2062 New Massachusetts, Planet Mars
In war, everyone loses. Especially civilians.
The governor of New Massachusetts decided that now was the perfect time to flex our muscles to the Sino-Russian colony after some border friction. If the situation turned hot, everyone was dead regardless of how many troops we had. Over ten thousand soldiers of the newly formed 1st Martian infantry division had been deployed to New Massachusetts to protect the colony from "foreign aggression".
The American colony had grown exponentially over the last decade. What had started as a small research base had eventually ballooned into the largest settlement on the surface of Mars.
The colony was situated along the rim of one of the ancient martian lake beds. Being close to large deposits of ice and minerals made the lake prime real estate. Both the Sino-Russian axis and European Union had also colonized along the rim of the great lake. Less than 100 miles from New Massachusetts made for some damn juicy tension and military flexing. Why all the nations decided to create colonies, so close together was above me.
However, the reality of the situation was as if war was to break out between the three colonies. Everyone was dead anyways. Before anyone could lose, someone would press the big red button activating their orbital weapons and obliterate every human on the surface of Mars.
After pondering its implications, I decided that it was time to move. The new doctrine stated that uncamouflaged troops were constantly on the move in combat situations. No matter if you were behind the lines or not. Orbital based weapons would rip you a new one if you had the balls to stand in the same spot for over 10 minutes.
I hopped up and waltzed over to Corporal Garcia. A short bald stocky man whose brown eyes could stare into your soul. He was a bit serious but could lighten up when he was in the mood, which was rare, to say the least.
"Corporal Garcia?" I asked
"Sergeant Clark", Garcia replied.
"Have the men get in formation and check everyone's air pressure and power levels?"
"Yes, sir, where should I tell them we're deploying?"
"Tell them we're moving a mile east to recon for enemy positions."
After everyone got out of their fighting positions and stopped firing simulated rounds at predesignated targets, my 9 man squad started its march east. In reality, the Sino-Russian base was to the west, but these were just exercises, and governor Albrecht had no intention of creating a war. His only concern was for the colony. Almost obsessively so.
Out of boredom, I asked over squad comms, "Hey guys, what's your opinion of Governor Albrecht?"
A reply came over comms instantly from Private Kauppi "just a fuckin weirdo I didn't vote for."
"We don't even get to vote anyway. They just wanted the best man for the job," shot back Private Starna with a hint of amusement.
"oh, don't start that best man for the job bullshit", declared Kauppi.
"Maybe if you weren't such a fuckin idiot and got your dick out of your ass, you would realize that we're not a state yet." replied Kauppi."
"wow, calm it down, you two. You can continue this in barracks," I said to ease things.
"you would like that, wouldn't you? Safe from Starna's know it bullshit" At that, the whole squad save for Starna had a good laugh.
By the time we made it back to Fort Dunning, the sun was slowly setting. I slowly took off my pressurized armoured exoskeleton as I started feeling the day's exercises in my back. I walked over to Garcia,
"Hey Bob, what are you doing after work?"
"Ah, sorry, I promised I'd spend some time with Julie."
"No problem", I replied, "I'll be at the pub if you need me."
And with that, I walked back to my quarters.
With nothing else to do, I put on civilian clothing and made my way to the closest place with a tv. Using the underground rail system that connected Fort Dunning to the rest of the massive underground labyrinth, I made my way to the closest bar. The Cheers and Beers was a favourite among off duty military personnel and was usually loaded after work hours.
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Upon stepping into the bar, I found Sgt. James Kowalski. He and I went years back, having been friends since college and joining the military together. We had both volunteered and been selected for the martian deployment.
James' eyes lit up when he saw me and quickly gave me space to sit down. He was sitting with two other soldiers opposite us.
James continued, "Anyways, you hear about the new inbound shipment of TVs? Going to be awesome to have more shit to buy!"
"Yeah, it's transfer window time. They're going to be expensive as hell, though. Don't see myself being able to buy a TV anytime soon." One of the soldiers replied.
Suddenly, the television switched off from its football game, and the stern face of a newswoman appeared. The bar went silent.
Breaking News. We are receiving urgent reports from officials warning about a potential attack from extraterrestrial invaders. Reports state that large formations of hostile troops with energy-based weapons are attacking cities across Earth. The origin of these troops is currently unknown... Before the newscaster could continue, everyone's phones started going off. Everyone pulled out their phones in a collective "oh shit" moment and viewed the emergency alert. A state of emergency is being declared. All military personnel are to return to their posts immediately and await further orders. All Civilians are to return to their dwellings immediately and seek safety. We are potentially under direct attack by enemy forces. Additional information will be made available soon.
The scene was chaotic. Everyone was running out of the bar in almost panic. I swiftly leapt out of my chair and slotted my phone back into my jeans. We ran out of the bar onto the street. Hundreds of others were running down the road towards the subway station. I dashed in the same direction.
After getting to the entry tunnel, I saw people flooding into the station, where the station was getting overloaded. A police officer started firing shots into the air to get attention but only made things worse when people started panicking, further thinking the shows were directed at the mob. I managed to push my way past the civilians in our way and just managed to get onto the train returning to Fort Dunning along with James.
The five-minute ride was filled with speculation. Soldiers were arguing about what the hell was going on. Some were saying the Sino-Russian colony was launching a preemptive attack. Others who saw the news broadcast stated that the attack was also on Earth, and thus there was a full-blown nuclear war. Some said aliens were attacking the solar system. Nobody knew what was going on. When we got back, everyone flooded out to return their posts.
I made my way to our squad barracks. There I met Cpl Garcia, Private Starna and Private Kauppi. Less than half of the 9 man squad was presently available.
I was asked "what the actual fuck is going on" by Garcia.
"I know as much as you", I replied
"So nothing," Garcia retorted.
"Everyone get in your battle rattle!" I yelled.
After waiting around in the armoury for 4 minutes, we received orders from our platoon commander to immediately get on the military transit system and start patrolling the streets of New Massachusetts. We were told to deploy to the central business district along with 4 other ad hoc half-strength units.
On transit, we received our briefing from our platoon commander.
"Earth is being invaded by an unknown technologically superior enemy. Their forces are appearing at random in huge numbers across the planet. The governor has declared martial law, and it's up to us to put that order in effect and defend New Massachusetts from any potential incursion by enemy forces."
Everyone was quiet now. Contemplating the severity of what was going on. Earth was being invaded.
By what..?
And if the Earth can be invaded, we can sure as hell be. Upon exiting the military train, we fanned out onto the streets.
Each squad was given a direction to travel within the district. My fireteam was assigned the main road.
Walking down the narrow concrete street was nerve-wracking. City planners had made a total ban on cars within the pressurized section of the city, both to reduce the load on the filtration system and save space. This resulted in highly narrow streets. Space was a luxury, with about 10 feet of the road to walk through.
Nobody spoke. The streets were dead silent. What was usually a bustling centre of commerce was now a ghost town. The tension was killing everyone. As I walked down the street at the centre of the formation, I scanned the buildings ahead of me for movement.
The streets were designed in a significant grid fashion. With each squad heading down a separate lane, we would have cleared the entire district by the end of this street.
Suddenly I heard something. I instinctively held up my fist, halting my formation. I then assigned Garcia to cover fire with his LMG-68 if things got hairy. I zoned into the direction of the sound. 150 feet down the street, inside a cafe on the right. The windows had been smashed in, and the sounds of a group rampaging through the store were apparent.
Privates Starna and Kauppi were following close behind me, rifles scanning our surroundings as we moved carefully along the buildings on the right.
I stopped as soon as we reached the door to the building in question. Upon confirming everyone was ready, I swiftly opened the door and aimed my rifle inside.
The two adolescents I caught in my red dot sight were scared shitless and dropped the cash they had been pilfering from the register. I screamed at them to get on the ground and ordered Starna and Kauppi to check them for weapons.
"Nothing", Starna announced
"Just a knife", Kauppi revealed
"kids", I sighed as I lowered my rifle.
"Stay there. I'm going to radio this in," I said to the pair of soldiers.
I stepped out of the store onto the shattered glass covering the street as I reached for my radio.
"Command, this is Clark."
"Go ahead."
"Found two teenagers in the process of armed robbery of a cafe. Currently, have them in custody. "
"Acknowledged, please maintain your position and await further orders. Out."
Hey guys, I hope you liked my first chapter. I'm pretty new to writing, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I will try to continue this. I already have a vision for what I want this to become and have a clear ending in plan. Anyways, thanks for reading the first chapter of the Liberation Wars.