Venus Ascending Pt. 13

When John heard the Medieval room a visceral shudder ran through him. So many bad things had taken place and in a way he was glad something good would finally happen. John looked the group he had so long taken for granted and realized that during this crisis the "Sewer Rats" had become the real heroes.

The "Sewer Rats" had one of the worst jobs in Venus and yet when the chips were down they had really shown what they were made of. They had put their lives on the line and saved so many people, including Lisa and him. Now they were getting ready to do it again. John walked over and gathered them all in a hug and proudly stated, "I just want you all to know how proud I am to know all of you. You keep going out into the fray, saving more people and now you're doing it again. Thank you, thank you for all you do and be safe."

John pulled them with him as he went over to the group creating weapons. If these guys had come up with anything he wanted the "Sewer Rats" to have some sort of defense. The group and come up with some interesting concepts.

For ammunition inside Venus they were using all of their epoxy and hardening it into round balls. These would basically be large buckshot and they could be used externally as well. For external ammunition they brought almost anything that could work. Any kind of liquid would freeze solid in the cold of space and that would turn even water into a nice projectile. They had designed some barrels that fit over the portable pneumatic tools to help aim the projectiles. The compressed air bottles would provide the force to propel the ammunition towards the enemy.

Dominic spoke up and explained, "It's going to work like a shotgun, well more like an old-time a blunderbuss. The compressed air is going to blast the projectiles forward, but we have no real aiming mechanism, so just make sure you're behind them when you set them off. Like a blunderbuss you have one shot and then you have to recharge all the compressed air and reload the ammunition. It's a very manual process."

John made sure each of the "Sewer Rats" had one of these makeshift shotguns and lots of ammunition before they headed out on their rescue mission. Next he had some of the engineering staff suit up to go take out the space planes. However, before they left they talked about strategy.

They all agreed that the bottom of the planes with the heat shields would be the toughest areas and should be avoided. The thinnest skin was the metal behind the cockpit and taking out the pilots should be their first order of business. Once the pilots were gone they should enter the plane and confiscate everything they see. Priorities should be weaponry followed by air and anything else they could find that might help with their survival.

There was a long discussion of whether they should destroy the planes are not. Ultimately, it was decided that if they could disable the planes they should do that, but if not the plane should be destroyed. Once all the strategy and weaponry had been assembled the team headed off to take care of the space planes.

The remainder of the staff started manufacturing more of the epoxy ammunition and creating more of the makeshift shotguns. John began posting people at all entrances to the engineering deck with the new make shift weapons to repel mercenaries. Then he tuned in to the proceedings of the UN to determine if their broadcasts had had any impact. The proceedings were bedlam with multiple people trying to talk and others trying to regain control of the meeting. John gave a grim smile, glad they had at least began talking about the subject at hand instead of parsing words.

Finally John turned to the surveillance cameras to see the mercenaries trying to break through some of the closed and sealed hatches. They were using cutting torches, flame-throwers and in some cases explosives to try and break through, but at least he was slowing them down. Other monitors showed his rescue group rounding up people and getting them to the safe rooms.

The external monitors showed all structural crews moving into place on top of both space planes. On the monitors he saw the flash lights at each other coordinating the attack. It was weird watching a battle in space, because there was no flash of light, noise or explosions, just metal being ripped apart and debris floating away. The second the attack began both planes began evasive maneuvers.

All the Venus personnel had avoided the tough heat shield below and were ripping into the thinner metal behind the cockpit. It didn't seem to take very long before everyone was inside the ships and John assumed that fighting is taking place inside the ships.

John saw some thruster's fire as one plane went into a spin, but almost as quickly the thruster's were shut off. The plane continued to spin until the boarding party entered the plane and stabilized the spin. The main engines on the other plane fired and it roared off into the darkness, with just the glow of the main engine telling him where it was. Moments later he breathed a sigh of relief as he heard communication from that boarding party that they had captured the plane and would be returning as soon as possible.

John turned to look at Lisa and saw a momentary grimace of pain before she tried to hide it from him. He quickly walked over to her and gingerly pulled her into his arms. He gave her an admonishing look as he began to carry her out of the conference room. He took her to the makeshift triage area and settled her on a mattress. John knelt beside her, kissed her forehead in a very strict tone and said, "Don't you ever try to hide your pain from me. I need to know what you're feeling so I can take care of my wife. You belong to me and it's my job to protect you. Do you understand my love?"

Lisa looked at him a little sheepish, but that quickly converted into love and adoration as she painfully whispered, "Yes Master, I understand."

John kissed her lightly on the lips then he backed away to let the doctors tend to her. John kept backing up until he could keep one eye on Lisa and the other on the monitors in the conference room. The doctor's examination proved that nothing had been torn during their run from the hospital, but Lisa was still in pain. The doctor gave her a shot of pain killer and John watched her eyes drift shut as the drugs took effect.

John kept watching as the pain faded from her face and that serenely beautiful look she gets during her sleep returned. He only turned away after the doctor looked at him and gave him the thumbs up. John turned his attention to the monitors in conference room just in time to see his partisans take out a group of the mercenaries. Their improvised weapons were amazing effective in the close quarters of Venus' corridors and two of the mercenaries were down.

John watched in the surveillance monitors as another group of mercenaries took out a group of entertainers. Other than that, their rescue mission seemed to be going well and many people were being saved. John thought their defense was actually going fairly well, but he felt like the other shoe hadn't dropped yet and something was coming.

Chapter 37

Communication techs rushed into the room, flipped a couple switches and suddenly the captured space plane was online. John heard a garbled voice crackle over the speakers. "John, John can you hear us?"

John stepped closer to the screen that was showing the external view of Venus. John cleared his throat and asks, "We are on our local communications? I wouldn't want the Council to hear anything that we have to say." The technician nodded yes and John turned to address the voice from the plane, "Yeah, this is John. What's the status out there? Were there any casualties?"

"Yes, John this is Steve and for the most part the two planes are secure. There is a huge amount of weaponry and lots of extra oxygen bottles for us to use. They had weapons, firing on us as we entered the plane and we have two dead and two wounded. However, it looks like we got a couple of problems. The first problem is the mercenaries pay day. According to the logs on the ship, they are being paid a bounty on who is killed. Guests are $1000, entertainment staff is $2000, engineering staff is $20,000, engineering management is $250,000 and you or Lisa are half a million each."

Steve let that sink in for a minute before he continued, "Secondly, there are two more space planes full of mercenaries on their way. They should be arriving within the next 10 to 12 minutes."

John fell heavily into a conference room chair as the gravity of what he had been told sunk home. Bounties for their death, oh my God, the Council's brutality never ceases to amaze him. He thought he knew how unscrupulous these people were, but then they keep amazing him. His mind started spinning trying to find his way out of this. He started all of this to save Lisa, but now there is a half-million dollar bounty on her head. Not just her, now there's a bounty on everyone's head.

John heard Steve still talking in the background, "John what do you think we should do?"

John stood and faced monitors, "We can only assume they don't know we have captured their ships. Steve you see any suggestion that the pilots were able to set off alarms, and do they still have available missiles?"

John heard Steve talking to people in the background and after a minute or so he responded, "We don't have any indicator alarms, but they could have sent a verbal alarm, we just don't know. In answer to your other question we still have two missiles available, and Patrick thinks he can make them work."

John's voice toughened as he began issuing orders, "Maneuver the planes out and away from Venus to try and lure the incoming planes between you. When you get them at point blank range, use the missiles and blow them out of the sky. Before you do evacuate all nonessential personnel and have them bring back all the weaponry and oxygen they can carry. Also copy all bounty information on to some flash sticks and also transfer it to the computers here on the station. Call us if you need anything, otherwise good luck."

John turned to the communication technicians said, "As soon as you get the bounty information from the space planes, transmit it to the UN and the world." John turned to a couple of the flight engineers and ask, "Have you determined where the space planes were launched from?"

One of the technicians spoke up, "Yes sir one came from a launch pad outside Durban, South Africa and the other from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Both are being controlled from the Space Center outside Houston."

John felt his stomach knot, but his voice hardened as he said, "Ready three waste containers and send them to obliterate those locations. Within the hour I want smoking holes were those places used to be. Thirty minutes before impact send a strike warning and tell them to evacuate those locations. Add a warning that any location that launches anything against us will receive the same treatment!"

John stood there feeling sick to his stomach what these animals forcing him to do. John looked around and everybody was staring at him with a combination of respect and horror. Right now he was only feeling the horror part. John scanned the room looking for Ken and when he found him he said, "Get your best writers and your best marketers. We have to do something to end this before we are forced to do something we regret. Well actually that time is already past, but we have to find a way to convince the world, the UN or the Council that we only want humanity on Venus."

John walked out of the conference room and down the corridor to the makeshift hospital. He knelt by Lisa's bed and held her limp hand in his. He had no idea if what he was doing was right or wrong and he desperately needed her lilting voice telling him she loved him. When she was by his side loving him, he felt as if he could conquer the world and everything he did was right. He needed to feel all of that right now.

Being an engineer, he never really contemplated sending people to their deaths or having them go kill other people. This was all a new and foreign feeling to him. He went into engineering because he loved to build things or run things efficiently. However, killing and war was never really part of his psyche. John heard Ken clear his throat behind them and he knew his few moments of self-doubt were gone.

John kissed Lisa's hand, gently laying it by her side then stood following Ken back to the conference room. When they entered the conference room there was a circle of chairs over in one corner and John recognized some of the marketing, legal and writing staff. They wanted to toss around some ideas and see what John thought.

As he walked into the conference room John scanned all the monitors. The mercenaries had almost made it to the central hub and from there they could move any direction they wanted. While there still seem to be quite a few of the mercenaries he noted their numbers had dwindled. The spacesuits of those that were still fighting show the wear of their struggle. As he was watching they were ambushed by the "Sewer Rats" and another mercenary went down. The external view showed the stream of space suited figures hauling lots of equipment back to the engineering docking bay. There was still no sign of the other space planes, but the two under their control seem to be poised and ready for the fight.

The UN seemed to have settled down and from what John could see and hear they were taking a vote on something. A ticker across the bottom of the screen announced that the vote was condemnation of the brutality taking place on Venus and a demand for an immediate cease-fire. John perked up a little at that, at least it was progress, but he had no illusions that the cartel would actually listen to what the UN said.

The UN vote was taking place while all the mercenaries were two decks away and two more planes were coming to blow them out of the sky. John took a seat so he could keep an eye on the monitors and quickly told the assembled group to start their presentation. Speaker introduced himself as John as he began his presentation.

The first idea was a variation of Martin Luther King's garbage man strike in Memphis. While that strike was all about a living wage they used signs stating "I am a man" and the marketing people thought an "I am human" campaign could have a profound effect. John thought it was a good idea, but he didn't think a lot of people could identify with a bunch of brutalized astronauts.

Still John thought the idea had some merit and so did everyone else. The next idea was to personalize the struggle using social media. They would take people that had been hurt or brutalized by the Council and tell their story on social media. They touted the success of John and Lisa's love story and thought personalizing their struggle could sway a lot of people. Everyone including John agreed. John thought it all of these tactics were too slow, but what other options did they have.

The third idea was to hit the Council in their wallets. Either using social media or ad buys they would pose the question, "Would you come here for vacation." The pictures that were a part of it would show some of the burned and charred bodies or maybe part of the snuff film. They knew this would dry up the cartels revenue streams and no one would want to come to Venus for vacation.

John was actually horrified that they came up with this idea. They would be cutting off their nose to spite their face. If they won this war they would need the tourists to return and this campaign would create an indelible negative image of Venus. Yes it would indeed hit the cartels in their pocketbook, but it would also destroy the likelihood that Venus could survive. As horrified as John was with this idea he didn't want to crush their creative spirit, so he decided to modify options one and two.

John stood and went to stand in front of the group and came across much more positively than he felt, "We need a positive message and I think your options one and two accomplish that. We have already been broadcasting the snuff films and the battle going on here down to every kind of social media we could think of. I know all the films have gone on YouTube, with constant updates on Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Tumblr and Pinerest. The world can see the brutality of everything going on here. Now we need to humanize it."

"Let them see real people. We're not just a bunch of rich astronauts; we're people, so find a combination of entertainers, engineers and tourists. The more average better and tell their story to the people on earth. Begin and end each one with your "I am human" message."

"Our other broadcasts have shown the world why we are resisting the Council's control. We're showing the brutality of the regime up here, but now we need to show the world that real people are being hurt. None of us came up your to start a revolution. We only came for the paychecks, but we couldn't put up with the brutalization and destruction of those we loved, so now we fight. That's the story we need to tell. Average people forced into extraordinary circumstances and were only defending ourselves."

John was on a roll and was getting ready to continue, and then he saw the space planes began to appear on the monitors and he lost his train of thought. As they came into view of the external cameras they appeared to be unaware that the other planes had been taken. John watched the space battle unfolding and it was almost like he was watching a movie. Instead of watching the approaching planes he turned his eye to their planes and he realized even a cursory examination revealed the debris field around planes and the holes in the fuselage.

He picked up the microphone to warn their planes, but his mouth froze over the microphone as he saw the incoming planes swivel to bring their armament to bear. John immediately pushed the button on the bike and yelled, "Shoot Steve shoot, their maneuvering to take you out!" However before the words even left John lips he saw missiles leave both of their planes streaking toward the incoming planes.

The two incoming planes immediately began some erratic maneuvers designed to evade the incoming missiles. However, the missiles were locked on their target and followed the evasive maneuvers. John saw chaff being deployed from both of the incoming planes, but still no effect. Moments later the screen was lit by the exploding oxygen in the planes creating two bright fireballs that almost blinded the viewers.

When the screens cleared their planes were still there and in between them was a massive debris field with only a few large recognizable chunks. John started to turn away but then he saw a glint in the corner of his eye and when he looked closely he saw they were spacesuit maneuvering jets and they were heading for their planes. Apparently some of the mercenaries had already been suited up, survived the blast and were now heading towards their planes.

He picked up the mic and yelled, "Steve, you have survivors and their heading for you now. Prepare to repel boarders. I'll leave the tactics to you, but they can't get those planes! Blow them if you have to, but don't let them get those planes!"

The speakers crackled to life and Steve said, "Way ahead of you boss!"

John saw two suited figures crawl out of the hole they created and take up defensive positions around the plane. Again John saw debris chipping off the planes and surmised that his men were somehow being shot at. Were no explosions, flashes of light or sounds, only debris exploding into space. The space suited figures heading towards the plane suddenly began to tumble erratically and he heard Steve exclaim over the speakers, "Got them."