Battle Group Epsilon

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

March 21 2184, 14:45 hours (Standard Solar Time)
Aboard USNI Marauder "Jade Spear" In Martian HPO

Daniel Chang looked out of the cockpit at the Martian landscape above him. It was incredible to see. There were ridges and canyons and volcanoes that were millions of years old. It was all the color of rust and dried blood. This was the far side of Mars, the part that wasn't colonized. There was something eerie and even serene about it. To Chang it was like looking at a deserted town, peaceful and yet unsettling at the same time.
He always loved to travel and see new places. He had been born in China but had no memory of it. His mother and he had gone to live in the space colony Tribulation as refugees when he was still a baby. It was owned by the former United States at the time. Most of the inhabitants were from Chicago. It was an overcrowded colony and very poor. Until he joined the UNSF, he had never left it. Every new place he saw was still a wonder to him.
"Hey Lieutenant," said Greenbaum in the Marauder next to him. "Pull your head out of your ass and quit the sight seeing. We got a mission to do here if you haven't forgotten."
He returned his attention to the task at hand and didn't respond to Greenbaum.
"It's real pretty though. Don't you think Chang?" said Paul. He was in the Marauder to his other side.
"Yeah," said Moore. "When we're done here, you can write us a poem about it."
"I was just saying," said Paul sheepishly over the COM.
"Well don't," said Greenbaum.
The Waterloo had dropped two dozen anti ship mines somewhere in this region and their squad had to seek them out and neutralize them. The mines were fakes, meaning they had no live explosives in them, but they had been triggered to deliver a small EMP blast if anything got too close. It wasn't much but the pulse would be enough to fry the circuitry of a Marauder and keep it dry docked for two weeks.
Their eight fighter squad had been flying in a V formation for the last hour trying to locate the things. So far nothing.
"Lets make another pass fellas," said Captain Seymour. "They've gotta be around here somewhere."
"Roger that Nova, on your lead," said Moore.
Chang glanced at his gauges. There was a faint blip on his radar but then it was gone. "I got something," Chang said. "Ten o'clock at seven hundred thousand meters."
"Check your gauges," said Moore, "I don't see anything."
"I'm telling you, they're out there."
"With those slant-eyes of yours," Greenbaum said, "I'm surprised you can even see your gauges, let alone read them."
"Leave him alone Lieutenant," said the Captain. "What do we got to lose?"
The Marauders veered to the left in unison and headed to the signal Chang had picked up. He squinted in the black abyss and checked his radar for anything unusual. Nothing yet.
"Where's this minefield of yours, zipperhead?" asked Greenbaum. Chang had no idea why, but the man had a personal vendetta against him.
"It's out there," Chang said reassuringly.
"If you're wrong, and you just made us lose twenty minutes on a hunch-"
"Contact," said Captain Seymour. "Long range sensors are detecting twenty stationary ferrous objects with densities and signatures matching those of Trident IV Tactical Mines."
"Hey, Chang was right," said Paul.
"Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while," Greenbaum mused.
"Knock it off," said the Captain. "Let's start the fireworks and get the hell out of here."

The cockpit of his fighter lifted open and Chang took off his helmet. "Nice work Lieutenant," said the crew chief. He gave Chang his hand and helped him out. He stepped onto the ladder and climbed down. "Any problems with your bird?" he asked.
"Nope," Chang said. "She flies like a dream."
The crew chief laughed and headed to give orders to the specialists that were already busy taking off several of the access panels.
A pair of technicians helped Chang out of the flightsuit. It was a complex piece of equipment. The inner part was a self-sealing conforming gel that could contract or expand depending on the conditions. In high gees it would contract to keep the blood flow going through his body. There were all kinds of electrical components as well. The suit measured his vitals and could heat or cool depending on his preferences.
After that he went through thirty minutes of debriefing and then headed straight for the showers. They were empty and he headed to one off to the side. He turned on the water and let the cold water run all down his body. It was refreshing after spending the last few hours in his cockpit and flightsuit. He scrubbed himself clean, turned it off and went back to the locker room. There was a clean white towel there along with his clothes which had been neatly folded. He dried off and started to get dressed. He heard someone enter and turned to look. It was Greenbaum and another one of his squad mates. They didn't have towels or clean clothes with them. Something told Chang they weren't there to shower.
Greenbaum slowly stepped toward Chang without speaking, his eyes on him without blinking. "Can I help you with something?" Chang asked.
"Yeah," he said, getting closer to Chang, using his size to try to intimidate him. Chang noticed that the other man was sidestepping, trying to get behind him.
"I'm not looking for a fight."
"That's too bad," Greenbaum said, "Cause a fight just found you." He pulled back his fist and put all his power into the first strike.
Chang wasn't very strong, or very big, but he was very fast. He sidestepped the attack and punched Greenbaum in the stomach. His fist bounced off the man's iron hard abs. Chang was sure the attack hurt him more than Greenbaum.
The aggressor made two more swings but Chang dodged both of them easily. He wound up and struck Greenbaum in the jaw. He felt that one. He took a step back, shook his head in disorientation, and spit out blood. He smiled at him.
Something hit Chang in the back of the head like a baseball bat. He dropped to the floor like a duffel bag. Rather then letting him lie in his own defeat however, they hoisted him back up. The second man held his arms behind him and Greenbaum stood before him. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.
Chang blinked dimly at him and said, "I was taking a shower."
"No you yellow moron," Greenbaum sneered. "What are you doing on this ship, in the USNI?"
"I'm a fighter pilot, like my father."
"Your father was a pilot? He was probably a Red, wasn't he?"
Chang didn't say anything.
"I was in the war," he said. "I shot down you slant-eyed mother f***ers and lost a lot of my friends because of chicken shit gooks like you." He punched Chang in the stomach and spit at him. The wind was knocked out of him and he doubled over, gasping for air. The other man held him though, hoisting him back upright. "You commie bastards aren't worth your weight in rice. You know who I think you are?" Greenbaum asked.
Chang knew he was going to tell him whether he wanted to know or not.
"I think you're a spy. I think this whole damned Fist of Jupiter rebellion is just a bunch of your cousins and brothers looking for another fight." Greenbaum held his head up by his hair so that they were looking eye to eye. "I want you out of my squad. I'm not flying with no zipperhead. You tell the Captain that you want to transfer to a different squad for whatever reason, and you get the hell away from me. You got it?" Greenbaum's eyes probed his for a response but Chang didn't have any to give him. A stringy mix of spit and blood hung from his mouth.
Greenbaum wound back for one last punch and hit Chang square in the face. He fell to the ground and landed on his stomach, blood slowly accumulating on the ground by his head. He heard the two leave and he closed his eyes. Chang missed his home back on the Alamo.