“Todd, Down, now!”
The soldier just moved his head a couple of millimeters when an energy flash passed where his head was an instant before. Todd rolled immediately and took cover behind one of the boulders hidden below the Martian soil.
“We need to keep moving!” Shouted his Sargent.
“Chen! Where is the lieutenant?” Todd asked.
“Blasted a couple of minutes ago,” Chen replied.
“And the Captain?” Todd asked again with alarm in his eyes.
“Some instants before!” Chen retorted.
“Are we alone?” Inquired Todd.
“Who cares? We need to keep on moving!” Chen barked
“You know the point of extraction, right?” Chen questioned
“Elysium Mons' northern face!” Todd responded.
A powerful detonation sent them to the thin Marcian air. Both rolled to avoid damages to their bodies.
“If we get separated, we meet there; now run for your dear life my friend!” Chen shouted.
The whirling Martian sand was covering their escape, but the enemy army was gradually closing the distance. They continued running in zig zag, slightly altering their direction to not offer a direct path for the enemy snipers. Every now and then they would jump, roll, run again, divert directions, and hide in the scarce boulders.
Suddenly, they heard someone shouting inside their helmets.
“Red Lynx 257! Red Lynx 257! Anyone! Help!” Some instant after, they heard a series of detonations.
“Red Lynx 257, this is Red Lynx leader, what’s your position!”
“Running towards Mons Elysium West bound! The voice replied.
“Lucas! Is that you?” Todd asked.
“Yes, hurry!” Lucas shouted
“I am under intense fire!” Lucas bellowed.
Another explosion sounded near them, Chen and Todd ran towards that direction for another two klicks. “Lucas, approaching from the south, we will be in sight in about 5 minutes” Chen informed.
Elysium Mons was in front of them, the huge volcano standing 12.6 kilometers tall would provide a great place to hide and offer an improved resistance. They saw Lucas running as fast as he could and some 300 meters behind him a space tankette going towards him, gradually closing the distance. The cannon was shooting magma beams but it needed to wait for the cannon to cool down and recharge energy every two or three blasts.
They changed direction and ran towards the tankette; its third beam was sent and Lucas barely escaped it. They had at least 1 minute before the armored vehicle recovered enough energy for the next round of booms.
Todd got to his knees and positioned his bazooka towards it while Chen put the blast shield in and tap his helmet. Todd fired it. The tankette took the explosive in full but the flash revealed their position and a number of enemy soldiers behind the vehicle changed directions to face them.
Todd and Chen sighted and began to run towards Elysium Mons. “Lucas! Are you there? We are going to the extraction point! We will meet you there!” Shouted Chen.
They moved faster, they needed to cover another 5 klicks to the point of extraction, and were constantly shot at by the enemy soldiers.
Todd was having difficulties keeping up with his Sargent and Chen turned towards him, “Can you run?” he asked.
Todd did not answer but nodded, his head covered by his space helmet. Chen looked at Todd’s face and decided to pull him to the boulder in front of them and ordered him to hide. “We will try to ambush them here” He ordered Todd while checking his magma rifle and the remaining two grenades he had. Todd did the same.
The enemy would be there in a couple of minutes, they saw the enemy approaching, moving fast and silent. Fifty, maybe a hundred. It will be rough, but Chen and Todd were dangerous warriors. They waited for the enemy, 500 meters, 400, 100, 50, 30… Todd got to his knee and fired his bazooka. The explosion took care of some enemy soldiers; immediately after that, he began to shoot his magma rifle as fast as he could while Chen threw his two grenades.
Not enough, at least half of them were still running towards them, Chen took his rifle and began firing in their direction. Shoot three, four times then move, three, four times move… Chen and Todd were an integrated killing organism but the enemy soldiers were too many. After some minutes of intense firing, their rifles were now extremely hot and won’t shoot any longer.
They look at each other for an instant, “Old fashion close quarters battle now Todd” Chen exclaimed while placing the bayonet on his rifle. Todd did the same and both began to run towards the enemy soldiers. While savagely screaming they saw some beams in the corner of their eyes and enemy soldiers going down, they did not have time to turn their head, they continued charging against their enemy, cutting, dodging, parring and thrusting the enemies’ suits with their bayonets.
After some minutes there was just silence, no more screaming through their comms, they went to their knees completely exhausted and turned their heads towards the north. They saw a giant figure getting near them. “Magnus! Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot!” both exclaimed.
The 2 meters tall Norwegian was standing in front of them with a big smile inside the helmet. Immediately after they saw Lucas, these two soldiers were rescuing them…
“Magnus, Lucas, you were to go to the extraction point! What are you doing here you fools?” Chen roared.
“Saving your ass Sargent!” Lucas and |Magnus said at the same time.
“Todd and I had everything under control!” Chen growled back.
Todd said nothing and looked to his friends with a thankful face. The four of them took enemy supplies and weaponry and began to move towards the extraction point. They covered the remaining 3 klicks and reached it. They set the camp and sent communications off to their Mars Station. The soldiers waited several minutes but no response came back.
“Lucas, try every 10 min for the next hour and after that, every 5 min!” Chen ordered.
After the first hour Magnus asked Chen “What is going on Sargent?”
“Don’t know” Chen answered while trying to figure out their situation. Todd came running.
“The enemy is regrouping Sargent! I saw them two 3 klicks from here, they are gathering reinforcements!”
“How long will they take before they begin to move?” Asked Chen.
“Like 45 min to one hour Sargent” Replied Todd
Chen looked at the three best soldiers he had ever known and saw bewilderment in their eyes. Magnus began to whine. “They betrayed us! They will leave us here to die!” Todd looked at the Sargent “I don’t want to die Chen, not here not now, I have family, a wife, a daughter, a mother…”
Lucas kept trying to communicate but it was obvious now that the channel was shut down on the other side. He also had something to say. “Chen, is there hope?”
Chen directed his eyes to the enemy lines. “Soldiers! We chose this life! If you didn’t choose it, it is the life you lead now! Who are we to know the grand plan? We are foot soldiers! We obey orders because we trust that the ones giving them to us know better!”
“What if we surrender?” Asked Lucas.
“There will be of no use, you know they will torture and then kill us. We are on deadly ground now, and we will do what we know best!” Exclaimed Chen.
“We are going to kill as many enemies as we can! We will decimate them! We will bring disaster to them!” roared Chen.
“But we are only four!” Replied Magnus.
“Gentlemen, we certainly didn’t choose to die here but we will choose how we do it! Brace yourselves and prepare to give them inferno! Don’t be afraid, once in battle we will be lions!” Chen roared.
Todd looked towards the horizon “Sargent, the enemy is moving…”
“Todd, Lucas, Magnus, we are warriors! I am lucky to be here with the best killers I have ever known!” Chen shouted.
The enemy’s space tankettes began to blast through the Martian sunset. The four of them began to charge against the enemy in unison like a well-tuned killing machine…
At the office of the Grand Martian Mining Corporation a colonel knocked on the door of the Five Star General’s office.
“General Sir, Operation Red Lynx was a success!”
“Any survivors?” the General asked.
“No Sir. Sir, they gave a hell of a fight!” the Colonel exclaimed.
The General was silent for a few seconds then said “Thank you, son.”
The colonel left the room while the General sat down and a tear went down his face.