Sonic the Hedgehog - "No Peace in Our Time" - by Aaron Lye E-mail: vicl@pacific.net.sg Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles Tails Prower and other related characters are based on the characters created by SEGA, Archie Comic Publications, and the Sonic the Hedgehog Saturday morning series created by DIC and Sega of America. Other characters that appear or are mentioned in this story are original creations of their respective authors. "Cast" of characters used in this story (in random order) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sally Sonic Tails Rotor Antoine David Prower - courtesy of Shawn Wolski Bunnie Ari Several other characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Miscellaneous Union of Allied Worlds - Joseph De laCroix Federated Races of Mobius - Aaron Lye ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE: IF I HAVE CREDITED THE WRONG PERSON(S) HERE, DO LET ME KNOW AND THE MISTAKE WILL BE RECTIFIED. ALL INFORMATION ABOVE IS CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Timeline: One day after the events in "As the Wheel Turns". It was a dark day for the Federated Races of Mobius, the darkest since its inception almost ten years ago. Three member races had just split from it, and had formed a union, called the Alliance of Races, with virtually all the unaligned races that had just days ago been considering admission into the Federated Races, and were now preparing for war.... And Sally Alicia Acorn was taking the brunt of that darkness. Just yesterday, she had been sitting in a quiet corner of the lounge in the Great Hall of the Council, sipping a light Mobian wine, worrying about the decision to join the Union Of Allied Worlds. Today, she was seated in the exact same position, with a glass of the hardest, strongest liquor Mobius had to offer, worrying that her decision to join the Union would tear the planet apart... Taking a gulp of the liquor, feeling the potent liquid burn her throat, she looked out of the large windows of the lounge. The view that greeted her seemed so tranquil and peaceful, the skyscrapers mingling with the large, open, tree-filled parks, the citizens of Mobotropolis walking on its' streets and the usual shuttles and hoverunits going to and from their destinations. It seemed like an ordinary day. But, she knew that all across the globe, the people of Mobius were mobilizing for the greatest war since the Robotnik era... Sally-Alicia was on the verge of breaking down. She had not managed to prevent a war. Like her father before her, she had failed to protect her charge... the planet of Mobius. Tears started to stream down. Because of her, the people of her planet would once again not know peace.... Maybe the House of Acorn was never meant to rule this planet.... Maybe she should just reverse her decision to join.... Maybe.... "Sal? We should talk." Sally looked up to see Tails there for the second time in two days. When she first sighted the fox, she felt angry. It was HIS fault. Why couldn't he have been more specific? Told her straight out to not join the Union? WHY? But logic prevailed. Tails had a very limited view of the future, since his transformation to a Guardian of the Emeralds, and it would be a breach in Guardian protocol to reveal that view outrightly to a non-Guardian. He did what he could. She was the one who was at fault.. She motioned for him to sit, this time way too distressed to say anything. The two-tailed fox began, "Sal, you cannot... must not blame yourself. What happened today can no more be blamed on the wind than on yourself. It is now, most of all, that your people need you, their leader, to be strong, and to face up to the task of leading the Federated Races to victory." Sally seemed to regain some resolve, but very little. Tails continued, "It is true that I knew that this would happen when you opted to join the Union. However, this could easily be said to be the best of bad choices." That caught Sally's interest. "What do you mean?" Tails proceeded, "Since these events will not occur, I can relay them to you. If you had chosen to opt not to join the Union, it was highly likely that Ari would have initiated a revolt against your government and your allies within two months. Without Union help, you would be virtually alone against the combined forces of 80% of Mobius's races. If you had chosen to abstain, the Council would have continued to disagree until those who walked out today would walk out then, the only difference being that you would not have aid from the galactic community. You did make the correct choice. The choice that gave you the best chance for victory." That clinched it. Before his eyes, Tails could see the old Princess Sally, the one he knew as a kid, come back into the queen. Sally looked at Tails, now firmly resolved to fight to the end, to once again regain Mobius. "Tails, I understand now. Thank you." With that, she gave him a platonic kiss on the cheek. Several hours later, a renewed Sally joined the remaining loyal member representatives of the Federated Races inside the Tactical Analysis Center. "Report, people." Sonic spoke up. "So far so good, Sal. Ground, naval and lower atmostphere forces are ready for action. Just give the word." Rotor piped in, "The orbiting space defense fleet is currently docked for last minute maintenance and should be ready within the hour." A new voice spoke up. "Ms President, a small Union fleet will be arriving in orbit of your planet shortly." She turned to see the representative from the Union of Allied Worlds. "Thank you for joining us, Mr. Z'bar." "It is my pleasure, madam." Sally returned to the business at hand. "As I was saying..." Before she could complete her sentence, the ground shook. The group inside Tactical looked at the status monitors, flipping views till they found the source. All across Mobotropolis, bright energy beams were bombarding the city... from the sky. Rotor gasped, "That's not possible. The Alliance races had nothing to do with the space program!" Sonic snapped an order throught the commpanel, "Get the fleet ready, I don't care how, but do it!" Bunnie and Antoine left the room to mobilize the medical teams, while the rest proceeded to the control center. The nerve center of Mobotropolis was a thriving hub of activity, even when so when Sally and company stepped into it. The president of the Federated Races gave a few commands, and Mobotropolis powered up its formidable planetary defense system. The defensive shields were activated, and these took the brunt of the energy beams that were being thrown at the city. Rotor ordered a technician, "See if you can get a visual of the attacking ships." which the technician obediently set about to. A few seconds later, the main viewscreen lit up with a video display from orbit. They saw about five massive green vessels, totally alien in design, constantly firing on their planetary targets. Rotor was confused. "I've never seen this configuration before..." Just as he turned to activate a scan on the vessels, the Union ambassador spoke up, "These ships are known to us. They belong to an empire with which the Union has... differences. They are called Ghrakel, a militaristic empire who occupies a number of sectors on the rim of Union space. They are a small empire, but have slightly advanced technology, and have constantly had arguments with our Union. It would seem that your enemies have made friends..." A technician interrupted the Union rep. "Incoming recorded tranmission. It is from President Ari of the Alliance of Races. He wishes to know if we surrender." Sonic stepped aside with the technician to work out the "polite" response to Ari's request. "Look!" Rotor pointed to the visual screen. The Ghrakel ships were now being bombarded from space as well as from ground. It was a miracle their defensive shields were holding. What Mobius had managed to send to meet the threat was really pathetic. Only two heavy cruisers were in operational condition. Vastly outnumbered, the ships fought valiantly, but were destroyed in the end. "Our energy shields are collasping! Now at 12%!" Rotor was reporting from a tactical station. "Fire at will. Take as many down as possible." Sally commanded. The large ground based phased energy pulses fired continuously, managing to knock one ship out of commission. "Shields are now collapsing!" Rotor yelled. Without warning, a bright light emitted from Tails' paws. Rotor checked his screens. "Wait... shields have increased slightly... holding at 30 %." Sally silently praised Tails. This from the fox who couldn't even hold an invisibility spell long enough to get in and out of Robotropolis.... ( See Of Foxes and Sorcery III ). "They're still going down!" Rotor snapped from his station. Tails was visibly shaking from the strain of maintaining that level of sorcery. Sally was just about to give up hope when the visual displayed an image of a Ghrakel ship barraged with a furious volley of directed energy. The ship blew apart soon after. "That's Union weaponry!" The rep observed. True enough, seven Union heavy cruisers and destroyers had just jumped out of warp, and were engaging the Ghrakel. Outnumbered and damaged, the Ghrakel retreated. Cheers reverberated through the control center. Sally smiled. They had just won the first battle. She finally and truly understood. She had made the correct choice. The choice that gave them the best chance for victory... THE END