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Chapter 4

The explosion was deafening, the shockwave even stronger than the one of the Plutarkian Missile.
It literally blew Stoker off his feet and he landed on his belly in the warm sand.
He made himself as flat as possible, clenching his teeth when he felt the flames licking the fur on his back, the heat being almost unbearable.
But just as quickly as it struck, it was gone.
The brown furred mouse let out his breath as he closed his eyes in relief, but it was soon replaced by irritability.
Giving his life for the cause was not the problem here.
However, being blown up by one of his own pupils, that was where the shoe pinched.
"By the gods, warn us the next time before you're gonna pull a stunt like that, punk", he growled in the radio as he pushed himself up, knowing that there could only be one in this entire universe who was responsible for this destruction.
"Well, hey, it worked, right?", the cheerful voice of the young white-furred mouse filled his ears.
"It oughta be forbidden for young mice like yourselves to carry a weapon as deadly as that one... Holy shit, who was crazy enough to give ya that thing anyway?"
"Finders keepers. You've got your opening, oldtimer, so ya better make the most of it", Vinnie answered imperturbably, but Stoker could hear the awe in his voice, telling him that his youngest pupil was deeply impressed by the force of the explosion.
It wasn't exactly a surprise though, given his 'passion' for weapons.
Cursing softly under his breath, the brown-furred leader of the resistance quickly helped Carbine up, who was not even close by being amused.
"If we make it out of here, the first thing that I'm gonna do is take away that bazooka."
"I heard that."
"Good!", Carbine snapped as she helped the rest of the small group on their feet.
"And don't even think about hiding it from me", she quickly added, knowing the young mouse a little too well.
"Who? Moi? Never! I'd rather throw it out of the window…"
The light grey-furred former General shook her head in annoyance and then looked at the gigantic crater that was caused by the missile, bomb, nuke, or whatever it was. There was nothing left of the enemies who were standing in their way just seconds ago.
Loud screaming behind her made her look over her shoulder and she saw that the rest of the army was running towards them.
"We need to go. Now."

...

"They made it", Modo informed Throttle as he took place next to him in the cockpit.
"Thanks to me! But instead of, I dunno, thanking me, Carbine threatened to steal my new favorite toy!", Vinnie whined when he dropped on the third seat behind the controls.
"Man, the story of my life. No appreciation."
Perhaps some would say that the white-furred mouse was acting selfish, complaining about something this small after all the events that happened today, but little did they know.
It was the adrenaline talking, the most powerful drug in the entire universe, which made it possible to keep going on days like these.
The substance lighted up the heart and soul, therefore, it was the most important fuel for the body and mind of a soldier who was living in a war.
As being soldiers too, his two bro's understood that.
For the reason presented above, Throttle now chuckled.
Because for a moment, there was only relief and gratitude, for a moment, reality was put on hold and the tan-furred mouse clapped his younger bro on the back.
"Good job, Vincent."
The white-furred mouse straightened his back and put his chin in the air.
"Did you doubt? I'm the best! Even better than the best!"
"Modest too", Modo sighed as he hung back in the chair.
"Forget modest! How can you be a hero while being modest, huh?"
"Yeah, geez, I wonder how that is possible indeed…", Throttle mumbled sarcastically as he turned on the radio of the ship, but still smiling.
"Carbine or Stoker, come in, over."
First, all they heard was static. But then…
"Stoker for Throttle, we're ready to leave, over."
The tan-furred mouse took a look out of the big window in front of him.
The ship was still floating a couple of miles above the ground, giving them a perfectly good view of what's below.
Once again, reality slapped him in the face and his smile vanished like smoke in the wind.
An explainable response, because it was a gruesome sight from up there. Bodies of Martian Mice, Plutarkians, Sand Raiders and rats laid spread throughout the desert. In the distance, he could see that the base, what's been their home for the last couples of years, was now being invaded by the enemy.
Was he ever gonna see it again?
Was he ever gonna feel the warm and red sand under his wheels again?
Was he ever gonna smell the scent that defined Mars again, the one before the war?
There was no answer to these questions, and there was no time to get all sentimental now.
He took a deep breath, forcing his mind to shut out the horror that was done to his people and planet, forcing himself to be what he was, namely; a leader where people could rely on.
"Let's get the hell out of here, over."
"Copy that. Stoker out."
After one more glance outside, the tan-furred mouse laid his hand on the lever that was, once pulled down, gonna activate the jets to launch them into space.
Then, he looked at his two best friends.
"Ready, boys?"
Modo's facial expression was one in despair as he looked down at the mess which they were about to leave behind, his heart crying for those who fell in the name of Mars.
"May we meet again", he whispered softly. Then, a little louder: "I'm ready."
"I was born ready", Vinnie answered, but the tone of his voice was different than usual. Hold back a bit.
Throttle couldn't blame both of them. This was what one could call a bad day and that was an understatement.
Without any hesitation, he pulled down the lever and the engines roared loudly in response.

They weren't gonna die, not today.
Today was the end and the beginning of an era.
With their future now being more uncertain as ever, the tan-furred leader vowed to himself that he was gonna lead them to a better place.
That was the only thing he did know.
He was gonna do everything within his power to find the peace which they'd failed to find on Mars.

'I used the dead wood to make the fire rise...
The blood of innocents burning in the skies…'

...

"Man… Whoever said that traveling through space is exciting needs a little refreshing course in cool school. This is boring!"
Vinnie hung listless in his chair, but before one of his bro's could answer him, the ship rocked and the white-furred mouse got thrown out of the chair and landed on the floor with a loud thump.
"You were saying, Vincent?", Throttle said drily as he looked at the built-in screen to see what was going on behind them.
Stoker's voice came over the radio at the same time and told him where he was looking at.
"Plutarkian gunship at six o'clock, Throttle, they must have followed us, over."
"Man, they just never give up, now do they?", Modo grumbled. "They already wiped out almost the entire species of Martian Cave Mice and took our planet, ain't that enough already?"
Clearly, it wasn't.
The ship rocked again and Throttle did everything within his power to keep it under his control, but the first lights started to flash red as a high beeping sound filled the cockpit.
The tan-furred mouse gritted his teeth.
"One engine down."
Vinnie was already back on his feet and grabbed his bazooka again.
"What do ya say if we fry the fins off these stinkfaces, huh?"
"Do it!", Throttle ordered shortly, still trying to keep the ship steady as possible.
"Modo, open up, will ya? One fish face barbeque coming up!"
The grey-furred giant was already on his way and pulled down the same lever as he did earlier this day to open the small window next to the loading ramp.
Again, Vinnie pushed the bazooka through the opening, his heart racing in excitement and a big smile on his face. After locking the target, his finger made its way to the trigger, but before he could take the shot, a laser beam came out of the spaceship that was his target. It hit the bazooka and the force knocked the impressive weapon out of the white-furred mouse his hands and flew into space to never return again.
"Ah man, and I was just starting to get attached to that thing!"
Throttle looked over his shoulder.
"You know, it works better if you shoot before the weapon flies outta the window..."
"Yeah well, timing is everything...", his younger bro grumbled annoyed, rubbing his sour hands.
"Look at the bright side, Vin. At least it ain't Carbine who took it from ya", Modo snickered, despite the gravity of the situation still highly amused by the sour look on his youngest bro's face.
"I'm not sure what's worse…", the latter muttered under his breath.
The Plutarkian ship managed to hit them again and more lights started to flash.
"Two engines down."
"We're hit, I repeat, we're hit, over."
One should expect to hear panic in Stoker's voice, but just like he'd taught Throttle; panic never helped anyone.
Calmness, on the other hand… calmness could save lives.
"So now what?", Modo asked as he stood behind Throttle, his hands resting on the seat back.
The tan-furred mouse looked out of the big window, his behind glasses hidden bionic eyes gazing at the only solution he could come up with right now.
"That's easy…", he mumbled and then activated the radio.
"We're going down, over."

...

With a sizzling sound, another missile flew through space, fired by a Plutarkian gunship.
Cruel creatures they were, the Plutarkians. The fish looking beings had a special way of living, going from planet to planet to take away their resources because they'd used all of their own. Their behavior was nothing but excessive and brutal, leaving the planet, someone's home, behind as nothing more but a carcass once they were done. One should think that would be enough reason to call them cruel, but it wasn't.
The fact that they didn't care was.
And now, Mars had suffered the same fate, so were her people.
No one ever said that life was fair.
The missile came closer and closer to its target, namely; one of the two Martian Army cargo ships, stolen by the last standing Martian Cave Mice.
But right before impact, the ship made a sudden turn and with the nose now faced down, it started it's falling down towards a beautiful looking planet. Because of this sudden move, the missile missed the first ship.
However, it did manage to hit the second ship that was flying close to the first.
The explosion was massive and yet, the ship wasn't completely destroyed, which was a huge compliment for the ones who had built the whole thing, may they rest in peace. Unfortunately, the shockwave that came with the explosion forced the ship out of his orbit and as it first flew in perfect formation with the first ship, it now drifted further and further away.
But one thing didn't change and that was that both ships were still falling down, drawn to the planet below them like a moth to a flame as the distance between them became bigger and bigger.
So big, that helping each other out was out of the question now.
That was enough to satisfy the enemy, who lived under the assumption that the mice were never gonna be able to survive a landing like the one they were facing now.
So they turned around.
It was the sound of laughter that prevailed in the Plutarkian gunship, all having the time of their lives because they were convinced that it was them who had managed to take down the last ones standing of the race Martian Cave Mice.
Proud that once again, an entire species was extinct because of them.
Perhaps 'exterminated' was a better description, but that was a detail that didn't matter to them. The only thing that did matter was their, by them declared, victory.
One should think that they knew by now, the war on Mars being the biggest clue...
Never, ever, underestimate the strong will to live that was in the nature of the Martian Mouse.

...

"Throttle to Stoker, come in, over."
Static was the only response.
"Throttle to Stoker, over."
Nothing.
Their spaceship was now falling down with dazzling speed, damaged so badly that the controls were down.
Apparently, the radio was too.
A tan-furred fist, covered in a leather fingerless glove, slammed on the controls in frustration.
"We lost them."
"Maybe it's time to worry about ourselves, bro…", Modo suggested as he looked out of the front window of the ship, seeing how a for him unknown planet came closer and closer.
"Wow! Imminent destruction!", Vinnie called out, clinching to his chair, determined to stay there this time.
A big grin then almost split his face in half.
"What a rush!"
Throttle let out his breath as he looked at his two bro's.
"Guys… Lemme tell ya something… In this wild and wooly universe of ours, there are only three things you can count on…"
With his tan-furred finger, he tapped against his head.
"Your brains…"
He then swung an arm around his bro's neck, being more than just grateful to be in their company after the slaughter that had taken place on their home planet.
"...your bro's…"
His tail pulled down a lever to open the big loading ramp at the back of the ship manually.
"...and your bike. Helmets on!"
And so they did.
With a little difficulty because of the rough movements of the ship, they reached and mounted their bike.
"It is time for us to ROCK... and RIDE!"

Engines roared loudly as three bikes with their rider jumped out of the now burning ship.
It was dark outside and cool air filled their noses, but there was no time to orientate, no time to plan a smooth landing.
Gravity drew them closer to the ground and they each focussed on their own way to get to the ground as safely as possible.
Throttle fired his jets in order to get back control, but that was almost impossible. They were closer to the ground as he'd thought in the first place and the darkness didn't help either. Add that to the fact that they were on an unfamiliar planet and there was only one conclusion; a rough landing.
A loud explosion, heard and seen in the distance, told him their ship had landed. Well, landed… crashed was more like it.
The right side of his bike hit something, he couldn't see what it was, but the sound reminded him of the Martian Piny Pine Tree. But before he had the time to really figure it out, his tires now made contact with the ground and the tan-furred mouse immediately hit the brakes.
Mass and velocity determine the required distance to stop and since he jumped out of a plummeting spaceship, it took some time before his bike finally skidded to a halt. For a moment, he could only hear his own heavy breathing and despite the cool air, sweat streamed down his back.
But he made it.
Giving himself no time to check his bike, his surrounding or himself for that matter, he activated the radio system that was in his helmet.
"Bro's, bro's, you guys okay?"
After a short silence, Modo's voice was heard over the speaker.
"Yeah, sort of. At least I'm still in one piece."
"Where are you, big fella?"
Throttle scanned his surrounding, his bionic eyes only searching for one thing. His heart made a little jump when he saw a flashing headlight not far away from him.
The sound of Modo's bike, which was all too familiar, was heard and soon, his large bro stopped next to him.
"Oh momma, that was one rough landing", the grey-furred giant breathed as he opened his visor. "Hey, where's Vinnie?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing", Throttle answered as the nagging feeling of worry slowly spread in his oh so tired body.
Suddenly, a stream of curse words, spoken in ancient Martian, was heard in the distance.
The high pitched tones in the voice told him that it was their little bro, but he sounded different. There was a subtext hearable that made Throttle's worry even bigger.
"He sounds hurt", Modo confirmed his feeling, already on his way towards the sound.
The tan-furred mouse quickly followed him, and soon, his headlight caught the red racing bike of his youngest bro. The powerful machine was lying on its side, heavily damaged, and the sight raised his worry to unknown heights now.
"Modo, you keep guard, I don't want any surprises", Throttle ordered as he jumped off his bike and after pulling off his helmet, he kneeled down next to the white-furred mouse who sat on the ground a few meters away from his beloved bike, his helmet lying at his feet.
Vinnie was holding his right leg with his teeth clenched, blood gushed between his white-furred fingers.
"What is it, bro? Broken leg?", the tan-furred mouse asked urgently, alarmed by the large amount of blood he saw.
"Ah man, how should I know? All I know is that I landed in a goddamn tree and fell down. That darn gravity", Vinnie growled, clearly his ego was even more busted than his leg.
Throttle let out his breath, the worry far from gone, but now tempered a little.
Things weren't looking good for them, being stranded on an unfamiliar planet without any food or water.
The bikes damaged, one worse than the other and one of them, by first glance, hurt pretty badly.
But as long as his youngest bro was still the big talker he always was…
Perhaps things weren't that bad as they seemed.

"Where are we anyway?", the young mouse broke him out of his thoughts.
"Hard to tell…", the leader answered as he looked around him.
But it was too dark to see anything that could give him a, not even small, piece of information to tell them where they were.
"Well, wherever here is, after this not so smooth landing, here is where we're stuck", Modo pointed out, still keeping a close eye on their surrounding.
"Stoker… Carbine… Ya think they made it?", Vinnie asked with caution, knowing that their absence on the radio meant that they weren't close.
"I dunno… For now, we can only hope that they did…", Throttle answered as he gazed up at the clear but dark sky.
The stars looked back, twinkling brightly as if they were trying to comfort him, but nothing could right now. On Mars, he was able to track back his location with the help of the stars, but not here. The view didn't come even close to the one he was so familiar with and again, his worry grew.
"Oh momma…", the big guy sighed defeated as he too pulled off his helmet, saying what they all three were thinking.
"You said it, bro", Vinnie agreed unusual serious.
Throttle forced himself to keep his head in the game, to not lose himself in despair and patted Vinnie on the shoulder as he rose on his feet again.
"Modo, switch places with me so you can take a good look at that wound."
The grey-furred giant did what he was told because he was a soldier. Next to that, he had learned a few things about first aid on the battlefield.
"I need your light, Lil' Darling."
His bike beeped almost soothing when she stopped next to him and shined her headlight on Vinnie's leg.
The light beam showed them that the white-furred mouse was indeed sitting at the feet of a big tree, although it was one they hadn't seen before. The ground beneath it was one made of a hard material which didn't look natural.
That answered at least one of the many questions they had; they weren't alone on this planet.
It gave the tan-furred mouse more than an uneasy feeling. Somehow, he felt the unexplainable urge to hide, a small voice in his head told him they were too vulnerable in this position. They had no idea if the ones who lived here were friend or foe and he didn't want to wait to find out.
Not after today.
But with Vinnie in this state, he knew they weren't going anywhere for now.
"Come on, Vin, lemme see it."
Apparently, the white-furred mouse refused to remove his hands.
"No way man, I'm fine."
"You doesn't look fine to me, bro", Modo contradicted.
"It's nothing I can't handle", the young mouse said stubborn, but his voice gave away his pain.
"Just lemme make sure it isn't, okay?", his older bro retorted calmly, but persistent.
"Ugh, fine…"
And, although with reluctance, Vinnie removed his hands.
A quick glance already told Modo that his younger bro was everything but fine. His pants were torn, giving the grey-furred giant a good look at his bro's leg.
There was a big flesh wound on the right side of his calf, and even the large amount of blood couldn't hide the shinbone that poked out, cut straight through flesh and fur when it couldn't carry the weight of its owner during the rough landing.
The strong will and high pain threshold that was in the nature of a Martian Cave Mouse were the only two reasons why the young mouse was still able to sit and talk while being this wounded.

Modo looked up at Throttle, who saw it too.
Vinnie saw it happen and noticed the worried looks on both of his bro's there faces.
"What? What's wrong? It's not gonna leave a scar, or is it?", he asked urgently and he let his gaze land on the wound for the first time. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the mess that was his leg.
"Ah man, you've gotta be kidding me! I manage to survive a so-called Army of Death without so much of a scratch on my perfect body, did it with style too, and now… now I crashland on an unfamiliar planet and end up with this?!", and he pointed at the wound.
"Man, you have any idea what this is gonna do with my machismo rating?"
Modo rolled his one eye as he took off the bandana that was tied around Vinnie's neck, not being in the mood for this.
Not today. Certainly not today.
"You're lucky enough that you made it in the first place, others can't say the same, bro. So cool it, we got bigger problems than your busted ego."
And without any hesitation, perhaps even a little rougher than he intended to, he wrapped the bandana around the wound and thereby forced the bone back inside.
Vinnie's tail lashed through the air as a growl in pain vibrated in his chest. Clenching his teeth, he hit with his fist on the ground, a feeble attempt to deal with the almost unbearable pain. It only made things worse, since the ground didn't budge and now, a sharp pain in his hand joined the already immense pain in his leg.
"Geez, a little tender, love and care ain't misplaced here, big fella!"
Ignoring his little bro's protests, the grey-furred giant looked at the final result and nodded satisfied.
"That should do it. For now."
But the worry was still hearable in his voice.
Throttle, being the only other responsible mouse in his presence, couldn't blame him, since he felt the same worry.
He knew that Vinnie felt it too, but the white-furred youngster was just too proud to say it out loud.
They were in major, major trouble.
Chased away from their home, that was now in the hands of their worst enemy; the Plutarkians.
Stranded on an unfamiliar planet with damaged bikes and one of them badly injured.
All three being more than exhausted, their bodies completely worn-out after living on adrenaline for so long.
Their minds troubled by the horrific things they had seen today.
It was what one could call a mess, that's what it was.
No more.
No less.

Now that his eyes were a little bit more adjusted to the dark environment, he could see silhouettes from what he thought were buildings. The smell that hung in the cool air was somehow familiar and it wasn't exactly a happy memory. There was something strangely familiar about this place, but he couldn't exactly put his finger on it.
His instinct kept whining that something was wrong here.
Very wrong.
"We need to…", he started, but then stopped because his sensitive hearing picked up a sound.
Pricking his big ears in two different directions, he held up his hand to tell his bro's they needed to be quiet.
A slight difference in pressure made his fur bristle, as if there was a soft wind blowing through the hairs.
Only one problem; there was no wind.
He knew what it meant.
Ambush.
But before he, or his bro's for that matter, could react, bright lights lit one by one with a loud bang and illuminated the environment.
Throttle squeezed his eyes because of the sudden light, not even his adjusted specs could protect them for this sudden change.
He held up his hand against the light in an attempt to see what the hell was going on, but it was no use.
Modo positioned himself in front of Vinnie to protect him, since all the young mouse could do right now was sitting helplessly on the ground, not really able to defend himself.
Vinnie was far from being amused, hating the fact that he was this depended on his bro's, now even more than ever. He tried to get up, determined to face whatever was out there like a man, or better said; like a mouse. But the pain wouldn't let him and that made him even more cranky.
"Hands where I can see them, you Samaki scum!", a male voice was heard, clearly it came from behind the lights.
Vinnie gave up his attempts, breathing heavily and confused.
"Samaki scum? What the…"
Throttle had no idea either what whoever gave them this weird name meant by it, but the rest was intelligible and to his surprise, in their language.
"Lift them, partners. For now, we play along", he whispered softly, so soft, he knew it could only be heard by Martian ears.
"Ah man…", Vinnie sighed, but he did what he was told.
He was a mouse known for disobeying direct orders, but not when it was Throttle who gave them.
Well, most of the time, that is.
Modo did the same and Throttle tried to see anything else but the big lights that were shining in their faces, but he might as well give up.
That left him with only one option.
It was time to talk.
Sometimes, words were more powerful than violence...
"We uh… we come in peace!"
...with the emphasis on sometimes…
He heard Vinnie mutter something under his breath, but he ignored it.
No one could blame him for telling the truth.
Besides, they weren't exactly in the position to claim otherwise.
Not with one mouse down.
Not after everything they had been through today.
Limits were reached, even for them.
His ears now picked up soft voices and from what he could hear, it sounded like they were having a discussion.
Words as 'they look different' and 'perhaps they mean no harm' came by, but the male voice, which had yelled the weird name to them, was hissing back with an aggressive tone.
All this made clear to Throttle that whoever was behind the lights, it was more than just one and at least one of them wasn't convinced of them being harmless.
A few clicks were heard, a sound all three of the mice recognized immediately; guns.
Throttle flexed his muscles, ready to jump into action if necessary, but for now, he remained where he was with his hands still up in order to prevent further escalation.
"We're not here to cause any trouble, citizen. Our ship crashed here, wherever here is, and one of us is hurt. We've come a long way so, please… don't shoot."
His voice sounded exactly the way he wanted to; calm and authoritative, making it sound as if he had everything under control instead of revealing the painful truth that he wasn't.
More whispers in the wind, more guns that were loaded, but then…
"Stand down. Now."
It was a female voice this time, the tone similar to the one Throttle had used just now.
"Let's give them a chance to explain themselves…"