to prevent immediate retaliation as he'd hoped. Sarath managed to maintain his composure it seemed, though for a leader that wasn't exactly unexpected.

"Negotiate? I think I'll stick to my strengths thanks," Sonic said in response. He didn't mind taking a jab at himself for the sake of lightening his inner mood. Things weren't exactly pleasant all around at the moment and he was ready to turn into a blur again as soon as anyone thought of pulling any trigger fingers in the room. Sarath's other comment was slightly intriguing though. "Let me guess, we're all gonna die?"

Wouldn't be the first time.
Posted by Tutley Sakamoto on Sep. 30 2008,02:26
"You gotta be kidding me! I am NOT getting vaporized!", the turtle shouted out to the alarms, almost as if he expected it to hear him as he ran down the hallway. He turned left at the next hallway, then right. "Just a few more turns...", he said to himself as he brought up the map in his head.
Posted by Shadow on Sep. 30 2008,17:42
Shadow's attention was torn away from the ship looming up before him by the beam of light that surged from the other enemy craft. The black hedgehog grit his teeth as he watched the beam tear a minature swath of destruction in the city below. Damn it, Maria's down there, he thought angrily. I can't loose her again... I won't... Shadow was just about ready to order the pilot to turn back, but he finally snapped himself out of it. No, he thought, this is more important. She would want me to do my duty.

At the same time, Shadow couldn't help but notice that the enemy's flagship was in fact headed in a collision course with the ship that had just shot that ray of light. What could possibly be happening on those ships? Shadow thought.

Shadow contemplated this for a few minutes, but then had his attention averted once more by the voice of the pilot. "Sir, we've almost reached the barrier. What now?" Shadow grimaced and returned his focus to the enemy ship. "In a moment, I'm going to board the enemy ship," Shadow said. "I will call out just before I leave. When I do, I want you to turn and join the rest of the GUN forces that are leaving. I don't want you in harm's way on my account."

The pilot opened his mouth to ask a question, then shut it and nodded. "Yes sir," he said, turning his focus back to the controls. Shadow turned back to the massive ship again and focused all his attention on one single spot: The front windows of the ship's bridge. As far as he could tell, the reinforced glass looked like the easiest access point, at least compared to the rest of the metal monstrocity. Finally Shadow cried out. "Now!" he called to the pilot, and then "Chaos Control!"

In a flash of light, Shadow dissappeared from the helicopter, reappearing in another flash in front of the bridge windows, panting slightly from the effort of such a long jump. He made a quick glance at the helicopter to make sure the pilot was leaving (which he was), then directed his attention towards the windows before him, noting immedietly that one of them was covered over by what appeared to be some kind of metal shutter. But why just that one? he thought to himself, before remembering back to his days on the Space Colony ARK. Whenever one of the windows was breached, a security shutter would slide over the broken window to seal it. So then something, or someone, must have already broken the window, Shadow thought.

Shadow shook his head and returned his attention to the task at hand, facing one of the undamaged main windows. He raised one hand above him, causing fifteen spears of golden light to materialize around him. With a wave of his hand, the fifteen full-powered Chaos Spears shot off one by one in rapid succession, each slamming onto the window, quickly weakening it. To finish, Shadow leapt into the air and curled into a ball, firing himself at the weakened window in a Homing Attack at the same point that the Spears had struck. The weakened glass, reinforced or not, couldn't take that much damage in one place, And Shadow shot through, landing on his feet inside and taking in the situation with a glance.

"Well well," Shadow said with a smug smirk, noting a certain blue hedgehog. "I should have known you'd be here, in the thick of the action."

(Was that too much in one post? If so just say so and I'll edit some of it out or something.)
Posted by Jocelyne Takira on Oct. 03 2008,16:17
"Tails!"

Amongst the prior skirmish and recent confusion, Amy had downright forgotten about the twin-tailed critter. Now, he was no where to be seen and that had her instantly worried. She didn't like to be, especially considering the circumstances, but she couldn't help it. What if the ship went up in flames before he had the chance to escape? Then what? How could she tell Sonic?

But they had to leave. Although she was unsure how much time they had right then, she knew well enough that it probably wasn't not a lot. Amy found herself looking back constantly, usually at Slick to see if he'd get a response. She'd lost her headset at some point, although she didn't remember when. She would have to rely on others to rely any messages from him, regardless.

As she rounded another corner with Tutley, she noticed one of the soldiers of the ship out cold up ahead. Amy felt pretty bad for them, despite her fiery demeanor. It wasn't like facing Robotnik's robotic army. Despite some of the weird things she'd seen, these were still living, breathing beings. They passed a few more as they went. A glimmer from one caught her eye and Amy paused for just a second.

What is... My bracelets!

She was about ready to take them when she noticed who was wearing them. It had to be a kid no more than ten years old and a girl at that, although what she was the hedgehog hadn't the slightest idea. Amy gulped. She couldn't just take them off the child and leave her to die. It would make her feel horrible. There wasn't time to be indecisive either, so she made it quick.

Hoisting the kid up into her arms proved to be easy. She was awfully light for her size. Even if the others gave her looks, Amy ignored them. Her maternal instinct overrode all common sense at that point. She continued swiftly after Tutley.

[All will be explained later... at some point.]

[Jack-the-Hedgie]

Jack sprinted along behind the group. That pink hedgehog and the turtle had a head start that made it hard for Jack to keep up. Only when Amy stopped to pick up the child was Jack capable of closing the gap.

"You sure you want to..."

Jack began to speak, but quickly stopped himself. On one hand, yes. This girl was affiliated with the people that were trying to conquer his planet. She could still be loyal. There could be family she's being torn from that will only make it worse. They

Of course, Jack decided mere milliseconds later, that leaving a little girl to die is wrong. Very wrong. No matter what. Especially to die because of someone willing to fire upon his own team.

"...Never mind." Jack said, running along.

[Sarath Crescent]

Sarath gave a small cough and shook his head as the dust thrown up by Shadow's entrance filled the bridge. Moments later a second shutter slammed down across the new opening as the bridge crew picked themselves up off the floor once again.

"Forward thruster offline!" "Shield grid fluctuating at 79%" "Forward cannon charge at 83%" Numerous damage and status reports started flying around despite the intruders but Sarath wasn't listening to them, instead he was watching the somewhat friendly banter between the two hedgehogs.

"So we meet again, I would like to say the meeting is a pleasure. In other circumstances I might allow you to make friends with my blade...but right now I'm afraid that appointment will have to wait." Looking at Sonic and then back out the window Sarath continued. "Its accelerating I see. A full particle overload..."

As if to underline his point the Retribution suddenly let out another beam of light, this one streaking out almost horizontally, vapourising the ships bow as it passed through it and then slamming into one of the taller tower blocks in the city, vapourising that too. In quick succession another shot out and hit the ground and then another straight up into the air.

"I would say less than thirty second. Are we prepared?" Sarath didn't even seem concerned with the intruder but in order to make his point clear he looked back at them. "If you value your existence I would suggest you stay perfectly still until this has been dealt with..."

"Phase Cannon charged within firing levels. We can fire on your command my Lord."

"Good, remove final safety locks, all available power to forward shields....drop aft shields and focus additional power. Fire in twenty second....mark!"

-----------------------

Tails and the others found no resistance as they headed for the shuttle bays, the crew seemed as intent on escaping as they did. Tutley would find that the next corner was all that was left, a giant pair of open bay doors standing in front of him giving access to the hanger bay. The outer doors were also open, various transports launching in a hurry.

It was at this point that a sudden vibration shook the ship as the floor to the right of the hanger bay glowed white hot. The soldiers standing on it didn't even have time to scream as a ray of light shot from the floor, vapourising everything in its path and heading up into the sky leaving a giant gaping hole in the floor and the ceiling of the hanger bay.

Luckily for them a number of transports had survived, one sitting ready to launch.

For Tails things wouldn't be so easy. He was on the right path but further behind...it would no doubt be a daring last minute escape.

[Mathias 'Slick' Greyer]

[sorry about being slow slow to respond, took a while to get things carried over from the old site]

The energy blast that ripped through the ship nearly shook the floor right out from under Slick's feet and most of his team. A handy bulkhead as a brace to steady himself on saved Slick from a fall, but Boomer wasn't so lucky as he fell on his face from the violent shudder. Cutter, barely managed to keep her balance without any additional support and quickly reached down to help Boomer back to his feet.

"Geez!! Move it ya over-grown bouncing rat! Unless you want to wind up like the ceiling that just melted away!!"

"Come on! There's a transport! Move, move!!" Slick shouted as he ran with renewed vigor after seeing the level of destruction from that single blast. Navigating around the massive hole in floor, Slick quickly reached the ramp of the alien ship and climbed inside. Even though he had no idea how to pilot a ship like this he still wanted to be up front where he could be a part of everything. "Tutley! If you know how to fly this thing, strap in and get us ready for a quick departure. I want this thing ready to go the instant Tails gets here. Nobody, gets left behind."

[Sonic]

"Shadow!?"

To say Sonic was surprised was an understatement. When someone blasted in from the outside he half expected Tails or Knuckles to have arrived in order to help him out in bringing down the alien flagship. Instead it almost looked like he himself had suddenly burst in, until the view cleared up enough for the differences to be more prominent.

Shadow the Hedgehog: The Ultimate Life-Form. The only rival Sonic ever admitted to being as good as himself. Deceased for two years and now back all of a sudden to help save the world again?

Good thing Sonic wasn't too much for shock or heavy thinking, otherwise he might have gotten lost in the moment. Instead he heard Sarath's words and opted to speak to his lookalike when time made itself slightly more available.

"Sounds like you're even worse at this villain thing than Eggman," the hedgehog remarked, seeing that Sarath's pointlessly over-dramatic actions had resulted in endangering himself and his entire fleet.

'Come on guys, you can make it.'

[Tutley Sakamoto]

Tutley entered the hanger door, and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Phew...we mad-" That was when the room to the right of the hangar desenegrated as the floor shook, leaveing the turtle knocked over on his shell and stareing at the wide open airspace ahead with his eyes wide open. He made a rather loud koopaish shriek of panic as the adrenalen in his body coarsed through his veins, his normally slow acting heart kicking into overdrive. Tutley shook the fear of impending doom out his head, and used his boots to quickly get to his feet, and he ran into the transport ship slick entered. He threw himself into the pilot's seat, and analyzed the controls, glanceing at the levers, touch screens and streeing wheel, ignoring all else around him. In a split second (Mecha mania in play...), he nooded and began frantically pushing various command propts on the command screens. He strapped himself in, as the energy drive powering the ship whirred to life, and the transport now hovered a few inches off the ground. "Strap in, because this is gonna be a bumpy ride folks!", he said with as he gripped the wheel, waiting for the others to enter so he could leave the second everyone was onboard.

[Shadow]

Shadow smirked at the look of incredulousness on Sonic's face. It was always nice to see the Blue Blur flustered like that, even for a minute. Why, the last time he'd seen him that flustered had to have been way back the first time they had met, when Shadow had outsped Sonic thanks to Chaos Control. Ah, those were the days...

Sarath's words quickly snapped Shadow out of his reminicent thoughts, bringing him solidly back to the present. With a condecending smirk the black hedgehog unslung the laser rifle from his sholder. "So, it's you, the one who thought Sonic was dead," Shadow said to the fox. "I guess this means you're their leader, eh? Sarath, right? Well then..."

Without a word of warning, Shadow proceeded to fire on each of the bridge crew in turn, taking them out one by one, maintaining fire until they were most definitely dead and the only people left alive on the bridge were Sarath and the two hedgehogs. "I wouldn't be worried about our existances if I were you, Sarath," Shadow said coldly, slinging his laser rifle over his shoulder once more. "We're perfectly capable of handling ourselves, I'm sure. I'd be more worried about your own existance if I was you, and just how much longer that existance will last." Shadow was completely aware of the imminent collision of ships, but was completely confident that both Shadow and Sonic were capable of escaping if push came to shove. Besides, he knew how these villains worked; he had been one not too long ago. They never left themselves without a backup plan. As far as he was concerned, he had called Sarath's bluff; now all that was left was see what his reaction would be.

[Amy Rose]

[Alright, been long enough. Moving on.]

We-hafta-get-outta-here-hafta-get-outta-here-

Splat.

Amy fell flat on her face. Literally. How many times was this hunk a'junk going to shake her up like an ant in an ant farm owned by a crazed six year old? Grumbling to herself, Amy found her footing again. That's when she noticed the gaping hole in the side of the hangar. Now, Amy'd been through plenty of adventures of her own, but this was still a shock to see. From the charring and the size, it almost reminded her of the chaos cannon.

The pink hedgehog quickly dashed over to the girl she'd dropped in the process. The girl moaned, but otherwise remained unconscious.

Amy paused but only a second before running towards the others though. Climbing into the escape transport, she stuck to the back. Tails still hadn't shown up and the detonation was imminent! Amy noticed Jack was still wearing his headset and turned towards him as he, too, entered the transport.

"Jack, where's Tails!"

[Miles "Tails" Prower]

Tails continued down the passage, until he saw a familiar face leering out at him from the distance:

"AMY!"

Waving his arms wildly back and forth, he tried to motion for Amy to get out of the way. Tails couldn't stop on a dime like Sonic- And when you're going break-neck speed, somebody is gonna get hurt.

He couldn't slow down, and with the end of the line approaching fast, he had no choice but to shift to the left. Instead, he tripped over his foot, and was sent hurtling past Amy in an involuntary spin-dash. By the time he smacked against something, Tails was dazed and awkwardly upside-down.

*cough* "H-here..."