Beyond Mars Crimson Fleet Read Online Free PDF Page A

closest
friend.
    "Sir, you'll have to appoint another second in
command."
    "Any word
from the Crazy Horse ?" Paladin questioned with some grief in his
tone.
    "No, Sir, not since the last of the communications
and battle satellites was destroyed. There's too much debris
causing interference."
    "Well, we'll just have to sit tight until they do.
It's all up to Wakinyan now," the aged veteran officer spoke,
turning his back to glance out into space.
     
     
    * * * * *
     
     

Chapter 2: Devil's
Furnace
     
    The sun rose majestically over the endless red
cliffs of Valles Marineris: the Grand Canyon of Mars. So long was
this Martian canyon system that it could easily stretch between San
Francisco and New York City. Yet despite its ungainly size, the
canyon was magnificently beautiful in the rays of the early morning
light. The radiance of the rising sun illuminated a glittering
rainbow effect on the surface of rocks and boulders. They in turn
reflected sparkles like dancing fairies. However, a howl grew upon
the winds and the sparkles drew into darkness, for this day had not
only started with a war, but an enormous raging dust storm as
well.
    The tempest of swirling
wind and particles quickly roared down the canyon's rocky
corridors, diffusing the sun's rays into a scarlet gray and casting
everything into a murkiness of grainy shadows. The storm of red
dust covered and cloaked the landscape at amazing speed. Faster
than two hundred miles an hour, it seemed that nothing could outrun
the momentum of the swirling clouds of dirt—almost
nothing.
    Suddenly,
a large mound of sand bulged and then swelled away from the forward
wall of the advancing earthen squall. It quickly formed a huge
teardrop, which sped ever so quickly away. The mound’s speed was
tremendous, and the ionized red iron particles that formed the
outer coating quickly streamed off. A metal skin began to show in
patches, which grew bigger and united. Finally when all sand was
left in the trailing wash, a grayish-blue warship was revealed. It
resembled a bottlenose dolphin with a massive revolving laser
cannon protruding beneath its chin. Strangely, no insignia other
than a huge red lightning bolt and two opened blue squares were
displayed on its hull. But a proud name was boldly engraved on her
bow, MWS Crazy
Horse —and she bore the telltale signs of
battle.
    The
Martian space destroyer Crazy Horse zigzagged violently through the canyon and far
below the tops of the ragged cliffs, with the vessel rising and
falling just as fast in consideration to the distance between it
and the canyon floor. Occasionally coming uncomfortably close to a
harrowing and fiery end in the confines of the vast trench, rocky
walls passed as blurs while the ship sprinted through this natural
and huge obstacle course.
    The destroyer’s high speed
and extreme maneuvers were not only due to the urgency of its
mission, but also in evasion of the Earth fighters and warships
that tracked and pursued her from behind. However, the turbulence
and sensor jamming distortion created by the magnetic red iron dust
forced the Earth vessels to reduce their speed while also affecting
the accuracy of their weapons. The Martians, on the other hand,
were use to such blinding conditions on their planet. With their
scanners and computers long since modified to compensate for it,
the Martians clearly held a tactical advantage. Regardless,
however, the situation became the source of criticism from a very
rankled officer on the bridge of the Martian destroyer.
    "This has got to be one of the nuttiest schemes
you've ever come up with yet!" Lieutenant James Randall confessed
confidentially and with some irritation to his long-time friend and
commanding officer, Captain Richard Wakinyan. "I almost soiled
myself in the briefing room listening to you! Destroying that Earth
forces base guarding those space ports without getting ourselves
killed, is going to be a real miracle!"
    Wakinyan just smiled at
the handsome, but