Mankind Rising - A War of the Worlds Sequel

[Iroscato]

It cannot be over a year since your last update. I...I refuse to believe it
Very good as usual, I was wondering exactly how the tables would turn for our hapless human comrades...

[Eternal_Freedom]

Well, those pesky Martians know a thing or two. And yes, chapter five will see space combat, and the good old Thunder Child gets some glory once more. This time it will live though

[Eternal_Freedom]

My apologies for the necro, but I am pleased to announce that chapter five is about 20% done and should be up tomorrow/Monday. A little Xmas treat for you all. It will includethe aforementioend space combat which is always fun to write, especially as I know a hell of a lot more about spaceflight than I did the last time I wrote a space battle

[madd0ct0r]

subscribed. always a fan of Attack Mars!

[Eternal_Freedom]

As promised, here it is! Happy Christmas everbody!

Chapter Five
Human Expeditionary Force, Mars Orbit
December 7th, 1963

With a single command, the Thunder Child fired her main drive at full thrust and charged at the orbital fortresses. The crew were pressed into their seats by brutal acceleration, although they were spared from the deadly full force of the manoeuvre by the ship’s AG systems. Weapon crews readied her turreted Heat Rays for action and loaded massive armour-piercing shells into her main battery; a cluster of ten forty-inch rifles nestled in the bow. Just like her namesake, the Thunder Child would be the first ship to take the fight to the enemy.

In the wake of her exhaust plume, Russian and German battleships hastened to catch up. It was pure fortune that the flagship had been aligned with the fortresses when they appeared in more ways than one. The Thunder Child was the largest, best-armed and best-armoured ship the fleet; it made good sense to let her lead the charge. Powerful though they were the German and Russian ships could not hope to equal the flagship. Nonetheless they too fired their engines at max thrust and joined the charge. In low orbit, Shogun Genda ordered half his gunboat squadrons to attack the fortresses, knowing the battle would likely be over one way or another before they arrived.

The distance closed rapidly: the fire directors desperately scrambled to calculate a firing solution whilst damage-control teams prepared for the inevitable incoming fire. The fortresses obliged them, but the first volley aimed at the flotilla was not aimed for the flagship. The invisible beams of heat passed the dreadnought unmolested to strike the bows of the St. Petersburg’s Revenge. The ship had been built with this in mind of course. The Heat Rays ripped into the ablative armour, flashing it to vapour in milliseconds. The vapour cloud expanded outwards, interfering with the Heat Ray and mitigating the next salvo somewhat. The next layer of armour, heavy heat-resistant ceramics took the brunt of it. A few plates shattered and a few compartments explosively vented, their crew’s incinerated. Despite the losses the damage was minimal; it did nothing to deter the ship’s crew.

In retaliation for the damaged Russian ship, the Thunder Child salvo-fired her main battery at the higher-altitude fortress, spewing ten massive five-tonne shells across the void. Without air or strong gravity to affect them they flew straight and true, striking the higher fortress on its equator, smashing through the armour that was built to defend against heat rays rather than shells before exploding a dozen metres inside.

The effect of the blasts was horrific to behold; huge chunks of the armour belt were ripped clean off and sent spinning into space whilst interior compartments crumpled under the immense energy. Several secondary heat rays were smashed to pieces and at least one overloaded catastrophically, melting one of the main surface coolant ducts. This was only the opening act and both sides knew it.

By now the African cruisers had raced up to high orbit to help engage the fortresses and shield the heavier warships. The officers showed great courage but in this case the courage was misplaced. The cruisers had been built for speed, manoeuvrability and firepower but this came at the expense of the multi-layered armour system that had saved the St. Petersburg’s Revenge from a swift death.

The cruiser Johannesburg was the first to regret this design choice. She swooped in on the damaged fortress, her smaller cannon letting fly a hail of shells and her own Heat Rays firing at their maximum power. Sadly, the Martian armour was virtually impervious to the latter weapon and the shells Johannesburg carried were too light to penetrate the armour as the Thunder Child’s salvo had done. Pulling away after her strafing run, she had the misfortune to cross the axis of the second fortress’s main gun. The Martians controlling the weapon seized the opportunity and fired their weapon.

The beam of heat struck Johannesburg amidships, burning through the relatively simple plate armour in moments, tearing through the internal bulkheads and then passing through the far side, cutting the ship in two. The main drive automatically shut down when the control links were severed and the two halves of a formerly proud cruiser continued on towards Mars itself. With the rest of the fleet engaged there was no hope of recovering the ship before impact so escape pods began bursting from the habitat decks like seeds from a flower. An objective observer might have said it was beautiful, but only the Martian combatants took any pleasure in the sight.

On the Thunder Child’s command deck Admiral Tranter closed his eyes and sighed as the African cruiser died. A thousand names danced in his mind; the ship’s complement, all of whom were now either dead or in desperate need of rescue. Once again he questioned what they were doing here. So far they had gotten almost fourteen thousand humans killed and they had barely even landed on the surface. So this is what they prepared for us. How long have those bastards down there been planning this?

He opened his eyes again and saw by the tactical display that less than a second had passed. He evaluated the plot: One fortress suffered light to moderate damage, the other intact. His flagship was continuing towards the fortresses at max thrust with the rest of the battle squadrons following in her wake. The African ships were beginning to panic at the loss of Johannesburg and were moving in a disorderly manner. This was not going well. The ship’s gunner spoke up from his post at the weapons command:

“Main battery ready in all respects, loaded with AP again Sir. Firing solution confirmed for the damaged area of target one.” James nodded, made some quick calculations and decided on his next course of action.

“Fire main battery, and have the crews reload the guns with Bombardment shells.” That brought a few glances. Bombardment rounds were meant for strikes on ground targets; no one had thought to test them on armoured space targets.

“Sir we can’t guarantee the same accuracy with those rounds…” James cut him off.

“With those warheads we don’t need accuracy Chief. Get it done.”

Martian Operations Control, Martian Surface

Have the Fortresses launch their cylinders. The cattle have brought insects inside the herd-ships, let us match their move. Heavy cylinders are to concentrate on the herd-ships in medium orbit. The senior Martian’s mental voice continued to show evidence of disappointment in the human cattle. Pathetic.

The military Martian dared to reply to the leader’s musings. Pathetic, yes, predictable, yes. However their herd-ships have inflicted considerable damage on our Fortress and appear highly resistant to the Heat Rays.

The senior Martian modulated its mind-voice to include disdain and anger at the comment. Their armour is impressive but no armour can hold forever. Order the Fortresses to focus their attention on the large damaged herd-ship.

UES Thunder Child

An alarm sounded. New symbols appeared on the tactical plot, a veritable cloud of contacts emerging from the orbital fortresses and streaming directly for the Japanese carriers. James saw what they were planning and saw what might be the first mistake in the Martian’s plan.

“Get me Admiral Boehm and Shogun Genda at once.” His officers jumped to it, handing him a radio in mere seconds, whilst the main battery’s shells were still in flight.

“Admiral, pull your cruisers down to protect the carrier groups. Johannesburg just proved you don’t have the firepower or the armour for this kind of slugging match. Get going.” James heard a brief intake of breath as if the African woman was preparing to argue with him, then a sigh followed by an obedient “Aye aye Sir.”

“Shogun Genda, I believe a tenth of your gunboats are carrying bombardment warheads for use against the Fortresses are they not?”

“They are indeed Sir.”

“Order your pilots to volley-fire those warheads at the cylinder swarms. Set for proximity detonation; the airburst radar equipment should work for that.” James smiled at the thought of great clouds of fire wiping out the cylinders en masse.

“As you will Sir.”

By now the main battery rounds had reached their targets and the Martian’s mistake was realised. In order to launch their cylinders the great armoured doors of the hangers had been opened. They were closing now but such massive shields took a great deal of effort to move. Even so they were almost sealed when the shells arrived and eight of the armour piercing rounds wasted their energy on the armoured doors. Two shells however slipped through the gap. They were built to penetrate through a dozen metres of armour plate; they penetrated far deeper into the interior bulkheads before detonating.

Two huge explosions cut a swathe of destruction through the fortress. Dozens of compartments were immolated. The command centre collapsed, crushing the Martians who had manned the controls. Fires began to rage in the compromised areas, only to be quickly snuffed out as the precious atmosphere was blown out into the dark void. Despite the damage however, the platform’s main Heat Ray still functioned, the gunners operating on their own initiative after the command centre died.

Twin beams of death lanced out and once again struck the St. Petersburg’s Revenge. This time the inner armour layer failed in a dozen places, letting the terrible Martian weapons burn into the superstructure. Deck after deck ignited until the weapons fire ended abruptly. The mighty Russian battleship heeled to port, driven off course by the force of the impact. On her command deck the Captain tried desperately to get his crew under control. It was a losing battle; although these men were highly trained this was their first time under fire and the strain proved too much for many of them. Damage control teams struggled to contain the spreading fires but it was all too clear the inferno was winning.

Russian Flagship UES Moscow’s Vengeance, Mars Orbit

“Captain Vostrokov, what is your situation?” Ramius could see the wounded beast moving uncontrolled through the formation. It was a testament to the other ship’s helmsmen that no collisions occurred.

The reply was scratchy from the damaged radios and Ramius could hear an undercurrent of panic in his subordinate’s voice.

“Fires out of control in forward sections; damage control is preparing to vent all compartments. That should kill the fire if those damned Martians give us the chance. Do me a favour Marshall, make those bastards ble-.” The reply was cut off as the Martian fortresses fired again. This time there was no armour to take the damage and the Heat Rays gutted the Russian warship. The magazines were breached and the armoured hull erupted outwards in a terrifyingly beautiful explosion.

Ramius blinked. One moment his old friend’s ship was there, damaged but stubbornly still fighting and the next it was a cloud of expanding debris. In his heart the cold rage at the loss duelled with the horror until he felt nothing at all.

UES Thunder Child, Mars Orbit

James saw the Russian ship die. As with the African cruiser and the American assault ships, he felt a piece of his soul die with it. More lives sacrificed on the altar of this damn crusade. The gunner spoke up, oblivious to the thousands of lives lost moments before.

“Admiral, main battery control reports Bombardment warheads loaded and they have a firing solution on both targets.”

“Then by all means fire. Send the bastards back where they belong.”

The mighty main guns spat fire for the third time. This volley split into two, three shells flying at the already damaged fortress and seven at the second. With the fortress as damaged as it was three Bombardment warheads was overkill. All three struck at once and detonated simultaneously. Three new suns appeared in space, obscuring the fortress from view. When the glare faded there was nothing left to see.

The second fortress reacted swiftly, arming it’s smaller Heat Rays for point-defence duty. Seven warheads were flying; after the beams of heat struck only two remained. However, two Bombardment warheads detonating on the armour belt was still catastrophic. Once again a harsh unnatural light illuminated Mars orbit but this time something remained.

The once deadly fortress had survived the impact, although it was no longer a fighting platform. The armour was shredded, the main Heat Ray had melted and the secondary array was simply gone. Even if any weapons had remained they had no chance to act.

The Moscow’s Vengeance let fly a furious salvo. Her guns were not as monstrous as the flagship’s, nor did they carry Bombardment warheads but nonetheless the shells spelled the fortress’s doom. Explosions ripped through the already weakened superstructure, shattering vital support beams. The immensely strong skeleton was broken; the fortress was unsupported and it fell apart under its own weight. The wreckage followed the now abandoned halves of Johannesburg toward the Martian surface.

There was one final act in the dance of death however. Shogun Genda’s gunboats had been climbing towards the swarms of cylinders and released there Bombardment missiles in a swarm. The descending cylinders began to spread out and evade, thinking the missiles to be only a threat to individual cylinders. They did not have time to learn the folly of that belief. Brilliant points of light billowed outwards into a misshapen fiery cloud that enveloped the cylinders en masse. There was no wreckage to be seen; there was nothing left at all

James sighed. Well that’s one surprise. How many more do you have ready?

“Commander Matheson, what is the situation on the ground?”

“Sky Marshall Kennedy has pulled his remaining four ships into low orbit. He reports that ninety percent of combat troops and vehicles from those ships have been offloaded. Only thirty percent of the material aboard the lost ships survived. The Shocktroops have established a defensive perimeter on a series of ridges twenty kilometres from the landing grounds and the main forces are moving up to reinforce them.”

“Very well. Please tell General de Gaulle to prepare for a landing in support of-“ James was cut off by the shout of a communications officer.

“Admiral! General Davis reports his perimeter positions are being overrun by unknown hostiles. No information on enemy strength or dispositions, the positions have all dropped off the radio net.”

James looked at the ground display, a frown crossing his head.

“What the hell is going on down there?”

[Tandrax218]

wooohoooo

an updTE FINALLY
and a good one

i hope there will be more soon

[Eternal_Freedom]

Well I seem to have found my muse again. The next chapter (once I'm sober enough to draft it) will cover the situation on the ground.

[astrospace2020]

very good story, lets see the martians crushed forever, and then development of FTL like Warp or Hyperspace, cant hardly wait for the next chapter, hope you update soon

[Borgholio]

very good story, lets see the martians crushed forever, and then development of FTL like Warp or Hyperspace, cant hardly wait for the next chapter, hope you update soon

Holy shit is this the month of the necros or something? STOP REPLYING to topics that have been idle for months!

[Eternal_Freedom]

It has been idle, and I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I have been getting chapter six figured in my head but I've distracted by my dissertation. I'm soon to have plenty of free time to devote to writing again.

As a teaser for those following things, chapter six will eal with the situation on the ground and will probably be similar in tone to the Klendathu landings in Starship Troopers.

However, I can say the Martins are not going to be "crushed forever" and there certainly won't be FTL tech coming. This is the story of Man's revenge on the Martians, there is literaly no need for FTL stuff. I won't be continuing the story past the end of this war since, well, that's the end of the story.