Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (110 page)

He
waited patiently as they worked through the basic agenda. Most of it was a
rehash of old news, some new, most were ego stroking pieces to get them moving
along and make the public see that they were indeed doing their jobs and the
station was progressing forward. Fine.

When
it got down to new business Sprite immediately put in a request to be heard.
Surprisingly it was granted.

Irons
stood. “I think we're all aware of the growing pirate threat,” he said bluntly
and simply, stepping around the other people watching the proceedings. This was
even being broadcast on the station's public channel and apparently the news
media as well. A few looked up at him in concern or interest. A few others were
bored.

“It's
rather far away,” Kennet said dismissively. “It's also someone else's problem.”

“A
fire on your neighbor's property can easily spread to your own in time,” Irons
replied, knowing that the translated Japanese proverb would resonate with the Asian
mandarins. He wasn't sure if it would have its intended effect though.

Yan
Fu's eyes narrowed. He made a brushing motion but otherwise didn't speak.
Kennet looked at him and then looked at the admiral with a smirk.

“I'd
like to continue with my plan to defend this station and the system. To that
end I need support from the council and access to resources,” the admiral said.

“To
build weapons of war,” Kennet said, smirk widening into a tight lipped grin. He
knew he had the sanctimonious admiral over a barrel this time. He planned on
taking full advantage of it too.

“To
build among other things yes, Weapon systems to defend this system and this
station when the pirates eventually come.”

“They
won’t. They are far away,” Kennet replied with a sneer.

The
admiral cocked his head, face cold. “Did you forget about Kathy's World? That's
only four jumps away you know. A factory station has a lot more to offer then
an arctic planet with little or no resources to speak of.”

“Pirates
are after booty?” Sid asked, cocking his head. He turned to the others and then
back to the admiral. “Of course they are. But admiral you have to admit it's
not a
current
problem. We need to focus on the here and now.”

Irons
tried hard not to gnash his teeth or clench his fists. He also focused on not
glaring at Sid. The man meant well but he wasn't helping. “Actually, you have
to
plan
for that if you are going to have any chance of
surviving
something like that when it does become here and now. Filing briefs and motions
won’t cut it.”

“Then
plan. We'll read them and let you know our answer,” Fu said, stroking his
beard. He made it clear from his eyes what the inevitable answer would be. If
there was going to be any answer. They could keep him in limbo like the mayors
council was doing on the same subject.

The
admiral however had anticipated this little stunt. “I've uploaded a basic plan
already. You should have it. In fact I uploaded it to the system net three
months ago,” Irons replied. “It was approved then.”

Kennet
looked at Fu. He hadn't expected that. Fu's eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Then
it is out of date,” he finally said, brushing his beard and then waving his
hand. “Please update it and send us another in a month.”

“New
business then...” Kennet said smirking and indicating to the admiral to sit
down. Irons realized that no matter what he said or did he was going to be
ignored. He turned and left without a backwards glance. He felt and heard the
murmurs of the people as he left.

“Good
riddance,” Kennet said just loudly enough for him to hear as the door closed
behind him. His shoulders stiffened in anger at that.

“Admiral
are you sure about this?” Sprite asked, sounding a bit put out. He'd come
straight to the dispatch boat without a word. She could tell he was seriously
pissed. Smoldering.

“Yes,”
he ground out, not taking his eyes off his work. He tightened the bolt and then
checked the torque.

Sprite
told herself not to sigh or raspberry in the admiral's ear. She was tempted,
Antigua was everything they had dreamed and hoped for. Now he was throwing it
away. “It's just that, we've finally got another system capable of the
Renaissance you planned...”

“Not
quite,” he said, interrupting but not looking up.

“Not
quite?” she asked, confused. She'd missed a few conversations he had had with
cybers while jacked in. She'd been a little too focused on programming to
really pay attention at the time. Now she regretted that. She had access to his
log but it wasn't the same.

Of
course she could call up the log. There had to be something there. She didn't
understand why he was... she called up the log and winced internally as she
digested it. Not good. His so called allies were clearly changing sides.

“They
don't have a military presence. None at all beyond what's on the planet. And
right now they are more interested in expanding their industrial capacity and
rebuilding the planetary facilities instead of investing in the fleet.” He
scowled. “The politicians promised them bread and circuses to get their votes
and they are determined to follow through. No, I'm not going to sit idle and
watch this fall apart.”

“That's....
do they know they are making themselves ripe for invasion by the pirates?” she
demanded. She knew all this of course, she'd briefed him, but she had a duty to
play devil's advocate with him to help his mental processes along. Organics. Go
figure.

“I
pointed that out to them while you were busy reprogramming the yacht and
helping the cybers. It didn't faze them,” the admiral replied.

“Ouch?”
Sprite asked after a long pause.

He
grunted. “Pretty much what I was thinking. Even if we did have a fleet presence
we don't have the tools and hulls. Not to mention the warm bodies to man all
those posts.”

“You
could make them...” Sprite said suggestively.

“Sprite...”
he sighed shaking his head. “A civilian replicator can make
some
military parts. The declassified ones that are common. But they can't make what
we
need
. Hulls. Ships, defensive systems. They aren't programmed with
the plans and have lock outs.”

“Which
you could override,” she said stubbornly. “Or make new replicators.”

“Bootstrap
you mean? With the replicator in the launch?” he asked amused. He'd sent some
of the other repaired milspec replicators out with Kiev and Lieandra. He was
regretting that now, regretting it sorely. “It's one hundred and fifty cubic
centimeters of volume Sprite! Even if I made the next size up piecemeal it'd
take a week to do. And then I'd have to do it all over again and again until we
got to the proper size!”

“But
it's still possible,” she said stubbornly holding onto her argument.

“Yes
it is, but where do I get the material for it? Right now the Antiguans are
focused on their own works and have no interest in trading or supplying
materials for the fleet.”

Her
virtual eyes flashed. “Again that...”

“Is
suicide I know. Risky at least. No, we can let them hang for a while. We can
come back and check on them in a year and see if they are better off if we
don't find anything anywhere else. By that time they should be more interested
in protecting their space assets and the system.”

“If
you say so,” she said dubiously.

He
frowned. “I'm not completely abandoning them. I have sent messages off on
Lieandra and Kiev to get to Pyrax. Hopefully Horatio can peel off a frigate to
babysit here in a couple of months when he receives the orders. Maybe after a
year the Antiguans will wake up a bit and refocus their efforts. I don't know.
We'll drop word as well in case he doesn't get it quick enough.”

“Oh.”

“The
pirates have ignored Antigua for a while Sprite. They only pass through it.
With Pyrax a black hole they will naturally shift in this direction. And since
most of the systems between here and Pyrax are stripped they will most likely
find other more safer hunting grounds.” He knew he was talking out of his ass
since he didn't have any hard intel but he also knew there wasn't much else to
say. When word of the station got out it would call the pirates in like
buzzards to the smell of fresh meat.

Sprite
could see that as easily as he could. “But the presence of this station will make
it an inviting target admiral. When word gets back to the pirates they will
come for it.”

He
nodded grimly. “Which is why we need to figure something out for them.
Eventually. I'd like to see Logan send a ship or two here to hold the fort.”

Sprite
sighed. “The ruling council will change admiral. Governor Randall will start
thinking clearly after the election.”

“Given
time. He's not the governor
yet
Sprite,” he sighed and shook his head.
“No. Time. Give me anything but time. Unfortunately right now they are focused
on improving the quality of life on the planet. Bread and circuses!” he spread
is hands in anger and winced as his left one slammed into a casing. He shook
off the pins and needles as he continued. “Hell, they don't even have the
standard of education Pyrax had! It'll be a year or two before they start to
focus on the big picture. I'm not going to try to make something with the
droppings they let loose from their plate every once and a while.”

“Ouch.”

“It's
true,” he said stubbornly. The planetary council had put a moratorium on any
large projects and any military construction for the time being. The station
council had agreed. They had tried to lock him out but then had realized he was
needed. He'd even caught a cyber trying to copy his codes. He'd been amused
when the same cyber had tried the codes and it had fried a class one
replicator. He was both amused and annoyed, now someone had to rebuild the damn
thing, namely him. At least they had learned their lesson not to try that
again. He wasn't in any hurry to repair the thing either.

“I
can't argue with that logic admiral,” Sprite sighed.

“In
theory we could stay. I could use the replicator in the launch to make another
truss extruder. Set it up to make an orbital refinery frame,” he mused.

“It
is possible.”

“I
may do something like that before we leave,” he finally admitted.

“Admiral!
The prohibitions of leaving an unsupervised machine...” She was totally aghast
to such a suggestion.

“I'm
not going to leave it unsupervised,” he said holding up a hand to forestall her
protests. She blinked at him on his HUD.

“You're
not?”

“No.
What we're going to do is set up a couple of them and then hand them over to
our friends on the station council for supervision.” That bothered him. No one
in the system was interested in defending it. No one. None of his students,
none on the station, no one on the planet showed a remote interest in the navy.
He was a bit rankled over that.

“The
Warners?” she asked, virtual lips puckering. Her eyes grew distance as she processed
the idea.

He
nodded. Unfortunately both Taylor and Rasha had missed the meeting a few hours
ago. He wasn't sure why, nor was Sprite. “They are certainly supporters of
rebuilding the fleet and having a fleet presence in the system. They know what
is at stake here. They are most likely going to be high on the new ruling
council once it gets itself sorted out,” she said after a moment.

Which
was true, eventually. When the Fu's finally stepped aside or retired or
whatever. Right now the Warner's were marginalized. “They'll figure it out.
Eventually.”

“Civilians,
what can you say?” she asked dryly. He chuckled lightly.

“I'd
like to get Navy specific platforms out there. A DEW net would be nice.
Refinery, maybe a basic dock. We can leave them the basics and a plan and see
what they can do in their spare time. They know it's worth the investment to
protect what's here and what will come with it. After all, their grandchildren
will be here too some day,” he said.

Sprite
raised a virtual eyebrow on his HUD. “Laying the ground work for supporting
infrastructure admiral?”

“Exactly.
I'm not saying Antigua won’t work as a core world, it's got the potential, and
it’s just not ripe yet. We're getting what we can out of it. I managed to stuff
some goodies in Lieandra and Kiev before they left remember? They'll help
Horatio when he gets them. But we're not doing any good here and I prefer to be
a moving target.”

“Which
is why you want to go walk about some more,” Sprite said tiredly. “Fishing in
troubled waters?” she asked amused.

He
smirked slightly at that analogy. “Exactly. There is nothing better to
concentrate one's attention than the threat of a hanging. People will be
interested in getting off their asses and protecting what they have.”

“Which
is where we come in. If we get the timing right.”

“Correct,”
he said smiling. “Now, let’s get to work.”