Author: Johannes "Jergen[K]" Cruz			Viewing: Chapter 25

Johannes’ second shot took the other guard in the side of the head, crashing through his skull and slamming him hard against the steel bulkhead of the control room. Seeing the target fall, Jergen dropped from the ventilation shaft to the catwalk next to the room and took a knee. Ban was right behind him out of the vents, training his weapon on the workers below, he watched intently for anyone that appeared armed. Johannes was around the corner in a flash, covering his movements in wide sweeps of his pulse rifle. As he entered the room the single worker occupying it screamed. “Lay down on the deck with your hands behind your head!” Johannes yelled, quickly eating up the distance between himself and the terrified worker. The man did as he was told, sliding off of the small chair and hitting the floor hard and pressing his face to the cool steel. He laced his fingers behind his head and promptly began to weep. Ban covered the doorway as Jergen moved over the consoles. Smiling, Johannes flipped a switch. “Night time boys,” he said softly. Instantly, the entire complex lost power and light. Johannes and Ban activated their low light goggles in the now complete darkness as the worker at Jergen’s feet screamed aloud. Johannes knelt down and struck the man in the back of the head with his left hand, knocking him unconscious. Both men moved to a door exiting the room. The moment Johannes opened the hatch he came under intense fire. Returning fire he ducked back around the doorjamb, looking to Ban and nodding. Ban ducked low and came around the frame of the door firing. Johannes took the high road and put rounds into three of the open doors, including the one that he had taken shots from earlier. Johannes moved up to the next door as Ban covered and as Johannes reached his position, Ban moved up again. The tactical leapfrog was effective in that it kept the enemies’ heads down and allowed both men to rapidly approach a position. Before the enemy could react, both marines were in a superior position and able to neutralize any threats. Two men leaped out at them, their weapons firing wildly. Johannes hit the one in front of him with a close range burst that sent him back the way he came in a spray of blood and shattered bone. Ban took his man in the midsection with a single round. The attacker’s eyes went wide with the impact as he dropped to his knees and then fell to the side, blood gushing from between his fingers and lips. Johannes paused, feeling at an impact in the shoulder. Before he could kill that last attacker he had taken a lucky shot from him, but it didn’t look too bad. It hadn’t penetrated, and whatever energy the round might have had was bled off on the armor more than the flesh. Snarling, Johannes advanced. *** “Get the girl Raven,” Arthur said in a growl. He glared at Mekhazzio, “I should leave you here to hold them off.” After a second of thought he shouted , “Get the bed out of the way, we can get out of here.” Mekhazzio paused for a moment, considering his options. He could either run out of the room and seek out the marines and tell them he had been captured, or he could attempt to escape. On the one hand he might be shot, but on the other it was a good bet that his excuse of capture would hold up if he went along or he didn’t. So, he thought it more to his advantage to at least try and escape, and even though he was developing a strong dislike for Arthur Prove, it was a matter of nearly a million in cash. “What the hell are you waiting for Mekhazzio? Friggin’ Christmas?” Even without light Mekhazzio was certain the man had a gun trained on him in the darkness. Mekhazzio drug the mattress to the side as Raven shouldered the woman. A small hatch had been cut into the installation floor and in feeling for a latch he found an old-style ring and pulled. The tunnel was lighted dimly and larger than would have been expected. Even the obese Arthur Prove managed to fit down it with little trouble, although his wheezing was a constant irritant to Mekhazzio as he descended a particularly steep staircase. *** Divine Right entered the large hold in an explosion of gunfire and shouted commands. The remaining guards, stunned by the speed of the assault, either dropped their weapons or died somewhere in the process. Preacher leaned against a crate as two of his fireteam leaders approached. Lazily, he began to roll a cigarette, pausing to whipe blood from his right hand, he lit his fix and greeted them: “give your report Pulse.” “The upper decks are secure, the lower are being secured. There are no casualties.” Pulse said, falling into loose attention before his Commanding Officer. “With you Doc?” “The perimeter is clear, no one escaped and there are no signs of official interference. Didn’t loose anyone, Dachande took a hit in the chest, but it was small arms, didn’t penetrate.” Doc began digging through one of the pockets of his armor, pulling out his own smokes, he lit one and inhaled. “Some of the boys reported damage in the upper decks, and a few bodies. Someone got here before we did.” “Johannes and Ban,” Preacher said. “They were supposed to wait, but I think they are after the Doctor.” Doc nodded. “Pulse,” Preacher began. “Get your men through this cargo and get it ready for transport. Customs is probably already circling like a pack of vultures and I don’t want to have to buy them off.” Pulse saluted and left, he was already transmitting as he walked back to where his men were moving through the rows of sealed boxes. “This is good Sir,” Doc said. “We’ve needed a good haul for a long time, and this one will keep us in weapons for at least the next few operations.” Preacher nodded. “We needed it, things were getting thin.” “Thin ain’t quite the word I would have used, maybe transparent.” Doc smiled as he crushed his cigarette out and started to move away, pausing only to shoot a quick salute to Preacher. Preacher returned the salute, then resumed his lean against the nearby crates. When he was alone he allowed himself a smile. Yes, it was indeed a good thing they had captured this cargo. Now he would be able to fund his people on real money instead of promises and depending on their personal honor to make them do the right thing. They might be a good group, but mercenaries work for money, and that wasn’t something he had in great supply. Now things were going to be pretty smooth for at least the next twelve months. Things were looking up. *** Johannes and Ban moved through the tunnels beneath the warehouse with silent efficiency. After slipping into the hidden access beneath the soiled mattress, the two men began their search for the fleeing gangster and pirate. If the Doctor was still alive, they would have her, and Neither marine had any intention of letting her disappear again. Luckily, the passages in this part of the station were more for circulating cool air from the bowels of the facility up into the main decks. Thus, all of the side passages ended in huge powered fans that were spinning at more than 300 revolutions per minute. This made things much easier for the two of them, as they wouldn’t have to follow every passage to it’s completion just to find a dead end. Johannes picked up his pace a little as the passageway opened up into a larger area ahead of him. Ban paused, checking his rifle, and followed after Jergen. The chamber they found themselves in was immense. In the center of the area was a raised platform, atop which sat the coolant block for the station generators. Surrounding the platform was a pool of water, nearly forty feet deep and circulated through dozens of filters near the bottom of the holding tank. Not only was this a good way to provide heated water throughout the station, it was also one of the final filtration points for potable water on Solstice. After the generator steamed the water, it was collected in a huge bell above the generator. This bell would allow the condensation to catch and develop from the steam, then would guide the water to drip down into the huge pool. This further helped the filtration process by removing any minerals that happened to exist in the fluid. Arthur, Mekhazzio and the Doctor were in a boat, moving across to the generator block. Johannes cursed, turning to Ban. “What now?” Ban came up next to him and immediately began removing his gear. “I can get out there,” he said simply. Just as Johannes was about to remove his gear he noticed movement above them. High in the supports above the water reservoir was a dark shape. Johannes instantly threw Ban to the ground as a shot rang out. The round impacted Johannes near one of this shoulder plates and exploded. The shrapnel did little damage to him, but to the unarmored Ban it would have been instantly fatal. Ban nodded a quick thank you to Johannes as he leapt into the water and began to pursue the boat. Johannes moved to open fire on the sniper, but he was nowhere to be found. Snarling to himself, Jergen looked about for a way to access the overhead scaffold. A small service ladder was mounted to the wall near where he and Ban had exited. Leaping onto the metal rungs, he began tearing up them at a fantastic pace. Within moments he was at the top and stretched out on one of the overhead support beams. He lay in wait. Ban ate up distance between himself and the small rowboat in front of him. For six years he had been a state champion swimmer, winning honors in every event in which he had participated. Cutting professionally, he closed the gap with every hungry second. A second shot rang out, striking the water just next to where Ban sliced his path through the dark pool. Ban did not flinch for even a moment as his attention was fully taken by the craft before him. Johannes smiled with grim satisfaction as the round missed his partner. The muzzle flash had been suppressed, but it was not invisible. This person, whoever it was, was a professional. Although Jergen doubted he had seen him move to this place, he knew the shooter had seen two marines enter the chamber, and given the demonstrated abilities of the person, he was not foolish enough to believe that his prey wasn’t very alert. Johannes had to move quickly. The last two shots had been near misses, but now the sniper would have Ban zeroed in and the next round out of that weapon would end his Sergeant’s life. Laying his rifle aside, Jergen pulled his fighting knife, and began to move himself above his quarry. Pistol shots rang out from the small boat, each shot causing a small fountain of dark water to geyser up in white splashes. Ban pulled on at a furious rate, melting the distance away as quickly as he could. Johannes ran out of time. Just as Jergen got himself into position the shooter was prepared to fire again. His mind racing, Johannes acted. “Up here!” He called, his voice causing the sniper to roll over on his support and fire blindly into the darkness above him. Jergen grunted as the round tore through his leg, snapping the bone in two. He immediately dropped on top of the shooter and impaled him through his left shoulder, pinning him to the support beam. Raven snarled as he dropped his rifle. The weapon tumbled through the vast area, plunging into the pool far below with a splash. Johannes tried to remove his blade, but the man had too tight of a grip on it, and would not let go. If Jergen did manage to remove the weapon he would be able to kill the sniper with little trouble, but the weapon did little good impaled in the man’s left shoulder. Raven spit into Jergen’s eyes as he used his left hand to pull out his own knife. Johannes blinked as the tobacco from Raven’s spittle burned wildly. He called out, and reflexively his hand went to the wounded part of his face, releasing his hold on the blade. Raven came around Jergen’s side and tried to stab him through the ribs, but before he could complete the maneuver Johannes slammed his palm on the exposed hilt of his fighting knife. Raven cried out in pain as the blade ground on bone and torn flesh, embedding itself deeper in the metal of the rafters. Trading places, Johannes rolled the man on top of him and prepared to kick him off and into the water far below. As he did this, Raven reeled back, his blade in his hand, and prepared to strike. Johannes tried to slide out from under his foe and fall to the pool as soon as he saw the drawn blade, but was pinned to the support by Raven’s legs. Raven sneered, “I expected more from Jergen,” he spat. Johannes only growled, trying to get his hands away from being pinned at his sides so that he could defend, but he could not. Just as the blade flashed down, the Xenomorph attacked. The creature seized Raven by his wrists, pulling the man straight up and into a waiting vent. Johannes flinched at the speed of the creature, his eyes going wide. A second creature emerged from the access tunnel, and prepared to leap across and on top of Jergen. It hissed, it’s dark exoskeleton reflecting the dim lighting of the chamber, as it approached it’s prey. Johannes let of another growl as he kicked off from the supports, plunging into the water below in a rush of speed, friction and gravity. The creature only paused a moment, watching it’s prey fall to the pool below. With less than a second of thought, the creature followed, leaping from the supports and into the dark pool. Ban approached the boat from the side, hoping to avoid as much gunfire as possible as he got nearer to it. Reaching the small craft, Ban readied his service pistol. This done, he pulled himself over the side. Arthur had Ban dead in his sites as he appeared over the side of the boat. His pistol, a nice 12mm job obtained illegally through his own network, was leveled right at Ban’s head. “Release your weapon into the water and get onboard slowly,” Arthur said. Ban paused for a moment, then released his weapon into the pool. Then, very slowly, he slid into the boat next to the sleeping Doctor. “That’s good,” Prove snarled. “Now we can be one big happy family.” Ban glared at the large man but did not speak. “I’m surprised you were able to cause me this much trouble,” Prove said. “I mean, I wouldn’t think two jarheads capable of coordinating their strikes so well. First you intercept the stolen cargo, then you destroyed my distribution center.” Prove shook his head. Ban remained silent, taking in the scene around him. The Doctor appeared fine, as far as he could tell in the near-darkness. Yet, she was obviously drugged, and if he tipped the craft, she would drown before he could take care of the situation. Mekhazzio sat behind Prove, a nearly blank look on his face as he rowed for the center platform. “Well, it looks like I’m going to have to leave you alive,” Prove began, aiming the pistol at the doctor. “At least until you tell me where my items are, but that doesn’t leave too much room for my pretty bait here.” Prove pulled the hammer back on his pistol, placing it on the sleeping woman’s temple. Ban was a mix of emotions. The craft was easily too far across for him to safely make a lunge for the weapon, but if he didn't Evelyn was going to be dead. He cursed under his breath, tensing the muscles of his legs in preparation to attack. “I don’t think so Sergeant,” Prove said, aiming the weapon at the woman’s right leg and letting off a round. Immediately Doctor Stewart sat upright screaming, and holding her wounded leg. Her eyes were wild, still dulled from the drug, but the pain had brought her back to consciousness. Ban flinched, but did not attack. Instead he cursed, looking at the gangster with murder in his eyes. “That’s a good grunt,” Prove continued. “You stay in your part of the boat, and I stay in mine.” Again Arthur took aim at the Doctor’s head. The gunshot rang out like thunder over the open water, echoing for a long time upon the chamber walls before it died away into silence.