Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (52 page)

Irons
looked at the boys. "Enjoy." He waved. They nodded grimly.

"Think
they'll be okay?" Sprite asked.

"Well,
they're sufficiently motivated. And they are finally taking her
seriously," Irons replied watching the plot. All three of them were
shaking down quickly. Harris and Dan had separated and were circling
Mayweather's cruiser. Mayweather seemed to be struggling with her controls.
Harris's ship pitched down.

"Looks
like they have her in a pincer. He's trying to pin her against the gas
gian,." Firefly observed.

"Think
it will work?" Irons asked.

"I
doubt it Admiral," Janice replied. He looked over to her. "She's not
as mixed up as she is making out," she grinned. He turned to the plot.

"What
is she..." His eyes narrowed as he recognized her random movements for
something more. "There is a pattern there."

"Exactly.
It looks like random helm flutter, but she's never coming back to repeat
herself. Real randomness involves the occasional repeat," Sprite reported.
"Want to know what she's doing?" she asked.

Irons
chuckled. "Show me," he ordered. A sparkle of objects were
highlighted on the plot. A series of missiles were also highlighted. "She
left them there?" Irons asked.

"Right.
Powered down. When they come up it will be nasty... if she has her timing
right," Firefly observed.

"See?
She's sneaky," Janice said smugly, crossing her arms.

"Right."
Irons watched as Dan came in on her flank. "He's the beater, will she turn
the way they want?" he asked. She turned, but pitched up and away.
"Nope doesn't look like it. He's trying to cut her angle," Irons
shook his head. "Neither one has it. He should have come in above and
behind on her starboard flank. That would have driven her in the direction they
wanted."

They
watched as Mayweather's ship pitched up, then back down. Harris's ship tried to
compensate. They must be talking to each other. In the real world they would be
reduced to laser or tachyon pulse. Since the ships were about 2 AU apart and
moving at different speeds... He smiled.

"Are
they talking to each other?" Irons asked.

"Yes,"
Firefly responded.

"Let
us get some realism into this. Give them a real world time delay. Let’s see how
they react," he smiled nastily. He watched as Sprite brought up a window
of Harris. He started to sweat.

"I
assumed you wanted a time delay on their sensors and passive remotes so I added
that as well," Firefly reported. Irons chuckled. Dan started to swear
softly.

Mayweather's
ship pitched down, and then made a burn for the gas giant. She swung around a
moon and a sparkle of missiles sprang out. Some ripped into the moon, sending
chunks flying, other missiles pitched out, then back in and then shut down.

"Improvised
minefield. Nasty," Firefly nodded. "I used that trick a time or two
myself."

"Shush.
We're getting to the good part," Janice scolded. Irons chuckled.

Mayweather
had pitched down, then grabbed a nearby asteroid moon with her tractors and
pitched it up. "She's covering both the x and y planes, but if he cuts in
on the z?" Irons asked.

"Or
stays out. If he's smart he'll pick his own battlefield. He should know better
than to go in if she's courting battle," Firefly responded. "Oops,
doesn't look it. He's impatient. That will cost him." Firefly sounded
disappointed as Dan rushed in. He pitched up over the debris field and the missiles
seeded into the mix detonated when he got close. The debris scattered in all
directions.

"He's
blind but he dodged the rock," Firefly reported.

"Not
exactly," Irons smiled. The rock rotated and a mine attached to the back
caught sight of the ship and detonated. It flashed and his shields went down.

"Oh,
nasty," Irons chuckled as the gravity mine stripped away Dan's shields
while peppering him with rocks. "That did some damage."

"Woke
him up at least," Firefly agreed.

"Here
she comes," Janice said, sounding elated. The crowd had grown. Irons
watched as Mayweather turned and fired a broadside, then rolled and added a
second.

"Not
bright, that's flashy and over rated. Her missile tubes cycle time is only
twelve seconds," Firefly said. Irons grunted.

"Time
on target. He's toast." The first and second broadside boxed his ship then
hammered it into debris. "He's done," Firefly said.

"She
forgot Harris," Irons observed, nodding to the plot. The AI turned.
Harris's ship had arrived and was peppering her with fire.

"She's
out of missiles. He's not," Firefly observed. They passed one another and
Harris came around.

"She's
making a run, crap," Janice said softly as the mines Harris had dropped in
his wake suddenly sparkled. They went off in a wave slapping her shields down.
After a moment her ship was adrift.

"She's
dead," Janice said sadly.

"Not
exactly," Irons smiled. As Harris came close to administer the
coup de grâce.

      
Mayweather's ship ignited, pitching over and then straight at him. There was no
time to dodge as the ships hit each other.

"Didn't
expect that," Janice said rearing back.

"Neither
did Harris I bet," Irons chuckled.

"I
had you!" Harris said getting up. Mayweather got up and stretched.

"You
mean that was you?" she asked in disbelief. She looked over to the Admiral
who shrugged then looked back to Harris. "You mean you thought you had
me," she grinned. Harris growled. Dan looked a bit sheepish.

"She
got me, I didn't expect that," he shook his head. "Come on give over.
It was an unfair fight but she did a good job." Dan shrugged then held out
his hand to Mayweather. After a moment of studying it she accepted it.

"But
next time, it’s my turn," he said.

"Keep
dreaming," she replied, grinning again. Irons recognized the predator
grin. Harris nodded.

"Next
time. You're good, I'll give you that. Where did you learn all that?" he
asked.

"Weeell,
I don't mean to brag, but I did a lot of these sims when I was a kid. In fact
I've done the entire academy entrance exam sim pack." She shrugged then
looked over to the Admiral. “Which was why I recognized it and was able to
handle it. I am a bit rusty though.”

"Did
I pass Admiral?" she asked. The rest of the bridge turned to him
expectantly.

"Unorthodox
but effective. Non linear thinking. Definitely an out of the box thinker. She
plans ahead but is adaptive and flexible," Firefly said. Irons nodded.

"That
she is. You fell through with your first minefield and missile field. You
didn't try to reinforce failure but adapted. Way to improvise and think on your
feet though." He bowed to her. Her cheeks flushed.

"Okay,
you’re in first lieutenant. You've got the exec's position on whatever ship we
salvage. IF we can salvage her in time." He shrugged. Several people in
the room clapped and murmured appreciations.

"And
you’re up for implants. You three did good. Go get a couple hours sack time,
we're leaving soon," Irons waved.

He
watched as they left. "Remind me to give them a task force or convoy
escort sim, maybe a fleet exercise later." He looked over to Jesse who
blushed. "You ready as second chair?" he asked. Sergio was going to
be one of the first bridge crew to get implants. Janice was still recovering
from her surgery. She was still getting used to the implants and most were
locked down until she trained on them.

The
doctor had called off the other surgeries until she got her people better
organized, rested, and prepared. Hopefully she would have her act together by
the next shift.

She
nodded. "Seems simple enough," she said cautiously. Irons smiled.
"I'll just get some rest, just in case." She rushed off. Irons
chuckled.

Irons
was studying a report in the wardroom when Harris, Dan, and Mayweather trooped
in the next morning.

"Feeling
better?" he asked setting the tablet down. He didn't need it, he could
access the data through his implants, but sometimes he preferred an old school
method. Much to Sprite's ire and amusement.

"A
little." Harris stretched and went over to order coffee. He handed a cup
to each. Mayweather took a sip then grimaced and went over to get cream and sugar.

"She's
a latte kind of person." Irons said as he watched Harris watching
Mayweather strut to the food replicator.

"My
kind of woman," Harris sighed under his breath then blushed.

"Admiral,
we were wondering, how come we had our communications problems?" he looked
over to Dan who nodded. The Admiral raised an eyebrow as he fingered his temple
and chin.

"You're
telling me you don't know?" he asked patiently. Dan flushed. Mayweather
smiled as she sat down.

“I
know, they were too far apart right?" she looked over to the Admiral who
nodded.

"That's
exactly right. See, you two have a lot of sim time, but in the real world you
can't coordinate two divergent forces like that. Not at that distance. At least
not as easily as you think," he shrugged. Dan nodded.

"Time
lag. I get it. That's why I was getting those orders near the end," he
grimaced then looked to Harris. Harris frowned.

"But
I thought we had real time broadcast?" he asked. Irons shook his head.

"No,
oh, you can talk with a tachyon beam, or set some Morse code thing up with
neutrinos or grav pulses, but they all have a limited range. You two went too
far apart, about twelve light hours apart. That means it takes a time to get
information back and forth even with the compression ratio built into the sim."

"Which
invited defeat in detail," Harris sighed sitting down into his chair at
last.

"Right.
I get it now."

Irons
gave Mayweather a look. "Though that didn't get you off the hook either.
You fired off all your missiles and mines."

She
flushed. "Did you have a plan to lure Harris to them?" Irons asked
patiently. She nodded then met his gaze. "Didn't work did it?" he
asked. She shook her head.

"That's
what happens when you don't have a backup plan. Oh, you did, I saw that with
the missile cluster you left, but you didn't set up a contingency if neither
were available. And you fired off your missiles at Dan, so you had to let
Harris into beam range to fight him."

Harris
nodded. "If I'd known she was out of missiles I would have stood off and
pounded her outside her range." He rubbed his jaw as Irons nodded.

"Right.
You should have picked up on that fact when you came barreling in and she
didn't fire anything at you." Harris looked away and mumbled an
affirmative.

"Right,
Firefly has another series of exercises for you. Since we're underway, you
three can take CIC and the backup command deck on deck three," he waved.
The trio got up.

"Wait,
we're underway already?" Mayweather asked looking stunned.

"What?
You wanted an engraved invite? This is the big leagues, we only announce things
when we need to. The enemy doesn't wait on ceremony." Harris smiled.

"Right,
now git." Irons waved them off. They went.

"Do
you want a coordination exercise as well Admiral?" Firefly asked.

"Yeah,
I'll take the op force in that one. See how they do" He shrugged.
"It's been a few centuries so I may be rusty," he smiled.

"Maybe,
but we'll see," Firefly responded. Irons picked up the tablet once more.

"Page
me twenty minutes prior. Now I get to go back to the joyous reading of the
hydroponics inventory," he sighed. Sprite chuckled.

Harris
turned, strutting back and forth down the hallway. He turned again and felt the
sword scabbard at his hip bump into an exposed pipe and get caught. He muttered
a curse as he pulled the tip out. "How do you ever get used to wearing
this," he muttered. He heard a chuckle and spun.

Mayweather
was there behind him, looking amused. Janice stood beside her. The women were
dressed in undress uniforms. "A little overdressed are we?" Janice asked.
Both women had their hair up in pony tails. They were in basic officer
coveralls and turtlenecks.

"I'll
say," Dan said frowning as he came up behind Mayweather. He sighed.
"Harris, just because it says mess dress doesn't mean you have to wear it
when you eat all the time," he shook his head. Mayweather covered her
mouth, eyes glittering.

"Oh
funny ha ha," Harris muttered. Janice giggled as his sword got caught
again. The door opened and a steward came out. "The wardroom is ready now.
Doctor Standish and the exec are running late. Commander Shelby will be here
momentarily," she nodded to Shelby who came up behind Dan at a trot.