Rock of Ages
From Desperation, Deception, and Daring: The War Between E-Day and the Foothold; University of East Urbana Press: Urbana, 1940.
Asteroid CTO 12, christened “Gibraltar” and inevitably nicknamed “the Rock” by the spacers stationed there, constituted the primary staging area for Operation Foothold. Troops and materiel were shuttled to Gibraltar during its slow (approximately nine month) transit to Mars. Placed in a low-energy transfer orbit, the Rock nonetheless could not be readied before its first approach to the enemy planet. With supply lines stretching, the Service simply could not continue to resupply, much less augment, the base on Gibraltar.
In one of the most daring deceptions of the War, SACFEF convinced the Martians that Gibraltar had been intended as a planet buster that had failed to achieve the necessary orbital parameters. The base was reduced to a state of “hibernation” during its treacherous four-month swing through the Martian sky. The skeleton crew lived daily with the threat of the Martians piercing the deception and demolishing the base.
In light of the psychological stress inherent in such a situation, the few incidents on record become much more comprehensible…