Mission: Attack on Europa
By V. A. Jeffrey
Copyright © 2015
All rights reserved.
Artwork by Streetlight Graphics
An Epistle Publishing book
The stories contained in this book are works of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, past or present is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved.
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Mission: Flight To Mars
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Mission: Harbeasts of Mars
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1
I took another sip of tepid water and refocused my attention on the interactive hologram map and its overlays spread out before me. At times the images blurred in and out of focus, as we were passing near a thin ring of asteroids.
“Warning: communication may temporarily be disrupted,” said the Virtual Voice.
“Computer, will there be asteroids large enough to endanger the ships? What about the asteroid debris?” I asked.
“Warning: communication may be disrupted temporarily. No imminent danger or code red danger has been detected.” Good. The disruption only lasted about ten seconds. The maps quickly came back into focus. I could detect the soft whir of Will's bio-mechanical systems getting ready to scan and shut down into inactivity, or “sleep” mode. It was so faint one could barely hear it but after being on the Phoenix for weeks I'd learned to listen keenly and pay attention to all sounds no matter how mundane. In fact, it was a talent my grandmother had. When I was a kid it seemed to me that she had special Jedi powers because of it, or the powers of Bene Gesserit hyper-perception. Whichever. Grandma merely attributed it to being watchful when most other folks weren't. Of all her grandchildren, I'd picked it up. I suspected it was slowly being enhanced by the Fiorjah genetic material, for good or for ill.
“Computer, show me the orbit of Europa again.”
“Showing Europa's general orbit.” Again the giant gas planet rose and appeared as a brilliant holographic image and it's largest moons, Europa among them, also appeared, making their orbits. A red halo outline was drawn around Europa as the computer system pointed it out for me.
“Okay. Show me a flat, two dimensional representation. Bird's eye view.” The images flattened into two dimensional animation and rotated until I could see it as if I were hovering above the planetary system. Ganymede's orbit was the slowest, then Europa, then Io, which whipped around Jupiter like a whirling dervish. Europa itself was the moon most likely to be settled by humans in the future. It had been invaded by enemy aliens now. They had their hidden military base sitting on top of that pristine frozen ocean. I studied the images again, steepling my fingers over and over again until I unconsciously balled them up into fists. Feeling the tension and pain in my hands I opened them and breathed deeply to calm my anger and fears. I hated being on edge, unsettled and wondering about the unknown. My need for everything to be right and in proper order and clear was now, in these days, continually assaulted.
After having stared at the maps for hours my eyes watered and I let out a jaw-unhinging yawn. It was time to sleep. I shook my head trying to shake the fatigue away.
“Computer, show me the sun. Show me its recent activity and what effect it will have on Mars in the next eight to ten days.” I hoped I was being specific enough. You never knew with computer systems.
“Coronal loops and solar activities are not out of the ordinary for the time of year. Expected auroras on both Earth and Mars.” My brain was fried. I was too tired to make any sense of it or to pinpoint the information coming up on the overlay maps for a more concentrated examination. I leaned over and checked the computer screen where I could see the train of ships behind my own. Diamond had gone to sleep hours ago. Will had finally powered down and lay quietly composed on a long cot in the corner. I steepled my fingers together again and then rubbed my face. There was nothing really more I could do but I was tired of the waiting. I needed action. We still had a week of travel to go over the coordinates Genevieve had given us for our landing. I was sitting at the table which stood in the middle of a tight living space that served as the dining and living quarters of the Phoenix. Out the viewport I watched silently at distant stars and the stretches of black space.
I finally shut down the map displays and dragged myself to bed and into fitful dream.
Dream. Where I was flying high in a ship that seemed and felt biological, alive, right above the bands of red storm clouds on Jupiter, passing under cover, poised for a sneak attack. I was riding a violent wave, a crest of storm cloud into what looked like a void in the fabric of time and space, a place I didn't know. As I broke through the boiling, whirling storm I could see a vast army of black ships cresting on the planet's event horizon, mounting up out of the void. One of them let loose a powerful volley of fire power at me. My ship screamed in agony like a wounded animal, the sound so primal and anguished that I felt blood stream from my ears. The ship's walls turned red as the laser fire burned holes in its hull. Streams of scorched metallic blood flew out and away into the Jovian storm.
The screams! The shrieks! The howls! They were unbearable.
But it was me. The ship, a creature mechanical, and of flesh and blood was me, screaming as they fired and fired and fired. I felt my nerve endings explode, my body descending deeper into the red storm, being burned alive.
2
I slowly exhaled. For some reason my nerves were off, even with the calm monotony of travel. I let the water droplets fall from my face, feeling each and every one streak a path down my cheeks. At times they felt more like tiny nails running over my skin. It was my increased sensitivity to – I don't know - everything. It felt like a strange and useless super power had just been dumped on me and I had no idea what to do with it.
I finished washing up and stationed myself back at the table in the tiny living quarters of the Phoenix. Will was newly restarted, his programs refreshed. He was studying the Martian maps again.
“Have any idea what the weather patterns will be like by the time we get there?”
“According to the latest reports I've just downloaded from a channel off the nearest communications signal, Mars Weather Signs, high winds, no storms. The sun has been very active. Solar winds are high. Temperature right now at the landing location is fifty-four degrees Fahrenheit. The solar winds may have an effect on auroras, especially in the location she's asked us to meet her team at.”
“Huh,” I said, stretching. “Has Diamond called in yet?”
“Yes. He's performing a diagnostic run on one of the ships in the train.” I looked at him sharply.
“Are. . .are we-”
“Stopped? Yes. You didn't realize that Bob?”
“Nope!” I said irritably, getting up to check the camera views on one of the computer screens in the cockpit.
“You've been off lately. I've noticed you've been getting up out of bed later as well.”
“Have you?” I snapped. There was a short beeping from the com-link on the pilot control panel. Diamond was hailing us. I switched the comlink on. It chimed twice.
“Diamond? This is Bob. What's going on?”
“Bob! Good! I had Will help me stop the train. One of the fighter ships has a corrupted computer system. It's like a virus is in here or something.”
“Virus?” I switched on one of the sweep cameras and focused on the space-suited figure with his jet pack moving about one of the fighter ships.
“Will!”
“Yes Diamond?”
“Run the scanner again. I'm getting a strange reading from my datapad. It says: Error on engine system start up. Plasma coil failure. Maybe it's not a virus.” I felt a tightness form in the ball of my stomach. Just what we needed! Will came and sat at the side of the control panels and started up the troubleshooting system.
“What do you think could be causing it?” I asked.
“So far, everything we've tried leaves us baffled. The issue is unknown at this time,” said Will.
“Perhaps Genevieve and her team can help us out when we arrive. She's very good at fixing and re-building things.” I recalled her way with using scrapped alien technology when last I was on Mars.
“Well, maybe you're right. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why it was happening but my guess now is that the engine has a defective plasma coil,” said Diamond.
“I don't like guessing out in the middle of nowhere, Diamond.”
“I'm not a moron, Bob. Trust me. It's an educated guess. I understand spaceships and I've seen it before. Nothing we can't get fixed. Besides, we're not out in the middle of nowhere. We're not too far from at least two stations out here.”
“What stations? I haven't seen anything show up on the maps or the nav-computer at all.” I heard him laugh.
“Well they wouldn't show up on any official maps, now would they?” Oh, right. I'd forgotten about those places. Illegal stations. Smugglers' hideouts.
“Sometimes this can be a problem with brand new ships. Or brand new technology, period.”
“Diamond also found out something you might like about these ships,” said Will.
“What?”
“Oh yeah! They have the capability of ghosting technology! A boon! Very, very few people have access to that kind of thing. Heh, and I'm one of them.” He sounded rather smug.
“But that's not real. You mean. . .these ships can be rendered invisible?”
“Not in the layman's sense of the word but they have technology that can make them seem that way. I actually have that kind of tech on my ship, the Ghost already, but the ghosting technology these proto-ships possess is superior to even what I have. The Boss took the technology I'd hacked and added to it on my own ship and improved on it, somehow. My little donation to U-Net.”
“That's good news. Very good news.” I said smiling at Will. Will beamed back.
“Anyway, as for the defective plasma coil, I know where we can get it replaced quite easily and for much cheaper than you'd think.”
He eventually left off examining the issue and re-boarded his own ship. I sent a message to him to help us examine the maps again. I wasn't keen on going to any smuggler's hideout or illegal station but I couldn't afford to touch down and deliver defective ships to the cause either. A lot was riding on those ships.
Diamond later dialed in by holograph-video into the Phoenix. I started the ship's pre-flight check lists and started the train up again as Diamond started up his ship as well. When we were moving again his holographic image had settled down in a long lounge chair.
“Hey, I was wondering, Bob. You got any more of that bourbon?” He asked hopefully. I snorted.
“Nope. We drank that up the first week.”
“Oh, right.” He rubbed his hands slowly. “Okay, so what are we looking at this time?” I pulled up three dimensional overlay maps of Jupiter and its Galilean moons.
“Jupiter is engulfed in unusually powerful storms right now. It's magnetic field is extremely potent. Far stronger than Earth.” He studied the map displays for a few moments.
“Are you concerned about it's effect on the ships when we get out there?”
“Very much,” I said. “I don't know why.” He shook his head, frowning.
“Shouldn't be a problem, Bob. Most ships designed to leave Earth and the inner planets are built to withstand such powerful magnetic forces. As long as we don't try to enter the Jovian atmosphere, and I don't know anyone in their right mind who would, I don't see a big issue. Of course, we'd have to monitor storm currents and energy fluctuations, but the sun is far more powerful and its storms haven't stopped anyone from going here or there.” He was right but I was worried just the same. Maybe because this would be or first attempt at an assault on a highly advanced enemy. There was something else that bothered me about the storms but I couldn't put my finger on it. My dream didn't help matters.
“I've always wondered, what is Jupiter, exactly?”
“A failed star.”
“I've heard that too. You know, I once knew a smuggling crew that went out there to the Jovian system to set up a small station. Nobody ever heard from them again. Disappeared without a trace.” I arched a brow and rubbed my face.
“Nothing disappears without a trace.” He shrugged.
“I'm telling you, nobody knows what happened to them.”
“I think I can guess, Diamond. I'm sure it has very little to do with Jupiter. The aliens from Eraut have been here a lot longer than we think. Most people still have no idea they're here. I'm betting they were killed by loyalists. I think they've taken over that area.”
“I'd always wondered. I never came out farther than the rocky belt. I mean, why would anyone go farther than that without a massive expedition crew?”
“What's out by the belt?”
“Stations. Space stations, way stations, holding stations, fueling stations. Small village outposts. Cantinas, smuggler's and thieves' hideouts, privateering operations, pirates, the lairs of arms dealers, drug dealers and other villains. Strongholds of secret societies. Places no one can find easily and call them to account. Places where you can hide all manner of murderous skulduggery, if you like. Some of them are budding, vibrant colonies and space stations built by non-western countries. One I particularly like has become a second home to the Grand Ronde Confederated Tribes, a very prosperous and beautiful space station. Some of those places out there are the swankiest places you ever want to see. Others, like some devoted to human trafficking, are desolate, ruined places, places no one but the most desperate, lost or depraved would even go to.”
“A whole other world.” I said. He nodded. Why would anyone want to leave the comfortable confines of civilized society? Which is exactly what I asked him next.
“For any number of reasons. Those of us who are deemed imperfect, damaged, dangerously independent, or not team players by the Powers That Be, for whatever reason, don't need the government and its corporate dogs looking over our shoulders. Not everyone out there is evil. Some just don't fit in with society and its unspoken rules. I never really fit in anywhere. Never got along with my dad or my big brother. They were heroes to everyone in the community. I was the black sheep no one wanted to be bothered with. I embarrassed them.”
“L'enfante terrible?” I said wryly. He laughed that wolfish, mischievous laugh again and grinned.
“You could say that. Anyway, there are lots of reasons why people go there, besides hiding from the law.”
“Such as?”
“Loners. Like I said, the people who don't fit in anywhere else. The lost, the desperate-”
“I can't believe that! There's a place for everyone, Diamond.” He shook his head.
“You don't understand, Bob. No not everyone fits in and it's a hard, cold place if you don't buy into the bright wondrous future Earthly societies have set up in peoples' minds. It seems you would know something about that, considering what you've been through at work.”
“How do you know about that?”
“I heard about your trials from Jerome on one of those rare occasions when we do actually speak to one another.” I leaned back in my chair, thinking pensively.
“Yeah. It got rough for a while. Real rough. But things have changed for me and, well, I've never been a true loner. I've always had friends. Friends that are a lot like me. I guess.”
“You're lucky.” There was a silence.
“Diamond?”
“Yeah?”
“Would part of this conversation h
ave anything to do with your time in the military?” He grew quiet for a time, then:
“Yes. I was given a dishonorable discharge.”
“What happened to cause that, if you don't mind my asking?” It wasn't my place really but I was just directly inquisitive that way. He gave me an angry, distressed look, something I'd never seen before but we were in the middle of open space. I mean, what else are we going to do out here but talk? He bowed his head for a few moments before facing me. His holographic image suddenly buzzed with static for a few seconds before coming together intact again. He looked me squarely, finally.
“I saw something I shouldn't have and foolishly I opened my mouth and said something about it to the wrong people. Although I really don't know who I could have told. It was something no one would believe.”
I leaned in closer. The only other sound I could hear was the low hum of the ship. Will was silently listening as well.
“What exactly did you see?” I felt that familiar knot in my stomach tighten.
“There was a party one night. It was Halloween. Fitting, considering the ghoulish mess that rained down on me afterward. I was hanging with some of my buddies. You see, I'd had a few run-ins with a drill sergeant. He hated me and I hated him. Anyway, I came outside to get a breath of fresh air and to have a smoke. I saw him disappear around the corner of one of the barracks. I followed him.”
“Why?”
“I don't know. Just wanted to see what he was up to. I didn't trust him. He was a sadistic cuss. It's my belief that he had something to do with the gruesome death of a female private. The military ruled the matter an accident on base. Vehicle accident. But more on that later. Anyway, I followed him and watched him. He'd gone inside one of the buildings. The building was dark. Why he didn't turn on the light, I wasn't sure but it made me super suspicious. I think he wanted to stay hidden. I heard something, something like rushing wind. It was a weird sound. I tiptoed around the corner and I saw him. He had taken part of his uniform off and I saw the most terrifying thing in my life! He had wings, Bob! Wings! I kid you not! The sound was coming from their fluttering. They looked like giant, insect wings. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think! At first I'd thought I had too much to drink. I thought I'd imagined it. I hid myself and watched and followed him farther as he folded them against his back, left the building and went down to a field nearby. I saw him digging something up and then he went off, far into the darkness. After waiting a long time, I finally went to the spot he'd left, curious as to what he was digging up.”
Mission: Attack on Europa Page 1
