dtnovels Chapter 18: The Martian Empire
Chapter 18: The Martian Empire
5.96 million years ago, blue Mars.
In the northern part of Mars, a colossal, golden city-fortress floats in the air, its diameter exceeding 400 kilometers and its height seemingly reaching into the clouds. Within a radius of 500 kilometers around the fortress, circular warships circle and hover.
Aurora, the goddess of dawn, pointed with her slender, rose-colored fingers to the dome of the towering Olympus Fortress, which opened to let in the morning sunlight.
"Belona, get up! The sun's already high in the sky!" Mars shoved Bellona, revealing his strong physique. Mars got dressed, walked to the window, and drew back the curtains. The intense sunlight startled Bellona.
"Honey, why are you up so early? Isn't today a day off? I was hoping you would take me to Mariners Canyon."
“My dear, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, Zeus, the king of the gods, has summoned me and says there’s something urgent.”
"Another expedition?"
"I don't know. You should finish building your lunar fortress; my gut feeling tells me we desperately need it."
"Ok."
"Then I'll be going now." After Mars finished speaking, a beam of light descended from the sky, and he went directly to the residence of Zeus.
Mars greeted the other great gods: Demeter (goddess of fertility), Hestia (goddess of fire and hearth), Poseidon (god of the sea), Athena (goddess of wisdom), Apollo (goddess of light), Artemis (goddess of the hunt), Aphrodite (goddess of love and beauty), Hephaestus (god of fire, metal, and craftsmanship), and Hermes (god of messengers, thieves, travelers, and merchants).
Zeus, the supreme commander of Mars and king of the gods, was already seated on his golden throne, with Queen Hera beside him.
"Great gods, I have just received a report from Athena that an alien fleet has suddenly appeared on Saturn. The situation is urgent, so I am summoning you all for discussion."
"God-King, where did the alien fleet come from?" Apollo asked. Apollo was a cheerful, intelligent, and handsome man with a sunny disposition, his long, slightly flowing hair cascading over his shoulders.
“According to our long-range radar detection, this alien fleet should be coming from the direction of Athena. Athena is about 45 light-years away from us. According to deep space tracking, they have reached 50% of the speed of light!” Athena, who is in charge of science and wisdom, replied.
"What? 50% of the speed of light? Our warships' fastest speed is only about 25% of the speed of light." Hephaestus was in charge of warship manufacturing, so he was very familiar with it.
"Yes. And they have extremely strong stealth capabilities, so we can't see them with conventional radar. We only recently spotted this fleet on Saturn when our gravitational wave antenna was scanning the sky by chance."
"What do they want to do?" Artemis asked loudly. Artemis was always full of youthful energy, looking like she hadn't grown up yet, with a childlike face, wearing a short skirt with a cinched waist and hunting boots.
"Mars, what do you think?" Zeus asked.
"God-King, I believe that the Fifth Fleet of the Celestial Triad does not want to disturb us, so they have gone into hiding. I suspect they want to obtain something from Saturn, perhaps hydrogen ore; Saturn has a lot of solid hydrogen."
"Hmm, that makes sense. Hermes, you take 100 warships and see what they're up to. If necessary, destroy them!"
"As ordered."
"Mars, Apollo, activate the War Act. I don't want a powerful enemy by our side. From this moment forward, the Third Martian Reich is on high alert."
"Yes, sir." The crowd accepted the order.
In an instant, Zeus's command was transmitted at the speed of light to every corner of the Third Empire on Mars, igniting a frenzy of excitement and high morale.
Mars has been a site of constant warfare, and it took two hundred thousand years of internal conflict to create the powerful Third Martian Empire we see today.
They seem to have been born for war.
Hermes, aboard the Imperial command ship, led 100 Imperial warships at 5% of the speed of light, arriving at the destination in approximately 1250 seconds.
At a distance of 1000 million kilometers from Saturn, the Imperial fleet finally discovered the hidden "Saturn Thieves" fleet using neutrino anti-stealth technology.
Five million kilometers ahead, the "Saturn Thieves" fleet consisted of approximately a thousand ships, each over 30 kilometers long. Telescopic observation revealed at least ten thousand transport ships of various types near Saturn, constantly taking off and landing on its surface. Huge mining machines were clearly visible on the ground, and the transport ships were loading a continuous stream of mined hydrogen ore and heading towards Regulus.
Hermes ordered the activation of full-frequency optical broadcasting, in Morse code, which roughly meant: "Warning to the fleet ahead: Saturn is Imperial territory. Please evacuate immediately, or the Imperial fleet will open fire."
The Saturn fleet remained motionless, then suddenly appeared in unison, its weapon launch windows opening rapidly as over a thousand nuclear missiles were fired simultaneously.
"Nuclear bombs?" Hermes sneered. "All fleets, launch gravity bombs."
"Yes, my God." And so, 100 heavy gravity bombs were launched, forming a gravity trap in front of the fleet. When the nuclear bombs arrived, the immense gravitational pull tore them apart, shattering them into pieces that fell like a rain of metal. Then, incredibly, the gravity bombs recombine, forming an even larger bomb that hurtled towards the Saturn fleet. Suddenly, the Saturn fleet accelerated collectively, rushing towards the Imperial fleet at 50% of the speed of light (60 km/s).
"Oh no, they're too fast!" Hermes sensed something was wrong. As expected of a messenger of the gods, his reaction was incredibly quick. "Full speed retreat! Release the light orbs!"
In an instant, the Imperial fleet didn't even need to turn around; it accelerated to 25% of the speed of light and desperately retreated. Simultaneously, 100 orbs of light appeared, rapidly unfolding and connecting to form a massive net of light! Everything happened so fast, in just over ten seconds. The Saturnian fleet, as if their necks were thrust into a knife's edge, were sliced open head-on by the net of light, each cut into thin strips, exactly ten centimeters in length and width.
"All fleet, destroy those transport ships!"
"Yes, my God." And so, the 100 Imperial fleets, without turning, continued their pursuit towards Asclepius. The Saturn transport fleet, perhaps sensing something, suddenly accelerated to 50% of the speed of light, quickly shaking off the Imperial fleet's pursuit. The transport ships near Saturn's surface had already fled.
"Sigh, we can't catch up. They're faster than us." Hermes was somewhat dejected, a surge of anger rising within him. "Destroy Saturn's mining machinery and facilities!"
"Yes, my God."
After destroying all the mining equipment on Saturn, Hermes deployed long-range gravity probes and infrared probes on Saturn before leading his fleet back to base.
"King, Queen, and all the great gods, although the Empire has achieved victory so far, this Saturn mining escort fleet may not necessarily represent the true strength of the Celestials. Moreover, they have a huge advantage: they can travel at 50% of the speed of light, while we can only travel at 25% of the speed of light," Hermes reported to the gods.
"Mars, Apollo, how is the Imperial fleet's assembly going?"
"Reporting to the God-King, the Imperial fleet has deployed 1 large warships, 1 medium warships, and approximately 10 small warships (flying saucers) in front of Saturn," Mars replied.
“Reporting to the God-King, based on my speculation and observation, what we actually destroyed and drove away was only the vanguard. The main force of the Celestials will arrive in the solar system within half a month! The Celestials are willing to go to war with us in order to mine hydrogen from Saturn.” Apollo continued Mars’s words.
"Is that so? Then let's utterly destroy them!" Zeus slammed his fist on his throne.
"Long live the Empire!" The voices of a group of great gods resounded throughout the hall.
"King of Gods, the lunar fortress that Bellona is in charge of building will be completed within a month. This is the ultimate weapon of the Third Martian Empire," Athena reported to the gods.
"Speed up the process!" Zeus commanded.
"As ordered."
Sure enough, 10 days later, a huge gravitational oscillation occurred at the edge of the solar system, and the Celestials dispatched a total of nearly four million warships, coming with great force.
Mars peered through his telescope at the pale blue flames spewing from the Asgardian warships, densely packed yet orderly. Suddenly, the enemy ships split into three groups: one charged directly at Mars's fleet, another headed towards Saturn, and the third detoured towards Mars!
"Quickly notify the God-King to prepare for the defense of the home planet!"
"Yes, my God."
"Let's go on a killing spree! Slaughter them all! Long live the Empire!"
"Long live the Empire!"
Mars led his fleet to meet them head-on.
Suddenly, the enemy fleet dispersed, relying on its numerical advantage to essentially form a large sphere around the Mars fleet. Hundreds of thousands of laser beams shot towards the Mars fleet, followed by hundreds of thousands of nuclear missiles!
"Everyone, form a circle, activate the overclocked plasma shield, and launch the light sphere!"
Laser beams shot onto the plasma shields, and due to the reflection effect of the over-frequency modulated plasma shields, powerful electromagnetic pulse waves were generated, which spread outwards. The hundreds of thousands of nuclear bombs lost their guidance due to the interference of electromagnetic pulse waves, and some of them collided and exploded near the Tian Shen Ren fleet. The bursts of bright light and the power of the explosions damaged some Tian Shen Ren warships. The subsequent light nets sliced many enemy ships in the inner circle into strips.
The enemy ships on the perimeter had already sped away, so Mars quickly led his fleet back to defend his home planet.
The skies above Mars were already ablaze with gunfire. The Celestials were clever; two million warships tied down the main Martian fleet, while the remaining ships were divided into small groups to attack heavy infrastructure on the Martian surface. Although the Martian ground firepower was also fierce, the Celestials, with their numerical and speed advantage, managed to inflict nuclear bombardment on several parts of the Martian surface, turning it into a sea of fire. The Martians were determined to defend their home planet to the death, annihilating the enemy bit by bit.
The fierce battle for Olympus, the usual stronghold of the gods, raged on. Zeus, clad in golden armor, personally led his forces against the enemy, his warships unleashing beams of golden arrows of light upon the enemy vessels. Due to the extreme heat generated by the concentrated energy, the enemy ships were quickly pierced, causing powerful explosions inside.
"Reporting to the God-King, according to the long-range 'Sky Eye' detection, the Celestial Beings have dispatched more than five million warships, which will arrive at Saturn within a day. The Celestial Beings have already established a space-based defense system in Saturn's near-Earth orbit and are accelerating the mining of hydrogen on the ground."
"Eliminate the enemies here first, then concentrate our forces on Saturn. Hydrogen is the lifeblood of the Celestials; they need large quantities of hydrogen for nuclear fusion to power their spaceships and manufacture nuclear weapons. Athena, activate the lunar fortress immediately, even if it's only half-finished, and deploy it into battle right away."
"Yes, sir. The artificial intelligence of the Moon Fortress is currently only at the intermediate stage and can only be upgraded later." Athena said with some regret.
Looking at the battlefield on Mars, it was truly a bloody war.
The Celestial warships were significantly smaller than the Martian Empire's fleet, and their heavy weaponry was inferior. However, they were extremely agile and maneuverable, with their superior speed compensating for their lack of strength. Their sheer numbers allowed them to employ a swarm-and-encircle tactic, like a pack of wolves surrounding a tiger. Even more terrifying, after using their speed to break through the Martian fleet's defenses, some Celestial warships chose to self-destruct near the Imperial warships. This caused multiple nuclear warheads on board to explode simultaneously. The immense destructive force breached the shields of some Imperial warships, and then powerful lasers from subsequent Celestial warships pierced through them, causing some of the Imperial warships' internal weapons to detonate as well. These explosions, linked to the nuclear explosions, followed one after another, like a string of firecrackers.
The sky was ablaze with fire, explosions raged, and debris flew everywhere. The warships' metal, molten at the extreme temperatures of space, rapidly changed from fiery red to their original color due to the low temperatures, blending seamlessly into the cosmic backdrop. The entire battle scene resembled a haphazardly composed death symphony of light and fire by an old man in poor eyesight.
Because the Imperial fleet was forcibly dispersed by the Celestial Fleet, it tried to avoid launching light orbs and gravity bombs to prevent friendly fire. This rendered these heavy weapons ineffective, forcing them to rely on conventional weapons such as electromagnetic cannons, missiles, light bullets, and lasers, while using their superior shields to withstand the overwhelming onslaught of numerous enemies. Fortunately, the Imperial fleet's conventional firepower was also formidable, barely managing to hold the line in the battle.
Surprisingly, the Imperial fleet's smaller warships and flying saucers gained a significant advantage in this chaotic battle. They charged recklessly, maneuvering swiftly and accurately to launch surprise attacks from behind enemy ships, destroying many of them. The Celestials were forced to allocate almost half their forces to deal with the fly-like flying saucers, allowing the fragmented Imperial warships to regroup and finally unleash their gravity bombs and light spheres—two powerful weapons—destroying a large number of Celestial warships.
The battle on Mars lasted for two days and one night. The Imperial fleet finally annihilated all the enemies, but of course, the Imperial fleet also suffered heavy losses, with nearly two-fifths of its warships lost.
Without time to clean up the battlefield, Zeus, the king of the gods, led all the warships of his empire directly toward Saturn.
In Jupiter's synchronous orbit, a fully metallic "satellite," the Lunar Fortress, the ultimate weapon of the Martian Empire, gradually exerts anti-gravity, slowly separating itself from Jupiter's orbit. Although the Lunar Fortress activated its anti-gravity, the instantaneous gravitational vacuum still caused Jupiter's rotation to accelerate, creating a massive red vortex on Jupiter's surface (known to Earthlings as the Great Red Spot).
Bellona piloted the moon towards Saturn. Zeus, the king of the gods, led his Martian fleet, tracking the moon's trajectory and following far behind. As expected, the Asgardians' more than six million warships were already waiting at a distance of about 50 kilometers from Saturn, densely packed and menacing. The Asgardians were also quite astonished to see such a massive lunar fortress.
"Belona, annihilate them completely!" Zeus roared.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Bellona and the AI piloted the moon, removing the anti-gravity barrier and accelerating instantly to 12% of the speed of light, charging directly towards the Celestial Fleet. The Celestials lacked anti-gravity technology, so the immense mass of the moon exerted a powerful gravitational pull, sucking the lead ships of the Celestial fleet towards it. Like birds suddenly poisoned, they plummeted to Earth, their violent impacts creating a flurry of sparks on the lunar surface. The inertia from the massive acceleration carried the moon away from and beyond Saturn's near-Earth orbit. Dust, rocks, and hydrogen ore from Saturn's surface were forcibly dragged away and sucked onto the moon, burying the fallen ships. To avoid the moon, most of the Celestials' ships frantically flew towards Saturn. The moon, orbiting Saturn, unleashed a gravitational pull, destroying many Celestial warships. Dust, rocks, and hydrogen ore from Saturn's surface were continuously drawn onto the Moon, forming peculiar radial chains between the Moon and Saturn. As the Moon accelerated away from Saturn, these radial rings ejected by Saturn could no longer return and gradually drifted away (gradually forming Saturn's rings). Other Asgardian fleets, while escaping the gravitational war between the Moon and Saturn, attempted to escape the gravitational trap again, but encountered gravity bombs laid by the Martian fleet. Some survivors were also attacked by the Martian fleet's terrifying optical nets, suffering heavy losses. However, over ten thousand Asgardian warships managed to break through the encirclement, using their superior speed to escape the Martian fleet's pursuit, and sped towards their home star, Asclepius, continuously transmitting long-range communication signals.
"Your Highness, there are two low-light individuals fighting ahead."
"Really? The battle at the front is intense, we're in a hurry. Let's use the Gamma Knife. By the way, there are quite a few planets, let's also deploy an economical O-type energy bubble to trap these bugs."
"As ordered, Your Highness."
Zeus, Mars, Apollo, and other great gods suddenly saw a beam of intense light approaching, and then they were reduced to ashes along with their warships.
The battlefield, which had been raging just moments before, was now deathly silent. Death had descended silently, and only the moon escaped.