Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (86 page)

"How
dare you!" she snarled.

"I
am merely explaining the situation and a path for the future," he smiled
again. "But you are correct, the navy does render aide when it can and
when it has the time and resources to do so." He held up his right palm
and sent a mental command. A holo of the system was projected in front of them.

"As
you can see, Firefly and the other ships have been going to several nearby
colonies, dropping off materials and picking up new recruits. Firefly also
transports representatives or medics if they desire transport and if she is
nearby. The navy is also on call in an emergency situation. However," he
gave her a warning look, "it is as I said before, only when time and
resources allow. We're not a chauffeur service."

"Perhaps
you misunderstand," she said. He cocked an eyebrow at her. She cleared her
throat. "My this is trying. We can discuss that at a later time. What are
your plans?" she asked.

He
shrugged then paused for thought. "Personally?" She nodded. "I
plan on setting up the naval forces in this system and logistics to handle
them. I also plan on training people to serve, and rendering aide where
needed," he shrugged. "After that is a bit more nebulous. I do not
wish to divert any of our warships from this system while the threat of the
Horath or the pirates are over our heads."

She
nodded politely. "I am debating building a few small ships, corvettes and
factory ships to travel to other systems to carry representatives and to set up
orbital industry and naval bases," he finished. Her eyes were wide.

"You
mean you intend to build more ships and send them elsewhere?"

"Well,
they may come back. I would like to build fixed defenses here too, but the
dispersed nature of the current system makes that unlikely," he shrugged.
"As I said, I am not sure. If we can use the warships as diplomatic
leverage to gain allies and support... They would also serve as a frontier for
this system, allowing advanced warning of raiders in the area." He
shrugged. Her eyes suddenly narrowed in thought.

"Yes,
I see that is an interesting thought. One that will need to be carefully
considered." She rose.

"Unfortunately
I have another appointment." He nodded and rose too. She set her glass
down and shook hands with him. "A pleasure Admiral."

"Perhaps
we can do this again sometime madam. It is best we keep on the same page,"
he nodded and left.

"Well
that ended the same as it began," Sprite said, sounding disappointed.

"So
who won?" the Admiral asked trying not to smile as the steward led him
out.

"I
wasn't keeping score that closely. Upon review, it looks like a tie, but you
gave her more then you got," Sprite answered after a moment.

"Hits?"
he asked nodding as he passed the steward at the door and entered the main
concourse.

"No,
information. She got what she wanted. I believe demanding that you fall in line
was her primary goal, but she didn't have it as her only one," Sprite
explained.

"You
mean the fishing expedition?" he nodded. "My thoughts too. I'm going
to go catch up with Logan. Don't you have a class?" he smiled.

"In
five minutes. Thanks Admiral." He felt Sprite's mental presence recede. He
sighed and moved off.

“How
are we doing?” Irons asked the group later that evening.

Enrique
shrugged. “We've made good on most of the station's hull damage. The easy stuff
that is. We've got some sections that are still leaking.”

“After
seven hundred odd years that's to be expected. I'm surprised you haven't moved
on to rebuilding the damaged sectors though,” Irons said turning to the station
chief.

“Rebuilding...”
he shook his head. “We've just got the station and the nearest colonies
stabilized. But rebuilding?”

“Yes,
tear out this section here and here, then fabricate new.” Irons pointed to the
station schematic. Wherever he pointed the sections turned red. “You'll need to
do a good inspection, I'd say you've got structural fatigue here and here and
here.” He pointed to areas near the torn sections of hull. “Most likely from
whatever did this causing damage.”

“What
did do it?” Sprite asked curiously.

“Oh
um, well, that area a ship that was docked ripped herself out,” Enrique
replied. He was looking a little dazed. “It happened about three centuries
ago.” He turned to the Admiral. “You are saying we can completely rebuild the
station? Like new?”

“Of
course. With enough material and manpower you can even build another.”

“That's...”
Enrique shook his head. “I was going to say that's impossible but it's not
anymore is it?”

“Just
so long as no one gets cute and tries to screw up your replicators. Basic hull
stuff is easy. You just need the materials and manpower,” Logan said nodding.
He turned to Matilda. “Speaking of which.”

“We're
at where I expected to be for the manning tables Commander,” she sighed sitting
up then back. “We've gotten most of the adults in Anvil who want to come along.
Lately our biggest draws are from the outer colonies.”

“Recruiting?”
Irons asked.

“Nope.
We don't have to say a word. The people see our people on liberty walking
around in nice clean crisp uniforms and fall over themselves to enlist,” she
grimaced. “We've had a couple near riots in airlocks.”

“Yeah
I heard about that one on Tangus,” Logan shook his head.

“Well,
living in a dead end job hand to mouth and waiting for the air to run out or
the radiation to kill you is plenty incentive to improve their lot,” Enrique
said nodding.

“Oh
it's not just that. Knox has been putting out the word with interviews and the
footage of the battle. For the young it's exciting and new. Danger, excitement,
new horizons, away from home,” she shrugged.

“What
is the retention?” Irons asked. Sprite fed him the data but he looked to
Matilda.

“About
ninety percent,” she grimaced. “A few get a look around the ship and the
discipline and don't want anything to do with it and change their minds when
they get here.”

“Huh.”

“A
few we've lost due to medical reasons,” the doctor said frowning. The group
turned to her. “About twenty from Sing-tal five had massive radiation exposure.
A few had terminal diseases. We're cleaning them out now,” she grimaced and ran
her hand through her hair. “A few we can't do much for. Even nanites have their
limits.”

“Yes,”
Irons nodded as the group sobered. “Unfortunately all too true doctor. There
aren't many magic bullets.” He turned back to Matilda. “And their education
levels?”

“Substandard,
quite a bit compared to what we've turned out on Anvil. Some have grade school
level, but most are completely illiterate.”

“Joy.”

“And
we're doing what we can with sleep teaching, memory downloads, neural feeds,
and training but with the older recruits, it's not going well. Or as fast as
I'd like.”

“Can't
teach an old dog new tricks,” Logan muttered.

Matilda
turned a glower on him then gave a sharp nod. “We've got...” she looked up to
access her implants. “About five thousand on the ships and in the shipyard.
Another five thousand four hundred and ninety three in college or medical.”

“That's
a lot,” Enrique said startled.

“That
is...” she frowned studying the report. “About one thousand twenty four
recruits. The rest are dependents of military personnel.”

“Oh,”
Enrique said sitting back. “Still seems like a lot.”

“A
drop in the bucket really,” Vargess said shaking his head. He'd been quiet for
most of the meeting, studying his implant feed. “Large capital ships have a
crew of two or three thousand. A battle planetoid,” he shook his head wryly.
“Don't get me started,” he waved.

“You
are not going to make one of those monsters are you Admiral?” Enrique turned to
the Admiral in surprise. “Turn that base into...”

“San
Diego? She is a base, we've already got plans to put the academy and fleet
hospital inside,” Doc said shaking her head. “Though...”

“Hardly,”
Irons chuckled. “We don't even begin to have the materials to make a modern
battle planetoid and the lead time for part manufacturing is... years. We could
make an old school version by ballooning an asteroid then retrofitting it, but
what's the point? It wouldn't have shields or cruiser class weapons, and no
drive. In short it would just be a very large target. No, for now we're
focusing on light ships and infrastructure. No folks, we're at the tools to
build the tools stage. For now.”

Dubiously
Enrique turned to the others. Logan smiled. Vargess shrugged and smiled.
“Whatever works. Now Firefly is out working on building our base.. or at least
trying to do so...”

Mayweather
studied the rock then turned to the doctor. “Are you ready for this?”

Doctor
Genshi looked amused. “Of course. We've been waiting for weeks,” he smiled. “We
do need to hurry though, the asteroid, ah, Alkaline nine baker twelve is almost
at perigee.”

“It's
not going anywhere Doc. At least not yet,” Mayweather sighed shaking her head.
She still wasn't sure about the wisdom about giving Doctor Genshi or the
council naval aid after all the grief they have been putting them through over
the past three months. Then again it wasn't her decision. “Firefly?”

“All
detonators are ready. Final safety checks are confirmed. We're ready Captain.
On your order of course...”

“All
right then, let’s do this,” she smiled as she adjusted the trim of her jacket
then turned and nodded to the tactical station. “Let's make history,” she
murmured.

“Aye
Aye ma'am. Firing,” the ensign said nodding back.

One
by one the charges on the outer equator of the asteroid fired. The giant ball
of rock began to spin. “Second charges primed, safety's off. Fire in the hole!”
the doctor said grinning as he pushed the button.

Explosives
deep within the asteroid went off. The asteroid quickly began to expand as the
explosives superheated the water ice packed within the core.

“Damn
I hope this works. I don't like the idea of ducking that much debris,” Captain
Mayweather muttered.

“Now
you know why I parked near a handy asteroid,” Janice said. She smiled. “For
cover in case we need it.”

“We
won’t. That is if we did our jobs right,” Shelby said nodding to the screen.
She  closed her eyes briefly as the first sensor reports came in. “So far everything
is going to spec.”

Energy
weapons from the ships had heated the exterior crust of the asteroid. Now
nuclear charges were set off, putting her into a spin.

The
explosives superheated the ice they had packed into the asteroid weeks before.
As the ice flashed into a gas it expanded against the rock. The charges outside
of the asteroid had compacted the crust and partially liquefied it. In its new
state it was malleable. It began to flex as pockets of weaker areas bubbled,
then it spread out and expanded like a balloon.

“How
are we doing?” Mayweather asked, turning to the doctor. He was manning an
auxiliary station.

“It
looks. Yes. Sixteen point four within modeled parameters ah... Captain,” he
nodded.

“So,
it's working?” Janice asked.

“Don't
jinx it Janice,” Mayweather cautioned. “We had to paper over quite a few
potholes and cover areas that had weaker materials. Any one of them could...”

Suddenly
the moon seemed to deflate. It broke apart after a few minutes.

“Damn,”
Genshi muttered, hammering at his controls. “I was so sure combining the
techniques would work. Maybe the surface tension was too much for it to
handle...”

“Model
it with the data you've got Doc, for now we've got some clean up to do,”
Mayweather sighed turning to the deflated crew. “At least we've got San Diego.
We'll just have to try again later.”

Shelby
nodded. “Right, clean up. Firefly tractors up. Let's catch some rocks. We might
as well put them to some use since they aren't going to work out.”

“Understood
Commander. Tractors are online and working.”

“Make
sure the gunnery crew's get plenty of practice,” Mayweather said pacing the
deck. “I'll be in my quarters sending a report.” She stormed off.

Janice
looked at the holo of the expanding ball of debris. “Somehow, I don't think it
will be a problem.”

“So,
it didn't work?” Irons asked an hour after he got the prelim report. Logan
shrugged then shook his head as Irons got the download feed from the net. “I...
damn,” he said shaking his head.

“What?
You of all people thought they'd get it right first time, right out of the
gate?” Logan snorted.

“I
was hoping.”

“Sure
you were,” Logan shook his head. “They'll pick up the pieces and try again. And
just in case they fail, I've got a survey team picking over other potential
rocks now. I think it was wobble. Doctor Genshi didn't take into account the
nuclear charges causing a fatal oscillation in the asteroid.”