First Strike!

Mobius: The Second Saga

by Tergonaut

Sonic the Hedgehog and all other related characters and themes are © SEGA and DiC, Mobius: The Second Saga and all related characters and themes are © of Tergonaut.

Setting: Two weeks after Kreaton's takeover.

* * *

"Digger, get those guys outta here now! Claire, cover him! Gyro, you're with me!"

Rad charged forward in his Salamander, auto-cannons blazing at the squads of Strikerbots that were advancing forward. They were firing their own weapons but fortunately Rad could dodge most of the shots with nimble handling of the tank in which he rode and those shots that did hit were rendered almost useless by thick plates of armor.

Nicole had shown them the Salamanders on the last part of the tour two weeks before and that had been the day before their intensive sim-training began. The Salamanders were an old but dependable design of tank during the Great War and they were unique in the sense that they were designed in a humanoid configuration rather than in the traditional form of a normal tank. They used legs for propulsion rather than hoverjets, which gave them an interesting way of moving about. However the Salamander series of tanks were quite popular because since they were in a humanoid configuration it was easier for pilots to move about and manipulate the multiple functions of such an advanced vehicle. It was such a well-made model that it continued to be in service for a large part of the Great War and was an easily adaptable design with modular parts to give each one specific functions.

After the Great Struggle when Freehome was built it had been decided to keep some heavier weaponry in stock since the lack of heavy hardware had been a major problem during the Great Struggle, although Sonic's supernatural speed made up for that deficiency somewhat. The Salamander chassis had been chosen because of its dependability and long service, and five groups of five Salamanders had been refitted and stored within Freehome's armory. Nicole explained that squads of five members, each in a Salamander with a specific function, were the most efficient groupings that had been used during the Great War. They would have to wait until they got more free Mobians before they could train and form the squads officially.

The Rowdies had played in sims for long enough to get the general idea of what it was like but the realism of the combat sims that Nicole had designed for them was overwhelming. The training had been intense and now they knew the capabilities of their vehicles. Each Salamander had a specific augmentation pod that was mounted on the back of the tank. For instance Rad's tank had been designed with an enhanced communications array for translation, encryption and overall networking. This was necessary because other Salamanders didn't have enough room for this array so his vehicle was a communications waystation, so to speak. Digger's vehicle had been outfitted with a large "backpack" which could carry battle salvage or other important things although there was certainly a limit. Gyro's Salamander had pop-up tools that were useful for combat engineering and Claire rode in one that could "paint" targets for the others to lock on to, thus increasing efficiency and lessening ammo wastage. The fifth Salamander of the five in each group would have a powerful electronic-countermeasure system and sensor package for scouting but they didn't have a fifth Mobian to man it yet, so they were just going to have to make do.

They had been directed by Nicole to strike at one of the coastal towns that was closest to the Great Forest, a town by the name of Seaside. It had been a fishing town with a great amount of trade and during the Great Struggle it had been one of the few towns that had been overlooked by Robotnik in his takeover. The town had been gassed by bombers earlier in the week and Kreaton's Strikerbots had entrenched themselves in the town before anyone could take action. They had been waiting for another squad to bring portable roboticizer units but Nicole had calculated it perfectly and the Rowdies had gotten there in time to start rescuing the citizens.

The Salamander's auto-cannons tore the Strikerbot line to shreds but more were pouring out of the buildings and there were still people who were running for cover behind him. He saw Gyro's Salamander pass him up and fire a rain of bullets onto the oncoming Strikerbots, which allowed his own Salamander's guns time to cool down. Overheating was a problem that could affect the Salamander tanks, a drawback to their unique design, although Rad was probably being overly cautious in this case. Seaside was a little more northerly than some places and there was a nip to the air in the autumn season which was rapidly closing upon them. That would help to absorb the heat his weapons created, although the special thermal diffusers did quite a bit of help in that by lessening the heat signature that the Salamander produced. Less heat for an infra-red scan to detect.

He took a quick look around as Gyro covered him. Digger was filled to capacity with Mobians in his backpack and he was herding the rest of them with Claire's help toward the Great Forest nearby. The backpack on Digger's Salamander was also designed to carry people out of danger although it certainly did make for a rough and cramped ride. It looked as if all of the people had been evacuated and there were no more life signatures in the town so Rad decided it was time to finish the battle a little more quickly.

"Gyro, arm a missile and launch it toward that warehouse that the Strikerbots are streaming out of. I'll hit some of the other houses and then we'll clean up the rest with nose guns only."

Conserving ammo was important but so was destroying the enemy quickly before they could destroy you. Their missile racks flew open upon their shoulders and a missile flew out from their right shoulders, toasting two buildings completely and setting fire to nearby ones. Strikerbot parts were splayed about everywhere and individual robots that had survived were quickly picked off by the nose guns of the Salamanders, which were particle beamers that relied on energy from the tanks' reactors rather than ammunition, making them useful weapons when all other ran out of ammo. But they raised heat levels quickly as the strain of firing them was heavy upon the reactor and were more of a last-resort weapon rather than a primary weapons. Still they had quite a punch and it could be used safely in short bursts as individual targets came into view.

Rad had just about finished mopping up the surviving robots when he heard the crackle of his comm system. "HALT! IDENTIFY YOURSELVES, INTRUDERS!"

He turned the massive bulk of the Salamander around to face a Spy-Eye that had flitted at nose level and it was obviously scanning the tank that had just trashed three squads of Strikerbots. They still hadn't figured out who was in charge of Mobotropolis and so they had to keep themselves as much in the dark as they could. So Rad just smiled and waved.

"We're the Rowdies. You're goin' down, bad guy. Big time!"

He then fired the nose gun one last time, vaping the Spy-Eye and giving a pretty interesting last word. The head honcho in Mobotropolis now had something to chew on.

Rad then turned and started toward the Great Forest with Gyro lingering just long enough to make sure nothing else was left there, biological or mechanical. Then they both met up with Digger and Claire and herded the newly-freed Mobians back to Freehome.

* * *

Kreaton was interested.

The Spy-Eye's alert that hostiles were attacking Seaside gave him enough time to activate the remote cameras in the Spy-Eye and observe some of the havoc being wrought upon his robots before he sent it to one of the tanks and inquire of their identity. He had gotten a short answer but one that revealed a lot.

It appeared that a rebel movement had begun to take shape and had somehow gained access to some Salamander-class tanks. Perhaps they had stumbled upon an old stock of them that had been forgotten after the Great War. But Kreaton was more interested in the people he saw rather than the vehicles in action.

Who were these Rowdies? He had supposed that the rebels would have called themselves Freedom Fighters or some other silly patriotic gibberish. But Rowdies? And where had they come from?

And then there were reports coming in from almost everywhere that the portable roboticizers were faulty. Sometimes in the process of roboticization victims would only become partially mechanical, and most of these cybernetic freaks became insane by the physical strain of their biological and mechanical parts intermixing. These cyborgs were unstable and uncontrollable and several had escaped from the work camps already. From what he could gather from the various surveillance units he had posted to observe these cyborgs, the escapees had formed some perverse cult based upon their roboticization. Sad, but it would probably be more of a boon than he would think. If these Rowdies found the cult they might try to get them back to their old selves again and then the cult might turn on them. But it was more likely than not that the cult was merely going to be a nuisance, something to be studied and then crushed before he began spreading his empire out to the stars.

He pondered about what he had seen. The specifications of the four Mobians piloting the Salamanders did not match any records of any important or influential members of Mobotropolitan society and he had no other clues to go by. But they were not the prince or his friends so Kreaton had some small hope that the Rowdies had been formed separately.

His plans were rapidly shifting in his mind as he knew that there was a rebellion that had just gained the support of an entire town's population. He began sending several squads of Strikerbots out for the specific purpose of finding and destroying the Rowdies and he sent the specifications of his new designs to the factories for immediate production. He would not fail to some ragtag rebel band!

* * *

Claire was helping Nicole to direct the new refugees to their new quarters in Freehome, as were the other Rowdies. There were several people who were scared and confused and even with multiple Nicole holograms helping out they still had no idea as to what was going to happen to them all.

She passed Rad who was just leading an elderly couple to their own quarters and she saw Digger being uncharacteristically patient with a couple of kids who had not found their parents yet and she even saw some of the more responsible newcomers trying to help out as best they could. The cavern, while not full, was certainly getting a boost to the population count. Fortunately no one was panicking or causing too much of a ruckus and that was good. She saw some people who would make fine additions to the ranks of the Rowdies.

She still felt a twinge of amusement at Rad's insistence to have the name of the rebellion changed from the Freedom Fighters to the Rowdies. Nicole had tried to argue but Rad had pointed out that this was a new generation who had only dim memories of the past. New perspectives, new lives, these would come into conflict with the images that the words Freedom Fighter would bring up. So, a new name for a new Freedom Fighter movement. And Rad only thought it fair to name it after the group who had discovered Freehome in the first place. Nicole had relented and the Rowdies became more than just a gaggle of streeters.

They became Mobius' new hope.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Claire turned to a young girl who was standing next to her. She was a rabbit with brownish fur, wearing jeans, a baggy T-shirt, and a pair of large sneakers. She looked younger than Claire but she was certainly on her way through adolescence.

Claire smiled. "Yes, can I help you?"

The rabbit nodded. "Yes, I'm a little bit lost...I was wondering if you could guide me to wherever it is I'm staying tonight..."

Claire took her by the hand. "Sure. By the way, my name's Claire."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Tracy."

They started off, occasionally needing to push through crowds of disorganized Mobians as they headed toward Claire's habitat. Claire found that Tracy had been in Seaside as a part of a field trip for her school but then there were these planes that dropped gas onto the whole town and the next thing everyone knew they were being herded together by robots. And then when the town was besieged by the Rowdies in the Salamanders they weren't exactly sure about what to think until they heard the reassuring voices of fellow Mobians.

"You were one of the tank pilots, weren't you?"

Claire nodded. "That's right. I'm one of the four Rowdies who originally found Freehome, and that excitement back there was a rescue operation to bolster our ranks. Once everyone's settled in training will begin for those who can fight and those who can't will stay here in Freehome where it's safe."

Claire led her young charge to the habitat nearest to her own. "Well, here you are. I live right next to you so I can help you if you need it, but right now you should probably go in and get acquainted with your new home. You'll be living here for a while."

"Thank you." Tracy opened the door, paused, and then asked, "What's happening, Claire? Who made those robots that attacked us?"

Claire let out a breath of air slowly. "You just asked me the one question we've been asking ourselves for the last couple of weeks."

Tracy seemed to ponder that for a second and then she shook her head. "I won't worry about it right now. I'll need to get to sleep so I can start my own training!"

With that, she gave Claire one last wave and she slid the door closed behind her.

Claire felt a small twinge of regret. Nicole was starting to set down the standards for who would be fighting and Tracy might not fit the requirements. It would be a shame to let such enthusiasm go to waste.

Shaking the thought from her mind she went to the crowd of Mobians to find another person to guide. There would be time enough for thinking at the debriefing tomorrow morning.

* * *

Kreaton's gun swivelled out from behind his lab coat. It fired a bloody bolt of death that struck down the Royal Guard, causing him to give up his life. Then the King and Queen gave up their wills as they were turned to cold enslaved machines. And Kreaton chuckled as he turned his calculating eyes upon Bandit and he opened his mouth and then the raccoon was running from the huge mouth that threatened to swallow him. How did Kreaton's head get so big? Or his teeth so large and sharp? Bandit had no time to think of answers, only time to escape from the horrible marten's treachery and deceit which blinded the path ahead. He couldn't see, stumbling through a fog of evil, and then he felt himself falling. Falling into the open mouth of Marty Kreaton, conqueror of Mobius...

"YAAH!"

Bandit snapped to a sitting position and hit his head against the cramped ceiling of the duct he was lying in. He cursed at himself as he rubbed his head and then he reached over to the big cloth nearby, on which sat the last remnants of his stores of food. Picking up a cold pancake he munched on it while his body and brain synchronized their patterns. What day was it? Two weeks had gone by with Kreaton in control? Man, that stunk...

After the rest of the food was gone Bandit had more productive thoughts. He couldn't risk getting another hoard of food like that and there was no way that he could make daily forays into the kitchen. The patrols of Strikerbots in the Palace were regular, there might be a slip-up on his part, and Bandit could run right into enough 'bots to make his hair stand on end. Not a good thing. There was no way that he would try to make a brave stand against a whole Palace full of 'bots even if he was the bravest raccoon on Mobius, which he wasn't. Just a little smarter than your average raccoon, though, and that gave him his edge.

A plan formulated itself within his mind. Get some food. Blow something important up. Run away while Kreaton cleans up the mess. After that the plan got a little fuzzy, but Bandit knew that he had to try and find out if anyone else was still alive and if so warn them as to who exactly was behind the whole ruckus.

Bandit reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a holopic. He pressed the button on the corner of the card-shaped piece of metal and the small projector created a three-dimensional image of him and his friends hanging out at the V-R Center. There was Gyro, looking a little shy even under his wraparounds. Rad, always the cool one, was in the center of the pic. Digger, making a rude gesture that they all knew was his way of smiling. Claire, well, she was pretty, but Bandit and her were friends, nothing more than that now. And then there was Bandit himself, sitting on the stairs up to one of the simulators, looking trendy as could be.

He smiled as he remembered the fights, the escapes, the good times, the bad times, all that had been shared with the Rowdies. He closed down the holopic and put it back into his jacket. The others had to be alive, had to be free! Filled with a new sense of direction he headed toward the kitchen where he knew that he could get the stuff he needed for his plan. Kreaton was going to get a bang out of this one way or the other.

Bandit was going to get back at Kreaton in every way he could. Payback was in due order, bulk shipment class.