Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (8 page)

“It's
about time; we've been waiting three minutes!” Faith called over the radio. The
Admiral chuckled as the chief looked at it then turned her earwig on.

“Hold
your horses, we're getting there.” She waved to the others outside the window.
The suited figures waved back.

“Let's
get the show on the road.” The Admiral pushed the cart out of the lock and
turned. “Coming?” He asked the chief. Reluctantly she obeyed. He closed the
lock and then depressurized the bay.

“Door
opening. They're all yours ladies.” He said, watching the work party enter the
bay. A figure gave them thumbs up. The chief snorted. She watched through the
lock window as they locked each payload down onto a travel pod and then guided
them out the lock. After five minutes the operation was over.

“Your
gear is on the side there.” She motioned to the side of the lock. He looked.
They had maneuvered the firing chamber and fusion reactor in. He had been more
amused by the chief’s reaction and distracted by it to have caught it until she
pointed it out. He chuckled.

“Thanks
ladies. Closing the outer door and re-pressurizing the lock now.” He nodded to
the chief as he finished with the panel. She was already on her way out the
door.

He
caught up to her at the front door. “Eager to get your hands on the control
yoke?” he teased. She dimpled and he could see an edge of a flush on her face.

“Some
of us have duties to perform,” she tried to reply as a put down. He smiled.
“Good to know. Let me know if you need any help.” He escorted her to the door.
“Do you need to me to escort you...?” he asked but she shook her head.
“Somehow, I think I'll manage,” she replied dryly as she left without a
backward glance. He chuckled as he shut the door.

“Admiral,
I don't suppose you could fix a Wi-Fi link so I could jack in while you’re
working?” Sprite asked quietly. He chuckled.

“Only
if it will keep you from nagging me about it later,” he smiled as she chuckled.

He
looked the pile of parts over with pleasure. The gear from the Io was fresh and
factory new, literally newly fabricated. The broken parts were already set
aside. He looked up as Sprite blinked onto his HUD. “What is it?” he asked.

“Admiral
we have a situation at the lock.” She said tightly as a window came up. He
frowned as he noted the visitors at the door. He groaned as he got up.

He
had been deep into the rebuild for several hours. Defender was already spinning
his shields up. “Admiral power reserves are at twenty percent. I don't
recommend combat,” Defender reported.

“I'll
try to remember to tell them that,” he answered dryly.

“It's
not like you need shields Admiral, facial recognition has identified them as
Buana and Hera.” Sprite reported. He nodded. They were warriors from the Io,
guarding a pair of nervous cargo handlers who had pushed a pair of cargo
pallets to the quarters.

He
opened the door and smiled. “It's nice to see some friendly faces around here.”
He nodded to them as Defender put a caret around a pair of figures skulking in
the dark near the corner. He looked over to them and felt Sprite reach out.
Weapons were identified.

“Let’s
get you ladies in before we have a problem,” he said quietly. The cargo
handlers looked around nervously. Hera nodded.

“You
spotted them as well?” she asked softly.

“Yeah,
two possibly more. Down the corridor. One has what looks like a needler, the
other some sort of cut down plasma carbine and molecular knife.” He pushed the
door open and stepped hastily aside as the women piled in with the cargo.

Sprite
had freeze frames of each male in a window on his HUD; she was running a facial
recognition program. He shook his head. They hadn't been here long enough to
get to know anyone.

He
escorted the women into the shuttle bay. They whistled at the tug. “Someone's
has been busy,” Buana smiled in appreciation.

He
nodded. “Only way to get something done once you know it needs doing is to dig
in.” He helped the women unload the pallet.

“This
is the last load Admiral. Faith said the satellites, weapons pod, and fighter
pan out so you have quite a hefty tab,” one of the cargo handlers said, handing
him a chip.

He
chuckled. “I bet the purser isn't pleased about that.” He smiled as they tried
to hide grins.

“Well,
we'll see what I can get. You folks still on schedule to leave?” He looked over
to Hera who nodded.

“Five
days twelve hours. From the sound of the negotiations, it is not soon enough
for the captain,” she said sourly. He chuckled.

“How
is Jorge?” He asked as he hefted the last part. Buana smiled.

“Let's
just say we're glad you got him to the docs. He's got a lot of damage. The
nurse said the internals were bad; they’re going to have to operate and dunk
him as well. Juanita is beside herself,” she sighed. The Admiral nodded.

“I
can't say I blame her. She feels that she should be here with her family and
blames herself for not being able to.” He looked over to Hera who grimly
nodded.

“Wish
we could do something about that, but we can't,” Buana sighed.

“Still,
what you’re doing here should tip the scales a bit more in their favor,” Brie
replied. She smiled at him as she brushed a curly of hair out of her eyes. He
nodded and gave her a return smile.

“Well,
it's a start.” He waved to the women. They filed out. “I don't think they'll
give you any trouble since you're empty handed,” the Admiral said softly to
Hera and Buana. Both women nodded. “We're going to have a couple extra guards
meet us just in case,” Hera reported.

Outside
the coast was clear. The Admiral stepped up his implants to maximum and could
not get a whisper. “Nothing. Either they cleared out or they are near the
lifts.” He nodded to Hera. She stuck her hand out and he shook it.

“Good,
Chief is in the lift now.” She smiled.

“How
did you get the code?” he asked, curious.

She
grimaced. “We had to trade for it of course.” She sighed. “Damn Pyrax pain in
the arses, sell their own mothers.” She blanched. “Don't tell Juanita that I
said that.” She looked around at the others. They all shook their heads
hastily. The Admiral chuckled as they left.

Sprite
brought up a map of the floor. Junior was on his way back, but a trio of men
were coming just ahead of him. He grimaced. He would have to wait until Junior
got here, he didn't dare go back inside and leave the kid hanging in the breeze
outside his own home.

“Hey
you! Yes you!” He turned to see the lead bull necked guy wave to him. “Come
over here we want to talk to you,” he snarled. Irons smiled.

“Sorry,
I can't leave my post.” He indicated the door now at his back. The men snarled
then came over.

“Who
the hell are you?” the leader asked.  He was bald, with various tattoos on his
head and back of his neck. Another tattoo encircled his right eye. Sprite put
up a warning that these were the same guys from earlier. Not that he didn't
know already.

“I'm
a boarder of the Valdez family. I am an engineer,” the Admiral replied as he
studied the men with a practiced eye. They were definitely brawlers, used to
using intimidation or raw force to get their way, not science. From the way
each of them moved they had been at it for some time and leaned more on the
intimidation factor over the use of force.

Junior
rounded the corner and stopped. He started to move forward but then stopped. A
male turned to glare at him. “There's the punk we're looking for.” He turned
and pointed. The others turned. “Don't think you’re going to be here ass wipe,
the Valdez clan is on borrowed time,” the leader gloated as he turned to
Junior.

Junior
had summoned up his courage or sheer stupidity and had passed through the men
to the Admiral's side. He turned. “What do you want Berneky?” he asked. His
hand was near his hip pocket.

“Easy
son,” the Admiral said softly.

“Yeah,
listen to the old man; you don't want to get tossed out a lock now do you?” one
of the hecklers snarled. “We're here for the rent. Either pay up or piss off.”
The leader jerked his thumb up over his shoulder. Junior's face contorted in a
rictus of hate. The Admiral placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

“Gentlemen,
The exec ordered the Valdez family to get the tug repaired and in space and for
all of your people to help expedite that.” He turned to look at the leader. “We
don't take no orders from the exec,” one of his partners laughed. The leader
turned, shutting his hyena up with a glare then turned back on Junior and the
Admiral. “He's right; we take orders from the Admiral,” he replied, lip
curling.

“From...”
Junior looked up at the Admiral but he waved it aside.

“Never
mind that. We're working on the tug now. If we don't run into problems we
should be out in space by tomorrow, and getting the first load of fuel in a
day.” He waved to the lights. “Flicker the lights and grav will you?” He sub
vocalized to Sprite. After a moment the lights dimmed, then flickered. “The
fuel reserves are almost gone.” He looked over to the leader. He looked a
little green.

“I
played with the plate he is on. Bet he feels a bit sick,” Sprite reported
smugly.

“As
you can see, we have a crisis to avert.” He waved Sergio inside.

“Not
so fast smart ass...” The leader grabbed him.

“Leave
him alone Berneky he's a ...” Junior warned.

“Shut
up pissant, if I wanted to hear you whine I'd beat you like I did your dad.” He
stared at the young man. Junior had gone white and fallen into a fighting
crouch he was shaking with rage.

“Your
bitch of a mother is going to get hers, going to get laid good and proper
before we stuff her out a lock,” one of the men jeered. The Admiral tried to
head off the obvious confrontation but he knew it was going south fast.

“Try
it and you’re out the nearest airlock,” the leader said softly. Too softly,
Junior was past hearing. The goons were laughing. Junior lunged at the nearest.
He nonchalantly pulled out a black jack he had palmed and smacked the kid in
the solar plexus. He went down. Berneky tried to muscle the Admiral into the
door but he had had enough.

“Not
on,” he snarled as he reacted. Berneky went flying back as he shrugged him off.
He stepped into the first goon's reach and took him down with three quick
blows. The second goon had been kicking the fallen boy. He turned on the
engineer trying to pull a needler. The engineer's cybernetics went into
overdrive. He rushed the man, grabbing the gun and snapping it to the side,
snapping the man's arm.

He
howled as he fell to the ground. Casually the Admiral tore the weapon apart.
Junior crawled away from the man and then gasped and sobbed his way to his
feet.

Berneky
had picked himself off of the bulkhead and was staring as the Admiral casually
pulled his goon's cut down plasma carbine out and tore it apart.

Cowed,
the two goons scrambled back on their asses. Junior tried to stand but was
hunched over. The Admiral grimaced then caught Berneky's eye. “Don't come back
here again.” He said softly. He keyed his right arm to morph it into a plasma
gun, then back. He held the gaze until he saw the man's eyes widen and his
Adam’s apple go up and down in a gulp. He gave a choppy nod and took off.

“Go
on, get out of here,” Junior gasped out. Trying to kick one of the guys but
failing as the Admiral caught him.

“Let's
get you inside,” he said softly.

Inside
he locked the door then supported the boy to the living quarters. He scanned
him as he sat the boy down. He had a spectacular set of bruises beginning to
form under his skin, but no permanent damage the Admiral could detect. The kid
had managed to regain his breath and was trying to sit up.

“Open
a channel to the ship,” he sub vocalized. After a moment he heard Io's mellow
voice answer.

“Hello
Admiral, miss me?” Io sounded impish like her AI mother.

He
smiled. “A bit Io, Just a bit. I bet the trio misses you more. I'm with Sergio
Valdez, he's been assaulted. I'm reading contusions but I am not sure if he has
internal damage. Is a doctor available?” he asked all business.

“Let
me check. No, both are in surgery with Mr. Valdez senior. I believe they are
repairing his internal organs. Is this a normal thing for this family?” she
asked, humorous. He shook his head. “The way this station is run, I'm not sure.
Sprite will upload my scans so you can get someone to take a look later.” He
nodded as Sprite fed the data through the linkage. He looked over to Junior.

The
boy was staring at him. “I'm using my implants to talk to the ship,” he
explained. Slowly the boy nodded.

“Nurse
Ratchet recommends ice and some pain medication until they can get a look at
him,” Io responded after a pause.

He
nodded. “Will do, thanks Io.” He felt Sprite sever the link.