>>intercepting broadcast...
>>masking source...
>>executing cloak_proto_01...
>>running...
Do not adjust your comm sets my friends, this is yet another appearance by The Transmission, this is Doc Mitnik, welcome to the show.
So listen up people, I've got a story to tell you. Some of you have seen a Mars before the Five Clans unified and took over, hell, some of you remember the ARES occupation of the planet, and how ruthlessly they run things over there, but I want to take you further beyond, a few decades before that, before ARES had been given power of Mars, hell, before ARES was probably known as ARES as is.
Mars for the most part has been the same world we know and love: Arid, wild, unexpected, and filled to the brim with secrets. It's no secret that the Home One colonization mission that was sent a couple of centuries ago had succeeded, and what we know now as the Martians, or the Natives are all descendants from the colonizers. Not only did they come to a wild world, they made it their home, they came to love, respect, and fear the Red Planet, and for a long time, everything was peaceful: Humanity was still reeling from the outcome of the Transcendence War and they were trying to find new homes themselves, they had immediate concerns to look at the fourth planet of the Sol System, this allowed the first generations of Martians the opportunity to expand, develop their own means of survival, and become what they are today.
But this is the real world people, and in the real world, stories don't really have happy endings. It wouldn't be long until New Geneva (Now properly formed, staffed, and primed for corporate rule) set their eyes on Mars and thought to themselves "That looks like a prime slice of corporate real estate, be a shame if we didn't appropriate it, plunder, and terraform the hell out of it", and they set themselves to do just that, with little to no regard to the feelings and opinions of the Martians. But there was a problem, New Geneva themselves were still building their headquarters, and they still had to tend to their corporate interests, they couldn't move to take over the planet by themselves, what could they do? The answer was simple: We delegate, we get a bunch of eager and ambitious corporations and send them to Mars, they do well and do what they are told, and they will get a slice of the planet to call it their own, what could go wrong? Well, not much for them, but for the Martians proper? Plenty.
I want you to imagine this, you have a house, you live in a peaceful neighborhood, maybe not to best, but definitely not the worse, and one day some suit shows up, knocks at your door and tells you that you have to leave, no questions asked. Either you comply, or they gun you down and call it forceful compliance. That's aggravating to say the least, right? Well the Martians didn't even get that, one day, ships started to land, corposec started to make plans, get perimeters going, and get the earliest plans for what now we know as Martian Colonies, eventhough I know them as Domes, because let's be honest: That's what they are. Structures built to withstand Mars' raw power and fury, fully equipped with life support systems, and more importantly? Security systems ready to mow down any so called Martian who may have an issue with the way things are.
The Martians had developed technology don't get me wrong, but most of it was designed to create habitats that wouldn't conflict with Mars in any way, in tunnels that, back in the day weren't even heard of, and all around in a more intimate and holy bond with the planet. New Geneva was fresh off the Transcendence War, might as well use that weaponry to get their hand at genocide right? And that's what they did, Martians had choices: Either they would get assimilated and become second class corpo citizens in their own world and therefore renouncing to any and all claims to land and possessions, retire to corpo designated reservations which were difficult to access and were just fancy names for detention camps, or be declared dissidents and be hunted down as such. Some people claim that this is where the many Clans were born, not all Martians wanted to fight, but no Martian wanted to be reduced to slavery either, different Martians for different tastes. The bulk went on the run and would fight corposec with guerrilla tactics, inferior gear, but with the vast knowledge of the planet, and just a few would decide to be peaceful and retire to the so called reservations, hoping that in time, the corpo overlords would miraculously come to see them as their peers and let them be. I think we all know how unlikely that is.
It's about this time that many more corporations come to Mars and hope to get on New Geneva's good side by doing their part and dealing with the Martians, among these corporations was one known as Tokuma Heavy Industries, or THi for short. I want you to remember this name folks, because it may come into play later. THi's main trade is mining and of course, terraforming. They are good at it, they have massive fleets of freighters, but what they also have is a very strong security branch that can take the fight anywhere on Mars, and if rumors are to be believed... Secretive, genetic, and cybernetic branches too, some say that THi would happily pump all kinds of nanodrugs and implants into their own soldiers, sometimes creating their own brand of monsters they could barely control to begin with.
But this is where the story starts getting interesting, as you know, many corporations doing similar things in one location eventually start growing weary of each other, they wanna be on top of everyone else, suddenly an entire planet is not big enough for all of them. They want more before they can even define what "more" means on terms of Mars. THi have been doing well, maybe too well by establishing themselves on Mars, and friends, on corpospeak that means you're a problem and you have to go. The CEO of THi had too many enemies, and too many crosshairs trained on him, the problem was that no corporation could do anything directly, as they still answered to New Geneva, and New Geneva could make or break a corporation, and if a corporation is broken... well, let us say that there's a reason why there are so many airlocks around that are apparently rarely used. So, as THi starts growing more and more successful, their enemies start growing more and more resentful, until one of them had a brilliant idea. What's the worst enemy a corpo on Mars could have? A Martian. But Martians didn't have the gear, the weapons, or the intel to make a move on their own, so if that meant that the CEO to THi could have a tragic accident and would be removed from the board, they were willing to run with that risk.
For months these corporations sent equipment, weapons, vehicles, and information of all kinds to the Martians, and there would be more, if they managed to do something about THi. And it just happens that the ideal situation took place. THi along other corporations had a summit on Wayfar Colony. Now Wayfar Colony has some history as is, it was built on top of one of the oldest Martian Holy Sites on the planet, which means that the corpos came, kicked everyone out, destroyed ancient artifacts and relics, and replaced it all with an unsightly steel dome. Now this summit, you know the kind of affair, big wig suits sit around a table, show off, get drunk and fat, and then leave, was supposed to be a big deal, and have an agreement of cooperation between many corporations including THi. Except that, according to rumors, all the corpos were instructed to leave before the summit was over, all the corpos except for the ones working for THi.
It wasn't clear what happened immediately afterwards, but what we know is that thousands of Martians surrounded Wayfar Colony and started to bomb it. The THi corpos found out that the exits were barred, all exit protocols had been deactivated, and to make things worse, once the attack started the life support systems had been shut down as well. There couldn't be any chances, THi had to go, and the Martians were the perfect perpetrator: People who had been mistreated by corpos from the beginning had finally had enough and decided to take revenge by destroying the Colony that had obliterated their holy site. After more than sixteen hours of bombardment, the Colony was reduced to a pile of rubble and steel, all the THi personnel was declared dead, and New Geneva ran with the official story that Martians had done it out of revenge, and that made things worse for them as new measures from New Geneva incited hostility against all Martians.
But folks, this is not the end of the story, as there was one single survivor of this incredible devastation. The CEO to Tokuma Heavy Industries had managed to get his hands on a pressure suit, a few oxygen tanks, and tried to save people from the crumbling Colony with little to no success. It is said that he found records exposing his enemies and he even found out that the Martians had been used as means to get rid of him, so the man went mad with anger and harbored an unquenchable thirst for revenge, he started wandering the Martian wastes looking for more information and taking out corporate convoys, in no time, he was known as The Ghost of Mars. The man would show up, wreck havoc, and disappear, apparently not even the sands of Mars would keep his tracks, and if you can believe the rumors, not even Mars' devastating sandstorms could stop him.
But what of his enemies? Oh believe me friends, they were more than aware who this Ghost of Mars was, and they had to do something about him. This time, they had the support of New Geneva since the Ghost was targeting corporate interests. So they contacted a high end mercenary, of legendary repute who at the moment was working as Director of Security to one of the Floating Cities, and was part of a global Counter Terrorist Unit. His mission was simple: Hunt down the Ghost of Mars, and kill him. Now this man already had a massive reputation, but his hunt for the Ghost of Mars would cement him as a Legendary Soldier. He spent over a year tracking down, and hunting down the Ghost, saving several convoys in the process, but never quite pinning him down. They were equal in passion and skill. They could avoid each other's traps, as well as recover from each other's devastating attacks. Their fights were so intense that there are reports of at least three outposts being destroyed during these fearsome combats. But the more time this took, more opportunity for a very rare sight of Justice to emerge. New Geneva had information of the plot to destroy THi and its CEO, as well as the cost of the loss of Wayfar Colony. They contacted the mercenary and ordered him to immediately stop, and they paid his fee in full. They also contacted the Ghost of Mars and asked for a meet to set terms. The Ghost of Mars was vindicated, absolved of all crimes, but instead of trying to rebuild THi, he decided it was time to move on and leave Mars behind, to maybe create something that could be bigger, and better than THi ever was, and he set his eyes on New Vegas.
As for the mercenary? He impressed New Geneva with his tactics and strategies, so much so, that they made him part of his council, and when New Geneva found out he had a humbly sized corporation working with Artificial Intelligence with Military Applications, they decided to fully fund it. The corporation grew exponentially, becoming a huge success for New Geneva, and they were eventually offered the sole contract to oversee Mars and its corporate interests on behalf of New Geneva, the corporation grew so much that it was one of the first entities to be known as a Megacorporation, they took to the site where Wayfar Colony once stood, and where the first attempt to destroy the Ghost of Mars and THi took place, and they rebuilt it, but it wasn't known as Wayfar anymore, they had to look to the future, so instead, they renamed it something that is far more familiar to you all friends, they named it Hades Colony.
The mercenary continued to take in soldiers of all kinds and integrated them all into ARES, where his legend only grew to the point where every soldier knows the name Adam Caine for good and for bad, and they are part of his legacy. And the Ghost of Mars? His attempt at a rebirth paid off, and his corporation, MGM is one of the most recognized names in entertainment throughout the Sol System. Cervantes Rexen continues to be involved in plenty of happenings in the Sol System, as does Adam Caine.
Now I know what you're thinking "But Doc Mitnik, Adam Caine is dead", sure he is, and Cervantes Rexen also has spooky green glow super powers. No my friends, we're talking about top corpo here, people like Rexen and Caine have enough cash to be trillionaires for a hundred lifetimes, they are top men, and top men don't do anything as pedestrian as dying. They are out there, somewhere, operating in ways that regular and poor folk like you and me can't ever begin to understand. But perhaps we've already seen that, as their legacy is one that won't be easily topped or surpassed.
And that has been the story of the Ghost of Mars, with details that I am sure not many would want to be spread, but if there's something we do in The Transmission is telling it like it is, with all the truths that may be awkward, uncomfortable, or would have people just forget they existed. And that's my cue after a lengthy story, I'll leave you with tonight's musical selection that oddly fits the story. An old song that many of you may not have heard before, and no, it's not the original record either, it's a holo of a holo of a holo I paid top Cred for, hope you enjoy it, until next time. This has been Doc Mitnik.
(("The Transmission" is meant to be seen as both an OOC archive of the lore, with a spin on interpretation, and it's also meant to be seen as an intermittent IC intrusion of PublicNET devices, it overall serves the purpose of counter to ONN/Corporate points of view and information, players are more than welcome to use or reference "The Transmission" on any way that may complement their stories.))
