Marshal Melinda McKee (Adventures of the League Space Patrol Book 7)

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  COPYRIGHT

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Marshal Melinda McKee

  Adventures of the League Space Patrol Book 7

  By Frank Carey

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2018 by Frank Carey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either 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.

  League Tale #63

  CHAPTER ONE

  Red shot a bot bearing down on Ariel while Samson tore another apart. She looked over and watched Max jump into one of the bots and use it to shoot the ones around it. "Where the hell's our backup?" Max yelled using the bot's speaker system.

  "The sheriff and her deputies are inbound. They're five-minutes out," Ariel yelled.

  "Samson!" Red yelled, "Seal that mine entrance!"

  "Sure enough, Marshal," the metal man said as his right hand morphed into a grenade launcher. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled before launching three shells into the opening in the rock wall. There was a deafening explosion followed by tons of stone debris filling the entrance. When the dust cleared, they were alone except for the bot Max was wearing. She appeared as the bot deactivated. "What now, Marshal?"

  Red kicked the dead bot, knocking it to the ground. "We go find Mother and finish this."

  CHAPTER TWO

  Red walked out into the sunlit area in front of the Prosperity Spaceport and took a deep breath. Behind her, her two companions--Ariel, a Luma necrue, and Maxine Wabash, an Alue--looked around at their new home. "Hey, are those Wecks?" Maxine asked as she spied some quadrupeds tethered nearby.

  "No. Wecks are sapient. Those are draft beasts known as trotters. They're kissing cousins to Earth horses and Ventosian Lorses, though only the gods know how that could happen this far out from Earth and Ventos Prime," Ariel said as if he were reciting from an encyclopedia. "For that matter, one wonders how the Weck ancestors became so horse-like considering the distance between their home world and Earth."

  "Maybe the Logash had something to do with it," Red said. "They did seed this part of the galaxy after all."

  "Hello? Marshal Melinda McKee?" a tentacle-waving Alturan said as she slid over to where they were waiting. Like all proper Alturan ladies, this one wore ribbons--in her case paisley ones--around her three eye stalks.

  "Yes, I'm Marshal McKee. And you are?"

  "Mrs. Casey Strang, Prosperity's Assistant Mayor."

  "Ah, Mrs. Strang. These are my deputies, Ariel and Maxine Wabash."

  "Charmed," Ariel said as he kissed the back of one of Casey's tentacle.

  "My, you are a charmer."

  "Howdy, ma'am," Maxine said as she doffed her hat, an honest to God Stetson from Earth. "Love the ribbons."

  "You are so sweet. It's wonderful to finally meet all of you in person. How was your trip?"

  "Relaxing," Red said as a breeze billowed her crimson tresses.

  "Marshal, though I don't have hair, I do appreciate color. Is your hair naturally that shade.?”

  "Yes, ma'am. I thank my parents every chance I get."

  "Amazing. I've called ahead and had your things delivered to the Marshal's office. Can I interest you in a walking tour of the town? It's not far."

  Red stretched. "I would love one. How about you two? Coming along?"

  They both nodded, so the four of them, led by Casey, strolled through the streets of Prosperity while Casey kept up a running commentary.

  "Casey, our briefing indicated that Prosperity was a shipping hub for processed beast and salvage material," Red said.

  "Yes, most of Maeve is range land where we raise mostly beast with a smattering of specialty animals such as Kobe beef, turkey, and several exotics. All animals are free range and dispatched painlessly. We follow all League protocols to produce meat-based food."

  "What about salvage? Does that have something to do with the wrecks?" Max asked.

  "Exactly, Deputy. Millennia ago, a war was raged within this system by two long-dead opposing forces. The result was something akin to an asteroid belt where the asteroids are ship wrecks. The League estimates it will take from 1,000 to 2,000 years to harvest all the wreckage. By then we hope to have new enterprises in place."

  "There was a mention of something called planet fall?" Max continued.

  "The Asteroid belt is rather dynamic, so it occasionally intrudes into Maeve's orbit. At those times, wrecks are caught in our gravity field and reenter. If there's enough mass, the wreck will land on the surface. When that happens, local salvage teams go out and strip the wreck bare."

  "Aren't you worried about wrecks raining down on the town?" Ariel asked.

  "The town is ringed by repulser towers built from stasis-field-reinforced adamantine steel and attached directly to bedrock."

  "And what happens if something, God forbid, makes it through?" Red asked.

  "Every building on the surface of Maeve is protected by heavy duty force fields," Casey said. "The beasts, on the other hand, have learned to duck and cover." They continued their walk, stopping at the various establishments along the route to introduce the new marshal and her deputies to the people they were to protect. When they got to the Marshal's Office, Casey took them inside where they found another Alturan waiting for them behind a desk.

  "I would like you all to meet my cousin and your office manager/receptionist/support clerk-- Franny. Franny, this is Marshal Melinda McKee, Deputy Marshal Maxine Wabash, and Deputy Marshal Ariel."

  "Glad to meet you," Franny said as she handed each of them a thick briefing book. "These contain everything you three need to know about office procedures, reports, and even how to make coffee. Let me know if you need anything."

  Red looked at Franny, then the briefing book, before raising an eyebrow. "Thanks."

  "I'll show them around, Franny, if you don't mind," Casey said to her cousin.

  "Knock yourself out," she replied as she got back to whatever it was she was doing.

  Casey walked them out into the center of the first-floor public area. "This is the main office where you meet people and process perps. Each of the four planets--Maeve, Charlene, Cleve, and Rock--have their own security force which works under your command. Their job is to take care of day-to-day things. You three patrol the system, keep track of the salvagers, and transport prisoners from the holding facilities on each planet to the primary one here on Maeve. Only perps accused of the most heinous crimes are brought here for trial and sentencing."

  "It sounds like the territories on Old Earth back in the 1800's."

  "Exactly. We used that model to design this system and, so far, it works."

  "Where do we live?" Max asked.

  Casey pointed to the ceiling with a tentac
le. The upper floors are divided up into eight luxury suites. You three grab whatever one you like, and we use the rest for VIPs. You have quarters set up at hotels on the other planets. Your ships are stored and serviced in a hangar out back. You've been assigned Grayback-446 patrol cruisers. The security force has their own ships which are stored and serviced at the spaceport. Oh, and the security force commander would like to meet with the three of you ASAP. His contact information is programmed in your comms. Any other questions?"

  "Nope, I think that covers it for me," Red said. "How about you two? Any questions?"

  They shook their heads.

  "Then I'll leave you to your own devices. There's a town meeting, tonight, which will be broadcast across all four planets. You three are the guests of honor. It's being held downstairs in the meeting hall, and it starts at seven. Until then, toodles," she said with a wave of a tentacle as she walked out the door.

  Red raised an eyebrow, then surveyed the room. "Pick an office, then pick a room. We need to get to work," she said.

  Max took off her hat and threw it on a coat rack near the front door. It landed on the top hook as if the hook was waiting for it.

  "Nice shooting, Tex," Ariel noted.

  They got to work.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Three months after arrival....

  The clock tower at the center of town struck 1700 hours when the three marshals were finishing up their meeting with Sheriff Joslyn Smythe and her deputy, an Erdexi named Kuurtz. As the five walked toward the front door, a large person wearing olive drab pants tucked into military boots, an olive drab shirt with its sleeves rolled half-way up its forearms, and a green woolen hat walked in. It was six feet tall with a weight lifter's build.

  It was also metal. In place of skin, it had flexible metal flesh. Its hands looked human but were sheathed in more flexible metal. The deputies looked at the creature's face and saw crystalline eyes and a pair of slits for a nose, but no mouth, only a shiny metal plate. On either side of the creature’s head were metal, elf-like ears. It reached out its right hand. "You must be the new marshal. My name is Sampson."

  Red took his hand and shook it. "Marshal Melinda McKee, and these are my deputies, Ariel and Maxine Wabash."

  He shook hands with the two of them.

  "Are you a guy or a girl," Maxine asked. Ariel just shook his head and looked to the sky for guidance.

  "Ah, the legendary Alue curiosity. I'm a guy, but I'm currently between mates."

  Max blushed.

  "Since we're asking strange questions," Red said, "are you a mechanoid?"

  "Nope. I'm a local... Sort of."

  "How about a stryker?"

  "Nope."

  "Then what are you?"

  Samson looked up at the ceiling. "One day, long ago, I woke up and found myself on Maeve. I was hungry. Nearby, a robot was tearing its way out of a piece of wreckage. I looked at it and saw it contained something I needed, so I attacked it, tore out its power unit, and used it to sate my hunger. I've been hunting them ever since."

  Red was about to ask something when Ariel put his hand on her arm. "These bots, are there a lot of them on Maeve?"

  "Yeah, they were part of the war. The badlands are full of them," Samson replied.

  "He's right," Joslyn noted. "We've sent a few to the League for study. Meanwhile, Samson hunts them, takes their power supplies, then sells the carcasses to the salvagers."

  Ariel smiled. "Could you excuse us for just a moment? Ladies, come with me," he said to Red and Max. He led them into one of the interrogation rooms and closed the door behind him. He had his datapad out.

  "What's going on, Ariel?" Red asked.

  He handed her his pad. On it was a picture of the bot that had attacked Niall on the Cube, while next to it was a picture of one of the bots sent to the League from Maeve. "The moment our metal friend mentioned bots, I did a search of the Maeve database and found the records of the bots he's talking about. The bot that caused Niall's death is one of those bots. It came from this planet."

  "So? So, what?"

  "Boss, you came here to get away from reminders of Niall, yet this planet seems to have hundreds of them lying or running around. Doesn't that bother you?" Max asked.

  "No. Why should it?"

  Ariel stared at her with his bone-white, praying mantis eyes. "It killed your boyfriend..."

  "No, the damaged micro-FTL drive killed him. The bot just got in the way of Niall's escape. I can deal with that, so how about we get back to work?"

  "Sure, no problem," Ariel said. Red walked out shaking her head. As Max started to follow, Ariel reached out and held her back. "Max, how do you feel about Niall's death?"

  The Alue frowned. "I can't believe he's gone. It's like my life has a big hole in it."

  Ariel nodded. "Truly, I feel your pain. I'm worried about Melinda."

  "Why?"

  "Because she's acting like nothing happened. She never talks about Niall. Hell, listening to her, you'd never know he'd existed."

  "But she loved him."

  "Yes, she did, and that's why I'm worried. We need to keep an eye on our marshal."

  "What are we looking for?"

  "Our boss going ape shit when the reality of Niall's death hits her."

  "Damn. Should we try to talk to her?"

  "We can try, but I expect we'll just make her angry. Come on, we need to get back to work."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Five months after arriving on Maeve...

  Red and Ariel were waiting for the arrival of a group of VIPs when an alarm went off. Red walked over to the communications console. "Bank robbery," she said. "Third one this month. Don't these morons know we installed a new security system?"

  "Boss, you better take a closer look at the information feed," Ariel said as he pulled a weapon and belt from a desk drawer.

  Red read it again. "Dammit! The idiots have taken Max hostage. I thought she could move into the network if she was threatened!"

  "Not if they're using a blanker. I've been doing this for over two million years and I can't get past one of those things." He threw her a pulse rifle. "Time to put some thievin bushwhackers in the hoosegow, Marshal."

  "Hopefully without killing my deputy," she said as she headed out the door.

  ###

  Red and her deputies found Sheriff Smythe and Deputy Kuurtz waiting behind an armored personnel carrier while her SWAT team surrounded the bank. "Marshal, what brings you out? I thought you were preparing for our guests."

  "They can wait. I hear my deputy has gotten herself in a bit of a pickle."

  "Not her fault. They've got a couple Logash with them. Popped out of thin air and had the drop on everyone. They're sporting heavy weapons. Our body armor is totally outmatched."

  "I don't plarking believe this shit," Red said. She walked over to a locker and withdrew a blaster-proof vest.

  "And where do you think you're going?" Ariel asked as Red donned the vest.

  "I am going in there. I plan to offer myself as a hostage in exchange for the release of the hostages."

  "And then?"

  "I'm going to stun everyone inside that building."

  "Marshal, that's not a good idea," Smythe said. "We've watched the lobby feeds and the perps are pros. They'll just shoot you before they get back to work."

  "Melinda, I think we talked about this," Ariel said.

  "Do you have a better idea?" she demanded.

  "Sheriff, where are the hostages being held?"

  "According to the security feeds, the bank robbers have herded them into the vault. They've got one perp standing guard outside. They've also wired the entrances with explosives."

  "Hmmm, so no way in except from below?" Ariel asked.

  "The floor is steel-reinforced concrete ten feet thick and sheathed in adamantine steel."

  "I guess that leaves an approach from above."

  "Are you kidding?" Kuurtz said. "The building is four-stories tall with no roof access."
>
  "Maybe not for you or me, but what about our guests?"

  ###

  "How hard can it be to open a plarking safe deposit box?" the leader yelled.

  "They're made from adamantine steel and shielded. It would be easier if we had the key!"

  The Logash leader looked at the underling and growled. "We'd have the damn key if you hadn't killed the owner before he could tell us where it was! Now, stop flapping your jaws and get back to work!"

  "What the hell is that noise?" one of the elf underlings asked.

  "What noise?" the leader demanded.

  "It sounds like a siren, but it's increasing in pitch," another elf said.

  "Where's it coming from?"

  All the elves in the room pointed up as three basili wearing Space Patrol uniforms crashed through the ceiling and opened fire with stunners. In less time than it takes to bite into a scone, all the perps were down. Captain Jason Hardy tapped his earcomm. "This is Hardy, perps are contained. Hostages are secure."

  ###

  "Hey, Red," Jason said as he walked over and gave her a gentle hug.

  "Hey yourself, Dragon. Thanks for crashing their party," Red said with a nod toward the perps as they were being loaded into a paddy wagon.

  "Any idea what they were looking for?"

  "A specific deposit box which the bank won't identify. We'll figure it out."

  "I know you will." He leaned down and looked her in the eyes. How are you holding up?"

  "I'm fine, you old worrywart. Look, I've got a pile of paperwork to finish. We'll talk more tonight, OK?"

  He smiled, nodded, then gave her a goodbye hug before walking away to rejoin his team. Once he was gone, Red's smile disappeared.

  "Max!"

  "Yes, ma'am?" her Alue deputy said as she ran up with Ariel in tow.

  "The hostages told me you offered to take their place, and when the perps threw you all into the vault, you went out of your way to calm them and put yourself between them and the guard."

  "Yes, ma'am. Did I do something wrong?"

  "No, not at all. I'm writing you up for a commendation. Ariel?"

  "Yes, Marshall?"