Beyond Mars Crimson Fleet (16 page)

Then suddenly, something strange appeared on her
scanner screens. What she first thought to be a rogue asteroid, her
sensors eventually recognized as the Martian moon of Deimos moving
rapidly and seemingly under its own power.

It was at this point that
things got wilder. The Martian moon without warning veered and
arced away from the Earth ships, heading directly for the Arris
formations. The unpredictable course change of the stone juggernaut
caught the aliens by complete surprise. It created confusion within
their ranks, and because of their own tremendous numbers, many of
the Arris vessels were unable to maneuver—blocked by a wall of
their own ships.

Instead, they helplessly
collided with the rocky behemoth in their unsuccessful bid to
escape. This forced many of the outer enemy vessels to disperse,
making them easy targets for the swarms of Martian fighters that
suddenly popped-up from behind the wayward moon.

Selena realized that the
Martian fighters could not be alone. Finally as Deimos passed
exposing its reverse side, she witnessed an unimaginable sight; the
entire Martian fleet was pushing the moon forward with their
ramming planes. As Deimos and the Martian fleet continued their
steady advance, they became unstoppable.

The Martians fought their
way through the Arris hordes, protected by their shield of stone.
As they closed in on the gate, the Martian ships suddenly swerve
away and retreated at full speed, but Deimos still glided onward.
The wayward moon finally slammed into the gate. And in a massive
wave of energy; Deimos, the star-gate, and a large portion of the
Arris fleet were blasted into cosmetic powder.

Knowing that they were now
hopelessly outnumbered and alone, the remaining Arris ships either
spurted into deep space or for the inner asteroid field between the
orbits of Mars and Jupiter. But retaliation was swift as Martian
and Earth ships pursued and slaughtered them.

The heroics and ingenuity
that had saved the Earth also brought unexpected, if only temporary
glory to the Martian fleet. It also had fostered jealousy and
resentment within the Earth forces, as well as almost ruining
Selena's military career.

Selena was relieved of her
command and was passed-over for promotion for many years to come,
becoming a pariah within military circles. Eventually,
disappointment turned to bitterness, and bitterness to hate as
Selena blamed the Martians for her plight. Only by her involvement
into Earth's Inter-system Globalist Party was Selena's
re-instatement secured. Councilman Armon Quinton personally saw to
that. Regardless, Darius' hatred of the Martians still persisted.
It was this obsessive excuse for hate that made her decision of
transforming from a bitter human woman into the immorality of flesh
merged with machinery as a cyborg.

* * * * *

"Admiral?" the voice of
Commander Trager interrupted Selena's thoughts. "Sorry to disturb
you, but we have an urgent message from General Melfi, Earth Ground
Forces Commander of Mars."

Selena frowned. "All right,
put him on audio," she controlled her annoyance.

With a nod from Trager, the
voice of General Melfi echoed through the compartment.

"Thank God you're here,
Admiral," the elderly man toned relieved. "Olympus Mons is blowing
itself apart. We need more transports to evacuate our remaining
personnel and dependents. Can you help us?"

Selena paused for a moment
before answering. "You've already evacuated some of your
people?"

"Yes, they're being
re-located to the far side of the planet. Luckily, the Martians
left most of the sub-hyper transports and shuttles, but there is no
telling how dangerous this situation will become. I'd like to
evacuate them off the planet itself. Can you help us, Admiral?" the
general pleaded.

A devious smile spread
across slowly across Selena's face, while her voice became
understanding. "Why most certainly, General. I'll make immediate
preparations."

"Thank you, Admiral. I knew
we could count on you," General Melfi expressed his
gratitude.

Selena's face went hard as
a rock, as she made a slashing gesture with her hand across her
throat. This indicated to command and control computer to
immediately cut the transmission. A moment later the
communication's link was broken.

Trager's
eyes narrowed with suspicion as he addressed his commanding
officer. "Admiral, I thought you had decided
not
to send any of our ships to
help?

Darius walked to her
command chair and seated herself down. The woman's face was
unemotional, and yet, deep in thought. A scheme formed in Selena's
mind as she touched her right index finger to her nose. "There are
other giant volcanoes on Mars, aren't there?

Trager nodded. "Yes, three
more, all within a short distance from Olympus Mons. I'm surprised
that they haven't also erupted as well."

"So am I," Selena guarded
her thoughts. She then took a moment to pause. "Before we hunt down
those Martian traitors, I have another task for the fleet, a very
important one!" Selena voiced in a sly, and yet, ominous
tone.

The sound of Darius' words
sent a shiver up Trager' spine. His face tightened with tension as
he listened unbelieving.

Minutes later the majority
of the Crimson Fleet reformed itself into a loose wall formation as
it approached Mars. However, several squadrons of ships broke away
from the main formation and began to circle the red planet, while
the crews prepared their ships for combat.

* * * * *

The damage to the Earth
base at Barclave's Labyinthus was insignificant compared to other
commands around Mars. It was considered a minor target by the
Martians, and rated only a quick diversionary attack. However, the
unforeseen eruption of Olympus Mons caused a considerable amount of
the damage. The base was pelted with everything from ash to large
boulders, while many of its underground facilities bordered on
total collapse from the volcano's enormous rippling vibrations.
Still personnel carried on with repairs and rescues.

General Melfi sat a console
evaluating and analyzing his command status as well as the current
situation. His mind raced with possibilities as he issued constant
orders to different sections and officers.

"General?" a hesitant voice
broke Melfi's concentration.

The general looked up with
some contempt as he recognized the voice belonging to an irritating
second lieutenant.

"Damn it, man! What is it
this time?" Melfi's anger and intolerance showed.

"Sorry, Sir," the junior
officer stammered an apologetic tone. "Sensors are reporting
something strange."

"Well?" the general's
patience grew thin.

"It's about our approaching
fleet, Sir."

"This should be simple
enough, even for you," Melfi explained as if to a child. "They're
sending ships to help in the evacuation of our people!"

The lieutenant just bit his
lip in fear of his superior. Still, he summoned the courage to
speak again. "Sir, the main fleet has taken up a battle formation,
while several squadrons of ships are starting to circle the far
side of the planet. Sensors indicate that their weapon systems have
just fully energized, but we can see no targets?"

The general sat for a
moment, ingesting the junior officer's words. With a newly found
curiosity, he switched his console screen to viewing scanner
information. As Melfi gazed upon the screen and readouts, he
puzzled over what he saw. What the lieutenant said was true; the
ships were in battle formation, and yet, there was not a single
Martian vessel in sight. Suddenly, a multitude of small blips
appeared emanating from the ships and streaked towards
Mars.

"Oh my God!" he uttered in
absolute horror.

* * * * *

The Crimson Fleet launched
wave upon wave of missiles at the helpless planet. Nuclear blasts
of no less than 100 megatons each began to devastate every
installation, city, and volcano on Mars. Their flashes and plumes
consumed people, structures, and the landscape alike in a monstrous
firestorm that set the very atmosphere afire. This was quickly
followed by shock waves that expanded to distant areas from each
explosion with an overpowering tidal surge of scorching dust, but
it did much more than that.

The sustained massive
bombardment began to collapse the outer crust of the planet,
compressing it into the planet’s very core. The iron core, in turn,
heated up and those parts of it that had been cooling over the many
millennia was now aglow beyond blast furnace temperatures. The
gravity and the magnetic field of the planet increased ten-fold.
The process mimicked the creation of Mars over a billion years
ago.

Nor was it any different on
the opposite side of the planet. Circling warships began
mercilessly shooting down and destroying all transport ships and
shuttles to the terror of their victims. Their combination lasers
and ion cannons easily sliced through the unprotected hulls of the
civilian transports. Once that was done, they then began targeting
the “safe” areas.

Wreckage from the destroyed
vessels rained down in thousands of flaming pieces from the sky,
cremating the flesh of men, women, and children as they impacted
the planet and crashed through the clear plastic casings of some of
the domed cities. These also caused massive breaches in the plastic
seals that release the breathable air they held, slowly suffocating
the inhabitants while the disproportionate pressure blew out glass
windows and sucked some people out of their skyscraper dwellings to
a sure death. The holocaust then unfolded further in plasma bombs
with their expanding bubbles of boiling energy that dissolved the
bonds of molecules and disintegrated everything they touched. This
was quickly followed by another salvo of nuclear
fission.

For thirty minutes, the
bombardment continued, and then finally lifted. Its purpose,
however, was done; every human being that had lived upon the planet
was dead.

Mars then swiftly came to
its end. Its atmosphere took on a ghostly green glow as corona
discharges of lightning raked the planet in massive bolts. All four
gigantic volcanoes now erupted in enormous and thunderous ejections
of molten material, while fissures the size of canyons cracked the
surface in irregular intervals. Much of the outer crust was gone,
engulfed in seas of lava that swallowed nearly the entire planet.
Mars became a bright-red molten world of death.

* * * * *

Both of
the
Quinton's
senior officers watched the grim spectacle from the bridge of
their ship. However, Selena stood with a gleeful smirk, while
Trager's face bore the expression of total
revulsion.

"Why, Admiral?" the man
questioned, wondering if this act was from insanity or codes of
malevolent programming buried deep within the computer tied to her
brain.

The cyborg woman just stood
silently; her eyes were transfixed on the burning planet while a
broad toothy smile encompassed her face.

"Why?" Trager's tone became
more sorrowful.

Selena's smirked. "The end
always justifies the means. We have to have some reason to
exterminate the Martians, and what better way to demonize them than
by creating a massacre. It will totally enrage every human being
throughout the galaxy."

However, Trager pressed
on. "But the people…."

"ARE EXPENDABLE!" she
voiced sternly in a fit of furor as her head jerked around to face
him. "The only way our race can survive is to stay united! Everyone
must not only subordinate themselves to social demands, but also be
prepared to sacrifice all they possess for the common good! If that
includes their lives, so be it! Besides, they were either bungling
fools, or traitors who knew what the others were planning! They
deserved death! Do you have a problem with that,
Commander?"

"No—Admiral," Trager
backed down meekly, realizing the monstrous part he had just played
in the mass murder.

"All right then, Selena's
tone lightened, and became more upbeat and pleasant again. "Contact
Admiral O'Donald and tell him to continue his pursuit of the
Martian fleet with his squadrons. In the mean time, set a course
for Cramer's World and have the rest of the fleet follow
us."

"Yes, Ma’am," Trager softly
acknowledged. He then walked off.

Selena smiled to herself as
she watched him depart from her side. Once he was out of view, she
turned back to Mars and enjoyed the rest of the show.

* * * * *

Chapter 9: Though the
Gate

Paladin
vigilantly stared at the
Mariner’s
main viewer as the Martian fleet approached the
jump-gate. Regardless that the fleet had made excellent progress,
his face was a grim expression contrived by his apprehension of
imagined misfortune. Disastrous possibilities were springing from
his fears and congesting his mind with doubt. He pondered whether
he was guiding the fleet to safety—or to certain
death.