Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (44 page)

The
Admiral smiled. "Make it so. See if you can reroute controls from the
drive room to main engineering or the bridge so we can concentrate our life
support." She nodded.

"Jimmy
give me a hand?" she waved. He looked up from the bulkhead he had been
sitting against and nodded. Wearily he pushed off then floated behind her. They
felt a bump.

"Oops,"
Firefly said.

"What
the hell was that?" Wally looked up suddenly wary.

"Captain
Gutierrez slipped when I laid a tractor on his ship to dock. He's all right but
his ship has sustained superficial damage. As has the boat bay," Firefly
reported.

"Right.
He's probably turning the air blue as well. I better get down there then."
The Admiral sighed shaking his head. "Carry on Wally, I'll see about
relieving you in a bit." He waved and floated out of the compartment.

"What
the hell happened? I was all set to dock and then something jerked my ship like
a rag doll!" Gutierrez was holding a blood soaked rag to his head. Blood
swirled around his head like a halo, with a trail to his command pod. Shelby
was trying to get him to hold still but he was thrashing about. "I'm all
right, just have a headache and this blasted cut. I want some answers." He
glared at the Admiral.

The
Admiral exhaled, watching his breath cloud. "It was my fault Captain. I
should have notified you that I was initializing the docking tractors,"
Firefly interrupted sounding subdued.

"Was
that the ship?" Gutierrez looked up, anger forgotten. "You mean she's
alive?" He turned to the Admiral who smiled.

"That
is correct Captain. Once miss Shelby gets your head wound under control I'd
like you to take the helm with Mr. Valdez," Firefly replied smoothly.

Gutierrez's
unshaven scared face lit in a grin. "You don't say. Well I'll be. I'll be
right up!" He tried to push off the crate he was sitting on but Shelby
pushed him back down.

"Hold
still, this will sting." She sprayed the wound with biofoam. He winced
then reached to touch the cut. She caught his hand. "Not just yet. Touch
the foam and your fingers will be stuck to your head," she said amused. He
jerked his hand back and then balled it into a fist. "Sergio is on the
bridge. I sent him up a minute ago," she looked up to the Admiral who
nodded. "All right, it's set. I'll clean this mess up Captain, you can
go." Shelby took the blood soaked rag from him and waved him on. He
smiled.

"Why
thank you miss," he chuckled and moved off. Shelby busied herself with
cleaning up the mess with a portable vacuum. "I always hated zero g,"
she muttered. The Admiral chuckled. Slushy globules of blood and spittle were
spreading out slowly.

"It
can be a pain at times. Here let me get that one." The Admiral pulled a
micro vacuum off the wall, plugged it into his right arm to power it then
started sucking globs out of the air. "At least the cold is helping
us," Shelby said after a few moments.

"Yes
and no, it's great for keeping people focused, but it is hard on equipment and
is a problem for morale over time." The Admiral finished his side then
racked the vacuum. Shelby finished the command pod then came out.

"What?
Oh, yeah, being in cold for a long time can be a problem. I mean, dad keeps the
power rooms cold and dark to keep people focused, but it gets on your nerves
after a while. I can't stand more than a few hours, after two all I can think
about is getting somewhere warm sometimes." She shook her head looking
bemused.

He
chuckled. "Yeah, like I said, it has its downside. Let me give you a hand
with the hoses and then we can check on the bridge." He helped her hook up
the power lines and fuel hoses then together they floated out into the
corridor.

"Admiral,
why don't I go give Wally a break. He needs it. Jimmy, why don't you check on
Angie. Check in when you get to her. If you run into Mick tell him to focus on
areas we're in and lock down any leaks in areas we're not." Jimmy waved as
he turned and floated off. "Admiral." Shelby nodded politely and took
off. He nodded.

"She's
improving steadily. She's developing initiative and her leadership is
outstanding," Sprite sounded amused.

"Think
she'd make a good officer? Possibly the XO?" the AI asked.

"Possible.
If she is willing to sign on in that capacity. She did say she wanted to join
though." He made his way to the bridge. “I'd take her on as a chief
engineer though, let her father take the XO slot.” He waved off the obvious
protest. “Yeah yeah, I know, no families on a ship.” He shrugged. “We have to
roll with what we got. He's the only one other than us with experience.” Firefly
didn't respond.

He
was amused when he entered the main bridge to see the captain in the captain's
chair and Sergio at the helm. Holos and LCDs were arrayed around each of them.
The room was warm, much warmer than the rest of the ship. Condensation was
beginning to form and drip from the bulkheads. The life support blowers were on
full, trying to suck the moisture out for recycling most likely.

"I'm
getting another voltage spike in a port drive pod," Sergio reported.
"Which one?" the Admiral asked.

"Beta
ring, two B I think," Sergio looked confused.

"I
don't, Admiral, these controls are insane!" Gutierrez motioned to the
holo. Controls flashed. "Damn it! What'd I do wrong this time!"
Gutierrez sounded annoyed and dismayed.

"Firefly
reduce controls to minimum. Let's give them time to adapt." He watched as
the controls shifted to the bare minimum.

"There,
that's more like it." Gutierrez nodded. "Now, show me this voltage
spike." He tried to pull it up then started to growl. Firefly fed him the
data. "Oh. It looks like the governor's are out. Power it down Sergio,
it's shot." He shook his head.

"Right,
powering that pod down. You think it's software or hardware?" Sergio
asked.

"Most
likely hardware," Firefly replied. "I am getting the same reading
remember,

and
there is little wrong with my software." Firefly sounded miffed. The
Admiral nodded. Sergio's shoulders hunched defensively. "Don't be afraid
to speak up if you don't know something or have a problem Sergio, it could be
critical." He patted the young man on the shoulder. “But try to balance
that impulse with the situation.” Sergio nodded.

 "Okay..."
he gushed. "I'll try the other port pods starting with the alpha ring.
Angie said the port side took the most damage, so that may be why there are so
many problems there." He shook his head.

"She'll
just spin in circles till we get her evened out," Gutierrez growled.

"Not
necessarily, once we get some pods up Firefly can shape a course to Anvil using
them in sequence... and we can still work on repairs on the way," Irons
replied studying the helm engineering report.

"Right,
starboard alpha ring is up, I'm not getting any problems, Firefly? Can you
check me?" Sergio asked.

"It
looks good Mr. Valdez. I've checked my port side alpha ring. There are a lot of
leaks in the ring. I don't recommend using it until we can get it sorted
out." Firefly projected the damage report on the overhead holo emitters.
The trio of human looked at the report then Gutierrez shrugged.

"Someone
else's problem, I'm just here so I can tell my grand kids someday." He
smiled at the Admiral who chuckled softly. "Well you have to admit,
something like this only comes along once in a lifetime! he waved. The Admiral
smiled.

"Well,
we'll see about that. I'm here to rebuild the Federation." He nodded to
Firefly's crest. Sergio froze.

"You
mean..." his voice rose in wonder.

"Once
we get back to the station I will be taking volunteers to induct into the
Federation Navy." He nodded to Sergio. Gutierrez rubbed his whiskered
chin.

"Seems
you might have your work cut out for you then." He sat back. "If'n I
was a might younger and less set in my ways I'd take you up on it," he
said softly.

"Where
do I sign?" Shelby asked from the open door. The Admiral smiled.

"No
seriously Admiral, I want in." She locked eyes with him. He nodded slowly.
"Even if it means an officer's commission?" He raised his eyebrow to
her.

"I
was thinking chief engine wiper or something... but officer?" she asked in
disbelief, clearly stunned.

He
chuckled. "Why not? You're one on Anvil, so I don't see a problem."
He shrugged.

She
nodded. "Maybe. But you're right, we've got to get there first." She
nodded her chin to Sergio. "Sergio we're getting a lot of reports of leaks
in the port alpha drive ring, so I don't think you should try it anymore. We're
bleeding plasma and it's going to suck our reserves fast." Sergio nodded.

"We've
already cut power to that half of the ring. Angie is checking the stern drive
pods and the primary drive nacelles now. We've got two of the four fusion
engines up but I didn't want to use them with our limited fuel supply." He
looked questioningly at the Admiral who shook his head.

"Wedge
first, plasma drive only with the exhaust." He turned back to the plot.

"I
have a course for the station plotted with the working drive pods we have
currently checked. I can adjust course and speed as we bring others
online," Firefly reported. Sergio looked at his holo emitter and nodded.

"Looks
good. Can you change it a little here and here?" he pointed.

"There
is a rock there," Firefly warned.

"I
know, but it's a carbonaceous chondrite. A big one. If we can snag some of
it..." Sergio looked up and over to the Admiral. The Admiral nodded.

"Good
idea. Make it so." He sat in at the communications station. "Firefly,
all stations." He tapped the controls.

"All
stations channel open," Firefly replied.

"All
right folks we're getting underway. Brace for maneuvering in two minutes. Lock
down anything in danger of causing damage. I am not sure how our inertials will
handle this." He cut the channel.

"Inertial
dampening is tied to our gravity plating Admiral. I am initializing critical
areas now," Firefly reported. Shelby sat at the engineering station and
checked her controls. She quickly reconfigured them to a simpler layout, then
customized it to her own liking.

"She's
quick and smart," Firefly commented over the private link to the Admiral.
He turned to see Shelby, then back to his own station.

"That
she is." He tapped the controls and reconfigured them for sensors.
"Maneuvering in five, four, three, two, one..." Sergio counted down.
They felt the gravity plates kick on just as the drives powered up. They were
pressed into their seats for a few moments before it eased.

"Inertial
compensation achieved. You may now move freely about the ship," Shelby
reported with a smile. "Next time Sergio, let me finish booting the
inertials before you go off half cocked," she warned. The young man
blushed but gave a curt nod. She studied him for a moment then locked eyes with
the Admiral, then turned back to her station.

"Course
for asteroid set. ETA two hours, twenty two minutes, thirty nine seconds,"
Firefly reported.

"Captain
you have the con, I'm going to see about getting what we can from the
collectors." The Admiral climbed out of his chair and stretched.

"Quarter
grav is the best we can do," Shelby looked up. He nodded. He could feel
some inertial changes from the drive, the uneven pods were throwing the
inertial systems a complex set of calculations to work out... They were only
partially succeeding. Hopefully they would be able to fix it soon.

"This
is Angie, Wally is going around with some food and drinks for everyone. I'm on
power room watch until someone relieves me. I don't see any problems. Jimmy is
checking the drives but he's not really a drive guy. Admiral can you check him
please?" Angie asked from the overhead. "Dieter and O'Reilly are busy
trying to get the compensator's on deck eleven sorted out,"  she
continued. He grimaced.

"I
was going to check the collectors, once I do that I'll lend him a hand. We've
got a few hours before our first stop," he replied.

"Admiral,
how are we going to get this bad boy on board? We've vampired the tender and
launch remember?" Shelby asked.

“Are
you kidding me? That thing is bigger then the ship!” Sergio said staring at the
view screen. He was still in a little awe over how fast they had come here.
They'd traveled half the distance Betsy had done in less then sixteen hours. On
minimum impulse power. If they got the wedge and drives fueled and online...
the mind boggled at that. He wasn't sure if he was excited or terrified.

"This
was your idea remember?” the Admiral chuckled. Obviously the kid had
underestimated the mass even though he'd been on the money about the location.
He shook his head. “Oh ye of little faith. It's a carbonaceous chondrite which
means a lot of water, oxides, silicates, and other materials all locked up in
it's chemical matrix remember? It's relatively soft and not very dense.  Just
watch." He motioned to the screen. "Ready Firefly?" he asked.