New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (50 page)

"Yes Captain," she
shook her head with a sigh.

"I think you need a break
young lady, you've been working far too many double shifts. Taking classes on
top of all that..." she shook her head. "You can't burn the engine at
both ends dear," she chuckled. "Go finish your shift, and then I want
you off rotation for an entire ship's day."

Jennie looked to protest. A
single cocked eyebrow stopped her in her tracks. Defeated her shoulders
slumped. "Aye Captain," she said and then nodded.

"Good to hear. Once you do
that, we’ll get Molly and some of the crew to take time off too, maybe we
should have a party?" the captain suggested. She turned her chair.
"Hmm, I think I'll just have a chat with Vanessa and Tsunade about
that...” she mussed as she left. The guards followed.

"What are we doing
again?" Jennie asked amused. Trisha was mumbling something as she wrestled
with her end of the plastic. The guards guffawed, laughing as she tried to beat
the plastic sheeting into submission. Finally she got the upper hand. She
stomped on it then turned, brushing her hair out of her face.

"There! Stay down!" she
growled. She swatted at it as a breeze from the nearby vent sent it fluttering.

"We need weights," a
girl said, and then set a block of plastic down on a corner. "Got
one." Another girl placed one on her corner. She tugged the sheet until it
was straight. "I have another!" she said.

Jennie squeaked as the sheeting
billowed behind her and between her legs. "Hey!" she said turning.
"Well, get out of the way!" Trisha said. She got her end down and sat
on it.

Hanity came over and handed her a
block of plastic. "Here you go," she giggled. "Though you’re
doing fine without it," she said with a smirk. She jumped back with a
laugh as Trisha tried to kick her.

"Meanie!" She stuck out
her tongue. Jennie looked them over shaking her head. "I think the
Admiral's right, this is a loony bin," she growled.

He looked up. "Well, since
it's December I thought we could do with some fun."

She looked up confused.
"December? Since when? Why do we have to have fun in December?"

He indicated the flapping corner.
Trisha wrestled it down. A girl came in pushing a hover pallet loaded down with
clear blocks. "What's that?" Jennie asked.

"Give me one." Trisha
called.

 Jennie went to pick one up.
"Oh cold! She snatched her hands back.

The girl who pushed the cart in
handed her a set of gloves. "Of course it is dummy, it's ice!" she
said. She took a block, set it on the plastic then skated it to Trisha. Trisha
waved a thanks as she caught the brick.

"Okay. Now I'm going to
insist!" Jennie glared, hands on her hips.

The Admiral chuckled. "Hand
me a brick will you Tasha? I think it'd be more fun to show her then
explain," he said. The machine he had been working on came to life with a
loud groan then grinding noise of whirling blades.

"What is that thing?"
Jennie hollered over the noise. Her hands had automatically moved to cover her
ears.

She looked at the chute sticking
out of one end. The girl wrestled a block into another chute then went for
another. "What is this?" Jennie asked just as snow whirled out,
covering her. The Admiral hastily shut the machine down. In the silence they
tried to stifle giggles as Jennie spat out snow. "What the hell?" she
growled. She brushed snow out of her eyes.

Flakes clung to her eye lashes
and hair. "What is this?" she demanded.

He shrugged. "I thought it
was obvious, it's a snow machine," he said with a grin. He motioned her
away. She obeyed, slow at first, then hastily as he pushed the button. Snow
began the stream out once more. He handed her a pair of ear muffs.
"Here," he said. Trisha put hers on. Jennie looked around to see the
others following suit.

A train of girls with blocks of
ice came, unloaded as they looked around and then left. The Moral officer came
in the see the girls having a rollicking snowball fight. The Chief followed,
ducking a snow ball. "Oops!" someone called.  She looked over to see
Anita smiling and tossing a ball up in the air. "Catch!" She tossed
her the ball. The Chief dodged it, and then glared.

"Don't block the door
dear," The Captain's gravelly voice came from behind. She turned to see
the Captain, doctor, Mindy, and dozens of others trying to get in. She moved
aside. "Well!" The Captain chuckled as the Chief slipped and fell on
her rear. "My my," the Captain chuckled looking away. Some of the
girls were making snow angels, a few were trying to make a snow man or woman.

"You sure know how to keep
things lively Admiral," she said and smiled over the noise. He nodded and
handed her a set of ear muffs. She waved it aside. Jennie came over holding a
pair of snowballs. "For me?" The Captain intercepted one. Jennie
goggled as the Captain tossed the ball in the air, and then caught it. When the
purser came in she had her back to the Captain. She tossed the ball, then
chuckled as it splatted on the back of her head.

"Who threw that?!"  the
purser snarled. The Captain smiled holding her hand up. For once her
granddaughter was giggling. The purser dropped down and got a handful of snow.
"Oh yeah?" she growled. Jennie handed the Captain another ball and
then ducked behind her chair.

"No fair!" the Captain
laughed as she tossed the ball.

The purser ducked, then came up
smiling savagely. "Take this!"  she said. The ball smacked into the
Captain's chest. The captain threw here head back as she laughed.

"All right Vanessa, you
win,” she said. Suddenly the purser was engulfed in snowballs from all around.
The Captain chuckled as Vanessa beat a hasty retreat. "Thank you ladies
for coming to an old woman's aid."

She waved to the cheering crowd.
"Enjoy," she said. She flew around the perimeter, talking to
individuals for a few moments, then left.

"Well, that was
interesting!" Jennie said, slipping and sliding up next to the Admiral.
Some of the girls were shivering, a few were sliding nearby.

She tried to dodge a girl sliding
on a piece of plastic, failed and came down on her can once more.
"Ow!" She rubbed her abused rear end. "Damn!"

The Admiral laughed. She got a
mischievous look, and then started to gather snow. "Wait now, uh..."
he said, taking in her expression with a suddenly sinking heart. The Chief
gathered more snow behind Jennie. "Now ladies can't we talk this
over?" he replied weakly as he stepped back. A few girls behind the Chief
grinned, patting snowballs. "Oh crap," he said ducking as the deluge
began.

The next morning everything was
back to normal. The crew however were a bit more chipper. Jennie looked over to
the Admiral and grimaced. “I'm getting some static from the Chief about the
weapons,” she sighed.

“What's wrong with that?” he
asked.

She nodded to the part he was
holding up. “It's a millimeter off,” she said. The tip of his index finger
morphed into a dremel tool to reshape the bore. “So, anyway, I was wondering
when we're going to get around to the weapons? I agree it isn't a pleasant
feeling being naked in the big bad galaxy,” she said suggestively.

He finished with the shaping and
blew on it. “I'm sorry, I can't help you there. I still have to follow the
guidelines of the Federation.” He placed the coupler back into the robot.

“What do you mean? The
Federation?” Jennie asked as she crossed her arms. “It's been dead for
centuries!” she said.

He looked up and caught her eyes.
“Not as long as I live,” he said quiet but firmly to her.

She sucked in her breath. “You
really believe that don't you?” she asked in wonder. He nodded. “Okay, so why
can't you fix the weapons? You broke one of them! I know Molly fixed that power
cable so we have the port graser again, but we need the others fixed too!”

He shook his head. “Although this
ship was a military vessel, the Captain has declared salvage rights, so it's
now in civilian hands,” he explained.

She grimaced and wrinkled her
nose. “And that means?”

He sighed. “Jen, I can't turn
over weapons or prohibited tech to civilians. It's both against the law, and
morally wrong. I can bend the rules with those stunners, but...” he shrugged
helplessly.

She nodded defeated. “I guess
so,” she muttered and then looked down.

He locked the cover plate back
onto the robot and screwed it down. She reached over and hit the button. The
LED's lit. “Okay, that did it,” he said.

She stepped back fast when the
little robot wobbled into the air, spun and began cleaning. “Fast bugger,” she
said and shook her head. “So, where does that leave us?” she asked.

“Have you checked the net lately?
There are all sorts of things on the net now. You may find it interesting,” he
suggested absently. He picked up his tools and left.

Trisha sat down beside her. “No
luck?” she asked.

Jen shook her head then her eyes
lit. “Gimmy your tablet for a minute.” She snapped her fingers and then wiggled
them.

Trish frowned, but handed the
tablet over. “Why?”

Jen typed rapidly, and then used
her fingers to scroll. She sat back grinning. “Why that sneaky so and so,” she
said with a smirk. She looked over to Trish.

“What? I heard the part where he
said he couldn't do anything...” She looked over Jen's shoulder. “Power cable
repair, laser sight, parallax debugging... Wait, is that the graser manual? Is
this all what I think it is?” she demanded.

Jen grinned. “How could it be?
After all, he said he couldn't help us right?” she asked. She tapped the tablet
on her chest. “Come on! Let’s go see if it can help!”

"This is the backup
generator?" Trisha asked. He leaned over to see Trisha looking the reactor
over. "It looks like a smaller version of the main reactor." Molly
jumped down. Trisha started, jumping and clutching her chest. "Don't do
that! You scared me half to death!" Molly smiled and adjusted her glasses.
Dorah giggled in the corner. "Yeah, isn't it neat and we have three of these!"
Dorah exclaimed before Molly could fully open her mouth.

She closed it then turned on
Dorah. "Hey I was going to say that!" she said. Her hands were on her
hips.

Dorah spread her hands apart.
"Beat you to the punch Molly. It’s not my fault you're old." Molly
turned to glower at the red haired girl.

“My someone is asking for trouble
today,” the Admiral commented as he jacked into the reactor.

"So can we fix it?"
Trisha asked ignoring the byplay.

"Oh we already did. Had to
replicate a new fuel line, the old one was ruptured." Molly waved to the
shiny new line, and then pointed to the shredded line lying on the cart.

"Wait, you said there are
three of them..." Trisha turned to Dorah, "Okay you did." Dorah
smiled. "Why three?

" Molly adjusted her
glasses. "Backups in case the main goes down or power demand," she
replied. "Oh," Trisha replied. The Admiral unjacked.

"Okay, it's all set. So
Dorah, you're reactor watch on this reactor for this shift," Molly said.
Dorah had said she wanted a break from the kids. Trish looked like she was
going to object. "You'll do fine," Molly said, then picked up her
tool box and grabbed Trisha by the elbow and led her out.

The Admiral followed. "Think
she can really handle it?" Trisha asked Molly, leaning over to her to be
discrete in front of the guards.

"Oh, she can handle it, as
long as she doesn't scram it,” The Admiral interjected.

Molly sighed. "You would
have to mention that," she growled. She turned around and entered the room
again. Dorah froze; hand over the big red button. "Freeze!"

Dorah moved then froze. "I
was just going to push it, it looks important," she said innocently.

Molly sighed. "You dunce!
That's the scram button; push that and it scrams the reactor then blows this
entire section into the void!"

Dorah paled and snatched her hand
back. "Oh," she said making herself small.

"Now don't touch anything
unless I tell you!" Molly pointed to the chair. "SIT!"

Dorah hastily obeyed. "We'll
be back later," Molly turned and left. "Now she can handle it,"
she said. She nodded to Trisha and the Admiral.

Trisha sighed shaking her head.
"What a goof ball."

"Admiral, what about the
hyper collector, and the, um, antimatter reactor?"Trisha asked.

He looked over to Trish as they
rode the lift. "Well, the hyper collector uses a bussard ram scoop made of
the shields and magnetic fields to suck in electrons in hyperspace. With the
shields down and out of balance, the ship's power generation was severally
limited." The lift stopped with a bump.

"Going to have to fix
that," Molly muttered.

The doors opened, and then
closed. "Looks like that too," Trisha observed wryly. She hit the
open button again. The doors opened.

"The antimatter reactor is
fine, except it has no fuel." The Admiral said as they exited.

"What about the fuel, can't
we make some?"  Trisha asked. It took him a moment to remember she hadn't
been in the classes when he had explained that.

Molly sighed. "No, it
requires fuel to make fuel."

Trisha's brows knit together.
"That doesn't sound right; you want to run that by me again."

The Admiral snorted. "Okay,
antimatter is like a battery. You take power and convert it into antimatter,
then bombard the antimatter with matter later on to get a return on your energy
investment." He shrugged. "But no engineered system is one hundred
percent energy efficient. That's basic engineering 101. Some power is lost all
through the system," he explained. "Take my word for it, it isn't
doable now."

She nodded. "Oh okay."