After they were all done with their rounds the team gathered again and Jace was glad to see that he wasn't the only one still breathing heavily from the strain.
“Right ,good work everyone lets take a break. Except you Jace”, Andrex said flashing one of his terrifying grins at him before he could rejoice, “I still have to see how you handle a rifle. Three more rounds, go to!”
Jace groaned deeply but moved to the range again,this time picking the Security's Bureau standard Lezona 3 electric rifle,just like the one Mac was previously using. It was a solid bullpup design for mid ranges,and could use normal rounds as well as flechettes if necessary but it lacked an automatic function.
Jace completed three rounds, similar to the ones before, with that rifle while holding an average of 90% proving again he wasn't all talk and data.
The captain seemed satisfied with this and started manipulating the menu again.
“Now that we have warmed up we are gonna give Jace some actual training experience. We are gonna use difficulty 3 simulation mode”,and ignoring the groans that caused he turned to Jace.
“The simulation will be just like every other VR game you have played. In this case the playing field will be a recreation of the Lady Annabel. We are gonna start in pairs just like we will be in the field:a pair in each of the ship’s two decks and one pair in reserve in the security room. Mac is with Calana,Chang goes with David and you,for you sins,are with me. ”
He then finished inputting on the menu setting up the scenario.
“Good luck Jace,you will need it!” said Calara merrily before everything around him dissolved into fragments of light.
***
Jace found himself sitting in a chair,behind a desk, in the corner of a large oval room with six rings of balconie-like levels rising above it. It reminded him of one of the old fashioned malls in those crappy old series his little sister liked to watch.
The main difference was that the shops here were most definitely not kid friendly. Bars with flashy signs,entrances to casinos,strip clubs and front stores of famous metal traders dotted the ground floor.
If someone looked a bit closer they would notice the telltale signs of a starship interior as well : the atmosphere cleaners doting the ceiling,the big orange boxes containing emergency shipsuits and the low tremor passing through everything as the fusion rockets pushed the ship to ever greater speeds.
Jace was wearing his visor and the same armor he had one while training,covering his chest,knees,hands and elbows. In a holster he had the dart taser and on the other side of his waist an electric baton. Andrex was sitting next to him looking relaxed.
“What do we do now Andrex?”
“We wait. ”
“Umm aren't we supposed to do something in the simulation”
Andrex looked at him, a smile cracking his lips.
“We are security Jace. We go where we are called when we are called. Waiting is part of the simulation. ”
Oh for god's sake he hated this already!
Jace tried to keep himself entertained looking at the people passing through the plaza but only managed to last two minutes before asking again
“And how will we know if we are ca-”
On the edge of the visor covering his left eye a red light started blinking rapidly.
“And that would be our cue”,Andrex said as he stood up and started running.
Jace turned to where the light was coming from and saw a bar door. On his right eye the door looked normal but on the left eye,using the visor it was blinking red rapidly.
He followed Andrex as he run and heard him through the team voice comms
“Team one responding to alert,reserve team move to the first floor”
“Got it. Reserve team moving to first floor”,Mac’s voice answered to his left ear.
Andrex reached the door,drew his baton, and motioned to Jace to enter first.
Having a sense of deja-vu, Jace pushed the door open after drawing his own baton.
A wave of loud music mixed with screams and neon lights hit him as he stepped forward.
Remembering the first lesson Andrex taught him,Jace immediately checked his left and right as he entered.
A brutish looking man was standing on the left holding a bottle and swinging it straight at his head!
Jace calmy sidesteped the man’s clumsy swing and answered with an underhand swing of his own ,the baton catching his assailant on the armpit. The man went limp as the electric current hit him and he fell backwards.
Quickly verifying that no one else was attacking him Jace stepped out of the way to allow Andrex to enter while he assessed the situation around him.
The place was a mess with at least one table flipped over and broken glasses all over the floor.. Two big men wearing sailor patches on their clothes had grabbed the bartender and pinned his head on the bar.
As he was absorbing all that one of the two offenders grabbed a bottle and raised above the pinned bartender.
Reacting instantly, Jace dropped his batton and grabbed the taser. He shot aiming center mass.
The man stiffened as the dart hit him on his side,the bottle he was still raising fell from his numbed fingers and hit the floor,followed by his body.
The other man turned his head and spotting him in his bright blue security uniform grabbed two bottle and threw them at his direction.
Jace dived left,behind a table, getting out of the bottle's trajectory. As he landed ,through, he heard a grunt behind him and the sound of a body hitting the laminated floor.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Turning his head he spotted Andrex lying on the floor with his head sporting a new bump,clearly unconscious.
Looking around he noticed the bartender exiting through a side door,having gotten away in the confusion. He was now alone in the bar with the attacker,the rest of the patrons exiting from the emergency exits.
One more bottle smashed on the ground right by his feet. He took a deep breath and leaped into action.
Pulling the legs of the round table he flipped it over ,granting himself some extra cover from the apparently endless rain of bottles that was flying and landing around him,and peeked around the edge.
His target had taken cover behind the marble bar and was only rising and ducking quicly every time he threw a bottle. Not enough time for a clear shoot.
Looking around to see what was available to him Jace quickly formulated a plan.
He gathered himself and the next time a bottle landed near him he launched himself forwards. With a leap he jumped on top of the next table in front of him.
Jumping from table to table he reached the back of the store and jumped aiming for the top of the countertop in order to get a clear shot.
His target thought had apparently guessed his intentions and just as he was flying through the air the man’s arm was stretching backwards,holding a bottle.
Jace’s mind kicked into gear and he did the only thing he could. As his feet touched the bar he allowed them to turn causing the rest of his body to fall sideways on top of the flat surface ,a bottle flying a hair's breadth for the top of his head.
Prepared as he was for the fall he managed to not let go of the taser. Leaning to the left for better aim he shot his target and had the satisfaction of seeing him collapse in a heap on the floor.
Jace took a moment to control his breathing and his pulse and then tried to rise from the marble surface to check on Andrex.
Suddenly he heard clapping. Raising his eyes he saw Andrex standing there right as rain.
Understanding flashed through Jace's mind and he said accusingly.
“You set this up!”
“Yes i did. What, did you think i would let a random flying bottle take me out?This was actually the first exercise we always use to evaluate rookies coming out of the first two weeks of basic training”
“And how did i do?” Jace said,still a bit grumpy. ”
“Pretty good,you handled the door ambush nicely,your aim was excellent and your use of the tables very original. ” And sitting on one of the tables he continued. “You only did one mistake. Why didn't you call for reinforcements?”
Jace looked at Andrex slightly confused “It was just one attacker still standing and the reserve team would not arrive in time before he escaped. ”
The captain shook his head. “I was incapacitated and you were alone. You should have called for reinforcement immediately. You could not know if he somehow managed to slip a gun through the entrance scanners or if he had more friends around. ”
“Also, escape? Where? We are in a starship,there are cameras in all the public areas and all ways in and out are strictly regulated. You are security. Don't try to play hero ok?”
“Yes Andrex. ” he said feeling embarrassed. He hadn't even thought of calling backup! He had just saw an enemy he could take and went for it.
“Okay that enough for now don't beat yourself over it. Every new guy has a hero complex at first. ” Andrex said making himself comfortable in on of the bar stools.
“Now this is how your training is gonna go. I will explain to you the protocols for every emergency situations while in the ship and we then gonna go through a simulation of it. After you are comfortable with our procedures, we are gonna start doing drills in conjunction with the other teams. Ok?”
Jace noded, his determination to make this, his first day at work ever, a success remaining unshaken.
***
For the next 4 hours Jace was drilled repeatedly in all the protocols and procedures they had to follow while in the ship. Before each simulation he would receive a short lecture from the captain,who would then proceed to throw him directly into the deep end,explaining his mistakes after each run.
Jace learned communication protocols and emergency fall back points. He learned to use his visor to navigate the pathways of the ship and how to connect with the cameras in order to hunt down a fleeing target.
It was a training in evacuation protocols thought that would end up being his first complete failure.
***
It all started with him and Andrex sitting again in the security desk of Deck One. Everything was quite for a bit,with the older man explaining how to treat the private security guards some of the firms had operating in their shop.
Suddenly a loud ripping noise echoed through the open room and Jace could feel the air around him starting to move rapidly.
A computer generated voice started repeating from the every speaker in the ship.
“HULL BREACH. HULL BREACH. ALL PASSENGERS MUST MOVE TO THE CLOSER SHIPSUIT DISPENSER AND THEN TO THE DESIGNATED EVACUATION POINTS. ”
Reacting as he had been instructed previously ,during a fire emergency drill, Jace quickly donned the shipsuit situated below his chair. Unlike the emergency models all around the ship this one had “SECURITY” markers all around it and was equipped with a gravline under one arm.
The gravline was capable of throwing a wire,tipped with a small but potent magnet, up to 60 meters away. The device could then retract the cable with a powerful motor,allowing for rapid movement in case of gravity failure inside the metal hull of the ship.
Managing to suit up in less than twenty second he followed his previous training and keeping his helmet open he started directing people towards the emergency shipsuits.There simulated sailors of the ship were making sure they had suit up correctly.
As people rushed around him he lost sight of Andrex. Trusting that his partner would do his part he focused on the task ahead.
Tuning his suit coms on the emergency frequency he winced when a deluge of panicked voices entered his ear.
Using his security clearance to cover all other voices clamoring for attention he said strongly
“Please remain calm and don't use this frequency to ask questions. After a sailor verifies that your suit is sealed proceed to the evacuation points in each end of the ship. ”
The noise settled down drastically after that but before he had time to do anything else he noticed a disturbance near the forward evacuation point.
He started making that way while resisting the wind.The current had become stronger and stronger as the air systems pumped more and more air trying to maintain a breathable atmosphere for as long as possible.He noticed a throng of men wearing green shipsuits ,carrying a trader’s firm markers, pushing people out of the line attempting to enter the lifeboats first.
Sailors and miners were not about to take that sitting down and a fight was clearly brewing.
Jace managed to get closer and pressed the red button in his suit coms. A loud,siren like, noise blared from the coms of everyone five meters around him and they all winced. They then focused their attention to him,forgetting for a second their intention to start a fight.
“Please maintain order in the evacuation line,there are enough lifeboats for all of you. ”,Jace said calmly, “And gentlemen wearing the green shipsuits please take you place back to the end of the line. ”
A man who was previously stayingin the middle of the group step forwards and started whining clearly annoyed.
“Who are you trying to make us wait! I am the region manager from CP Alloys ! If anything happens to us your company would lose its biggest trading partner! ”
“Sir nothing is gonna happen to you as long as you follow the sailors instructions. Please go back to your place in the line. ” Jace said trying to remain calm.
Through the clar faceplate he saw the man's eyes ,already wild with fear, open further. He fumbled with his suit coms and starting talking angrily in a different channel.
That was all the warning Jace got before two of the more bulky men in the group charge towards him, both drawing batons. He managed to deflect one but the other caught him in the arm, the pain causing him to drop his own batton that his was in the process of grabbing.
He backpedaled quickly, trying to open room and draw his taser which was still in his shipsuit belt, but after two backwards steps he felt a jolt in his leg and everything went numb.
As he fell he saw another figure wearing green shipsuit holding a taser similar to his own.
Chaos erupted around him with people fighting each other and trying to make a run for the lifeboats.
He saw a batton heading straight for his face.
After that everything dissolved to darkness. In the air red letters appeared.
“YOU DIED”.