Chapter 1
At last, the great powers of Mars, Terra, and Venus step beyond the shadow of war and occupation to pursue a single transformational purpose: a new start, on a new world.
And by partnering with StarColony Inc, they ensure Luna Two is a shared trust, a Promise of Unity? shaping a sustainable future together.
Marcus Sutherland sat alone at the café’s counter, wishing he could wash away too.
His hangover was a living thing, its coils writhing behind his left eye.
The Moth was famous for its soup, and his last chit bought a single bowl which he clutched like a piece of the first fire.
Spicy Chicken Soup. Hot, generous, the eye-watering broth fighting his sluggish brain into action.
He needed it, now that the end was here.
A long stutter of lightning revealed a “Lion of Mars” mural covering the wall across the street. One of many in the genre, bright colors and patriotic symbols, the Admiral looked sternly over Marcus’s shoulder, face set in harsh lines. Pax Martis.
Marcus shuddered, barstool squealing. The soup was getting through, waking him to his real problem. They’ll fly me to a debtor’s prison–Ceres maybe, or those new gas mines on Jupiter.
Debt law had gotten vicious under the Martian occupation; labor sentences were common, and no one came home unchanged. He had two choices: pay them-impossible, not even his own twin would lend him money at this point-or evade them. But how? No money for a ship.
A crash of thunder, and the door flew open, revealing a lanky Farm Corps Captain, soaking wet, with Marcus’s exact face. His brother Cassius, like an angel of judgement.
“Marcus! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
The Bot, its program connected to the door, creaked along its rails to the counter.
“Welcome to the Luna Moth, home of the finest Cook-In recipes in the system! What can-“ It stuttered to a stop. Its scanners, painted in smiling eyes, flicked back and forth between Marcus and Cassius, facial recognition caught in a loop.
“Twins.” Marcus and Cass said it together-habit- to reset the bot, who whirred away.
“I need your help!” Cassius said, throwing himself onto the next stool. His tone activated Marcus’s anxiety like rain on a fresh field, fears and worries sprouting and tangling.
“What’s wrong, Cautious?” Marcus asked, hoping the nickname would tease a smile.
“It’s Friday and the launch is tomorrow! You said you would come—”
“Oh Christ, Cass!” Guilt seared through him, followed predictably with self-loathing and an urge to make a joke.
But what joke could he make? Sorry I forgot it was your last day in the solar system.
I was too deep in my own bullshit. Send me a holo when you get to the other side of the galaxy.
“I’m so sorry! I’ll come to the ship with you now.
But we need to be a little circumspect, you see there is this debt collector working with the police—“
“No!” Cass stopped his pacing, grabbing Marcus by both shoulders. “I can’t go to the ship. You have to hide me!”
“What?”
“I won’t go. I won’t!”
“So don’t…”
“Fool! I’m General Sutherland’s son! My face is on all the posters! They’ll drag me off in chains if I don’t go.”
Cassius’s distress got through. His shoulders sagged in exhaustion, his shorn head shining with sweat. Marcus searched his face, the mirror of his own.
“What happened? Tell me and I’ll fix—”
“I have a daughter.”
“I beg your pardon?” Marcus dropped back onto his stool. That was…not what he was expecting. Cassius began to pace, a habit they shared.
“Stop,” Marcus said. “That is ridiculous. We’re forty-three.”
“It’s true! Her name is Melodie. She’s not even two. I can’t leave!”
“Why on earth not?” Marcus asked, his mind already hatching a thousand useless plans. If Cass was looking to duck responsibilities he’d come to the right shop. Marcus was the grand master of ducking.
“She’s been singing clouds or some bullshit on Ceres, didn’t hear I was in the program,” Cass said. “She said she meant to tell me. But this would be forever and—”
“So come with me!” Marcus said, seeing a chance. “If I stay, I’ll be in some Martian crater by next week, breaking big rocks into little rocks. We can be on Venus by tomorrow. You’ll have to lend me some money, though.”
“I can’t leave her,” Cass said, shocked. “The hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m the bad twin remember?”
“Even you wouldn’t leave your own child.” Sweet Cassius, dutiful, obedient, and ultimately kind, no matter how father scorned him. “I don’t know who else to ask.”
An idea flickered in Marcus’ mind. He froze, not daring to breathe as it fizzled, caught, and finally flared to life. Madness. Complete madness. But yet…
“Remember Miss Barnham’s class?” he asked.
“We could switch places,” Cass’s face lit up, and Marcus couldn’t fight the twinge of pride. This one thing, finally, he could do. He could save his brother, escape his creditors, escape his disaster of a life.
The morning of the Demeter’s launch, Fleet Admiral Leonus Augustus Ares put on his uniform with no wasted motions; donning each piece in the same order he had for the last thirty years.
He buttoned the jacket, medals, gold braid and all, a reassuring weight.
two tugs, this last time the same as the first. The Lion of Mars didn’t linger, didn’t take a moment to look in the mirror one last time.
As efficient this day as every day. And tomorrow…
Don’t think about it now. Today is like all the others.
Fleet Master Chief Rufus Gaius, the old boot also in full dress, stood in the turn to the hangar, bracing the imperial standard with two hands.
“Are we ready Master Chief?”
“Aye.” Gaius, his left eye a tangled ruin, managed to convey a thesis in the single word. Heaving the Banner aloft, he fell in behind Leonus as he stepped to his fate.
The Demeter’s launch hangar, so big it dimmed in the distance, was packed with people.
At the center, as expected, rows upon rows of his new command, disciplined and perfect, two centaura of Mars’s finest and most senior warrior caste, sent off to the stars whether they liked it or not. The price of peace. Exile wrapped in a pretty flag.
But beyond, the cheers of others shook the air—shockwaves of sound widening as calls were taken up by hundreds, no thousands, of spacers and marines.
Veterans from every ship he’d ever commanded, every battle he’d ever fought filled the hangar to its rafters.
Chanted names of ships, battles, coalesced into a landslide of sound—Ares! Ares! Ares!
And waiting by the dais, Lucius Caesar himself, with his fresh-faced new Fleet Admiral.
Leo ground his teeth. Jupiter’s Balls. Marenes was still on his mother’s tit when Gaius lost his eye.
Leonus saluted, the fist over his heart tight enough to crack his knuckles.
He was meant to be grateful, after all. Grateful to be thrown away like a broken toy.
Sent to a barely terraformed rock in another system, just so Caesar can sleep at night.
Gladios In Vomeres whether we like it or not.
Like a jury, the whole system was arrayed on the dais.
Terra’s president, senators, and Land General Ben-Sayd of the Terran Farm Corps, Bellacia Cloud-Weaver in her blue and pink robes, Venusin Diviners at her back, a colorful knot, framed by Martian Legates.
All watching him, all probably thinking the same thing.
Will he do it? Will the old lion accept?
Leo shot a glance at Gaius. The one eyed Master Chief, who’d dragged Leonus’ ravaged body aboard the last ship at Phobos, lowered the standard.
Taking it, Leonus swung it aloft as he had, gods how many times now?
“Martia Invicta!”
“Avé! Avé! Avé!” the roar loud enough to crack the air, to shiver the heavy red silk on the crossbar. Ten thousand spacers and marines…
If I asked them to cross Rubicon with me, I’d be Caesar by tomorrow. One word, right now, and he’d march into Domus Roma unopposed. And war would explode across the system, again.
Leonus pivoted, numb. Caesar’s hand closed over the standard, steady, inexorable. And without pause, he passed it to Merenes.
“I, Lucius Caesar of Mars, by will of the Triumvirate of the Sol System, award you, Leonus Augustus Ares, Bellator Invictus, Heros Phobos, command of the colony ship Demeter to bear the honor of Mars into the new world.”
Their eyes locked, the air stretched thin as wire. But Lucius knew his Hero, here in front of the whole system of humanity, Leonus Ares would do his duty. He would not bring war back to his people. His mouth clogged with ash and cordite, he saluted again.
“Martia Invicta.”