Path to Europa

by Garion Swann

  She was snapped back to reality as a bullet hit the barricade she was behind.

  "Can we see how far away they are?" She shouted.

  "About thirty meters and advancing, they have portable shields." One of her team replied.

  "On my mark all open fire, let's try to push them back," Jenny commanded. She waited for a gap in the enemy fire, "Now!" She shouted. The ten people behind the barricade, including the injured Mark all, rose and laid down a torrent of fire that caught the enemy off guard, two of them were killed instantly, and the others fell back behind the shield and moved back to the doorway the provided cover, the two sides continued exchanging fire. Jenny was interrupted by Alex over the comm.

  "Jenny, the Trulen team are docking, patching you through to their unit commander ready to come in hot on the port side docking."

  "Excellent, perfect timing," Jenny replied. "Cease fire!" She ordered her team.

  "This is Major Obadora, awaiting information before entry."

  "Major, this is Jenny in charge of the security here. You're going to enter a corridor, to you right you will have enemy barricades, no information as to how many there are. To your left about two hundred metres a group of enemies firing on our dig in." Jenny reported,

  "Understood, we will be unable to distinguish between your crew and the enemy, please send crew profiles as we will be stunning then processing to avoid drawn-out fighting." The Major replied.

  "Confirmed, patching you into our crew management system, all crew wear bands with identification," Jenny used her pad to send the information.

  "Thank you, we are splitting into two teams, one going left and one right seems the most logical choice. Keep them facing your way, and we'll sandwich them, when you hear mine or one of my team's orders, hunker down, so you don't get caught by the stuns and it will make sure you don't hit any of our team." The last part the Major said with a slightly sarcastic tone. He patched Jenny into his team's communications so she could how they were doing.

  "Team one boarding right," one voice said. "Approaching enemy barricades."

  "Team two boarding left," the Major said. "Beginning movement to last known position of the enemy." This was the group that was heading to the dig in. Jenny heard shooting in the distant.

  "Team one, enemy barricades cleared. Three stunned, no casualties." Jenny thought to herself, they were good, brave to go into a barricaded enemy position. They were probably wearing some of best armour available so could take some hits.

  "Team two slowing, approaching enemy position. Friendly team cease-fire." The Major ordered.

  "Cease fire," she called out. Her teams stopped firing. The enemies pushed forward, six hiding behind two shields.

  "Switch to stunners," she said. She wondered if the Major knew her teams had stunners. She heard all the weapons being switched to the stun setting.

  "Major, we are ready to sandwich them," she reported through the comms device.

  "Understood, on mark one Trulen forces start firing, on mark two, Trulen goes defensive, mark three, Michelangelo forces start firing. Ready."

  "Ready," she replied. Jenny had made it so all her team could hear the announcements from the Major.

  "One," the Major said. Stuns were near silent, all Jenny and her team heard were screams from those being stunned. The enemy team took a moment to figure out where the shots had come from, surely they would have thought about where the docked ship would be. Anyone on board would have figured out that a ship had docked by the noise it made.

  "Two," The Major said, his team took cover in the entranceway to the cargo bay, then enemy forces had now put their shields covering both sides, and were in a line, it was difficult to land a stunning shot at this range. If she were the enemy commander, she would have put the shields behind them, facing the Michelangelo forces, and assault the Trulen forces as they had less cover. It was unlikely that they would have been successful, but she would not go down without a fight.

  "Three." The moment they head the Major's voice her team sprang up and laid down fire on the enemy units, The Major wanted to avoid both teams firing at once in case of any friendly fire. Her team managed to down one of the enemies, the Major's team has got three.

  "Focus fire in the shield on the Majors side," she ordered. All nine of her team fired, and two made contact, the shield went down leaving one the side of the enemy defence exposed.

  "Major, shield down, all yours," Jenny said taking cover.

  "Squad, open fire," he ordered, it was less than ten seconds when the cease-fire was called. All the enemies had been downed, and the Trulen forces were moving in to disarm and detain the fallen foes.

  "Casualties," The Major asked as he approached Jenny's barricade.

  "None" she replied, holding her hand out to the Major.

  "Same here, glad to hear it. Brin Obadora," he shook Jenny's hand.

  "Jenny Glover," she replied. She produced the schematics of the ship on her pad.

  "Major, we've got sensor traps set up in these locations," Jenny pointed to the ships internal layout. I suggest we," she was interrupted,

  "Ms Glover, with all respect we are the professionals, and you can leave the defence to us." The Major said, attempting the assert his authority, Jenny was having none of it.

  "Major Obadora, with all respect this is my ship, and I am plenty professional enough to organise its defence. You've had a few hours to learn the schematics, I've had years. Also, I've been fighting on ships since I was a little girl." She spoke in a way that was slightly condensing, she didn't want to scold him but just let him know that she was remaining in charge.

  "Pleasure to meet you, Ms Glover, what's the plan?" He said with a smile.

  "As I was saying, sensor nets are placed between decks, to catch anyone trying to escape back to their ship. This corridor loops around and so we need two defensive positions. The first will be where the enemy barricades currently are, saves using our own equipment, the other will be midway between the dig in and the starboard docking port, I want to split the teams, so we have equal defence on each side, if things go wrong we fall back to the dig in and hold position."

  "Sounds good, we'll bring some extra barricades. I suggest we set up another position, between our ship and the commandeered enemy barricade, an extra line of defence especially as we'll be transporting wounded off your ship." He motioned to the pad, "May I?"

  "Of course." She handed him the pad. He drew a blue line through the ship, that went through each of the main areas where the wounded were.

  "I suggest we get all wounded in one run, I'll send one of my teams to go with some of yours to round up the wounded we have stretchers and Doctors, round them all up and get them to our ship. Once that's done, we'll talk about going on the offensive."

  "Sounds great," Jenny agreed.

  She turned to see Mark standing, he'd had been tended to by a Trulen medic. The had a freeze wrap which stopped any internal bleeding so Mark could still use his leg temporarily he would need medical attention soon though.

  "Mark, gather a few people and go with the Major's team following the route I've sent to your pad."

  "Understood," he nodded and started rounding up people.

  The Major had split his second team up, one defending the commandeered enemy barricade, now named ‘P1', and the other half setting a barricade up on the starboard side they called ‘S1'. The Majors team updated the map on the pads as they go, he'd also marked ‘P2', the barricade between the Trulen ship and ‘P1', and also marked ‘C1' the barricade Jenny had named the dig in.

  They had no way of knowing how many enemies were left, or what sort of firepower they had on board the strike ship. If Jenny had more time when she boarded the ship, she would have checked.

  "Major, if I am as good as I used to be then this file I'm sending you may help, it's a program that will cause the enemy ship to undock fly to a safe distance and the self destruct. It may be handy, the risk being it may not work properly, and self destruct he
re. Last resort as we may want to try and get intelligence off that ship" Jenny sent the file to his pad.

  "Ms Glover, do you want a job?" He said smiling. She laughed back and wondered if he was serious.

  Alex had been in regular communications with the commander of the Trulen task force, Commander Rebecca Clarke, she was aboard the TSS Rapide, one of two escort vessels. The other escort vessels stationed the opposite side of the Michelangelo to the Rapide was the TSS Dragon. They were impressive ships, designed to be fast interceptors with remarkable firepower. They wouldn't be a match for something like the Armageddon, but they could hold their own against multiple smaller ships if needed. The medical ship currently docked with the Michelangelo was the largest ship in the task force and slightly larger than the Michelangelo, it had full medical capabilities with space for hundreds of patients, it had impressive defensive systems but little offensive capabilities as it relied on escort vessels. The cargo ship was a little smaller than the Michelangelo, it was not designed to have crew living on it, so it could be smaller but still carry similar cargo. When safe to do so it would connect its docking bay with the Michelangelo and robots would transfer the cargo from one ship to the other. The cargo ship would then carry on the mission escorted by the Dragon.

  Alex felt powerless, he was in command of a ship that had enemy troops on board, three support ships assisting and an enemy ship docked to the hull, he could do nothing but wait, he had to trust that Jenny and the Trulen detachment would do their jobs. He sometimes found it difficult to step away and let others do what they need to do, he could very easily start micromanaging the whole ship, this was often something that he and Dylan butted heads about. He wanted to get involved but his place was in the bridge, with Jenny and Mark fighting the enemy, Grant in critical condition, Grey in hospital and Tina injured he was the only one left that could command, he felt like as the Captain he should be at the front of the defensive line protecting his ship.

  He'd been forwarded the plan to round up the wounded, it made sense as it got them off quickly, they had Grant prepared ready to be lifted into a stretcher, Trulen would make sure he had the best care possible.

  A notification popped up to signify that the Rapide was requesting communications.

  "Commander," he said when he accepted the request.

  "Captain I forgot to say, we have a passenger who claims to be a part of your crew, he self-discharged from medical, he's on the Galen requesting to come board now that the Major as declared it safe." She said. Alex knew she was talking about Grey, he wasn't due out of medical for days, how he'd manage to convince Doctor Tamber to let him go and how he managed to get on to the Galen was a mystery to Alex.

  "Yeah, he can come onboard, tell him to go directly to the bridge," Alex said sighing, the channel closed and he opened another.

  "Jenny this is Alex, Grey is onboard the docked Trulen ship, he's boarding in a few minutes, please make sure he comes to the bridge and not to engineering."

  "Understood," a surprised Jenny replied. Alex knew Grey would be wanting to see what's happening in engineering straight away, but Alex needed to know he was fit to take over again down there. Admittedly the ship needed him, Tina was injured and awaiting transport to the Galen, someone far less experienced would be coordinating the efforts down there. Grey would be able to jump right back in and organise everything effectively, Alex wanted to brief him about what had happened, and that he had lost people. Alex was never going to fire Grey, he was too valuable, but he did want to scare Grey into getting over his drug addiction which would be difficult, but Alex hoped it was the kick he needed to do it for good.

  After about ten minutes Alex had moved to his office and Grey joined him a few minutes later, he had come to the bridge with the team of soldiers rounding up the people needing medical attention, nobody was allowed around the ship on their own. He limped in, supporting himself with a walking stick, his left arm was bandaged, and slung so he couldn't move it. He winced as he sat down, in the chair opposite Alex.

  "How're you feeling?" Alex broke the silence, the last conversation they had was more of an argument, with Alex threatening Grey's job.

  "I feel like I've been shot, you look like shit, what happened to you?" he said with a slight smile, Alex smiled as well, it was good to see that Grey still had his humour.

  "I'll get onto that. What about seven days of rest? Does Doctor Tamber even know you're out here?" he asked jokingly.

  "I felt fine, and when I heard that you were under attack I had to be here, I was considering borrowing a ship,"

  "Borrowing?" Alex asked smiling, he'd missed their conversations.

  "Oh, I could have a ship for a few hours and return, the owner wouldn't know a thing as long as clear the logs and disabled the station's sensors," Grey replied.

  "You've actually planned that one out haven't you?" Alex asked.

  "Maybe," Grey replied laughing. After a brief silence, Alex started to tell Grey about what had happened.

  "Lady Jean sent her newest pet to get information about of us, I assume to kill us as well." Alex started.

  "Dylan?" Grey asked, Alex, nodded and explained the torture, he also told how the crew was cut off from each other as the doors would not unseal themselves. He explained what had happened and how Jenny had single-handedly turned the tide of the battle. He explained the battle in engineering, and how Erin sacrificed herself to get the core going again. He had been filled in by the engineering staff.

  "How many?" Grey asked. Alex knew what he was asking.

  "Nine dead," They had found two of the people who were missing both were dead with signs of a struggle. They were most likely in the dark when they died.

  "Seven were in engineering," Alex added, this was the part Grey would find most difficult. He breathed slowly.

  "How many of the bastards are left?" He said holding back tears.

  "We don't know, Jenny's working with the Trulen soldiers to drive them out. We knew there's a group hold up on deck two, the internal sensors are not good enough to find individuals so there could be people anywhere." Alex answered, "We're currently missing six people, and have five needing medical care."

  "I assume that count doesn't include you," Grey said, he was struggling with the news, trying to hold back tears.

  "No, I don't need medical attention."

  "Your face tells a whole other story, have you looked in a mirror recently?" Grey jested, he normally turned to humour when he was sad. In truth, Alex had not actually seen his face, and what damage had been done, Jenny had cleaned him up a bit, he was more interested in running his ship than sorting his face out.

  "Grey, it's a mess down there, and I need you to sort it. We'll talk at some point about everything else after we're out of this mess," Alex said. Grey just nodded and left, Alex wanted to talk more but now wasn't the time. Grey needed to go down to engineering with the soldiers who will be heading there to get the injured.

  Grey limped his way through the corridor, in front of him were two soldiers carrying Grant on a Stretcher, in front of them two more taking point, behind was the rest of the soldiers, some had stretchers ready to go, others roles were defensive, they moved slowly, checking every doorway and every corner they went. There were signs of fighting throughout the ships, various patches of blood, bullet marks in the walls and some bodies that had yet to be cleaned up. They made it to engineering quickly, Gray saw where the explosives had taken on the entrance.

  "What the hell happened to my door?!" he said as he entered, he thought this might be a bit inconsiderate giving what they had been through. He decided to add something to attempt to lighten the mood.

  "I didn't realise we were going for open plan!" He smiled. No one responded, they all looked dreadful.

  "Everyone, please gather round," Those who didn't hear were told by others, and eventually all his remaining engineering staff were standing in front of him. Most were surprised to see him, some asked how he was.

  "Each and
every one of you stopped those people getting control of this engine room, you stopped them gaining control of this ship, you stopped them taking away our home. You should all be proud. When I heard that you'd been attacked, I knew you would hold, and you did, you held the line for this ship and its crew. We have lost dear friends, those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep the rest of us safe, we will not let their deaths go forgotten, we will not let the legacy of what they did for this ship fade. They will be remembered. Now we must carry on, you have done an incredible job so far. Please carry on and we will all give Lady Jean the middle finger." Some smiled, a few cheered, other just carried on. Grey was handed a status review, the core dropping caused problems all over the ship, power relays had been blown out, a lot of engineering systems had been damaged by gunfire some were critical to the ship surviving, they and managed to bypass systems with issues but they would not last forever. Grey brought up the job list, another of Grant's additions to the crew management system. It was a shared job list with the engineering team, they would be able to see what jobs needed doing and in what order without needing to find Grey, giving him more time. He moved some items around making certain items a higher priority, whoever had put the list together had done an excellent job. Someone had stepped in after Tina was shot, he was not sure who though, he needed to find out so he could thank them personally. He was still in incredible amounts of pain, he was supposed to be in the hospital on painkillers, but he managed to escape the hospital with some of those painkillers. He was craving some Elixia, but he'd promised himself to get off the stuff, lying in a bed for hours on end gave him a lot of time to think, and he needed to prove to Alex he could be an effective chief.