Dark Chaos
A story of romance, mistrust and the Human heart
Episode 2: "War!"
By:
Arron Alderson
Copyright – 2006
Jim Race
"Damn those Norm scum!" Jim said as he paced the military control room, taking every part of restraint he had to stop himself from punching the wall. He still couldn't believe it; four days ago the 4th lunar fleet had used nuclear weapons against the Antaries space colony, killing over 400,000 High-Born civilians.
Since then mass rage had swept Mars, most of the population demanding immediate action against Earth for what it had done. However the council was still debating how they would respond. Though he had a meeting with them in less then twenty minutes, he was still mad as hell.
He left the control room, ignoring the questioning glances from the other military officers there. They all knew that his wife had lived on Antaries, that she was now dead. Though that bothered him little, in the grand scheme of things he could have any women he wanted – and, if things went as planned, he would soon be in control of the Mars Union.
The council chambers were close by so it didn't take that long for him to reach the protective doors. Showing his ID card to the guard there, the massive doors swung open and he moved into the large room.
Despite its size, the room held only a large table that seated twelve council members, and the walls were plain grey. However the room was warm, most likely due to the constant heat wave of being located underground. He took his seat as the council session started.
Standing up from the desk the current Chancellor, Derek Logan, spoke. "Council members what happened four days ago was very tragic. The loss of so many at the hands of nuclear weapons was something we shall never forget, yet I urge you to remain neutral in your thoughts as we assess how we should respond"
Surprising Jim, one of the other council members stood first, protesting against Jim. "Chancellor, how can you even expect us to remain neutral after what the Norms have done to us? It is clear how we should respond; we should strike back against them with all our might!"
Nods flowed around the table and it seemed Derek stood alone right now, the bulk of the Mars population supported what that council member had just said and Jim couldn't help but smile from all this. He stood his military uniform crisp and clean.
"Members of the council, we can not allow ourselves to be pushed around by the Norms, by Earth, any longer! They have discriminated us from the beginning of our existence, forced us from our homes to Mars and now they attack us again!"
He nodded before continuing, "How dare they, those lower life forms, push us around like that. They dared to strike with nuclear weapons so now is the time for action. We should strike back, show them that we will not be taken lightly ever again"
A round of cheers flowed from the council chambers; though Chancellor Derek sighed knowing he had lost. A vote was called moments later, and moments after that the Mars Union declared war on Earth.
Jim smiled; everything was going according to plan.
Zack Race
As the son of Grand Admiral Jim Race, Zack had little trouble passing flight training at the Mars academy. Since then he had risen through the ranks to becoming a pilot of a combat-armour. However, though he had originally joined to follow his father's footsteps, he was now motivated by rage.
The Norms attack against Antaries had killed his mother, and he wanted payback. Yesterday the Mars Union had declared war on Earth and already the military was on full alert, the ship he was stationed on, the York Town, was in orbit around Mars with the 2nd battle group awaiting the orders to attack.
He leaned back in the chair of the briefing room; he was a tall man at the age of twenty one. Long dark hair and a skinny build, he wore the red uniform of a combat-armour pilot.
He still couldn't fully bring himself to believe war was happening, though he knew it couldn't be avoided now. In the past week there had been a sudden increase in people joining the military to defend their homes and families and he could understand why – Earth had killed his mother!
He opened his eyes as the other pilots from his five-man combat-armour squad entered the briefing room, each of them around about the same age as him, though the youngest was Chris Sims who was only eighteen years old.
They all sat together, waiting for their squad CO to enter to brief them. A white haired pilot sat next to Zack and grunted. "So those damn Norms think their going to get away with using Nukes against us? HA, we'll show 'em."
Zack looked at the man next to him, his name was Rex Montana a cocky High-Born who had gone through the academy with Zack, as had all of his squad, he was more interested in kills then squad safety as well.
Again Zack sighed, he hadn't always been a soldier, and he had once lived on the neutral nation of Scandinavia on Earth when he was younger. There he had had many friends, both High-Born and Norm that was until his father had packed them all up to return to Mars after his promotion.
The briefing room doors opened and the ship CO entered the room. Zack and the others stood and saluted. "At ease" The commander said, allowing them to sit back down.
On every ship of the Mars Union, starting from last week, there were now one full squad of combat-armours. That meant five pilots and five machines; they had been joined with the York Town and placed under the command of her CO, the man who was briefing them now, Tony Davis, two days after the attack against Antaries.
"Today's the day," The CO continued, "The 2nd battle group will launch a direct attack against Earth's 8th lunar fleet." A holographic projection of Earth and the Moon flew up in front of Tony as he continued. "Attacking the 8th fleet will open Earth southern continents to ground attack. Once the 2nd battle group destroys the 8th lunar fleet, command will send in our occupation forces to take over the nation of Australia, which is just joined the Atlantic Empire"
Zack nodded, it made perfect sense. Occupying Australia would give the Mars Union access to a space port and the rest of Earth, the problem would be getting past the 8th lunar fleet.
Zack looked to Rex who had suddenly stood up, a large grin on his face. "Sir, when are we going to attack? It's about time the Atlantic Empire had a good ass kicking"
Commander Tony Davis smiled, "Calm down, the attack is to commence at 0850 hours tomorrow. The 2nd battle group will be departing in the next hour." He turned to look at each of them. "Do your best out there, pilot. Dismissed."
Rex stood first and exited the room, followed by Alan Walker who was the bully type side-kick to Rex. Zack stood also and exited the room, heading to his quarters to get some rest and review the mission data.
"Zack!" Came a shout from the hallway, he turned to notice Chris float towards him. "So were really going into combat, huh?"
Zack smiled, "Yeah it seems. There's nothing to worry about though, our combat-armours are far better then the Earth's space fighters"
Chris sighed, "Yeah I know. I just got the fleeing like this war may get worse after this mission"
Zack didn't reply, instead he just looked ahead, knowing full well that Chris was right.
Ethan Smith
"All hands to condition one battle stations!" Ethan looked up from his meal as the alarm and voice of the ships commander shouted down from the wall speakers. Already crew members were jumping up and rushing out the door. He quickly pushed aside his meal and undid the belt holding his body in place and floated out the door, making sure no food bits had tugged onto his blue pilot's uniform.
Ethan was a pilot aboard the new Atlantic Empire's battleship Iceni, at the rank of ensign he was lucky to have already been assigned as a space fighter pilot rather then just a mid-range shuttle pilot.
He made his way to the hangar deck were technicians went over every part of their equipment and ran checks on the fighters. Already other pilots were jumping into their craft; Ethan moved to do the same.
He wondered just what was going on, the Iceni had joined with the 8th lunar fleet yesterday and the whole fleet was currently on patrol. What would cause the need for an alarm?
As if to answer that question the captains voice sprung from the ships speakers, her voice that of an angel as she spoke: "All crew members of the Iceni, our scans have confirmed a Mars Union battle group moving towards our position. Recon counts the enemy numbers at twenty five Hindon class battleships and nineteen Wolf class escort destroyers"
Ethan cursed as the commander spoke. The 8th lunar fleet had only fourteen Agamemnon class battleships and ten Apollo class escort destroyers, plus the two space fighters on each ship and the Iceni. The Union forces would most likely also deploy their combat-armours also. A hard fight lay ahead.
"We are moving to intercept the hostile forces; command believes that is a prelude to a ground invasion of Earth." She continued, "We can not allow this to happen. Stand to your duties. Lucy Romulus out."
Ethan ran quick checks on all his systems before putting on his pilot helmet, he looked outside the cockpit and noted that everyone had a sense of urgency about them, the Iceni was the most advanced warship in the fleet, though she wasn't invincible.
Could the Union really be trying to attack Earth itself? He hoped whatever was about to happen could be diffused somehow, or this would lead to a lot of death and destruction.
Tony Davis
Tony sat in the command chair watching the view screen in front of him. The 8th lunar fleet was moving into positions to engage them, even though they were outnumbered. Though one ship stood out that he couldn't recognise, could it be a new design?
"Can you identify that warship?" He asked, his eyes never leaving the screen.
"No, sir. Unknown configuration of warship. Scans show four beam cannons and ten missile tubes." Came the response. He sighed, that was a lot of firepower for a single warship, it had the same amount of weapons capacity as two normal battleships.
"Sir," Came a female voice below him, "The enemy fleet is launching their space fighters"
He nodded. "Let the games begin" He said. "Launch our combat-armour; signal the fleet to do the same and to move to firing range."
"Aye, sir" Came the replies as crew members followed his orders and related them to the fleet.
"Combat-armour as been launched, sir"
"Enemy warships entering firing range"
Tony pressed a button to put him through to the rest of the fleet, "This is fleet command. All units are cleared to fire at will, let's send the Norms home with their tails between their legs"
He turned to his weapons officer. "Fire"
Lucy Romulus
"Hostile warships are entering firing range" the voice of her XO as she watched the screen. Before she could give out orders, the Mars Union ships opened fire ripping into the 8th lunar fleet, the colour of their green beam weapons became glowing marks in ship hulls.
"The Heisenberg has been destroyed!" Came a shout from the communications officer.
She held onto her chair as the ship shook from the exchange of fire. "Fire anti-beam depth chargers! Bring his to port!"
The Iceni rocked as beam weapons bounced of the protective defence of the depth charges, though they wouldn't hold forever. The status of the fleet was displayed on a side panel of the view screen; the space fighters had engaged the combat-armour, though they were losing against the High-Borns superior fighter, and already four battleships had been destroyed or disabled"
The bridge shook hard as the Iceni was hit again, this time by enemy missiles. "Damage to decks five and eight, power drains on deck seven"
"Bring us into firing range of the lead Union battleship!" She turned to Rachel, her XO. "You know what to do" She said.
Rachel nodded, "Power the forward beam cannons and load missile tubes one through ten with diablo class missiles"
In one swift movement the Iceni fired her weapons at the lead Union battleship, ripping into it's hull and sending internal components and hull into the darkness of space.
Before they could celebrate their small victory, the communications officer turned to her: "The England, the Abyss and the Montage have been destroyed. 65 of space fighters have also been destroyed, Ma'am!"
One more crew members turned to her, "Sir the Admiral's flagship has been destroyed, the Union ships are breaking through our lines!"
She ground her teeth, with the Admirals flagship destroyed the chain of command for the 8th lunar fleet was now broken.
The ship rocked again as she continued to fight the now losing battle.
Zack Race
Zack jammed the control stick forwards to avoid the anti-air defence of the Earth warship. His combat-armour creaked under pressure as he turned the machine in power-dives and charges, he had already destroyed three enemy support destroys and a number of space fighters.
"Zack, to your left!" Came Chris over the intercom, he quickly pushed his machine down to avoid weapons fire from an Earth space fighter. He quickly pulled up and locked onto the tail of the enemy fighter, intent on destroying it.
As the fighter twisted and turned to avoid him, Zack suddenly had a feeling deep in the back of his mind. He was suddenly remembering his childhood, back when he was living with his mother in Scandinavia, how he used to play and hang around with his childhood friend. Why was he remembering this now?
He bought himself back to reality and locked weapons on the enemy fighter; however before he could fire the enemy craft suddenly pulled upwards and turned on its axis to bring itself to the rear.
Zack tried to shake the enemy fighter, he dived between destroyed ship debris, did power turns but was unable to shake the enemy fighter.
"Just what are you doing, Zack?" came Rex's cocky voice over the intercom, "Do you need a hand there?" he said laughing, enjoying the death that was occurring around them.
"Back off," He shot back. "I got this covered"
Before he could react the enemy fighter opened fire on him, to late to turn his engines were hit and his fighter slowed to a crawl as it lost power. He cursed Rex for distracting him, knowing that he will most likely be killed now.
However the killing blow didn't come, instead a radio transmission was beamed to his cockpit. "Mars Union pilot, standby for capture operation and return to Iceni. Consider yourself a prisoner of war"
A picture opened up as the transmission cleared up, his jaw opened and he couldn't believe who he was looking at. "Ethan...?" He said, his words barely a whisper.
It took a moment but the other pilot's eyes widened. "Zack...?"
Zack couldn't believe it, they were in the middle of a battle zone with ships and people dying all around them...and he was staring into the face of his childhood friend.