by Henry Vogel
Nearing our docking bay, Michelle was the first to realize something was amiss. Holding hands, I felt her emotions shift from contented to concerned.
“Pretend like everything is fine,” she whispered, smiling brightly at me.
“Okay.” I looked around us as casually as possible. “But, I don’t see anything to be worried about.”
“That is what you should worry about. This place was full of dock workers when we came into the station. Now it’s empty.”
“Maybe the work shift is over?”
“It’s only four in the afternoon, local time.”
“It is?” I’d completely lost track of everything other than Michelle. “So, what do we do?”
“We can keep acting casual and draw out Paco and his gang or we can make a run for it.”
I opened my mouth to ask why she thought it was Paco and then shut it again. I’d embarrassed Paco in front of his followers. Guys like him always felt like they had to get even for things like that.
We were about midway through one of the docking compartments, one about a quarter of a kilometer long. I figured Paco’s father owned everything in the compartment and employed everyone who worked here, giving Paco the authority he needed to clear the area. If we could just get to the next compartment, we’d probably be safe.
“You’re the bodyguard. What do you think we should do?”
“Run. Now!”
Shouts erupted as soon as we broke into a sprint. A couple of blaster bolts sizzled past, well wide of the mark. Both shots scorched the deck where they hit.
“They’re shooting to kill, Matt!”
Drawing her own blaster, Michelle thumbed off the stun setting. I did the same.
Behind us, we heard feet pounding on the deck. To the side, we saw young men pop up from behind crates and take aim at us.
Michelle snapped off three quick shots to the right and I did the same to the left. My shots went wild, but Michelle blasted apart a crate one guy hid behind. He screamed as splinters flayed him.
I half turned and fired at the four or five guys behind us. Again, I didn’t hit anyone, but they scattered, diving behind crates or dropping to the deck.
“Nice shooting, honey.” Michelle fired a few shots at the guys on the right, again blasting apart a crate.
“I was trained by the best.”
I fired shots to the left, again. One shot burned the deck next to one of Paco’s shooters. He yelped and ducked out of sight.
“Matt, look out!”
Michelle shoved me hard to the left. A blaster bolt seared the air where I’d been standing. Thrown off balance, I stumbled and fell. All sorts of training took over at that point, from gymnastics to martial arts. I tucked into a roll as I heard another bolt hit the deck somewhere behind me.
“You made me miss my shot, bitch.”
Paco’s voice sounded different than he had in the bar. It was wilder, even less in control than he’d been a few hours ago.
“Your boyfriend made me look stupid in front of my father.”
I heard him take another shot and felt my blood run cold. The weapon’s report was deeper, the sound of the bolt striking the deck louder. Without looking up, I knew Paco had gotten his hands on a blaster rifle. A person might survive shots from a pistol, but a rifle could blow away half a person’s body with any hit.
“I was going to kill him,” Paco raved on, “and save you for some fun. I’d have let you go eventually, but then you had to go and shove him away from my shot.”
I came out of my roll and up onto one knee.
To my right, Michelle was on the deck, rolling away from Paco’s shots. She was using all her training to good effect, but had too far to go to reach any kind of cover. Paco’s next shot seared the deck centimeters from her head.
“So I’m going to kill you in front of your boyfriend and then I’ll throw him out an airlock.”
I raised my blaster in a two-handed grip, just like Jonas had taught me. At the same time, Paco took aim for another shot at Michelle.
“Hey, Paco!”
My shout distracted him just for a second, delaying his next shot at Michelle. I pulled the trigger, pulled it again, and then pulled it a third time. The first shot hit Paco in the shoulder. The next two hit him right in the middle of the chest.
Paco’s eyes went wide, a puzzled look crossing his face. Then the light went out of Paco’s eyes and his body fell to the deck.
I watched Paco fall backward. Saw his body bounce slightly as it hit the deck. Watched a wisp of smoke spiral up from Paco’s chest. Heard nothing beyond the roaring of my blood and the pounding of my heart.
Movement came from my right and an angel, with deep blue eyes and a halo of golden hair, slid between me and Paco. She grabbed my shoulder and shouted at me, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Though she blocked my view of Paco, I still saw him with my mind’s eye. Saw the spiraling wisp of smoke thicken and the hole in Paco’s chest burning brighter, consuming Paco in an ever-widening circle.
Sharp pain exploded from my left cheek, and then from my right cheek. I blinked and the angel’s face swam into focus.
“I killed him, Michelle.”
“I know, Matt, and I’ll help you deal with it. But right now we’ve got to get out of here.”
Michelle leaned to the side, gripping her blaster with both hands, and snapped off five shots in quick succession.
“Paco’s boys are getting over their shock, Matt. We’re going to die here if you can’t put Paco out of your mind until we’re safe.”
My memory replayed the blaster bolts burning a hole in the chest, but this time it was Michelle’s chest. That brought me out of it.
Spinning on my knees, I added my blaster fire to Michelle’s. Paco’s gang scattered from our combined fire, still skittish after seeing their leader killed.
Michelle jumped to her feet, pulling me up with her. “Let’s go!”
We dashed toward the door out of this compartment, the door that led to safety. As we sprinted past Paco, Michelle bent over and scooped up Paco’s blaster rifle. A bright flash splattered against the wall near the door, followed by another one.
Michelle spun about and fired the blaster rifle from the hip. “Keep running. Get the door open.”
The deep report of the rifle echoed again and again, as Michelle laid down covering fire for me. I smacked the control for the door and it began grinding open.
“Michelle! Come on.”
Already backpedaling in my direction, Michelle turned and ran. I dashed through and found the controls on the other side. A bolt scorched the deck just inside the door as Michelle slipped through the widening opening. I slapped the controls and the door reversed itself, grinding shut again.
“The ship?” I asked as we ran from the doors.
“Yes.” Michelle gasped.
All around us, dockworkers stared. Then another bolt flew through the closing door. It didn’t hit anyone, but it startled the workers into action. They dove behind crates and ran clear of our path.
I heard the door’s mechanism give a clunk as it reversed yet again. Blaster shots echoed in this new compartment and the air around us was filled with little bolts of lightning. Then we ran out of the compartment and into the docking bay. The airlock to the M&M was just meters away.
We ran past a surprised station official waving a datapad in my direction.
“Hey, you need to approve the charges.”
Michelle and I slid through the outer airlock.
“I trust you. Keep my deposit. And I’d run if I were you.”
We slammed the outer hatch in his face. I spun the locking wheel while Michelle opened the inner hatch.
“Take the controls and get us moving, Matt. I’ll seal the hatches.”
“On it!”
I slid into the pilot seat of the ship and keyed the emergency startup sequence. It skipped a few safety protocols and wasted energy, but we didn’t have five minutes to go through the n
ormal sequence. Michelle slipped into the copilot chair as the startup completed.
“Can you break free of the docking clamps and the tractor beam?” Her brow was furrowed in concern.
“Don’t believe everything you see in the vids, Michelle. Military tractor beams are the only ones strong enough to stop a ship. The magnetic docking clamps aren’t strong enough to hold us, either.”
Muffled banging began on the station hatch. Too late to stop us, Paco’s boys had caught up.
I shoved the maneuvering thrusters to full throttle. The ship bucked a bit as it broke free of the magnetic clamps and shook again as it pulled out of the tractor beam.
Rockville Station didn’t attract much starship traffic, but it had a lot of in-system mining ships coming and going at all times. Much as I wanted to just punch the throttle and blast toward the wormhole on a column of fusion-powered flame, I couldn’t. My hands flew over the ship’s controls, weaving in and out of the local ships as fast as I could manage.
“M&M, this is Rockville Control. You are not cleared for departure and are ordered to return to the station.”
Michelle took the comm. “No can do, Rockville Control. We’ve got a pressing appointment somewhere else.”
A new voice replaced the controller. “This is Station Security Chief Tucker. You will return to this station for questioning concerning the death of a station citizen.”
“I’m sorry, Chief, but I rather doubt we’ll get a fair hearing.”
“We’re not as backward as you think, miss. We’ve got a circuit-riding Psi Corps team. Their telepath will determine guilt and innocence.”
“Good. When the telepath questions Paco’s gang, you’ll get all the evidence you need to clear us. So, you see there’s no reason for us to stick around.”
I was almost clear of the local traffic. From there, it was a five minute flight to the wormhole—less at the speed I’d be flying.
A new voice joined the comm conversation. The voice was harsh and I found myself taking an immediate dislike to its unseen owner.
“You can back off, Chief. Me and my boys are gonna take care of these killers.”
“Hector, tell your boys to leave that ship alone and dock at the station. You can’t take justice into your own hands.”
“They killed my boy, Chief. I can do anything I damn well want.”
A hulking asteroid mining ship, bristling with mining lasers, broke free of the station traffic, blocking our path to the wormhole!
CHAPTER SEVEN
A Surprise in The Debris Field
Dozens of one man mining sleds buzzed around the huge asteroid mining ship, speeding into a formation spread across dozens of kilometers. Within seconds the sleds formed a cone with the mining ship at its center.
“What are they doing?” Michelle asked.
“It’s a fighting formation miners developed to battle against pirates.”
I ordered the nav computer to calculate the fastest course around the formation. It might turn up something I couldn’t see, but I doubted it. These miners knew their stuff. As long as they held the cone together, they could block the M&M from ever reaching the wormhole.
“Can you get around them, Matt?” Her voice remained calm, as if she was simply checking off items on a list.
The nav computer beeped, confirming my observation.
“Not unless they do something foolish, no.”
Rockville Control came back on the comm. “Hector, tell your ships to come on into the docking bay. Your guys have already worked a full shift and have got to be exhausted. You don’t want them doing something stupid just because they’re too tired to think straight.”
That explained how the mining ship and the sleds mobilized so quickly. They were already outside, waiting for a chance to dock, when we pulled out.
“As long as one of my boys blasts that ship, I don’t care what they do. And I’ll give a big bonus to every single one of them when those murderers are breathing vacuum.”
Michelle decided to rejoin the conversation. “It was self-defense, not murder. Paco and about a dozen of his gang ambushed us on our way back to our ship.”
“If that’s true, little girl, why aren’t you dead instead of my son?”
“Because we’re better than he was. But that’s no surprise, Hector. After all, Paco only got away with all his bullying because he was riding on your coattails.”
Hector roared in anger. Chief Tucker wasn’t real happy with Michelle, either.
“Young lady, you are not helping matters and I will thank you to keep your mouth shut while I talk to Hector.”
“I’ll tell you what, Chief, why don’t you tell me about all your run-ins with Paco? Why don’t you tell me about all the stuff he got away with because his daddy was the richest man on the station?”
I spared a glance at Michelle and whispered, “What are you doing?”
She flicked the mic off. “I’m getting Hector to make a mistake.”
“Like what, blasting us out of space?”
“Like ordering his men to chase after us.” Michelle tapped something on the nav display. “Mentioning that, fly toward this debris field. The miners will think we’re trying to hide from them in there.”
“What will that do for us?”
“Hector’s ships have been out all day. How much fuel do you think they have left? If we can run them dry, we’ll be clear to make a run for the wormhole.”
“That’s brilliant, Michelle.”
I plotted a course toward the debris field and engaged the main thrusters.
“I know, just make sure you don’t lose them. Now concentrate on flying this thing and leave the talking to me.”
Michelle flipped her mic on again. “Chief, I’m still waiting for you to tell me what a fine, upstanding young man Paco was and how everyone on the station just loved him to pieces. I went to school with at least a dozen spoiled little rich boys just like Paco. Tell me I’m wrong, Chief.”
“Girl, are you trying to get yourself killed?” Chief Tucker sounded a bit frazzled, all of a sudden.
“Well, Chief, I got good news for the girl. She’s gonna get what she wants.” Hector’s voice dripped with menace. “Boys, I promised you a bonus if you blasted that ship. The bonus is a year’s pay for everyone involved. Now go get ‘em.”
The cone of mining ships surged after us. The formation fractured a bit, but nothing you wouldn’t expect with so many ships involved. The Federation Navy could hold a tighter formation, but I doubt many other civilian groups could have matched the miners.
The comm filled with whoops and threats from the pursuing mining ships. Chief Tucker tried talking them down, but the miners drowned him out every time he spoke. The Chief kept at it for a good thirty minutes before giving up. As best I could tell, Hector signed off once his ships were on our tail.
“M&M, this is Chief Tucker. If you manage to survive this, I still need you to surrender yourself to me.”
“Seriously, Chief?” Michelle’s voice held true incredulity. “After this demonstration from Paco’s father, you really think we’d be safe anywhere on that station?”
The Chief sighed. “No, I don’t. I had to say that for the record. Off the record, I’ll get to the bottom of this and clear your names. Posthumously, if necessary.”
“Thanks in advance for clearing us. But we don’t plan on dying today.”
If Chief Tucker replied, catcalls from the pursuing miners drowned him out.
Michelle flipped off the comm. “How long until we reach the debris field?”
“About another hour at this speed. I could shave fifteen minutes off of that at full power, but the miners couldn’t keep up.”
“Then steady as she goes, Captain Matt.” Michelle took my hand. “Are you doing okay?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I’m fine as long as I’m active, but as soon as my mind has time to wander, it heads straight for the memory of me burning a hole in Paco’s chest.”
Mi
chelle nodded and kissed my hand. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
“How about a sandwich? That burger was hours ago. I know I shouldn’t be hungry after everything, but my stomach hasn’t gotten the message.”
The next hour crawled past in slow motion. We ate. Michelle held my hand. I talked about everything except Paco. Finally, we approached the debris field.
“Um, Matt, are you going to fly through the field?”
“I thought that was the idea, Michelle? We use it to hide from the miners, letting them waste fuel looking for us.”
“And get pulverized by asteroids? No thanks.”
“There’s nothing that big in there. This is the stuff left after the miners have broken up asteroids and removed the ore. The first mining operation in the system was probably here. It can dent the ship and scratch the paint, but that’s about it.”
I winced at every knock of a rock bouncing off the hull, but I managed to keep those to a minimum by throttling down and maneuvering carefully.
“Keep an eye on the sensors, Michelle. The debris will block a lot, but if you get a reading on that big mining ship, that means it’s closer than I want it to be.”
Ten minutes later, she said, “I just got the big ship on sensors.”
Bracing myself, I increased the throttle. Stuff banged off the hull every few seconds, but we pulled out of sensor range of the big miner again. Then, without warning, the banging of rocks on the hull stopped.
“What the hell?” I asked.
“We’re in a big empty spot in the debris field, Matt. It’s like someone cleared all the debris out of this area with a vacuum or something.”
The reason behind the empty spot became clear when a wormhole opened before us!
The wormhole blazed on the sensors and pulled the M&M inexorably toward its yawning maw. Debris from the field banged against our hull as the wormhole sucked up everything around it.
