RTS Santa Fe Returns

20 November …

Today, the RTS Santa Fe returned, though we were not expecting it for another week, with the resupply of troops and some much needed equipment. She brought great news and gifts. Chief O’Malley was topside yelling orders as the Santa Fe landed just outside the compound. We are going to have to build an extension to the fort walls to encompass the landing zone.

Captain George W. Lamar, Republic Army, arrived to become the Executive Officer of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Regiment. He hand carried the promotion letter for Captain Higgins, signed by Major General Pummel. Major Higgins is now at the proper grade of command for a battalion; he was not too surprised about the news as he had been earmarked for promotion before taking command of the Venus expedition. Subaltern Landowski is now Lieutenant Landowski as he has completed his two years in grade. The "Black Legs" also received reinforcement of two additional companies of infantry. I am glad to see the numbers increasing as with the additional two companies, the 3rd Battalion is now at half strength with a total of 205 men and a single detachment of Artillery.

The Marine Engineers contingent is now officially a heavy company, as we have five complete squads. Our numbers were increased with the arrival of eight new privates and Corporals Mendoza, Ferguson and Gonzalez. They all managed to shake the malaria they had contracted and seemed to be excited to make landfall. I can only imagine their relief to be out of the hospital in Houston that had become their home since their illness began. The men were happy to see their NCOs as the squads were reunited with one another. Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Cromwell are also pleased to see the new arrivals as the strain of command is lessened by their arrival. It is Christmas early this year for us, as we now have a steam-powered water well kit, two steam drills; one steam sawmill and two donkey boilers. We were also given a steam-powered motor whale boat.

The Republic Army saw fit to send a single 2.5” Colt Mountain Gun/Howitzer vice the requested two 3” Colt-Whitworth cannons that were requested. Corporal Miller of the gun crew was told a mountain gun could be easily transported on the backs of three mule or oxen and so was a better fit for the environment. So, the Army battalion of “Black Leg” infantry now has four “Red Leg” artillery added to its ranks.

The best thing for me is the arrival of mail, as the missus sent many letters to me and it is good to hear from loved ones as it strengthens the heart. I almost forgot Chief O’Malley brought me an eight week old puppy; a female red and white Irish Setter. He says the missus bought the dog and made sure that he brought it to me. She came with the name Lady Venus and Chief has been training her for me. The missus thought I needed some company, as our two Irish Setters at the house would always go on walks with me.

Dr. Jonas R. Caruthers, professor of archaeology at the University of Santa Fe, and Dr. Franklin W. Palmer, a leading scientist and professor of science at the Glasgow University, arrived and are here to examine and conduct research on the temple. I am sure they will have some help from the willing officers.

Well, it is off to the Staff NCO Mess, where I plan on swapping lies with my good friend Chief O'Malley as we partake of some actual Republic brewed ale.

[Editors Note: The 1879 Colt Mountain Gun is a 2.5” (7 pdr/63.5 mm) breechloading screw gun. It has a range of 3300 yards when fired with a shrapnel charge. Unlike other guns of the period, the 1879 CMG had a 1” thick wooden gun shield with ¼” brass band to protect the crew from smallarms fire. This was innovative at the time as all gun crews had previously been unprotected and easily picked off by rifleman.]

Flag of the Holy See Flies over Mars!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have recently discovered that the Roman Church has established a religious colony here on Mars!

The missionaries of the Vatican have managed to convert Prince Strohom, ruler of the minor city of Akbat, to the Roman faith. Further, Strohom has changed the name of his city to Nova Roma, and has requested that Pope Pius IX to send a bishop to oversee the establishment of their Church on Mars. The prince has already begun construction of a magnificent new cathedral, the first on the Red Planet for the Roman faith, in anticipation of the fulfillment of his request. Prince Strohom has even begun building a seminary, to train Martians to enter the priesthood.

Along with the bishop and additional priests will come a small contingent of Papal troops, including Regular infantry, Zouaves, and perhaps even a battery of modern guns. It is expected that the Pontifical military contingent will be transported from Earth by the Austrian ethership Ezerzhog Karl von Osterreich. This military mission seems excessive to this reporter, in the view of a lack of outright opponents of the changes in Akbat.

Viceroy for the Martian Crown Colony, Sir Gerald Blythingham, 1st Earl Mons Olympus, had this to say:

"Her Majesty's Government welcomes the Church of Rome's efforts to bring the benefits of European civilization and the light of Christianity to the indigenous peoples of Mars. However, we are troubled by their perceived need to further militarize the planet. Surely, the British Army and Aeronaval Forces could have provided for the safety and security of the missionaries in and around Akbat - er, Nova Roma, that is to say."

Fear not for the safety of Albertport, good friends, as the forces to be brought from the Papal States are small indeed, amounting to no more than a few companies of infantry. In addition, the city of Akbat - Nova Roma, that is - lies on the far side of the Imperial German Martian Protectorate of Marstaadt and the Empire of Galfor.

[Editor's Note: Both the author of this post and the other contributor to this journal are of the Catholic faith. Do not misconstrue the common vernacular terms for the Catholic Church used in the late 1800s in the United Kingdom as any sort of disrespect for the Church, or the Holy Father.]

Sunday and No Rain

16 November …

Another beautiful Sunday has come and gone. Father Flannigan had another good sermon about Saint Paul before lunch. RSM Taggart and I had two guests with us this day as Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Cromwell ventured out with us on the Northerly path to the Venusian Sea. As the weather was pleasantly dry, we decided to take our noon meal with us and eat on the beach. It was a good ride, and you could see the path where it splits to the right (west) towards the temple.

The beach was nice and calm and simply being away from the fort seemed to relax all of us. That is, until we heard the distinctive report of a Martini-Henry rifle being fired twice, just to the south of our beachfront picnic lunch. We saw two figures dancing around on the beach in frantic circles. With the aid of my spyglass from the saddlebag of my Pachysaur, I could clearly see they were two of our men.

When we got over to them, I was unsurprised to see it was our two Cajun cooks, Sergeant Thibodeaux and Private Mistrot. Apparently, they had been collecting sand crabs at the edge of the water when they saw a huge shadow in the water and long barbs breaking over the surface. The shadow was a large fish that reminds me of a flounder, except it had three eyes on one side of its body instead of two, was pink in color and had a tail on its end with a barb like you would see on a ray. The two cooks had shot it immediately, and Thibodeaux did not miss a beat landing the big fish. As soon as he and Mistrot fired their rifles, he waded in after the thing and dragged it on shore. The fish is three feet in length, not including the long, whiplike tail and its wicked looking barb, and Thibodeaux and Mistrot are already talking about adding spices and how they plan to cook it. If I followed their rapid-fire Cajun patois anything like correctly, I expect we're going to be treated to a massive whole baked fish for dinner tonight.

Mr. Griggs said the temple had no electrical charge at all today, and even the lingering scent of ozone that had filled the air near it has dissipated. They still have not found any writing or symbols on the temple, but did find a path made of that same blue granite that stopped abruptly.

Well, tomorrow will be another long day of construction work, so I am going to get some chow - which I am sure will consist of fish and crabs - and hit the rack.

[Editor's note: Most of the fauna of both mars and Venus are, thankfully, edible by humans. The Venusian pink flounder (Paralichthys v. rosa) has a venomous barbed tail. Extreme caution is advised when landing one from a line or net. It is recommended that the flounder be dispatched by a shot (small caliber bullets or birdshot will do) prior to bringing into the boat or onto the beach. The tail barb should be immediately removed and discarded with care. Sand crabs (Mennipe v. arenas) are remarkably similar to terrestrial stone crabs, though their carapace is colored to match the sands of a Venusian beach. They are quite numerous in the ocean waters near Fort Humid.]

Another Day of Rain

15 November …

The rain never stopped today as it went from heavy downpour to a light drizzle and back to a heavy rain. The men kept working and we were happy to have the pole barn to work on the walls and rafters for the SET Huts. I will be happy when the last tent is taken down and put in its box as the fabric only keeps out the rain partially. It is good to hear the men in the galley talk of how happy they are to have wooden floors and that they are out of the mud when they sleep. It makes you feel better knowing that the job you are tasked with helps the morale of the troops.

Captain Higgins, Mr. Landowski and Mr. Griggs again went to the temple and they said they were disappointed with what they saw, or more accurately, did not see. It seems the mysterious effect of the lightning is gone today, almost as if the 'magic' of the temple is only existent in the lightning storms. They did say there was only a slight feel of static in the air and the stone itself showed no mark of a lightning strike. Mr. Griggs said the stone was cold to the touch, which in the constatnt heat and humidity of this jungle is strange enough to make your hair stand up.

Well, tomorrow is Sunday, our day of rest and like usual I am looking forward to a relaxing day.

The Temple

14 November…

This morning the sky was a fiery red as the sun rose above the jungle landscape, though it was only a matter of hours before the sky changed to a bluish-green color we have come to recognize as stormsign. The wind blew in, cold and hard. The clouds broke loose with a fantastic light show and the rain came down in sheets of massive, dollar-sized drops. Lightning struck in the middle of camp with the blinding fury of God; luckily, no one was in the open or they surely would have been killed. There was also a streak of lightning that seemed to hit near the temple as the white lightning turned a bright blue. After a few hours, the freak storm passed and the cold wind and driving rain was replaced by the more usual 85 degree heat and drizzling rain. The force of the brief storm was devastating, and we are lucky we did not lose anything.

We finished ten more base structures today, so the count is now up to fifty-two. We will start erecting the walls and roofs alredy prepared by our fabrication crew working at the pole barn. Their work is not easy using older methods of construction, and I know that Lance Corporal Jones will be happy to have the steam sawmill when it arrives. I talked to Mr. Griggs last night about promoting Jones, as he has sufficient time in grade and is the most senior of the lances we have with us on Venus. Mr. Griggs says we will wait on the RTS Santa Fe to see if replacement NCOs arrive, and if an insufficient number arrive to fill our command structure properly, Jones will be promoted on the spot. Sergeant Garcia and Corporal Cromwell have also been doing a great job as usual and catching the things I do not, as it is easy to forget some details when you are as short-handed as we.

The officers went to investigate the blue lightning after Mr. Griggs and I were finished making our rounds and discussing the plans and schedules of the fort. Mr. Griggs and the other officers headed out on their mounts shortly after the drizzle began. Mr. Griggs returned prematurely a few hours later and was filled with much excitement and almost dragged me by the collar to go with him. I let Sergeant Garcia take over supervision of the construction, and hurried off with Mr. Griggs and RSM Taggart. Taggart and I mounted our Pachysaurs and tried to follow Mr. Griggs, who was pushing his mount to run as fast as it was able through the thick undregrowth which still flourishes far too near our walls. Upon arrival at the temple, RSM Taggart and I understood the haste in which we had traveled.

The flora and fauna had a static charge and the air crackled with electricity. The four guardians' eyes and spear tips were glowing, and the whole temple was cast in an eerie blue light as if the stone had come to life. The hair on my neck and my arms stood up, and I readied my carbine as did RSM Taggart. The ID disc and holy crucifix that I wear on a thong around my neck seemed to jump from my chest, as everything made of metal seemed to be pulled toward the central platform surrounded by the columns.

We could not believe our eyes. Was the place alive? Did the lightning awaken something? Did the magnetism have something to do with the guardians that stood at the four points of the compass? These were just a few of the questions we had. We were ordered not to set foot on the blue stone. Captain Higgins had already tried, but the stone shot a blue arc to his foot before it touched the stone floor. The electricity sparked through his thick leather boot and burned his foot badly. As we left the temple area, we were sure that we really needed an archaeologist or scientist assigned to our expedition as soon as possible.

Once we returned to camp, Mr. Landowski sent one of the repawks the Brits gave us to carry a message to Camp Trafalgar. The message was a standard personnel request for two scientists or archaeologists to explore the region around Fort Humid. It should go outbound on their next ethership headed to Earth, due to depart in a few days.

Well, what a day! After all the excitement, I am glad it is time to turn in.

[Editor's Note: Repawks (or more correctly, Pteranodon venustica buteo) are small, carnivorous flying reptiles approximately the same size as the Earthly red-tailed hawk (B. jamaicensis). The first British exepedition discovered by accident their ability to act as homing or carrier pigeons, and have begun keeping the creatures in replacement of the terrestrial birds, who have difficulty on Venus. No carrier pigeon has ever safely arrived at its destination on Venus; it is assumed they have fallen prey to the large number of pterosaurs of all sizes that rule the Venusian sky.]