One Day on Mars

'Shit that was close!' he said. The fighter righted itself and he pushed it full throttle forward to put more distance between themselves and the SAMs.

'If I'm going to get killed, Jack, I'd prefer it be after I'd actually started my mission.' Nancy grunted and panted for breath. She was slowly regaining her sight from the momentary tunnel that had been closing in on her caused by the massive g-forces the evasive maneuvers and the tumbling spin had imposed on them.

One would wonder why not just drop in from space on the Reservation rather than taking such a circuitous and extremely dangerous route. That had been tried by at least seven agents over the last decade. A few had tried just walking in and several had tried going in through transports from Kuiper Station. None had ever reported back.

Nancy had worked with analysts for more than four years to determine the best plan of action for getting into the Separatist trust and there really wasn't a good solution. The brightest boys back at CIA headquarters deep underground in McLean, Virginia, were still baffled as to why they lost contact with the other operatives. But this mission plan was different. Nancy had confidence in it. If the plan worked right she would appear to be a survivor from the first deep attack within Separatist borders in decades. The missile silos and factories along the western side of the Phlegra Mountains were about to be toast. Hopefully, so would most records of the people from that region. Nancy then could join the survivors fleeing the attacks and moving farther inward over the mountains and into Phlegra City on the eastern side of the mountains. It would succeed. But isn't that what all the other agents thought before their missions?

Everything had to look real, had to be real, and there was nothing more real than a sortie in the middle of a war. As the battle raged, pushing into the periphery of the Separatist Reservation, the hopes were that some misplaced Separatists could be replaced, joined, or infiltrated. And Jack had a 'special surprise' under the belly of his little snub-nosed Ares swept-wing fighter that would add to the confusion. A small twenty-kiloton tactical nuke should render enough confusion for most, and then some. Once the missile base was 'softened' then a second wave of fighters would follow behind Jack by exactly twenty-seven minutes. The time wasn't an arbitrary choice; four years of simulations suggested it to be the best window for mission success. But Nancy would have very little time to get to ground, cover her tracks, and join up with survivors moving eastward through the mountain chain.

Jack held the HOTAS gently and continued to push the fighter to full speed. The g-forces weighed heavy on Nancy and she was more than ready to get her feet back on the ground. Jack on the other hand, was in his element. In a dark and testosterone-filled sort of way, he had even enjoyed the tumbling spin and recovery, but only inasmuch as it hadn't killed them.

Nancy scanned the area through the QM sensors as they passed over the Phlegra plains. The giant conifer trees of the plains could just barely be discerned with QM sensors after dark, and at that altitude and velocity it took a trained analyst or a computer with special sensors and algorithms to find them. The trees were there and as they approached the mountains were increasing in number.

Jack, we are approaching the target zone, Candis said.

Roger that. Prepare arming sequence, authorization Boland, one, one, three, one, four, alpha.

Arming sequence verified and target has been acquired, sir.

'Okay, Penzington, we are about to lower the boom. Prepare yourself for deployment,' Jack said, smiling at her in the rearview.

'Thanks, Jack. Let's get the show on the road, hey?' Nancy returned the smile.

Nancy, you should take your injection now, Allison reminded her.

Right.

Nancy pulled the radiation dose treatment from her breast pocket and unsheathed one of the one-centimeter- long needles. She pulled back an armor plate on her left thigh and slid the needle through the puncture-seal layer into her leg muscle. The needle quickly made a hissing noise and then clicked. Nancy pulled the needle from her leg and watched as the puncture seal filled the tiny hole in her suit leg. She replaced the armor and then squinted her eyes and gritted her teeth as the serum began working its way through her body, causing her ears to ring and her eyes to sting. The ringing in her ears got louder, the stinging in her eyes worsened, and her head began to pound like a repulsor hammer.

'We've got a good target lock and are ready to go on Hellstorm missile,' Jack said into the coms.

'Roger that, one three three. You are authorized to go Hellstorm,' replied a voice over the net.

Jack depressed the fire button and the little missile zipped out from under the starboard swept wing of the fighter. The missile cleared the fighter and then accelerated toward a moderate Separatist city a few tens of kilometers from Phlegra. Nancy watched as the missile contrail traced its trajectory downward into the periphery of the Separatist Reservation as deep as any U.S. vessel had ever made it before. The propellantless propulsion system of the missile whizzed it through the Martian atmosphere, creating a faint blue ion trail that tracked behind the missile all the way to the target.

Multiple SAMs and heavy AA fire, Jack!

Evasives, Candis! He yanked and banked at the HOTAS.

'Nancy, this is as far as I go! Time to make your exit. Good luck.' Jack yelled as he banked the fighter left then right. Then he pulled straight up to gain as much altitude for Nancy's deployment as he could manage in the anti- aircraft fire.

'Roger that, Boland. Thanks for the lift. You take care of yourself. Retracting rear ejection portal!' The canopy above her slid backward into the aircraft's fuselage, leaving an open circle above her head. The airflow was dampened some by the inertial dampening field but the noise and pounding from the Martian air was debilitating.

'See ya, Jack! Eject, eject, eject!' Nancy hit the ejection switch and then depressed the handle.

The miniature catapult field system ejected her upward and out of the Ares fighter at over four hundred kilometers per hour into the cold Martian night sky. The inertial dampening field and the e-suit protected her from the harsh g-forces and the Martian environment—the flak and anti-aircraft fire was another matter all together. Nancy spun wildly for a couple of microseconds and then the seat released itself from her and the inertial dampening was no longer available. For a brief instant she felt as if she would be torn asunder but the atmosphere quickly dampened her motion to critical velocity which was much more tolerable. Just as she began to gain her wits a brilliant flash filled the sky about thirty kilometers to her north.