Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) (20 page)

Captain
Chambers called the bridge meeting to order the next morning. The meeting was
attended by bridge officers and some of the senior ship's counsel. The room was
too small for everyone so half attend virtually. This was something they hadn't
been able to do in such numbers until now. The captain wasn't sure he was happy
about all the changes. With everyone attending it made the meeting very
political and slow to get started. It was something else to blame Irons for. He
realized he needed to stop blaming Irons and criticizing the admiral for
bringing change to his life. Change was good in small doses but this was all
coming at them fast. It was hard to cope.

They
went around the room discussing department status and objectives. All the
department heads were upbeat. The captain was surprised that things were going
so well. Only the cargo master Blur and the surly gardener seemed put out over
the changes.

“In
closing I believe we'll have the drive back online again in two days. Three at
the most. From there we're going to focus on the long range sensors and shield
emitters.”

“Has
the admiral approved of the additional usage of his replicator?” Cora asked
sipping from her drink. She normally didn't attend the council meetings but had
elected to join this one. Captain Chambers wasn't sure why.

O'Mallory
sat and looked across the table to the woman with an arched eyebrow. “He hasn't
said we can't.”

“I'm
fairly sure he's all for it,” Warner said dryly, doodling on his tablet with
his free hand. The room's attention turned to him. “If he had any problems he'd
let us know. Since rebuilding the hyperdrive is his idea I think he's in line with
the other repairs. They go hand in hand correct?” O'Mallory nodded in response.

“We
are hemorrhaging material. Material we need. Captain I have to protest the
needless waste!” Blur stood and shuffled back and forth. He wanted to pace but
couldn't. O'Mallory scowled at him.

The
captain tried not to sigh as he rocked his chair a little. The chair squeaked.
He'd have to get someone to oil the springs again.

“I
don't see any waste. All the things we've done are for the benefit of the ship
and crew,” O'Mallory growled glaring at the Telerite.

“But.
But! But... we need that material! What are we going to trade with?!” We need
food too! Food, fuel...”

“We're
not broke,” O'Mallory said in disgust. “Just because we haven't broken a profit
here on the planet doesn't mean we haven't profited in other ways.”

“Why
don't you continue with your report and we can decide for ourselves,” the
captain said stopping his rocking to stare the chief down. Ever since this
Irons character had shown up O'Mallory had become more and more decisive and
firm. In other words an all around pain in the ass.

“Blur...”
Cora gave the Telerite an encouraging look. He nodded and launched into his
report.

The
report boiled down to his unhappiness over not having the materials he wanted
to use to trade to Triang. Without the materials he was short for what they
would need to trade to Antigua and Centennial.

The
Captain wasn't sure what to do. When Blur wound down Cora tapped her chin in
thought attracting the attention of the room. They continued to murmur back and
forth but everyone was curious about what she was going to say as purser.
Sometimes it helped to have the wife of the captain taking on multiple roles on
a ship. “Perhaps we can bring the admiral in on this. You know, see what he
suggests.”

“No,”
the captain said firmly. He had to draw a line somewhere.

“Why
not?” she asked. “Maybe we can lease his replicator? Make a few parts that the
ground siders would want? Have you thought of that?” she asked, looking at the
Telerite. From his look and manner she was pretty sure the answer was no. She'd
heard he had wanted to borrow the admiral's shuttle to make some of the runs
but the admiral had refused. He had compromised by taking the time to repair
one of the other aerospace craft though. She looked at her husband.

“No,”
He refused shaking his head. “We've asked enough of him,” the captain said
firmly. He wasn't sure what Irons game was and he didn't want to get in any
deeper with the man than he had to. He didn't like feeling indebted to the man.
The man was just too odd. No one was this altruistic right?

Warner
reluctantly nodded. Cora pursed her lips but lets the matter drop for now.

“Okay.
You said we've got the power systems rebuilt or in the process of being
rebuilt. I understand you are no longer using raw material but using the broken
pieces and melting them down. I take it that is slowing your repairs chief?”

“A
lot. We'll deal with it,” O'Mallory said with a shrug.

“How
are the life support repairs?”

“Coming
along nicely. We've even reclaimed some of the abandoned areas and repaired
some of the breaches. I'm hoping to have the ship buttoned up completely before
we break orbit. Or at least before we enter hyper,” O'Mallory reported.

“That
would be nice,” Hir'ruk chattered. The loss of heat and life support volatiles
was a constant headache for ops. Having more space would draw more power from
the reactor but it would also spread out the load on the life support system.

“Can
we use this extra space?” Cora asked.

“For
what?”

“Making
things. Storage, I don't know,” Cora frowned slightly and looked at Blur. The
Telerite looked uncertain. “Perhaps we can use the space to make more of the
things Antigua would like? Purchase the raw materials at a discount from the
planet and make them ourselves? We've got a lot of idle hands to put to work
you know.”

“That's
a possibility,” Blur said cautiously. Cora blinked. That was the shortest
statement she'd ever heard the Telerite utter. He must really be considering
it. Good.

“We've
got four more days in orbit. Do you think that you will have all the repairs
done by then?” she asked turning to the chief.

O’Mallory
nodded. The woman looked tired but determined. “The interior repairs we can do
as we go. The fusion drive repairs will have to wait. We need more time. We're
replacing her electronics but that's about all we can do right now. I'll need
at least two weeks of down time to rebuild the engines.”

“You
can do that?” Hir'ruk asked shocked and amazed. His true hands waved in first
degree disbelief.

O'Mallory
turned to the Veraxin in amusement. “With Irons on our side just about anything
is possible.” The captain felt an echo of his conversations with the senior
Warners. Perhaps they had been on the level about the man... he brushed the
thought aside.

O'Mallory
brought them up to speed on the planned shield and hull repairs. Many were
amazed and enthused. The Captain still wasn't happy about the hyperdrive
repair. “What if something goes wrong? Are you certain he'll have that drive
working chief? If something is wrong we're stuck.”

“Then
he'll fix it,” O'Mallory said with a dismissive wave. She'd long ago given up
any contention that Irons couldn't do what he said he could. Give the man
enough power and material and he could damn well
build
a starship from
scratch if he wanted to do so.

“What
if he can't?” Hir'ruk demands shrugging his upper shoulders in second level
emphasis to make it clear it was important but he wasn't confident about the
question himself.

“The
only ones on this ship capable of repairing or building a hyperdrive are Irons
and my parents,” Warner pointed out. “Dad rebuilt our drive twice before he was
injured and forced to retire. He even got us up an octave remember? If he could
do that with basic officer’s implants and limited training what can Irons do?”

“You
mean what can't he do right?” O'Mallory asked. “I've realized the man is a
walking factory. He's got the Midas touch when it came to machines. I honestly
think given enough time Kiev will be factory new, or damn close to it,” she
said firmly. This statement forced the captain to pause for thought.

“He
wants to get us up to Beta band but I'm not sure he'll make it before we leave.
I'm pretty sure we'll pick up three or four octaves though,” she said nodding
to Esmay and then to Blackhawk. The chief navigator pursed her lips in a silent
whistle. Blackhawk nodded.

“Why
not the extra band?” The captain's wife asked. She wasn't disappointed but was
interested in the answer. From the sound of her question she wanted the answer
aired.

O'Mallory
frowned, clearly annoyed. She didn't like their efforts undermined or
questioned. Her people with the admiral's help were pulling off miracles.
“Something is better than nothing.”

“I
know that. I still want an answer.”

“The
hyperdrive is only one part of the whole system. Granted it's what gets us into
hyperspace, but with poor shields and sensors... and our computer net the way
it is we can't really handle a higher band. At least not now. He also is
concerned about the hull structure. He said he wanted a hull inspection inside
and out to make sure the superstructure can handle the load before we tried for
beta. I agreed. I still do.”

“Kiev
was never a warship. What does he want from us?” The captain demanded shaking
his head.

O'Mallory
frowned again. “Kiev did fine in the Beta bands before the war. We just had to
step down our speed over the centuries. He's restoring that. I'm looking
forward to what else he can pull off.”

“We're
pulling the sensors to rebuild them,” the sensor officer said.

“I
don't like the idea of being blind,” the captain musses darkly.

“Neither
does he captain. We had a kilometer range with our sensors. They'd degraded
that much. A bit better in hyper but that was because of the lensing effect,”
O'Mallory explained.

“True.”

“He's
rebuilt the lidar and radar arrays. Recalibrated both. Our optical network was
in need of electronic repair, they're working on that now,” the Veraxin sensor
officer chittered.

“So
we're blind right now?” the captain demanded. This was the first he had heard
of this and he was clearly unhappy.

“Oh
no, we've got the lidar like I said.” The Veraxin pulled up the sensor feed and
turned the tablet to show them. “See? One hundred thousand kilometers fine
detail, one million kilometers is rough detail. Very good. Much, much better.”
He waved his antenna and lower arms in emphasis.

“But
lidar and radar are practically useless in hyper,” the captain said.

“Practically
and completely are two very different things. But you are correct,” O'Mallory
admitted. “Which is why I'm going to see what he can do with the hyper sensors
after this shift.”

“Can
we make our deadline?”

“It's
a self imposed deadline. We'll make it or we'll extend it,” Warner said with a
shrug. Blur looked ready to object but he knew better than to run off at the
mouth around the captain and other bridge officers.

“If
we pick up a few octaves we'll more than make up for the loss in time. We may
even come in earlier than we planned.”

“But.
But. But we need the materials!”

“He's
restricted himself to rebuilding with preexisting materials. That's slowed us
down a bit though. We have to take the existing equipment off line, unplug it,
remove it and then melt it down and reforge it into what we need. And then we
have to install it, test it, and then integrate it with the other existing
equipment. That's a lot of time.”

“Ouch.”

“Some
things we can't do. Some of the larger arrays are too large to remake with his
small replicator,” she admitted and then sighed.

“Can
he make a bigger one?” The captain's wife asked.

O'Mallory
looked at her as she brushed her bangs back. She glanced at Warner. Warner
shrugged and gave her a small nod. The captain's wife didn't miss that subtle
cue.

“He
can. He's actually the only one in the galaxy who can.”

“Oh?”
The captain's wife asked as the others sat up in surprise.

“He's
an engineering flag officer. He's got the keys imbedded in his implants and
neural net.
All
the keys apparently,” O'Mallory explained.

“Not
quite. He did admit he doesn't have medical nanite keys,” the doctor said with
a grimace. “But I see your point.” Her ears flicked to her friend.

“Correct.
He is a very precious resource. One we've got to protect. For the future,”
Warner said with a nod.

Blur
blinked and then almost as one the staff nodded.

The
admiral took a turn and paused. If he'd been moving any faster he would have
run head on to the being filling the hatch in front of him.

“Make
a hole,” the Tauren rumbled. Irons stepped back and to the side, then side
stepped to a recessed hatch and flattened against it. He was supposed to be
working on the hyper sensors but things were going slow. He had a lot of idle
time as he waited for parts to be transported from here to there and for parts
to be melted down and remade.