The Maintenance Man - Book 1

by Pars001

©Copyright 2015 Pars001

Chapter 1

Mark had come a long way. Starting at the bottom, he learned everything that he could. As a child, he had been considered tall and clumsy. Many of his classmates had made fun of him when he walked as he wasn't able to walk in a straight line. It had something to do with his inner balance and the fact that it had been thrown off ever since his parents had moved the family to the furthest corners of hell, as he put it. His mother and father were diplomats and went where they were sent by Earth's government.

So Mark suffered in silence; his only solace was the fact that his mother and sister loved him as much as they did; if not for them, Mark didn't feel he would have made it. Moving forward, he was surprised when the government of Deplofina asked for him in particular (he felt his parents had a hand in that). When he went for the interview, it was as he had expected. The government had only offered him the job as a ploy to get his father to side with them in negotiations they were having with their long-time enemy that they were still at war with.

So Mark had politely told them no and then had been threatened that he would never find a job now. How they had laughed at him as he had left the building. He knew, though, that they would have been begging him had they known what he had seen, hurrying away. He didn't want to be near when the main power failed, and they would be looking at him as the easiest target to blame for their own incompetence. Mark hopped the fastest shuttle he could find and was at the spaceport in line to board a freighter when the news came in that the power grid for the capital building had shut down.

Switching to hyperspace, the ship accelerated as Mark sat back and enjoyed the feeling; it was as he had remembered it. Three hours later, they were many, many days from the planet when the hyperdrive shut down, and the ship was a drift. The captain came over the loudspeaker and informed all the paid passengers that they were having mechanical difficulties. Mark smirked. He knew what was wrong, at least what he had felt before the shutdown. He remained calm for the 4 hours that saw everyone rushing back and forth. Finally, after 10 hours with everyone panicking on board, Mark made his way to the captain's cabin.

Speaking to the engineer who passed him, he told him that he wanted to see the captain and that he was a maintenance man; the engineer's eyes got huge as he rushed into the cabin, and only moments later, the captain came running back to him.

"Are you really a maintenance man? Can you repair or maintain the engines? I really don't want to die this far from a planet," he whispered to Mark. Mark calmly walked to the engine room with the captain and engineer in tow, looked around, and reached out to tap a panel. The board lit up, and Mark stared at the readings. He walked to the other side of the room, grasped a cable that was barely connected, and pushed it back in. The reactor started to come to life.

Next, he moved to the reactor itself and looked at another panel; he noticed that the air purification system was already working again, and the heat was back on, as the room became much less stuffy. Looking at the power supply, he saw that it was only halfway filled, which was odd, so he went back to the reactor, and then he noticed the REAL problem: half of the fuel had NOT been loaded into the reactor core. Mark started to laugh; it wasn't even that elaborate of a sabotage. He had learned to fix things like this the first year he started. The captain and the engineer looked at him like he was crazy, but they knew that he might be their only hope.

Mark loaded the rest of the energy rods as the reactor started to hum back to life. Mark walked away, looked back at the captain, and told him that the ship had been sabotaged. He needed to have it looked into. Mark told them that he was a first-class maintenance man and his license number and repair coding number. As they scurried away, he shouted that the ship was ready to go and that he wanted to get where he was going as soon as possible. Sitting back in his seat a few moments later, he waited. Soon, the ship was moving again as Mark waited, and the ship jumped again.

The captain walked back half an hour later and motioned for Mark to come forward. As he neared, the engineer shook his hand and thanked him as he hadn't known about the power supply or how to fix it.

"You are probably the only engineer who does now; remember, it isn't always something complicated. In this case, it was an undone power connector, and half of the material for the reactor was not loaded. This was very simple, but now you know more than most engineers." The captain had a very interesting story for him.

"Your passage has been paid in full, your credits refunded, and 30,000 more added to your account. This was a new ship, and they are glad it wasn't lost, and they are starting an investigation," he gruffly whispered. "They would appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone, and the promise of another 40,000 credits has been marked to go into your account."

Mark was a little surprised for being paid for something this easy, or that they even thanked him, then he remembered that they didn't know that the engineer he had shown the repairs to was probably the most mechanically knowing person here (and that was bad because there were a ton of other things that could go wrong) So he sat and enjoyed the crew coming by and thanking him every few seconds. Nearing their destination, the captain pulled him aside and told him that the company had offered him a job. Mark thought about it for a few seconds, then declined as he said that he had made promises to others.

Leaving the shuttle after the freighter here, Mark walked to the tall building ahead of him. He looked down at his comp again and shook his head. This place was a disaster. The machines that repaired the building were idle, and the trash bots were idle; oh my god! Did nothing work here at all? Walking in, he was greeted by a brand new aid bot, and even if it was not at full capacity, Mark shook his head at the state of disrepair. He was led to a small man sitting in an ancient-looking throne room. As the man sighed, he looked Mark up and down. "Sooo you are the maintenance man, and you really think you can fix things here?" he sneered, "as if you can do better than the best engineers in the world."

Pissed off, Mark grabbed the man by the scruff of the neck and stared into his face as he calmly said, "OK, you little pompous little prick," he almost spit in his face, "I can repair almost anything not set it up REPAIR it, so far everything I have seen on the way in I CAN repair, but if you are going to be a piss ant about it, then I'll just let this place fall down to hell, with you in it!"

Shoving him back into his seat, Mark turned and started to storm out. The man quickly ran after him and dropped to his knees in front of him, begging Mark to stay. Mark was about to kick the man in the face when a vision of a goddess walked out from behind the throne and asked Mark not to.

"You have to forgive father. He isn't used to people being what they say they are. As you can see, the last few almost brought down this place." Pausing, she looked intensely at him, "I am the king's assistant; he won't listen to me, but maybe he will to you."

"For you, I will stay and fix this place, not this," he motioned to the man on the floor, who was now a quivering, blubbering mass of flesh at his feet, "but it will cost you a lot more."

"Done; as long as you do the work, you will be very handsomely rewarded." As she grabbed his hand and stared at his rapidly growing erection, "Very much so."

Mark turned blood red with embarrassment, "I apologize for that; I don't usually have this problem," he said as he turned to hide his erection. The assistant leaned over his shoulder to watch as he adjusted his cock.

"It's OK, you are a man. It happens," as she smiled at his naivete, she almost thought he was a virgin.

"Wait, you said farther, then you are a princess," he said, shocked.

Laughing, she looked at him as he slightly shrunk from her; oh my god! As old as he was, he was a virgin! She would never have thought that. "No, I am not; we all call the king father. It's just something he wanted us to do," she stated as if it was a well-known thing.

"I'd rather not. I wasn't on good terms with my father, and I will not call him or anyone else that," he looked at her heaving breasts, her slender waist, and her deep, deep blue eyes as she reached for his hand again to shake.

Sighing, she nodded. "OK, that will be alright. Just fix this place. Nothing really works."

"What about all the people he hired?" Mark replied. She started to laugh. "As you can see, they obviously don't know their ass from a hole in the ground."

Mark just nodded as she took him to the central control room. Leaving him there, he started the long process of repairing the bots first. After 20 hours, he had enough repaired to actually run things and set up guards. After sleeping 4 hours later, he got up and started again, first working on the communication array, then the outer shields, and finally the automated protection systems so that the building was safe.

After a week, he had almost the entire building working again. The outside had been repaired by the auto repair bots. Mark fell into his bed exhausted, glad he had taken that last year of instruction, as many of these systems were newer, and he wouldn't have gotten done without the knowledge. Though he hadn't seen the woman assistant or the king, he had felt their presence many times throughout the week. As he lay there, he thought of her, hell he didn't even know her name, but god, she had gotten his cock to rise, something no woman had done since he had walked in on his mother and sister in the bathroom. They had just gotten out of the shower together and were drying off when he walked in. Staring at their naked bodies had made him painfully hard.

When his mother and sister yelled at him, he was embarrassed so badly that he left that day and didn't call or go back home. He had also sworn off women as he was always red-faced when he was around them that first year, so he had hardened his heart, and at times, he was as emotional as a computer. It had helped to alienate him from all women, and he hadn't had to worry about sex. He had just concentrated on learning, which was why he was at the top of his class, from which not many had graduated. Twelve hours later, he woke up and checked the progress of everything. 2 hours later, 95% of everything was done, and the rest of the system was finished.

Looking for the king and his assistant, Mark was ready to move on, drawing closer to where he had met them the first day. He heard arguing coming from the room. Entering, he saw several men standing over the king with guns drawn; walking to a side panel, he tapped a screen and saw that the system was hacked and got pissed. Activating the anti-hack system, the bots began to move in from all directions. There was shouting and firing from the men. Mark looked in and saw the shield around the king as the men fired at him right before the bots froze them all with the paralysis beams that Mark had installed on them.

The guards moved in, and the men stared at Mark as they were taken away, asking them who he was. They explained that he was the new maintenance man, and they stared mouths agape, then they started to curse each other, saying that they should have known that they couldn't beat a fully operational palace. Mark just stared at them. Palace? This little dump was a palace? Mark started to laugh harder than he ever had so hard. In fact, he had to brace himself against the wall. The assistant walked up to him with a questioning look on her face.

"What the hell is so funny? I don't see the humor in any of this," she shouted at him, threatening to slap him.

"This," he said between gasping laughs, "is not a palace. This dump is more of a hovel without the whores." The assistant smirked and almost started to laugh herself.

"You obviously haven't seen the second floor," she said, starting to chuckle.

"Oh?" started Mark. "He has them up there?"

"Yes, they come and go, but not as easily these days; they are scanned each time now, and if there is any doubt, then they aren't allowed in."

"So I am here for payment. The cost is double miss..." he stopped for a moment. He had been here for over a week and still didn't know her name.

"It's Nissie, and we have to talk about that, uh..." Nissie was visibly shaken as she tried to continue, "The king doesn't have all the money that he owes you; he has asked me to see if there was any other type of payment that you would take to compensate." Mark looked at her as she was visibly afraid.

"There isn't really anything that I need or that I want. I can build almost anything I want." As he looked back at Nissie, he saw that she was shaking even more, so he stopped and turned to her. "Why are you so afraid?"

"You can hurt this kingdom so much. We just got it back together, and with a few words, you and you alone could tear it back down." Again, she shook as she looked down at his face, ashamed that she had to do what she would probably have to do, but for the kingdom, she'd do anything.

"Mr. Mark, I offer myself to you as your slave to do as you wish," she breathed out as she looked at the floor, prepared for her life to end as she awaited his words. Mark was shocked, a slave? Fuck that. He didn't want a slave. He had enough to do with fixing machines. He didn't need his space fucked up with a chatty fucking female.

"First off, I don't want a slave, let alone a female. I have no use for them. They are useless to me and..."

"Useless!" she screamed at him. "I would have you know that I am more than useful, you louse!" she had reached a fever pitch as her screaming was almost to the hysterical point.

"Look, just pay me, and I am gone," he shouted back, as he had almost slapped her to calm her down.

"Hey, jackass, I told you he doesn't have the money!" she shouted back.

"Then I'll just take all the repairs off that I have done," he calmly replied.

Suddenly getting quiet, she whispered, "No, you can't, please. This week is the first time in years that he has been safe and has gotten as much work done as he has. He has done more this week than he did all year last year." Tears were streaming down her face as she clutched at him.

"I don't need this, OK? Just tell him to give me half, and I'll be back in two years. He can sign a note that he will pay me, or the kingdom is mine."

Nissie shook again as she was afraid that he would want something like this. "OK, here's the deal: he wants you to stay here and keep this palace going."

"WHAT!!!?? I fucking don't think so. I have appointments for the next year, and I can't break my word. I won't be out of the system, so if he needs me, then I will be nearby, but I will not break contracts as I kept yours; I WILL keep those." He was visibly mad now to think that royalty would want him to break a contract.

"You can have me as payment. I can be your assistant as you work, and I can share your bed at night."

"Uh ... why?" he replied, shocked at what she had said.

"For sex, hello!? You know, your baser needs, your carnal wants." Oh my god, she thought, he really WAS a virgin.

"I don't have those or even want those. It sounds unnecessary and messy," he replied as his face scrunched up at the thought.

"Oh my god, you are a virgin!" she almost shouted. Grabbing her by the throat, he shushed her as he whispered in her ear.

"Shut the fuck up, or I'll take the kingdom now in a breach of contract." Growling, he released her as her breasts rubbed his arm as he was letting her go; damn, but they were soft as he shook his head to clear his head, but the feel of her came back to him.

"I'm sorry, Mark. I didn't mean to upset you. Please forgive me." Touching her throat, the tears began to fall anew, and she threw herself at his feet. "I am still your slave. Take me or sell me. It is your right."

Looking back at the king, Mark almost felt hatred toward the man as Nissie led him away from the chamber toward her room. As they approached, Nissie used her code to enter her room and led Mark in.

"This is my room where we can negotiate. You can sleep here in a real bed and decide what you want to do with me and everything else." Mark sighed as he fell into her bed and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. A slave, he thought. Shit, now what am I to do as sleep took him.

Chapter 2

Mark awoke the next day to a strange feeling. His cock was being bathed in a warm, wet, suction feeling. It felt wonderful, unlike anything he had ever felt. Then suddenly, he had a feeling not unlike having to have to take a piss. Then he felt as if he was pumping pee out, but not quite; it had a more wonderful feeling than that. Then, as suddenly as it started, it was gone. Not thinking too much about it, as he thought it was a dream, he drifted back deeper into sleep.

Stirring awake a few hours later, Mark looked over at Nissie, What the fuck?!!!!! She was stark naked! Mark scrambled out of bed and tried not to stare at the naked woman in the bed, but try as he could, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her breasts as she breathed. Looking over her whole body, he didn't see a blemish anywhere. The skin was smooth, and her nipples rose proudly from her 34 c breasts. Her stomach was flat, and her muscle tone was that of an athlete, with her proportions almost perfect. Mark had to admire the way she was put together; her design was such that she made optimal use of all her parts.

Nissie stirred and rolled over, reaching for Mark. It was the first time in years she had had anyone in her bed. She had missed having someone to snuggle up next to. As she reached, all she found was an empty side of the bed.

Startled, her eyes snapped open as she scanned the room for Mark. Ah, there he was, but that look he had on his face almost as if he were analyzing her as he would a machine. Propping up on her elbow, she stared back at Mark as he took in her whole body.

"Do you like what you see?" she started.

"You are well put together. It appears that you have a very good tone to your body," he replied as he couldn't believe he was talking to a naked woman, let alone one who said that she belonged to him.

"I don't bite. You can inspect me if you wish. I am yours, after all," she said shyly. Shaken, Mark looked at her with a look of pain on his face, "I told you yesterday I do not want a slave."

"I realize that, but by the King's orders, I am now yours. I have no say in it, and as a citizen of all empires and kingdoms, you can not refuse. I looked into it before I agreed to this when I brought it up to the King," she stated matter of factly.

Mark was at a loss for words. She was right. He had also looked it up and then beyond, looking for any loophole to get out of owning another living being.

Sighing, Mark took her hand, "I want you to get dressed. We are going to see the King, and you will tell him all that I have to say since you are now my assistant."

"First, I want him to know I am angry at him for all this," Mark said, holding up his hand to quiet her. "I know why he did it. I can appreciate why. I don't have to like it, but I can appreciate it. He and you," Mark looked directly at her, "should have made provisions for this before you entered into a contract with me. Second, I am still expecting payment from him and am using you as collateral until such time as he has it. Third, you are not my...," Mark paused here to get his words correct, "slave per se, you are my ... personal assistant to take care of me and assist in anything I do. Fourth, I will NOT stay here. I have contracts with nearby systems, and I will not break them. I have the repair bots working, and all protection is in place, plus a few surprises, I added."

Mark took a deep breath. His jaw was tired, and he wasn't used to talking this much. He didn't think he would ever get used to it. Nissie jumped up as Mark eyed her. She smoothly moved about the room and got dressed. Mark admired the way she flowed about the room. Making their way to the now almost new-looking throne room. Mark stood back as Nissie told the King all of the things that Mark had said in her bedroom. At first, the King was not happy, but one look at Mark, plus the warning from Nissie about the removal of either the kingdom or all the repairs that Mark had made, quieted him very quickly. Setting his jaw, he reached for Mark's hand, "I wanted to apologize for earlier this week. I was unaware at that time that there was a difference between an engineer and a maintenance man. Please forgive me," as he bowed to Mark and Mark's mouth dropped agape and he, in turn, bowed to the King to show his appreciation for the King's heartfelt apology.

Leaving the small palace, Mark looked back and saw that, indeed, it looked 1000 times better. It actually had started to look like a place that royalty would live in. As they walked on, he saw that the surrounding area was also starting to look better, as he had the bots slowly move out from the palace, repairing everything that wasn't dangerous or a weapon. Making their way to the spaceport, Mark had already booked a room on the liner (It was offered for free as long as he looked at everything before they left orbit) and was led on board through a little-known entrance. After inspecting everything and repairing a small junction that was about to go bad, he was led to a master suite and left there with Nissie, who had been taking notes the whole time.

"I have a question for you," Nissie started as they were alone for the first time since that morning, "what do I call you? It is customary for all slaves to call their owners master and..."

"No," Mark cut her off, "you may call me Mr. Mark. I DO NOT want to be called master. I may own you, but I don't have to like it, ok?"

"Yes, Mr. Mark," she replied as she looked down at the floor. She knew what was expected of her if it were a regular man, but with Mark, he was genuinely concerned about her, wanted to know what she thought, and even took in what she said. Considering her ideas to have merit, she felt more like a sister than a slave to him.

The ship lifted with no problem as they were on their way to the next system. Heading to the door, Mark's wrist com went off. He just left the planet, and the King was already calling him.

"Hello, Mark. May I speak to Nissie, please? I have a slight problem here." Mark just shook his head and handed another wrist com from his pocket to Nissie."This one is yours to help with orders and him as you were his only advisor."

Looking at Mark, she was startled that he thought of her like this. "Your Majesty," she started as she moved away.

Mark waited til she was done before he led them out to the dining room. Arriving there, Mark noticed that there seemed to be a problem. Walking in, a waiter rushed up to them and said that the dining room was closed for now and the kitchen wasn't operating properly. Mark sighed as he pushed past the waiter and entered the kitchen. The cook started to ask who he was but recognized him from pictures he had seen in the company briefs. He backed away and pushed the others out of the kitchen. Mark looked around, spotting the first one and then two other problems, and had the kitchen back up in less than 20 minutes.

Mark thought that this sector was stupid. How in the hell did they survive out here? They couldn't repair anything, yet they had some of the more modern equipment with the programs to boot. Mark just sighed as he sat, and the cook thanked him for being as smart as he was and making life better for him. Mark told him what the problem was, as the cook had written all this down for later reference. Mark told him he needed to share all this with anyone who cooked so that they could also know how to fix the problem. After they had eaten, they walked to their room when the captain approached them.

"I just received this communique from the main office at headquarters. Again, you have their thanks, and they said that another 50,000 credits had been added to your account at central." As he started to walk away, he stopped and walked back to them.

"I also wanted to thank you. The food on board has improved. As the cook said, this was the first time in a long time that the whole kitchen had actually worked since he came on board.

Mark just nodded as he walked past to his and Nissie's room.

"By the way, I had a very strange dream the other day, Nissie," he started as he watched her reaction. "I was asleep, and I felt my cock being washed in a warm tightness. Care to tell me what that was?"

Nissie blushed as she took a deep breath, "Yes, that was me. I thought you might want me to wake you up by sucking your morning hard-on, but you were so exhausted that you didn't wake up, you just came in my mouth" as Nissie got a huge smile," "it was delicious, I want to do it again, but I know I will need your permission from now on."

Mark wasn't surprised as he thought that it had seemed more real than a dream, thinking about it for a moment, "you really enjoyed that? You want to do it again?" he asked, surprised that he could ask her and not be embarrassed.

Nissie vigorously shook her head as she reached for his pants, "May I?"

"Yes, slowly, this is the first time I will ever be awake for this" Nissie nodded as she undid and slid pants and jockeys off, taking his 9-inch cock into her mouth.

As it responded to her gentle stroking and licking of the underside, Mark looked down at the beauty. She had a dream-like look on her face but was even more surprised when she took his whole length down her throat. Groaning in pleasure, he felt her throat muscles begin to massage his cock deep in her. Moving faster and faster, he began to feel a build-up of pressure. Then he felt a tingling in his balls. Nissie looked up at him and gently squeezed his balls as he exploded deep in her throat, and she swallowed every drop.

Mark was amazed at what had just happened. He had never felt anything like it in his life. He knew at that moment that Nissie would never be just a slave to him. Pulling Nissie up to the bed, he told her he wanted to learn how to pleasure her as much as she had him. Nissie was amazed also, as Mark wanted to please her? What was going on? She was his slave even though he didn't say she was. She knew she had to do everything that he wanted her to do without question.

Shedding her clothes, Nissie climbed on the bed and lay back, spreading her legs as Mark crawled between them. Looking in, Mark got his first look at a pussy, as Nissie pointed out each part, and he nodded his head as she did.

"You can also taste them too," she said as he moved closer, "not too hard, gently lick and suck. It will give a woman more pleasure if you aren't rough unless she wants it that way" Mark again nodded as he began to lick her entire slit, the odor was very pleasant to him, and then he thought the taste was extremely satisfying. Nissie began to thrash around on the bed as Mark moved closer and closer to her sensitive clit. Barely brushing it the first time, she tensed up as her orgasm took her over, and Mark stopped, thinking he had hurt her as she went stiff.

"Don't stop! Oh my god, don't stop! Please, Mark, keep going. It feels so damn good!" she screamed out as her second orgasm took her over.

Mark was afraid that he had hurt her. He only wanted to make her feel as good as she had made him feel. He was surprised that she begged him to keep going, as she had stiffened moments ago as if she were in great pain. Nissie's breathing and his own finally returned to normal. Mark rose from between her legs and laid next to her, cuddling her close, and she fell asleep exhausted.

Two days and many orgasms later, they were at the next system. Mark and Nissie still hadn't had sex, in the way that he was still a virgin, not having fucked Nissie yet. Departing the ship, they both went to the capital building on a lift.

"This place is worse than the planet you and the King were on. Can't anyone in these systems repair anything? I expected there to be some machines broken down, but not this much!" As he looked around, it appeared that there was nothing working at all. Walking in, they were greeted by a mousey little man. "First of all," Nissie addressed the man for Mark, "you should know that if you don't have the money to pay Mr. Mark, he owns whatever he wants as compensation."

The man's face dropped as he whispered to Nissie. She looked at Mark.

"They have about 3/4 of the money," Mark thought about it and whispered to Nissie.

"Mr. Mark says that he can fix the main computer and most of the repair bot systems. Other than that, if he does more and you can't pay him, then YOU will be in breach of contract. He said that the extra cost would have him owning most of the planet, and the systems he will fix will slowly get you back on your feet. Do you accept?"

The man nodded his head and led them to the main comp room. Mark was surprised. The repairs weren't as bad as he thought, then he saw the tale-tell signs that there had been another maintenance man here at one time, and he obviously had been a top-notch one. There were patches here that Mark was envious of, as he studied them to learn even more of his craft that he had never seen.

Walking out after only a few minutes, the comp was at full power and working beautifully. Mark watched as the lights came on, and a few of the repair bots began to repair the walls. Two servant bots hummed to life and updated for a few seconds, then looked at them and led them to their room. Mark told the bots he wanted to see the man they had met when they first arrived. The man was there within minutes, thanking him for fixing the main city comp. Life was already getting back to normal for the first time in a year.

"Where is the maintenance man who repaired the comp before?" Mark inquired, "he did excellent work."

"Sadly, he passed away almost a year ago. It was he who told us to contact you and make a contract with you." the man said as a tear fell from his eye, "he was a great man, and this place wouldn't have lasted as long as it had without him, a few of his students kept us running til the last left three months ago to go to the school back on the empire world."

Mark just nodded. He had heard about a great man, one of the best, who had been doing what he was trying to do, helping all and trying to service as many machines as he could. A repair bot went past him, repairing at a rapid speed, almost as fast as Mark had set the ones on the King's planet to be, and the room looked almost new in no time as it went out the door to its next assignment. "So far, I haven't done as much as I thought I would have to. We need to get new parts for the comp and bots so they last a lot longer, and I now know of a program where they can repair themselves."

The man nodded as they left the room. Mark looked at the better walls and ceiling.

Since there wasn't as much to repair as he thought, Mark was done with most of the major repairs in 2 days. The city was now humming to life and had started to spread to the surrounding cities of the planet. He estimated that the whole planet would be back to normal in a week. After installing the new parts in the comp, it was now the most modern thing on the planet. He was now able to receive progress reports on everything that he had touched to repair. So far, all of them were good. The investigation on the ship revealed that another student who had failed out the last year with Mark had been targeting Mark to get rid of him as he was the only one who could keep him out of the trade and had vowed revenge. Mark laughed. The ass hadn't even tried to hide the sabotage on the ship. Mark was glad he'd gotten the idiot drummed out. He gave all in the trade an extremely bad name.

The week up, they departed. Mark was making last-minute checks, telling a few people that he had employed what to check for and how to repair them. Tallying up everything, Mark had cut the cost to only 1500 credits. He hadn't had to do that much, and the man had gotten the parts within two days. Taking a last look out the window, he saw that the city was looking more modern and was actually looking like a place where one might want to live. Nissie took his hand and led him to their room (once again, it was provided for as long as he went to do checks). Changing clothes, they went below. Mark checked each system one by one, being extremely critical in his checks of the shields, engines, life support, and reactors.

Mark wasn't sure, but he had a feeling that the creep wasn't through trying to kill him. Though Mark had far more knowledge than he had before, he had learned a few tricks that he was sure would more than come in handy later on in the different jobs he still had to do. As he suspected, he found that the reactor had been set to explode a day from the planet. A plasma feed fed directly to the room that had been assigned to him would have killed him and Nissie and no one else. The little bastard was getting smarter now that they were on to him. Trying not to let it show, Mark felt the rage build in him as he went through each check again, cursing when he found a second and third system that had backed up the reactor had also been set to explode, killing everyone and destroying the ship.

Three hours later, Mark released the ship to go. He'd had to go over every system on the ship, finding something wrong with each one. Then Mark checked the logs and saw a downloaded update for the ship, but it had been from the saboteur. As Mark traced the signal, he found that it originated from central, so the bastard was there, and knowing him as Mark did, he wasn't going to move soon or bring any attention to himself. Mark took a small computer from his room and downloaded a program into the ship's mainframe that would block anything else he tried to do and would spread to all ships, as he had sent it to the company's main frame also.

Sighing, He knew that the little bastard wouldn't give up, so Mark contacted the school to get what he needed.

"Hello, Headmaster," he said as an older man came into view, "Long time, sir."

"It hasn't been that long, young man; it's only been a few months now. I hear good things about you. I talked to the King the other day, and they are finally starting to export again that fuzzy fruit I love," the older man smiled a broken smile, "I was going to call you, but with everything that has happened with Tantka and all his threats, I haven't had the time."

"I know, sir," Mark replied, "That's why I called. I want to use the CEP that we wrote years ago," Mark cringed as he knew what was next.

Surprisingly, the man only nodded as he reached for a report, "I kind of had a feeling that you might. We have researched it further the last few months. Actually, we have found a way to introduce it without wiping out the entire planetwide comp system." (CEP= computer elimination program)

"How? The way we wrote it, I have never seen any program or comp that could resist it. It can't be copied without a key, and only two people have that, you and I. It can only exist on a computer with a special program you and I wrote, and as far as I know, no one knows of it. We hid it that deep and left no records." Mark asked.

The man nodded as Mark listed off everything. "Also, don't forget we wrote the self-destruct code into it so no one could find it. I thought you were brilliant with that idea, which makes for the ultimate computer destroyer program."

"I have the almost exact location of him, but even if we get his comp, he would have backups in other places and would try again." Mark sighed as he looked at Nissie, his mouth agape as she listened, "Well, there might be three now, headmaster. I want you to meet Nissie, my uh..."

"I am his slave, sir," she rushed out, "at least til the king pays him all he owes him."

Mark blushed a very deep red as the man on the screen chuckled, "I take it he explained he didn't want a slave, a woman, or company?" he asked.

Nissie only nodded as Mark gave her a harsh look. "I see you haven't changed. By the way, your sister and mother were here the day after you left it seems that..."

"I don't want to know, I cut ties with them many years ago," Mark spat out, still feeling the sting of their anger as they had shouted and screamed at him that night.

"This you might want to, it's about your father, he's missing." the older man said.

"What!!!? Since when? No, send me the info," he shouted.

"He's in the system you are headed to," he said, "the info is on the way. Take care of this first, then contact me, and we'll take care of Tantka," as he sighed, "I am getting too old for this Mark, you wore me out, you were like an empty sponge when you were here good luck."

Mark finished the anti-hack protection software download and then sat back to plan. Now, what had his old man gotten himself into?

Chapter 3

Mark paced the room as Nissie looked on, the worry evident on her face. He had been planning what to do all week when they reached the next system. After loading the ship with the anti-hack and anti-virus programs that he had gotten from the headmaster, he had paced all week after going over the info that had been supplied.

It was a new planet, in a new system that his father had been sent to. Mark hadn't been sure, so he had reviewed the communique that his father had received from Earth. Much as he suspected, after only an hour of reading and dissecting the message, he was able to see through it. It appeared that Tantka was working with the rebels on the planet. The rulers there had been seriously hampered by all of the mechanical failures and were not able to defend themselves very well. Again, Mark cursed; what was the universe coming to? He was starting to think that the people out here were complete idiots.

As the ship neared the planet, he kept his eyes on all scans, waiting for Tantka to make another attempt. 2 days out from the planet, he tried again, only this time, Mark had been ready and bounced back at him. Mark could only smile, as he knew that the creep wouldn't have been ready and would be almost completely unprotected. He could almost see the panic on his face as Mark's program, which he had slipped in, would have started to delete everything on his comp and would try to reach out to his backups to delete them, too.

Arriving without further incident, Mark and Nissie breathed a sigh of relief. They were met at the spaceport by a full contingent of soldiers as they were led to the headquarters of the planet's ruling body and those that had contracted out to him. Fully aware that if he succeeded, the rebellion would fall, Mark had taken precautions for the move from the ship to the headquarters. Though the guards were there, Mark knew that any of them could be a traitor.

"Nissie," he started, "I want you to stay exactly by my side. If what I think will happen does happen, I want you safe."

Nissie was shocked he really did care about her.

Nearing their destination, Mark knew if it was going to happen, it was now or never. Stopping for a broken down cart in the road, Mark pressed a button next to his wrist comm and waited. As the soldiers stepped forward to assist the people in the cart, the rebels struck. The soldiers took cover and returned fire. Mark calmly stood nearby as bullets and energy beams bounced away from him and Nissie.

"Shit, retreat!" one of the rebels yelled, "He's got an energy shield. We can't beat that!" the rebels scattered into the nearby alleyways and buildings and were gone.

Mark smiled as he turned a very small scanner toward the retreating rebels. He had the ones there now. There was no way that they could deny or escape. Continuing on, theY reached the building without further incident. Reaching the commander, Nissie stepped forward to convey Mark's words.

"Mr. Mark wishes to know if you have the promised payment," she started, "also..."

"I do not deal with subordinates," the leader snapped at Nissie.

Mark leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"Mr. Mark says that you will or you will be in breach of contract," she snarled back at him, "and as you have seen, you are no match for the tech he possesses."

The leader sputtered and signaled as ten men began to fire at Nissie and Mark.

Mark was pissed. This was the second time this shit was happening; reaching to his arm, he activated a small device and reached toward the commander. Lifting off the ground, the commander began to choke as Mark raised his arm, and the commander went higher; then he dropped his arm, and the commander hit the ground hard. "Alright, you little piss ant, asshole, you get to deal with me directly. When I am done with you, you will know why I had her talking to you. I am not forgiving, and you are only a heartbeat away from me walking out of here, shutting this whole goddamn place down." Mark took a deep breath and thought that he just might anyway, "so, you have that long to apologize to her and then, me, because right now, I'd rather crush your fucking throat than look at you again, you called ME, agreed to MY terms."

Grabbing his throat and trying to talk, the commander knew that he was in deep shit. The president wouldn't take very kindly at all to him having pissed off the maintenance man.

Gruffly, he squeaked out, "I most sincerely apologize to you, Miss Nissie, and you, Mr. Mark. There will never be a repeat of this again by anyone here or in this command."

Nissie was floored; she was just a slave, and slaves weren't apologized to, and she suddenly had a newfound respect and affection for Mark. Mark leaned over again and whispered in her ear again. Nissie's eyes got big as she relayed the message.

"Mr. Mark says that the price has doubled for the work you want; he needs an answer in an hour," with that, they walked out, heading to a small table they had seen outside the building. Sitting down, Mark was proud of the way she had handled herself. Food was brought, and Mark looked around at all the idle machinery. Again, he thought that these people were almost complete idiots. Back in the building, everyone was almost in a panic after the commander had called the president and told him everything.

"You tell him whatever he wants, double or triple. Oh, and by the way, you are relieved of command til further notice. Before you leave and report back here, you better make DAMN sure that he will do the work. From what I hear, he is one of the best."

The commander scurried out to find Mark and Nissie. After relaying the message, he thanked them and left as a new commander stepped up and asked if there was anything else that they needed.

Standing, Mark looked at Nissie as she started. "Mr. Mark would like to be taken to the main comp. Any spare parts you have, bring them and..." she paused to take a breath, "you bring them yourself, only with soldiers that have been with you for years." The commander nodded as he quickly started barking orders.

Entering the comp room, Mark was taken aback at the mess he saw. What the fuck had these people been doing? Having Nissie get the soldiers with the new commander to start to clean up, Mark walked around the room at odd intervals, stopping and touching the walls. Making his way back to them, he touched his arm again, and a shield appeared around the outer walls.

"Tell me when all the comp parts are here. They will be scanned as they are brought in," Mark breathed out. This was one of the few times he deemed it necessary to talk.

After a few hours, Mark isolated the beginning of the problems and actually had the power to start the mainframe. Within an hour, he had most of the parts replaced, and the repair bots were armed and modified. Mark watched as they started within the room at alarming speed and were done in an hour. Slowly, as they spread out into the building, the shield was expanded, and soon, the first two floors were not only secured but repaired. It wasn't until they reached the third floor that they encountered a small group of rebels. Mark had the bots converge as they shot all the rebels with their paralyzing beams, taking them all alive, something unheard of during the whole uprising.

That was a preview of The Maintenance Man. To read the rest purchase the book.

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