The Martians

The Hero steps into the large room, with the Rocket following close behind. The surrounding room is shrouded in darkness, save for the shining light perched high at the opposite end of the room. The shining light illuminates enough area to indicate that the room is rather large, since the light fails to reveal any walls or ceiling. Only a portion of the floor is visible in the light’s green glow. 

The Hero continues walking into the room, trying to take in the shrouded room. The Rocket follows more cautiously, sensing that they were walking into a trap. The Hero sees a large round object ahead of him.

“It’s… a head. Like the head of a statue,” says the Hero.

“AAVUS!” says the Rocket, snapping his laser rifle to his shoulder and flicking on the laser/light combo. The implements bathed the floor in light to reveal a dismantled automaton lying before them. The disembodied head lies on its cheek, its mechanical eyes frozen open. The rest of the once-mighty automaton lies in a heap a little further ahead.

“But what could have defeated this fabled automaton,” asks the Hero, examining the body that lies in a heap. 

“Uhhhhh, maybe them?” says the Rocket nervously. The Hero follows the Rocket’s light beam and sees the cause of his anxiety. The wall crawls with armored alien creatures. “ART, switch to infrared,” asks the Rocket slowly. His vision is met with a wall of solid red, orange, and yellow. The walls are covered in martians.

“Martians,” whispers the Rocket. The blue green skin, once blending in with the endless darkness now shines in the bright beam of the Rocket’s light. The martians drool as they bare their razor sharp teeth. Their chins are intimidating, adorned with sharp, bone-like growths. In their claws, they grasp menacing spears made of various pieces of space junk. The visors that rest upon the martian faces appear to be dated in comparison to the Rocket’s technology, but the heroes can feel the savage eyes of the martians burning upon them. The martians, knowing they have been seen, begin to growl and slowly move off the wall and surround the heroes. The lanky little aliens, standing around four feet tall, appear to waddle as their extra long arms dwarf their stockier legs.

The Hero ignites his blade, brandishing the weapon with a flourish. “I’m taking the high ground,” says the Hero as he starts to run.

“Try a leap, sir,” suggests ART.

The Hero jumps, and a pair of jump jets ignite pushing the Hero through the air, landing on top of the fallen automaton. 

“Ah ha ha,” laughs The Hero, “I like this, BRING IT ON.” The martians begin to swarm around the Hero, crawling toward the Hero like murderous ants, leading with their cobbled together spears. The first martian charging with his spear is caught by surprise, the Hero swatting his spear to the side and cutting the martian from hip to shoulder. The martian falls back down the side of the automaton, slowing the incoming fray. The Hero unleashes a flurry of slashes, pushing back the incoming martians, with the help of a relentless stream of laser fire from the Rocket, who is shooting his way to the automaton body. The Hero notices a cluster of martians approaching from the other direction. The Hero uses his jump jets to leap to the other side of the automaton torso, executing a flunge, stabbing a martian between the eyes. The martian goes lime and the Hero retracts his blade and raises it for another attack. However, the Hero catches a yellow laser blast to the ribs. The Hero crumples, falling backward off of the automaton. The Hero looks up at the wave of martians rushing towards him, but just before they reach him, the Rocket fells them all with his rapid-fire laser rifle.

“Need a hand?” asks the Rocket, reaching down to help the Hero stand. The Hero stands shakily, “What was that?”

“Sonic lance, ancient martian technology. ART, get me a lock on the lance energy signatures,” says the Rocket.

“Right away sir,” says ART.

Several yellow denotations spring up on the Rocket’s HUD. The Rocket launches into the air, hovering several feet off the ground, directing concentrated fire onto these dangerous martian warriors, dropping them one by one. He weaves around in the air, dodging other incoming sonic lance blasts, and continues blasting the sonic lance-wielding martians until the incoming fire slows to a stop. Below, the Hero runs once more into the fray, painting a path of destruction with his expert swordsmanship, a skill that translates beautifully to a plasma saber.

“ENOUGH.”

The loud declaration, originally in another language, but translated by the armor worn by the heroes, shakes them to the core. All the martians stop their fighting and part in an organized manner. The Rocket and the Hero look once more across the room, and what they see chills them to the bone.