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Red Eden: Homeworld Bound | Chapter 12: Manifest Destiny

ME2007VigilDec 23, 2018, 4:32:23 PM
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Click the following link for the chapter listing:

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Chapter 12: Manifest Destiny



Ellen steeled herself for the dressing-down she was about to receive from her father. No doubt he was under pressure by Solar Resources’ Board of Directors to rein in his out of control daughter. She snorted at the thought of those stuffy old fools. She would no longer answer to them now that she had the helm of the Hiigara in her grip, nor would she be beholden to the whims of insufferable shareholders now that she had Gabriella’s Iceland facility in her possession along with the vast store of resources, weaponry and machinery stored inside. 

She played the video her father had sent her. He looked older than ever, his eyes darker and baggier, the wrinkles on his brow deep from worry. Even his hair looked greyer than it had been since last they spoke. “Ellen,” he croaked, his voice barely a whisper, “you’ve acted against my orders, stolen the Hiigara and seized control of our Earth assets. You’ve instigated a war with an ancient and powerful enemy that we know little about, thereby endangering the lives of the one thousand colonists under your trust. Worse, you’ve admitted to committing war crimes in your report. Hundreds of innocent lives snuffed out by your reckless and brutal tactics.”

Ellen swallowed the growing lump in her throat. True, she had knowingly taken actions that had led to the deaths of civilians, including women and children. She hadn’t made the decision lightly. But the cold calculus of war demanded sacrifices. Where the Hanlon men had hesitated, resulting in Gabriella’s rise from the dead and her subsequent escape, she had acted decisively, resulting in a major victory over Gabriella’s militarily superior force. She saw no need to hide what she did from public scrutiny. In fact, she was proud of it.

“My daughter, you must stop this madness before it is too late. Already, news of your actions has leaked to the public. Some are calling for you to be named in the Book of Debts. I believe I can still defend your name. Your actions are understandable and not without justification. But war is a messy business. As the body count racks up, as more innocents die, war will inevitably draw you deeper into a dark and terrifying place. Turn back before it is too late. Please. Come home.”

Ellen stilled the intense sorrow stirring within her. She didn’t want to hurt her father. She knew that she had betrayed his trust, and this cut her deeply. But he had betrayed her first. All her life, he had promised her the Earth. It was their shared dream. Their destiny. Now he wanted to take it away, spooked by the slightest hint of danger, and utterly unwilling to fight. He was cowardly, and it pained her to admit that. She still loved him, though. She would never stop loving him. He was a good man. A kind father. A man deserving of respect and admiration in times of peace. But in war, he was deadweight.

She turned on the camera and recorded her response. “Father, I thank you for your counsel. I am touched by your concern for my well-being and the well-being of the colonists.” She hardened her voice. “But I will not return to Mars until Earth is ours. We are the sole inheritors of humanity’s legacy. We must rekindle the flame of civilization on Earth. If instead we allow Gabriella to steer the course of human history, we will be extinct before the end of the century, and her clones the new masters of the Earth. The entire human gene pool will be reduced to that of a single deranged woman.

“I will not allow a freak to represent the sum total of human achievement. I will not allow an abomination to claim the end stage of three hundred thousand years of human evolution. Whatever alien civilizations may exist out there, it will not be her who represents the collective history of our species. It will be us. We shall lead at the fore of human expansion across space. Our people, our history, our culture and our values will carry humanity forward to the next ten thousand years and beyond. This is our manifest destiny.

“I will stay and I will fight, and I do not fight alone. The brave men who have come with me represent Mars’s finest. They fought with strength and valour as they charged through enemy lines, handing Gabriella a crushing defeat. Hundreds of her soldiers lie dead. Hundreds more remain stranded on Iceland to be picked off by our brave soldiers. Gabriella escaped with her life by the skin of her teeth aboard a rickety old cruise that I will soon sink to the bottom of the ocean. Her days are numbered, and our future on Earth will be secured. This I promise.

“I encourage all brave and patriotic Martians to join us here on Earth. We need men, we need women, and we need babies. Earth is our new home, and I call upon you to populate this world with our seed.

“As to my detractors and all those who grumble about my supposed war crimes, know that I will do what I must to secure a future for our people. If you’ve got a problem with that, come at me. I’ll be right here on Earth standing at the head of a Martian army. The men I have with me understand loyalty. They are committed to the cause unlike some whom I shall not name who sit in their comfortable chairs, living easy lives as they pass judgement from afar.

“My name is Ellen Truss, and I am the Hiigara Reborn. Her spirit burns within me. My great ancestor, Enon Truss, guides me. Two hundred years ago, he led our people to sanctuary on Mars. I shall lead our people to victory on Earth.”

***

Jack woke, finding himself without his suit and lying on a soft bed. White fluorescent light beamed down on him. He rolled his head to his right. He was surprised to see Ellen sitting by his bedside. He promptly rose with a pained grimace. She put a hand on his chest and gently pushed him back down. “Easy,” she said. “You took quite a nasty beating.”

He relaxed and remained lying in bed. “Where am I?”

“Doctor Sorenson’s clinic.”

Doctor Sorenson was the lone stranger who claimed to be a guardian of this island. “The guy’s a real creep, you know?”

“I don’t trust him, but he has a fully operational clinic and we’re not exactly in a position to refuse his services.”

“Is my father here?”

Ellen lowered her gaze. “He was pronounced dead by one of our medics. He’s in the morgue.”

Though Jack wasn’t surprised, the news hit him hard nonetheless. Turning from her, he choked down a sob. It wouldn’t do to have her see him like this.

“Jack, I’m so sorry for your loss. He was a valuable member of the team, beloved by all the men who worked under him. I greatly respected his dedication to his work, and I admired the sacrifices he made to bring your family here… Erwin told me how your father led an assault against Gabriella. He died a hero, and I will make sure his name will be remembered for generations to come.”

Her words rang hollow with Jack. He remembered his father as a fun-loving man of adventure, not a bloody war hero. “What about the rest of my family?”

“They’re still in hibernation along with most the colonists. It’s not yet safe. Gabriella’s soldiers still roam the island. Their armoured vehicles make them a particularly menacing threat. Commander Grant has a plan to deal with them.”

“To be honest, I didn’t think you guys could pull off a victory.”

“A wise general once said, ‘Avoid the enemy where he is strong, strike where he is weak.’ Gabriella, in her hubris, sent the bulk of her force to Keflavik where Grant had landed with his men. The Mars Boys armed up, refuelled their capsules and blasted off, completely bypassing her army to strike instead at her beating heart.”

“She got away.”

“Had I more Dragonite capsules to spare, I could’ve sunk her ship.”

“She had thousands of her clone children aboard that ship, not to mention human civilians.” Jack trusted that this statement was enough to convey his misgivings about Ellen’s willingness to deal collateral damage.

Ellen narrowed her gaze. “I am not the one who uses children to shield herself from justice. My conscience is clean.”

There was a hardness in her cool blue eyes that Jack had never seen before. Far from being intimidated by it, he admired it. He accepted her terse defence with a subtle nod.

She relaxed her gaze. “This war isn’t over until Gabriella is dead. I need soldiers, and you and your companions have proven yourselves invaluable assets to the cause. I would like you to continue fighting for me. As payment, you will be awarded a share of the spoils. Even as we speak, Erwin is picking out the best loot from Gabriella’s facility. What say you, Jack?”

Never in his life had Jack ever thought of himself as a soldier. He was a happy-go-lucky guy who had made a career out of shooting adventure videos. The idea of soldiering for a living made little sense to him and carried even less appeal, yet he couldn’t deny that there were things worth fighting for. Earth. His people. His family. His father.

Jack wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to avenge his father. Furthermore, Gabriella was a threat not only to the Martian colony on Earth but to Mars itself. Besides, chasing a genocidal tyrant halfway across the world sounded like one hell of an adventure in and of itself, and adventuring was why he came in the first place.

He took Ellen’s hand and looked her in the eyes. Pulling her in, he growled, “I ain’t gon’ rest until that tyrant is dead.” 



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