Path to Europa

by Garion Swann

  "You know I've been holding that truth seeker back, told him not to do any permanent damage, I can change that," Dylan warned. That thought did scare Alex, he tried to keep a brave face.

  "Go on then, I'll contact her. I don't want any more from that bastard." Alex said.

  "I have your comms device here, I still remember her code, he entered it to the device and held it up to Alex. After a few moments she answered,

  "Who's this?" Jenny said quietly, she was concerned, as she doubted it would be the Captain.

  "Jenny, you know I was just relaxing in my quarters when," Dylan punched him and ended to call with Jenny.

  "Should have known you'd do something like that," Dylan shouted.

  He opened the door, and Alex listened.

  "I don't care what you do, just keep him alive and talking," Dylan said. Alex assumed he was talking to the truth seeker, he was terrified now, he dreaded what more the torturer could do. He hoped Jenny was nearby.

  Jenny made her way as quickly as possible through the ship while still remaining hidden. The call from the Captain spurred her on, if the Captain were trying to convey his position, then she would be there in less than two minutes. She heard a punch just before the call cut, so she assumed he was in his quarters. She was one deck below, making her way back to the bridge to formulate a plan. She was glad at this point the Captain's quarters were closest to the bridge. Two corridors ran down deck four, the entrance to the bridge was on the left corridor, the other corridor was cut short to make more space in the Captain's quarters, and this was the only other entrance to the bridge was. Jenny climbed up to deck four, and made her way across to the right corridor, she could see movement by the Captain's quarters, she dreaded the thought of how close the enemies are to the bridge, but they'd have a hard time getting through the emergency bulkhead that protected the bridge. She counted three armed intruders outside the Captain's quarters, without the darkness she could not sneak up on them like she did the others. If she went in loud, she would alert any nearby enemies and those inside the quarters to her presence, and if she went quiet, she would risk not being able to kill enough enemies before being killed herself, unlike the three enemies on the strike ship these were actively looking for people approaching them. She quickly moved across the corridor to her own quarters, she had not yet moved into the XO's quarters. She opened the door and then slammed it shut as loud as she could. This startled the guards, Jenny opened the door a little listened as two out of the three came to investigate the noise, she had opened the door, so it was obvious someone had gone in and stayed as silent as she could.

  The two guards noticed the door and pushed it open even more, Jenny was hidden behind. They walked into the room looking in all the corners, trying to find what made the noise.

  "Who's there?" One of them shouted,

  "That would be me," she said making them jump. Jenny leapt at the closest one and tackled him to the floor, she jumped back up as fast as she could, kicking the other in the chest forcing him back. The first had gotten up and came at her, none of them had time to draw a weapon as the two guards risked shooting each other in such a small space. She brawled with the first guard and got him to the floor his head in a lock with her legs, she was trying to strangle him, as she did this she drew her silenced weapon and shot him, he died immediately, the one between her legs eventually stopped squirming as he died from strangulation.

  Jenny sighed and got back up, got back into the corridor and aimed her weapon at the third guard who had not yet come to investigate why the other two had not returned. She fired and hit him in the side of the head he slumped to the floor, that made noise which would probably have alerted someone inside, so she moved fast. In her head she said ‘one hundred and thirty-nine' she had killed a lot of people today.

  The door to the Captain's quarters opened and one person stepped out, using the butt of her weapon she struck the back of the unsuspecting head, knocking her out. Wishing she'd thought to pick up some flash grenades from her quarters she kicked the door open, she shot two more guards and scanned around the room, the door to Alex's office was closed, as was the door to his bedroom. She couldn't decide which to try first until she heard a scream from the bedroom, unmistakably the Captains scream. She rushed over and chose not to kick through the doors, this one was closed fully so she'd have no chance. She hoped the people inside had not heard the silenced shots and decided to knock. She knocked on the door and waited, the sound of some kind of power tool stopped and muffled angry sounding voices inside grew louder, the door cracked open and a voice she instantly recognised said.

  "I told you not to disturb us!" Dylan said,

  "You bastard!" She shouted, kicking through the door the moment she confirmed it was Dylan, knocking him down she quickly found another target and fired at his head, it took three shots before she hit her mark, she internally blamed that on Dylan. She turned to shoot Dylan but he was already up and tackling her to the ground, she hit the ground hard and attempted to fight back, Dylan was strong for his age. He had his arm on her neck trying to suffocate her, she managed to move her head and bite his hand, he screamed and released his grip just enough for Jenny to overpower him, she threw him off and kicked him in the head whilst still on the floor, her steel toe capped boots knocked him out instantly. Jenny took a moment to catch her breath back, just staring out the still body of Dylan, her predecessor turned traitor.

  "Jenny," a weak voice said, she suddenly remembered she was here to rescue the Captain.

  "Alex! It's so good to see you." He looked like hell, cuts bruises all over his face, one of his hands was covered in blood from fresh wounds cut across most his fingers. She found the medical kit and started to bandage us his injuries, he was quiet, clearly whatever happened had been mentally damaging, something like this would take many years to get passed, and even then it will still haunt him.

  "Is he dead?" Alex asked.

  "No just knocked out," she replied.

  "Good," Alex stood up with help from Jenny, he didn't know where all his injuries were, but it felt like his whole body was one big wound. He moved over to Dylan and retrieved his sidearm, Alex did not hesitate to remove the safety and fire into Dylan's head.

  "Let's get to the bridge," Alex ordered as he limped towards the door.

  "Alex," Jenny called after in a caring tone.

  "Not now," Alex replied without turning.

  Jenny followed Alex slowly as he limped his way to the bridge, crossing his quarters, moving around the corpses and blood stains.

  "How many people have you killed?" Alex asked Jenny was not sure if he was making a joke or being serious.

  "Too many," she replied. Alex nodded and moved through the now unsealed entrance to the bridge.

  Alex was happy to see so many of his crew on the bridge, they were mostly safe here.

  "Report" he ordered.

  "Engineering repelled two attacks well, they've forced the intruders there to retreat, one attempt was made for the bridge, but it was called off, the enemies are moving back through the ship. It looks like they're trying to regroup close to their ship," Mark reported.

  "Excellent, I want our best-trained shooters stopping them getting out of that part of the ship," Alex said as he sat down in his Captain's chair.

  "I have their ship triggered to undock and self destruct on my command," Jenny mentioned.

  "You're in charge down there push them back, get them off my ship then blow the bastards up," Alex ordered, he was out for revenge.

  Alex got up and moved over to where to crewmembers were tending to Grant, his arm was a mess, Alex was pretty sure it would need to be removed. Alex promised himself silently he would pay for the best robotic arm he could, Grant never signed up for this.

  "How is he?" Alex asked

  "He's stable, but without the Doc, we are unable to do anymore," The Crew Member replied.

  "So much for easy in system job," Alex muttered. "Get me Dean Fletcher on Trulen station
now, secure channel," Alex ordered as he returned to his seat.

  After a few moments Dean's face appeared, he looked stressed.

  "Alex, thank heavens you're alive, when your ship went dark I assumed the worst. You look terrible what happened?" Dean asked clearly worried.

  "I thought your space was safe Dean!" Alex said, his annoyance was evident.

  "Alex, I'm so sorry, we noticed the vessel approaching, but it was too late. They're using some stealth technology we've never seen before. Trulen will fund any repairs as a result of incursions into our space," Dean said professionally, "Are you under your own power?"

  "Yes we are now, I have a team dealing with anyone else left onboard, were driving them off. We have casualties can we have assistance." Alex asked.

  "I've sent a rescue task force to you, there's a medical ship, some troops and escort ships for you, I'm also sending a cargo ship to continue your mission so be prepared to transfer the cargo." Dean sent them the details of the approaching ships. Alex took the ops station in Grants absence and marked them in the navigation charts, they were due in three hours.

  "What did they want, Alex? Dean asked.

  "They were trying to get my codes to the Trulen communications net, they seemed to think I have access to the military side." He replied.

  "I'll get the military out on alert, any prisoners you may have will need to be transferred to the detachment on their way to you. I'd suggest holding down the fort then letting them do their jobs, they are reviewing the layout of your ship as we speak, they're the best so you won't have a problem for much longer.

  "Thanks, Dean, this is incredible support." Alex smiles.

  "Perks of premium status!" He smiled back, "Keep me updated."

  Alex moved back to his command chair, sighing as he sat down. This nightmare would soon be over. He sent a message to Jenny informing her that the Trulen detachment was coming and keep the enemies where they are until the professionals can clean up. She acknowledged it, but Alex was sure she would try to do something more.

  Chapter Eleven

  Most the crew were now accounted for. When the ship went dark, of the fifty-one people onboard, twelve were on the bridge, twenty-five in engineering, eight in quarters and six in the mess hall. The six in the mess hall and two of those last known to be in their quarters had not yet been located, they may be dead or captured. Seven of the engineering crew were confirmed dead, and four others in critical condition.

  Jenny rallied those with any form of combat training and started searching the ship in two groups, they were going room by room, slowly advancing towards where the enemy was fortifying themselves. Jenny wondered if they were waiting for reinforcements, they had no information as to how many boarded the ship initially, so they were not sure about the size of the remaining enemy force. Waiting for the Trulen reinforcements was the most logical thing to do, and she would wait for them, but if an opportunity should present itself to hit back at the intruders, then she would not hesitate to take it.

  They had secured decks three and four, rigging sensor traps that would trigger if someone without a crew tag passed through, it would alert the bridge and Jenny. The docking ports for the ship were on deck two and Jenny, and her team were halfway through sweeping the corridor down to the starboard docking port where the enemy ship was docked, she suddenly halted her team.

  "Sensor trap, we may have already triggered it, fall back. This is our line," Jenny ordered. She had noticed small equipment that was not native to the ship, she had seen it before and knew it was designed to alert people when someone moves near it, it was similar technology to what she had used to rig the hatches between decks.

  "Mark this is Jenny come in," she said transmitting.

  "Go ahead," Mark replied, he was in charge of the other search team currently on the port side, the idea was that they are going to create a defensive line stopping the enemy leaving that area of the ship.

  "Keep an eye out for sensor traps, we may have just triggered one, we are falling back to the dig in point, suggest you do the same." There was a long wait for a reply, Jenny was about to call again.

  "Understood, we've triggered one and are taking fire standby," Mark reported.

  Jenny and her team moved faster, jogging to the specified dig in point, she instructed three of her team to stay and deploy the makeshift barricades they'd retrieved from engineering, it was spare hull plating they added stands to, they were bolting them into the deck using them as cover.

  Jenny and the two other members of her team moved down the port corridor quickly to get to Mark and his team, they could see the gun flashes up ahead, Mark and his team had taken cover in one of the cargo bay entrances and were fighting back.

  Jenny had one of the ships rifles as well as her custom sidearm, she flipped the sight up, and took aim, from the cover of another cargo bay entrance. Marks team were one hundred meters away, this was the distance between the cargo bay entrances, the enemies were behind makeshift barricades another thirty meters at her best guess, she set her sights and took aim.

  "Mark dig in, taking shots from range," she ordered through the radio, she watched as his team all took cover in the entrance way.

  "Go go," she heard back.

  Jenny fired off several shots from her rifle and confirmed some hits, the enemies began firing down the corridor, it would take time for them to set up a sharpshooting position, that couldn't be fired on by Mark's team. She needed Marks team to fall back so they could dig in, corridor fighting was never good and usually ended when one side ran out of ammunition, the intruders had the advantage of barricades.

  "Bridge, this is Jenny,"

  "Go ahead," Alex responded,

  "We're engaging enemies deck two port side corridor, they've got barricades set up about thirty meters after entrance three to the cargo bay. Marks team are at entrance three. Anything you can do to help?"

  "Stand by" Alex replied. Jenny knew without Grant they would not have any creative solutions, but she hoped the bridge could do something that would help get Mark's team back.

  "Mark, get your team ready to run," Alex said through the comm.

  "Understood, they're ready," Mark replied.

  "Jenny, get your team to lay down some covering fire, but stop as soon as the show begins," Alex ordered.

  "Understood." Jenny and her team started firing, hoping to get hits but it was unlikely they'd get any with the enemy in cover it just kept them from looking down the corridor.

  "Get ready, you'll know when to go," Alex said. Jenny wondered what tricks he had planned, maybe she was wrong about a creative solution without Grant, she started seeing flashes from down the corridor, with extremely loud bangs, her team stopped firing, and she saw Mark's team running the one hundred meters. The bridge must have overloaded the powerlines in that section, causing them to explode, it wouldn't do much damage unless you were right next to them, but it would undoubtedly disorientate anyone nearby.

  "Back to the dig in!" She shouted to her team. Even from this far away the noise was horrendous, she didn't like to think what it was like for Mark's team or the enemy who were in the middle of it all. They ran to the dig in, so Mark's team could use the second entrance as cover if needed and just in case of a counter attack. She vaulted over the first and second layers of barricades, the rest of her team split between the first and second, the team were watching both corridors which converged at the dig in. The now distant noise had stopped, and Mark's team were close to the dig in, the sound of gunfire soon followed with the probably now furious enemy hoping to take down some of Mark's team. Jenny watched as his team made it behind the barricades, Mark was the last to approach and was only meters away when a bullet struck his leg, he fell to the floor and screamed in pain. Jenny immediately jumped the barricades, another one of Mark's team followed, and they dragged him to the side, the sound of bullets hitting the barricades made them move quicker, the enemy was advancing.

  Tina opened her eyes to find hersel
f looking at the ceiling of engineering, she tried to sit up, but the pain was too overwhelming. She led back down and looked down, someone had removed her jumper and rolled her vest up to apply a bandage which was soaked in red. She was glad they only rolled up her vest top as it allowed her to retain her modesty. She saw three others unconscious around her, all with some kind of bandage, she started to remember being shot, she also remembered the attacker she had killed, she didn't stop firing until they were dead. She had never killed before.

  Tina started to cry when she remembered why she had killed, her beloved Erin had been murdered while restoring power to the ship. They were due to be married in Europa before the Michelangelo escaped Lady Jean, they'd promised each other the first thing they'd do when they got back would be to get married. They always planned their wedding, it was their favourite past time, they had a folder full of ideas and guest lists. Tina would now have to go about her life without Erin, and that thought was terrifying.

  Jenny managed to get Mark behind a barricade and apply a bandage to his leg, he had not lost a lot of blood as the bullet had thankfully missed an artery. He propped himself up to help repel the counter-attack, the enemy was still firing on the barricade. The barricades would hold as they were hull playing, it would take more than a bullet to get through it, the sound though was still quite scary, especially to those with little or no combat experience. There was a big difference between training combat and real combat, in training you could kill as many simulated people as you wanted, but it did not compare to the feeling of taking a life. Jenny used to learn the names of everyone she killed, she felt like it was the last honour to them. As she got used to killing, and she started doing hit-and-run jobs she stopped but counted their death so it would mean something, this helped her with the guilt of taking a life. Anytime she killed she thought back to the first person whose life she took. A boy of fourteen who lived in section four of Europa, of the six sections it was the largest and poorest, most the residents of section four worked down on the planet for the Europa Mining Corporation, they owned most of the uninhabited planet that Europa was built around, they were strip mining the planet for its resources. The boy, a son of one of a mining family whose fortunes had changed when the mother had become a senior manager within the EMC. They were able to move out of section four of Europa, and the boy felt high and mighty, he thought he was above everyone else. Jenny lived next door to this family, and the boy had always tormented her, she was two years younger, the boy decided he wanted to leave her with a lasting memory and attempted to rape her, at the time Jenny was not a skilled fighter, she had never hurt anything more than a fly. When the boy tried to violate her, she beat him to death with some metal piping she had found in the abandoned building he had taken her too. She left the boy and ran, boarding the first ship she could see and stowing away scared the authorities would get her. When she was discovered, she gave a fake name and said she got lost. The Captain of the ship took her under his wing, they could not return to Europa as they were a criminal mercenary ship and they'd just carried out a hit. She told them what she had done, and they helped her channel the anger, they taught her to fight, to fly and to kill effectively. Eventually, she left the ship after just over a decade, she had saved her money and bought a ship of her own, using the skills she'd learnt in the mercenary ship to customise and make it a formidable strike craft, she carried out many hits and collected many bounties. After nine years of completing lots of missions she decided she had had enough and sold her ship, boarded the ship docked next to hers and asked for a job, the ship was the Michelangelo.