Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (105 page)

“The
last thing we need is a witch hunt,” Mayweather muttered. “You're right, I bet
they will cut him loose. Especially after these recordings hit the public.”

"Don't
bet on it. If he's their only link they may try to protect him," Shelby
replied, arms crossed.

"They
can try. But we have our own system of justice. I'm glad the Admiral insisted
we set it up," Mayweather smiled grimly. "I'm just sorry it will have
to be put to the test this early." She shook her head.

"Don't
be. That piece of garbage isn't worth sympathy for what he did," the major
sniffed. "To think I knew the kid," he growled.

"It's
still not going to help though is it?" Janice asked softly.

"No.
No it's not. We're going to send a message to them though. One that they will
pick up loud and clear," Mayweather answered.

Logan
stared at the hologram with a heavy heart. Irons was there, standing at parade
rest. The admiral had compressed it and squirted it to him in an encrypted file
along with a complete copy of everything he had seen during the fiasco before
he'd boarded Destiny. The quality wasn't good, he'd had to cut it down so his
launch could send it, but it got the message across.

“So
you see, it's in our best interest for me to make a tactical retreat at this
time. No matter what the outcome of this so called impartial investigation my
reputation is stained and effectively ruined.” He looked away for a moment then
continued.

“The
people who set this up are good Horatio, but not chess players. They did a real
bang up job putting this together, but like any criminal, they forgot to plan
the aftermath.” His smile was more grimace then grin.

“By
running me out of town before I can testify they will be causing all sorts of
questions to be raised. Since I've dumped my copy of the entire conversation to
everyone I think some people are going to be uncomfortable and looking over
their shoulder's for some time to come.” He shook his head.

“But
that doesn't change the fact that I am running. I know it,” he sighed,
shoulders slumping a little. “You and I both know that alone looks bad. I can't
change that. I can't undo everything that has happened over the past couple of
days. The only thing I can do is try to learn from it and move on.” He looked
away. “That's all any of us can do. Move on.” He shook his head, resigned to
that fact.

“Hopefully
when things settle down people will start to look over this mess with a clear
eye,” he smiled. “They always say hind sight is twenty twenty. Who knows, the
people running me out of the system may regret it themselves shortly. In fact
I'm pretty sure they will.” His grim smile was almost feral but brief.

“I
had planned on leaving in a year or two, or possibly going out with Prometheus
to the nearest colonies to begin sorting them out. I guess we can say I'm
getting a jump on that time line. One we didn't anticipate with a send off no
one saw coming.” He shook his head.

“Anyway,
Horatio, you've got the fort as senior officer. I wish I could be there, but I
think you and the navy have come a long way now and can stand on your own. With
you riding shot gun things should go along... if not well or smoothly at least
move in some general direction toward what we want.” He grimaced then chuckled.

“Try
to stick to the blueprint we roughed out, but by all means adapt and overcome
any problems you run into. Remember the old saying they taught us in boot.
Adapt and overcome. An obstacle is just something you haven't gone around,
over, under,  straight through or used to your advantage. Remember that.”

“I'll
see if I can set up other seed colonies and try to get them in contact with
you. If things on your end change who knows, maybe I'll be back in a decade or
so,” he rumbled.

“Give
my best to the Valdez family and the others. Make sure they understand. Take
care of Shelby. She's going to make an outstanding flag officer someday,” he
smiled.

“Good
luck old friend. Long live the Federation.” He stood at attention and saluted.
Instinctively Logan did the same.

“To
you too sir. Good luck,” Logan said, feeling the tears fall. “And god speed,”
he murmured as he leaned over and shut the holographic system off. He turned to
the staff standing quietly around him.

“All
right ladies and gentlemen. You heard the Admiral, let's get to work.”

Destiny
lumbered to the Agnosta jump point. The Admiral brooded in his cabin. They were
a day out from the jump. “Firefly is following about ten light minutes behind.
I believe they were going to the Horsehead colony, but if they are they are
taking the long route. There's still time to stop this Admiral,” Sprite said
quietly. He shook his head bitterly.

“You
and I know how that will play out. It's all over the news anyway,” he sighed.
Someone had finally hooked up a receiver to the ships systems. Not a
transmitter though. They were getting news from all over the system.

Public
opinion was divided and splintering fast. Some wanted his head, others wanted
the heads of the conspirators. The shadow of the Port Admiral's misdeeds over
the past seven centuries were being hung around his neck. Dan's suicide the day
before only added to the problem.

Knox
had discovered his mole and hung the bastard out to dry after Enrique gave him
a copy of the files. He was on all the news broadcasts calling for a full
impartial investigation.

Part
of the problem was his dumping the footage. An accusation was worth more than
proof to John Q public any day. The more you tried to disprove it the more they
felt it was real, that you were trying to lie your way out of it by clouding
the truth. It was insane, but that was how the mob worked.

An
investigation committee had been formed in the house to investigate the alleged
charges. Irons had laughed bitterly when he had seen the list of the committee
members, most had been in the conspirator's group or were cronies of the
governor and chairwoman.

“No,
if we stay, this will continue to hound us, tying the hands of the navy when we
need to focus. I am expendable in the long run. The important thing is to get
civilization started once more. We got that started. Mission accomplished.” He
shook his head and grimaced.

“Maybe.
I'm not so sure.” He looked at the AI's avatar. “You call this crap civilized?”
she asked. She pulled up a prerecorded message of the kids saying that the
Admiral molested them on many occasions. Of course the fact that they were
talking about the Port Admiral and not the Fleet Admiral was conveniently left
out by the interviewers and talking heads afterward.

One
girl had said he'd been abusing her for years. Even a couple adults had come
forward with accusations that he'd abused
them
when they were children.
It was all laughable on it's face, he'd only been in the system for nine
months.

Knox
had taken it all in, then sweetly pointed out that the Admiral had only arrived
in Pyrax nine months ago. He'd even gotten footage of Io's arrival and the
Admiral leaving her birthing slip. But of course the conspiracy nuts had
dismissed it as out right lies.

“Put
that away. You and I know that the truth is coming out. It's up to them to see
it for what it is,” he smiled a crocked grin. “No matter what I do it would be
construed as spin control. I can't help it.”

“So
by not defending yourself you're making it better? It will all go away when you
do? Admiral I know you have a history of not defending yourself when it would
interfere with your duty, but this is walking a fine line Admiral. For some it
is cowardice,” Sprite replied. He sighed.

“Let
it go Sprite. Let it lie. Give it time to rest. Let people calm down and start
to see the truth. It is time we focus on the future. Let’s see what we can do
in Agnosta to get them back on their feet then either stick with Destiny as she
moves on up the jump chain or catch another ship to another system.” Despite
saying that he felt the bitterness welling within him. It wasn't fair. He knew
it, but sometimes that was the hand you were dealt. Sometimes you just had to
fold. For  now.

“Tilting
at windmills again Admiral? I should have known, you always liked getting your
hands dirty,” Sprite said, then started to smile. He chuckled. “This is all
just a devious way to get away from the mountains of paperwork isn't it?” she
teased, hands on her hips. He laughed.

“Something
like that Sancho.”

“I
thought so.”

“Twelve
more hours and he will be out of our hair for good,” the speaker saluted the
newly elected governor and her group with her drink. “To patience, luck, and
good old fashioned hard work.” They chuckled and drank. Enrique stirred his
drink staring out the window.

“Sour
grapes Enrique? That's not like you. You've been known to make the best of any
situation,” the governor said smiling.

“Just
thinking about the future,” Enrique replied quietly.

“Speaking
of which, we need to bring the navy to heel and I need to put in an order for
replicators. A lot of them,” the governor smiled rubbing his hands together in
glee.

“There
won’t be any,” Enrique replied. Conversation around the room died.

“What
do you mean there aren't any? We've got replicators now we can make more!” Raul
said. “You're just upset because your hero is leaving. It's over.” He turned.
“A few loaves of bread and a couple circuses, maybe a crisis or two and the mob
will forget the whole thing.”

“You
idiots just don't get it do you?” Enrique snarled getting up.

“No,
what don't we get?” the chairwoman said, with a lazy gloating smile. She just
knew Enrique had enough rope, she just wasn't sure if he'd hang himself with
it. The Admiral's video had been damaging, but they could weather the storm
with ease once he was gone. A dead man couldn't defend himself after all.

Enrique
pointed to the window. “Out there is the one man who can MAKE the replicators!
And he's LEAVING!” They looked around confused. The chairwoman's lips pouted.
He scowled throwing his hands in the air. “You idiots really don't get it do
you. Your little stunt...” he sighed throwing his hands about then putting them
to his temples.

“Look
the replicators take a key code to make them replicate objects on the
restricted list remember? The Admiral told us about this during the
constitutional convention. Replicators, nanites, weapons, gravity plates, parts
for our reactors... Tons of stuff. If we try without a key the replicator locks
up or destroys itself.”

“We
found that out the hard way many years ago. I was reminded of it when some
moron tried to use replicator one to make a diamond the size of their head.” He
darted a dark look at the representative in question who turned red.

Several
of the magnates with industrial experience nodded. “We've had replicators for
years. The problem isn't having them, it's having someone with the keys to make
more. Replicators, hell a lot of stuff, is all hard coded to not respond
without the proper embedded key codes. Codes that only flag officers have
programmed into their cybernetic implants,” Enrique continued. He pointed
again. “And there he goes off into the wild yonder. The LAST person who can do
it!” He slapped his thigh with his hand.

The
group started to babble. The governor darted a shocked look to the chairwoman
but she was pale, clutching the edge of the table. He lunged for his
communicator. “Nancy, get me communications. I want Destiny stopped now!”
Enrique laughed. The governor looked up and over to him.

“It's
too late, don't you idiots see that? Destiny won’t get your message. By the
time the signal gets to the jump point she will have jumped a minute or two
before.” He laughed hysterically for a moment then wiped tears from his eyes.

“You
idiots were so intent on soiling and getting rid of the single decent man in
the system you were blind to the consequences.” He drained his drink in a gulp
then threw the glass at the nearby wall. It shattered making several people
nearby flinch and duck for cover. “Congratulations. You've done it. Hurrah,
Hurrah. We're right back where we fucking started. Right back in the damn dark
ages. We all deserve what we get.” He shook his head laughing and left.

“Captain
Mayweather we're getting a signal from Vesta nine. It is the governor's
secretary. She's ordering us to stop Destiny and return her to the colony,” the
tech looked up confused. They were watching from three hundred thousand kilometers
away as Destiny charged her hyperdrive.

“Did
they say why?” she asked not looking at the communication's tech. She knew it
was too late, the drive field distortion would scramble any message sent to
them.

“They
want the Admiral. They didn't say why,” the tech said. “They sound pretty
urgent.”

Mayweather
looked at Shelby. “I don't think it’s good.”

“Moot
point anyway,” Firefly replied. “Attention on deck!” the AI said over the PA
system. The captain and crew lunged to their feet. On the holo in front of them
Destiny was making delicate maneuvers as she keyed her hyper drive. Space began
to distort around her.