Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (47 page)

The
Admiral grimaced. “You mean slaves. Great.” He grimaced at the idea of
hostages. “All right, I've got a couple more things here then I'll be aboard.
I'm not comfortable running off assumptions, but maybe we can split the
difference.” He looked up to see Enrique approaching. “We'll try to refine this
later.” He nodded to the exec.

"I
have Lieutenant Commander Logan trying to reach you Admiral," Sprite
informed him as he passed a group of people on his way back to Firefly. Several
waved, many smiled.

"Open
a channel. Shelby?" He waited. Shelby knew better then to contact him with
anything trivial. She'd  been up to her elbows in the repairs ever since they
docked eight hours ago. He was curious if he'd have to get onto her about
getting some down time.

"Um,
yes Admiral, I ah, was wondering if you could help me with a recruiting
mission. I have someone in mind for tactical but he is being reluctant,"
Shelby finished in a gush. He paused.

"Tactical?"
he asked.

"See
he's a bit of a gamer and loves war games. He used to drive dad up the wall for
war stories. He's even gotten into trouble for hacking the mainframe to run
sims of famous battles," Shelby replied. Irons chuckled.

"Confirmed
Admiral. I believe you mean Mr. Dwight Harris?" Sprite asked. "Yeah,
uh, who is this? Oh wait you're the AI. Right. Yeah, Harris. He's in his
thirty's. Computer programming expert," Shelby finished.

"I'd
think you'd want him in cybernetics then," Irons said thoughtfully as he
entered the lift.

"No
he's a natural tactician too. Dad and I played against him a few times,"
Shelby finished.

"All
right, I'll meet you at his quarters," Irons replied.

"Thanks
Admiral. He can be a pain, but when he sees you, he'll fall all over himself to
join up," Shelby finished. Irons chuckled.

"All
right." He closed the channel and brooded for a moment.

"I
have the directions to his compartment. Rerouting the lift now," Sprite
informed him. He grunted. "I've accessed his public files Admiral, he is
good. Better than trying to train someone up with no experience," Sprite
said. He nodded, fist under his chin.

"I'm
not comfortable with the whole hero worship thing," Irons replied then
looked over to the map. The lift car had been restored to almost factory new.
They were really getting a handle on the station maintenance.

"I
suggest you use it to your advantage Admiral. Use every weapon you've got. By
the way, we're here. Down the corridor third left turn, then two more rights
and his apartment is on the left," the AI informed him as the doors
opened. He followed the directions and slowed when he heard an upraised voice.

"Lieutenant
Commander Shelby," Sprite informed him. As he got closer he recognized it.
He made the final turn to see her in a navy coverall talking to someone in a
doorway. From the look of things he didn't have the door open very far. He
looked down to see Shelby's foot in the door.

"Look
Harris, I just want you to talk with him," she turned and caught sight of
the Admiral. "Admiral!" she smiled.

"Admiral?
You mean the Port Admiral?" Harris started to retreat.

"No,
my name is Irons. Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons," Irons rumbled. The door
swung open. A man in his late thirty's stood there slack jawed and eyes wide.

"You're
really him. Goddess of space you’re the real deal. I recognize you from your
biography holo," he whispered. Irons chuckled.

"Last
time I checked." A door opened nearby and an angry tenant leaned out.
"What the hell’s all the racket! I've got a graveyard in two hours can't
you people talk somewhere else?" the balding man snarled. Harris hastily
stepped back.

"Come
in, come in. Oh jeez." He rushed around picking up dirty underwear and
food containers. He stuffed them in the sink then turned. Irons had followed
Shelby into the room and turned. The room was filled with holos and posters of
the Xeno war and other wars predating it. Holograms of ships and battles, as
well as tattered recruiting posters. He shook his head. In the corner a
holographic display was frozen with a battle in place.

"That
looks familiar. Dugar?" he asked studying the plot.

"You
know your history. What am I saying you should, you were there," Harris
shook his head and went over to the plot.

"I
was a shave tail second Lieutenant at the time," Irons smiled.
"Shelby says she'd like you to accept a commission." He turned to
Harris. Harris froze.

"A
commission?" he asked studying both of them. Shelby tapped her rank insignia
on her collar.

"I
thought you were wearing that for fun or our usual game club meeting." He
turned and waved to his closet not seeing her color slightly. Irons turned and
noted several uniforms inside. "I host a club here, we dress up and run
battle sims," Harris shrugged.

"Right.
When was the last time you ran into Lasko and the others?" Shelby snorted.
"Lasko jumped station a year ago. Caught a freighter berth," she
explained to Irons.

"Your
club could come in handy. IF they have the mental ability and are
willing," Irons smiled.

"What
did she mean by Firefly? Did you really salvage her?" Harris asked
suddenly.

Shelby
sighed rolling her eyes. "You really need to get away from the sims
sometime Harris. Firefly docked over six hours ago!" She shook her head.

"She's
here?!" Harris was practically jumping for joy. "I've been running
sims on what we could do but the presence of a modern warship and the Admiral
increases our chances by several orders of magnitude!" He rushed around
knocking things to the floor before he found a flash stick and plugged it into
the holo.

A
sim of the system came up, then the enemy fleet. Irons noted it was pretty
close to what they had noted in the yacht footage. "How did you get
that?" he asked pointing. Shelby's arms were crossed. She tapped her foot.
Harris didn't look up, he was tapping furiously at his keypads.

"I
wish I had cybernetics like you," he muttered. "Um, I got it from a
friend," he said.

"You
mean you hacked it? Or traded for it?" Shelby asked starting to sound
ominous. Harris's shoulders hunched.

"Don't
be like that. Honest Shell, I'm trying to help," Harris muttered.

Irons
nodded. "No harm no foul. No harm done as long as it doesn't hit the
central net. We don't need a panic." He watched as Harris inputted Firefly
and then ran a head to head sim.

 "No,
won’t work, gotta be sneaky..." Harris muttered.

"Yes,
We're planning on a mine field. I've got them working on it now," Irons
said. He came over and jacked in. Harris sat back stunned as he stared at the
Admiral's right arm.

"Is
that standard issue?" he asked pointing. Irons chuckled.

"No
not exactly. I volunteered." He uploaded a sim he had run then ran it.

"Damn,
okay, so you want to snipe the small ships so they don't swarm you after they
run into a minefield. Could work." Harris rubbed his chin, arms crossed.
He looked up to Irons. "I'd love to see  it." He smiled at Shelby.

"That's
what I've been trying to ask you; you dummy!" Shelby said finally losing
her cool. "I've been trying to tell you that you can be on the
bridge!" she waved. Harris stared.

"How
does a commission as a first Lieutenant and head of tactical sound?" Irons
asked.

Harris
gulped. "Me?" He stared stunned. "You don't have cybernetics
though..."

Irons
smile stopped him. "You do?" Harris asked stunned once more.

"Sign
up and you'll be one of the first in line. Bridge and command officers are
first." Irons looked over to Shelby. "They need to get used to their
implants fast," he explained half apologetically.

She
nodded. "I get it. Good idea." She nodded as she turned to Harris.
"So? What do you say?" she demanded.

Harris
nodded. "I'm in." He held up his hand. "I pledge allegiance to
the galactic Federation for which it stands one government over all...."
Irons waved him off.

"Later.
We're doing a mass ceremony later. I want you to get with your club and anyone
else you think could handle being on a ship and handle Navy discipline. Then
pack your gear and sims and report to the Firefly." He held out his hand.
Harris shook it enthusiastically.

"You
can count on me Admiral!" Harris smile was fit to split his face.

"Good.
you've got an hour to report aboard, then twenty minutes to get your stuff to
your room and then report to the bridge. I've uploaded my sims and yours to
Firefly, I want you to update them and familiarize yourself with the ships
systems. Firefly is a Resolution class. I see from the poster on the ceiling
over your bunk that you know the basic details of her class. We'll be updating
the munitions as time permits," he waved.

"Grapeshot
and KEWs?" Harris asked getting up and pulling out duffels and then shook
them open.

The
admiral's appreciation of the young man went up a notch. "So far. Firefly
used most of her expendable munitions and platforms before coming here. We're
going to make more but it takes time," Irons shrugged.

“Ask
me for anything but time. I gotcha," Harris said not looking up as he
started packing. He was shoving things into the duffels.

"Right,
We'll leave you to it," Irons said. He nodded as Harris straightened and
saluted. "Save it for later. We've got work to do," Irons smiled.
"I've got a few more stops let me know if you've got a problem recruiting
anyone," he pointed to the comm as Harris opened his mouth. "I uploaded
my web address already," he smiled and followed Shelby out.

"Well,
that went well, I've got a recruit in mind for the guards. Former guard
actually," she said pointing.

"You
mean marines. Marine detachment. Good. If we board any ships we will need
them." Irons followed her.

“He's
down the hall here," she pointed. A door opened and a head stuck out.

"Shelby?"
A body followed. He was clean shaven and well built. His silvering hair was
close cropped. "Admiral Irons? Harris just called. I assume you want me
for the marines?" the man asked. He was dressed in a coverall but they
could see his muscles rippling under it. "I'm in." Irons nodded.

"Right,
well, I'm giving you a commission as a marine senior captain. Since we can't
have more then one captain on a ship, that means your being frocked to Major.
Find me some more bodies to fill in your ranks. Solid and capable, but with a
clean history if possible. I want a TOE as soon as you get settled." He
was testing the man and he was pleasantly surprised when the man nodded.

"Aye
aye Admiral. I've got a few people in mind. The exec will be annoyed at my
poaching though," he gave Irons a look but Irons smiled.

"You've
got priority Major, get it done," he nodded.

"Aye
aye sir!"  The man saluted and withdrew into his quarters.

"Right.
Now who was that?" Irons asked following Shelby.

"Jersey
Forth sir. He was a guard captain on his home world. His lord went to war with
another local lord and lost badly. He didn't like the new boss and went to the
port. He was picked up and wound up here. He's good sir, he's a bit of a marine
nut though," She shrugged. He chuckled.

"Whatever
works," he nodded.

"Dad
gave me a sit rep, Firefly shot him the plans to common parts when we were en
route, he's already shifted production from grapeshot and KEWs. He said he
can't do the classified stuff without you though," she said looking up to
him.

"Right,
that's my next stop."

She
nodded. "He said we can't make weapons without an officer's
implants?" she looked confused. "I know about the replicator lockout.."

He
nodded. "It ties into it. It's to keep terrorists from getting anything
military grade. It also helped to stall warlords from building up a supply. We
still had problems though. There was always someone who was corrupt enough to
run a bypass," he sighed. "It will be a headache but we'll get around
it. I have to be on station to authorize milspec materials, so I'm going to
have Firefly do the warheads and classified tech then mate them up with parts
made here." She nodded in understanding.

He
shrugged. "Firefly's shops are better suited anyway." He nodded to a
pair of techs hunched over a piece of equipment then moved on.

"Right
then. I'll check in with the work crew. I've got an EVA crew on the hull now
doing another survey. I'll upload the specs and give you a sitrep at the next
meeting." Shelby split off from him and waved. He chuckled.

 "She's
long on military deportment," Defender grumped. He clucked his tongue.

"All
things come with time and patience." He nodded to another group of techs
maneuvering a pallet of supplies.

"Clear
a hole!" a tech called looking at him. He flattened himself against a
bulkhead and waited for them to pass. "Oh sorry Admiral. Didn't know it
was you," the tech said as they passed.