Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (104 page)

"Try
to stop me. My good behavior is only conditional. My silence isn't. Firefly is
monitoring this and broadcasting it system wide even now," Irons gave her
a tight smile. "If anything untoward happens, to this colony or to that
family, there will be hell to pay. I'll take this rock apart piece by piece,
then every other in this system. There will be NO place to hide."

He
gave her a long cold look. Bernard gulped. "Count on it." He walked
out.

"You
gentlemen do realize he recorded our entire... reasoning session right?"
Governor Paul looked over to the trio of men and women who had helped to engineer
their plan. The speaker smiled as she toyed with her drink and watched the
admiral leaving on the security monitor.

"Yes,
but the dear Admiral is going to suffer an unfortunate... accident in transit.
No need to worry about any loose ends." Mrs. Edever smiled. The others
chuckled in appreciation. “Once he's gone this, this will be nothing. We'll
bring the navy to heel and the rest will just blow over when the next crisis
hits. We can even engineer one to hasten that process along if need be. Then we
will be set for life.”

"Are
we really going through with this Admiral?" Sprite asked. Defender plotted
the people shadowing him on his plot.

"Looks
that way. For now," Irons replied. "I want that entire conversation,
visual, audio, the works on a chip and copies shot to every navy vessel and
instillation. Anvil and Knox as well the moment we dock with Destiny," he
sub-vocalized. “Hell, do it now on my link. Use a self decrypting packet.”

"On
it," Sprite responded. "Do you think the launch is rigged?" the
AI asked.

"I
doubt it. But we're going to take our time during preflight to make sure,"
he replied. He passed a couple of people who wouldn't meet his gaze. One
grabbed his arm then let go. He entered the lock and climbed into the ship.

"I
was sure they would have blown a lock. Happy little accident. No muss, no fuss.
State funeral," Sprite muttered.

"Count
your blessings," Irons said. He grimaced as he started preflight.

"I'm
checking the software now. Oh ho! Someone put a logic bomb in the
communication's software! The moment you were under power the communications
would have locked down. Clever. Admiral this stinks of an inside job."

"Kill
it then send an amendment report when we leave. Check the ship. Find out who
got in the launch and boat bay. We've got a traitor to catch.”

"No
sign of tampering externally Admiral," Proteus reported. "I would
have seen something on the hull scan when we entered the lock." Irons
nodded.

"Yeah,
me too, but forewarned is forearmed. I don't think they will pull an
assassination. Not this late in the game." He finished the power up
sequence.

"Ship
is stable," he nodded. "Right then, let's get this over with.
Exile," he muttered.

The
lock irised open. He maneuvered out then turned and set course for Destiny.

"Signal
sent Admiral," Sprite informed him as he approached the freighter.
"She tried to intercept the signal. Obviously someone on board is in on
it," Sprite said.

Irons
grimaced. "How did they get it past the AI?" he shook his head.
"Never mind. Manual," he growled again.

"My,
my, he is a sore loser," the speaker said softly a few minutes later. She
was already getting reports of the signals the Admiral had sent out. Her
minions had squashed some, but she was pretty sure some were going to get out.
Which was unfortunate.

Her
partners grimaced. "You said he wouldn't have a way to communicate!"

"Yes
well, not all things go according to plan. I've intercepted some of the
signals. Did your people?" she turned on them. A few mumbled.

"To
the colonies yes, but not the naval vessels or Anvil. He sent a signal to Knox
but our agent deleted it. However Knox has been called in to talk with the
lieutenant governor for a special emergency meeting," Bernard replied.

"Enrique
can be handled. He'll understand. It's in his long term interests as well. The
navy... well, we know how to handle them don't we? Now that we have a... hole
at the top we'll just have to find someone... malleable to fill it," the
chairwoman smiled.

"That
could be a problem. Horatio Logan, his daughter, Mayweather, Vargess, and
Harris all out rank the commander by grade and time served. Trying to promote
him over them could lead to a dog fight," Raoul cautioned.

"Now
now, don't fret. I think we can count on the navy to shut up and serve. After
all, they swore an oath to do their duty and serve didn't they?" Her
Cheshire grin widened.

"Whatever
you say milady," Raul bowed.

"Good
man."

“Admiral,
I am sorry about this,” a pair of men met him at the boat bay lock.

“Are
you involved in this?” he asked giving them a look.

“Uh,
no sir. I'm under orders to keep you confined to your stateroom until we enter
hyperspace.” The man looked nervous. “It's this way if you please.” He looked
to the other man.

“All
right,” Irons nodded.

“Admiral,
all Wi-Fi has been manually cut out. I can't get into the net,” Sprite warned
him. He gave a small nod. “I'm starting to regret letting people know I can use
Wi-Fi access,” the AI said with a snarl.

After
a few minutes and a brief lift ride they arrived at his destination. A pair of
guards were standing by on either side of the door. “They are here for your
protection,” the purser said. Irons sighed as he entered the room. He looked
around as the door shut behind him.

“Cute.
They ripped out the communications console Admiral,” Sprite reported thoroughly
disgusted. “What now?” she asked.

“Did
the people on the station get released?” he asked.

“Last
I checked on the launch yes Admiral. The conspirators left the colony and
disappeared. Most likely destination is either Vesta sixteen or Nuevo Sierra
nine. They are the closest.”

He
grunted. “Well, at least the innocents are safe.” He gave the console a look.

“If
you can call them that Admiral,” Sprite retorted.

“Time
to get to work. When we're in the net I want you to find and disable any logic
bombs, and monitor the ship's systems,” he smiled. “Oh and go ahead and reset
my room security to my control.” He held up his right arm and felt it morph and
go to work.

“Admiral
the external communications are locked out. Physically. Someone went to a lot
of trouble to do this, I can't fix it with software,” Sprite sounded sour and
disgusted. He chuckled. They had been in the net for over an hour now. He'd
half expected as much actually.

“This
is a clear case of tearing apart a hero to prove he's mortal,” Sprite said
after a moment. The Admiral un-jacked and sighed. “I've dumped the entire
sordid thing on every tablet, on every duty station in the ship. Nothing works
until they have watched the thing once and answered questions on it. I've got
worm programs ready to dump it throughout the system the moment someone
reconnects the communications. If they even notice it's down before we leave,”
she snarled.

“You
don't expect everything to go our way all the time do you?” He sat down on the
edge of the bed.

“I
can hope.”

He
laughed. “Did you try the launch again?”

“The
outer hull is bouncing the signal back,” Sprite reported. “So what are we going
to do now?” she demanded, activating her avatar on his HUD. Her hands were on
her hips. “We're just going to go tamely off into the wild blue yonder?”

“Well,
I'm going to take a nap,” he rolled over.

“But...”

“Night
Sprite.”

"Are
we really going to do this? Going to let him get screwed?" Mayweather
asked. She shook her head. Dan and the others looked down. They had watched the
video from start to finish. Firefly was going over it several times with the
intelligence officer.

"It's
not our decision to make," Dan said smoothly. "It's his," he
pointed his chin to the Destiny. The captain had ordered the ship to shadow
Destiny to the jump point hours ago.

"He
gave in because they were holding that family, hell the entire colony
hostage!" Shelby snarled. "We're not going to let them get away with
that. That's treason!" she snarled slapping her closed fist against the
armrest repeatedly.

"My
marines are ready and waiting captain, just give them the word," the Major
said, giving the captain an imploring look.

"And
do what? Go in and shoot the Representatives of the colonies? That would go
over SSSOO well with the public," Dan said with a shake of his head.

"I
frankly don't care," Mayweather said quietly.

"You
can't do that," Dan said surprised and agitated. She looked at him.

"As
you were lieutenant commander. I'm in command. Or did you forget that?"
she asked. He blushed and looked away.

"Dad's
in charge now. I'm not sure what he'll do. He's probably trying to get word to
Destiny but she's probably ignoring him," Shelby said quietly.

"Damn
it, it wasn't supposed to happen like this," Dan muttered. The Major
turned suddenly.

"What
did you say?" he snarled. Mayweather and the others looked up.

"What
did you say?" they asked looking at the Major then to Dan.

"Nothing.
Nothing at all," Dan backpedaled. He paled and tried to leave. The Major
blocked his path.

"Bull.
You said it wasn't supposed to happen like this," he snarled eyes
glittering. Mayweather stood with a snarl of her own.

"You
were in on this," she said, coming to a conclusion. "You were the one
that fed them the Admiral's movements. That call you made," she said
nodding. "You set him up. The logic bomb in the launch. XO check the boat
bay records and see if the good lieutenant commander was there."

“Son
of a bitch! You’re the one who suggested he go explore the tunnels!” a crew
member said suddenly.

Firefly's
avatar looked at him. His eyes burned red.

"I
did no such…" Dan looked frantically from one closed face to another. “You
are looking for a scapegoat, well, you’re not going to pin this on me!” He
turned to move away. The Major jerked Dan up and slammed him against the wall.
He gasped then whimpered. "They made me do it," he sobbed eyes wide
in sudden fright. The Major let him go and turned with a snarl.

"Get
this trash off my deck and into the brig," Mayweather said with a snarl.
The Major turned.

"What
did they offer you? Money? Power?" he demanded hand on the back of the
traitor's neck.

"Command,"
Janice said from behind the captain. She turned to her. "Think about it,
he gets promoted," she nodded her chin to the commander. Mayweather turned
on him.

"So
that's what it was? Command? Fancy yourself an Admiral's billet? Wanted to take
a short cut?" she asked voice deep with scorn.

"No,
but Firefly is rightfully mine," Dan snarled eyes locking onto hers.
"Not a refugee from a piece of shit yacht."

"How
were they going to do it?" Janice asked.

"By
special appointment," Dan said. "From the legislature." He wiped
drool and tears with the back of his hand.

"That
would not have been legal commander," Firefly's avatar coalesced beside
his captain. "I would not have accepted it. Neither would commander Logan
or the other officers. You should have known better from the beginning."
He shook his head. "All for naught. You were a patsy. You threw your
career away for nothing."

"No,
they promised me!" Dan said desperately.

Mayweather's
cold glare slid a little. "It was a lie. You should have known better.
lieutenant commander. I formally arrest you. The charges are insubordination,
conduct unbecoming an officer, sabotage, and treason."

Dan's
eyes went wide. "You can't do that!" he said suddenly desperate.
Treason was a death penalty offense. He looked around the bridge, but didn't
find a single ounce of support in any of the people there. Cold accusing eyes
stared back at him.

"I
just did," she answered, eyes cold.

"But,"
he looked wildly from one person to the next, finding solace in none of them.
"But..."

"You
betrayed our commanding officer in a time of war," Shelby said, arms
crossed.

“But...”
he hung his head, knowing he was defeated.

"She's
the captain. Time to go," the major stepped aside to let a pair of marines
pull the man to his feet then out the lock.

"Damn,"
Mayweather said wearily. "Is the Admiral right? The rot that deep?"
she murmured.

"No.
Not in the military. He's a political animal. The conspirator's lap dog. He'll
pay for it now. They won’t protect him. My money is that they cut him
loose," Firefly said. “I am checking the boat bay logs. I believe one of
the boat bay officers may have also been involved so they are all in custody as
well.”