The 12 Tales of Christmas season 2 - Starlet in Distress
Hello everyone, welcome to the 9th story in the 12 tales of Christmas. For this story my friend Top Dogg decided to contribute. The number he chose was 9 and the word is Angel. Now for this story we’re diving back into the world of sci-fi. Get ready for a fast-paced action-packed adventure.
Hank Carlyle is a former Space Marine stuck in a dead-end job as a cab driver in Veran city on Miros-4. A desperate fare he’s about to pick up will change his life in ways he could’ve never imagined. Soon Hank will be fighting to protect her from a conspiracy that threatens their lives. Get ready for a hard rocking action adventure in Starlet in distress.
Christmas music played over the speaker system for the cab. Hank Carlyle, a man in his mid-thirties sighed as he drove down the street. It was five days before Christmas. And the black man was not feeling at all merry. His ex-wife had gotten another judgment demanding more of his paycheck.
What was worse was the judge involved was refusing to change the verdict or hear him out. That woman is driving me into the poor house and an early grave, he growled in annoyance.
This cab job had been the only thing he could get. And with the kind of skills he had he should be working security at any company. Yet for all the applications he’d put in no one had hired him. “God damn it.” He growled not for the first time.
“It’s nights like this that I hate my life!” he muttered.
“What the hell else could go wrong?” He thought in frustration.
Then he heard the beeping of his comm device. “Yeah," he grumbled after pressing the speaker button on it.
“Hey moron,” came the voice of the supervisor for the cab company he worked for.
"I need you to head over to Melbanks road on the east side. We’ve got someone there who needs a pickup. It’s a last minute job but…”
Hank sighed and said, “Yeah-yeah I hear you I’ll get over there right away.”
“Still flustered over the judgment?” his boss asked.
“Am I that obvious?” Hank growled.
“You are and I wish there were something I could do but unfortunately, I’m as much strapped for cash as you. I’m telling you that woman is a gold digger. Unless something's done that ex of yours is going to work you into an early grave.”
Hank said, “I’m a former Space Marine I’ll handle it,”
“You take care Hank,” Vincent McCoy’s voice stated.
“Always do boss, over and out.”
He turned off his comm system and revved up his engine heading for the requested location.
Hank was lucky in that he knew these city streets well enough to avoid traffic. "At 5 o’ clock at night the roads in the downtown area will be terrible. Especially with that big charity concert getting thrown.” He thought out loud.
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “So, 9 Angel is finally coming home,” he muttered.
It was no secret Hank was a fan of the all-girl rock band. Their music had brought together so many people. “I only wish it could help me deal with my problems,” the former space marine thought.
“You have arrived at the requested location. " The navigation computer voice stated.
Hank looked around as he always did, his face furrowed in disapproval. This was one of the poorer neighborhoods in Veran city. His old Space Marine instincts kicked in as he paid very close attention to his surroundings. After all the combat missions I survived some habits never leave. Even after I got out of the service, he thought to himself.
And it was a good thing he was paying attention because that’s when he picked up a figure running towards him. He got out of his cab his trusty side arm at the ready. To his surprise the person coming towards him was a girl. She looked to be in her mid to late twenties. Her styled hair looked ruffled as if it weren't permed very well.
Her stylish clothing looked torn and tattered in places. Almost as if she had struggled against something. She was clutching her purse like it was a lifeline. “Hello, hello?” the woman called sounding desperate.
Uh-oh something tells me I may have stepped into trouble, the cab driver thought to himself.
The woman stumbled up, and Hank ended up catching her in his arms. To his surprise he found she was...crying? She looked up and said, “Oh thank God, someone came. I don’t know who to trust right now.”
“Ma’am you look like hell, should I take you to a police station?”
But her face paled in terror. “No...no police! Right now, I don’t know who among them I can trust.”
“Who...are you?” Hank asked.
And then he heard more footsteps running his direction. The woman heard them and looked behind herself. “Oh Gods, they’re coming!” she said fear written all over her face.
“Cab, priority override Zeta-7! Open the passenger door!” Hank stated in a commanding tone.
“Compliance,” the computer voice said as the door to the passenger seat opened.
“Ma’am get in quick,” Hank said assuming the tone he’d used when he was a sergeant in the Space Marines.
The young lady to his surprise immediately scrambled over and got inside the cab. “Cab, emergency protocol Delta now!” he shouted.
The computer voice said, “Order acknowledged, implementing.”
The door shut then several blast barriers went up over the windows.
Several figures approached as Hank did a quick assessment of them. Okay these aren’t typical thugs, he observed.
It was true they didn’t look like thugs at all. The men’s clothing looked pressed and professional. And from the way they carried themselves it was clear there was some combat training to them. And that to me screams professional mercenaries. I have a bad feeling my fare is hotter than I thought.
Hank put a hand to his pistol and readied himself. The men tensed and several went for weapons at their sides. “You sure you want to do that?” One of them snapped in a deep-set voice.
“Keep those hands away from that weapon Space Marine," another snapped.
Hank’s face furrowed. “How do you know who I am?”
“Come on,” one said with a derisive laugh. “We’ve dealt with your kind often enough to know someone who’s got the training of one.”
“Shut up Oakley!” the first mercenary told the third.
The first one then turned to Hank. “Listen Space Trooper I’m gonna’ make it simple for you. Hand over the girl and walk away and we can all pretend that this never happened.”
The second one sneered, “Oh do please try and resist. That will make killing you all the more fun.”
Whoever these guys are they mean business, Hank thought. But you know what so do I!
The black man flashed a smile and moved away from his holster as he raised his hands. “Gentlemen, I’d prefer it if we could settle this in a civilized manner. How about you guys let me go and there’ll be no…”
One of the thugs interrupted. “I don’t think you get it Space Marine! The girl or we shoot you dead understand?”
The former Space marine shook his head. “Sorry but that goes against company policy. Besides which I get the sense that you mean this young lady some serious harm. And the last thing I’d want to do is aid in a crime.”
“You still don’t get it space marine, give us the girl now!” The first thug warned.
“Can’t do that,” Hank responded..
One of the thugs snapped, “Give us that girl you…”
The thug never got the chance to finish as Hank pulled out his blaster and shot the man. But he wasn’t anywhere near done as he caught another with the weapon. He rolled out of the way of a laser blast from another weapon and to his feet. His military training had come back to him the moment his first opponent had tried to kill him. The first man took off his glasses and said, “You’re dead space marine dead!”
While Hank heard him, he wasn’t listening. He was intent on running for his life as he fired his weapon. Two more thugs approached but quick shots from Hank sent them sprawling to the ground. The black man grimaced as one blast from a pistol knocked his own weapon from his grip. But The cab driver was already moving.
He shot towards his opponent. Before the chief thug could fire his weapon Hank kicked it out of the man’s hand. He tried to tackle the thug and got the surprise of his life when the well-built thug knocked him away. Hank had to dodge the swing from his opponent who had uncanny reflexes. At one point the black cab driver found himself in front of a wall.
He ducked out of the way of a hard right cross that came his way. Hank got a shock when the blow slammed into the wall and left a rather noticeable hole in it. “Da’ hell!” He said as he rolled to his feet.
The man turned around, and Hank’s eyes widened in horror. Beneath the skin of the hand was metallic alloy and a familiar brand label. “Vermac Corp cybernetics?!” The former marine yelped.
A look of pure rage washed over the man’s face. , “You know too much!” he snarled and leaped at the black man like a laser from a blaster.
But Hank remembering his military tech knew something about Vermac Cybernetics. He spotted his weapon and rolled under the attempted tackle. The black man came to his feet and scrambled reaching the weapon as the thug recovered. The man turned as Hank put his weapon to full power. He aimed for underneath the left armpit of the man.
He fired the weapon and the beam struck home! The man screamed in pain as the cybernetic arm exploded. The thug didn’t have time to recover as Hank used the last of his weapon’s charge to shoot the man in the head. The cybernetic human died there on the spot.
The black cab driver grimaced in disgust. He looked around and saw there was no one else. That is until he heard footsteps. “This way, I heard something. The boss may have found the girl!” Someone called.
“Aw hell no!” Hank groaned as he scrambled into his vehicle.
He saw the young woman while frightened was paying attention. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Sir we need to get out of here and get to downtown Veran city. My friends and bandmates are in danger!”
“Aw crap my night’s gotten crazier.” Hank growled.
He started the engine and the cab sped out of there. As soon as they were away Hank asked, “Okay lady, you piqued my interest. Who are you and why do you need to get to the big charity concert downtown?”
“I’m Amanda Madigan,” she answered.
And in that moment the black man put the name and the face together.
“Amanda Madigan, as in the Amanda Madigan of 9 Angel?!”
She nodded at this and answered, “None other. I need your help sir to get to the concert as I have to warn my friends and bandmates. I only got away from those thugs by pure luck.”
While paying attention to the road he asked, “How the hell did you get all the way on the east side of town?”
“I can’t go into all the details, but my group’s former manager had those thugs kidnap me from my hotel room. Sharon is planning to have all the members of my band killed tonight! But she wanted to save me for last because I was the one who exposed her.”
"You exposed your own manager?" The cab driver asked.
She nodded and explained things. “My Mom and Dad have always been good with money and taught me to be as much. I began to notice some inconsistencies with my band's royalty checks. Tinisha, our drummer, her mom is a forensic accountant.
"So, on a hunch I took my suspicions and pay stubs to her. Long story short my hunch was right. Sharon was stealing from us as was her father the head of our former music label.”
An angry look spread on her face. "We broke our contract and formed our own music company. We used our lawyers to nail Sharon and her father to the wall. They didn't take it well as you could guess."
The cab driver sighed and quipped, “Aw hell, the love of money is the root of all evil.”
“You got that right,” Amanda retorted.
“Anyway, Sharon’s amped herself up with some weird cybernetics. I don’t know what they are, but they looked expensive. And the look…” The young lady said as she shivered.
“I’ll never forget that psycho look on her face.”
Hank put the pieces of the puzzle together. “Young lady I’m a former Space Marine who’s seen combat. So I’ve a good idea of the cybernetics she’s using. I saw similar on that thug I took down.
That’s Vermac Corporation Cybernetics.” The cabbie explained.
The young woman’s eyes widened. “Vermac Corporation? They’re the company that are under investigation. Word has it their cybernetics cause people to…” she began.
And then Amanda halted and if her face could’ve gone any paler it would’ve. ‘Oh my God of course! That explains why Sharon looked so crazy. And she’s planning to kill my fellow bandmates at the big Christmas benefit concert.”
“You got some knowledge of those cybernetics?” Hank asked.
“My father’s also a former Space Marine so he keeps up to date on the latest military tech and the goings on in that field.” The bassist for 9 Angel explained.
Hanks sighed and chimed in, “Well looks like my night is about to go straight to hell in a handbasket.”
“I know I’m asking a lot of you but…” the woman started to explain.
But the former marine shook his head. “Young lady I’m not going to charge you anything! Not because you’re a big celebrity musician. I do this because former Space marines gotta’ look out for each other and their families!”
The look of relief on Amanda’s face told Hank everything he needed to know. “Again, thank God, it’s good to see that you’re one who understands loyalty. We have to get to the concert venue downtown.”
“In that case strap yourself in Miss Amanda Madigan. You’re in good hands with former Sergeant Hank Carlyle.”
"Carlyle?" she yelped.
Hank hit the accelerator. Keep your guard up mister, he thought to himself. It's gonna' be a long night.
And once again the evil cliffhanger rears its head. Well, I hope this adventure story proved far more exciting, good readers. And from what this writer has seen this universe has a lot of potential. I expect I’ll be returning to it very soon. Meanwhile if you like what you’re reading please like and share this across social media.
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Well, we’re starting to get close to the end. Three more stories and the 12 Tales of Christmas will be complete. Until next time this is Animeman73 signing off. Stay true to yourselves, stay classy, and God bless you all. See you soon readers.
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