Chapter 15

Aaron twisted around as he searched the hold for the exits.

The only door open was the one Zeke came through. Aaron moved as if to head to the door. Zeke turned to face him. Aaron stopped, changed his mind, and moved back, so he was facing Zeke again.

“I’m..., I’m..., gunna have to take you hostage. Yeah, that will work. Tell your ship to keep the doors closed. You’re going to fly me out of here.”

Zeke shook his head, “Nope, not going to work.”

“Why the hell not? I’m pointing a fucking gun at you. You have to do what I say,” Aaron screamed.

“Oh, I can do what you say, to a point, but we have a bigger problem.”

“What funking problem? Can you fly this fucking thing or not?”

“Ye ... es,” Zeke said, drawing out the word. “However, I only have enough fuel to power the generators for the ionic drives and get to a berth where I can get her filled up.”

“What the fuck? Why park it here if you can’t get fuel?”

Zeke sighed, “Mate, you do know what this place is, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied belligerently. “It’s a fucking shipyard. I can bloody read, you know.”

“I’m sure you can. However, what is it that they do here?”

“Who fucking cares? It’s bloody stupid to park a ship with no fuel in it, in a place you can’t fuel it up. Even I know that!” Aaron ranted as he waved the gun around.

Zeke felt like slapping the bloke for being a complete idiot. “Mate, they fix broken ships and build brand new ships like this one. This ship is parked outside the showroom, so the owner can come and see it once it’s finished.”

“He then drives the ship to a berth to get fuel and load his cargo and passengers. You can’t do welding repairs or weld up a new ship with fuel in its tanks, or you will blow the place up.”

Zeke knew he was stretching the truth a little, as the hydrogen and oxygen tanks were flushed and open to space before any welding took place.

Aaron settled down as he frowned and digested this information. “Huh! I always knew that welding stuff was bloody dangerous. My idiot father wanted me to do that stupid shit.”

Aaron then paced back and forth a couple of times as he thought about this turn of events. Aaron stopped and waved the pistol at Zeke again.

“We just have to go to a berth. You can still be my hostage,” he resolved.

Zeke shook his head again, “We can’t.”

“What the fuck is wrong, now?” Aaron said in exasperation.

“I think those men standing behind you wish to arrest you.”

Aaron spun around to find two pistols pointing at him. “Ah, for fuck’s sake!” he screamed.

He slammed his empty pistol down at the floor with a lot of force. The pistol hit hard and then bounced twice before coming to rest several meters away.

He was lucky that the MPs didn’t shoot him. They had winced with Zeke when the pistol hit the deck. They did get Aaron to turn around, and they put cuffs on him as they read him his rights.

“Officer, can you add damage to my property to the charges? That paint is barely dry, and now I have to fix it,” complained Zeke.

Aaron looked at Zeke in disbelief. “You’re a complete wacker. All you rich pricks are fucking insane.”

Zeke smiled, “Ah, but I’m not the one going to prison, am I?”

It took Zeke an hour to get rid of the Detective who had accompanied the constables.

Detective Rod Taylor wanted to check the ship over. Zeke felt he couldn’t refuse. As they walked around the ship, Zeke answered all of Rod’s questions. Only about one in six of them pertained to the case, as Rod was fascinated with the ship.

Zeke had to explain that he knew who Erica was and that she was his brother’s now ex-girlfriend. No, he had never been introduced to the man who was on his ship. To his knowledge, his brother hadn’t known he was being set up by Erica before they broke up.

Yes, it was lucky that his other ship had left, and that Aaron hadn’t checked. No, he may not be in Port in a few days, but he intended to be back in two weeks or sooner. Yes, they can be notified when he leaves Armstrong Station and when he comes back.

Zeke was glad when Rod finally left. His next action was to call Travis. He sent a copy of the ship’s log and the vid from the cargo hold and the bridge. He also added a copy of his chat with Rod.

Rod had stood and watched Zeke get the copies from Freya before he left with his copies and the signed statement by Zeke. Zeke had also informed him that Burnie Bolt should have a record of Aaron entering the secure area.

He was also curious how Aaron had gotten onto the lower deck to access his hold. Rod also knew to contact Travis if there were any more questions that Zeke had to answer.

Zeke had a feeling that there would be a few holes, but nothing said on record could prove that they had set Aaron up. He was already on file as someone of interest and had an existing record.

Zeke shrugged it off. He still had work to do to prepare Freya for her first flight. Amusingly, one of those things was to shift to a berth so he could get her fuelled up.

He hadn’t been lying to Aaron about that aspect.

One of the special features of Zeke’s new ship was his Z4 Runner.

This nifty little spaceship also doubled as his escape pod. It had powerful engines for its size, and it could do in-system micro space jumps. The ship at its widest dimensions was 8m L x 3.5m W x 3.5m H on its skids. It wasn’t as wide at the rounded nose as it was in the boxy rear.

The runner had short, deployable wings on top for atmospheric flying and skids for landing on. It had seven rotatable ionic drives in the hull, one per side in front of the main engine’s four small cones, and three triangulated forward.

The two lower fore drives and two side drives in the rear provided lift, and then they all provided initial thrust and manoeuvrability. The three forward drives and the EP shield, assisted with micro-jump capabilities.

The limited living space averaged out as 3.5m L x 2.4m W x 2.1m H. It could seat four people in spacesuits in two rows of two. The front set of seats sat a step lower to provide better visibility for the two passengers behind.