Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (69 page)

“Here
we go again,” Thornby sighed.

“Yes.
I am Admiral John Henry Irons. Fleet Admiral. Federation Navy,” he said coming
to attention. He looked around.

“You're
really doing it. Really rebuilding the military,” a voice said.

“Yes,”
Irons nodded.

“Hurrah,”
the matron said. She chirred. Her lips parted. “Thank you,” she said softly.
All eyes turned to her. “For saving us. Twice. And my... son.”

“He
was in the wrong,” Irons said.

“I
know that. He was... unbalanced,” she sighed. “Mad with fear and power. He had
to be stopped. You stopped him before he destroyed the pride.”

“You
can put it that way I suppose,” Sprite said to him alone.

“I
forgive you. For myself and for the pride. There is no blood debt, nor feud
between us.” She reached out a hand. He came over and took it with his
artificial arm. His pain receptors told him her claws were digging in.

“Ah...”

“For
we are tied together,” she said. She sniffed her paw after a moment. “No
blood?”

He
chuckled. “That was my artificial arm,” he said. She chirred a query. “I am a
cyborg. Part man, part machine.” He held  up his left arm then rolled up his
sleeve. “This one is the real one.”

She
did the bloodletting ceremony once more. “Let none of the pride shed your blood
ever again. You are now our leader,” she said.

A
few of the females chuffed in protest. Irons cleared his throat. “Thank you for
the honor but I'm a Federation Officer. I can't do that.”

“She
knows,” a female said, eyes narrowed. “You are trying to stop the kits from
fighting for the Alpha slot,” she shook her head. “Mother it cannot be done.”

“I
can try,” she huffed.

Irons
looked at his arm as the nanites healed it.

Those
nearest stared at him as the wounds dried up, closed, then faded until they
were gone. “What.. how..”

“Cybernetics.
Like I said. If you’re in the military or in a civilian job that requires
implants you'll get them,” he turned to the group. “Also you'll get anti-aging
and full medical care. Think about it.”

“I
think mother, that the clans will need to be called. Our pride is going to
change. All prides and packs will,” a female said. Irons looked at her. She had
scars on the right side of her face and muzzle. It took him a moment to realize
they were actually poorly made tattoos. He looked around. Some of the other;
fitter females had them as well.

“Why
do you need a male to lead you?” Irons asked. “I... never mind. Not my
business.” He shook his head as they glared.

“I'll
do it!” the liger male said holding up his paw. The females chuffed in
laughter. He hunched his shoulders.

Even
Irons smiled at that.

“Can
I get passage to Gaston?” the cheetah female asked plaintively.

“Passage
as a guest or a working passage?” Irons asked. “Destiny is heading to Agnosta,
then beyond.”

“Agnosta
then.”

“You
can apply for a passage if that is your wish. If there is a slot available I'll
see if you can get it,” Irons said.

“My
ancestors were wardens. Ah... rangers.”

He
nodded. “Right. An honorable job. Protecting the environment. I don't know if
they have or need them on the other colonies, but they may need hunters. And of
course soldiers,” he shrugged as the females chattered a little.

“I
am a medic. Or at least I wish to be one,” she glanced at the doctor.

“I
can give you some training material to go over,” the doctor said with a nod.

“Perhaps
that is what we should all do then. Go to a world. If only my eyes could see
the sun...” the matron sighed touching her face and muzzle.

“They
will I said. Give me a break,” Thornby said disgusted. “You've got cataracts.
It's a simple fix. I've called the front desk. Next shift I or one of the other
doctors will operate. Or you can apply for Navy duty and Dr. Standish can do
the work.”

“Indeed?”
the female asked. “You would do this? Even for one...”

“One
what?” Thornby asked. “You obviously have great influence on the others, and
still have wisdom to impart to the kits. I'll even see about the teeth if we
have time.” The matron's breath was foul.

“I
always did love the sweets,” the matron chuffed a laugh. “All right doctor.”
She nodded blindly.

“So...
now everyone wants to go?” the cheetah asked suddenly looking a little
crestfallen.

“Seems
that way,” Irons said chuckling. “Get some rest and get that body healed. If
any of you have the energy, you can access the station's college computers to
learn.” He looked over to the AI standing quietly in the center of the room.

“Access
granted Admiral,” he nodded.

“Thanks.”
He nodded to the group. “Carry on.” He made his exit quickly.

“What
was that whole leader thing about?” Sprite asked.

“Pack
leader. Social dynamics. I remember something about it in anthropology studies
and a course on interaction with herd and predator pack mentalities. I think
the old biddy was either setting me up to get a knife in my back, or trying to
get her people to rally around a strong leader who will drag them back into
society.”

“One
of the others mentioned her trying to head off the kits fighting for the alpha
slot. Talk about feral,” Sprite sniffed. “You organics.” She shook her virtual
head.

“Ahem.
You digitals aren't all that hot either when it comes to feral's and being
territorial remember?”

“Point
taken Admiral,” Sprite replied.

"We've
got ships out picking up delegates from each colony. They will be arriving at
Anvil shortly," Enrique said looked amused. Irons grimaced. Now that the
pirate crisis was behind them he was moving them along to a Constitutional
convention so they could reform the Pyrax central government. They'd been setting
it up over the past ten days now that the system was settling down and things
were returning to normal. He didn't want the status quo though, he wanted
change. Good change. Change for the better. It was time to get others on board
with that. Hence the convention.

"Who
did they pick?" he asked. Enrique looked at the list he had.

"A
few people who knew law, one judge, an arbitrator, a councilor, and a couple of
union and colony executive leaders. Most are second rankers, not the true
leaders." The exec shrugged.

"Right,
well, you’re the station commander, so you get to choose our delegates. Other
than me," Irons said as he smiled.

"Station
commander?" Enrique squeaked turning in surprise.

"I'm
the system governor remember? And ranking naval officer. At least until we get
a duly elected local government re-established. When elections are held I will
step aside for the winner," he smiled. “I've got enough hats to wear
without this one.” He waved to indicate the station. Besides, you and I both
know who's really running the show here. Time to make it formal.”

The
Exec's eyes widened then he took on a thoughtful look. "Right. Okay, I'll
see if I can get Judge Farley, he's a big Constitutional nut." Enrique
waved as he rushed out. Irons chuckled.

"Giving
up the reins of power so soon?" Sprite asked. Irons shrugged.

"Best
thing to do, get them sorted out and standing on their own. I have more
important things to focus on than playing politics," he grimaced. “It's
called delegation. They have to grow up sometime you know.” He looked over to
the crew handling Ops. “They'll do fine. I want to focus on the navy now. Get
it up and running. That's my baby and where my real talent lies anyway.”

"Sure
you do," Sprite said eying him. “But don't expect to be left out of politics
just because you want to be. It doesn't work that way Admiral, you and I both
know that.”

“Sprite...”
he said with heated exasperation.

“Shutting
up now sir.”

"How
is the prep for the Constitutional convention going?" Shelby asked as he
entered the bridge. He paused with a grimace then shrugged. Of course everyone
knew about it.

"Not
bad, like herding cats. About what I expected," he answered. She mirrored
his grimace.

"That
bad huh?" she covered a smile with her mug. "Better you than
me," she said. He shook a mock fist at her.

"How
goes repairs?" he asked studying the plot.

"Better
than expected. We've  made good on the damages from the battle right off as you
know. We're at eighty five percent and climbing. Firefly should be almost as
good as new... or at least as good as we can get her outside a dry dock in a
month." Shelby shrugged.

"Miss
engineering?" Irons asked. Shelby chuckled.

"A
little. Okay, a lot. But then again I'm starting to like the hot seat. I do
miss getting my hands dirty though." She patted her arm rest then set her
cup down in a cup holder. Irons chuckled as he sat on the edge of his couch.

"We've
got a naval conference set up for tomorrow, since you’re the ranking officer
available, you get to attend." He watched annoyance flitter across her
face before she blew out her cheeks in a disgusted grimace.

"Great,
more conferences," she shook her head. "Meetings are going to bore me
to death."

Irons
laughed. "Yeah, I know, I hate them too, they are almost as bad as
parties... and don't get me started on paperwork." He shrugged.

She
grimaced. "God, don't unleash that on us!" she shivered. Several
techs nearby laughed. Shelby looked around with a mock glower and then turned
it on the Admiral.

"So
what, pray tell is the subject of this conference?" she asked, eyebrow
raised.

He
smiled and took a cup from a nearby steward. "More hulls." He took a
sip.

"More
hulls?" she asked looking anything but surprised. They had four working
ships, with three more in various stages of salvage not including the pirate
ships. Now that the crisis had passed they were diving into complete rebuilds
of the new fleet. Every ship in the system was also being overhauled it seemed.
Irons nodded.

"The
battleship for one, a pair of wrecks out on the fringe as well. I'd like to get
out there with a team and tow some back. Also Angie has just about finished
repairs to the factory ship, she's setting up to repair the freighters we
caught." He waved. One of the Clydesdale's was a complete write off. Her
stern had been torn in half. They were salvaging her to use as a source of
parts and materials for the other surviving Clydesdales.

Hephaestus
had taken a great deal of work to set right. In fact she was still a work in
progress. Her crew were shaking down just as her AI was. Sprite had spent days
rebuilding her AI core once her hardware had been restored. There had been so
many Mickey Mouse hacks to it they had been forced to do a shut down and reboot
from scratch.

The
Yacht had been mothballed. They didn't have the crew to rebuild the ship with
such limited utility. At least for now. He had ideas to use her as a courier
down the road.

"How
many recruits did we catch from the slave pens?" she asked. He looked at
her. "Just curious," she shrugged.

"Not
many. Most went to the merchant wing or requested return to their home
worlds." He nodded to a nearby tech. She was focused on learning the
sensors with Firefly. “We've got enough to crew Destiny, the Zanzibar, and
Hephaestus though. The Demeter...” He shrugged. The ship had been taken apart
and its greenhouse modules sent to various colonies. The remaining frame was in
the growing mothball yard.

Shelby
followed his gaze then returned it to the Admiral. "Right, so we're
sending a freighter out to ship them home?" she asked. He nodded.

"Eventually.
Destiny most likely. She's one of the largest and one of the few in reasonably
good shape. We're going to make sure she's up to it first. Make as many repairs
as we can while looking for sabotage. Full overhaul if we can swing it."
He grimaced. She cocked her head at him then shrugged.

"Harris
wants a command," she said after a moment of silence. He grimaced.

"He's
not ready, lacks command experience," he murmured. He thumbed the privacy
controls. Firefly looked up then went back to teaching the new recruit.

"He
wants one of the corvettes. Or Firefly," she shrugged. "Mayweather
wants an upgrade too." She grimaced. "You've got to hand it to her,
she did a good job on Maya."

Irons
nodded. "That she did. She doesn't have seniority for Firefly, that's your
dad." He shook his head. "Your dad or you. The two of you out rank
the rest."

She
grimaced. "How so?" she asked. "Just curious," she said
when she read his impatient look of disapproval.

"I
told you before, no wait, I think it was Harris. Time in grade. And besides,
you were promoted to lieutenant commander remember? She's still a first
lieutenant." She grimaced then nodded feeling the new pips.