Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“The Idea of a Corporation having its own armed navy would have been unthinkable in the 20th and 21 centuries. The world’s nations rightfully frowned on any private organization having access to the amount of firepower even a simple destroyer commanded. However, as humanity spread to the Stars, and Mega corps began claiming colonies as sovereign domains, they began to build up their own armed forces to protect their interests, from private armies to ships and crews.”

-Corporate Warriors, the changing face of warfare in the late 21st century

Gentech Corporate Navy transport ship Apollo, 4 weeks into journey from Sol system to Ares, Serif system.

“Hey Juliet” A voice whispered in her ear, waking her as a hand gently rocked her shoulder” wake up Hun, we’re almost there”

Juliet opened her eyes to see April leaning over from the seat beside her, one hand on her shoulder. She’d tried to grab some sleep after the ship left Noland-Hawking FTL mid system, figuring a nap would pass the 5 hours it took for the ship to power in system. It was too dangerous to use the FTL close to a stellar mass as immense gravity interfered with the space-time bubble the drive created to move past light speed. A old friend had once told her that the drive was named after the famous physicist Steven Hawkins and a movie director but she wasn’t sure if he was bullshitting her about the second part.

She stretched her arms over her head and stretched with a groan, arching her back in a attempt to un-kink her spine after napping in the large padded seats of the ship’s portside cabin. She caught a few men giving her figure admiring looks and she arched an eyebrow at them, causing several to look away in embarrassment. April snorted from the chair beside her, and Juliet turned and grinned at her red haired friend and rolled her eyes.

“Men! Seriously, they can’t think about anything else.”

“Definitely girl, that’s why I keep saying date the fairer sex” April teased, her soft lilt carrying a hint of Irish brogue. She made a show of running her eyes over Juliet’s figure, before shooting her a wink.

Juliet mock punched her best friend in the shoulder and grinned. April often flirted with Juliet, but they’d been friends for so long neither really paid it attention anymore, and she was fairly certain her bisexual friend wasn’t serious.

Juliet was used to the attention her looks got her, her light coffee skin, elfin features and green eyes garnered her a lot of interest, and her strict exercise regime kept her athletic frame toned. April was a study in contrast, white skin scattered with freckles, gorgeous red hair, and light blue eyes which advertised her Irish heritage to the world. Her flirty, friendly personality was coupled with a curvy figure that cot her plenty of attention as well.

The red head gestured to the small window beside her and Juliet lent over to look out, gasping at the view. To the left of the view Port hung a dusty red planet, patches of light white cloud scattered over its surface, and a broken ring of asteroids orbiting its equator. Even from the vast distance she could see dark lines running across the surface, where mountain ranges and valleys cast shadows due to the bright sunlight of Serif.

From what she could read about the system, its star, Serif, was a B-type, with powerful solar winds and a light emission spectrum in the white-blue range, unusual in that it was a shell star, having a circumstellar ring of gas around the equator that could cause fluctuations in electromagnetic emissions and solar winds. At 14 times the mass of the sun, Serif blasted its system with solar winds with speed of up to 3,000km/s, compared to Sols 400-750 km/s. The system had a few other planets, including two gas giants, but only their destination had human habitation.

“I have to admit April; Ares does look a lot like the original.”

“Ya, but before all the terraforming started at home. It’s pretty different through, for one thing its gravity is actually higher mares, it’s even slightly higher than earth norm, so get ready for sore feet and legs for a while.”

Juliet grinned at her, thinking how unlikely they were to suffer for long. In the days before the humans developed EVO, anyone born in a low gravity environment would have suffered a range of health complaints, from low bone-mass and muscle development, to issues with their central nervous systems and metabolic imbalances. Both Juliet and Rachel were first second generation Martians, but they looked, and were as healthy, as if they had grown up on Earth, and since all colonists had EVO injections before landing on a new planet, it should only take them a week or so to adapt.

They spent a few minutes pointing out places of interest on the planet as it grew in the window, but fell silent as the overhead speakers crackled to life and a husky female voice spoke.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We will be making final entry towards Ares in the next half hour, upon which time you will be required to return to your seats. The main body of the ship will enter orbit on the dark side of the planet, as the passenger and cargo shuttles detach. We will be descending to the Gentech shuttle port in the northern hemisphere, and expect to land at around 16:00 hours local time.

For those of you unfamiliar with local conditions, the planet had a rotational period of around 26 hours. If you require refreshments or anti motion sickness medication, please ask your cabin crew as they circulate. Also as a final reminder your cabins will be reconfiguring to conserve space during landing, so we ask that you check that all personal belongings are stored in the designated units as this will ensure both a problem free landing and a speedy disembarking from the shuttle. Thank you for your cooperation”

Juliet nudged April and stood, letting a few other passengers by their row before moving out into the walkway. As Gentech had put them in first class accommodation the passenger cabin was better furnished than the house she grew up in New Washington back on Mars. Designed to comfortably sit forty passengers, each had their own luxurious reclining chair and clear screens. The cabin itself was around thirty meters long and five wide, tastefully decorated and sporting soft carpets. It sat on the spine of the shuttle, with the cabins located below, along with the personal cargo.

Moving along the walkway she passed several executives and business people on the way to the planet. Professor Branson was asleep in his chair, the elderly scientist’s head back and mouth open, short messy grey hair sticking out around his head and his archaic glasses slipping halfway down his long nose, revealing the red marks where they had pressed in his wrinkled pale skin. April nudged her from behind and mimed sleeping on her hands whilst snoring, causing Juliet to cover her mouth as she giggled. Moving to the stairs they swiftly headed to their shared cabin to pack. The space was large enough for two generous single beds and storage areas built into the walls. A privacy screen could be lowered to divide the two halves and the shower slash toilet was also shared, but it was a pleasant room, with soft rounded edges, a calming blue colour scheme and bright cheerful lighting.

Juliet moved about her side of the room, carefully checking that her books and knickknacks were secured, although mostly it was just to calm her mild OCD as she’d already packed as when they dropped out of FTL. Aprils strategy was...different. The curvy redhead started stuffing loose clothing into the storage cupboards, causing Juliet to wince slightly, much to the evil girl’s amusement.

Her packing done Juliet sat on the bed and brought up a external camera view of the shuttle on her Clear-screen as she waited for her friend to finish her crime against organization. The camera showed a side view of the shuttle, and from the angle Juliet guessed it was mounted on the main hull of the Apollo. She manipulated the controls for the camera to rotate it, catching a glimpse of the next shuttle along, partially hidden by the curving hull of the ship. The GCN, or Gentech Corporate Navy, used a range of ships to transport personal and cargo, the Apollo being one of the more common variants.

The star ship itself was shaped like a huge cigar, with the main sub-light engines, fuel storage, and the massive components of the FLT drive, packed efficiently into the space, along with quarters for the crew and engineers. Along the outer edge where berths for up to eight shuttles or cargo pods, which locked onto the superstructure like remora eels on a larger fish. They shared power and utilities with the Apollo, but were otherwise kept separate apart from in emergencies. On reaching its destination, the Apollo would allow the smaller craft to detach whilst it remained on orbit or headed to its next port of call. Having modular attaching shuttles, it could act as a cargo ship or a transport. The shuttles themselves were far too small to house a FTL, and would lack sufficient shielding to protect the passengers from the exotic particles it emitted.

“Alright, I’m done” April declared with a huff, before grabbing Juliet’s hand and pulling her out of the room “now, let’s go grab some free champagne before we land”

As they headed back to their seats, the intercom crackled to life once again.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please return to your seats we will shortly begin decelerating to orbit the dark-side of the planet”

Juliet strapped herself in her seat and looked out of the window, finding it almost filled with the red-stained terrain of the planet below. The thick asteroid belt that traversed its equator hung to their right, supposedly the remains of a destroyed moon.

“Getting into a stable orbit must be pretty awkward with that many rocks in orbit” She mused aloud, causing April to nod, glancing over her shoulder before frowning. “Speaking of Awkward orbits, The Professor is heading over with your Ex “

Juliet turned to see Dr Branson approaching and smiled at him, trying to ignore Mathew’s handsome face from where he stood, clearly visible, behind the shorter man, his dark eyes giving her a intense look. Matthew’s well-built frame displayed his Korean father’s heritage slightly more than his Caucasian mother’s, giving him dark hair and eyes coupled with very light bronze skin. His martial arts training was easy to see as he moved smoothly along the walkway in spite of the slight wobble moving through the deck as the shuttle slowed.

“Well my dears” the Doctor began, his cultured southeast English accent suiting his status as a New Oxford academic to a tee “With any luck by tomorrow we’ll be situated in our new lab. Are you ready to step into the history books?”

Juliet nodded firmly, feeling her pulse rise slightly in excitement. Soon their years of research and struggle would pay off, and they could finally release their research to the world to fame and recognition, although the two girls would also be happy with a taste of redemption.

“I know moving this far out into the expanse is a huge step, and that you have left friends and loved ones behind, possibly for years, but joining the team already on the planet offers the greatest possibility of success and the least chance of outside influences running our discoveries”

They all nodded, aware of the risks involved. If their research was made public before they had a chance to prove their hypothesis, at best they could hope for fines and removal of their certifications, at worse criminal procedures, but the rewards where worth the risks.

“When we reach the surface, out first job is to get ourselves situated in our accommodation as the equipment is transferred to our new lab space. Apparently our new, what would you call it ‘Digs?’, are rather grand. From my communications with Professor Malcolm, he’s assured me that the team already in place is prepared for our arrival, and with any luck our work can begin in two days. Now I’d best return to my seats before this young lady reprimands me” he remarked, glancing apologetically at a flight attended who was politely but firmly gesturing for them to return to their seats.

He moved off, leaving Mathew standing over Juliet for a moment. His mouth opened as if he were about to speak, but he suddenly snapped it shut and determinedly walked after the Doctor.

“Wow” April remarked “I don’t know what’s more exciting, our moving to live on a whole new planet far from civilization, or watching the drama you two have going on”

“No more drama” Juliet said firmly. ”This is our chance to make things right, and no one is going to distract us from our jobs!”