The Space Mavericks

by Michael Kring

  “Tackett,” he said by way of introducing himself. He glanced at the man who had captured us. “Release their cuffs, Speer, then report to Colonel Marcus,” Tackett said. The group leader saluted, undid our cuffs, did a perfect about-face, and then walked off. Tackett turned to us. “Who might you two be?”

  “Enos and Tarkosz,” Kohn said as I hesitated. I sat back and rested my head against the hard surface of the portable dome.

  “Heard of you,” Tackett said brusquely. “Up to trouble, you two. Know anything about the defenses of that stupid dome?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Kohn said. “We were prisoners there.”

  “Prisoners?” Tackett walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair. It squeaked under the weight of the body armor. “Prisoners? Thought DeMann a friend of yours.”

  “We thought so, too,” Kohn said. “He didn’t seem to care for us very much when he noticed your forces were coming.”

  “Some friend,” Tackett muttered. He glanced at us and then said, “Orders don’t concern you two. You can go. Heuser will take you to the Port.”

  “Heuser?” Kohn and I both said, surprised.

  “Know him?” Tackett asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Kohn said quickly. If we got into Heuser’s hands now, he’d kill us for sure. “He’s tried to kill us a couple of times.”

  “Can’t now,” Tackett said. “Central’s taken over. Takes orders from me. Better. Could be rough on him. Bungled the whole affair. Lousy agent. Not your fault. Better Trooper.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Kohn said.

  I let the thought of what the general had said. Heuser had been an agent, but was now a Trooper. Nice.

  Tackett pressed a button on his desk, and Heuser came running into the dome. He took his orders fairly well, and I noted, with a little shock of delight, he was wearing the uniform of a Trooper. The black suit did a lot for him. He seemed more at ease, too.

  Heuser was very polite, and took us to the Strip in record time. I had a chance to glance at DeMann’s estate as we flew from the battle, and I noted with a shock the white dome was still standing. One of the pillars was blasted, but the other three were firing at the flitters darting overhead. From the speed of the flitters, I knew they had to be unarmed. Near one side of the dome was a huge crater, and I imagined that was why the corridor behind us had collapsed just before we had met Speer and his gang.

  When we landed, Heuser walked out to see us off. “Sorry about all the misunderstanding.”

  “I can’t say it’s all right,” I said. “But I can say I don’t bear a grudge.”

  “Very kind of you,” Heuser said softly. He had lost his chance for a big, fat promotion, I was certain. He looked as if he wanted to cry. Troopers are very ambitious, loyal, and for the most part, stupid.

  Kohn said, “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I hope we don’t ever see you again.”

  Heuser nodded with a curt smile. “Same goes for me.”

  We turned our backs on him and set off for the Strip. Far off, we could hear loud rumblings, like thunder, but we knew it was the battle raging away. I was fairly certain Renate had long left the DeMann estate for the summer retreat, and for all I knew, the dome could be empty. It was more than likely being defended by a Comp.

  We heard the soft whine of the flitter as it rose up and took off toward the battle. There was a loud clap of thunder as it snapped through the sound barrier, then it was silent. We didn’t even bother to turn around.

  Kohn contacted the corporations involved, and we finally sold our cargo. It took some time, what with everyone’s interest on the weird stuff going on at DeMann’s estate. It was all on the video, if anyone cared to look, but no one did. It was more fun to speculate and start wild rumors. I may have started a few myself.

  We went out to the Kraftwerk, and we both shook our heads. The damage to the control cabin had been almost total. The other wrecks on the pads had been cleared, but the Kraftwerk was still standing on her struts. We both knew we’d have to buy another ship. The cost repairing the Kraftwerk would be more than a good used ship would cost. If we could find one.

  Unfortunately for us, there was only one dealer on Steel. He was a wild-haired man, with a terrible Terran accent. I could barely understand him when he talked GalSpeech, but he refused to talk Terran. Ship dealers are very strange.

  “Patten, you call me Patten,” the old man said. “What’re looking for? Eh? Looking?”

  “A good, used ship,” Kohn said. “To be used as a Cargo Hauler.”

  “Don’t try to palm off a wreck on us,” I warned him. “I’m certified by Central.”

  “Central,” he laughed. He scratched the back of his neck and said, “Don’t know how to tell you this, but, you see, don’t have any used ones. Last one bought the other day. After the mess, you know? Eh?”

  “Damn!” Kohn cursed. He turned to me. “We made a lot on the cargo,” he whispered, “but not enough to buy a new ship.”

  I finally remembered. DeMann had given me all that money. I handed Kohn the bills, and his eyes widened. I didn’t think DeMann would be too pleased, if he survived, to know the cargo he bought from me had already been sold to someone else. It was just another good reason to leave Steel, and fast.

  We found a really fine ship. It was one of the newest models I’d seen, and its hull was bright silver. It was a little fat around the middle, but it was designed for cargo hauling. The engines had only been recently put together, and when I saw the specs on the comp readout, I whistled. The new ship could really move.

  It took a few hours to transfer all our personal belongings from the old Kraftwerk to the new ship, but it was done. After we’d registered the ship, we took off. It was so nice to be in space again. We accelerated at maximum so we could Warp as soon as possible.

  “Where should we go?” Kohn asked.

  “Charcoal,” I said. “I’ve got to find out about this ring.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Kohn said. “You know how tight the Vespers system is guarded.”

  “I’ve got to find out,” I said. I looked at him, hard.

  “Okay,” he said, giving in. “But we’re not going to make any money on this run. I want you to know that.”

  “Who cares?” I asked. “We’ve got enough to make it to another Frontier World and pick up some cargo, even if we stay in the Vespers system for a month.”

  “True,” he admitted. He paused and looked around the cabin of the new ship. It gleamed. “What are going to name this ship?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not original. How about the Kraftwerk II.”

  “Yeah,” Kohn said with a nod. “I like it. Sounds familiar.”

  I laughed.