“No problem.”
They approached from the rear. The squared off stern and the engine cowlings on either side of the half-dropped ramp canted slightly off angle because of the way the ship sat in the arresting concrete.
“We’ll have to get a crane out here to pull her free,” Richie said from behind them. He, Cole and Tricia followed them.
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “It could be a hell of a lot worse though. Did the rescue vests go off?”
“As soon as we hit this part of the runway the accelerometers built into the vests activated them,” Marla said. “One minute, I saw the runway, the next, we were wrapped up like beef at the market.”
“Good.” They reached the ship and Nathan hoisted himself up into the damaged engine cowling. “This is the side that took the hit?”
She nodded. “Yeah, but from the front.”
“Damn it,” Richie said. “I just rebuilt that gimbal linkage.”
Nathan patted the thrust vectoring nozzle. “Don’t worry about it, that all still looks to be intact. Let’s go look at the front.”
He dropped down to the tarmac and they walked around the ship. Nathan saw that coming to a stop in the arresting material didn’t seem to have harmed the undercarriage. He walked around the port side and examined the engine. His breath rushed out of him and his eyes grew wide.
The normally square engine cowling was flayed open in all directions. Nathan put a hand on the ragged piece of metal hanging down and realized he wouldn’t be climbing up into the cowling. Razor sharp edges trimmed every piece of metal.
“We’ll need to get up inside and look at the damage,” Duncan said from behind him, pulling his attention from the mangled ship. “Richie said the pulsed plasma thrusters vented to the interior.”
Nathan nodded slowly, trying to take it all in. He turned to Marla. “How the hell did you land her?”
Marla shook her head. “I just did the job, Nathan. The training kicked in and I did everything you’re supposed to do.”
“And when that didn’t work?”
She smiled. “I did everything else I could think of.”
“My wife is a goddamned genius, Nathan.” Duncan smiled and took her hand.
“No doubt about that.” Something near the cockpit window caught his attention and he moved closer to examine it. He ran a hand over it and traced a crack that ran from the port side straight up to the edge of the frame.
“That should not have happened,” Duncan said, getting closer. “That’s ballistic resistant polycarbonate. It’s supposed to be bulletproof.”
“I think she got hit by something with a hell of a lot more mass than a bullet,” Nathan said. He turned to Marla. “Did you get a collision warning?”
“Yes, but not much. I had just enough time to jerk the ship to the right.”
“So they aimed at the cockpit?” He let that sink in. “They tried to put it right into the cockpit between the cowlings, no doubt about that.”
“Damn near did it, too,” Duncan said and hugged Marla. “But you can’t knock my girl out of the sky.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek.
Nathan smiled. “No, you can’t. Let’s go check the interior.”
They mounted the maintenance ladder near the starboard engine cowling and walked across the hull. Nathan held Tricia’s hand and helped her up.
“Are you okay?”
Her eyes blazed with anger. “They tried to murder us, didn’t they? Those guys you told me about last night?”
“Yeah. Look, I’m sorry. Nothing like this has ever happened to us before. I would never have put you in danger if I thought they would do anything like this.”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, Nathan. This isn’t your fault.”
He stopped and took her hand. “I still put you right in the middle of this.”
She shook her head. “Nathan, this nightmare isn’t something you’re responsible for.”
“I told Dodger I wouldn’t take his job. That’s why he did this.”
She shrugged and squeezed his hand. “You’re only responsible for what you do. Now come on, let’s get inside.”
They walked over to the hatch and dropped down inside. Duncan had the emergency power on and they walked down a dimly lit corridor. Marla waited for them outside the port side engine compartment. She jerked a thumb inside.
“I couldn’t bear to see my husband cry. They’re inside.”
Nathan took a deep breath and let go of Tricia’s hand. The compartment stunk of burnt paint, lubricant and insulation. “Should we be breathing this?”
Duncan held up a portable air meter. “Sniffer says we’re good.”
Nathan saw the damage and sighed. He ran a hand over the blackened compartment walls and noted the warped deck under his feet from the intense heat. He put a hand on Richie’s shoulder.
“Marla told me what you did for her, getting everything shut down and starting the fire suppression system. You did a good job.”
“The automatic systems did most of it. Marla did all the hard stuff.”
“You helped buy her the time she needed.”
Duncan gave a small grunt. “Just say ‘thanks’ kid so we can move on.”
“Yeah, okay, thanks.”
Nathan pulled a trouble light from a wall locker and shone it around the engine itself. It was a total loss and he didn’t need Duncan to tell him that. The plasma generated by the engine for thrust had filled the compartment and superheated everything.
“It’s a good ship, Nathan,” Duncan said. “Picking a converted hazardous material hauler probably saved everyone’s life.” He patted a burned bulkhead. “She’s built tough. That’s probably the only reason it held together long enough for Marla to land.”
“Yeah, well, don’t give me too much credit. It was cheap.” No matter what direction his gaze wandered the news sucked. Something caught his eye and he reached under the engine housing. He grunted and managed to pull something free from the burnt mass of wiring and melted steel.
“What’s that?” Duncan said.
Nathan held it up in the light. “I’m not sure. It doesn’t look like it’s a part of the engine.” He scratched at the burnt metal plate. “See? The curve is all wrong to be part of the housing.”
Duncan took the piece of metal and spit on it, scrubbing at the scorch marks with a calloused thumb. He managed to clear a small bit and printing became visible. “This could be part of what they hit us with.”
“Can you and Richie see if you can identify it? It may be useful.”
“I’ll see what we can find out.”
He rested a hand on the engine. “She’s going to need a tow home.”
“Yeah, no doubt about that,” Duncan said. He had the same dismal look on his face as Nathan. “The engine is a loss for sure plus the structural damage, the cowling, the cockpit and whatever else we find.” He grimaced. “This is going to be expensive, Nathan.”
“No doubt.” Nathan hung the light back up. “Let’s get out of here. I need some fresh air.”
They dismounted and started to make their way back to the spaceport administration building. A tall, black man with graying, close-cropped hair walked out as they approached the entrance, and held up a badge.
“Which one of you is Teller?”
Nathan held a hand up. “That’s me.”
They walked over to him and he held his hand out. “I’m Chief Don Bell.” He pointed to the Bandit with his other hand. “And I think you and I need to have a talk.”
Chapter 18
Bell insisted they ride to his office in Bad Rock so he, Nathan and Cole hovered into town in his cruiser. The chief had arranged for one of his deputies to come with a larger vehicle to pick up the rest of his crew and take them to a motel. That same deputy would keep an eye on them throughout the
night.
The police offices occupied the bottom floor of the rundown city administration building. Dark stains ran down the chipped walls from the roof and a faint musty smell permeated the air.
“There’s not a lot of money in the city’s budget for upkeep and repair on municipal buildings,” he said. “You’ll have to forgive us. Come on inside.”
They walked down a hall that had a marble floor in need of a good polish. Bell used his handprint to swipe his way into a suite of offices. Inside, a woman sat at a desk watching a bank of monitors. Nathan noted they displayed various locations around the city, including the entrance to the building they stood in. Bell held an office door open and invited them to sit down in the chairs facing his desk.
“You’ve had a pretty bad day,” the chief said as he walked around the desk and took a seat.
“We’ve had better, that’s for sure. Did you want to see us because of the crash?”
The chief held a finger up and activated a small box sitting on his desk. A green light flashed on the status display. “Okay, that’s better. Yes, I wanted to speak about the crash.”
Nathan pointed at the device. “Is that a recorder?”
Bell shook his head. “No, it’s making sure no one is listening in.”
“Isn’t that kind of paranoid?”
“Yes it is, and that’s the way we live in Bad Rock.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “Why’s that?”
“It’s because the man who crashed your starship has more resources than I do and is good at avoiding prosecution.”
“If you know who did it, I would appreciate you arresting him.”
Bell smiled. “Well, knowing something and proving it are two different things. Believe, me, nothing would make me happier than arresting Melvin Thornberry.”
“Who?”
“You know him as Dodger. He thinks that’s a tougher name and Dodger is all about how things look.” He leaned back in his chair, making himself comfortable. “Anyway, I really want to arrest Dodger and I’d like you to help me.”
Nathan nodded slowly. “How can we do that?”
“Let’s start with what you’re doing here.”
Nathan dug out a business card and handed to him it across the desk. “Eldridge Tanner is behind on his payments. We’re here to repossess his ship and take it back to Earth.”
“So why did Dodger crash your ship?”
“I thought you knew that already. From what you said, it sounded like you had some kind of lead or proof or something.”
Bell held his hands up. “I have suspicions. Someone has been flying a large drone around the city for the past few months and lately it’s been doing racetrack patterns over the wreck site of the Athena Star. I know Dodger is shaking those kids down out there to keep the union off their back but I can’t prove that either. The thing is, nobody else around here has the resources to fly something like that. The smaller, cheap ones, sure, but even my office doesn’t have the credits to buy something like that. I got a good look at that thing one day and it’s commercial grade at least, maybe military, but I didn’t see any weapons on it.”
“All right. What does that have to do with us?”
“Your ship collided with something in the sky over the wreck site. I heard as much when I listened to the recordings from the control tower.” He sat up straight and leaned across the desk. “Now, Bad Rock gets one or two flights a week and your pilot sure as hell didn’t hit a duck, so what did she run into?”
“You think she hit Dodger’s drone?”
“What else?”
Nathan sat silently for a moment. “What would you like from us?”
“The first thing I’d like to know is if you’re running Diamond K for Dodger. I don’t think you are. After all, it seems like it would be stupid for him to crash your ship, but who knows? Maybe you just made him mad in some way. Maybe he didn’t like the idea of you taking Eldridge’s ship because it would cut into the profits he’s getting by shaking down the kid. Why don’t you tell me?”
Nathan caught Cole’s eye for reassurance. He had no idea if he could trust anyone on this backwater planet, including the only law in ten light years. “Things are hard here, aren’t they Chief? You mentioned budget problems.”
“Oh, I’ve got budget problems, all right but Bad Rock isn’t such a terrible place to live.” He paused and swallowed. “I mean sure, the economy is awful but the people are good. We do okay. What we really need is for Earth to remember we’re out here and start colonizing again. There’s nothing wrong with this place that a little investment wouldn’t cure.”
Nathan thought of Earth and all the cities like Bad Rock that littered the landscape. Hundreds of men just like Chief Bell held out hope that salvation would find its way to them. In Nathan’s opinion, none of them understood that a place had to be attractive to get people to move there. That’s why a terraformed planet like Olympus, with large swaths of tropical areas, never had to worry about its population decreasing.
“Chief, what’s the deal with Dodger? Is he just some local thug or is he hooked into the Syndicate?”
“You’ve had experience with the Syndicate?”
“Some.”
“Dodger’s connected.” The chief let out a breath. “He’s got his hands in all the usual crap these guys engage in, like protection rackets, human trafficking, drugs and fencing stolen goods. I’ve been able to ascertain that his main source of income is producing Diamond K. You know what that is?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Well, we’re isolated out here and my department is just me and half a dozen deputies for the whole city. I don’t have the resources to really investigate properly.” He pointed a finger at Nathan. “That’s why I need someone to testify. I need someone to give me something that will stick.”
Nathan jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Well, my ship is sitting crashed out at the spaceport. If you think he really crashed it with a drone, go investigate it. You should be able to pull out anything you need.”
Bell laughed a hearty chuckle. “Captain Teller, do you really think I’m going to dig around your ship and find a piece of a drone that’s connected to Dodger? Maybe I’ll find an identification number that is registered to Dope Dealing Enterprises, a subsidiary of Scumbag, Incorporated? Come on, we both know better.”
Cole spoke up. “But you have a deputy doing that right now, don’t you?”
The chief smiled. “Of course. We’re not amateurs, and neither are you, right Mr. Seger? You’re an ex-marshal. How would you handle this?”
Cole considered the question. “I’d call in help from Earth. Resources are your problem so get more resources.”
“The request has been in for more than a year. I’ve been told that it is being considered and they understand the gravity of the situation.”
“Well, that sounds like the bureaucracy I know.”
Bell turned back to Nathan. “How did you run afoul of Dodger? Come on guys, I need something to work with.”
Nathan bit a lip and considered the situation. Maybe Bell could help, maybe he couldn’t but trusting him seemed like the right thing to do. “He blames us for screwing up his distribution of Diamond K when we repossessed another ship. His solution was for us to start smuggling for him. Obviously, we’re not going to do that.”
“Will you testify to that?”
“And spend a few months here while you hold a trial? Come on, Chief. I’ve got a business to run and I need to protect my people. This guy is a killer.”
“You can’t be afraid of him, Captain Teller.” Bell said. “Help me take him down.”
Nathan leveled a gaze at him. “Someone tried to kill my crew and as you pointed out, your department is low on resources. That leads me to believe that you can’t protect us if we need it.”
“That’s how it i
s?”
“That’s how it is.”
Bell stood up. “I’ll drive you to the motel so you can join your crew.”
“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”
— «» —
A couple hours later, Nathan and his five crewmembers sat together in a nearby restaurant finishing a delicious dinner. Bell’s deputy watched the front door from a cruiser in the parking lot.
He looked over his crew. Despite having a chance to shower and change clothes, they were all exhausted from the events of the day. He felt beat himself.
Duncan and Marla spoke in hushed tones with the engineer doting on his wife. Nathan smiled as he observed them. Cole and Richie had their own conversation going on and Tricia sat beside him.
She leaned over and whispered in his ear, “They look like they’re ready to pass out.”
“I think you’re right,” Nathan said. He stood and held up a glass to make a toast. Everyone quieted down.
“To Marla, pilot extraordinaire.”
They all raised a glass and took a drink.
“I know everyone is tired so I’m just going to run through a few things.”
“Make it short,” Cole said.
He crossed his heart. “I promise. First, Tricia, have you had a chance to look everyone over? How are our people?”
She waved a hand around the table. “No major injuries, obviously. The test results from the spaceport medics and my own examinations show everyone is healthy. The three of us are sore but nothing is broken. I recommend another drink and a good night’s sleep.”
Duncan raised a glass. “Now, that’s good medical advice.”
Everyone chuckled and the room grew silent. Nathan cleared his throat. “Next I want to address our situation.”
“What are we going to do, Nathan?” Duncan said.
“I’d like to do the job we came here to do. You took a look at the Bandit?” He sat down as Duncan answered.
Bad Rock Beat Down (The Milky Way Repo Series Book 2) Page 20