Bad Rock Beat Down (The Milky Way Repo Series Book 2)

by Michael Prelee

  Turtle nodded. “We sure are and he’s paid up current on the ten positions.”

  “I don’t want him out of business,” Dodger said. “You can’t keep milking the cow if you make steaks out of it. Speed up the sorting if you can but make sure we get a good ton of salvage every day.”

  “Sure, thing. We can do that. What about the coolant?”

  Dodger smiled, wicked and greedy. “We claim that right away, all ten thousand liters. We can process tons of Diamond K using that as a base. I’m going to send a tanker truck out to the Athena Star. You are going to inform Mr. Tanner that we’ll be taking it and recycling it for him. I’ll have paperwork drawn up showing us as a legitimate vendor so he’ll have something to show Great Star Line. They’ll want proof of proper disposal. If he gives you any grief tell him we’re saving him what he would have paid a real company. Take care of that today.”

  “Consider it done,” Turtle said. “Is that all?”

  “You have five million credits worth of product to recover. Do you need anything else to do?”

  “No, I think that’s it.”

  “Then we’re done.”

  They left the office and didn’t talk until they got to the parking lot. Daryl stopped to retrieve his gun from the locker and clipped the holster into place at the small of his back. Turtle leaned against their float car and held his hands to his legs.

  “That sonuvabitch. Who does he think he is, beating on me like that?”

  Daryl nodded toward the club. “Don’t bitch out here. Do it in the car.”

  They climbed in and Daryl slipped behind the wheel. Turtle waited until they were up the block before he opened his mouth again.

  “That is not the way you treat a man. You don’t just beat on him when there’s a problem. You figure out a solution and get back to making credits. He’s chickenshit.”

  Daryl nodded his assent. “No doubt.”

  “I’ve done nothing but earn for him and this is how he treats me.” Turtle lashed out and punched the float car’s window several times. Silence fell while he got himself under control.

  “It’s that crap he chews all day,” Turtle said. “You know that, right? He’s addicted.”

  “Of course I know. He was just doing it in front of me. You’re right, he’s not stable.”

  Turtle turned, sensing a kindred spirit. “He’s putting us all in danger by using that shit, you know that, right? It makes him paranoid and violent. He’s going to screw up and make a mistake.”

  “No doubt.”

  “Can you imagine if he caught one of us using like that? Walking into a meeting with bloodshot eyes and hands shaking? He’d have Morris dust us right on the spot.”

  “Yep.”

  “So what are we going to do about it?”

  Daryl kept his eyes on the street. “You shouldn’t talk like that.”

  “Knocking him off wouldn’t be the worst thing. We could run things. We’re a hell of a lot smarter than Dodger and we don’t use.”

  Daryl shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

  “Why not?”

  “It would just start a war to be in charge. The crew would split because everyone would see it as an opportunity and just look at this place,” he said and waved his hand in the air. “It’s dead. People are leaving and the city is mostly abandoned. Why do you think the Syndicate manufactures Diamond K out here? There’s no one around. That’s why an asshole like Dodger is running things. Do you really just want to be the next Dodger?”

  “No.”

  “Of course not. Just hang tight. Dodger will self-destruct.”

  Turtle grunted. “What if he takes us with him when he goes?”

  “We’re smart. We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen.

  “If I get a shot I might still take it.”

  Daryl shrugged. “If you do, make sure you pick your time carefully because if you screw it up you’re dead.”

  “Yeah.”

  Daryl changed the subject. “This Bone Daddy isn’t a standup guy, is he?”

  “Luscious is a weasel. He’ll say whatever he has to in order to stay out of trouble.” He bent down and put his head between his knees.

  Daryl lit a cigarette and shook the hair out of his eyes. “Why did you bring him into this if you can’t trust him?”

  Turtle straightened up. “I saw an opportunity to advance so I took it. Dodger needed a way to get Diamond K off planet, and I knew Luscious had his own ship and visited all kinds of places while he toured. It seemed like a natural fit. Besides, we loaded and hid the stuff on his ship and our guys at the stops took it off. We took care of everything. All he had to do was play his gigs.”

  “You know this guy is going to get you killed.”

  Turtle considered that. Despite what they’d just talked about, he had no doubt his partner would shoot him if Dodger told him to. Daryl wouldn’t rat him out to Dodger for plotting against him but he would do whatever meant keeping his position on the crew. He needed to buy time to formulate a plan. “Okay, let’s go check on this repo company. Maybe there’s something sketchy about them.”

  “And if there isn’t?”

  “There’s something sketchy about everyone. Take us back to my place and we’ll start digging.”

  The drive to Turtle’s place took fifteen minutes, and they stopped for take out on the way. It was a single-family prefab house in a mostly abandoned residential neighborhood. At one time, it had been full of families and workers for the steel mills but as they closed and people emigrated to other worlds the homes stayed empty. As far as Turtle knew, no one else lived on the block where he squatted. If the house had an owner Turtle had never met them. He had just moved in one day and stayed.

  Turtle grabbed one of the take-out containers and started chowing down on shrimp dumplings as he flopped down on a beat up couch with dirty gold fabric. Daryl took his container and a beer to a chair covered in worn red plastic. Turtle logged into his computer, and a large holographic display lit up the living room. He found a search engine and queried the net for information about Milky Way Repossessions. The results consisted of a few advertisements, contact information and a couple small news stories about particular ships being recovered.

  “That’s not good news,” Daryl said. “They look like a legitimate company which means your friend is probably a deadbeat.”

  Turtle squinted sideways at his friend. “You think a straight businessman wouldn’t get his beak wet if he knew about the Diamond K? Let me ask you something; when you fly into a planet, don’t you usually go through customs? Why didn’t they find anything?”

  “Maybe they haven’t done the inspection yet. It could be when these repo jobs land, they give them a pass or take care of it whenever they have time.”

  Turtle considered that. “Maybe. There’s nothing here, though. Everything about them looks legit. That’s just the net though. I’ve got other sources.” He called up a communications program and entered a payment code using access to a stolen credit account. They ate as the computer designed a circuit that would allow them to have a conversation with someone on Earth. The communication system used quantum entanglement and the warpgate to allow faster than light conversations between Earth’s solar system and Epsilon Eridani’s. Turtle made sure he always had access to someone else’s funds for a call like this. Ten minutes later the newly holographic display lit up.

  Turtle set his dumpling container down and tried to make out the person on the other end of the fuzzy display. It appeared to be a middle-aged guy with dark, close cropped hair. He squinted into the camera.

  “This is the Wheelhouse.” Liquor bottles lined the shelf behind him.

  “Uncle Donny?” Turtle said. “Is that you?”

  The man made an adjustment on his controls and the picture became clearer. “Yeah, this is Donald Kinty. Who is t
his?”

  “It’s Turtle. Can you see me?” This time he made an adjustment and Kinty smiled.

  “Oh, hey, Turtle. How’s my favorite nephew?”

  “I’m doing good. We have to talk fast, Uncle Donny. I’m calling from Bad Rock and I don’t know how long the connection will stay up.”

  “All right, what do you need?”

  “Have you ever heard of an outfit called Milky Way Repossessions?”

  Kinty’s face fell. “Yeah, I know them. Are they giving you a problem?”

  Turtle smiled at Daryl. “They grabbed one of our ships from Mars and hauled it back to Earth and we aren’t very happy about it. It had some items that we need to retrieve.”

  Kinty nodded knowingly. “I understand.”

  “Are they a legitimate operation?”

  The older man said, “They are but we had a run in with them about a year, year-and-a-half ago. It left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth. Remember that story I told you about somebody ripping us off for twenty-three million credits?”

  “Yeah.”

  “They were mixed up in that. Jack let them go because they identified the real thief,” he chewed his lower lip for a moment, “but I’m not as forgiving. One of them broke my wrist and they made us look bad in front of the boss. I’d like to have a reason for getting another shot at them. What’s this about your ship? Where is it?”

  “It’s impounded in Go City. We’d like to get our stuff back or have it eliminated, if that’s possible.” The picture shifted sideways and threatened to cutoff.

  Kinty nodded through the static. “We might be able to work something out. Send me a message with the details.”

  “Will do.” Turtle reached out and killed the connection.

  “Your uncle seems like a real hard ass,” Daryl said.

  Turtle nodded. “The hardest. He runs with a crew out of Go City. His boss is a guy named Atomic Jack. Ever heard of him?”

  Daryl had a fearful look on his face. “The guy in the pressure suit? He can set things on fire just buy touching them, right?”

  “That’s the guy. If these repo guys pissed off my uncle he’ll carry a grudge forever.” Turtle started composing a message with the details of Luscious’s ship and what they needed removed. “Uncle Donny will either get our shipment back or get rid of the evidence.”

  Daryl nodded. “Good work, Turtle. This may even make Dodger happy.”

  Turtle grunted. “No, all this is going to do is keep me alive. That dumbass Luscious still lost a distribution route that will have to be replaced.” He finished the message and sent it to his uncle. “Let’s head back over to the salvage site and make sure everything is all right. The last thing I need is something else going wrong today.”

  Chapter 6

  Nathan arrived at the berth where he kept the Blue Moon Bandit and stopped his float bike at the entrance to the launch pad. The ship rested on the tarmac looking like a predator hunched and ready to strike. The gunmetal gray hull was accentuated by blue trimmed, square engine cowlings on either side of the cockpit that ran the length of the ship.

  The converted hazardous waste hauler was tough and over-engineered to maintain structural integrity in case of a crash. Most freighters and shuttles depended on an external boost because of the cost involved in lifting hundreds of tons into space but the Bandit could launch from anywhere on the strength of its massive engines.

  He parked the bike near the ship and walked around to the rear. The aft loading ramp extended between the engine housings and a tool box lay open to the left of it. He ran a hand over the housing of the port side engine and pulled himself up with a grunt to look inside at the thrust vectoring nozzle.

  “It’s all good, Captain,” a voice called from the bottom of the loading ramp. “I fixed the broken gimbal linkage on the directional nozzle yesterday. You have full range of motion.”

  Nathan dropped down to the tarmac and waved. “Thanks, Richie. Looks good.”

  Richie Pearson was a machinist’s mate on the crew but Duncan had made a project out of teaching him about engines and the ship’s systems. Together they managed to keep Nathan and his ship flying on a shoestring budget.

  He’d had his doubts about whether Richie would pan out when he’d brought him on the crew just over a year ago but the young man seemed to be doing well with his gambling addiction.

  “You’re here early,” Richie said.

  Nathan nodded. “I just wanted to check out the ship and our supplies.”

  Richie smiled. “Don’t sweat it, boss. I made a run into town last night and got everything we need from Big Bulk Mart over on Livingston. It’s all on the company’s account.”

  “Good. Thanks, Richie. Since you have everything under control here, I’m going to start the pre-flight checklist.” He moved past the younger man and started up the ramp but then he stopped. “Oh, and could you prep the guest quarters? We’re going to have a mission specialist with us on this trip.”

  “Yeah? What kind of specialist?”

  “A nurse.” He swallowed hard. “We’re going to be pretty far out so I thought it would be a good idea to take precautions.”

  “Yeah, sure. I’ll take care of it after I stow these tools.”

  Nathan continued into the ship. One of the corridors coming off the ramp emptied out into the galley. They used this space as the common area but it could be a little tight. When the ship had been built all of the large space had been allocated below decks in the cargo holds. Duncan and Nathan had converted most of that to hold ship’s stores, spare parts, tools and small vehicles like a couple float bikes and tractors. Duncan could fix almost anything on the ship with what they carried, which helped keep costs down.

  He moved forward to the cramped cockpit he shared with Marla. Taking the seat to the left, he called up the flight controls to perform the pre-flight checklist.

  An hour later he walked over the upper hull of the ship. The Bandit might have a few years on her but the solid airframe would perform well for decades to come with the right maintenance. He searched the length of the engine housings for cracks or stress fractures but couldn’t find any. In fact, nothing needed immediate attention.

  He paused and carefully examined the thrust vectoring nozzles. The ship used these to help keep itself aloft and maneuvering in a planetary atmosphere. Without thrust it flew as well as a rock. The ship had few a control surfaces like ailerons and flaps that could be extended from housings within the hull but no rudder or large stabilizer. The ship needed thrust to fly. He heard a float car pull up at the gate.

  An automated cab dipped and settled to the ground to release its passenger. Nathan smiled as he saw Tricia step out, looking lovely in blue jeans, tan boots and a hooded sweatshirt. She grabbed a couple bags and walked toward the ship. Seeing Nathan on the hull, she waved. He returned it and started toward the ladder. Thirty seconds later he walked across the tarmac to meet her and took one of her bags.

  “Is this all you brought?” He asked.

  “I like to travel light,” she said, “less to carry and lose track of. This one,” she said, hoisting the second bag, “are the medical supplies you asked me to get.”

  “Right,” he said. “Well, come on inside. Everyone else is aboard so we’re ready to go.”

  “Ok.”

  Nathan showed Tricia her quarters so she could drop her stuff and then introduced her to Marla and Richie, whom she hadn’t met on Mars. Duncan and Cole said hello.

  “You can strap in here for liftoff,” Nathan said, pointing to one of the seats in the galley near the table. “Taking off or landing you need to be in a seat wearing a vest so you’ll be as protected as possible in the event something goes wrong.”

  She raised an eyebrow as she sat down and adjusted the harness. “Does something go wrong often?”

  “No,” he smiled, “but I�
��m glad we have a nurse on board.” He straightened up and addressed everyone. He heard buckles click as Cole, Duncan and Richie strapped in.

  “Our flight time to the Neptune warpgate will be around four hours and then we’ll jump straight to Epsilon Eridani. Flight time to Epsilon Eridani III from the warpgate is about three hours. Once we’ve cleared Earth orbit and made the light speed jump to the warpgate feel free to move about the ship. Any questions?”

  Tricia raised a hand to get his attention. “This may sound stupid but why are we using a warpgate? Wouldn’t it be easier to do a light speed jump all the way there?”

  Nathan smiled. “That’s not stupid at all, and please ask all the questions you want.” He paused, wishing Tricia could join him in the cockpit again. “We could jump all the way out there but solid hydrogen fuel is expensive and a lot of it gets eaten up if we make long jumps. That’s why we generally do faster than light jumps in system and use the warpgates to travel the greater distances between stars. The toll we pay for using them is much cheaper.”

  She nodded and smiled. “Thanks. I didn’t know that.”

  — «» —

  “Mister Tanner, I’m getting the idea you don’t want to be here,” the police chief said from behind the desk. Eldridge sat across from him, holding Ari’s hand in Don Bell’s office in the Bad Rock police station. Chief Bell appeared to be about fifty, black and a little on the thick side but definitely not fat. He wore a neatly trimmed beard and close-cropped hair that grayed at the temples.

  Eldridge shrugged his shoulders, fidgeting with the water bottle in his left hand. “Chief, it’s not that I don’t want to be here, it’s just that I don’t have much to tell you and I have a lot of work to do. And please, call me Eldridge.”

  The chief leaned back in his chair. “Okay, well you know, Eldridge, I just don’t buy it. Someone broke into your site and stunned you. It was so bad that the shock knocked you out. Anyone else would be so eager to make a report I’d have to help them calm down, yet you’re giving me the impression that talking to the police is the last thing you want to do. Why is that?”