I’m jolted awake by the heavy shaking of the rover and chatter on the helmet radio.

  “What’s going on?” I ask on the radio.

  “We just hit a bit of a rough patch. How’d you sleep?” Nicklausson asks. He’s sitting next to me, in the rover’s driver seat.

  “Best sleep I’ve had since earth.”

  “Good for you, the rest of the team is asleep as well.”

  “Good. They need the rest.”

  “What’d you dream about? I could hear you mumbling.”

  “The usual. Katherine and Anna.”

  “I’m guessing Kat wasn’t too happy with you taking this mission?”

  “Not really no.”

  In fact, she was more than just “not happy”, she was furious. When I volunteered for the army, when the war first started all those years ago, she was angry but she understood that I needed to do it. The war had reached us and she knew that I had to do what I had to do. When I returned after the ceasefire, she was so happy, so was I. She made me promise that I would never go back, promise that I was done. Even though I knew the peace wasn’t going to last for long, I promised her. When General Ekenquist approached me nine months ago about a secret mission, I knew I had to accept. I pondered for days about how I would tell Kat. When I finally brought it up, I told her that I had been asked to lead a mission but that I had not decided on anything. Thinking this would soften the blow, I was foolish. As soon as I said that I hadn’t decided she became furious. She didn’t understand how I could even think about it now that we had Anna. When I finally gathered the courage and told her that I could not turn it down, that I needed to do it, that I had to do it, for us and our freedom, she didn’t care. She was done, she could not go through it all again. We fought for hours. When I woke up on the day of my departure, she was already gone. She had taken Anna and left a note “Gone to my parents”. I left without even saying goodbye. Had I known then what the mission I signed up for was, I probably would have turned it down. In my mind I would be sent behind enemy lines to sabotage the enemies nuclear capabilities, I only thought this because all I heard on the news was about the development of nuclear weapons and all the tests being conducted around us by our enemies.

  This is what I dream about, my family, where we would be if I had not gone on this mission. I dream of us at the supermarket together, of us at the beach, waking up next to Kat with Anna sleeping between us. I pray she forgives me when I return.

  “How long was I out?”

  “About an hour. We don’t have long now. I think it’s time we wake everyone up.”

  I turn around in my seat, the movement is much easier now in our combat suits compared to our flight suits. I grab Williams by his shoulder and shake him, trying to wake him up.

  “Don’t worry captain, I’m already awake.”

  “Good, wake the rest.”

  “Will do Captain.”

  He grabs Barbier next to him by the shoulder and shakes him awake as well. He then turns to the last row and gives Wolf a shake as well before speaking over the radio.

  “Rover two, it’s time to wake up.”

  I look out to my right and I see Rover two about fifty meters out, it’s piloted by one of Nicklaussen's men. They do not respond.

  “Rover two, nap time is over.” Williams says.

  “I’m trying, I’ve been shaking Larsen but she isn’t waking up. I can’t reach anyone else.” The driver says.

  “Not waking up? Is she oka..” I begin to say but I am interrupted.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “WAKE UP! WE ARE GOING TO WAR! THE FIGHTING IS ABOUT TO BEGIN!”

  “Williams shut up!” I yell.

  “What the fuck Williams!?” We hear Skatt over the radio.

  “See, it worked.” Williams says and even though I can’t see his face, I can hear it in his voice that he has that annoying grin on his face.

  “Alright everyone, we’re about ten minutes away from the ridge, check your gear. Remember to stay connected to the rover's air supply for as long as possible,

  You only have about an hour of oxygen from the moment you disconnect” Nicklausson says.

  I reach down between my legs and grab my carbine. It sure is ugly, it is a standard Swedish AK with heavy modifications on it so we can operate it properly in our bulky suits. The trigger guard has been removed and the trigger itself has been extended for easier handling with our bulky gloves. The modified scope is mounted extra high so we can aim through our helmet visors, an extended magazine so we do not need to reload as often given it is a difficult task in the suits and lastly an extended barrel as well as a suppressor which gives us better recoil control.

  We stop about twenty meters from an edge which looks like it could be the end of the world. The ground just seems to disappear and there is nothing but stars and a dark sky behind it. Nicklausson gets out of the rover and tells me to join him. He orders everyone else to stay put. I reach back behind my helmet and disconnect the air supply hose that’s connected to the pack on my back. That pack is what gives my suit power and air, it has been heavily modified for our mission. It is smaller than any previous versions, this gives us more manoeuvrability compared to our adversaries. I get out of the rover, grab my AK, connect it to my sling and head up to Nicklausson. He hands me a pair of binoculars and starts walking towards the edge.

  “The drop on this side of the crater is quite large, careful so you don’t fall in.”

  I take a look down as we approach the edge, he wasn’t kidding. It must be at least fifty meters down. A few thousand meters from us, in the center of the crater, there is a collection of lights and machinery moving. It looks like a small village from this distance. But the lights are not all collected in one spot, instead they are formed as a huge circle with darkness in the middle.

  “That’s it. The American and Russian Mars Hopper base.” Nicklausson says.

  I grab my binoculars and look towards it. I can see a lot of movement.

  “It sure is crowded.”

  “They’re expecting us, my guess is that every American and Russian on the moon is there. There’s going to be a lot of military personnel.” He replies.

  I take a closer look at the centre of the circular city, in the darkness I can see what looks like the top of two white towers poking out, far apart from each other.

  “Are those the hoppers?”

  “Must be. Their launch pads are down in the centre of that crater, the whole base is built around it.” Nicklausson replies.

  I look over at Nicklausson, he’s looking down toward the centre of the crater through his binoculars.

  “Any chance we can hit them from here?” I ask him.

  “I get 4.2 Km to the Russians and 5 Km to the Americas.” He says.

  “With the lower gravity, we can reach that with the Carl Gustaf, sir.” Skatt says on the radio.

  “It is way too hard to aim from here, any minor misalignment and you’ll miss. It’s not an impossible shot but a highly improbable one.” Wolf says.

  “How much closer?” Nicklausson asks.

  “I would recommend a range less than 1200 meters.” Wolf responds.

  “Here I thought that no atmosphere and the lower gravity would mean we could hit targets further away.” one of Nicklausson's men responds.

  All of a sudden Wolf shows up next to me, she grabs my binoculars out of my hands and looks down at the base.

  “We have the guided rockets but they can’t lock on to that small target. We need to get to a better vantage point.” She says.

  “How much more of the Hopper do we need to see for them to be able to lock on?” Nicklausson asks.

  “Much more.”

  “Well, the only position where we will be able to see much more of them is right on the edge of that crater.” Nicklausson responds.

  So much for taking them out from a safe distance.

  “We’ll stick to the plan. Two men stay here, each one with one guided rocket and try to take out the hoppers in case we fail to stop the launch.”

  “That’s you Nilsson and Lauritzen, get your gear and get set up.” Nicklaussen commands.

  “The rest of us will split up. Exactly how we trained back home. Edwards, Rossi and Skatt. You’re in Rover one. Remember, wait for us to engage and draw their fire before making your move.”

  “Skogsberg is your driver, he’ll get you there and back.” Nicklausson interjects.

  “The rest of us are in Rover two, we’ll head for the Russian Hopper.” I say.

  No one says anything for a moment.

  “Remember to keep moving, we won’t hear any snaps from any incoming fire.” I say.

  “Keep your eyes on the enemies guns, when they fire there will be sparks. Much less compared to the sparks when firing on earth but given the darkness, it will still be noticeable.” Wolf adds.

  “Alright everyone, get in position. We are going in and out, as soon as both Hoppers are hit, we are getting back in the rovers and heading home.”