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

by Michael Prelee

  Eldridge shifted in his chair. “Look, it’s not like that,” he said. “I just have a lot to do and really, what can you do? I have no idea who it was, and that’s on me. I should have had the ‘bots apprehend them and called you to arrest them. I screwed up.”

  Bell unscrewed the cap of his own bottle of water and took a sip. He had a case of the stuff in the mini-fridge behind his desk. “Now you see, making bad decisions like that is what really concerns me. You got the contract to clean up the mess Great Star Lines dropped on our settlement and you programmed all those ‘bots to do the work for you. To my way of thinking, you’re a smart guy. So I have to ask myself why someone like that would go out alone in the dark. I mean, you didn’t even have to risk this pretty lady. You could have taken a ‘bot with you.”

  Tanner licked his lips and shrugged. This was like being in the principal’s office at school. “No one makes good decisions one hundred percent of the time, Chief.”

  “That’s true, Eldridge, but I’m wondering if you knew who was out there and you just wanted to chase them off. Let me ask you a question; you ever have any dealings with a guy named Dodger since you arrived?”

  Eldridge bit the inside of his lip before answering. “No, I don’t think I know anyone by that name.” He squeezed Ari’s hand harder. “Who is that?”

  “Oh, he’s a local malcontent connected to the Syndicate. I hear he’s into things like producing and selling drugs, extortion, protection rackets and the skin trade. You sure you’ve never met him?”

  Eldridge slowly shook his head. “No, that doesn’t sound like anyone we’ve met since we arrived. If he’s such a bad guy shouldn’t you arrest him?”

  Chief Bell leveled his eyes at him. “Oh, I plan to but law enforcement resources here in Bad Rock are limited. We’ve got a dwindling tax base, you know? It’s really just me, six deputies and a few part-timers for the whole city and even though we’re a bit of a backwater, we still need evidence of a crime to arrest people. If someone came forward and filed a report about being shaken down for protection and could offer some proof of making payments to Dodger, it would be extremely helpful.”

  Eldridge’s mouth went dry and he took a long pull on the bottle of water. The Chief needed help but he just wanted to finish this job and get away from Bad Rock. “Well, I hope someone like that comes through for you, Chief. Really, but I can’t help you.” Eldridge stood up and Ari rose beside him. “Now that you have the report let me know if you find anything.”

  Bell stood and held out his hand. Eldridge and Ari shook it in turn. “We will, Eldridge. You be careful out there. The wreck site is isolated but I’ll see if I can’t run some patrols your way and keep a better eye on things.”

  Eldridge held his gaze. “That’s all right. I tasked a few more ‘bots with guarding things at night. I’m sure we won’t have any more trouble.”

  Bell smiled. “Yeah, probably. Anyway, you kids be safe out there. Even without people stunning you it’s dangerous work you’re doing.”

  “Thank you,” Eldridge said. Ari waved goodbye and they walked through the station and out into the morning sunshine. They made their way to the float car they had driven into the city and got in.

  “He knows,” Ari said.

  “What, that Dodger is shaking us down? He’s probably just guessing.”

  Tanner punched in the location for their camp and the automatic driver pulled out into traffic. Ari turned to him. “Maybe we should tell him what he wants to know.”

  Eldridge shook his head and laughed. “I’m not going up against the Syndicate. If I talk to that guy, Dodger would have us buried out in the desert a few hours later.”

  “They’re stealing from us, Eldridge.”

  He knew her thoughts were of her father and what he would do in this situation.

  “Here’s the problem, Ari. We’re out here at the ass end of nowhere and the only law is Chief Bell and his half dozen deputies. If we file a complaint that the local Syndicate boss is shaking us down for protection money we’re pretty much on our own. Do you think Dodger won’t have some of those deputies on the payroll? You know those guys don’t earn a lot so I bet at least some of them are on the take.” He reached out and took her hand. “I want to keep you safe so if that means we let a guy like Dodger get his beak wet, then that’s what we do.”

  She nodded with a sad look in her eyes. “I guess so.”

  They rode the rest of the way back in silence. When the float car pulled into the worksite Eldridge’s eyes narrowed. He pointed to the wreck. “What the hell is that?”

  Ari’s followed his gesture. “Is that a truck?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “It’s a tanker truck.”

  Eldridge steered the float car down the trail to the aft section of the Athena Star and brought it to a halt beside the silver tanker truck with red stripes. The name on the side of the tank read ‘Schem Waste Recycling’.

  He got out and approached the driver leaning against the cab. “What’s going on here?”

  “Who are you?” The man said.

  “I’m running the job site and I didn’t order any recycling.”

  The man pulled a mobi from his back pocket and swiped the screen. “Here’s the work order. I’m supposed to pull out ten thousand liters of reactor coolant.”

  “What? Let me see that.” Eldridge examined the work order and saw it matched what the driver said. “Have you started yet?”

  “Nope. I just ran the hoses inside where those other fellas showed me.”

  “Well, hold up. There’s been some kind of mistake.”

  Eldridge walked into the hold through the door near where he’d been attacked. He saw Turtle and Daryl lugging a hose toward one of the compartments with the coolant tanks.

  “Hey, Turtle, what the hell is going on?”

  The tall man with long greasy hair turned to him. “We’re pumping the reactor coolant out of these tanks, Eldridge. What’s the problem?”

  “The problem is I didn’t order it and I’m not paying for it.”

  Turtle nodded. “Well, Eldridge, you’re right on both counts. Dodger ordered the recycling and he’s paying for it. All you have to do is stand back and let us get this stuff out of your way.”

  Eldridge pulled up short. “What does Dodger want with reactor coolant?”

  Turtle shrugged. “Dodger’s business is his own, Eldridge. I just work for him. What do you care anyway? He’s saving you the trouble of pumping this sludge out and paying for it. All you have to do is go on about your day.”

  Eldridge was tempted to do just that and then he turned and saw a disapproving look in Ari’s eyes. He thought about her father, Roberto, and what he would do if a couple guys tried to strong arm him on his worksite. Then something else occurred to him. Whoever shocked him last night had been looking in the compartments where the tanks were located. A wave of anger came over him and he turned back to Turtle.

  “This stops now. Get these hoses out of here and tell that driver to leave. I make the decisions here, Turtle, not Dodger. The coolant is nothing for you to worry about. Just go back to your pile and sort out your daily salvage.”

  Turtle stepped in close. “Eldridge, you want to be real careful about making a decision like this. Dodger wants it done.”

  “I don’t,” Tanner said. “If Dodger doesn’t like it, tell him we had a deal and I’m all paid up. There’s a limit to what I’ll put up with. Now do as I say.” He swallowed hard but held his ground.

  “This isn’t a good idea. You need to rethink what you’re doing.”

  Eldridge reached down and picked up the large wrench being used to attach the pump hoses to the coolant tanks. He held it out to Turtle with menace in his eyes. “Let me ask you a question, which one of you knocked me out last night? I know it was one of you. No one else cares about what’s in these tanks.”

&n
bsp; “Did something happen, Eldridge? We’ve been so busy working it’s been hard to keep up on news.”

  Eldridge stepped closer. “You know what I’m talking about. I don’t expect you to admit it, though. Guys like you always think you’re being clever by playing dumb.” He hefted the wrench. “I guess it doesn’t really matter. What’s done is done but I’ll tell you this; if anyone comes after me or mine again, they’ll wish they’d just stuck to the deal in place. Do you get me?”

  Turtle nodded. “I get you, Eldridge.”

  “Then get this truck off my worksite. If Dodger has anything to say he knows where I am.” Eldridge dropped the wrench and it hit the deck plates with a loud clang. He backed away from Turtle and Ari followed him outside. The truck driver was busy attaching the other end of the hose to his rig.

  “There’s been a mix up,” Eldridge said. “You won’t be taking a load out of here today. You need to pack up and leave.”

  “You sure?”

  “Very.”

  The truck driver studied him for a moment and nodded. He started rolling up the hoses.

  Ari slipped an arm around his waist as they walked back to the skimmer. “I’m proud of you,” she said. “That took a lot of courage.”

  He put an arm around her shoulders and they slouched down on the hood of the float car. “Let’s sit here a moment and make sure they do what I said. Turtle’s the kind of guy who will tell you whatever you need to hear.”

  They watched as Turtle and Daryl emerged carrying coils of hoses and helped the driver stow them in the undercarriage of the tanker trailer. When they finished, Turtle threw a wave to Eldridge and the truck pulled away. Turtle and Daryl walked away on foot to their pile. Eldridge let out a breath.

  “I get the feeling we’re going to pay a price for what we just did,” he said. “Dodger wants that reactor coolant for something and guys like him are driven by money. If we just cost him some, he’ll have something to say about it.”

  Ari snuggled in. “We’d better figure out why he wants it and be prepared for when he calls.”

  Eldridge nodded. “Yeah.”

  Chapter 7

  Jennifer “Scooter” McCabe watched as Truck 14 lined up over the bow of the Corkscrew. It aligned itself with the wishbone structure that served as the rail system for the automated barges bringing pieces of the Athena Star into space to be recycled. The immense recycling ship was comparable in size to the starliner being methodically reduced to tiny pieces. The command deck sat atop the tower structure that housed the engines, living quarters and machine shops. Forward of that structure the main pressure hull housed the grinders, sorters and cargo holds that stored the pieces of the starliner that had been brought up. The wishbone in front of that serviced the trucks from the surface.

  The ship had started service half a century ago as a refinery vessel for mining the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It had only left that duty when the former owners went belly up during a downturn in the precious metals market and put it up for auction. Eldridge had gotten it for a song and retrofitted it to grind and sort starship pieces rather than ore.

  Scooter had the watch on the command deck at the moment, so managing the docking procedure fell to her. She angled a camera to get a better view and saw the clamps lining the wishbone close on the barge’s accessory mounts. Once locked in, the truck traveled toward the middle of the ship. The recyclable material would be unloaded into a large bay and sorted into different hoppers. She keyed the ship’s intercom system.

  “Charlie, Truck 14 just docked with a full load.”

  The speaker emitted static for a moment and then a deep voice answered her from two decks below. “Got it in sight. Thanks, Scooter.”

  She walked back over to the front of the command deck. A large observation port let her see the length of the empty wishbone and she sighed. The wishbone should be full, with at least five trucks waiting to be unloaded at any time. Eldridge and Ari should be calling up to harass her and ask when trucks would be unloaded and returned to pick up more material. Right now, all they had on board for unloading was Truck 14, and it would be emptied in less than thirty minutes.

  The short mechanic adjusted the blue rag holding her blonde hair back. She had her grey jumpsuit rolled down to her waist displaying a green Crater Salvage t-shirt and when she caught a glimpse of herself in the reflection of a monitor she frowned and zipped it up. Being stuck up in orbit wasn’t doing anything good for her waistline. Heavy boots thumped the deck as she moved and she still wore her tool belt. Normally, she ran the ‘bot shop that kept their automated workforce running. A good effort by her and the other mechanic, Bobby, had gotten most of the machines working and planetside, so she volunteered for a watch on the command deck.

  Not for the first time she wondered about the operation planetside. She had access to the same reports Eldridge did and knew they were behind schedule. The customer paid a bonus for finishing early but by her calculations there was no danger of Great Star Lines paying it. The soft feminine voice of the ship’s artificial intelligence interrupted her musings.

  “Scooter, there is an incoming message.”

  “From who Genie? The team on the planet?”

  “No, from the ship approaching from port.”

  Scooter snapped her head around to see a gray ship with twin engines trimmed in blue hanging in space to the left of the command deck. Two people sat in the cockpit behind blue tinted glass. One of them, a man, made a movement on his control panel and a spotlight illuminated her through the portal. Scooter turned her head, slightly annoyed, and shaded her eyes.

  “Genie, where did that ship come from and why didn’t you warn me?”

  “My apologies, Scooter. It simply appeared. It may have approached using an oblique angle from a negative attitude respective to the plane of the ecliptic. Our sensors would have difficulty detecting such an approach.”

  Scooter grimaced. “So they snuck up under us?” She crossed to the intercom and keyed it. “Charlie, Bobby, we’ve got some company up here. Another ship just dropped in on us. I’m going to see what they want and I’m going to leave this channel open.” Both men acknowledged her message.

  “Okay, Genie, put them on speaker and let’s see what they want. Audio only.” With only three of them on the Corkscrew she didn’t need to advertise the fact she manned the command deck alone.

  A smooth voice came out of the speaker. “This is the Blue Moon Bandit calling the salvage vessel Corkscrew. Do you copy?”

  Scooter cleared her throat. “We copy. This is Scooter McCabe representing Crater Salvage. Please state your business.”

  “Miss McCabe, my name is Nathan Teller and I’m the owner of Milky Way Repossessions. We have authorization to repossess that vessel due to non-payment of the loan on her. I am requesting permission to come aboard to facilitate that repossession.”

  Scooter muted her microphone to the radio but left her connection to the intercom open. “Oh, what the hell is going on? Do either of you have any idea what he’s talking about?”

  Charlie and Bobby both responded in the negative.

  “Don’t let them on board,” Charlie added. “Not until we talk to Eldridge.”

  She took a deep breath and keyed the radio mic again. “Mister Teller, have you spoken with Eldridge Tanner about this? He’s the owner of Crater Salvage.”

  “Not yet, Miss McCabe. Obviously we’ll want to speak with him. Is he available?”

  “If you hold on a second I’ll see if I can reach him.” She muted the mic again. “Damn it!” She needed Eldridge. These guys may not be legitimate. This far out they could be pirates posing as repo agents to grab the Corkscrew. Eldridge had warned them that they were completely alone out here. Scooter considered her options and made up her mind.

  “Charlie, is Truck 14 empty?”

  “It will be in a few minutes.
Why?”

  “I’m going to let them talk to Eldridge.”

  — «» —

  Marla smiled at Nathan. “She sounds scared.”

  “She looks scared,” he said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have come up on them like that.”

  “No, it’s better to keep the element of surprise.”

  The young woman’s voice came out of the speaker. “My boss would like to speak with you, Mr. Teller. Can you dock at the airlock aft of the command deck?”

  “Affirmative. We’ll be over in a few minutes.” He closed the channel. “Marla, can you handle the docking? I’ll grab Cole and Duncan and we’ll get ready to board them.”

  “Sure. Don’t let my husband get hurt.”

  He smiled. “No problem.”

  Tricia sat at the engineering station outside the cockpit and rose as he passed. She put a hand on his arm. “Hey, can I speak with you a moment?”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “You’re going over to the other ship?”

  “Yeah, with Duncan and Cole.”

  “I’d like to go too.”

  He bit his lower lip and thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know, it could be dangerous.”

  Her hand slid down his arm and gripped his. “All the more reason to bring a nurse along.”

  Nathan smiled, and his heart skipped a beat. She wanted to come with him, and the thought of things being dangerous didn’t bother her. But it bothered him. He intertwined his fingers with hers.

  “I’ll tell you what. Let us go over and secure the ship and then I’ll come get you.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “I can take care of myself, you know. I wouldn’t be out here, with you, otherwise.”

  “I know,” he said, looking into her eyes. “I just need to concentrate when I go over there and if I’m worried about you I can’t do that.”

  “So you think I’m distracting?”

  He felt heat rise in his face. “In a good way, yes.”

  Marla called from the cockpit. “We’re just about ready, Nathan.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll come get you, okay?”