Depot-14: Broken Saber

By J.J. Mainor

When Colton goes down for murder, it’s up to Jakarta to find the evidence that will free him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.J. Mainor
• Release date: Feb 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370784509

J.J. Mainor

I can talk about my characters and stories far more easily than I can talk about myself. The best way to learn about me is through those stories. Writing primarily science fiction, I enjoy worlds and universes that aren't so black and white. Every story has something to say, and every message is not as straight-forward as it seems. We tend to boil ourselves down and define ourselves according to neat labels, whether by race, gender, political identity, or whatever; and the truth is, we're more complicated than that. I try to write worlds and characters that reflect that complexity and diversity of belief.

Book preview

Depot-14: Broken Saber

Copyright 2017 by J.J. Mainor

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 enjoyment only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 1

Don’t do it, Colt.

Colton Wells shook Jakarta’s hand from his arm and proceeded up the final rungs toward the scout. It usually wasn’t like Colton to be so brash; normally Jakarta was the one to let her anger get the best of her while her friend provided the even keel to keep them both out of trouble. This time though, it was business. When it came to their tiny supply depot and the money earned from its operation, Colton tended to take everything personally.

You know the rules, Jackie, he snapped. No poachin’. And he poached.

The man disappeared up into the topmost compartment of the station, forcing his buddy to follow if she wanted to talk him down.

Let the office handle it! You know they don’t tolerate any of us goin’ rogue like that

Sure, I let it slide while they take care of it. Then it takes half a year for ‘em to come back with a slap on the wrist. Meanwhile that man gets away with stealin’ our business, and he’ll probably do it again.

Colton had to move with an uncomfortable hunch as he worked his way toward the tiny support craft. That uppermost compartment could hardly be called a room with only the center of the domed space high enough to accommodate his nearly two-meter frame. It was in that spot that Colton might have stood tall had not the scout rest there.

The ship itself could hardly be called a ship. Barely large enough to hold two passengers lying down with only enough maneuvering room to operate the controls, the scout was not designed for long-distance travel; it was only to provide the stationmasters a means for reaching the other stations or the surface of the planet Durango when they couldn’t wait for the daily commuter shuttle.

Colton always believed that lack of comfort was meant to convince the stationmasters not to leave their stations unless it was important. To him, this was important, and he intended to squeeze himself into that box and fly himself over to Supply Depot-13 to have it out.

Are you comin’ or stayin’? he asked his buddy when she wouldn’t budge from the access hatch.

As long as that hatch to the control room below remained open, the dome overhead would not retract; and as long as Jakarta remained in the space, Colton would not vent the chamber and open that dome.

She considered remaining where she was, maintaining a stalemate to prevent him from acting on this stupidity. As long as she kept him from leaving, she could stop the man from doing something he would eventually regret. And Jakarta knew about regrets – she had quite a few from her younger days. Though everything turned out okay in the end, it didn’t change the fact that she wished she could go back and undo a lot of foolish acts like the one her friend was about to embark upon.

But she knew Colton too well. A little thing like poaching the courier ship the central office had assigned to their station was not something he would get over. Maybe she could stop him from crossing in the scout, but then he would wait for the commuter shuttle to take him in the morning if he couldn’t find a way to sneak out once Jakarta turned her back.

In her mind, it might have been best if she joined his foolish mission. At least then, she might have some luck in restraining his response. She might have been the only thing to keep him from getting violent over there.

After sealing the chamber, Jakarta squeezed herself into the second seat. It took a few minutes for the space to decompress after which, Colton ordered the retraction of that low hanging dome. He fired up the thrusters and the tiny scout slipped from the station and pushed out into the space over the planet.

Had the ship been flipped a hundred and eighty degrees, they might have seen the world their station orbited. Durango was a large world with only about thirty percent of its surface underwater. Temperatures were mild considering the poles were buried under massive icecaps. Much of the land towards the equator was a rich green, and the tint in the daytime atmosphere tricked the eye into seeing green almost everywhere else.

It was an interesting world, though Jakarta and Colton hardly knew it having spent most of their lives on and around it. To them, it was beautiful for no other reason than that. Yet neither thought of it, nor was their scout positioned to let them consider it. Both minds were on Depot-13 and the wrong committed within its structure.

Like their own, the station hung like an egg over Durango, though many thought of it as a giant suppository in space. A few even derisively called the stations space phalluses. Their design was entirely practical though – the architects gave no thought to what the general public thought. As long as they serviced the traffic coming in and out of the system, the surface-dwellers could call them whatever they wanted.

As he drew closer, Colton sent an alert that he wished to talk. He gave his colleague a few minutes to get to a station before deciding the man wasn’t going to answer. So he sent the signal again.

He knows it’s me, he proclaimed. I guess now we add ‘not answering his messages’ to the list of complaints.

By then they were so close, Jakarta had a good look at the full station. Like theirs, the dome at the top was wide-open and their scout away.

I don’t think he’s aboard, she told her partner.

Colton too spied the station and he noticed lights on all over the place. It wasn’t common to leave lights on when the staff left, even for a moment. Never mind that he himself had forgotten to extinguish the lights back at Depot-14 in his haste, Colton knew the station was not completely unoccupied.

Oh, he’s home. And he’s gonna see me whether he wants to or not!

Though they were tiny, the scouts were designed to utilize the docking collar at the base of the station. There was no other ship known to exist that could fit in that berth up top however, so the cross-connectivity was not mutual. Colton decided to steal that top berth in case another ship came to resupply while he was aboard.

In reality, an hour passed from the time they left home to the time they were able to step out and onto the firm deck of Depot-13. But in that time, Colton’s anger had only grown stronger. He dropped down the service ladder and into his rival’s control room.

I know you’re here, Sam, he called out when he found the space empty. No use hidin’ from me.

He moved to the primary ladder and dropped down to the second deck with Jakarta keeping silently close behind him. The second deck usually held the personal quarters for the stationmaster, and Depot-13 was no exception. Unlike their own station, there was only one cabin here.

Since the stations were custom built for the individual owners when they are first commissioned, the private space can be