Ghosts from the Past (The Wandering engineer Book 7)

by Chris Hechtl

  “That's what that is for?”

  The admiral nodded. “We are currently setting up the station now with the components, as well as other stations and platforms you may have observed. Most of what I manufactured were the shocks and delicate containment gear, as well as the transmission and reader equipment.”

  “So, we'll have an ansible, but no one else will? What about the cost?”

  “I negotiated the costs with Prime already. That isn't an issue, and they are taking the cost of repairing the facility out of the initial start up costs. But once they have them, I already manufactured the storage containers so we can ship the muons and gear to other systems. The next convoy that leaves here will deposit an ansible in Triang, Agnosta, and Pyrax. If I can swing it we'll even send along enough to set up ansibles in the other systems around Pyrax as well.”

  “So, we'll be able to communicate with them.”

  “Civilian, political, and military message traffic. Military, has the priority of course since it will be our facility and it if anything comes in urgent ...”

  “You'll need to know about it right away to act accordingly,” the governor finished with a nod.

  “Exactly.”

  “So, moving on ... We never did get a list of what Captain Logan had sent in here. We were told it was need to know,” Miss Mitrian said with a sour expression.

  The admiral nodded as all eyes turned to him. “Captain Logan had a finite amount of material and manpower, but he did his best to send you, us, what he could. Each convoy brought in parts to help repair the ships here as well as people to man them,” he explained. They nodded.

  “As well as munitions and other things to restock their magazines,” Sprite added.

  The admiral glanced at her and then nodded. “Right. Firefly carried orders to support you and send materials and personnel here to build the yard and infrastructure here. They were on their way with Xavier in Convoy 3b when we met up with them,” he explained.

  Horatio had sent a brief message along in Xavier welcoming John back. He had of course attached all the dispatches and logs of the events in his jurisdiction, as well as all the Intel they had gathered.

  He had also confirmed to the admiral that he had sent Firefly off to round up Kiev 221 as ordered by the admiral. They were to also make contact with the other worlds, and look for pirate activity in the region. The admiral already knew what happened to the doomed ship though, as well as her attacker.

  “Captain Shelby Logan has taken her group south to make her first loop restoring colonies and introducing them to the New Federation,” the admiral said. “So soon they will be better trading partners and may even be now sending back delegates to reform the Federation government,” the admiral stated.

  That sparked a murmur of interest among the cybers and the governor.

  “Now, as to production,” the admiral smiled. “The first warships we are going to be building will be small. Gunboats, gunships at first. They are quick and easy ships that can be mass produced and manned in a timely manner. They are essentially force multipliers, like the fighter lines we are also laying down in parallel to them,” the admiral said.

  “I see,” the governor said with a nod of his head. “But they can hardly stand up to a ship. Say for instance a ship like Maine,” he said dubiously.

  “They won't go toe to toe on their own. Or even in droves,” the admiral said. “Though they could, but the losses would be brutal,” he admitted with a twist of his lips. “No, they will be training platforms and a place to control the swarms of mines, missile pods, and weapon platforms we are also working on.”

  “All that too?” the lieutenant governor asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “We can walk and chew gum at the same time ma'am,” Sprite said cheekily. The lieutenant governor scowled slightly, jaw working. “What I should have said was that we have multiple teams working each project,” she said more formally. “They are dispersed enough to not get into each other's way.”

  “I see,” the woman replied. She nodded to the admiral to continue.

  “About the time we've got the first gunships in space we should be ready to lay down our first hyperspace ship. It will be a dispatch boat, a courier, not a corvette,” he explained. “The reason is to test the construction while also giving us a platform to run messages with.”

  “Wait, what about the ansible?” Miss Mitrian protested.

  “That is for systems that will have them. Dispatch boats will work with systems that do not have them currently. Senka for instance.”

  “Senka?” Meyers asked with a sniff. “It's rubble!”

  “Exactly. It is also a place the pirates can pass through, so we'll have to eventually secure it. But it is, as you said, rubble. We can send in orbital smelting and factory ships and have them ship back processed materials and even simple parts,” the admiral said.

  “Ah,” Meyers said. “I'm not sure I like the idea of competition but I see where you are going with this,” he said.

  The admiral nodded. “Once we are certain the prototype is fully functional,” he smiled and cocked his head to the cybers, “We all know that there are bugs and teething issues that plague the first production run,” he said. They nodded in agreement. “Then we'll move on to the corvettes. They share a lot of the same components as the gunships and dispatch boat so it will streamline some of the logistics,” he explained.

  “And while the people who are building the ships are getting used to the process, the people and mechs who built the corvette slip will have already moved on to the next slip up. And so on and so forth,” Sprite said as the governor sipped at his glass of water.

  “A systematic set up. You start small and work the bugs and kinks out, then scale it up. I see,” Averies replied.

  “Exactly,” the admiral said, glad someone finally understood.

  “So, how soon will we be seeing a proper warship?” the lieutenant governor asked.

  “Within six months to a year we'll lay our first cruiser hull,” the admiral explained. He left out the part about his side trip. For now they didn't have the need to know. Besides, he wasn't certain he was going to go or not.

  “Okay, so,” Averies turned to the governor. The governor nodded. “Expanding on the ansibles, what do you need from us immediately, and what can we put off or put into a fill in place?”

  “Fill in?”

  “Sorry, construct when we have idle time and material available,” the cyber explained. “In other words a non-priority piece of equipment.”

  “And how many more people are you going to steal from us?” Sid asked sourly. “We're not your hiring bureau you know,” he growled.

  The admiral's eyes cut to the personnel manager and then back to Meyers. “Well, some things we need immediately. But ...”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  When the meeting concluded the admiral found April waiting for him outside. She was standing there in the hallway, red hair flared around her head like a mane, perfectly framing her heart shaped face. She was in her trademark yellow jumper with a light blue ascot knotted around her neck. The jumper was zipped down to just slightly above her ample bosom. She posed for a minute to make sure she got his attention, then grinned at him as he approached.

  “Admiral, you have less than fifteen minutes blocked in your schedule to get to industrial replicator 4,” Sprite warned. He slowed then growled. “... and shutting up now,” she said as her image disappeared and a countdown clock appeared in her place.

  “Sorry, distractions,” the admiral said to April as her smile congealed slightly.

  “I thought you weren't happy to see me for a moment there,” she said.

  “No, it's work,” he admitted. And other things, he didn't add.

  When he came up to her someone brushed past him, practically shoving her into him. She chuckled, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. “I've missed you,” she said, touching her forehead to his. “And this,” she murmured as they kissed.


  “Damn, so have I,” he admitted. He still had a trace of lingering resentment over Sprite's interference in his voice though.

  April caught it and then pushed herself back slightly. Her beautiful green eyes searched his. “Okay, out with it. Why are you mad?” She asked, hands on his hips.

  “It's not at you,” he said shaking his head. He regretted losing her touch. He hadn't known he had needed it until she'd withdrawn it. “Sprite neglected to tell me you were here.”

  April blinked. “Oh.” She wrinkled her pert nose. “I almost didn't make it. I had to twist a lot of arms to get here,” she said.

  “I know,” he said, looking about them. They were in a secure area, technically reporters weren't supposed to be in the back hallway. He shook his head. She was certainly resourceful he thought.

  “I have to go, but we'll talk later,” he said reluctantly.

  She pouted. He smiled. “I promise. We will make up for lost time. But not now. A lot is going on and I can't ... Hon, I have to ...”

  She put a finger to his lips to silence him. “Okay, okay, I get it. We'll meet again. But make it soon,” she said. She wrapped herself around him once more. He squeezed her until she gasped. He felt her hand touch his skin.

  “Damn the universe,” he whispered. She chuckled softly.

  “No, you go,” she said, letting him go and pushing away. “I'm only a thought away,” she said, tapping her temple. He nodded, understanding she meant their implants. There were things they could do with them that she probably didn't know. He fought a smile.

  Her hand reached out to adjust his uniform, then brush off his shoulders. Finally she gripped his biceps and kissed him once more. “I'll be around sailor boy,” she whispered in his ear, then kissed the lobe. He nodded. Someone coughed behind them, making them break the embrace. He caught the sad look from her when he rushed away.

  He swore viciously under his breath as he rounded the corner. When he got to the lift he stepped in and ordered the doors to shut quickly before anyone else could join him.

  “Where is her mail? I know it is in my inbox but you buried it,” he said under his breath.

  “Here, Admiral,” Sprite said with a sigh, pulling the files up for him to view. She dropped them into a folder and left them on his desktop to view later when he had more free time. “Are you certain you want to look at them now?”

  He looked at the earliest e-mail and then the time stamp. Apparently the moment they had entered the system April had sent him the e-mail, anticipating a response. They had piled up along with everything else. “You deliberately hid this from me. You censored my e-mail.”

  “I filtered it, Admiral. You said no distractions. You wanted to be in and out in a short period of time. She qualifies as a major distraction.”

  The admiral nodded grudgingly. “But this bullshit is also a distraction, Commander,” he replied.

  ”True.”

  “You're worried about something. About being wrong,” Sprite said with a hint of triumph in her voice.

  “No, I'm worried you, an AI are coming between me and her,” he growled. “But we can have this discussion later, Commander,” he said as the lift pinged a warning that he was getting close to his destination.

  Sprite laughed that part off. “Admiral, that is silly. You are an organic. What you do with your love life is your business, I know that. You are my superior officer. But you are also my friend, and well, I happen to reside in you. I was trying to protect you. Nothing more.”

  “I don't need …” he started to retort with some heat but she cut him off.

  “Oh no?” Sprite handed a cluster of files over to Defender. She had just finished decrypting the last during their most recent meeting. She still had yet to fully process and assimilate the data, but she didn't like what she had found out.

  “Where did you get this?” Defender asked.

  “Don't ask,” she said. It hadn't been easy to hack the woman's implants or her computer files. The woman was paranoid enough to encrypt files, delete them periodically, and not record certain things the AI knew should have been recorded. But there were ways to break a decryption, which was easy when someone left their password list in a text file for someone like her to find. The deleted files were also recoverable if they hadn't been overwritten. Some were damaged, but there was data there for her to view. Admittedly there hadn't been a lot of information there that was relevant, she was still indexing some of it, but there was enough for her to make some connections that disturbed her.

  Finding out what she was missing was vexing, but she had a fix for that too. Clio was searching for the woman's location during those time chops. It was a long term search though since the AI had other duties to perform and wasn't as flexible as Sprite was.

  The security AI scanned the files and then paused. “Admiral, she is correct to have concerns,” he said after a moment. “Though her inferences and her access would not pass a review board for the standards on ethics,” he said with a warning glare to Sprite. “Nor is any of this permissible in court,” he warned.

  “What?!?”

  “No, he's right,” Sprite said as the lift doors opened. Any further discussion was curtailed as the admiral stormed to the replicator control room. He nodded to the anxious techs and engineers and then took a seat near the replicator. “Someone get me a bottle of water. This is going to take time,” he said as he jacked into the replicator.

  “All right, I'm a captive audience for the duration. Spill,” he growled.

  “Admiral, according to this she had had long term contacts with criminal organizations in both Pyrax and here in Antigua. I recovered a partial file that she apparently picked up from someone in Pyrax with a list of contacts here,” Sprite said.

  The admiral grunted as she pulled the file up and displayed it. It was just a list of names, some of them blotted out.

  “It fits with some things,” Defender said. “Though it is not air tight, Commander,” he said.

  “Just hear me out. She got close to you on Destiny ...”

  “At first working as a reporter doing a series of interviews on a hot story,” the admiral reminded her.

  “True, entirely too true I'm afraid,” Sprite said. “Admiral, it make sense. I admit, it is circumstantial ...”

  “It's damn near transparent!” the admiral replied with some heat.

  “But it also explains a few things. Like how the enemy knew your schedule in on the ship. Where you were, a few times you contacted her or told her where you were going to be remember? Though, admittedly, you didn't exactly make it a secret now did you?” Sprite said thoughtfully.

  “You are now arguing both sides, Commander?” Defender asked.

  “I'm trying to see it from all angles,” Sprite said. “Where you were going to be in Destiny in advance is important to set the assassination attempt up in advance,” Sprite mused. The admiral nodded. “Also where you were on Epsilon Triangula. You left word to her. She may have gotten it and passed it along to that snatch team,” Sprite said.

  The admiral frowned. “May. See, you don't know. It could have been unintentional. Letting her boss or someone else know to get a reporter in to do an interview. Or trying to get her boss to allow her to come to ET to meet me.”

  “You are correct, sir. We don't know. Not for certain. Not without more evidence.”

  “I can ask her.”

  “I am not certain her ability to lie will fool our scans of her, Admiral. And you are too emotionally close to the issue. But there is something else. The attack on you on Destiny.”

  “What about it? See? Right there, she was burned!” he insisted.

  “She was indeed. In her own quarters. Who else knew the two of you would be there that evening?”

  “You're telling me she set herself up to be what, burned?”

  Defender nodded. “As a sacrifice it is possible, but it could have been possible that she had a falling out with her partner. Or the partner decided to sacrifice her wit
hout her knowledge.”

  “That is all supposition! You're building a house of cards here!”

  “Then ask her yourself, Admiral,” Sprite said.

  “Admiral, we can't have her in your presence,” Defender warned. “Not if she is a threat.”

  “Is she a physical threat?” The admiral demanded. He knew the answer to that one. The AI should too.

  “I don't know,” the AI admitted. “She has the ability to get under your defenses, Admiral. To get you to lower them. Others can take advantage of that like Commander Sprite pointed out.”

  “If that is true. I don't believe she'd deliberately set herself up like that,” the admiral growled, crossing his arms.

  “She may not have, Admiral. Right now it is supposition. She could also inadvertently pass on information that is sensitive. Just telling a supposed friend that you are meeting up could allow an assassin to track your whereabouts and try again, Admiral,” Defender warned. “With her in the cross hairs. Again.”

  The admiral grunted as that shot hit home.

  “Interviewing her remotely is out. We wouldn't be there to scan her. We could get some information from voice stress analysis, but not enough.”

  “She could ... she could have been making underworld contacts since she is a reporter. Did you consider that?”

  “Actually yes, Admiral. Yes I did.”

  “Oh.”

  “Do you want her as a distraction now?”

  “I ... don't know. But we need to clear the air. This can't be left to hang over our heads indefinitely.”

  “Agreed. One way or another we need to get to the truth,” Defender stated.

  “We will. Soon enough.”

  Chapter 22

  They had planned at least a ten week layover in Antigua to get the yard going and finish rebuilding the ships there. The admiral judged that he would be able to get away to Lemnos for a short time now, in the early stages of construction, rather than later when construction was in full swing. Once Horath got word of what had happened all hell would break loose and he'd never be able to get away personally. He was also the only one who could go.