One Day on Mars

see how the ship would react. The hauler began to collapse upward along the outer decks and metal buckled like a flimsy empty beer can. Fullback added more z-direction acceleration upping it to twenty-five percent. Secondary explosions and superheated plasma vented from failing systems on the hauler's outer decks. The trajectory calculations showed that they might just miss the southeastern dome by a slim margin if they could maintain the propulsion. The ships continued to screech and tear each other apart, but the supercarrier was faring far better than the Seppy rust bucket. The structural integrity fields were doing their jobs and holding the American warship together.

'Going to full z accel!' Fullback said and put all the propulsion power into the upward direction. The Separatist hauler finally collapsed under the strain and buckled completely. A seam formed along a large buckling ripple in the center of the vehicle and then it tore itself apart. The larger aft half tumbled loose and the lower one simply peeled itself apart. Debris from the hauler's breakup smacked into the bridge windows and across the deck and exterior hull and in some cases pieces actually penetrated the hull and stuck there. But the U.S.S. Margaret Thatcher broke free of the hauler and began to rise away from the broken up Seppy ship.

'Great flying, ma'am!' Ensign Lee yelled triumphantly.

'We ain't out of the woods yet, Ensign!' The CO continued pouring all of the ship's normal-space acceleration power into the upward axis, buying them more time before they impacted the surface. The probable trajectories in her head now were showing that the Thatcher would miss the domes, but pieces of the hauler were going to scatter very close to the southeast dome. The southeast dome had been compromised anyway so if it had more damage it wouldn't be as devastating. Besides that, the Thatcher had done all she could to protect the Martian city. It was time to think about herself and her crew for once. The Iron Lady of the fleet had done her job.

Captain, I've gone through all the possibilities. There is no way to pull the ship out of the fall and maintain flight. The best option is a controlled crash, her AIC informed her.

I figured as much.

Any suggestions?

Yes, crash down the mountain.

Of course! Good idea. Give me a trajectory?

It would be easier for me to take the helm.

Right. Captain's AIC take the helm.

Aye sir! AIC has the helm!

'All hands brace for impact!' the captain announced over the intercom.

'Holy . . . ' Alexander Moore began but was speechless from the sight. The glowing fireball split into several pieces. Some had fallen just south of the dome nearest them and threw dust plumes into the air. The fire falling from the sky scattered the retreating Separatist soldiers that were still trying to put up a fight, but this was the final straw that weakened them to the point that there was no longer any cohesive attack grouping of them. The Seppies were down to single or handfuls of snipers scattered about with maybe a handful of tanks and mecha left. The air had been cleared out by the Killers and the Gods of War and by the last few contingents of mecha that dropped in. The ground battle on this side of the city was over and the majority of the American fighters and mecha had moved on to the main dome. But what amazed Senator Moore the most was the sight of a flaming United States Navy supercarrier bursting out of the midst of the plummeting fireball.

The supercarrier's path was stabilizing and stretching as far up the mountainside as it could. If it hit near them at that speed the secondary fall of debris would kill them all.

'Is it going to hit us, Alexander?' Sehera reached out to her husband's hand and held it for a second. Her daughter was inside one of the inflatable domes with her helmet off. She had needed a little break from the suit. 'Should I grab Dee?'

'Naw. Look at it. I think it is going to try and sled down the mountain over there.' He pointed at the giant flaming ship. He could ask the Marine second lieutenant or one of the SARs pilots but they were busy dragging wounded around. The reporters kept their camera on the crash and had moved to a slightly better vantage point atop BIL the garbage hauler, but Moore didn't want to talk with them right now either. 'Let's just watch. I'm tired of acting right now.'

'You did well, Alexander. Even the great President Sienna Madira wasn't as heroic,' his wife said to him.

'You're biased, in more ways than one.' Alexander smiled at his wife.

'Yes of course I am,' Sehera smiled for a moment; a brief moment was all the remaining grim tasks would allow. They would soon need to get back to helping with the wounded and their break from this horrible messy day would be over. 'Do you think there are people still on that thing?'

'There must be. That is a controlled crash and a damned smart one,' Moore said.

The supercarrier impacted at about three-fourths of the way up the easternmost side of the mountain, a side that was unpopulated. Debris and dust and smoke plumed into the sky, creating reds and oranges in the early- evening sunlight that were breathtaking against the giant Martian mountain. The tough behemoth warship tore a gouge in the mountainscape as it sledded its way through rocks and soil and then it turned westward around the mountain toward them. There were flashes of secondary explosions and occasional glints of sunlight from flying chunks of metal, but after a long arduous ride of more than a hundred kilometers down the mountain the ship came to a stop less than twenty kilometers away.

'Somebody should get into touch with them and see if they need help,' Sehera thought out loud. Then they were quiet. The two of them stood there in silence holding hands looking out across the devastation, dust storms, and the giant crashed supercarrier up the mountain.

'CO Madira! CO Thatcher!'

'Goddamn it's good to hear your voice, Fullback!' Captain Jefferson answered.

'Aye sir. We've got some serious damage and there are three dozen wounded on board that need attention. But we survived, sir. And we steered the hauler away from the city.' Fullback's voice was clear but she sounded gruff, much more gruff than usual.

'Goddamned if you won't make admiral before I will,' the CO said. 'Are you in any shape to take on crew and wounded? We've got a lot of troops on the ground that could use some help.'

'I'll put out a recall to the escape pods to return to duty, sir. We can't go anywhere right now, but we most