THIRTY SECONDS FROM MARS

[Blind Hemingway]

Episode One: English Opening​

Scientists came up with the concept of terraforming planets when Earth's population started to peak in the late 21st Century. The first location that it was test on was Earth's closest planetary neighbor, Mars.

In many respects, Mars is the most earth-like of all the other planets in our Solar system. Indeed, it was thought that Mars once did have a more Earth-like environment early in its history, with a thicker atmosphere and abundant water that was lost over the course of hundreds of millions of years.

Over the course of a century of research, the first colonists arrived on the Red Planet and started the progress of change, starting in the polar regions. With the introduction of trees, the carbon dioxide was converted into oxygen.

By the 23th century, the transformation of Mars into a planet much like Earth was realized. In this century, the first humans born outside of Earth came into political power. Viewing themselves as a fresh start, they formed their own culture. It seemed like this would be a Golden Age for Mankind.

That is until they showed up. Mankind's first encounter with life forms from another side of the Milky Way. The Antares Eta, or "Scalies" as they came to be known, invaded the militarily unprepared Martian Colonies. From accounts from survivors of raids, the Antares Eta are often considered to have military technology similar to that of the 1990s; Landships are tanks and Speedcraft are supersonic aircraft. The Scalie's military technology had frozen a hundred thousand years before, when their home world was politically unified and warfare ended. Subsequently the Scalie's chose to reuse its old war machines only for conquest of other planets, and since these presented no military challenge, the Scalie's war technology stopped advancing.

This gives Earth Humans a huge advantage over the Scalies. Upon receiving distress signals from various Colonies, the United Nations has decided to send elite military forces to beat the Antares Eta out of the settlement locations. The first of these units to arrive are the PALMACH.

It is now time for two alien species on Mars to meet each other on the battlefield.

 

[Diana]

[o]Previous Evening[/o]

"All of your paperwork has been filed, Sir. Is that it for today?" asked Allison, standing in the doorway of General Lancaster's office. Wearing her typical daily uniform, consisting of a pretty chocolate colored dress with white polka dots and a pair of comfy flat shoes, Allison made a picturesque secretary.

The older man smiled at the woman as he rose from his chair to exit the office and rest his arm around her shoulder. "That I am. How about blessing an old man to dinner?"

"Why do you even ask anymore, Daddy? We always have dinner on the weekend!" Allison replied with a grin. She considered herself very lucky. Desk Secretary to a retired General, in the largest city on Mars was a great career - and it helped that she could always give the sad-daughter face whenever she wanted extra days off. She was loving Marelsou. Though she had just been here for a few months after her college graduation, she didn't think she wanted to go back to Earth. The colonies were blossoming in to fantastic and exciting new cultures - Allison was thrilled to be a part of it.

[o]Sometime After Dinner[/o]

"Then your mother said 'If you're going to bring the entire unit home, next time CALL first.' I was in the doghouse for months." General Lancaster and his daughter were riding down the streets of Marelsou on their way home. The sun was on it's way to setting and the had been pleasant. Allison was preparing to reply when....

BOOM. It sounded like an explosion! A large gust of wind seemed to jostle their vehicle for a moment when CRASH a mangled piece of metal smashed on to the road in front of them. General Lancaster made a sharp turn, the wheels screeching against the road as they nearly tilted before slamming to a rough stop in the side of a concrete building.

Allison came back to consciousness with her father shaking her. As she slowly moved to climb out, he was bullying her in to some sort of vest and giving her a bag to sling over her shoulder. "What just happened...?" she questioned. As her vision was less blurry, it didn't even look like the streets of Marelsou anymore. There was chaos everywhere! People were running and screaming, buildings were on fire. There was terrible sounds of crunching metal.

Suddenly something came stomping around the corner of the big piece of metal debris lying in the road. Huge, covered in scales with glistening and a nasty look. Allison recognized it as one of those Scalies that had been reported attacking other Mars colonies! Her father had pulled out a gun, something huge, and fired! Her ears were still covered when he grabbed her by the arm and they were running. She didn't think he was even allowed to have guns like that, where had he been hiding it..?!

As they ran, there was more damages. More scalies! The pair retreated down to the subway tunnels, where they stopped at what must have been a storage or supply room. General Lancaster ushered her inside.

"I need you to stay down here. Allison! Listen, this is important. Stay in here. I will be right back with help. If I'm not back by morning, use the radio. It's in the bag. Do you understand me?"

Allison barely knew what was going on, let alone being able to understand. Finally she nodded. "Y-yeah. Stay here. ...you promise you'll be right back?"

"I'll be back."

[o]This Morning...[/o]

No sleep. No rest. Just that deep seated feeling of fear. He hadn't returned yet, and he promised he would. Allison had dug out the radio from the bag he left her. There were tons of things in it. Little supplies, food, even some small guns and ammunition. Had he always stashed this stuff in his jeep in case of an emergency? Wasn't it illegal for civilians, even retired Generals...? For now it didn't matter!

She pressed the radio buttons and started speaking.

"H-hello...? This is Allison Lancaster. General Allen Lancaster's daughter. Something has happened in Marelsou. Scalies are invading the city. I don't know where my father went, he said he would be back with help... Is there someone there? Marelsou is under attack and we need help!"

 

[Blind Hemingway]

Sean set foot on the soil of Mars for the first time. He peered right and left. As far as he could see was the planet seemed to be an endless field of sea green water. The trip from Earth had taken almost a month, even upon discovering means of traveling faster than the speed of light; it still took a long while to reach the former Red Planet. The one good thing was that compared to the past; communication speeds took only around 40 mins.

The news of Scalie attacks had made Sean livid; he had hoped that for the first time in human civilization that war would not spread to a new frontier. Much like many other people on Earth, they had never expected the first close encounter of the 3rd kind to be on Mars. Parts of Marelsou had already fallen and it was up to the PALMACH to try and force the Scalies out of the colony. The radio signal from Allison Lancaster had been received but that was well over a week prior. The Martian Police Force had tried to locate her but it had proven to be difficult when the Scalies began looting.

"So this water filled world, is the epic utopia that all the religious nuts chant about?Doesn't seem too special to me." Sean thought to himself.

Taking his helmet off, Sean's eyes squinted when the bright sunlight blinded his senses. Compared to the smog filled air of New York City the atmosphere of Mars smelled pured and fresh; almost intoxicating for Earth humans. Leaning down from the landing pad, Sean was going to reach for a handful of the pure looking water.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you Sgt. Braafladt." Came the voice of one of his comrades.

"And why the fuck is that?" He responded.

"Well, unless you like drinking fucking salt water..." The comrade said.

"Salt water? I thought the bastards in the briefing said all the water was fresh water. I mean all the polar caps on this planet have to be fresh..."

"Do I look like a scientist? If I was, I'd be unemployed back on Earth."

"Yeah... So I've heard for the billionth time. You joined the PALMACH for the bread and drinks. Get back to work."

Sean then looked down at his armored suit where a time display read: 1: 23 PM. The one good thing about Mars was that the day lenght was around 24 hours. However, the one thing he had to get used to was the daily 'timeslip' of roughly 39 minutes between 12:00 a.m. and 12:01; the latter time was when the pre-programmed digital clocks resumed timekeeping according to standard minutes and hours.

"Hey Chan, do you know what the hell BKAB means?" Sean asked to his comrade.

"Some month, I think. The Martians have developed a 24 month calendar system based on the 668.6 days of this planet." The comrade responded.

 

[Vay]

Mathew's boots splashed into the shallow water. And he eyed the horizon. So this was mars, they had said a few years ago no soldier would ever need to set foot on this rock, but here they where. Another planet, another war.


Mathew lay in the hospital listening to the war reports.

"So why do you think these scalies decided it was funny to hit our civilians?"

"I don't know but its our damn rock and you best are heading there to show 'em that."



"Our damn rock." he said walking away from the landing craft and fulling out a ground sensor that began sweeping the area for hidden devices. "Nothing on thermal, EM is clear, waves are quiet." he muttered as the screen scrolled through readings. "We're clear sir." he said turning back the the landing craft and put the sensor away and pulled his M-16A2.



For mankind to unite there must be something to unite against.

 

[Titan]

Magnus Burton stepped out on the beach, his shotgun was raised, as Mathew scanned the area. He looked around and took into the coast, if this was Mars it didn't seem like it. Then again, that's what terraforming did to planets, turn them into Earths of varying sizes, sure the vegetation looked different, but those detail were just minor compared to the picture as a whole.

When Mathew gave the all clear, Magnus made another check that his gear was functioning within specified parameters. Technically he had done so on the ship, but you could never be too careful. Equipment malfunctions could affect the mission outcome. He strapped in his tablet on his forearm and activated his HUD. After scanning over the information displayed on the HUD, a green status light appeared, "I'm all set here, boss!"

He raised his shotgun to the ready and awaited for more instructions.

 

[Arsenal XA4]

(Musical Ambience: Firestorm Menu, Frank Klepacki, C&C Tiberian Sun: Firestorm)

Combat Information Center
USS El Paso (DGL-21)
Low orbit over Mars...

"Captain, enemy vessel at zero three two, ten miles, elevation two is still approaching." an Operations Specialist reported in to Captain Schumauker as he sipped at his coffee cup. He looked at the screens in CIC. They showed their position over Mars, the location of friendly warships, and the location of hostiles, including the one that was trying to come up against them.

"Strike corner, program a mission for our Tomahawks, four missiles." Schumauker ordered, the Fire Controlmen in the darkest corner of CIC giving him a crisp 'aye, sir.' The Tomahawk had gone through many upgrades and modifications since first being unveiled in the 1980s as a nuclear deliverys sytem and used in the 1991 Gulf War as a conventional cruise missile. The Navy modified it to be used as an Anti-Ship missile in space warfare, fitting it with a kinetic warhead designed to punch through multiple bulkheads. They had yet to see a scalie warship with energy shields.

"CG*, I want our railguns loaded and our lasers ready should we have to go broadsides to broadsides."

"Aye sir." the Mk 160 operator replied before punching in the command to the Gunners Mates in the three rail gun batteries and in the four Deuterium Flouride laser batteries.

"Send word to the VBSS Team. They're going to board that vessel after we've opened her up to the vacuum of space."

"Captain, we have missiles programmed. Orders?" the FCC in the Strike corner reported.

"Launch..." The foc'sle was awash in missile blast residue as the Tomahawks leapt from their Mk 41 Mod 24 Vertical Launch Systems. Retros leveled off the missiles as the main thrusters boosted the missiles on their one way trips to hell. The scalie ship's point defense systems tried to intercept the high speed missiles, filling the space with plasma blasts.

They got one missile.

"Impact confirmed, heavy damage." the Tactical Action Officer announced. The main screen showed the enemy ship, air escaping from the holes the Tomahawks had punched into her starboard side.

"Close on that vessel and ventilate her further." Schumauker ordered. The order was relayed to the pilothouse where the Boatswain's Mate of the Watch maneuvered the El Paso until she was broadsides to broadsides.

"CG, you may fire when ready." Schumauker said, finishing his coffee. The ship's main railgun batteries and lasers opened fire, drilling the ship further with tungsten steel and deuterium flouride lasers. The railguns were actually intended to be used on surface targets, however they were often the primary weapon of choice after Tomahawks for ship to ship combat.

"Enemy ship is listing, sir." FCO reported. The barrage continued for another five minutes.

"Captain, contact is Dead in the Water. Orders?" the TAO asked. Schumauker refilled his coffee cup.

"Mark her for the Grapple**. She's still in the area, correct?"

"Yessir. Deploying salvage beacon." an OS replied. Schumauker watched the main screen as an orange missile flew toward the wrecked ship. It burst open, spraying the ship with orange paint.

"Mr. Holden, Relax General Quarters for nonessential personnel. Inform the pilot house that we are continuing to the rendesvouz point. PALMACH will get our armorer when we get there."

"Aye sir." the TAO replied. He keyed the 1MC. "All nonessential personnel may secure from General Quarters. Repair teams, Weapons Department, and Operations Department remain on station." Captain Schumauker took his seat, leaning back.

"They put up a major fight on the ground but in space we tear them apart each and every time." he mused. "Mr. Holden, would you say we're unbalanced?"

"If I remember correctly a kill is a kill, sir. It's not healthy to reflect on it." the TAO replied. Schumauker nodded then took another sip of coffee.

"Duly noted, Mr. Holden... Duly noted..."

-------------------------

(OOC)
-USS El Paso engages a hostile warship and disables it while en route to transfer their armorer over to PALMACH.
(/OOC)


*CG: Combat Systems Guns.
*Grapple: This refers to the USS Grapple, a salvage ship. The actual ship is the T-ARS-53, homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.

 

[Diana]

Hours. Hours and hours. Allison had sat hidden in the small storage room down in the subway for ages. She hadn't received a reply on the radio. She was worried he message hadn't even gone through. Worse, her father hadn't returned either. Lifting a hand, she peered at her wristwatch for what must have been the millionth time. It was just a little bit after 3pm. The subway had been dead silent hours now. None of the trains had gone by the entire time. Was the entire city under attack..?

Allison decided she couldn't take the waiting any longer! Stiffly, she rose from where she was sitting. Grimacing at the way her body protested, and forcing feeling back in to her limbs. She zipped up the bag her father had left her, but not without pulling out and loading one of the small hand guns. Pulling the bag up to drape over her head and shoulder, Allison moved to the door. She listened for a few minutes before she cracked it open. One small peek gave her reassurance that nothing was lurking outside.

The only sound in the subway now was her own footsteps. Quiet as s churchmouse, she stepped carefully. In her hands she aimed the gun, placing on foot in front of the other as she headed for the steps. There she stayed close to the wall, always glancing over her shoulder every few steps while she rose back up to the street.

For the middle of the afternoon, the streets of Marelsou was eerily empty. Debris laid scattered on the street. Huge chunks of buildings were crushing vehicles. Concrete, plaster and twisted metal in every direction. What really weirded her out was the lack of bodies. ...had everyone managed to flee? Were they eaten up and swallowed? Allison decided she would hope for the best and be glad there wasn't mangled people or scalies laying all over the streets.

Allison made her way down the streets as fast as her feet could take her. Carrying the bag with her was awkward, but she finally found herself back to where the jeep had crashed last night. It was still there, but now it was half smashed, lying on it's side. There was blood...

No sign of her father. Allison reached up, about to see if she could use her wait to tilt it back over and get it working when she gave a startled pause.

Snaaarrllgg..

Turning around slowly, she nearly screamed. There was a scalie! He was sniffing in the air, looking around and searching... until his head turned, his sights set on her. Suddenly, he was running forward! With a choked cry, she brought her gun up and fired! Several shots went off until she emptied it, and even then she was still pulling the trigger! The scalie was still running until he finally dropped, hitting the ground with a loud THUMP and a pool of blood starting to collect beneath him.

Allison sunk to the ground. ...that had been close..!