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"These must be closer Bill... Angelica, how close are those two responders?" Jennifer asked excitedly.
"Best estimate if they FTL directly is six weeks, one day and forty seven minutes commander." The droid supplied. It didn't mention the other two beacons it had detected as the droid had not been asked.
"Miss Lawson... can you get me clearance? We need to talk without shouting." Bill yelled.
"Hang on.. I'll try." Jenny shouted back.
"Classify Stg Bill Newson as my personal protection... full access granted." She said to the droid.
"Negative.. Commander is not in danger." Replied the droid.
"What?... yes I am... there is a rebellion on board and a freaking great big battle ship standing outside with boarders already here." Jenny screamed in frustration.
"This level is secure Commander." Angelica responded as she whirred and hummed.
Jennifer felt crushed. She couldn't seem to get the droid to understand what was going on.
"Angelica... analyses possible outcome of present security breaches." Yelled Bill.
"Command is unauthorised."
"Do as he asks... My command override." Jenny quickly added.
The droid went silent for a moment and Jenny held her breath.
"Danger... Danger... situation is .. is... " bbrrrrr... clank... zziizzitttt. The droid overloaded and collapsed in a heap.
"OH.. oh FUCK." Jenny gasped out as she watched the faithful droid drop.
"What happened?" Bill yelled.
"I think we broke it." Jenny shouted back.
"What?" Bill responded incredulously.
Jenny pushed at the droid with a toe.
"Ermm... YEAH... it's broken." She shouted as she started to freak out.
Bill looked at the chip that the droid had placed on him. It had once glowed a deep red and now showed nothing.
"Coming to you.. if I explode.. it's not broken." He shouted before moving.
"NOoooo... HOLY FUCK." Jenny yelled back as she looked over and saw him move towards her. The unusual expletives drawn from her in fear for his safety.
"Yup.. it's fucked." Bill said as he drew closer.
Jenny glared at hm and then couldn't help herself as she punched him in the chest.
"You...YOU... Arggggggggg" she yelled. Frustrated beyond words at his stupidity. And the pain that flared in her knuckles.
"I'm wearing body armour... give me your hand." Bill said with a shake of his head as he reached for his med kit.
Jennifer stifled an angry retort as he gently took her hand. Again the butterflies did loop the loops in her tummy.
"ow." She yelped as he applied the healing salve.
"Don't be a baby." He said gently as he rubbed it in with callused yet gentle hands.
She blushed and looked away. Him touching her felt a bit too good despite the pain.
"I'm good." she blurted out and snatched her hand away as she looked for something else to think about.
"You sure?.. might be sprained." Bill said with a sudden smile to himself. He recognised the way she was acting and thought back to the heady days of youthful love when he had first met his ex-wife.
Jenny studiously looked at the holo-image of the station.
"Erm.. yes.. fine." She coughed out... "Lets try finding a way to stop these borders." She said with as firm a voice as she could manage.
*************
Kenan walked arrogantly, every step he took showed a supreme confidence in his own abilities. Sgt Dawes noted uneasily.
Dawes had seen men like this before. Natural killers who seemed to need no training to be frighteningly good at killing. Death himself riding on their shoulders and giving them uncanny luck in a fight.
It was a relief when the good looking but insane Kenan eventually stepped aside with a mocking bow. Ushering Dawes and his men into the main control room where Brace stood.
"See you around Sgt." Kenan said with a grin before leaving. He still had orders to go below and secure the Reacher ship and bring Helena to Brace.
Dawes suppressed a shiver. Men like Kenan were to be avoided and it didn't matter that Dawes was an experienced soldier. People like that were just too dangerous to take lightly.
Brace was sat in the Commanders chair. One leg over an armrest and a hand filled with a large glass of whiskey.
"Welcome aboard... whiskey?" Brace said to Dawes with a confident smile. Hiding his feelings successfully with bravado.
"No... Captain Shelling wants to know why you haven't secured the lower levels.. you promised us a fully secure station." Dawes responded as he took off his helmet and gestured for his men to take up pre-designated positions around the command centre.
"Actually.. I promised General Niles that I would take this station and in return we would get regular supplies and access to free movement between here and the Janus system. I HAVE done my part." Brace replied with a shrug. His act of superiority was needed if he wanted the original deal to be honoured.
Dawes wasn't happy or impressed. But he did understand that Brace held the command deck and much of the station.
"Doubt that is good enough." Dawes said as he waited for orders. His open comm link to Captain Shelling let his superior know what was being said.
Melody held up her hand as she walked towards her husband. Her earpiece telling her that Shelling wanted to talk directly to Brace.
***
Helena frowned as she listened in. Her comms officer was a good hacker and had finally found a work around by directly tapping into Heaven Five's communications network and then hacking and overriding the lock out signal.
She shook her head in dismay as she learned that her former lover had done all this to become a puppet king to General Niles. She was sure Brace didn't understand how much he would have to give away because unlike Helena, Brace had never been part of the political elite and seen the manoeuvrings that went on.
"He'll have to give us up too." She said to her crew in disgust as she heard Shelling demand the lower decks be secured with the help of Dawes boarding party.
"This is a Gen forty two ship... we can't let Niles OR the HC get hold of it." Guardian Jones reminded her.
"I know that." Helena snapped back angrily. Part of why she had let Brace take her gun turret weapons was to avoid him taking the whole ship.
"I could take a team to the dock masters office... Vernon and I could hack the Hanger bay doors." Suggested Jones.
Helena eyed him and shook her head. She was well aware that the Guardian wasn't trained for this or any real combat.
"You wouldn't make it... it won't just be the rioters.. by the time you get there. It would be the Boarding party and some of Brace's men." She told him sadly.
Jones clenched his fists in anger as he nodded. He too knew just how outmatched he would be.
Briana Moon waved her hand at Helena urgently. The unconventionally attractive woman had managed to hack another signal.
"You need to listen to this... sounds like some sec-crop personnel have managed to hole up... I think your daughter is with them." Briana interrupted. As a Reacher she was bound by family and now that she and the others knew Jenny was Helena's daughter, they were actively considering her as one of their own.
Helena rushed over and accessed the feed. Listening intently to Bill, Katherine and Jenny as they directed people upwards, using escape hatches and little known maintenance tunnels.
"Why up?... that is closer to Brace and the boarders?" Asked Briana in confusion.
Helena smiled and then grinned at her crew.
"My ex-husband has a Corvette on level 52... I'll bet they are planning on using it to get off the station." She informed as she hit several switches and powered up the engines.
"They'll be obliterated as soon as they launch... that Ship outside is a modern Destroyer." Jones gasped out in horror of the idea.
"If it was a standard Corvette... but it's not... My ex was useless in many ways, but he altered that thing to take massive damage, hit hard and move much faster than any Destroyer or Battle cruiser... All they need is a distraction... a few moments to launch." Helena replied with a grin.
What she didn't say was that she wasn't sure if the dammed thing was finished.
Jones looked at Moon and got a nod.
"Okay.. how do we do that without getting ourselves killed?" Jones asked.
Helena shrugged.
"Not sure yet... I'll think of something... trust me." She answered to a crew that was now low on trust for her yet still obeyed.
"We are in Captain Shaw... God help us at the review though." Sighed out Moon.
Helena grimaced a little but then smiled at her crew in thanks. She knew she had pushed them too far and put them all in a precarious position through her own bad choices and desires.
"Keep monitoring that channel... let me know what they are doing." She said to Moon. Her face intent.
****
Kenan and a group of Brace's men got to the docking bays and found the Reacher ship had released its docking clamps. The unconventionally designed Reacher ship was hovering out of reach with its shields raised.
Melody listened as Brace ordered Kenan to wait for one of the RGs to arrive, planning to use the Reacher gun against its own ship.
She had considered letting Brace know about the transmissions she was trying to break and decode but hesitated because she had finally located her sister. The sight of Elizabeth's bloody corpse lying next to the crutch that had been used to beat her to death with had left Melody scrambling to find her Niece.
Instead of concentrating on her husband and their joint coup. Melody now turned all her attention to the vid feeds. Flicking through them as fast as possible, searching for a niece she hardly knew but loved despite the history she had with her family.
***
Melody had been raised in the upper levels with loving parents and a just as loving older sister. As she grew, she became disenchanted with things and the Holy Company. She saw the injustice of it all and at first helped Elizabeth run her improvised Clinique. That soon changed as she made friends with a young group of dock workers. Quickly falling for one in particular who talked of freeing themselves from the HC and running their own lives.
Brace was his name and she went to as many of his meetings as she could, she would have been turned away in her well-made upper level dress if he hadn't taken notice of her early on. He saw the potential of having an upper class girl at his beck and call. Brace actively groomed her with smooth rhetoric and he fed her disillusioned mind. Easily encouraging her to become more and more involved with his group.
Melody's mind was soon twisted to hate everything she had been born into. Idealistic and seeing things only as black and white, she argued with her family and would have left to live on the lower levels if Brace hadn't persuaded her to remain. Telling her she was more use if she learned everything she could about the station's systems.
By the time she was twenty six, Melody was a comms expert in the station's Cadet program and tipped to be one of those to wear a HC uniform and work on the stations main bridge.
She hated that idea and begged Brace to let her leave now that she could do what he wanted. Brace had agreed easily, his affair with Helena was over and he had grown to like having an upper class girl in his bed.
Melody clearly remembered the day she had moved into a small room that still had a lingering scent of Helena's perfume in it.
She knew all about the illicit affair Brace had had but told herself it didn't matter. Willingly opening her legs that very night and taking Brace's cock into her. Letting herself believe he loved her as she gave everything to him. Bucking her hips to meet his as he took his pleasure without much care for hers.
At first it all seemed perfect. Just what she had always wanted. Being an important part of Brace's network was what she desired as she worked to hack comms and build a jammer. She had helped plan it all and been the one to successfully communicate with one of Niles' agents. Not that they had known much about Niles back then. Only liked the agent's idea's and talk of open rebellion.
A nearly bloodless coup had been the idea, help and modern medical aid was promised. Brace assured her things could change without too much killing. Only the Sec-Corps needed eliminating and Melody had readily agreed to that, she saw them as the brutal extension of the HC and lost no sleep over the plan to kill them. That was until she found out her niece was in the Corps and had altered the plan to avoid Hydroponics where Kathrine was stationed.
***
Nothing or little had gone as she had planned. Melody had seriously underestimated the pure rage and hatred around her. Seeing the people as wronged. She had managed to ignore every warning sign that things would become uncontrollable.
Now, as Brace planned on securing the lower areas too late to change what had happened, Melody managed to catch a glimpse of her niece with a large group of people as they were entering a security hatch.
Melody stood up and excused herself.
"I need a Recal 62 scanner if I'm going to override the self-destruct codes." She told Brace as she walked past him.
"Fine.. get it sorted." He replied as he talked with Shelling about using more of Dawes men to help secure the lower area.
***
Melody opened the door to the pleasure deck.
"Brace wants you to join Kenan at the docks." She told the guard.
"What about this lot?" He had grunted. Pointing to the Pleasure Girls and a group of the upper level people that had been enjoying them when the station had been taken over.
"Leave that to me." She had said and patted her pulse rifle with a smile.
The guard nodded once in understanding and left. Thinking that Melody was ruthless enough to do what he thought she was about to.
A man looked up at Melody as the door closed.
"You were one of US... how can you do this?" he asked sadly. No panic was in his voice, just resignation as he thought she was about to unload her rifle into the group.
"I'm not... get ready to move." She hissed at him as she opened the door and peeked down the corridor.
********
Bill Newson waited by the crawl space as civilians passed by. Jennifer Lawson directed them onto the old Corvette while engineering cadet Alex Rogers showed them where to settle in.
Finally, Kathrine Hawes arrived. Last in line with a young pilot Cadet next to her. Both of them armed with HG12's as they backed out of the hatchway, covering their movements the way Bill had once taught Kathrine to and she, in turn had instructed Cadet Gar Feldman.
"Good work Private." Bill praised as he handed her one of the three Mark sixteen pulse rifles he had recovered from the Corvette's limited Armory.
"Thanks Sarg... this is Gar, he was in the Pilot training program and my second cousin." She replied as she handed over the weapon to Gar and Bill watched as the young man quickly checked it over before hitting the power up button.
"Stay close and frosty Gar... limited ammo.. short bursts only." Bill replied as he pushed the third and last Mark Sixteen into Katherine's hands.
"SIR YES SIR." Barked Gar in response. Youthful enthusiasm on his face now that he was in front of his cousins hero.
Bill nodded firmly before looking away. The kid was too young but Bill had little choice. If it all went to shit, then he was responsible for getting this young man killed. That fact weighed down on him but had to be pushed aside because of the situation.
"Gar.. guard the Corvette's entrance... remember... short bursts only, you got one Mag." Bill instructed and watched as the young man ran to the ramp and knelt by it. The Pulse rifle held well and in a safe but ready position.
"He'll be okay Sarg." Promised Kathrine.
Bill looked at her and smiled a smile he didn't feel.
"Sure he will... now get those civvies stowed." He instructed.
Kathrine felt much more secure now that she had managed to join up with Bill. She nodded firmly before doing as ordered. Quickly chivvying the last few civilians aboard the Corvette.
***
Jenny ran down the ramp, pushing past the civilians to reach Bill.
"Bill... Bill... the Reacher ship just contacted us." She gasped out hurriedly.
"What?... why?" he asked as he eyed the double doors that closed them off from the rest of the station. Worried his assassination of Niles' shuttle crew had raised an alarm.
"Some woman called Helena says she can cause a distraction for us to launch." Jenny said. Hopping from foot to foot in excitement.
Jennifer Lawson had wanted revenge but when she leant of all the innocent lives at risk, she had quickly refocused on getting everyone she could to safety.
"Last name Shaw by any chance?" Bill asked with a frown.
"yes.. do you know her?" Jenny said hopefully. Thinking Bill might be friends with a Reacher and finding the idea very cool.
"No.. not really.. just by reputation." Bill admitted without saying Helena was most likely Jennifer's mother. A fact that was rumoured but not something he knew for sure.
"So what do we do?... should I reply?" Asked Jenifer with total trust.
Bill closed his eyes. She couldn't see his face as he was facing the doors and she was behind him.
"Tell her we will open the lower doors, she should launch as soon as they are open and we will too from here... Ask if she can drop mines as she launches." Bill replied.
"But... but.. I have to be in the upper spire to open those doors... how can we launch at the same time?" Jenny asked in confusion.
"WE Can't... she's the distraction and she offered... it's all those people on your dad's ship or her... your call." Bill responded with brutal honesty.
Jenny's hand went to her mouth in horror as she realised what he was asking, telling and putting upon her.
"You're a MONSTER." She uttered. Her heart felt like lead as she understood his intent. He was still the man that sent her tummy into tribulation but right at that moment she hated him.
Bill nodded slowly.
"Yes... yes I am." Was all he could find by way of answer.
Jenny stared at his back. Solidly set with shoulders bunched to take the recoil of the rifle that was firmly sighted on the doors.
She gulped and reached out her hand. Almost touching his muscled back. She could feel his pain and realised he was no monster despite her words and his.
She turned away sadly without touching him.
"I'll do it." She sobbed. Taking the blame upon herself... for him... for a man she hardly knew but for some reason felt deeply for.
Bill focused on the doors. His heart heavy for what he had done and asked but knowing he had to for her safety.
"I wasn't asking GIRL... I was ORDERING." He shouted.
Jenny heard him but kept walking. She ignored the harshness of his words because she felt deep down that he was doing it for her. It was her choice and she was taking it.
******
Six days later...
"I'm sorry about Gar... he was a good kid." Bill said with genuine feeling to Kathrine.
Kathrine shrugged off the sympathetic hand that he had laid on her shoulder.
"Like Jock?... like those Reachers?... Jesus.. you really don't give a fuck do you?" she replied angrily.
Bill sighed deeply and shook his head sadly.
"I do... but at the same time I can't." he admitted honestly.
"Bastard... stay the fuck away from me." She uttered with a sob. Not the first time she had fallen into tears about her cousin.
"Cry it out... but you are a soldier now... sorry." Bill said gently.
Kathrine brushed away her tears and glared at him.
"No... no I'm not... I'm Sec-Corp... we PROTECT." She replied as she shoved the pulse rifle into his hands.
The Security badge she wore shone in his eyes for a brief second, like an accusing flash of rightness.
Bill sat back and sighed deeply.
"SO do I...so do I." he said.
