Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (96 page)

“Oh,”
Sergio sat back. “Huh. I saw the fighters in the sims but...”

“But
you didn't pay attention to the names?”

“No,
not really, just the ways to beat them,” he shook his head. “I remember a
couple, Starhawk, and Viper. Star Falcon too,” he shrugged. “But that's from
the video's I watched as a kid.”

“Well,
we can look into both. Check out the sim though.”

“Sure,
as soon as I can,” he grimaced. The sim complex was getting popular. The
college was sending over shuttle and work pod applicants on a daily basis. Some
of the sim pods were being used to control real space bots in the seemingly
frantic rebuild and repair work going on outside the station.

“Um...”
Logan looked up. “There was a cancellation. One pod is open for the next...
hour and a half. Better get moving. I just put in a reservation.” Sergio
grinned.

“Thanks
commander. I'll catch up with you soon.” He stood at attention then rushed out.

The
class was a little restless. He nodded to ensign Brown, his assistant. He had
instituted teacher assistants for some of the classes to aide those like
himself that had busy schedules and couldn't always be relied upon to be on
time or even there from time to time. Since he was leaving for that conference
in the evening he would need the young TA to handle things again. "Settle
down folks," Brown said softly. The room quieted. Most of the students
were young, ages ranging from a genius twelve year old to a single forty year
old. Most fell in the eighteen to twenty-something bracket. He surveyed the
class.

"All
right ladies and gentlemen, welcome to intro to officer studies 101. I'm your
host and occasional guest lecturer Admiral Irons," he looked around. The
room had settled. "This is a short three week course to orient you in a
career with the military. We're going to give you a brief overview of each
course and some details." He looked around the room once more. "Are
there any questions before we begin?"

The
twelve year old raised his hand. "Yes? And you are?" he asked
politely. The young man stood.

"Daniel
sir. Daniel Jackson. I'm curious about the ships and different classes. What do
they mean and what roll do they play in the navy?" he cocked his head.
Irons grimaced. "I was wondering because I was wondering what our ships
would be doing in the future to meet those needs," Daniel amended then sat
down abruptly.

The
Admiral paused to gather his thoughts, letting the class murmur for a moment.
"All right, The answer is in your book, chapter three. But to give you an
overview." He turned and opened his teacher's syllabus and then keyed the
ships diagram. Beside him a holo of each ship class from hunter killer up to
planetoid was displayed in relative scale.

"All
right starting with warships, at the very bottom with the smallest crew and
ability we have the hunter killers and gunships. They are small craft, inner
system or parasite ships designed to patrol a system or to run down enemy
ships. Some are designed as scouts or as modular defense platforms." The
caret around the hunter killers and gunships moved up to the next largest.

"Next
we have the frigates and corvettes. These ships have a class one or two hyper
drive. They serve in a similar function with more staying power and of course
the ability of transiting between star systems." The caret moved up again.
He looked at it then nodded.

"Next
we have the destroyers. There are different platforms for different missions,
and even general purpose ones. Destroyers, or tin cans as they are called are
one of the workhorses of the fleet. We have two, the Damocles and the Andrea
Fuentes. Fuentes is about to recommission." He smiled as the class
murmured.

"Next
we have cruisers. Cruisers are the largest ship to act as a standalone ship
during missions. They can range from anti-piracy patrol, diplomatic escorts,
convoy escorts, survey work, or more complex tasks that we won’t get into now."
He turned and smiled. “Both tin cans and cruisers have specialty designs used
in fleets as well.”

"That
covers the basics of ships we call screening elements. In a fleet they are used
to screen the battle line, the larger capital ships, providing them with
additional eyes, platform redundancy, and layers of point defense."
Several of the students looked confused. "Don't worry, you'll understand
in time. Now, the capital ships are battle cruisers, carriers, battleships,
dreadnoughts, super dreadnoughts, monitors, and battle planetoids."

He
turned. "Each has a separate function in a fleet. Battle cruisers and
carriers are the only capital ships that operate outside a fleet. The other
ships are usually the core of a fleet." The holo changed to a view of the
Resolution class.

"As
most of you know we have one Resolution class light cruiser ship, the Firefly,
she is currently the flagship of the defense force defending this system and
this sector." Someone laughed. He turned. "Do you have a
problem?"

"Uh
no sir," the young man gulped. He nodded.

"Right.
Sector. I'm not kidding. We're rebuilding the fleet folks. Fix that in your
heads firmly from now on. Fuentes, Damocles, Sun-Yat, Firefly and the others
are our core ships. Currently they are training and gathering materials to
repair each other and to rebuild other ships like the battleship I believe most
of you know about." The class began to murmur. He held up his hands.
"Okay, lets settle down."

"So
what else are they doing?" a young woman asked.

"You're...
Sara correct?" She nodded. "Please stand and wait to be called before
shooting off a question from now on." She blushed. "But to answer
your question, The fleet is also transporting delegates, medical and other
supplies, and medical and other personnel. We do search and rescue ops,
training, and gather raw materials for our expansion projects. We've also been
tasked to use ship grasers to cut caverns for the Pyrax expansion program
currently underway."

They
looked at each other in surprise. "Uh, that's a lot for a couple ships
isn't it?" someone asked.

"And
that's just the beginning. We also have to keep watch on each of the jump
points, keep a look out for stray munitions, traps, pirates, and smugglers,
while also salvaging more ships to repair recycle, or scrap." He sat on
the edge of the desk then crossed his arms. "Also we get to protect and
train the merchants that are on Destiny, the factory ship Hephaestus thirty
three, the ships currently under construction in the growing yard and the other
freighters." He sighed and paused, head down in thought.

"Yeah,
it's a lot," he shook his head after a moment. He'd been surprised when
he'd caught Logan's memo about laying the frames for the Prometheus group.
Surprised and pleased. Logan was moving full speed on all fronts.

"Ever
get the feeling you bit off more than you can chew Admiral?" a heckler in
the back asked. He smiled. "Yeah, a lot," he shrugged. "But I'm
an engineer, We'll fix it."

Someone
started to clap. After a moment the rest of the class joined in. He tried to
shush them but they stood. The ensign was clapping as well, smiling. He smiled
feeling his ears burn in embarrassment. "Hell," he muttered then
bowed politely.

Shelby
entered the officer's wardroom and smiled at the sight before her. The newly
minted ensign Laugherty was trying not to ogle at his nominal boss, first
lieutenant Thorn. Thorn was on top of a table, squatting and sipping at a drink
with a straw. Occasionally one eye or the other would roll, taking in the room
around her. It was an unnerving sight to some despite years of exposure to
aliens.

"Problem
ensign?" she asked releasing the straw. Her tail swished.

"Ah,
no ma'am," the ensign shook his head. "Ah that is..."

"Spit
it out son, I've probably  heard it all before," Thorn looked down at her
three fingers.

"I
was wondering how you can deal with being in a place built for someone
bigger?" he waved to indicate their surroundings.

"Well,
just because you're bigger doesn't mean you’re better you know," Thorn
replied. Shelby smiled as she went to the bar and picked up a plate and started
to pile it with salad. Five weeks and the lieutenant was now an integrated
member of the crew.

"I've
got better senses than you. And a few you don't even have," Thorn said.
The whiskers above each of her eyebrows twitched.

"Um
ah, I didn't know that ma'am. How?" he asked eyebrows down.

"How
what? How can I have senses so much better than yours?" Thorn asked.
"Or how can I have them yet still think?"

He
nodded. "Both ma'am. I took the course on basic anatomy when I was younger
and a refresher in college, but it doesn't seem right," he shrugged
helplessly.

"Brain
size is a bit complicated and not always related to intelligence ensign,"
doctor Standish answered. Shelby turned to see him sitting in a corner playing
chess. He looked up.

"Each
sense has its own unique pattern in most species, and take up volume, but
volume is only part of the equation. Density and neural network connections...
not to mention training also play a part," Standish smiled to the young
man.

"You're
saying she's I mean, her species brain is denser than our own?" the ensign
asked.

"Sounds
like you’re the one being dense here," Thorn said. Shelby chuckled.

"Old
earth parrots and crows were intelligent. Some had complex reasoning and
problem solving skills on par with human adolescents. They took tool and
symbology to areas we didn't think could exist in a species outside our own
before spaceflight," Standish replied.

"So
you’re like a parrot?" the ensign asked looking at the elf.

"Son,
you've dug a deep enough hole, time you fill it or climb out," Shelby said
intervening. The others in the room chuckled.

"Oh
ah, yes ma'am," he blushed. “Sorry ma'am,” he bowed to the elf.

"Next
time you’re curious ensign, look it up before you stick your foot in your
mouth," Thorn said sweetly. Shelby frowned then shrugged it off.

"So
you served with my dad and the captain?" she sat at Thorn's table.
"Funny, I don't remember you on the salvage crew."

"I'm
rather easy to miss," Thorn replied dryly.

"I
thought it was the exact opposite after you beat the captain in that last
exercise. I didn't know anyone other than the Admiral could be that
sneaky."

Thorn
chuckled. "The Admiral is an open book most of the time. He's a straight
shooter with people. Most people translate that over to strategy and tactics,
which allows him to get sneaky because they don't expect it."

Shelby
chuckled in surprise. "I'll have to remember that."

Sergio
smiled like a kid about to get a new toy. One of the other pilots, Maverick
rubbed his hands together in glee. The door opened and they walked into the
hangar.

He
could feel the air of excitement as he stood there, watching the crews working
on the bird. She gleamed, factory new. Shiny, almost a mirror finish. Flawless.
“There she is ladies and gentlemen. The Cobra. Our ride for the next couple of
years,” he grinned as he walked over to the bird.

“She's
a sweet ride lieutenant,” a crew chief said.

“You've
flown her?” he asked, suddenly irritated. He'd wanted first shot at them. He'd
waited two weeks for this. Two long weeks.

“No
the Admiral did personally. Took each of them out and ran them through their
paces to make sure all the systems integrated properly. He did it right off the
line.”

“Oh.”

“Seems
like we should have gotten them sooner. A lot sooner,” ensign Kes said shaking
her head.

“That's
'cause you don't know what went into them. We've been stockpiling basic parts
that are common on all the fighters in the inventory for a month. But well...
some of this stuff is a hell of a lot more complex than your shuttle or average
work pod.”

“Looks
the same as in the sims.”

“Oh
I dunno, these seem a lot sleeker. Meaner. Ready to fly,” a voice said on the
other side of the craft.

“Well,
gather round kiddies, I'll fill you in. You can also check the tutorials in
your inbox later,” the chief said hopping off the wing. “Standard delta wing
craft. Central body with a flattened fuselage. Nose sticks out a bit. Sensors
are here and here,” his hands ran over the nose cone and along the flanks.

“Here
is your rail gun. Other side is a particle gun. The rail gun can fire dumb
rounds, sand rounds, or smart rounds depending on what you or the AI on board
select.”

“There
is an AI on board?”

“Basic
AI. No personality. A dumb AI,” the chief said shrugging. “She'll manage the
ship for you, do your math, run the repairs and act as a RIO. That's rear
information officer.” They nodded.

He
turned. “Moving on, she's got four layers of skin. The outer layer is a nanite
shell that does a host of things, like dissipate heat, repair light damage,
active camo, and some passive sensors. It's also got a cool crystal effect. If
you hit it then it turns hard. Basically it flows to the striking point and
forms a diamond there from the kinetic energy. It can shrug off some pretty
good hits.”