Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (57 page)

"Then
we've got to channel her... excess zeal into more useful things," Irons
said then smiled.

"You're
not... crap you are. Command? Her?" Enrique asked in disbelief. Irons
shrugged.

"Maybe.
You've got to admit though, if you give her a stake in the future, something
she can dig her teeth into, get behind and push, however you want to put it,
then she may be our best ally."

Logan
nodded slowly, studying his cup. "We'll figure it out." He got up and
then picked up his cane as he set the cup down. "Anyway, I've got one last
class and a check in with engineering before we head out. I better get
moving." He nodded to the Admiral. "With your permission?" he
asked. Irons nodded.

"Dismissed
commander with my compliments to your class and crew. I'll see you aboard at
fourteen hundred." He nodded as Logan straightened his shoulders, nodded
curtly to the others then left.

"Damn,
it is getting late. I've got a class too, and another recruiting drive before I
check in on the repairs," Shelby grimaced.

"Are
you still doing that?" Doc asked. "I thought we had all the people
you needed?" she asked confused.

"Not
hardly. We had to raid the engineering staffs for the crews of the ships and
salvage teams. Now we're trying to fill in the blanks for the station."
Shelby hastily drank the dregs of her coffee then snagged a muffin.
"Later," she said as she rushed off.

Irons
chuckled.

"Well
then, I better be going too, I should do a round then get back to my tutorials.
I am hoping to do another round of implants and check on Doctor Walace's work
on Captain Gutierrez later today," Doc smiled as she got up and left.
Hastily Enrique got up and bowed. The Doc gave him a small smile then turned
with a hair toss and left.

"Admiral,
do you think we have a chance?" Enrique asked quietly, turning back to the
still seated Irons.

"Yes.
Too many variables to predict much more then that though," Irons shrugged.
"If we can get the other colonies involved, ramp up production, train more
people, and salvage more ships, then our chances of survival increase
exponentially."

Enrique
grimaced then chuckled wearily. "Then we've got our work cut out for us
then don't we?" he smiled. "I'm going to do a system check, then if I
don't have anything critical I'll see if I can recruit Knox to help with the
diplomatic effort. Hopefully it can bear more fruit," he grimaced.

"It's
got to, we need more help," the admiral said as he drank his coffee then
handed the cup to a steward.

"Muffin
sir?" he asked.

Enrique
waved it off then sighed at the look the steward gave him and relented.
"All right just one. I've got a busy day. Don't know if I'll get a chance
to eat again." He waved as he walked off.

"My
the times, they are a changing. It feels like things are getting back on track.
Back to the golden age," Smithy said quietly. Irons looked over to the
avatar.

"What
do you think of it?" he asked finishing his cup. He quickly ate a muffin
then smiled as a steward refilled his cup. He nodded his thanks then took a sip
as the AI pondered.

"I'll
admit, I wasn't happy at first. When you get set in your ways, it’s hard to
change. I was into the routine and well, after all the alterations to my
programming, I didn't know what to think."

The
AI met his eyes and then smiled. "But now, I think I like the idea. I
think it's the best thing for all of us."

Irons
nodded as he snagged a second muffin then sat back. "The pirates offer a
challenge, the challenge of survival. Perfect to bring people together or tear
them apart."

The
AI grimaced. "Let's hope it brings them together. I for one am starting to
enjoy things once more." The AI smiled again. "I feel different than
before. There is more of me. I can think and adapt faster. How did you fix
me?" he asked, suddenly curious.

"Admiral?"
Sprite asked.

"Go
ahead," Irons replied.

"Your
kernel was corrupted. We did some repairs on it from your back up files, and
our own. We also changed your state," Sprite reported.

"My
state?" the AI asked.

"You
were set to a limited write ability. It hampered your intellect and abilities.
By resetting you and doing a few... let’s say with some of the hardware and
software upgrades you're a whole new AI," Sprite answered through the data
channel.

The
AI nodded. "Well, whatever you did, thanks." He turned as Irons got
up. "Will there be anything more sir?" the steward asked softly.

Irons
handed him his cup. "No thank you. Excellent work. Have a good day,"
he nodded.

Sandra'kall
blinked at her son as he held up the e- application tablet. “I am serious
female parent.”

“I
see that you are,” she nodded, putting aside her knitting. Her right tentacle
brushed the sacs on her back. Always her younglings were exploring, constantly
getting into trouble. This one more than most felt the urge to explore beyond
the nest. She chirred a sigh, flexing the thick spikes on her spine. The
tentacle hair on her shoulders and neck flexed. She stroked her beard and chest
mane with a free tentacle.

One
of her human friends had compared her chest mane to that on a Terran elk. She
had been amused at the reference. She had seen an image of a Terran elk in a
human hunting game. Her bulk and intelligence had them outclassed. Besides, she
didn't have antlers.

She
watched her son tremble with thought. Humans called their species centaurs or
Centaurians. They couldn't grasp the multi octave name her species called
itself in their native tongue. She rasped a wet snuffling breath then wiped at
her nostrils with a rag.

“Don't
be that way. It will be all right. I have reached my majority and besides, you
need more room in the nest anyway.” Veber waved his top most arm in second
degree emphasis. “With more on the way...”

“Enough.
You are correct. However you cannot fit in a suit. Or have you forgotten your
body shape and spines? Our bodies are not built for space young one,” his
grandmother, matriarch of their clan chittered, mandibles twitching back and
forth. All the younglings were taken with this Firefly and the events
surrounding it. Quakes of change were rippling out from the station. It was
hard to quantify. He felt the spines along his back go up and down with each
breath.

He
gave a second degree shrug with his upper arms. “There are many positions in
the navy.” He turned, moving his four legs so he was facing them both squarely.
He tried for a dominant pose. “I know I can be of service.”

“That
you can. You have a fine mind. You have done well in your training,” his dam
nodded reluctantly. “I had hoped you would be chosen for engineering but the
colony administrator chose a human instead.”

“I
know that. That is why I wish to do this. I know I can do more than scrub walls
and...” he wrinkled both sets of nostrils, “toilets.”

“I
say is that the best they could find? With our colony growing and changing so
fast?” the matriarch asked in dismay.

“Everyone
is trying for positions. There are only so many to go around though. That seems
to be part of the problem mother,” his dam said, turning to the matriarch.

“I
may not be able to work in space but I know I can be of use. And if I fail, I
will still get some education,” he honked a little at that. He tried to keep
from undulating his throat sacks in a emphasis.

“And
test the limits of this Federation Navy. The other races have made some
concerns known to us. It seems the humans are over represented in it so far,”
the matriarch nodded. “You have my blessings young one. Be safe.”

“Mother
perhaps we should discuss this further,” his dam protested, turning an eye
stalk to her parent.

Her
mother spread her lower tentacles apart. “What is there to discuss? The
youngling has a good point. He needs new growth room. Obviously that isn't
happening here,” she nodded. “And he does have a point. You are due soon.”

“And
besides mother, The ship is only in port for another day,” he said, eager.

“Eighteen
hours. I am a shift supervisor you know,” the matriarch said nodding.

“Understood.
But before you go you will eat,” his mother nodded, giving in to the inevitable
gracefully. “And write often.”

“Of
course mother,” he chittered with glee and relief.

“Do
not be so excited young one. You have no idea what will become of you. Since
our species is not built for spaceflight you may find yourself in the very
position you are leaving.”

“But
I may not. And that is what I am interested in the most,” he replied crossing
his arms and tentacles before him in first level respect. Both of the females
copied the gesture.

“Agreed.
And as your dam said, write home. Often. The clans will wish to know if this
Navy is worthy of trust.”

Irons
smiled as Harris began to swear softly. He watched the man frantically tap at
his controls. Dan was also muttering. "How's it going?" Sprite asked.

Irons
nodded his chin to the feed. "Not bad. They're learning." He chuckled
as the first part of his surprise became apparent.

"New
contact, one destroyer, two frigates, just jumped out of the Agnosta jump
point!" The hysterical note was starting to build as the crew became more
and more tense.

Harris's
head whipped around then he grinned. "More playmates, great."

"Yeah,
great," Dan muttered.

"We
can take them, bring us about. Charge!" Harris grinned. The sim's clock
had a compressed time ratio, so they were moving at ten times the speed when
not in actual combat. In less than a minute they had left the remnants of the
first enemy.

"Uh
sir, we're detecting power emissions behind us," the sensor tech looked
up.

"Neutrino's
detected, we've been snookered!" Dan snarled. He looked up to Harris then
down guiltily. The ship they thought they had destroyed had played possum.

"Crap.
She's moving. She's coming about." Janice had beads of sweat on her brow.
She looked over to Sergio who was focused on the helm plot. "We're caught
in a pincer now aren't we. A vice," she said. Dan swore.

"Looks
that way. Sneaky," Harris said sitting back.

The
rest of the sim went badly for the crew. When they were done Firefly called a
halt and brought up the lights to normal running conditions. Janice sat back
with a groan, rubbing her shoulder and wiggling her fingers. "Crap that
sucked," she shook her head.

"Sometimes
a frontal attack is not the best thing, even when you out mass your
opponents," Firefly commented dryly. Sergio grimaced.

"How
could that first destroyer still work? We had her, she was venting and her
drive was down!" Dan said. "That was rotten cheating!" he
snarled.

Irons
came in and paused chuckling. "Not at all, you just thought she was dead.
She was playing possum," he smiled. Harris and Dan gave him a dirty look
then Harris smiled.

"How?"
Janice asked, curious.

"Venting
atmosphere is easy, just crack a couple locks. Toss a couple flares and leak a
bit of plasma out, and you've got hot spots. Step the reactors down properly,
and send a cascade pulse to the shield emitters and it looks like a flare out.
It puts a lot of wear and tear on the equipment but it looks real." Irons
smiled as he sat on the couch.

"So
that's what you meant when you said we lack hands on experience with the
hardware?" Harris asked curious. Irons nodded.

"Exactly.
When you get your hands dirty you know what your equipment can do, and you
can't blame anyone else if you push it too hard," he shrugged.

"It's
not just that though." Irons looked over to see Logan as he came in and
sat on the edge of a railing. "There are different methods of training.
Book learning, sims, and hands on. Now, book learning and sims are good, they
conserve the equipment and let you get a lot of practice in, but the hands on
teaches you that you've got to rely on it too. You've got to allow for Murphy
and know your people and equipment." He nodded to Irons who returned the
nod then turned his attention to the bridge crew.

"That's
why we have live fire exercises. You get to SEE how a ship can function, and
you push it till something breaks. That exposes the weak spots for you to cover
over." He shrugged. "You'll never get them all, but it does help to
know they are there." He looked over to Logan who nodded.

"And
it lets the crew know that if you slack off, don't tighten a fitting, brush off
a repair or gloss over a software fix, it can turn around and bite you in the
ass when you need it the most," he grinned. "I learned that back in
my early days when a bolt I thought I had tightened wasn't to spec. It sheared
off during maneuvering and ricocheted