THE KOSTROMA SAGA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 7 – MARS EXPEDITION

 

15:49 (Universal Time)

Saturday, December 11, 2315

Pallas Prime Spaceport orbital terminal

Pallas, Main Asteroid Belt

‘’I must say that it is a rather ugly ship, Mister Stein. It is however quite impressive.’’

Jacobus Stein, standing on the observation deck of the orbital terminal with Captain Michel Koniev, gave the Sverdlovsk Group security officer an amused smile.

‘’Don’t repeat that in front of Captain Forster, or she could roast you in her fusion plasma exhausts. However, as you must already know, form goes with function in space, rather than with aerodynamic laws. The important thing is that the KOSTROMA has proven itself to be a formidable opponent in a space battle. It is also a very fast ship, especially now that it is next to empty of cargo, and has very long space endurance. It will be perfect for this expedition.’’ Stein then returned his eyes on the approaching cargo ship, which already filled most of the dark space sky visible from the observation deck. His mind went again through all the obstacles and difficulties of the coming raid to Mars as the KOSTROMA maneuvered to dock at the orbital terminal. The grim truth was that it would probably take a minor miracle for that mission to succeed without incurring significant casualties. However, the fate of Mars, the most populous Spacer world in the Solar System, was in the balance.

Once the ship was securely docked and its communications tubes extended and sealed, Stein and Koniev led a group of over 200 men and women loaded with equipment, weapons and personal kits aboard the KOSTROMA. The great majority of them were security officers from the Sverdlovsk Group, while twenty men and women came from the unofficial Pallas Defense Forces. The group was greeted on the Promenade Deck by Tina Forster and Charles Watts, who shook hands with Jacobus Stein and Michel Koniev.

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‘’Welcome aboard the KOSTROMA, gentlemen. I am Tina Forster, captain of this ship. You must know Governor Watts. Mister Stein, I presume?’’

‘’Correct, Captain. And this is Captain Michel Koniev, from the Sverdlovsk Group security forces. We have with us your intended landing party, plus the support crews of two fighter craft of the Pallas Defense Forces which will soon fly into your hangars.’’

‘’We will certainly need all the help that we can get for that mission, gentlemen. Before we discuss further, let’s get some accommodations for your people.’’

Distributing cabins to the newcomers on one of the passenger decks took half an hour, with Tina and Governor Watts then leading to the bridge Stein, Koniev and the flight crews of the two fighter craft which had just landed aboard. The small group took seats around the table of the small bridge conference room, in which a giant electronic 3D map of the Solar System was displayed atop the interactive conference table, along with a map of Mars on one corner of the table surface. Once seated, Tina looked at Jacobus Stein with concern.

‘’I first have to say that we have up to now very little intelligence on the actual situation on and around Mars, Mister Stein. Did you get some fresh information from your side, by chance?’’

‘’Fortunately, yes. A number of merchant ships which had been on Mars or in orbit were able to leave before the Terrans could establish a solid blockade force around Mars. Some of those ships then stopped here, on Pallas. According to their reports, the Terrans have established a permanent orbital watch with two pairs of frigates, one stationed above the North Pole and the other pair above the South Pole. From there, they are able to cover all the approaches to Mars with their radars and other sensors. There are as well Terran parties aboard the various orbital installations around Mars, including the main space traffic control center on the moon Deimos. However, the word is that the Martians, short of other means, are massively practicing passive resistance, refusing to cooperate with the Terrans and even committing some small acts of sabotage. As a result, the usual traffic control network coverage is said to be spotty, to say the least. That should help your ship approach Mars undetected, at least for a few crucial hours.’’

‘’That still leaves these two pairs of frigates on orbital watch. They will be able to detect the KOSTROMA on their radars at a distance of up to about 200,000 kilometers, or much farther by optical and infra-red sensors if we fire up our fusion drive to

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decelerate to achieve orbit around Mars. We need something to distract or draw away those frigates.’’

Tina was thoughtful for a moment, then looked at Jacobus Stein.

‘’If I gave you a design made out of standard ship parts, could your shipyards produce it quickly, within a day or two at the most, Mister Stein?’’

‘’If all the parts are in stock and if your design is simple enough, I believe so. We will certainly give it top priority if we decide to build whatever you have in mind.’’

‘’Good! What I am thinking about is to build drones, to distract those frigates.’’ The engineer in Jacobus Stein woke up at that notion and he smiled to Tina.

‘’Now, that is one interesting idea. Tell me what you have in mind exactly, Captain?’’

‘’Please, just call me Tina, Mister Stein.’’

‘’Very well, Tina. Show me a design sketch and I will have it built right away.’’ Using the computer at her end of the table, Tina took a few minutes to draw a rough design, explaining as she went what she wanted to get and finally getting a nod from Stein.

‘’I can already tell you from memory that I have in my shipyards and warehouses all the parts for these drones. With such a simple design, they should be completed within 24 hours.’’

‘’Excellent! Then, we will stand a much better chance of breaking through that Terran blockade of Mars undetected. Now, let’s talk about tactics once around Mars…’’

22:07 (Universal Time)

Boreal forest ecosystem, Bow Gravity Sail Deck

MSS KOSTROMA, docked to Pallas orbital terminal

Tina was reading an old book while sitting on one of the wooden park benches of one of the two boreal forest ecosystems in her ship when Michel Koniev approached her, walking slowly along the path while admiring the trees around him. Tina smiled to him, discreetly admiring the tall, athletic and handsome blond man.

‘’A relaxing surrounding, isn’t it?’’

‘’You certainly can say that. These ecosystems, along with the giant aquariums, are fantastic! I can’t think of a single ship other than yours that has this kind of environment. May I sit?’’

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‘’Please do!’’

Sitting beside Tina, the young security officer eyed with curiosity the old-fashioned book in her hands.

‘’A paperback book? Aren’t these considered collector items these days?’’

‘’Correct! I found it, along with other books, during my last vacation on Earth, in an old antiques store in Vancouver.’’

‘’May I ask what the book is about?’’

She answered by raising the book and showing its cover to Koniev. He looked with some confusion and incredulity at the image of an old sea-going ship at night.

‘’You are reading about old floating ships?’’

Tina shook her head slowly, her face serious.

‘’Not simply about ships, Captain. This is an account and analysis of various major naval battles fought during the mid-20th Century, during what was called World War Two. You wouldn’t believe the amount of ingenuity and cunning displayed in those old battles, along with more than a little dose of incompetence and negligence mixed in.’’

‘’Uh, why study such old wars?’’

‘’Because nobody now knows about real wars, since the last one was fought over a hundred years ago. Essentially, we now are all amateurs at this business of war. The TCN thinks it knows about it, but it is in reality little more than a glorified armed police force. The technology described in this book and other books I bought may be obsolete, but the general principles of war and basic tactics discussed in them are still relevant, in my opinion. In fact, the idea about the drones we are actually building came to me from one of my old books.’’

‘’It did? Maybe I should read them as well.’’

‘’It wouldn’t be wasted time, I can assure you.’’

‘’About battles, were you thinking of painting victory marks on your ship? You did destroy quite a few Terran ships above Callisto.’’

Her reaction surprised him, along with its vehemence, as she glared at him.

‘’NEVER! Each of these ships destroyed represented the death of hundreds of men and women, mostly in horrible ways. I am fighting and killing now because I have to, to preserve our freedom and all that we cherish, not because I like war. The sooner we can repair this mess, the sooner I will be able to go back to cargo hauling.’’

‘’I’m sorry if I said something dumb.’’ said Koniev, trying to placate her and swearing mentally at himself for his question. ‘’Please excuse my insensitivity.’’

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That seemed to mostly calm her down and she nodded once her head slowly.

‘’Forgive me in turn for barking at you like this. It is just that this whole business didn’t need to happen.’’

‘’We didn’t start it, Tina. Earth did, but now we have to finish it, or be gobbled up by those corrupt politicians on Earth. Right now, 186 million Martians need our help, badly. I will have to kill Terran troopers on Mars, but I will do it knowing that it is to free innocent civilians from a brutal, undemocratic rule. You will also have to kill, partly to protect your crew, but you shouldn’t feel bad about it. For one thing, those old books of yours most probably say the same.’’

Tina lowered her head, some discouragement on her face.

‘’Yes, they do. These sailors from the past were mostly conscripts and regretted the killing they were involved in, but they did their duty nonetheless.’’ Closing her book, she then got up and gave an apologetic smile to Koniev.

‘’It is getting late and we have a lot to do tomorrow morning. I should be going to bed now. If you will excuse me, Michel.’’

‘’By all means, Tina.’’

Koniev watched her walk away towards the apartments ringing the ecosystems, her book in one hand, and couldn’t help feel sorry for her: she was much too young for the kind of responsibilities she presently had on her shoulders. Even though he was himself one year younger than her at 27, at least his own responsibilities were overall much less than hers.

10:03 (Universal Time)

Sunday, December 12, 2315

Bridge of the MSS KOSTROMA

Tina was reviewing maps of Mars with Michel Koniev, Charles Watts and the crews of the two fighter craft now aboard the ship when they were interrupted by the intrusion of Patricia O’Neil, who looked apologetically at Tina.

‘’I’m sorry to disturb you like this, Captain, but we started to receive a system-wide broadcast: Grand Administrator Li is doing a declaration. It is on channel three.’’ Then adding action to words, she activated herself the giant wall display panel of the conference room and tuned it, making the image of a John Li speaking from a podium appear.

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‘’…of over 2,400 brave men and women of the Terran Customs Navy, cowardly ambushed by Spacers in the Jupiter System, leaves me and my government no other choice but to declare war on the so-called ‘Spacers League’. Earth will thus not rest until that illegal grouping of local politicians and industrial magnates is dismantled and its leaders punished as the traitors they are. Already, our forces have nipped in the bud one of the centers of this rebellion, Mars, and have captured a number of traitors in the process. Three hours ago, those traitors paid the price for their acts, after having been judged and found guilty of high treason.’’

The image then switched to that of some kind of underground hangar with concrete walls, with twenty ISF lined up on one side, rifles in their hands. A mix of fourteen men and women dressed in civilian clothes were then pushed by more troopers within the field of view of the camera and in front of the waiting troopers. Many of them had difficulty walking, being in apparently poor shape. Some of them bore as well visible marks of severe beatings. The sight of one such woman with bruises on her face made Charles Watts suddenly scream with anguish.

‘’CAROLYN! NOOO!’’

Tina immediately went to his side to try to support him, guessing what was going to come. It took as well the efforts of Michel Koniev to restraint the Martian governor as he screamed his despair at the spectacle on the display. Pushed brutally in front of a concrete wall, the fourteen civilians were made to line up facing the armed troopers, who then shouldered their rifles at the command of an officer. The detonations of the rifles discharging and the image of his wife crumbling to the ground, like the thirteen others, only made Charles Watts madder, with the image of a stern John Li coming back on.

‘’Thus will pay the traitors who tried to steal from the masses of the people in order to preserve their privileges.’’

‘’YOU BASTARD, LI! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, I SWEAR!’’ Watts then crumbled, shaken by violent sobs. Tina shouted at Patricia O’Neil while holding Watts steady in his chair.

‘’Quick, get Doctor Perez up here on the double!’’

Less than six minutes later, Charles Watts was carried out on an anti-gravity gurney, having been heavily sedated by Maria Perez. Tina watched him go out, her own eyes still wide from the tragic scene they had witnessed. The hand of Michel Koniev on her shoulder then pulled her out of her trance.

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‘’I am still ready to show mercy to a man or woman of the TCN, but not to any of these murderous goons from the ISF, Tina. Not after this.’’

‘’What you will do with them on Mars will be up to you, Michel.’’ replied Tina in a cold voice. ‘’I don’t care what will happen to them. As for those ISF I will catch up in space, may Gold help their souls!’’

06:11 (Universal Time)

Friday, December 17, 2315

Bridge of Terran frigate TCNS KARELIA

In Mars polar orbit

‘’Captain, we have just detected two unidentified ships at the very limit of our radar range. They are approaching Mars from the direction of the Main Asteroid Belt.’’ Commander John Marston immediately came out of his command chair to approach the main sensors data fusion display, a transparent sphere about three meters in diameter in which projected a 3D holographic image of what the external sensors saw. The center of the sphere represented the position of his ship, with most of the lower part taken by the surface of Mars.

‘’Did we get any fusion drive flare signature?’’ He asked to one of the technicians, who shook her head.

‘’No, sir! Those ships seem to be approaching on gravity sails alone. They are now about 216,000 kilometers distant and are on a course to either enter a high orbit around Mars, or to pass close to Mars and continue on to Earth.’’

‘’Any identification beacons active?’’

‘’None, sir! I should be able to give you a better estimate of their trajectory in a few minutes.’’

‘’Good!’’ said Marston before looking at the officer of the deck. ‘’CALL THE SHIP TO BATTLE STATIONS! HAVE THE CREW DON THEIR SPACESUITS IN ROTATION! ALERT THE TCNS ATTIKA!’’

‘’AYE, SIR!’’

As his crew ran to their combat stations, Marston went to his day cabin aft of the bridge to put on his own spacesuit. When he came back on the bridge, he returned to the sensors display sphere.

‘’Any more data now?’’

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‘’We have definitely trajectories towards Earth, sir, and that will skip Mars by about 60,000 kilometers, still close enough to do a gravity assist acceleration but much too far for our weapons. Those two ships also follow each other, with a separation of about 1,300 kilometers between them. They are totally silent electronically but are definitely under power: they just made a trajectory correction using gravity sails. If we stay in our present orbit, we will be unable to intercept them, sir.’’

‘’Hmm.’’

Marston saw at once that he could not allow those two ships to simply pass by without intercepting them: if allowed to approach Earth, they could then do some grievous damages to orbital installations…if the ships were armed. If he did nothing, Grand Admiral Wa would have his head on a platter.

‘’ALERT THE ATTIKA TO FOLLOW US ON AN INTERCEPT COURSE FOR THOSE TWO BOGEYS! ADVISE COMMODORE BARBANZON THAT WE HAVE TO VACATE OUR PICKET. NAVIGATOR! PLOT A MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE INTERCEPT COURSE!’’

‘’PLOTTING, SIR!’’

Less than three minutes later, the two frigates were powering up their thermonuclear drives and starting to climb out of orbit on two searing white trails of plasma.

06:32 (Universal Time)

Bridge of Terran frigate TCNS ALGIERS

Southern polar orbit of Mars

‘’Commodore, we have an urgent transmission from the frigate KARELIA. It and the ATTIKA just left orbit to intercept two unidentified ships broaching Mars and heading towards Earth. The message from Commander Marston is on channel 2.’’ Commodore Lucius Barbanzon, in charge of the Mars Picket, took a minute to absorb the data and information from the KARELIA before looking at his communications officer.

‘’Retransmit this data to the TCN Headquarters on Earth and to our command center in Ares City. Then tell the ALASKA to go replace the KARELIA and ATTIKA over the North Pole. We will stay here to cover the South Pole picket. Advise me instantly of any new info or data about those two approaching intruders.’’

‘’Aye, sir!’’

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06:49 (Universal Time)

Bridge of Terran frigate TCNS KARELIA

On intercept course above Mars

‘’Do we have a better picture on those two intruders, Ensign Mayers? We will soon have to reverse thrust to break our speed and adjust course for our interception. Then, our plasma exhaust will obscure most of our sensors for precious moments.’’

‘’I know, sir,’’ said apologetically the young woman in charge of the sensors display sphere, ‘’but those two ships are playing the stealth game to the hilt. They have not emitted any electronic signal of any kind up to now, at least not in omnidirectional mode. They are also using only their gravity sails, which makes them much harder to spot via optical and infra-red means and prevent us from analyzing their drive flare for identification. Our view of them through our forward telescope is still no more than two separate dots. However, from their radar return strength, these are definitely ships of appreciable size, at least as big as our frigate. I would advise extreme caution, sir.’’

‘’Your point is well taken, Ensign. Make sure that we send immediately any new data to Commodore Barbanzon via dedicated data link.’’

‘’Will do, sir.’’

Two minutes later, Marston ordered thrust to be reversed, to break his ship and curve its trajectory towards the plotted course of the two unidentified ships. Tension was now high aboard the frigate, with the sudden and still unexplained destruction of seven warships above Callisto only eleven days earlier on everybody’s mind. The fusion drives burned at high rate for a bit over four minutes, then quieted down to idle power. Marston immediately looked at his chair’s display, plugged to the forward sensors. His heart accelerated when he saw that the picture of the nearest intruder now showed a definitive shape.

‘’Can you identify the ship class visually or by radar, Ensign Mayers?’’

‘’Sorry, sir, but no! Our main telescope can make out their silhouette, but the computer cannot recognize it. It seems to be a totally new class of ship, sir. However, I can tell you that it is definitely bigger than us, with a length overall of over 300 meters and a maximum diameter of ninety meters. The second ship appears to be of a similar class.’’

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‘’The Spacers League would already have two brand new ships? I find that hard to believe. Anyway, we are here to deal with them. Comms, hail them!’’ After a minute of tense waiting, with the intruders now closer and closer on near parallel courses with the KARELIA and ATTIKA, the communications officer finally reported back to Marston.

‘’No answer at all on any frequency, sir!’’

‘’Dammit, those buggers asked for it! Fire a visible laser beam across their bow! If they don’t react still to that, then we will fire for effect.’’

‘’Aye, sir! Firing warning beam now.’’

Even though Marston was expecting trouble, his stomach knotted up when Mayers shouted in alarm ten seconds after the laser beam was fired ahead of the first intruder.

‘’Sir, targeting radars just powered up on the intruders!’’

‘’Damn! TO ALL THE CREW: SEAL YOUR SUITS NOW! WEAPONS OFFICER: TARGET THE FIRST INTRUDER FOR A 4-MISSILE SALVO AND STAND BY TO FIRE!’’

Marston then saw on the display sphere that the ATTIKA was getting much closer than he liked to the second intruder. They were already well within standard missile range and getting so close would limit the time the laser batteries from the ATTIKA would have to intercept and destroy any incoming enemy missile. As it was, the laser firepower of TCN frigates was already too limited in Marston’s mind, so there was no need to tempt the devil like this.

‘’TELL ATTIKA TO WIDEN THE DISTANCE WITH THE SECOND INTRUDER! IT IS…’’

‘’MULTIPLE MISSILE LAUNCHES FROM THE FIRST INTRUDER! THE

SECOND INTRUDER IS ALSO FIRING MISSILES!’’

‘’LASERS ON COUNTER-MISSILE AUTOMATIC MODE! FIRE ALL OUR FORWARD MISSILE TUBES!’’ shouted immediately Marston. Another shout from his sensors officer then baffled him for a second.

‘’Sir, the intruders are firing massive salvoes of some kind of radar-jamming material.’’

‘’What?’’ started to say Marston, who was then cut by another warning.

‘’EIGHT MISSILES INBOUND, ACCELERATING AT 20 Gs, SIR! ATTIKA ALSO HAS EIGHT MISSILES ON ITS BACK.’’

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‘’Sir, our fire control radars are having a hard time seeing through the enemy counter-measures. Our missiles still have not acquired their target.’’

‘’What about our lasers? Are we getting hits on these incoming missiles?’’

‘’Not yet, sir! Those missiles are still quite far and are also very fast. The hits ratio should however improve soon as the range diminishes.’’ Marston swore mentally at that remark. While a shorter range improved laser accuracy against small targets, it also meant that enemy missiles would be closer to hitting his ship. The problem was that his frigate could fire no more than two laser beams at a time, beams of limited durations due to heat dissipation constraints and of a maximum power of forty megawatts per beam. That was quite meager, not to say insufficient, to stop with good certainty eight incoming missiles. However, the powers that be had decided decades ago that the firepower of present frigate designs were quote perfectly adequate for their roles unquote. Now, Marston was stuck with being the one to prove them right…or wrong. A horrified shout then started answering that question.

‘’THE ATTIKA JUST EXPLODED, SIR!’’

‘’WHAT?’’

‘’IT WAS HIT BY AT LEAST FOUR MISSILES, SIR. THEY MUST HAVE HIT ITS MISSILE MAGAZINE, SIR.’’

‘’Sir, two of our missiles have impacted on the first intruder.’’

‘’Still five enemy missiles inbound! Three others destroyed by laser fire, sir.’’ Marston twitched on seeing how close the surviving enemy missiles now were: shooting them all down before impact on his ship would be a miracle indeed.

‘’Is the first intruder still in the fight?’’

‘’Yes sir! Its targeting radar is still active and it is still maneuvering.’’ A fourth, then a fifth enemy missile was destroyed by laser fire from the KARELIA. Of the three remaining missiles, one barely missed the KARELIA, but the last two hit the frigate squarely and exploded, shaking the ship and making it tumble in space under the kinetic energy of the impacts. All lights went out on the bridge, to be replaced by emergency lights after a second.

‘’DAMAGE REPORT!’’

‘’Main power is down across the ship, sir. Six of our aft compartments are holed and opened to vacuum, including the fusion generator room and the main drive fusion chamber compartment, sir.’’

Marston swore silently at that: his ship was now both powerless and dead in space.

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‘’Casualties?’’

‘’Reports are still incoming, sir. There are however no answers from the generator room and from the main drive fusion chamber compartment.’’ Which meant probably that his whole engineering team was dead or wounded, thought bitterly Marston.

‘’Ensign Mayers, can we still track and target these intruder ships?’’ The young female officer looked at him through her closed helmet visor, fear visible in her eyes.

‘’Yes sir! They are presently pulling away on their original course and ignoring us.’’

Marston understood at once her fear: she was probably worried that any further attack on the intruders would attract more missiles and kill the survivors on the KARELIA. That was only human on her part and he couldn’t blame her for that. He however had to think in larger terms, like the fact that the two other frigates of the Mars Picket were about to face two tough and well-armed opponents if he didn’t try to even the odds further.

‘’Ensign, arm all our remaining missiles and target the lead intruder. Let’s finish it!’’

‘’Yes sir!’’ replied the young woman after a short hesitation. Punching buttons on her console, she fired in quick succession their last four missiles. The enemy ships reacted by deploying more of their radar-jamming material and by firing four missiles at the KARELIA. With no electrical power for his lasers and his rail guns, Marston knew that he now had nothing to stop those incoming missiles. He however had the satisfaction of seeing two of his missiles explode against the lead intruder ship before his poor frigate got blasted by four powerful explosions. This time, the bridge itself was holed to vacuum, while fragments flew all around, cutting and ripping through spacesuits and flesh. Marston heard a number of his men and women scream on his spacesuit’s radio headset while he was shaken in his command chair. His safety harness held, however, and he was able to look around him after a few seconds. The compartment was now totally dark, with not a single instrument or button illuminated. He thus switched on his helmet’s lamp, revealing a scene of chaos and carnage around him. To make matters worse, the artificial gravity was not working, something made evident by three corpses in spacesuits floating around the bridge. Seeing some movement near the sensors display sphere, Marston unbuckled his harness and, careful to keep hold of various furniture or equipment, made his way to the sphere. Two of the operators were

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dead, their spacesuits ripped open and bloodied, but he found young Ensign Mayers still strapped to her seat and conscious, but in an apparent state of shock. Blood and gore from another crewmember had splattered her helmet visor but she seemed physically intact. Using his forearm, Marston wiped off the worst of the gore on her visor and gently shook the female ensign.

‘’Mayers, are you okay?’’

‘’I…I think so, sir.’’ she answered, her eyes still haunted. ‘’Wha…what are we going to do now, sir?’’

‘’Let me first check for other survivors first, Ensign. Then we will assess the situation. Just stay in your seat for now.’’

A few minutes were enough for Marston to find that only one other member of the bridge crew, a communications technician, had survived, stuck in his seat by a jammed harness buckle. After some efforts, he was finally able to free the man, who returned with him at Mayers’ side. Undoing her harness at Marston’s request, she followed him and the technician towards the emergency access hatch of the bridge, opening it and floating in the central axis communications tube of the frigate, where the elevator shafts and staircase were. The communications tube was totally dark as well, making it a spooky sight in the glare of their headlamps as they proceeded slowly down the staircase, holding on to the handrails. At each level, Marson banged against the airtight doors, hoping to find a still-pressurized compartment or survivors. Three levels down, they met with four survivors in their spacesuits and continued on with them. Their search came to a halt amidships, when the central communications tube proved to be open totally to space. Marston looked around with a pinch of his heart as he held on to a twisted segment of handrail and stared at the stars: his ship had been bodily cut in two, with the stern section already a few hundred meters away, tumbling around in space. A strangled sob of despair on the radio then made him turn towards Linda Mayers. The young blonde was nearly hysterical and was sobbing uncontrollably.

‘’We are doomed! Nobody will come to save us now.’’

‘’Don’t say that.’’ replied Marston, careful not to sound too harsh. ‘’We are still alive and our two other frigates of the picket will certainly come and look for us.’’

‘’What if they get destroyed as well, sir?’’

‘’They won’t, Ensign! Now, let’s find a functioning life pod: we will have much better chances of surviving once inside of one.’’

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‘’WAIT, SIR! I SEE A SHIP APPROACHING!’’ shouted one of the survivors while pointing above them. Looking up, Marston felt immense relief at the sight of a set of approaching navigation lights. Even if it proved to be an enemy ship, which was quite possible, it would still be infinitely better than eventually dying in space by running out of air. Linda Mayers’ sobs then changed to tears of joy.

‘’Thank you, God. Thank you.’’

Within a minute, the incoming ship turned into a brightly painted light personnel shuttle of the kind widely used by shipping lines, attracting a surprised frown on Marston’s face.

‘’A commercial shuttle, here and now?’’

‘’It must be a Spacers shuttle, sir.’’ suggested a technician. ‘’If it is, should we resist?’’

‘’No! Not if they treat us correctly. Until further orders from me, you will obey our rescuers, whoever they are. If they are indeed Spacers, then the fact that they came looking for survivors will be to their merit.’’

Attracted by the headlamps of their spacesuits, the shuttle floated to a few meters only of the survivors, presenting them its access airlock, along with a painted logo.

‘’MSS KOSTROMA, Jovian Shipping Lines.’’ read Linda Mayers in a neutral tone. ‘’They are Spacers alright, sir.’’

‘’Very well, then. Remember: no resistance for the moment.’’

‘’Good move!’’ said a man’s voice on the radio, prompting Marston to look angrily at his crewmembers.

‘’Who said that?’’

‘’Don’t blame your people, mister: I’m the pilot of the shuttle waiting for you to move your butts to my airlock. I will now open my outer airlock door, so that one of my crewmen can throw you a guide cable. Be ready to catch it and to then hold your end of it, to allow your people to safely board. Be warned that we are armed.’’

‘’Alright, mister: we get it.’’ said Marston, repressing his antipathy. The airlock door then opened, revealing two persons in spacesuits standing inside. One of them threw a rolled nylon cable towards the wreck, which was then caught by Marston and attached to a handrail. That done, the frigate commander looked at Linda Mayers.

‘’You first, Ensign: you’re the youngest.’’

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Mayers obeyed him without a word, pulling herself along the cable and entering the airlock within seconds. Since the airlock was of a limited volume, it had to be closed and pressurized twice in order to accommodate all seven survivors from the KARELIA. Marston went in last, pulled along by one of the Spacers. That Spacer turned out to be a young teenage boy, to the utter surprise of Marston.

‘’How old are you, boy, and what are you doing here?’’

‘’First, my name is Jimmy, not boy, mister.’’ replied testily the teenager. ‘’Second, the fact that I am thirteen should be of no consequence to you. Just obey the Bjorn’s orders and he won’t shoot you.’’

The Bjorn in question was a grown man and held a stun pistol in his right hand. The airlock was closed, then pressurized one more time to allow Marston to step inside the shuttle proper. There, he found his crewmen taking off their spacesuits under the watchful eyes of a big, muscular man armed with a stun pistol. Ordered as well to take off his spacesuit, Marston was quickly searched by a fourth Spacer, then told to sit with his six crewmembers in the passenger cabin. A young black woman soon came to speak to them, keeping a safe distance while two Spacers covered her with stun pistols.

‘’Before you start worrying about being possibly questioned and tortured, don’t! We are not ISF thugs and we are decent people, whatever Grand Administrator Li says about us. You will be well treated, as long as you don’t turn violent or do something real stupid.’’

‘’So, what happens next, miss?’’ asked Marston, keeping a neutral tone of voice.

‘’Next, we will look for more survivors from your ship, then will go investigate another battle scene, where your other pair of frigates just lost a fight. After that, we will land on Mars, were you will be handed over to the local resistance.’’

‘’And what makes you think that there is such a thing as your so-called ‘local resistance’?’’

The young black woman glared at him before replying to him.

‘’Your ISF goons will soon enough have to deal with it, mister. Furthermore, Martians will be led in their fight by their legitimate governor, Charles Watts. You know, the Charles Watts whose wife was tortured and then publicly executed by your troopers?’’

Marston lowered his head at that, too ashamed to reply to her.

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07:55 (Universal Time)

Hangar Deck, MSS KOSTROMA

Mars low orbit

‘’Are you sure that you need to risk yourself in that kind of fight, sir?’’ Charles Watts, wearing his spacesuit and accompanied by his two bodyguards and shuttle pilot, also in spacesuits, nodded his head firmly as he answered a concerned Tina Forster.

‘’Absolutely! My people need me, badly. My presence will help their morale and strengthen their resolve to fight. Besides, with you now controlling the space around Mars, the chances of the remaining Terran forces on and around Mars to hold on to their positions are down drastically. With some luck, they will see the writing on the wall and surrender.’’

‘’Don’t count on those ISF goons to surrender, sir: they already have too much on their conscience not to know they will not get a nice treatment if taken prisoner.’’ The mention of the ISF made the face of the governor harden for a moment.

‘’There will be no ISF troopers taken, Tina. They will reap what they sowed and will richly deserve it. TCN personnel and Terran civil servants will however be treated humanely. I will personally make sure of that.’’

‘’Then, I can only wish you and your troopers good luck, sir.’’ Tina then looked at Michel Koniev with a sober expression. She was getting more and more attracted by the handsome security officer but had not yet confessed her feelings towards him.

‘’Be careful, Michel, and take good care of Governor Watts.’’

‘’I will, Tina.’’ replied Koniev confidently. ‘’Don’t worry about us. Good luck on your side as well.’’

‘’Thank you! Well, I won’t hold you up further. The shuttles are ready to go.’’ The 219 men and women, plus three young teenagers who had spent years on Mars in their youth and would act as guides for the mostly Hygiean troopers, then boarded the small flotilla of shuttles that would carry them to the surface of the red planet. The shuttles were then launched in quick succession and started going down towards the surface, escorted by the two fighter craft from the Pallas Defense Forces.

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In the lead assault shuttle, transporting 38 troopers and one teenage guide, plus Governor Watts and Michel Koniev, the latter examined again the electronic maps he had of Mars and of his first destination, the city of Olympia.

‘’What can you tell me of Mars and of Olympia that would not be on our maps and blueprints, Governor?’’

‘’Plenty, actually, Captain Koniev. But the most important thing to understand is that our cities were built to protect our citizens from the environment of Mars, with its thin, unbreathable atmosphere and its continuous shower of radiations from space, not as some kind of fortresses. The access points to our cities are numerous and designed to be used by people on the outside even when there is a power outage. Those access points and airlocks also do not need operators inside to function. There are also a multitude of emergency access airlocks on the surface meant to provide shelter to anyone who had to go in the open on the surface. All this means that it is actually nearly impossible to guard or block all the access points to our cities. Even a general order on the computer systems of our cities will not block those airlocks, as their programming is hardwired to not let that happen. Even if ISF troopers are present in force in Olympia and in the other cities we are going to visit, they will not be able to stop us from entering, short of posting troopers at every access point. In the case of Olympia, that means 26 main craft and ship airlocks, plus 23 vehicle access airlocks and 77 emergency surface shelters with airlocks. It would take a massive ISF force to guard all those access points round the clock, a force they don’t have on Mars. I expect them in fact to restrict themselves to Ares City only because of their lack of personnel. Even there, their control will be spotty, at best.’’

‘’You seem to know Olympia quite well, Governor.’’

Watts smiled with pride at that remark from Koniev.

‘’I actually grew up in Olympia, Captain Koniev, and eventually became its mayor before running for the post of governor of the planet. Believe me, I know Olympia from top to bottom.’’

‘’So, what do you think of our initial entry plan, sir?’’

‘’That it should work without trouble. The craft airlock we chose is one of the least used and is somewhat away from the main sections of the city. We will however nearly certainly find inside a small fleet of ground vehicles, which are normally used to carry maintenance workers and robots going out for repairs to surface installations. I counsel that only our shuttle shows up at first, time to secure the airlock and ascertain if

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there are any Terrans around. Then, the cargo shuttle that is following us will enter after us and we will transfer its load of weapons and ammunition to whatever vehicle we will find inside.’’

‘’Sounds perfect with me, sir. Just make sure that you stay behind my troopers at first, sir: no sense in putting you at risk this early in our operation. Uh, do you know how many police officers there are in Olympia, sir?’’

‘’Approximately 420, if I remember well from my time as mayor. They are generally well trained, but lack experience with actual combat.’’

‘’Then my troopers will teach and lead them, sir.’’ replied Koniev, smiling. ‘’We on Hygiea often have to face rather violent customers, sometimes even armed and drunk customers.’’

‘’I see! And is Hygiea as much the den of sins that it is made of to be, Captain?’’

‘’Actually, its reputation is understated in my opinion, sir.’’ said Koniev, its smile becoming a grin. Watts looked at him with false indignation.

‘’Really? Then, I must visit it one day.’’

‘’If you do, then I would recommend to you the Zero-G Heaven deep space brothel, sir: you can’t find a more depraved place in the Solar System in terms of pleasures, both legal and illegal. Most of its customers come from deep space asteroid mining operations and don’t see real civilization for months and years on end. Serving as a security guard in that brothel is a real eye opener, sir.’’

‘’Sounds like that place could use an exorcism or two, Captain.’’

‘’Yup!’’ agreed Koniev, still grinning.

Their shuttle, wearing like the other shuttles of the raiding force new paint and logos in the colors of various Mars mining corporations, took a half hour to descend nearly vertically through the thin atmosphere of the planet, then started flying southeast close to the ground, to minimize the chances of being tracked by radar. The raiding force had by now split in five distinct groups, each group heading towards a different Martian city but also being careful to avoid passing close to Ares City. The two-shuttle force led by Koniev and Watts headed for its part towards Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the Solar System, rising 24 kilometers above its surrounding plain and with a width at its base of about 500 kilometers. The city of Olympia, their target, was built inside the extinct volcano, which also contained a number of mines and other industrial installations, including a ground spaceport. Approaching at low altitude from the

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Southeast put the huge mass of Olympus Mons between the two shuttles and the radars of Ares City, something that Michel Koniev counted on to help his mission. With the sensors specialist of the shuttle checking nervously his displays for signs that any radar or active sensor was tracking them, the pilot concentrated on staying no more than fifty meters above the ground, with him having to jump occasionally over a ridge or hill. As they were approaching the majestic mass of Olympus Mons, the sensors operator spoke up, his voice tense.

‘’An air traffic control radar just painted us. It will raise an alarm if we don’t activate our transponder.’’

‘’Where would the alarm be transmitted, sir?’’ asked the copilot to Watts, who thought for a second.

‘’To have caught us this close to Olympus Mons probably means that this radar is one of the local automated traffic control radars connected to the Olympia traffic control center. If we don’t send a transponder signal, our blip will soon be handed over to a human operator. If we do send a signal, then the fact that we are a Jovian shuttle may not be automatically realized by the controllers. Activate your transponder and hope for the best, mister.’’

‘’Understood, sir. Activating radar transponder now.’’

The reaction from Olympia was swifter than they had expected or hoped, but it also surprised them. Less than a minute after activating his radar transponder, the sensors operator received a transmission from Olympia.

‘’Sir, I have a call from Olympia. It is a video call!’’

‘’Damn!’’ swore Michel Koniev. ‘’Governor, you better stay away from the field of view of his station’s video camera. You, answer the call and try to keep to our cover as best you can!’’

The sensors operator nodded, then accepted the call. The head of a pretty woman in her thirties wearing civilian clothes appeared on his display screen, with the woman staring with intense curiosity at him.

‘’This is Olympia traffic control center. We have received and recognized your transponder signal. You are clear for approach to the craft airlock 2-West. Be advised that the airlock is free of, uh, obstructions.’’

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The woman smiled and winked on saying that last words, then cut the link, leaving the occupants of the shuttle’s cockpit to look at each other in surprise and wonderment. On his part, Charles Watts nodded to the pilot.

‘’Head for the craft airlock 2-West, mister. I am sure that no ISF trooper will be waiting for us there.’’

‘’How can you be this certain, sir?’’ objected Koniev. ‘’We could be walking right into a trap.’’

‘’I don’t think so, Captain. Call it instinct, but I believe that this woman understood who we are and did her best to help us without saying anything compromising on the radio. Mister Ashford, would you say that the TCN frigates’ transmissions must have been heard around Mars when they were fighting our armed drone ships?’’

The pilot of the shuttle nodded in turn.

‘’Most probably, especially when they started broadcasting distress signals. By now, the whole of Mars must know that the TCN orbital picket was obliterated by ships coming from the Main Asteroid Belt. These people in Olympia were thus probably hoping to see some help arrive sooner or later, which explained the speed at which they caught on to our identity. Very well, sir: we will head towards the designated airlock.’’ Michel Koniev was still not fully convinced but played along as the shuttle corrected its heading towards a large craft landing platform and airlock dug in the rocky slopes of Olympus Mons.

Only five persons were present on the inner side of the craft airlock when the two shuttles finished cycling through and slowly floated inside the large cavern which served as hangar. That, and the fact that they were unarmed civilians, reassured a lot Michel Koniev. He however got a fight in his hands when he tried to stop Watts from exiting the shuttle first. The politician gave him a no-nonsense look and didn’t budge from the entrance of the shuttle’s airlock.

‘’Captain, the best way to convince these people that we are here to help is for me to show myself to them. Either way, I am going out.’’

He then followed word with action, climbing down the access ramp of the shuttle with his two bodyguards, leaving Koniev to follow behind with his troopers. The civilian technicians waiting in the hangar stared open-mouthed when Watts came out, then

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started cheering with joy, with the senior technician coming to him to shake his hand with enthusiasm.

‘’Mister Governor, it is so nice to see you back on Mars. What can we do to help, sir?’’

Watts shook back his hand firmly and grinned to the technician, feeling on top of the world.

‘’We will need vehicles to transport about forty men and 150 tons of weapons and ammunition to the downtown police headquarters. Are there any Terran soldiers or officials here in Olympia?’’

‘’None that we know, Mister Governor. About fifty ISF troopers came here two weeks ago, to disarm our police force, but they left as quickly as they came with the confiscated weapons. Since then, the only thing we get from the Terrans is directives and regulations, transmitted electronically around the planet. The only place that they occupy in force is Ares City, but their rule there is most brutal, I must say.’’

‘’They will soon pay for their atrocities, I swear to you. Now, let’s get these weapons and ammunition unloaded and transferred to ground trucks.’’

‘’With pleasure, Mister Governor.’’ replied the technician, grinning, before looking at his employees. ‘’ROLL ONE BUS AND THREE FLATBED CARRIERS BESIDES THOSE SHUTTLES, GUYS, ON THE DOUBLE!’’

08:46 (Universal Time)

Terran Customs Navy local headquarters

Ares City Spaceport, Mars

Vice-Admiral Xian Liu Ming was reading through the latest TCN messages from Earth in the operations center of his headquarters in Ares City Spaceport when a duty officer called for him from his work station.

‘’SIR, GOVERNOR VANDONG IS ON THE LINE FOR YOU!’’ Swearing to himself and knowing in advance what Vandong would want, Ming hurried to the station and looked in the video display screen, where the head and torso of the interim governor of Mars, Nguyen Vandong, was visible.

‘’Yes, Governor Vandong?’’

‘’Admiral Ming, I am calling to learn what is the latest concerning that Spacers attack which hit your ships.’’

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‘’No change from my last report, Governor. Of the two ships which attacked our picket frigates, one was destroyed, while the other was severely damaged and possibly knocked out.’’

‘’And the relief convoy with the troop reinforcements, Admiral?’’

‘’It will arrive in about four hours, sir. I have already asked that its escort force of one cruiser and two frigates be put under my command after the delivery of the troops and supplies carried by the convoy. However, I am still waiting for an answer on that from Earth.’’

‘’And what do we know about these attacking Spacer ships, Admiral? They must have been powerful ships to destroy twice their number in frigates.’’ Ming did his best to control his anger then: not once yet had Vandong worried or even inquired about the fate of the crews of those four unfortunate frigates since their destruction over two hours ago.

‘’From the telemetry sent by our frigates during their two separate battles, we have been able to ascertain that those Spacer ships were about the size of light cruisers and that they seemed devoid of laser armament. However, their missile batteries more than made up for that. They also used some kind of new and quite efficient radar jamming system and were incredibly tough ships. In fact, the lead intruder ship was able to absorb a total of eleven missile hits before it was knocked out, while laser fire seemed to have no effect at all on it. The second intruder, on its part, was able to withstand nine missile hits before continuing on its original course with heavy damage, and that after giving the coup de grace to Commodore Barbanzon’s ship. It has since disappeared from sensor range. Unfortunately, as you must know already, our radar and infra-red coverage of space around Mars is very spotty at present, thanks to acts of sabotage or simple passive resistance on the part of the Martian technicians in charge of the traffic control network. I would like to be able eventually to replace those Martian technicians by Terran technicians but I don’t have enough personnel for that, yet. Things will however get better once the relief convoy arrives with its 26,000 ISF troopers and their supplies. There are also 240 TCN technicians aboard that convoy who were requested by me a week ago to be able to man the traffic control network. Once I will have those technicians in place, we will again be able to properly monitor space traffic around Mars.’’

‘’And right now, Admiral?’’

Ming clenched his teeth, knowing that Vandong was not going to like his answer.

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‘’Right now, the only adequate space coverage I have is of the zone above our base in Ares City. We thus can control less than twenty percent of the orbital space around Mars right now. As for ground and atmospheric traffic, we control only the immediate surroundings of Ares City. The traffic control centers in the other Martian cities have refused so far to connect their networks to ours.’’ Vandong nodded his head in understanding, while a cruel smile showed up on his face.

‘’I know already about that problem, Admiral. Once we have received those two ISF divisions, we will take effective control of the bigger urban centers of Mars. Then, those who did not collaborate with us or showed passive resistance will regret it.’’ That only increased the antipathy Ming already felt for Vandong and he raised his voice to show his displeasure.

‘’If you mean by that that you are going to let those ISF troopers commit more abuses and atrocities, then think again about it, Governor. That kind of tactic will only backfire on us in the long term. Besides, I find those brutal interrogations and summary executions by the ISF to be a black mark on the name of the Federation.’’

‘’Admiral Ming, if you dislike these methods so much, I can always ask Grand Administrator Li to have you replaced. Up to now, the performance of your personnel is nothing to shout about.’’

That was too much for Ming, who glared at the interim governor.

‘’Over 800 men and women of my command were killed less than two hours ago while fighting superior enemy ships, and you dare doubt their courage and dedication while sitting in your safe downtown office of yours? We will see who gets relieved once I make my report to Grand Admiral Wa.’’

Ming then cut the link before slamming his fist on the edge of the work station.

‘’The fucking bastard! How dare he insult our dead crewmembers like that?’’ Taking a few deep breaths to calm down first, he next turned towards his operations officer.

‘’Commander Tomassi, have we received reports yet from the rescue shuttles we sent at the site of the battles fought by our frigates?’’

‘’We just received a preliminary report from the shuttle sent towards the wrecks of Commodore Barbanzon’s ships. Unfortunately, they have not found a single survivor yet. The shuttle sent to the wrecks of Commander Marston’s group will arrive on the scene of battle in about fifteen minutes, sir. I will keep you informed of their progress as it goes.’’

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‘’Thank you, Commander.’’

Ming returned to his chair and sat down, mentally reflecting on the fortunes, or rather the misfortunes, of the TCN in this conflict. Up to now, the TCN had lost in battle a good twelve percent of its ships, and that in barely three weeks. Against an enemy who had supposedly been unarmed at the start of the conflict, that was an alarming loss rate. And things could only get worse, as the Spacers built or modified ships for war, like they seemed to have done with that pair of light cruisers, which had probably been modified cargo ships in view of their lack of laser armament. The problem was that shipyard capacity heavily favored the Spacers against Earth. Worse, the TCN could draw only from a limited pool of volunteers with space experience to form new crews, while nearly all Spacers were by definition trained space crews. The Spacers also controlled five of the only seven facilities in the Solar System which produced cryogenic deuterium fuel for ships, another point in their favor. While Ming hated the idea, the fact was that he just could not see how Earth could win a prolonged space war against the Spacers League. If Grand Administrator Li had any good sense, he would push right now for a gentleman’s understanding with the Spacers, in order to avoid a near certain defeat. The problem was that the excesses of Colonel Da Silva’s troopers on Mars made such an understanding more and more unlikely as they executed summarily more Martian civilians on charges of treason. Right now, Ming could only hope for the safe arrival of the incoming convoy from Earth…and for some people to regain their common sense.

08:51 (Universal Time)

Bridge, MSS KOSTROMA

Bottom of Stickney Crater, moon Phobos

In orbit 9,270 kilometers above Mars

‘’Our four sensor probes are now in place on the surface of Phobos, Tina. We will have them hooked to us via fiber optic cables and directional repeaters in another hour. Once that is done, we will have a complete coverage on passive sensors around Phobos.’’

‘’Excellent, Patricia! Frida, how solidly are we anchored to the bottom of this crater?’’

The first pilot checked again her instruments before answering.

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‘’Our tractor beams are holding us in place without apparent difficulty, Tina. However, the surface of Phobos is quite fractured and not very strong. It would not take too much of a push to detach us from its surface.’’

‘’As long as we can stay at the bottom and be invisible to radar and other sensors from most angles, I will be happy. Alright, lets stand down from battle stations and go to watch stations. I want as many of us to be able to rest for a few hours before any other action shows up. Make sure though that the sensors stations are properly manned for maximum surveillance capability. Have we received reports from our raiding parties yet?’’

‘’Not since they sent the single codeword meaning that they had arrived without finding opposition at their destinations, Tina. They have since kept radio silence, as planned.’’

‘’Good! Have Renée and the evening shift take over the watch. Me, you and the rest will now go rest for the next six hours. If nothing happens by then, the night shift will take over from the evening shift. Pass the word!’’

‘’Understood, Tina!’’

Quite satisfied with their accomplishments of the last few hours, Tina then got up from her command chair and started walking towards the elevator banks. She could feel the fatigue from the continued tension and stress of the last hours and could really use a few hours of sleep. If the old books she had been reading had told her anything, it was that tired or exhausted crews and commanders made mistakes, mistakes which often turned into disasters.

12:33 (Universal Time)

Terran cruiser TCNS RODNEY

Crossing the orbit of the moon Deimos, 23,400 kilometers above Mars

‘’Crossing the orbit of Deimos now, sir. We will arrive in orbit in about 95 minutes.’’

‘’Good!’’ said Commodore Goran Bogdanovich from his command chair. ‘’Any sign of enemy ships?’’

‘’Not yet, sir. We are actively scanning with all our sensors in continuous mode but have not detected anything other than known commercial ships already docked in

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Mars orbit. The moon Phobos will pass in front of us in about an hour, just before we maneuver into orbit.’’

Bogdanovich nodded in understanding at that last piece of information. Phobos, like Deimos, was an irregular-shaped asteroid captured long ago by Mars and measuring 28 kilometers at its largest point. It however flew in a most unusual orbit very close to Mars’ surface, at least for a moon, and orbited the planet in a bit over seven and a half hours, a very fast orbit indeed. It always presented the same face to the planet, being in a synchronous orbit, and its proximity to Mars resulted in Phobos being shaken by gravity waves from the planet. All that had made Phobos unsuited for permanent space installations and it had stayed a simple space rock, empty of human artifacts save for a few ancient space probes on its surface. Right now, his mind was on possible enemy warships which could attack his convoy of twelve troopships, eight cargo or ammunition ships and two tanker ships. Apart from his RODNEY, he only had two frigates to protect all those vulnerable ships. TCN headquarters had not been able to gather more warships for this convoy, being scrambling to form a large attack force which would then head towards Jupiter in the next few days and hopefully put an end to this Spacers insurrection.

One hour and four minutes later, as his convoy had crossed the orbit of Phobos and was maneuvering to place itself in orbit around Mars, Bogdanovich decided to order for himself a cup of coffee. A young female stewardess from the officers’ mess promptly showed up with a service tray and a steaming pot of coffee. As she was pouring him a cup from besides his command chair, with Bogdanovich smiling to her, her right arm suddenly turned to ashes as a shower of sparks fell from the ceiling of the bridge. The unfortunate stewardess screamed horribly, while Bogdanovich could only look at her with utter surprise and horror. The same massive, invisible laser beam that had just vaporized the woman’s arm then moved across Bogdanovich’s lap, vaporizing both of his legs just under the knees while also burning through the deck in a spectacular geyser of incandescent sparks. Bogdanovich had no time to scream before passing out from the massive wave of pain from his atrocious wounds. Fired in continuous mode, the 1.25 gigawatt beam burned through in a mere half second from one side of the cruiser to the other, then slowly drifted against the hull, digging a half-meter wide furrow through the ship and opening in quick succession compartment after compartment to the vacuum of space. The beam then burned through one of the cruiser’s missile magazines,

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touching off a series of powerful explosions which gutted the unlucky ship and ripped it into two jagged parts. The laser beam then was cut for a couple of seconds, to be replaced by four less powerful but still deadly and invisible beams of 300 megawatts each of power. The two frigates of the escort, along with two of the twelve troopships, were then promptly cut to shreds as their crews only started to understand that they were being attacked. The remaining troopships, lightly armed with weapons intended strictly for surface bombardment and with no lasers or space-to-space missiles, proved to be sitting ducks for the invisible laser beams which tore through them without mercy in mere seconds. The thousands of ISF troopers inside the troopships, preparing to board assault shuttles to fly down to the surface of Mars, died en mass when their ships experienced explosive decompressions. The troopships were turned in a mere thirty seconds into large flying coffins for the ISF troopers, with only a few rare crewmembers surviving in a handful of still pressurized compartments.

The crews of the cargo and ammunition ships, along with the two tanker ships, could only watch helplessly as the rest of their convoy was systematically destroyed and turned into space wrecks in less than a minute. All they could do was to send frantic messages for help on the radio to both the surface and towards Earth. Those last messages would however take twenty minutes to be received, due to the distance, apart from containing no truly helpful information on who had attacked the convoy. As the crews of the cargo ships prayed for a miracle, fully expecting to die in the next minutes, the laser beams were cut. Then, two minutes after the start of the attack, a radio message with no video input was received by the surviving Terran ships.

‘’To the eight Terran cargo ships and two tanker ships in medium orbit over Mars, this is the Spacers League Mars Task Force. You will stop immediately all

transmissions, will refrain from firing up your main drives and will not maneuver further without our permission. If any ship disobeys our orders, it will be immediately destroyed. Each ship will now acknowledge our call and will identify itself at the same time, plus will state the nature of its cargo, over.’’

The senior captain of the cargo ships, an old space dog who held a reserve commission in the TCN, swallowed hard and wiped off the sweat on his forehead before answering first.

‘’Spacers League Task Force, this is the TCN cargo ship WANDERER, with a cargo of 16,000 tons of rations and fresh foodstuff, over.’’

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As the other surviving ships answered in turn, the captain of the WANDERER looked at his sensors operator.

‘’Where did the call come from, Yvan?’’

‘’From Phobos, above us. From its present overwatch position, the enemy is in perfect position to watch us and destroy us if they decide to do so, Captain.’’

‘’Damn! Then we better obey their orders to the letter. No sense in playing heroes now.’’

Another operator then looked at the captain, his face showing uncertainty.

‘’Captain, the TCN headquarter in Ares City is demanding more information. Should…’’

‘’DON’T ANSWER THEM!’’ Was the immediate response. ‘’We will only talk on the radio to answer those Spacers above us.’’

About fifteen minutes later, the sensors operator of the WANDERER made another announcement.

‘’Captain, we have three craft coming down towards us from Phobos.’’

‘’What type of craft?’’

‘’I can’t say yet, Captain.’’

‘’Very well. Tell me once you know more.’’

‘’Aye, Captain.’’

Mere seconds after that, another message from above was received.

‘’Terran supply ships in Mars orbit, this is Spacers League Mars Task Force. You will now follow our fighter craft towards the nearby Harmond Orbital Resort, where you will dock your ships and then vacate them. Once in the resort, you will take rooms there and stay there quietly. Don’t worry about having to pay the bills for the resort: we will take care of that. Start moving now on gravity sail power.’’

‘’How mighty generous of them!’’ said sarcastically the captain of the WANDERER, attracting a forced smile from one of his bridge crewmembers.

‘’It could be worse, Captain: the Harmond Orbital Resort has a good reputation as a space hotel.’’

‘’I’m sure that TCN headquarters on Earth will be thrilled by that detail, Martin.’’

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In Ares City, the news of the destruction of the convoy struck Vice-Admiral Ming like a lightning bolt, forcing him to sit down heavily. After a moment taken to recover from his shock, he looked up at his operations officer, himself pale.

‘’What do we know about the enemy force, Commander?’’

‘’That it apparently lay in ambush at the surface of Phobos and that it possesses extremely powerful laser armament, which it used in exclusivity to destroy our escort ships and troopships in mere seconds. Our sensors have not yet seen the main enemy ships but three craft, supposedly fighter craft, came down from Phobos and are escorting our captured supply ships to the Harmond Orbital Resort, where their crews have orders to dock and then vacate their ships.’’

‘’The Harmond Orbital Resort? But, we have no TCN or ISF personnel there, since it was deemed a commercial installation of little consequence.’’

‘’That’s correct, sir. That would allow the enemy to easily board our supply ships there and grab whatever they want.’’

Ming looked with alarm at Tomassi at those words.

‘’Quick, get me the manifest of what is in those supply ships!’’

‘’Right away, sir!’’ said the operations officers before walking away. He was back in front of Ming less than three minutes later with a paper printout counting a dozen pages, which he handed over silently to his admiral. Ming swore as he reviewed quickly the list.

‘’By the dragons, this is worse than I expected! We must do the utmost to stop the enemy from getting his hands on all this.’’

‘’But, sir, we have nothing left with to do that. We have only left here in Ares City a grand total of eight ISF armed patrol craft meant for atmospheric and surface combat. With the kind of laser firepower the enemy has, they stand absolutely no chance of even getting close to that space resort, sir.’’

‘’I know, but we can’t simply do nothing right now. Look at the cargo of these two ammunition ships on the list and you will understand what I mean, Commander.’’ Tomassi took the list presented by Ming and reviewed the paragraphs of concern with growing alarm, to finally looking up from the list with a haggard look.

‘’I…I will give the orders for the ISF squadron to attack at once, sir.’’

As Tomassi had said, and has Ming had also suspected, the attack by the ISF patrol craft squadron turned quickly into a complete disaster, with all the craft destroyed

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by long range laser fire well before they could even approach the Harmond Orbital Resort and the precious supply ships docked there. The only positive outcome of that engagement was a piece of news that enraged Vice-Admiral Xian Liu Ming.

‘’One ship? The whole enemy task force consists of only one ship?’’

‘’Yes, sir, but it is a huge ship, with 25 gigawatts of installed generator power, plenty to be able to supply gigawatt-class laser batteries. With its massive bow anti-radiation and anti-meteorite shield, this MSS KOSTROMA would deserve to be called a battleship, sir. Here are the official specifications of the KOSTROMA, as it left its last refit eight months ago.’’

Grabbing the electronic tablet offered by Tomassi, Ming read with intense interest the specifications and performances of the KOSTROMA. He couldn’t help be impressed by his reading.

‘’You are right, Commander. This ship would deserve the title of ‘battleship’. They must have rerouted the beams from their fusion startup laser batteries to outside optical directors. It would be an ingenious but still rather simple method to create a very powerful laser armament capability. It however doesn’t apparently have any installation or magazine space which could be turned into missile batteries. Our data on the convoy battle also makes no mention of enemy missile fire. Maybe this KOSTROMA has only laser armament?’’

‘’Uh, I wouldn’t bet my life on that, sir. It would be better to assume the worst right now. Besides, there are plenty of missiles in our ammunition ships which they could use.’’

‘’True! Let’s see about its captain: he has proved up to now to be way too crafty to my taste.’’

Jumping to the crew list of the KOSTROMA, Ming was left staring with disbelief at a picture of Tina Forster for long seconds.

‘’A girl of 28 years of age? She could be my daughter, damn it! Very well, Commander. Transmit this intelligence to TCN headquarters on Earth, with top priority for transmission. This could be vital information for Grand Admiral Wa.’’

‘’Right away, sir.’’

Less than ten minutes later, as Ming had just finished informing Governor Vandong about the convoy disaster and the fruitless counter-attack, his communications officer ran to him, a shocked air on his face.

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‘’Sir, there is something that you need to see immediately: the enemy is right now broadcasting to the whole Solar System, directly from the surface of Mars!’’

‘’WHAT? SHOW ME!’’

The officer used a nearby communications station and tuned it to the main public information channel of the planet, making the image of a man with grey-black hair appear. Ming recognized him at once, shouting in surprise.

‘’Governor Watts, here on Mars?’’

He then listened on carefully as Watts spoke firmly in his microphone while facing a camera in a small recording studio, standing behind a lectern bearing the blazon of Mars.

‘’…has started its fight to regain freedom from the tyranny of Earth. Spacers League forces now control the orbit of Mars, after having inflicted stinging losses to the Terran Navy. For anyone who would doubt my words about that, here are selected recordings taken after the three battles lost up to now in orbit by the Terrans.’’ To Ming’s fury, the broadcast then showed film footage of the debris of the four frigates of Barbanzon’s picket force, plus debris from the convoy escort ships and troopships, with the camera zooming on ship’s bow markings to identify the vanquished ships. The view then returned to Watts behind his lectern.

‘’To the Terran personnel still on Mars, I urge you to surrender in order to avoid unnecessary casualties. You are now isolated and cut from your supply route from Earth and are overmatched in terms of both firepower and numbers. If you surrender now, you will be treated well, unless you participated in one of the multitude of war crimes committed against Martian civilians, mostly by ISF troopers. If you continue to oppress the Martian people, though, then you can expect no mercy on our part. To the Terran Federation Council and to Grand Administrator Li, the true artisans of this totally unneeded war, I say this: enter now armistice talks with the Spacers League and stop this obscene waste of lives. If you don’t, then the Spacers League will have no choice but to declare a space embargo on all space goods and resources normally sent to Earth. This will mean no more hydrocarbons, chemical or metals, no surplus food from us Spacers, no new ships and no cryogenic fuel for Earth. Your industries will grind to a halt; your workers will find themselves out of a job and you will run out of many things you take for granted right now. All that to satisfy the monstrous egos of Grand Administrator Li and of his corrupt council. This peace offer will be made only once, now. Earth will have to understand that the current status quo on Earth, with continued uncontrolled population growth and irresponsible pilfering of irreplaceable natural

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resources, cannot go on. The people of Earth will have to wake up to reality, deal responsibly with the multiple problems of the planet and, especially, to stop following blindly politicians serving it empty promises and unrealistic dreams. We of the Spacers League only wish to live in peace and to be respected as equal partners rather than continue to be exploited as if we are only bottomless resource pits for the sole benefit of Earth. We did not wish this war, but now that the Terran Federation Council has forced it on us, we will not relent until we win our rights to freedom and independence. In the name of the Spacers League, this is Governor Charles Watts, speaking from Mars.’’ Ming then realized that a heavy silence had fallen in the operations center and, looking around, saw that all his personnel was now looking at him, obviously hoping for some sort of directive from him. Right now, he was tempted to listen to his heart and to surrender to the enemy, in order to stop his men and women from dying needlessly. He knew however that Grand Admiral Wa and Grand Administrator Li would never pardon him for that. It thus came down to the good of his personnel versus his own professional survival. Something then snapped inside him and he rose slowly from his chair before speaking up to his personnel.

‘’Everybody will continue to man his or her station. I will be calling Governor Vandong in the meantime.’’

Going to his private office, Ming hesitated one last time as he was about to call Vandong on his videophone. He finally decided to call first his wife, who lived like many TCN personnel family members in Ares City.

‘’Ziyi, it’s me. Did you watch Governor Watts’ address?... You did? Good! Then you can realize what kind of dilemma I am facing now… Yes, I fully realize that, Ziyi. However, I am more worried about the immediate repercussions for you and the kids. I have no confidence in Governor Vandong and certainly none in Colonel Da Silva. Those two are brainless bastards and are capable of anything. What I want you to do now is to quickly collect a suitcase worth of spare clothes, our valuables and as much cash as you can withdraw from the bank and to then disappear somewhere in town with the kids… That’s right, you heard me well: I want you to disappear with the kids until further notice… Ziyi, I perfectly realize what I am risking personally, but I have to think about more than just myself right now. We have just lost over 30,000 men and women today and I have no wish to see more of them die, so do as I say and go! Don’t waste time

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either: the ISF may react quickly and try to arrest you as well as me. Please, go, now! Whatever happens, know that I love you.’’

His heart heavy, Ming then closed the video link and waited ten minutes before doing his next call, to Commander Tomassi in the operations center.

‘’Commander, this is Admiral Ming. You will broadcast the following order to all the TCN personnel in and around Mars under my command: they are to surrender to the Spacers League at the first occasion and to stop immediately any hostile actions against Spacers. Make sure that those Spacer ships also get that broadcast. Then, tell all our headquarters personnel to go to their families and pack for eventual departure. Advise them to expect possible hostile reactions from ISF troopers and to make sure they have their personal weapons with them. Then leave the headquarters as well.’’

‘’But…and you, sir?’’

‘’I will take care of myself, Commander. Now, execute my orders and then go.’’

‘’Yes sir! It was a privilege to serve under you, sir.’’

Tomassi then terminated the link. Shortly thereafter, Ming heard him pass his directives by loudspeaker across the building. Ming waited another ten minutes, as he could hear people running around the corridors of the headquarters, before doing another call, this time to Vandong. By now he had time to think about his personal options and had made a number of resolutions. His tone with Vandong was far from the one which he had used with his wife.

‘’Governor Vandong, this is Vice-Admiral Ming. I am calling to announce to you that I decided to accept to surrender the TCN forces and personnel on Mars to the Spacers League, in order to avoid further useless bloodshed. I would strongly urge you to consider the same option, sir.’’

‘’WHAT? HAVE YOU GONE MAD? YOU CAN’T SURRENDER LIKE THIS! IT WOULD BE TREASON!’’

‘’No, sir: it is simply common sense. We already lost over 30,000 people today and I am not going to sacrifice another 2,000 people in a futile fight that is lost in advance. We have no more ships to fight with and the enemy is about to get their hands on a stockpile of more than 900 heavy ship missiles, with which it could bombard at will our base here in Ares City, or blow to bits any relief fleet.’’

‘’You coward! We just need to wait for more reinforcements from Earth and those Spacers will be then done for. You can’t give up this quickly, Admiral.’’

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‘’Governor, you better get out of your world of dreams, and quickly! As for my decision, it has been taken and I will abide by it. Feel free to do a last heroic stand of your own when the Spacers will come for you. Goodbye, Governor Vandong!’’ Ming then closed the link and sat down, now feeling somewhat better. Taking out his personal sidearm, he made sure that a bullet was chambered and that its magazine was full, then put it back in its holster. Getting up, he did a last visit to the bathroom attached to his office, then waited patiently, his pistol in one hand, while contemplating the landscape of Mars through the thick Armorglass panes of his office.

Ming had to wait about twenty minutes before the noise of booted feet in the corridor alerted him. He turned around to face the door and put his hands in his back before taking a deep breath. Thirty seconds later, his door was brutally kicked open and Lieutenant Colonel Da Silva walked inside with two ISF troopers brandishing automatic rifles. Da Silva was in combat attire himself and had his pistol in his hand as he eyed Ming with contempt.

‘’There you are, you coward! You are under arr…’’

He never had the chance to finish his sentence before Ming suddenly raised his pistol and fired on automatic mode, spraying Da Silva from belly to forehead and killing him nearly instantly. In turn, Ming was gunned down at once by the two ISF troopers and killed, leaving blood splattered on the Armorglass as his body slid down to the carpet.

13:49 (Universal Time)

Avalon Spaceport Orbital Terminal

Low Earth Orbit

Gustav Shomberg looked for a moment through the Armorglass viewing ports of the Avalon Spaceport Orbital Terminal’ observation deck, examining with expert eyes the blunt arrowpoint-shaped ship he intended to board with his private secretary, Agneta Friedenhaller. He had designed the MSS FOR HIRE sixteen years ago and it had proved to be a very successful design indeed, being then copied in good numbers. Built to carry hundreds of cargo containers across interplanetary space, it had the very useful capability to be able to enter planetary atmospheres and land vertically, including on Earth, thus delivering its cargo directly to its final destination, thanks to its huge gravity sail surfaces. It was nowhere as massive as the MSS KOSTROMA, having an empty

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mass of less than 100,000 tons, and it was not the fastest ship around but its versatility had made it a very profitable design, well liked by its crews and owners. The MSS FOR HIRE also had the additional benefit of having a captain who Gustav Shomberg knew well and trusted completely.

‘’Let’s go, Agneta. We should hurry before someone at the ISF or TCN wakes up and sends goons after us.’’

‘’You really think that they will come for us, Gustav?’’ asked the beautiful blonde in her thirties standing at his right side. Shomberg looked at his fateful private secretary and secret lover with a fatalistic expression.

‘’Would you prefer to wait for them to have an answer to that, Agneta? Believe me, if they would not find me, then they would look for you, to make you tell them where I am.’’

The blonde, who was a lot more intelligent than some would judge just from her good looks and sexy curves, lowered her head, understanding full well what he meant.

‘’It is sad to see that things have come down to this for Humanity, Gustav, but I understand your stand and support you. Let’s go see your friend of yours.’’

Towing the anti-gravity platform supporting their luggage, the couple walked down the observation deck and took an elevator which carried them to the gate entrance leading to the boarding airlock of the MSS FOR HIRE. To Shomberg’s relief, there was no customs officer or ISF trooper at the gate, only a boarding agent of the American Shipping Lines, which owned the cargo ship. He thus approached the agent with Agneta with apparent calm and assurance, stopping in front of the young man’s counter and smiling to him.

‘’Good afternoon, sir. Me and my secretary would like to purchase passage on the FOR HIRE to Juno asteroid. Could I first call Captain Erikson to tell him I am here: he is a good friend of mine.’’

‘’Certainly, sir!’’ said amiably the young agent, pointing the videophone set on his counter. ‘’Use Line Three to call the FOR HIRE, sir.’’

‘’Thank you!’’

Letting the young agent admire discreetly his secretary, the ship designer quickly got connected with Captain Harold ‘Red’ Erikson, a bear of a man with red hair cut short.

‘’Harold! This is Gustav!’’

Erikson smiled widely on recognizing Shomberg on his own video terminal.

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‘’Gustav, my friend! And I can see your delectable secretary behind you. What can I do for you today?’’

‘’Oh, not much, really. I am simply here to get passage to Juno for a little private vacation. Stress at work is getting too high to my taste and I need to change my mind a bit.’’

Shomberg did a discreet sign at the same time on the video pickup, a sign that Erikson caught and understood.

‘’Uh, just let me check if I have a V.I.P. cabin still available for you, my friend.’’ Erikson then looked at another display screen and punched a number of buttons, then waited. Shomberg saw his face harden a bit after a few seconds, before he looked back at him.

‘’Could you pass me the boarding agent at the gate, Gustav?’’

‘’Sure, Harold!’’ said Shomberg before turning the videophone unit towards the agent. ‘’Captain Erikson wishes to speak with you, mister.’’ Shomberg hid his sudden attack of anxiety as the agent spoke to Erikson: from the reaction of the captain, something was clearly amiss. Unfortunately, Shomberg may have been a genius at ship design but he knew nothing about counterfeiting identity documents and still carried papers in his actual name. He saw the agent hesitate a moment when Erickson asked him to let him and Agneta board without registering, playing on his prerogatives as a ship captain and providing the agent with fake names for Gustav and Agneta. The young man finally relented and smiled to Shomberg.

‘’You may proceed and board the ship, sir. Have a good trip to Juno.’’

‘’Thank you, young man. Let’s go, Agneta.’’

Forcing himself not to speed up his walk, Gustav went down the boarding tube with his secretary and their luggage platform and was greeted at the ship’s airlock by a female crewmember who had just finished talking with someone on her greeting counter’s videophone terminal. The young brunette saluted politely Shomberg and his secretary once he was inside.

‘’I have orders for my captain to escort you to your cabin, sir. We will be departing very soon.’’

This said, the brunette pushed a button, closing the thick airtight blast doors of the airlock before leading the couple down a long passageway, then up two levels by elevator, finally stopping in front of a cabin’s door, which she opened for Shomberg.

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‘’Your cabin, sir. The captain is on his way to see you.’’

‘’Thank you again, miss. You were most helpful.’’

Gustav and Agneta then entered the cabin with their platform and closed the door behind them. Only then did Shomberg let out a sigh of relief.

‘’I think that we did the good thing by fleeing this fast, Agneta. I believe that they are already looking for us.’’

He then told Agneta about Erikson’s reaction on the videophone. Before she could comment on it, someone knocked loudly on the door of their cabin.

‘’That must be Harold, the captain: he never learned to buzz instead of pounding doors down.’’

Shomberg then opened the door, letting in the hulking red-haired captain, who eyed him critically at once.

‘’Alright, Gustav, what have you done to get yourself on the TCN wanted list? You realize what I am risking by sheltering you like this?’’

‘’I do, Harold. To answer you, my crime has been to direct the refit of the cargo ship KOSTROMA eight months ago. The TCN probably wants to question me, not too gently, about that refit.’’

Erikson frowned for a moment, trying to understand.

‘’That’s it? Nothing else? No secret smuggling compartments on that KOSTROMA?’’

‘’Well, did you see the declaration made from Mars by Governor Watts less than an hour ago, about the defeats suffered in orbit by the TCN at the hands of the Spacers League?’’

‘’Yeah, what about it?’’

‘’Harold, I believe that the KOSTROMA destroyed those Terran ships. Officially, its refit did not involve the installation of any armament, but I told its captain how to get around that. I suppose that I could be accused of treason for that.’’ For a moment, Shomberg worried that his friend would drop him, but Erikson finally made a forced smile, still none too pleased.

‘’The things we have to do for friends. Like they say: a friend in need is a friend indeed. Alright, you may have just convinced me to do something I should have done days ago: defect to the Spacers League. I may be officially a Terran, but I have lived more than half of my life in space and I consider myself a Spacer. Besides, I was getting

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tired of all those insults and cold looks from these ignoramus on Earth. So, where do you really wish to go, you and your most lovely secretary?’’

‘’Any Spacers League-controlled world will do.’’ replied soberly the ship designer. ‘’The farther from Earth the better.’’