Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (39 page)

“I'll
hold you to it,” she said. The Admiral smiled again.

“We'll
bring your dad back, don't worry. Safe and sound. That way you can wring his
neck for making you stay behind and worry.”

“Don't
tempt her, she's liable to do it,” Gutierrez laughed. Casey smiled.

He
watched as Sergio came in and turned the launch. As the craft settled down he
let loose a breath he had been holding.

"You
too huh?" Anita asked. He looked over to see her smiling at him. He
shrugged. The outer door closed and then he could hear the hiss as the bay
re-pressurized. When the pressure was equalized Sergio burst from the craft's
lock. He must of broken a record for post flight shut down Irons thought with
an amused snort.

"Admiral
she flies like a dream!" He was grinning from ear to ear. The Admiral
chuckled.

"Glad
you approve," he replied smiling back. In truth he and Sprite had been
along for the ride virtually the entire time. But it was best to not let the
young man know that. The inner door opened and he pushed a cart in.

"What's
all this?" Sergio asked.

"My
replicator, power cells, fusion plant, and gear. I'm not sure what we'll
need." He nodded over his shoulder to Mickal and Deidra. They were pushing
in cart loads of gear.

"Move
it Junior, we've got to load this bird and get her out so we can dock with
Betsy and get going," Deidra said impatiently. Sergio hastily stepped
aside as his aunt moved past.

"More?"
he asked as his sister and cousins pushed in other cargo lorries.

"As
much as she can hold and then some. We're even going to strap gear to her
exterior and to Betsy's exterior. Fuel bladders, life support parts, anything
we can think of," the Admiral replied. He was showing them how to store
things in the limited cargo hold.

"She
can hold eight. We've got nine people. Captain Gutierrez will remain in his
tug. It's going to be cramped in here though." Irons looked around.

"We'll
manage. Ah, Admiral, you make a better door then a window," Mickal
politely pointed out. Hastily the Admiral stepped aside.

"So
we're really doing this?" Sergio asked, excited. His mother studied him.

"You
can back out if you want." He shook his head. She sighed. "I didn't
think so."

"Mama.."
he said uncertainly. She held up her hand.

"You
are a man now son. Time you make your own decisions. That doesn't mean I won’t
thump you if you screw up though." She glowered at him until he hunched
his shoulders. She placed a hand on each shoulder and gripped hard for a
moment. He looked up. "I'm proud of you for doing this son. Know that
whereever space takes you."

He
hugged her. "I will mama."

"So,
why did the yacht take the Port Admiral on?" Irons looked around the
table. Enrique just had to call this meeting six hours before their departure
time. He had better things to do honestly.

 Enrique
looked away. "He uh..." Doc started.

"He
traded the fuel Sergio delivered the other day for passage for him and his
court off the station," Enrique interrupted quietly.

"He
what?" Logan snarled banging a fist onto the table. "You've got to be
kidding me! That Valdez kid busted his balls risking life and limb and he
doesn't even get a thank you? Hell the fuel could have run this station for a
month!" Logan sat back in disgust. "All and all, it is a small price
to pay to be rid of him and his followers," Smithy answered, subdued.
Logan gave the AI a long look.

"I
didn't expect to hear that from you." He looked over to the Admiral who
shrugged.

"It
seems Smithy has had a change of heart. Repairs to his kernel may have had
something to do with it." He shrugged. Logan coughed, hiding a smile with
his fist. Doc

looked
concerned but he waved it off.

"That
will put us behind on the fuel situation." Logan finally straightened with
a scowl. "How far will that effect other systems?" Enrique asked.

"It's
hard to say. Everything is dependent on power, and fuel. If something happens
to either then it starts a chain reaction down through the other departments."
Logan sighed. "I'll have to check the reserves carefully." He
shrugged. "It's not going to matter much if these pirates are real."
He looked over to the Admiral.

"They
are," he sighed softly. "I wish they weren't but they are real. I
haven't done much with the raw data beyond confirm they have multiple warships
and multiple support ships, including a mobile factory ship." He pulled up
the data and shunted a copy to the system.

"Accessing.
Here is an image." Smithy projected a holo of the planet and ships.
"Accessing database. Unknown ship types." Smithy wrapped each ship
with a circle.

"Enhance
on the nearest," Logan said studying the image. "Looks like a
freighter. Maybe a Clydesdale from her silhouette. They are, well were,
everywhere. Either it was grabbed and used to haul loot or it's a support ship.
Check the next." Smithy brought up another image. "Ah, that looks
like a system defense ship, most likely a corvette or gunship. Maybe a hunter
killer gunship or privateer. Definitely not military grade, but possibly from a
colonial defense force. Most likely a parasite craft, it looks a bit small to
have a hyper drive. Next." The next three ships were identified as similar
ships. One was a Demeter class agricultural ship. "Crap, light stuff and a
flying greenhouse." Logan shook his head.

"It's
not the size of the weapon that matters, it's how you use it." Irons said
smiling at the irony. Logan chuckled.

"Yes
sir. Even a bee can kill if it has a couple hundred friends nearby. and it's
not like we can do much to defend ourselves," Logan sighed. “That big boy
though is a different story.” He pointed to a large ship. “Destroyer at least.
General purpose by the look of her. Most likely a Denbie or an Anoth class or
some clone from a satellite yard.” He grimaced.

"How
are we with the shields?" Doc asked.

"Not
far along. We've got serious holes that could let anyone overload us. Besides,
the shields aren't going to help the other colonies much." He waved. Doc
grimaced and nodded.

"We've
got a couple pop guns that could be used against a shuttle if it comes in on
the right vector. They are little good for anything else." Logan shook his
head meaningfully. "No, if we want to survive, we've got to keep them away
from the station." He waved his hand through the holo and it vanished.

"But
how can we do that, I mean, we've got a couple tugs and shuttles... but against
that!" a comm. tech waved to the holo projector.

"Can't
run, can't hide. Gotta fight. On deadly ground, fight!" Logan shook his
head looking down. He looked up to see the others staring at him. He smiled to
the Admiral who nodded.

"Sun
Tzu's Art of War. We can't run, there isn't any way to do that. We can't hide,
the neutrinos from our power plants give us away. Besides, they know we're
here. So we have to fight. It simplifies things," Irons said to the group.
"We have to find or build what we need." He looked over to the holo.
The projector came back on, this time projecting an image of the Pyrax system.

The
Admiral looked around. "So where is Doc Thorby?" he asked an orderly.

"Ah,
she's ah, in with a group of clients," the orderly said. The doctor had
called him down for a face to face several hours after the meeting. Since the
parts for the tug and Firefly were still being produced he went willingly.

"Group?"
Irons asked.

"The
cat house is in for its weekly check up Admiral," Sprite informed him. He
gave a silent 'oh' of surprise as the orderly left.

"Well,
I guess an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," he shrugged
looking around.

"In
medicine or in life?" Sprite asked sounding amused.

"Bit
of both. I bet she's doing it to prevent unwanted pregnancy and unwanted
STDs."

"Well,
let it be said that you organics have your own ways of passing unwanted data
and viruses. Just what are you looking for?" she asked.

"Equipment
shed, tech support."

"You
don't want to wait in her office? What am I saying, of course you don't. You'd
rather get your hands dirty than catch up on paperwork. Down the hall two doors
on your right then make a left. Room on the end."

He
chuckled. "That's the spirit."

He
could hear a voice swearing softly and so he knocked. "Who is it? I mean
come in!" He smiled and opened the door.

"Ah,
Admiral right? I think you have the wrong room," the tech said looking up
to him.

"No,
I came here to lend a hand." He looked around the room. The room was
covered in shelves, each packed with broken equipment.

"You
came to help me?" the tech squeaked in surprise. He looked up in awe.

"Sure,
beats waiting in an office doing paperwork and staring at a wall." He
indicated the machine in front of the small tech. "MRI right?"

"Yes
sir. You ah, wouldn't happen to have a spare wave guide handy would you?"
the tech asked.

"No,
but you can make one with the replicator," the Admiral pointed to the one
in the corner.

"I
thought that was for food and drink," the tech said, brows knit.

"You
can do much more with it. Come on, I'll show you." He turned.

"Upload
some simple parts he needs for me will you?" he sub vocalized.

"Done.
Plastics of course," Sprite responded.

"Good
enough." The replicator lit and a part began to form. "This is
actually a series four G multipurpose replicator. It can replicate small parts
for your equipment or a cup of coffee." He looked down to see the barrels
of raw material and hoses hooked to the replicator.

"Your
predecessor knew, you've got a plastic polymer right here." He tapped one
of the barrels. The part was almost finished.

"What
is that?" The tech asked. "Oh spirit of space! Is that a cable for a
paddle??" Irons nodded. "Looks that way."

"I
thought you were making a wave guide," he said.

"That's
next."

He
walked the tech through the parts menu, replicating some of the smaller easier
parts. The tech happily started to put them in bins. The Admiral smiled and
went to work on a couple of the more complicated pieces of equipment.

"Oh
my god!" The tech stared at him. Proteus had morphed his arm to repair a
dermal regenerator. "I'd heard but never thought I'd see it for
myself!" The tech looked awed. "Does it hurt?" he asked concerned.
The Admiral shook his head. "How do you know how to fix it?"

"The
firmware has a basic blueprint and manual. If that is down I can access your
WI-FI link." He pointed to the ceiling. "And get the information from
the central database." The tech nodded.

"Can
I get one of those?" he asked shyly. The Admiral chuckled.

"No,
the Doc isn't quite up to this level. Yet." He smiled. He sensed a
presence in the open doorway. He turned.

"Hi
Casey, come to lend a hand?" the tech asked.

"Sure,
why not?" she smiled. "How you hangin' Harry?"

"Oh
one still lower than the other." He shrugged then smiled as she rolled her
eyes. "The Admiral is showing me how to make parts with the
replicator."

He
pulled the paddle cable out and looked it over. The replicator began to glow
again. "It needs old parts. If you have some beyond repair, I can set it
to recycle them or repair them," the Admiral said.

"Good
enough," Harry nodded in approval. They could hear a babble of voices in
the hall.

"Looks
like the circus is coming," Casey growled. Harry lunged to the door.
"Lech," she smacked him on the arm.

He
grinned. "Doesn't hurt to look Casey."

"It
might when I get through with you," she growled softly. “That's all you'd
better do.” The Admiral chuckled. It seems life was getting interesting for the
two of them.

"So
what do we have here? The Admiral? Found a broom closet to play in?" A
neochimp stopped and smiled at them. She was wearing a toga and bangles on each
wrist.

"Now
now Shirley, he's not your type." A woman came up swinging her hips. She
was dressed in a tight leather bikini costume and had some outrageous make up
on. "I'm Jasmine," she smiled. The Admiral nodded to her politely.

"She's
a descendant of a genie Admiral. Elf and cat mods at a guess," Sprite
said.

"Thanks
for stating the obvious," he sub vocalized.

"Come
on, move along," Thorby called.

"Which?"
Jasmine smiled, looking over her shoulder. Doc Thorby sighed as she came into
view.

"Either
or, just not here," she replied waving her hands.