Greenies

specifically designed for going after orbiting spacecraft. The MPG's space wing had maintained a full wing of them at their base on Triad ever since the inception of the guard. Their crews were among the most highly trained in the service and they just lived for chasing away stealth ships from Mars orbit. Eight of the craft launched within five minutes of Brett's report to Belting and streaked across the empty void at top speed, heading directly for the reported vicinity of the Marlin.

In less than ten minutes they were approaching Mermaid's position, their lasers charging, their nuclear torpedoes on standby. There approach was immediately noticed by Pebley aboard Marlin.

'Sir,' he told Warren nervously, 'a flight of F-12s are coming towards us at full acceleration.'

'I see them,' Warren said from his chair, looking at the white-hot streaks from the chemical engines. 'Let's sound the general quarters alarm.'

While the alarm was sounding on Marlin, Brett on Mermaid was giving his own orders. All of his crew had finally reported manned and ready at their positions, the airtight doors had been shut, the lasers were all charged and pointed at the last known position of the enemy vessel, and they were as ready for combat as they could possibly be.

'Go active, Sugi,' he said. 'Let's pin those fuckers down.'

'Going active,' Sugiyoto responded with a tinge of fear in his voice. He activated the appropriate controls on his board and the active sensors of the ship came to life and began sweeping back and forth with infrared lasers and radar beams. It took less than ten seconds for results to be produced. 'Got them on the radar and infrared sweeps,' he reported.

'Range and bearing?' Brett asked.

'Uh... it says 3215 kilometers, bearing 129 mark 21.'

'Lock it up and send the information to the gun crews. Have the computer get a solution ready for the torpedo crew. Nobody fires anything though without my express order.'

'Got it,' Sugi said.

Brett turned to the communications terminal again. 'Frank, open a channel to the A-12s and send the targeting information to them.'

'I don't know how to do that!' Frank protested.

With another sigh Brett got up and walked over to his terminal. He pushed the young operator to the side and began pushing buttons and changing screens. Soon the information was flying through space and into the computers of the eight F-12s, who were now turning on their own active tracking systems.

'Red flight one, this is Mermaid,' Brett said on the encrypted channel. 'Do you copy my download?'

'We got it, Mermaid,' a slightly scratchy voice replied. 'Good job finding them for us. We'll be all over their ass in about two minutes.'

'We're standing by on our weapons systems in case they get frisky before then,' Brett said. 'Mermaid out.'

They didn't get frisky before then. Noting the active systems slamming energy into their hull, Warren couldn't help but conclude that he and his ship was caught in enemy space. He ordered a full engine burn to break orbit. 'Let's get our asses out of here,' he told his crew. 'God only knows what these greenies will do if we hang out.'

Marlin's engines lit up on full power and she began heading for her own orbital break. But her velocity increase was no match for the attack fighters that were tracking her and the heat from her engine only served as a beacon towards her position on their scopes. The A-12's shot past Mermaid and then turned their asses to Marlin and began a deceleration burn at 3Gs. They used their maneuvering thrusters to break formation and soon they were surrounding the ship on all sides, their laser cannons locked onto the engine compartment and the bridge, their active systems probing it. The commander of the group, who had his own orders from Admiral Belting, hailed the ship on the emergency channel, a frequency that all space going vessels routinely monitored.

'Marlin, this is Captain Roger Freeling of the Martian Planetary Guard Space Defense wing. You will maneuver immediately to return your vessel to a stable Martian orbit. I repeat, return your vessel immediately to a stable Martian orbit and prepare to be boarded.'

No response came from Marlin. Freeling let two minutes go by and then he hailed again.

'Marlin, you are surrounded by armed A-12 attack vessels. I'm sure that your sensors have detected us out here. If you do not do as I say we will fire on your vessel. Begin maneuvering immediately!'

Onboard Marlin's bridge Warren ordered his communications officer not to acknowledge them. 'They wouldn't dare fire on us,' he said confidently. 'They're just trying to capture another one of our vessels.'

'Are you sure about that?' asked Lovington nervously. 'They fired on the naval base and the marine barracks didn't they? Don't you think we should do as they say?'

'I'm not going to be taken prisoner by the goddamn greenies,' Warren said defiantly. 'Helm, keep us at full power and start plotting a course for Jupiter. Communications, it's time to break radio silence. We need to send a report off to Earth.'

'Yes sir,' the communications officer and the helmsman both muttered. Both of them were quite terrified at what was going on but it never occurred to either to question their orders.

Marlin continued to streak away, gaining more velocity by the second. She continued to ignore the hails from Captain Freeling. Finally, with nothing else left to do, Freeling ordered his flight to open fire.

Three of the attack planes fired simultaneously, their large bore cannons sending out pulses of highly concentrated laser light that tore into the engine compartment of the ship, slicing through the hull and penetrating the fusion reactors and the propellant tanks. The entire back of the Marlin exploded in a brilliant flash of light, ripping the ship virtually in two. More than a third of the crew, including all of the Martian prisoners under guard, was killed instantly, vaporized by the explosion. Another third died within seconds as they were asphyxiated when their compartments were opened to space. Only the bridge and torpedo room crews survived, saved by the airtight doors that sealed them into their respective positions. The front half of the ship went spinning lifelessly off into space, with not enough velocity for an orbital break, with no power or lights or heat.

'Fucking idiots,' muttered Brett, who had watched the entire episode on the sensor screen.

'Target is dead,' reported Captain Freely to Admiral Belting. 'I repeat, target is dead. I suggest we launch some search and rescue vessels to get the survivors.'

'I concur,' agreed Belting over the encrypted link. 'Red flight one, stay in position and help the SAR teams when they get there. Mermaid, you still there?'

'Still here, Admiral,' Brett said.

'Continue with your mission immediately. Good work with the detection, but let's get you back on schedule, okay?'

'I understand, Admiral,' Brett said. 'Continuing with our mission.' He turned to his bridge crew. 'Well, you heard the man. Helm, start plotting a new burn for us, I'm sure we're a bit off course by now.'

'Right, Brett,' she said, her voice more than a little shaky by what she had just witnessed.

'Sugi, lets secure from general quarters. I'll let the crew know that we just logged our first assist.'

An hour later, while the search and rescue vessels were docking with the remains of the Marlin and pulling the dazed and freezing survivors free, Mermaid was free of Martian orbit, her engines burning at full power, pushing her faster and faster towards the red orb of the sun.

Armstrong Naval Base — Earth Orbit

June 18, 2146

Admiral Jules, also known as CINCFARSP, was giving his daily news briefing in the pressroom of the base. He was dressed in his class A uniform, his hair carefully styled, his face powdered with make-up. A gaggle of Internet reporters, all of them belonging to affiliates of the big three, were gathered before him, their digital cameras recording his image and his words as he briefed them on the what the naval forces involved in Martian Hammer had