Martian Dragons

by Ian Woodhead

  Why has this happened? There had to be a reason as why why the enemy suddenly decided to attack. What could have tipped the balance? Sharp returned to his station, leaving Ingres alone with his thoughts. He moved through the bridge and into his command deck, still musing over the reason as to the reason for the enemy’s recent activity.

  It could not be a coincidence that the Marauders launched this new attack at the same time as the disturbance on the Martian base. Thankfully, that situation was now under control. Loyal Triumvate soldiers had put down that insurrection and although that ringleader was still loose, his ground officers assured him that it wouldn’t be long before he was caught.

  “Could anything else go wrong?” he murmured. A moment later several klaxxons went off. “Oh course it can.” He hurried back onto the bridge to find every officer in a panic. “Sharp, what’s is happening?”

  The commander spun around. “Sir, scanners have detected a large amount of Marauder ships heading for the belt. The report estimates almost a thousand ships.”

  “Do you have a location?”

  Sharp nodded. “Yes, sir. Right for the middle.”

  He broke into a grin. “Right into our highest concentration of cannon emplacements. Perhaps our enemy has finally made an error of judgement? The rocks are likely to take out half of those ships before the cannons have chance to activate” This was much needed good news. It was tempting to send several ships to that area to shore up the defences but after giving it some thought, the Admiral decided against it. His ordinance was stretched to breaking point already. How long before they are in range?”

  “A few hours, sir.”

  “Organise an evacuation of the outposts closest to the line and keep me updated.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He retreated to his command deck, still troubled over the Martian situation which has been a thorn in his side ever since this post was bequeathed to Ingres by his predecessor. The enemy had the numbers and the fire-power to take the base and keep it and yet, the installation had swapped sides no less than twelve times in the thirty years since he became Admiral. He put his best minds on this problem and, as yet, nobody had been able to come up with a logical reason for them to just allow it to fall back into Triumvate hands.

  He sat in his chair said a guiding prayer to his predecessor, asking him to look after their recently deceased while recalling the great man’s last words of advice regarding the Martian situation. He had told Ingres not to trust a single Danu or Velicion regarding that ancient outpost. His predecessor had even confided that there had been two moments during his tenancy that his contemplated nuking the damn place so nobody could use it. He might have even gone through with the plan if he hadn’t been so terrified of the repercussions from the other two races.

  Ingres opened his eyes, with two possible solutions to his immediate problems. He left his chair and summoned Sharp. The man approached, wearing that damn dawn expression again. Something else had happened. Nevertheless, Ingres held up his hand when his second in command opened his mouth. “Relay to that Danu Dreadnought and tell the captain that I want him in between those approaching Marauder ships and out outposts.”

  “But…”

  “Allow me to finish. I know the ship is badly damaged. I just want it to disperse its hold of mines into the area, then it can return home. Once you have done that, Send five human attack ships and our last dropship with a Velicion assault squad to the Martian base. They are to seek and capture that traitor. I want him in front of me in order to explain his actions. Are we clear?” Sharp’s expression did not falter, nor did he move. “I said, are we clear?”

  The tip of Sharp’s tongue raced across the man’s top lip. “Sir, The armada vanished, a second after our sensors detected an unusual energy burst.” The man passed Ingres a Danu data-pad then swiped his hand across the screen.

  The Admiral’s mouth dried up. He’d seen these readings before. He looked at the commander. “They have all gone FTL!” He ran over to his own console connected the data-pad and calculated their possible destination, like he even needed to. The bastards were going to Mars, it was the only possible answer. The console proved him correct. Ingres stood to one side to allow Sharp to see the readings.

  “It must be their entire fleet,” he whispered. “This must be it, sir. The end game. The one we have all been dreading. This time the Marauders won’t be leaving the base.”

  Ingress shook his head. “No, not this time. They are going to use Mars as the final staging post for the invasion of the Blueworld.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ryan slowed. A new terror suddenly covered the the urgently that he felt just moments ago. The terror had no point of origin, nor did it have a description, only that the terror which now settled in his bones was totally justified. He skidded to a halt, unable to proceed. There was something ahead, he knew it. Ryan pressed his ear against the grey featureless wall, desperate to hear anything other than the ever present background humming.

  He heard nothing other than the sound of his own harsh breathing. Ryan glanced behind him and saw three other faces looking back at him. These people, he trusted with his life and visa-versa. They were following his every gesture like he was some kind of new messiah. Ryan had hoped for some type of silent reassurance from them but all he received were questioning stares. His pretend girlfriend solidified. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

  “What’s the matter, Ryan? Is everything okay?”

  He shook his head. “No, I don’t think it is. He swallowed down the urge to scream at them and took a deep breath instead. “There is a malignant presence all around us and I have no idea who or who it could be.”

  “Shit.” Villas pulled out his blaster. “Marauders?”

  “No,” replied the Velicion. “I think not. As far as I can tell, this base is now devoid of sentient life, "No, I don't think it is. We are the last ones. ”

  Ryan turned to face the huge sauron, aware that Villas's gaze hadn't moved from Bernadette's backside. “Have you still not managed to regain any kind of control?”

  “No. The Admiral placed the installation under lock down, moments after announcing the final evacuation. Our Danu companions are still attempting to override the systems but I do not hold out much hope.”

  They were still heading towards the hanger bay in the hope of finding a ship but base unresponsive systems were hampering their journey. Even so, Ryan believed they had made good progress despite the obstacles. He placed his ear against the wall once more, hoping that whatever he currently felt was his vivid imagination playing up. He looked at Bernadette who shrugged.

  “I don't sense anything, Ryan.”

  He got no comfort from that then again, she couldn't sense Villas drooling over her either so her opinion wasn't really valid. Ryan decided to rush it, perhaps this really was getting to him.

  Ryan set off, heading for the last elevator which, if it if still functioned, would take them all to the hanger bay. Bernadette continued to hold his hand as he hurried along the deserted corridor, still not sure how he was coping with all this change. Too bizarre for words? Perhaps it was the sheer weirdness which stopped Ryan from totally coming undone?

  “Wait, I think I can feel something now,” hissed Bernadette. “I'm not too sure that I like it.”

  He slowed down again. It just occurred to Ryan that perhaps the real reason as to why he still managed to keep functioning might be the result of this digital amalgam secretly playing about with mind. This was no paranoid fantasy. The pretend Bernadette had already confided that she'd flicked a few mental switches in Villas's head in order to make him a little less erratic. Ryan didn’t like Villas but even so, that felt like a gross violation. The interference did help to save their lives but can it also justify the program’s act?

  Not a bad achievement for, what the pilot called, a low-level program. The Danu also told him that it could not exist outside Ryan’s own mind, either as a hologram or as solid. It was sup
posed to be tethered just to his mind. He had, obviously, asked the pilot about this impossibility but he just responded with the cryptic answer of higher powers at work. After a lot of thought over that reply, Ryan decided that the Danu was as clueless as he was, that nobody really had any idea what was really going on.

  That sense of foreboding suddenly increased tenfold which coincided with the Velicion crouching with his claws extended and growling low in his throat. “Can you sense it too?”

  The huge sauron slowly nodded while his eyes darted across the walls, never stopping for a moment. “Yes, there is Marauder activity but I do not know where. It feels like they are all around us but how can that be?”

  “What kind of dirty trick is this?” cried Villas. He staggered backwards, knocking into Ryan’s shoulder. “What. Is. That?” His shaking arm pointed to a lower section of the wall, close to where they entered.

  The walls had bubbled up and three hexagonal shapes grew out through the distorted surface. Villas moaned even louder when the the shapes started to appear all around them. Ryan glowered at the Velicion but he simply shook his head.

  “I know not what these are,” he uttered. “These devices are not of Velicion construction. I advise extreme caution.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  Ryan slapped a hand over Villas’s mouth. “We stay quiet.” He watched in utter disbelief as dozens of grey-metallic half-dome objects pushed out of the walls and fell onto the floor. Moments later the dome structures flipped onto their undersides, flattened out and a moment later, a black mesh curtain grew out from their perimeter. He found himself slowly walking backwards, still holding Villas when the six legs, three on each side pushed out from under the mesh.

  They moved slowly at first, travelling without purpose. They only reacted when the metallic creature's bumped into each other, then they scuttled away in opposite directions these new arrivals didn't act unfriendly. In fact, they appeared rather clumsy and comical. That impression of them abruptly altered when Todd coughed.

  Six of them reacted immediately by racing towards him at high speed. The Velicion reached Todd first. The sauron scooped the startled man off his feet and, while carrying the extra weight jumped to safety.

  The metal bug-like devices all converged on the empty circle. A wire thin filament burst from the centre of the devices, shot up and they connected to the spot directly above the circle, forming a small black globe. Villas would have now been trapped if it hadn’t if it hadn’t been for the Velicion’s lightning fast reactions. The filament glowed red then the globe dropped from the ceiling, hit the floor and melted the area around it. The bugs then dispersed.

  Ryan gazed at them all before his eyes returned to that melted floor. So the things reacted to sound, meaning they couldn’t talk or fire their weapons. Was this day ever going to end? Ryan decided he preferred it when the malignant presence hadn’t yet shown itself. At least back then, he wasn’t afraid to cough knowing that any noise had the potential to turn him or any of his companions into a pile of scorched meat.

  There were now over twenty of the things between them and the exit. The metal bugs were not exhibiting any kind of threatening behaviour, they were just milling about, like a bunch of blind beetles. Ryan took one step towards them, he heard a sharp intake of breath from behind him, guessing it came from Villas. He clenched his lips tight in the hope that would stop him from turning around and asking the idiot how else were they going to get past this new enemy.

  He took another step forward. None of the bugs show any signs that they knew he was there. Ryan saw this as a good sign and took one more step. He glanced behind him and motioned the others to follow. He saw wanted to walk in a straight line but that proved impossible with their erratic movements. One of the bugs came within an inch of his ankle before it abruptly spun around and scuttled towards the corridor wall. Ryan forced his heart back down his throat, hoping that allayed his private fear that these things were equipped with proximity detectors.

  It took Ryan way too long to reach the exit. He turned around and watched the others slowly approach, each one wearing a face that knew only too well what would happen to them if they made a sound. The only one who wore a calm face was his pretend girlfriend. She saw him looking and gave Ryan a radiant smile before she hurried towards him, walking through three bugs which just happened to get in her way.

  She stopped beside the elevator door, silently clicked her fingers in front of his face and when she had his attention, Bernadette pointed at the door mechanism. He frowned, not sure of what she was trying to say.

  Her warning only made sense when the others finally reached him and Villas pushed passed him and slammed his hand on the door mechanism. The sound of the door opening attracted every bug and they all rushed towards them.

  “Kill them!” screamed Ryan.

  Ryan, Todd, The two Danu and the huge sauron spun to face the approaching threat and opened fire. The combined power of their assault weapons incinerated all but two of the bugs before their energy packs died.

  “Will you all get in here?” shouted Villas. “Hurry up. I don’t want to die. He then reached out, grabbed Ryan’s arm and pulled inside. Todd squeezed past the Velicion’s stationary form, and pulled the pilot passed him.

  “What’s he doing? Get in here, you stupid lizard. Do you want to die?” Villas tried to activate the movement sensor only for Ryan to block him. “Move out of the way, Ryan. If he wants to die then let him.

  Ryan turned to the exit and saw the remaining bug approaching the elevator door. “Come on, get inside!”

  The sauron turned his great head. He glared at Villas before looking up. Ryan followed his gaze and immediately wished he hadn’t. The elevator ceiling had just bubbled up in three places. The Velicion took the arms of the two Danu and forced them out. Ryan grabbed the humans.

  “What are we going to do now?” hissed Villas. “We’re trapped.”

  Ryan looked back the way they came and groaned at the sight of even more of the things pushing their way out of the walls and dropping to the floor. Bernadette walked past him. She stood in front of Villas, leaned forward and gave him a kiss. She then tapped the side of his blaster before running through all the metal bugs. She stopped in the middle of the corridor and waved at Villas.

  “I think she wants you to shoot her,” Ryan hissed.

  The Velicion shook his head. “No, she wants him to fire at the floor.”

  “I can’t do that,” he replied. “As soon as I fire, all those things will head straight for me. I’ll be dead in seconds!”

  The huge sauron took up position behind Villas. He then uttered something into his ear. Villas whimpered. He looked at Ryan, with eyes full of fright. The man lifted his arm, aimed at where Bernadette stood, took aim and fired.

  All the metal bugs reacted as they did before and charged towards Villas. The Velicion scooped up the human and leaped over the approaching bugs. Ryan and the others flattened themselves against the wall as the things rushed past them.

  They gathered around the spot and repeated the previous procedure. Todd slammed his hand over Villas's mouth when he started to whimper again. Ryan's gaze followed the woman as she walked through the metal bugs. She stopped beside the hole the things had created and put her hands on her hips.

  Ryan looked at Todd who shrugged back. He waited for the bugs to move away before carefully making his way towards her. The others close behind. Bernadette grinned at him. He peered through the hole and found himself grinning back. Those things had burned a way through to the next floor. He dropped to his knees and pushed his head through the hole. It was another hanger full of even more Mechs. These were a different design to the bipedal war machines together encountered earlier. Not that it mattered. They now had a way out! The drop to the floor was a good thirty feet and he suspected that not even the Velicion would survive that, not without breaking his legs. They might be able to drop into the nearest mech but it was risky.

  S
omebody tapped him on the shoulder. He pulled his head up and found the female Danu looking at him. Ryan found her bland expression incredibly unnerving. It was like looking at a doll's face. She blinked then gently pushed him out of the way. She took one look through the hole then nodded at the other Danu before she stated to climb down. The pilot laid next to the hole he wrapped his fingers around the female Danu's wrists and swung her body across then released her. She landed neatly on the mech's roof.

  Ryan nodded at Todd who strode over the Danu. He sat down and pushed his feet through the hole. “Don't you dare drop me,” he whispered. The Danu attempted to smile before giving it up as a bad job.

  Villas followed, leaving him and the Velicion.

  The huge sauron leaned close to Ryan. “Your thoughts are transparent. Do not worry. Allow the Danu to drop you into the mech. I will do the same for the Danu and I will drop.” The Velicion looked through the hole. “Hurry!”

  Was the sauron going to drop and potentially break his bones or did he have some other plan? Ryan couldn't answer that. He just followed Todd and the others. He lowered his body through the hole and allowed the Danu to swing him into the top of the mech. The others had already climbed down and were watching as he helped the pilot through the hole.

  “What about the Velicion?”

  “He told me that you will know what to do,” replied the pilot.

  “ Me? What can I do?”

  The Danu tapped the mech twice with his boot. “It is only you who has the ability to operate machines which belong to another species.”