Path to Europa

by Garion Swann

  Grant had stepped away from the bridge while the cargo was being loaded, he guessed they would be on shift for a while so stocked up on some food to snack on. As he was going to leave the kitchen he noticed Grey's bottle of hot sauce in a rack full of other spices, he thought back to the pain of the prank Grey had played on him. A thought crossed his mind, he could do something to get back at Grey, no, he shouldn't. Grant knew he would be playing with fire, Grey being an engineer could come up with countless tricks to make Grant's life hell, but then again his mouth was burning for hours after that, he even went to the food stores to get more cream, something he would have to explain to the Captain later. He opened his pad and did a quick research in the medical database, he looked through various different cures for acne, the wonders that medical science had provided the human race still had not cured teenage acne. The reason for looking up acne is because he remembered a prank his older brother played on him. He was due to go on a date, and he had put a lot of effort into his look, he wanted to make a good impression, his brother, however, had managed to give him some concoction that caused his acne to grow at a rapid rate and cover a lot of his face, he ended up cancelling the date. He connected to the station's network and browsed their forums for acne pranks and found precisely what he was looking for.

  After half an hour of gathering some items from the medical storage, he mixed his concoction together and blended it into Grey's hot sauce. He immediately regretted it has he knew Grey could get him back, it was unheard of for anyone to win a practical jokes ‘war' against an engineer, especially one of Grey's standard.

  Grant left the kitchen, after returning the hot sauce to its rightful place, part of him was looking forward to revenge, the other part dreading what Grey would do next. He made his way back to the bridge a bag of snacks in hand, upon entering the bridge he saw the Captain standing over his console reading a status report.

  "The station has completed the load, good timing Grant." Alex said, his eyes drew to the snacks, "Enough to share?"

  "That depends on how long this shift is," Grant said with a smile.

  The Captain sat back down and opened a channel to the crew.

  "All hands prepare to leave the dock," he cut the ship-wide communication, "You know the drill, jump as soon as we've got the green light."

  Chapter Four

  Nuisance entered engineering, she walked towards the centre of the room with precision in her step, she was military through and through. A few of the engineer's heads, two male, one female turned as she walked by, Nuisance knew full well what they were looking at. She looked around for the Chief's office and saw the Chief, known as Grey with his feet up on the desk reading his bad.

  "Chief Yovin?" she asked.

  "No one here by that name," he responded, he hadn't even looked up.

  "Are you not the Chief Engineer?"

  "I am indeed," he replied. Another Engineer walked in.

  "Here are some more reports, Grey," they said and quickly left. The Chief continued to ignore Nuisance which became frustrating.

  "Grey!" she said a little anger slipping through in her tone.

  "Yes, what can I do for you? You must be Nuisance?" he responded.

  "Your name is Grantly Yovin, why do you only answer to Grey?" Nuisance asked very bluntly, she'd only just met this man, he'd already eyed her up so she thought she'd ask a blunt question.

  "Grantly Richard Ethan Yovin, who names their kid that?" Grey asked rhetorically, "My initials spell Grey, so I called myself that, most the crew don't know my full name, so please keep it under wraps."

  "Hmm, that makes sense. You already know me so let's get down the business." Nuisance said.

  "The last women to say that to me had a night to remember," Grey said, his eyes spoke more than anything, he was attracted to her.

  "You realise that horse shit won't work on me right?" Nuisance said with a stare. Grey had noticed the stare and backed off.

  "Noted," he coughed, "To business,"

  "Please could I see your rotas for the day of the incident, I'd like to know what crew were on shift at what times." Nuisance asked politely.

  "Cap'n says I've got to let you have everything," he winked, Nuisance sighed and rolled her eyes. Grey, realising he was still not getting anywhere picked up a pad and loaded rotas from the day of the incident, he handed the new security chief the pad.

  "Happy?" he asked.

  "Thank you," Nuisance turned and left, she could feel his eyes on her as she walked away, the less contact with him the better. She left engineering at deck two and walked back to her office.

  "Leaving jump in 3...2...1!" Jenny said. The view out of the window changed to show the nebula ahead, it was a thick nebula, a vibrant blood orange, it covered the whole view.

  "Take us in," Alex ordered. He was sat in the Captain's chair gazing out at the Nebula, it was something you could get lost gazing at, he looked for a few long minutes until has was snapped back to reality from the door to the bridge opening and closing. Chief Nuisance had entered the bridge she moved towards where the Captain was seated.

  "May I?" gesturing towards the XO's chair which remained empty with Jenny being at the helm.

  "Of course," Alex said.

  "Oh, Chief," Grant said before she could have a chance to sit down, "You've left your comms device in your quarters, it's ship policy to carry them at all times.

  "Ah, ok. I'll go and grab that now, thank you Mister McDonald," Nuisance said. Grant seemed surprised at the use of his surname. Nuisance walked towards to door but stopped in her tracks,

  "Wait!" she said, "You can track the comm devices aboard?"

  "Yeah," Grant replied.

  "I need full access to that system. Please," She said looking at Grant. She had gone through Grey's rotas, and all engineering crew could be accounted for. Which could mean it was a non-engineering crew member. Grant looked to the Captain who nodded, and Grant made some changes at his console.

  "You have full access," Grant said.

  "Thank you, I'll continue my work in my office." Nuisance left the bridge. Alex watched her go, and his gaze stayed on her longer than it should have, he turned back to the viewscreen and noticed Jenny smirking at him.

  "Pleasant view, Captain?" she said in a playful voice. Alex was embarrassed and hoped the feeling of blushing was just a feeling and not visible.

  "Anything on scanners?" he said quickly changing the subject.

  "Nothing yet," Grant said.

  "We're approaching our first drop zone," Jenny announced. They had six buoys to drop at certain points that would record data, Trulen ships would discreetly collect the data and transmit it back to Trulen station, the Captain's wouldn't even know it was happening. Alex tapped the engineering button on his comm panel.

  "Grey, you ready to drop?"

  "I'm always ready," came his response.

  "On Jenny's mark." Jenny checked the nav screen, they were plotting a course through the part of the nebula that was most used by Trulen ships to get into Yventi space. The nav screen had a countdown to the waypoint she had set, it counted down, and when it hit about two seconds to go, she gave the go ahead.

  "Drop one," Jenny said.

  "Dropping," Grey said. She turned at the exact moment she needed to and fired the thrusters which would move the buoy into position. Her turn made it so the thrusters would hit the buoy and move it. There was a small amount of fuel that the buoy would use up to bring itself to a stop, once it had finished that it would be undetectable to sensors.

  "Drop complete, the buoy is in place, and now we can't detect it," Jenny said.

  "Good, one down five to go!" Alex relaxed into his chair, maybe this mission would be a breeze after all.

  Nuisance had come to the conclusion that it was not engineering staff that planted the device, she had confirmed all their whereabouts on CCTV cameras. She knew though it was definitely someone from the Michelangelo's crew. Now the task was to find out who. She had a list of all p
eople who are not engineering and were on the crew when the device was planted. She had eleven people to account for.

  Alex Harper - Captain

  Dylan Roper - XO

  Jenny Glover - Helm

  Grant McDonald - Operations

  Judith Tamber - Medical

  Ian Joyce - Medical

  Mark Johnson - Security

  Alfie Turner - Helm/Security

  Imogen Hargreaves - Security

  Penelope Whelen - Security

  Jacob Felor - Security

  Now that Nuisance had access to the comms device tracking system she could very quickly find out where they were, she inputted the security names first, and they were all in the same place. There was a small meeting room on the ship which the security team were having a meeting at the time. She could cross all those names off as she confirmed their location on CCTV. Next, she checked the medical teams, both were showing as in sickbay, and she also confirmed that on CCTV. This left the senior officers, she checked the bridge cameras and found the Captain and the Pilot on the bridge so it was probably not them. That left her with Dylan Roper and Grant McDonald.

  Grey released the second buoy with no issues, the emergency hatch, designed to drop fuel, closed and Grey prepared the next buoy, once complete he checked how long they had until the next drop, seventeen minutes. He was starting to shake, only slightly, he could keep it under control but needed to top himself up. He knew full well that drugs were not allowed on board but he just couldn't break his habit, it was not something he was proud either. Grey walked into his office and removed a hidden panel that was behind his desk, he'd built a small hiding place for his capsules, he also had a hiding spot in his quarters. He picked out two of the small amber capsules that contained an also amber coloured liquid, it was called Elixia, and when taken it feels like his whole body relaxes, it feels like he is floating and that nothing was wrong in the universe. The sensation lasted for about two minutes after he took the capsules, after that he was back to reality, but without the craving for Elixia, he could now continue for the next few hours without needing to take it. He sat back up in his chair and relaxed, breathed out and made his way back to get ready for the next drop.

  The third drop went smoothly, and the ship carried on towards the forth. Only two more drops left thought Alex, then done. They were one minute away from drop four then fifteen minutes to drop five.

  "Nearly there," Alex said, "Prepare for the drop."

  "Aye," came Grey's response. Alex saw on his screen that Grey had opened the emergency hatch and was ready to drop the beacon.

  "On Jenny's mark," Alex said. He looked over to Jenny who had her eyes on the distance to waypoint readout.

  "Mark," Jenny said.

  "Ship detected!" Grant shouted. Alex jumped out of his seat to look at the sensor readout on Grant's screen.

  "Abort!" He shouted.

  "Too late!" Grey shouted back through the comms.

  "Don't push it away, we don't want them to detect it, continue on course," Alex said.

  "Aye," Jenny said checking the position of the other ship.

  They had one drop left. If this ship got even the slightest suspicion the Michelangelo was on covert ops it could spell disaster.

  "Have we got any info on that ship?" Alex asked Grant.

  "Only that it looks like a cruiser, we need to be closer to get more info. From its size and shape, it's a Heavy Cruiser." A ship that would have no issue destroying the Michelangelo.

  "Definitely not another trader then," Alex said, "Continue on course." He sat back down in his the Captain's chair and brought up the sensor feed on his panel.

  "It's a Yventi Pact ship, the YPS Titan," Grant said.

  The ship was on an intercept course, If they got caught with the buoys by the Yventi pact, it would be seen as an act of aggression and would give the Titan reason to destroy the Michelangelo.

  "Ok, we're an independent trade ship, they have no reason to suspect us of anything. It's just a routine patrol." Alex said to the crew on the bridge.

  "They're opening communications," Grant announced.

  "Open it," Alex said. He looked at Grant and waited a moment, he saw Grant put his thumb up signalling the channel was open.

  "This is Captain Alex Harper of the Michelangelo, what can we do for you?" Alex said as professionally as he could.

  "Captain Harper, under section twenty-four, paragraph eighteen of the Earth memorial agreement you are required to submit your vessel for a customs search." The voice sounded serious. This was bad if they found the hidden cargo they'd be destroyed or captured. The Yventi are not known for not being forgiving. They are the only government in the Earth Memorial Agreement that is run by a dictator.

  "To whom am I speaking?" Alex asked.

  "Commander Robert Young of the YPS Titan, do you submit your vessel for search, Captain Harper?"

  Alex quickly checked the map and saw they were just in the border for the Yventi pact, he had to accept or risk being destroyed.

  "I do, please allow me a minute to let my crew know to extend all courtesies to your search party."

  "Please come to a full stop, power down your engines, and we will dock with your port airlock," Young ordered. He then cut the comm. Alex tapped his crew announcement button on his console.

  "All hands this is Captain Harper, we are about to be boarded by a Yventi search team, please extend all courtesies to the search. It shouldn't take long." He had forced himself to remain confident and hoped that the confidence was heard by the crew.

  "Jenny you have the bridge, Grant with me," Alex said while walking off the bridge, he was already halfway down the corridor to the access ladder when Grant caught up with him.

  "Alex, what if they find the cargo," Grant asked, the worry in his voice. This was a trader crew, not a covert ops crew, they didn't know what to expect.

  "They won't," Alex replied before climbing down the ladder. His feet were firmly onto deck three, he waited for Grant to climb down before proceeding to the next ladder which would take them to deck two.

  Grey had rushed to his feet, a customs search was not a good thing, he didn't care about the buoy, the likelihood of them detecting it was low. It was his Elixia he was worried about, his dealer was genuine, but other dealers had made it so harmful that it had become outlawed. If it were found onboard the ship it would be seized and the whole crew potentially charged. Elixia had killed tens of thousands and governments were serious about it being banned that the laws had even made it into the latest amendment to the Earth Memorial Agreement. Grey scrambled to his console and retrieved the latest version of the agreement, he did a search for Elixia and found the paragraph, he noted down what dosage they could have onboard before law enforcement got involved, below a certain amount meant the Captain of a vessel was allowed to deal the punishment rather than a law enforcement agency. This made the law strict enough to stop bulk transport but lax enough so law enforcement did not have to deal with every small find. He found his protective suit and put it on, he then collected most of his Elixia stash and hid it within the suit. He made his way out of the office, across engineering, he was about to open the hatch to the engine itself.

  "Chief? Is that you?" Tina asked sounding confused.

  "Yeah?" Grey replied, he needed to dump the stash, and this was not helping.

  "There's no scheduled maintenance in the engine?"

  "I'm the Chief Engineer, Tina!" Grey snapped a little, "Sorry, didn't mean to snap."

  "No problem," Tina said and just walked away. Thank god! Grey thought, he opened the door to the engine compartment. He checked his suit was functioning and it was cooling him enough to cope with the extreme temperatures in the engine room. He closed the first door and began to unlock the second door, as soon as it opened he could feel the heat, the suit kept him from burning. He made his way to the engine itself, it stood two decks high and went back about twenty meters. It was not an efficient engine, it was old by current st
andards. Newer engines generated double the power in half the size, but they were expensive.

  He opened the hatch to the reaction chamber, he looked down into the thick liquid that was superheated to create power, he immediately threw all the Elixia into the reaction chamber, most were burnt to a crisp before hitting the liquid, as soon as they did hit though they were incinerated. Grey sighed and closed the hatch, he was happy that was sorted.

  As he left the engine compartment, he saw Alex and Grant enter engineering. Alex was walking quickly towards him, panic took over Grey, Did he know?.

  "What are you doing in that, Grey?" Alex asked.

  "Do people seem to forget that I'm the fucking engineer?" He let his anger escape.