Ghosts from the Past (The Wandering engineer Book 7)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Something tells me, if the Horathian's stuck their heads down there they probably ran into a buzz saw,” Sprite said smugly. The major turned to her. “The moon was initially settled by retired Neos from the corps major,” she explained. He slowly nodded.

  “We can still check in. We'll go with a deception plan in case they are Horathian. That way they can't tell anyone they encounter later who we are,” Irons said.

  “Thus they can't warn them,” Captain Herschel said with a nod. The other ship's captains nodded as well. They liked the idea of the shoe being on the other foot.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Lobsterman radioed the planet as the fleet transited the system with a canned hail but after a few days they realized they weren't going to get a response. “Nothing, sir, just ... nothing.”

  “I see that. Let's try a different tack,” the admiral said, pointing to the ship in orbit. The AI nodded. They had noted a Clydesdale freighter in orbit when they had first arrived. She hadn't moved from her polar orbit however. When he radioed the ship pretending to be Horathian he got a bored audio reply back on an Omni broadcast a few days later.

  “Not much going on planet. A series of blizzards have buried the main space port and everyone is too busy to dig it out. No sense going down to the planet anyway, unless you like freezing cold. It may not be cleared until spring. I suggest, if you've got the fuel, to continue on.” The message ended.

  “I'm analyzing what we've got now but it's not much to go on. That is the problem with only an audio message. The operator sounded bored but there was a hint of anxiety in his voice,” Sprite reported. She had set up a bot to analyze content and run comparisons but that was obviously not needed with such a short reply. And just having an audio bothered her. She had little to go on.

  “Worried for what reason? Did we fail to pull it off?”

  “No ... Something isn't right here,” the AI insisted. “Wait one, sir,” she said as she started running a deeper analysis.

  “Admiral, that timber, the voice isn't human,” Sprite observed after a minute of work, sounding serious.

  “Oh?” He watched as the AI put up the voice replay on his HUD. The dancing lines played out, then under it a vocal comparison to other species. “It is too deep,” he noted.

  “Indeed. That's a Neobear, Admiral,” Sprite reported. She flashed a match on it. It wasn't perfect, a 67.45 percent match, but enough for the AI.

  “So, a bear is on the ship?” Zen asked. The T'Clock's mandibles worked and flexed with his antenna. “Does that mean what I think it means? How is that possible?” He clacked.

  “On a Horathian ship? It isn't. Which means something else is going on. I'm starting to wonder if we're fooling each other,” Sprite said in amusement.

  “Should we alter course, Admiral?” Chief Moore asked.

  “On what amounts to a hunch?” Sprite asked. “I doubt ...” She noted the admiral's expression but more importantly the deep thoughts behind it. “You are seriously considering it,” the AI said in surprise.

  “Yes, yes I am. Hail them again Lobsterman. Wait,” he held up a hand. “CIC, keep an eye on the ship. If she attempts to power up or bolt I want her course locked down. We may send a ship or two or even a fighter to run her down.”

  He turned to the ship's AI. “Now,” the admiral said. “Put me on.”

  “Are you sure, sir?”

  “I am. Make sure it is a bridge wide shot with a tight on me and a panographic view of everyone here,” Irons said with a curt nod. He moved his finger in a circle and then pointed to the non-humans on the bridge crew. The AI seemed to look around, then nodded back. He held up a hand counting down with his fingers then pointed to the admiral.

  “This is Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons. Sorry about the confusion; we wanted to see if you were who you say you were. But our AI report that you aren't Horathian. Good. I think we should talk about the situation before anyone does anything rash. Irons clear,” he said, cutting the channel.

  “Good recording, Admiral.”

  “Then by all means send it and let's see where it leads,” he said. “It may be wishful thinking, hell, a shot in the dark, but we shall see where it leads,” he said.

  “Hopefully not down the rabbit hole,” Sprite grumbled.

  “I've sent both the audio as well as the video and audio, sir,” the ship's AI stated.

  “Good.”

  “Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what did we just do?” Mia asked.

  “I believe the people on the planet did the impossible. They managed to fight off the Horathians and even capture the ship. They are using her as an overwatch to keep out for ships like us. They are pretending to be Horathians so the enemy won't come in to investigate further.”

  “It's a risky game. If a ship came in needing supplies or fuel they'd be in trouble,” Sprite said. “That is if any of this isn't just speculation,” she warned.

  “I've listened to my hunches and some of them have played out well before. This time I'm listening to one of yours. Don't complain,” Irons replied.

  “Some of them,” the AI said.

  “Oh shush,” the admiral snorted.

  “If they were really good they might have even captured more ships,” Sprite said softly for his ears only. He shrugged slightly.

  “We shall see, Commander. We shall have to wait and see,” he said, watching the chrono count down the time it would take for the message to get to the planet, then the second chrono that would start a countdown when they should get a reply back.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  The radioed response came back several days later. “The Admiral Irons?”

  John blinked then his eyes narrowed. “Yes, Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons,” the admiral stated but the message was already continuing on its own.

  “The Admiral Irons. Here. In our system. Right now? What are the chances?” There was a chuckle. “Well! The spirits of space certainly do work in mysterious ways don't they?”

  “Not that surprising since I'm on my way elsewhere,” Irons replied, waving off Sprite's warning hand. He knew better than to tell someone where he was going after all. A moment later there was an IFF ping.

  “What the hell? They couldn't have heard that so soon …” the Admiral muttered.

  “Sir there was an additional signal a minute behind the first. Scrambled, Marine code. It's an old one, sir,” Zen reported.

  “All right,” Irons sat back intrigued. He watched the garbled message change to a simple one as they applied the key. “It's an IFF,” he murmured.

  “Yes sir. From one First Lieutenant Moira White Wolf, sir. We don't have her in our records though. Of course she might be from a new class, sir,” the tactical officer said. “One after you left Pyrax.” She looked up frowning.

  “No it's an old code. There is an assault shuttle IFF with it,” Sprite pointed out. “We appended the IFF's of the Pyrax graduates so they would reflect their origin and not interfere with any old IFFs if we encountered them,” she explained.

  “Ah,” Meia replied thoughtfully.

  “Sorry, thought you knew,” Sprite replied absently, studying the message. It was coming in slow; a debrief apparently written on the fly. Most likely the Lieutenant was writing it or had been writing it as it was sent out.

  “Admiral, I think we need to go to this planet,” the AI said.

  “Oh?”

  “I think you need to see this,” she said, passing him the initial digest she'd assembled.

  He scanned it quickly then grunted. “Okay. Lobsterman, signal all ships. We're coming about. Nav, plot a course back to the planet,” the admiral ordered.

  “Aye aye, sir,” Ariel said with a grin.

  “Lobsterman, radio them again. Tell them we're on our way to have a face to face,” he ordered.

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  It took a bit of time to get over suspicions that the planet wasn't some sort of elaborate trap. That th
ey weren't also Horathian pirates trying to play some deception game. While on the way there they got the story in bits and pieces. Sprite assembled them into a more coherent form for a briefing. When the fleet arrived in a polar parking orbit of the moon they got the full story all over again. They heard about how the planet had fought back with the help of an ancient marine sleeper and how they had captured pirates on the planet as well as the ship.

  “I'd like to meet this Lieutenant White Wolf. She has some story to tell,” the admiral said.

  “Are you concerned she's some sort of deserter, sir?” Defender asked.

  “No,” the admiral replied, shaking his head. “Sprite checked her signal; it is a legitimate signal. The lieutenant took the liberty of uploading her orders as well. But she's very elderly. That's a problem,” the admiral replied.

  “Very elderly,” Sprite replied. “And despite her implants and the medical care she has reintroduced on the planet she is currently down with a respiratory ailment that is going around the population. Apparently she spent a lot of time and energy trying to help her people and it caught up with her,” she said.

  “That sometimes happens to those who nurse the ill in a viral attack,” the doctor said with a nod. “I thought she was a marine though?” She turned an inquiring eye to the AI.

  “She is. She is a pilot. But apparently when she returned to the planet to recover the assault shuttle she was stranded. Technically she could have hopped a ride in a passing ship to somewhere else, abandoning the colony and the shuttle but she chose not to. Instead she became a sleeper. She woke periodically to care for the various Neos and then went back to sleep.”

  “That is how she lived this long. She played Peter Pan,” Grace murmured thoughtfully.

  “It took its toll doctor.”

  When he did get a chance to talk to the colonies leaders the admiral had been impressed with all the colonists have achieved with so little. He sent them his warm regards as well as Intel and an invitation to join the new Federation.

  “I take it we're going to give them the same care package we gave Richalu and Hidoshi's world sir?” the doctor asked, turning her attention to the admiral.

  Irons hesitated and then nodded. “Perhaps more, I ordered Carnegie to get to work on the initial load now.”

  “Sir, can we do more to help them?” Ian asked, turning to look at the Admiral. “They are all alone out here on the front lines,” he indicated the star map.

  “I know,” Irons replied. He tapped his chin thoughtfully. Kathy's World had three jump points: one to where they had come, another to B452c, and the last to Protodon. Most likely Protodon was occupied by now he thought. Most definitely if Admiral Cartwright had stopped there ... he frowned thoughtfully and checked the files. After a moment he grunted in irritation. There was little detail but the Intel officer assigned to Firefly had concluded that the pirates had indeed invaded and occupied the planet. Not good.

  “She is definitely on the front lines,” the admiral murmured.

  “The gas giant doesn't have a lot of helium 3, Admiral,” Sprite warned. “This star isn't putting out as much as a normal G class would.”

  “Understood,” the admiral replied absently, logging the warning in the back of his mind. It figured that the AI was following his thought processes. In order to refuel a fleet presence they'd either have to have ... well, he could leave a tanker behind. And a ship. He didn't like it though.

  “I think there is something we can do, Admiral,” Sprite said, sounding slightly amused and malicious.

  “I know that tone of voice,” Ian said warily. “It usually doesn't bode well for someone somewhere,” he said eying the AI's avatar.

  “And you are getting to know me so well,” Sprite said sweetly. “How nice,” she purred. He snorted. She turned to the admiral. “We have some freeloaders on the ships. They've gotten some free training. I suggest we off load them, sir.”

  “Here? In what amounts to a war zone?” Sindri asked carefully.

  “Why not?” The AI asked. “The planet's population is recovering. They are working hard to man the captured ship, train a crew to support and maintain it as some sort of militia vessel. They've held a planetary referendum; they've reestablished the planet's constitution and have instituted taxation, health care, and a renewed educational initiative among other public works projects. I say we give them all the help we can give them in the time we are here. That includes some trained individuals,” she said.

  “They aren't ours to give,” The commander replied.

  “No, but they aren't going to freeload from us forever. I'd say that they will be highly motivated to protect the planet. Or at least earn enough to get off of it soon enough,” the AI said.

  “Do it,” the admiral ordered. “And get me a list of equipment they need to facilitate their public works projects. Anything we can do while we're here we'll make it a priority right behind what we need for the fleet.”

  “And leaving a picket behind?” Ian asked.

  “I'm still thinking about it.”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “Something that's bothered me, Lieutenant,” Sprite said, turning her attention to Lieutenant White Wolf. “When Lieandra passed through your system running from the pirates in Protodon, she sent a broadcast warning to your world. What happened?”

  The wolf's muzzle wrinkled in distaste. “It was picked up, but those that heard it ignored it,” she said, ears going flat.

  Callie shook her head “Apparently they thought it was a case of Chicken Little, the sky is falling!” She made a show of hysteria and throwing her hands up in the air to shield herself. “No one took it seriously.”

  Sprite's virtual lips parted in a smile as her eyes cut to the Neowolf. “You mean cry wolf,” she teased.

  “That ... oh, yeah,” the wolf flicked her ears and then she snorted. “True. The old Russian story. I remember it now. But yes, that is a more appropriate comparison.”

  “Okay, moving on ...”

  The old grizzly bear next to the wolf nodded. “Da. Yes. We found those who had gotten the warning but had ignored it. Needless to say, some were put out over that.”

  Sprite smiled. “I can imagine. But if they had passed on the warning, would your people have heeded it?"

  The bear shook his head. “That ... Nyet. No, I doubt it. To go running for the hills because some tramp freighter said bogeymen were coming from the outer dark? Where would we go? You can't pull up an entire town and just move it on a whim!" he spread his handpaws. Cali had to duck under the right paw or she would have been impaled on his long claws.

  “And where would the towners go?” the Lieutenant asked. “They would have fled into the hills with the rest of us.”

  “Where indeed.”

  “I have learned that the sensors can see from orbit. They dropped rocks on the large population centers. You could have dispersed. Hid in caves. Hunted.”

  “And lived like animals. Many of us did that even before they came, but it would have been hard for so many,” the bear said shaking his massive head. He put a pipe in his mouth and then took a puff.

  “And besides, what is done is done," the admiral said firmly. "There is no sense crying over spilled milk. Mistakes were made yes. Warnings were ignored. It's time we learned from that and applied it to the future."

  "Indeed yes. Never again," the lieutenant agreed with a nod.

  Irons nodded as well. "Good. Good to hear. Now, about the resupply ..."

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Within an hour news that they were planning to drop off the freeloading passengers on the frozen moon below hit the grapevine. There was an immediate amount of grumbling from those targeted. They were clearly not happy about being dumped on a frozen world. They were also not happy about it being on the front line of a war zone. Admiral Irons however was unmoved.

  “Look, they got free medical care, free education, free food; Yeah, they had to work as a janitor during the journey here, but he
ll, they had to do something other than sit on their asses! Tough shit!” Sindri snarled when he heard them complain. Apparently he'd had a change of heart where the passengers were concerned. Irons was amused. He nodded in mute agreement.

  One delegate from Hidoshi got a person to stay by appointing them as her aide. Sprite convinced the admiral to allow it for political reasons. He was distracted by the various replicator projects so he initially put the decision off.

  When he did investigate further he was amused. Word among the crews was that they were lovers. Admiral Irons was not sure the arrangement was totally consensual. Obviously the male didn't want to remain on the moon, and he did volunteer to be with the woman as her aide and secretary so in that regard it was voluntary. They were also both consenting adults.

  Personally he wouldn't sleep with the woman to get a free ride however. He'd met Mrs. Yuzle virtually; she was a witch. But if the lad was willing to go the extra kilometer to stay with them, he wouldn't judge. And besides, it got the woman off his back. If the boy broke up with the older woman while in transit, well, they'd deal with it at the next habitable world they stopped at.

  Chapter 11

  The admiral decreed that they would spend a week in orbit of the planet, long enough for the crew to get a couple days of shore leave and for him to have some discussions with the planetary authorities. Who knows, he thought, they just might pick up a few additional recruits to fill out the ship's companies. Not many would go navy though he judged.

  What he didn't expect was the crews getting practically mobbed on the planet. Sprite had been wise to send down marines as acting SPs, and even wiser to have Major Gustov make his selections very carefully. He'd thrown a lot of care into sending down non-humans as marines. That had let the locals know they weren't being invaded by Horathians in disguise.

  Once the initial group on shore leave were processed Sprite started on the reluctant passengers and equipment. Commander Sindri and Commander McGuyver were handed the tasks of overseeing the maintenance of the fleet. Ian passed some of the task to Trey Ulster, his chief engineer.