Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) (39 page)

“And
those are?” she asked, tapping a stylus on her bottom lip as she put a tablet
in her lap.

“Well,
one the mining of asteroids. By doing this ourselves we provide most of our raw
materials. We can sell excess materials to smelting companies at a profit.”

She
nodded. From her expression he was pretty sure she had done her homework and
had already known this. What she was doing was putting him at ease and laying
the ground work for future questions with background material. That was the
hallmark of a professional, which was good. He cleared his throat. “Second we
can lease replicators for company use.”

“Shouldn't
that be a government thing?” she asked.

“No,
the equipment is Navy issue, we made it, we use it. We just lease time to make
things with it. Like this ship for instance. It was captured from pirates and
inducted into the Navy as a reserve vessel. It is under
lease
to the
Pyrax government right now.”

“Oh.”
She blinked. That bit about Destiny had caught her off guard apparently.

“Third,
we lease dry dock facilities. We can either allow outside contractors to use
the equipment, or charge for our own people to do the work.”

“Interesting.”
She smiled invitingly. She had a nice smile he realized.

“And
the fourth is the most controversial. At least in Pyrax. The government has
reformed the basic tax system and reformed old tax codes and closed tax
shelters.”

“There
were taxes before?” she asked blinking.

He
smiled at such an obviously simple question. “Of course. People paid for their
space, paid for their food, their air, the heat, power, water...” He shrugged.
“A part of that went into the function of the station or colony to keep it
running of course.”

“Oh,
of course,” she nodded thoughtfully.

“But
it was horribly mismanaged,” he shook his head. “There was a great deal of
graft and corruption, and there were unfortunately those who used loop holes to
get out of paying, or flat out refused to contribute.”

“The
poor and destitute you mean,” she said, eyes flashing. He shook his head.

“No.
Oh they didn't contribute as much as they could, but there were plenty of rich
fat cats who were at the top and didn't pay anything. Cronyism at it's finest.
Or lowest I suppose,” he scowled.

“I
have always been curious about how we ended up with so many rich people on
Anvil.”

“Greed,”
Irons shrugged. “For some, they or their ancestors struck it rich in mining, or
salvaging and then grubstaked others at a high interest rate. Some were
technically predatory lenders.”

“Ah.”

“A
few offered essential services that were hard to do. Such as Doctor Thornby.
She is a brilliant doctor.”

“Yes,
yes,” she nodded. One hand flicked through her hair. “About your leaving, and
the events afterward...”

“Sure,”
Irons nodded sitting back and trying to appear relaxed. His jaw tightened a
little though.

“You
were exiled for the alleged crime of...” He held up his hand.

His
eyes flashed. She should have known better than to ask him or to have brought
it up like it was legitimate. It hadn't been. It had been a terrorist act, pure
and simple. “I was categorically not exiled. I was given a choice by a group of
terrorists. Leave the system or twenty thousand innocent men women and children
would die. What would you do in my place?” he asked.

She
blinked at him. He smiled sadly. “I didn't know those people. But I am sworn to
protect the innocent if possible. As I pointed out before, I had planned on
leaving the system in a year. This was just on a... more...” He wrinkled his
nose. “I would say uglier tone than I would like.” He knew damn well it was
going to haunt him. It was going to undermine his every step, which was a
problem.

“I
see,” she said soberly, nodding.

“By
now I believe you have seen the video from my implants, as well as any evidence
Sprite dumped onto the net. So we don't need to belabor the point about the
charges being alleged or not. They are flat out lies to dishonor me. I won't
stand on it miss.” His eyes locked onto hers.

She
straightened, suddenly uncomfortable under his intense gaze. “Ah. I am sorry,”
she said as his eyes flashed at her. “I ah, don't ah...”

“About
the events afterward,” he said, making an effort to move on and let her off the
hook. He shrugged a little, trying to relax. “Yes there was a virus to destroy
the ship. I can't get into the particulars, there is an ongoing investigation
after all. You will have to ask the chief of security for more details. I would
speculate that it is tied to me, to make sure I am permanently removed, but I
do not know that for sure since I'm not sure of any evidence linked to motive
beyond the Vesta incident. It is after all, just speculation at this point with
little to support the supposition,” he grimaced.

“It
would have destroyed the ship?” she asked, eyes wide.

He
nodded. “Yes. I don't know much about the particulars, I would suggest you
interview those who do. Such as Commander Sprite or the engineering staff
involved in the repairs.”

“Gee,
thanks,” Sprite said in his ear. He knew that she knew that he was just getting
her back for making him go through with this.

“Ah,
I'll ah, do that,” O’Neill said, glancing down to her notes. She scrolled down
with the tablet then looked up. “There were other incidents though?”

“Yes
several. Again, I can't get into particulars, but they were all aimed at me or
Chief Bailey. Motive is again, speculative.”

“Sounds
like you don't have much to go on. A real mystery,” she grinned. He snorted.
She raised an eyebrow in query at that. He shrugged.

“I
remember there were cruise ships that had themes like this to keep the crew
going. For some it was interesting, for others they took it far too seriously
and it caused major problems for the staff of the ship.” He shrugged. “I will
be happy when the people responsible are caught.”

“People
plural?” she asked.

“Honestly,
I can't get into the suspect list. But yes there may be more than one person
involved.”

“Ah,”
she nodded. “I take it there are steps to prevent a problem?” she looked
around, suddenly a little nervous to be in his presence.

“A
little tense about getting caught in the crossfire?” he asked with a soft
chuckle. She nodded. “I'll say yes, we have under taken steps to  catch the
criminal. That however is all I can say without giving anything away.”

“Ah.
I see,” she nodded. She glanced down then set the tablet aside. “So what are
your plans now?”

“Well,
Destiny will be checking out four systems. Three are inhabited. Agnosta is as
you know, behind us since we shall be leaving the system soon, so that leaves
Briev and Triang. I doubt I will be remaining in Briev, it is a medieval style
colony. So most likely I will be getting off in Triang.”

“Wait
you said four correct?”

“Yes
four. There is an empty system in between Agnosta and Briev. It is a cross roads,
with four jump points. It is actually on the path to the Horath Empire.”

“Really?
Is there a chance we might run into pirates?”

“Hopefully
not,” he said grimacing.

“Yeah,
definitely,” Sprite said again.

“We'll
be going across the system and on to Briev and finally Triang. Since the intel
we have indicates Triang is a populated system and another cross roads, I may
stay there.”

“And
what then?”

“I
will either help the locals rebuild their civilization while I wait for a ship,
or I will board a ship that is in orbit at the time we get there. I'm not sure
yet. That part I am playing by ear.”

“Okay.
Long term though. Do you ever plan to return to Pyrax?”

He
frowned. That had been an anticipated question. Unfortunately he wasn't sure
how best to respond to it. After a half second to gather his thoughts he
decided to stick to his prepared answer. “I can't and wont rule that out. Right
now I will focus on finding another seed system, a place that I can help
restart civilization and rebuild the Navy. Once enough systems are set up I
will think about returning.”

Her
left eyebrow rose in curiosity. “Are you worried about your reception?”

“From
the populace? Not if your boss sticks to the truth,” he answered. “Which he
will since I know his reputation.” He shrugged. “I know the manufacturers and
the Navy personnel miss me already,” he snorted.

“I'll
say,” Sprite snorted.

“Why
is that?” O’Neill asked, curious.

“As
a flag officer I have the key codes to make and use replicators, reactors,
hyper drives, and a host of other things.”

Her
eyes went wide. The stylus she had been playing with fell to the floor.
“You...”

He
smiled. “Which is why as an officer of the Federation I am checked for honor,
integrity, and honesty. I can't be corrupted. Which is another reason I have Commander
Sprite. She makes sure I stay on the straight and narrow at all times.”

“You
are right about that,” Sprite burbled from the overhead. He snorted as O’Neill
blushed.

“I
had forgotten about that. About her,” O'Neill seemed a little chagrined about that.

“Trust
me, it's hard for me to, no matter how much I try from time to time,” Irons
said dryly.

“Why
Admiral, I'm hurt...” Sprite said.

He
smiled. “But sometimes, I wouldn't want it any other way,” he shrugged.

April
shook her head in bemusement. “Admiral about the gifts to the colonists... I'm
curious as to why. Why go out of your way to give them so much without asking
for anything in return?”

Irons
inhaled deeply, straightening the seam along his midriff. “It's duty,” he said
simply. “Duty, honor, paying it forward, and the golden rule.” His eyes met
hers. “Duty in an officer to help the helpless, to right a wrong and protect
those who need protection. Honor in doing those actions and making sure that
those who committed acts of violence and terror are brought to justice. And
finally the golden rule.”

“Which
is?” she asked. He blinked at her in surprise. She didn't know it?

“I'm
surprised and a little dismayed that you do not know it. It is empathy. To do
unto others as you would want them to do unto you.”

She
blinked at him and then blushed deeply. It looked flattering with the freckles
across her nose. Even the tips of her ears were burning.

“Yes
um...”

“Paying
it forward?” he asked, smiling again. “That means helping someone in the hopes
that someday they would return the favor with someone else. We do that all the
time with our children, in teaching them and providing for them they provide
for us and civilization in turn. It is a concept that should never be
forgotten. Nor the golden rule.”

Miss
O'Neill nodded politely. Irons sat back, finally comfortable with the
situation. Come what may he'd given as good as he had got. He was at peace with
what he'd said and done in Agnosta.

“Ah,
thank you Admiral, it has been a most informative interview,” Miss O’Neill rose
and held out her hand. He rose and shook it.

“My
pleasure Miss O’Neill, perhaps we can do this again before the trip ends,” he
smiled politely.

“You
know, I'd like that. I'd like to get your take on the old Federation, and your
input on how things have changed.” She nodded as the robot shut down.

“It
can be arranged,” he nodded, wincing a little internally. He wasn't sure he
really wanted to face his past just yet.

“I'll
have my people call your people,” she said chuckling softly. He had to smile a
little at that.

“Are
you going to be a roving reporter?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Oh,
this assignment?” she asked. She shrugged. “I'm not sure. It's a lot. There
isn't a lot going on except the assassination attempts.” She grimaced. She'd
been busy on the planet, recording pieces but most of it had been boring.
Hyperspace was the worst she'd realized. She'd mined quite a lot during their
trip to Agnosta.

“Which
I can do without,” he said with an answering grimace.

“I
wish I could get one on film,” she sighed. He grimaced again. He was tempted to
give her the footage from his implants but didn't want to compromise the
investigation.

Her
eyes gleamed. “You don't suppose... I mean since you dumped the footage on
Vesta...”

“No,”
he held up a hand. Her face fell. “No, not yet. When we catch the person or
persons, then yes,” he said. She nodded looking a little crestfallen.

“I
thought as much,” she sighed. “It will be yesterday's news anyway by the time
we get back to Pyrax.”

“Well,
you could dump what you have to each system. Get interviews in each system, and
other things. Unfortunately it's going to be a while before we can get an
ansible link set up.”