by Don DeBon
"We are having a bit of engine trouble. Do you think we could park in your garage?"
Fenton laughed. "You know the answer. I charge by the size."
Deven chewed his cheek. "We are pretty large, I am not sure I can afford it."
"Oh I am sure you are good for it. Come on down. I'll roll out the red carpet." Fenton's face faded out as the connection cut.
"You heard the man. Head down."
Galina shrugged. "Umm, I hate to ask but where? We don't exactly fit on that landing pad." She pointed to a small car sized pad near the shack.
Deven grinned. "Just wait." A huge area by the shack shifted. It started as a crack spewing dust into the air. Then it lowered a foot and slid back revealing a rising elevator large enough for the Defiant to land on.
Galina chuckled. "He always did like to show off." She guided the Defiant down to the elevator.
Miles' camera glanced around the bridge and outside the window before centering on Deven. "I had no idea Fenton had such a large facility."
Deven smiled. "Thankfully, no one else does either." He pressed another button on his data tab and it linked to the Phoenix. "Minerva? You stay up here and keep watch. Let us know if anything changes or comes into range."
Minerva's face appeared. "Understood. And I have someone that wishes to speak with you."
The screen split and Aleshia's face appeared on the right side of the screen. "We are just going to sit here?"
"Yes, for the moment."
"Mind if I join you? It has been a while since I have seen Fenton."
"No, I need you up there with Otis."
"Please? Nothing is going on at the moment and you know it."
"I don't know it, that is why I want you watching."
"I will call Fenton." She grinned as she leaned forward.
Deven rolled his eyes as he leaned back in the chair. "You would wouldn't you."
Her eyes shone with manic glee. "Yes."
Deven sighed. "And I am sure he would side with you. All right, if you can talk Otis into staying there and letting you take his truck down. You can."
Aleshia grinned. "Be there in a flash." Her side of the screen disappeared and Minerva's face again took up the entire space. She nodded and the screen went black.
"Touch down." Galina said as they felt a jolt throughout the ship. "We're down and locked."
"Engines powered down," Leon said. "Main core is now offline as well. We are receiving power through an umbilical connected up from the pad to the Defiant." The elevator began to lower into a large repair bay. The area above resealed hiding everything from view.
"How long do you think it will take?" Deven asked.
Leon shrugged. "It depends on the equipment Fenton has. Five, maybe six hours if we are lucky."
"Trust me, he has all we need," Deven said as he tucked the data tab back into its pouch and stood up.
Galina blinked. "Where are you going?"
"To see an old friend."
Deven opened the landing bay to see Fenton's face on the far side. He extended the ramp, which lowered making grinding sounds and bounced up several times before touching the pad below. As he walked down he jerked a thumb back towards the ship. "That needs fixing too."
Fenton smiled. "Ga'day mate. Glad you could drop by." He offered his hand and when Deven grabbed it he pulled Deven close and wrapped him on the back with his other arm in a large hug.
"Always glad to see you my friend," Deven said.
"You bet. Now where is that lady friend of yours?"
"She will be here in a bit. She is on the Mechand carrier."
Fenton nodded. "I about lost my teeth when I saw that drop out of overdrive next to you. But I saw the maneuvering and you called needing repair work. Figured it was yours."
Deven nodded. "It is. Well, technically, it is Minerva's."
Fenton's one eyebrow shot up. "Minerva? I thought your lady friend's name is Aleshia."
"It is."
Fenton whapped Deven on the arm. "You dog you. Two girls?"
Deven laughed. "Not at all. Minerva is the Nexus."
Fenton's jaw dropped and an old partial slipped out to clang on the floor. "Okay, this time I did lose my teeth." He picked up the partial, cleaned it, and put it back in his mouth. "Did you say the Nexus? I thought you killed her?"
"We did, but she was bought back by a system the founders installed centuries ago."
Fenton cocked his head. "What for?"
"That's a long story. And I will tell you over coffee."
To their left a small platform containing a table, and two chairs rocketed down stopping right next to them. Aleshia sat in one of the chairs and uncrossed her denim clad legs. "I forgot what a rush that is."
Fenton laughed. "I do it all the time and I still lose my stomach. Good to see ya girl."
Aleshia got up and walked over to Fenton giving him a big hug. "And good to see you. I never did get a chance to pay you back for the stuff you gave me last time I was here."
Fenton leaned close. "Did you like them?"
Aleshia nodded. "Yes."
Fenton tipped his head towards Deven and lowered his voice. "And did he like them?"
Aleshia blushed. "Yes he did."
Fenton's smile could swallow a truck. "Then, that my dear, is payment in full."
"Oh no, I couldn't—"
"Hey, allow an old man to give joy to those he cares about."
She hugged him again. "Thank you."
"Ya welcome. Now what's this about the Nexus?"
Aleshia swatted Deven. "You told him already?"
Fenton took Alisha's arm in his. "We were about to have coffee, and I insist you join us."
Aleshia grinned. "With an invitation like that, how could I not?"
"Good. This way." Fenton pointed to a recessed area in the complex's wall. He pushed a button and the wall slid away revealing a small kitchen, table, chairs, and a bedroom off to the side. He sat the two of them down at the table and grabbed three old-style glass cups. He placed them under a dispenser and punched in a number. A few seconds later dark hot liquid poured out of the taps above the cups and he turned towards Deven. "I know you like it straight, but what about the lady?"
Aleshia smiled. "A little synth milk please."
"Synth? Ha! Like I am going to give you that." Fenton grinned hitting a couple of more buttons. "This is the real stuff. A guy I know has a couple of cows." White liquid poured into the middle cup. He placed all three cups on a tray, walked over to the table, and placed the tray in front of them. He took the cup on the far right and sat down. "Now, you were saying?"
Gregory poked his nose past the door in engineering. "Hey Leon, need a hand?"
On the other side of the massive room, Leon's white head popped up from behind a new power regulator. "Gregory! What are you doing up? Shouldn't you be in the infirmary?"
Gregory walked over. "Nah, I'm fine now. I was a little wobbly at first, but I'm fine."
Leon eyed him. "Are you sure?"
Gregory nodded. "Yeah, and I want to make it up to you for messing up your engines."
Leon laughed. "You're kidding right? You did fine."
"I almost blew us to kingdom come."
"But you didn't." He paused to point to the decks above. "And I am guessing Galina doesn't know that bit."
Gregory sighed. "Yeah, you got that right."
"What happened?"
Gregory pointed to one of the large scorched cables in the corner of the room. "I made a bad connection. I thought engine three wasn't getting power so I did a direct connection from the core and bypassed the normal regulation system."
Leon's eyes went wide. "You did what?!"
"I thought it was like the weapons system and had backups inside the engines to take care of that. But a second later when the cable got way too hot I realized my mistake. The connectors had almost fused with the cable due to the heat so it took a bit to get it free."
Leon nodded. "I can imagine." He
walked over and put his hand on Gregory's shoulder. "You didn't blow us up, and you didn't do any permanent damage. That's the important part."
Gregory sighed as his eyes fell. "But I could have."
"Look, way back in the day I made a mistake and it almost blew out a whole communications array. The damage would have taken months to fix, maybe more. Thankfully I noticed it before anyone got hurt or worse. We can only do our best."
"The problem is my best isn't very good."
"And what is your expertise?"
"Weapons, specifically energy cannons."
"Yes, and this is very different from them. So hence you did a good job for what you had to work with."
"But I didn't see the energy leak either. It could have cost us all our lives."
"Hey, even I may not have noticed the leak right off. And in any case it didn't. We're still here, the Defiant isn't any worse shape than when you started except for that one cable. And I think that is a pretty cheap learning curve when you consider what could have happened. You managed to get the overdrive back online when it was needed, that's all that matters. You saved lives, not cost them. In the end we have to keep that in mind. Don't hover on your mistakes, keep them close to your heart so you don't do them again sure, but don't let it paralyze you from doing your job."
"Yeah I guess."
"You guess? Put it behind you and give me a hand here. All of this has taught me I need backup on this ship. We all do."
Gregory smiled. "You bet."
"Good." Leon pointed to a large screen on a cart with tools some distance away. "Now grab the test equipment over there and let's see if this new regulator is going to hold under load."
"Sure thing." Gregory ran over, grabbed the cart, and wheeled it next to the regulator with Leon waiting.
Leon got down and wiggled under it. A hand emerged waving. "Hand me the cables on the right side of the cart. The black and green." Gregory placed the cables in Leon's hand and smiled. At that moment he knew he would never make such a mistake again.
Galina tapped the intercom. "Leon? How's it coming?" She heard a bang and swearing.
"It would go faster if you didn't call down every twenty minutes to find out," Leon grumbled.
"Sorry."
"No problem. Did the repair team I sent fix the bay doors? Gregory said they were still a little cranky."
Galina nodded. "Yes, they are as smooth as silk now. Most of the debris in the landing bay has been cleared. Although, we still have a large support beam that needs replacing."
"Have them get on it. I don't want that falling on me when I leave the ship."
Galina laughed. "It won't, and I already did."
Leon smiled. "Good. How are the rest of the repairs going?"
"Another hour and we should be in great shape. Way ahead of schedule."
"Yes I am thankful for the repairs to my, or rather the Defiant's systems. Feeling less than whole is very disconcerting," Miles said. "The relay node on the port side was particularly annoying."
"Miles! We didn't ask for your two cents," Galina said.
"But I do not have 'two cents' to offer."
Leon chuckled grabbed an eletro-driver and inserted it into the engine to crank in another fastener. "Good, we can leave shortly after. I won't be done that quick, but close. I will let you two work out the rest. Leon out." He pointed to the intercom and Gregory shut it off. "All right, let's get this done. I do not want to made a fool of with the rest of the crew."
Gregory smiled. "Do you really expect they would think that?"
"No, but my pride would." Leon pointed to a hand-held tool with a small screen laying on the floor a few inches beyond his reach. "Grab that calibrator and get it connected between these two contacts so we can see why this engine is still not in sync with the rest."
"You got it." Gregory grabbed the tool and connected where Leon said. A flood of data flew across the tiny screen.
"Ah the phasing is a little off. But I can't change the phasing in that direction such a little amount without pulling the whole engine. However, if we adjust the phasing on the opposite side it should counteract the problem."
"Geeze, how could you tell from the green mess on the little screen?"
Leon smiled. "Experience my boy. Experience. Well that and a lot of reading. Grab the flow regulator and adjust it to the negative until I say."
"So you say there are these Lytherians sitting outside the solar system and are getting ready to attack? And the founders knew about this?" Fenton reached under the front of his hat and scratched. "Wow, no wonder Lavine didn't believe you. Heck, I am having trouble and I have always believed you."
"Well, we do have the proof."
Fenton sat up quick enough to hear a slight pop in his back. "Proof the Nexus showed you right?"
Deven nodded.
"Well that explains it. He is not going to believe anything the Nexus says, or anyone listening to it."
"I know. But I am hoping to get through to Halburn." Aleshia got up, refilled her and Deven's cups with hot coffee, and sat back down next to him. She put her hand on his knee as she sat.
Fenton cocked his head. "Halburn? Odell Halburn?"
"Yeah that is him. What do you know about him?"
Fenton shook his head as he took another sip from his cup. "Not much. I have friends in low places and someone told me he was going to head up a new project for Lavine. At the time, I thought it was commander of a new defense force or police."
Deven sighed as he gazed into his cup watching the steam rise from it. "Do you remember, when I told you I hid out for a while near the coast?"
"You bet mate, it was when you were on walkabout, before you came back here. Why?"
"Do you remember me mentioning the kid I used to play games with?"
"Sure it was some kid about your age …" His voice trailed off. "Wait a sec, that is Halburn isn't it?"
Deven nodded. "Yes."
"Wow. Have you talked with him?"
"Briefly, before we came here. But being I used our conversation to delay his attack so we could escape, I am sure he is not in the best of moods."
"No kidding. But I imagine Lavine is in an even worse mood."
A beep came from Deven's hip and he pulled out his data tab. Galina's face appeared on the screen. "We are about done with the immediate repairs. Leon has a little work yet on the engines, but should be done within the hour."
"Good. I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary." Deven flipped off the data tab and placed it back into his hip pouch.
Fenton frowned. "Why do you have to leave so soon? I don't see you enough as it is."
Deven sighed. "I know, but I can't risk your safety any more than we have. We wouldn't be here now if the situation wasn't dire."
"Hey! It's my risk to take. I told you come down, I could have just as easily said it was too hot couldn't I?"
"Yes. But you never have."
Fenton smiled. "And I never will. So get it through your thick skull."
Aleshia rubbed Deven's shoulder with her own. "So he does know you."
Fenton nodded. "That I do little lady, that I do."
Deven looked at Aleshia then shifted his gaze to Fenton a second later. "Hey no fair, two against one."
Fenton's smile broadened. "By now you should know I always side with the lady. She is a lot prettier than you."
Aleshia blushed. "Thank you."
Fenton inclined his head and tipped his scuffed hat. "Welcome little lady."
Deven's data tab beeped before he could say another word. He pulled it out and flipped it on. "Yes?"
Galina's face appeared. "I am sorry to bother you, but we need you back aboard."
"For?"
Galina shifted in her seat. "It's not something I want to discuss on the link."
Deven sighed. "I'll be right up." He put the data tab away and turned to Fenton. "I am sorry but it looks like I'm needed. I will be back as soon as I can."
Aleshia st
ood with him. "I'm with you."
Fenton smiled. "What's your rush? I mean you haven't finished your coffee yet. Can't you grant an old man's a request of seeing a lovely lady for a few more minutes?"
Deven smiled. "You don't need to come with me, or Galina would have said."