Tides of Mars (Omnibus Version)

by Ben Winston

  Cole was almost faster than the aide had been. He quickly zoomed in on the assault cruiser which showed it's bay doors opening, and armored troops pouring out.

  “Well, I hope Captain Tyrr gets here soon, even if the Dogs take that barge, I doubt we can withstand this many fresh troops,” R’Hea asked.

  “Ariel, Captain Tyrr was concerned about the state of his engines once he gets here. He was afraid that he wouldn't have the power to go very far. I directed him to land in the area where the slaves should have grounded, so they will have a place to go,” Cole said.

  “That might not have been the best idea, Cole. Remember, the Merchant’s Profit was a slaver before she switched sides,” Ariel said.

  “I know, Ariel, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time. Let's just hope they see the insignia and know what it means,” Cole replied.

  “Let's just hope the folks over at Papoose Lake are out of bullets and missiles. Or Argus is going to have more to worry about then just the slavers!” Ariel commented.

  “Well, since they didn't shoot at any of our ships, we can only surmise that they are aware of friendly insignia at the least,” R’Hea suggested, proving that she was still paying attention.

  “I think that might be due to the efforts of the Guardians I sent to the UN and other governments,” Ariel began. “I'm actually...”

  She was interrupted by a loud rumbling that could be heard even over the fighting, the ground itself was beginning to shake.

  “I'm registering the IFF signals of the free trader Merchant's Profit, Ariel. I would say that Captain Tyrr has arrived,” Cole replied. “They're in serious trouble! I'm reading critical reactor heat levels! The ship is coming in backwards, and it looks like the engines are in overboost!”

  “How fast are they going, Cole?” Ariel asked. “...and how high up are they? Can they jump?”

  “Negative Ariel. The Marines could of course, but none of the crew could yet. Wait, the ship seems to be turning,” Cole replied. “Ariel, the bay doors are opening!”

  As Ariel, mKail and her bridge crew watched, the glittering litter of armored Marines began trailing the large ball of fire that was the ship. Several larger items dropped out of other bays as the Marine's equipment was dumped into the upper atmosphere of the planet. As Cole had said, the Marines as well as their equipment could easily make it safely to the surface, but the rest of the crew of the crippled ship were doomed.

  Shortly after the last of the Marines had jumped, the Merchant's Profit, Dolian Medium Freighter exploded in a huge fireball that was visible to almost two thirds of the planet. Ariel closed her eyes and fought off the tears for the deaths of her two friends. Grief would have to wait for the right time. For now, the living still needed her.

  “Colo...” Ariel Paused to clear her throat. “Colonel, do you have the inbound troops?”

  “Yes, I do, Highness. They report that they will have to come down a safe distance out because they evacuated the entire crew of the ship into their vehicles before the drop. I'm splitting them up. The equipment and the crews will be coming down back there with you, and on top of the rogue guardians. The rest are going to come in hot and firing.”

  “So the crew of the freighter is safe?” Ariel asked amazed.

  “That's what they said. Colonel Hyna said he had to have three of his kids drag the Captain off the bridge, but they got them all,” Rhea reported.

  “I owe those folks a beer for that one! Argus and Jess are friends,” Ariel said. “Now, back to business. My team and I will deal with these traitors back here, I'll release Cole to hunt down any other scout ships.”

  “Understood, Highness, are you sure your team will be enough? I can send you a squad or two...” R’Hea began.

  “No you can't and you know it, Colonel. You focus on your job, and I'll focus on mine. I'll call if I need something,” Ariel said.

  “Will do, Highness. Give them hell for me,” R’Hea replied as she signed off.

  “Okay Cole, drop us behind the bluff. Those traitors need to be stopped,” Ariel ordered.

  “I still think you should allow me to remain, Ariel. I could easily provide cover for you and the rest of the team,” Cole replied, but was already moving into position for the drop.

  “I've got two of the snipers with me, Cole. If you can keep the rest of those assholes off us from the air, we shouldn't have much of a problem. Remember, these are only a bunch of spoiled rich kids that have had some training,” Ariel replied.

  “I wouldn't underestimate them, Ariel. They have had the same training as you have. Just because they are traitors by no means makes them weak or easy targets. You're in for a fight,” Cole replied. “Drop in one minute. Good hunting Ariel, be safe.”

  “Same to you my friend,” Ariel said as she and mKail ran for the rear hatch and to the rest of her team.

  Red Medicine Bluff,

  Moran-Parker Estate,

  Henderson, Nevada, Earth.

  Sol Sector. (Horon-A sector)

  “Gen'ais, Keep an eye on those two fuckers on the left. If we let them slip past us, we'll have to go hunt them down. If you get a good shot, take it,” mKail ordered one of the troopers.

  “mKail, they can't proceed any further under cover. Once they clear that last berm, we’ll have 'em,” Corporal Milas reported. General McCallister loaned him to Ariel after Bri'tell said he was impressed with the young man's sniping abilities. Ariel had to admit, he had an uncanny knack for hitting targets that no one else seemed to be able to even see.

  “Keep it puckered, Milas. Once you pop one of those assholes, one of the ships above will be on you fast!” Ariel added.

  “We got this, Highness,” Milas replied, chuckling.

  The first time one of the snipers fired, the team learned part of the enemy strategy; the Scout ships that had remained aloft were there for fire support and air cover. Cole had already brought down two, and one of the fighters had accounted for another, but at the cost of two friendly fighters, and one Marine on Ariel's team. At least the two pilots had ejected safely. Cole had even taken a hit from one of the enemy ships.

  Ariel's team shifted to the right to counter the highest concentration of traitor Guardians. As soon as she engaged them, the two on the left rose up and started running for the edge of the shield which was at the foot of the bluff.

  Milas immediately reported. “One of the guys on the left is down, the other is wounded. He managed to roll behind a rock. We've already moved.” From the sound of his voice, he was still actually moving.

  “Good work, Milas. Can you guys keep an eye on the wounded one?” Ariel asked.

  Milas' reply was lost in the burst of static from the laser strike that turned his old hiding place to molten glass.

  “Say again, Milas?” Ariel asked.

  “I say again, yeah, I think we can cover him. He'll most likely be dead shortly, Tre'ase took his leg off,” Milas reported.

  “Just remember, the armor can keep him alive, Granted he's missing a leg, but I imagine he's still capable of plenty of mischief,” Ariel replied. “Good work, both of you.”

  Out on the desert floor, two of the scout ships were still manned, and tasked with the mission of breaching the shield for their team to get through. Those two scouts had been working on a small section about midway between where Milas had shot the two in hiding and the mob that Ariel was fighting.

  Ariel had been so focused on the fight at hand, she was surprised when one of the two scout ships suddenly blew up. The Turrets on the second scout spun around, but they hadn't been fast enough to keep it from also being destroyed. Through the smoke and flames, Ariel made out the running forms of several hundred Imperial Marines; The Cavalry had arrived.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Moran-Parker Estate,

  Henderson, Nevada, Earth.

  Sol Sector. (Horon-A sector)

  As if the extra troops arriving had been some sort of a signal, the rest of the slaver assault cruisers
jumped for the planet en-mass. However, they had waited long enough for the Regulan Guard and the Ophuccian ships to get into position to counter them.

  Once the troops from the Merchant's Profit arrived on the scene, the battle at the Estate ended quickly. The slaver forces had been caught between the two Imperial forces and started taking massive casualties. When the assault cruiser opened up on the same troops that just jumped out of it, the slavers knew the end had arrived. But instead of giving up, they went into a frenzied, berserker type of attack.

  Since they all knew that surrender would mean execution, they chose to throw themselves into the forces defending the estate in a last ditch, all-out effort to kill either Cr'ale or Ariel. Neither succeeded, but the onslaught was almost overwhelming even with the extra troops.

  The slaves that had survived the initial ruse had indeed made it to the ground, and most had simply stayed where they landed. Some slowly made their way to a place where they could watch the fighting, and yet others tried to run away from the area.

  The slavers did put them in armor, but the suits were not fully charged and had no offensive systems at all. None of the slaves had been given weapons either. So when they made it to the ground, they tried to avoid everyone. All the slaves had been taken from the core worlds and none of them were from Earth. None of them actually knew what planet they were on, and they didn't want to encounter anyone else that would shoot them, or worse.

  For the most part the National Guard, Police and units of the regular military did a pretty good job of keeping idiots out of the combat areas. Of course, there were those that just had to go around the barricades and see what was going on.

  Three news vans circumvented the blockades to get where they could get a good view of the fighting at the Estate. Seeing the approaching vehicles, enemy fighters blew all three into smoking rubble, killing two people outright, blinding three others, and seriously wounded the rest. By the time someone got to what was left of the vans, four of the people had died, leaving three survivors. Two of them had been permanently blinded, but all three were in critical condition. The one reporter that had survived lost her left leg and arm. The beauty she had used to secure her position forever ruined by laser burns on forty percent of her head.

  All in all there were several thousand people killed worldwide because of the fighting, dying mostly from either falling debris or stray weapons fire. Where possible, warnings were issued for the populous to take cover and other measures implemented to keep them from being accidentally wounded, but there was still considerable damage.

  However, even though the fighting on the planet had mostly finished, the battle in space was still raging on as the two massive fleets pounded the hell out of each other. When Ariel got down to the bunker that Cr'ale and Hs'ean had been in, she was relieved to see that Gr'eis was unhurt and still commanding the fleet.

  Hs'ean noticed her reaction and smiled. “It's the vagaries of Space Battle, Highness. The fleets are still exchanging long range fire while the fighters and smaller ships play. Once the fleets close, that's when the real nail-biting starts.”

  “Damn, how long has this been going on? We've been fighting the whole day, the assault started just after first light, and the sun went down thirty minutes ago,” Ariel asked.

  Hs'ean nodded. “Yeah, just be thankful they didn't show up geared for planetary assault. We'd have been in serious trouble by now.” She cleared her throat and waved a hand at the big holo-tank. “No, this is all just the prelims for the main event.

  “The slavers got smart and sent out small frigates to hunt down our missile pods, but by the time they destroyed them, they had done serious damage to the enemy fleet. I'm starting to wonder if one of the reasons the enemy hasn't left by now is because they can't.”

  Ariel looked confused. “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean is that those platforms we built targeted energy sources. What ships didn't get blown to hell lost their engines, reactors, or anything else producing enough energy for those pods to lock onto. When the Capitol ships figured this out they cut power and sent the frigates out, the pods then shifted targeting profiles. Whatever method of tracking they used next wasn't as effective as the first one had been, but they still beat the hell out of the enemy shields. Those pods are 100% pure nastiness in an easy-open container.”

  Ariel chuckled at her Admiral's reference, then turned to her softly smiling Grandfather. “You're looking well, Grandfather.”

  Cr'ale nodded. “We are, this bunker of yours is amazing. But I'm concerned about the casualties here. I know you're still fighting a war, but is there anything you can shake loose to help get supplies and medical aid to the hardest hit areas?”

  “I've heard other places got hit, but I haven't gotten any numbers yet. How bad is it?” Ariel asked.

  Cr'ale glanced at his data pad. “To-key-oh, Japan,” Cr'ale still had trouble with English, but he was learning. “Thirty-one hundred dead, four thousand wounded. Of those, over half are serious injuries. There is considerable damage since the Cruiser lost power right over downtown. Two of the Ophuccian ships grabbed it with tractors, but couldn't support its full weight. They got it over the harbor before it hit the ground, but there was still a lot of property damage. The fighting had damaged it pretty badly so the ship was no longer airtight, but what survivors that made it through the crash were taken care of by the Ophuccian, uh, Marines.”

  Ariel nodded. “We'll need to get that ship out of there before the Japanese claim it as salvage. There is far too much technology getting turned loose on this world. We're going to have a bitch of a time trying to keep it out of the wrong hands.”

  “Are you certain we even need to try, Milady?” mKail asked in her quiet way.

  Ariel looked thoughtful. “I can't see how we cannot try. The governments on this planet are petty and very greedy. I don't think there is even one of them that has the well-being of their people as its first priority. If we can't recover all the technology that got loose today, we might have to forcibly annex the planet just to keep them from killing each other.”

  “Have you considered we might have to do that anyway?” Cr'ale said in his slow, deep voice. “My dear, I know you love this planet, and if we had managed to keep our existence from most of the people here, I would be in full agreement with you. However, the Brieven has long since stolen that egg. People know that there is more out there. They know that they are not the only ones in the universe. That knowledge is going to have repercussions all by itself. The lost technology aside, this planet no longer has a choice about becoming part of the Empire. Just the knowledge that we are out there will change them.”

  Ariel looked saddened. “I suppose it was too much to hope for that we could just leave and they'd forget all about us, huh?”

  “Could you go back to your old life now that you know we're out here?” Cr'ale asked. “Even with all of the shit you've been through, all that's happened, could you honestly chose your old life?”

  “No, I couldn't. But one of the problems is, we told them we weren't here to take over the planet or conquer them,” Ariel said.

  “Well, in a way you didn't lie to them. We didn't come here to do either of those things, however, the unfortunate side-effect of this is that we'll need to make sure they don't kill each other fighting over the scraps from this war,” Cr'ale explained. “Fate might have gotten them into it, but it's up to us to make sure they survive the experience.”

  Ariel frowned. “I'll talk to the Secretary General again. Maybe if I explain things to her, she'll agree with us. It's just so hard to understand that most of the damage from a war like this can be caused by the aftermath.”

  “I would say that this is the way it always happens, but we normally don't do much fighting on worlds like this one,” Cr'ale replied. “The technology we have was gathered over years, giving our civilizations time to acclimate to it. Just dropping this on a world like yours could very easily have serious repercussions. Would you li
ke me to speak to this person with you?”

  “You're welcome, of course. I'm sure she would like to meet you anyway,” Ariel replied, smiling at him. “As to your original question; not much. All I really have is a few combat shuttles, half a squadron of fighters, and the Tides. The fleet supply ships are too far out to help much. So, no, I don't have all that much I can do to help, unfortunately.”

  “Whatever happened to that Damascos ship the slavers threw at us?” Alustria asked. “Did it survive the crash translation?”

  “That was days ago, I'd have to check. What did you have in mind, Highness?” Ariel asked.

  “You can't call me Highness anymore, Ariel, you outrank me!” Alustria said grinning. “But I was thinking that if we could get that a bit closer, we could use a freighter with a large scale replicator on-board to begin making emergency supplies. Then grab some of the other cargo ships and get them hauling it back here.”

  “Do we really need that much? What other areas got hit?” Ariel asked.

  “There were several incidents along the east coast of this continent, as well as just to the west of us in a place called California... “ Cr'ale was interrupted by one of his aides.

  “Highness, forgive me, but if I may?” he indicated Ariel.

  Cr'ale looked a little relieved. “John! Yes, please! I don't know where half these places are, and I don't think I could pronounce them even if I did.”

  The man bowed with a small smile, and turned to Ariel. “Milady, we have received reports from London, Moscow, Rome, Berlin, all in all about a dozen cities all over Europe. In addition to the disaster at Tokyo which was the worst for Asia, Beijing, Shanghai and Pyongyang were also hit. They appear to have completely ignored the Middle East and South America.”

  “Do you have any numbers yet?” Ariel asked.

  “Nothing concrete, but all tolled maybe forty thousand dead worldwide. Wounded and property destruction is the worst. Almost a hundred thousand wounded, and property damage is pretty much incalculable. The damage in Tokyo alone is in the hundreds of billions of dollars.”