This is my first attempt at fan fiction. You'll have to understand that I'm still getting a "feel" for writing such things and as such, I hope you take that into account when reading/reviewing this. A quick note or two before I shut the hell up. This Bebop story takes place (obviously) before the events of the last episode of Cowboy Bebop. I wouldn't be able to chronologically place it between the episodes, but it would be after Ed was added to the Bebop crew. This story operates on the fact that in the show, it is never mentioned how long Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed and Ein are all together before the last few episodes it could have been a month, it could have been a few years. Furthermore, I take liberties with the settings, just as the show iteslf does, thus, little minor technical details I couldn't properly work out, I simply left "out in the open" so to speak without ever really explaining them, just as the show does but despite all thatI hope you enjoy the ride.

Cheers,

Ascalz

Mars

The Tharsis Plateau, near the base of Olympus Mons

Lieutenant Colonel Deric Ashtin never tired of the sight.

Olympus Mons was the largest mountain in the Solar System. It rose 68,000 feet into the sky, in contrast, Earth's tallest mountain, Mount Everest, only rose a mere 29,035 feet high. Olympus Mons was surrounded by a large cliff that itself was about 20,000 feet. If one could see past the cliff, you could see Olympus Mons begin its slow ascent towards the very heavens. Back when Mars had first been colonized, many had climbed the mountain, in specially made suits of course. It literally took weeks to trek up and down the massive mountain which took up enough space to fill what had once been the state of Michigan.

Deric himself had climbed the mountain with his men; in fact he made it a requirement to be a part of his unit.

However, the sight of Olympus Mons wasn't the purpose for Deric's presence out here. In fact he had business to attend to.

Currently he was looking through a powerful set of binoculars towards a small military installation. So small it would have been almost impossible to locate if one hadn't been looking for it. However, due to his…former position, Deric knew its precise location and what it contained. There would have been many who would have been outraged if they knew the base existed, let alone what it housed.

The Martian Government had many dirty secrets; this one in particular was one that they really wanted to keep under wraps.

The soft crunch of dirt next to him made him glance towards his right. Captain Alaska Foster stepped up beside him. She was a few inches shorter than he. For the longest time she had kept her brown hair short, but in recent times she'd let it grown out longer in order to help blend in better. She had bright green eyes that many men would find attractive, however her good looks helped conceal the fact that she was one of the deadliest human beings in the solar system. She wore a black outfit that was designed to absorb rounds from most weapons as well as help conceal her. Deric himself wore the same type of outfit. Attached to her outfit were different weapons and gadgets. Deric himself wore no such devices, he needed none. The only weapon he had on his person was a long knife attached to his belt.

She glanced at him and nodded her head in greeting, "Good morning sir," she said.

"Good morning Captain, I trust everything is going according to schedule?" said Deric as he looked again at the base.

"Yes sir, we will be ready to move in five minutes."

"Excellent."

The operation had been in planning for a long time, there would be no failures or mix-ups, Deric himself would see to it. However, he had no reason to doubt Captain Foster's abilities; she was the best at what she did.

Two trucks came up to where the two of them were standing; they slowed to a halt and out jumped at least two dozen armed men and women. They wore the same outfits that Deric and Alaska wore, they were all armed.

Deric nodded his approval at Alaska, "Impeccable timing, as always."

She nodded, the corners of her mouth turning upwards slightly, the closest she ever came to genuinely smiling was when he gave her his approval.

"Let us begin," he said.

Alaska nodded and made a motion with her hand, the men all prepared their weapons and equipment. They turned on their night vision equipment and took up their positions, they were awaiting Deric's signal.

Deric began to sprint towards the base. Already in good shape, the Mars gravity out here made his speed almost inhuman. Around the perimeter of the base was a minefield of electronic mines. The mines could only be activated and deactivated from inside the base, as well as from the central headquarters of the Martian military. They were near impossible to hack. Deric knew precisely where the mines lay at; he had memorized the number of personnel at the base and when they were next expected to report in which was in approximately one hour.

Plenty of time.

As he neared the edge of the minefield, Deric mentally thought up a codeword that only he knew a single word that activated the system that made him more than just an ordinary man. He felt power flow into his muscles and nervous system. His reflexes, strength and all other abilities were immediately enhanced. In mid stride, he tensed his leg muscles and pushed off the Martian surface.

He flew at least thirty feet into the air, easy going over the tall barbed wire fence that surrounded the entire base.

The guards, knowing full well that no one knew of this base and that no person could slip across the minefield were not paying full attention and did not notice Deric as he landed inside the base; a quick puff of Martian dirt was the only sign of his landing.

Deactivating his abilities by thinking of his codeword again, Deric moved quietly through the base, heading for a single one story building.

Slipping quietly into the building, Deric moved along the hallways slowly, looking for any personnel. He moved by the control room for the mines, noting that there was only one person in there at the moment. Deric knew that there should be two men inside the control room, meaning that one was roaming the building; he needed to be dealt with first.

He quickly found what a small kitchen near the control room, a man in uniform was in the process of making some coffee, and he didn't notice as Deric entered the room and quickly moved behind him. He jumped up grasping a hold of the man's mouth with one hand and wrapped his arm around part of the man's head with his free arm, twisting quickly; he broke the man's neck with an audible snap. Laying the lifeless body onto the tiled floor, Deric made his way back to the control room. Entering the room, he approached the man who sat in front of the control panel for the system of the base making no effort to conceal his footsteps.

"Is that you Everett? I hope this batch of coffee is better then the last pot of crap you served," said the soldier turning in his chair as he did so.

He barely had enough time to widen his eyes before Deric sliced a quick line across his throat with the knife on his side. There was a spray of crimson, the soldier, a surprised look on his face, clutched his throat before falling face first out of the chair onto the floor.

Deric wiped the blade off on the soldier's uniform moved, moved to the control panel, sheathing the knife as he did so. There were several screens showing various parts of the base, near the gate of the base there were two guard towers set up two bored looking guards were staring out onto the featureless Martian landscape. Deric began typing furiously at the keyboard in front of the main monitor at the control desk; the machine asked for three separate passwords to deactivate the minefield, Deric entered all three in without hesitation.

The screen showed a view of the minefield surrounding the base, each mine represented by a red dot, all of the dots suddenly vanished.

Activating a device built into his throat Deric said simply, "Proceed."

On the monitor both guards' heads simultaneously exploded, both having been hit from precise hits from long range rifles. Activating another control, the gates to the base slid open, and within moments, Deric's men entered the compound. There were at least two more men walking around the base that were dealt with as quickly and efficiently as their counterparts in the guard towers.

Deric left the control building as a squad of personnel broke off from the main element; they carried with them several large boxes that they hefted without complaint. They approached a large one story building which had been identified as the barracks of the base. Placing several of these boxes around the perimeter of the building they withdrew quickly.

A sudden roar and a flash revealed the contents of the boxes which had been filled with several large blocks of C4. The explosives detonated, smashing the barracks into a million pieces no bigger than a toothpick, killing the rest of the personnel on the base still living.

As soon as the explosion had died down the two trucks that had carried his force here roared into the base.

Deric glanced at a watch on his left wrist and nodded in satisfaction, they were ahead of schedule.

The force approached a large bunker that was built into the cliff that surrounded Mount Olympus, two control panels were on either side of the doors. Two men of Deric's force approached the controls, nodding to each other; they placed on a glove on each of their right hands. Although it could not be seen the gloves had the ability to mimic the hand print of any person that could access the bunker. In this case it was two colonels who had graciously supplied the hand prints at the cost of their lives.

The doors to the bunker slid open with a loud squealing sound; clearly they had not been opened in a long time.

Entering the bunker first, Deric looked and saw what he was looking for. He could hardly have missed them; they were the only things in the bunker. Sitting directly in front of him were five large crates marked with a radioactive symbols on them.

For the first time in what seemed like years, Deric Ashtin smiled.