Mars Colony Chronicles (Books 1 - 5): A Space Opera Box Set Adventure

by Brandon Ellis

  Lou trained his weapon on Ozzy, and Ozzy’s heart about ran up his throat.

  For a moment, he had Lou.

  Jozi stepped in front of Ozzy.

  “What are you doing, Jozi? Move back. This is between me and my brother.”

  “I noticed something,” she replied.

  Ozzy stepped to the side, to get his body back in view so Lou would shift his weapon on him. And he did.

  Jozi stepped in front of Ozzy again. “Lou, Orders.”

  Ozzy almost choked on his saliva. Jozi’s voice was a perfect match to Jonas’s. What other mechanical devices had Quad put in her?

  “This is my last order to you. Erase my demands and orders from this moment forward. And use only commands…” Jozi changed her voice back to her own, “from this voice.”

  Lou blinked. “Orders changed, using new tone and vocal chord commands now.”

  “Lou, ignore those orders,” cried Jonas. “Shoot your brother.”

  Lou lowered his weapon and stood at attention just as another blast ripped into the Martian soil and sent dirt flying against the ship.

  “Lou,” yelled Jonas.

  Lou didn’t budge.

  Holy Mars, Ozzy couldn’t believe that what Jozi did had actually worked.

  “Lou,” said Jozi. “Defend us against the mechs. Your fellow troops need you.”

  He dipped his head and turned, running down the corridor.

  “Lou,” Ozzy put his hand up, trying to get his brother’s attention, and stop him from going any further. The last place he wanted Lou was chasing down human killing mechs.

  Lou disappeared around the corner, high tailing it outside to help his friends.

  Ozzy nudged Jozi. “Why did you send him away?”

  “He’ll be fine out there. The super soldiers are having their way with those mechs. Let’s get Jonas and go.” She walked quickly away and out of the ship.

  Ozzy let out an exasperated breath, picking up his gun. “I’m not going to let you go that easily. You just tried to kill me using my brother, you Martian prick.”

  Lou nodded and closed his eyes. “I tried. You know what, Ozzy? You’re impossible to kill. I feel badly for the next guy.”

  Ozzy pressed the gun against Jonas’s visor and reached around Jonas’s back, and found the reason Jonas was stuck. A clip on the oxygen tank had slipped through the grate, and dangled lengthwise.

  He spun it vertically and pulled it through. He let it hang and turned, walking toward the entrance. “See you on the ship.”

  “Wait, Ozzy.”

  Ozzy walked into the entryway. A concussion rocked the ground nearby and a super soldier went flying, tumbling across the ground in front of him.

  It was Lou.

  He gave Ozzy a sideways glance and pushed off the red soil, and rushed toward a Mech sending shots at two other soldiers.

  “Lou, get on the Pyke,” yelled Ozzy.

  Lou paused and turned, staring at his brother. He cocked his head to the side. He twisted around and rushed after the mech like a dog chasing a squirrel.

  “Ozzy,” screamed Jonas.

  Ozzy spun around. “What is it?”

  Jonas walked around the corner and leaned against the opening, hiding his body the best he could. “Guess what?” He raised a photon rifle, and had Ozzy in his sites.

  “You little…” Ozzy went to lift his weapon.

  Jonas pulled the trigger and a photon blast shot outward, slamming into Ozzy’s gun, turning it into a melted mess before it flew from Ozzy’s hand and tumbled onto the ground.

  “You should always listen to your gut, Ozzy, not your heart.” Jonas aimed at Ozzy chest.

  Whapooh!

  34

  Crash Site, Mars

  Jonas fell to the floor, dropping his rifle, and clutching his shoulder. He rolled and went to get up, only to fall back, moaning in pain.

  Ozzy twisted around, seeing Jozi standing behind him and to the side, her gun pointed at Jonas. She had taken the shot.

  Even though she didn’t say this time, Ozzy thought it for her, she’s a crack shot.

  “Don’t listen to him. Never question your heart, Ozzy.”

  She pulled the trigger again and her gun recoiled.

  A loud grunt echoed in the ship and Ozzy glanced over his shoulder.

  Jonas slumped over, dead, with a bloody hole in his chest.

  Ozzy stood paralyzed for a moment, not believing another High Judge, the bane to his universe, had kicked the bucket, and again by one of Ozzy’s pals.

  He inhaled deeply and patted Jozi’s shoulder. “You’re my savior, and always have been. Thank you.” He walked onward and out of the ship.

  “Where are you going? The craft is that way?”

  Ozzy ignored Jozi and headed for his brother.

  Lou was busy with several other super soldiers and sending rifle fire at an approaching mech.

  A mech lifted off the ground, fire spurting out of its feet. It pushed higher and came down with a loud thump, its hip and knee gyros fluidly absorbing the shock.

  It slammed an arm onto a soldier, crumpling the man, and probably breaking every bone in the grunts body.

  His legs and arms twitched but he didn’t get up.

  “No,” yelled a battle-suit clad wearing warrior, another super soldier.

  He went to a knee and sent a barrage of gun fire at the mech, using pin point precision.

  Shards of glass from the mech’s cockpit shattered across the sand. The soldier stood and rushed the mech, jumping on the mech’s knee, and leaped higher. He threw a concussion device into the cockpit and landed on the ground. He turned and ran as the mech exploded, sending flames outward and mech parts everywhere.

  “Lou,” yelled Ozzy, reaching for his brother. A hand grabbed Ozzy’s EVA and pulled him away just as a photon slug ripped through his brother. Blood splattered Ozzy’s visor.

  Ozzy dashed forward, reaching for his brother, gasping loudly. “Lou, no. Lou!”

  His brother lay motionless on the crimson dust, his eyes wide, his mouth open, and vacant of any life.

  Ozzy lost his balance and fell to the ground, and backed up, tripping over him, and landing on her back. “No time to mourn. Get moving, Ozzy,” yelled Jozi.

  A shadow loomed over them and Ozzy turned. A mech with a blown out cannon, wires strewn everywhere, walked forward, readying to crush them under foot.

  Jozi let out a barrage of weapon fire, screaming.

  The mech’s chest and head cracked open, and sparks flew. She shifted her aim, and slammed a few shots into the mech’s hip, severing the leg.

  It leaned to the side and fell like a tree, crashing to the ground, sending a cloud of sand swirling into the air.

  “Get up, Ozzy,” ordered Jozi, pulling him to his feet. “Lou is that way.” She motioned toward the craft and pushed him forward.

  Lou was pulling an unconscious soldier up Pyke’s ramp, and several other stragglers followed him.

  Ozzy shook his head. “No, Lou is—” He stopped mid-sentence, realizing he mistakened another man for Lou. Ozzy let out a breath of relief and his muscles relaxed a bit, his mind less spinning. “Thank Mars.”

  “Bobby?” came Jozi, her voice high pitched. She was bent over, helping a man to his feet. The guy was holding his leg and hobbling.

  “Thank you,” said the man, breathing fast.

  “Bobby, it’s me. Jozi Ryan.” She put his arm around her shoulders and aided him to the ship.

  “Jozi Ryan?” He tapped his helmet. “I’m sorry, I’m not placing the name.

  “You nitwit. We dated a few years ago,” she shook her head. “It’s not important.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m a little shell shocked,” Bobby blurted out.

  A rumble filled the sky, echoing across the Martian desert. Ozzy eyed the heavens. Large ships were heading his direction.

  “Here they come,” hurrying up the ramp and into Pyke’s storage bay.

  Soldiers and politicians alike
were strapped into chairs, some shaking, some with their heads in their hands, and others clearly dazed and confused.

  The Galactic Knights were strapped in, Gragas sitting next to Lily. She reached out. “Daddy?”

  Ozzy halted. “I’ll be back here shortly, okay Lily-bug?”

  She cupped her hands on her lap and looked down, somewhat shrinking and leaning against Gragas.

  Gragas held a thumbs-up. “Everything is going to be fine, Ozzy. Get us out of here.”

  Ozzy nodded and headed for the corridors leading to the cockpit.

  Jozi put down her friend and followed Ozzy.

  He plopped into his cockpit seat, and strapped in. He flicked the engines on, upping auxiliary power, and initiated graviton shields. “Jozi, how close are they?” He lifted Pyke off the ground, pushing the throttle forward.

  “They’ll be in firing rang in twenty seconds.”

  Ozzy gulped hard and shot Jozi a look, his eyes wide. “Twenty seconds? What the Mars? Are you sure?”

  “They are coming in fast,” she replied.

  “Of course,” he moaned. “Patch in the rendezvous point and let’s meet up with Nautilus.”

  She ran her fingers on the holographic display, typing quickly. “Patched.”

  Ozzy veered the ship to the left, and pushed the throttle more, and headed to the upper atmosphere. There ship was smaller and faster, so they’d easily put distance between them and the coming Dunrakee ships.

  Ozzy leaned back, his heart racing, but his mind able to slow down for a moment. “You are acting more…human,” he said.

  Jozi lips moved, almost forming a grin, almost as if she was holding it back for some reason. “Bobby Harris is on our ship. I think that’s why I’m starting to act…normal…for the time being. He was my heart throb for many—”

  A loud beep sounded, interrupting her. Ozzy rolled his eyes. “Now what?”

  Jozi leaned forward, studying the radar. “Nothing there.”

  Another loud beep.

  She switched to rear cams, and zoomed in. “How did they slip past our radar? It doesn’t even pick them up?”

  Ozzy eyed the problem too. “I see them. Dunrakee starfighters, six o’clock.”

  35

  Heading to Rendezvous, Mars Exosphere

  Ozzy linked his helmet to Pyke’s intercom. “Attention. We have incoming bandits. Hold on and stay buckled in. This will be a rocky ride.”

  He pushed the control stick to the right, and pulled it back, heading for the exosphere where he could meet up and dock with the Nautilus, as was the plan.

  “Do we have weapons on this ship?”

  Jozi pressed several buttons and swiped images across the holodisplay.

  “Yes,” she said, a bit surprised. “We have weapon’s rooms and weapon’s pods.”

  “Get Quad and Gragas in them. And tell Lyra to sit by my daughter, and keep her calm.”

  “Right. I’m on it.” Jozi stood, and rushed to the storage bay.

  Ozzy swiped the holodisplay and pressed several holographic buttons.

  A new screen popped up. Two bogies were on his tail, swerving left and right, trying to get a line of fire on Ozzy.

  Ozzy wouldn’t allow it, and continued to move Pyke in a zig zag pattern toward space.

  “But there are only two,” Ozzy said to himself. “That’s nothing.”

  More beeps pierced the cockpit. Ozzy zoomed out on the rear cams. And threw his fist on his arm chair. “Four more of those bastards.”

  He put the Pyke into a flat scissors maneuver, a flying pattern usually flown when an attacker overshoots, but sometimes it’s effective when bogies were still in pursuit.

  The problem the starfighters had was that Pyke was ten times their size and with weapon’s rooms and weapon’s pods. Pyke most likely had more fire power than all the starfighters combined.

  He shifted graviton shield power to the rear, speaking into his mic, “Jozi, is Gragas and Quad in the pods?”

  “They are on their way.”

  Ozzy leveled Pyke out and reversed his turn, slowing down in front of the attacker to spoil his aim, and veered left, pushing his ship as fast as it could go, then banked right, and left again.

  He continued weaving, glancing at his rear holocam display screen partitioned on Pyke’s main vid screen.

  The attackers had no choice, but to follow his weaving pattern. If they didn’t, he’d continue in his turn and either flank around to hit them in the rear or head to the upper atmosphere, where he’d rather be.

  “I have my mic linked up and I’m in the pod,” said Gragas.

  “I’m in the pod as well,” said Quad. “Let’s enjoy picking these little guys off, shall we?”

  “There is nothing enjoyable about killing,” replied Gragas. “We’re defending ourselves, and nothing more.”

  “We’ll have to agree to disagree, Gragas,” came Quad.

  A ball of flames lit up the rear holocam, and debris rocketed in all directions.

  “Woohoo!” yelled Quad. “First shot, and I got ‘em.”

  Ozzy pulled up, heading for the rendezvous point. He checked his positioning system on the flight console. “We have five minutes before we get to Nautilus. Let’s see if we can rid of these Dunrakee before we get there, shall we?”

  The Pyke bucked back and dipped, shaking for a moment. He checked rear deflectors. The shield held up from a direct hit.

  Four minutes blinked on his screen. “How are you guys doing?”

  “If you’d stay still, we’d be doing better,” replied Quad.

  He pulled up port and starboard cams, seeing round weapon’s pods on each side of the ship, attached by wires and an advanced hydraulic system.

  Quad and Gragas were shooting, barely missing starfighters that were dodging just as well as Ozzy. The Dunrakee must have learned well from their first mishap.

  “Three minutes,” informed Ozzy. “We’re reaching the top of the mesosphere and about to hit into the exosphere.”

  Unlike Earth, which had five atmospheric layers, Mars only had three, but it didn’t matter, Mars was just as turbulent as Earth.

  The ship bounced up and down as it went from the mesosphere to the exosphere.

  Another direct hit shuddered the craft. Ozzy checked shields. Again, they held.

  “Two minutes. Get those bogey’s off of me,” ordered Ozzy.

  As if on cue, another fiery ball lit up his rear holocam view.

  “Four more starfighters to go,” reminded Ozzy.

  “Got one in target’s lock,” said Quad. “And, done.”

  A starfighter split in half, and careened away, its wings tearing off.

  This was almost too easy. And nothing in Ozzy’s life was easy. What was the catch?

  He shook the thought away just as Jozi sat in the seat next to him, her hair all over the place.

  “You alright?”

  “A little frazzled from all the movement, but hanging in there,” she responded.

  They blasted through the exosphere, finally out of Mars’s uppermost atmosphere and into space. Technically, the upper atmospheric levels were space, but Ozzy always considered outside of Mars’s atmosphere was the true cosmos.

  Another explosion erupted behind Ozzy. “Three more to go,” said Gragas.

  Ozzy nodded to himself, continuing weaving in and out. Not very many people could shoot down fast flying starfighters while experiencing chaotic movement like that, unless, of course, those people were Quad and Gragas.

  “Up ahead,” said Jozi.

  “I see it.”

  The Nautilus was moving away from them, heading toward Europa as fast as it could.

  “Problem,” cried Jozi, touching the holographic radar. “We have a big one heading in Nautilus’s direction.

  A bright shining, rectangle gleamed in the distance. It was a Dunrakee ship, but far from Sever’s ship.

  “One minute,” said Ozzy, watching the Nautilus appear bigger in the window. “Let them k
now we’re about to dock.”

  “I already did.”

  “Good.” Ozzy veered the craft, coming in on a wide path into a landing. He rounded the ship and saw the bridge’s lower deck opening wide for him to enter.

  Two more eruptions filled the cockpit’s rear cam display.

  “The last one is turning tail and leaving,” moaned Quad.

  Ozzy let out a hefty exhale, wanting to wipe the sweat dripping from his temples and forehead, but he couldn’t reach inside his helmet to do so.

  “Ozzy,” yelled Jozi, pointing out of the cockpit window. “We have more Dunrakee battleships en-route to us right now.”

  Ozzy brought up side cams and zoomed in. “Yep, and here I thought we were on a successful escape.”

  But they weren’t heading for Ozzy. They were heading for the Nautilus.

  “Quad and Gragas, stay in the pods. We have more visitors.”

  Quad howled. “I can’t wait.”

  “I’m on it,” replied Gragas.

  Ozzy glared at the starboard cam, seeing Gragas changing direction, the pod now facing toward the front of the craft.

  “I’m in position and ready,” said Gragas. The cannon barrel rotated. “All weapons are charging now. I’ll be at full capacity by the time the enemy ships arrive.”

  Nautilus’s side bay door opened and Marine starfighters launched through the departure tubes, heading for the enemy starfighters, their ionic afterburners sending blue fire out of their boosters, propelling them at ridiculous speeds.

  The com line crackled. “Ozzy, we need you out there protecting the civilians on our ship. Do you copy?”

  Ozzy was tempted to ask if he could drop Lily off, but he’d have no time. “Copy.”

  Ozzy flew toward the oncoming Dunrakee starfighters. There were dozens of them and behind them were large Dunrakee ships.

  A loud beep. More ships came on the radar, all heading toward Ozzy and Nautilus.

  Ozzy’s shoulder’s slumped forward. His mouth went slack and he went to open it, ready to speak the truth.

  Jozi cut him off. “I know, Ozzy. We won’t survive. That doesn’t matter. We have some incredible Galactic Knight sharp shooters in the pods and we can at least give Nautilus a fighting chance.”