Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (95 page)

“See
it's fun teaching them,” she said in a side channel.

“For
you. I am not designed for fun. I am programmed to engineer.”

“Then
consider this an engineering problem. Engineering them to go out and build and
repair things like you can do. Just... slower,” Sprite said smiling.

Proteus
looked around the lounge and nodded. Other groups were working at various
projects.

“Just
go around and give them hints here and there. Not the answers, just push them
in the right direction then move on when they start to pick up on it
themselves.”

“Understood,”
Proteus replied, moving off. Sprite nodded. She waved a good bye to the kids
but they didn't even look up as she left.

“Kids
these days. Well, at least they are staying out of trouble. Speaking of kids I
better check on my own...”

Irons
studied the manning chart with a little sense of satisfaction. Things were
coming along, slower then he'd like, but he knew he couldn't push things too
hard to fast. Training was still an issue. He had to remember he had green
horns, despite seven months of training under their belt. They wouldn't be up
to one hundred percent for a year or more. The people currently in place would
also be at a disadvantage to those in the college programs now. That was
something to be addressed down the road.

G-1
Ops was currently being manned by Commander Vargess. G-2 Intelligence was still
open, though he had a couple promising candidates in mind. Unfortunately one
was a former ROTC student with an interest and background training in Intel,
but she was still feeling her way through the monumental changes time shock had
wrought. Unfortunately that had also pointed to deficiencies in the young
woman's world view. They needed someone who could adapt with change and not get
stuck in one point of view. The last thing they needed was to be steam-rolled
by something no one saw coming because they refused to accept it or was deep in
a funk.

He
shook his head and gently set the thought aside. G-3 schools, or training was
coming along. Matilda had recognized the need for a separate person to run the
schools and personnel department. She'd  taken the reserve commission, mainly
for the retirement benefits. As a lieutenant commander she oversaw both the
Anvil college as it's dean and G-3.

Knowing
she'd have enough on her plate with those two jobs she'd nominated one of her
protégés for the G-5 Bu-pers slot. Decius was an interesting choice. A young
centilian and the leader of his surviving clan, as a teenager he had managed to
get forty of his people and thirteen remaining elves onto a decrepit old sub
light shuttle and to Anvil twenty years ago when their colony's last remaining
fusion reactor had shut down.

He
had kept his people out of trouble, gainfully employed and even cleaned up
their section of Anvil. The sector had been a small bright spot on the station,
it had little crime, and had functioning utilities. All within the heart of the
highest crime area of the station. He'd even seen to it that any children in
their area were sent to Logan's schools for a proper education.

When
the power crisis had loomed he had worked in the shadows, directing his people
and those allied with him to help the Admiral and others. He'd taken over the
secretary slot at the college within weeks of its founding but Matilda saw that
he'd been severely underutilized and had taken him under her wing.

He
had taken several military courses, and even acted as a TA in a few of them.
Irons had used him briefly in an introductory to officer studies before he'd
recognized the young man's talent and frocked him to the G-5 slot as a
lieutenant commander. He'd already made a mark on the manning tables. Nearly
half of his extended clan, some five hundred people of nine species had
followed in his footsteps over night. Many of the kids were signing up for hard
science and math courses and putting themselves on the path to a naval career.
It was a little scary. He'd have to remember to keep an eye on them in the
future.

The
G-4 slot was manned by commander Logan. That made him the oldest and highest
ranking organic officer in the fleet. Other than the Admiral of course. Irons
sat back with a long exhale trying to relax.

“Penny
for your thoughts Admiral?” Firefly asked.

Irons
placed his hands behind his neck and stretched a bit. “Just thinking about what
to do. I'd like to bump Vargess up to a captaincy but he's still feeling his
way around.”

“He's
already gotten the courtesy bump when he takes command of Fuentes though,”
Firefly reported. “You can't bump him to junior captain's rank without more
time in grade. It won't fly.”

“And
when he does take over Fuentes full time we'll have a hole in ops,” Irons
grumbled.

“True,”
Firefly nodded. “But the system can handle most of the day to day stuff. That's
called delegation.”

“You
think he can handle a captain's billet as well as ops full time?” Irons asked,
raising an eyebrow.

“Why
not? I honestly don't see who else we can put in the posting. And if you yank
field command from him he'd be devastated. From the looks of his record past
and present he's a natural field officer. Someone who leads from the front and
is not afraid of getting his hands dirty.”

“But
hates shuffling paperwork,” Irons said smiling.

“I
seem to recall a certain flag officer with the same problem,” Firefly said
dryly. Irons chuckled.

“All
I can say is we can give it a shot and see how he handles it. The double
posting will automatically push him up the ladder of advancement,” Firefly
said. “Hopefully not before he is ready mentally.”

“Which
is my other point. When I was declared dead I was frocked to Fleet admiral.
Shouldn't we do the same with him?”

“You
did that already sir. From first lieutenant to lieutenant commander. Two jumps
in less then a year is not warranted. Are you serious about making him an
admiral?” Firefly asked, looking surprised. Irons shook his head.

“No
I mean a bump to junior captain.”

“Ah,”
Firefly shrugged. “Your call Admiral. I don't see a lot of regulations against
it since we are in an emergency situation, but then again, we're in uncharted
waters. I would suggest giving him time to adjust to the situation. That way
you also do not appear to be playing favorites by jumping him over some of the
other senior officers.”

“Agreed,”
Irons nodded. He snorted.

“What?”

“Just
thinking of the old sailor's saw. 'A tall ship and a star to sail her by.'”

“Aye
sir. And 'Old soldiers don't die, they just fade away.'”

“You
would bring that one up,” Irons said shaking his head.

“Sorry.
How about... 'Red sky at night sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor
take warning,'” Firefly responded.

Irons
glared at the AI. “Completely out of context.” He shook his head.

“Well,
I could get into Kipling,” Firefly responded.

“Thanks
but no thanks,” Irons chuckled.

The
Major chuckled softly as he watched the students jogging by in sweats. A few of
the brave or just suicidal ones looked at him darkly. Those that could barely
hold on were panting. All of them were covered in sweat. All in all, good
training. They were almost half way through the first training period.

“Come
on people! The more you sweat the less you bleed. Get your ass movin'!” A DI
snarled, waving his hands. A boy fell to the ground retching.  The DI went over
and knelt, cajoling then harassing the kid to get back up.

“That's
mean,” Matilda said, sniffing. They watched as the boy got up, bent over, hands
on his knees. Eventually he started moving off.

“No,
it's training commander,” the Major replied. He turned to her. “They have to
keep moving. There are no pause buttons in a war.”

“Oh.”

“They
have to know they can keep going, keep fighting even when they are hurt, tired
and scared out of their minds.”

“Oh,”
Matilda grimaced. “But the physical effort? Why? Don't the nanites give them
super muscles and bones?”

“Not
exactly. They don't have them yet. Not fully. We're keeping the full package
until later so they wont become dependent on it. We want them to know they can
do it without help before they get it,” he explained. He glanced at the kid.
“Besides, if he'd stayed like that for long that kid would have cramped up,”
Doc said giving a rueful glance to the Major. He nodded.

“And
the super stuff?” Matilda asked. “They seem more fit than ever.”

Thornby
rolled her eyes then shook her head and smiled. “The nanites clean up the body.
Suck out the plaque from the arteries, destroy any tumors, clean up any health
imbalances,  and turn back the cell clock. Then the second wave burns away the
excess fat and builds muscle. But you have to build muscle tone and keep
building it to keep it. If you slack off you lose it.”

“Ah,”
Matilda nodded.

“Remember
those pills I gave you a couple months ago?” Thornby asked smiling.

“I
was wondering why none of my clothes fit anymore,” Matilda grumped. Thornby
chuckled.

“Bingo.
But if you sit behind a desk too long...”

“I'll
be right back to my usual plump self in next to no time?” Matilda asked,
smiling. “Noted. I'll see if I can find time to for some racquet ball. Running
in circles isn't my... thing,” she darted a dark look at the Major.

“To
each his or her own ma'am,” He said nodding.

Sergio
studied the holo. The fighter was a classic design, complete with angled wings.
She had four drive pods on her stern, two top, two on her keel. The front of
each engine pod had a ram scoop. She looked more at home in an atmosphere than
in space though. He turned it this way and that. “It looks nice. But different
than the fighter we had,” he turned to Logan.

“That's
because it's a Cobra class. Also known as a Star Cobra. She's a workhorse, one
of two we're considering. The other is...”

He
changed the feed to another fighter holo. This one had the pilot's command pod
in the middle of the ship instead of forward like in the Cobra. It was flat and
angled, with sharp bends instead of the elegant curves of the Cobra. It sported
two oversized engines on her rear with small ram scoops embedded in her wing
root.

“Seems
under powered compared to the Cobra,” Sergio said. He studied the design then
pulled up her specs. His hand flicked through the controls and he pulled up the
Cobra and compared them. Clearly the Cutlass was slower, less maneuverable and
under gunned. It did have the advantage of not needing a pilot with full
implants though.

“That
is a problem. At least it's better than what Firefly wants,” Logan sighed. He
pulled up another design.

This
one looked like a mechanized insect. It had a single drive pod with oversized
bell thruster. Two sets of articulating wings were on its flanks. A weapons
turret was under the chin. The entire thing looked like a security drone.

“Mean
and nasty. The Hornet. A beast to fly, or so I heard. But she's out of our
league anyway, she requires antimatter. A lot of it.”

“Okay
so that's out,” Sergio smiled.

“Right
so we're back to the others,” he shook his head then pulled up a list. “We've
got the plans for four other fighters. I'd like to think we're past the Raven
and the Raptor though.” He shook his head. “I'd rather see an E class but they
are way out of our league.”

Four
images of fighters flashed up and then spread out on the table. These were
sharp angled things, with two pods in place of wings. Spikes stuck out here and
there. “Nasty things. They've got battle cruiser class weapons on some of
them,” Logan said. “Bug again, MAM reactors. So we're back to these.” He
flicked a control and the holo field faded out and switched back to the four
contenders.

Sergio
twitched as he saw the Raptor. “We had one of those!” he said smiling.

“She's
practically an antique. Single spinal mount weapon,  three drive pods, little
more than an emergency fighter.”

“Yeah,
but she's a dedicated space fighter right?” Sergio asked intent.

“Yes.
That she is. But she's woefully under gunned and under powered compared to the
others. She's almost as fast as the Cobra though. Only slightly faster than the
Cutlass. More maneuverable though I'll give her that.”

“I'll
take her,” Sergio grinned.

“You
sure?” Logan asked. “Even with the latest version she's still not up to
handling a Cobra on a good day you know. Why don't you load her specs up in a
sim or two and give it a shot before you make a hard decision.”

“Um...”
Sergio blinked. “Okay if we've been flying something else, what was it?”

“Cobra's
of course,” Logan smiled. “Though we specced a few of your people out on
Cutlass's to make things easier.”