New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (45 page)

He smiled. "Glad you’re
checking up on that," he said.

She nodded. "Yeah, I caught
a couple crew members trying to shut the firewall down to upload a game
infected with viruses too," she said with a grimace. She shook her head.
"Some people will never learn."

 He sighed. "Yeah, that was
a problem in my time too," he admitted.

She nodded. "Glad to know we
haven't changed in that regard I guess," she said.

He gave her a look. "That
wasn't a compliment."

She got up, "Could have
fooled me!" She smiled and waved as she left.

"Sprite, did I miss
something?" he asked softly.

"You just told her your time
wasn't perfect. It wasn't the golden age of perfection," the AI said,
sounding close to exasperated. He nodded in understanding.

"Okay, I can live with that,
we had our warts," He said with a wince.

"Okay, is she fat or is she
pregnant?" Irons asked softly. He could tell she was pregnant from her
scanners but he was curious to know if others knew. The Admiral turned to
Jennie as the woman walked out of ear shot.

"Pregnant. Apparently she
slept with some guy downside at New Texas,"Jennie said. Jennie shook her
head after a moment. "It happens," she sighed wistfully, looking out
the window then back. "There are fourteen kids on the ship, but not one
boy. You, Hibiki, the doc, and Bart are it."

He looked alarmed. He really
hadn't paid close enough attention to the crew dynamics before apparently.
Jennie smiled at his expression. "So you see now why some of the ladies
are kind of taken with you," she said.

He held up his hands.
"Whoa!"

Her smile turned into a grin.
"Oh don't worry, Shandra would kill me if I dumped her for you,” she said.
He chuckled, suddenly feeling relief..

He passed a pair of giggling
girls and looked back to them, then the guard. "What's going on?" he
asked.

Tara shrugged. "Either it
was a juicy piece of gossip or it's movie night," she sighed.

"Movie night?" the
Admiral asked looking at another group coming down. He paused and then
flattened himself against the bulkhead.

He looked back to see the
giggling pair enter the galley. "Movie night must be a doozie," Tara
sighed again.

"Yeah, it's a western
romance!" The Admiral looked to his left to see Molly, Jennie, Trisha, and
Mindy had broken from the throng of girls.

"It starts in a minute. Come
on!" the girls said together. Each girl latched onto an arm and then
dragged him to the door. Reluctantly he let himself be led, but he tried to get
out of it.

"Really, I've a lot of work
to do, honest!"  he said. They ignored the pleading and pulled him into
the galley. The room erupted in applause.

"Glad you could make
it!" Tara pushed him from behind.

"Face it Admiral, you're
surrounded and out gunned, best give in to the inevitable," Molly said,
eyes twinkling. He shook his head. Molly grinned. "Sit, or be sat
on." He sighed and sat in the indicated seat. Jennie sat down next to him,
Molly on his right. One of the girls with pigtails Tia sat on Molly's other
side. Tara sat behind him. The other guard, Frie, stood by the door.

"So what are we watching
again?" Tara asked, passing a ceramic container of seeds to Jennie. She
took a handful and placed them in her lap then passed the bowl to the Admiral.
He took a few and then passed it on.

"Western romance is all I
heard." Jennie replied, and then popped a seed in her mouth.

Molly handed her a candied apple
on a stick. "Here you go!" The lights dimmed and the wall screen came
to life.

"Thanks for showing me how
to do this Admiral," Jennie said, nibbling at the apple.

"No problem," He said,
trying hard not to sound put out over being kidnapped. Several girls shushed
them. He chuckled softly. The sounds of an American western theme song began to
play. He shook his head. "Going to be a long night," he muttered.

Jennie grinned. "Yeah, I
forgot to tell you, it's a double feature," she said. He groaned again.

"Are you sure about this
doctor?" The nervous gardener looked around, and clutched at the gown.
"I'm sure if you’re busy we can do this some other time...” She started to
get up.

He gently set his hand on her
shoulder and eased her back down. "Nonsense, removing a cataract is a
simple procedure. We don't have the ability to program or control nanites, but
we...”

She froze in alarm. Her pulse
went erratic and she paled. "Nanites? Did you say nanites? Promise me
doctor you won’t try those hellish machines on me!" She clutched at his
arm.

"Gently dear. No, as I was
saying, we can't. So we're going the old fashion route and putting you under to
remove the cataract," he explained.

The woman laid back. "We
have nanites on this ship?" the old woman demanded. Mindy set the mask
over her face. She breathed. The doctor checked his tools.

"Really, I must talk to the
Captain about those machines, they should all be destroyed at once...
at..." she let out a soft sigh and her eyelids drooped.

"That's right, just breathe
normally," the doctor said. She tried to keep her eyes open.

"Out an airlock..." she
mumbled woozily.

Mindy looked up at the readout
then to the doctor. “She's out."

He nodded. "This would be so
much easier with nanites. Technically we could have done this with a local
anesthetic, but I knew she'd be a problem," he sighed as they put a brace
around her head. "Okay, we need to swab the area, and then peel back the
cornea to expose the cataract..."

The Admiral came into the
compartment and looked around. A girl was seated doing her nails. He went over
to her duty station and took a look at the board. He made some adjustments.
"Aren't you supposed to be monitoring this?" he asked.

She looked up then blew on her
nails. "What? It's not like it's important or anything," she said
distracted. She waved it off. He realized she was waving her hands to dry her
nails.

"Yeah it is, this is the
starboard fuel station, there's a clog in the line, and the line needs to be
back flushed. We're having problems with the engine now."

She looked up in disinterest.
"Oh."

She came over to the station and
looked it over. "What are you talking about?"

He grimaced. "Here." He
pulled up the log. "See? There's a constriction in fuel to the port
engine. There's a clog, most likely a stuck valve or debris in the line,"
he explained patiently. She tried to look around his arm. He moved to the side
so she could get a better view. "Here, see?"

She nodded. "So?" She
waved it off. "Do you mind? I have a date tonight and I need to finish
getting ready." She waved to the door.

He felt his temper soar and tried
to fight it down. "Now look, you're here on duty, you’re supposed to be
monitoring this and heading problems like this one off before they effect the
ship."

He tapped in the controls. “It's
easy, you check the different flow read outs, hmmm yes see, there's a
noticeable drop off here." He pointed to a line of code. "Now we know
where to focus on." He tapped the line, bringing it up. "Now we can't
reroute, but I can do a fast back flush," he explained. He tapped the
controls. The flow slowed then stopped.

"What are you doing?"
she asked alarmed.

"Flushing it to see if it's
debris." The flow reversed but didn't relieve the pressure. "Hmm, no,
stuck valve." He tapped the controls again, returning flow back to normal.

"Okay, so we know it's a
valve or constriction." He tapped the logs. "Now you log the problem,
and engineering will take a look when the engine is off." He looked over
to her. She was looking down, studying her nails. "See?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever,"
she said with an as if I care note in her voice.

His lips thinned into a snarl.
"Even a moron can figure it out."

Stung she looked up. Her eyes
slitted and her nostrils flared. "Moron?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, people who are
assigned important duties but blow them off," he said, meeting glare for
glare. He turned to her, straightening to his full height. Command voice and
manner edged into his demeanor. "You know the type from personal
experience now don't you?" he demanded. The bite was there. Her eyes
flickered with rage. Her hands curled into claws. "Why you...”

The guard cleared her throat. The
woman didn't notice at first. "Yes?"

He gave her a long cool look.
"If you can't do a simple job like this, I suggest you ask for
relief." He studied her. "I'm sure the cook or steward could use
someone to clean or bus tables." He moved around the woman. "I'll
just put in a word for you." He could hear the snarl in her throat.

"You bastard," she
snarled.

He stopped. The guard moved
forward, grabbing the girls arm. She tried to shake it off and failed.
"Stupid know it all male," she snarled lips curling. Suddenly that
made him laugh.

The guard looked at him confused.
"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Stupid know it all? Oh
that's rich," he said in between chuckles. He waved to the door control
and turned to leave.

"You'll be hearing from the
Captain about this," the woman snarled.

 "Maybe." He shrugged.

"Coming?" he asked the
guard. Reluctantly she let go of the woman's bicep and backed away. She
followed him out. The second guard was there.

"Admiral was that
wise?" the first asked shaking his head.

"There's only so much stupidity
and sloppiness I can put up with," he grumbled.

"Yeah, but we're not
military," she replied.

He waved as they walked down the
corridor. "Do you think that matters if you're military or not?" He
shook his head. "What if there was a blockage? Or if the flow was out of
control and the engine was overheating?" She looked confused. "The
bridge controls are limited, they can't see everything, Can't run everything.
She's the eyes here, she's supposed to catch problems and fix or report
them," he said. He waved to a tech that waved back. She climbed a ladder,
and then began installing a new lighting fixture. "We all have a job to do
here. If she can't do it, she shouldn't be there right?"

The guard nodded.
"Okay." He nodded back.

"Now you've done it,"
Jennie leaned over to warn him a while later.

He looked over to the opening
hatch with the security Chief and sighed. "Great, just what I didn't
need."

 The Chief stormed in with the
nail girl following. She looked smug, holding back slightly but within ear
shot. "Just what the hell do you think you’re doing chewing people
out?" she demanded. Molly paused in her discussion with a tech and looked
over.

"What do you mean by
that?" the Admiral asked mildly.

"I mean her!" The Chief
pointed to the now grinning girl. "You had no right to waltz in and take
over! And to be so rude!" she said. She waved one hand; the other remained
on her pulser at her hip.

"You have a problem with my
performance?" he asked tapping the controls.

"Yes! Pay attention!"

Molly cleared her throat.  From
her look she wanted to know what was going in. The engineer looked up then back
to the Chief. "The young woman in question was not doing her job putting
the ship at risk," he said. He met the chief's eyes coolly.

 "I'll handle this
Admiral," Molly said firmly. He stepped back as Molly came in between
them, hands on her hips. "You have a problem with my department or my
people you talk to me Chief," she looked the Chief straight in the eye.

"I don't interfere with your
security personnel," She waved to the guards standing around. "You
stay the hell out of my department." She adjusted her glasses. The Chief
looked momentarily taken aback. "If that lazy cunt can't do the job as the
Admiral reported, I'm sure we can find her something else to do," she
growled. She looked over the shoulder to the girl who was visibly shrinking
back, eyes wide. "Just off the top of my head, who's manning that station
while you two are here?" Molly snarled. The girl flushed.

"Exactly, I didn't think
so," she said, voice cold. She turned back to the Chief. "You see my
problem? She leaves her station, doesn't do her work." She waved to the
engineer. "Let the people who aren't lazy, who are doing the work alone.
Go back to your own department." She waved to the door.

"Don't let the door hit your
ass on the way out," Molly growled. The Chief stepped back nostrils flaring.
The two guards exchanged looks. "Go on!" Molly waved.

The Chief shook her head.
"Chief the Captain wants to talk to you., the overhead crackled.

"This isn't over," she
said backing up.

"You're right. Unless you
want me to start meddling in your affairs, then it better be," Molly
tightened the sleeves knotted around her waist. She grimaced as the Chief
exited then turned her glare on the nail girl. "Well? What the hell are
you still doing here?"

The girl shrank back. "Don't
worry, I haven't forgotten about you. I'll deal with you later," she
growled. She waved to the door. "Go back to your post." The girl
turned and ran out, sobbing. "Well, that was interesting," Molly
said, voice returning to normal. She turned and sniffed. "Good god, do I
really smell like that?" She plucked at her tank top neckline. The tank
top was covered in sweat.

"I think she ran because of
the smell," Jennie teased. Molly grimaced. "I didn't think you had it
in you," Jennie said. She was shaking her head in wonder over the entire
episode.

"I didn't think I had it in
me!" Molly replied with a shaky laugh.

The Admiral studied her then
nodded. "I'm glad some of that metal is starting to show through. We'll
make a Chief engineer out of you yet,” he said. Molly grimaced.