New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (42 page)

"Well, I'm glad we don't
have them as adults," the captain said. The Captain leaned back.

"So do I, they wouldn't fit
through the hatch!" The wrangler snorted.

The Chief silently left the
meeting and most of the other senior staff followed suit. Molly and Jennie
lingered with the Admiral who was studying a tablet. "Admiral, I don't see
what she has against you,” Molly muttered. She sat back, sipping her tea.

 "I don't either, you've
been here what? Nearly a year? It's time for her to get rid of the paranoid
streak," Jennie shook her head. The chief had been a royal pain for the
entire meeting. Irons was fairly certain she was doing it because of the save
he had made yesterday.

She set her tablet down in front
of her and leaned back stretching. "God I hate long meetings. Give me a
recalibration any day." She shook her head.

Molly smiled. "Careful what
you wish for..." Jennie glared. "Seriously though Admiral, she's
getting out of hand," she said.

The Admiral looked up. "The
Chief is just doing her job," he said and then shook his head. "She
has to see things from a security point of view, and to her I'm one heck of a
headache," he shrugged at their expressions. "I try not to be, but
she still has to see me that way."

Molly frowned. "Why?"
He tapped his right arm with his left. "Oh right your implants."

He nodded. "But not just
them, I know the ship inside and out, and it's programmed to follow my
orders," he said.

Jennie nodded. "Yeah,
okay."

He shrugged. "I can
understand her point of view, and will put up with it," he said.

Molly smiled again. "You
mean, you'll put up with it as long as they don't get in your way or slow you
down."

He chuckled with Jennie.
"Yeah." They got up and filed out. He waved to the guards.

"Why keep the guards?"
Jennie asked.  They hadn't understood why he had requested to keep them when
the captain ordered them to leave him alone.

"Why not? This way she can
keep an eye on me, salving her ego and paranoia, and I get a couple helpers who
can pitch in, or can keep annoyances away when we're working on something
delicate or demanding."

 Jennie gave each of the
following guards a look over her shoulder, then shrugged. "You say
so." He smiled. "Trust me, if I wanted to... do something bad,
nothing short of blowing the ship could stop me," he said. Her eyes
widened. "Not that I would," he said hastily.

She shivered. "Glad you’re
on our side," she said. He smiled.

"Being a warrior on a ship
is a long hard path." He looked over the class kneeling on the tatami
mats. The dojo was full, not just with guards, but with several other crew
members who desired martial arts training. "You have to have Zen patience
to deal with long boring assignments, yet be on the constant edge of battle in
case you or your partner spots something, anything that's a threat."

He sighed, shaking his head.
"I did one short tour of duty in security, I got out fast. I just do not
have the mindset to be that patient, to hone my abilities for quick reaction
time, yet keep them in check when a false alarm hits." He shook his head
then locked eyes with the Chief. "In combat hesitation gets you or your
team dead. Not being able to recognize danger, and listen to your instincts can
kill."

Her eyes narrowed. He nodded.
"When it all comes down to it, your stunner, the computer, sensors,
they're all just tools. The real weapon is here," he said. He tapped his
temple. "You have to think." He turned to face the dojo's faded
scripture on the wall. "A warrior is one trained for battle, but hoping
for peace. Trained in the art of war but for the pursuit of peace is the
ancient saying."

He turned back to the class.
"That's why many martial arts styles teach defensive moves, or in
balancing one self." A few nodded. He nodded back. "So, we're going
to start with a centering exercise before we move on."

"Why?" her cool soprano
was to be expected. He turned to the Chief and smiled thinly.

"The exercise has several
reasons, to balance your mind and body, bringing them into focus, and in sync
with one another," he explained.

She nodded. "And the
others?" she asked.

He nodded. "To get you to
relax and focus on your own body and its abilities. To listen and process
things, filter it with your mind. To learn to filter out distractions," he
said. She nodded. "Let’s begin shall we?"

“I don't see why we need all this
medical nonsense. This is all junk and a waste of time, material, and power,”
The purser growled.

The chief looked around and
shrugged. “Well, tell that to Faith, Audrey, Clarissa, and the others,” she
drawled. She was standing beside her grandmother, leaning backwards against the
door jam.

The Admiral grimaced.
"Chief, the only way to resolve this is to show you. Hit me please."
He turned to face her.

Her face worked.
"Gladly," she said.

He suppressed Defender's attempt
to defend him as her round house connected with his eye. He rolled with it a
little, and then stood straight. "Thank you Chief," he said. He
looked up to her. She was recovering for another blow.

"Enough. Your point?"
the Captain asked.

"This." He pointed to
his face. The Captain and Chief gasped. A few of the girls did as well. In
moments his face had gone from starting to bruise to bruise with swelling, then
immediately fade and return to a normal sheen. "My implants allow me to
recover quickly," he explained. He nodded to the doctor. "Just
another wonder of Federation medicine," he said and nodded to the doctor.
The doctor smiled.

The purser's eyes were round. “I
knew you were different, but that's insane,” she breathed.

He chuckled. “Not really, I can
absorb a lot of damage; most military personnel have to be able too,” he said.
He shrugged. “I hope that answers your concerns,” he said to her. The purser
nodded still staring.

Jennie looked up and sighed as
they heard footfalls approaching. "Don't look now, but another delegation
is coming," she muttered. Molly and the Admiral looked up briefly. The
purser and a pair of guards were escorting a family. The woman was in a wheel
chair, elderly and frail. She wheezed constantly, clutching at her shawl and
the hand of a girl, most likely her daughter. They passed the engineering team,
listening avidly to the purser ramble on with her tour.

Molly shook her head. "What
was that about? I left strict orders to keep this corridor cleared," she
said, clearly annoyed. She frowned at the nearby guard.

She held up her hands.
"Don't look at me; I think the Captain okayed it," she said.

Molly sighed. "What was that
about anyway?" Molly asked. She frowned, hands on her hips.

"The guy, um, Mister Zachery
Sanchez is some sort of local merchant. He traded to get his wife medical
attention," the guard answered, and then went back to scanning the
corridor.

"Oh," Jennie nodded
with a thoughtful look. "Come to think of it, I do remember you mentioning
that to the purser, something about offering medical knowledge and
treatment?" She gave the Admiral a look.

He shrugged. "What ever
works."

"Speaking of which!"
Molly said. "Let's see if we can get this calibrated. I'm going nutty
trying to get that nano spec right." She sighed, running greasy hands
through her hair. Jennie opened her mouth to warn her, then sighed and chuckled
in resignation.

"Oh well, guess you’re
taking a shower tonight right?" Jen asked. She sat back.

"Oh huh?" Molly asked,
looking down at her hands. "Ah crap, yeah, guess I am." She shook her
head. The Admiral chuckled.

"So, what's this about
medical services?" one of the guards asked. Molly looked over to her. She
had a battered face; she must have been a bouncer before being recruited.

"Yeah, the doctor's made
some major advances since we got a lot of his equipment repaired," Jennie
replied. She shook her head and picked up a wrench.

"Think he could do anything
for me?" the guard asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah!" Molly nodded.
"Medical is free to anyone of the crew you know."

Jennie grunted as she tugged at
her wrench. "Yeah, and with a face like yours...” she muttered.

The guard growled. Jennie looked
up alarmed. "Sorry, I meant, yeah, you could," she said, suddenly
aware she had put her foot in her mouth with the wrong person.

The guard leaned forward, going
nose to broken nose to Jennie. Jennie looked into her cold eyes and gulped.
"You have a problem with my face?" she asked quietly. Jennie began to
sweat.

"Quit playing and get back
to work!" Molly interrupted.

The guard just stared. "Uh,
no, no problem," Jennie said as she backed up and then tripped, sitting
down hard on top of Molly.

"OOF! GET OFF!" The two
struggled until the guard reached in and picked Jennie up by her collar. Gently
she set her down.

 "Uh thanks."

The Admiral shook his head.
"To answer your previous question, yes, there's a problem with your face,
your broken nose if repaired could make you feel better, and breathe easier. He
might even be able to replace the missing teeth," he said. He shrugged as
her face worked.

The guard stared then grinned a
broken grin. "You really think so?" she asked hope in her voice.
Jennie caught the note of barely suppressed longing and excitement.

"I know so. I've been in
some real brawls in my time, and trust me; I wouldn't have any teeth or a nose
if not for doctors," the admiral said in amusement. The Admiral shook his
head, touching his nose. "This poor thing was flattened three times in a
month!"

The guard chuckled.
"Admiral, when we get to Gaston, remind me to take you to a bar called
Sweet meat on Filth Avenue."

He chuckled. "I may just
take you up on that...If we get this done."

"Admiral, the Chief is
coming," Sprite alerted him.

 "Trouble coming folks, look
busy," he said fast. He quickly ducked down into the crawlspace. The
guards chuckled, but immediately cut it off as the sharp echoing footsteps of
the Chief could be heard. They paused next to the open crawlspace.

"Any problems?" The Chief
asked the now sober guards.

Mutely they shook their heads.
"Um, Chief, I was wondering about the medical situation," the
battered guard started in.

"What about it?" the
Chief asked, giving her a long look.

"Well, I well, I mean
we...She looked over to her partner who looked up.

”We were wondering if we could
get a check up, maybe get some repairs," she said, bailing her partner
out.

The Chief hummed for a moment.
"Maybe."

"I'd like to get these teeth
fixed," the woman said.

"Yeah, that might be a good
idea. Okay, I'll see what I can do."  They heard her turn and leave.
"Oh, and next time, make sure the purser knows she isn't supposed to come
by here when we're working?" the guard called.

"Purser?" The Chief
asked, immediately stopping.

Her footfalls returned. "She
was here?" she demanded.

The women grunted. "With a
tour group."

"We have some safety issues
ma'am, last thing we need is some downer getting scorched if there's a blow
out," the guard replied.

"Yeah," the other guard
said.

"Hmm." The group in the
tunnel could hear her tapping something.

"All right, I'll have a word
with her," she said and then paused. "But if that fancy pants Admiral
is so good, there wouldn't be a safety problem," she muttered.

"Well, he's doing his best ma'am,
but he's only human," the guard said.

The Chief snorted. "Try
telling that to the Captain and rest of the crew, they all think he's a miracle
worker," her tone was cutting; Jennie picked up with it and started to
exit. The Admiral put a restraining hand on her arm.

"Well ma'am, I think the
repairs that we have now are a miracle, so in a way..." the guard left the
thought hanging.

The Chief grunted. "Shows
you've been around him too long, I'll have to change the roster again,"
she sighed and left.

As her footfalls receded Molly
tweaked her bolt. "Okay, I think that did it. These torque wrenches are a
pain!"

Jennie's slipped and fell with a
clatter. "Damn!" she muttered and bent over to get it.

"Coast is clear," the
guard said softly. Carefully Jennie picked the wrench up, checked the readout,
and then crawled out of the space with a long suffering sigh.

"I told you, these things
are delicate," the Admiral called after her.

"Second one this
shift!" Jennie muttered.

Molly sighed. "Miss klutzy
live up to her reputation?" she asked.

He chuckled. "Happens to
everyone, we all get the drops from time to time," he said soothingly.
Molly gave off another long suffering sigh.

"Oh ha ha," Jennie
called into the chute.

As they walked down the corridor
a few hours later they could hear sounds of an altercation up ahead and around
the bend. Jennie looked over to the security personnel. “I think we have a
problem," she said. The two guards shouldered their way past the engineers
to the fore. They stepped into a trot, then when sounds of punches could be
heard a run. They rounded the corner a few seconds before the engineers.

When the Admiral, Jennie, Trisha,
and Molly came around the bend it was over. "What the hell do you think
you’re doing?" one of the girls asked, gaping at the purser on the ground
crying. One of the new recruits stood over her, restrained from behind by a
guard. The other guard had her weapon out, pointed down but faced the crowd.

"You three should get out of
here," she said over her shoulder, not looking away from the ugly crowd.