Mission to Mars: Contact

[Guest]

Mission to Mars Series

Contact
Reaper
Invasion
Retaliation

About Mission to Mars

I think it's finally time I got creative here and started to constructing a story to satisfy my appetite in science-fiction. Over the years I've seen and read many space odysseys concerning mankind discovering other planets in hopes of finding a) new resources, b) scientific developments/discoveries, or c) finding a new home.

In "Mission to Mars" mankind is going with A and B. Earth is fine, but science requires the experiementation on more exotic minerals and resources for advancements in power and engineering. The resources of Earth have provided great leaps and bounds in their advancements, but not much more can be done with the limited supply. Thus, the United Space Exploration Compnay (or USEC - [pronounced " U-sek"]) was created to plan, fund, execute, and maintain exploration missions outside of Earth's orbit. Rare ore was being mined from the Moon early, but operations closed do to a lack of funding. When USEC was established, its acting chairman, Howard B. Reed, took over the project and re-instated the operations; providing more advanced habitation environments for the workers.

Two years later, Reed cut the ribbon on a project long in the making: "Echolite". Echolite was a sub-organization of USEC; tasked with a rapid deployment of sensory drones and forward research bases on asteroids, moons, and in planetary orbits. For the next year and a half, Echolite Command was hard at work determining a perfect position for placing a large research station on Mars. The Red Planet's vast surface area allowed a perfect opportunity for colonization, or "habitational expansion" - as they called it.

EC (Echolite Command) finally found the perfect location safe from storms and abnormal weather patterns harsh to astronaughts approxiamately four hundred miles north of the planet's equator. A large plateu covering the region meant excellent construction parameters for the facility. A mountain range not far to the south allowed for easy access to the are minerals that Earth's economies were demanding.

On July 4th, 2043, America celebrated Independence Day with the launch of New World; the Echolite-designed shuttle craft that would carry 372 men and women into space and towards Mars.

One year later, the research station became fully operational. The base's peremiter expanded nearly 15 acers with several buildings and structures scattered within the lines. Each building was connected through sub-terrainian tunnels called Ley-Ways (not to be confused with the term "Ley-Line"). These tunnels provided gravity-stabilized transportation from one building to the next, thanks to the artificial gravity generators designed by USEC's Research and Development department (a branch with tied relations to NASA).

With the establishment of Alpha (the research station on the plateu), many new opportunities have become available for the scientists of Earth. What will they discover? Rich deposists of ore and metals? ....or remnants of the past....haunting the surface of a dead planet?

...And now we begin our story...



Chapter one will begin momentarily. You may take this time to go to the restroom or stop by the snack counter for some refreshments. Popcorn is one sale for 50% off with the purchase of a large Coca-Cola brand fountain drink!

Comments are welcome in this thread. Give me some feedback and also let me know if you think this would make a good roleplay for certain scenes and events.

[Guest]

Nick stopped to catch his breath. Running was always his least favorite part of the exercise routine. Every morning at six, him and his team of five had to wake up, run, strength-build, and spit-shine their shoes. He didn't mind the strength-building or sissy-shit; at least then he could talk to his comrades. When it came to running though, he was usually trying to keep a good pace and control his breathing pattern to much to chat; and after an hour of running, you were ready to blow your brains out to escape the boredom.

Nick was a thirty-seven year old man that had enlisted in the United States Air Force at the age of nineteen. A few years later he pursued a career in the Air Force Space Command and eventually ended up taking Chief Master Sgt. Richard T. Small's position after his retirement. Under the command General C. Robert Kehler's successor, General Brandon N. Harper, he was given access to some of the USAF's most classified technological secrets. Some impressed him, but others actually disappointed him. For instance, he was bummed to find out that Area 51 was actually just an airbase of stealth fighters, rather than an alien experimentation facility. So much for the classic conspiracy theories.

Nick wasn't exactly supposed to be put in combat scenarios. He was supposed to have a desk job in an office with a spectacular view in Houston or D.C. In fact, working with Space Command wasn't supposed to involve combat scenarios at all. However, he had volunteered himself to be loaned out to other branches over the years. The Marines favored him above others, and the Army had used him on four consecutive missions during the War on Terror. By the political end of the war he was back at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado; watching the fireworks go off outside. That was one of the rare occasions he was seen without a stern face.

Chief Master Sgt. Nick Warren strode inside his barracks at the 45th Space Wing, Patrick AFB, California. His gray t-shirt was wet with sweat and his boots were covered in dust. After he showed, dressed, and made sure his quarters and attire were absolutely perfect to a "T", he grabbed a black file folder on his bed and stepped outside and paged his team to assemble.

It took only a few seconds before he saw all four men and two women in front of him; dressed in gray and orange jumpsuits. Some were highly decorated, others not so much; but each of them had medals that would make even the proudest Marine drool in jealousy. That was one thing about the Air Force that Nick was proud of; they didn't take idiots. The USAF consisted of highly intelligent men and women, gladly giving their lives for their country with reasons other than just "patriotism" and family legacy. Each airman is also promoted after testing and crucial examination, rather than just slapping a new stripe on after "x" amount of years. Now, Nick respected the other branches of the military; and he very well recognized their sacrifices, but his time in the Air Force warped his vision slightly and he admitted that he "bleeds blue" to a reporter during an interview after one of his missions in Iraq.

"Alright team," he said as they stood at ease before him. "How many of you ever wanted to be an astronaut when you were a kid?" The team looked at one another, confused. He knew they were probably wondering if he got enough sleep last night, or if he was smoking something in his barracks. "Seriously, now," he said, forming a smirk on his face.

"I suppose I have, sir," Master Sergeant Bradley Tanner responded.

"Then today's your lucky day, Tanner. Because today, everyone standing in front of me is getting first-class tickets to Mars." Nick opened the black file folder he grabbed from his bed in his barracks and took out multiple copies of the same briefing. He handed a copy to each member of his team and then stepped back to allow them each to read through the briefing.

When Technical Sergeant Anna Fisher was finished, she looked up at her CO and mouthed, "Ho-ly sh-it...."

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[Fate Flyer]

Very intriguing! I can't wait to read about their travel to Mars and what they encounter. You write with what seems like quite a bit of military knowledge (more so than I!), especially for your age, so really well done. Lol oh and yay, I bought popcorn and Cola! XD I was disappointed like Nick that your Area 51 didn't deal with anything extraterrestrial, hehe.

I've only noticed a really minor errors here and there, such are typing the wrong word (like "one" instead of "on," or something similar), or just switching tenses. Other than that though, the overall story is fantastic!

[Guest]

Yeah, I've always had trouble with keeping to one tense.

My military knowledge comes from the fact that I have two uncles in the USAF. One's retired, but the other's still going; putting in a few more after his 20.

[Guest]

Spoiler:

"Report to Mars Alpha Research Station for advanced environmental combat training immediately..."

The briefing kept cycling through their heads like whirlwind. None of them were expecting quite a thrill ride like this. Chief Master Sgt. Nick Warren and his team of specialists were on board a high-velocity spacecraft known as Wave Mark.

Wave Mark was designed by Echolite alongside NASA and the Air Force for transportation at high speeds between Earth and Mars' Alpha station. The craft was reusable for countless missions, meaning less budget cramps for the three major entities. Though it was a joint-endeavor, Echolite's logo - roughly-shaped cloaked figure holding a shining talisman - was branded all over. Nick oftend speculated that Echolite was more into their mission for the profits, than they were for the betterment of mankind.

The entire trip ended up lasting about half a day. By the time they began to penetrate Mars' harsh atmosphere, the team was weary of the travel and slightly sickened from the zero-gravity experience. As they descended to the surface, they began to feel a slight return in their normal body weight. A light above their heads began to flash yellow and an automated voice came over a hidden intercom, saying, "Attention all passengers and Wave Mark operators: we are beginning docking protocols at Alpha. Please fasten your seat belts and maintain an up-right posture in your assigned seating for maximum comfort during the landing procedures. Thank you, and enjoy your stay on Mars, the Red Planet."

Nick rolled his eyes. He overheard First Sergeant Richard Marshal retort, "What ever happened to This is your captain speaking...?

They all felt the rough turbulence under the hull of Wave Mark as they approached a large plateau dominating much of the region below them. Out of Nick's window, he could see several constructs poking up out of the red terrain. Four flashing lights surrounded these constructs, making up a perfectly square perimeter around the entire complex. Nick wandered if the these markers existed for a particular reason, or if they were just to designate real estate.

As the Wave Mark approached the base, Nick and the others could make out the "docks" on a large building in the center of the complex. The building was constructed to shape out the top half of a large, white sphere. A large, statue of the Echolite logo was positioned on top of the dome; holding the talisman which was displaying a constant light as if to act an a symbolic pinnacle of Echolite's claim on Mars.

When the Wave Mark docked the team heard a series of clicks as the airlock engaged. The heavy door on the port side hissed and slide open. Two men dressed in dark power suits, one with a green tie and the other with a blue tie, stepped inside the cabin of the vessel with bright grins on each face.

The green-tie introduced himself first, "Hi guys, my name is Conrad Simmons, Deputy Director of Echolite."

"And I'm Patrick Gamble," the blue-tie immediately said after, "Echolite Legal Branch; Internal Affairs Officer."

"If you would accompany us to Command, we'll begin the orientation," Simmons explained, gesturing for everyone to follow him out the door.

Nick and his team unfastened their seat belts and filed out of the cabin. Nick was the last step out, behind Mr. Gamble. Before he got his last foot out of the door and into the airlock, he heard the automated voice again: 'Please note that refreshments are available in the Lobby in Sector 2B, twenty-four hours a day. Enjoy your stay'."

Spoiler:

[Guest]

Spoiler:

Nick and the airmen were escorted down a series of corridors until they reached a large door that stood out from the rest of the chrome, automatics dotting the walls of several other areas in the facility. A man in a gray and black jumpsuit, with an exotic sidearm attached to his waist, stood firm next to the door. A patch on his soldier with a generic "security" insignia was enough to tip off Nick and his team that Echolite meant serious business.

When Mr. Simmons stepped up the door, the security guard shifted his feet closer together and stood at attention. Simmons pressed his palm against a security panel to the left of the door and after a flash of green light between his fingers, a *ding* was heard overhead, followed by the hissing of a blast door behind the one visible to the party. After another second the front door hissed as well began to rise, eventually disappearing above. Behind the portal was a large cylindrical room with six tall wall lights, spaced evenly apart around the circumference.

Everyone moved towards the center of the room and after another second, the first door closed down, followed by the now-visible double blast door. Two, small metallic arms shot out from some unseen crevices on each side of the door, and appeared to lock down on top of each other. The sound of a generator was heard starting up the background, and the entire room felt as though it jolted. Nick nearly lost his balance from the unexpected movement of the chrome-tiled floor.

"Don't mind the sudden jerking," the lawyer said. "We're working on making it a bit smoother. This large elevator is more of a prototype. It's powered on hydraulics, you see."

"Hydraulics?" Fisher asked. "How on earth did you manage to create a working hydro-electrical system on a dead planet?"

Simmons answered her question. "As you are more than likely aware, NASA had found several pockets of ice above and below the surface terrain of Mars. The ice was more than likely due to the climatic pressure of the atmosphere. With all of the storms surrounding this plateau, we knew that there had to be ice somewhere nearby. Sure enough, our mining operations managed to reveal several large pockets of pure ice in the southern mountain range."

"We mined the ice," Mr. Gamble picked up, "brought it back to our facilities - which were, at the time, still under construction for the most part- and then melted it to use the liquid. We began to move over solar power to hydro-electric energy. The solar panels on our facilities were becoming increasingly useless with the cloud cover from the atmosphere; so a change in our energy source was needed."

"With hydraulics, we can get all the power we need to run this station." Mr. Simmons finished off his comment with a big grin.

"So why the fancy elevator?" Nick asked; finally realizing that the elevator was moving up.

"This elevator is used to access levels two through 6 of this structure," Simmons said.

"What about level one? What's down there?"

Gamble and Simmons glanced at one another. Finally, it was Gamble that answered, "Level one is a highly classified area. I'm afraid that stop didn't make your tour schedule this week."

The elevator stopped with another jolt and the generators could be heard powering down. A similar blast door stood in front of the party. The arms detached from one another and disappeared into their sockets. The blast doors opened with a familiar hiss, followed by the other door. The team and suits walked out of the elevator and into a much larger room. Nick knew that they must be on level "five" because all around him, he could see outside and over the planet's surface. The elevator cylinder was perfectly positioned down the middle of entire dome. Above them was what looked like glass.

Spoiler:

"I don't remember noticing the glass dome," he said, gazing out and up at the Martian sky.

"Ah yes," Simmons said. "One of our most accomplished architectural designs. From the outside of the dome, it's a solid, white surface. But inside...it's like you're looking through privacy glass."

"incredible," one Nick's men said.

Nick leveled his line of sight and looked around the area that they were now standing. He saw raised platforms, terminals, mainframes, USEC employees, and all sorts of high-tech personal computers. Directly ahead of them, positioned on the glass, was a incredibly large holographic display. It was currently displaying what looked to be a series of scans, maps, and collected data streams on the Martian surface. Nick felt as though he just walked into science-fiction movie.

"This is beginning to look like a lot more than a simple mining operation," he said.

"Oh? And why is that?" Simmons questioned.

Nick looked at him suspiciously. "My team and I have been called up here for some kind of 'advanced environmental combat training'. When we arrive, we see high-grade security, a full-fledged power supply, remarkable intel on an apparently unknown planet, and enough attitude that says 'Hi, ask me what we're really up to'." He glared at Simmons at a bit longer before adding, "So I'm just curious...what the hell do you people have going on up here? And don't give me another presentation about your fancy infrastructure."

Simmons smirked and said, "We were actually just getting to that." He looked up at the large holographic display. By now, Mr. Gamble had positioned himself at a desk on one of the higher platforms, accessible only a few yards away from where Nick and his team were standing. On top. Gamble was comfortably seated behind a desk, tapping away at a black keyboard. The display seemed to change with every few strokes.

The first change on the display was the pop-up of a black and white picture of Ronald Reagan, shaking hands with a shadowed figure in front of what appeared to be one of the famous columns of the White House. The face of the unknown man couldn't be made out; but it was clear that he was at least smiling along with the President.

"I'm sure you know this familiar face," Simmons said, gesturing towards Reagen. "Remember learning about the ol' 'Star Wars' bluff way back during the Cold War era?" Nick nodded his head, intrigued about where this conversation was going. "It was true that Reagen ushered the Department of Defense to began developing strategic defense systems across the globe and in space, in order to protect the United States from ballistic missiles. Unfortunately, no such system ever came into existence. Not even the Air Force - you're own brothers in arms - have come up with the material for such a vision. However, the idea of looking toward space as a hope for mankind's protection has never faded from our memory."

"Where are you going with this, Deputy Director?" Nick was becoming more confused and impatient by the minute.

"Trust me, we have a destination in this orientation. If you will allow me to continue please." Gamble brought up a current political map of Earth. "As you can see, the Earth is split up into several countries...property to whoever claims the deed; and that's usually through pointless bloodshed and violence.

"Let's face it, Chief Master Sergeant...the world is falling apart every damn day. Foreign policy is beginning to spill over the edge of the cup, and people are dieing everyday from terrorism, dictatorships, and power-hungry zealots."

Nick began to eye Simmons as he continued to babble on; interested, but completely confused at the same time.

"Mars, Nick, is the key here. You may not know where the hell I'm trying to get with this, so I'll just come clean with it and be frank with you... Echolite possesses the technology to terriform Mars. And that man," he pointed at the screen as Gamble pulled up the Reagen picture again, and zoomed in on the darker figure, "is the genius that envisioned this technology."

"Wait...," one Nick's men said, "are you saying that USEC and Echolite want to 'colonize' Mars and escape the burden of living on Earth?"

"That's precisely what I'm saying," Simmons said.

"And what about this 'technology' that you said can 'terriform' Mars? What in the world are you talking about?"

"We've engineered...something...using artifacts and data we've collected from the Martian surface to basically restore the atmosphere to habitable conditions."

"Restore?" Fisher asked aloud.

Before Simmons had time to reply, Nick burst out with, "So what in God's name does this have to do with my team?" He was clearly not amused at the moment.

"Because," Gamble said as he was being lowered on a small elevating platform from where he previously was, "we've run into a little...obstacle."

[Guest]

Simmons and Gamble led the team into a small conference room on level four. When they were all inside and seated comfortably around a long, steel table the door closed automatically and a green-tinted holographic image appeared before them from the table's center. The hologram displayed the entry to a cavern; though Nick wasn't too sure if the terrain was Martian or Earthly.

"What you are now looking at," Gamble said, standing up next to Simmons, who took his seat at the head of the table in a leather chair, "is the entrance to one of the caverns in the southern mountain range. This entrance is deep within a series of cliffs. The only way to this cavern in particular is to traverse through a narrow passage running approximately a half mile from the foot of the range."

"And what's the significance of this cavern?" one of the airmen asked.

"We've been conducting some subterranean scans in this area for a while now. This cavern appears to lead to a vast deposit of rare ore. The ore is vital to powering that special device we mentioned earlier. Which, by the way, we'll cover its purpose as soon we finish with this matter." Gamble was sure to intercept Fisher's question before she could even speak a word. "During one of the trials, our archeologists found something quite obscure deep within the rock directly below them; outside of the cave's entrance." Gamble pressed a button on his end of the table and the hologram was slightly altered, as if the view was angled down. The picture panned in on the ground where large gap in the surface was now visible; almost like a crater, but not formed by a meteorite.

"The archeologists had to evacuate the area when the ground began to shake. One of the survivors described it to be similar to an earth quake."

"Survivors?" Nick became suddenly more intrigued. Perhaps their trip was going to bear some fruit after all.

"Yes," Gamble replied. "Something...came out...from the crater. We believe it to a native entity of the planet."

"You mean an alien," one of the younger airmen said aloud. Everyone turned to look at him, and silence engulfed the room.

"No," Simmons said, finally speaking up. "A ghost."

The team looked at him confused. Nick and Fisher looked more disturbed than the others. "What the hell do you mean by 'a ghost'?" Fisher exclaimed.

"Not 'ghost', as in singular," Gamble corrected, "but ghosts, as in plural."

"These creatures began to attack our archeologist. Many of them were brutally killed; only a few managed to escape alive." Simmons reached over and pressed another button on the table directly in front of Gamble. The hologram switched to a choppy video, with the angle pointed slightly towards the Martian sky. Yelling could be heard all around the camera, and a terrifying roar drowned out the cries for help from the archeologists. A tall and dark figure with an arched back and distorted head rose above the line of sight of the camera. In its claw-like hand it held one of the archeologists by his torso. The grip seemed to crushing the life-support suit and air could be heard hissing out of the tank on his back. A shadow instantly fell over the camera's sight, and the feed went dead.

Spoiler:

"As you can see," Gamble said, "we have a slight...problem."

There was a moment of silence until Fisher finally asked, "So how do you know that these...things...are 'ghosts'?"

"Because we've managed to capture one of them," Simmons said. Everyone's heads shot up from looking at the table to looking at him in surprise. "You asked me earlier what was in level one," he said, looking at Nick. "Well...there's your answer." There was a pause, and then Simmons continued. "You see, we've been conducting some experiments on this sedated creature. No biological signs can be detected, and all of its organs appear rotted or missing, due to several gaps in its bodily structure. Of course we don't know how their bodies function and what exactly they need to survive, but from educated guesses and common sense...these creatures should be positively dead."

"We've been calling them 'para-terrestrial'," Gamble said. Meaning 'ghost' and 'alien' at the same time to us."

"Catchy," Nick said, though clearly not amused at Gamble's attempt of providing humor.

Spoiler:

[Guest]

Spoiler:

"You've been called here on assignment not because of simple training program, but because you are the best that the Air Force has to offer. We could have called in the Marines, but they aren't the 'type' to conduct missions in space." Simmons folded his hands on the edge of the table and then brought them up under his chin to let out a long sigh.

"So," Nick said, "we're here as some pest exterminators? No thanks. I didn't sign up for this shit. These are your problem now, I don't see why on earth...or Mars...you called us up here. Thanks for the compliment about us being the 'best', but Echolite clearly has the resources to handle this situation without the help of the U.S. Air Force."

Gamble and Simmons looked at each other for a brief moment and then Gamble looked away towards Nick. "You know...it would be ashame to put all those resources to waste."

Nick glared at him for a while. "What do you mean?"

"We've been hard at work on preparing some...equipment...that you and your team can use to successfully remove these pests with ease. Would you like me to show you the armory?"

------

After another elevator trip back down to Level 2, Nick and his team were led into another area of the dome. This area required not only Gamble's fingerprint, but a retna and voice scan as well. When all security measures were successfully passed, the doors hissed and slid open. There was a breeze of cool air that passed through the group before they headed inside. As soon as Gamble stepped on the tiled floor, the lights inside lit up. The walls that were bare one moment, instantly revealed hidden weapon caches and storage units the next. Everything seemed to just whirl around out of the walls on spinners.

Each unit displayed exotic rifles and weapons of all calibres. Nick just stood in front of the door in awe. The rest of his team had to push past him to get inside and be stunned themselves. "As you can see," Simmons said, stepping past Nick's much larger figure, "Echolite has been hard at work in weapons research."

"I thought Echolite's purpose was simply researching new areas for mankind to colonize," Fisher said. "What in God's name are you guys doing making weapons?"

"Come on now, ma'am," Gamble said. "Every major company such as USEC needs a para-military branch. How else can they ensure that their investments are kept safe?"

"Are you saying that Echolite is 'para-military' for USEC?" Nick asked.

"Precisely!" Simmons exclaimed. "And you and your men are on loan to us through General Brandon Harper; your superior."

Nick was both shocked and overwhelmed. General Harper had never mentioned anything regarding Echolite or USEC's military endeavors in his briefing of the Air Force's greatests secrets.

"Shall we begin the training excerise?" Gamble asked aloud.

"What excerise?" Fisher asked.

[Guest]

"Welcome, welcome, welcome all you crazy space fans out there!" Gamble's annoying voice ranged through the speakers of the helmets of Nick's men, including his own. They were standing outside on the surface of Mars; wearing what Simmons called 'the most extraordinary combat armor ever'. Though Nick had to agree that the bullet-proof plating and strength-enhancing technology was astounding, the orange and black was a bit tacky for early in the year.

"All you wonderful Air Force gentlemen...and ladies...," Fisher and Riley (the other female of Nick's team) glared through their visors up at the dome, pretending to be able to see Gamble through the one-way shield, "are about to partake in an excerise that demands both physical and mental strength. Your goal is simple. Each of you have been placed on a team. Your visors will display either a blue or red dot above each person as they come within your range of sight. Your team color is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of your heads-up-display, or HUD. Your objective is simply incapacitate all of your opponents (your friends with a different color dot than you) by shooting them with a powerful EMP bolt from the Vector Brakka Rifle."

Nick looked down at his own rifle. The Vector Brakka was another Echolite original. On earth this hunk of metal would wiegh almost too much for him to hold, but on Mars it was as light as a feather. The thing was bulky, but Mars' lack of gravitational pull should take care of that while he maneuvers through the 'battlefield', which was made up of several articles of old drones and blocks with the Echolite logo pasted on each face. It was like playing paintball in space.

"The EMP," Gamble continued, "will disable your visor and make thing all fuzzy-like. I know that's not very descriptive, but trust me...you'll know when you get hit. Just try not to move...trust me on that one too. Is everyone ready?" Nick held up a thumbs-up, as well as everyone else. "Excellent. Everyone run to your starting points and wait for the beeps. There will be a five second count-down after the beeps, wait until the count-down stops before anyone fires."

Nick was on the blue team with Fisher, Thomas, and Patrick. Riley, Manelly, and Tanner were on the red team. It seemed unfair, but Nick was confident that Tanner's strategic skills would pick up the slack on the red team. He knew that Tanner would be tricky and probably come at his team from the flanks. After Nick and the others arrived at their side of the field, he heard the rapid beeps and a count-down appeared in the middle of his HUD.

5...4...3...2...1...*beep!*

Spoiler:

"Thomas, Pat; up the middle! Fisher take left! I got right!" Blue team dispersed and began moving as ordered. He noticed that Tanner was doing an all-flankout maneuver. He took his left, heading toward Nick, while Riley and Mannelly dived behind a drone on their right. Manelly was already laying a blaze of EMP pulses down on Fisher, who ducked beside an Echolite block. Thomas and Patrick were pinned behind a drone by Riley; firing periodically to keep the fight even.

Nick knew that at any moment he would come under fire from Tanner. When he glanced back in front of him, he could no longer see his opponent. "Shit!" Nick dived behind a large block and peered out. He knew Tanner would be hiding behind an obstacle as well. Nick raised his Vector and carefully leaned further out for a better view. Up ahead was another block. He knew that Tanner had to be hiding behind it. Then, Nick got a crazy idea. There was no gravity!

Nick leaned back behind the block and stood up. It was far too tall to jump up onto back on earth. But the fact that these suits enhanced your muscular strength, and the fact that Mars had very little gravitational pull, he could easily make it! He bent his knees and then used every fiber of leg strength he had to push himself up. He floated like a butterfly upward and didn't even need to grab the edge of the block, as he was already above it. He gently lowered down and then was able to see the entire fight.

Manelly was perfectly exposed on the other side of the field. With a clean shot, Nick pulled the trigger and send a pulse zipping straight for him. The pulse hit Manelly's shoulder and knock him to the ground. He was barely moving.

"And that's one down!" he heard Gamble yell through the speakers.

Nick then returned his attention toward the block ahead of him, where he knew that Tanner was hiding. A bolt suddently flew past him, making his HUD fuzz up slightly. He turned to see that Riley was returning fire. This allowed Fisher to gain more ground, and before she could realize what happened, Fisher was on top of her unleashing bolt after bolt. Each one nailed the target.

Nick then took a deep breath and sprinted towards the edge of his block, kicking off the end at the last minute, and soared through the air. When he landed on the other block, he felt himself want to roll over upon impact. Steadying himself as he stood, he carefully moved forward until he could peer over the edge. Sure enough, there was Tanner, just now peering around the corner to see if Nick was coming. "I'm up here, stupid."

Tanner fell back in suprise and looked up at Nick, who planted a well-aimed EMP bolt in his chest. Unfortunately, Tanner pulled the trigger at the last second, hitting Nick square in the chest as well. His HUD zapped to nothing but fuzz and he felt his body being pushed backward with tremendous force and off the block. He fell to the surface with a good thud; only the limited gravity seemed to save him from breaking his back. When Nick attempted to move, every muscle in his body cried out in pain. "Ah! Shit!"

"I told you not to move," Gamble said over the speaker.

"Wait a sec! I thought you said this was an EMP! Whey can I still here you!"

"Some of your suit's functions are built to withstand an electro-magnetic pulse. In this case, your communications systems are still in tact. The HUD and strength enhancers are the only vulnerable components. That's what's causing the pain when you move. Those accelerators are directly interconnected with your nervous system when the suit is active. So if you get hit with an EMP, your nervse get a little...cranky."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Just get this fucking thing off me!"

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