Driving Patera

By Brad Chambers

A solitary cargo hauler drawn unwillingly into a battle with pirates. Fighting for his life, he is forced to take on an unusual pair of partners. They battle to survive on the fringe of galactic civilization. These four stories of their adventures lead up to the Patera Chronicles books, Sawyer 5, and MC 52, where the adventures continue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brad Chambers
• Release date: Mar 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458046994

Brad Chambers

Brad Chambers is a writer of Science Fiction, Mystery, and Romance. He lives in central Illinois with his wife of thirty years and a yellow Lab named Jonah.

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Driving Patera

Published by Brad Chambers at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 by Brad Chambers

Edited by Jessica Chambers

Cover art by Cronus Caelestis

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a collection of stories about Derek, Beech, and Keri, three people that meet in the first story Aphelion's Demise. They are thrown together by circumstance and find out they make a pretty good team. As they fly their ships through space hauling cargo, they make extra money as bounty hunters. In the final story, Return to the Stars, they go to Earth and find an old friend of Derek's along with lot's of problems.

Science fiction has always been one of my favorite genre's and it seemed right that I should start out writing in it. The possibilities are endless and if you can imagine something, you can make it part of the story. I've also always loved westerns so combining sci fi with bounty hunting just seemed fun.

I hope you enjoy my first collection of science fiction short stories.

Aphelion's Demise

Derek sat dozing at the controls. It was hard to stay awake when you were staring into the darkness of space. The glow from the control panel lit his unshaven face in a dim light, giving his skin a sickly yellow cast. It was quiet except for the distant hum of the generator charging the batteries, and the fans circulating air through the circuit boards of the controls. It had been a week since he left the warehouse base on Mars and he had two weeks left before he reached the station that kept synchronous orbit with Mars just past Saturn. Then he could take a few days off and socialize a little before he started the return. One more trip and he would have his freighter paid for and he could start making some real money hauling for whoever he wanted instead of only who his creditors told him he could. They wanted stable income so he could make his payments. He was ready to pick and choose and take a few risks on chancy cargo.

The sound of the heat kicking on roused him from his fitful napping and he rubbed his eyes to clean the crud out. When I start making decent money, I'm going to get a humidifier for the ship so my eyes won't dry out so badly, he thought to himself. Glancing over the controls he saw everything was functioning in an acceptable range, even the magnetic clamps in the cargo hold. That's something else he would get when he made a little money. New magnets so that he wouldn't have cargo floating around. Entering a planet’s gravitational field could make a mess if you had containers of food or lubricating oil hovering above the deck. Pulling up the media player on his control screen, he selected a series of music from his collection of ancient jazz and set it to play through the entire ship. Standing in his grav boots, he stretched and left the flight deck to check over the ship.

As he stepped through the door onto the grating of the catwalk, he had to adjust the force of his stride. The magnetic boots didn't hold as well as they did on the solid steel of the flight deck floor. His eyes roved over the cargo hold as he walked in long floating strides toward the enclosure that housed the main drive of the ship. It always made him think of a large shipping container that had been stuck on the ceiling. Opening the small steel door he felt the heat hit his face as if he had opened an oven. Adjusting his stride again, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him with a metallic clunk and a hiss as the door seals activated. The lights automatically activated when he stepped through the door and now he could see the drive bolted into its brackets on the ceiling, and the acceleration tube running to the back wall which was also the rear of the ship. The drive was humming along at idle speed now since they were on course and at cruising speed. The miniature steering drives on the sides of the ship were all that ran now, for minor course corrections, if needed.

Stepping around the crates of spare parts and containers of lube, he checked all the lines and seals on the drive. He checked them off the list on his remote terminal screen as he moved about the room. The remote automatically entered the check offs into the main computer as he tapped the screen in his hand. Finishing the checklist he exited the room and took a deep breath of the cooler air in the hold, wiping imaginary sweat from his forehead. He wasn't really sweating since the temperature in the drive room was only eighteen degrees Celsius. It felt hot compared to the ten degrees the rest of the ship maintained. Heating a cargo ship was a waste of energy. Keeping it above freezing was all that was important.

When Derek was half way back to the flight deck, a high pitched tone started beeping throughout the ship. Freezing in mid stride in disbelief, he floated for a few seconds, and slowly drifted forward. Coming out of his shock, Derek reached out and grabbed the handrail, pulling himself back down to the catwalk, and moving on towards the control cabin. Entering the control room he saw nothing out the forward facing window so he pulled up the external cameras on the screen. He quickly switched from each one to the next until he found it. Reaching over and switching off the proximity alarm that was still assaulting his ears, he stared at the monster ship that filled the screen. The Jupiter class battle ship dwarfed his fifty meter Mercury class freighter. It was at least three times the size of his cargo ship. He could see the missile launchers and laser canons bristling from the ship at all angles and directions.

As he sat amazed at the sight he was suddenly blinded as flood lights blasted on from different locations on the fighting behemoth. His com crackled and hissed as a mechanical voice blared from the speaker. This is the battle ship Aphelion. Please prepare to be boarded. Do not change course or speed for the duration of the boarding. This repeated itself several times before stopping. As Derek watched on the screen, the Aphelion moved close to his ship and extended its docking tube.

Hurriedly leaving the flight deck, Derek headed for the boarding platform over the cargo hold. Forgoing the stairs, he pushed off with his feet and floated easily up to the platform. Grabbing the hand rail as he approached it he eased himself over it and pushed his magnetic boots to the deck with a small thunk. Seconds later he heard the docking tube clamp onto his hull and then the pressurizing hiss as the vacuum was replaced with breathable air. The green light on the small control panel came on signifying proper connections. Climbing the short ladder to press the hatch release, he made it back to the boarding platform just as the small door started to open slowly. The silenced barrel of a gun eased passed the door, followed by the stern face of a coalition soldier. Before emerging completely from the tube, the gray uniformed man turned 360 degrees so he could observe the entire deck. Derek stood still and tried not to look threatening in the least as the man gave a practiced twitch of the wrist and floated head first toward the floor. A few feet above the deck the soldier grasped the ladder and flipped over to land his boots on the steel floor. The man’s eyes never left Derek during this maneuver, ready to shoot him on a seconds notice.

One visible. No weapons, the man spoke clearly and softly into his headset mic.

Almost instantly another soldier boarded the same as the first, followed by two more. Landing on the deck they immediately spread out around the small receiving platform facing outward. The first man continued to watch Derek closely, as he spoke into his mic again, Perimeter in place.

A fifth man came through the hatch, only this one came feet first and wore an officer's uniform. The man landed lightly on the deck and turned slowly around, barely glancing at Derek as he looked over the ship’s cargo hold. Leaning over toward the soldier who had entered first the officer said in a voice so low Derek could barely here, Corporal, have your men check the ship over.

The corporal clicked his heels together and said sharply, Yes, Captain!

Barking out, Danner, Davis, check aft. Reed with me, the corporal and his men sprang into action, the pairs heading in separate directions. They went at a floating jog, silenced pistols leading the way. If they fired for any reason the silencers would save everyone ruptured eardrums. The loads would be low power so as not to chance rupturing the hull and killing all aboard.

Turning to the officer, Derek asked politely, May I ask what this is about, Captain?

After a quick, amused glance the man responded, You may ask but I may not answer.

Great, I have to get the smart alec, Derek thought as he turned back to watch the search. He wasn't concerned about them finding anything or anyone. It would be stupid to chance any contraband this close to Mars and Earth, let alone with his creditors checking his manifest before every run.

There have been some pirates active in the area lately and we are checking everyone, the captain spoke without looking at him.We will find them.

Watching the corporal and his partner disappear into the shadows in the front of the ship, Derek stood silently and waited. The soldiers moved back into his vision and then back into the shadows glancing at each shipping label as they jogged past. They couldn't actually read them at that speed but they could tell if one was filled out improperly. After twenty minutes of waiting and observing the progress of the pairs, the Captain turned and said, They say all is as it should be. He then turned back to the boarding ladder and with a light pull on a rung floated up through the hatch. Derek watched the officer float out of sight, shook his head, and turned back toward the cargo hold. The corporal and Reed reappeared from the shadows and headed for the boarding platform. Turning he