2503.30 31/31 — Wave #Writever #Mars #SpaceOpera

Marisela, aged 10, wearing her little Mars green enviro suit, smiled and waved a rust-stained gauntleted hand. They'd traveled to Jezero Crater. Behind her lay a famous scene of twin dark red rover tracks gouged into orange soil, between hills strewn with dark boulders and rusty shingle rocks. Dust storms and dust devils over the years had softened them. A crater wall stretched like a mountain range to the greenish hazy horizon. May Ri had wanted to celebrate Mari having suit-trained 2,000 nisei. Mari asked for a trip to Jezero with Momie. Reina made it so.

The image looped every 10 seconds with a blink.

In that blink of darkness, in memory, the cargo doors of the decapitated warship flew open. Her two-second delayed reaction had cost her daughter's life.

The North American Decath States had killed her daughter. She'd failed to stop them. She pounded the table. On the moon, that action pushed her from her chair.

"There you are," a dark-haired teenager asked, climbing the stairs into the observatory. Domes were built fully or partially buried, to protect from radiation. Few had windows, but this one did. Thick. 360º, with a full black sky above and a sun always peaking over the horizon. A cloudy blue world opposite entered a full phase, sliced off by crater walls.

Distracted by Mau approaching, she looked for Mi.

"No Miriam?" Rare.

"We caused Kyv to pull a muscle, but Mi's better at massaging. Give me something to bolt together any day! So, I answered a ping." She handed over May Ri's intentionally-left-behind book plate, then swiped the memory cube faster than her mother could jump, and slept it.

May Ri tapped a priority from Reina.

"I trust you," the recorded Onēsanue said. Her red hair hung limp. Her grey eyes displayed dark circles below them, transforming her freckles to ashes. "Your intuition said shoot the Bonhomme Richard despite the mayday. I insisted on international norms, that we attempt a rescue. I was wrong. My intuition was wrong. 1,323 people and your precious daughter died because I'd never been abused or oppressed by Earthers. I did not understand. I still don't understand, so I will say this: If leveling cities is your decision, or standing by and letting them cower in fear at what we might do is your decision, I shan't second guess you. I trust you." The message ended.

"Pfft! That was helpful!"

Maurine hugged her mother from behind, squeezing tightly, head on her shoulder. May Ri smelled sweat and Mi's rose perfume.

"Mau—?"

"Not happening, Momie!" She tried to bite her ear.

May Ri shoved her, laughing.

"Seriously. Ten minutes to the astronomical new moon. Next month a partial solar eclipse; today, we're in the sun's glare. You picked now symbolically, but you need to choose a plan." Mau's book plate filled will warning messages. One stated, "Get May Ri's rear in gear!!!" with 3 exclaims.

What was she to do? A blue world with billions of people led astray by a belief in an all-powerful invisible friend, or two, and a belief only money made friends. When she closed her eyes, she saw the red face of Mars, a flash, then another, then a distorted mushroom of fire and debris rising, as her daughter—

—had ceased to exist.

She envied the Decath, envied their certainty that there was a "better place" the dead would populate, would "live" happily forever.

She hugged herself. No. Her daughter was gone. Half-a-year ago. Nothing would bring her back.

Reina's trust did nothing to help. May Ri needed to prevent a repeat of that day.

Today.

Men had a brutal history of conquest, of killing the husbands and the children so the subsequent babies were theirs. May Ri read the books, understood the patriarchy and theology supporting it, and the Game of War. Women were no more than a prize.

Would she play? Destroy the capital of the States like they destroyed Herschel?

What would Marisela think? The girl had taught the Nisei to wear spacesuits because it made her more friends. Mau and Mi always said to make friends. Very Nisei.

"Friends?" May Ri asked.

Maureen gave a thumbs up.

May Ri didn't know what she'd choose. Her fingers typed in a code and keys.

Thorium SMRs across the Moon responded to loads as newly built spinlaunchers powered up, soon casting ton-sized payloads skyward. Southhome vibrated as the south polar set of twenty launched with a faint whump, whump, whump.

She looked at her book plate. She read the first target sweeping east to west. Cape Canaveral not General Washington City. She sighed. In three days, Earth would cease to have launch capability, except for the KJC.

"Let's warn them to evacuate two hours before impact."

"Sounds good," Mau said. #RSMarsNeededWomen 31

—END—

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

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2503.29 30/31 — Matriarchy #Writever #Mars #SpaceOpera

Maurine watched Miriam slightly brush her chest against Kyv as she adjusted the book plate. Mau whispered in Mi's ear, "He's going to have trouble standing again."

"I know!" her sandy-haired twin mouthed. "Cute."

Kyv, their mother, and moonborne staff concentrated on a vid. The cargo starship jerked suddenly, starting to tumble. Res and perspective changed as the flyby view and magnification changed. The precision strike burst the fuel tank. The cargo bay opened; a robot arm checked damage.

"Maintain weapons range."

"Aye."

When the arm lofted a long black cylinder that resolved to a missile, their mother went pale. The scene before Hershel. "Fire! Fire now!"

Seconds later, the booster section shattered to shrapnel, parts tumbling, including the cargo arm.

"Ma'am?"

She wiped her forehead. "It's defanged—"

The vid whited out. Mi reflexively hugged Kyv. Ten mags out, a nuclear spawned sun faded to orange then red.

Kyv said, "Earth will see that."

"They pressed the button," their mother corrected. "Future May Ri's problem." She shuddered, sighed, and looked at Mi. Clutching Kyv. She grabbed Mi's ear and pulled her up.

"Ow! Ow!"

"Kyv? Are you married?"

"My wife died in the fighting when NADS took over."

"Girls. See what you get when you ask? Decath?"

"Is anybody still religious? After they crapped on the moon?"

"These two are serious. They're also adults. Mi!"

"Ow! Ow!"

"Mau?"

She got The Look and stood straight.

"Explain to him about consent and get it, both of you. Then about marriage, pods, nisei, and your expectations. Got it?" Waving at the embarrassed moonborne audience, "Them, too. So arriving crew won't cause problems."

Mau started breathing again.

May Ri discovered the moon wasn't devoid of women. 23, all with their tubes tied, forcibly, to 417 remaining men. They lived separately, in telescope and deep space network housing. When they voted to join the Sorority, the men agreed.

Soon parts of the DSN came up, including Sorority Prime, all narrowcast. NADS had isolated the dirigible station on Venus and the Long Term Titan Survey. May Ri spent more time as a diplomat listening to people vent than an engineer monitoring construction projects.

Thirty more vehicles launched toward Southhome; all quietly reduced to tumbling metal. May Ri thanked the ether for uncatalogued launch sites. Meanwhile, judging by actual ham radio traffic, Earth was losing its collective mind. Even readonly, the DSN became a rocket nozzle. If it weren't for the twins' insistence on finding "friends," they might have missed a missive in the torch.

"Raj has friends in the KJC," Kyv said. "Says the address looks good."

May Ri nodded, standing out of camera view. Kyv tapped and the vid cleared to show middle-aged and elderly men. Some balding. Asian features. Suits, two military with brass. A conference room. Scattered sitrep feeds. A simple white flag with a blue and red yin-yang sun. A man with dark eyes and hair bowed and spoke…

Mau said, "That's Japanese."

May Ri restrained her, so she translated where she stood. "We represent the Korea-Japan Confederacy. May we speak to the esteemed leader of the Lunar Republic?"

Kyv looked to May Ri. She whispered to Mau, who said, "Is this conversation private?" And, after an exchange of keys, it was. She added, "May we ask the matter at hand?"

"We politely wish to inquire with your friends about the status of an EM Mars colonial scientist named Yuki Īto."

"Reina's mom?" Mi asked quietly, now beside her twin. Both looked sad.

The hair on the back of May Ri's neck prickled. "We're supposed to make friends?"

"The KJC is not NADS' friend."

May Ri nodded.

"We're curious."

"Me, too."

With a RT of 8 minutes, which everyone understood, May Ri patched into Reina, giving a sitrep, before walking into view holding up her book plate.

[Translated]"Princess May Ri of Mars!" All those standing, bowed.

May Ri waved a hand in negation. "More of a joke than a title. I do what I can."

Reina started. "I am the Onēsanue of the Nisei. Yuki Īto died two days after the bombing of Herschel by our mutual enemy, from grief and sadness. Many mourn her. Why do you ask…?"

"Reconstructed war records indicate Yuki Īto was the last surviving child in the imperial line, daughter of Princess Sakura, daughter of the 131st Emperor of Japan, Ryohito…."

"I am Reina Īto. Yuki was my mother. She did tell stories about being adopted in the states after the war…"

All the men in the room stood. Those of Japanese heritage bowed deeper and longer, the spokesman saying, "I think our countries have a basis for alliance."

May and Mi said, "Isn't seeking friendship—" "—wonderful?" #RSMarsNeededWomen 30

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

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2503.26 29/31 — Night #Writever #Mars #SpaceOpera

"You still insist the damage is consistent with meteor strikes?" the HighGo supervisor asked.

"I've matched V with the debris field." Kyv, the acting Lunar Territory COO sighed. "I've eyes on; the holes are irregularly sized. Not slugs! You don't believe me?"

"No vid feed."

"HighGo cut out our maintenance staff."

"RTFM. It's a coincidence International Earth Docks got hit in HEO and Earth LR Docks got hit in LO, but your Lunar Orbital didn't?"

"Yes."

"This won't fly. Out."

Kyv rubbed the bridge of his nose. The vid would have shown multiple angles of attack. Attack! He whispered, "Bad enough we're virtual slaves. Now NADS wants us as a scapegoat for some bogie that escaped their cage?"

Krump!

His transorbital shuddered, and he cringed. A meteor? While long range comms went solid red, ship-to-ship now blinked green. A survivor?

He tapped it. "LT-TO-1 here."

"Look outside." A young woman's voice said, before a collision warning went off.

A shadow that ate night swam in the stars, eclipsing tumbling metal and plastic. Faceted but rounded, it looked spidery as he squinted. A weak radar reflection screamed stealth, military—but nobody had rebuilt the deadly toys since the Orbital Reaping 35 years ago. Economics.

"Identify yourself," he said.

"Is she friend?" asked the voice. A second added, "Or is she foe?"

A third woman said, "Mau, Mi, stop that! Please deorbit to base. You'll find a gift there."

With LRCs down, what choice did he have? When he set down at Southhome Docks, a three story cylindrical package rested beside its tumbled over retrounit. The spider craft set down beside his and turned lunar grey.

"Invite us in."

The two… were they really teenage girls? They caught his eye, more than their spidery haystack automaton or the suited-up industrial robot holding a book plate toward them; suited because a man rode inside. Kyv saw no guns; he hoped. A sandy haired and black haired girl unzipped their suits and squatted provocatively with frog-like agility. He smelled rose.

One waved, saying, "We wanna make friends." The other added, "Are you excited about your gift?"

The book plate lit up. Kyv recognized the woman on vid. "The Princess of Mars and her Five Daughters!"

May Ri, in her alighter outside, watched the growing crowd of men, wiry, lightly muscled, androgynous for that, all moonborne, adapted to 1/6th gravity. No weapons. She sighed. "You saw the vid of the nuking of Hershel?"

Many nodded as Kyv said, "That viral 'hoax propaganda' that got us ordered to shut down the deep space network?"

"I now have four daughters."

He looked down. "To live is to be beaten up, or crapped upon."

"Please don't retransmit our visit."

"How would I explain you being here?"

"Or the 50 MW Thorium SMR I left on your tarmac?"

"A 'gift?'"

"Yeah," Mau said. The twins studied the handsome night-skinned moonborne leader, as he had them. Green eyes, white teeth, and a tight jumpsuit made a nice package. It explained Mi whispering, "Mars needs men."

May Ri quickly said, "With an offer to restore the Lunar Republic, or you can join the Sorority on Mars."

"In exchange for what?" he asked.

"Let us complete a project that would be detectable from your orbital—"

"The meteor shower?"

"Not natural, but you guessed that. We want you to overlook some escavation. The projects will protect the Moon and Mars."

"If we don't agree?"

"You lose your orbital, maybe take damage in the attacks if we're detected. You miss out on our friendship—and get to explain the SMR to your NADS overlord."

While he discussed it with the others, May Ri's comms squawked, "Vandeburg SFB just launched to polar, likely headed your way."

May Ri asked Kyv, "Are you expecting resupply?"

"This decade? Ha!"

"Explain this."

He peered at a vid of a tiny torch rising over cloud cover.

"Want to ask HighGo?"

When Kyv frowned, she said, "I snooped your HighGo convo; they distrust you. They've left you stranded because you can't live on Earth, which means they can't close up shop. I'll trust you to ask."

Nodding, Kyv tapped the address… and got a banner:

NADS Central Command
Your key is invalid.

"But… I've got a COO key!"

May Ri shared a squawk, "Confirmed its leaving Earth orbit," then showed a plot curving toward the lunar south pole. "A ballistic trajectory. They really distrust you."

"You're faking that."

Mau and Mi said, "Maybe she—"

"is. Maybe she—"

"—isn't?"

"Here's a freebie: Boost your orbital 1 km ASAP…"

"…Okay, we'll agree to your request. What about—"

"—that starship? On it. If we get it right, they'll blame a malfunction."

Mi walked up to Kyv with a real pen and paper. "Real friends sign contracts." #RSMarsNeededWomen 29

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

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