Mans Last Day on Mars, Part 1 0f 2

The only survivor of the last forward scout base made hast through the gurney and the halls. Though this wasn’t the only base left; in fact the man that was being rushed through the halls of the central mars base stepped foot in what was left of Olympus Mons. This same thing had been happening for months now. They would receive word from a scout base on strange enemy movement then nothing. Almost as soon as they get the transmission that would be the last we herd from the lost souls. They hoped, some even prayed, that this one survivor could provide them with some sort of answers.“How’s the soldier doctor?”

He didn’t answer. The solider assumed that sense the doctor was still l checking the survivor’s vital signs that he wasn’t in the mood to pay attention to anything he had to say. The doctor then looked up at the solider and walked slowly to one of the nurses that were standing by and whispered a few things to her. She hastily grabbed a pen and paper to make a few notes of her own and exit’s the medical room. The doctor walked across the room to the standing solider with a sullen look on his face; bad news was coming.“Your soldier is fine sergeant; he’s suffering only from a few wounds and exhaustion. We Looked up his records and found out that he was off base when the last transmission was sent. He must have seen what ever happened and ran clear from alpha base to our doors.”

“Christ that’s 200 miles! There’s no way he could have made it all the way here in that amount of time. We received the last transmission two days ago.”

“I’m a soldier. I have seen men do incredible things in battle. Hell, I’ve seen a man hold off twenty of those blasted things with only the butt of his gun, but I have never heard of any man, save one, who could run that.”

“Well sir, we shall soon see what became of alpha base.”

Both doctor and solider looked down at the wounded comrade who seemed to be showing signs of consciousness as he began to open his eyes and started to scream as though he were still in the nightmare. After two orderlies were called and much consoling we managed to calm him down in and but a few moments. However, his eyes still showed the skittish, rabid rage similar to that of a caged animal. All could tell he was still frightened and very jittery.

His breathing was heavy, his lips mouthing words but no sound. Then with a heavy weighted thump, his head hit the pillow and his vocal cords became apparent.

“You must get out of here. They’re after me, us, the entire human race. They want us dead.”

“How did it happen what has happened to the men in alpha base.” he didn’t speak, only stared.” Answer me soldier!”

He startled and yelled back “They’re dead, all of them. They somehow managed to control EMP emissions. We don’t know how but they did they knocked out all of our electronics, the defensive grid and even the off line mechs, all gone. After that they didn’t have a chance. I saw the whole thing. There where billions, more than I’ve ever seen in all the years I have served here put together… even more than the first invasion.”

With his last sentence his eyes rolled to the back of his sockets and his mind shut down as he fainted from what could be concluded as post traumatic stress disorder. His mind just couldn’t take it. With the enemy controlling the EMP meant a disastrous outcome for the humans of this war. The defenses on mars were practically helpless and that meant that they had become the new frontline for this massacre.

“Private, sound the alarm. I need every able man on there feet and at battle stations 5 minutes ago.” The soldier ran with his orders and moments later the alarms where blaring there war cries throughout the base. The loudspeaker rang out over the sirens.

“Sergeant Connors to command!”

Suddenly they base had turned in a jumbled mess of organized confusion; While the machines were being brought online, other had already been sent to the trenches to fight against this unknown enemy. Soldiers of all rank fully armed and ready for the fight of their lives. The solider (unwounded) from before finally arriving in the midsts of things.

“What’s the problem men why do you need me here and not out on the lines where I belong?”

The general and his war advisers where all seated around a large holographic image of the base. The live feed showing them the visual they needed to see; thousands of men pouring out of the base and into the surrounding trenches and turrets. With the exception of the wall defenders they were the only people left in the base.

“ Why are all our men out there, there can’t be that many, it takes them forever just to get a raiding party through the connection let alone an army large enough for this show of force.” They looked at the solider from before, and immediately he knew what they had just realized. A small man stood up and read the reports from the front line.

“These are the reports given to us from our front line: the enemy is in the billions stop. We have been observing them for the past hour and we still haven’t seen the ends of there ranks stop. They will reach the front lines in twenty-three minutes, end transmission.”

The man sat back down’ looking very pale as if all the life had been taken from him in that instant. Everyone was thinking virtually the same thing,

‘If the report was as bad as they say then we might not even be able to last the night, especially if they have learned how to focus there energy on magnetic emissions’.

Suddenly the holograph changed and it began to show nothing but black and the once beautiful sunset of mars that had now seemed to taken on a dark aura. The camera zoomed in and refocused. Fear was felt throughout the entire room, it leaving the room with tension filled air as billions upon billions of these deadly warriors covered the surface of mars.
“Tell them to fall back to the base immediately. They won’t survive a minute in those trenches against that many. We need to evacuate the base. Have the frontline retreat and the secondary line give them cover until they have reached the moat. We have to get them in here or they won’t see another sunrise.” The order was given with much haste, as soon as the message went out another came in on the holograph. A man could be standing on the front line, dust smoke and bullets filled the air around him. The man in the picture began to speak. “Sir, the enemy is over the first set of trenches and they are two minutes from our location. I don’t know how the rest of the line is doing but my squadron is on full retreat, the frontline on the north was demolished. It started when mechs started shutting down and then we lost all communication with them.”

“Are you the only one left in your sector?” The signal had began to weaken and the picture flicker in and out. Then a sound that could be related to thunder boomed through the speakers. An arc of lightning struck through the sky. The man was seen raising his gun to shoot, though the general was disheartened, for he only got merely a few shots out, before the transmission died, and flickered out. With the end of the transmission the solider at the table began to walk towards the door.

“Where are you going officer,” said the general.

“I’m going to help my men, they need me out there. When I get out of reach of the moat I want you to raise the grid except for one. That will force them into a bottle neck and hopefully will give us time to evacuate.” He walked through the corridors until he got to the ordinance storage area where they kept the vehicles and machines.

He strolled up his pride and joy. It was series two heavy ordinance power armor. Simply put: it was twelve feet and five tons of raw destruction. It was equipped with enough fire power to level a small forest and thanks to there ammunition recycler technology; he could level small forests till his hearts content. He jumped in the cockpit and began to bring it online, it was only a matter of moments from then till he got it up and running and out of the hanger.

Though nothing could prepare the young hero for what he would endure and haunt him ‘til his untimely death; When he got out of the base the air was thick with gunpowder and sand. Men where being carried in by the droves some torn to pieces by the enemy, they’re body parts strewn over the field like pieces of confetti, others possessed and rabid with rage. The order had been given to group in front of the main gate and to await further orders. Gunfire could be heard form a distance but the most notable sound was the jacks lifting the bases last defenses.

He had reached the edge of the trench when his eyes witnessed the billions of enemy hordes that were everywhere. They were already engaged with the enemy so he found the closest threat, targeted it and unloaded his stock guns. He strafed around the group, avoiding friendly fire and enemy alike. Most couldn’t get out of the way and were decimated in seconds. However the ones that were after him were moving far to fast for any kind of human target lock. A symbol caught his attention his aerial view display and warned him with barely enough reaction time for him to dodge an attack from one of the larger beasts.

He turned to his side and out of the way of its charge, and counter acted it with one of his mechs powerful bionic arms. The blow sent his opponent skyward and a short burst of gunfire finished off the enemy. By the time his first encounter was over he barely had time to gather himself again. There were hundreds more in his wake. He sent an order for his men to fall back to the turrets where they would greet our new guest. Without a word the men fell back from the last trench and hurried to the safety of the turrets range of fire. A loud hum was heard as the turrets began to come online, and within a split second they mowed down the humans oppressors.

A cheer went up from the men until the tides where turned. One of the enemies stopped in its tracks and began to meditate. Static began to roll over his body and then focused in front of him. An orb of energy spread from him and hit the turrets and impaled some of the soldiers. It was soon realized that no one had been injured, but then the realization of the current surroundings donned on them; the turrets and the surrounding mechs had stopped their attacks. Terror roared throughout the ranks, men had broke there squadrons, and there was bedlam everywhere. In the midst’s of the chaos, a few solders managed to get the remaining mechs and some men together and began to cut a swath to the front gate. This would be our last stand. Nothing more could be done for those in the middle of the fray or those still left in the base. All they could do was try to hold them of and pray they could evacuate as many as possible. As the remaining solders were driven back by the horde that was approaching, radio static was heard in the distance. Our young hero couldn’t make out what was being said so he set my radio to the wavelength and called out.

“This is sergeant Connors. State your squad name and position”

There was a snide remark from the radio “Squad? We are not with the military. This is the Twenty we are here to assist you. We heard you needed some pest eradicated.”

A brief moment of relief rushed over the remaining defenders. The twenty was the greatest elite mercenary group on earth. Each one (and there are twenty in all) are equal to a small army. They have fought countless battles and never lost a man.

“That is all well and good but I don't think you can help us. There are too many and we no longer have our defenses system working. Simply put; we are screwed.”

The man chuckled over the intercom and started to speak. “We didn't come alone you old fool we got some reinforcements.”

I was perplexed. Earth couldn’t have sent anyone and they already had to be on planet to get here this fast. “How many reinforcements could you have brought at such short notice?”

“Three” he said.

“Sir, could you repeat, I thought you said three.”

An airy voice spoke into his mind. It was everywhere but came from nowhere; it was as if death was speaking to him.

“He did say three, and believe me, we are all you need to survive this day.”

The voice was gone and from his tone, he believed him.

“Our ship is badly damaged and if you look to the west you should see us crashing in about ohhhh, ten minutes give or take. We will try and take out as many as we can in the crash and hot drop ourselves before it happens. Jenkins out.”

The comm. went dead and he turned to see a smoking troopship in the distance. He clicked the com station to the squad channel and gave his orders.

“Men hold your position and fall back to the walls we have reinforcements on the way. It's the Twenty and the have some very heavy ordinance with them.” a cheer went up through the ranks and they carried out there orders.

In the distance on a very beat up troopship was slowly falling to wards the mars terrain. Twenty men where prepping for battle but there where three more men who were much more than that. A hulking beast of a man with only a broadsword towered over the other two and the other in a power armor suit that was quite large. The third could barely be seen through the shroud of darkness that enveloped him. He carried no weapon for he was his own defense mechanism. They all looked out the window and watched the armies of hell end the last days of man on mars.

mans last days on mars (part 2 of...to many)

"All right men, it looks like the ground wants to say hello, and I don't think this is an acquaintance we will live through," said the captain of The Twenty. Every one was preparing there mechs for battle. The dock area was livid with there movement. One man piped up to his captain’s comment
“That’s funny, ‘because that was exactly what I said about my in-laws." Laughter filled the stuffy metallic air of the failing troop ship. None of them seemed to care about the innumerable odds they would face. Orion (the big man) and his two companions Dave (the dark one) and guy (the one in the mech) looked out into the distance. They were only a few miles from the base and they decided it was there time to leave. Without a spoken word a hole opened under Dave and he slid through. To see his face meant to see a smile he wears every time he spills the blood of the damned. The other two walked to the bay door with The Twenty, as the door opened the wind whipped about them. A few mechs shifted uneasily in there position. None moved as the sight of millions upon millions of hell spawn come into focus. Orion was the first to move.
With a great leap he sent himself up and out of he bay and right in the midst of the horde. His broad sword in hand he began strike down the first few unknowing demons with one blow. The demons then realized the identity of their oppressor and as they’re hellish eyes latched onto Orion’s presence they began to run in fear, for they knew their end had come. Seeing a drawbridge in the distance, Orion made haste, cutting a path through trifling demons. They had already made there way onto the bridge, but Orion was sure not a single one would make it back alive. His heavy chest filled with deep gasps as he began to run chaotically through the hordes of demons, cutting down the rest of hells league that stood on the bridge as guy defended his station against the drawbridge. More mechs began to join in the heat of battle as the troop ship landed with a soul shattering thud on the terrain, its explosion sending heavy vibrations through the bloodied dirt and clay. Both Orion and Guy looked up and gazed into the hazy sky to see a marvel of lead pouring down upon the enemy from a dark foreboding cloud that was compiled of (what they both concluded) to be about twenty Mechs, give or take a few. The heavy battle ready machines fell to the ground with a mighty thud and impaled a reign of terror into the devil’s samurai. Slowly the group of skydiving machines formulated themselves into a protective circle, where all but one waited for the arrival of their known leaders.

However, Dave concluded he was having too much fun to be concerned with some silly gate. He knew better than anyone that Orion had it all under control, after all constellation boy was all about “handling” things. So, he was going to enjoy the current events. For when Dave touches the ground he reaches into his own inner darkness and throws from him his own sense of evil in the form of a thousand onyx black spikes, slaying hundreds in a single blow.

Alone, the dark shroud that once surrounded Dave now gone and visibility restored, the beasts could witness the dying corrosive flesh of the only man to defeat death, and, by doing so have adapted and formed his own sense of toxic weaponry. A dark flame flickered over his new formed cloak; the demons recognized it all to well, for it was the same majestic that sent all too many to the underworld of Hades.

The demons swarmed him to fill in the ranks the empty wholes where old demonic comrades once stood but none of them dared come within arms length of this living grim reaper. A solitary hell rider lunged at him, his sword thirsty for this immortals blood. But to his hell riders dismay, he quickly discovered that a direct approach was not indeed the most logical attacks to bestow upon this hell bound warrior. Once his blade was impaled upon the flame it was reduced to nothing but rust at first, and then merely crumbled by the time it reached Dave’s cloak. The hell rider finding himself dumbfounded, quickly became annoyed.

Dave turned to look at the foolish attacker. The hell rider, not wanting to look like a coward, began to run bare fisted at his opponent, but once his body hit the flame it also corroded like a corpse in rain. The demon stumbled and fell back onto his elbows and in utter dismay watched as his whole body was turned into compost. The rest of the surrounding demons begin to show a twinge of fear in their eyes, and made haste to get away from the corrosive flame. None, however, will escape. Dave will truly enjoy this day.

Not to far from the dark flame a ring of Twenty machines marched towards the base while firing into the demonic onslaught, laying waste into they’re enemies with led. Jenkins’ mech, (which dominated the other machines by an even height of three to four feet), spotted a slightly smaller demon pushing his way through the ranks and into the open. He took aim and opened fired, instantaneously unleashing a thousand rounds a minute at the beast. However, much to his dismay, the demon had conjured up a magnetic force field to render the shells defenseless, leaving them useless on the ground. Jenkins stared dumbfounded at this new hell mage and thought to himself,

“One that is capable of altering magnetic flows? That would mean...”

"Men aim on that skinny one there. Take it out. It can control E.M.P's." spoke Jenkins through his static com. Link. What few available machines began to open fire, but to not avail.

In the distance Dave could hear cries of anguish from his comrades and with a waver of a shadow; he vanished from his current location and reappeared only to see the demon bring his hands and fingers together and slowly pulls them apart. Dave watched, his eyes only magnifying in morbid amusement as he witnessed electricity pouring from the demonic aura of this hell bound beast. In a loud shrill the hell being unleashed the electrical surge at The Twenty, Though the demons electric techniques were all in vain, for it was engulfed by a rip in the anther Dave had created.

The Devil’s pawn began his light show again; But Dave had other tricks to unleash on this new type of Hades’ slave. With a quick thrust Dave sent his rigid skeletal hand into the pit on the monsters belly. The once sinister eyes of the hell slave were suddenly filled with shock and anguish as he shifted his head down to witness the corrosion of his own intestines. Death had killed him once, now this living grim reaper would take him again, and without mercy. The hell mages' last few fleeting moments were filled with the horrors of watching his essence devoured by the Dark one.

The Twenty watched in utter horror as the gruesome sight played in front of them like some sick horror movie, and thanked God that Dave was on there side. The Twenty finally, after much anticipation, reached the main gate. Once they reached their destination, they opened up y a wall of lead that was bent on destroying any thing in its path.

"Guy, we need you to get in the base and reactivate the defenses and then try and get us a drop ship up and going!” Jenkins hollered over the hail of gun fire and the cries of death from there enemies.

"Yeah I think I can do that, you want curb service with that troop ship?" Guy rang back.

“Don’t get smart just get it done!" Jenkins laughs back at him and takes aim on another doomed demon.

“I’m going' already, God,"

With the spoken words of Guy, a mech broke through the lines and ran heavy footed through the bases remaining gate. Once in the machine stopped and Guy jumped out and headed for the nearest computer terminal. Guy works his magic and begins to run his fingers swiftly over the coding of the computer terminal, hoping he has enough time to get all of them out of there safely. Low vibrations of the engines from outside began to fill Guy’s ears with hums as gun turret after gun turret begins to come back online.

Orion watched as the enemy is demolished by the new comrades. He looked into the distance, his sharp eyes scanning for something his head stopping, and with a war cry that could topple the pillars of heaven he ran headlong into the horde. All that was left in his wake were the bodies of the slain or trampled. A pike man lowers his lance ready to ward of the legend but Orion merely sidestepped it, and, in one swift movement, pulled it from the demons grasp and plunged it into his head. He drove the pike into the ground and lunged himself over the horde. When he lands, a kick sent one of his attackers skyward. He swung his broadsword out in a wide arc and behind him sending two more to an early grave. Then he found what he came for.

A demon of great stature and power, nothing this powerful could be anything less than a demon general. Human in intelligence and size but, do to there demonic back ground, Orion knew they held mental powers no human could wield, save a few. However their mental games were not all they had they had to offer, aside from everything else they were speed and strength were unmatched by any other known force in the universe. When the two made eye contact the horde parted in respect, leaving only air between them.

The fight began with a battle of intense glares at the other from a distance, only having the demon vanish. Orion reached out with his senses, hearing a rustling of a cloak over head. In a mighty swing he brought his sword up to catch the demon and slam him into the ground and onto of Orion. With the strength of an ancient god he knocked the blade and its wielder aside, giving him much space to distance him and his enemy so he could counter attack. Before the general could right himself in the air, Orion was on the offensive. He rushed the now air born demon and brought his blade up in a wide arc. The demon placed his blade in between Orion and himself and pushed off landing in a fighting stance several feet away. As soon as his feet felt the ground the general sprinted towards The Legend and struck at his now exposed torso. Orion lets his own blade slip down to catch his opponents steal it in time and with a forceful thrust sent through his steal, sent him and the horde of daemon flesh flying.

Orion, in mid flight readjusted himself and turned just enough to land on sold on his feet. With a dog like snarl he gripped the blade by the handle and charged for the generals legs, but the demon dove with his blade in hand causing Orion to miss and the demon to sideswipe the crippling blow. But much to the constellations deity’s surprise, when he turned to look for a demon, all he could see was the inside of a troop ship.

Orion quickly realized what had happened, and the mistake he made by letting the hellish nightmare get away. Dave had sent him to the troop ship against his own will. Suddenly, Orion finds a second voice inside his already thought filled mind.

“You are not to fight him here. Our battle is on earth we can not stop them here. They have taken mars." Orion only looked out of the ship at his foe. As the ship broke through the atmosphere an army watched as an age ridden demon shaman shuffled through a fiery world. He stopped and began to chant a spell known to only two men. One of them being dead and the other being death. A mixture of sinister laughs and snarls was heard through the cavernous pits as a gateway began to open. But, on the other side wasn’t the rust red colors of mars. But the green and blue hues of another planet... earth. Armageddon had begun. The armies of hell had began there stride on earth soon... to soon.