Martian Quadrilogy Box Set

by Brandon Ellis

  “Just our luck. It sounds like several ships are coming in for a landing.” He put his hands on the upper deck railings and noticed Quad and Gragas were on the ramp, peering outside. “Gragas, what do you see?”

  “Looks like Mort Wildly and a few of his ships are touching down,” Gragas said.

  “Hit the button and raise the ramp. We’re getting our asses out of here.” He rushed to his seat and laid the holopad across his lap. He readied the Relic to fly their butts out of here.

  Relic sputtered, whined, vibrated, and then turned off.

  “No, no, no,” yelled Ozzy, punching the flight console. “You start you flying bag of Mars-heap.”

  He tried again with the same results.

  Jozi sighed. She brought up a blueprint of Relic on the holoscreen. The stern boosters were red. “Those were hit by photon fire, shorting out your fuel cells. It’ll take until morning for them to refill from the solar rays.”

  Ozzy leaned back against his chair. “You gotta be kidding me. That again?” He had dealt with the same thing on an S-99 Flying Miner not too long ago.

  He let out a gush of air and flipped to rear cams. Mort’s team was touching down, causing dust clouds to spiral in the air.

  When the dust settled, Mort and several crewmen were already out of their ships and walking toward Relic, all with cannons and rifles strapped to their shoulders.

  “Here we go again,” moaned Ozzy, unholstering his sidearm.

  28

  Heading Toward Olympus Mons, Mars

  Ozzy’s com channel blared on. It was a private number.

  Ozzy glared at Wildly, who was in his EVA suit and holding up a holopad. “Well, well, if it isn’t poor Ozzy. You get a little stuck there, Compadre?”

  “What do you want?”

  “You have something very precious to me. And, by now, I think you’ve probably watched it.”

  Ozzy tapped the holopad in his lap. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He touched his chest. “Do you mean me? Am I your precious?”

  Wildly’s tone turned serious. “The holopad, Ozzy. The holopad. I need it.”

  Ozzy shrugged. “Don’t know what you’re referring to.” He cocked his head to the side. “Maybe you’re referring to the holopad you’re holding right now? It’s in your hand, Wildly, so you can turn around and fly your ass home.”

  “Not funny, Ozzy. Give me my item, and I’ll make sure you’re safe when we take over the government.”

  Ozzy snorted. “You too, huh? It seems like all the crime bosses are forming a line when it comes to a Ministry coup.”

  Wildly shivered, a smile cracking his lips. “But, I, Mr. Mort Wildly, will be the one who runs Mars. Not Jonas Moon. Not Lyra No Tail. Not Pluto Beef or Shifty Eyez. Not Johnny Backwater. Not—”

  “Alright, I get your point, Wildly. I don’t care who takes over Mars.”

  Wildly momentarily looked off in the distance. “Let’s make a deal. You give me what you owe me in auric credits and the holopad, and I’ll spare you and your friends.”

  Ozzy shook his head. “How about not? I have Quad on board. You see the MMP ships behind you? He did that.”

  “Quad is there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, we’ll do this the easy way, then. I was hoping for a good, even fight.”

  Wildly motioned to a big, bulky craft behind him. The ramp opened, and a large tank with three barrels and a missile rack on top drove down the ramp.

  It reached the red sand and trudged forward, stopping next to Wildly. He tapped the tank’s armor then moved away and turned the holopad around, panning in on the tank.

  “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Wildly laughed.

  The missile rack moved on its turret, and the barrels adjusted, targeting Relic. They spun then extended farther.

  “Now, Ozzy, my really, really good friend. What do you say you give me what you owe me, including my holopad, and I’ll give you another day of life? Otherwise, we’ll blow your ship to…uh…what is the word? Oh, yeah. We’ll blow you, your friends, and your ship to smithereens.”

  29

  Heading Toward Olympus Mons, Mars

  “Give him his money and holopad, Ozzy,” demanded Jozi as her eyes flashed. “Our lives are more important than auric.”

  Ozzy swiped his finger across the com line, muting an impatient Wildly. He bit his lower lip, weighing his options: people or money; money or people?

  “So, what is it?” growled Jozi.

  He tapped his helmet. “I’m thinking.”

  She rolled her eyes and curled her fingers into fists.

  She had a point. Plus, she’d kick his ass if he didn’t do the right thing.

  He dug into his satchel and pulled out his auric wallet. A holographic image shot out. “Twenty two and a half million auric and some change.”

  He huffed.

  “How much do you owe him, Ozzy? And why?” Jozi raised her eyebrows and lowered her nose at him. “I want the truth. Do you have enough?”

  He pressed a button, and the holographic numbers folded up, zipping back into his auric wallet. He gave her a slow nod. “I have enough, and it’s because he loaned me some money to get Relic. It was long ago, and I haven’t done business with him since, so it may have slipped my mind.”

  In truth, Ozzy didn’t pay him back because Wildly liked to shortchange him and his archaeological buddies.

  He unmuted Wildly.

  “And your answer is?” scoffed Wildly. “Tell me now, or I’ll light your ship on fire.”

  “You know if you do, Quad will come down on you like hot lava,” Ozzy said.

  Jozi punched Ozzy in the leg.

  He flinched, his leg now throbbing. “Knock it off.”

  “Tell him that you’ll pay up.”

  Wildly panned in on the tank’s missile rack. “You should listen to your girlfriend, Ozzy.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Ozzy stood and paced. “Okay, meet me at my ramp, and I’ll transfer the money to you.”

  “You’ll also give me my holopad.”

  “Sure. Out.” He turned off the com line. “Here.” He handed Jozi the holopad.

  “You’re not going to give it to him?”

  “Not until you copy every file into Relic’s holodrive.”

  She leaned forward, pulling a cable from the console and attaching it to the device. “Linking up.”

  “Bring me the holopad when I call for it.” He exited the cockpit and slid down the ladder. Quad and Gragas were talking near the closed ramp door.

  “Open it,” ordered Ozzy.

  Gragas’s arms dangled by his sides. “I don’t know if that’s a wise idea, Ozzy.”

  “Well, Wildly is out there and he has a tank with missiles and turrets and cannons and probably carrying armor-piercing balloons for all I know. The tank will light us up if I don’t give him some money.”

  Quad stepped back, gesturing toward the ramp button “All yours.”

  Lazy bastard. Ozzy walked forward and slapped the button. Steam shot out of the door’s airtight seams.

  The craft gently vibrated when the ramp hit the ground.

  Wildly stood with his arms crossed and flanked by a dozen of his guards in EVA’s. They held bigass weapons, and all Ozzy could see was their muzzles pointed directly at him.

  “Well, nice to see that you skip out on your deals, Quad,” said Wildly. “I’ll keep that in mind when I never hire you again.”

  Quad squared his shoulders, facing Wildly. “Ozzy saved my life, and I saved his in return. Also, it wasn’t you who hired me.”

  “Perhaps, but don’t forget you were given money to do a job, okay? Some of that money was from a nice contribution of mine.”

  Quad didn’t reply.

  “Hand me your auric wallet, and I’ll transfer the money,” said Ozzy.

  “First, the holopad.”

  Ozzy shook his head. “My girlfriend is trying to locate it.” He jabbed a finger toward Relic’s cockpit. “Our
crash kinda displaced it for a moment. I’m sure it’ll show up soon.”

  The guards took a step forward. Wildly lifted his hand in the air. “Stop. Not yet.” “Now,” Wildly said, “you have a choice. Give me the holopad or feel a hundred photon blasts fill your body.” He rubbed his gloved hands together. “Oh, I hope you pick the latter. Please pick the latter.”

  Ozzy peered over his shoulder. “Jozi?”

  “Yes?” she shouted from the cockpit.

  “Have you found the holopad?”

  “I’m still looking.”

  Ozzy gave Wildly a sharp look and shrugged. “You can kill me now, and I won’t send any money your way, and the holopad might get destroyed, or, you can get over your impatience and wait for a damned minute or two.”

  “Guards,” yelled Wildly. “Weapons at ready.”

  The guards stepped closer to Ozzy.

  “Ready,” ordered Wildly. “Aim.”

  Gragas brought up his rifle, and Quad stepped back. Ozzy unzipped his satchel, pulled out his auric wallet, and pressed it against his chest. “Go ahead, fire. Hopefully, you hit my auric wallet dead in its center.” He looked over his shoulder. “And, Jozi, when you find that holopad, smash it into a thousand pieces.”

  30

  Heading Toward Olympus Mons, Mars

  Wildly kept his hand up. If he dropped it and screamed “fire” it would end Ozzy’s life.

  It would finally get him off Mars. But being dead wouldn’t help get his daughter and brother off this planet.

  “Jozi,” hollered Ozzy. “You smash that holopad yet?”

  “Not yet,” she yelled back.

  Shit. She was still uploading the contents into Relic’s mainframe.

  Ozzy kept his eyes on Wildly, seeing a sour expression on his face through the helmet’s radiation visor.

  “Found it,” Jozi said.

  “If you hear weapons fire, smash it,” Ozzy said. He glared into Wildly’s eyes. “Wildly, do you see Quad’s and Gragas’s rifles?” He smiled. “They are aimed at you. If you shoot, then they will shoot, and guess what? You will be dead.”

  Wildly looked at Quad and then Gragas. He chuckled. “Touché, Ozzy.” He stared at Ozzy and inhaled. “Can your girlfriend give me the holopad now?”

  Ozzy glanced around at Wildly’s men. “Nope.”

  Wildly nodded. “Fine. Everyone, lower your weapons.”

  The guards were standing down as Jozi climbed down the ladder, her boots clacking and breaking the momentary silence.

  “What are you going to do with this video? You could set up the High Judge quite easily,” Ozzy asked.

  Wildly grinned. “That’s the plan, buddy boy.”

  Jozi went to hand Wildly the holopad, but Ozzy swiped it from her. “Not yet.”

  “Dammit, Ozzy,” growled Wildly. “Give it to me now or else.”

  Ozzy shook his head. “I have everything you need and want to take over the Ministry right in my hands. You get that tank, and yourselves, back in your ship, and after you do, I will set the holopad on the sand between our vessels. That’s the deal.”

  “You little…” He stomped his foot. “Guards, move out. And, Ozzy. . .the auric you owe me. . . give it to me now, or the tank stays out here,” demanded Wildly, holding out his auric wallet. “Twelve million ninety-eight thousand.”

  Ozzy dug his hand into his satchel. “What? That’s four million more than what I really owe you.”

  “Interest got a little steep over the past year.”

  “You bastard,” Ozzy said under his breath.

  “What was that, pretty boy?”

  “I said, you’re an amazing human being, but I’m giving you what I owe, nothing more.”

  Wildly tapped his wallet against Ozzy’s. A flash of light filled the space between them and both auric accounts holographically shot into the air.

  Ozzy twitched in seeing how much money was already in Wildly’s account. “Like you need any more money. I’m thinking over a billion auric credits is enough to buy a city.”

  “But not enough to buy Mars.” Wildly winked. “I’ll have to do that the old-fashioned way. Which reminds me, your best compadre, Jonas Moon, is pining for the High Judge position when Robert gets smashed to the ground with the allegations coming his way, thanks to me. When the people see what I’ve recorded the High Judge saying and exposing him for saying these terrible, no good things…” he smirked, as if he was the most honorable human being. “…I’ll end up being the next High Judge, Ozzy. And I’ll keep it for as long as the position fancies my needs.”

  Ozzy adjusted the auric credits on the hologram, sending eight million auric and some change to Wildly’s account.

  “That’s it,” said Wildly. “Get back to our respective craft.” He turned and headed for his ship then glanced back. “Ozzy, put the holopad between our craft like you said and cover it, or I’m coming back for your ass. And, by the way, have fun with Quad.” Wildly glanced at Quad and said, “You may commence your killing now.”

  31

  Heading Toward Olympus Mons, Mars

  Ozzy held his breath and backed away from Quad. Gragas stood between them and drew a weapon. Quad touched one of his sidearms, his thick muscles bulging through his battle suit.

  “I thought we were good,” Ozzy said.

  Quad glanced at Gragas, eyeing the photon pistol Gragas was pointing at him. He shifted on his feet. “We are good.” He pulled his hand away from his holster.

  Ozzy put his palms out. “That’s it? It’s that simple?”

  “It’s that simple.”

  Ozzy watched him for a moment. There was a part of him that thought Quad was lying. And he probably was. He’d have to keep his eyes on Quad until he could trust him—if he ever truly could.

  He took a deep breath. “You try any funny stuff and I won’t spare your life again,” said Ozzy. “Do you understand, Quad?”

  “I’m not a child. I understand perfectly. Now get going.”

  “Alright.” Ozzy hurried over to his tool bench and placed the holopad inside a metal container.

  He made his way to the ramp and stared as Wildly and his men stalked to their ships. The tank eased into one of Wildly’s cargo bays.

  “Hey, Gragas,” said Ozzy. “Got my back?”

  “You know I do.”

  “Thank you.” He jogged out into the open desert, his boots crunching against the red particles.

  “Jozi?” Ozzy spoke into his helmet mic. “Did you do what I hope you did?”

  “I have the holopad wiping itself clean in four hours, so Wildly will be long gone before he realizes what happens. Plus, I sent a copy of what was on the holopad to Anonymity.”

  Ozzy smiled. Wiping it clean was what he would have done because no way would he want Wildly anywhere near the High Judge position, or rather, buying the position, after Wildly exposed Robert with all the dirt that was on the holopad.

  But sending it to Anonymity? Ozzy wouldn’t have thought of that. No wonder it took her so long to get it down to him.

  He set the container on the ground and rushed back to Relic. “I have boosters to repair. Right now, Relic’s fuel cells aren’t charging properly.”

  He smiled as he strutted over to this workbench. Tomorrow Anonymity would reveal it all, and Ozzy couldn’t wait.

  The High Judge would be on trial and exposed as a crook and a fraud to everyone on Mars.

  “We should call someone to repair the boosters,” said Jozi.

  Gragas and Quad agreed.

  Ozzy frowned. “You don’t think I can fix something as simple as an ionic booster?”

  They all shook their heads no.

  His smile widened. Today was a good day, and he was going to make it even better. “Watch me.”

  Ozzy leaned back against a crate. It was well past twilight, and he had repaired the boosters. He also had the time to find a broken exterior piece from one of the downed MMP ships and welded it on top of Relic.

  He wiped his
hands together, staring at his newly fixed ceiling. He smiled at his handiwork.

  Gragas and Quad were on separate sides of the room. Gragas was asleep, and Quad was cleaning his double-barreled photon rifle.

  “I think it’s clean enough,” said Ozzy.

  “It fills the time,” replied Quad, not taking his eyes off his weapon.

  “Okay. Well, good night.” Ozzy climbed his ladder to the upper deck, peeking over his shoulder at Quad. Maybe the guy was telling the truth and he’d leave Ozzy alone.

  When he arrived in the cockpit, he saw Jozi was asleep in the copilot chair.

  She was beautiful, but he figured not someone who’d ever want to be called gorgeous or even pretty. She was a warrior deep down, and one better than most people he’d ever met. Hell, to top it off, she was loyal and took crap from others and dished it out just the same. She didn’t complain—too much. And she was a big help. He knew he’d be dead a dozen times by now if she hadn’t shown up in his life.

  Maybe he should tell her and compliment her some time.

  He shook his head. I don’t want her to get the wrong idea.

  He sat down, closed his eyes, and threw his feet up on the flight console.

  He had his mission to go to Earth, and he wasn’t looking forward to it, but he wouldn’t go until he saw Robert exposed and thrown out of his High Judge position.

  Only then would he go to get the crystal sphere. It would be difficult as hell, but Jonas had him stuck between a rock and a hard place. It was not spoken out loud in so many words, but Ozzy knew he wasn’t getting Lily back until he presented Jonas with the sphere.

  It was a dickhead move, but it was the way the crime lords did things around here.

  He unclipped his helmet and set it on his lap. The oxygen tanks were functioning on Relic, and since the hole on the roof was fixed, he could breathe without his damn helmet on.

  It was a welcome relief from the sweaty, humid oxygen in his EVA tanks.