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[Miles]

Prologue

2024
The blue-green planet Mobius resembled its faraway sister Earth in many ways, functionally and visually. But the similarities ended when it came to their native lifeforms and the surrounding space. Earth, home to the humans, had only one moon. Mobius, home of the Mobian anthroanimals on the other hand, had two. When it came to civilization however, both were almost alike. The humans were a bit more advanced, having brought most of the recent wave of new technology to Mobius. Before first contact, the anthroanimals were ideologically and technologically only 10 years behind, never having to have to deal with nuclear brinkmanship and the long dead Soviet Union. But with a hand up from their benevolent human stewards, the Mobians got on the same playing field.

The first joint Human-Mobian colony: Sagan Colony, was named for a long dead astronomer named Carl Sagan, whose book Cosmos remained a very popular download on Project Gutenberg. It was established in the year 2021 and completed in 2023. It was about half the size of Tokyo, but had roughly the same hustle and bustle. Cars fueled by hydrogen, solar energy and biofuel were going in the usual chaotic looking but orderly traffic patterns. Children and adults of different races and species were milling about, and it was a good day to do it. It was temperate out, and sunny with white puffy clouds. Or so it seemed on a large LCD monitor.

Definitely a good day to be down there, a male Mobius anthro-fox thought. Why didn't I take the day off?

The fox had fur that was a light pumpkin orange and a white muzzle that was graying in some spots. He had one blue-green eye. His deadened, other eye was covered by a black eyepatch. The eyepatch anachronistically clashed with his uniform, a dark blue greatcoat with imitation brass buttons over a white dress shirt and a black tie. The epaulets of both the coat and the white shirt had three silver stars. The coat had various ribbons over his heart. On the upper part of the left sleeve, there was the insignia of the Mobius Collective Defense Force, or the CDF as it was better known. The CDF was basically Mobius' military, which had branches like the various militaries on Earth. On the upper part of the right sleeve was the insignia of the CDF's Air Force, which was a bow and arrow imposed on a small globe of Mobius.

The fox's name was Amadeus. To his superiors, he was Major General Amadeus Miles Prower, commander of CDF-WESTCOM. He had the highest authority over the army, air force and navy in this part of the world, and could only be overruled by the Army General Staff, the Air Force General Staff and the Naval Admirality, the Joint Chiefs of Staff or finally, the Executive Governor. There had been a state of peace even before the humans came around, so the job was boring. Mainly paperwork and personnel management, but it paid well. Well enough to build his eight year old son, another Amadeus Miles Prower, a machine shop right next to the family home out in the Emerald Coast. The last time he took time off to see his son and his wife Rosemary, the younger Amadeus (who preferred to be called by his middle name, Miles) was still working on his pet project: a biplane using base designs that a friendly British-American lieutenant from the United States Air Force's Air and Space Museum in Dayton, Ohio copied for him when Amadeus took his family to Earth to sightsee a year ago.

Amadeus sighed and looked away from the LCD monitor and settled his eyes on a framed digital video screen, whose contents were from last year's trip. Nostalgically, he pressed a stud on the frame which brought the still image to life. Little Miles was sitting on his father's back, arms outstretched to his sides, making propeller noises as the major general, clad in a dark blue polo shirt and khaki shorts was jogging down an unused runway, smiling. His wife, off-screen was laughing.

Pull the pin at the end of the year, he told himself. No more performance reviews, no more bureaucracy and no more of this space station. He shuddered and rubbed his temple with both hands. Western Command was housed on the space station MacArthur which was in constant geosynchronous orbit with Sagan Colony. It was designed by General Dynamics' Electric Boat division, which did other critical military installations as well.

I feel sorry for Gerry Robotnik Amadeus thought and shuddered again. The civilian research station ARK-1 was being constructed Earth-side, and after its completion, a counterpart known as ARK-2 would be constructed in Mobius orbit as well. All handled by the same group. The ARK was the brainchild of Professor Gerald Robotnik, a prominent and eccentric 77 year old medical scientist from Earth. Formerly the Chief of Pathology and later Chief of Medicine of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Professor Robotnik was currently contracted by the government to find a cure for a new disease known as Neuro-Immunological Deficiency Syndrome or NIDS. His orphaned granddaughter Maria, was stricken with the disease at an early age and was the main reason why he took the government posting. Before Maria showed symptoms of NIDS, Robotnik was selected to be on the survey crew when Earth and Mobius made first contact. Unfortunately, he had to miss out. Amadeus met the survey crew, but when he heard of Robotnik's plight, he arranged to set up a video conference when everything was settled down. Since then, the two became close friends. Young Miles befriended Maria when they visited her on her 6th birthday at MGH's pediatric intensive care unit where she basically lived, the costs permanently dismissed at the order of the board of directors and Gerald Robotnik's successor.

They're all decent folk, Amadeus reflected. Well almost all of them. He wrinkled his nose. The Robotnik family had a maverick, like any other family. In their case, the maverick was Gerald's 44 year old grandson (and Maria's cousin) Dr. Ivo Robotnik, formerly a professor of robotics at MIT until first contact with Mobius came about. When Ivo watched the spectacle unfold, paranoia gripped him. He was a hopeless xenophobe. Seeing the Mobians as potential slavers, he started to push away teaching in favor of creating combat-capable robots. He tried to put them forward to the military for use, but the military waved him away, disgusted. He then made an unsuccessful speech at Tech Square, trying to whip up a neo-Nazi like movement which had a few supporters. Then the administration at MIT decided that he needed to be reined in. He was barred from demonstrating. He defied the administration's orders and tried again. The second rally turned violent when they attacked a pro-contact rally set up by the A.I and Physics Labs however. MIT campus police and Cambridge police stepped in and broke up the protest, and Ivo was fired after another counter-rally organized by the MIT A.I lab. Disgraced, he became a recluse after being sternly reprimanded and disowned by his grandfather.

Never to be heard from again.

Good riddance. Amadeus thought. Then his ears twitched as a chirping noise filled his office. The LCD screen cut from the live view of Sagan Colony and was replaced by a blue hedgehog anthroanimal with one silver oak leaf on each epaulet of his uniform.

“Yes Nicholas?” Amadeus said. Nicholas was a full colonel and his top aide. He had a son named Sonic who was seven years older than Tails. Someone off screen was speaking to the hedgehog. He turned his attention to the unseen person and when he was finished, he looked back at Amadeus. “Sorry General. Cyberwarfare Division says their systems all went down a few minutes ago.”

Amadeus blinked. That's a surprise. C.D's obsessive compulsive when it comes to system maintenance. “All of their systems?”

Nicholas nodded. “Servers, workstations, routers. Everything's down. Even the fail-safe systems.”

“Didn't we just upgrade the wiring in Cyberwarfare just recently?” Amadeus asked. Nicholas shook his head. “There hasn't been any upgrades or changes scheduled. Captain Mackay is having a fit.”

There was only one explanation. Someone had deliberately targeted Cyberwarfare with something. Most likely a virus. It was next to impossible, but with the right software and equipment, it could happen. “Someone must be softening us up for an attack.” Amadeus growled. “What do you think, virtual or real?”

“I'm leaning towards virtual.” Nicholas scratched his head. “There's nothing around on the sensory grid. A freighter group just left the system a few hours ago. Everything else is civilian air activity on the planet.”

Amadeus took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. He then released it. “Have Captain Mackay contact his human counterpart. I think its still Vice Admiral Wagner. See if they can diagnose our systems and overlay their security network on our own.”

Nicholas nodded. “Right away sir.” He stepped away, allowing Amadeus to see the central command hub. Technicians and analysts were moving between stations, working frantically. He could see a three dimensional situation awareness screen where a model of the station was flashing yellow because of its current alert condition, with an orbit around a model of Mobius, based on their current orbit. Smaller models representing satellites had crisscrossing lines indicating activity. He relaxed slightly, not noticing anything red.

After two minutes, Nicholas returned looking even more stressed. “Outside communications just went down while Captain Mackay was speaking to the Vice Admiral. Before the transmission broke up, Wagner did mention that a system sweep caught a whiff of a viral presence.”

“Shit.” Amadeus muttered. If the humans were up on the game, they would most likely try to pin down and eradicate the virus. That is if nothing else happened. If being the keyword. Amadeus felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. Instinct had set off mental alarms. Just as that happened, Nicholas looked off screen again. This time, Amadeus could pick up on his end of the conversation.

“Sensory went down? When?!” He looked back at Amadeus. “Sir-”

“I know. Sensory's down. I'll be right down.” Amadeus snapped. He got up from his desk and proceeded to the door, which opened up to a catwalk that was directly above Central Command. As soon as the doors opened, several people looked up at the fox. He waved them off. “Back to work.” he said loudly. He then proceeded down a metal staircase to the actual Central Command level and towards the center where Nicholas and a human, Master Chief Petty Officer David Everest, a linguist on-loan from the U.S Navy and also the security chief for the current watch were in conversation.

Master Chief Everest saluted when Amadeus got close enough. “Sir.”

“As you were Chief.” Amadeus replied. “Anything to report?”

The Master Chief was wearing a khaki uniform like an officer, as his rank among the enlisted required him. “Cyberwarfare, Outbound Communications and now Sensory have fallen under the control of a computer virus. Origin unknown. Obviously we're unable to trace the source or pin it down. Defenses are being put under manual control and observers are being posted at all windows and viewports.”

Amadeus nodded approvingly. Then suddenly, a radio on Everest's belt crackled. The Master Chief unclipped the radio and raised it. “Go ahead.” he said, after pressing in the transmit stud.

“Sir, Hospitalman Beauford reporting. There's a ship approaching us.” a female voice replied. Everest pressed the stud in again. “Can you describe it, Hospitalman?”

“..It looks like one of our old space carriers sir. But different. It's red and black.”

“Is it doing anything other than moving?”

“No. Oh wait, it's stopped sir. Or seems to have.”

Then a communications officer from the hub suddenly appeared. “There's a transmission coming in.”

“How?” Nicholas snapped. “Outbound's down!”

“I don't know sir. But it's for General Prower.”

“What?” Amadeus blinked. Who in the Hell.. “Bring it up on the screens if you can. Audio input for the entire room.”

“Yes sir.” The comm officer returned to his post. Then a minute passed and suddenly, the LCD screens winked out into static, buzzing. Everyone then turned their attention to them. Then a white circle with a familiar silhouette in red appeared. The silhouette was basically egg shaped with two white circles that looked like eyeglasses and a very long mustache protruding from it.

Amadeus' pulse stepped up a few notches. Nicholas' eyes widened. “That's..”

“Ivo Robotnik's logo.” Amadeus growled. “Now it makes sense.” He then spoke up. “Can you hear me you son of a bitch?”

A gravelly laugh then echoed in the hub. “How nice. You sound just like a soldier.”

“I am a soldier.” Amadeus growled. “What the Hell do you want?”

“You sound troubled General. Did someone play a mean old trick on you? Hmm?” Ivo Robotnik guffawed.

“I'll show you a trick.” Amadeus snarled. “Master Chief.” Everest got the idea and lifted his radio up. “All hands on weapons detail. Target and fire on enemy ship.”

“That sounds rather hostile General.” Ivo snickered. “I haven't even done any major damage yet. But now that you think about it, I think it's my time to do that. What should I blow up first? Your station?” One LCD screen changed to show an outside view of the MacArthur. “Or perhaps..” The screen then switched to another live view of Sagan Colony. It showed a red furred vixen gathering fruit. Amadeus' heart leaped up his throat along with bile. “Or your precious wife and son. Then again, why am I asking you? I'm the one with the finger on the button. So I choose....both.” He looked off-screen “Power up the energy cannon!”

Amadeus growled ferally. “You're not going to get away with this. You'll have every human and Mobian fleet after you.”

“Excellent. They can bear witness to the biggest bonfire of their life.” Ivo grinned mischievously. “A nice thermonuclear bonfire. Starting with Sagan Colony. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to send you an invitation. I'm sure you'll get to see your family in the afterparty. In Hell with the rest of the abomination you call a race.”

Calmness suddenly washed over Amadeus. He had never been in a combat situation, but he was experiencing the same psychological effects of those before him that were holed up against unsurmountable odds. He then growled and charged up to the monitor with Ivo's face. He leaned up into it and bared his teeth. “I guess I'll be waiting for you.” he said icily through clenched teeth.

He then pulled back a fist and drove it into Ivo's pixelized face, breaking the screen. Then suddenly, the station was rocked with an explosion. Amadeus and several others were thrown against various objects. Alarms started to howl and a loud hissing noise began to issue from a gaping hole in the wall. Amadeus looked up at the remaining monitor and saw several long tubular objects leaving Ivo's ship. To his horror, he recognized them. But before he could do or say anything else, a blinding flash sizzled through the gaping hole, blinding his remaining eye, and burned through him, killing him and the others instantly.

Several minutes later, the station erupted into a fireball. There would be many more to come.

[dosraider]

Some peeps really have too much time.


And some peeps use that in a creative way.
:thumbs:
Nice , don't wait too long for the next one please.

[Quintopotere]

I've definitely not the time to read all that... so I read only few paragraphs.
It seems interesting (I'd like to keep reading on!), but I have one critic: I find the stile too much "harsh". It's just my opinion, but I think that it needs a bit more "imaginations" and "images"... ok, my limitate english doesn't allow me to explain it better: I hope you find it useful.

Keep on writing! :thumbs: