Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (75 page)

“Most
of the others are midshipmen or ensigns of various specialties. One is a
reservist. A petty officer. I'm bumping it up a grade to chief petty officer.
I'd like to go higher or mustang it to a commission but it's record is spotty.
It is also in mourning for its species.”

“It?”

“Neuter.
It is a Malekian. Three genders,” he held up three fingers. “Unfortunately
there aren't any others in the system. It wants to join the fleet for a sense
of family. They have a herd mentality.”

“Oh.
And a chance to find others of its kind I bet.”

“No
doubt. The Ssislli is also in that category. Unfortunately I haven't found any
mention of either species in the databases I've come across,” Irons said.
Sprite coughed pointedly.

“Or
should I say Sprite checked,” he smiled as he corrected himself.

“Thank
you,” she said. “It was to be expected Admiral. Malekian neuters are the risk
takers of their society. Breeders were planet bound,” Sprite replied quietly.
He nodded.

“We
could use the Ssislli sometime down the road. They could shorten interstellar
hops by months,” Mayweather said thoughtfully.

“And
get us in and out of areas that were mined,” Irons nodded. “But that's a
problem for another day.” Irons shrugged it off. “I've given everyone a single
bump in grade and we're sprinkling them over the fleet to plug the holes. I
bumped first lieutenant Vargess up a grade to Lieutenant Commander. He's good
troop, colonial navy militia captain, reservist, and ROTC trainer. He is going
to run Bu-training with Matilda as a reservist, and captain one of the tin cans
when she gets out of dock."

Mayweather
looked thoughtfully at the holo Sprite helpfully projected. "Vargess
huh?" Irons chuckled as he dumped his coffee cup in the waste and then
returned it to the rack. "I'll see you tomorrow at the service." She
waved as he left.

"Did
you hear about the captain?" He passed a pair of techs gossiping after the
service on his way to the flag wardroom the next morning. He slowed as that bit
registered.

"No,
what did she do now?" the other asked.

"Grapevine
says shes head over heels for this new guy, Vargess," the woman stage
whispered. Irons froze mid stride.

"You
are going to fall over if you do that too many times," Sprite said,
sounding amused.

"Is
this true?" Irons asked as the techs gave him a guilty look, brief salute
then rushed off.

"Is
what true? Oh the rumor of Vargess and Mayweather? Looks like it. From their
bio readings they were both in heat," Sprite sighed. "You humans and
your natural functions. Sometimes I will never understand. Despite the medical
texts I can access." The AI's avatar shook her head as Irons continued on
his way.

"Great,
that's all I need. Make a note that they're never to serve together in the same
command," he said. Sprite smiled. "Noted. Not like that will stop
them."

Irons
shook his head. "Wasn't meant to. I want them to get together if they can.
Both of them have no roots here. If they find an anchor in each other, so be
it," he shrugged. Sprite nodded. "Any chance that you..."

He
froze again. "No, they are all in your command. Silly me," Sprite
said, answering herself. He gave a choppy nod then continued on his way.

The
Admiral looked up over his shoulder to see Shelby coming onto the bridge.
"I see you've been busy," she smiled indicating the holo projections
that surrounded his couch. He chuckled.

"Just
looking over the latest Intel. Is the captain still awake?" he asked. She
shrugged.

"I'm
not sure. Firefly?" she asked looking up then over to the avatar.

"Um,
the captain is... otherwise occupied," Firefly said after coming over to
them. It pitched it's voice low so it could not be heard by the rest of the
bridge crew.

"Occupied?"
Shelby asked. "What does that mean? Spill!" she glared at the AI.

"The
captain is...  in flagrante delicto at the moment and is not to be
disturbed," the AI answered delicately. Irons smothered a surprised laugh
with a cough.

"What
is... oh never mind. I was just here to check in and then head over to talk
with commander Vargess. I wanted to pick his brains a little..." Shelby
said. Firefly shook his head.

"You
mean..." she asked. "No! No way!" Shelby started to giggle.
"Well! That was quick!" She shook her head as some of the watch
turned to her. She turned so they couldn't see her laughing.

"Well.
It takes all kinds I guess," she said, getting her voice under control
with difficulty. Irons chuckled.

"That
it does, that it does. I'm just glad they are building new bridges," he
shrugged. Shelby smiled.

He
waited until the next morning before calling them. "Commanders, my
wardroom at your earliest convenience," he said then cut the channel.

Mayweather
jerked awake. Vargess lunged out of bed, falling to the deck with his legs
tangled in the sheets. "Shit did we oversleep?" he snarled blearily.

"Looks
like it," Mayweather said stretching like a cat. She curled her toes and
then shook the last cobwebs of sleep from her mind. She delicately rose off the
bed and then padded off to the shower, naked as a jay bird. Vargess froze
pulling his pants on. She looked over her shoulder to give him a coy smile. He
followed.

"You
do realize 'at your earliest' from anyone wearing stars to us lesser mortal
beings means yesterday right?" he asked. She stretched, muscles rippling,
taking his breath away. Until last night it had been a long long time. A  damn
long time. He missed his late wife sorely sometimes.

"Since
I'm going to get an ass chewing, why do it smelling like a goat?" she
asked tossing her towel over his slack jawed face.

"Of
course it could go a little faster...or slower if I had someone to scrub my
back," she smiled at him as he pulled the towel off.

"Oh
what the hell... If we're going to get an ass chewing anyway..." he said
then met her smile with one of his own as he started to pull his pants off.

Irons
felt a nearly overwhelming urge to look up as the compartment door opened. He
waited until they came to parade rest in front of his desk before he set the tablet
down. He took a sip of coffee then set the cup down to study them. Vargess
looked a little guilty. Mayweather looked defiant. Both were damp.

"You
took your time. Caught you both in the shower?" he asked mildly. He saw
the shot hit home as their eyes widened then Mayweather's narrowed.

"Sir
it is none..." He held up a hand. Vargess stepped on her foot. She frowned
and turned on him.

"If
you about to say it is none of my business, you're right... and you’re wrong."
She turned back to the Admiral. He gave her a long look. "Check out the
regs on fraternizing with members of the same command chain, and with officers
fraternizing with others. You'll find relevant quotes to both."

He
paused. "But since Commander Vargess is going to be assigned to another
ship, they are a moot point for now. I've made a notation that the two of you
cannot serve in the same ship or chain of command," he shrugged as he sat
back.

"We
were discrete," Vargess mumbled. Irons snorted.

"You
two only thought you were discrete. It's all over the ship." Both
commanders colored at that. "This ship, any ship has ears. Firefly tried
to cover for you, but it was all over the ship even before last night’s
events." Vargess seemed to squirm.

"I
thought we were discrete," he mumbled again giving Mayweather an
apologetic look. She was staring at the bulkhead above the Admiral's head and
wouldn't look at him. Her cheeks colored though.

"You
two should know, the only way to be discrete is far, far away from the
ship." Irons shook his head. "Commander, since we're almost to
Fuentes, you're going to be reporting to Fuentes as soon as she docks later
today. I want an in depth damage report and estimate on repairs and upgrades in
my in box by twenty one hundred."

"Yes
sir," Vargess replied, thoroughly miserable.

“That
means do your homework ahead of time. You'll find the ship's class documents
and blueprints in your inbox, along with her current stats and observations
we've made so far. Make sure you familiarize yourself with her before we get to
her.”

"You've
got your work cut out for you and a long hard day ahead of you. I'll poke in
later today to let Sprite and Firefly do the electronics and software check.
The AI's are working on streamlining a neural lattice. If it works they will
set up a smart AI for you and the Damocles." Irons grimaced, he was still
unsure it was going to work but the AI's were determined to try. "The
corvettes are just too damn small," he sighed.

"Oh,
I dunno, if we pulled some of the crew we might be able to swing it,"
Sprite said over the speakers. Mayweather frowned. “Or we could try for a micro
AI like me.”

Irons
shook his head. “No. Dumb AI, Something along the lines of Smithy. We've got
enough pain in the butt know it all AI's as it is.”

“Aye
aye sir,” Sprite said, smiling. She wasn't the least bit put out by that
statement. “Although a little spunk can be a good thing.”

Irons
smiled as he shook his head then shrugged. "You know the drill, to get
something in, you usually have to take something out. And even then there's no
guarantee it will fit without persuasion," Irons grimaced then turned his
attention back to the two commanders.

"You
two go get some breakfast and get to work," he waved. Mayweather turned
but Vargess came to attention. Irons nodded.

"Oh
and commanders," Mayweather turned, hand on the latch.
"Congratulations. Don't ever make me take official notice... that is
unless it's in the form of a marriage contract." Vargess blushed until his
ears turned red. Mayweather's eyes were wide. "Dismissed," Irons
said, picking up the tablet and looking at it. He waited until they left then
chuckled softly.

"Think
that will be all over the ship?" Firefly asked.

"You
should know, you are the ship remember?" Sprite asked amused.

"I'd
say yes, at least I hope so. It's time we start to polish some rough
edges," Irons smiled to the two as they projected themselves on his HUD.

"We've
got a core of vets from the old time, with some good people like Mayweather and
Shelby to leaven things. They make a good core to work around. Once we get our
feet under us, we're going to start shaking things up," Irons smiled.

Firefly
nodded. "Perhaps I will... lend a hand with the gossip. Suitably
embellishing it with your reading the both of them the riot act for both being
late and being indiscreet," Firefly suggested.

"Play
down the indiscreet thing. If they do it again, it would look like defying
orders and make a mess. But go ahead and twist their tales a little about being
late. Vargess should have known better."

"He
did, Mayweather talked him out of it," Firefly chuckled. Irons grimaced.

"Some
women can be a problem," he growled.

“Holy
crap,” a tech breathed, looking at the image. Irons grimaced.

“Spirit
of space. Now that's a Dutchman,” Vargess said shaking his head. “Usually
that's a candidate for the breakers. Are you sure Admiral?”

Irons
shrugged. “We won’t know until we do a survey,” he said. From the looks of
things Fuentes had been through one hell of a fight. Her port side was gone,
literally shredded like tissue paper. Both port nacelles were gone.

Debris
dangled from her flanks, drifting to bang into the hull from time to time. From
the looks of things most were still attached by a few strands of wiring or
shreds of metal.

Most
of her shield and wedge emitters on the port side were split open like over
ripe melons. She was rolling on two axis, it was a wonder that Firefly had
gotten her this far under her own power. Vargess let out a low whistle. “I'd
agree with you but beggars can't be choosers at this point. We'll take what we
can get,” Irons said grimacing.

“RCS
pods firing. I have tractor lock. Ships are in synch,” the coxswain said,
looking at his display then over to Janice.

Mayweather
nodded. “Right then. Boat bay's one and two you’re a go when ready.”

“Aye
aye ma'am,” the voice of boat bay one's officer said over the intercom.
Launching now.”

“This
is boat bay two, work pod and bots are in flight,” the voice of Boat bay
officer two said after a beat.

“Let
us see it.” Mayweather nodded. Firefly turned and the holographic plot changed
to a view of the small craft moving deliberately toward the wreck.

“We're
really going to fix that?” Vargess asked. One of his former ROTC students
nodded and looked around.

“You'd
be surprised what we can do. Have a little faith Commander,” Janice said
smiling.