Prologue
It was here. After years of whispered warnings, dismissed as nothing more than idle speculation, it had finally arrived. For over a decade, the rumors had been just that—rumors. A comfortable fiction easily ignored. But now, the comfortable fiction was shattered. The proof wasn't in whispers anymore; it was in the stark, undeniable reality unfolding before them.
Over ten years of battling, of scars, of protecting citizens from foes, famine, even the blistering heat and sandstorms that tore meat from bones. It had all meant nothing. Their Queen deemed the soldiers who have fought these hard battles unnecessary. "A liability," she had shouted from her throne. "An embarrassment," she had whispered to the elite loyalists who graced her halls, halls that were far from the threats the citizens faced.
Over ten years of doing the jobs the Queen's Army was either too afraid to do or was not permitted to do. Yet it was the renegade soldiers of the desert who she felt needed to be disbanded. Her demand had sounded simple, either join the Queen's Army, or return to common citizenship. Those who knew what she was asking, though, knew this was truly not a simple demand. And they were permitted a short amount of time to report on their lifelong choice.
Many made their choice, either by force, desire, or weariness. Those who chose the Army held hope in their hearts, hope that they would still be a way to make some kind of difference. Many - too many - chose Citizenship, despite knowing that this choice meant nothing more than a slow, sand-stained death. To the ones who accepted Citizenship, death was still preferred to surviving under the unyielding thumb of a Queen many no longer wanted in power.
Only three remained who knew there was no choice they needed to make - that they always were, and always would be, Freedom Fighters for Mars.