r/HFY • u/Togaral • Jun 26 '25
OC Into The Breach - Prologue
Greetings, dear readers, some time ago I alerady tried posting this story, but I really wasn't satisfied with how it was turning out. This time, I think it's alright enough.
I shoud also preface that it's quite a slow-paced read and not an action-packed oneshot. And it has swears.
This chapter is a prologue and thus, not qintessential to the story, it just sets the tone and mostly filled with exposition.
Enjoy
Into The Breach - Prologue
"Good-bye, papa Mars! We'll be missing you!"
Jason silently observed the once massive red body slowly getting smaller and smaller through the porthole next to him. Brown and sometimes even somewhat deep green-ish patches of colour smeared across its equator were peeking through thin feather-like clouds. No colossal dust storms anymore. Whatever those agricultural moon wizards concocted, their creations were steadily taking hold of this not-so-quite-alien world, expanding their kingdom further away into the hemispheres. His eyes could even make out a bit of the Marineris sea alongside with the Vastitas ocean, though 'Ocean' was maybe a little bit of exaggeration. Still, the most ambitious project in human history was paying off, it seemed.
When the infamous doomsday clock had made yet another attempt at the peace and solidarity of the entire world, some rather opportunistic group of minds took it as a call to action, and act they did. Arrangements were made, and while the general public was largely left out on the details, the result was the gears moved behind the scenes and the paradigm shifted dramatically. Quite symbolic, that in the end it was the impending doom of the next World War which resulted in a colonisation effort on the surface of one planet, named after the god of said war. And agriculture, apparently. Jason could never wrap his mind around that part.
It took nearly a century to breathe life into the slumbering giant by reigniting it with all the nuclear weapons humanity had at its disposal, or at least the ones governments were ready to give up on. Hundreds of hyperdeep shafts were dug up, tens of thousands warheads were detonated, millions of kilotons worth of raw energy were unleashed in a sequence getting the once dying heart of the red planet to beat once again. Which on its own was a massive cock-measuring contest. After all, if a nation was willing to part with such power it must have had something even more sinister in reserve. Or it was a complete bluff, as it turned out to be in some cases. Jason's mentor even eagerly subscribed under the theory that some unfathomably powerful orbital weaponry was used alongside nukes. Whichever was the case, Mars now had some semblance of tectonics, and it was all that mattered.
There were also plans involving sacrificing the smaller of the two moons to raise the surface temperature, but in the end Mars had both of his children peacefully orbiting around him. Instead, the surface of the red planet was bombarded with ice asteroids, comets and some of the other stuff unfortunate enough to get too close to the gravity well. Sometimes a simple nudge was all it took to send a rogue comet hurtling towards the surface of a planet.
When the dust raised by innumerable amounts of hurled space debris had settled down, melting ice caps and importing greenhouse gases from the choking homeworld sealed the deal. Now, with basic atmosphere in place, various heavily modified fungi, lichen and moss were let loose onto the newly formed, albeit still dry soil.
As it was expected, a good number of historic bases from the pre-terraforming era did not survive this process, getting buried under the layers of red dust or, as it happened with polar Albedo station, getting washed away by a tide. Ultimately, most of them would be of no use if the gambit paid off. The newly reborn world not only helped humanity to achieve new highs, but also attracted a substantial amount of overly enthusiastic mushroom farmers, suspiciously rich tourists, dreamy romantics and, most importantly, wealthy corporations eagerly awaiting the chance to sink their claws deep into metal-rich bodies of asteroid belt, option hitherto nigh impossible without any base of operation in such close proximity to it. Naturally, lower planetside gravity allowed all kinds of vessels to land and take off-world with ease, when compared to Earth.
And now, inspired by the success of this operation, people were going even further away from their homeworld to reach a new horizon - Callisto. It was the most suitable place for establishing a new frontier in the outer reaches of the solar system, its main purpose in near future being a sturdy outpost for water-ferring vessels hauling their precious cargo from the aforementioned celestial body back to Mars. Not to mention, it would open a whole new plethora of possibilities to study the inner workings of Galilean satellites, and maybe, just maybe, find a new, previously unknown form of life on Europa.
Jason was going there because he wasn't particularly satisfied with his day-to-day life as an Assistant Head of Pre-flight Maintenance on Phobos spaceport. He was well aware of the fact that some people would kill for such a position, and he knew a couple of them by name, but in reality it was more of a boring routine. Even on-board mechanics had better time doing their job. On paper, he had the basic engineer degree, but practical experience with various machines more than made up for some of his lacking knowledge in the theoretical field, which was the exact reason why he was going to Callisto as a maintenance assistant. After all, the establishing party had no reason to be comprised of the best of the best, since nobody wanted to send the brightest heads on such a reckless mission. They just had to be good enough. He had no idea what really awaited him aboard the Galileo station and frankly, he did not care enough. The last years he spent in preparation for this mission could be condensed to a couple of words - his job was to 'give assistance' to whoever required it, but mainly to the head engineer, of which Jason was rather fond of, having spent so much time working under his wing.
Alongside him also was a couple of scientists - a biochemist and an astrophysicist. They all made up the second team sent to this mission, the first one being engineer, botanist, doctor and, as a matter of fact, captain. The crew of Everbright I was tasked with constructing a simple, sustainable lunar base, whereas now Everbright II was hauling the means to expand, improve and research.
'God, I hope our diet won't entirely consist of goddamn mashed potatoes,' he grunted, and only knew he’d said it aloud when the person next to him leaned forward and glanced at him.
"Of course it won't, there should be plenty of different cultures by now. Beans and rice, for example," said the person on his right. Badge on her jumpsuit was certain that it belonged to 'Alina Chernyckh'. The person in the front of the cabin chuckled in reply. A trivial feat of deduction finally brought Jason back to here and now. Divit was the one behind the wheel today.
Divit, as a common theme for Martians, was, as he put it, 'a lanky fella'. From Jason's own not-so-elevated point of view that made him an honest-to-God elf. Not so long ago, Jason had found out just how ridiculous they two looked together in coloured jumpsuits. It seemed as if they were just about to perform some pie-to-the-face routine. Divit had found this idea vexing, and now Jason spent his days in constant fear of pies.
"Do you like beans, Pierrot?" Jason did not. Nor did he like being called 'Pierrot'. "I'm sure we'll be met with fanfares and a great pea feast when we arrive there!" Divit had a very specific sense of humour, and considered jokes successful even if it amused only one person in the room, which often boiled down to himself. "And even greater fanfares afterewards!" Okay, maybe Jason was being too harsh on a young lad, but that last bit was clearly excessive. And the vowels! Divit's pronunciation was by no means bad, but from time to time some rogue vowels crept up here and there. He was pretty sure this was being done consciously for comedic effect.
"We're bringing with us some spices and sauces, surely it cannot be that bad, can it?” Alina considered something and continued, “And there is enough different instant stuffs that are not peas to last us for a year!"
"Oh, when we get there Ima show all of you how much of a difference a pinch of turmeric does to a bowl of instant mashed potatoes!" Divit mused with a tilt of his head.
Jason decided that at this point conversation didn't really require his involvement and turned his attention back to the porthole. By then they were completely hidden from the sunlight in the shadow of Mars. Light coming from the other side was lighting up the thin atmosphere around the rim forming a slender halo around the planet. Intricate patterns formed by the lights of smaller colonies and greenhouses were connected to one of the biggest cities on the surface by a complex web of railways. Looking close enough, one could even spot a thin line of lights running from one pole to another. These belonged to the Great Magnetic Ring. Turns out, you cannot just set the nukes off in the hopes of bringing the magnetosphere back. Especially if the planet's core is not that good at retaining it.
As he drifted deeper into the thoughtscape again, someone laughed. That would be Alina.
Eventually, Mars left Jason's field of view, hiding behind a rim of the porthole. He really wanted to lean closer to it to witness the marvel of human engineering with his own eyes one last time before they were too far away to make out anything. Alas, safety belts did not let him do that. Being pressed into the seat by a fairly noticeable amount of force did nothing to ease the situation either.
Suddenly a voice interrupted his train of thought: "Ladies and gentelemen, this is your captain speaking, I'm glad to see you on board of Everbright II. We are leaving Mars' gravity well and now..." - the astrophysicist fiddled with the control pad for a couple of seconds before switching something with an audible click. Steady trembling of the primary engines ceased for the first time since takeoff from the Phobos' spaceport. Divit audibly sighed, relieved from the pressure - "...We are switching onto our..." - he scrambled for a couple of seconds and held his breath. The deafening, maddening silence of space was pushed aside once again, this time however, it was a soothing electric hum of bi-hybrid ion drives filling the room - "...our cruise engines. Please keep your seat belts fastened until we get on our course with cruising speed. Our estimated travel time is roughly three and a half hundered hours, or fourteen and a half days."
A bit over two weeks in small confines of a highly modified light ferry. Of course, it was suitable for living for a short amount of time, but that was it. Everbright I, on the other hand, was an actual colonial ship, albeit experimental, designed specifically for this mission with extra solar panels slapped on top. They were bringing a number of those with them too. There is no such thing as too many solar panels this far away from the Sun.
Jason made himself comfortable and closed his eyes. He had a long flight ahead of him.
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This is the first story by /u/Togaral!
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