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Chaos Rising	By : TerminusEst Category: +S through Z > Sonic Views: 1284 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic The Hedgehog game series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Chapter Fifteen: Zero Hour Part II
"Along the black mountainside scattered

By the campfires awaiting the dawn

Two times a hundred men in battles

Tried by the steel in the arrow, axe, and the sword
By battle worn hunger torn awaitening

For the sun to break through the cold haze

And for the banners of Ebal to appear

On the hill in the sun's first warm rays
The elder among the men looked deep into

The fire and spoke loud with pride,

"Tomorrow is a fine day to die!"
Now the morning advances from far east

Now the sun breaks through dust clouds and haze

Now a forest of spears appears on the hill

And the steel shines bright in the sun's first rays"

--Bathory - A Fine Day to Die
"We're
reading a massive enemy force in hyperspace, ETA 120 seconds!" Captain
Drake's voice boomed on the bridge. Kryche instantly looked up.
"Call a red alert," said Kryche. "How are those missile sats coming?"
"Missile satellites are 85 operational. They should be ready to fire in six minutes."
"We don't have six minutes, goddamnit! We need heavy fire support now!"
"I'm sorry, Admiral, we're working as fast as we ca--"
"Here
they come!" shrieked the sensor officer. "Reading over eleven hundred
large sensor contacts plus over ten thousand fighters!"
The viewscreens displayed a swarm of Earth warships, spreading out like a cloud of locusts. The final act of the war had begun.
"All units, fire at will!" Kryche barked. "I repeat, fire!"
--
Riptos
looked on in awe and horror as the darkness of space was lit up by
countless spears of yellow and blue, incandescent particle beams
seeking purchase in shields and hulls. The Earthers were advancing
slowly, bearing down on the Mobian fleet as they closed in.
"Break and attack!" Riptos shouted. "Rex, you're with me!"
"Yes, sir!" said Rex as he followed Riptos into the maelstrom.
"All right boys, be careful out there, and hopefully we will all survive."
"Survive," said Pinky. "That was my intention as well. Survive, heheh. Oh, God."
Riptos
paid no heed to Pinky as he quickly locked on to an Earth fighter. He
chased it as it flew towards one of the Earth warships. "Damnit,"
Riptos muttered as he pulled away. If he got too close to an enemy
capital ship the particle guns and missile batteries would pulverize
him.
"This is a massacre, Admiral," said the captain of the Mobian cruiser Cephiros over the general comm channel. "There's no way we can survive out here. We must surrender before we are annihilated."
"There will be no surrender," said Kryche. "Engage the enemy forces. You have your orders."
"Take evasive action, Rex!" Riptos said as he noticed the Earth fighter behind Rex's ship on the sensor array.
"I can shake him!" Rex reversed the throttle on his engines, dropped behind the enemy fighter, and quickly destroyed it.
Riptos
ears perked up as a message came from Orbital Station 12 control. "We
have a squadron of torpedo bombers inbound! Intercept them before they
launch warheads!"
"I copy, sir," said Riptos. "Moving to engage."
Riptos
swerved to meet the incoming bombers, Rex following closely behind.
Riptos had much less to fear from the bombers than from their fighter
escorts. Bombers were easy targets.
"We'll hold off the fighters, just take those things out!" said Commander Brun of the 23rd Scythes.
Riptos
opened up on the first bomber, shredding it with his particle guns, and
then turned towards the second, which had just launched torpedoes.
Riptos easily shot down the torpedoes, taking the bomber with it. Rex,
Skitz, and Deathwish had already picked targets among the bombers, like
lions picking out wildebeest.
As the last of the bombers were
dispatched, Riptos flew out into the thick of the battle once more, the
chaos surrounding him like water around a swimmer.
--
Adrian
lay on his cot, clutching the edges and trembling with fear as the
battle raged outside. “We're all going to die!” he shrieked as the
walls vibrated from the nearby explosion of a ship.
Stacy put a hand between his shoulder blades. “Calm down, Adrian,” she said, “We'll be all right.”
“Of course we won't!” said Adrian. “There's no way the Mobian fleet can take them all!”
“Just relax,” said Stacy as she rubbed Adrian's neck.
“Relax,” muttered Adrian. “How could I possibly relax in a time like this? Are you nuts?”
She stroked the back of his head. “Just keep telling yourself it's going to be all right.”
“Of
course it's not! There's a battle going on right outside! There are
torpedo bombers closing in right now!” Adrian was on the verge of tears.
Adrian
looked up and saw that Stacy was now talking to a young wolf in a lab
coat. The young doctor nodded and walked over to him. As he came closer
he recognized him as Dexter Sekaro, who he had first met while being
rehabilitated after arriving on the station.
“Well, Adrian, I
see you're as temperamental as ever,” said Dexter as he knelt beside
the young hedgehog and scratched him behind the ears.
“Oh no,
not you again,” Adrian muttered. He still remembered when Dexter gave
him the wrong medication and left him stoned out of his mind for hours.
He watched Dexter pull a syringe and a vial out of his coat pocket.
“Going to screw up the medication again?”
“Oh, come on, I don't
do that very often anymore.” Dexter sighed. He didn't expect anyone in
Adrian's mental state to react well to the prospect of being injected
full of sedatives. Adrian looked away as Dexter swabbed his arm with
alcohol and made the injection. “There,” said Dexter. “You should be
off to sleep in a few minutes.”
“And dead in another half hour.
Whatever.” Adrian felt the sedative take hold within seconds. His
eyelids became heavy, his breathing slowed, and his mind began to
cloud. Within minutes, he was fast asleep.
--
“I come to
you now,” said Nikolai as he addressed the legislature, “with
information that shows conclusively that the Mobian Federation was not
responsible for the attack on our outpost, and that we ought to
immediately cease all hostilities with them.”
The commotion in
the legislature chamber died immediately. Nikolai continued. “I have
evidence in my possession that shows that the blame for this war rests
on an illegal organization operating within our space.”
Well, the balloon has gone up, thought Nikolai to himself. Now it's time to defend it.
--
“Additional threats now on radar!” shouted Skitz over the comm. “The motherfuckers are everywhere!”
Riptos
hit his burners as he broke formation to intercept the incoming
bombers. As Rex swerved left to distract the escorting fighters, Riptos
shot down a torpedo launched by one of the bombers, and then tore up
the bomber itself. He glanced at Rex's ship to see him being tailed by
two Earth fighters. He was leading the Earthers into the firing arc of
one of the station's turrets, and the turret promptly blew away both
enemy fighters. Riptos turned his attention back to the enemy bombers,
shredding one of them with his guns and taking another out with a
missile. The remaining two fled, their afterburners flaring as they
raced back to their mothership.
“Help me out, boss!” yelled
Skitz as he whizzed by Riptos, an Earth fighter on his tail. As Riptos
gave chase, the hostile fighter opened up, hitting Skitz twice. Skitz's
ship shuddered, it's engines flickering as it began to lose power.
“Skitz!” Riptos yelled. “Return to base! Your ship's about to blow!”
“You
don't have to tell me twice,” said Skitz as his ship dashed back
towards the hangar bay of Orbital Station 12. The enemy fighter broke
pursuit and headed home, rolling to the left and right as if goading
Riptos to follow. Riptos resisted the temptation to pursue the ship
right into the range of a capital ship's guns.
Riptos resumed
guard formation as the last of the Earth fighters were routed. As he
turned back towards the station, he saw, out of the corner of his eye,
a Mobian cruiser being sliced in half by a particle beam from an Earth
battleship. He wondered how many officers and crew had been killed. Too
many. And it was happening too many times.
--
“Missile satellites are fully operational,” said Captain Drake. “They're firing.”
Hundreds
of satellites around Mobius began to open fire, sending torrents of
missiles at the Earth warships. Their nuclear warheads smashed into
Earth hulls and shields, instantly crippling over twenty Earth ships.
But this turnaround was short lived, as the Earth fleet began to
quickly annihilate the satellites.
“Goddamnit,” said Kryche. “Just as we get the Godforsaken things working, the Earthers blow them up.”
Just as Kryche finished that sentence, a siren blared on the bridge, almost causing him to jump out of his skin.
“Warheads incoming!” shouted the sensor officer.
“Fire point defense batteries!” shouted Keyche. “Take those things down!”
“Aye, sir! Firing!” said the weapons officer.
Seconds later, the Independence
shook violently as the first torpedoes hit. Kryche held on to the
armrests of his chair with an iron grip to avoid falling out of it.
Bombers now swarmed his ship, overwhelming the fighters and gun turrets.
“Shields down to 74 and falling!”
“Redirecting power to port shields! Good God, they're everyhwere!”
“Shield breach imminent in sector 17!”
Every
passing second would yield another shouted warning from some officer on
the bridge. Now two Earth cruisers were moving into firing position,
lining up for a broadside against the Independence's port side.
The
first particle cannon salvo from the enemy cruisers hit with such an
impact that Kryche fell forward onto the floor as the Independence
shuddered like a man being whipped. As the shaking subsided, Kryche
rose to his feet and slumped back into his chair. “Damage report!” he
barked.
“We've lost two of our engines and three banks of
maneuvering thrusters,” said Captain Drake. “We managed to take out one
of the enemy cruisers, but they're bringing in more ships. There are
hull breaches all across the port side. Casualties in the hundreds. ETA
for the enemy regrouping is five minutes.”
“Do you think we can survive another encounter?”
“Negative. We can barely maneuver right now, and we've lost most of our port-side particle cannons. We're dead in the water.”
“Order all hands to get to the escape pods immediately.”
“Aye,
sir.” Captain Drake gave the order, and as the bridge crew moved to
leave the room, the captain noticed Kryche was still standing there.
“Admiral, you called this evacuation,” he said. “What are you waiting
for, sir?”
“Is it not an old tradition that the commanding officer goes down with his ship?” said Kryche, his face grim.
“Admiral, sir, you cannot be serious.”
“I am serious. Go. I will stay with this ship.”
“But
sir, I must protest. An officer of your rank and experience is a great
asset to the Mobian navy. You can't just throw yourself away.”
“But, sir--”
“Are
you defying an order from your admiral, Captain? Go to the escape pods
now. I will not say it twice.” Kryche glared at him and put his hand
over where his pistol was holstered under his tunic.
Captain Drake gulped and looked around briefly. “Aye, sir. As your wish,” he said as he turned and left.
Kryche
watched through the bridge screens as the Earth ships gathered for
their final attack on his ship. Six cruisers and twelve destroyers
assembled to make an en masse attack on the Independence. He
then took over the consoles himself, diverting all available power,
even the power allocated for engines and main weapons, to shields so
that the escape pods would have more time to leave.
He reached
into his pocket and pulled out a data crystal. He inserted it into a
receptacle in one of the bridge consoles. The crystal contained some of
his favorite 20th-century music. I think this will suit the occasion,
he thought as he selected a Twisted Sister track and set it to play
over the bridge speakers. He watched the Earth ships approach as he
muttered along to the lyrics:
Welcome to the abandoned land

Come on in, child, take my hand

Here there's no work or play

Only one bill to pay

There's just five words to say, as you go down, down, down:
You're gonna burn in hell!
--
“I'm
going to die! I'm going to die!” wailed twenty-year old Junior
Lieutenant Isaac Graves as Bookshire inserted an IV into his arm. The
young pilot's blood coated the gurney, his left arm torn off halfway
between the shoulder and the elbow and his leg crushed and mangled.
“No,
you're not going to die,” said Bookshire as he stroked the injured
rat's forehead. “You must calm down. We're going to get you patched up.
There's a sedative in your IV drip that will calm you down and relieve
your pain.”
“What about my leg?”
“I don't think we can
save it. Look, just calm down, we're going to take care of you. We've
already called your family to tell them what happened to you.”
“How is he?” said Dexter as he walked over to Bookshire.
“He'll live,” said Bookshire. “If he doesn't kill himself from his own stress. How many more patients need to be stabilized.”
“Four.” But we'd better get a move on, they're sending another medical transport over here.”
“How is the battle going?”
“Terribly,
of course. We've already lost a quarter of our forces. The Independence
is surrounded; she's launching escape pods. They say she'll go down any
minute now.”
“What about Kryche? Is he all right?”
“He...chose not to board an escape pod.”
“What?”
Bookshire dropped his clipboard as a look of pure and absolute horror
appeared on his face. “Oh my God, he's going down with the ship? Dex,
get to a comm terminal and try to talk some sense into him. I'll handle
the patients in the meantime.”

'

“They just lost contact with the Independence. It's no use.”
Bookshire held his head in his hands as if the entire universe were falling down around him. “Oh, God,” he said again.
“I'm sorry.”
“There's
no time to grieve,” said Bookshire as he stood up straight again.
“Let's get to the next patient. I should keep myself busy or I'll crack
up for sure.”
--
Kryche smiled grimly as the last escape
pod reached a safe distance from the Independence. Now it was just him
and the enemy strike group. Kryche pressed a button on his command
chair.
“ENTER COMMAND CODE” flashed on the screen.
“4-niner-alpha-6-india-8-tango-golf-zulu-7,” said Kryche.
“COMMAND CODE 49A6I8TGZ7 ACCEPTED. SELECT TIMER DURATION.”
“One minute.”
“SELF-DESTRUCT IN 1:00.00” flashed and then the timer began to count down.
“I guess I'll meet you bastards on the way down,” said Kryche as he leaned back into the seat. “We're gonna burn in hell.”
--
Nikolai
looked around the room after he finished his testimony. The legislature
had grilled him on every aspect of the intelligence data. His part in
this was now over. It was now up to the legislature to decide.
“The
chamber shall now vote on Mr. Yakovlev's proposition,” said the
legislature majority leader. “Gentlemen, cast your votes now.”
--
Skitz watched helplessly out the window of the infirmary as the Independence,
the flagship of the Mobian fleet, exploded, the blast taking out the
ships that were attacking her. A three-kilometer monster of a warship,
bristling with guns and carrying the most advanced technology known to
Mobius, was now nothing but superheated wreckage. The cream of the
Mobian navy were stationed on that ship, and Skitz could only hope that
they survived.
Skitz himself had made it back to base virtually
unscathed, but they had insisted on taking him to the infirmary anyway.
They stuck him in a bare, funny-smelling hospital room and stripped him
to the skin, and for what? Prodding at a couple of bruises. Of course,
he would be discharged almost immediately, but it was still ridiculous.
Skitz's
ears perked up as the door opened and Dexter came into the room. “Well,
Lieutenant Anderson, it looks like you're just fine and there's no
reason to keep you here, so you're free to go.”
“Exactly what I
was saying all along. But you still decided to make me lie naked in a
hospital room for half an hour. At least you could have given me the
dignity of being able to take my own clothes off.”
“Well, there
could have been internal injuries that weren't immediately apparent.
Why am I the one everyone has to be a jerk to anyway?”
“Because
you're a little student kid who thinks he knows better than everyone
else,” said Skitz as he got dressed. “Dr. Draftwood can get away with
it because, first, he actually has some measure of experience and
wisdom, and second, he treats people with respect, unlike you.”
Dexter
just shrugged and left the room, not wanting to carry on arguing. Skitz
could hear the wolf grumbling, “what's his problem?” as he left.
“It's not me,” Skitz called out as he went out into the hallway. “It's you.”
--
“By
644 yeas to 610 nays, the chamber has voted to pass the resolution put
forward by Mr. Yakovlev. The war between the Earth Republic and the
Mobian Federation is officially ended.”
Nikolai breathed a sigh
of relief. The margin was razor thin, but the Mobian Federation was
saved. Of course, it wasn't time to break out the champagne just yet.
Now
they had to tell the Earth forces to stop shooting. Which would mean
going through the President's advisors, and then the President, and
then Admiral Townswell.
Bureaucracy, how do I loathe thee? thought Nikolai. Let us count the ways.
--
“Commence
final approach sequence. Assume position for orbital bombardment
pattern echo-6-x-ray-4,” said Admiral Townswell over the comm link. The
Arizona rumbled as she moved into position to fire on Mobius's
largest city, Liberty Gorge. Despite the decimation of their fleets,
the slaughter of their officers and soldiers, and the loss of their
flagship and leader of military forces, the Mobians refused to
surrender, refused to give up an inch unless they were bled for it. The
war had to end now. The only solution was a sudden, drastic, and
merciless lesson on what it meant to stand in the way of Earth.
“Open a comm channel to the Mobian fleet,” said Admiral Townswell to Captain Ndele.
“Yes, ma'am, initializing connection,” said Ndele.
The
face of a portly brown mink appeared on the viewscreen. “This is
Admiral Tuomas Leinonen, acting commandant of Mobian navy forces. State
your intentions, Earther,” he said gruffly.
“Since you have been
a bit reluctant to accept defeat,” said Admiral Townswell. “I have
decided to make it clear that we will accept nothing less than total
surrender. We are moving ships into firing positions around your
planet. You have five minutes to give us your complete surrender. If
you do not do so within five minutes, we will fire on and destroy your
planet's largest city. You will then be given another five minutes,
after which we will destroy your next largest city, and so on. If we
end up destroying five cities, we will launch a ground invasion and
take your planet by force. Do you understand?”
“I don't believe you,” said Admiral Leinonen. “Your posturing will not intimidate me, human. There will be no surrender.”
“So
you decided to call my bluff. Very well. Five minutes is all you have
before we make good on our promise. Admiral Townswell out.” She
disengaged the comm link and then turned to captain Ndele. “Power up
forward particle cannons. Set for maximum focus.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
--
The
transmission from the Earth admiral played over and over in Riptos's
head like a scratched record. He felt sick. The Earthers were going to
blow up a city of millions of people? Then it struck him. They were
targeting Liberty Gorge. His family lived there. Riptos's eyes widened.
“Elena,” he mumbled. “This can't happen. It can't.”
The
sound of Rex talking over the comm snapped Riptos out of his daze.
“Riptos! Are you all right? You're just drifting. Are your systems
malfunctioning?”
“No, Rex, I was...in shock,” said Riptos. “The
humans, they're going to fire on the city where my family lives!” He
was sure his face conveyed his shock, horror, and fear far more than
his words. “Oh my God.”
“There's nothing you can do to save
them,” said Rex, who had started to turn pale. “It's out of our hands.
I know how much it hurts, but you're the leader, and we're depending on
you.”
Riptos nodded, and swung his fighter around just as a new wave of bombers approached Orbital Station 12. Elena, this is for you, he thought to himself as he hit his burners.
--
Bookshire
tried to purge the thoughts of the Earthers' threat from his mind as he
stitched up a gash on the head of another wounded pilot. To fire upon a
defenseless city would be the height of barbarism. The wanton murder of
civilians was banned by every interstellar treaty in existence. Surely
they wouldn't do such a thing. Would they?
“I think that will do for now,” said Bookshire as he cut the end of the thread. “How are you feeling?”
“I'm
cold,” said Lieutenant Alan Mitsui, a gray-brown hedgehog with his
spines clipped almost all the way down to the level of his fur.
Bookshire took a second blanket out of the storage cabinet and put it on the shivering young hedgehog. “Is that better?”
“Yes. Thank you, Dr. Draftwood.”
“It's no problem. And you can call me Bookshire.”
The lieutenant nodded.
“I'll be back to check on you in an hour or so. You should get some rest.”
“Bookshire?” said Lieutenant Matsui just as Bookshire turned around.
“Yes?”
“Do you really think the Earthers will do what they said?”
“I don't know,” said Bookshire. “I hope not.”
--
Rex
had set his ship's computer to provide a running countdown until the
time when the Earth ships would supposedly fire on Mobius. He glanced
down as he pursued an Earth fighter. It was at just under two minutes
and counting. Riptos had been acting as if his mind were only halfway
connected to his body after the Earth admiral made her announcement.
His maneuvers were slow and erratic, and he didn't fire. Rex wondered
if he were on the edge of an emotional breakdown. He broke off his
pursuit of the enemy fighter and patched his comm link in to Orbital
Station 12, on an encrypted channel so that Riptos wouldn't overhear.
“This is Jesus to OS 12 command, do you copy,” he said. “Jesus” had
been the call sign he used when communicating with people other than
intimate friends within his squadron. He had been given the call sign
because he had the surname Christensen, which created “Jesus
Christensen”, which wasn't too far off from “Jesus Christ”.
“Roger that, Jesus, this is command. Would you care to explain why you are using an encrypted channel without authorization?”
“Command,
I think my superior officer is starting to become irrational. The city
they announced as their first target is where his family lives, and it
seems to be getting to him. He's not paying attention to his
surroundings and he was in great emotional distress the last time I
spoke to him. I fear for his mental state, his safety, and our safety.
I think the most prudent course of action would be to withdraw him from
the field. I used an encrypted comm link to prevent him from
eavesdropping, because he is not in a right state of mind and I don't
know what he'd do if he heard what I was saying.
“We understand
your concerns, but Admiral Leinonen will not allow any of our forces to
be withdrawn without his explicit authorization unless they are a
casualty. A single pilot is not worth taking it all the way to him. We
are tracking your commander now and he indeed seems to be acting
strangely. Keep an eye on Commander Calavera, and if he snaps, you are
authorized to use your disruptors to disable his fighter so that he may
be taken back to base for treatment.
“Yes, sir. Jesus out.”
Mere
seconds after he finished his conversation with command, Rex heard
Riptos over the comm link. The commander's voice was shaky, his eyes
wide and darting. “Rex,” said Riptos. “I got a sensor lock on the Earth
flagship. They're powering up weapons! They're going to do it, Rex. I
don't know what to do.”
“Please, Riptos, sir, calm down. You're
not being yourself. Look, Riptos, I was on the line with station
command. It hurts me to say this, but if you don't return to your
senses, I will have to relieve you of your command. Please, don't make
me do this.”
“Do what? Shoot out my ship's engines?” Riptos
seemed to be on the edge of madness. “I would like to see you try. We
have been friends for a long time, Rexy, but I will do what I must,
even if it means I have to..." Riptos trailed off as if he couldn't
quite bring himself to say that he would open fire on his best friend.
I'm sorry, Rex, but I have a higher calling. You have command now, old
friend.”
“Riptos, what are you doing?”
“I'm going to stop them from destroying the city and killing my wife and children. Tell Elena...that I love her.”
“No, Riptos! Don't do this!”
Rex watched Riptos hit his afterburners and blast off towards the massive Earth ship that was bearing down on Liberty Gorge.
“Riptos!” Rex shouted again. There was no answer.
“He's
lost it, Rex,” said Pinky. “Don't try to pursue him, he has a big head
start and, even if you could catch him, I've seen the results of the
simulator matches between you and him. I know how much you care about
Riptos. You're going to have to fill his role now. We need a leader,
Rex.”
“Why did he do it, Pinky?”
“Because he loves his
family. Of course, it wasn't a very smart move, but you saw how messed
up he was. Come on, Rex, we need you now.”
“All right. This is
Rex to all pilots. I'm taking command of this squadron. Continue your
standing objectives. Let us make our leader, our commander, our friend
proud that he served alongside us.
“For Riptos,” said Pinky.
“For Riptos!” the entire squadron echoed as they broke formation to intercept the next bomber wave.
--
“T
minus 40 seconds to firing,” said Townswell. This was the moment she
had been waiting for. What she was about to do was ruthless and
blatantly illegal, but she had to break the back of the Mobian
Federation.
“T minus 35 seconds. Acquire target.”
“T minus 30 seconds. Report cannon function.”
“Forward particle guns operational,” said Captain Ndele. Ready to fire.
“T minus 20 seconds.”
“T minus fift--”
“We have incoming!” shouted Ndele. “One Mobian fighter, on a direct vector towards cannon number 1.”
“Is that man insane?” shouted Admiral Townswell. “Shoot him down and put it out of his misery.”
“Yes, ma'am. Firing point defense turrets.”
A
hail of particle cannon fire rose to meet the speeding Mobian fighter.
It moved so fast Admiral Townswell could not track it on the screen. In
space, one could accelerate indefinitely, and this brave soul must have
been on full burn for quite some time.”
“The bogey is no longer on sensors. I think we got him,” said Captain Ndele.
“Good. We are behind schedule. Commence bombardment in five, four, three, two, one, mark!”
At the admiral's mark, Captain Ndele deactivated the cannon locks and the entire front half of the Arizona exploded.
--
“Rex!” shouted Pinky. “I think Riptos did it! The whole front end of the Earther's flagship blew up.”
“Holy shit,” said Rex. “How did that happen?”
“I don't know, but it happened just as they were about to fire. The city's still there, nothing happened to it.”
“That's
unbelievable,” said Rex. But his elation soon turned into sorrow. “I
don't know about you, Pinky, but I don't think Riptos will make it back
from that.”
“I don't think Riptos did that with the intention of
coming home to a hero's welcome, Rex,” said Pinky. “Will you be the one
to report it to his family?”
“I guess I have to,” said Rex. “But
I wish it didn't have to end that way. I've always admired Riptos. When
I was down he would always be there for me. He was like a big brother,
really, only better. I've never had a friend quite like him. I loved
him, and I don't think I'm gay for saying that.”
“I'm gay, and I don't think you're gay for saying that,” said Pinky. “I feel like hugging you, Rex.”
“I don't think that will be necessary. Not from you, at any rate. Just think of what Deathwish would say.”
“Deathwish can kiss my ass,” said Pinky.
“That one's for Riptos!” shouted Rex as he ripped apart an Earth fighter with a burst from his particle cannons.
“They're all for Riptos,” said Pinky. “Let's make these bastards bleed, Rex.”
“Yes,” said Rex as confidence swelled inside him. “No mercy.”
--
“--and
only minutes after the destruction of their flagship by a single Mobian
fighter in a daring suicide mission, the Earth fleet declared a
ceasefire and began a massive pullout of all Earth assets from all
territory formerly held by the Mobian Federation. Citizens are dancing
in the streets, waving anti-Earth flyers, and celebrating the end of
the war that has taken the lives of so many of our people.”
The
news anchor's word pierced Adrian's sedative-clouded, half-conscious
mind like a spear. The war was over. The Earthers were gone. He would
live to go home. He did not know how long it had been since he woke up
in the infirmary from his drug-induced sleep. Maybe Dexter sedating him
wasn't so bad after all. It might have saved him from going nuts.
He
was aware of a hand on his forehead and looked up to see Bookshire
standing over him and smiling. “Looks like you're coming around quite
nicely. You should be up and about in half an hour or so.” Bookshire
placed a pill and a glass of water on the table at Adrian's bedside.
“Take that if you get a headache. I'll be back in a little while to
check on how you're doing. Would you like me to keep the lights dimmed?
“Yes,” Adrian mumbled as he shifted in bed. “Is it really over? The war?”
“Yes it is. You're safe now, Adrian. If you need anything, you can use the buzzer to bring a nurse over.”
Adrian
nodded and buried his face in the pillow. Even the low light of his
room stung his eyes. He felt like his slender frame now weighed a
thousand pounds. Even breathing took effort. For the moment, he was
content to lie in bed under the care of Bookshire and the nurses. He
was certainly better than his idiot pupil.
--
The
remaining eighteen members of the Green Dragons walked down the
corridors of Orbital Station 12, exhausted, their spirits all but
broken. Almost half of their number were lost to the enemy, they had
watched thousands of their comrades die, and nearly seen the deaths of
millions of innocent civilians.
And Riptos was dead.
Riptos
had always been the driving force behind the Green Dragons, the rock
that their morale rested upon. Now that he was gone, they were
shattered, diminished, crushed by their grief and confusion. Riptos was
more than just a commander, he was like a father to all his men. The
Green Dragons loved Riptos, and now they had to carry on without him.
It was a terrible blow.
With a heavy heart, Rex parted from the
group, along with Skitz, whom he had chosen to fill his old role as the
commander's wingman. His new commander rank insignia felt like they
were forged from lead. For most pilots, a promotion was a boon—more
money, more authority, more respect. But for Rex, it was a burden. To
replace Riptos, to practically become Riptos, was Rex's new task and a
daunting one indeed. Riptos seemed like a natural leader, with his
powerful, stocky build, a voice that could move mountains, and a
charisma that the lanky, quiet Rex utterly lacked.
He climbed up
into Riptos's old bunk, feeling utterly spent. When the scent of his
old comrade on the sheets and blanket reached his nostrils, Rex curled
up and cried.
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Chaos Rising