Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (53 page)

"Sorry,
thought I'd be stuck tearing down engine two but its behavior improved at the
last minute." She puffed out her cheeks and stared at Harris. "A
little over the top don't you think Harris?" she asked shaking her head.
“You didn't learn from Slythern?”

"A
little over the top," the steward nodded. "This is a working dinner I
understand." She turned to the tac officer. "Ah, A word to the wise
sir?" Harris came closer.

"Lose
the medals. Line officers get really annoyed at seeing people wear medals they
didn't earn," she stage whispered. Harris flushed, looking down at his
chest.

"I'll
be right back," he rushed off, sword bumping into things.

Shelby
snickered as she followed the others in. "Thanks he needed that," she
leaned over to the steward and patted her arm.

"Anytime
Commander. Oh and commander..." She handed the engineer a linen
handkerchief. "You've got a smudge on your left cheek."

Shelby
flushed as she took the handkerchief and rubbed at her cheek.
"Better?" The steward nodded as she took the handkerchief back. The
others were milling around. Shelby had her hair up in a simple pony tail like
the other ladies, she knew it made it easier. She was still debating on having
her hair cut short. She knew many of the women, and some of the men for that
matter had been talking about getting trims since they were underway.

The
crew was starting to shake down into a proper one. The drills were helping.
Everyone was now in uniform. Firefly was giving courses on military protocol
and some of that was sinking in. Still it would be a while before they were
anywhere within shouting distance of her last crew.

"What'd
I miss?" Logan asked as he entered. Harris and the doctor arrived right
behind him.

"Admiral
on deck," the steward said as the door opened.

Irons
smiled as he nodded to the crew. "At ease, sit," he nodded taking in
the scene. It was almost straight out of the textbooks. "I see Percy is up
to her usual efficiency," he murmured to Sprite.

"Oh
what ever gave you that idea?" Sprite asked.

"Just
that Harris is no longer in mess dress and Shelby looks thoughtful.” Irons
said. "I wonder if you had something to do with that? Put a helpful word
in her ear to help manage things?" he asked as they sat.

"And
would I be as devious as all that?" Sprite asked with a laugh. He smiled.
"Don't answer that," she muttered darkly.

"Thank
you for coming ladies and gentlemen." He nodded to each then his eyes
turned to Percy and her stewards. They were already laying out the meal.
"I'm not a big fan of ceremony and formal occasions, but it is a good idea
to dust things off from time to time to keep skills intact," he smiled to
Harris who flushed.

"I'd
like to welcome first lieutenant Mayweather to the crew. She's going to be an
outstanding addition to the fleet." He nodded a bow to her. She nodded
politely back.

"That
being said, lets dig in," he smiled as they started.

"Nice.
A thirty nine?" Dan asked, taking a sip of his wine.

"Thirty
eight I think," Harris responded. "I saw the bottle." He smiled
to Percy who nodded as she refilled his water glass.

He
was on the way to the bridge when he heard footsteps rapidly approaching him
from behind. “How are the marines doing sir?” He turned to see Mayweather there
behind him.

“The
marines?” He asked, studying her.

“I
heard Major forth has recruited about seventy people.”

“Seventy
nine as of this morning. All with prior combat experience,” Firefly
interjected. “The major is running them through boarding exercises now.”

“Oh?”
Mayweather looked up. “Something interesting to see.”

“He
has recruited a lieutenant Pendeckle to run the op force. Their trying to
improve both sides.”

Irons
brow knit. He hadn't really spent as much time as he should checking in on the
grunts. He regretted it now. Mayweather's kick in the pants was just the sort
of alert he needed. “Grading both boarding and repelling?”

“Yes
sir. Major Forth is formidable. I am impressed.”

“Accessing.
His thumbnail bio is brief. Former military officer on a colony world. I have
nothing beyond that point right now.” Sprite sounded peeved. He knew she hated
holes in data. He was pretty sure the marines were going to get a questionnaire
in their inbox soon.

“How
are they adjusting to implants?” he asked.

“They
got the full package. Full combat soldier set. The last was cleared for duty
this morning. The major insisted on giving everyone LAN links as well.”

“Understandable.
He doesn't need the downtime if someone is promoted. And they come in handy,”
Mayweather said tapping her own temple. “They take a bit of getting used to
though.”

“True.
I was concerned about that but the Major had a simple solution. They locked
down systems they didn't need and then gradually introduced the recruits on a
learning curve in their down time. I would judge that they are about sixty
percent as effective as a fully trained marine compliment right now, and I
expect that to improve steadily.”

“Good.”

“That
power armor is cool. Where do I get some?” Mayweather teased as they walked to
the bridge.

“You
don't. Unless you're boarding in combat. We only have a few zoots on hand.
We've made some combat space suits and I have spare replicators working on
parts for new powered armor suits now.”

“The
armory?”

“We
call it a morgue,” the admiral said as he accessed the reports. He'd skimmed
them before. He'd really taken a light hand with Forth, now he was glad he had.
The man had initiative and didn't need micromanaging. “Do you think they can handle
a boarding Firefly?”

“I
believe they will give any pirate a rather nasty surprise sir.”

“Good.
Remind me to do an op or two with them. And feel free to throw in some twists
in their ops if they are up for it.”

“Major
Forth is flexible. He knows about Murphy sir. Pendeckle is a bit of a plodder,
but he has good leadership potential. I'll see if I can dredge up a few
things.”

“Can
I get in on this?” Mayweather asked amused.

“Feeling
a bit underutilized right now lieutenant?”

“A
little sir. I'd like to toss a few ideas, or at least see how they do it more.
More in depth I mean sir.”

“Having
naval personnel participate would be a good thing sir. At least for damage
control assessment and to teach them to respect the marines.”

“True,”
Irons said nodding. “Make it so,” he said as the hatch to the bridge opened.

Harris
smirked as he typed. Irons raised an eyebrow and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Something on your mind Lieutenant?" he asked as he finished
digesting the morning reports.

"No
sir, just playing with the minefield design," Harris replied then looked
up.

"Show
me," Irons said coming over. He leaned over the console.

"Ah
sure. Okay. What we're doing is setting up nuclear, that is fission warheads in
a cone on the least time path from the jump point to Anvil. About three light
hours in," Harris said.

"Your
theory being they will head for the biggest target then spread out to take the
small fry later since they can't get away?" Firefly asked.

Harris
nodded. "Right."

"And
you think the station's neutrino and radiation leakage will cover for the
mines?"

"Exactly,"
Harris grinned.

"Could
work. Fission warheads have little neutrino leakage. We've mixed in a couple
fusion warheads but I see you've got them at the center of the field. Just
remember each mine is a shaped charge but lacks the punch that it would have in
atmosphere,” Firefly explained. Harris looked up confused.

“Each
warhead has a series of force generators that shape and guide the detonation
along a desired path an instant before they are consumed,” Firefly expanded
patiently.

“Like
a plasma bottle. Got it,” Harris nodded. “Why does a nuke in atmo have more
energy then? he asked.

“You
answered it already. The atmosphere itself. When the charge goes off there it's
energy propagates outward in the form of light, heat, neutron radiation, and
kinetic energy. The heat super heats the air, and the force moves it outward
tearing things apart. But in a vacuum you only have some stray molecules or
micro bits.”

“Ah,
I get it. KEWs on a macro scale,” Harris said, smiling.

“Well,
close enough.”

“Where
do horse shoes and hand grenades fit in?” Janice asked with a laugh.

“You
stay outta this,” Harris mock growled. She smothered a giggle.

The
Admiral traced his finger along the map. It rotated so he could see from
different perspectives. "Not bad Harris. Keep up the good work." He
patted the man on the shoulder then went back to his couch.

"Think
it will work Admiral?" Firefly asked over his link.

"It
will definitely get their attention if we do this right. We'll have to be in
the right position to take advantage of it," he smiled.

"Right.
I'm going to shoot a request to Anvil to coat the outer layer with lead based
paint and dress the mines up as rocks if possible," Firefly said.

"Good
idea. Make it so," Irons waved as he sat.

"Think
she'll fly?" Sergio asked as he studied the fighter. Firefly had had the
parts stowed in a cargo bay. It had taken a work crew nearly two shifts to get
the parts unpacked and the tiny fighter assembled.

"She'll
fly. She's a short ranged fighter though. I don't know of anyone suicidal to
fly it," Irons said shaking his head. The fighter was tiny, barely a set
of engines, with a truss skeleton and a plasma cannon mounted along her spine.
The pilot sat in a converted work pod cockpit fully suited. He shook his head.
It was insane.

 "She's
amazing," Sergio ran his hands along the sides. Irons sighed, recognizing
the signs.

"That
she is, but she's temperamental. She's an emergency design, not something well
thought out," he said trying in what he knew was a vain attempt to head
off the inevitable. The fighter was new to him, it had been innovated by
engineers in the field out of desperation. It had no armor, only particle
shields, and minimum sensors. "If you think your mother will let you..."
he started but stopped at Sergio's grin.

“You're
serious about giving up the helm?” he asked. Sergio shrugged.

“I've
always liked my hands on the controls Admiral,” Sergio said, running a hand
over the cockpit module. “Besides, we still need a small craft officer and
well, Janice is more experienced at helming a starship than I am.”

Irons
sighed shaking his head.  "All right, you're right, you are more of a
small craft person anyway. Janice is coming along nicely. You don't get to fly
it until I've checked it out personally. I owe your parents that much," he
growled.

"When
can we try?" Sergio asked excited.

"In
a couple hours. Now go get some rest, you’re going to need it."  Irons
shook his head as he examined the beast. "Damn, what am I getting that kid
into," he muttered. "He'll be fine Admiral, it's little more than a
work pod with a gun," Sprite answered.

"They've
been used for years Admiral, all the parts are proven," Firefly also added
it's comments.

 Irons
nodded. "Right. You two and Proteus check it out while I eyeball it."
He started to do a preflight walk around.

"Admiral,
I wanted to thank you for the commission." Logan stood there looking at
him. The staff meeting had just broken up and he was alone with Shelby and
Logan.

"I
hear a 'but' coming," Irons half joked.

"Good
instincts," Logan smiled. "I was going to say, I think I should
either be on another ship or the station." He sat down again and looked
away.

"Can
I ask why?" Irons asked, motioning for Shelby to be quiet.

"Well,
I don't have the reflexes I used to, and it’s hard to have Shelby here, I keep
having to force myself to not protect her or micromanage," he sighed
shaking his head. Irons nodded. "Always a concern with family serving
together. One of the reasons its usually prohibited on a ship under normal
conditions," the admiral said cautiously. Logan nodded. Shelby was stiff
and frozen.

 "And
these are far from normal conditions aren't they?" Logan asked softly.
"Yeah. Well, we're about to take Firefly out on her second full shake
down, I think we can survive with you on the station if necessary, but I would
prefer you tag along and over see Sun-Yat or one of the other ships we pick up.
If she's viable that is. I was considering transferring you to her as her
captain anyway," Irons smiled at Logan.