Introduction

Chaos Rising was originally intended to be posted chapter-by-chapter on the Sonic World message boards. Unlike my other fanfic, The Broken Mirror, Chaos Rising was originally intended to only be on SWMB until someone asked me to post it in an archive. Again unlike The Broken Mirror, Chaos Rising features a feature common in SWMB fics: a very extreme Alternate Universe setting. Like many SWMB fics, canon characters and events are rarely if ever referenced in Chaos Rising and people wanting to see Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, et al will be disappointed. I put this in because I know there's going to be someone who will pop up in a review and way "BUT WHEREZ SONIK!111". To answer that question: He's not here. Sorry.

In the tradition of SWMB fics, the characters are all either my creations or those of other SWMB users. All characters not my creation are used with the permission of their creators. Here is a list of the characters borrowed from other people and the SWMB usernames of the people who created them:

Lt. Commander Rex Christensen and Connie Christensen were created by Rex540.

Commander Riptos Calavera (and family) were created by Riptos Fujibayashi.

Lt. Daniel "Deathwish" Wishmaster was created by Tom.

Lord Admiral Kryche Akwarus was created by The#2RY.

Fiz was created by Fiz the Ancient.

Takeo Sekaro and Bookshire Draftwood were created by Chacron.

Lt. Skitz Anderson was created by PaintGamma.

Please note that this list is not necessarily set in stone. Changes will be made to this section if and when it is necessary.

A warning to sensitive folks: This fic is comparable in intensity to an R-rated movie. There is cursing, violence, blood, gore, and some sexual themes (but no explicit material). I didn't rate it M for nothing.

Prologue: Distress Call

"Hear!
From this day forth
Are the heights of Horeb broken
And the sea of sulfur ice

And blasphemy!
In heaven's chambers
The souls had fled their halls
And closed was the book of life
And behold!"
--Arcturus - The Throne of Tragedy

Four starfighters streaked across the space surrounding Orbital Station Twelve near the planet Mobius, their engine trails streams of blue fire. This was just another ordinary patrol for Commander Riptos Calavera, one of many he had conducted during his twenty years as a Mobius Navy fighter pilot.

"Calavera to OS 12. Nothing anomalous on scope." There was never anything "anomalous" on scope. Even the most intrepid pirates wouldn't have the gall to operate so close to Mobius. Sometimes he wondered if all these patrols were a waste of time, but then he remembered that those patrols were likely why there were never any pirates around here.

"See anything, Rex?" he said over the comm link.

"Negative, everything is clear," said Lt. Commander Rex Christensen, Riptos' wingman. Rex was the best pilot in the squadron aside from Riptos himself, confident and cool under fire.

"Why are we even out here anyway? There's no action here. They might as well stick blue lights on our ships and have us hand out speeding tickets," came the voice of Lieutenant Daniel Wishmaster. Lt. Wishmaster, or "Deathwish" as he was called, was cocky and exuberant, with an opinion of himself that far exceeded his actual piloting skills. Still, he was a good pilot, good enough to get into Riptos' elite squadron.

"Shut up, Deathwish," said Riptos. "If anyone wanted your opinion you'd be promoted to Lord Admiral."

"Hold on," said Rex, an excited edge to his voice. "I'm picking up a hyperspace jump signature. I've got a commercial freighter on radar, just exited hyperspace. It's heavily damaged, with two hull breaches. Damn, that thing's going fast. It's as if it's trying to get away from someone."

"Life signs?" said Riptos.

"Four. They're sending out a transmission, signal is sporadic."

A garbled message reached Riptos' ears. A man was screaming unintelligibly over the sound of static.

"That guy sounds like he's in trouble," said Deathwish.

"No shit, Sherlock," said Riptos. "All right, boys, move in to intercept. Close to 2000 meters."

"Affirmative," said Rex.

The four fighters quickly accelerated to meet the damaged freighter. As they approached, Riptos heard another transmission, this time with a stronger signal.

"Mayday! Mayday!" came the voice of the man who sent the last transmission. "This is Adrian Spencer of t-bzzzt-eighter Independence req-zzzz-ing immediate assistance. We-zzz-re under attack. Requesting immediate fighter cover and escort!"

"This is Commander Riptos Calavera of the 17th Green Dragons. We are here to assist. Who is attacking you?"

"We were heading back to Mobius when we were jumped by Earth fighters! I swear it's true! Earth Republic fighters just came out of nowhere and started shooting! We've lost our shields and three crewmen, including the captain. I'm sure they're tracking us. Oh, gods, help us!"

"Calm down, sir. We're going to escort you to Orbital Station 12. Just sit tight. Are you sure Earth ships attacked you?"

"Yes! We got visual, radar, electronics, it all matched! The flight recorder will tell you everything."

"All right, just calm down and--"

"Reading two more hyperspace signatures," said Rex. "Signatures match specifications for Earth Republic Exocet-class fighters. They're approaching the freighter on an attack vector."

"Engage the enemy."

"Are you sure? We could start a war by doing this."

"I said engage the goddamn fighters! I will not stand by and watch civilians die!"

"Affirmative. Moving in to attack."

The Mobian fighters hit their afterburners, streaking towards the Earth ships with particle cannons blazing. One of the Earth fighters exploded as particle beams raked across its hull.

"Target eliminated," said Lieutenant Jeffrey Nilman.

Riptos swerved just as an Earth fighter whipped by him to give chase to Deathwish. He pulled up behind the bogey and fired off a precise salvo of particle blasts, shredding the Earth fighter into a cloud of debris.

"That makes two down," said Riptos. "Form up on the freighter. Let's see what's really going on."

--

Riptos sat across the table from the crewman who had sent the distress call. Adrian Spencer, as he had identified himself, looked visibly distraught, trembling somewhat and picking dead skin off his fingers. He was a reddish-brown hedgehog in his early twenties with short spines and bright blue eyes that were wide with fear.

"We reviewed your flight recorder, Mr. Spencer, and it corroborates your explanation of what happened. Analysis of the damage to your ship was consistent with the effects of particle cannon weaponry. However, this raises the question of what you were doing to get Earth fighters chasing you."

"I swear we were doing nothing wrong! We were returning home after shipping electronics equipment to Centauri IV. When we got to the outer edges of the Mobius system, a couple of Earth fighters attacked us. I'm no pirate. I work as a ship's hand every winters for a living. Review my registration if you don't believe me."

"All right, I'll look at your records. Now tell me, from the beginning, what happened to you and your ship."

Adrian ran his fingers through the spines on his head and reached back through the past few hours, remembering how he came to be here, on a space station, being interrogated by a Mobius Navy officer.