Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane (33 page)

He stroked her back, unsure what to do or say. When her soft sobs
ended she kissed him again. “I need you in the worst way! Do you have a place
to go? Somewhere no one can find us?” she asked softly.

He smiled and nodded.

“Then let's go,” she said huskily, drawing a heart on his chest.
He stunk, but for now he'd do. He'd serve as an ally, a buffer between some of
the horde who hated her until someone better hung came along to take his place.
Then again, she felt him up briefly. Her eyes widened slightly. He was bigger
than she thought, judging from the bulge in his blue jeans. “We've got some
catching up to do,” she murmured wickedly in his ear. He blushed and then took
her by the hand and led her off.

<----*----*----*---->

Once the survivors were off the wreck teams went in to bring
selected pieces of salvage on board and then the ship was sealed and kicked
loose. For now she would drift, a derelict. The process of docking and taking
on survivors was repeated a few hours later as the first wave was settled into
their new quarters. Fortunately they had plenty of room in the destroyer for
everyone.

Gustov took charge of the nine Horathian prisoners at the lock.
He ignored the boos and snarls to space them and escorted them with Yorrick to
the brig. The cowed Horathians meekly stood as they were searched and then sent
in with their fellows.

“We're getting a handle on the logistics Admiral,” Ian reported
as the second group settled in. “And the watch is thrown into chaos again,” he
said, chuckling.

“Yes, but think of all the extra manpower,” the Admiral replied.
Ian glanced his way. Irons shrugged. “It'll take a few days for everyone to get
sorted out, get some food, and rest. But in the mean time, we'll carry the
load.”

“I think they'll surprise you Admiral. Once the commotion dies
down, I bet some will get bored or want to help. Remember, they've been cooped
up in those wrecks for ages,” Ian said thoughtfully.

“We'll see,” the Admiral replied with a nod. “How's the arm?” he
asked.

Ian looked at his arm thoughtfully. “I hadn't even noticed,” he
said with a laugh in his voice.

“Doc fix you up?”

“He's with Holly and they've got their hands full with more
important people,” Ian said. He looked at the arm again and then shrugged.
“It'll keep.”

“Mine too,” Enric replied from his station.

“All right then gentlemen, we have a bit of work to do restoring
this ship.”

“Restoring?” Enric asked, now confused.

“Restoring. As in making like new. I seem to remember something
about a ship or group headed to Hidoshi's World. Horathians.”

“Oh shit,” the helmsman said, looking up. “I remember that!” he
said nodding. “They went to conquer the planet! What are we supposed to do? We
can't fight!”

“We can and we will if we have to,” the Admiral replied. “But
they don't know we took this ship,” he said slyly, glancing at Ian.

Ian snorted and then laughed. “A case of pulling the wool over
their eyes again Admiral?” he asked.

“Why not?” the Admiral asked with a smile. “But, just in case it
doesn't,” he said turning to the crew. “We get the ship as ship shape as we
can. That way they get a nasty surprise either way.”

“Plan for the worst, hope for the best,” Ian murmured. He rubbed
his chin briefly. Irons noted the man had found the time to shave, like most of
the male survivors. He nodded.

“Right. And by working on the ship and bringing her up to
standards, we'll give the crew something to do while helping them to learn the
systems,” the Admiral said.

“Two, no three birds with one stone. Maybe four,” Ian murmured
thoughtfully. He was obviously thinking about what the Admiral had been doing.
“Bringing them together as a team against a common threat. Smart.”

“I do have my moments,” the Admiral replied.

“Definitely,” Ian replied. “So, where do we start?” he asked,
turning to the Admiral.

“Well, it just so happens, we've gotten a jump start on a few
things,” the Admiral replied. He turned to see the other officers enter the
bridge.

“I took the liberty of calling them. Do you want to take this in
the wardroom?” Sprite asked. “I think there is enough room for everyone there,”
she said.

The Admiral shrugged. Whatever he said would be all over the ship
eventually anyway, which was what he wanted.

“Phoenix has repaired some of the damage to his computer core,
and we've restored his software from his backups. I've used them to help
restore Bounty as well,” Sprite said. The AI holo table showed the three AI
avatars. Phoenix stood with his hands behind his back in parade rest. Sprite
smiled. “They grow up so fast,” she said in maternal approval.

“Ready for duty Admiral,” Bounty replied.

“Admiral, if you wish to defer my repairs in favor of Bounty, I
fully understand,” Phoenix said. “The threat of combat takes precedence of
course,” he said.

While the AIs were talking the officers filed in and took seats
around the room. It suddenly felt like the room was smaller, with all the warm
and cold bodies occupying so
much
space.

“Your AI called me and had me organize teams to gather up junk and
bring them to your ship. I'm not sure why though,” Kinja said.

Irons studied her. She still looked beat, but better. Not quite as
exhausted. She had shadows and lines under her eyes, she still had sunken
cheeks, but she was obviously game for what he had in mind. She had gotten four
hours of downtime, but hadn't been able to sleep. Anxiety over the ship had
kept her from relaxing.

“So, you said something about replicators Admiral?” Sindri
rumbled.

“We'll get to that. First things first,” Irons said waving a hand.
“I've got military grade industrial replicators in my ship. One is operational,
the others need a little TLC.” Kinja's eyes went wide as he pointed them out.

“That'
s why you
wanted to dock with your ship!” Caid said, looking up from his station as the
others turned to him. “Sorry,” he mumbled, looking away.

The Admiral shrugged as attention returned to him. “The
Horathian's hadn't touched them since they apparently hadn't known what to do
with them. I don't know if they were planning on ripping them out or not. I
don't care at this point. We'll put them to good use,” he said, looking at
Sindri and Kinja. Sindri nodded.

Kinja grinned. “You're right Admiral, sleep can wait!” she said
eagerly, slapping her hands t
ogether
and rubbing them in anticipation.

Irons exhaled noisily in exasperation. “You can at least
eat
regularly. You all aren't me. Some of you,” he pointedly didn't look at Sindri
or Ian. “Have implants. Or the start of implants, so you can jack in through
your WI-Fi node if you know how. But you are far from milspec, so don't overdo
it.”

“That's right, you haven't slept in what, three days? Four?” Ian
asked.

“Five,” Irons replied. The room blinked. “I can go another day
without sleep, it's not going to hurt me. I've gone a week without sleep,” he
said.

Sindri whistled softly. Irons glanced his way and then shrugged.

“We've got the crew fed, bedded down, and showered. And boy are we
happy about that,” Sisko said, shaking his head. “It was really starting to
stink. I thought we had it bad in the brig but the pong some of the others
brought on board!” he said, shaking his head.

“We are here,” Holly said, coming in. Her husband was behind her.
Both were ladened down with trays of food and drinks. Gratefully the crew
jumped to help unload them. “Sorry we're late. Your AI said to take a side
trip.”

“Better late than never ma'am,” Sindri rumbled, taking an energy
bar and a drink. “And this is much appreciated,” he said. He waved a salute to
her and to her husband.

Irons nodded, giving them a chance to settle in and eat for a bit
before they continued. Morale was high, incredibly high after the rescues.
Throw in half way decent food and they were practically in heaven. Sprite had
reported a few people had to be sedated, but overall, things were really
looking up. “Never underestimate a good meal and full stomach,” Sprite said in
an aside to him through his HUD. He nodded. The crew were happy at having a
real food replicator that made
real
food, not paste.

“Okay,” Irons said as they nearly finished eating. “The plan is to
use the replicators on my ship to begin restoring first this ship, then mine,
and then the gas giant refinery. It will provide not only Hydrogen, Deuterium,
and Helium 3, but also a host of other gases we can use in manufacturing. After
that, the two surviving ships if we have time,” he said. He expected a protest,
but there wasn't. Just a long silence as people digested more than their meal.

“Understood,” Ian finally said, with a curt nod as he looked
around the room. There wasn't a challenge in the look; just a quick inspection
to make sure everyone was on board. “We'll keep working on integrating,
training on systems, and healing.”

“Good. Doc, ma'am, you've got your work cut out for yourselves for
a few days I'm afraid,” the Admiral said, nodding to the two medics. Both
nodded.

“Happy to be back in our trade,” Marty replied, taking Holly's
hand and rubbing his thumb over it. She looked at it and then nodded.

<----*----*----*---->

As the crew settled in, Sprite replayed the videos almost nonstop
in the MPR. Many of the newly rescued crew had questions; some questioned the Admiral's
authority and legitimacy. Those were put to rest the best they could.

Having not one, but
five
AI vouch for him didn't hurt
either.

Rumors of the Admiral and his deeds had spread throughout the
remains of the sector of the Federation, and the crew got a further morale
boost when they realized they were with an expert.

The AI’s generated a list of repairs, and once a few of the
robotic remotes were brought online the repairs moved quicker. Sprite managed
to get the Phoenix power core back up with the on board remotes, they then
focus on repairs to the power conduits.

<----*----*----*---->

Defender reported that the EMP weapon was a molten cloud of
drifting debris. Sometime during the taking of the bridge a rating or officer
had gotten off a self-destruct command to the EMP weapon. Irons still wasn't
certain if that theory was correct or not, but it was all they had to go on at
this time period and he had other things to concern himself with at the moment.

Whole world turned upside down

Proteus stopped the Admiral as he walked through engineering.
“What?” Irons asked.

“A moment Admiral,” the AI said. “Can you please go to the EPS
conduit for a moment?”

“Sure,” Irons replied. “Why, did you detect a problem? A leak?”

“No. Something else,” the AI said, scanning the conduit. Irons
felt his right arm move on its own. The hand rested on the top of the conduit.
It felt warm to the touch, not quite scalding hot, but warm. He noted nanites
stream out of his hand and into the conduit.

“Want to tell me what we're doing?” he asked after a minute.
People were looking at him again. They were getting used to him stopping to fix
things or talk to a disembodied AI, but not just stand there. “Proteus?”

“Sorry Admiral,” the AI replied as the nanites returned to his
hand. Irons felt his hand return to his control. He moved it away.

“Did what you came for?”

“In a manner of speaking. I must share this with Defender and
Sprite when they have a moment,” the AI replied.

“Okay,” Irons said. “They are busy. How about me?” he asked as he
walked away.

“I did a scan of the EPS conduit.”

“I gathered that,” the Admiral replied dryly. Proteus could be
dense at time.

“Also of other pieces of equipment on the ship. Admiral, some of
them are civilian grade, but that conduit and a few other pieces of hardware
are new built.”

The Admiral stopped and turned. “What did you just say?” he asked
slowly. He didn't like where this was going.

“It is manufactured. Newly manufactured Admiral. And not by a
replicator either its crude, I judge it's efficiency rating at around forty
percent of a stock civilian equivalent piece, but it functions.”

“Yes, yes it does,” Irons replied, staring at the conduit. His
practiced eyes traced it to the fusion core. Now that Proteus pointed it out he
could see where the new part was grafted into the old artery. “All right, I'm
not thrilled by that.”

“You do understand the connotations here sir?”

“A bit. Why don't you lay them out anyway?” Irons asked.

“In the ships we captured in Pyrax, the hardware was a mix of old
and civilian, no doubt scavenged or taken by the pirates.”

“Understood,” Irons nodded.

“A few parts were newly made, most of them were basic. Bent metal
housings, furniture, containers, ODN cabling, simple items.”

“Okay,” the Admiral replied, thinking furiously. Why hadn't he
seen this before? ODN was simple; it was just extruded glass or plastic. But
someone somewhere had to have made it. Which meant they were making other
things.

“But this is something different. An EPS segment is a complex
piece of equipment, with its own electronics to control its superconductors to
maintain containment. Also, it has heat exchangers, valves, and other pieces of
plumbing. Some of it is crude, but still, it works.”

“And you said they made it the hard way. Without a replicator?”

“Yes. And if you extend that to its logical conclusion...” Proteus
said.

“If they made it here, they made it elsewhere. Through the ship
you said?”

“Yes Admiral. One of the hatches was newly made. As was an
electronics module. In fact, Sprite reported ten percent of the computer
hardware is cruder than Federation civilian standard. If I examined it, I might
find that it is indeed newly constructed.”

“And where they made this they can make more. For other ships. For
infrastructure. Damn,” the Admiral said as connections were made. “Hull?”

“We would have to check. I am assuming it is far cruder than
Federation standard. The same could be said for structural elements. I suggest
once you have more free time, a thorough inspection is in order to catalog the
technology the enemy has acquired the means and ability to make.”

“Agreed,” the Admiral vowed grimly, headed for the lift.

<----*----*----*---->

Irons heard soft sobs and peeked around the corner. He saw a man
sitting Indian style, clearly frustrated or upset over something. A panel was
open before him.

“Problem?” Irons asked, coming over to him. The young man looked
up and dashed his tears. “No, don't get up,” Irons said as the man struggled to
get up. He was clearly off balance. Instead Irons knelt beside him. “It's been
a long couple of days. With ups and downs,” he said, sitting against the panel
leaning against the bulkhead.

“Yes sir,” the young man mumbled. “Thanks to you.”

“We'll get through the next trials together. All of us.”

“Yes sir. It... I was working on tracing the fault in the
environmental controls and I just... lost it. I don't know why,” he said
softly, shoulders shaking.

“Give yourself a break. You've come through a traumatic
experience. A fire, that's burned you. You need to cut yourself some slack.
We're all tired,” Irons said. He glanced at the panel. Some of it was a mess,
but there were also some neat bundles of zip-tied wires and hoses as well.
Granted, it wasn't smart to zip tie a flexible water line to a low voltage
electrical line like someone had clearly done, but everything else was okay.
Except for the rats nest of burned wires.

“It looks like a mess,” the Admiral said. “Even I'm having
trouble making heads or tails of it,” he said.

“Aye sir. It's... I don't know what they were thinking. And I
haven't worked on stuff for months. I don't... I don't know...” his shoulders
shook again.

Irons patted him on the shoulder. “You'll do fine. It's like
riding a bicycle; you just have to get back into it. Start at the beginning.
You've got a line probe right?” Irons asked, pointing to the orange box in the
man's lap.

The young man looked down at it. “The hook you mean?”

“Right. Hook. It can test the wiring. If you are doing this you
should be working with someone else. Or an AI or both. It's really a team
effort but we're still a bit short handed,” he said. “But I did notice
something,” he moved his hand in and brushed wires aside. The young man opened
his mouth but the Admiral just ignored the spark of a low voltage wire hitting
his right hand. He caught the dangling wire he had been after and pulled it
out. There wasn't a lot of slack though. “This might be an issue. And this,” he
said, pointing with his left hand to the plug that was just dangling. “I think
someone yanked it out on the other end. It doesn't have enough slack to reach
the fan.”

“I see.”

He pointed to the burnt wire. “Do you see how the plastic coating
blackened and melted exposing the twisted copper wire beneath? The wire has
become welded to the one next to it during the short. “He said as he pried them
apart. “And so it shorted this one, melting through the wires. It's got a
couple amps to it, so be careful. In fact you may want to cut the power before
you strip and fix it.”

“Aye sir.”

“Use a patch wire. Irons put his right hand in to touch the
microcomputer. Proteus sent nanites streaming into the USB and interfaced with
it. After a moment the AI reported that it was good. “Okay, the control module
is good.”

“That's a relief sir. We don't have many left in spares. Three I
think they said.”

“We can make more.”

“We can?”

“I've got replicators,” the Admiral smiled. The young man blinked
at him. “And once things settle down, we'll really dig in and turn this ship
and the others around.” He cocked his head. “With your help,” he said.

“Count on me sir,” the young man said, nodding.

“Good man,” Irons said, patting him on the shoulder. “You can
take it from here?” he asked.

“Aye sir. I think I can handle it.”

“Call if you need a hand,” the Admiral said getting to his feet.
“And if you ever want to talk, we're all here,” he said softly.

“Thanks sir,” the young man said, looking up as he clipped the
hook to the burnt wire.

“Anytime,” Irons replied. He moved off.

When he was around the corner Sprite sighed. “That was nice of
you Admiral,” she said.

“He was having some issues. Frustration was blinding him to the
obvious. Been there, done that,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a step back, or
fresh eyes to help.”

“Not just that. He lost his partner Rob. He's obviously in
mourning. Just the offer of support helped him I think.”

“I hope,” the Admiral said. “I'm not sure how much I can hold
everyone's hand as they decompress. But I'll do my best until things get
better. Can you work with them?”

“Me? I'm an AI remember?”

“With some trauma in her own past Commander. Think about it,” he
said.

“Great. Therapy for meat bags,” Sprite grumbled. “Something else
I'll never live down. I guess I can put it on my resume though,” she quipped.
He snorted.

<----*----*----*---->

Work-bots worked on clearing the remaining dead. Sprite directed
them to the electrical closet near the brig lift that the Admiral had used to
stash the bodies. They found the wreckage of the robotic dog, the human bodies,
and the cowering cyborg dog hiding under a shelf. The dog came out after a few
minutes, making whimpering sounds when the r
obots got to work.

“I almost forgot about him,” the Admiral said when Sprite called
his attention to the mutt. The Glenns were with him on a tour. Together they
went to the room to check the cyborg out.

To Marty it was a thing of wonder, a robotic bulldog body with a
dog brain floating in a clear container on top. “There is no telling how old he
is,” the Doctor murmured. “He could be as old as you!” he said, shooting a look
at the Admiral.

“Let's hope so,” the Admiral replied.

“Why?” Holly asked. She tentatively reached out to touch the
thing. The dog turned and nuzzled her. He made small groaning and whirring
sounds as he moved. Vents were on his underside. From the look of it, someone
had gotten creative with the life support. Irons frowned. It could be from his
time, but... there was something off about it.

“He's low on power,” Sprite said. “That's why he's moving so slow
and wanting attention I bet,” she said.

“Are you in communication with him Commander?” Holly asked,
looking up.

“No, observation. It's been days in that closet. I'm betting his
brain needs a nutritional supplement as well.”

“We can do that,” Marty replied, studying the thing.

“Can we keep him?” Sprite asked, sounding torn. “Though, we should
be compassionate and put him down. The poor thing has obviously suffered
enough,” she said.

“Please don't,” Holly said quietly. She rubbed her arm. “I'll take
care of him.”

“We both will,” Marty said. “I don't follow with keeping an animal
if it is in pain sir. But if we can help it and give it a good life,” he
shrugged.

The Admiral grunted, rubbing his chin. Irons checked it over. It
was a mess; he could tell one leg wasn't fully functional. The thing was almost
horrifically ugly, but it was affectionate and had a sort of charm about it.
The thing acted as a dog, it whined and even tried to lick Holly's face until
she turned away and petted it. It had a plastic tongue that dangled out of its
mouth as it panted. “All right,” he finally said.

“You mean it sir?” Marty asked, looking up.

“Yes. He's your responsibility,” he said, pointing to the two
medics. “I want information on him. Work with engineering and one of the AI to
figure out who did this to him.”

“Yes sir.”

“And have them help you figure out what he needs to survive.”

“Yes sir,” Holly said. “We'll give him a full work up,” she said.

“Good idea,” Sprite said. Irons studied the thing once more. He
wondered briefly if there was a Neodog's brain trapped in there. Hopefully not,
he thought, shivering.

“He's been through so much,” Holly murmured, hunkering down next
to the animal. “Like us. He's a survivor. Our mascot,” she said.

Marty smiled and nodded.

“Cybernetics,” Marty said as they walked the dog to the infirmary.
“I have seen one sleeper in my time, but he only had basic implants.
Information implants,” he said.

“Who?” Sprite asked.

“Um... I never got his last name. First was Rick.”

“No, we met another,” Holly said. Her husband turned to her. The
dog marched between them, looking up at from one to the other. “The Neocat
remember?”

“Um...”

“The tiger. You remember. Epsilon?”

“You've been to Epsilon?” The Admiral asked.

The couple nodded. “Our ship did a figure eight course, and
Epsilon was one of the stops. We've only been there once.”

“Nox? Nobar?”

“Nohar,” Sprite supplied.

“Yes!” Holly said, looking up as she snapped her fingers. “That's
him!”