Mars Colony Chronicles (Books 1 - 5): A Space Opera Box Set Adventure

by Brandon Ellis

  “Please keep that safe,” said Ozzy.

  A Marine grabbed Ozzy’s hands and pulled them behind his back, then wrapped a cord around his wrists, pulling tightly.

  Ozzy arched. “Easy does it, fella’.”

  The Marine helped Ozzy into a standing position and pushed him forward. “Open up,” yelled the Marine.

  A door in the giant wall lifted, creating an opening big enough for several hovertrucks, let alone Mars Rovers, to go through.

  “Get in,” ordered the Marine, leading Ozzy to a Rover and shoving him onto the back seat. “Slide to the middle.”

  Ozzy nodded and did as told, bumping up against another soldier who was eyeing the window, not making a peep or moving an inch, like a stoic statue.

  A Marine slid onto the seat next to Ozzy, squishing him into the other soldier.

  “Move on out,” yelled a Marine.

  “Sir, yes, sir,” replied the driver.

  The Rover rumbled forward and through the wall’s entrance, and down a steep decline.

  The base was massive, and was built smack dab in the middle of the large Solis Planim crater.

  A portion of the military fleet—small, hexagonal frigates with v’d fronts, housing cannons up and down the sides, and rail guns atop turrets in the middle—were littered across a large tarmac in the northeastern portion of the base.

  Large buildings rose like skyscrapers in the center of the base and warehouses surrounded the tall structures. Roads were spread throughout the base like a spider web.

  It wasn’t ugly, but it wasn’t beautiful. It was operational, and that’s all that mattered.

  They drove on a road with crimson sand butting up to the edges, and slowly drove around jutting boulders that lined the road. This place was as barren as barren could be, mostly because the base was unlike any human inhabited area on Mars. It didn’t have a graviton shield.

  Ozzy looked at one of the Marines sitting next to him, the one who had been giving all of the orders. The guy eyed the front window, his body tense and straight. He wore his battle EVA, and in his lap was the holopad.

  Ozzy straightened in his posture. “I need to speak with a high ranking officer. What you have in your lap is of utmost importance.”

  “We’re very aware of that, Sir.” The man kept his gaze forward.

  “Will I be able to see someone?”

  “What we know is Sergeant Marino was killed trying to get this information to us.” He shifted in his seat. “We will get you to the right man.”

  “Who is the right man?”

  “That’s confidential, Sir.”

  Crap. Is Jonas Moon here? With Ozzy’s luck, most likely.

  Ozzy wiggled in his seat. “Any chance I can take a piss, soldier?”

  “No, sir.”

  “I’m about to wet myself.”

  “We’ve had worse, sir.”

  Ozzy’s stomach tingled, and he sucked in a big gush of EVA oxygen. “No chance at all you can tell me who I may be seeing? It’s not the High Judge, is it?”

  “That’s a negative sir.”

  “What’s a negative? The High Judge part or you telling me who exactly I’m seeing?”

  The soldier dipped his head. “Correct, sir.”

  Mars’s buttcrack! I’m getting no where.

  The vehicle stopped in front of a round building no bigger than a house, and attached to the building was a square garage.

  “Open up,” ordered the Marine with the holopad in his lap.

  The garage door opened and they drove inside. The garage door then closed.

  “Everyone, out of the vehicle,” ordered the Marine.

  They slid off the seats and stood on the cement floor.

  “Rain pour on!” yelled the Marine.

  “Rain pour on, sir.”

  Water fell on them and the Rover like rain, splattering throughout the empty garage.

  The perchlorate covered sand washed off of them and down several drains.

  “Arms up and outward,” said a Marine.

  Ozzy lifted his arms up and outward just as tubes descended from the ceiling. A loud buzz and the tubes turned on, blowing wind against Ozzy, and the rest of the Marines.

  In minutes, they were dry.

  A second loud buzz, and the tubes turned off and retracted into the ceiling.

  “Oxygen is at optimal levels,” shouted a Marine. “Take off your helmets.”

  Ozzy did and a Marine pushed him forward toward a door. The door whooshed open, sucking vertically into the ceiling.

  Ozzy stepped back at who was on the other side. He went for his gun, finding no pistol and no holster on this MMP EVA suit.

  He was shit out of luck.

  27

  Marine Base at Solis Planim

  Robert Baldwin sat in a chair before him, his squinty eyes glaring back at Ozzy, and a smirk on his face.

  Ozzy’s arms flailed back, smacking a soldier across the cheek. He curled his hands in a fist, not believing his own eyes, ready to punch the old High Judge in the face.

  Ozzy unclenched, blinking rapidly. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him. He took a step back and bumped into a wall. “H-how?”

  For all he knew, Robert was dead. He saw that asshole’s lifeless body in the High Judge office, killed by gunfire via Quad, slumped in his chair.

  Robert laughed…

  …but it wasn’t Robert’s laugh.

  Ozzy furrowed his brow, and gazed across the room at what looked to be a high ranking Marine officer. The man had on a blue uniform with a star insignia, along with many other badges and stripes that Ozzy didn’t recognize, mostly because he wasn’t military trained or educated.

  Regardless, by the way the guy stood with his chest out, his stance strong and proud, and the way the rest of the Marines looked at him, he had to be the one in charge.

  “Are you the General?” asked Ozzy, his eyes darting from Robert to the leader across the room.

  “I’m Brigadier General Luke Sever,” said the General. “And that is not Robert Baldwin, if you haven’t picked that up by now.”

  Robert’s face dematerialized and a man wearing a mask took his place. The mask was clearly a device capable of forming a perfect hologram around someone’s face and head, hiding who was behind the image.

  The person lifted the mask off, revealing a smile, a pointy black go-t and thick black brows.

  Ozzy reached for his gun again, but for a second time, he was grasping at nothing. “Shit.” It was Mort Wildly, one of Ozzy’ mortal enemies, and leader of a large crime syndicate.

  Luke Sever gestured toward Wildly. “Ozzy Mack, I know you two have met, and I also know you have misgivings with each other and also with our late High Judge, but I think you have misgivings about our new High Judge, as well. Is that correct?”

  Ozzy dipped his head, keeping his eyes on Widly. He could trust Wildly as far as he could throw him. And that wasn’t far.

  Wildly extended his hand. “Well, buddy, it looks like we’re partners again.”

  Ozzy kept his hand by his side. He was never partners with Wildly, and never would be.

  “What’s going on?” asked Ozzy.

  Wildly gestured toward General Sever. “Care to explain?”

  The General nodded. He stepped forward and cupped his hands behind his back. “We need you, Ozzy. You know the ins and outs of Jonas Moon and you’ll be a very important asset to us.”

  Ozzy put his hands out. “What are you talking about? That’s not why I’m—”

  “I tried to take out the previous High Judge and I’m not going screw up taking out this new High Judge,” said Wildly, standing up, his curly mustache twitching, his tall, skinny frame towering over Ozzy. “That’s why old General here wants my syndicates help. He needs Jonas Moon out, and I’ll step in, only as Robert Baldwin. We’ll act like Robert was never killed, and it was all a ploy to expose the Crime Syndicates across Mars. Now, imagine that? A crime boss and the Marines working together to take
out all the syndicates.” He tapped his head with his knuckles. “I gots me some brains in here, eh?”

  Ozzy folded his arms at his chest. “Another coup? Are you Mars-nuts?”

  The General was like a stone, his eyes dead pan on Ozzy’s. “We have a rogue High Judge. He isn’t doing as asked, or as we wish him to do. With Wildly stepping in as Robert Baldwin, using the holographic mask you had just witnessed, we’ll run Mars again and lawfully.”

  “You mean you can’t control Jonas Moon,” replied Ozzy. “What makes you think you can control this scumbag?” He tilted his head toward Wildy.

  “I think the amount of money I’ll be getting,” Wildly winked, “I’ll be easily controlled. But with—”

  “Okay, Wildly, I’ve had enough. I’m not here to help any of you out,” interrupted Ozzy. He reached for the Marine that held onto the holopad and swiped it out of his arms. “This is what’s important.”

  The Marine turned and unholstered his gun, pointing it at Ozzy.

  “Stand down,” ordered General Sever. He cocked his head. “What do you have there?”

  “Sergeant Marino tasked me to give this to you, but I’m the one who knows the codes and the file names. No one else does and what’s on here is of vital importance.” Marino didn’t task him to do anything, but with Marino dead, the General wouldn’t be able to double check.

  “You and your holopads, Ozzy,” came Wildly, most likely remembering the last time he dealt with a holopad Ozzy held from him, which had important information on Robert Baldwin, but was then wiped clean by Jozi just before Ozzy gave it back to Widly.

  Wildly probably didn’t appreciate that.

  “Let me turn this on and show you, General.” Ozzy took a step forward and put the holopad on a table.

  “This is what Marino was bringing you here for?” Sever frowned. “I thought it was to help us do one better, but I’ll wait on that.”

  “By do one better you mean take out the High Judge?” Ozzy slid the holopad closer to the General, not waiting for a reply. “After you see this, the High Judge will be the last thing on your mind and getting every man, woman, and child off of this Crimson shit-hole will be the first thing you do.”

  The General pressed both palms on the table and leaned forward, his eyebrows raised. He was interested. “Let’s see what you have.”

  “Holopad, on,” said Ozzy.

  A white holographic image shot up from the pad. “Holopad, patch into High Judge’s security channel line 001.” He gave the password, and the file names that Lyra had given.

  The hologram shifted from white to darkness, with stars all around. A satellite floated into view with Mars and it’s glowing reds and tans far off in the camera’s periphery.

  “Slow,” said Ozzy, slowing down the stream. “Look at the quadrant and date.” Ozzy pointed at the holovid’s lower left corner.

  “That’s yesterday,” responded Sever. He let out an exasperated breath, his eyes dead-locked onto the holopad’s screen.

  A Dunrakee battle cruiser came into view, followed by star carriers and colony ships. Hundreds of more ships were large, glowing dots beyond the colony ships, but they were clearly ships.

  The General jerked back, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape. He pushed off the desk and side-eyed Ozzy. “This isn’t made up?”

  “No. They’ll be here in a few hours, maybe sooner. We need to get every Marine ship down from orbit and every ship you have in the base’s yard and tarmac, and get every human off the face of Mars. As you can see, by sheer number, they dwarf our fleets. We need to use our ships to get the hell out of Dodge, if you know what I mean.”

  Wildly let out a chuckle. “You are full of Mars-shit, Ozzy. We know that a Dunrakee fleet is more than two weeks away, and is by no means as large as the fleets you’ve just shown us, and the two week time period is a conservative measurement. This can’t be—”

  “This is a legitimate stream.” General Sever rubbed his mouth and then the back of his head. “Why has this been hidden from my eyes, Ozzy?”

  Ozzy shrugged. How the hell would he know? “My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that the High Judge didn’t want you to see it.”

  “Because he wants to test out those pretty super soldiers he’s created.” The General let out a grunt, and averted his eyes to the ground, thinking. “Everyone out except for Ozzy Mack.”

  Wildly turned, facing General Sever. “This is wrong, soldier man. You’re taking a criminal’s fake stream over the opportunity to get our Ministry back?” He shook the mask that had created the holographic image in the air. “We have a plan to make me the new High Judge using Robert Badlwin’s face. We can fool the people, and act like Robert was never killed. It’s a fool-proof plan. Trust me. People are stupid.”

  The General pointed at the door, a door that was now open from the Marines exiting the office. “Mort Wildly, I gave you an order, and you must obey or I’ll throw you behind bars where you belong.”

  Wildly scowled. “Suit yourself.” He lowered in his posture and spoke into Ozzy’s ear. “You keep screwing up my plans, Ozzy. I won’t forget this. You better believe.”

  If the General wasn’t in the room, he’d send his fist into Wildly’s chin. “The day you put the people before your self interests, Mort, will be the day that breathable oxygen arrives on Mars.”

  Mort shook his head and spit in Ozzy’s face. Gooey saliva dripped off his chin. Ozzy wiped it off, and patted his hand on Wildly’s back as he exited the room, using his shirt as a towel.

  The door slammed and the walls shook.

  General Sever gave Ozzy a long stare as if weighing his options. He looked at the ground again, letting out a gush of air. “Listen, this isn’t going to be easy. We have to coordinate a lot of things to get this done. Do you understand?”

  “What do you need?”

  Sever tapped on a wrist device, and brought it to his lips. “Janet, we need a holocam set up. I’m going to be giving a speech.” He clicked to a different line. “Milo, we have an emergency. Initiate Code Crimson and override all media networks and all holovision entertainment. Turn on every holodevice known to human kind. I’m about to blast the world with the worst news they’ve ever heard.”

  He continued, and switched to another com line. “Marine Space Central, this is General Sever, initiating a Code Crimson. Get the ships down into the atmosphere. I repeat, get the ships down into the atmosphere. We have twenty-four hours to get every human off of the planet and elsewhere. This is not a test. I repeat, this is not a test. This an evacuation. Two ships to each city. We leave in an hour from this time and date. We are evacuating to…”

  He eyed Ozzy, raising one brow.

  “To Europa?” Ozzy blurted, not knowing if that was the correct answer or even why he had paused to look at Ozzy.

  Sever dipped his head, and brought his lips closer to the com device. “I’m patching in coordinates now.”

  The office dimmed to red, and a loud siren went off.

  Ozzy jumped in a start and the door burst open and a young Marine stepped inside in a hurry. “General, we have a problem.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “The Dunrakee have attacked our outer fleet, and have broken through the defenses. They are on their way, sir.”

  28

  Marine Base at Solis Planim

  “Take Ozzy to an evacuation craft in the yard. He can help us load and direct people into the ship when we reach a city,” ordered Sever.

  Ozzy shook his head. “No, I need to…”

  The Marine grabbed Ozzy by the arm and dragged him into the cleaning garage, and pushed him into the back of the Mars Rover, and slid next to him.

  Unlike his last trip in this Rover, he wasn’t squished between two people. In fact, no one was sitting on his left.

  Ozzy went to slide over.

  The Marine grabbed. “No, you’re sitting in the middle. No funny business, alright?”

  Ozzy nodded, and bit his ton
gue. He didn’t like to be treated like a little child.

  “Open the garage door and get us to the yard,” demanded the Marine.

  The driver nodded. “Sir, yes, sir.”

  The garage door opened and light spilled in. The driver reversed onto a paved road.

  “Let me get back to the transport ship I came here on. I’ll grab my daughter and be back as soon as I can.”

  He had to push any thoughts of his brother out of his head. Lyra was right. His brother was lost, and hell, it probably wasn’t his brother’s brain in his brother’s body anyhow.

  The Marine shook his head. “Negative, Sir. I was not ordered to do that.” He drove Rover went down a hill and quickly away from Sever’s office, heading to the many large buildings in the center of the base.

  Ozzy went to wipe his perspiring forehead, but his hand hit his helmet’s visor.

  He dropped his hand hard against his thigh. “I need to get to my daughter.”

  “Negative, sir.”

  His heart about slid to his stomach. This wasn’t good. He craned his neck, eyeing the sky. He was about to play the oldest trick in the book.

  He pointed over the Marine’s shoulder, his eyes like saucers. “Holy shit. The Dunrakee.”

  The guy turned and in a flash, leaned over the empty seat next to him and pressed a button on the door. The door popped upward and opened.

  “Hey,” yelled the driver.

  Ozzy lunged toward the open door. The Marine in the backseat grabbed his leg and Ozzy kicked the man, simultaneously pushing himself out of the fast moving Rover.

  He landed on on his back and bounced off the asphalt and tumbled. He slid to a stop on the sand that edged the side of the road.

  The Rover skid to a halt and Ozzy twisted around and went to his feet. He ran in the opposite direction, heading to the main entrance where they had brought him in from.

  There his craft would be. There he could fly to the Galactic Knight’s base and grab everyone, including his daughter, then head back to this base and evacuate with the others.