2025-05-24 12:32:05Three large space choppers kicked up Martian dust as they touched down in the Outlands. The harsh
wind carried the fine red particles in swirls. Jarek, now officially part of the exploration team, stood beside the cargo with a wide stance and folded arms. I hadn’t yet brought Gerry into the core plan. He was a newbie, and my gut told me something wasn’t right. “Inventory!” I barked over the comms, watching Gerry move around the newly delivered rovers and crates. Across the dusty plain, Vanessa and Tyron huddled near Jarek, murmuring. Gerry’s visual feed flicked onto my interface. “We’ve got the O2 converter,” he said, pointing at a six-wheeled rover with a large tank built to extract breathable air from the Martian atmosphere. He pivoted. “Extraction and sampling unit here. And behind you—five bikes, all fully fitted with RTG, wind, and solar systems. We’ve got six months' worth of autonomy.” The rest of the crew gathered. Vanessa and Tyron were fixated on Jarek’s open palm. “Amazing,” Tyron said, brushing a thumb against the object. “Where did you get this?” Vanessa asked. “Funny enough,” Jarek replied, “Back on Earth. From a dying pirate.” They glanced back at me, and I signaled them to join the rest of the crew. “Did he tell you about the Devilmen?” Jarek asked. “Haven’t seen one with my own eyes,” Tyron said with a wink. “Not scared of ghosts.” “Well,” Vanessa cut in, “We brought a couple of AK-Xs. Tyron over here can handle a Mars M82 like a pro. It’s got enough power to take out a Tardigrade at long range.” “BANG!” Tyron quipped, pointing his finger gun at Jarek. They all laughed. Gerry was the first to approach me as the rest followed. “What’s with all the heavy artillery?” he asked, squinting. “I thought this was an exploration, not an invasion.” I patted his helmet with a grin. “That’s what you need for exploration... down here, anyway.” --- That night, we gathered inside the main Terrapod. Planning was in full swing. “Tyron, your models are calibrated for Earth terrain. That won’t fly here,” Jarek said, drawing paths on a glass tablet. “Our best shot is northeast. It’ll give us an uninterrupted passage between TMP and the new colony.” “Okay, G.I. Joe,” Tyron scoffed. I knew Jarek was right. If the Red Rock existed in abundance, it would be there. “And the guns?” Gerry pressed again. Tyron placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “It’s shoot or be eaten. I don’t plan on being mauled by a Tardigrade like G.I. Joe over here. Tell him, Jarek.” Jarek cleared his throat. “Gerry, this isn’t a simulation. Or some cushy observation gig. It’s bare-knuckle.” He pointed out through the viewport. “A lot of mean things out there. And we’ll need guns to secure new territory. For the people still stranded back on Earth.” He looked at me. “Does he even know how to shoot?” I shook my head. Gerry blinked.
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Chapter 18: Council of Flame
The Martian night crackled with tension.A circle of torches burned low, casting flickering shadows on sandstone walls. Beneath the sky, under the looming presence of twin moons, the elders of every ǂKhomani faction gathered—some wrapped in ceremonial bonecloth, others armored in red-glass scales from the crater lakes. The ancient amphitheater—cut into the base of Olympus Mons long before the colonists arrived—was alive again.They had not gathered here in two generations.Ka!ri stood near the flame circle, her spine straight, hands folded behind her back. The weight of her brother’s presence felt like a stone on her chest. He sat opposite her, face obscured by firelight, but the scar gleamed unmistakably.Beside Ka!ri, I stood quiet. Not as a speaker. Not as a guest. But as a witness.Nancy watched from behind the outer line, flanked by curious warriors and cautious elders. Her arrival had raised many whispers. Some called her a symbol of hope. Others saw only the specter of colonize
Chapter 17: Phase Zero Aftermath
The wind had settled, but dust still hung in the sky like a veil of grief.Nancy emerged from the Devilmen medical outpost, blinking in the thin Martian light. Her arm was bandaged, a reddish paste smeared across the burn on her neck. The gills sewn into the side of her throat still ached—new lungs beneath old skin.She sat by the entrance, sipping nutrient water from a metal flask. Two Devilmen warriors walked past, nodding with solemn respect. She had won their admiration. She had survived.Inside, I leaned against a support beam, watching her. The chaos of the Rim felt distant now. Even the air here felt thicker with something... unfamiliar. Not just Martian grit. Emotion.I walked out to join her. We sat in silence for a while.“I never thanked you,” Nancy said finally.“You didn’t have to,” I said.She looked away, out across the red plateau.I leaned in. “Back on Mars, we’ve suspected for a while that the UN Space Force brought some of the Tardigrades back from early expeditions
Chapter 12: Under the Knife
The dawn on Mars felt hollow.We stood on the ridge above the copper plains, wind kicking up fine dust from the sleeping red ground. Below us, a scout post shimmered with passive defenses and radar dishes shaped like bone fragments.Ka!ri walked beside me in silence.“They’re coming today,” she finally said.I didn’t respond. The message had come through hours ago. Not from Earth—those lines were dead now—but from inside the system: orbital assets, comms blackouts, reactivated combat satellites. The invasion was no longer a theory. It had begun.And I was still wearing a COP-issued biosuit.Ka!ri turned to me. “We can’t afford to shield you anymore.”I looked at her—dust coating her cheeks, the sharp angles of her jaw silhouetted against the rising light.“You mean I’m a liability.”“I mean you can’t fight with us as you are.”They led me into the cave system beneath the observatory—no polished med bay, no AI surgeon. Just worn rock, resin beds, and a humming wall of biological machin
Chapter 16: Phase Zero
The morning came red.High above, the orbital mesh cracked open like an egg—gleaming drop pods split from black vessels and plunged toward the surface. Fire trails scorched the sky. The dust screamed with their descent, painting spirals across the upper atmosphere. Shadows moved faster than thought, streaking toward the red earth below. The silence before the impact was brief, almost holy.Phase Zero had begun.Ka!ri stood in front of the obsidian altar, her armor coated in red dust, her braids pulled tight beneath a carbon-woven cloak. The weight of command sat easily on her shoulders now. The way she held herself—upright, unflinching—left no doubt. She looked every bit the general now. Not just a leader of warriors, but a figure summoned by history itself.“This is not war,” she said, her voice amplified over the ridge, reverberating through the canyons to the assembled warriors. “This is remembering. This is taking back what was always ours.”The ǂKhomani responded with silence—int
Chapter 15: The Battle of Tharsis
The Tharsis region rose before us—dust-choked and desolate, its rust-red ridges born of volcanic upheaval and sculpted by ancient Martian winds. A place that should’ve been sacred, untouched. Today, it would be a battlefield.“They’re coming,” Ka!ri said, her voice like flint.I adjusted the salvaged Mars M82 slung across my chest. Beside me, others checked their weapons—AK-X rifles from the ruined interstellar camp; resolute. Every bolt and magazine had been scavenged, repurposed, and loaded for this moment.Across the basin, the enemy approached. UN Space Force armor columns crept forward like silent thunder. Behind them: the monsters.Modified Martian Tardigrades. Massive. Engineered. Controlled.Their clawed legs kicked up plumes of dust. Neural control implants blinked dimly from their foreheads—visible even at a distance. We’d seen it before. We now understood: these beasts had been turned into weapons.“They’ve been bred for war,” Ka!ri said grimly. “And wired to obey.”The sky
Chapter 14: Martian to Fight Martian
The Earth night sky was choked with smoke. Clouds coiled like serpents, blotting out the stars. Somewhere in the dark, something screeched—a sound sharp, guttural, and inhuman.Nancy crouched beneath a steel desk in what remained of the FEI office in Nairobi. The building had been ravaged—papers shredded, glass shattered, power out. A satellite radio crackled in her hands.“Are you there?” she whispered. “Can you hear me? They’ve unleashed... something.”I heard her through the patched comms Ka!ri had rerouted through the Devilmen’s radar post. Static burst in and out, but her fear was clear.“What happened?” I asked.“It’s not soldiers,” she breathed. “It’s something else. Big. It took out the entire comm grid. We’re in the dark.”“Then get out. Now. Get to the nearest evac zone if there’s one left.”She nodded into the dark. “I’ll try.”She ran.Flickering fluorescent lights barely lit her path through the corridors. Doors yawned open. Shapes moved in the dark. Her breath caught whe
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