Ghosts from the Past (The Wandering engineer Book 7)

by Chris Hechtl

  He checked the author again and blinked in surprise. A marine? A captain Joshua Lyon had been behind the idea. The Lyon? He checked. Sure enough, the names matched. Captain Lyon was the current commander of the facility's small marine detachment. He was a force recon marine, he'd come up through infantry before he'd went off to college and mustanged to an officer's commission. His idea had been gotten the interest of quite a few backers in the admiralty, which explained why the young man had been sent to Lemnos to get it to work a year after the admiral had been lost in space.

  Instead of diving into the project the young man had run afoul of politics. Having a Marine propose a ship design hadn't gone over well in some circles. He had been caught up in running the marine detachment half the time since the engineers and scientists already on the station had considered him an interloper. Irons shook his head. The Federation had been fighting for its life and they still couldn't get along. Typical.

  He went back to looking over the proposed drone carrier's specs. Lyon had even named the proposed prototype the Johnny Reb after a friend in college who had participated in the ansible project with him. A link comment attached to the name explained that as well as that the young man had died in combat.

  The admiral didn't see the need for such a vessel but the concepts might prove useful in other venues. Could they build a drone fortress with it for instance? Lyon's drone carrier had been limited to fifteen fighters due to space constraints on the mother ship as well as problems with handling so many drones at once. But there was a way to make the concept work. If it was in a fortress they would have the room to house a massive reactor system, or an antimatter power supply, he added, making a note, as well as the manufacturing facilities to not only build the ansible links but also the drones themselves. The fortress would be immobile but far enough back from a jump point to be relatively safe, and they could always outfit it with defenses of its own.

  The drones could also be modular. Since they needed to swap out the communications package regularly ... he nodded in approval at their memo on rebuilding and recycling them each time, he could maybe make the drones mission payloads as modular as well he mused. Say a mission pack for interception, defense, recon, beam weapons, and a missile carrier. Possibly other ideas, and making it modular made it upgradable in time. Hell, they could even build a SAR drone to pick up dead drones or even resupply them on the fly. An entire flight wing could be built around the concept ... if it worked out. He nodded. He rather liked the idea, it was elegant and didn't put people at risk. He wasn't sure it would work, but they could sim it later when they came back before he dedicated any resources to such a risky prototype. He made a note to do that.

  Another idea was a battle planet. He sighed. He'd seen those before, the design was unworkable, didn't they know that? You could field dozens of fleets for one of the damn things, but apparently some of the backers had gotten it through the Federation congress. He grimaced. He shook his head and put the idea aside for the moment. He switched gears a bit and checked on other fields the facility's scientists had explored.

  There were some notes connecting to long rather heated conversations back and forth between the station and Sol. He frowned at that. The idea that they were running the ideas past a review board in Sol was nothing new, but that they had been arguing for ideas at this level was. It meant additional unwanted exposure to the facility. He frowned and opened the files.

  He blinked. They were about the shortage of personnel and how to handle it. “Okay,” he muttered, reading further. The first was to do something about the number of AI. He nodded. The Asimov protocols had been rescinded, or in some cases just modified to only protect Federation citizens. There had been an apparent lively discussion among the AI groups and the Federation congress on also amending the AI treaties to get more help from their factions. There was little more in the database, they had been cut off from Sol before a decision had been made.

  The other end of the spectrum, organic troops and sailors was even more troubling. A few groups had proposed cloning exceptional individuals and then downloading a copy of their minds into the body. They could reforge a navy or army of like minded individuals, all with no fear of death.

  The theory had flaws though, flash cloning someone was illegal for several reasons. The main reason was that the resulting product was unstable mentally. Some psychotic, some catatonic. According to the backers though, an acceptable loss ratio of 10 percent would work. Irons didn't agree. Having someone come unhinged in combat wasn't what he would call a good thing.

  Why didn't they just download the person's mind into a computer? Clone it a billion times and then give them a mech and ship navy? Apparently that had been proposed but then immediately removed from the docket when the AI's threatened legal action. Good for them Irons thought.

  Apparently Bloodbath Mcgrath had made a small comeback, or his supporters had. He'd retired for some time after the fall of his project and the Graff School. But the Xeno war and the desperation for elite people to fight had allowed him to be rehabilitated slightly. His proponents had proposed creating an army of cloned super soldiers, augmented as the admiral had been. It put forward all the good points about the other plans, drawing them into their own while ignoring all their flaws. Their battle cry was to fight fire with fire. Since the Xenos were already doing it, the Federation should match them.

  “Desperate times mean desperate measures. There is no telling what we'll find out there once we get out of Rho sector,” he murmured to himself.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  The security AI Lieutenant Winston was activated when the second computer bank was brought online. Winston was a quiet, very reserved and very security conscientious AI. He immediately took charge of the station net security with only a brief update.

  Sprite was annoyed, in her opinion there was no need for another dumb AI security bot to watch over the net. Defender and Ray could handle that job, Winston was just using up space and processing power. But apparently Admiral Halsey had talked the admiral into following protocol and since it was Halsey's installation Irons had accepted it.

  Admiral Irons was making a large effort to delegate and show trust. She just wished he wasn't so eager to do it. She understood where he was coming from, but Defender could have handled security. It wasn't like they were going to be there long. At least he'd stamped on Winston's immediate demand to kick all of the personnel not assigned to the station off. And he'd also held his ground by refusing to allow the AI to interrogate each of the personnel personally through their implants either.

  She was having trouble with Ensign Barlow, Xavier's AI. He was a dumb AI, nice, but another territorial stickler. She couldn't help needing space and processors, it was a part of her duty. She made another note to get the admiral moving again. He wanted to pick through each of the computer cores and tour each lab. That was taking a long time, longer than it should. He had underestimated the amount of data he had to sift through, and forgotten that she couldn't do it for him with Winston in the way.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Sending the component modules of the clones through the ansible was easier than anticipated. The eager action of the lead organic known as Irons to utilize the ansible to secure updates for his current ships meant the Watcher could insert its code into various packets. It had to be careful, and it had to be subtle about its corruption of the files as well. It judged it would be able to send a complete copy of itself just before the facility was shut down once more.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  When they had the computer core and OPS secure and the work crews were working efficiently on their own to survey the station, the flag officers met in one of the wardrooms on the station.

  Irons still wasn't sure what to do with Halsey and Subert. Phil Subert was an able administrator. Jarol Halsey was as well. Both men hadn't had a lot of time on a command deck however, Halsey's last time had been as an XO on a dreadnaught in Sol's home fleet before he'd been snagge
d as a staffer. He'd risen through the ranks there before the war.

  Commodore Amadeus White however was a different story. The neochimp was a hard charger; he'd come up through the ranks in the tactical track. He'd earned his spurs fighting pirates before the Xeno war. He'd spent a brief time as a lecturer, but he'd gotten back onto a command deck as soon as possible. He was their designated man on point as the commander in the field. His first mission was to take charge of Kathy's world and hold it.

  He immediately asked for Maine. “If we launch an attack down the B459c jump chain right away, we can get in, secure the area, then move on Protodon. They'll never know what hit them.”

  Admiral Irons shook his head in exasperation. “I knew you'd say that. I'm sorry Amadeus, it's not happening. Maine and Bismark are needed where they are. We can't risk uncovering the shipyards, you know that. The good news is Kathy's World is currently in our hands. It has a picket. A single corvette and a militia freighter, but it's a start.”

  The neochimp commodore's jaw set for a moment before he gave a sharp nod. He couldn't do much about the fur that had risen on his body, a natural reaction to anger. “Understood. It's a start, and as you said, at least it is in our hands. May I remind you we don't know that now since your Intel is out of date?” The admiral nodded. “Okay then,” the commodore said with an exhale. “So what can you give me?”

  “Initially two tin cans, four to six corvettes, at least one frigate, four to six gunships, two, possibly three squadrons of fighters, and drones.” He ignored the other officer's wince. “Lots of drones. I can also run in convoys to build up mine fields and supports. You'll have marines and we'll ship you in what we can as quickly as possible.”

  “We need to seize the initiative now and take Protodon. Bounce it out of their hands Admiral,” White said stubbornly.

  Irons nodded. “I understand that.”

  “There is an element of risk involved,” Jarol said, turning to Admiral Irons. “Are you considering a cautious approach? Secure Kathy's world as his rear then march on Protodon?”

  “Yes and no. There is a countervailing factor here to consider. The fourth pirate fleet, the one made up of paired raiders. They will eventually be returning to Horath. They will undoubtedly be going through Centennial to B452c and then on to Kathy's World.”

  “Oh great. So we'll be hit from two fronts?” White demanded. Irons nodded. “Now I understand.”

  “That isn't enough ships to do both,” Commodore Subert said, shaking his head. “Protect Kathy's World while getting in to liberate Protodon and then hold it from any possible frontal attack from Horath?” He scowled. “It can't be done.”

  “Not yet,” Halsey reminded him. “Fortunately we're not talking about major fleet engagements here. Most of the scraps you've been in have been minor. But we do need more hardware.” He turned to Irons.

  Admiral Irons nodded. “Remember who is in your corner,” Irons replied with a tight smile. “When I said convoys I meant it. Not just to run shoals of mines in. Weapon drones, defensive drones, orbital weapon platforms, and missile packs,” he said.

  Commodore White blinked then slowly grinned. “I heard about what you did in B101a1 with that collier. Lassie, was it?” Irons nodded. “That was ballsy. Brilliant, but a hell of a risk.”

  “Proving you're not afraid to take risks,” Jarol murmured. Irons nodded. “If it is worth it. And it is. Okay, so how do we make this work? And how quick a time table are we talking here?”

  “As soon as we Pyrax links into the ansible network I'm going to order a pair of tin cans to move to B452c. You'll have to train them on the go though Amadeus,” the admiral warned. “The rest of the forces you'll draw from Antigua.”

  “Are you using Xavier as your flagship?” White asked.

  “No, she's my ride here. Once I get back to Antigua I'm going to be tied down there for the duration.”

  “Like a spider at the center of the web,” Phil said.

  “More like the queen bee making more bees,” Amadeus said, shaking his head. “Make me plenty of stingers sir.”

  “Oh I intend to,” Irons murmured. “That you can rest assured.”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Defender checked the net then felt a ping. He opened a channel to Lieutenant Winston and Commander Howell. “Lieutenant, a moment.”

  “Sir?”

  “Commodore Subert wanted me to check in with you. I'd like to see your security reports,” the commander said. “Purely for an internal review,” he stated.

  “I see sir.”

  “In the absence of a higher security officer, I believe I take precedence in the chain of command,” the commander reminded him. “Access code Eyes Wide Open.”

  “Aye aye, sir. I have the files from when the admiral departed this facility to the present date. Ready to download.”

  “Download them to Lieutenant Winston. He'll review them while you and I discuss the situation.”

  “Aye sir. Download complete,” Defender said after a moment.

  “Thank you. Now, is there anything that stands out? Any activity that we should address?”

  “My principle has violated protocol and procedure many times in the past six years.”

  “Start with the worst and work backwards from there then,” the commander replied.

  “Aye sir. His interactions with 'alleged' organized crime syndicates on Epsilon Triangula are on file. His most recent violation was his refusal to follow protocol when he was captured by the Horathian pirates in the B100 omega star system,” the AI stated flatly.

  “But all came out in the end obviously,” Winston replied.

  “Some could interpret the events that way yes,” Defender replied, obviously not committing to either side.

  “Fascinating. Tell me more Lieutenant ...” Howell said, knitting his fingers together for a moment before he picked up a stylus and tablet to take notes.

  Chapter 35

  When he was finished reading Winston's report Commander Howell discussed it with the AI, then brought it quietly to the attention of the station's senior officers. His concerns raised their own concerns on the admiral's behavior. Commodore Subert was unsure about it. “I'm not happy about a few things you found Commander, but he is a fleet admiral. He had his reasons.”

  “Some, sir. But I don't buy this whole building up the legend of the engineer,” the security officer sneered. “It's bull sir, justification for running at Pyrax.”

  “I don't know that. More importantly you don't know that,” Admiral Halsey said, tapping his fingers against the table top. “Irons deserves the benefit of the doubt here.”

  “Sir, you have to admit some of this leaves a sour taste in your mouth. I mean an admiral driven out of a system like that?”

  “You think he should have resigned?”

  “I think he should have stood his ground and fought,” Amadeus said, adding his two cents to the conversation. His brown eyes flickered with anger. “He knew better. It was a monumental screwup sir!”

  “I agree, Pyrax is a dark shadow on his past. As is his departure from Antigua the first time.”

  “Coming here too sir. He abandoned his post in Antigua to come here,” Howell said.

  “And if he hadn't we'd be dead,” Captain Lyon stated. He shook his head. “We're going back.”

  “Why stay here then?”

  “He wants to get what he can from the computers. There is a lot there,” Admiral Halsey said. “And we're packing up as much of the facility as we can while we wait,” he said. “That way when we do come back we can grab loads as quickly as possible and move them out,” he said.

  “Why not just get us back to Antigua and then do that later sir?” a Veraxin asked.

  “Enough. I don't like officers questioning the orders and intent of a superior like this. Go back to your duties,” Admiral Halsey ordered.

  Commodore Subert looked a bit stubborn but rose from his chair. A moment later White followed. After that the other officer
s did as well. They filed out quietly.

  Admiral Halsey sat there rubbing his chin. What he had heard troubled him. What he had just heard from his own officers troubled him almost as much however.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “I don't like taking apart this place, but I suppose we should pack up what we can use,” Commodore Subert said, shaking his head.

  “I know the feeling. I'd like to keep her open but honestly I don't see the need right now,” Admiral Irons replied. Admiral Halsey nodded in agreement. “So, let's go over what we came here to do. I know you are all busy,” he said, nodding politely to the senior officers in the room.

  Commodore White grunted. He wanted to get moving, not delay anymore than they were. But Irons wanted to pick through the databases to see what he could take now. That meant the rest of them were doing make work. Another delay, one that could cost lives he thought.

  The flag officers and senior officers were supposed to be working out their new mission objectives in the meeting. They had tried twice before but one interruption or another had curtailed the discussions.

  Immediately the admiral picked up an undercurrent of resentment from the other officers. He wasn't certain what was going on, but it lingered in the air like ozone. He tried to narrow down the culprits but only came up with Subert and Lyon. White had an aura of annoyance about him; the neochimp wanted to go. He was a doer; that was understandable. But Irons knew this might be the last time he had a chance to be here, he had to make the most of it.

  “The sooner we can get this done, the better. Not that it matters, the civilians will chop us off at the knees. They are the ones who are supposed to be setting our mission parameters,” White said, taking his seat.

  “True, but right now no organized civilian authority exists,” Admiral Halsey stated. “So, in their absence we have to fill the void,” he said, nodding politely to his fellow admiral.