Prologue

June 21, 2162 (military calendar)

South America

1430 hours

Private First Class Richard Mars had never asked for this. He had never asked to be here, in hell within the jungle. Knee-deep in mud, blood, corpses, and spent shells. He just wanted to support his country. He had seen the news reports back home in Detroit. They called it the "Rainforest Wars". Some stupid war between the Koslovic and Frieden armies. "Armies", was an overstatement, they were little more than a bunch of terrorists fighting to each get their own way. Nonetheless, they were posing a huge threat to the stability and well-being of Earth.

So when things got hot and civilian casualties mounted, the government decided to send in UN forces to clean up the mess. Rich thought he might volunteer, get a few kills, earn a medal or two for valor, and be home in a few months. Now he found himself in a ditch, lying in the fetal position, screaming for his life. As he screamed the haze slowly cleared from his head, but that didn't stop the screaming. Bullets whizzed centimeters form his head, mortar fire crashed all around him, the forest was no longer teeming with the sounds of wildlife, it was ablaze with the sounds of war. His comrades lay all around him, dead. He saw another soldier pull the pin on a grenade, rise to throw it over the ditch, and get torn to mush by automatic fire. His grenade plopped into the thick mud where the man had been standing, whole, just seconds before. "Grenade" someone yelled.

Mars pressed down his helmet and tucked into himself even more. The grenade blew, water and mud showered over him, thankfully the thick mud had absorbed most of the blast, so he was fine. A Lieutenant ran over to Mars and crouched beside him.

"You better get your shit together if you wanna get through this private." He yelled over the scream of gunfire.

'He's right' Mars thought, he shook his head clear of the terror and picked up his rifle. He checked the ammo display; it read twenty-two rounds left in the clip. He lifted it over the trench and began firing in bursts. He didn't know what he was shooting at, but he kept on pulling the trigger. The Lieutenant yelled to keep returning fire, his rifle also flashing with bursts of fire. Mars fired until his rifle clicked, empty. He slid in another clip and looked over the ditch into the tree line. A head appeared from behind a tree, scanning the battlefield, Frieden or Koslovic, Mars didn't care, he fired a burst. The tree was suddenly splashed with a dark red hue, and the man behind the tree fell limply into the mud. Richard fired for what felt like an eternity, as he crouched to swap out his clip, he managed a glance at his watch, it had only been ten minutes since the battle began.

He replaced the spent clip in his rifle and continued firing. Just as he was about to run out of ammo, he heard the loud revving of engines behind him. He turned to see three all-terrain heavy jeeps roll into the clearing. They were the greatest thing Mars had ever seen. The rear gunners unleashed their fury upon the enemy with a beautiful fifty-five rounds-per-minute of solid 30mm explosive shells. The trees exploded as huge pieces of their trunks and branches were instantly turned to mulch. A man in the lead jeep yelled to him and the Lieutenant.

"You boys need a lift?" everyone who was still breathing got into the jeeps, and they sped off into the foliage, the rear guns still spitting their deadly volley. As they bounced through the rough rainforest terrain, the Captain sitting in the jeep with Mars and the Lieutenant turned to them.

"You boys are very lucky we found you."

"Yes sir thanks for the evac sir."

"My pleasure son, we need all you boys alive, this is getting big."

Boys? It was funny how he called them that, he didn't seem that much older than Mars. The Captain appeared to be around his mid-thirties, Mars would be turning thirty-one in a month. It just came to him for a moment, he shipped out when he was twenty-eight… three birthdays missed, three years spent fighting and killing, and for what, nothing seemed to be changing, the Frieden and Koslovik forces were still at each other's throats, and innocent civilians were still being slaughtered because of it. Then he registered what the Captain had said, getting big, maybe something was changing after all.

"What do you mean big sir?" the Lieutenant voiced Mars' thoughts.

"The Friedens and the Kosloviks" the Captain did not yell. Yet his voice carried easily over the clamor of the jeep's engine. "We have strong intel that suggests that they have a presence beyond Earth on one of the colonies, most likely Mars."

"Mars?" the Lieutenant was completely astonished, "does that mean we're gearing up for space combat?"

The thought of this scared Richard more than anything else ever had. He couldn't go into space, he had a family here, and he had already been fighting this war for three years. He had never left the atmosphere, and he wasn't about to just to kill a bunch of undertrained and fanatic bastards bent on destroying everything that humanity has worked for.

"Don't worry son, the UN is organizing some new military force to fight out in the colonies, they're calling it the United Nations Space Command, so no, you don't have to go to space boys, unless you'd like to volunteer for that as well." The Captain laughed. "Consider this your retirement."

"But the rebels are still all over the jungle sir."

"I'm aware Lieutenant, but this was their final push, they wanted to get here." He pointed ahead, just as the jeeps broke out of the greenery into a massive clearing. In the distance stood Alpha Base, the main HQ in this sector.

"Does that mean they're all basically right in the tree line?"

"Exactly Lieutenant." The Captain cracked a large grin.

"With all due respect sir, they're right on top of us."

"That's the idea Lieutenant." The Captain picked up the radio receiver and put it up to his mouth. "Bravo-28, delivery on grid twenty-two, thirty-seven, three, confirm."

"This is Bravo two-eight, coordinated confirmed, en route." A voice crackled over the radio just as a squad of jets roared overhead. The whole rainforest behind them exploded in a rain of fire.

"Napalm carpet bombing, a bit basic, but it gets the job done, victory is sweet gentlemen." The Captain lit a cigar as they approached Alpha Base.

When they arrived, Mars immediately took a shower, and then went to the mess to get a meal. Corned beef and high protein mashed potatoes, tasted like crap, but it was the best meal he had ever eaten. He walked around after dinner to see what the casualties were like. Of the six men he had had the time to get to know and befriend in his time here, two had survived. Private Kennston was in the medic station, three rounds in his chest cavity. Corporal Serigan was really shaken, he just sat and stared, wouldn't talk to anyone. After a few attempts to get a conversation or even a word out of him, Mars gave up and decided to head over to the barracks for some much needed and deserved sleep. As he lay down in his cot, he thought to himself that he can finally go home; he closed his eyes and silently whispered to himself.

"Thank God."