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

  She reached out and took his hand. “It really is quite lovely,” she said.

  “Yeah,” he said, with a suddenly dry mouth. “You just have to have a healthy respect for it.”

  They rode like that for a few moments, in silence, holding hands. Ten minutes later, Nathan dropped them onto a landing pad in Go City, New Mexico. They deplaned and he stood on the tarmac with the duffel full of Diamond K at his feet.

  “Wow,” she said. “That was smooth, like we dropped on a cushion. The airlines never land like that.”

  “Thanks,” Nathan said. “Hey, sorry about being so gruff back on Mars. It’s just that when we repo a ship we never know who we’re running into so it’s easier just to get everyone off the ship and fly with our crew. I didn’t mean to be a jerk.”

  She hefted her bag. “It’s no problem, really. I’m just glad to be away from that guy.”

  “Are you going to be all right? You mentioned he owed you some money.”

  “I think so. He paid me a signing bonus so I still have that in the bank. Don’t worry, I’ll find something. Good nurses are always in demand.”

  Nathan blinked against the afternoon sun and cleared his throat. “So are you local? I live around here.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, my mom has a place outside the city, and I imagine I’ll be staying with her for a while. Right now I need to grab a shower and sleep for about a week.” She held up her mobi and gestured for him to do the same. They bumped them, and the communication devices chirped as their contact information passed. “Okay, well, thanks for the ride. I had fun. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

  “Maybe.”

  He watched her walk toward the terminal and let out a breath he’d been holding since they left Mars. Cole walked over.

  “Are you having dinner with her tonight?”

  Nathan shook his head. “No, dinner tonight is with Bao. He says he may have another job for us. A big one.” He checked the time on his mobi and picked up the duffel bag. “I need to hustle home to shower and change. Can you and Duncan finish up here?”

  “Sure. Have fun.”

  — «» —

  Nathan enjoyed eating at the The Lantern for dinner. He generally didn’t go to nice places like this unless he was dating someone, and as Duncan had been nice enough to point out, it had been quite a while since he had been out with anyone. He had changed into a lightweight black suit and white shirt with a small banded collar for the meeting.

  The downtown shadows spread across the streets, as Nathan pulled up to the restaurant on his float bike. The tinted blue glass of The Lantern glowed like iridescent candy as the sun started to dip below the horizon.

  He entered the sliding doors, and the hostess led him to the back of the restaurant. Bao stood as he approached the table. He was shorter than Nathan and wearing a conservative dark blue suit. Nathan shook his outstretched hand and they sat down. A waiter appeared to take his drink order and then left to get it.

  “How are you Nathan?” Bao came from Taiwan but spoke flawless English with a slight Southwestern accent.

  “I’m good. Mars got a little exciting but nothing we couldn’t handle. And you?”

  Bao smiled. “You know me, Nathan. I’m always good.”

  The waiter arrived with Nathan’s bourbon and they ordered. They made small talk over dinner, catching up on local politics and business deals being managed by Bao’s bank. They leaned back after the plates had been cleared and Nathan nursed his second drink.

  “So what’s this other opportunity you have for us?” Nathan asked.

  Bao held up a vapor stick. “Do you mind?” Nathan waved him off and he put it in his mouth. “I don’t normally smoke but after a good meal I enjoy one. Are you familiar with the Athena Star?”

  Nathan’s brow furrowed. “That sounds familiar but I can’t remember why.”

  “It was a passenger liner operated by Great Star Lines. You know, they jump out to places like Alpha Centauri or Sirius and give the passengers the thrill of being in a different star system.”

  Recognition flashed across Nathan’s face. “Is that the one that crashed last year?”

  Bao nodded. “Yes, that’s it.”

  “I’m sorry. I remember the crash but not the details.”

  “The Athena Star was on a cruise to the Epsilon Eridani star system. Unfortunately their light speed jump ended with them in the gravity well of the third planet. Before they could correct their course they started encountering atmospheric drag.”

  “That is one hell of a mistake,” Nathan said.

  “Indeed. Luckily they followed proper jump procedures and had the passengers secured. They managed to evacuate the ship before it crashed.”

  “That’s right. It went all the way down didn’t it? It hit the ground?”

  Bao nodded. “Automated systems kept it together and steered it away from populated areas but yes, it crashed and it can’t be flown again.”

  Nathan grunted. “Those things are huge. If you crash something six hundred meters long into the ground you generally get a big hole and a lot of scrap.”

  “There’s a hole, to be sure, but the ship itself is in one piece, more or less. That’s why it needs to be salvaged and removed.”

  “So what does this have to do with us? We’re repo agents, not a salvage company.”

  “You are always so impatient, Nathan. I wanted you to understand the situation. Anyway, there is a salvage company at Epsilon Eridani III picking up the pieces of the Athena Star.” Bao pulled out a mobi. “They’re called Crater Salvage and they are local to Go City. They got the contract to salvage the starliner and started operations three months ago.”

  “What’s your interest here?”

  “The bank backed Crater Salvage. The owner is a man named Eldridge Tanner.” Bao swiped through the files on his mobi and brought up a picture of a black man in his twenties with close cropped hair and a beard. “He’s young and idealistic but he’s very smart. He came up with a new method for running the salvage operation and convinced Great Star Lines to hire him. Once he had the contract I liked him as a good risk so I made the decision to loan him several million credits to finance the operation.”

  “That sounds solid,” Nathan said. “What’s the problem?”

  “Crater’s main expense is an ore refining ship used to strip mine asteroids. Tanner refitted the ship to recycle metal and anything else found inside a starship. He also bought and programmed a virtual army of ‘bots to do the actual work to cut down on expenses. We were very pleased with his work and had no problems when we followed up with him here on Earth before he left.”

  “So what happened?”

  “During their time here on Earth performing their prep work they met all their key performance indicators and made their payments as expected. As soon as they left Earth and started operations we stopped hearing from them.”

  “Did they arrive safely? Epsilon Eridani is about ten light years away so communication can be spotty.”

  Bao shook his head. “I had contact one time with authorities at the nearest settlement. Crater Salvage showed up and started operations as expected. They just aren’t talking to us or making payments. So far they’ve missed three.”

  “What about the office here in Go City?”

  “We’ve been speaking to a man named Lewis Mairn. He is polite and says the office is in contact with Tanner but they are at a loss for why things are not going as expected.”

  “So what do you want Milky Way Repo to do?”

  Bao took a drag on his vapor stick and exhaled. “I would like to hire you to go out to Epsilon Eridani III and retrieve the Corkscrew. That’s the recycling ship Tanner is using and it is an asset securing the loan.”

  Nathan nodded and picked up his mobi after it beeped. “We can do that. I assume the specifications and master contr
ol codes for the ship are in the files?”

  “Yes,” Bao said. “It’s large but automated. It’s meant to be operated by a small crew, but I’ll leave operational decisions up to you.”

  “Epsilon Eridani is pretty far out. I don’t think I’ve ever been there.”

  “You’ll need to be careful. The system only has one habitable planet and that’s the one where the Athena Star went down. You shouldn’t have to worry about landing, though. The Corkscrew is a space bound ship and never makes landfall on a planet. The idea is to dock with it in space and seize the ship.”

  “Is there anything else we need to know? Is this guy known to be violent?”

  Bao shook his head. “No, he’s highly energetic and excited about his work but I never saw any indication of abnormal behavior. If I had, I wouldn’t have loaned him several million credits.” Nathan looked at the picture of the young man on his mobi and thought Bao was probably correct but you could never really tell how someone would act from a photo. That’s why he kept Cole on the payroll.

  Bao spoke up again. “There is one thing you’ll need to be careful about, because I know you run a lean crew.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The system isn’t well settled. Epsilon Eridani III is a cold planet. It’s not like the Arctic but it isn’t Hawaii either, so people aren’t in a big hurry to run out there and set up home. There is one large settlement and it’s close to where the Athena Star crashed. It’s called Bad Rock.”

  Nathan shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “You would have no reason to. There are less than ten thousand people living there and nothing much happens. I did some research on the settlement while preparing the deal. Their main industries are iron mining and steel production. Neither one brings in a lot of credits. Here’s what you need to know, though. They don’t have much in the way of Protective Services or other societal infrastructure. Their economy is not strong, so there aren’t a lot of credits available to pay for things like law enforcement and hospitals. You’ll be pretty much on your own out there so you may want to make some changes to your normal operations. I recommend you keep that in mind when you put your bid together for the job.”

  Nathan sat back and thought about the offer. It sounded good, almost like a slam dunk for a good pay day. This kind of opportunity could pay well, especially given the size and value of the Corkscrew. “We’re definitely interested. Let me put together a package for you.”

  The waiter brought the bill over and Bao took care of it. They stood up and shook hands. “I’ll be in touch tomorrow,” Nathan said. “Will that work for you?”

  “Yes, but I have to tell you, Nathan, there is a time element here. I’m responsible for loaning Tanner the credits so if he’s done something stupid like run off or embezzled it, I’m going to lose my job. Management at the bank has given me the opportunity to fix this problem so I need to make this count.”

  Nathan smiled. “Don’t worry. We’ll get your ship back.” They walked outside and Nathan saw the sun had set. The azure light from The Lantern’s exterior lit up everything in the parking lot with an electric blue hue.

  “I do have one question, Bao. What if we get out there and find out this is all some misunderstanding? Do you still want us to go through with seizing the ship and dragging it all the way back here?”

  Bao exhaled and his gaze drifted up to the sky. “Take control of the Corkscrew immediately upon arrival. If you think there is a legitimate reason for Tanner to have missed his payments and performance metrics, try to contact me before departing so I can provide instruction. Just make sure you have control of the ship. I want this young man to understand the consequences of failing to meet his obligations. He has put me in a very vulnerable position, and I don’t like it.” Bao’s voice got an edge to it, and Nathan felt like there was a struggle going on inside him to maintain his professional composure as he continued. “Tanner needs to understand that I will sell that ship out from under him and bankrupt his operation.”

  Nathan held out his hand and they shook. “I’ll be in touch tomorrow.”

  — «» —

  Across the city, Duncan and Marla relaxed on the sofa in their new condo, looking at financial graphs on a large wall screen. They had moved in a few months ago, after deciding they wanted to live in a more upscale neighborhood.

  Duncan pointed to a figure. “You see that? That’s a fifty percent loss. That’s almost as much as we’ll both earn getting that rock band’s ship back from Mars.”

  Marla shrugged and patted his leg. “Investments carry risks. Besides, we both still have our jobs.”

  Duncan sighed and sat back. “I know, I just don’t want to turn wrenches forever, you know? Do you want to spend the next decade sitting next to Nathan co-piloting the Blue Moon Bandit?

  “No, but it is what it is. I know you think we can invest our way to an early retirement and we’ve done pretty well, but we’re not going to hit a homerun every time we step up to the plate.”

  “I know, but I just thought this one would pay off.” He put his feet up on the table and leaned back.

  “What’s really bothering you?”

  “I think we’re getting stuck in a rut,” he said. “I think we’re static when we should be moving forward. We were doing really well for a while and now things have kind of ground to a halt.” He stood up and moved to the French doors leading to their balcony. “I don’t mind what I do but I’ve done it for a while now. I’d like a new challenge.”

  Marla stood up and opened the doors. The olive skin from her Italian heritage glowed in the morning sunlight. They moved out onto the balcony and leaned against the black iron railing. She waved her hand toward the city. “We must be doing something right. We’ve got a hell of a view.”

  “No doubt about that.”

  Their building was one of the tallest residential towers in Go City. They could see the spaceport a few kilometers outside of the city, and sometimes they would sit out here and watch shuttles race up the launch rails and bang off into the sky.

  A black glass tower, rising from the middle of the downtown business district belonging to Saji Vy, stood taller than theirs. Milky Way Repossessions had done a job for Saji a little over a year ago and Duncan had been impressed with what Saji had built after getting to know him a little.

  He turned back to Marla, returning her infectious smile and brushing a stray lock of hair over her ear. “Yeah, we’ve had success, you’re right. I just don’t want to skin my knuckles anymore, and I don’t want you to grind out more time in the co-pilot’s seat.”

  She moved in close and he wrapped his arms around her. They kissed, softly at first and then with more passion. After a moment they broke apart.

  “I know you want more,” she said. “I know you have this vision of what our life is supposed to be like, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Just don’t get so wrapped up in chasing your goals that you forget to enjoy what we have right now.”

  He held her close. “Yeah? You think things are good now?”

  “I do.”

  “Well, why don’t you come in here and let me show you how they could be better?”

  She reached a hand up and toyed with a couple of his dreadlocks. “I think I’d like a demonstration.”

  He smiled and hefted her over his shoulder in one smooth motion with his powerful arms. She squealed with delight and he gave her a playful smack on her bottom with his free hand. “Well let’s get to it.”

  Chapter 3

  “Fire! Hey, we’ve got a fire over here!”

  Eldridge Tanner raised his head in the direction of the voice and saw Ariadna Macias running from a flaming pile of scrap. His brunette crew chief scrambled for a fire extinguisher ten meters away. Two ‘bots continued working within the flames, cutting and sorting the scrap as if everything was normal.

 
“Damn it,” Tanner said and got up from the wooden bench where he had been repairing another ‘bot. He grabbed the extinguisher sitting on the ground beside his bench and ran to the near side of the burning pile of scrap. Ariadna and her extinguisher ran for the far side. One of the ‘bots standing in the flames, a two-legged model with chipped blue and gray paint stopped working to address him.

  “Sir, I’m detecting increased heat levels.”

  “No kidding. Really?”

  “Indeed. It may not be safe for you.”

  Eldridge squeezed the lever on the extinguisher and hosed down the area with chemical powder. He played the nozzle back and forth across the base of the flames and advanced as they died down. A great cloud of the powder went up in the air as Ariadna moved forward from the opposite direction. Eldridge couldn’t see any more flames and released his grip on the extinguisher’s lever.

  The pile of metal, plastics and various synthetic materials smoldered and a haze of fire retardant chemicals settled across everything like powdery snow. Eldridge coughed and waved his hand to try and get some fresh air. Charcoal black scorch marks on the ground surrounded the scrap pile. He used the toe of his boot to nudge a steel plate out of the way and saw a burned cylinder underneath. A green band wrapped around the top. He pulled on a pair of gloves from his back pocket and lifted up the cylinder. He examined it carefully and saw a thin slice in the side. He held it up to the ‘bots.

  “Did one of you cut this?”

  The one with the chipped blue and gray paint raised an arm. “Yes, sir.”

  “It’s an oxygen tank. If you see any more cylinders similar to this assume they contain gas under pressure and do not cut them. Doing so can cause a fire. Sort them in a pile thirty meters away from the work area.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Please upload those instructions to the local intranet and code as mandatory.”

  The ‘bot paused its movements for a moment. “Instructions acknowledged. Task completed.”

  “Thank you.”

  Eldridge handed the cylinder to the ‘bot. It immediately started walking away from the scrap pile it had been processing. He watched as the machine walked out thirty meters and set the cylinder down. Ariadna walked over to him with a smile and slipped an arm around his waist.