Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane

by Chris Hechtl

  “That's not going to happen and you know it,” Irons replied grimly.

  “Here is what is going to happen. If one of them dies, I will order Kinja to cut the power again and vent the compartments, allowing them to die in darkness. It's not pretty, nor fun,” the Admiral replied. A few on the bridge shivered.

  “Gustov?” Irons asked through his implants.

  “Um, yes Admiral?” Gustov replied. “Sitrep is we're on the side of the hatch, but we can't get to you, they are between us and you.”

  “But he's on our deck right?” Irons asked.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Send someone with weapons to the lift and go up a deck, then come over to the special lift and down. I'll send word to let you in,” the Admiral ordered.

  “Aye aye sir. My pleasure.”

  “We'll need someone to keep watch on that hatch,” the Admiral said.

  “We've secured it sir, but they can break out with the bot,” the security man said.

  “Understood. Keep your people back and clear of the door just in case,” the Admiral ordered.

  “Marcus?” the Admiral said, calling to the male rear guard he had left in the corridor.

  “Yes um, Admiral sir?” the kid said.

  “We've got help coming. Gustov is sending in reinforcements with armor and weapons through the lift. Be prepared. Tell, um...”

  “Irina,” Sprite supplied.

  “Yes, Irina, tell her to undo what she did to the lift doors and let them in.”

  “How will we know it's them?”

  “Use your ID implants,” Sprite interjected.

  “Who is...”?

  Irons frowned when Marcus was cut off. “I'm filling him in. You don't need the distraction,” Sprite informed him. He nodded.

  Ten minutes later a group of five former prisoners arrived in the lift. All the men were in unpowered armor, with heavy marine weapons. Gustov was one of them. He passed one of the two weapons to Admiral Irons and then checked the injured. He handed out a couple first aid kits to the grateful medic.

  Admiral Irons waved him off Miller, informed him he was dead. Sighing Gustov moved on to Enric and administered first aid.

  “I give up,” the guard said, sobbing.

  “Clancy! Don't you do it! I'll have your balls!” the Captain raged. “Don't you dare!” he snarled.

  “Shut up!” Clancy screamed defiantly. There was a shuffle then a thud.

  “This is Ian. All clear. I say again, all clear. He's handed me his weapon and well, sat down. He's um, crying,” Ian said uncomfortably.

  “Understood,” Sisko said. “But we're um, not just going to take your word for it,” he said.

  “It's true,” the Admiral said. “I'm looking through the camera now. You can go in, but by all means, go in with caution.”

  “Roger,” Sisko replied sheepishly. The hatch opened and he warily looked in. When Ian smiled and waved him in he tossed in a first aid pack and then followed.

  A few minutes later the Admiral smiled grimly. The guard Clancy was in his own chains, on his way to the brig. Work crews were policing the bodies and moving the sleeping Horathians to the brig.

  “You bastard!” The Captain cursed and ranted until Admiral Irons cut him off.

  “You're all alone now Captain,” Irons said, practically crooning. Savage satisfaction ran through his team. “Ball is in your court. Your turn and guess what? You have no hostages to trade,” he said with a nasty smile.

  Chapter 11

  Clean up

  “Proteus, I think I have enough of walking in another man's shoes. It's time to return to normal,” Irons said, looking around. He straightened. “But you can leave out the beard.”

  “Understood Admiral. Please have a seat,” the AI said. The Admiral sank into the command couch and then waited. He closed his eyes as he felt the nanites go to work.

  The Admiral changed back to his normal form. When the unnerving process was finished he stood and tugged on his sleeves a bit, checking himself over.

  Enric was the first to look out of the corner of his eye and notice something was wrong. He did a double take, which made the Admiral smile crookedly and Sprite grin on his HUD. The change in John caused some consternation and confusion until they noted his coverall and where he was standing.

  “What the hell just... He changed!” Enric said, sputtering. Irina looked up and then to Enric. She saw where the wounded man was staring and pointing and turned to look over her own shoulder.

  “He... who the hell are you?” Irina demanded warily. The Admiral raised his right hand and allowed it to morph. “Oh, um, John? What um...” She stared, wide eyed. Slowly she licked her lips. “You're not, um, well, you.”

  The Admiral raised an eyebrow briefly and then shrugged. “I asked my AI to return my face and body to normal,” the Admiral replied mildly. He glanced at the ship stats and then back to her.

  She gulped slightly, eyes round. Someone whistled softly. She started to glance over her shoulder to see who had done it but then stopped and returned her attention to Irons. She studied him for a long moment. “Yeah, I've seen images of you. You are definitely him. Irons I mean,” she said smiling. She nodded, grinning. “You're famous! Talk about Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde! The pirates had no idea what they had! I mean, who they had.” Irina whistled, shaking her head in wonder and excitement. “They would have shot you on sight!”

  The Admiral nodded grimly. “That was the idea. I couldn't fight them, Phoenix was hurt and out of fuel. I couldn't run, again, the damage and lack of fuel. So, the only thing to do was to take them from the inside.”

  Irina nodded thoughtfully. “I see sir. So, um, now what?” Irina asked. She ran a shaky hand through her sweat soaked hair.

  “Now I get my coveralls back while you get a head count,” the Admiral ordered. The young woman nodded. “Once that is done we get to work putting the Horathian's in the brig and then on damage control.” She grimaced but the nodded. “Once that's sorted out, we'll get the crew fed and cleaned up. From there, well, we'll play it by ear.” He shrugged. He was actually several steps ahead of that point, but wasn't certain the crew could handle it all at once.

  “Aye aye sir.”

  “And Irina, if you want a commission you can have one,” the Admiral said, looking at the blond woman in the eyes. “That was some fast steady thinking there. Very good job,” he said. “Excellent leadership skills.”

  The woman turned to stare at him. He raised an eyebrow as he had Proteus morph the coverall back into a military grade one with his rank. She blinked in astonishment again. He heard someone gasp. He cocked his head.

  “Being in the Navy comes with all sorts of perks. Full medical, education, and getting some of your own back against the Horathians.”

  Her body sat still for a long moment. “I'll certainly think about it sir,” Irina said slowly, nodding thoughtfully. After a long moment she nodded. “I just may take you up on that,” she said and then blushed as he looked at her. “It's not like there is a whole hell of a lot of other things to do. And I want to get some payback,” she growled.

  He nodded as he resumed his seat. “Hopefully you aren't the only one.”

  <----*----*----*---->

  “Where is Waldo? Anyone seen Waldo? Crewman Waldo? Damn it, I know he's around here somewhere,” Sindri swore. His team looked at him in amusement. Waldo was an old hand at finding a nice out of the way place to keep out of sight so he didn't have extra chores assigned to him. Apparently old habits were reasserting themselves. “Come on, big tall guy, wears those broken glasses of his, Wavy brown hair, thin... well, all of us are thin but...”

  “The guy in the tattered red and white striped shirt?” Hoshi asked coming up behind him.

  “Yeah!” Sindri said, turning to her. “You've seen him? I want him to take charge of the drives,” he said.

  “Last I saw him he was in the boat bay. I think. I'm not sure if he's still there or not.”

  “Y
ou think,” Sindri growled. He sighed, shaking his head mournfully. “Someone page his ass? I don't have time to play where on Bounty is Waldo?”

  <----*----*----*---->

  Kinja frowned, studying the readouts. Half the crap she barely understood. The feed to the weapons she gladly shut down. But that created another problem; the ship's reactor was only putting out twenty percent power. Since the ship was idle, it was barely holding on with the crude software they had running the thing. “We need to do something about that,” she muttered.

  “Yeah. We're not drawing enough power to maintain a stable bottle. It's backing up.”

  “Power. Of all times not to need it,” she grumbled. She never thought a ship could produce too much power. The bottle was hard to keep stable, even with the software the Horathians were using. Apparently having the power draw above thirty percent kept the stream stable. She wasn't sure where she could dump the excess power.

  “I'm here,” a voice said from the overhead. They looked up. “And fortunately, I've got some software in my files to help,” the female voice said.

  “Who are you again?” Kinja asked.

  “Lieutenant Commander Sprite. An AI.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. I'm the one who has been feeding your implants updates. Hang on, request from the Admiral. He's asking that you open the hatches for Captain McGuyver and the other teams.”

  Kinja nodded. “Can do,” she said, pointing to Yosef. “Get it done.”

  “My pleasure ma'am,” Yosef replied happily. He made a show of cracking his knuckles and then started tapping at his board.

  <----*----*----*---->

  “Mister Gustov,” Sprite said through the man's implants.

  “Yes?” Gustov asked, looking up. The others did as well and then returned to their tasks. Rajesh was dabbing at a minor cut on Yorrick's chin. The man was accident prone, he had run into a box on the wall.

  “We'll need a medic on the bridge. Unfortunately I believe Mister Miller expired. But others require aide. Mister Yuan is overwhelmed.”

  “Understood. Is this the AI?”

  “Lieutenant Commander Sprite. One of the AI,” she said.

  “One of the AI?” Gustov asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked around. His eyes fell on Rajesh. Silently he indicated the man should follow. The Indian finished packing his paramedic bag and nodded as he shouldered it.

  Gustov wasn't certain how the slim man could handle the orange thing, it was probably heavier then he was. He shook his head and waved for them to move off. “One AI?”

  “Several AI. Four active, one we've yet to free and determine its sanity.”

  “Oh.”

  “I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy and all. We can talk later,” Sprite, said, signing off. She put a map up with an orange line leading to the bridge. Gustov nodded and followed it.

  <----*----*----*---->

  Admiral Irons had Kinja open the doors to clear a path for Ian, Sindri, and the others to join them on the bridge. A few minutes later they arrived. The former prisoners gleefully and somewhat roughly turned the tables on the Horathians and used their former manacles on the techs. Irons didn't voice any objections on how rough the new prisoners were treated. After all, the Horathians had it coming.

  Gustov escorted an SBA, a wiry Indian named Rajesh Ramada in. The young incredibly thin man took one look at the young acting medic and gently motioned him aside. The volunteer nodded and quietly briefed him.

  Irons studied the newcomer briefly. He had curly black hair, black eyes, but he was equipped with a medical bag and seemed to know his way around it. After a moment the Admiral nodded as he observed Rajesh's professional and quiet demeanor. The man immediately triaged the patients and went to work with what materials he had on hand. He called out for an additional emergency pack.

  “We'll get you to sickbay shortly. We still need to clear the atmosphere there,” Gustov said, patting the medic on the shoulder. Rajesh looked up with a smile and nod. While the medic dabbed at Enric's cut chin and burns the officers took stock of the situation.

  “We've got an improvised sickbay set up in the MPR. Holly Glenn is handling it. She's a nurse. Mary is there; she looks like she'll survive. We lost Rob though.”

  “Damn,” Sindri muttered.

  “Yeah,” Ian sighed. “They rushed the guard.”

  There was a long silence. Irons nodded. “We'll mourn our dead when we've got more time. We'll have a funeral.”

  Ian nodded. He slapped his thigh, making a few jumpy people flinch. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I've got Lara alone guarding the mid-deck life support module. She's not thrilled about it,” McGuyver reported.

  “We'll figure out something shortly,” the Admiral said.

  “Admiral, a situation. Captain Hathaway has gained access to the ship's computer net. He's trying to hack the system,” Sprite warned him through the overhead PA. The former prisoners looked up in confusion.

  “Who... is that an AI?”

  “Yes. One of several with me,” the Admiral replied. “Introductions later. For now, Lieutenant Commander Sprite, report.”

  “As I was saying, the Captain, or I should say, former Captain is trying to hack in. I've met him half way and I've cut him off but he's near a main trunk, he's doing damage as well as getting around a few of my lock outs. Not for long though,” she said.

  “What is he trying to do?” Irons asked. “Get the doors open?”

  “No, he's no longer interested in retaking the ship. He's trying to jack in... Ah hell, he's in. I've pinging him with crap to delay him. Defender, some help?”

  “On it,” Defender said through the Admiral.

  “I've got him locked up,” Defender reported after a moment.

  “Good for you,” Sprite said dryly.

  “Mister Gustov, could you arrange an escort for the Horathians? I think the brig would be more than appropriate don't you?” Irons said, turning to the former security officer. Gustov cocked his head.

  “Why not the nearest lock?” Someone growled.

  “Oh, a quick death is... too slow,” Irons said, sounding maliciously thoughtful. There was a grunt of agreement and a growl of anger. “I think they should... come to see things from our point of view don't you? A few years or a life time in a small room with bars... eating gruel... that might be appropriate don't you think?”

  A few nodded. A few of his team looked belligerent, but they didn't protest when Gustov and a volunteer escorted the thoroughly cowed ratings out.

  “The dead bodies though, we'll need to store them.”

  “Why not space them?” Irina asked.

  “I want identity and intel,” Admiral Irons replied.

  “Oh.”

  “Anything we can get off them we will, even if they are dead. Besides, we need a hard head count on the Horathian crew to make sure we bagged everyone. I don't want to find someone had hidden somewhere. There is no telling what a desperate person would do right?”

  Irina caught the hint and then nodded. “Right,” she replied firmly. “Since we've just come from desperation,” she muttered.

  “Status report Commander?” Irons asked, looking up to the overhead.

  “Four dead including Mister Miller here on the bridge. Five wounded in the MPR, another two here. One of which seems to think he's fine,” she reported, tweaking Enric.

  “I'm fine,” he said as the SBA helped him put his arm in a sling. “Besides, they are overloaded here,” he said, indicating Rajesh. Rajesh nodded

  “Very well then. All the Horathians have been tentatively accounted for except the Captain and his guard. Most are either asleep, a prisoner, or dead. A few have died from asphyxiation due to the use of carbon dioxide and monoxide in the ventilation system.”

  “Ah, well, we've got a status change,” Sprite said. “It looks like the initial head count is low, we are getting reports of someone calling for help through the ship's communication's net. They are in the keel tower.”

&nbs
p; “Understood. Dispatch a security team to their location,” Irons replied calmly.

  “Already in the works. They aren't going anywhere,” Sprite reported, sounding smug.

  Irons smirked. He caught a few of the people looking around and smiling grimly. Admiral Irons tapped his implanted communicator had accessed Bounty’s systems. Entering the code, he made his way to the master control of the life support systems.

  Grimly he noted the damage and worked his way around it. He accessed the system and had it dump carbon dioxide gas into the air, and listened as the crew’s cries cut off as their oxygen supply was cut back. Sprite leveled it off to where they would be kept unconscious but alive. “Let's not put them out of their misery quiet yet,” she admonished. “After all, we do have quite a few questions for them to answer.”

  “Agreed.”

  <----*----*----*---->

  Sprite checked the systems quickly. Defender scanned the ship, going from compartment to compartment, deck by deck. He was more thorough than she was. “See?” she said.

  “I don't need to hear your I told you so. He should have followed standing procedure.”

  “And if he had, he'd be dead. He's the key to everything we can't lose him. And did you forget when he dies we die too?”

  “I had known.”

  “What are you a lemming?” Sprite demanded.

  “I follow orders.”

  “Then do so Lieutenant,” Sprite said. “And if I recall, orders can be countermanded by the senior officer on the scene. So, for the record, the Admiral countermanded the orders to suicide and followed his plan to take the ship from the inside. Which we have done.”

  “It seems celebration is premature,” Defender replied, turning away.

  “Don't tell them that, they've certainly earned the right,” Sprite said, watching as people began to celebrate in an outpouring of emotion as the change finally sunk in. “It's all over but the crying for the dead,” she murmured.

  “And celebrating,” the Admiral said. “Don't forget that,” he murmured. “But keep an eye out and stop the bickering,” he growled under his breath just before he was nearly knocked off his feet by people pounding on his shoulders, hugging him, and cheering wildly. They were hoarse from dehydration, but that apparently didn't stop them. He smiled and waved.