Earth Time: October 22, 2009.
Location: Cydonia Plain, Mars, a colonial city.
This colonial city was Umbrella's top priority in its solar system colonization plan.
Mars is also the most populated planet besides Earth, with an current population of approximately 1.3 million people.
Most of the people who immigrated to Mars signed engineering team contracts and non-disclosure agreements, and in a sense, already belonged to Umbrella's 'citizens'.
However, they did not enjoy employee benefits and salaries; they were simply working hard to build their own homes.
At the same time, Mars also had two Paris-class heavy frigates for protection, as well as a large military base with 15,000 personnel.
11:17.
Mars Base Command Center;
"Whoosh—!" The automatic door opened.
Mikhail Victor, wearing a black beret and an Umbrella military officer's uniform, entered the command center with a serious expression, leading a large group of junior officers.
Victor was originally the commander of the Mobile Task Force's "Clearance Team" and the highest-ranking official on the west coast of Canada, with the rank of Major.
William's attitude towards Mars was that it was a 'haven' for humanity to avoid risks.
Excluding Andrei, who needed to stay on Earth, and Mike, who was responsible for fleet ground combat command, Victor was the most experienced commander.
Therefore, William promoted Victor to Colonel and assigned him to the Mars base with the Clearance Team, a large number of ground troops, Helljumpers, technical personnel, a small number of USS, and Spartan Red Team.
"Colonel." The technical personnel stopped their work and saluted Victor.
"Hm." Victor waved his hand, signaling everyone to stand at ease.
He then led a group of junior officers around the central electronic table, looking at the content displayed on the screen and saying calmly, "Report the situation."
"Yes." A technical staff member pointed at the screen and reported, "Colonel, the marines in the various asteroid colonies report information punctually at 10:30 every day.
But…"
At this point, the star map on the screen magnified, finally focusing on an asteroid.
"But Corporal Hicks Dawn of FJ336 did not report on time, so we initiated contact but found that communication could not be established."
"Unable to establish communication?" Victor frowned.
After a brief thought, he ordered, "Notify the Boss and Serena. Chief Enterprises is suspected of violating the contract."
"Yes."
"Colonel!" Suddenly, a technical staff member sitting behind numerous screens turned his head and shouted, "FJ336 is attempting to contact us!"
Upon hearing this,
Victor quickly walked behind the technical staff member, hands behind his back, and said, "Good, connect. I want to personally question those guys."
"Yes, Colonel."
After the technical staff member replied, he established communication between the command center and FJ336.
Victor's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, and he asked, "This is Mikhail Victor, commander of Mars Base. Please report your situation."
"Col… *crackle*… We… *ha—!*… *thud!* *thud thud!*"
The communication first transmitted a busy signal, followed by the roar of some creature and the sound of pulse weapon fire.
Then the communication became clear, and Hicks' voice came through: "Colonel! This is Corporal Hicks Dawn! We found an anomaly on FJ336!
I am uploading my personal combat video; all characteristics of the anomaly are in the video.
And! Please send containment troops for support!
Hudson! Look out! (Gina's loud shout came through the communication)."
Upon hearing the term "anomaly," the atmosphere in the command center instantly became several times more serious. After all, this was the first anomaly discovered outside of Earth.
Victor's previously relaxed brows furrowed tightly again, and he immediately replied, "Mars Base received. We will send support immediately.
Marines, hold your ground!"
"Yes, sir!" Hicks loudly affirmed.
"Colonel." A technical staff member sitting nearby shouted, "We have received the video message from Corporal Dawn!"
"Excellent!" Victor turned to a group of junior officers and ordered, "Clearance Team, prepare to deploy. I will personally lead this time!"
"Yes! Colonel!"
— — — — — — —
…
At the same time, in the central control room of the FJ336 colony;
After ending communication with Mars Base, Hicks turned around and saw Gina standing behind the door, frantically firing her M56 machine gun.
And Hudson, standing beside Gina, providing cover, his left mechanical arm severely damaged.
Even Jones, who had helped them greatly in the early stages, was still alive, though he remained restrained on the ground to prevent any frantic actions.
Seeing the fierce battle, Hicks quickly grabbed the M41A placed on the control console and also stood beside Gina, providing covering fire with controlled bursts.
And outside the door…
Were hundreds of mutated creatures.
Not only'scythe monsters' mutated from adult corpses, but even infants and children had undergone corresponding mutations.
As for why the door wasn't closed, it was because it had already been breached by them, so they could only use ammunition to form a new 'isolation line'.
The combat suits, armor, and mechanical arms of the three marines were covered in bloodstains, as if they had crawled out of a blood pool.
This wasn't the most astonishing thing…
The astonishing thing was that their combat suits were not torn at all, meaning they were completely unharmed.
Except for Hudson's mechanical arm on his left arm malfunctioning due to carelessness when attacked by an infant mutant, the three of them had no injuries.
This…
Deep into the mine.
Snatching the identity card amidst layers of mutated creatures, then successfully retreating from the mine, and finally returning to the central control room to call for support.
The result of two thousand versus three was somewhat unexpected.
Although the individual equipment provided by Umbrella was powerful, allowing the marines to fight one against ten or even a hundred, the tacit understanding, courage, and strength among Hicks and his two comrades were the reasons they had survived until now.
"Hicks!" At this moment, Hudson turned his head and shouted loudly, "What did Mars say?!"
"Click!"
Just as Hudson finished shouting, the ammunition in his M41A ran out, so he had to replace it with a new magazine and said, "Last magazine!"
"Mars' support should be on its way! Hold on!" Hicks shouted back.
The M41A ammunition in the corporal's hand was also depleted; at this point, he could only use his pistol for single shots, trying his best to block the tide of corpses outside.
And Gina, as the main firepower, also had only one drum left…
450 rounds of caseless pulse ammunition.
Originally, the M56 spat out dazzling flames, but now she controlled it into rhythmic three-round bursts, trying her best to conserve ammunition.
If the support troops couldn't arrive within five minutes, then they would have to rely on the raw strength of their mechanical exoskeletons to carve out another bloody path and engage in hand-to-hand combat with those mutants.
Five minutes.
If the frigate were to warp within the atmosphere, then support wouldn't even need five minutes to arrive.
And coincidentally, Victor was indeed a 'crazy' commander.
Therefore…
A "boom!" explosion came from behind the tide of corpses.
"Marines!"
At the same time, Victor's loud voice came through the communication: "Your requested support has arrived!"
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