Mars Fire - Chapter XXXVIII - Sol 16

Previous Chapters: Chapter I , II , III , IV , V , VI , VII , VIII , IX , X , XI , XII , XIII , XIV , XV , XVI , XVII , XVIII , XIX , XX , XXI , XXII , XXIII , XXIV , XXV , XXVI , XXVII , XXVIII , XXIX , XXX , XXXI , XXXII , XXXIII , XXXIV , XXXV , XXXVI , XXXVII

Senator Heffmeyer’s speech eventually ended, after another few minutes of details of the attack, before he stepped back and yielded the podium to Senator Vance. Vance held the rotating Trade and Commerce seat on the governing council, and his update focused on the economic impacts of the destroyed slow-gate.

Predictably, none of it was good.

“The disruption in gate travel has already affected many of the economic links with our peaceful neighbours and trading partners,” Vance rasped out through his fire-damaged throat. Unlike Dixon, Vance had never opted for a voice augment to repair his own injuries. “Without the high-speed access allowed by the slow-gate, many of our trade agreements with partners in Mars orbit, Earth orbit, and around Luna have already been suspended by now. We are working on contingency plans to arrange alternate gate transport through some of our western trade partners, but due to the ongoing disruptions around the rail lines inside Schiaparelli, matters have not been able to proceed as swiftly as hoped for. As you are all aware, the overland distance from New Hopetown to the next closest gate at Bourneville is over one thousand kilometres - a simple journey by train, but unfortunately outside our easy reach right now.”

“You may also be aware that we have already instituted a plan of action to use relay trains on the opposite sides of the damaged line segment, with rover caravans hauling cargoes around the damaged segment from train to train. Unfortunately, this plan has not been able to fully compensate for the volume of rail traffic which normally flows through that area,” Vance ground on. “The ongoing repair works on the Schiaparelli line, along with the highly irradiated nature of the Union debris which destroyed the main line, makes for a difficult transport arrangement in the area. Additionally, the lack of proper loading facilities for this interim process further hampers the process, although I am glad to say that good progress is being made on that particular topic.”

Reminding the audience that the rail disruptions were at least partially the responsibility of the Union, was a good move - Burrows nodded along mentally, whilst thinking of the morning’s propaganda from the Union that had so conveniently omitted that same little tidbit.

Vance’s gaze swept the audience, looking for something, and eventually homed in on a particular news team. It took Burrows a few moments of recollection before he recognised the logo as one from Nova Collective, the Liberty Zone to their south.

“We are also now facing knock-on issues from agreements that we had made with our allies to the south, to aid them in times when their own slow-gate is not in optimal condition. I am sure it comes as no surprise to some of you to hear that the Nova Collective has been experiencing gate problems of their own, which has pre-dated our own issues by more than a month now. Jimmy Gallagher, from Corpus Freedom News - I believe you guys have been muttering about this for weeks already, so consider this the official confirmation of your conspiracy theories.”

There was a scattering of laughter through the audience, and the indicated news-host raised a fist in recognition, but the levity did not last.

“To our north, the Argos Technostate has offered to help, but - again - the lack of easy rail access to their territory makes it of limited value to our economic partners who require speed,” Vance continued. The burn scars along his cheeks twisted as he spoke, red and livid in the overhead lights. “The overland journey to Argos has also been suffering from increased bandit activity over the past quarter, and I’m sure most of you will recall the incident with the Yellow Oil tankers six weeks ago. As far as safety and security is concerned, the route to Argos is effectively the Wild West right now.”

Vance ran through a litany of issues that plagued the northern wildlands that lay between Rhodes and the nearest Argos settlements - some known to Burrows via CDM channels, others new - and concluded his statement by handing over to General Maxdine.

Maxdine started speaking the moment he was up and out of his chair, foregoing the podium, and pitched his voice to carry into the listening recorders with an easy boom. This was a man familiar with command.

“As Senator Vance has so eloquently been explaining, we are facing a number of security issues along our northern border at the present moment. We also have a broken transport line to the west, a crippled trade partner to the south, and a central logistics hub which is no longer able to fulfill its primary task of allowing high-speed travel between our capital and other points of interest to us.” Maxdine began to pace along the width of the stage, hands behind his back. He stopped when he was at the end of the stage, right in front of Burrows and Reyn, and looked up at the audience. Burrows could see the way his balled fists, behind his back, were turning his knuckles white from the tension.

“It is also our informed belief that this state of affairs is intentional, and has been engineered by outside agents in an attempt to isolate, weaken, and ultimate subjugate our free Bear State.” Maxdine scanned the audience, letting the hush build for a few more moments before continuing. “There is only one player here on Mars who benefits from our isolation. There is only one player here on Mars who benefits from our weakness, and there is ultimately only one player here on Mars that has been utterly ruthless in their ambitions to subjugate our free Bear State for years now.”

Burrows found himself holding his breath. If Maxdine said the next part out loud, it would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Rumours and theories on the news channels were one thing - but if the sitting head of the military made the statement on a national address…

“I speak of course of the Asian Prosperity Union, our very belligerent neighbours to the east. While a great many of the security issues mentioned before have always been circumstantial and cloaked in layers of subterfuge and coincidence, we have now finally received concrete proof of the Union’s involvement with our security matters.” Maxdine turned and nodded at someone waiting on the sidelines of the hall, and the video screen behind Burrows began to cycle through a series of images. This time, everyone on the stage craned around to look up at the screen, decorum be damned.

“This footage was recorded inside the CJR facility in the hours leading up to the attack on Sunday morning.” Burrows, twisted around in his seat, did not have the best view of the security footage playing above and behind him, but the general’s voice provided the necessary narration to make sense of it all. “The individuals in this footage were observed to pass through security checks without any issue, and were subsequently observed entering and planting devices at each and every one of the blast sites which ultimately damaged the facility. The individuals here were well supplied with both intelligence and equipment, and as you observe the footage here it will be clear to see exactly how familiar these agents are with the work they are doing. These are not idle terrorists or eco-fanatics trying to wreck equipment based on some fundamentalist beliefs. These are not protesters wanting to score political points in the Prime council. These are trained professionals, and the result of their handiwork speaks for itself.”

Maxdine had reached the far side of the stage by this point, and stopped again for a moment to cast his gaze over the audience before continuing.

“We have not yet identified all of them, but of the ones identified thus far, every single one has been traced back to businesses and operations in the New Hopetown area which we believe are front companies for Asian Prosperity Union intelligence agencies.” Maxdine paused, before continuing with his voice slightly raised. “I will say it again: every single one of the attackers we have identified has been linked back to the Asian Prosperity Union.”

“Which brings me to the next piece of evidence.” The image on the screen shifted, and Burrows had a momentary, horrible feeling of deja vu, of sitting with his back against a rock and looking at a compad screen while Dixon’s voice talked him through the images on the screen.

“This is footage of Marsden Mines, on our eastern border, in the supposedly demilitarised zone between us and the Asian Prosperity Union. I am sure that I do not need to remind you of the history of this colony, and how it was lost to Union aggression two years ago.” Maxdine’s voice was lower again, and his pacing had resumed. He was heading towards the side of the stage where Burrows and Reyn sat, and Burrows had a sinking feeling in his gut when he realised what was going to happen next. Behind them, footage of the Marsden bunkers and rover fleets flitted past. “As you all can see in this footage, Marsden Mines is no longer a mining site. It is no longer even pretending to be a mining site, or any type of economically active site. Marsden Mines has been turned into a marshalling yard for what could only be called an invasion fleet. A fleet consisting of more than a thousand combat-rated surface rovers, and an estimated twelve to fifteen thousand ground troops.”

Maxdine stopped at the edge of the stage in front of them, and used one hand to point back at the two of them without taking his eyes off the audience. Burrows kept his face immobile even as his heart started to hammer harder.

This was not the type of attention he thrived on.

“The two militia members behind me were personally involved with recovering this footage less than one day before the CJR facility was attacked. Their team approached Marsden Mines for routine observations, and once in position they recorded the footage you can see here. Without their efforts and sacrifice to obtain this footage and return it to us, we would have remained utterly blind to the threat building on our border.”

“However, despite the efforts of the Union, this footage managed to get back to us, and we now - finally - have a fuller picture of why the sabotage of the CJR facility has occurred.” Maxdine began to pace back to the other side of the stage, and Burrows remembered to blink for the first time in what felt like ages. Many of the cameras followed Maxdine - but some stayed fixed on Burrows and Reyn. “What might have been rationalised away with excuses of circumstance and coincidence, is now laid bare for all to see.”

“By cutting off our railway lines, by weakening our neighbours, by destabilising our borders and by destroying our slow-gate facility, the Asian Prosperity Union has systematically been laying the groundwork for a repetition of what happened to the Seven Craters Federation.” Maxdine was back at the podium, and finally took his place behind it. The hands that gripped the side of the podium were relaxed now, in contrast to the balled fists Burrows had noticed before.

“The Asian Prosperity Union is preparing to invade Bear State.”

The hall was so quiet that the involuntary gasp from the one streamer-head seemed to carry and fill the space for many long moments before finally fading. Burrows heard a drumbeat pounding in the silence, and realised it was his own pulse thundering in his neck.

“For those of you that have been paying attention to the signs, this should come as no surprise. Many people have been talking about this day, and it has now finally arrived.” Maxdine scanned the audience, mute faces and hungry lenses staring back at him. “To those of you that find this as a surprise, I would recommend you listen closely to what comes next.”

“Bear State will be invaded from the east some time in the coming days. We do not know exactly when, and we do not know under what pretense. What we do know, is that it will happen, and soon now.” Maxdine’s emphasis was impossible to miss. “Their invasion fleet at Marsden Mines has been laid bare now, and our analysts have been working tirelessly ever since to check for more staging areas. We believe that we have discovered two more sites - one inside the occupied Seven Craters Federation, and a second in the wildlands east of Cullinan-Oppenheimer - which show similar levels of troop concentrations. That makes for at least three invasion fleets that we are aware of, with an estimated total of close to fifty thousand soldiers involved.”

“We do not believe that the accumulation of these forces and the destruction of our logistics capabilities is a coincidence. We do not believe that our lines of support, as well as evacuation, would happen to be cut off at exactly the same time that the Union has amassed what is arguably the largest land force in the human history of this planet.” Maxdine turned to point back at Burrows and Reyn again. “We do not believe it to be a coincidence that saboteurs would attack and destroy the CJR facility a mere day after our militia patrols stumbled across the forces accumulated at Marsden Mines. In fact, we now have reason to believe that the destruction of the slow-gate at the CJR facility happened as a direct consequence of the observations being made of the invasion fleet at Marsden Mines. Once their secret was out, the Asian Prosperity Union had no choice but to strike, in an attempt to prevent us from bringing in foreign aid to help against their imminent invasion plans.”

Burrows felt a trickle of sweat slowly inching its way down the side of his left ear.

It seemed like Command had come to the same conclusion as them - and now all of Bear State, and Mars, knew who was responsible for opening that can of worms.

“However, now that we have a clearer picture of the expected hostilities, we will be taking appropriate steps to protect our territorial integrity from continued aggression from the Asian Prosperity Union.” Maxdine returned his attention to the audience, and the camera lenses swung back to the podium. Burrows felt the line of sweat touch his collar, and slowly released a breath he had not even realised he had been holding in. “Mobilisation orders have been sent to our various Colonial Defense Militia branches, and our eastern borders will be strengthened with everything we can muster. The next few days and weeks will be a matter of life and death for our state and our way of life, and we will have to act accordingly. The Liberty Zones have always espoused freedom over tyranny, and it is now time for us to put that promise into action.”

“We also recognise, and reject with utter disdain, the offers of assistance and refuge that have been extended from the Asian Prosperity Union towards our citizens here in Bear State. We need only to look to our north-eastern neighbours, where the freedom of the Seven Craters Federation has been suffocated by the oppression of the Asian Prosperity Union, to be reminded of exactly what happens to anyone who has the misfortune to end up in their power.” Maxdine shook his head as he continued. “These offers of assistance are nothing more than a cynical ploy to enslave those who fall into this trap. Talk to your friends. Talk to your neighbours. Talk to the Seven Craters refugees in your communities. Ask them how many of them have lost friends and family to the Union’s oppression in the Seven Craters Federation, and take heed of those answers. Your fate, as a citizen of Bear State, will be no different if you were to head east now and place yourself at the mercy of the Asian Prosperity Union.”

Maxdine fell into a familiar speech at this point, reminding the audience of all the things which made the Liberty Zones so different from the other colonies on Mars, and Burrows felt his own focus shifting sideways a bit. With the immediate focus off the Home One team and their part in the momentous events of the past few days, it felt good to just breathe.

How had the Union known to be on the look-out for them, though, around Marsden Mines?

The question, unanswered since the first day they had encountered the roving vehicle patrols, still nagged at Burrows while he listened to Maxdine. Major Herricks - whose role in the entire matter he was still not sure of, and whose name and face had been conspicuously absent from the media briefing thus far - and Colonel Hayes were the only ones who had known of their planned patrol into that area. Herricks would have seen their planned route in advance, since Burrows had logged it the Friday evening before the patrol, right after his discussion with Pope in the Machine Womb. As his commanding officer, Herricks would have checked it, and raised flags if there were potential issues with their planned route.

Hayes would only have seen the same info if he had requested it directly from Herricks at Taylor Base - and after their in-person discussion earlier that same week, at Barbarella’s, there had probably been no need for that either. Hayes had told them to stick to their existing plans and not make waves, and that was what they had set out to do.

Except - somehow the Union had been waiting for them, but not in the right place.

Burrows felt a frown creep across his forehead despite his best effort to keep his face neutral for the watching cameras. Something was tickling at the edge of his memory, something that wanted desperately to make sense yet eluded every thought that he sent its way.

If the Union had access to whatever files were logged at Taylor Base - as confirmed by Colonel Hayes - then it meant that their reaction would have been based on what he, Burrows, had logged with Herricks at Taylor Base.

The Union had been expecting them to the north.

So…

Burrows felt the planet shifting beneath him, and for a moment his stomach was weightless in his torso.

He had filed a patrol route that should have taken them to the northern rim of the Marsden Mines crater - and then they had taken the southern route instead.

Next chapter: TBC