[center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1p713CTz0Q[/youtube][/center] [center][h1][color=ed1c24][b]Mars Attacks![/b][/color][/h1][/center] Mars was largely terraformed, and properly too. The bulk of the landscape was still like Arizona, but cold, so maybe more like the Gobi Desert. You could breathe alright, and conditions weren't bad for the most part, but the air was a little thin away from the cities, like being on a mountain. Food and air was being generated in stable hydroponic areas all across the planet to make it more liveable, and numerous machines were working 'round the clock to break down, analyze, and re-orient the structure of the Martian soil to become more fertile, more Earth-like. It was a terraforming project in progress, and it was doing well. The new territories, the unregulated economy, the huge deposits of mineral wealth to be found here... It was windfall, windfall, windfall, [i]especially[/i] if your name was Brett Tavors, CEO of the Martian Mining Corporation. Speaking of which, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1i9PRpAwHg]here we are.[/url] The main office of the MMC was a tall skyscrape-fortress, designed to withstand heavy dust and sand storms, which could still occur on Mars. It was built to this level of defense [i]officially[/i] so that their employees wouldn't have to 'feel the bumps' while at work. It was [i]really[/i] to protect their assets from attack. Much like any company's built-in lawyer defense team, [i]this one[/i] was built for combat, with a private security force and a HELLUVA lot of weapons. But hey, given what they were raking in now, all the risks taken as of late were worth the rewards...except for possibly [i]one[/i]. They had a fortress within a heavily-guarded perimeter within a heavily-patrolled town with an outer perimeter wall (officially constructed as a windbreaker to prevent the storms from blasting through the streets at full speed), but even still...right now...the owners and operators of this company were [i]not[/i] feeling secure. Brett now sat in comference with his board of directors, a group of men and women who were all-in on this, and were now all uneasy because of that little shit who refused to die. [b][color=ed1c24]"So, let me see if I [i]grasp[/i] the fullness of our situation, right here. We are a [i]pretty damn powerful[/i] corporation, are we not? We were daring enough to stake all our livelyhoods on this project, we were committed to making sure that our competition would eat space dust while we hit the finish line, and we [i]all[/i] made out like bandit kings. Our influence is great on Earth, and our power is like GODS on [i]this[/i] world. And yet..."[/color][/b] He raised a finger, giving them all a pointed stare. [b][color=ed1c24]"And yet...we are unable to silence those who keep wanting to raise a stink about our operation. Oh, we were content to ignore it because it was just a pair of punk kids turned soldier. Who cares? Why draw attention to ourselves? Well, let me think... Oh [i]right[/i]. Because it turns out that if you train in the army, you start to become a threat! And he DID become a threat, [i]didn't he now?![/i] So much so, that he won enough money to FORCE that investigation we don't need, and he survived the [i]fucking assassins[/i] we hired [i]TOO LATE TO DO ANY DAMN GOOD!![/i]"[/color][/b] He slammed the table as rose to his feet, glowering at the people now rooted to their seats with fear. They were his accomplices and they had helped build this corporation, but he could have them all shot. Hell, he had a gun on him. He could kill them all, right now. Maybe just one, just to set an example. This man was a character, and if you're thinking Martin Sheen versus Gary Oldman, you're getting close. He slumped back down in his chair, leaning back a little now. [b][color=ed1c24]"Repeat to me again what the Wuye-ying say."[/color][/b] One of the board members read the message from them, once more. [b]"They said 'Target escaped execution on Earth, now heading to Mars, albeit slowly. Will send top assassin to intercept to guarantee-'"[/b] [color=ed1c24][b]"Bullshit."[/b][/color] The CEO straightened up again, then pointed to one of the lady directors in the room, who handled some of their espionage offworld. [b]"Our people on Earth report that Jonathan Renzo was badly injured, but the assassin died before he could complete his task-"[/b] [color=ed1c24][b]"Failed."[/b][/color] [b]"-while there is every indication that Captain Athena was completely unharmed and no trace has been found of the one sent to her-"[/b] [color=ed1c24][b]"Faaailed."[/b][/color] [b]"-leaving the fate of Niko Renzo the worst of all, as it would appear his assassin has [i]joined forces[/i] with him-[/b] [b][color=ed1c24]"Worthless pieces of shit, the lot of them. I paid good money for martial artists because that's what I was up against, and what happened? I should've hired a kid with a load of chemicals and too much free time. THAT would've done it! BOOM! Dead. Three weeks ago, this kid and his new pal blasted off from Earth and have been taking their sweet time getting here. Now, maybe it's to throw us off, like we wouldn't see them coming, but they're wrong. Even without any obvious emissions, it can't be hard to pinpoint a ship idling along in space for three weeks, right? Well?"[/color][/b] [b]"We DO have their coordinates and have calculated several landing vectors."[/b] And now, in a manner that made everybody in the room feel just a bit more afraid, Brett lightened up suddenly...and smiled. [color=ed1c24][b]"Alright! We have them in our sights. Now...do we take them down in transit, or do we wait until they land? Thoughts? Anyone? No? Tell you what... Let's flip a coin."[/b][/color] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Capsule Corp vessel was automatically adjusting its course and speed now to come in for a proper landing on Mars. From orbit, Mars still looked kind of dead, but there [i]were[/i] developments. There [i]were[/i] improvements. Also, no Martian war machines or evil alien diseases waiting for them. The imaginations of H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Doctor Who, and so on were thankfully not to be realized. That said, some of the more realistic movies about the conditions of Mars were not far off, especially that Matt Damon film, in the beginning. Point is, the planet was [i]entirely[/i] tame, but you'd take it sled dog racing. These past three weeks, though... Helluva workout, and the things he was learning were both impressive and potentially troubling. Wu had stated right out that even though he was helping out, he wasn't comfortable fighting family, or this guy Li. The only real assurance that Niko could give in case they DID come after them was that he promised not to kill them if the opportunity presented it. His training was thus to take such opportunities, sometimes, but it wasn't right for him to decide their ultimate fate with Wu right there on his side like that. It would be just about as the killing of his own parents. Anyway, that was a problem maybe in the future, not right now. After all, if those assassins wanted them NOW, they would have to search an [i]entire planet[/i], and maybe its moons. Niko sat down at the console now. [color=92278f]"Okay, we are coming upon Mars orbit, shifting gravity back down to normal while we come in for a smooth land-"[/color] He'd touched just a few buttons, perfectly normal routine stuff, when the interior lights went red and a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cluBSGpbLqg]siren[/url] started up! [color=92278f]"AGH! Whoa, whoa, what the hell? I didn't do that! What's going on?!"[/color] The ship scanners immediately called up a display on multiple contact points on the screen that were getting bigger, identifying them as- [color=92278f]"Missles?! Mars doesn't [i]have[/i] a missle defense grid! Not by the [i]military![/i] Oh shit... Wu, strap in! We have to land [i]right now![/i]"[/color] [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX-aHbMvBqY[/youtube][/center] There wasn't simply [i]a few[/i] missles, but ALOT of them, and they were coming in from different vectors, meaning somebody had either a bunch of permanent surface-to-orbit missles stations around, or they had that kind of ordinance able to be mobilized and pulled to a location. Either way, this wasn't good! Niko wasn't an expert pilot, but one thing he knew about this ship was that it was fast, and it was small, and it had [i]great[/i] control over itself. He pushed the controls from making a nice safe landing to 'express elevator to hell' mode, dropping the sphere-ship down down [i]down[/i] through the atmophere to avoid the missles. The ground was many feet below them, but the speed this thing was going, they would reach it in no time flat, and if he didn't stop it, they would both BE flat. Kamikaze-diving a planet in even one of the BEST ships he'd ever seen would still kill you, no question. Let's just say, the speed they were going would put pressure even on the currently-maintained 1-G inside of the ship. Because of this, they avoided the missles...but two of them were close enough to start tracking and they followed them down! [color=92278f]"Ah, shit... Come one, come on, [i]come on![/i]"[/color] He maneuvered the ship left and right quickly, not so much trying to shake them, but rather hoping that they weren't- AWW, YES!! They weren't smart missles! They collided with each other, trying to track him when he jiggled about and- OH, GROUND GROUND GROUND [i]GROUND GROUND!!![/i] Niko put on all the stops to the ship's heavy descent, reversing external gravi-thrust, probably giving them a jolt similar to what the ancient astronauts got from escape velocity...hanging there for a second, before...hitting the landing gear button and letting the ship come to the ground...which they'd depressed slightly from the forces of the Capsule Ship's engines. [color=92278f]"Okay... We're down...and down safe. Let's...not worry about where, just yet. Let's find a town, use some Capsule transport to get there, and not risk getting blown up for a while, okay?"[/color]