Prelude to War

[Progenitor]

Chapter 1

Fall of Mars

***

"Sir we have contact at coordinates 02-50-13!", Sensor manager Roland shouted over the din of the red alert alarms as the THS Moscow rocked under continuous fire from the Jovian destroyer that broke through the line.

"Roll 180* portside, fire torpedo batteries 1, 2 and 3." Admiral Rhegalis ordered with a voice that cut through the chaos in the bridge easily. To many he seemed detached from the situation at hand, but they hadn't seen the war triggered right in front of their eyes...

The year was 2237, and the situation on Earth was desperate. The skies darkened, the land scorched. Terra, as the humans inhabiting Earth called it - had been overused, overpopulated...overworked. Now the capital world of the Terran Hegemony lay uninhabited save for the 3.7 billion living under massive shielded domes littered across the former continents.

No one would have blamed the Terrans then - if they knew of the harsh conditions of Earth - for declaring the act of Expansion. For decades the Terran Hegemony had made do with the limited resources of the inner planets - so much so that even the sovereign Venusian Federation was absorbed unofficially into the Terran Hegemony to provide the vast populations of the Hegemony with power.

But it was inevitable that the inner worlds would be used up. While the Jovians enjoyed life in their orbital cities, gliterring under the serene stars, Terrans, Lunarians, Martians, Mecurians and Venusians toiled under the devastated skies of their worlds - unable to expand due to unrivaled Jovian power, and the peace treaty which Earth had with the Jovians before the ecological crisis.

Thus with no other choice and nothing to lose, The Terran Hegemony broke the treaty, and declared war with the Jovians. Diverting every single industrial capacity to the production of warships and colony vessels, the mass exodus of the inner worlds had begun.

"This is the THS Arkansas from sector 20-50-87, we have engaged the third Jovian Fleet that arrived in-system." The bridge speakers cackled as the THS Moscow slashed pass the Jovian Destroyer.

"THS Arkansas, this is the Moscow - maintain total war status, we're trying to divert Martian planetary guns to your position." Admiral Rhegalis responded as he paced around the command module, hands moving the floating symbols representing allied fleet elements.

We're losing ground, damn it!, the admiral thought to himself as he dragged the symbol of a Planetary defense platform over to the flashing icon of the THS Arkansas.

Although Terran warships outsized their Jovian counterparts almost 20 to 1, they couldn't survive for long when faced with hundreds of Jovians.

The Admiral snapped back to reality as flashes of light lit up the module he was in - blinding him, then darkness descended.

"God damn it, status report!", he shouted as he felt his way to the module airlock and opened it.

And he was met with a scene of chaos which no humans should ever witness. Limbs everywhere, blood stains on the photonic display, flayed bodies...and a direct view into the void from a rupture in the bulkhead.

"Oh my..." The admiral's words were cut short as the second salvo of penetrator rounds sheared the entire bridge section into half.

Above the Martian atmosphere Terran carriers and Jovian Destroyers danced in a ballad of death, with planetary defense guns firing millions of kinetic rounds into the massive Jovian fleet. The burnt out hulk of the THS Moscow spiralled down into Mars, burning up in a strangely beautiful display as it entered the atmosphere...

Surrounded by hundreds of destroyed Jovian warships that is.