One Day on Mars

'Sir?'

'We just got a courier from Earth in a small ship capable of hyperspace. The courier brought us this data straight from the Pentagon. Since the long-range coms are jammed we're sending messages back and forth the old-fashioned way.' The CO tapped a few keys on a console at his desk and spun the monitor around for Jack to see. 'Read this intel. It is quite alarming. The Seppies have a new fighter mecha that appears to be a poor man's copy of the FM-12. Analysts' details are in there, but if you haven't heard yet, we encountered a squadron of them after you had gone past the engagement zone. They are formidable and there are eyewitness accounts and computer analyses of them in there as well. All I can suggest is that you read this intel and plan accordingly.'

'Aye, sir.'

'The main thing is to prepare air support for an attack on six carriers, with the Sienna Madira running point and minimizing damage to the civilian population and hostages and at the same time allow for a VIP extraction at the ground coordinates in the file. I want you to have the air group ready in ninety minutes. We attack in two hours and thirty minutes. Understood, Lieutenant Commander?' The captain stared at him tight-lipped.

'Sir! I'm on it.'

'And . . . DeathRay . . . '

'Sir?'

'Good hunting.'

'Yes sir!'

Chapter 9

11:15 PM Mars Tharsis Standard Time

'. . . This is Gail Fehrer with MNN on the ground in the central dome of Mons City. My crew and I were able to escape the war zone in the southern borough domes and sneak into the main dome with the moving Separatist troops. That was quite a harrowing experience, Shennan,' the reporter whispered into the video as she scanned over her shoulders for activity.

'How long did it take to get from one borough to the next, Gail? We've been told that the tunnels from one dome to the next had been cut off,' the anchorman said deadpan, as if reading from a teleprompter or, more likely, repeating from his AIC.

'It wasn't an easy trek, Shennan.' Feher's reply was considerably more animated than the anchor's. 'The Seppies have an exterior route set up where they are trucking troops and equipment from dome to dome and from drop ships that have landed between them. We hitched a ride on the back of one of the equipment loads. We were almost discovered two or three different times. We just uploaded some video to you that shows some of this as well as the enemy movement through the airseam on the South wall of the main dome just north of the central city recycling plant. The airseam down there is large enough for lightly armored vehicles to get through. The main dome of Mons City is overrun by the Separatist forces. We have seen some signs that the Separatist troops are rounding up the civilians and moving them inward toward the center of the city. We don't know where to at this point.'

'As far as we can tell here at the MNN building, we—the entire city including the boroughs—are being held captive by this invasion force. There has been no word from any of the Separatist leaders at all and we are really uncertain why MNN is still being unjammed and allowed to broadcast. Any idea of what the Separatist forces have in mind? I mean, they can't really believe they can hold off the United States Fleet do they?' Shennan asked with a little more animation than before.

'Throughout history General Ahmi has proven to be wiser than this and has tried not to create an all out engagement with the U.S. on what is considered mainland U.S. soil. There haven't been skirmishes on Earth in more than a century and few on Mars since the Martian Desert Campaign. Since that skirmish more than thirty years ago she has shown no signs of desiring a full-scale war. But, Shennan, I'd have to say something appears to have changed with that policy. The forces we saw outside the domes and moving into the domes are well organized, equipped, and appear to me to be ready for war. The death toll already must be hundreds of thousands if not more. This is war, no doubt. And the question still remains as to where they got so much support and —' Fehrer nodded as if her cameraman had said something to her and then she turned to look over her right shoulder.

'Gail, what is it?'

'Shennan, I'm sorry, but we have to go now. We'll contact you when we can. This is Gail Fehrer for MNN reporting.' Then the video feed went blank.

'Wow, amazing report from MNN correspondent Gail Fehrer. Godspeed and be safe Gail. Let's go now to . . . '

'Alexander, we can't fight these soldiers. Deanna is too . . . '

'Yeah, dear, I know. I should never have faced off with the men in the elevator. This was a bad, very bad plan.' Senator Moore carried his daughter as they fled through the bowels of the Mons City infrastructure. Using security feeds and other sensors, such as automatic door activations and elevator operations, and by eavesdropping on the enemy communications channels, his AIC staffer was helping them evade capture. The AIC continued to hack away at the security protocols of the commandeered Separatist soldier's AIC with marginal luck. For now Alexander kept the small implant in his pocket, but if Abigail couldn't hack into it within the next five minutes he was going to smash the thing.

'Mr. Moore.' Reyez Jones, who was taking up the rear position a hallway behind them, called to him on the e- suit to e-suit wireless.

'Reyez?'

'I was down here once about a year ago and I think there is a garbage incinerator a few hundred meters from here,' Reyez said.

'And?' Moore held up and waited for his wife and Joanie Hassed to cross the intersecting hallway to be followed closely by Reyez. Moore motioned to Reyez to hold the conversation until he was in audible distance. 'Let's stay off the radio if we don't have to use it. So, what about the garbage incinerator?'

Abigail, DTM the blueprints for this floor showing this incinerator if you can get them,