Wreckers: A Denver Boyd Novel by George Ellis (ebook reader ink .TXT) 📕

“Credits,” he shrugged. “Plain and simple. If I had a better offer, I’d reconsider. But I don’t have a better offer. So the Tracers get the drive.”

Thinking about it, I’d much rather have Desmond flying around the world with warp capabilities than anyone under Largent’s control anyway. The problem was time. We couldn’t wait for Desmond to magically show up.

“Try him again,” I told Edgar.

He used the encrypted beam and got nothing but silence in return.

“Aren’t you guys forgetting something?” a weak voice managed. It was Avery. He slowly opened his eyes. He didn’t have the strength to sit up and his legs were completely immobilized. Then he calmly gave us the answer.

Chapter 24

The transport shuttle was only five minutes away from the Stang. I was back in my chair in the cabin, monitoring the scans for any sign of Desmond. Edgar was sitting in the co-pilot chair, as we had already decided engaging the Burnett in a firefight was a losing proposition, so there was no need for him to be at his typical station. He wanted a more comfortable view of the action through the main monitor.

“What would be a better offer?” I asked.

Edgar smirked and shook his head. “Aside from more credits?”

“Yes, aside from that.”

“I can’t really think of anything.”

“There has to be something, Edgar.”

“You could give me the Stang,” he said. “I’d be willing to make a deal in exchange for the ship.”

I didn’t dignify that with a response.

Gary chimed in, suddenly. “Uh…I’m seeing something on the radar. But I’m not sure I believe it.”

I adjusted the radar for maximum range and now saw a large mass moving toward our position. It looked like an approaching planet.

“Wow,” Edgar said. “That’s almost all of them.”

“Almost all of them what?”

“No, all of them who. Enhance that and I bet you find a few hundred ships.”

I did, and I did. “You’re telling me he sent all the Tracers as our backup?”

“At least the ones close enough to be part of it.”

“How long until they get here?” I asked Gary.

“Looks like about 20 minutes,” he reported back.

“If we’re seeing it, you can bet Slay is seeing it now too,” I said.

Right on cue, the Burnett hailed us. At the same time, their weapons went hot. Edgar gave a look and jumped back to his weapons station, punching in some commands.

I hit the button to accept the hail.

“What the hell is going on?” Slay asked, her cool demeanor replaced by contained rage.

“I could ask you the same thing. Maybe those are just Silver Star ships coming to celebrate your victory.”

Slay took a moment to process what I had just said. Then she shrugged.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you give me the device or I turn your little ship into smithereens.”

“It’s not that little,” I said. “I think it’s the perfect size. And I doubt good ol’ Jack would want you to destroy the drive.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Denver. He specifically told me if he can’t have it, nobody can. Especially not a bunch of Tracers who will be late to the party anyway. Your choice. Let my men recover the drive and take your chances…or I can end it right now. Or have you forgotten the failsafe that’s right between your legs?”

That wasn’t exactly where they put it, of course. But it was only about five feet from my chair, so it may as well have been positioned right in my crotch. I assumed that’s where they pointed the blast to go, just as a final f you.

“Edgar, lock on the transport ship.”

Slay looked in my eyes to see if I was bluffing. She couldn’t tell. Just before she was about to speak, I cut the transmission. A second later, the Golden Bear wanted to chat. I accepted.

“You won’t make it,” I snapped.

Desmond put up a hand to calm me.

“Relax, the federation won’t take the chance of destroying the –”

I cut him off. “It’s Largent. That’s not a federation ship after all.”

Desmond, also one who normally had a cool demeanor, lost his edge as well. He inhaled angrily. “I have nearly five hundred ships with me. We can make it.”

“No, you can’t. And you don’t have to,” I said.

“Sorry to interrupt, but the transport shuttle has turned around. It’s going back to the Burnett,” Gary said. “Guess they decided we weren’t worth the trouble.”

Desmond looked at me for a few moments and then his eyes suddenly went wide. He knew what I was thinking. “I’ll search for you to the ends of the verse.”

“You might have to go farther than that,” I said. Then I cut the transmission.

“And here I thought you didn’t have any balls,” Edgar said.

“Come with me if you want to live,” I told him.

He gave a confused look back. He knew the reference but wasn’t sure what I meant. I just grinned. “I don’t have those credits. But I might have something better to offer.”

I paged Batista on the intercom. “How we doing back there?”

“We need more time!” she barked back.

“No problem. You’ve got about 60 seconds before the transport ship clears our blast radius and Slay sets off the failsafe.”

Batista uttered a string of expletives as I watched the transport ship edge away from the Stang. I sounded the klaxon to make sure everybody, including Pirate, was strapped in.

Desmond was trying me back, but I ignored him.

“I think I finally understand the ending of the Sopranos,” Edgar said out of the blue.

“How’s that?”

“At first I thought the Stang’s video system had a glitch. Like when they’re at the diner and the screen goes to black, I got all pissed that it had cut out before the end. But then I watched a few times and realized that was the entire show’s actual ending.”

“I can’t believe we’re talking about this right now, but yeah, I remember my uncle saying something about the ending being very controversial at the time,” I replied. “Like there were actual news reports about it.”

“It was a great