[Notice: This story was written in 1997. I have no intention of continuing this, as I have no time to. However, please enjoy it, as I only recently found it on my HD.] Copyright 1997 USO United Species Organization U S O and 3255 MDC Mobian Defence Council "Scorched Earth Policy" By: Daniel Harris Copyright Information: This is a fanfiction story about the Sonic the Hedgehog Universe. It contains some characters that are copyright 1991-7 by Service and Games. It also contains characters that are all mine, folks. This is a rather adult story with some material that a few may find offensive. It uses adult language liberally and contains graphic descriptions. Reader discretion is advised. Now on with the story. Timeline: It is the last days of the free monarchy of Mobitropolis. King Acorn and his court have taken a relaxed attitude about their situation. It has been 15 years since the near catastrophical Civil War of 3209, and the commander who saved the empire, Doctor Julian Ivo Robotnik, is currently moving up the ranks of the Royal Court. Unwatched and unseen, the Doctor is at work finishing his plan to conquer the weak, defenseless Mobian citizens. They had taken him in as a human saviour, a creature that none had ever seen in person but many had heard about. The humans were originally the species that had prompted the Mobian's evolution through their technology, and who now, more than ever, seemed fit to lead the planet. King Acorn had concurred, and plans were in the works for Julian to take the throne in a few years. Little did the citizens suspect that it would be wrenched from the King in the most devestating way...... It was a shockingly bright day in Mobitropolis, the sun blazing on for hours after six o'clock, as was the case during the summer. Most of the citizens were either asleep from the heat, resting comfortably in their climate- controlled apartments, or feverishly working at the palace attempting to organize what would become a Republic in a few years. In the Security section of Osiris Palace, King Acorn was busy poring over reports of strange electromagnetic activity coming from the outskirts of Mobitropolis. They stated that many Sledd Transports had to be diverted from their flight plan because of the interference. It wasn't that serious, besides, the King had better things to do, as he was due to step down in a few months, while a transition council took over for him until Julian could assume control. At the moment he finished, shoving the reports across his large metal desk in distaste, a young, tawny colored feline Private, Catt Williams, edged his way inside, his cap in hand, looking quite dejected. "Sir? I...I wanted to see you for a minute. Is that all right?" Catt stuttered. "Oh, yes, quite. Come in, my friend. You know I always have time for my subjects." said the King in a comforting tone. He stood up, pushing himself up with both hands and pulling his field jacket down over his waist. In many ways King Aloicius Acorn was a short man, in stature and in decision. Even for a fox he was quite small, barely five and a half feet tall. But his past actions and bravery during the Civil War had shown him to make up for his height with courage. "That...that was what I came to talk to you about. I mean, after you're gone, will...will we be able to stay here, in the palace? Alot of the guys have expressed their reservations at a, well, a human taking control." he managed to get out, as the King surveyed his expression and posture. "Oh, I see." he sighed. "You know, I've often wondered about that. Before Julian landed years ago, few of us had ever thought of humans as real. But once he landed, we knew that he would be the saviour of us all. Or that is what the majority of less educated Mobians called him. But us at the top knew much better." he paused to get a glass of tetrahol from the sunken replicator in the wall. "We knew that the humans weren't saviours, but a forgotten species that had vanished thousands of years ago from this planet. They had then come back to what must have been a...frightening...world for them. God knows what happened to the others, but, nevertheless, Julian is here. And I know him, and know him well. He is a good man. And a better man than me for the heavy load of ruling this empire... excuse me, Republic." he finished his preach sitting on the edge of his desk, moved, it seemed, by that prospect. Catt was still in the doorway, but now fascinated at the King's story. "But what will we do without you, Sir?" Catt protested. "Just try and serve him as well as did me, and remember that I'll be expecting you to perform at your highest for any leader of this world, Mobian or not. And try to relax, eh? I know the past few months have been a trial." he said, finally finishing his glass of tetrahol and placing it, upside down, on the reports. "Yes, Sir." Catt bowed, turned, and left without saying another word. Aloicius waited for Catt to leave, then he, too, left his office. On the south side of the palace complex stood the towering Mobian Defence Headquarters. This addition to the complex was beefed up on the special request of General Robotnik three years ago. Most of the other generals were at odds with him over the project that had taken seven months to complete at full shifts. They argued that there was no need for such a huge complex, that there was no threat to the planet. But Julian had overruled their disapproval and assured them that a threat was indeed present. He had not specified what, but the naive Mobian generals took that as good enough reason, blinded by his apparent wisdom. In the active radar station on the basement level of this complex, Lieutenant Michael Prower, a rather stunning, well built orange fox, was the only staff on duty. He was drifting in and out of sleep, bobbing his head up and down, attemting to stay awake. It was dead quiet, except for the hum of the generators also located on that level, and the dull blip, blip of the large screen he sat at. Down the hall, King Acorn was solemnly making his way along the narrow, but somehow spacious corridor, taking care not to disturb the sleep of the off-duty staff. His stiff synta-skin boots clicked on the tile floor as he approached the radar room door. "Hullo, Mr. Prower! Attention!" he snapped as he entered, not stopping. Michael bolted up, nearly falling off of his chair. He spun around and sat there, breathing heavy and in shock. "Commander Acorn!!! Sir!....I was just..." "Don't worry about it, Mr. Prower. I was just making my rounds, and I thought I'd stop by here, you know, get a feel for the place before I leave." He folded his arms and leaned up against the console. "Well, not much to see around here, I'm afraid. Hasn't been much to do for days. The other guys sleep most of the time, Sir." Prower rubbed the fur on the back of his sore neck. It really was quite sore. "That's no problem, Lieutenant. I expected as much. Ever since General Robotnik ordered this place built, there hasn't been much of anything to do here at all. I still wonder why he had us build it, you know?" He stared right at Prower. "Sir...I have to say, you always did have a way to make someone feel uncomfortable. If I may say so." Prower said after a minute's silence. He was quite uncomfortable now. He just wanted to go to sleep. His neck was really bothering him now. He stroked it again. "Oh, huh? Oh, yeah, I do don't I? Sorry, I was just thinking of Sally. She'll be six years old soon. She's really progressing quite well." said the King. "Yes...she is. Very smart for her age. You should be proud of your daughter. She'll be a great leader some day. Just like you." offered the Lieutenant. "I like to think that it's somewhat because of me." "Oh, she loves you, Sir. She really idolizes...." Suddenly, the entire radar room lit up in the red emergency lighting. Simultaneously, the blaring alert siren went off all over the complex. The entire corridor was almost instantly alive with activity as the noise and confusion that started in the bunk rooms spilled into the hall. Some of the soldiers were busy pulling on their clothes, others were trying to ask what was going on, for this was only the third time the siren had gone off since they had been stationed there. "What the hell is going on? This isn't supposed to be going off!" shouted one soldier as he was pulling on his knee-high boots. Meanwhile, in the radar room, Prower had positioned himself right in front of the holographic radar screen, feverishly punching in commands, trying to call up a view of any blip that might be causing the alarm to go off. The King was bent over him, looking intently over his shoulder, his strong hands gripping the edge of the console tightly. "Prower, do you see anything? Anything at all?" the King asked impatiently. "Nothing yet, Sir. There are many layers that I have to go through to completely search the radar's field. And there seems to be some kind of trememdous electromagnetic interference coming from somewhere outside the palace...Damn this place not having any windows!!!" He pounded his right fist on the metal console. "It's a bunker. It's not supposed to have any windows...did you say electromagnetic interference?" Aloicius asked, stopping in mid sentence. "Yes, Sir. It appears to be some heavy EM, too. It's blocking out all my attempts to focus the scanner." Michael tried pushing a few touch-sensitive buttons on a panel to the left of the screen. No change in the green snow engulfing the virtual image. Just at that moment, the soldiers who had been steadily becoming more noisy outside the door rushed in, in complete disorder and all shouting. "We want to know what in the world is going on here! This false alarm should have been shut off minutes ago!" one tall wolf demanded. The King slowly raised himself up and pulled his coat down. "I'm afraid it's no false alarm, this time, men. We've got some kind of problem here." "Now what? Hmm...maybe Julian wants us to clean out the sewers again! Ha, ha, ha, ha!" the wolf added sarcastically. That started the entire group laughing and joking, some slapping each other on the back. "No, dammit!!!" shouted the king furiously. "This is serious shit! Heavy electromagnetic readings are detected outside! We don't know what it is, but the readings are right off the scale. We can't even get a radar blip of the damn thing!" Aloicius slapped down the reports folder he was holding in frustration. "Wait a minute, Sir. I'm getting something here." He shook his head slightly as he put in more commands. "It's no good...I could use some help here. I just, need someone to alter the frequency while I attempt to resolve the image. Anybody?" He looked around desperately for help he knew he wouldn't find. Suddenly, a young lioness spoke up, Katrina. "I think I can handle that, Mikey. Let me try." She cockily put her hands on her hips and flicked her tail back and forth. "Katrina! I thought you got transferred to Medtech!" Michael ran up to her and hugged her warmly. He then released and held her hands at arms length. "Yeah, well, I kind of 'convinced' Julian to let me stay here, namely by a lot of pleading and ass-kissing." She winked at Michael, who tilted his head and smirked at her. "Well, come on! Are we gonna do this or what?" Katrina pulled away from Michael and ran over to the radio console, brushing her hair back as she sat down. Michael stood stunned for a minute, then shook his head and ran over to his place. His expression turned serious as he tried to get back the signal. "Allright, I need you to begin altering the frequencies of the 7th array, beginning with Bandwidth C." He constantly checked the screen for any sign that the green haze was clearing. The alarm siren was still blazing, but it seemed farther away now. The king and the rest of the soldiers had moved back to the rear of the room. Aloicius seemed to be furious at them for something. "I can't believe you people! Have you grown so damned lax and soft that the fucking alarm doesn't even move you anymore? Look, I know Julian made a mistake building this installation, but we still have a job to do! We were assigned here, and here we don't screw around like that! Shape the hell up, or get the hell out!" the king vented. He caught a hold of a chair near him, took a few deep breaths, and seemed to be calmed down as he faced them again. "Look, I'll level with you. Command has been receiving reports of some serious EM readings from the outskirts of Mobitropolis. We thought they didn't mean anything, but with the way things are looking now..." he trailed off, turned his back on them, and took a few more breaths. "Now we have to do what we were trained to do." The previously disarrayed group now formed up. "Sir!!!" They saluted in the traditional Mobian manner, closing their fists on their chests and then extending their forearms perpendicular to their bodies. Among this group was Catt, who seemed to salute more vigourously than ever as he extended and retracted his arm again and again. "Thank you, gentlemen. I knew you were still Mobius' warriors." he nodded. The alarm suddenly ceased. Prower quickly wheeled around from across the room. "Commander Acorn!! We've gotten through!!" he yelled ecstatically, his chest heaving. The king and the rest of the commandoes immediately ran over and crowded around the console. They began peering intently at what still appeared to be a malfunction. A light green, wire frame blip seemed to fill the entire screen. This was impossible! What was that? The group began getting uneasy and tense. "Commander, I'm...I'm picking up some...some strange readings here." sputtered Prower uneasily. "Yeah, Prower, no kidding! I think you and Katrina screwed up some place!" one grunt joked. The king shot him a glance of rage, and shut him up in an instant. "What kind of readings, Lieutenant? They can't be hostile! Not in this area!" Aloicius shouted in disbelief. "I don't know, king, but take a look at that blip at 2 o'clock!" Katrina pointed to where she meant from across the red lighted room. They all looked. The green blip, seeming now almost as large as the palace, loomed over the outer edge of the mountains surrounding the city, getting closer with each flicker. It appeared to be roughly cruiser shaped, sloping forward drastically at the nose. Other than that, the image was not detailed enough to pick out class or armaments, if any. "Are you sure your equipment isn't malfunctioning, Prower? That thing is massive!!!" said Commander Acorn after a few nervous seconds. "No way, Sir! This radar never screws up! Katrina and me did everything we could, there's no way to clear up the image any more...Sir?" Aloicius had removed himself away from the crowd, slipping away into the corner of the darkened room. He had opened up the black com panel and was tapping his foot and flicking his tail back and forth as he waited for an answer on the other end of the line. "Yes, this is Commander Acorn. Give me lookout post four. Lookout?" he said gravely to a voice on the other end that he knew was still a teenager. "Yes, Sir. I was just about to ring you...You gotta see this, Sir." the young lookout said nervously. "I know. That's what I'm calling for. What do you see, lookout?" he gently urged. He could hear the boy typing in commands with great enthusiasm on the other end. A computer whirred as files were called up to define the craft. Prower and the others were waiting across the room, listening in expectation. "Okay...I've got a ship...ahh...cruiser class, very large, approximately 80 kilometers away, coordinates 11-73 North. I'd estimate the size anywhere from 4 to 6 kilometers long from bow tube to stern..." "What???!!! Did you say 4 to 6 kilometers?!?" The commander gripped the polycarbonate handle tightly with his gloved hand. The others seemed to physically spasm at the information, slightly, but noticeable enough. "Yes, Sir. I...I don't believe it either...this thing is massive...we got anything like that, Sir?" he questioned hedgingly. "Not to my knowledge. Thank you, lookout." Aloicius hung up the com, dropped his head to his chest, and shuddered. He held on to the com firmly. At this point, everyone began to get anxious and fidgety. Prower saw the tension that was gaining strength with each minute, threw down the com headphones, and yelled out in desperation. "Sir, what do we do?! We have got to do something about this!!!" The king jerked around and snapped back, "Get to your battle stations and start singing 'Nearer my God to Thee'!" He threw his coat flaps around himself and stormed out of the red tinted room, almost knocking over half of the squad as he did so. The door shunted closed behind him, and all were left looking at the spot he had just occupied. A moment later, a gruff looking, veteran raccoon yelled after him, "Prick! Who the hell does he think he is!" Others agreed and joined in, calling the king every expletive possible. Confusion reined for a minute or two as Prower held his head in his hands, convulsing, it seemed, over the news. He then shot up, rammed his fist into the console once more to get their attention, and barked, "Dammit, everybody, listen!! Listen!!! We've got unknown craft approaching from one-one-seven-three, and all you better smarten the fuck up if we want to find out what this thing is up to! All personnel to your stations! Katrina, make this a base wide red alert! Sound it now! I won't have any one insulting anybody anymore!! This is not kindergarten, dammit!! Now keep on your toes!" Katrina was as surprised as anyone, but managed a feeble "Roger, Sir." The Lieutenant spun around and pointed right at Catt, who was already at his hyperwave radio station. "Com, any chance we can communicate with that...thing?" Catt's hands shook as he scanned the channels, his eyes flitting over the readings. "No...no way, Sir. Not a chance. The jamming frequency is too powerful." Prower lowered his arm and marched over to stand right behind Catt's chair. He folded his arms behind his back, paused a second, then almost gently, said, "Try again, Mr. Williams. I want to talk to that thing." "All right, Sir. But the interference may be too strong for our receivers to handle..." he started to say, but stopped short as he peered up and saw Prower glowering at him, his eyes burning with intensity. "Here goes nothing." he mumbled as his almost numb fingers hit the Receive button on the panel. "Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech!!!!!!!!!!!!" A sharp, piercing whine immediately penetrated the entire radar room. All of the personnel immediately clapped their hands to their ears to block out the deafening whistle. Prower buckled over in pain as he struggled to bury his head in his hands. Just at that moment, the door to the room swooshed open and the King rushed in. He almost immediately doubled over in pain as he joined the rest of them on the floor, as if suddenly he had all the wind knocked out of him in an instant. "Shut that damned thing off right now!!! Mr. Prower, do it now!!!" the king screamed with all his might at the suffering Lieutenant. "Com!!! Shut...off...the receiver....NOWWWWW!!!" Prower tried to stand up against the pain and found he could not. A moment later, the piercing whine stopped almost as quickly as it had began. Prower picked himself up and dusted off the fur on his legs and tail. He patted Williams on the shoulder firmly, trying to regain some measure of pride before the king, who was attempting to do the same half a room away. Both peered up at the other, looking to see if either was all right. Williams took this opportunity to affirm his position. "See, Sir, I told you so. The frequency is just too intense for our receivers to handle." He looked over to the king for some kind of acknowledgement. Commander Acorn let out a "Humph!" took on his most contemptuous air, and blurted out, "It seems, MISTER Prower, that I can't leave you alone in command for 5 minutes before I have to take over again. Just WHAT in the hell were you trying to do, make us all deaf?" "Sir...Commander, I...was attempting to contact that ship out there! But there seems to be some...communications problems." "Yes, I was afraid of that. Whatever is powering that ship is producing prodigious amounts of EM interference. It almost seems the excess is being produced on purpose to jam our attempts to communicate. Our recent problems may be related to this thing somehow." "You really think so, Sir? Because if you have any info on this thing, we'd really like to know it. Frankly, we're out of ideas...Sir." Michael threw up his hands and shook his head disdainfully at his own lack of competence. "Well, I have just finished trying to cross-reference the recent problems we've been having with any kind of natural or artificial source for that strong an EM reading, and the only thing that comes even CLOSE is this ship. Speaking of the ship...what's our friend's location now, Mrs. Williams?" addressing Katrina, who had been keeping tabs on its position since they first found it. "It's approximately 25 miles outside of our Yellow-2 security perimeter, Sir. That places it dangerously close to the outer most reaches of Mobitropolis, Commander." "Have the civilians been evacuated from the surrounding towns?" "Yes, they have. When the red alert was sounded on the base, similar systems also went off in the outskirts. I'm therefore proud to report that all the civies have been moved to shelters. According to our scans." she added. "Good. All protocol has been followed exactly. Outstanding work. Now the only thing to do left is find out just who the hell we're dealing with. Since the systems here won't do anything, we'll have to use the more powerful ones at the main palace complex." "Excellent idea, Commander! That's right, we DO have better systems in the palace we could use. Oh, but they're off limits to unauthorized personnel!" he was struck down by this realization, but Commander Acorn seemed unshaken. "That's completely no problem, Mr. Prower. I still have top secret military clearance, you know. They haven't quite kicked me out yet." he patted Prower on the back reassuringly, then went over to Catt. "Mr. Williams, would you please link this terminal to the mainframe at Osiris, then connect their communications system to our tower?" he asked, confident in his knowledge that they would finally find out who this actually was. A few clicks and button presses later, Catt had opened up the systems. Password authorization was required to proceed any further, so, as had happened so many times before, Catt stood aside to allow the king to enter the program. "All right, let's see...my last password should be good enough. It's an old one, but it'll check out. I've been using it to access the executive replicators that they've closed to me in my office." He smiled slightly as he remembered the times he'd done so, knowing full well that it was illegal to use an out of date passcode. After a few more key strokes, he lifted up the connection panel, pryed off the plastic cover, and pressed the switch. To everyone's surprise, nothing happened. "What the?...What's going on here? That IS the right password!" the king said, in shock. "Sir! Look at the screen! You're locked out!" Catt pointed to the flickering screen, where only one line of text appeared. "" "That's impossible....I never gave him the code! I...get him on the horn right now! I want to talk to him! He's got some explaining to do!" Aloicius sputtered, infuriated at having his command ripped out from underneath his feet. "I...I can't raise him, Sir. He's not at his alert post, or in his quarters..." "I don't believe him! He's usually the first one to his post! He's never miffed on protocol!...Computer, give me the location of Commander Robotnick." "COMMANDER ROBOTNICK IS NO LONGER IN THE PALACE." a calm, female, omnipresent computer voice replied. "Well where in the hell IS he!" ************************* Meanwhile, on board the massive ship, dubbed the I.S.S. Empire by its commander, a large, heavy set figure reclined in an equally massive chair, steepling his fingers in anticipation of their arrival. The chair, located right in the middle of the spacious bridge, was as ugly as its occupant. It was a sick green color, with bulbous structures covering the surface. It could turn a full 360 degrees, but at this time was facing a large viewscreen overlooking their current position. "Sir, we are approaching the Imperial palace." a short, balding officer replied. One would never have guessed that Ridley Schnell, Snively as he was called, was Robotnik's nephew. The two were as different in appearances and dispositions as one is like to find. The man in the chair was Commander Julian Ivo Robotnik, a person whose weight must have exceeded 400 pounds, but whose strength was more than enough to carry him with an imposing gait. His face was forever in a grimace, and his brows forever knurled caused by years of hatred. King Acorn years ago had remarked just how vicious he was towards the South in the Mobian Civil War, but also said he was too good a soldier to let go for such subjective a topic as viciousness. Today he was in an especially "good" mood, since he was going to complete his overthrow of the House of Acorn. His master plan was finally coming true. Meanwhile, the little man at the console was not nearly the image of his uncle. He was barely 130 pounds soaking wet, if he was lucky. Snively had always been known for his utter subservience to his uncle and his whining attitude, which was how he got his nickname. He hated it, but then again, he hated his uncle even more, only serving him because he had no other choice. Serve Robotnik or die. Such an easy choice. He was short, also, barely tall enough to hit the buttons on the uppermost panels on the wall only six and a half feet above the floor.