BEYOND MARS – CRIMSON FLEET
by
R. G. RISCH
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PUBLISHED BY:
Beyond Mars – Crimson Fleet
Copyright © 2010 by Richard Gustav Risch
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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This book is dedicated to both my late mother and father, who gave me more love, understanding, and help than I ever deserved. May they both rest in eternal peace.
Beyond Mars Crimson Fleet is an action-packed thriller and “shoot’em up” from cover to cover. It is not the farfetched fantasy of Stars Wars, nor the idealistic science fiction realm of Star Trek. Instead, it is a stark realistic view of history that may yet be. Beyond Mars – Crimson Fleet was written to not only entertain, but to provide the reader with a dark and thought provoking glimpse of what our world is possibly turning into and hopefully ensures that this future—never happens!
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BEYOND MARS – CRIMSON FLEET
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PROLOGUE:
A Chronicle of Things That May Yet Be
“Conflict is created by two conditions: the evil that is sanctioned by the corrupted—and the sacrifice borne by upright men and women who chose to destroy it.”
—Adam Turquine (Martian novelist - 2143)
At the dawn of the 21st Century, mankind boldly entered a new, but dangerous age. For the most part, war and large-scale conflicts were rendered to the history of the past as nations co-operated in an effort to stabilize their own sovereign states by joining the emerging global economy. With the enticement of new technologies and nearly unlimited credit, every nation hastened without forethought to the mesmerizing promise of a better tomorrow.
As a result, unimaginable creations seeded the world with their commonness. Even between political opponents and former enemies, advanced scientific information and devices flowed freely and propagated in immeasurable abundance.
International corporations spearheaded this drive for this newfound fellowship of commerce. They laced the world together in networks of digitized communication, while circumventing many social and ethic barriers as they attempted to fill every country’s desire to modernize and improve conditions for its citizens.
However, it falsely became a golden era of peace. For beneath this team spirit, many business entities in reality cared little for the moral and ethical dilemmas associated with their technological wares. They were more concerned with their profit margins and the need to increase their market share. In their arrogance and greed, these businessmen forgot that the universe is not a void, and any action taken always has its consequences.
Their self-serving lust for money and personal success unexpectedly opened a door of opportunity to something else, something primal that lingered in the hearts of ruthless men of baneful ideologies that preached the doctrine of hate. For these servants of evil not only desired power, but the total extermination of all of their professed enemies. To this end these canonical companions of darkness diligently worked. And from their devious minds that knew only the vilest of thoughts and the most unspeakable demons of the imagination, drew their blueprint of terror and destruction against the world.
Over time, the once harmless and beneficial devices were methodically scrutinized and legally plundered for their technology under auspices of universal trade agreements. The technology was then redesigned and married to deadly chemicals, high explosives, synthesized diseases, and generators of nuclear fission. They became what they were never meant to be: the physical embodiment of cataclysmic nightmares.
In not-so-hidden workshops, laboratories, and factories, the apparatus of genocide grew in alarming numbers. The world at large, however, cared not as it cast its eyes away from the truth, daring not to confront, offend, or provoke. This pacifism of refusing to face the obvious was then perceived as fear, furthering the appetites of the agents of death.
Still these artisans of apocalypse waited, for the moment of “ecclesiastical and genetic cleansing” was not yet right. But their patience was soon rewarded. An economic crisis and upheaval that threatened to topple even the richest and most powerful nations of the Earth became the finger that pulled the trigger.
The bubble of unlimited credit had burst to the pinhead of financial fraud, bad lending practices, and soaring deficits created from crippling taxes and wasteful government spending to the transfer of well-paying jobs to overseas sweatshops. The illusion of financial stability dissolved at an unbelievable pace for both businesses and individual citizens alike as markets plunged into monetary depths not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Banks failed, savings were wiped out, unemployment rose high into double-digits, and more than a quarter of the people became homeless or lived in tent cities with government welfare and charities as their only means of support.
From ever tightening government control that descended into brutality, hunger, joblessness, and fear, the chaos was magnified and painted in rivers of blood on global streets from massive and frenzied riots across the Earth. Yet, still the reckless avarice of speculation persisted, for the greedy lusted fervently for more! Ultimately, food prices were driven well beyond the brink of affordability—and started the final countdown to Armageddon. And when the economic upheaval was at its bleakest point, the iniquitous mutations of science were finally unleashed with such savagery that they swiftly ravaged the Earth, heralding another world war.
The war, although short, was a bloody one. The weapons of mass destruction remorselessly struck their targets with such speed that only the fervor of fanatical malevolence could summon it. Country after country rapidly collapsed as their infrastructures disintegrated from the holocaust. But the cost in human life was far greater.
Many people died horrific and agonizing deaths at the hands of merciless killers or through the resulting pestilence and plagues that were spread in their wake. The number of dead was so countless that they were stacked like cordwood and unceremoniously heaped into mass graves. But the apocalypse was overwhelming, and many more bodies were just left to rot where they had fallen. A habitat for maggots and swarms of flies became the Earth as the wages of conflict afflicted the planet, choking the very air and essence of life in its bitterness.
In the end, however, the agents of death were destroyed and their scourge smashed upon the rocks of justice and resolve. For civilized men and women of adamant courage once more rose up and relentlessly struck down the modern-day barbarians in unforgiving retribution. And as the last echoes of war faded into memory, it was hoped that evil was now and forever vanquished from the human race.
The world was in total ruins, the final tally of the devastation, but still it endured. It drew closer together as it began to rebuild itself once more. In the long process, many came to agree that a New World Order was needed to replace the old world, one that respected individual rights, and eliminated the ancient hatreds and social differences.
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In the years that followed, mankind struggled towards a lasting peace. Ultimately, global unification and a one-world government became a reality, ushering in the end to all sovereign nations.
With this new era of peace and prosperity, the light of humanity seemed to shine more brightly than throughout all of its previous history. Greater leaps in technology abounded, allowing the human race to reach out further into space than it ever had before. Finally in the year 2041, the first human footprint was placed on the surface of the planet Mars.
Within a decade of the first landing, several bases were established on the distant world, opening the path for colonization. To further mankind’s presence on the planet, the newly formed Earth government called out to its vast population for volunteers to settle the red world. This was by no means an easy task, for Martian life would be hard for all those who dared to choose it. But they came anyway, the loners, the outcast, the discontented, people looking to make a better life; all came to the planet Mars. By the year 2100, a proud colony of rugged and self-reliant individuals flourished and prospered on the distant planet.
However, the timeless winds of dissolution once again began to vex the human race. Not even the most intellectual or wisest among them realized that such winds again blew through their solar system, with the foulest emanating from the Earth itself.
From the umbra of Earth's technological society, an invisible evil crept its way into the heart of the planet, contaminating everything it touched, defiling man and nature alike. So great was its influence that the Earth government itself eventually took on a darker, more sinister tone. Because global unification was achieved at the expense of unconditional disarmament, there was no one to oppose the will of the Earth's central government.
The Martians watched suspiciously as The New World Order tightened its grip upon the lives of the people of the planet Earth. Slowly, the Earth's population was gradually indoctrinated into a state of complacency, rhetoric, and submission.
As The Order voyaged deeper into space, it began to spread itself among distant worlds. This required massive resources, and The Order then turned to its closest and most productive colony—Mars.
At first, the demands of the Earth's central government were reasonable and drew little attention or interest. But over time, the Martians’ resources were systematically pillaged as their energies were spent on compelled labors. A new slavery arose, backed as always by intimidation and force. The Earth government justified this indignity by challenging the status of Martian citizenship within the Earth's dominion. The Martians became regarded as dependants of the Earth, removed from the prominence of full citizenship. But in the Martians' rough and simplistic view of life, this lie bred the seeds of insurrection.
New and harsh restrictions further accelerated the feelings of discontent and revolution on the red planet. Outbreaks of defiance and violent demonstrations ensued and then intensified. Finally the hostility grew to such a heated pitch against each new law of abusive constraint, it plunged the red planet into outright civil war and rebellion.
Yet, the struggle was greatly uneven as the Martians had little in the way of weapons and military training to fight back with. Even with the employing of guerrilla warfare tactics, the inevitable was only senselessly prolonged. In the end, all resistance was brutally crushed by the Earth’s security forces, leaving the Martian people to tend to a broken world, shattered families, and trampled pride.
Still there was something that the “Earthers” overlooked in their zeal for control and domination: the irrepressible longing to be free. It slowly sparked and nurtured a new determination from the despair of defeat and fostered a new dream, uniting many of the colonists of the red planet in purpose and deed. To the risk of death, the Martians plotted, organized and waited.
An uneasy calm settled over the red world, one which still simmered below the surface in subdued tension. Yet, years passed without incident, allowing for the return of some normality to life on Mars. With this strange peace came a reluctant trust and added responsibilities. The impending threat of alien invasion materialized in random attacks upon many of the outer colonies, necessitating a small Martian defense force to be quickly constituted. As each species’ driven war escalated, the small Martian fleet—supplied with aging warships and obsolete equipment—was called upon to aid in the defense of the human race from certain alien annihilation.
The Martians trained hard and fought fiercely, driving back all aggressors from the Earth's dominated systems. But beneath the official face of professionalism, however, a wall of suppressed animosity and contempt stood between the Martian forces and their Earth counterparts. Regardless that the Martians had showed extraordinary bravery and skill in every battle they fought; they were still berated by their Earth overlords.
With the wars won and over, The Order turned once again to their Martian colony with “new directives” to be fulfilled. The building of several new spaceports and other facilities on the red planet was needed to spur economic growth as well as to pay for a huge war debt. This burdened the Martians beyond their capacity. However, to the complete amazement of the Earth’s central government, there was no public outcry from the settlers of the red world—only silence.
It appeared to the Earthlings that the Martians finally came to accept their position within the Earth dominion and that they now too worked for the greater glory of The Order and the human race. All did seem to be well with the Martians, all did seem to be well.
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Chapter 1: November 23, 2152
Hoards of space-suited colonists, each carrying a hasty gathering of personal possessions, nervously flooded the newly built Martian spaceport of Cassini. They chaotically rushed by Martian Marine checkpoints and the aftermath of many small pitched ground battles that had left a trail of corpses and debris strewn about. There was no question; Mars was in full rebellion against its hated overlord the Earth.
As people hurriedly shoved and pushed their way onto a multitude of waiting spaceships, many of the boarding passengers still reeled from a state of shock at what now beckoned before them. Even though the coming of this day was relayed in whispers and quiet meetings throughout the colony for years on end, the reality of the moment clouded the minds of the immigrants like a mist of dreams. Still, the air was charged with an unimaginable excitement as well as tinged with the fear of uncertainty.
The choice given was a simple one: either to remain on Mars and live under the heel of The Order or chance a migration to new, far-flung world with all the possibilities and penalties that came with it. As the majority of the colonists chose to board spaceliners, freighters, and every other transport available, their pensive decision became quite clear. In one utterly sobering and extraordinary moment, the Martians had radically defined their future; they were leaving old Mars and the Earth’s tyrannical domination—forever.
Above the throngs of people nudging and shouldering their way to freedom, scores of distant flares high above in the night’s sky constantly interrupted the evening’s darkness. The flares burst and flickered brightly for a few seconds then faded into blackness closely followed by an occasional loud “boom” or two. Adding to that, fiery showers of meteor-like objects of various sizes traveled through the outermost atmosphere in all directions, creating a gigantic fireworks display that was ever so frightening. For all knew the titanic celestial engagement of warships fighting just beyond their world was to decide the very fate of their lives.
As the bloodletting continued, a tall slim man with wavy black hair and impeccably dressed in a slate gray Mao suit stood on the bridge of the loading spaceliner Morning Star. His cold brown eyes gazed steadily upward through a large overhead skylight that gave only a diminutive glimpse into the warring heavens. Martian Administrator Feoras Damon nonchalantly evaluated the distant battle between the Martian fleet and ships of a reserve force sent from Earth. His face showed no expression as he watc
hed casually and listened to the cracking of military communications over a loud speaker.
"Five enemy fighters at ten o’clock high."
"Two more fighters coming in at three o’clock low."
"Damage control! Hull breaches on aft decks two and three!"
"Port side, enemy star cruiser burning and out of control."
"CONROY! CONROY! YOU’VE GOT ONE ON YOUR TAIL!"
"Zeta Leader to Zeta Flight, reform on my wing."
"HANSON! EJECT, DAMN YOU! EJECT!"
As the man stared unceasingly at the conflict in space, an awkward smirk betrayed his contempt for the entire affair. Although the voices of military men and women filled the air with their both desperation and bravery, he found little to maintain his interest in the titanic life or death struggle. Truly this was an historical moment, but all he felt was a great annoyance for the interruption of his political career.
"Will someone shut that damn thing off and give it a rest!" Damon raised his voice in an infuriate tone.
Captain Jacobs, an aged and balding man of many years, looked up momentarily at the administrator and then turned to the communications crewman. "Shut it off," he ordered.
The captain raised his hand and stroked his graying moustache and goatee. For a few seconds, the starfarer studied the administrator as the man persisted in gazing up at the afar haze of combat. The sailor then strolled gradually over to the tall man.
"I thought you would be interested in hearing about the progress of the fleet?" the captain finally quizzed Damon.
"Progress of the fleet? Don't make me laugh! We both know how this is going to end. Personally, I can't wait until this charade is over with," Damon conceded his sanctimonious thoughts.