The commando placed something against the engine cowling which stuck magnetically then pushed off. Flores pressed his control sticks forward giving chase and the subsequent explosion hurtled both men towards the red planet as they tumbled end over end passing by the Roaring Tiger in the process.
“We have an emergency alarm on engine two,” Neil said over the com system.
“They hit the port engine,” Carter said.
Neil watched as the tether to both men reached their limit, pulling them back from their fatal trajectory towards Mars. The men looked like broken yo-yos on a string, an odd sight for anyone to take in.
“You alright, Flores?” Carter asked.
“Roger that sir,” Flores responded. “Feeling a bit yanked around out here. I’ll pull myself in.” The tether tightened on command by the SEAL as he activated the small motor remotely on board the ship. The Chinese commando seemed to be doing the same after having unlatched himself from the sled earlier he had only a tether to his ship but his efforts were manual as he pulled himself hand over hand towards the Roaring Tiger.
The other two men seemed at a standstill in mid space. “Shall I engage?” Petty Officer Anderson asked over the radio.
“Negative,” Carter said. “Keep him at bay till we’re ready.”
“Copy that,” Anderson said, maintaining his station between the Chinese commando and the Horizon. He noticed a special bar and red star on the shoulder of the man. “I think this one is their commander, or at least an officer.”
“Understood,” Carter said.
“I don’t like the looks of him,” Hill said from a side observation window. “He looks like he’s waiting for something.”
“What?” Neil asked.
“Yeah, what do you think he has planned?” Dave asked.
“No idea,” Hill said, “but I don’t think I want to find out.”
The coms came quickly, “Thor’s Hammer ready, sir.” Petty Officer Murphy said from the ship.
“What did he just say?” Hill asked.
“He said Thor’s Hammer, whatever that is,” John Royal, their electrical technician chimed in.
“Major, is there something we should know about up here?” Neil asked.
“Yes,” Carter said. “I’m waiting for them to go nuclear.” It was meant literally and not figuratively.
*****
Roaring Tiger
Mars’ orbit
In the near future, Year 4, Day 175
“No communication since they entered the planetary base,” Commander Sun said, looking at his watch while trying to crane his neck back and watch the Colonel in his standoff with the Americans. The two ships were opposite each other literally with the nose of their Tiger facing the rear of their rotational orbit while the American ship was pointed in the other direction.
His maneuver was well timed and he wasn’t all that surprised to find that the American commander had matched velocity with them. It seemed as if they were looking forward to this confrontation as much as the Colonel was. Sun wondered if the telemetry data would be obvious to his superiors back on Earth that he really didn’t try hard enough to ram the American ship. Besides, Tsu seemed to approve of the combat phase anyway, so who would know?
“It’s time then to execute Scorched Earth,” Colonel Tsu said.
Sun thought the name of their secondary mission, should they fail to arrive first or to take the alien base, artifact or whatever it was that would be found, was most ironic considering that they were not on Earth, nowhere near it and the entire planet of Mars was inhospitable and desolate to begin with. Only a bureaucrat in a closed room far from the mission would have come up with a code name like that.
It didn’t matter, Sun knew what it meant. They would nuke the alien base from orbit and ensure that nothing fell into the hands of the Americans much as they had done on the moon. Sun wondered if they would spend the next decade obliterating any sign of the alien’s presence. It wouldn’t surprise him if they did. “It’s your call, Colonel.”
“Executing now, hail the nation, hail the heroes.” Tsu said, knowing his voice would be recorded for all history, secret that it would remain. Their leadership would know what they did here this day.
Sun sighed and watched as his console lit red with several status lights indicating the imminent launch of their nuclear warhead. Against man, Mars never had a chance.
*****
Red Horizon
Mars’ orbit
In the near future, Year 4, Day 175
“Something’s opening on their ship,” Doctor Hill noted. “I don’t like the look of this.”
“I’m getting elevated radiation levels now,” Neil remarked, seeing a spike on his console’s radiation gauge.
“Roger,” Carter said. “We’re expecting that.”
“You’re expecting a nuke, aren’t you?” Hill said, accusation evident in the man’s voice.
“We suspected, yes Doctor,” Carter said calmly.
Doctor Hill’s voice seemed to get agitated as well, “So when were you planning on telling us, eh Major Carter?”
“With all due respect, Doctor Hill,” Carter said, returning the formality, “I’m a bit busy right now and if you want to see our commander again I suggest you let us do our job.”
The threat seemed to do the trick and the radio channel went silent as the men waited for inevitable. Finally, a large rocket appeared above the Chinese ship and it turned to face planet side. With an obvious gesture, the Chinese commando pressed something that looked like a tablet that he held in front of him. He was still a good twenty meters from Petty Officer Anderson.
The large rocket ignited sending a plume of flame towards the Horizon reaching halfway to the ship, though well behind the pair of men parked in orbit between their ships. The nuclear missile headed towards the Martian horizon where the alien base was located.
“Bogie away,” Murphy called out.
“Eagles two,” Carter ordered.
“Eagles two,” Murphy confirmed.
The Red Horizon shuddered as two long, but slender missiles launched from one of the military pods that was now located against the hull of the ship. The pair of missiles flew over the Chinese ship, chasing the nuclear tipped rocket that was hurtling towards the red planet.
“Anderson, hit him, now,” Carter said. “Flores, engage target.”
“Roger,” The pair said in unison.
Flores turned and leaned forward propelling himself across the gulf between the ships and hit the retreating commando in the man’s back, sending them flying into the hull of the Roaring Tiger. The impact knocked both men out of action.
Anderson also leaned forward, pushing his throttle sticks to max and impacted the Chinese officer’s helmet first, as both men were launched into the side of the Chinese ship. The officer seemed more prepared however and fought back, engaging his own pack and slowing their momentum. A fierce battle ensued for nearly a minute before Carter arrived and landed on the Chinese man, hitting him with a jolt of electricity from a hand held device. The commando shuddered then remained still.
“Prepare for intercept,” Murphy said.
“Keep your heads down,” Carter responded.
“Heads what?” Doctor Hill asked. Suddenly a bright light exploded halfway to the planet’s surface as the nuclear missile detonated prematurely.
“Scratch on bogie,” Murphy called over the radio.
“Affirmative,” Carter replied
Together, Carter and Anderson moved to the airlock where the Chinese commandos had exited from. Using some sort of mechanical device, they pried the door open and entered. Seconds later the blast of the device hit both ships and they shuddered yet again under its force tens of miles away.
“That was close,” Neil said.
“Nothing was close,” Carter said. Within minutes Carter’s voice came over the radio again. “Ship secured, Murphy. Execute cleanup now.”
“Roger that, sir,” Murphy said.
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“What does that mean?” Hill asked.
“It means we won,” Murphy said.
“I think we just witnessed the first interstellar act of piracy in human history,” Neil said.
“As long as it wasn’t against us,” Hill said.
“Time to get our folks back,” Neil said.
Carter responded from somewhere on the Chinese ship, “My thoughts exactly, Commander Sullivan.”
Neil went to flip the radio coms when a familiar voice came over the radio. “Damn you Horizon, answer me now. Do you copy?”
“Affirmative, Commander. Glad to have you back,” Neil said. “We need a sitrep from you.”
There was a pause then Jules spoke, “Two injured marines, one POW and two tired astronauts, one commander and one science officer.”
“Roger that, Commander,” Neil said.
“How bad are the SEAL’s?” Hill asked.
“I’m going to need you planet side stat, Doctor.” Jules ordered.
“Understood, Commander. I’m on my way,” Doctor Hill said. There was a brief pause then he continued. “Ah, Commander Sullivan, we are on our way, correct?”
“Affirmative,” Neil said. “Meet me on Red Two in five minutes.”
“Make it three,” Hill said.
“Hang tight, Commander Monroe and take care of my men,” Carter said.
“Will do,” Jules responded. “You didn’t hurt my ship, did you?”
“It’s just fine, Commander Monroe,” Carter said. “In fact, we have a second ship for you now.”
Another long pause before Jules answered, “Does Houston know?”
“No, but they will,” Carter said. “Coms are down. We’re flying solo up here for now.”
“Roger that, Major,” Jules said. “One more thing…”
“Yes,” Carter said politely.
“You were right, Major.”
Carter paused for a moment then responded, “I know. Let’s hope I’m wrong about a few more things, before all is said and done. I’m afraid it’s looking more likely that our stay on Mars has been extended by over a year.”
“Well, at least we’re going to get our science in,” Jules noted.
“At least until the Soviets arrive,” Carter said.
One last, long pause before Jules said, “Damn.”
Epilogue
NASA Space Command
Houston, Texas
In the near future, Year 4, Day 175
“Confirmed,” Lisa said. “All planetary coms are now down. We’ve lost direct communications with Polo Four as well as Luna Base.”
Smith nodded at the NASA team, who had all congregated at Rock’s console except for Marge, who had been out with Navari on video conference. Smith added to the chaos. “I have it on official notice that we are now at DEFCON One.”
“Jesus,” Jack said. “What next?”
“We’ve got the 93rd Military Police Battalion on call up out of Fort Bliss. They’ll be here in less than six hours. The entire NASA complex is on lockdown, effective immediately. No one on or off the base until they arrive.”
“What about the net and power grid?” Rock asked.
“Both are offline, though emergency power generators and classified communications are online at our key government facilities and military bases. Power is being rerouted at several key junctures to try to get us back up and running.”
“Damn,” Jack said. “How widespread are we talking about?”
“Coast to coast,” Smith explained. “It’ll be a long night. Best if you and your team hunker down now. The president would address the nation, but most of it doesn’t have access to anything other than shortwave radio.”
“My God,” Lisa said, holding a hand to her mouth. “We need to tell our staff.”
“We will,” Rock said.
No one had anytime to respond, as Marge entered the room. Her face was pale, and she was clutching a printout of something in her hand, half wrinkling it in the process. “We need to get them off the planet,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” Smith asked.
“Doctor Navari ran the coding through a genetic filter using Max’s counterpart at Fort Meade Maryland,” she said, referring to NSA headquarters.
“So, what happened and why wasn’t I informed of this sooner?” Smith asked.
“You will,” Marge explained, holding up the readout of the one hundred plus generation simulation in generational reproduction. “The skin rash, scaly skin, and obesity . . .”
“Yes, go on,” Rock prompted her.
“Wrong,” Marge explained. “The skin is a form of scales, organic body armor, and the mass multiplier for the human body was aligned muscularly, not flabby or with fat or obesity.”
Smith looked at her and grabbed the paper from her hands, looking at it and failing to comprehend immediately what it meant. “Speak English, please,” he finally said.
Marge grabbed the paper back, giving it to Rock. “Within the context of today’s discovery, it appears the genetic coding when put into that context means only one thing to them for us.”
“What?” Jack asked.
“Violence,” Marge said. “Our species is designed to carry out warfare on others.”
The others went silent till Rock finally honored Tom McClain and spoke two words. “Bloody hell.”
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About the Author
Salvador Mercer loves a good book. Having read the many works, and enjoyed the many wonderful stories and tales, by many other countless authors, he hopes to share the same delightful experience with those who also enjoy reading a good tale.
Inspired since his childhood by the lunar landings in the late sixties and early seventies, Mercer loved the idea of mankind’s exploration into the cosmos. Alas, our moon landings were never followed up by more progressive manned missions and the idea came to find a way to make our return to the cosmos a necessity and not a luxury. Thus Lunar Discovery was born.
The recent Mars Curiosity mission, as well as Pluto’s Horizon mission, gives a new look into what the future could hold for space exploration, if only we will be so bold.
Mercer is fluent in English, Russian, and Spanish, and loves languages, history, reading, and science. He lives with his three boys, a baby (elf), toddler (hobbit), teenager (orc), and his wife, Masha in Ohio.
Red Horizon: The Truth of Discovery (Discovery Series Book 2) Page 25
