Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (72 page)

Irons
smiled. "Time. I've had a lot in my time. I was a civilian until I was
eighteen. I spent several years as enlisted. Then mustanged to officer. That
took two years. Since I was engineering track not command, promotions were
supposed to come few and far between. Some events and the war sped things
up," he sighed picking up his cup.

"You
mean the rescues and attacks?" Harris asked.

"That
yes, but also the Xeno attacks. When they hit Admiralty row with the nuke, it
opened up one hell of a vacuum at the top," Irons explained. Harris nodded.

"Nuke?"
Standish asked confused.

"Another
story for another time. Get Firefly or our resident history buffs to fill you
in," Irons grimaced as he set his cup down.

"We
still have holes in Bu-personnel, Bu-research, JAG, Bu-training, and
Operations. Don't even get me started on Bu-Intel. Right now, I really don't
think we need much R and D, and Ops..." Irons grimaced. Harris laughed.

"Yeah,
I'm it for now, I know," Irons answered with a tight smile. Harris nodded.

"Any
nominations to run personnel? Or training for that matter? Other than
Matilda?" Thorby asked. "I can ask Matilda, maybe she would be
willing to take a reserve post like me," she suggested. Irons nodded.

"Good
idea. You can pitch it to her."

"Admiral."

He
looked over to Sprite's avatar. "Yes?" he asked.

"We're
getting an SOS. It's coming from the liner. She's been booby trapped but I just
got a return on the bot I sent out." He nodded.

"Show
us," he said.

"She's
a star liner. Venture Carnival class. The White Star. Records showed she had a
hive virus but apparently there is more. She's got about a thirty six people in
cryopods," Sprite explained. A holo of the ship was projected.

"They
are real?" Standish asked suddenly interested.

Logan's
eyes were wide, then he looked sad. "Yeah. They're real." He looked
over to Irons. "I heard about her. She's infected with a nanite bug. It's
a sleeper. The people left aboard are bait," he shivered. Irons grimaced.

"Any
way we can get to them?" the CMO asked.

"I
doubt it, They're in the middle of the ship," Sprite reported. "In
order to get to them we'd have to get a team in and wake them up. The nanites
would infest them in seconds," she explained. “That also leaves the people
themselves. We could be opening a can of worms if we get past the nanites.”

"Not
if they were in suits," Standish replied.

"How
can you wake the sleepers up and get them out in a vacuum?" Sprite
returned. Standish paused then sat down head in his hands.

"You're
right, you're right. I didn't think of that," he sighed.

"Admiral,
there is a Ssislli as well. Larval. It was on its way with its ROTC class. Most
of the survivors are kids. A few are ROTC," Sprite informed them.

Irons
sat back. "Damn," he muttered.

"For
real? A Seti Ssislli?" Mayweather asked suddenly enthusiastic. Naomi looked
just as interested. “I thought they were extinct!”

"Yes.
I have the bio readings and compared them to ones in Firefly's medical files.
They are real," Sprite answered.

"Damn
it!" Mayweather said sitting back rubbing her chin.

"What
about robots?" Logan asked suddenly. Irons looked over to him.

"Same
problem as the suits," Mayweather said dismissing the idea.

"No,
there might be a way..." Irons said smiling suddenly. "We'll need
detailed blueprints. And a portable medical robot, something that can scan
those viruses and upload the data to the medical team.”

The
CMO nodded. "What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"Doing
a little surgery of our own," Irons traced a finger right down the ship.
Firefly looked amused.

"All
right Captain, let’s see how well this works," Irons turned to Mayweather
who nodded.

"Dan,
when you’re ready."

Dan
nodded. "We've got precise targeting, I'm still keeping at least two decks
and three compartments away. It's going to get tricky around the core."

"Fire
at will," Mayweather intoned.

"Firing,"
Dan replied.

Space
between the ship and Firefly was pierced by invisible beams of intense energy.
They seared into the ship, boiling away unarmored hull plating and decking.
Firefly was oriented perpendicular to the ship, using her bow mounted grasers
to burn through the deck. Tractors held the ship in place so it couldn't be
pushed away by the impacting beams.

It
took nearly three hours to carefully cut out the slice around the sleepers.

"Tractors
Shelby. Back it out slow," Mayweather said.

Irons
watched as they backed away carefully from the glowing hole.

"What
are we going to do with the rest?" Janice asked.

 "Sun
scuttle," Irons answered. "Just as soon as we're done here," he
said softly.

"Too
bad, we could have used her," Janice replied. Irons grunted. She was once
a beautiful ship, white, with red trim. Portholes peppered her sides. Her
ventral decks had giant clear domes that covered pools and recreation areas.

"Not
now. She's too dangerous. Don't worry, once we get our feet under us, we'll
make more," Irons said.

Janice
looked up at him then back to her displays. "You say so Admiral," she
muttered. He smiled.

"What,
after all this you don't trust me?" he teased. She blushed but didn't
answer.

"Compartments
secure. We've got it under tow. Robots have the cryopods on battery
backups," Shelby reported.

"Vital
signs are good," Standish reported. "When can we wake them up?"
he asked. Irons sighed.

"One
step at a time doctor." He nodded to Mayweather.

"Rover
is spraying the nannies now. Hopefully this works," the tech said.

"Nannies?"
another tech asked. They'd been spraying that goop for hours. She'd come onto
shift in the middle of it and hadn't been briefed. Her shift was almost over
now.

"Nanites.
Didn't you listen to the briefing?" she snarled.

"Oh.
No, wait, if there are nanites there why do we need more?" the tech asked.

"You
idiot, these nanites are destroyers. They’re going to find the Xeno nanites and
tear them apart. Then we can pull those poor sods out and get them back to Firefly."

"Oh."

“So,
um, why didn't they use them before? To decontaminate the ship I mean.”

“I
think we've only got so much. Enough for this,” the other tech said. “Above my
pay grade and yours. Lets just hope it works.”

"No
nanites detected captain," Firefly said. It had taken nearly a full ships
day to clear the entire cryo hold.

"Scan
it again," Mayweather said, not looking up from her tablet.

"I
did, twice," Firefly replied.

"Scan.
It. Again." Mayweather said tightly.

"Aye
aye captain, scanning a third time. Nanometric scanners deployed," Firefly
sighed. “Estimated completion time one hour.”

"You
know you can be a real pain the ass Mayweather?" Firefly asked after a few
moments.

"I
try to be," she shrugged. "I don't want any of those things on my
ship," she said looking up at the avatar. “You can never ever be too
thorough.”

"Point
taken."

"How
are they?" Irons asked. He was glad they'd gotten the crew off and safely
aboard. It had taken a shift to get them through another round of careful
scanning and decon before they had been passed to medical for decanting an hour
ago. He glanced at Sprite's thumbnail report on his HUD but then ignored it for
a more direct brief.

"Not
good, time shock is still causing some problems," Standish replied. Irons
nodded. "We've got them isolated. the worst off were sedated. We've got a
few we'd like you to meet though Admiral."

Doctor
Standish waved to a nurse who nodded," he's awake doctor." She
motioned.

"This
way." Standish led him to a nearby bay.

“Lieutenant
Vargess?" Standish asked as Irons rounded the cloth wall. The Admiral
paused.

"First
Lieutenant Vargess, this is Admiral..." Standish turned to Irons. His
patients eyes were wide in recognition.

"Irons.
Well I'll be god damned. Good to see you sir. I see the rumors of your demise
were exaggerated!" The man's smile was almost blinding. "So is this
all a cover? This time junk?" he waved. "When are we going to kill
the Xenos?"

Irons
sighed. "Afraid not." He stood there with his cap under his right
arm. "It is for real Lieutenant. We are all victims of cryopods." He
shook his head. "Well some of us." He indicated Doctor Standish.

Vargess's
eyes were wide. "Damn." His face fell. "Shit," he sighed
then his voice caught in a suppressed sob. "Damn the ghosts." Irons
sighed and patted the man's arm gently.

"Yes,
we've all got them. They just got a lot of company now," he said softly
looking around. "At least you've got company, Commander Logan and I each
woke up alone," Irons said.

"Commander
Logan?" a nearby young woman asked. "So the fleet still exists?"
she asked.

"Of
course it does! We're on a fleet ship aren't we rookie!" Vargess snarled,
not looking at her. She stiffened in the bed.

"Not
quite. We're on a naval vessel, but the Federation and Xeno's fell destroying
each other." They looked at him in disbelief. “The last shots were fired
over seven hundred years ago. Both sides obliterated each other. Or at least
tried too," he said with a grimace.

"No
no..." the woman started to wail. Standish stepped over to her, murmured quietly
then held her when she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed.

"I
lost my world early on. My wife, my kids," Vargess said with a frown of
distant remembered pain. Irons nodded.

"Colonial
militia. Volunteered for naval duty. Held up as an ROTC trainer while waiting
for transport to central," Sprite reported.

"Get
that from his dog tag IFF?" Irons subvocalized.

"Yes
Admiral. And from some of the talk on the deck," Sprite replied. Irons
nodded.

"Well,
we're offering you..." he turned to face the other bays, "...each of
you a new future." He looked at Vargess.

"With
what?" he asked. "You said it was all destroyed!" His fists
clenched, gripping the bed sheets.

"Not
exactly. A few Federation colonies survived," Irons said. “Pyrax is one of
them. Her planets were destroyed, but some of her space colonies were left to
die on the vine. They obviously didn't." He looked around the room and
stopped at Doctor Standish.

"Obviously,"
Standish said with a humorous smile. Irons bowed slightly.

"Now
we're picking up the pieces." He looked around. "We've been pulling
the system together. We just salvaged Firefly..." he waved to indicate the
ship. "And several other ships. A few weeks ago we fought off a pirate
attack." Vargess's eyes widened.

"Seems
like no matter what the time, there is always some bottom crawler out feeding
on others," he muttered. Irons nodded.

"So,
you've got some ships?" he asked after a moment, looking at Irons.

"Yes.
Firefly is currently our heaviest unit, but we're working on changing that.
We've got a couple of beat up tin cans, a corvette, some gunships, and a couple
other ships in the fleet, and we're laying the ground work for more."

He
looked around. "You are going to be in on the ground floor to rebuild the
fleet. Right here,” he tapped his right foot. “Right now. Think about it
folks." He started to back away but Vargess latched onto his hand.

"I'm
in." He looked down to the man. His eyes were clear. "It is not like
I have anything else to do, anywhere else to go," the man said. Irons
nodded.

"Think
you can handle a tin can?" Irons asked.

"It
is a jump up from my militia frigate but what the hell?" Vargess gave a
Gaelic shrug. "Sure, I'll give her a shot," he nodded. Irons smiled.

"Commander
Logan has the pirate ship Damocles at Anvil rebuilding. She's a tin can, Arboth
class. We beat the hell out of her when they jumped in so she's going to take a
lot of work to refurbish. We're en route to pick up Fuentes, another tin can
that's on autopilot and has been heading in to the system. But not until after
we perform a final duty here." Standish gave him a look and slow nod.
"I think you'll want to be present when we do it." He looked away.

"Sun
scuttle? I heard," Vargess replied. "Good. No one needs a Dutchman of
that type of nightmare." He shuddered. Irons and the others nodded.