“You’d better start talking, Ruby,” said Morris.
“I don’t know how else to say this, Sir. When we arrived at the co-ordinates we found Shuttle 5 empty. We followed our scanner to the site of four readings, where we witnessed the execution of the shuttle’s crew by two beings, the likes of which I have never seen.”
“You saw this too?” asked Morris.
“Yes, Sir, they had a ship with some type of chameleon skin to it. Their weapons appeared to be energy based devices.”
“Do we have any reason to think that any other organisations could be on the planet with us, Sir?” asked Ruby.
“Like who?”
“I don’t know, a private company, or a foreign military.”
“This is a joint operation by twenty-one countries, who would try and undermine that?”
Morris’ intercom on his wrist crackled as a transmission came through from their command centre.
“Sir, we have three vessels incoming, they are not responding to…”
Before the operator could finish a huge explosion erupted in the entry doors to the docking yard. They were knocked off their feet by the blast.
“Masks on! Masks on!” Morris shouted.
Larson and Ruby hit the controls on their suits and slid their dome-topped helmets over to revert to their own oxygen supply. They huddled behind a stack of large crates and watched as three small vessels passed through the breach swooping in quickly to land in the wide-open area used for supply deliveries. The vessels were mimicking their surroundings just as the one did before, now replicating the grey metallic surfaces of the docking area.
Within seconds of landing, six figures emerged from them and were already shooting at any people they could see. Morris looked in horror as he drew his pistol.
“What do we do, Sir?” shouted Larson.
He didn’t respond, only watched as four of their armed personnel tried to engage their armoured foes. The energy weapons fizzled as blue pulses ripped through the interior of the walls. Within seconds the defenders were lying dead on the floor of the docking bay, their bodies smouldering. Morris had quickly come to the same conclusion that they had previously. These were not humans.
The figures walked on thin metallic legs that appeared to be sprung, supporting their substantial bodies. They could only imagine that it was an armoured suit encasing whatever was controlling it. Morris turned back to Larson and Ruby.
“We are finished here, take your shuttle, you’ll have enough power and supplies to reach the Moon colony. Get a transmission out immediately reporting what you have seen, they must be warned!”
“How are we going to get past them?” asked Ruby.
They turned back to watch as the six soldiers continued on into the heart of the colony. They were certainly on a mission to purge it. Morris looked back at the two men he had with him, each was armed with the same personal defence weapon he had in his hand.
“We’ll try and hold them here as long as we can, you just get out and send that signal immediately!”
“What do they want from us?” she asked.
The shock had begun to pass as fear set in. All around them had long faces, they were realising that their lives were likely coming to an abrupt end. A number of the personnel had firearms training on the research colony, but never expected a need to use them.
“You know as much as I do, now get out of here!” shouted Morris.
He moved out from beyond the crates with the other crew and rushed to the door where the soldiers had gone through. They knew they were heading for their own deaths, but there was no choice left. Ruby and Larson watched as they reached the doorway. Morris looked back at them and nodded. They took the signal for what it was and leapt out from the cover and ran to their shuttle. The engines were fired up before the shuttle ramp was closed. Larson stumbled as they lifted off the docking bay floor as he was trying to make his way towards the cockpit.
“Come on, strap yourself in!” she shouted at him.
He jumped into the seat as she manoeuvred them out. He stared at the obscure ships occupying their docking bay. They were the same vessel type they had witnessed earlier. The ever-changing surface texture that camouflaged them against any terrain still made it difficult to fully make out any details on them.
“Time to get the hell out of here!”
She hit the power and they surged towards the smashed doorway where the attackers had blasted through. In seconds they burst out of the docking bay and quickly gained altitude. They had expected to see some monstrous vessel blocking their path, but there was nothing. Only the same barren and desolate landscape and sky they had become so accustomed. The shuttle broke out of the Mars atmosphere and into the cold darkness of space. There were still no signs of any other ships in the vicinity.
“We made it!” shouted Larson.
“Maybe.”
Ruby reached forward and programmed the transmitter to send a direct and live feed to their sister organisation on the Moon colony.
“You’re going to send it out live?”
“Yes, we have no idea how much time we have.”
She took a deep breath and started the transmission.
“This is Shuttle 12 of the Ares research base. The colony has just been attacked by unidentified hostiles. We are the only known survivors. The attackers utilised a chameleon type technology on their ships and attacked without provocation or any form of communication. They were well equipped and ruthless.”
“What’s that on the scanner?” asked Larson.
She looked down to see an object approaching them from the planet at high speed.
“Hold on!”
The shuttle surged forward as Ruby put full power to their engines.
“At this speed we won’t have enough power to reach any of the colonies!” shouted Larson.
“If we can’t outrun these bastards it won’t matter anyway!”
“They’re still gaining on us!”
“Larson, are we still transmitting?”
“Yes!”
“This is Shuttle 12, we are under attack by what can only be described as alien forces, we cannot outrun them, do not…”
The shuttle was hit by a high power weapon that ripped it open killing both aboard instantly, the remnants floated apart in a fizzling array of twisted metal.
Chapter 2
“Thirty seconds!” shouted Rains into the intercom.
The Eagle FV assault copter soared across the treetops like a vulture to its prey. 5.45am and the sun was just rising from the trees in the distance. Rains rubbed his eyes, feeling the early start more than usual. As a navy pilot he was conditioned to early morning operations but since their new joint operations, the Commander was pushing them hard.
Behind the cockpit of the copter sat ten U.S. marines. They each wore the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), which was worn by all U.S., European Union and Alliance of Asia forces, as well as a number of smaller members of the UEN, United Earth Nations. After World War 3 there had been a more determined attempt than ever to unify the major powers in the world. The world had not seen a war between major powers for sixty years.
“Another fine day in the Marine Corps,” said Captain Friday.
Mitch Taylor grinned at his second in command as he looked back out of the porthole. He could see the almost silhouettes of their other aircraft soaring along beside them, nine in his view alone. The Major led back in his seat and looked around at his HQ Squad to be sure they were ready. The side doors slid open.
“Let’s do this!” shouted Mitch.
The copter’s tail slung down as the vehicle came to an abrupt hover, the signal light turning green. Without wasting another moment the Major leapt from the door. It was a thirty-metre fall to the street below, close to the limits of their free fall boosters. They fired up within seconds of him feeling the open air, the auto-sensors doing their work.