Chapter 1

Captain Scarlett appeared on twenty billion video screens across Earth, Mars, Venus, Luna, and all orbital colonies. Ruggedly handsome with square jaw and dark wavy hair, his good looks were topped off with a dark five day beard. One could see the scar on his right cheek under the beard if you looked close enough. His Western Alliance Navy uniform was pressed perfectly, and the patch on his right eye matched his uniform.

“Today we honor the hero that not only saved Mars, but drove back the Eastern Bloc’s military buildup on Mars and provided water to the three million inhabitants of the Martian Colonies,” said the announcer as Ray Clark, President of Mars, stepped up to pin a medal on Western Alliance Navy Captain Alan B. Scarlett.

For his part, Alan was glad it was over. The years of planning this hair-brained scheme came to fruition, and he was able to save his home, Mars. Like all Mars born humans, Alan was easily embarrassed and when the president pinned the highest award a military man could receive, the Spacemen’s Medal of Honor on him, he blushed and wished it was all over. But the pomp and ceremony were well deserved. It was the first time the Spaceman’s Medal of Honor was awarded since Lieutenant Commander Gualberto Zunino led the battered Western Alliance forces against the Eastern Bloc financed pirates in the Battle of 704 Interamnia over fifty years ago. For somehow pulling off the rescue of his home world, all Alan wanted was the Martian’s dream, a home next to a canal, and a boat.

His planning started decades ago, but it was last year when he presented his plan to the desperate president of Mars in a letter.

February 12, 2156
TO: Ray Clark, President of Mars
SUBJECT: Jezero Crater

I’ve been following the water problems on Mars, and I have an idea that will work. I know it’s been years since I lived on Mars, but it’s still home to me, and you are family. The attached document lays out the detailed plan, and I’ve attached the chief engineer’s comments. Please let me do this, Uncle Ray. I have the equipment and the people, and the funding is rolling in. I can’t stand by and watch every colony on Mars shut down because of this water shortage. All I need from you is a place to work, and Jezero Crater would be perfect.

Signed: Alan Scarlett

February 27, 2156
TO: Alan B. Scarlett, Captain, Western Alliance Navy
SUBJECT: Jezero Crater

Your plan is audacious and terrifying at the same time. It’s crazy, but I think if anyone can pull it off, it would be you. I ran it through the political meat grinder, and everyone agrees, it’s a million to one shot. No one has ever done anything like your plan describes and three quarters of the Martian senate says it’s impossible. But as everyone knows, a million to one shot pays off nine times out of ten. Let’s do it. At this point, Mars has nothing to lose and everything to gain. I’ll be on Earth for colonial conferences from June first to the fifteenth. Let’s get together and get the ball rolling on the Jezero Lake Project. (You name for the plan, The Azimov Plan, doesn’t score well in marketing groups)

Can’t wait to see you Al, it’s been far too long. Will Pandora be there?

Signed: Ray Clark, President of Mars

NSS Glenn September 30, 2156
Equatorial Atlantic Ocean

Lieutenant Scott Anders, call sign Fleagle, was late to his pre-flight. The mission briefing for a simple hop to Armstrong Station at Lunar Lagrange point One went on longer than normal. The Navy wanted to ensure that Fleagle got his VIP, Very Important Passenger, to Armstrong safe and on time. After suiting up in Life Support section, Fleagle stepped out onto the deck of the NSS Glenn, the first (and finest) Western Alliance Navy spacecraft carrier.

The launch window was an hour wide, and didn’t open for another 30 minutes, giving him plenty of time to do a preflight inspection on his U-700 series lunar shuttle. Along with his flight engineer Master Chief Petty Officer Carl White, Scott Anders, and Spacecraft Boatswain’s Mate (Launch) AB3, Sandra Magnus started the preflight check on the Air/Space craft before his VIP arrived and got in his way.

Landing gear, wings, fins, stabs, heat shields, solar panels all check good. Access panels closed, fuel probes removed, oxygen is being loaded, the exterior is ready. He noticed some red shirt “Ordies” up on the backbone. As far as Scott knows, the U-700 doesn’t have a weapons system, so why were ordnance men up on the backbone? He entered the access hatch way down almost under the plane and climbed the ladder behind the engineer’s and navigator’s positions to the upper deck, where he closed the ladder hatch.

The ladder came up in the kitchen area and he made sure there were rations for three and coffee for six (that’s how it usually works out on shuttle flights) then worked his way forward. The U-700 had eight seats on the upper deck, six passengers, pilot, and co-pilot. On this hop, there was no co-pilot or navigator on the schedule which cut down on weight.

He moved forward, then realized there was someone in the co-pilot seat. He looked and Lieutenant Anders saw his VIP sitting in the right-hand seat waiting for him.

Jet black hair with a touch of gray at the temples, steel hard square jaw, straight nose, black eyepatch on the right eye, bright, piercing blue left eye. There was a scar that ran down his forehead, under his patch, and continued to his cheek. The savior of the Luna 03 colony, commander of the outnumbered but victorious Western Alliance Space Forces in the battle of Lagrange 4, first Mars born colonist to rise to the command ranks in the Western Alliance Navy, first pilot to make the Terra-Luna run in under 24 hours, first spaceman to land on all four inner planets ... the list of Captain Alan Scarlett’s accomplishments along with those of his squadron, the Strike Force Berserkers, the best pilots in the solar system, was unfathomable.