The Clans of Mars

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Disclaimer: I own all of the characters within this work except for the BMFM and any characters from that show (generic enough for ya?) In all actuality, I own the Firestars (Goldenmane, Taura, Pikestar, Kat), Fireblades (Sharpshooter, Roughrider, Longbow, Hunter), Monarchs (but not the Monarchs themselves), Shimmers (Nazira, Stonewall), Sandstalkers (Kiritana), Longbows (Ehlani, Iritan), Sharpspears (Alala), Redmoons, Skytails, Raptors, and the Blackmoons, as well as the Rockers (Mari, Turbo, Tactica, Sparky, Starmantle, Starfire), and the Sabers (Phoenix, Blade, Blaze, Kammie).Confused? Good, 'cuz I am...

This story should clear up some things that started in "When Love Breaks" and finished with "Homecoming". That is, from Junior's time line, how the mice exist and work (or lack thereof) to rid Mars of the Plutarkians who remain. And why so many units (Rockers and Sabers aside) have names.

This story is set in Junior's time but after the events in Defiance, Rescue, Memories and Reunited. I make no money from this and do so only to bug people <wicked grin.>

The Clans of Mars

Part Three

Echoes of the Past

By Goldenmane

Goldenmane had cursed. The battle never took place as she had expected. Never once did any of them fire a shot. When they had arrived at the Plutarkian outpost they found it curiously abandoned, and, by the looks of it, someone had beaten them to the punch.

Instead she and her Firestars had returned the units to their rightful bases and she had headed to meet with the Monarchs.

Goldenmane sat on the edge of Throttle's desk, arms crossed. She did not look at anyone present, least of all the Monarchs.

"I thought you had made a promise," Throttle began.

"I did," Goldenmane said solemnly. "And it's not one I would willingly break."

"Yet you want to go back in time and change history," Carbine continued.

Goldenmane shook her head. "Time is a very fickle thing, or so I have learned. Sometimes secrets need to be kept in order to maintain the past. That is why I could not tell Mari about the reunification of the Rockers, nor their disappearance again. It would have influenced history."

"So you're telling me you know what has happened, even though you haven't left?" Stoker asked skeptically.

"She's not the only one with secrets," Vinnie said suddenly. "Something has gone wrong with time."

Stoker shot an icy look toward Vinnie. "Is that why you were so eager to fill her in on history when they all arrived?"

Vinnie slowly nodded. "What I told her and you are two different things. Mari had left some notes about her findings with me before the Rockers left our time line. She let me know that they would return when the time was right."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rimfire asked.

Goldenmane nodded slowly in realization. "I wonder if there's any detailed info from a decade ago?"

"Yeah, why?" Throttle asked skeptically.

"I have an idea," Goldenmane said. She turned to Vinnie. "When exactly did Mari say she would return with the Rockers?"

"She didn't," Vinnie began. "Only she said they were not going alone and when they returned, things'd be different."

Carbine sighed. "Cryptic as ever."

Goldenmane rose. "I have a hunch that the non-reappearance of the Rockers and the sudden disappearance of the Sabers have something in common. That one affected the other."

"How so?" Stoker asked.

"I'm not sure," Goldenmane said. "Though I know I intend to find out."

Stoker slammed a fist on the table Goldenmane had just vacated. "I forbid the Firestars from leaving Marconia."

"The Firestars are going nowhere," Goldenmane nearly growled. "I am. Court-marshal me if you want, but I intend to find out what happened in the past that went wrong."

"You'll break your oath to not use your time travel abilities without good reason," Stoker said coldly.

"No," Goldenmane said. "I call this necessary. Someone took out those Plutarkians before we could. I know it wasn't us from the future and I don't think the ghosts of the Blackmoons could have done it. Someone else did it and I have an idea who."

"The Rockers and Sabers?" Throttle asked.

Goldenmane nodded.

"That still doesn't justify you leaving," Stoker said. "If I have to I'll strip you of everything you own and slag your bike."

Goldenmane rose. "I don't want to see this happen," she said softly.

"Then don't," Stoker said in a low, dangerous voice.

Goldenmane sighed and walked out the room. She didn't even turn when she heard Vinnie behind her.

"Do you think it's possible that she's the one who attacked that outpost?" he asked, almost a plea.

Goldenmane shrugged as she headed for the bike bay. "I can't say either way, but I strongly believe it was her. The Rockers and Sabers had to be behind it."

She mounted her bike and plopped her helmet on her head. She glanced back to Vinnie and smiled a sad smile. "Whatever happens, I will find out.'

He only nodded and she fired her bike's engines and transported out of the bike bay.

"She did it, didn't she?" a voice said from behind.

Vinnie turned with a start at the robed and bandaged mouse. He nodded and lowered his head.

"I hope things turn out better," she said softly. Almost too softly for him to hear.

"So don't I," he said even softer than she had. "So don't I."

Goldenmane removed her helmet once she had emerged from the transport. She shook her mane of golden hair and sighed. She had timed the transport just right to arrive at the Plutarkian outpost not too long after Kiritana had left. She wanted to know who had attacked the outpost and why.

The sun had already began to set and she scanned the horizon. She had an advantage of knowing the landscape by heart as well as the good sized ridge of rock she hid behind. However, once the sun had set, she had put her helmet back on and scanned the area through her helmet's visor. She noted little activity below and sighed to herself.

Soon, however, the area near the centre of the compound lit up like a bonfire as several bikes transported in and opened fire. Goldenmane tried to count the number of mice, for she could tell by the tails, and stopped at fifteen. She didn't recognize the bikes, many of them standard Freedom Fighter issue, except for one bike that seemed to belong to one of the leaders of this raid.

One bike which distinctly resembled Mari's Ice, the same shade of blue with yellow lightning bolts. The mouse, even, had white fur, though the dress did not resemble anything Mari had ever worn. The helmet, neither resembled the missing mouse's, and before Goldenmane could do more than draw her laser, the fight ended and the mice transported out.

Goldenmane turned to her bike and scanned the compound below. No signs of life and she couldn't detect the exact path the transporting mice had taken.

She mounted her bike and fired her Harley's engines, though she paused when another bike transported in.

"Stay out of this," the new mouse almost growled.

"Who are you?" Goldenmane asked.

"None of your concern," the mouse said.

Goldenmane noted the bandages on the mouse's face and arms, what was visible and the considerable wear and tear on the biker's helmet and robes did not seem like anyone inexperienced.

"Why do you have Ice?" Goldenmane asked suddenly.

The strange mouse halted, almost shocked by Goldenmane's words. "Things happen," she said instead.

"Mari? What happened?"

The strange mouse levelled her laser at Goldenmane. "Stay out of this. This doesn't concern you."

"Anything to do with history concerns me. Especially how you knew to hit this base and when," Goldenmane said.

The other mouse lowered her laser and gunned her bike's engine. "I've warned you not to interfere, but I can't stop you. If you get yourself involved, it's not gonna be on my head."

And with that, the strange mouse transported out.

Goldenmane tried to trace the signal, though lost it. She couldn't tell what time, but she could tell the rough location of the transport.

Earth.

With a last sigh, she transported back to Marconia.

What she never expected was the sudden blast behind her just as she punched the transport button. When the panel on her bike began to spark, Goldenmane began to worry.

"What really happened?" Vinnie asked the female mouse with him.

She shifted uncomfortably while her fingers unconsciously played with the fringes of one of her many bandages. She looked at him with her one good eye and half smiled. "We bit off more than we could chew."

"You should have told me," he began.

"What, so you could run after us?" she laid a hand on his arm. "It's better this way. After all, with what we've seen, you need to enjoy what you've got here."

He nodded, though he couldn't take his eyes off of the missing fingers on her hand. A hand he had once held before all of this had started. Eventually he looked up into her weary ice blue eye.

"I know it's hard, but we do have a mission," she said softly. "One I've got to get back to. I only just stopped Goldenmane from interfering, I don't want you to get involved either. Promise me you won't. And," she made sure to stress. "That you'll keep her and her Firestars out of this."

Vinnie nodded as she rose. He leapt to his feet and embraced her. "Just come back to us. All of you."

"If only," she said as she returned the hug. "War is Hell and we've found that out the hard way. Many times over."

Vinnie released her and watched as she walked to the shadows where her bike awaited. She glanced back with a smile before she removed her robe's hood to plop her helmet on her head. "Ride free, Vinnie," she said as she mounted her bike.

"Ride free, yourself," he said softly.

She nodded and activated her bike's transport unit.

Vinnie waited until she had left before he turned to walk out the bike bay. He hesitated at the doorway and looked back to the empty spot where her bike had remained hidden in the shadows.

"Just come back to us alive," he whispered.

When Goldenmane woke, her head pounded fiercely. She struggled to her feet under the shifting sands and sighed when she noticed her bike a few feet away. The control panel still smoked and she wondered how much damage had been done and how long she had been out.

The next thought that struck her was when had she arrived. Did she reside now in her time, or in the past or future? She knew she was on Mars, bleak red dunes as far as the eye could see, though not when or exactly where.

She rose and made sure her laser remained at the ready. She walked to her bike and righted it. She ran a quick diagnostic and sighed. She would be going no when though the other circuits remained intact. She had motion and transport ability, but not time travel.

Goldenmane mounted her black Harley and scanned the area. She could detect no signs of life and began to worry. If her map was right and she still resided on Mars, then she should get some signal. Martian, Plutarkian, Sand Raider or Rat . . .

She wanted to curse, though instead tried to home in on some signal, no matter how weak it might be. When nothing but static met her ears she began to worry. What if the damage to her transport unit had flung her into the far, far, future? One where the mice had fallen and Mars had become a dead world.

With a shiver she increased the scan and smiled to herself. "Whoever you are, I've got you now."

She sped off toward the signal, though she remained on alert for any signs of danger. This may be home turf, but not her home time.

When she approached the signal she could see no one or thing, however, when she slowed to a halt, she did notice one thing that seemed strange.

"Definitely something's not right," she said to herself as she carefully monitored the area and the signal. "This is Marconia! But . . . It's not here!"

Then she noticed a small beacon and scanned it. The pattern read Marconia and she tapped the beacon's memory. She downloaded it into her bike's memory and scanned for viruses or other traps. Satisfied the info was clean she began to dissect it.

"Not good is right," she said under her breath. "This is the future and we lost. All the remaining mice are on Earth. . . The Monarchs, the Sabers, the Rockers, the Shimmers, the Firestars, the Fireblades . . . this is a veritable who's who of the units. I guess this was left to let anyone know where we'd all gone."

When she noted the co ordinates, she punched them in. Just outside of Chicago, she mused. Natural enough. With a tentative sigh she transported to the co ordinates the beacon held and hoped she did not head into a trap.

Though when she saw nothing but flat plains and brilliant stars that sparkled over head she thanked whoever in the heavens looked out for her. She scanned the area and noted several blips. Most she had never seen before, though a few were most definitely Martian in origin.

As twin missiles slammed into the ground around her, Goldenmane could feel a sense of dread build inside her. She sped away from her invisible attackers and headed for the Martian signals. Even if she was in another time, she could find some help and a way to repair the time travel circuits.

She noted the brilliant beams and near blinding explosions as they rocked the landscape. She dodged a missile as it sped past and drew her laser. She had to do something to help in this time.

A low rumble over head caused her to swerve. She looked up and paled at the bright flashing lights over head. No doubt a Plutarkian ship. She increased her bike's speed and fired several aft missiles at the ship. She cursed her luck as something large thudded into the ground before her. She tried to avoid it and only managed to start a skid that ended painfully as she slammed against the nearly invisible object.

Then her world became still.

"Fire in the hole!" a mouse shouted. At the resultant explosion of the Heavy Tanker he cheered.

They all cheered, all except one mouse who looked on with sad, weary eyes. She had had enough fighting to last her a life time, and still the battle raged on.

"Raptors, retreat!" a voice rang out. A voice she knew all too well. "Skytails cover fire!"

The white furred female sighed as she joined the ranks of the Skytails. No, this was not her clan. She belonged to another, but her clan had allied itself to the Skytails as her parent's clan had to the Raptors. Each of the four clans needed each other. For the sake and survival of the Martian race, they needed each others hopes.

"Skytails, blanket cover, now!" she shouted. She fired her own bike's missiles until she had none left. Then, as they neared the edges of their original stronghold, they gathered close.

"Transporting Raptors now," a male shouted from the front.

She nodded imperceptibly and punched in the same co ordinates. "Skytails, transporting now."

The world went a shade darker than night and reappeared as their new base. When she took a quick head count she realized they had lost several good mice during that little battle. They had to keep Junior's forces at bay. One way or another they had to win.

"We could have done it," a mouse said. "We could have won."

"Give it a rest," another shouted. "We're tired of your pathetic whining."

She gave no care to the voices, or who they belonged to. Skytails and Raptor seemed bent on finishing what the Plutarkians had started.

"What we need to do now is tend to the wounds and rest," she shouted. The Raptors shot her dirty looks and the Skytails equally pierced her with their gazes.

'Mother, hurry back soon,' she thought to the sky as the two units parted, though with tenseness still tangible in the air. 'We can't hold out much longer.'

With a sad sigh she retreated to her small section of the base. One reserved for her unit, the other for her parent's. All of them were weary, though she knew the Rockers would feel the effects more than her Sabers. They had the advantage of youth over their parents.

No. She had agreed to come. Told the Sabers her mother's plans. They agreed to go with the Rockers and so here they were. One more fight to free the galaxy from the Plutarkians. One more struggle for mousekind.

Somedays it didn't feel worth it.

When a light flashed in the centre of the compound she rushed out, laser drawn, though when she saw her mother, she relaxed.

"How'd it go?" Mari asked.

Phoenix half sighed. "We took a beating. Lost a few Raptors. Though I did get some strange readings from the fringe of the battle. I thought you had transported in at first, but I guess not."

"Damn her," Mari nearly growled. When she noted the confused look on her daughter's face she weakly smiled. "Never mind. Let's get some rest."

Phoenix nodded and retired to her meek quarters with Blade.

She hoped this war would end soon. For all of their sakes.