Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (12 page)

“Understandable
ma'am. You have quite the passenger compliment to deal with. I don't envy your
work load,” he said.

She
sighed and brushed her blond bangs out of her eyes. “Yes it can be strenuous at
times. All the different personalities to deal with. It is a challenge but I
feel I am up to the task though,” she smiled politely.

“I
don't doubt it ma'am,” he said politely.

“I'll
try to make your stay more comfortable from now on Admiral,” she said firmly
and loudly, glancing at her husband. The captain's jaw set.

“Thank
you ma'am.”

“What
are your plans if I may be so bold to ask?” she smiled when she asked that.

“I'm
still forming them ma'am. Things are well, sort of complicated,” he said with a
shrug.

“I
understand,” she said, patting him on the arm. She could hear and feel her
husband's almost subsonic growl of disapproval across the room. She turned to
her daughter with a hand outstretched. “May I introduce you to my daughter
Toni? She's a bit of a fan admiral.”

Irons
studied the girl. She was standard Terran stock, mid teens, blond like her
mother but with black streaks in her hair, with an air of exasperation hovering
around her. She rolled her blue eyes. He snorted softly.

Cora
poked the black and blond haired teen. “Say something silly,” she growled.

“What's
to say?” Toni said as her mother pushed her forward and retreated.

“Not
much. Are you interested in the fleet?” Irons asked.

She
shrugged. “A little. I like to hear some of the stories. I'm a writer.”

“Really?”
Irons asked with a nod.

“Yes.
Mom and dad don't think it's important but...” she shrugged again.

“I
think it is,” Irons mused. She blinked at him.

“You
do?” she asked surprised. “Really? You're not just saying that?”

He
shook his head firmly. “No. What do you like to write?” His eyes locked onto
hers.

“Um...
I sort of bounce around. I like poetry but I also like reading and writing
history. Interviewing the people on the ship, writing about events and the
places we go to...”

“A
reporter,” Irons said with a nod. “I've met a few. If you get a chance talk to
Knox news. Maybe they will hire you as a correspondent.”

“Really?”
she practically bounced up and down. He hid an amused snort at the squeal in
her voice. A few around her winced.

“Sure.
Knox has gone interstellar. I believe some of the other media outlets will be
following shortly. I was dating a reporter a while ago.” He shook his head,
feeling like he had put his foot in his mouth.

“Really?”
she asked, going coy. She played with her hair as her lips drooped. He sighed,
recognizing the flirting. He really didn't need the complication. Her parents
would flip and he was on thin ice as it was.

“Yes.
She's well... she's hopefully going to be better soon. I'm ah, got to get busy
here. We need to monitor the bottle, make sure it's stable.”

“Oh
yeah sure, we'll talk later,” she said. She turned and bounced off to her
parents and the officers. She turned and waved and then spun back in place. He
sighed at the look the captain shot him. Pure poisonous stay away from my
daughter look. Wonderful.

Cora
caught her husband glaring and cleared her throat. He looked at her for a
moment, not meeting her eyes and then looked away. He had deliberately kept his
wife out of the loop about Irons, hoping to get the sordid business done and
over with before she had found out. He'd even arranged distractions for her but
apparently the crisis had changed things. Or she'd seen them for what they
were. He wasn't sure. What he was pretty sure about was that he was going to be
sleeping on the couch again soon.

“I
want him gone. We can't trust him. Not after this,” captain Chambers growled
desperately. He knew he was sinking fast from Cora's expression.

“Cap...”

“Gone,”
he snarled.

“Let's
not be too hasty,” the Veraxin said, moving his second hands together. “Please
consider the benefits of a man with his expertise on this ship.”

“He's
not interested in staying for long cap, I've talked with him,” O'Mallory said,
trying to smooth him over. “And Hir'ruk is right, I need him. Damn if he can
pull a miracle like this off in a day then think what he can do while we're
here and on our way to Antigua?” she demanded, hands on her hips. “I say he
stays.”

“I'm
the captain here,” the captain snarled. “My word is law.”

“Oh
stop it! Robert you are being an unmitigated
ass
and if you don't stop
and get your head out of your ass soon you will spend the next couple of
years
sleeping on the floor,” Cora growled.

Toni
silently whistled at her step mother's cold determination. Cora stared into her
husband's eyes, making damn she got her point across.

“Cora...”

“I
mean it. Every word of it. You and I are going to discuss this again at a later
time. You will not
like
that conversation either,” she snarled.
O'Mallory wasn't the only one to wince as she took her husband to task for his
transgression.

“Henry,”
she said, returning to a polite facade. “I understand your parents have a
connection with the admiral? Old friends I understand?”

“Yes,”
Warner said, nodding. “They say he's quite something. He has a reputation of
digging into a situation like this and turning it around.”

“I
think that's an excellent idea,” Cora smiled. “Don't you?” Her gaze flicked to
each of the other officers with them.

“We
should take this somewhere else to discuss it,” Esmay the Terran chief
navigator said, standing behind the doctor's left shoulder. The jackal looked
back at her and then shrugged and flicked her ears.

“Here
is fine. This needs to be put to bed here and now so we can get on with
things,” Cora said with a slight smile.

The
engineer quietly watched, making sure his defenses were up and ready. He had
his AI prep to cut the lights in the room, but from the sounds of the
conversation the captain was outnumbered and out voted. Odd, normally it didn't
matter. On a ship, any ship the captain's word was law. Apparently not this
ship. Oh he had heard of this from times long ago. Ships and even some modern
ships that had a divided ownership of the vessel had convoluted chains of
command.

One
of the first experiences with democracy in the America's had been pirates.
Pirates had elected their captains and had even voted on such things as
destinations and major events. The captain was head of the boat but not master
of her destiny.

Things
were apparently similar here. The captain didn't look happy. He couldn't blame
him for not being happy about his authority being undercut. Some men would
stand on principle, defending their authority but captain Chambers apparently
knew a losing hand and decided to back away from the situation as gracefully as
he could. He had been overruled by a higher authority after all. Irons snorted,
spouses tended to do those sorts of things, put everything in perspective as
they threw a monkey wrench into the works. He almost felt sorry for the captain
for his authority being undermined this way. Almost.

“Chief,”
he called, turning a little to look at her over his left shoulder.

“Yeah?”
O'Mallory asked looking his way. The other officers turned to look as well.

“The
bottle is stable at twenty nine percent and climbing. No major leaks. I was
wondering what you want to work on next?” he asked suggestively.

“Um...”
She blinked in confusion. Did he really say what she thought he just said? Was
he for real? What was next?
She realized she was distracted and
exhausted from being on duty for nearly two days.

“I
suggest we get the secondary power plants on line just in case or repairing the
fuel and plasma lines.
Which do you want me to get on first?” he asked.

She
blinked at him in confusion then as one she and the others turn on the captain.
He blinked in surprise. Her eyebrow rose in inquiry.

“It
doesn't sound like he's holding a grudge,” Cora said softly, one hand on her
husband's arm.

The
admiral turned his attention on the captain. “Sorry we couldn't get the reactor
up to one hundred percent captain. I estimate the repairs will get her to about
fifty seven percent. Maybe a little higher but not much more,” Irons mused.
Warner and O'Mallory exchanged surprised looks. A few people slowly began to
smile or grin. Kiev hadn't had a reactor at that level in centuries. The ops
officer was just imagining what he could do with the excess power. Then the
thought of having that much power to deal with sobered him. What if he didn't
have a use? Would it cause a blow out?

“We
didn't have enough time to get more emitters built and installed. The carbon
carbon and ceramic bonding took longer than I had wanted,” the Admiral sighed.

The
captain pursed his lips and looked at Warner who was looking amused but up to
the ceiling bulkhead. “Um, that's all right,” the captain said gruffly.

“I
think that's quite well since the reactor has never been above twenty percent
in my time,” the chief said dryly.

“True,”
the captain's wife said with a nod. “Admiral,” she turned her attention to
Irons. “Do get some food and rest and then work on a subsystem.”

“Oh
I can function for days without either ma'am. I think the chief and her crew
need the downtime though, they look beat,” he said sympathetically as he got
up. His arm disengaged. Cables dropped from it. Ports sealed. After a moment
his arm looked a little shiny but almost normal. He flexed it and then nodded.

“Chief?”
he asked innocently. The officers and family of the captain were looking a
little stunned. One guy's jaw was hanging wide open. The Veraxin's mandibles
were also slack.

“Huh?
Oh um, yeah... um...”

“I'd
prefer to work on the power distribution system or the overextended life
support systems over say something like the hyperdrive or sensors right now.
Triage you know. Stick to the critical things and work down the list one by
one. Though I could work on rebuilding the computer network. Sprite's still
bugging me about it.”

“Am
not,” Sprite said only to him. He ignored the rejoinder. “Okay, not much
anyway. I'm not that much of a nag.” She felt him suppress a snort.

“Um...
Work on the plasma conduits. Track down and patch the leaks. Can you make
new...” she blinked and her nostrils flared. “Oh. Of course I can, how silly of
me.”

He
smiled politely. “Sure. Send me the wish list and materials. I'll need to tap
your reactor once it's balanced and you've rebuilt your reserves though.”

“Of
course,” she said with a nod. Irons had a point. He was all business. He didn't
seem to be brown nosing, just being helpful.

“And
just what do you get out of this?” the captain demanded. From his tone he
sounded like he couldn't quite believe what was happening.

Irons
turned to him. But before he could answer the captain's daughter did. “A ride.
To where ever he wants right?” she asked. He nodded.

“Certainly.
I also like to keep busy. I get cabin fever easily when I don't have a project
to work on. And well... I'm trying not to sound too selfish but my own brass
ass is on the line here. I'd rather not have something blow up or short out on
my watch.”

“Agreed,”
the captain's wife said with a shudder. “I heard what you and your AI did with
the kids.”

“Um,”
Irons looked amused. “Yes, I'm well, I teach as well. I had my salad days
teaching at the academy. It's part of our duty,” he said resting his left hand
on his chest solemnly.

“Duty?”
O'Mallory asked.

“To
pass on the skills needed to the next generation,” he said looking at her. Her
eyes met his. After a moment she nodded in understanding.

“Carry
on then,” the captain said gruffly leaving.

“Give
him time,” the wife said, hand on the rim of the hatch. “Coming dear?” she
asked of her daughter. Her daughter gave Irons a long look and then followed.
The Veraxin and some of the other bridge officers followed in their wake.

“He's...”

“He's
the captain. Everyone has their own distinctive command style. Being in command
is hard,” the admiral said.

“He
doesn't have to be an ass about it,” O'Mallory muttered.

“Sometimes
you have to be,” Irons shrugged.

“Speaking
from experience?” Warner asked.

Irons
smiled a tight lipped smile. “Some. Yes I've had my time in the captain's
chair. Been there, done that. Moved on. I'm not interested in stealing his
command. Far from it. I just want a ride. Helping you is just gravy,” he said
with a shrug.

“Okay,”
O'Mallory said amused. “Let me make sure there is nothing critical then I'm
going to bed down. I'll get that list for you here in a second. Let me find a
tablet to jot it down.”