Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane

by Chris Hechtl

  The distraction was worth it in one respect, it allowed the Admiral to work on something with his hands while he installed the hardware... and allowed Proteus time to do detailed maintenance checks of the various pieces of hardware as well.

  The Admiral talked to the AI about the past several years, with Goldie or sometimes both cubs in his lap. “Is this a regret session Admiral? Or are you just getting your memoirs in order?” Sprite asked.

  “No, no self pity. Not that I know of,” Irons replied.

  “Okay so what is this? We were there remember?” Sprite asked, quirking a virtual eyebrow.

  “Phoenix wasn't there,” the Admiral reminded her. She shot a look at the ship AI and then shrugged.

  “Did it bother you, being adrift in Senka?”

  “At the time,” the Admiral shrugged. “Everything happened to fast. Yes, I was pissed at feeling so helpless. Frustrated,” he exhaled noisily, shaking his head. “You have no idea.”

  “I do,” Sprite murmured. “Watching the only friendly ship getting torn apart while we float in a pod...”

  The Admiral grimaced, eyes vacant and lost with his own memory. “Yeah, not fun,” he replied hoarsely.

  “But it eventually ended well,” Phoenix interjected.

  “Yeah, seven hundred years later,” Sprite said dryly.

  “Do you think if you had been found you would have further influenced the war?” Phoenix asked.

  The Admiral frowned thoughtfully, thinking that question over. He understood the context, Phoenix knew about his involvement with engineering projects that had led up to the war, and also his development of the Nova bomb in an attempt to end it. “I... I think I'd be of some use. I wouldn't have been on the strategy board, but now that we know what we know, it was obvious that cutting off the Xenos and destroying the gates was the way to go.”

  “But, and I'm admittedly basing this on supposition,” Sprite interjected. “We don't know that for certain. The Xenos were fiendishly clever at copying Federation technology. If you show someone it can be done, their researchers are halfway to recreating it.”

  “True,” the Admiral replied. He wasn't certain if the Xenos had created their own gates. “And you are right, it is supposition, but it is very plausible. We do know one thing, despite what the peace and unity parties thought, the Xenos weren't destroying others out of self-protection. They themselves could have destroyed the gates. And let's not forget, they spent decades scouting us, inserting clones... learning our strengths and weaknesses.”

  “True.”

  The Io11 in Senka had picked him up six years and four standard months ago. He sniffed softly. So much for his centennial birthday he thought. He'd passed it sometime in the past couple of months... he check the dates, yes, in transit between Centennial and Gaston. A bit of an irony there, a Centennial birthday near Centennial space. Whatever, he thought, putting the bit of whimsy aside.

  He smiled though, remembering the crotchety old female Captain of the Io 11 and her all human female crew. Well, mostly all female crew, at the time he'd been on board there had been three other human males.

  He'd departed the ship in Pyrax, recovered Firefly, recruited people, old friends there, built it up, only to be exiled on Destiny. He reminisced of events since his awakening, his mind wandered through several critical moments, and how things could have been done differently. His single greatest regret was now Antigua. That departure haunted him. He had arrived on Kiev 221, a bulk freighter. By an accident of navigation they had come out far from the normal jump point and had stumbled across the lost station city, Antigua Prime.

  He'd had a few adventures there getting it sorted out and back on track. But then politics had reared its ugly head once more. Things could have easily been different had he kept his temper in check. Or, he could have just thrown it all out and been a bastard; taking control as the tyrant they had labeled him as. It wouldn't have worked, he knew that an officer never gave an order that he knew wouldn't be obeyed.

  No, it wouldn't have worked. In Antigua he had lacked the supporting structure he had built in Pyrax. Oh, he had had friends. Associates, people to talk to, people sympathetic, but even the Warners had been hands off.

  His leaving Pyrax bothered him as well, as an Admiral he should have taken a stern hand and been a cold bastard. Cleaned out the corruption root and branch and damn the civilian casualties.

  They'd gone on from Antigua, taking Phoenix, the courier he had recovered south to Epsilon where political corruption had given way to a shared crisis of a Xeno nanite bio-weapon. They had just barely survived it. He shook his head in memory of such a close call for the millions there. Hundreds of thousands of people had perished.

  “Still, it would have been nice to have picked someone up in Epsilon,” Sprite said slyly.

  The Admiral winced in annoyance. They were treading dangerously close to a familiar argument. “True,” Irons replied, stroking the kit’s soft fur as he conceded the point. The kit's eyelids finally gave in and they drooped, she drowsily drooped her head. She yawned, fighting the sand man, but eventually, nature won the battle and her eyelids drooped once more. Irons couldn't help but smile a little at that. It never got old, seeing a baby fall asleep. “I couldn't see taking someone from their home. Spacers are a special breed. Trying to get someone to fit the role...” he shook his head and looked away.

  “Yes, but even one of the genies would have been nice right about now.”

  “And we would have to adapt the ship to them. They'd be on their own, unless we had picked up more than one. But yes, having extra hands would be nice.”

  “Tell me about it,” Sprite said dryly. Even Proteus and Defender had been press-ganged into manning a shift or post. The other two AI had protested briefly, but they knew doing the work was an activity and it kept them busy. Proteus was designed to go into sleep mode or even shut down for extended periods of time, but Defender and Sprite were mentally active and needed stimulus like any other sapient being. Trapped in the confines of a ship was hard on them. The fortunate side effect was that they didn't need to sleep as much, or for very long. There was little new input to integrate into their long term memory or core programming.

  “I... have to admit I was also concerned about putting myself forward if the applicant's or applicant was female.”

  “April?” Sprite asked softly.

  Irons sighed, trying to relax. “Yes.” April O'Neill had been his most recent lover, a woman who had been fascinated by not only his life, but in him the man. She had been a bit forward, but he always did like a woman who knew what she wanted. She had tried to help him when an assassin came after him on the freighter Destiny, only to get injured. The last he had seen of her had been when she had been placed in as stasis pod. By now she had returned to Pyrax and if Thornby had done her usual best, April was now hassling politicians in Pyrax.

  He shook himself. He had to be adult about things, but there was still a lingering... romanticism in his soul. The part that said he had someone and should be happy, even if she was light years away.

  “Admiral, I think Miss O'Neill would understand. You would understand if the tables were turned right?”

  “It's happened to me before Sprite. Before your time and yes, I can understand, to a degree. The emotional level.” he paused and then shrugged. “I admit, we like to think we're completely logical about such things, but well, I am human.”

  “True.” There was a long moment of silence as he looked around. “But, statistically speaking, the majority of applicant's would have been male. Males tend to be the ones looking for adventure more often than females Admiral. Young males.”

  The Admiral smiled. “Was that a dig at me?” he asked, eying her avatar. Sprite shrugged.

  “No, but if the uniform fits...”

  He chuckled, looking down at his coverall. He was wearing his normal engineering coverall, despite his exalted rank. He was a wrench turner, he preferred keeping it real and getting his hands dirty
.

  “But that ship has sailed. Literally.”

  “Definitely.”

  “You sound put out Commander.”

  “Yes and no Admiral,” Sprite replied. “As I said, the additional help would have been nice, and the distraction of training would have made part of the journey easier to endure mentally. But having someone with no experience, and we wouldn't have time to do a proper psych interview...”

  “We could if we had lingered in Epsilon longer,” Irons said, knowing she was hinting about that. “I didn't want to wear out my welcome.”

  “You mean you were itching to get out of there before they had you do something else,” Sprite teased.

  “That too. It does get old.”

  “You could have ordered one of the new recruits...”

  Irons frowned. That was true to a degree. In order to save the planet's population, and it's ecosystem from a Xeno nano attack he'd been forced to induct medics into the Federation Navy. They had received basic implants with medical codes that were stored in him and in Sprite. It was ironic; they had the codes, but didn't have the training and therefore were restricted from accessing it themselves. It had taken the third party rule to get around it.

  “All of them are medics Sprite. Even the ranks were medics. Not going there.”

  “Agreed,” Sprite sighed. “Besides, they are setting up a nice naval hospital and dealing with the aftermath of the nanites...”

  “True.” Irons frowned. He didn't like how they had solved the problem; it went against his experience and history. But desperation... he shook his head putting the thought aside. Again, it was over and done with, there was no point dwelling on it.

  Sprite recognized his maudlin thought lines the Admiral was projecting and decided to switch roles. She played devil advocate, essentially breaking down his major actions and gaming them out. Phoenix listened to them and occasionally interjected comments or questions.

  “I am recognizing a theme here,” Phoenix interjected when Sprite paused for input. The Admiral grew silent, stepping out of the conversation to allow the two AI to discuss it.

  “And that is?” Sprite asked, arching an eyebrow at the ship AI.

  “That, well, what is done is done, there is no point griping over it. They, we have to accept it and move on,” Phoenix pointed out.

  “True.”

  “Easier said for some than others,” the Admiral murmured, rubbing his beard. “But you are right. And I accept responsibility for the mistakes I made.”

  “I've made a few myself,” Sprite said.

  “We all have,” Phoenix replied.

  “We mostly,” Sprite replied with a slight smile. “Though I respect your including yourself in our little sack cloth and ashes session here. If we're done feeling sorry for ourselves?” Sprite asked.

  “It's educational for me,” Phoenix said.

  On that, Sprite and Irons both agreed with nods. “Belly aching over the past isn't going to get us any closer to our goals,” Irons rumbled.

  Chapter 2

  Half way to their destination they passed the white dwarf's mass shadow in hyperspace. It was a bit of an event; it meant they were on course. But it also meant it would be harder navigating further along; the mass shadow would only remain on their rear sensors for a few days before they lost the range.

  Irons realized he rather regretted starting the journey. The constant work was taking a toll, not that he didn't mind the distraction, but it was never ending. He had been smug about being superhuman, now he was realizing, his body might be, but he was still human. He had started as such and damn it he needed a break.

  Still, he found little ways to entertain himself, the cats, and the AI. Celebrating the half waypoint was one. Training the cubs was also a distraction. Mini cheetahs were lithe and lean, but also smart to some degree. But a kit was a kit; they tended to be endlessly curious and mischievous. Blaze was the bold one, Goldie the subdued cuddler. Just getting them to use the litter box had been messy. It still was, they tended to track the clay all over when they exited the box.

  He had rigged a laser pointer on a robotic arm for Phoenix to play with the cats. For several days the little red dot had them scampering up and down the companionway until they either flopped down in defeat or got tired of it.

  When they turned six months old they were large enough to mess with the maid robots. The little vacuum had been a fun thing to play with or ride, but they had quickly learned not to stick a paw under it. Their antics and video of their antics kept Irons and Sprite amused.

  With the AI he tried to exercise their mental muscles, since they had no others. They worked on the software, debugging it until the ship ran perfectly. Then they played what if. What if they were boarded?

  That scenario brought up all sorts of brainstorms with the AI, and got his own creative juices flowing. Disguise interior and exterior of ship. That wasn't hard; after all, the ship had started as a civilian ship.

  <----*----*----*---->

  Irons turned from tinkering with the ship, which was no longer helping, to working through the various ship designs he had on file. Some he could see where a judicious change here or there could speed its construction... or alter its power envelope. He played what if, trying out battlecruiser reactors and weapons on a destroyer. He found the idea had mixed issues. It had more energy reserves and firepower of course, but the larger reactors required more bunkerage for fuel. If he altered the ship design to accommodate that need it opened up a host of other issues. Solving some opened up other issues. He found he was chasing the beast. Finally he gave up and shut the program down.

  Each of the Trinity AI's were involved in the various projects, and of course Sprite wrote the software necessary to implement various ideas. Defender took a military interest in some of the projects. They simulated as much as possible before testing it in the real world, and even then they did it at low power.

  Sprite wrote scripts and code based on his outlined objectives to help put the processes into reality. The AI also wrote a simulation program. Proteus's engineering programming was put to the test. The AI had data sets for various things, but some of what the Admiral was proposing was beyond those tables.

  It was an interesting and slightly dangerous series of projects. Still, it was hit or miss, not all turned out as he had hoped. It was sometimes dangerous, sometimes embarrassing but still interesting, very interesting.

  The first project wasn't even the Admiral's idea it was Defender's. The AI suggested Sprite try to use the Admiral's body. It was a comic experience, with the AI attempting to work out how to control her 'meat puppet'. The Admiral had ended up on his ass several times before the AI had worked out how to stand and walk. It was still disconcerting to feel the AI controlling his body.

  “And why are we doing this again?”

  “In case I ever get a bout of sleep walking?” The Admiral quipped.

  “Sleep walking?” Sprite asked sounding amused. He teetered. A hand shot out to catch a bulkhead but pushed too hard, he ended up going the other way. “Oh oh!” Sprite said as he hit the right bulkhead with bruising force and then fell again.

  Irons groaned. “Glad that was my right side. I really would have felt that.”

  “Sorry,” Sprite said sounding contrite. “It's harder than it looks. I don't understand it, I've controlled robots before, I've moved your arms a time or two, but this is... complex.”

  “Well, Defender locking you out of his systems isn't helping,” the Admiral said.

  “Yes, this is your idea. I could copy your movement modules and balancing algorithms and we'd be done. But nooo,” the AI mocked.

  “Access denied,” Defender said, cutting her off.

  “See? See?”

  “All right, so, Defender wants you to learn on your own. I get that. I think though, you should maybe try simming things.”

  “I agree. Though I am not giving up so easily,” Sprite said, pulling him to his feet. The Admiral groaned. “But
I do have enough data to process now,” the AI said. Irons felt his body slump. He caught himself and then realized the AI had relinquished control.

  “Thanks for the warning,” Irons growled, straightening.

  “Sorry, thought you were paying attention Admiral,” Sprite replied, with just the right hint of mischief in her voice for him not to be offended. He shook his head. She was unrepentant, despite the apology. He shrugged it off. “So, what's next?” Sprite asked.

  “I have one,” Defender said. Sprite and the Admiral turned in shock and surprise to the normally sullen security AI.

  “You do?” Sprite asked in disbelief, getting that out before the Admiral. The Admiral's mouth closed before he could say something.

  “I, on occasion do have a thought,” Defender said reproachfully. “And unlike you Commander, I stick to my field.”

  “Oh boy, this I gotta hear,” Sprite said, crossing her arms and moving back so Defender could take center stage.

  “Well, I was considering your puppet analogy and a judicious application of nanites in a host could be used to turn them into as you said, a meat puppet.”

  The Admiral sucked a breath in. That brought back all sorts of thoughts, drawing from the nasty days of the AI war along with spec ops activities since then. He shivered. It was bad enough for him to volunteer to be under the control of an AI, could he do that to another person? He frowned.

  “I guess it depends on the person you are thinking about using it on,” Sprite said slowly, seemingly thoughtful.

  “No,” the Admiral said quietly.

  “Even a Horathian?”

  “To compel them to tell us something... I'm not certain it would work but to turn them into a zombie; an organic robot? I'm...” the Admiral shook his head vehemently no. “The constitution has prohibitions against it for very good reasons. And no it's not atavistic human nature to reject it.”

  “I see,” Defender replied, red eyes flashing slightly. The eye color faded to a yellow as the AI turned to Sprite.

  “I agree with the Admiral.”