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Its A Long War Down Under...

Part One:

Then

by Skipper Corben

1997 Copyrighted to Skipper, All rights reserved


Mars, seven years ago
Terra and Phoboes hung low over the scarlet sky, the red Martain sand glitered in the dim light. Demos glinted just over the bright horizen as the sol slowly diped under the horizen.
Charge leaned on the red rock listning to the conversation on the other side. He was still young, but gray was starting to show around the sides of his oily brown hair and fur. One of the larger of hifs spices he was verging seven feet tall, but lean and musculer. His mouth and muzzel showed extensive burn marks and scars in perticular a perfect triangel was branded on the right side of his forhead. To perfect to have been an acsident.
He pulled a blaster out of the holster on his back, and turned over onto his stomach, the old black jacket complained of his movements. He ignored it.
The big mouse couldn't quite make out what they were saying, he didn't need to. All he needed to kn ow was that they were Plutarkians, and he hated Plutarkians.
Hated them from the bottem of his soul. He rubbed one of the scars on his muzzel.
One scar shall be avenged.
He sighed, then turned around from the rock and stared to crawl up the sand dune next to the rock, making sure not to make a sound, the red sand was grity and rough, it got inside his helmet and shirt, but he climbed to the top of the dune to watch the Plutarkains work.
" Charge!" Someone hissed urgently.
He turned around, and almost sliped down the dune. A small black female mouse crawled up next to him. Her helmet was on, but sticking out of it he could see her white hair.
" Daredevil?" He let himself slip down the dune, next to Daredevil.
The small mouse noded and then pointed to the Plutarkians, " you after them?" she asked, her eyes flicked up as she saw him rub a scar.
" Uh-huh" he replied and started to crawl back up the dune.
" You heard from Havok, he hasn't checked " Daredevil followed him, her small form easely keeping up with him on the slipery sand.
" Yeah, he's on the other side of the Fish heads" Charge pointed to a mound in the sand, a form was buried in the sand on the other side of the dune. " He's hiding in plain sight, like usale" Charge gazed at the mound.
Daredevil noded and make her way across the sand picking her way through the dunes towards Havok, Charge was already crawling back up the dune towards the Plutarkian troops.
Oh the sweet joy, it had been years since he had had a chance to blast them.
Oh sweet vengence.
Charges tail twitched in anticipation. The big mouse grinned and started to load his blaster.
Daredevil maneged to get to the mound of sand that Charge had said was Havok. She hoped it was, Havok had a habbit of going off on his own.
She got within two meters of the sand mound and stoped in fear that she might be seen. Cursing Havok's methods she setteled down to watch the Plutarkains.
Charge's voice crackeled over her COM " be ready for the attack" he said.
" Ten-Four Charge."
Havok was good at hiding, so good he could have hid under your nose and you would not have known he was there, this was exactly what he was doing right now. In short he was a master of disguise.
The sandy mouse lay still under a thin coat of red silt, breathing slowly through the filter in his helmet, the sounds of the Plutarkians conversation coming through loud and clear to his sensitve ears.
The two Plutarkian guards had no idea they were being watched by the three mice so they disided that this would be a good time to talk about the relevence of what they were doing.
" You think it'll work?" The first was aparently the stupider of the two.
" Of course it'll work, unless the Martains interfear" the second continued.
" They won't interfear, they don't even know we'r here" the first asured him.
" But a transport in hard to miss?"
" It'll work."
Charge climbed higher on the dune watching them, below he could see Havok and Daredevil. Sudenly he saw a black figure leaning on a nearby rock outcrop aparently watching the Plutarkians with intrest.
The figure had a long black coat, a quarter staf was straped to it's back. A gray bike could just be seen over the top of the dune.
" Loner" Charge muttered and pulled out his COM.
Havok continued to listen to the Plutarkian's conversation when his COM vibrated in his jacket pocket.
" Damn" he swore silently to himself. " Can't he see I busy?" He slowly started to move his hand towards the COM and turned it off. Sand ripeled off part of his arm, he quickly ajusted himself so he wouldn't be seen.
Charge looked bad temperedly at his COM as it fizzed off.
"That sonova...!" he cursed and started to try to contact Daredevil.
Daredevil was not as busy as Havok when her COM beeped she answered it and got a very pissed Charge.
" We'v got a problem" he started " I just saw Loner over that ridge" Charge turned over to see Loner's dark figure on the red rock.
" Should have known he'd show up" Daredevil glowered at the COM as if Charge and Loner could actualy see her expretion.
" Calm down, me an' Havok'll handel the fish heads, you handel Loner" Charge said, he tryed to get Havok again, no luck.
" Gotya." Daredevil moved off to deal with the stranger called Loner.
Under the sand Havok reached for the COM in his helmet.
" Charge, Daredevil? Come in!" he wiphered urgently into it.
" What is it?" Came Charge's bad tempered reply. " You better have a good explanation for why your COM was off" the big mouse went on.
" I do, but it'll have to wait. The fish heads have a transport!" Havok said, his voice showing faint traces of worry.
" And?" Was all he reseved from Charge.
" Shall we blow them?" Havok asked, already starting to move into a better position.
" Yeah, let's."
The zoom on Loner's helmet fizzed off as he saw the small black mouse move away from the Plutarkians, he sighed and continued to watch with intrest.
He was middle sized for a Martain, with deep brown fur mared only by a patch of black on his right cheek. His only wepon was a steel quarter staff that was straped across the back of his long black trench coat. He smiled and started to move towards his gray bike as he saw the big oily colored mouse move towards the Plutarkians and the small mound of sands shift with the movement of a Hider.
He was so adsorbed in watching them that he didn't see the small black mouse moveing up behind him.
" Loner what the slag are you doing here?!"
He spun around to face Daredevil pointing a blaster at his face.
" You know the answer to that" Loner replid as he started to move slowly intoposition to take his quarter staff of his shoulder.
" You wanted a piece of the action, I know" Daredevil tightened her grip on the blaster and leveled it out on Loner.
"Right" Loner's eyes narowed and sudenly he swung the staff off of his shoulder, and spun it up catching Daredevil under the chin, sending her reeling across the sand with a CRACK!
The noise brought the two Plutarkians running with their blaster's raised.
"Now see what you've done, you bastered, Loner!" Daredevil scrambeled up to takel Loner, she flung her full whight at him.
They both when crashing too the sandy ground.
Farther away Havok, oulled himself out of the sand with a threaning WHOOSH! Charge, catapulted over the hill, yelling angry death threts at the top of his lungs, both mice quite fearsom, with blasters drawn.
Loner rolled ontop of Daredevil clamping her too the ground.
"Ya got no business wid me kid" he lowered his voice near her ear.
"I do now!" Daredevil kneed him in the stomach and pushed him off.
Loner when flying up into the air, amazingly he caught himself in the air and landed on his feet, right and catlike.
Chargw wraped one of her arms around the first Plutarkin's neck , his blaster fiering down towards the feet, making the dumb brute dance like in a Terran wild west.
"Alright talk, whos got ya ta bring that transport here!" His voice was somewhat slured.
Havok finished off the other Plutarkin with a blaster shot, it fell, blood streaming from the riffle holes in it's face.
Loner spun around catching Daredevil on unawares his staff, now in hand he cracked it into her stomach, sending her gasping to get her wind back.
The mouse then whiseled for his bike and departed for places unknown to them.
A cloud of dust followed his bike.

***

To put it politly Carbine was mad.
Usealy she was mad at sevrel things at once, but today especialy she was mad an oily brown mouse who leaned on the door in front of her with a look on his scared face that told Carbine that the mouse didn't care and probebly had better places to be.
She knew the mouse's name was Charge, he some times brought in information, but never stayed for very long. She had heared that he worked for a Comandant Nostromo.
No records there. Nostromo must be pretty tough to handel Charge every day.
" So your saying that you saw a Plutarkian troop transport?" She turned around angrally. " Here on Mars?"
The mouse noded.
"Charge,right? Even your sight is not that
good" she glared at Charge who shrouged.
" Sorry Carbine, just thought you'd like to know" the oily mouse turned tail and left with out saying anything else bumping into Stoker as he left.
" Seems you'ev met Charge?" The other mouse asked looking at Carbines glare.
" Not one of my better experences, that is probably the most stuborne mouse on Mars" Carbine let out a large sigh. She sat back on a nearby chair. " I'll go insane if I half to deal with him again" she similled rutefuly and sighed again.
" Charge has that kind of effect on some of us" Stoker smilled. " By the way I confermed his sighting of a troop transporter."
" Heaven help us." Carbine looked up.
" No, but we are getting reinforncments from Comadant Nostromo" Stoker turned around leaving Carbine to her thoughts.
" Nostromo!?"
" Uh-huh."
"God no!"

***

When Charge had strode out of Carbine's office practicly the same thing ran through his head as through Carbine's " what a stuborne mouse!" he grinned though the scars and walked off to the mess hall to find his mates, Dardevil, Painkiller, and Havok
He found Daredevil leaning on a crate inspecting and ocasionly yelling insults at the army workers, making repairs too the bikes that sat dijectedly around the gargage.
Just as Charge came nearer too Daredevil, a young white mouse, who was oiviously teird of hearing her, stood up with a flare of arogence that Charge admeired, but found slightly anoying.
He'll get worse over the years.
Charge stoped and leaned back.Smiling slightly at the sight of Daredevil arguing with the smaller white mouse.
"Hey messmate....lets find the rest!" he yelled, intorupting what he thought would have been quite an enjoyable argument for Daredevil, so he took specil pride in breaking it up.
Havok was standing along outside the compound, hs face duskward.
Upong hearing Daredevil and Chareg aproching he turned.
" Just got word Nos'll be _ere soon" he said simply.

***

Comandant Nostromo sat in Carbine's makeshift office, looking slightly unconfortable, he was a tall black hispanic looking mouse, long hair tied back in a slopy pony tail, a messy raged beard gave him a _Fildl Castro' type look.
"You should keep your troops better diaplinned Comandant" Carbine had her back too him. Her hands where tight with tension.
On the other hand Comandant Nostromo looked relaxed, but quite uncomforteble.
"On the contrary Senioreta Comandant, Charge is one of my best fighters, I trust him implicidly" Notromo stood up stroking him beard. " My methodes may be unorthedox, but trust me they work Senioreta" he gave her a curt salute and marched out. His boot's metal tips making ungainly ringing noises on the floor.
Outside the office Charge, and Havok were waiting, Daredevil could be seen a little farther off weeling a bike into the gargage, and arguing with Painkiller.
"Keep an eye on that Sinoreta, Mates....she's gonna cause trouble for the ET Alliance"