Tramp Wars: The Enemy

by Larry Roberts

  “Well Partner. Fine tuning is one way to put it but before you suggested swirling the streams to deliberately keep them from hitting each other as they shot down the.. How did you put it, pressure wave tunnel vortex, the Admiral could not get it to work. That is the biggest advancement in this engine and engine technology in a hundred years. Not that it had not been tried before using the standard ball core but your continued stream of suggestions as you discussed the calculations managed to make it work. The Chief realized that about half way through your briefing and while you were teaching the MP Commanders of engine rooms 2 and 4 how to upgrade their engine’s, he called the ships attorney to have them apply for patents and then the Port’s Engine Inspection Board sending them the Data from your test run. They are scheduled to come take a look at MP-3 to start the certification process tomorrow during your court-martial.” Mickey smiled at Mark. “Don’t blame the Chief for jumping to the conclusion it was all the Admiral. After all the shocks he has had today, let him grasp at the safe straws until he has had time to process things in his mind.”

  Mark’s mouth dropped open as he stared at her. Finely shaking his head. “I have spent the last week with you hypnotizing me every chance you got into spending what felt like years of endlessly marching troops around fucking parade grounds and hills and dales and jungles on a dozen planets. Not to mention a thousand battles running around ships trying to organize crewmen to make repairs before the ship explodes. And what the hell why did you keep putting me on a fucking bridge commanding a ship’s crew doing everything from docking to battle maneuvers while the ship was being shot out from under me? I am surprised Dian even still wants to sleep with me as much as you kept making sweat.” Shaking his head. “You had me commanding battleships and now you want me to go back to scrubbing bilges. I have been doing that for 10 fucking years in-between fixing equipment that no one else seems able to or cares about fixing.”

  Mark threw the old ejector nozzle (sitting on the corner of the console), across the engine room as he got up stomping around the deck with the engine towering above him. He started cursing as he walked. Calling the Chief every name he could think of while inventing a few of his own on the spot as he hit a few pieces of equipment that hurt his hand a lot more than the equipment.

  “You look and sound just like my Harry when we first got married. He used to work down here. I think in this same engine room.” An old woman with a cane stood at the hatch into the Engine room looking around as she smiled at Mark. “He finally transferred out of engineering to Cargo just to get away from all the crap. We both were a lot happier after he transferred out.”

  Mark turned around half shocked, suddenly embarrassed as he tried to look through blurry eyes. He turned back away from the old lady as he composed himself.

  “The Chief at the time was making Harry’s and my life hell even though the Admiral was the one that had appointed him Engine Room Commander. Thought that if he made Harry quit he could replace him with the ass hole he wanted in the billet.” Smiling at Mark as he turned around to listen. “I finally talked him into getting out and transferring divisions. Harry was the best Cargo Chief the ship ever had years later.” The Old lady chuckled as she waved Mark over. “Now you come over here and tell Grandma Alice all about it while you show her how to get to that stupid car auction where ever it is being held. I hate having to sell Harry’s car but then he has been gone for 5 years now and I just don’t enjoy driving it without him along, so maybe it is for the best.”

  Trying to dry his eyes whipping his sleeve across his glasses as they flashed and his eyes dried out. He looked around. “Your Harry was an Engine Room Commander and transferred out to Cargo?”

  When Mark had not moved she walked up to him and put her arm around his arm using him for support. “Yes dear. That was the second happiest day of my life right after marrying him. Well, right next to our kids coming along.”

  Mark looked down at the little woman clutching his arm with one arm with the cane in the other. His mind was continuing to race. Feeling like he should say something as she looked up into his eyes with her old worn eyes that sparkled with life. “Aaa. I am an only child. How many kids do you have?”

  “I had seven in all. I lost 2 when the ship was taken 21 years ago. My two youngest were eaten by Gronks before we could be rescued by our marines.” Looking down she frowned. “I still miss little Timmy and Janet. I still have nightmares of watching the Gronks eat them in front of me. Oh, I see you have the pin from that mission that saved those hostages a few years ago. I was one of those hostages. You keep up the good work young man.” She hugged his arm.

  “Ya I was on the shuttle but....” Taking a deep breath as her eye’s filled with gratitude strengthened him. He tried to think of a way to tell her he had not done anything without being rude. It finely soaked in that he didn’t have to stay in Engineering. If fact he loved flying just as much as working on the engines and fixing things. “You said your Harry transferred out of Engineering didn’t you?” Mark smiled down at her. “Let’s say we get you to that auction and I will see about taking up the Truck Chief on his offer to work for him. Tell that old Fucking Engine Room Chief to go screw himself.”

  “Is this one of the big engines I have heard about young man?”

  Mark was already headed for the control room hatch. An old lady stood in the hatch gazing up at the engine. “Yes madam. Ah, can I help you?”

  “Why yes young man. The Captain says I have to sell Mack’s old sedan in some auction and I cannot even find it. They say it is supposed to be down here someplace. Can you help me young man?” The old lady looked down and saw Mark with the other old lady on his arm as he shrugged his shoulders. Doing a double take at the woman on Mark’s arm, then sticking her hose up into the air she turned around and stomped off across the control room toward the hatch to MP-4 as Mark fallowed.

  The Lady on Mark’s arm giggled. “She, has been uppity since my husband became Chief Cargo Master over her husband and she hasn’t changed even though they have both been gone for years.”

  The old lady slammed the MP-4 hatch open surprisingly easily and walked through and directly under a big newly reworked tons heavy fusion casing being hoisted up to be emplaced on top of the engine. Excusing himself, Mark rushed in gently grabbing the old lady and walking her to one side out from under the casing and over to where the Chief had stopped talking to several officers while starring at the old lady in the middle of the work area.

  ‘Mr. Collins! Do something about the civilians that seem to be flooding down here into my work areas!”

  Chuckling Mark smiled. “This is Mrs. Goldstein she is looking for her husband's car sir.”

  “I don’t care why the hell they are down here just stop them.”

  “Sorry sir but you ordered me to go up and do MP-3’s reports and nothing else.”

  “Fuck the Reports. Make sure these people get wherever the hell they are going and stay the hell off my Engineering deck! That goes for you too.”

  Chapter 26 Fools Auction

  Another couple walked into the engine room from the Main Control room as the Chief already read started to explode. Pointing at the couple while looking back and forth between them and Mark. Giving Dian a quick smile as she worked on someone's hand. “Yes Chief I will take care of it immediately Sir.” Mark walked Mrs. Goldstein back around the casing being lifted and gathered up the new couple and the lady that had been on his arm, taking them back to the elevator and put them in it. “Ok Mickey. Can you access the elevator controls and divert everyone not involved with the upgrade to the outer hull elevator and the Airlock deck.” As the elevator doors closed, Mark headed for the hatch to the truck deck as he heard an elevator car slide through the saddle and into the up shaft without stopping followed by several more cars running through the platform behind the elevator hatch and back up some 10 decks to make the Y switch to the outer hull.

  Mark started collecting other civilians already on the truck deck
trying to keep them from getting ran over as he shepherd them towered the ladder next to the truck office leading down to the personnel airlock deck below them and to the vehicle parking area that had been established outside the ship. Stopping by the truck dispatch office he got them working on civilian traffic control as he continued down the ladder to the Airlock deck and met several people as they walked out of the elevator to add to his group. "Right this way please." After talking to the Quarter deck watch at the personnel hatch he headed down the long narrow gang plank that followed the side of the cooling landing fin to where it touched the pit’s tarmac with the parked aircars off to the side of the ship up against the berm a good distance from the ship.

  Walking up to the car park with some 30 people, he saw his pride and joy sitting amongst some of the nicer family sedans and sports aircars. Mark smiled. Tom, Dick and Jolleen had offered to paint his aircar for him hopping it would bring a decent price at the auction. Busy, he had simply said sure not really caring or expecting them to really do it. They had picked a nice bright flashy red. "Damn nice paint job for a clobbered together aircar, even if it is only a hurried rattle can job with a coat of clear coat over the top to make it shine." Mark patted the forward fan cowling then climbing in and started it up, listening to the fans spool up. It was like music to his ears. Powering up he raised it a few inches crabbing into the cross wind. Balancing it for a few seconds he could not resist taking it up around the pit a few times and then headed out for a short tour around the Port for a closer look at a few of the ships he had seen while driving the bus to the zoo and back.

  He was surprised to see the Galaxy Express ship almost repaired like new, with the knocked out gun turret sporting a new sighting cupola and a new section of hull being lifted into place covering the last still open blast hole in the cargo hull though the other patches still only had primer on them. The torpedo hatches where all open with a platform in front of each of them ready for new torpedoes to be slid into them as work machines cleaned the soot marks off the hull around them. The saucer shaped ship he had seen earlier had its cargo hold packed to his surprise and for the first time he noticed that it was equipped with a half dozen open hull guns around the outside edges of the flattened saucer. He was starting to feel sorry for the stupid shits when he realized that they were not the normal 5inch 17cal or even the 21cal guns most tramps had but long barreled 6 inch artillery pieces normally used by armies for planetary defense or surface battles. A closer look showed him some fairly sophisticated sights on the full half-moon shields that looked fairly thick. Impressed, even though they still left the crew vulnerable out in the open from the rear. Skirting past the solid ball ship he could not see a weapon on it and could only shake his head, even if they were going straight back into the Empire it was stupid not to have some protection and wondered how and if they would even make it out of the crossing. But then most of the Star Queens guns were hidden inside the old life boat hatches and only came out to play during training or an attack. Maybe they had the same arrangement though it looked too knew to have junk life boats already.

  Remembering the massive battle ship launch he turned to check out the military side of the port and found not one military ship pitted anywhere. Musing that fact, he headed back for home and past a strange looking ship that looked like a huge very tall pyramid. Square at the base that he just had to take a closer look. Up until then he thought the square cubed ship he had seen the year before was the strangest, but he decided this took the cake with its mass of landing legs underneath and little pyramid gun turrets lining the bottom outer edges all the way around above each landing leg except for the open cargo hatches in each side. A large triangle port looking like an eye at the top of each side covered what looked like some kind of control deck with very large worms looking creatures moving around behind the huge ports. Mark decided that was enough as he saw a forty foot worm with 6 foot arms crawling around the base of the ship.

  "Mark watch out!" Mickey practically yelled in his ear.

  Turning around following the flashing piper in his glasses he saw a big red Pickup Airtruck with oversized fans racing at him from above. Jerking the controls over he turned into and under the diving pickup instead of away knowing that would insure a collision, just in time to see it flash past where he had been.

  The face of Chet peering out at him from the cockpit frozen in his mind. "What the hell Mickey!"

  Mark swung around trying to keep an eye on the bright red truck. Headed around trying to get behind him. Realizing without thinking (after thousands of hours playing space combat games on the simulator) that behind your opponent was the safest place to be.

  "Mark turn hard right!" Mickey yelled seemingly in his mind again.

  Mark threw his controls hard right as an old beater aircar zoomed past. He had only seen it out of the corner of his eye but something looked very familiar about that car. Turning back around to follow it Mark suddenly realized why as he started gaining on it. It was Tom's old beater aircar. Suddenly shocked as to why Tom would be attacking him or was he just out for a one last ride as well and decided to join what he thought was a game.

  Firewalling the throttle Mark rapidly gained on the Tom's old car as it turned on its side to go around the back side of a ship. Mark turned to cut him off as he came around to starboard catching up to it as it emerged from behind the ship making a sweeping turn to come back. Mark's light weight, (built from the best Mark could find in junk yards from around the planets the Star Queen had stopped at) sports car easily turned inside the (heavy enough to be a tank) old car's turn radius coming up alongside it to see that Tom was not driving it. Chet's friend Dirk was.

  "Mark look out, the airtruck is coming at you again."

  Mark saw the airtruck with an attention getting light flashing in the corner of his glasses in time to jerk his aircar around away from Tom's beater aircar and Dirk before the Airtruck got close. As he came around banked up at almost 90 degrees on his side pulling some 4 gees he looked over his shoulder to see the big truck roll over on its side following him with its eight big monster truck fans bighting enough air to bring the heavy truck around in just as tight a turn as Mark was doing. Pushing the throttle back to the wall Mark took it up another couple of Gee's as he reached down to hit the powered seat back control to recline a good 20 degrees so he could withstand the high Gee's easier in the tightening turn as the meter jumped to 7 Gee's. Mark pulled in his gut and started taking short shallow breaths as he watched the big pickup truck with its 8 massive high powered fans match his turn still headed for him. "What the hell is this idiot doing trying to ram me?" Mark realized that yes he had already tried it once as he flipped it over to turn the other way.

  The Monster airtruck was slow rolling over to follow but then quickly gained on Mark as he turned toward the side of a ship on a collision course himself. Looking back over his shoulder at the approaching truck Mark watched the trucks canopy open (moving back) leaving a big gap as a pistol appear in Chet's hand. Only some hundred feet away and closing. A fraction of a second later a laser beam streaked at Mark barely missing his aircar.

  "Mark you are in a collision course with a ship if you continue to turn."

  "No da. Mickey." Mark could not believe Chet had fired at him with a weapon but at least that made more sense than trying to ram him. Mark waited a few more seconds as another beam streaked past him. Mark glanced at the approaching ship counted to Zero and then jerked the stick to the side and rolled the aircar around 180 degrees to turn the other way and watched as the big air truck tried to fallow but Chet's reaction time was incredible slow and the heavy airtruck could not roll as fast as Marks little light speeder. As Mark easily turned away from the tall approaching ship planted in its pit. The airtruck finely got over on its side to follow Mark just in time to skim only a few feet off the side of the ship. Mark let out his breath in relief, sure that he had waited too long and the Idiot was doomed for a fraction of a second.

  Another blin
king light got Mark's attention as Tom's old beater aircar headed to cut Mark off in his original turn plowed into the side of the ship as he tried to follow Mark's new turn. Evidentially realizing too late that the old beater aircar could not make that sharp of a turn.

  Mark flipped his speeder so it had its bottom facing the way he was going using the fans to rapidly stop his speeder then dropped down toward the deck not far from the ship the aircar had impacted on, forgetting about Chet and his monster airtruck chasing him. Disbelief flooding his mind as he starred at the ball of flame still dissipating from the side of the ship as pieces of debris fell the some 600 feet to the pit below. Chopping his throttle he descended toward the pit still trying to come to grips with the fact that the guy even though Mark hatted his guts, had just killed himself evidentially trying to kill him. Mark hadn't hatted him that much to wish him dead.

  Then Mark suddenly noticed the open chute as it hit the floor of the pit and started blowing in the wind. Dirk sat there for several seconds looking around before he climbing out of the aircar's ejection seat laying on its side, seaming dazed. Mark was so relieved that if he had been close enough he would have hugged him. Shaking his head as dozens of people headed for Dirk from around the pit. Mark landed not far away from the growing crowd around Dirk and jumped out.