The Last Empress of Mars

“We must leave, Commander, we have no choice, set a course for the blue planet, we should reach it in a couple of days using our standard plasma drive propulsion, we must protect the artifacts and what little remains of our people!” shouted the Empress. “Your command is law Exalted One, it will be done!” answered Commander Ruthaar, as he gave orders to the other two starships to set a course for the Blue Planet. As the gigantic subterranean hangar doors slid apart, all three starships lifted one by one into the thin and irradiated Martian atmosphere but the deafening sound of explosions going off all around and the blinding light of laser canons coming from every direction, conspired to prevent this escape to a haven and a new beginning. One of the starships was torn in half by laser cannon fire and fell mortally wounded, like a stone, back to the surface of the planet, emitting a dull thud as it hit the ground and she could almost hear the echo of hundreds of thousands of her loyal subjects issuing a last heart-breaking scream. The other ship as well as her own flagship were also hit to a lesser degree but both ships managed to escape due to the valiant sacrifice by the third ship which had positioned itself in such a way as to take on the brunt of the laser canon fire in a last act of loyalty and courage to their Princess and their fellow Martians. Small Lizarium short range attack ships continued firing at them and inflicted slight damage to the surface but not enough to cause any serious problems or impede their getaway and being short range ships, they had to cut off their attack when they reached the Martian stratosphere, as they were not designed to go beyond that range. Fortunately, none of the Stellar Class Lizarium ships were around. Even those, would not have been a match for an Imperial Starship under normal circumstances but with shields in-operational, all weapons systems compromised and no Hyper Star drive, it would have been a suicidal fight but fortunately they were elsewhere subjugating other planets, and thus, an escape to the blue planet was now a reality. It was Plan B, as they would still be within easy reach of their enemies but there was no choice now since they could no longer count on their Hyper Star Drive systems to reach a truly safe haven and who knows how long it would take to fix them, if they could even be fixed. They had lost over eight hundred thousand of their fellow Martians on that fallen Starship but there was no time for grieving, that would have to come later. It was time to concentrate on protecting her

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