He finished quickly, signaling to Ulric, avoiding the comms. The surviving MARS units gathered around their damaged brethren. Anticipation laced the air. The combined reactor roar of the engines engaging shook the canyon; there was no point in them attempting anything subtle. Starkindler’s wings deployed with more screaming of metal on metal. He could feel the extent of the damage his Mech armor had taken as it responded sluggishly to even simple tasks. He visually had to scan the surrounding area, linking the few remaining external camera feeds through his helmet to see that the other pilots were ready.
Eve held onto the back of his chair tightly as he bent Starkindler into a crouch, engines continuing to spool up as he re-engaged the plasma blade. The armor groaned in pure agony as it lifted off for the last time, requiring the assistance of the hydraulics in the legs to support the engines in scaling the sheer canyon walls. They cleared the canyon walls, falling heavily to land in the thick dust that covered the plain, followed quickly by the pair of lesser damaged MARS units, momentarily silhouetted like a trio of undead ghosts against the dying light of the sun returning to haunt the dreams of men one last time. Starkindler and Ulrics unit touched down as the torsos of the severely damaged units piloted by LaFleur and Tao rocketed into the air behind them in barely controlled flight.
Laser fire rippled across the plain too fast for eyes to see. Sirens and machines wailed in combined pain from the incoming fire, and then the concussive impacts rang like struck metal as bolt after deadly bolt crashed into Starkindler, forcing it to stagger drunkenly as Mikkhael attempted to place them in between the rebels and PDF as a human-metal shield for as long as possible. The sun’s dying rays mixed with the flashing explosions from the PDF laser rifles as they clashed violently; each mite of falling dust turning into countless miniature supernovas. Ulric voiced his pent up fury in an underwhelming and ultimately pointless fusillade, sending volley after volley into an infinite array of targets that rose up all around them.
Mikkhael forced Starkindler into a loping run, closing with a Strident enough to hack it apart with the plasma blade. A never-ceasing tidal wave of laser fire ripped into them, tearing away chunks of armor, deafening Mikkhael and Eve. Vital liquids spilled out onto the dust from the mortally wounded machine, staining the billowing dust from the violence of their passing. Smoke billowed from the gaping holes in the armor, thickening as the armor began to buckle and critically weaken. Eve screamed, panic overwhelming her. Aurora futilely attempted to minimize the mounting damage; she was out of tricks to use.
Time slowed for him, almost seeming to pause. He could feel Eve’s terror behind him, the guilt of her pain was overwhelming. He watched LaFleurs unit cease to exist in one giant single rolling explosion. Ulric finished destroying a pair of Slayers that had faced off directly in front of him. HellCats slipped effortlessly behind him, preparing to finish him off; missiles leaving their distinctive vapor trails as they pursued Toa’s legless unit. Metal pieces rained down; followed by a violent concussion lost amongst hundreds of others all occurring simultaneously.
Mikkhael made eye contact with Aurora’s flickering hologram. They both tried to say they were sorry in the time that remained, both failed. Starkindler was thrown to the side by a massive concussive force; Eve was brutally lifted and thrown against the side of the cockpit where she crumpled into a pitifully small pile. Mikkhael slammed against the restraints holding him, internal organs churning violently.
Aurora’s hologram sputtering then ceasing to exist was the last thing he saw before the world went black for the final time.
Epilogue – Eve Ultor, Thoughts and Digressions
Three Months after the Final Battle
The man, the myth, or the legend? Not to be trite or cliché, but that was the man known as Mikkhael Dreyfus. Was it like that from the beginning? Of course not. Honestly, until he set out to rescue my small team and I from our own stupidity on that fateful day, thereby setting everything that he was on the line, expecting full well that by doing so he would die in the process, and still he tried anyways; well, there was no recognition of him before that as anything except as a complete pain in the ass.
After all, first he saved our asses when we were meeting with the Lazarus Faction, only to rub it in our faces by following us back to Mount Olympus where his AI took everyone hostage. We were going to kill him anyway just for that, but my dad found out and threw us in the brig before we had a chance. I never hated anyone in my entire life as much as I did when that happened, but you know what? Now, I am glad my dad did that; because he had the courage to see the vision that Mikkhael brought with him from Earth instead of just reacting like the rest of us; he gave the rest of us the chance to see Mikkhaels vision as well.
A lot of us had lost sight of why we were fighting. They killed some of ours, so we killed some of theirs; in the end nothing was going to change like that. We certainly were not about to win the war like that. Then he showed up, made us look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we were still fighting for the right reasons. He asked us to recognize that we had strayed from the path we started out on. Only thing is, he never had to say a word. What made it all the more remarkable was that he spoke the loudest when he was not around, because we always knew where he was when that was the case. He was out fighting the PDF all by himself, and winning, when we were sitting back in the base arguing and bitching about the past and where things went wrong.
That kind of shame, well, you have to have some serious denial issues to avoid seeing how pathetic you are standing next to someone like that. And that was how Mikkhael led, that was who he was. He was always the one person in the room everyone made sure that they could see; not because he was the tallest, or the loudest, or even asked for attention because he did none of that. Instead, he was the one person we all wished to be. When we woke up in the morning and went to the bathroom mirror to look at ourselves, you couldn’t not tell yourself you weren’t gonna try your damndest that day so that you would not look so small and ashamed when standing next to him. Next thing you knew, that day had passed, and then a week, and then a few months and then you wondered why you hadn’t been busting your ass like that all along.
That was until I screwed it all up anyways. I know it sounds like an excuse, but after a while like that we needed to show that we remembered who we were before he showed up and made us all look like a pack of damned fools. My crew and I were already itching for an excuse to prove ourselves when LaFleur found the PDF’s bait. We were so eager, we didn’t even question the fact that it was obviously too good a deal to pass up. We even bided our time, planning the attack for when we knew Mikkhael would be passed out in the med bay, recovering from yet another battle.
Then everything went to hell. We had no idea how bad we effed things up until it was over. Mind you, we had a lot of time to sit and think about how bad things were down in the bottom of the canyon, but the worst we could imagine was nothing compared to reality. Not a day goes by that I don’t wish that Mikkhael hadn’t traded his dream for my life, and with it the only real chance for hope that the citizen slaves on Mars had.
Hearing about how it all happened only makes it worse. My dad went to beg for his help, waking him up early from the recovery he so desperately needed, and before he could even speak Mikkhael said yes. He knew it was a trap, he knew that he’d die, that he would lose Starkindler, and never even hesitated. He took on all our burdens, our pain, the consequences for our actions and never once asked for anything in return except that we win. That someday we would be able to give those slaves their hope, banishing the PDF and their corruption, restoring humanity to the billions on Mars who had lost it.
I cry myself to sleep every night knowing that their loss is my fault. I cannot even kill myself to end this misery, relieve myself of this pain. After the price that was paid for my life, I will not cheapen it by committing that eternal sin.
As penance, I now devote my entire waking day to serving Mikkhael. Although I do not know how much h
e is able to recognize in his current state. I try my hardest, not to restore his dream, for that is beyond me, beyond all of us. Instead, I try to restore his humanity. Everything he ever had was taken from him, twice; and in return, he gave everything he was, everything he had become because in the end he could not bring himself to waver even the slightest in regards to his beliefs.
Mikkhael taught us that every action we take has consequences, including doing nothing. Some fight to continue where he left off, slowly pushing the PDF back one bloody step at a time. Others fight to protect our home in order that Mikkhael might have a place to rest and recover. As for me, I choose every day to see my actions for what they are, an effort to restore the hope of billions. Not by replacing Mikkhael, but by trying to help him remember who he is. He is Starkindler. He is the hope of this world. They are out there waiting for him to remember, waiting for him to return. Mark my words, return he shall. The fire that burns within him is not so easily quenched.
Glossary
· Mars – Named after the Roman god of war, second smallest planet in our galaxy. Has a pre-existing thin atmosphere composed mostly of Co2 argon and nitrogen. Red because of the amount of iron prevalent within the soil. Length of the day and seasons are nearly identical to Earth’s, and the tilt of Mars axis is also similar to Earth’s, allowing for those similarities. Water is believed to be frozen underneath the surface. Possesses evidence of past polar ice caps and accompanying magnetic fields that are no longer in place. Gravity is 1/3rd of the Earth, similar to the moon. Temperature is also cold like the moon, but believed will be around 140 degrees once fully terraformed. The core of Mars no longer spins like Earth’s, meaning that volcanic activity and the associated magnetic cycles have since failed, leading to the vast majority of Mars atmosphere bleeding off into space.
· Mars has a North and South Pole, and an equator. Also has all four seasons because the tilt of the planet is similar to Earth. If the core of the planet is able to spin again, volcanic activity can be restored (necessary for nature’s way of revitalizing the atmosphere) as well as the magnetic field, also then allowing the formation of an atmosphere.
· Martian Atmosphere – Mars actually possesses a limited atmosphere of mostly CO2. In fact, the concentration of CO2 on Mars is incredibly high. Scientists increasingly believe that this will make future terraforming easier as plant life will thrive. The limited atmosphere and small, dead (believed) planet mean that there is no air pressure, making it hard or impossible for airplanes to fly. Without drag on a plane’s wings, there can be no drag. This is why the novel mainly features ground combat.
· Mars has two moons. Believed to have many micro moons, but for the sake of simplicity, two. From the planet’s surface, Phobos would be somewhat equivalently visible to our own moon. Deimos is believed to require a form of simple telescope to see.
· Larger Martian Moon – Phobos (Latin for panic/fear,) 11 hour cycle.
· Smaller Martian Moon – Deimos (Latin for terror/dread,) 2.7 days.
· Olympus Mons - Factual (dormant) volcano, translated name Mount Olympus, believed to be the largest volcano on a planet in the solar system. StormCrow brigade base of operations.
· Tharsis Bulge - Factual Plateau north of the Martian equator. Olympus Mons is northwest, Valles Marineris canyon is SW.
· Valles Marineris - Factual set of canyons that cover over 1/4 of Mars surface. Name translates to "Martian Canyon." Many features on Mars are familiar to those we already know on Earth, they are just bigger. The Avalles Marineris formation is an epic sized Grand Canyon.
· Cerberus Province - Factual group of nine volcanos’, south of Elysium Mons in the Cerberus Planitia region.
· Lidar - This is a term which militaries have adopted as the name for a sensor utilized for the purposes of the detection, identification, and the precision measurement of the range of a target. Frequently used in civilian uses such as surveying.
· FOB – Forward Operating Base – a usually temporary military outpost that is not permanent, but has some or most common base facilities.
· SIG-INT – Signals intelligence - Intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether communications between people (communications intelligence— abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication (electronic intelligence— abbreviated to ELINT)
· RATO – Rocket Assisted Take Off, supplementary, self-contained, expendable, engine attached via hard point to provide extra thrust, especially on takeoff.
· StormCrow Brigade – Rebel faction that Mikkhael teams up with in order to overthrow the corrupt Martian government.
· Lazarus Faction – Currently the strongest Rebel faction along the Tharsis Bulge, mainly use tanks and mechanized vehicles, foregoing the maneuverability of Mecha for brute force.
· WintersSong Faction – Chinese faction of Rebels that initiated the Reckoning, the beginning of the Rebellion, currently the planet’s most powerful faction.
· Tegra campaign – The final battle pitting Mikkhael against the division sized forces General Akari assembles in order to finally destroy Starkindler.
· Mechanized Armor Robotic Suits – MARS units, Mech armor used by the rebel factions.
· Starkindler’s Mech Classification - Valkyrie
· Rebel Medium Mech armor – Furies
· Rebel Heavy Mech armor - Justices
· PDF Reconnaissance Mech armor – Stalker
· PDF Main Battle Mech (Medium) – Slayer
· PDF Battle Mech armor (Heavy) – Strident
· PDF Marine Heavy Mech armor – Steyr
· PDF Special Forces Mech armor - HellCat
· PDF Mech Armor Transport Drop ship – Chimera
· PDF Drone - Reaper
· PDF Heavy anti-grav Tank - Marauder
· PDF Anti-Armor light armored vehicle - Dragonwagon
· The Reckoning – Beginning of the Rebellion, when the first factions formed and attacked with a swarm of Mech armor. Cities burned, millions died. Bad stuff
· PDF Base - Repentance
· Abadon - PDF controlled mining outpost that the StormCrows raided for a large amount of supplies.
· PDF - Purity Base
· PDF outpost Godfrey
· SAPO – Space Administration Patrol and Observation
· Jump Gate – Wormhole like tear in space that are manmade using the most powerful fusion reactors ever created to power them. One is stationed outside Lunar orbit, while its linked mate is located near Mars. Freighters and space ships are able to use the gates to travel nearly instantaneously between Mars and Earth.
· Wide-band radar – A simplified description of a radar system used to search a wide area for a number of targets. This type of radar is often depicted in movies.
· Narrow beam radar – A focused beam of radar that would be directional, used to home in missiles or weapons, or identify and prioritize a single target.
Dramatis Persona’s
· Starkindler Pilot –Mikkhael Dreyfus
· Starkindler AI - Aurora
· StormCrow Commander – Commander Ultor
· StormCrow Commander’s Daughter – Eve Ultor
· StormCrow Chief Engineer – Sir Henry Thorsten
· StormCrow Doctor – Lisa Hesken
· StormCrow Technician – Drogdyn
· StormCrow Mech armor Division Commander – Captain Mathias
· StormCrow Mech armor field Commander – Captain Leon Cartwright
· StormCrow Internal Security division Commander – Jack Lu
· PDF General Akari – Commander of Cerberus Province
· SSgt. Anderson - Akari's trusted aide.
· General Afinger – Mars Industries Party appointed plutocrat, in charge of artillery and missiles brought from High Command for General Akari to use in the Tegra campaign.
· PDF Assassin/Ace Pilot - Daegot
· Skysail Medical Officer – Vera – Metallic Purple – Athen
a – Regis AI
· SkySail Engineer -Kiryl – Hunter Green – Verdant – Regis AI
· Skysail Technician - Kurtis – Dust Red – Nighthawk – Argos AI
· Skysail – Alyona – off-white - DawnsLight
BOOK TWO:
NEMESIS
For a free four chapter preview, visit http://www.jbeverhart.com/nemesis/
Find out more about the author as well as participate in the community blog:
JBeverhart.com or [email protected]
Appendix A. – L.E.A.D.S.
Word from the author:
LEADS is a theoretical technical paper about a concept that appears sustainable. One of the key missing ingredients is the formula for evaporation needs to be worked out for each location. I am including this technical paper that will be gradually updated as information is worked out. Ideally, I would love to see a college or non-profit take this concept and model it. Unfortunately, I simply do not have the resources available in order to do this myself.
Starkindler (MechaVerse Series Book 1) Page 40
