Ghosts from the Past (The Wandering engineer Book 7)

by Chris Hechtl

  Technically the doctor should have been detached from Maine to take up shop elsewhere. She made a note to look into the medical staff attending to the Ssilli on the planet. Perhaps one of them would be able to handle the job? She would have to find out.

  She caught an e-mail and sighed. Another from Miss Yuzle. “Now what does she want?” she thought in exasperation.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Lieutenant Lake noted new arrivals as she finished her morning jog. Captain Gustov must have recently returned from the space port, he was escorting in a trio of Neos with space bags slung over their shoulders. Her IFF pinged; the white tiger was a marine officer. “New arrivals? Welcome. All marines I see,” the lieutenant said as she used her towel to dry her sweaty face. She stretched, aware of the eyes on her and the wrinkling noses. Cats didn't like sweat. Dogs didn't mind it, but they were nosy anyway. From the dog's expression he would like to be anywhere else but here she thought.

  “You have a problem with marines, Lieutenant?” The white tiger asked.

  “Not at all,” the lieutenant replied, taking out her canteen and drinking a long drink. When she finished she wiped at her chin with the back of her hand as she capped the lid. “It'd be nice to get more Intel help though. I'm feeling a little lonely here surrounded by all this green,” she said, indicating their digicam uniforms.

  “I minored in Intel at the academy, ma'am,” the tiger replied stiffly.

  “Good for you. The problem is the prisoners will clam up if they see you,” the lieutenant replied, shaking her head. “So we can't throw you in with one of them. Though I'd love to see one try to take you on. Even Manx or one of the other big idiots would think twice,” she said with a healthy snort.

  “Definitely,” the captain replied. He waved a hand as the two marine enlisted set their bags down at their feet then took an at ease stance. “Corporals Mayana and Samba,” he said, indicating the Neo lioness and the Neodog. The dog was a mutt with lab lines in his genes Lake could see.

  “Pleasure,” the lieutenant replied. She lifted an eyebrow to the captain. He snorted and sent her their dossiers.

  “Fuentes was over establishment in her marines so that is how we picked up Mayana. Samba here,” he waved to the Neodog. “Has experience as an MP, shore patrol, and as a guard at the Pyrax prison,” he explained.

  “Ah,” the young woman said. She reached out and shook each of their hands. The dog paused to hold her hand then turned it to expose a freshly healed wound. She looked at it then grimaced. “Shiv. They keep making them, we keep taking them away. Sometimes the hard way,” she growled.

  “Lovely,” Mayana growled. “Anyone who tries that crap on me isn't going to like what I do to them,” she said, ears going back, teeth and claws partially barred.

  “I don't know if they will tangle with you or not. Like I said, I'd love to see it. Some of the idiots here are real die hards,” the lieutenant said shaking her head. “I heard Lieutenant Tr'j'ck had similar problems on that prison liner. It can get worse here. And you've never lived until you've experienced a full blown riot.”

  “A chance to crack heads. Good,” the lioness said, relaxing slightly. The fur on her shoulders and neck started to droop slightly. “I wanted some action.”

  “You'll get it. Just don't lower your guard for an instant,” Samba said. He looked a little put out. “A guard dog. Again.”

  “I know, I know, pigeon holed. You are a soldier son, follow orders,” the captain said.

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Admiral Irons had sent orders with the convoy to Pyrax for Horatio to dispatch picket forces of corvettes and frigates in Gaston and other neighboring systems when new ships came online. They were also supposed to reinforce the Agnosta picket as well as establish a picket force in Seti Alpha 4. Each of the pickets would serve as an early warning and interdict pirate travel in the area. When they could he planned for both Pyrax and Antigua to transport gunships to the star systems, while also setting up infrastructure to support the vessels, since none would have shuttle crafts.

  Well, Seti Alpha 4 might have a base by now, he reasoned, Shelby was supposed to negotiate with them about that. Gaston had been on the fence about the idea according to Horatio's notes. He'd sent in Destiny several times to discuss the idea. Apparently the planetary authorities had reasoned that a military base would make them a target. Didn't they realize they were already a target? The admiral shook his head. Apparently not, he mused darkly.

  For now the forces there would have to rely on the occasional resupply ship like Destiny or shuttles at a civilian space port. Eventually they would have an inflatable space station with shuttles for their support. And a gas giant refinery if the system could swing it. Mine fields and other defensive works would follow when they had the time and resources.

  He tried to consider what the impact on the forces in the critical systems would be. The pros and cons weighed heavily in his mind for the moment. Finally he turned to look at the star map once more. Would the picket force in Gaston be enough to stop a determined raider? Perhaps a small one, a single ship if it was caught off guard and they fought it smart. He made another note to have the pickets outfitted with drones and missile pods.

  He shook his head when he looked up again. He had to admit, he was more worried about a destroyer wolf pack tearing them up, even in passing. The navy crews were spoiling for a fight. They wanted to prove themselves while he wanted to be cautious and make sure they were ready. He sighed heavily, remembering that line about time. “Damn it,” he muttered.

  “Need a distraction?” Sprite asked as he flicked the main screen off.

  “Something like that. Why? What do you have in mind?” He looked longingly at his empty coffee cup.

  “Oh, because one is coming in now,” Sprite said in amusement. “She has an idea. I thought it would be a good learning experience for her and a chance for you to put things in perspective,” she said. “Lieutenant Siegel is bringing a report in.”

  “You know I do have an electronic inbox,” the admiral grumbled.

  “Humor her please,” she replied as the hatch opened.

  “Sir?”

  “Come in, Lieutenant,” the admiral ordered.

  "Admiral, about the initial strategic plan ..." Lieutenant Siegel asked in his office as she set a tablet down on his desk next to his empty cup of coffee. It had taken her a bit to get up the nerve to not only finish her proposal but bring it to his attention.

  Admiral Irons looked up with polite interest. "What about it, Lieutenant?" She was a pretty young woman, short but smart. He'd seen her around the dojo once. She had started out shy but was opening up like a flower. He was pretty sure Sprite had sicked her on him because she wanted him to have a flag lieutenant. Or, she just wanted to yank April's chain. He wasn't sure.

  The young woman was doing fine where she was in OPS with Turner and Vargess. She needed a stint in command like Turner, but she wasn't scheduled for a ship slot for another six months at the current build rates.

  "Well, I've been looking at a star map, and something doesn't make sense to me. You want to fortify Senka in the north, Protodon and Kathy's World in the northwest, and B101a1 in the west, sir."

  "True." He was still considering what to do about Centennial and the southern part of the sector. Hopefully by the time he had forces in Kathy's World and Protodon the pirates who had come in that way would return right into their waiting gun sights.

  "That will create a, how did Commander Sprite call it?" the lieutenant asked thoughtfully. She was still catching up on some of the historical references the admiral and AI took for granted despite her minor in ancient military history.

  "The Maginot line," the AI interjected helpfully.

  The lieutenant nodded. "Right, thank you, Commander. A fortified presence in those four systems will cut off the enemy."

  "Right. So what is the problem with that?" Irons asked, looking at the young human curious
ly.

  The young woman smiled eagerly as she used her implants to bring up a map of the sector. "Well sir, if we consolidate the forces in Protodon and Senka and throw them at B95a3 here, one jump away from Protodon, then the enemy won't be able to attack from two axis, just the one."

  "True," Irons replied smiling slightly. He sat back, tapping his chin thoughtfully and let her go.

  "We won't need marines since it is an empty system. Just for ship compliments and boarding parties,” she said, rolling on in her excitement. “And taking that system will cut off Nuevo Madrid. They can be consolidated later by marine forces or die on the vine," the young woman said, picking up in excitement at the idea.

  "True," the Admiral said again, sitting back and studying the young woman. She'd done some of her homework he thought. Someone was thinking ahead, or at least attempting to do so. That was expected of an officer in OPS. He was just surprised she was intent on strategic goals.

  The young woman caught his look and frowned prettily. "And I'm guessing from your tone you've thought of all this before. Which makes me wonder why you haven't gone with this plan, and what I missed," the woman said, deflating slightly. “Sir?”

  "You didn't miss much. One glaring omission but we'll get to that. So far your reasoning as been right on the money. I'm curious though to hear why you think I didn't go with this," the Admiral replied as he straightened in his chair.

  "And this is what I get for sticking my neck out," the lieutenant grumbled good naturedly. Irons smiled slightly. "Okay, I'm game to stick it out a little further sir. Um ... Considering the astrography, the system has two jump points to defend."

  "Correct," the Admiral replied.

  "One more dangerous than the other. But in consolidating the forces from Protodon and Senka we'd have a larger mobile force to defend a single system, orbital forts ..." She wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure what I'm missing, sir."

  "Astrography is only part of the question. The other is the system in question itself," the admiral hinted.

  "I ... um," she stared at the system.

  Irons helpfully picked up a tablet, sent a mental signal to it to pull up a file and then display it. After a half second the file appeared so he pushed the device over to her so she could view it. She looked down at it, it was a map of the B-95a3 system. "Okay ..."

  Irons turned and sent a signal to the holo projector. After a moment it blinked to life and the system was there, spinning slowly. "White dwarf star. That means it's near the end of its stellar life cycle. It's burned off most of its hydrogen and helium but couldn't quite get to a neutron star state. There are only small rocky planets in the system far out and the space around the star is heavy with radiation.”

  She nodded, she's stared at it often enough. "Yes, sir."

  "The system forms a natural bottleneck, in order to get through it you have to go around it. Around the outer edge,” he explained, using his finger to trace around the perimeter of the star's hyper limit. “You can skip in hyper if you are good enough or stupid enough or go around it in subspace which takes months. Or you need powerful energy shields to cut through the shortcuts. The shields aren't a problem for us, but they require fuel," he said dropping a broad hint.

  "Fuel ..." She stared at the map. She tapped at it and the list of planets came up. They scrolled down in a list for her. There were only a few, all rocky. Finally she got it. "No fuel," she said softly then nodded, looking up to the admiral. “Logistics. I screwed up and failed to secure local supply,” she murmured, blushing a bit. That was a cherry ensign mistake. “But ...” she frowned thoughtfully, searching her memory for an answer.

  "Right," the Admiral replied nodding. "The system apparently never had a Jovian. Or it had one in the inner system and the White dwarf sucked it up. There is an Oort cloud a couple of light years out, mostly dust. Presumably there are some small comets, but ..." he shrugged.

  "So no fuel on hand. Rocks, a sparse outer belt," she looked at the holo. "We could probably skim for the dust with bussard ram scoops but the fuel is a major problem.” She frowned thoughtfully. She cocked her head. “... no a plasma tap is out, it's White dwarf,” she mused out loud. “Damn it!" she said, shaking her head in defeat.

  "There are no easy answers, Lieutenant. Eventually we'll picket the system, but we can't fortify it. Any orbital forts we put in would require constant tanker coverage to maintain their power supplies. Or we'd have to invest in antimatter and ship that in. Not impossible, but unlikely now," the admiral explained.

  "I see sir," she said ruefully. "And here I was so proud of myself," she murmured, blushing. “You've been one step ahead this entire time.”

  The Admiral chuckled. "I've been around the block, Lieutenant, and I've been in the same situation you have a time or two. I thought I was all cute, had the answer everyone overlooked,” he said shaking his head in amusement. “The reason they overlooked the obvious was because it was obviously not going to work.”

  “I see sir,” she said slowly.

  “I have a reputation as an engineering admiral. We're known to focus on logistics first. Infrastructure buildings,” Irons replied with a shrug. “Many commanders overlook that. They just see the target and how best to exploit a perceived weakness.”

  “How long have you been thinking of this sir?” the lieutenant asked him.

  Admiral Irons smiled indulgently. “I'll be honest,” he said, coming clean. “I've been thinking about this problem since Horath was identified as the enemy. Since before I left Pyrax."

  The young woman turned thoughtful eyes on him. After a long moment she slowly nodded. "I see sir."

  Irons sat back, studying her again. "So, tell me the political reasons why Senka, Kathy's world, and Protodon are better. Let's focus on Senka."

  "Um ..."

  "What is our mission, Lieutenant?" Sprite asked helpfully.

  The lieutenant nodded and took the answer right from the book. "To defend the civilians, ma'am."

  "And to support them. So, when the pirates aren't around, what can our people do?" the AI commander asked with a broader hint.

  Finally she caught on. "SAR. Build things. Repair."

  Irons nodded as he shut the holo off. "Right. And our presence is a reassurance to both populations. Granted Senka has a miniscule one, but it's something. Also it goes a long way politically with the people there and others since they will see we are helping."

  "I see."

  "Senka has a massive asteroid belt. Several actually since one of them was a planet like the Eden belt in Pyrax. It is resource rich, though it only has the one true Jovian in the system. Protodon has a small population, under a million after the last battle there, but it has a planet."

  "Understood, sir," the lieutenant said nodding.

  "Which our naval and marine personnel will occasionally visit while on leave. When they are on leave they will spend money. Those credits will go into the local economy as a stimulant." He frowned mentally and then shrugged. “Also, extended contact with the military will increase trade through the area as well as exposure of military personnel and ideals to the native population. That will increase the amount of news going through, and that in turn will tie the planets to the larger picture over time. We're rebuilding a galactic civilization.”

  She smiled. "I see, sir. You really do explore all the angles," she said wryly, catching on. The admiral was clearly several steps ahead. Now she felt like a fool for bringing the entire matter to his attention. He didn't seem ready to snap her head off and hand it to her for wasting his time however.

  "Yes. I've, as I said, been around the block a few times Lieutenant,” Irons said with a slight twist of his lips. She winced slightly but stood at attention. “The planet will also supply fresh food to the crews on the orbital forts and ships. They will also be a source of manpower if they volunteer."

  "I see, sir."

  "But, that doesn't mean we haven't forgotten about Nuevo Madrid. Also Destria. I do want both, first to re
scue any population from the pirates and their idea of 'benevolent government' aka genocide, and also I want a look into their systems and databases."

  "Ah."

  He didn't mention he wanted to put pressure on the Horathians. First in defending those territories and the jump lines going to them, but also by forcing them on the defensive or at least localizing their offensive to retake what they've lost, they would allow him time to consolidate what they had and kick construction into high gear. He wasn't sure if that had occurred to the young woman yet. He was curious to see if it would, and if she would point out the obvious again or take it for granted that he knew it already.

  There was something to be said about training someone. Nurturing a fine balance between encouraging initiative and due diligence while also the rules. Knowing when to stick to the rules and when their confining presence was a hindrance that had to be ... worked around.

  "Homework assignment," he said smiling as he held up a finger to her.

  She blinked and then nodded warily. The holo sprang to life again, this time a star map of the sector. He pointed to the two jump lines Horath used to get into their territory.

  "I want you to examine each of the systems in each of these jump lines. Give me pros and cons for setting up shop in each. If you find a nice one I want you to try identify it, then try to tear it apart."

  "Tear it apart sir?"

  "He's talking about devil's advocate, Lieutenant," Sprite replied. "He wants to see if you can find faults, and then find ways to turn those faults into assets, or cover them."

  "Oh. Yes, ma'am," the young woman said, coming to attention.

  "All right, get on that. I'll see you back tomorrow at oh 900."

  The lieutenant nodded as she rose to attention. "Aye sir."

  "Dismissed, Lieutenant," he said with a slight smile. She nodded curtly, turned smartly and then left.