Phobos Rising

Synopsis

Two separate political entities of both Earth and Mars, the Free Alliance and the Coalition, have been in a state of cold war for 30 years. Both are currently mining triradium, a radioactive material that could conceivably be used for weapons that could destroy an entire planet. Amidst fear on both sides, a giant explosion is seen to destroy Earth and sends shockwaves towards Mars, where a Coalition and an Alliance base are currently situated.

Colonel Samantha Elliot believes that the Coalition has been smuggling triradium and is responsible for the destruction of Earth. Major James Bowen does not believe that they should jump to conclusions, though his credibility is compromised by the fact that there has been an increasingly romantic relationship between him and Major Dara Talif, the Coalition liaison officer at the base. As the Alliance prepares a strike, James fears that it will only result in a Coalition counterstrike and the destruction of all humanity.

As the story progresses at fast pace, bad decisions are taken due to mistrust and scarcity of information. Things come to a head when the Coalition seemingly launches an attack on the Free Alliance, which is responded to with force, only for it to be revealed too late that the attack drone was in fact a refugee ship containing the survivors of the Coalition base which was destroyed in the initial shockwave. The ship responds fire, and leads to the destruction of both the ship and the Alliance base, leaving only Bowen and Talif. As they explore the ruins searching for survivors, a transmission comes in from Earth - the explosion the Mars bases detected were not from a disaster on Earth, but on the Moon, where a Free Alliance base had an accident with an anti-matter weapon, completely destroying the moon, and causing devastation on Earth, but not complete destruction. The Coalition and Alliance have agreed to a permanent cease-fire as a response.