Ghosts from the Past (The Wandering engineer Book 7)

by Chris Hechtl

  When Sprite brought it to his attention the next morning he laughed and then flat out denied it. “Have you put out a statement?” He asked as he finished getting dressed.

  “I did. It's not sinking in. It's one thing to hear about it, quite another to read it. Even when I explained the physics they didn't get it.”

  “It was probably way over their head, Commander,” the admiral said thoughtfully as he headed to the main galley.

  “Where are you going if I may ask?”

  “The best place to get this sorted out. The horse's mouth,” the admiral said. “Be ready to back me up with a dog and pony show when I call for it,” he said softly. Her HUD avatar nodded. Charts appeared in her virtual hands. She brandished them, making him smile slightly.

  “The things I do before I've had my second cup of coffee,” he grumbled, entering the galley. He nodded to the people there eating breakfast or dinner. He smiled, waving them down and then took a position in the line. Several ratings politely made way for him. He waved them back in place.

  “Sir, about the hyperbridge thing ...” a rating said. He turned to her. She was new, from Hidoshi he thought.

  “It's not possible,” he explained patiently. She blinked in surprise at him, then frowned as others quieted to hear his answer. “First, B-92c may be one of the ways into the sector from the core worlds but it is a receiving pole. You can't go out.” He waited a beat for them to digest that. It was apparent that a few people were struggling with the concept. “A hyperbridge works in one direction not two.” He explained, using his hands to try to add a visual description for them to follow. Think of a magnet, opposite poles attract, like poles repel,” he said, not sure if the analogy worked or not. He frowned thoughtfully. “We'd have to go to HD 61347, an O class star thirty light years beyond Beta 92C and jump from there. It would take years to get back to the core worlds,” he said realizing they would note he'd already thought of it. He paused a minute to let them absorb that. He hoped at least one of them was recording this for later. “But we're not going to do so. For two reasons. One of the first things the Xenos did was take down the bridge network,” he said flatly.

  The ratings around him blinked in surprise. He could hear a couple of them drop their forks in surprise. “Sir?”

  He smiled tightly and nodded grimly to them. “By disrupting the network they cut up the Federation. But that's not the main reason we're not going,” he said, passing on the urge to lecture. Now wasn't the time or place he reminded himself, they were barely following along. The more he threw at them the more garbled the story would get he knew. “We're here now. In this sector,” he said, stabbing a finger at the deck. “Horath is a threat now,” he said. There were some grim nods and soft growls of agreement. He nodded again. “We have to do something about it. I don't know what is beyond this sector. Going out blind is suicide. It's also a waste of resources and time,” he said, spreading his hands slightly in appeal. “Time we may not have,” he reminded them.

  The rating in front of him nodded. “Aye, sir.”

  The Gashg ahead of him leaned forward and then clucked his large mouth. “Thank you sir for explaining it to us,” the Gashg said. The admiral nodded in reply.

  “Besides, this is where a lot of people have ties. Where they have family. Friends. We're not going to abandon them,” the Admiral said. The senior staff nodded.

  “Now that that is out of our system,” he said pausing to smile slightly at them. “We need some downtime. I know it, you know it. We're going to do another half shift day this Sunday and get some downtime,” he said. That made people murmur in amusement. “We're also going to do a break out party in Beta 98,” he said. A few of the officers and noncoms in the compartment smiled in relief or agreement at that news. A couple immediately started nodding in growing excitement. He nodded. Everyone loved a good party.

  “But sir, you said the time we don't have ...” Zen started. Irons held up a restraining hand. The T'Clock clicked and stopped speaking.

  “I've been constantly reminded that I tend to overlook the social aspects of building a ship's compliment. We need those ties. We also need to unwind a bit. Everyone is tense,” the Admiral said. “Including me. Getting a chance to take a step back and see the bigger picture, to relax is a good thing.” He smiled slightly, this time in bemusement. “Besides, it'll give Bounty a little more time to catch up,” he said wryly. That earned a soft chuckle.

  “When you are at the stage where you argue against getting downtime then you need it,” CPO Behr said with a shake of his head. “The admiral is right.”

  All eyes returned to the admiral as he picked up a tray. “Aye aye, sir,” the young female rating behind him murmured.

  “Carry on,” he replied, putting a plate of eggs on his tray.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  It took the fleet ten days before they exited hyper in Beta 98, another dead system. They followed protocol and dropped the usual recon satellites on either end. Once CPO Zen's sensors cleared them of any possible enemy activity in the star system the admiral declared the party would commence at the start of the next shift. That sparkled excited chatter and bright smiles among the crew as they wrapped up their post hyperspace chores and safed the drive.

  Sprite's break out party was brief but it felt good for everyone to unwind. The admiral took a couple of brief tours through the party. He even had a couple beers with some of the officers, but he was really focused on the mission and the next series of steps.

  B98 was an M5 giant red dwarf, in a Proxima orbit to B99. Due to the nearby nebula it had a thick Oort cloud so it was hard for the ships to pick their way through at speed once they got underway.

  Chapter 9

  They took nine and a half days to cross Beta 98's star system. A day out from the jump point to Kathy's world their sensors reported a hyper emergence behind them.

  “About time!” Lieutenant Meia said, all smiles.

  “Run a track on them,” the Admiral said with a cool professional tone. “We can't be certain it's them until they call in. Get CIC to see what they can come up with as far as ID's. Tell them I want a hard ID.”

  “And the drill will do our people good? Gotcha Admiral,” the Lieutenant replied as she sobered.

  “Good,” the Admiral replied, nodding. They were catching on fast.

  An hour after they received the report of the unknown ships in their wake, Bounty called in using her tachyon emitter. It was brief, her IFF as well as Le More's and a quick all clear.

  “We're going to heave too at the jump point. Way anchor there and set up an anchor watch. While we've got the free time, put it to good use,” the admiral said.

  “Aye aye, Admiral,” Sprite replied. “They will be here in approximately eight days, sir.”

  “Understood. Keep me posted, the admiral ordered.

  “Going to go play hooky with the shuttles and fighters, Admiral?” Sprite asked in amusement.

  “The crew has their way of unwinding, I have mine,” he said with a defensive shrug.

  “Understood, sir. Just a reminded we're having a battle drill at the end of this watch,” she warned.

  “I'll try to keep an eye on the chrono,” he said. He'd forgotten it a few times and she'd had to “remind him.” It was all for a good cause he judged. They'd turned out two fighters and one shuttle so he couldn't see what she was complaining about. Now that the crew had experienced it they knew what to do. The small craft mechanics were starting to realize he was making more eventual work for them. He wasn't sure how they were taking that idea. Apparently the novelty was wearing off with some of them.

  “Aye aye, sir,” she said. She smiled and upped the time by five minutes to catch him off guard. It was only fair, he needed the surprise just like everyone else. “Have fun playing with your “tools,” she teased.

  “I intend to,” he replied with dignity as he headed out whistling.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  They held a brief reunion whi
le anchored at the jump point when the fleet was reunited eight days later. “We've got Captain Hoshi on the link, Admiral,” Lobsterman reported.

  “Put her through,” the admiral said.

  “Captain Hoshi?” he asked when the woman's familiar visage appeared on his number 3 monitor. “A pleasure to see you again,” he said.

  “I'm sure,” she said dryly.

  “How was your adventure in Richalu?” The admiral asked politely.

  “Boring and nerve wracking all in one,” she said. “Just getting there had us nervous. Then sitting there, expecting a ship to show up had us pretty freaked for some time. You should have made better arrangements,” she growled.

  “I'll remind you, Captain, it was your choice to go there at all. You could have gone with Captain Herschel to Hidoshi instead,” the admiral riposted. She scowled. “He's fine by the way. So are the other crews. All are present and accounted for,” he said.

  “I'm not one of your uniformed Neanderthals, Admiral,” she said with a bit of snark in her voice. He raised an eyebrow.

  “And we're back to where we started,” Sprite interjected. “Before this conversation get's anymore heated than necessary, can we get a report please? At least for the history books?”

  “Gossip now?” the captain asked, shaking her head. “How low,” she deadpanned.

  “It may come in handy down the road.”

  “You mean you want my contacts for later?”

  “I would like to know who we can trust and who to avoid yes,” the admiral replied. “And any thoughts you have might prove useful in the future,” he said. “But you are free to refuse if you don't want to speak,” he said.

  “I'm gathering you were terrified of being caught the entire time you had been away from the fleet. Aren't you at least glad to see us?” Sprite asked.

  “Something like that,” the civilian captain muttered, looking away for a moment. After a moment she cleared her throat and then shrugged. “I want fuel,” she said. “Need fuel,” she restated.

  “Why?”

  “We ... if it is any of your business,” Hoshi sighed when he waited expectantly for her to continue. “Fine. Have it your way. We ran into some trouble with the people on Richalu. They were tight. They had no facilities to process the fuel we needed.”

  “It's just water. Run an electric current through it and save the hydrogen,” the admiral said. “How hard is that?”

  “Apparently very when they barely have electricity to begin with,” the woman replied with a scowl. “We used up a lot of our fuel getting there. Half our tank. I'm on fumes now. I can't make another jump.”

  He nodded. At least that little tidbit was news of some sort they could use. The fleet had fuel to spare, he'd even planned on giving her fuel but her snarky expectation of instant compliance annoyed him enough to brush her off for a moment.

  “Did the care packages go over well? Or did you withhold them?”

  “They went fine. The natives were overjoyed,” the woman said with an air of boredom.

  “Okay, well, if that's all you can tell us ...” the admiral shrugged it off. “I guess we have nothing else to discuss.”

  She seemed to seethe a bit then seemed to bite the bullet. “You are going to make me ask ... fine. May I please have fuel? For humanitarian reasons? Otherwise we're stranded here. I don't think either of us want that. I am sorry if I offended you in my method of asking for it earlier. I've ... I've been on edge,” she finally admitted.

  “Asking for something is difficult for you apparently,” Sprite said sweetly, twisting the knife a bit. The admiral waved off the AI as the woman's eyes flashed.

  “Okay. We're going to do a refuel evolution shortly anyway, so we'll add you to the list of ships. Don't expect to be first however,” the AI warned.

  “Thank you,” the woman ground out.

  “We have deuterium, Trinium, and helium 3 so you can take your pick of a mix,” the admiral said. “You can speak with Commander Sprite about your specific needs and any additional needs later.”

  “I'm sure bartering with you will be fun,” Sprite stated.

  The fleet took a day to have the tankers top all of the ships off. Each tanker was approached by one or two of the other ships on either flank or above and below. Crew members or bots ran lines to them, sometimes firing the line to the other ship and waiting for the work crew on the other side to catch it. Once the ships were securely tethered together hoses were reeled out along the lines to the waiting ships. Each ship took on fuel, as much as they could store safely. While they did that they transferred other cargo items back and forth along the tethers or with MMU and unmanned tugs.

  Once the dance was complete the lines were retracted and the tankers changed dance partners. By the end of the day, they had the procedures down and were acting like a well oiled and drilled machine.

  While they did that the admiral authorized some of the crew members to meet and have some downtime with the civilians on the ships. They had more than earned that brief reunion.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  While the crews resupplied the fleet, Ian took the time to come over on a cargo run to the battle cruiser with his XO. When the admiral met them in his flag wardroom the captain and his acting XO saluted the admiral. Ian couldn't quite shake the small satisfied smile on his face as the admiral returned the salute.

  “Good to see you, Ian, Patters,” Irons said, returning the salute then shaking each of their hands. “You did good both of you. You certainly made good time.”

  “We aim to please, Admiral,” the ensign replied with a smug smile.

  “We've got some friends too, Admiral,” Captain McGuyver said. “And new recruits,” he said with a smile. Ensign Patters nodded. Apparently Ian had brought the young ensign along for training.

  “Oh?” The admiral asked, raising an eyebrow in inquiry. Apparently the captain had wanted to save that bit of news for a personal delivery.

  “Richalu. They heard about what happened to us from Hoshi,” Ian said grimacing. Irons nodded. He could just imagine how the civilian captain's view point had colored her version of the story. “They were busy moving to caves right up until we showed up and Hoshi cleared us. They were still a bit suspicious, but they fell all over themselves in excitement when we mentioned you,” Ian teased. Irons grunted. “They were a bit disappointed you hadn't come yourself though ...” he smiled maliciously. Irons snorted. “But when I explained you are on your way to re-establish the Federation, the local mayors held a meeting and voted to send delegates.” He shrugged at the admiral's expression. “They want in.”

  “They want a fleet to defend them you mean, sir,” Ensign Patters said with a frown.

  Ian shrugged. “Well, fleet or fleet presence. They wouldn't mind more trade. They aren't exactly the back of beyond, but ...”

  The admiral nodded in understanding. “But it just feels that way. We'll see what we can do. No promises.” He already knew the system. It was a dead end with one planet no asteroid belt. A couple of super giant gas giants and a couple Mercury class planets. No, it wasn't worth the investment. Not now. Sprite had sent him a quick digest of the planet's current history. They were up to a post WWI tech level after a planetary war between their North/South warlords that had lasted nearly a half century. They'd spent another half century in a cold war stalemate before that had inevitably thawed. Pass.

  “I know. I told them that. But they want in. We picked up a hundred people wanting to join up. Split right down the middle, marines and navy,” he said. Irons nodded. “But five realized on the ride here that being on a ship wasn't as glamorous as they thought though.” He shook his head.

  Ensign Patters rolled his eyes. Irons glanced his way then shrugged such considerations off. “Again to be expected. There are ways we can deal with that. If they still want to be in the military we can find a ground or station posting for them.”

  “I'm always flattered you are so accommodating, Admiral,” McGuyver said. �
��I think they'll fit in fine somewhere once they settle down.”

  The Admiral nodded. “Good. We'll take them off your hands and sprinkle them throughout the fleet unless there are one or two you want to hang onto?” Ian shook his head and spread the fingers on his hands to indicate have at it. The admiral nodded. “Fine then. I'll see if Hoshi will take on the ones that backed out that we have as well,” he said. Ian snorted. The admiral jerked on his sweater briefly. “We've got our work cut out for ourselves then. An idea to live up to.”

  Ian nodded. “Yeah, that's going to be tough. Somehow, after everything that's happened, I think we'll manage.” He smiled to the ensign. The ensign nodded in reply.

  “I'm looking forward to the challenge, sir.”

  “I hope so.”

  “This is disappointing,” Sprite said. “You were only there for forty-eight hours?” She asked.

  “Yes, Commander. We were in a bit of a hurry,” the ship's captain replied. “We sent down the six shuttle flights with your care packages,” he said, nodding to the Admiral. “They said thanks by the way. In turn they sent up the volunteers and some more goodies. Including this,” he said, brandishing a bottle of clear liquid.

  “Ensign, if you don't mind?” the admiral asked, pointing a finger to the steward’s compartment. The ensign blinked and then nodded, moving to the pantry.

  “I got this off a duke,” Ian said, pulling the stopper. “He insisted I drink this with you as a thank you for all you've done past and present,” he explained. He turned to the sounds of clinking crystal. The ensign returned carrying four glasses.

  “Four? I think you miscounted,” Irons said after observing the contents of the young man's hands.

  “No, Commander Sindri's en-route,” Sprite informed them. “I told him to grab an extra.”

  “Oh. Never mind then, continue,” the admiral said, nodding to the captain as ensign set the glasses down and stepped aside as the captain poured. “That reminds me,” Ian said smiling slightly. “An older woman came up on the last flight. I didn't have the heart to send her back down. She's pretty insistent that she look after you,” he said.