A Dreddful Carol

Part 1

'Tis the Season for Chump Dumping

by Sierra1138

One below-zero winter day in Mega City One - the coldest it had ever been – on Christmas Eve, a squad of four judges led by Dredd surrounded a dishevelled shack.

Dredd looked around the slum, everything was layered with snow, even the sprawling towers and mega-highways beyond.

Christmas Eve... For Dredd and his squad this meant a great deal. Many citizens of Mega City One had families who lived off-world and Christmas was usually the only time they had to see their loved ones.

Dredd was assigned to bust chump dumpers – perps who promised to fly citizens to off-world colonies at 'cheap' prices but then jettison them off into the vacuum of space. This shack was the HQ of a notorious chump-dumper, Kelvin Sump (his relation to Otto Sump was unknown).

The sun had not risen yet. It was 5 o'clock in the morning. Kelvin would wake in about three hours to meet his victims at the space port. Dredd and his team would go in now and take him by surprise. Dredd looked at Judge DeMarco, she was now positioned at the front door ready to kick it in. "Giant, ready on the back door?" Dredd said over his wrist-com. "Roger that, Dredd." DeMarco looked to Dredd. "Do it." he said.

She kicked the door in. The two judges entered the dingy shack, only to see Judge Giant and the rookie at the other end. The team searched the room for any hiding spots or hidden exits but found nothing. "Sump must have left early for the rush, sir." the rookie said to Dredd.

"Hmm..." Dredd considered the rookie's words, "Smart thinking, rookie. Stay here with Giant, in case Sump gets back. DeMarco and I will head out to the space port."

Dredd and DeMarco got on to their bikes. Dredd activated the communicator on his lawmaster, "Control, I need live security footage of Kennedy International Spaceport. I have a hunch our perp left early for that one."

"Affirmative." said the control room operator.

The screen on Dredd's lawmaster switched to live security camera footage at Kennedy International Spaceport. "This is the spaceport Sump usually operates in, I hope he's dumb enough to stay there." Dredd watched the cameras run facial recognition on the small numbers of people at the port, "He's- Wait a minute!" He tapped a section of the screen, camera six, to show a larger view of that section. There was a queue of people outside a platform. A man stood at the end of the queue. He appeared to be counting them.

Dredd zoomed in on the figure. The facial recognition identified him as Kelvin Sump - a man with a chiselled jaw, high cheekbones, youthful complexion, a receding hairline and absent eyebrows – he's getting ready to load the people onto his ship!

"We gotta move, DeMarco. Kennedy Spaceport, on the double!" Dredd and DeMarco started up their lawmasters and sped away. "Giant, you and the rookie dismantle Sump's shack then meet us at Kennedy Spaceport, we're going to end Kelvin's business for good." Dredd said over the bike's radio.

xxxx

Kennedy International Spaceport... Transport ships were docked at their respective platforms, not yet ready to depart. On platform nine, Kelvin Sump counted fifteen people waiting in line to board his ship. "Don't worry my fellow citizens, I'll get you to the Lunar colony ASAP, we're just waiting for a few more- Judges!" Kelvin's jaw dropped.

"Stop right there Sump, you're surrounded!" Dredd shouted from the entrance of the port.

Sump looked back and saw Judge Giant and the rookie with their lawgivers aimed at him. The passengers were startled by the judges. "What the drokk is going on?" one shouted. "This man is a chump-dumper." Dredd said as he walked right up to Sump, who was frozen in fear. The people gasped, "Clear off citizens, buy yourselves a ticket to Lunar city from the ticket machines if you really want to go." DeMarco came around Sump and cuffed him, "Control get a wagon down here, we've got Sump."

Dredd stood by his bike, outside the port. He watched Sump get escorted into the wagon. The rookie came up to him, "Dredd?" the judge looked at him, "What is it rookie?" Dredd growled.

"How come the citizens weren't informed beforehand about Sump?" the rookie scratched his chin.

"Sometimes we have to withhold information from the public to make the perps feel confident."

"Is that why he froze in fear?"

"Exactly, he thought he'd never be caught."

"So that's one chump-dumper down..."

"It's not over yet, rookie. There are plenty more perps to bust..."

Next: A Very Merry Krampus