Depot-14: Badge of Honor

By J.J. Mainor

Jakarta teams up with the constable of a small town to track down a gem thief, unaware her new friend plans to keep the gems for himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.J. Mainor
• Release date: Jul 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370277339

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: Badge of Honor

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 1

It was another day with another crime in the space around the planet Durango. An outlaw raider targeted a courier vessel on approach. Armed with a pair of illegal plasma cannons, it sent a warning shot across the bow of the target ship.

On what passed for a bridge, the pilot of the courier ship swerved from the path of that cannon just as the administrator arrived to take charge of the situation. Tarek Saleh wasn’t exactly a captain. Smaller commercial ships such as this one didn’t operate with a military style chain of command. Sometimes they ran their routes with only a pilot to command the two or three crewmen that might have been aboard, and sometimes the company sent an administrator to oversee the ship if the route or the cargo was important enough. Though sometimes those pilots and administrators called themselves captains to make their roles sound more important, it was only the midsized ships and anything larger which ran with a formal captain.

Saleh was not interested in his importance or impressions. He had a shipment of xezon gems aboard, among other cargo, worth somewhere in the range of thirty to forty thousand credits. Whether the outlaws on the raider knew or not, it would be those gems they would take if they got aboard.

How far out are we? he asked the pilot.

Ten minutes. We’ll never make it.

They had called in the authorities, but hope of a lawman swooping in and chasing off the outlaws was but fantasy. The space around this world fell under the jurisdiction of a single constable and his understaffed cadre of deputies and subdeputies. Stationed on the planet itself, they could never reach the courier in time to help. There was only one thing Saleh could do in a time like this: surrender and hope these criminals weren’t willing to incur the full wrath of the law by executing witnesses.

The pilot powered down the ship, and the administrator passed through the tiny crew cabins to go off and wait for them in the cargo hold. The ship rocked when the raider docked; their pilot too worried about getting this operation over with to worry about safety. The airlock opened beneath his feet and the gas canisters flew upward and in. Saleh gasped a couple times before the gas did its job and put him to sleep.

When he awoke again, the outlaws were gone and so were the gems. Saleh returned to the bridge to get some answers. He brought up ship’s logs and cameras while he waited for his pilot to come to. It seemed only about ten minutes had passed since he left the bridge at the start. Only ten minutes those criminals had to board his ship, find the gems, and take off. According to the pilot, they were only ten minutes from their rendezvous with one of the orbiting supply depots. That ship was still out there, waiting to be identified and stopped.

Saleh opened the communications channel and sent a request. The pilot woke while he waited for a response.

I’m sorry, he told him as if the whole thing was his fault.

We’re alive, that’s enough, Saleh assured him. But those animals haven’t gone far.

He was about to explain further when his vid screen sprung to life with the answer to his communications request. A young woman in her twenties with short – very short hair – answered.

This is Jackie Jones from Supply Depot-14, she announced.

Tarek Saleh of the Blazing Nebulae courier vessel 887-A.

I’ve been expecting you, she told him. You can dock whenever you’re ready.

There’s been a bit of a problem, Saleh prefaced. "Thieves robbed us of a shipment of xezon gems. Right now they’re somewhere between us and your little station, so there’s time for you to intercept them and retrieve our gems.

Jakarta stared slack jawed at the terminal in the corner of her depot’s mess hall. Passengers waiting for a transport liner due later in the day sat at the tables waiting for the lunch she and Tucker were in the middle of preparing. Normally they would have cooked up whatever the guests asked for, but the latest supply order was delayed and their food stores were limited. Instead of the smells of beef or chicken rising from the cooker, the air was rather dull with only cold sandwiches going out.

Still, they waited on a rather popular transport to the world of Camden, so the place was packed. I can call the constable, but I can’t get away from the station, she told the man. Besides, I have no way of intercepting another ship. The scout I have available won’t connect with a standard airlock.

You have to, Saleh insisted. They’re still close enough…they can’t have gotten away already. Besides, that is why my company pays for your services instead of chartering one of your competitors.

Our reputation only covers what happens on our station. We have no control or jurisdiction over your ship while in travel.

No, but you know how rumors get started, Miss Jones. There was a sharp chill to his voice that made it a clear threat. Jakarta grew angry at the mere thought he would slander the reputation she and her partner Colton spent a year and a half building, a reputation for security and dependability. Both were proud of the fact that not one criminal had pulled off a successful heist within their little tin can of a station, and if Saleh stood in front of her instead of as a face on the control terminal, she would have punched him for the suggestion alone.

Saleh must have sensed the anger coming through the channel, because his head dipped and his tone changed as did his tactic. Look, I’m prepared to pay an extra two hundred credits if you retrieve those gems. That’s about half what we can expect our rates to rise if this goes to the insurance company. It’s yours if you help me. Please, Miss Jones.

The offer of money was far more tempting than the threat, and money always has a way of forgiving such transgressions. She glanced over her shoulder at the crowds. Sure it was busy, but Tucker was almost fourteen Durango years old after all. He had handled similar crowds before by himself, and if he got in trouble, his brother was around finishing the day’s maintenance list.

Two hundred credits wasn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things, but the supply business was tough. Such a busy time was rare, so when clients came calling, willing to pay extra for services, she and Colton rarely refused.

I s’pose I could follow your thieves down to the surface and ambush ‘em down there.

Thank you, Miss Jones! he told her, and cut off the channel before she could throw in some condition he didn’t want to hear.

Jakarta almost activated the station’s intercom to call for Colton, but she didn’t want to have to explain this to him. She knew there wasn’t much of a window to get outside and find that ship, and if she wasted the time trying to get her buddy up to speed, that window could close on her. Besides that, she really didn’t want him to talk her out of leaving.

Tuck, she called out to the boy. "When you get a chance, find