FLASHPOINT
Progress marked a constant of human endeavor. Technology expanded humanity’s reach from the edge of space to the sands of Mars. Six colonies endured through early obstacles. Behind the last century of space-faring achievement stood a coalition of nations. The Interorbital Defensive Alliance was formed to shield the worlds and lead humanity into the stars.
The danger lurked closer than many wanted to believe. Earth suffered too many responsibilities for one world. Disasters had reshaped countries. Overpopulation strained economies. Industrialization suffocated the soil and brush. Earth fought an encroaching famine while carrying an unenviable burden.
Mars was initially exalted as the first step into the beyond. Yet her inhabitants’ independence faltered when the red planet tested them. Sandstorms smothered terraforming efforts and stunted crop growth decades later. Though three generations and thirty million colonists now called Mars home, their way of life still depended on Earth.
As economic desperation inspired conflict, radical sentiments became more palatable. Mars was seen less as a second home for humanity and more as a noose. Mistakes the Alliance made were conflated with misdeeds, and their accomplishments were rebranded as arrogance. Some considered the Alliance and Mars to be the greatest threats to Earth and mankind. These claims were voiced by ecoterrorists calling themselves Haven, whose movement gained more traction every day.
The Alliance found an opportunity to seize one of the extremists spouting these sermons. His knowledge may have offered them a chance to expose Haven’s roots. He needed to be contained before his gospel turned violent. Once this pointless infighting concluded, humanity could set their eyes on the last unexplored ocean.
AURORA
9 December 2199
Designation: Classified
Amber Wagner had graduated from the Alliance academy a few days ago. She was ready to play her part in ending the chaos on Earth. She found her niche as a combat medic, hoping to save lives on the front lines. With any luck, those were lines she would never cross again. She was clad in a shimmering gray armor suit. Her visor was dulled black.
The fretful minutes played back in her mind. She couldn’t believe they had slipped through guarded territory and captured their target so quickly. She distracted herself with a photograph tucked in her vest pocket.
She couldn’t study the snapshot for more than a second. A shrill alarm deafened her ears. Her panicked eyes swiveled to either side. The alarm blared seconds before a blast sabotaged the tail. The aircraft began careening into a deadly spiral.
“Brace yourself,” her suit’s onboard AI warned. The asset cushioned her armor through the crash. She tumbled in and out of consciousness until the airship stopped in a field of snow. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Amber shivered in her flipped seat.
“George! Schiff!” Master Chief Miles Rourke barked. “Find some cover! Whoever shot that is going to be right on top of us!” Sporadic gunfire peppered the fuselage.
“Where’s the prisoner?” George asked.
“They blew him up! Bastards took the captain with him. Sasha, Wags, get moving!”
Amber tapped her harness, tumbling end-over-end when she met the ceiling. She heard the lieutenant beside her cry in agony after falling down, firmly clutching their right leg.
“Hold still!” Amber tended the broken limb.
“Solid advice,” Sasha Gagarina winced in response. She refused to reveal her terrified face behind the helmet visor. She bit back her agony.
“This is going to hurt.” Amber twisted the bones back into proper alignment. Sasha swore through the pain. “Tib and fib are set. Your suit will splint the leg, but try to keep weight off it.”
Rourke leaned in through the open porthole. “Clock is ticking!”
“LT’s got one good leg,” Amber replied.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I’ll survive,” Sasha muttered.
“Fingers crossed.”
She unsteadily climbed out of the inverted airship. Her armor changed colors to match their icy surroundings. The gunfire thumping against steel and snow stole her breath. She dug her back into cover.
“You dropped that.” Rourke handed her a rifle.
Sasha grabbed the firearm. She peeked above the berm where dozens of muzzles flashed across the snowy horizon. The dense blizzard and moonless night were their only concealment.
“Zenith, do you read?” he asked over his helmet radio.
Amber raised her aim over the bluff to fire. The borders of her helmet display flashed neon red before she could find a target. She ducked to avoid the unstoppable force of a railgun shot.
She was mesmerized by the brutality carved through the chassis. It wasn’t enough that these extremists killed their own ally to keep his secrets. Or perhaps that was fueling their hunger for blood.
“Chief.” Rourke’s onboard intelligence asset spoke up. “I have tagged an abandoned village twelve hundred meters away that should provide reasonable cover.”
He followed a waypoint displayed on his HUD. “We’ll never make that,” he argued. There was no protection but the storm.
“I predict zero survivability beyond four minutes if you do not retreat.”
He looked again in terror. There was no right choice in this bloodied tundra. He was aware what indecision could cost, but the alternative sounded impossible.
“Rourke!” Schiffer reported. “They’re moving up the right flank!”
“That village is our best bet,” Rourke said. “Wags, help Sasha! Schiff, George, stagger cover! In three,” he counted down. He led them out of cover and glanced back at Schiffer’s muzzle flashes. “Move, Schiff!”
“Not enough time!” Schiffer dropped a steaming ammo box to the floor and loaded his final belt. “Get them out of here!”
Amber’s heart pounded in her ears louder than the suppressive gunfire. She dreaded one of those shots intercepting her. The armor only provided so much protection. That much was evident when gunfire stopped deafening the meadow.
“Schiff’s down,” George said. “Keep going!”
Rourke freed his grip from the wounded lieutenant. Sasha lost her balance without his support and tripped in the powder.
Amber’s arms wrapped around the officer before she fell. “I’ve got you! Don’t slow down!”
Sasha wanted to look back, but knew better than to let fear overwhelm her judgment. The pair limped closer to the village.
A bullet struck George’s thigh, causing him to stumble into the snow. He dispatched the gunman from an awkward seat before struggling back up to a firing stance. He was distracted when Rourke wrapped an arm around him.
George growled. “I told you to go, dumbass!”
“I left enough men behind,” Rourke replied. “You don’t get to—”
A bullet struck him in the gut. George spun around to eliminate the shooter. Rourke grasped his wound and struggled to catch his breath as George helped him up.
“Get them home! It’s been an honor, Miles!”
Rourke reluctantly clutched his wounded belly and jogged away. He found the others and eased their journey through the blizzard. George’s rifle stopped ringing moments later.
Rourke battled his grief. So many years in service to end here. He couldn’t explain why two handpicked marksmen were gone already. He shook the emotions from his eyes. Two lives still counted on him. They shuffled into the village. Amber kicked open a cottage door.
He gazed at the obscured sky. “Zenith, please respond!”
A static-riddled voice bled through. “Weak sig—Sabre—repeat.”
Rourke was unnerved by the answer, speculating what support they could provide. He found a safe corner for Sasha to sit inside and limped to the window facing the crash site.
“Specter is down. We’re under heavy fire. Lock onto our signal. Fire mission: danger close.”
The response was littered with interference. “Please re—fire—danger—”
To drop explosives into a tempest of winds left the munitions to their own devices. But without air support, the killers would snuff them out in moments. This was their last chance.
“Affirmative, Zenith, danger close!” Rourke flung a canister on the porch. “Friendly positions have been marked with a strobe.”
The next fizzled reply didn’t lift any spirits. “—limited vis—storm—cannot isolate friendly—”
Rourke peered around the edge of the window and jolted back when gunfire shattered the glass. “Fire now!”
“Godspeed, Sabre.”
“Get down!” he warned.
A tremor rippled the foundation of the house. A second shattered every glass pane in the structure. A shockwave cut the roof and walls apart. Darkness consumed everyone’s vision.
Amber watched the chaos in a fleeting moment. She tightly braced the wounded lieutenant. A part of her wanted to protect an officer from harm. Another hoped to shield herself from the wrath. A visceral gasp cried from her lungs.
