The Maintenance Main - Another Repair - Book 2

by Pars001

©Copyright 2015 Pars001

Chapter 1

Mark was working on a simple relay when the call came in, "Mark!" Sam Mark's sister was screaming, "They're gone! I was working on a sonic display here at headquarters and heard a noise when I went to check. They were both gone!" Mark was a little confused gone? Who? His sister was so upset that she practically babbled. "I looked everywhere. You know Nissie always leaves a message!"

Now Mark was starting to become worried himself, "Calm down, Sam, start at the beginning."

Sam relayed all the details and the strange recording device that she'd found that had Mark's name on it, obviously keyed to only his voice. Racing home, Mark's muscular body practically tore the door from the frame cause it didn't open fast enough. Sam handed an ancient (to him) recording machine, which started as soon as he touched it.

"Hello, fart boy," came a voice he hadn't heard in over six years, "remember me, you little shit? Well, I remember you; it's taken me almost five years to remove the comp virus you infected me with. You didn't think I'd gone away, had you, you putrid son of a bitch! Speaking of sons, I now have yours and the whore of a wife of yours. Know this within two days, he'll be dead, and she, well, suffice it to say you won't want her after the slavers are through raping her a few thousand times, though you might want her as a rag doll. The only thing I want is you; they are just bonuses for taking the last six years of my life I take them. Then you, I'll come for you know you're a dead man walking." With that, an evil laugh sounded, and then a hiss started; Mark threw the recorder with an improved wrap shield around it out the window, and the resulting explosion shook the whole building.

Tantka! Damn it! Why hadn't he just killed the bastard six years ago? Reaching above a shelf, Mark activated a switch that not even Sam knew was there. Over a dozen hunter drones activated as soon as the hidden door opened.

"Activate active hunt mode search and retrieval," Mark stated.

"Compliance," the drones answered.

"all significant data is contained within this disc," Mark stated, sliding the disc into the lead drone.

"Updating, retrieving data, correlation of voice prints and machine alteration, affirmative voice prints overlaid with 32 different machine alterations, correcting. Composite voice confirmed all further information, and the hunt will now commence.

"Advise and transmit all data collected directly to this terminal only, with password protection code Arthur," Mark instructed.

"Activation and mission confirmed code word Arthur," the machine droned.

Sam's mouth hung open; damn, brother had been busy. There wasn't anything on the open market that would even be close to these, and Mark was fuming. He had half a mind to contact Nissie's sister Assti so she could get in on it; on second thought, he'd better; she was a mean one when you got her angry, as he found out years ago when she went after Tantka. Opening a special comp he'd not used in years, her smiling face appeared on the screen, "Mark! How's my sister?" looking closer, she saw something was wrong, " What's happened?"

Mark explained what had happened. Assti's face twisted in a look of pure hate, "I knew I should have killed him back then. I thought your idea was better, shit! Together, our plans would have been better. Don't worry, the network won't let him through this time, I guarantee it!"

Mark was working on refining a new concept when his new neural link beeped. The first of the drones detected something. The relay was coming in now.

"Detection of the primary target has been confirmed, and a passive scan of the surrounding area is now beginning. All scans indicate that the subject was in the area within the last 2 hours, confirming" it droned on.

"Initiate more active scans, beware of explosive detection, enact all anti-hacking protocols, and continue all reports."

Mark replied, seeing that Tantka was still a creature of old habits; he was glad he'd equipped both his son and Nissie with the updated comps he'd just finished two days ago.

"Compliance..." Suddenly, there was an explosion, then a dozen more.

Startled, Mark flipped on several screens. Almost all were blank but one, "withdrawal to the outer perimeter, active scan area for transmissions."

As the readings came in, Mark cursed under his breath, so his time in prison had been used to advance his skills. The destructive energy he was detecting was something only a more advanced maintenance man would know.

He'd finally gotten the last of the drones withdrawn when he received a message, "Surprised fart, boy? Told you I was better, I have always been better, you'll find out soon. Hope you like your little bastard of a son extra crispy; the timetables moved up; he's dead tomorrow as if I care rather slice his little throat now, but I want you to suffer."

A crease of anger crossed his face, reaching into his back. He grabbed a comp that he hadn't used since he'd gotten Tantka put away.

The headmaster of the maintenance school was enjoying the peace and quiet for the first time in years, with a whole week of no problems. Hell, he'd even gotten a few chapters of his book done. Damn, he could get used to this; suddenly, a pinging went off in his desk, opening the top drawer. He sighed. It had been a few years since he'd had contact with Mark. Snapping on the comp, Mark's face appeared, "hello sir, it's been a while," Mark said.

"Hello, Mark. I knew you'd be calling soon, but I was hoping you'd not need my help. Detail the situation for me," Mark's mentor said.

Sighing, Mark began the long report of what was going on with Tantka. The headmaster listened intensely, nodding from time to time at certain snippets of information. "Alright, Mark, I'll contact the prison and find out exactly what he took while he was incarcerated; till then, you might want to update all your software."

Mark clicked off, opening another comp. He initiated a network connected to every system and planet he'd been to in the last seven years. Sighing, he knew that this would take a few days to a week; not all of the planets would receive the update till they were contacted by a liner or ship that was in the network. Smiling, he saw that this planet and central were already almost done; the encryption he'd used wasn't even known to the school yet. Mark smiled when he saw that Tantka had already used it against him, but no more. Everything he'd done was laid out to Mark. Most of it was fixed immediately; some, though a lot more complicated, would take a week or more.

Looking over everything, Mark started to get a little more insight into what Tantka was trying to do. Mark was on his way out the door when his synaptic interface clicked on, "Subject moving towards spaceport alpha, two large containers also in transit with him, internal scanners indicate the presence of an adult female within the first, a small male child contained within the second. First, the readings are unclear, and all further scans are blocked and reflected back. The second readings indicate that the child within is the offspring of first class, aa-1, modern advanced system and sub-system, and super master tech Mark Doraland." Shaking his head, he'd have to remember to reprogram the damn drones to drop all that shit.

The drone went on detailing almost everything about his son's condition. Mark nodded as the information came in; heading not far from the site of the explosion of his drone, Mark looked down every few seconds at the scanner in his hands.

Reaching a doorway, Mark tapped his ear and started to issue commands, his heart racing, his anger apparent. He reached for the door.

Nissie was scared, far more scared than she'd been in years. Though they couldn't touch her, she wasn't that sure that they couldn't after a while; that ass Tantka had given them a lot of readings on her comp and shields. She more than remembered him from years before. All the threats and explosions were as fresh now as they had been then. All the slavers were pouring over the readings and had been trying to deactivate the shields for hours. The reading she was getting indicated they were no closer, but though he was the best, she was afraid that someone might find a way through her husband's shields. Why the hell had Mark not included a communicator in this model? True, it was more advanced than anything she'd ever seen him create; true, as soon as she felt a threat from Tantka, it had snapped on, pissing Tantka off (she'd laughed at his tantrum, thereby pissing him off more).

It was obvious that the slavers were a little pissed themselves. They'd already tried to contact Tantka something about untouchable merchandise. There was a knock at the door, which all the men in the room ignored till the door suddenly was blown off its hinges, disintegrating as it flew across the room, denting the back wall as what was left smashed into it. Each man in the room turned, pulling many manners of energy weapons, "I'm here for her," Mark said, the anger apparent on his face, his tall, muscular body taunt and tense, not quite sure what these slavers' tech was.

The lead slaver stepped forward, "We've been expecting you; we know of your tech and your capabilities." With that, he fired his strange weapon at Mark.

An alarm had gone off as soon as he'd entered the room, an energy wave distortion gun? A thermal implosion grenade launcher? Damn it! These fuckers weren't playing! Looking at the leader as he stepped forward, Mark pressed a control on his side, the shield shifting to a blue hue. The first alarm went off, and then the grey beam struck his shield; sparks flew a moment, and then it was heading directly back at the man! Screaming, the man dived to the floor, the beam barely missing him, striking the man behind him. A blood-curdling scream, then a gurgle erupted from his lips as his blood boiled inside, then what was left fell to the floor, a smoldering mass of cooked flesh (no blood),

Nissie smiled. Though she'd dealt with them over the years, she still didn't really like any of the unsavory group of men in the room. Mark wasn't a very violent man; he'd let a lot of things he didn't approve of go by the wayside; his family was the one instance where all bets went out the window. Though he hadn't intended to kill anyone when he went there, his anger had risen a few notches higher than it had in a long time.

"I suggest," Mark started, "that the rest of you give up, or I WILL kill all of you."

All the rest of the men in the room started to laugh; the leader from before stood, "Oh yeah? You and what fucking army?"

Mark smiled, pressing several buttons on his wrist comp. Moments later, each of the men had at least three drones of various shapes and sizes pointing different weapons at them. Not undaunted, they each had pressed a few of their own, a different bunch of shields snapping up around each of them.

"Now, what are you going to do fucker? You can't take all of us!" The leader sneered at Mark.

"Well," started Mark, "I was going to let you go if you gave me my wife back. It seems we can't come to an agreement, so," here Mark paused, shifting each drone's energy, weapon and intensity, "I guess I am going to have to kill all of you, starting with you," Mark pointed at a man in the back an earthman who'd grown extremely rich exporting women from earth the only planet in the empire that had totally outlawed slavery.

The man started to laugh at Mark, calling him a little pussy bitch. "I usually don't like to kill anyone, but I have to admit, like with any disease, you won't be missed." The man laughed harder till his body began to get hot, then exploded inside his shield, his screams echoing off the walls. This started the general slaughter; several of the men got off a few shots, destroying a few of his drones, though, in the face of things, they never had a chance. Amid the screaming and dying, the leader wasn't touched; Mark had already cloaked and removed Nissie from the building.

Thirty minutes later, the smoke cleared; Mark looked around the room. At least half his drones were gone. Of the 45 men that had entered the room, 42 of them were dead in a variety of ways. The three most powerful were huddled in various parts of the room, and dead bodies or parts of bodies were all around them. Activating a small device he hadn't used in years, he grabbed the air, watching as the leader was lifted off the ground.

Drawing the man closer, Mark looked him straight in the eyes, "I suggest that you and the other 2 retire a lot of your activities. As of today, I am not the man I was when I walked in here. If I ever hear of any of you three doing anything even near the Doraland family, I'll finish what was started here today," dropping the man with a thud, he looked hard at all three, then turned to go saying over his shoulder, "there will be no mercy."

All three looked at each other, best to get on his good side; within moments, they'd agreed to help Mark get the man that was responsible for all this. Mark smiled with their and Assti's networks. Tantka didn't have a chance, and if he didn't kill the bastard, he wasn't about to stop Assti from killing him this time.

Walking out, he went to where Nissie was, "Mark? Where is our son?" she asked as soon as he appeared.

Sighing, he was afraid of how she was going to take this, "Tantka has him. Still, I have..."

"Mark! We have to get him back!" she cried, the panic apparent in her voice.

"Tantka can't hurt him or touch him," Mark replied, though he knew that wasn't going to be good enough for a worried mother.

"Mark, I know your tech is unparalleled in the known empire, but this is our son; just like in there, some people have devised a few ways around your tech," Nissie said, the tears beginning to fall from her now dull, deep blue eyes. "I'm sorry, my love; I never doubt your tech, but you've not been developing much lately. When we met, you seemed to think up things. It seemed spur of the moment; I can't lose him. It would kill me, Mark, as I think it would you; he wants to be like you, as he puts it, the greatest fixer in the universe."

Mark's anger softened while she was speaking. He thought his son wanted nothing to do with fixing things. A steady beeping let Mark know that Tantka was having problems leaving the surface. He grabbed Nissie and went to his speeder, pulling her the whole way; they were flying twice as fast as the speeder should. Mark started to curse under his breath as he saw that Tantka was starting to lift off, his hands flying over the controls. Nissie was suddenly in a separate section that quickly detached from the speeder. Cursing louder, the speeder began to climb. Mark had designed this one to actually fly, but this time, Mark was afraid that it was toast. Switching engines, the speeder turned almost like a rocket and was actually starting to catch up with the shuttle.

Mark was about 5 miles high when he was in sight of the shuttle firing two energy cannons at it. He cursed when they both barely hurt the engines. Tantka had been monitoring the pursuit, cursing Mark for everything he had. As soon as the energy cannons hit his engines, Tantka's own cannons shot at Mark. The first few missed; Mark actually got off four more shots, each hitting Tantka's engines to no avail, the last not even penetrating the shield.

Tantka was trying to shake Mark a few more miles, and Mark wouldn't be able to follow. Shooting a rapid spread of shots, Tantka's cannons finally hit one of Mark's engines. The speeder/rocket shuttered began to slow and then lost altitude. Knowing he didn't have much time, Mark used what was left of the other engine to slow his descent. He'd fallen two miles now, a mere 3 miles above the planet, still too far to engage the speeder's regular engines. They were no good above a mile. Mark watched as the speeder slowly began to pick up speed at two miles. He could feel the speeder start to get hot, damn it! Abandoning the speeder, he watched as the last of the fuel was exhausted, nose-diving, it started to streak toward the surface. His shield was working. The heat of his descent wasn't bad yet, but it would be soon; at a mile and a half, he saw the speeder explode on the surface; finally, in range, he activated a series of commands on his comp.

Within moments, three drones larger than most were beside him, slowing his descent. Damn, he was good, and so were the drones, but they weren't that fast. His neural display screen snapped up, "You stupid son of a bitch don't you ever do that again!" His sister was screaming at him, "You better be fucking glad I passed the seventh-year exam, or I might not have gotten these drones up to you as fast as I did! "I ought to kill you! I just might if Nissie doesn't first!" With that, she clicked off. Damn, Mark thought, when did she get that emotional over him? Shit, he forgot she was a mother, too, after all. The drones took him almost to the front door of the office he had here. Nissie and Samantha were standing there with crossed arms on the front porch.

Releasing him, the drones stayed right behind him; what the hell? They only did that if..., at that moment, Nissie and Samantha both screamed, oh yeah, that's right, he'd been hit. As the world went black, he saw that the new tracking tracer he'd planted on Tantka's ship was working perfectly; ugh, so sleepy.

Chapter 2

Mark Jerked awake, what the hell? The last thing he remembered was that the drones had just touched down with him; oh yeah, that's right, Sam was mad at him; judging from the look on Nissie's face, she wasn't too happy with him either. Mark tried to sit up in the bed and immediately fell back, a low groan escaping his lips; this awoke Nissie and Sam, who were asleep by his bed.

His vision blurring, he heard Sam speak up, "Damn Mark, bout time you woke up. You scared the shit out of me.

Nissie thought you were dead with all the blood, plus the whole passing out."

Cringing, Mark tried to ask how long he'd been out. Unfortunately, the only thing That escaped his lips were squeaks. Nissie immediately grabbed a glass and poured a full serving on Mark, which she handed to him. Mark's throat was so dry he didn't even look at the liquid as he downed a huge swig; as it hit his stomach, the flavor finally caught up to him. Coughing and sputtering, Mark tried not to gag; damn, Mark thought, what were they giving me? It tasted somewhere between warm piss and sour milk; try as he might, he wasn't able to hold it down long. A look of worry crossed Nissie's face when Mark's stomach started to lose its contents.

"Damn it, Mark! You ought to know not to try and chug the energy medical drink! You'll tear your stomach up!"

Nissie almost shouted.

Looking up, Mark gasped for breath. "I know that Nissie; I was too thirsty even to look at the glass."

Sam stood back, trying her best not to laugh. Finally, she couldn't hold out any longer, almost falling to the floor. The bad thing was that the nasty look she got from Mark made her laugh even harder. Finally, sitting up, Mark had to hang on to Nissie to keep from falling off the bed.

Staring into Nissie's eyes, Mark got serious, "I know you are worried about Arthur. That bastard won't get that far.

I pulled one of his tricks, and after a day, he wouldn't be able to go very far and would have to land. I planted one of your new tr-50s on his ship, Sam, though I increased the range to a few billion miles, more if he is anywhere near the system network I've set up."

Nissie and Sam, both their mouths hanging open, could only stare at him. "You increased it that much? I only had it to 50 million, damn Mark, here I thought you weren't working on anything." Sam said when she found her voice.

"I am always working on new ideas," Mark replied, "it's always good to stay ahead of everyone."

Mark looked over at Nissie, hoping that would put her fears to rest. The strain behind her smile was enough to convince him that it was time to get up and get going. Calling up his display, he saw that Tantka hadn't gotten all that far, smiling. Mark knew that that wouldn't last too long with Tantka. Strange though, why was Tantka heading toward the galaxy edge? As far as he knew, there really wasn't much out there but a few asteroids and barren rocks that were moons of a planet long destroyed. Calling up another drone he'd launched years ago for several kings, Mark soon got an answer, one that he wasn't at all pleased with. Only a few trillion miles beyond the edge of the empire was a fleet of a design that Mark wasn't that familiar with. The problem was they went beyond the range of the drone; as he remembered this drone had a far-reaching range, he knew that he'd have to contact the Emperor soon, which was never a pleasant thing.

"Computer," Mark started, "analyze configuration, composition, and design of the detected fleet of ships on the outer galactic rim, access drone zz3."

"Compliance, beginning analysis now," the new AI he'd built two years ago droned to him.

Mark knew it'd be a while, so he began to work on another power-boosted shield he'd gotten the idea for a few days ago.

Almost an hour later, his comp rang to gain his attention. "Analysis complete," it droned to him, "accessing all records available, but the owners of the fleet remain unknown. The configurations appear to be those of warships. Many of the weapons on them mirror those that you have created in the last five years, though the power levels are almost double. I estimate your strongest weapons are the only weapons that exist in the entire empire that might be able to damage them even slightly. Recommend stronger weapons or defensive retreat till you have developed said weapons and shields."

Mark was afraid of that; when he'd first seen them, he thought they might be an invading force. Sighing, he knew he had to call the Emperor; if the man wasn't such a prick, then dealing with him might almost be pleasant.

Taking a deep breath, Mark activated a special comp that very few had; after only a few seconds, a dour-faced older man appeared on the screen, "I hope you realize you are interrupting an extremely important meeting," the man said, an almost scowl on his face.

"I apologize, sir; I have information about a possible invading force," Mark replied, trying not to get pissed, "I think your people should see what I've gathered; it appears to be a rather large force."

The Emperor just grunted, rolling his eyes, "I told you last time that my people are always on top of these things, don't..."

"Look, you pompous windbag, I don't have time for your posturing and speech-making. You have a week at the most from what I saw before they reach the edge of the empire, get off your ass and get your men in gear," Mark shouted, his temper starting to rise.

The Emperor's round face had grown red, "I'll take it under advisement, then..."

"You take too long, and you'll have no kingdom! You're acting like an idiot! Just like last time, you almost waited too long. Then, you were very close to a breach of contract. I have half a mind to no longer monitor everything I installed, let it break down, and refuse to repair it if you keep this up!" With that, Mark snapped the comp off just as the Emperor was about to shout back at him.

Mark was fuming, shoving every piece of hardware he could into his equipment bag. Nissie looked at Sam, even more worried now; Sam took her brother's lead, stuffing even more hardware into another equipment bag. Mark stopped a moment when he saw Sam stuffing the bag, "What the hell are you doing, Sam?" Mark said, his attention fully on her now.

"I'm packing to go; I may only be a seventh year, and my skills are not as good as yours, but I can help you more than you think," Sam said matter of fact.

"Sam, you're a mother now. You can't just pull up and go like that, you..." Mark started.

"That's what you think; you forget I was on the move with Mom ALL the time, so I am a lot more qualified than you are," Sam replied, her voice as stern as she could get it, her red hair seeming to flare and blaze.

Mark backed up a moment. There was no arguing with her when she was like this.

"Fine, but," Mark reached into his bag, tossing Sam a wrist wrap with a small screen on it, "wear this at all times; it's the most advanced I've ever built. It has twice the shield strength, power output, and power supply."

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

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