Short Stories

Round Five - Cosmic Dave (Big Dave Character Insertion)

We all gathered around the two-story building to hear what Bruce Jakkit was screaming about. Sure, the guy was a kook however, whenever he was ranting, he made valid points. Therefore, we followed that crackpot anyway. I held Zoltan and Kickboxer on their leashes as they snapped at the people around me. Those two were adorably and excessively vicious dogs. Their teeth were shown through a savage smile, seeking blood from anyone who came too close. I scratched Zoltan's head affectionately as the dog tried to take a bit out of some beggar, who threw his cash on the ground so I would calm the dogs down. I let the dogs chase him off and collected the cash into my back pocket. Just another typical day on Iapetus, the third largest of Saturn's natural satellites. With it's shorter year, comes shorter and crazier days. Much like today.

Bruce stood on the roof of the Andromeda Motel, ranting crazily. He was pacing and moving his arms around precariously in an attempt to get the crowd on his side. People on the streets were surrounding the building. Some were cheering along with Bruce and others were trying to figure out what on Iapetus he was saying. I, being of crazy upbringing, understood what he was yelling about. Rather, I understood his crazy jangle of words that somehow made sentences. I may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but I knew psycho when I saw it. 

"We oughta make 'em pay! They're looters of our freedom!" Bruce Jakkit slurred, partially tipsy from the Obtareen Mix cocktail. "We dock our crafts here." He pointed down downward, then looked down to see where he was pointing. Figuring his direction was correct, he pointed once again at the ground. "And the feds are all tryin' to make us pay higher taxes to dock our space crafts on a rickety frickin' platform for a day r'more! And, those idiots won't let us on our hard-earned spacecrafts, until we've paid them their dang taxes!"

Bruce nearly tipped over the side of the building, turning pale and looking as if he was going to throw up. The crowd closest to the building inched back nervously. "I have somethin' I want ya'll to think about, mk?" He questioned the audience. They all murmured in response. "I want everybody here to join me in raiding the Sector-012 Dominion and then, the rest of Iapetus. I have a plan to get back our freedom of travel an' it won't work without all of you."

The crowd murmured once more, this time a little more anxious. Raiding the Sector-012 Dominion, the most powerful ship in the Saturn fleet, was practically suicide. However, I didn't care too much about those odds. I just wanted my ship, a bulky Venture 005, back and that was that.  "Now..." Jakkit burped. "T'morrow's the day we storm that son of a gun. I got the plans all figured out on my desk. Those street judges'll never know what hit 'em."

Street judges. Now this'll get interesting. A judge, jury, and executioner all in one package. How good they were at their job seriously affected the outcome of any riot, shootout, or any criminal mischief. There was one judge who's name surely was marked down in history.

"What 'bout that Judge Dredd. He'll tear us apart." Some scared guy in the audience cried. Bruce huffed in disbelief. "You really think that one Judge Dredd is gonna stop all of us. You're outta your wits, kid."

"How are we gonna raid the Sector-012?" Another person from the crowd asked. "Well, see here," Bruce started talking like he was speaking to a toddler. "The Sector-012 Dominion's defenses aren't equipped enough to stop a riot of 40 or so people. This is a trading post after all, and the government'll take too long to respond if we jump on this opportunity quickly. Now, I don't feel like paying 293,000 octos just to get my Trailblazer 089 back. 7,000 more octos and I'll be imprisoned for a year. I'm getting dangerously close and so are some of you. At this rate, anyone who docks here will be jailed. Now, when we storm Sector-012..." Jakkit paused, seeming to sober up as he got more into his plan. 

"When we do, we gotta hit the generator first. Their energy supply will be lost and they will have a slower reaction time. Then, we damage the ship's engine to create a chain reaction to destroy the whole place. Without their ship, most of the government on Iapetus will die. All that will be left is a few street judges that were lucky enough not to be on that craft. I'm glad to see Big Dave in the crowd here, tonight."