3rd July 2309 10:08 EST - Towers and skyscrapers glistened the horizon like metallic fingertips reaching for the sky. The artificially enhanced Europan sunlight could not be drowned out by the hordes of vehicles that littered the horizon of Jupiter's fourth-largest satellite. Its beauty and scientific advancement were the pinnacles of modern Terran society.

As with every technological advancement, the opportunity for great wealth followed closely behind. Massive advertisement hoardings lit up the streets and the sky as the largest and richest corporations within the Human Confederate do what they could to feed their greed even further.

As Europa housed a large portion of the Human Confederate's super-wealthy and oligarchy, the advertisements were generally welcome.

Like most achievements in history, failure always precedes success, and even this was true for the shining light of Human Confederate accomplishments. Hidden away in the depths of society, Europa held a dark secret. The satellite's surface was scarred and corrupted, caused by the first failed colonisation attempt.

A hard-hitting recession and crippling worker's strike in the 22nd century caused the proposed beacon of humanity to fail miserably, yet all humanity did was build over the top of a failed infrastructure. An infrastructure that was now only suitable for refugees, criminals and others who failed to live the Europan dream.

The streets were habitable, but the danger was high. There was no security, no police force, no governance, just a failed state close to anarchy forgotten by those who lived the high life above them.

As a result, this was society's nightmare or a vigilante's dream.

"Your dad would kill us if he knew you were here!" a young woman's hazel eyes studied the bleak and damp surroundings furiously, eager not to fall into an ambush like their previous two trips to the underground.

Her male counterpart smiled but remained silent as his clear blue eyes flickered around, constantly on the lookout for his next adventure.

Each of his steps oozed confidence, yet tinged with caution as he surveyed each door, window, street corner or darkened crevice always anticipating the next piece of trouble.

"Jason, are you listening?" the young woman's normally steady and assured voice trembled slightly as she recalled their last trip here. Fighting off armed men twice her size was not something an eighteen-year-old should be doing after college.

Jason ruffled his jet black hair before his piercing gaze descended on his counterpart. "Dad is in meetings all day, " he said with confidence, "besides, don't you feel alive when you're here Aurora? At any moment we could be attacked, or rescue someone in need, " his smile seemed to glow passionately as memories flooded his mind.

Recalling their last trip to the underground caused her lips to flutter in satisfaction, "It was somewhat satisfying in escorting that old lady home last week. One day, though, we'll have to deal with more than we can handle."

"There's nothing we can't handle!" Jason's arrogant smile plastered itself over his face.

Aurora briefly chuckled, "You're a dick Jason Scharn!" she responded, knowing it was one of the reasons she was always drawn to his adventures.

Jason studied two call girls standing at a corner next to a light that was the only form of illumination in the underground. Their attempts to entice any man or woman that walked past ended in failure, yet as their glance headed towards a gap between two buildings they quickly turned in the opposite direction and walked briskly away.

"Get ready," said Jason, catching Aurora's attention.

Standing in the middle of the street, Jason abruptly halted, with Aurora closely following. Whoever was about to appear would likely want to get up close and personal.

A metallic scraping sound echoed viciously around the street causing both of the teenagers to wince uncomfortably as it crescendoed towards them. Behind the high pitched noise thundered a number of erratic footsteps eager to reach their targets.

As the sound grew, Jason's face lit up at the pending encounter. He could feel his heart racing and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Controlling his breathing he studied the environment noticing everything that could be used as a weapon and preparing himself for the fight ahead.

Slinking out of the cover of darkness, they came. A group of men armed with pipes, knives and menacing expressions came from multiple directions to converge on their position, shouting and howling attempting to unnerve Jason and Aurora and anyone else who may be looking on.

As his back was up against Aurora, Jason could feel a slight tremble. With escape out of the question, they would have to fight their way through this unpredictable and chaotic group.

"We've got this Aurora!" Jason encouraged, his voice calm like the eye of a storm.

"There's a lot coming!" Aurora anxiously replied.

"We've. Got. This!" Jason once again reassured her.

Grabbing her golden hair that brushed her shoulder blades, Aurora tied it in a knot, determined not to be distracted by it flowing over her face.

With each moment, the heavily tattooed faces of the antagonists drew closer. Their faces looked darkened and corrupted as their angry demeanours focused on their new prey.

If their faces were not enough to cause trepidation, the banging and clanging of their weapons were enough to cause even the strongest willed some sort of anxiety.

It was working as Jason could feel a lump form in his throat. He also knew that the psychological fight was always key to winning the main battle. The heavily tattooed gang had probably spent most of their lives perfecting the art of intimidation. Most of their prey would run, hoping to gain distance away from them despite being in their home territory. What they would never expect would be a full-frontal assault.

He calmed his breathing and stroked the back of Aurora's hand encouraging her to do the same. Composure was key. Too much excitement, too much fear, a wrong decision or poor timing, all would undoubtedly contribute to their deaths.

"So this was them who felt the need to delve into situations that do not concern them?" A deep rasping voice echoed through the darkened street.

Between two battered buildings, a towering two-meter tall man appeared. His face was full of fury enhanced by the tattoos that painted his facial features. Each one told a story of his lust for life and his desire to inflict death.

"That woman owed me a lot of protection fees, and my people were sent to persuade her to settle up" he continued.

At that moment, Jason realised why the woman had said "You should have saved someone else!" They were in serious trouble, they had inadvertently stirred up a hornet's nest.

"What satisfaction do you gain from preying on the innocent?" Jason asked, his voice growling at the tattooed man.

Edging his way forward, the man chuckled leaving the darkly lit area to sound like a scene from a horror movie. Pointing at Jason he commented, "You, rich boy, know nothing of the world down here. In the clouds, you have everything handed to you, here, you have to take to survive."

Jason and Aurora were outnumbered and at a severe disadvantage, somehow Jason had to gain some sort of upper hand. "Preying on elderly women is nothing but cowardly."

Aurora turned her head to look at Jason "what are you doing?" She whispered.

"Trying to start a fight!" He responded, "hopefully they will do something rash and we'll level the playing field."

"Level the playing field!?" Aurora scoffed, "There's 12 of them for god's sake!"

An arrogant smile appeared on Jason's face as he awaited the response from the gang leader.

The gang leader growled as his stare pierced its way towards Jason's cool determined eyes. As the leader flashed his hand from his side, Jason was now staring down the barrel of a pistol, a Voschev T-1100, capable of killing a healthy adult instantly.

Jason swore under his breath before raising his hands. Aurora instantly followed suit before commenting "Too far this time, Jason!"

Realising that any chance to gain the upper hand had now long gone, Jason refused to respond. As the adrenaline seemed to slow down time, he stared intently down the barrel of the pistol.

He was so close to death, yet he had never felt so alive.

"I take great pleasure in killing," the gang leader commented flippantly, "even more when they are Skyhoppers."

Despite the gun pointing directly at his temple, Jason did all that he could to calm his breathing, carefully inhaling and exhaling with his eyes focused on the man holding the gun. The more he stared, the more irritated the gang leader was feeling. The intimidation technique was not working.

In frustration, the tattooed man placed the weapon directly on Jason's forehead. As the cold metal planted itself on his skin, Jason could feel it was just a matter of time to act.

"I normally savour my kills, but for you I'll make an exception. Your friend here." The gang leader licked his lips "she will not be so lucky." He said, carefully squeezing on the trigger of the pistol.

Jason's cool calm eyes looked directly into the rageful eyes of the gang leader. He watched closely as his eyebrows started to furrow and his arm got steady, it was now or never.

With absolute precision and lightning speed, Jason twisted his head to the left while grabbing hold of the man's gun arm. Twisting the gun out of his hand, hearing a crack in the process, he placed the gang leader's arm in an unnatural position behind his back. Jason's other arm sparked to life, flashing the newly acquired weapon at anyone who would dare to retaliate.

As the gang leader screamed in agony in response to his broken wrist, the rest of his members watched on in awe.

Aurora quickly made her way to Jason's side, anxious about how things would now unfold. They may hold the snake's head, but there was still life in this brutal and unforgiving creature.

Jason hadn't really planned his next step. One of two things were likely to happen. The first, his favoured option, the gang would separate due to their respect for their leader and allow them both to walk out unharmed being watched continuously until they left the underground. The second, the more likely option, is that they didn't care for the life of their leader and they would all rush Jason which meant that someone was going to die.

At eighteen years old, Jason was convinced that he was not going to have his life ended prematurely.

Just as option one or two was to come to fruition, and third unexpectedly came out of nowhere.

Sirens blared through the whole of the underground. The echo broke the focus that each person had on their enemy.

The familiarity of the sirens caused everyone to pay attention. It was only ever used in emergencies for the whole of the Human Confederate to hear.

The last time an announcement of this severity was proclaimed, a comet was on a direct collision course with the Martian city of New St Petersburg. While the crisis was averted, it required aid from all major settlements within the Sol System.

As the sirens died down, Jason had already relieved the gang leader from his painful grip, as everyone looked up towards the nearest advertisement board, both Aurora and Jason had used it as an opportunity to gain some distance between them and the gang.

The announcement, however, was too important to ignore.

"Please prepare for an announcement from Lars van der Meyde, President of the Human Confederate." A voice appeared from nowhere echoing throughout each alley, street and park.

A middle-aged well-dressed man appeared on the screens throughout Europa, his demeanour calm and collected, his posture upright and secure, confirmed by his hands placed carefully in front of him. He had clearly trained himself to present himself in a way that did not inspire panic.

"Citizens of the Human Confederate. A long standing question that has vexed humanity for thousands of years has finally been answered. 'Are we alone in the universe?'"

"Yesterday at approximately 1230 earth standard time we encountered our first extraterrestrial at Charon Space Station, and while this was initially met with jubilation, it appears that this new alien life form had only hostile intentions."

"At approximately 2100 hours earth standard time, we lost contact with Charon Space Station and Pluto Mining colony. As a sign of force, a rescue mission was immediately staged and at 0800 hours this morning an operation is currently in effect to regain control of the region."

Other members of the public had crawled out of unknown locations and were standing, cheering on the news of their apparent victory over the extraterrestrials.

Jason caught Aurora's attention as she also wanted to celebrate the victory. "Don't celebrate, there's more to this. We wouldn't be told that an operation was in effect, only on a successful outcome."

A frown cut itself into Aurora's face. Jason was a killjoy, but it was rare that he was wrong in these types of situations.

The President continued "while the rescue operation at Pluto is in effect, hostile forces, in great numbers, engaged key stations and planets in the Alpha Centauri system with devastating results. While forces in the region are providing heavy resistance, we have lost contact with a third of the region."

"While we have tried to contact the hostiles to engage in diplomatic negotiations, until now, no response has been given. They are completely hostile and as of twenty minutes ago, I have placed the Human Confederate in a state of emergency and activated article 235 of the 2217 Confederation of Nations act."

"People. We. Are. At. War."

There was silence all around the street. War was not a word that had been used for over 75 years. While the Human Confederate had engaged in hostilities with pirate or terrorist factions, relations between them and the other large human organisations, the Red Dragon Empire and the Eastern Regime had always skirted around full-scale war.

As the President continued with his words of war, Jason smiled at Aurora. "This is it!"

Aurora couldn't believe that Jason was smiling in the direst of situations and returned a disappointed gaze in response. Moments before, they had just barely escaped with their lives, yet this possibility of full-scale war appeared far more devastating than their previous encounter.

"Are you serious?" She growled.

With complete disregard for all that had happened previously, Jason took one small grin before responding "Dead serious, this is our excuse to join the military!"