Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) (80 page)

"Thank
you Admiral, I'll do better," he said saluting.

Irons
returned the salute. "You'd better or your ass is grass," Irons
replied. "Dismissed." He watched as Sergio turned and left.

"Sprite
remind me to have the Major run a deportment and discipline class. Also some
team building exercises. Something short for our mustangs to get into the swing
of things. Short sweet and nasty," he smiled grimly.

The
AI chuckled evilly. "I like it. Nasty. Putting a marine major or better
yet the gunny in charge of prospective navy officers and enlisted. Ewe. That's
cruel even from you," she chuckled. "I love it," she said.

"Getting
flack from the newbies?" Irons asked.

"They
can be a pain in the virtual posterior. There is one that is a hacker, I
haven't figured out which it is yet. I've got my eyes on a couple likely
suspects though."

Irons
grimaced. "Figure it out then put them to work with more... constructive
endeavors," he said. The AI laughed again.

"With
you, that's taking on a whole new meaning," Sprite said. Irons chuckled as
he moved off.

Irons
studied the report the next morning and nodded. The pilots were coming along
well. Cycling them through a carousel of job duties kept them on their toes.
Throwing different opponents at them in the sims did as well. He smiled a bit.

“I
know that smile. You're thinking about messing with someone,” Logan said
chuckling. Irons looked up and his smile grew into a grin.

“Just
thinking about life's little pleasures. And keeping people on their toes.”

“The
pilots?” Logan asked. Irons cocked an eyebrow at him. “Heard you had a chat in
the pilot's ready room.”

Irons
shook his head. As usual scuttlebutt was incredibly fast. “Yeah. I was thinking
about tossing them a few extra challenges. Just to keep them from getting
stale.”

“Stale.
Sure.
..” Logan chuckled. “Xenos?” he asked. Irons shrugged a little,
sitting back. “Sure you are,” he said studying the Admiral.

“It'll
teach them teamwork and thinking outside the box.” He indicated a nearby chair.

“Yeah,
true. And that they can't rely on a frontal attack,” Logan said shaking his
head and sitting down. Xeno fighters, at least their main battle line fighters
relied on a reactionless drive that was the exception to the mass rule.

Normally
a ship using a reactionless drive needed another mass to push against. However
if you put enough emitters in the bow of a ship they could generate a massive
mass shadow, one large enough to pull the ship. Of course there were always
tradeoffs.

For
one thing the Xeno fighters were not very maneuverable. That massive black hole
in front of them preferred to go in a straight line whenever possible. Second,
to generate the black hole they had to beef up the ships structure and
quadruple the dark matter antimatter power plant.

That
came at a cost. To shoehorn the massive power plant into the reinforced frame
they had been forced to delete the entire reactionary drive. That however let
them delete most of the fuel needed as well.

And
of course with a massive black hole in front of them they had tactical
tradeoffs as well. Mass shadow sucked up anything shot at it. The fighters were
practically invulnerable to a frontal attack.

However
they also couldn't
fire
that way either. Energy weapons attenuated when
they hit the edge of the mass shadow. For that matter sensors did as well.
However the Xeno's had built compensation software into their sensor suites to
handle that part.

It
also prevented the fighters from firing any missiles, mass driver rounds, or
torpedoes forward. Consequentially they would either drop the objects or fire
them out on a divergent arch around the mass shadow.

This
increased the time it took to get a missile out to a target, but the target
would be attacked from a vector it wasn't expecting. Misdirection, just like
what the Xeno's had been famous for.

One
of the last tradeoffs was the energy flare. To use the mass shadow drive was to
let everyone in the system with a mass spectrometer or a mass detector know you
are there. It also sucked in materials, like say interstellar hydrogen and the
compacting forces created quiet an energy flare... not exactly stealthy.
Something that wasn't usually in the Xeno handbook. Which was why the fighters
were battle line units and not stealth units.

“...I
still think we should do up some of the emergency fighters just in case
Admiral.”

Irons
grimaced. He'd been woolgathering about the damn Xeno fighters instead of
paying attention to business. He grunted, getting his mental faculties back on
track. “Yes but they are death traps. I'd rather build the core around
something reliable.”

“True,”
Logan said nodding. “The E-frames are pretty crude. But if it works...”

“That's
the other thing though,” Irons waved. “We don't have a carrier for them. Yet.”

“I
thought we were going off the cruisers and other ships?” Logan asked.

“For
now. We'll bring them up to full squadrons as time allows, but a fighter wing
is best when it's together in one block. Dispersed in penny packets means they
aren't nearly as effective a weapon as they should be.”

“The
old penny packet versus concentrated routine Admiral?” Sprite asked. “That's
not like you. You're normally a redundancy kind of guy.”

Logan
cocked his head but didn't comment. The Admiral pursed his lips for a moment.
“You've got me there,” he admitted reluctantly after a moment.

“Besides,
having them on other platforms would allow us to station them as force
multipliers near the jump points. That way they could patrol them and be on
hand as quick reaction forces,” Sprite commented.

“But
dispersing them in penny packets would require each squadron having additional
logistics and maintenance personnel beyond what is currently feasible,” Firefly
replied.

“True,”
Irons grimaced. “I was planning on a light escort carrier design. Something rugged,
easy to build, and quick to put into action.”

“Victory
ships,” Logan said nodding.

“Exactly,”
Irons said nodding in return.

Firefly
turned to the Commander then back to the Admiral. “Admiral. With all due
respect. We don't have the blueprints.” Irons smiled. “Or do we?” the AI asked
suddenly, turning his attention to Sprite's avatar. “Just what is in that
database you've got on the Admiral's launch?” Sprite nodded. “From the repair
tender's database. Interesting. I didn't know it didn't erase it.”

“Nope.
What was erased we filled in the blanks or sketched out the basics for later
review. It's a cornucopia of material. All compressed of course. I'll get you
the unclassified index,” Sprite said waving a hand airily.

Firefly's
eyes flashed a dark red. “You'll...”

“Softly,”
Irons said nodding. Firefly turned to him. Irons turned to Sprite. “Give them
both access to the material they are cleared for. In fact... while you’re at
it.” He turned to Logan. “I want another database made. At least two. Dispersed
of course,” he shrugged. “Just in case.”

“Back
to the redundant thing?” Sprite asked snorting. “There is a copy in the
shipyard already.”

“You
know me so well,” he smiled.

"Are
you sure this is necessary?" Dan asked looking at the faces around the
table.

"You
know it is. He's got to go. One way or another," the chairwoman said
steepling her fingers. "He's an obstacle."

"Yeah,
but we need him. He's the one who put this all together. Without him we'd be
food for the pirates," Dan said looking uncomfortable.

"Precisely
why we're just going to run him out of the system and not kill him," the
chairwoman said. Dan looked surprised then grimaced.

"I
know he's a prig but why?" he looked at them in confusion. "I know he
can be a prig. I know that, I've worked with the man. But we're going to need
them if Horath sends that dreadnought." He looked around to each of them.

"With
you and our other noble defenders?" she asked.

"Against
a dreadnaught? Get real,” he snorted. “We can't do it all. He's got a lifetime
of experience and the access codes. We only have the codes up to commanders
rank," he grimaced.

"Precisely.
He's holding you down. Once he's gone we'll promote you to the rank you truly
deserve," the chairwoman's voice was silky smooth.

Dan
chuckled nervously. "All right, but if this blows back, you’re in serious
trouble." He looked around. "He's not the Port Admiral, he's a hero
and he could use that against you."

"Not
if we find... let’s say the right way to encourage him to leave," a
governor said smiling. Dan looked at the fat man then shook his head.

"I
don't want to know," he got up.

"So
you'll do it?" the chairwoman asked.

"Yeah,
I'll get you his schedule and make the call. I'll try to keep the others in
check when it all goes down," he said not looking at them.

"Go
on then," the chairwoman nodded as he hastily left. She turned her chair
sitting back.

"Is
he going to be a problem?" one of the others asked.

"Possibly.
He's ambitious, but he's had some indoctrination of honor and courage.
Fortunately for us it hasn't embedded to deeply yet," another responded
picking up his drink.

"You've
got to admit, the Admiral has had his uses. I never thought I'd actually drink
a Terran bourbon," he smiled taking a sip then saluting.

"Any
engineer with access to a replicator can do that now. He's outstayed his
welcome," the chairwoman said.

"Getting
rid of him is not going to be easy," another said. "Are you sure it
will work?" he asked.

"If
I know one thing, the combination should provide all the leverage we need. As
long as we apply it properly," she said picking her own glass up.

"And
the commander?" another asked. "I don't like loose ends," he
said.

The
chairwoman laughed. "Unlike the Admiral his implants are not as
formidable. I think we can arrange an accident. After all, space is a dangerous
place." She smiled grimly. Several of her followers chuckled with her.

"What
do you have?" one girl asked.

"Fluid
dynamics and magnetic field dynamics. I can see the magnetics class but why
fluid dynamics? I want to be a fusion tech!" the woman said confused.
Irons slowed as he rounded the corner to the college quad. He paused.

"The
fluid dynamics class is critical in fusion generators. You have to balance the
bottle at all times," he said nodding to the girls. They clutched at their
padds looking wide eyed.

"Tttthanks
uh Admiral sir," the first girl said. He chuckled as he passed them.

"No
problem."

"Did
you see that! He's so handsome!" one whispered. Irons felt his ears heat.
"Nice butt too!" the other whispered. He turned to see her going weak
kneed. He caught her looking and she blushed and started giggling furiously.
She turned embarrassed. he went around the corner and bumped into another
student.

"Hey
watch it!" The kid looked up. "What do you... oh sorry Admiral."
Irons blushed and shrugged.

"My
fault son. Carry on," he said gruffly then moved off.

"Well,
that was fun," Sprite said.

"Sprite?"
he asked tightly.

"Shutting
up now."

"Right."

The
Admiral turned a corner and stopped at the hatch. "Admiral, multiple life
signs detected within," Defender reported. He nodded in acknowledgment.
Replicators were all in service now, and each of them were running around the
clock. Of course they would be have people manning them. That was to be
expected after five months with them up and running. At leas the hoped so. He
recognized one signature though as his hand palmed the latch control.

"Angie?"
he asked opening the door. "Oh sorry, I didn't know you had a class."
He looked around as Angie smiled to him. The class was made up of about twenty
students, ranging from early teenager to thirty year olds, it was a diverse
group, there were several elves and even a neochimp.

"Class
you all know Admiral Irons," she nodded politely to him. He turned and
waved a polite hello. Several of the students stiffened, ROTC students most
likely.

"Relax
folks; as you were, I was just dropping in." He cocked an eye at Angie.
She shrugged.

"Hands
on goes hand in hand with the class room Admiral. At least for
engineering," she explained. He chuckled.

"Where
did you get that one from?" he asked.

She
dimpled. "Logan. I mean Commander Logan. Stole it from him." He
chuckled. "Since you are here you can field a few questions some of the
engineering students have been asking." She nodded to a couple. "All
right Jason," she nodded. He turned to the Admiral and smiled nervously.