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They reminded God of nothing so much as three meter tall armored spiders with canons on there<br />
back and missile launchers slung under them.<br />
Yeah, armored spiders that can jump a hundred feet in this low gravity and move over eighty<br />
kilometers and hour. No wonder the Tiri developed these hard suits, we'd already be dead<br />
otherwise.<br />
Not that the end result looked to be any better, but she grinned savagely. She'd see as many of<br />
them burning in hell before they reached Mars Dome as she could.<br />
------------------------<br />
"Father, we have to get you out of here."<br />
The Tiri Emperor sat in a command seat near the back of the massive Command and Control<br />
installation buried underneath what had become known as Mars Dome. It had taken the Tiri sixty<br />
years to build that dome, a place for there civilians to live, and a place where they could recreate<br />
a little of the world that they had lost. The usually teeming streets were empty now, the last of<br />
those civilians had long ago gone to the emergency shelters built into the solid mars bedrock in<br />
anticipation of this day.<br />
No one had anticipated the Bak'ra getting this close without Tiri ships being able to stop them<br />
though. The militia and marine's who had been stationed inside the dome were already waiting<br />
outside, nearly all of them in unpowered armor, with only pulse rifles, to aid the jump troops<br />
who were being driven back. Winston knew that Katya was out there, somewhere, if she wasn't<br />
already dead. He didn't think she was though, no that one was too stubborn to die.<br />
Stubborn like someone else he knew come to think of it.<br />
The old man in front of him had once seemed like the pinnacle of strength to a then young<br />
imperial prince. Now his father seemed a ghost of his former self, thin hands shook when he<br />
moved them, and his eyes often seemed to be focused on something distant.<br />
Not now though.<br />
"No, I stay here."<br />
"Father, we need to get you somewhere safe."<br />
"Son, I saw one planet overrun <strong>by</strong> these butchers, I will not run away and see it happen to<br />
another! Our people are here, and here I stay."<br />
Winston opened his mouth to tell his father that they needed him alive when a dull explosion<br />
caused the room to shudder. All eyes turned towards the main holo tank, and Winston's words<br />
died in his throat. The Bak'ra were within ten kilometers of the dome now, and they were within<br />
range to start blasting the ground above with high explosives.
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