Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane

by Chris Hechtl

  “That's what I'm trying to do,” Sprite said. She spotted the alien's infrared signature and ah ha'ed. “I've got a sniff. She's on the other side of this duct, in the return below me. She's headed to the where the work crew is. Either she'll double back or try to get out of the life support and into the electrical system.”

  “Hopefully not the electrical. That's a mess,” Irons said. “I can't guarantee no live wires down there,” he said.

  “Lovely,” Sprite responded. She paused when the alien turned and ran back. She tracked the signal until it went to a junction and then stopped. After a moment of seemingly indecision the body moved to the blower duct she was in. “She's coming to me.” Sprite paused the little robot and projected an image of an elf.

  As the elf got closer to the corner, she saw the bluish light and slowed her pace to a cautious crawl. She peeked around the corner to see the robot. She ducked back and then after a moment curiosity got the better of her and she looked once more. “What are you?” she demanded.

  “An AI,” Sprite replied. “And no, not human. Though I normally look like one,” she said.

  “You are odd.”

  “I'm a person like you. Just software,” Sprite replied. “Well, mostly. I do have a question. Do you remember Captain McGuyver?”

  “Yes!” the little alien said. “He's a good man!”

  “A human,” Sprite replied.

  “Yes,” the alien said in a lower voice. She turned away.

  “Would you like to talk with him? And the others? We freed them.”

  “You did?” the alien asked, turning back. “I wish I could believe you.”

  “Believe it,” another voice rumbled. The alien turned and went over to the light spilling out of a vent. She saw an eye and froze. “Hi,” Ian said quietly. “Remember me?” he asked.

  “Yes Captain,” she said quietly.

  “It's okay. Did any more of your family survive?” he asked.

  “No,” she said, practically crying.

  His face fell. “I'm sorry to hear that. Why don't you come out and we can get you checked up and some food? We really need to get you out of there, we're about to vent the ship so we can rebuild it.”

  “Oh.” The elf stared at him. “Is it really safe?”

  “You have my word kiddo. Just look if you must. We're not going to hurt you,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she said. “Dana.”

  “Dana? Truepath?”

  “Yes.”

  “I'm glad. I'm glad you are there. So you can carry the memories of your family,” Ian said as the elf slowly crept to the vent. She flipped it all the way open and looked at him in his skin suit.

  “You look different,” she said.

  Ian chuckled. “So do you kiddo. I remember when you were as big as my finger, and now look at you!” he said. “I'm in the navy now. The real navy.”

  “Oh.”

  “It's a long story. Let me tell you all about it.”

  “Okay. I like stories. It's been so lonely,” she said. She turned to the AI. “But what about her?”

  “She's part of the story,” Ian replied. “A big part. Her and an Admiral from the past. He's here now, and we've kicked the Horathian's butts.”

  The elf giggled.

  “I'm serious. They've got the dents in their booties to prove it,” the human said. The elf giggled again. Slowly she climbed out into the light of his suit lamps. She shivered, but seemed to be okay.

  “Brave kid,” Sprite said. “I'm proud of you,” she murmured.

  <----*----*----*---->

  The Admiral reviewed the report on Dana's health and the ship a few days later. The elf was in good health but malnourished. She had been eating human MRE's and didn't have a diet balanced for her physiology. She also had vehemently demanded to sign on with the navy. Unfortunately she still had two years before she reached her adult status. That had crushed her momentarily, but then Sprite had pointed out that she had that time to recover and study hard. Apparently the little elf loved to learn, so that was a small bonus.

  Le More was shaking down, with a handpicked crew of twenty-five volunteers and five probationary people. Captain Hoshi had taken on the probationers only when their surviving family or friends petitioned to give them a second chance. All would be closely watched.

  The software bots in Phoenix had been copied and put to use on bounty with Sprite's blessings. Sprite had reluctantly helped the civilians by copying some of the software bots and dumb AI she had created for Phoenix to help manage the ship's net and systems. That had smoothed things over with Captain Hoshi.

  Deianira was a bit of a problem, he still had eighty-five civilians and five probationers on Bounty, all destined for that ship, but no officers. He had Lieutenant Olson, who had decided to go navy instead of marines, on Phoenix, with two ratings there to thicken things out. He also had ships incoming, and would likely need to pouch all of the ships to man them as well. But that was in the future.

  Deianira's systems were still iffy. Sprite had copied the bots she had installed in Le More for Deianira but there were some integration issues.

  The biggest problem was the fusion reactor. It's rebuild had been stalled for twelve hours by a scheduling conflict, and the crew putting it together were plodders, and slow ones at that. It was falling further and further behind, which was threatening the rest of the schedule. Irons sighed. He'd have to take direct action if things didn't turn around soon.

  Unfortunately he had the best on Bounty. He couldn't spare them; they were learning their implants and new jobs. Irina was shaping up as his tactical officer, but she still had a lot to learn. As did the entire crew.

  “Thinking blue thoughts again Admiral?” Sprite asked.

  “Just... adjusting,” the Admiral replied, scrubbing his face with his hands. “Some things can seem overwhelming even when you break it down into individual boxes.”

  “That's not the direction your thoughts were leading to though,” Sprite said quizzically.

  “True,” he said with a sigh. He sat back. “We took the best for Bounty, Hoshi took her pick of the civilians and Deianira is getting the left over's. A jumbled mess.”

  “Nor really our problem. They are civilians,” Sprite reminded him.

  “Which were prisoners, and are currently in the line of fire,” the Admiral said. “And most are still on this ship. But none have command experience, and many are just too beaten down and submissive to come out of their shells.”

  “I know,” Sprite said. “But not quite all. Bounty is shaking down nicely.”

  “Don't even think about making changes there,” the Admiral said.

  “I was thinking about Hidoshi's World,” Sprite said. The Admiral frowned. “If we catch the corvettes and freighter that were sent there to take the planet, we would have a bigger manning issue. But, we could copy what they did and reverse it,” she suggested slyly.

  “What?” Irons asked. “Send in our own people?”

  “We're over represented in the jarhead department,” Sprite said mildly. Irons smiled. “Seriously. This ship's normal marine compliment is a heavy squad, between a dozen and twenty personnel depending on size and need. We have three times that number Admiral.”

  “All untrained,” Irons replied.

  “True, but Lieutenant Gustov is doing his level best to fix that. I was thinking we could maybe shave off him or his exec Lieutenant Lewis with two thirds of the marines with oh, say the same amount of armor and weapons.”

  “I could make more suits and robotic supports," the Admiral murmured. He'd remade his skin suit so he could go EVA. Half the crew had skinsuits; he intended that everyone have them before the enemy arrived. The crew had different colored suits depending on their role or rank. Officers were all blue, but they had trim colors of their various departments, red for Tactical, yellow or gray for Engineering, white for Medics, Green and digicam for Marines. The Admiral had forgone the gold of a flag officer to go with a blue suit to better b
ond with the crew. Enlisted crew just had the basic color of their department.

  “If you wish,” Sprite said. “The current inventory would give them eight powered armor suits, sufficient body armor and weapons for the others, and if we tossed in half the security bots, that would thicken them up a bit. More if you built dedicated drones and additional mecha.”

  “Okay,” the Admiral said as she listed her TOE. “Throw in the Skyhawk as well,” he said.

  “The Hawk? Are you sure?”

  “They are going to need a ride up and down right? Deianira doesn't have a shuttle. Nor does Le More.”

  “Yes sir. That's true,” Sprite replied. Captain Hoshi had asked for the Admiral's launch. He had politely refused.

  “Write this mission up, do the research, and then file it. Keep it up to date daily. If it looks like it is plausible to proceed I'll authorize you to run it past the marine officers.”

  “I was going to consult them,” Sprite replied. “But you don't want that?”

  The Admiral shook his head no. “No, not just yet. They have enough on their plates right now, learning their jobs, hardware, and managing the brig. Let's give them time to settle in a bit.”

  “Aye aye Admiral,” Sprite replied.

  <----*----*----*---->

  Two days before the scheduled arrival of the relief convoy Deianira's reactor came online. Her hyperdrive was still dead, but with internal power partially restored they could now work on the other systems internally. Fortunately the time the power room techs took to get the reactor up so the Admiral could initialize it with his plasma transfer technique had allowed some of the other repair crews extra time to repair the life support.

  When it had become apparent that the crew was falling further and further behind Jake Sisko had resigned from the Le More and taken the Chief's job on the Deianira. He was uncomfortable in the role, but he had lit a fire under the plodding crew and gotten things moving faster. The life support techs like the other repair crews had reasoned that they couldn't do anything until the reactor was online. Sisko had put an end to that malingering by borrowing batteries from the Admiral to test installed equipment. When the reactor came online they only had a few bugs to iron out before the ship's life support was fully restored.

  They moved the remaining civilians into the ship within minutes of when Jake reported she was functional. Time was getting short.

  <----*----*----*---->

  “We have a disturbance at the Beta 101a1 jump point Admiral. It looks like it's on,” Nata'roka reported. The Ssilli had asked and been granted a job. She had said it was to keep busy. The Admiral had been tempted to offer her another round in cryostasis. He was certain of her answer; it would be the same as his, No. She'd live her life in the now.

  She manned the sensors and navigational suite virtually. That took some of the load off the crew. She had also taken an interest in the classes the Admiral, AI, and some of the crew were putting on. She had made some amused sounds at the class on navigation, but hadn't stepped up to teach yet.

  Sprite had quietly pointed out to him her status. He refused to push her or call her on it. She had been through hell and back. Just finding out her species was extinct was bad enough, what the Horathians had put her through was another living hell. No, he'd take whatever help she was willing to give them as a gift.

  “Is it them?” Irons asked. He tried to put the wool gathering aside. It didn't really matter right now, they had a few days before the enemy arrived... but he needed to focus.

  “Too soon to tell. I am getting two distinct energy signatures and... Yes, their gravitational signals are separating now. One was a little close to the other. I can't tell what they are though. It will be some time before we can get a read back on the mass spectrometer,” Nata'roka reported.

  “Understood,” the Admiral said. He looked at the holo of the AI, then over to the other holo the crew had installed. There was a small plotting table on the bridge now. It was directly in front of the Captain's station. The Admiral nodded to the image of the Ssilli there.

  “Regretting the ride along ma'am?” he asked.

  “No, not on your life Admiral,” the alien replied. “I'm looking forward to this ring side seat,” she said, bobbing in the air. Despite his offer of building a better habitat in the cargo hold of one of the freighters she had declined and informed him she would remain where she was. She was, in her terms, used to it. And she approved of Lieutenant Lee's efforts on her behalf with the food replicators. He hadn't quite gotten the imitation sushi right, but he hadn't given up and apparently that endeared him to the old alien.

  “Paired formation? Or just follow the leader?” Irons mused.

  “I'm betting the lead ship... new information coming in. Not two ships, three. A third signal has just moved out of the shadow of the second.”

  “Three?” Irons asked. The odds of one of them escaping were rising. He didn't like that. For this to work they had to take all the ships to keep the enemy from getting a warning.

  It was tempting to let one of the ship's go, chasing it off back to the enemy in Beta 101a1. No doubt the enemy fleet there would dispatch a force to investigate. If he timed it right, he could be in hyper when they passed, and then either take on the force they had left behind in a classic defeat in detail action, or slip past them for Pyrax.

  But there were too many if's in that scenario for his comfort. If they took the bait. If they didn't wait too long in case he chased the ship to Beta 101a1. If they dispatched a large enough force. Timing... no. His plan was evolving, ever being refined, but he was so far sticking to it.

  “From the look of it, there are three ships sir,” Ian said. “I'm wondering if this is a standard formation. From what we've got in the records...” He frowned, accessing his implants.

  “The typical resupply missions the Horathians have are a freighter of indeterminate size, usually whatever is available. She serves as both a collier and troop transport. Along with that, a converted tanker and possibly one or more factory or supply ships acting as a collier. With one escort,” Bounty supplied.

  “Thanks, I just found it,” Ian said wryly.

  “We're receiving a signal Admiral, omni broadcast. It's the oli oli in free call.”

  “They are calling us out,” Ian murmured.

  “Verified,” Sprite replied. “Shall we send the counter?” she asked.

  “Bounce it off a decoy,” the Admiral ordered. “Navigation, plot an intercept course and then feed it to the helm. Helm execute on receipt.”

  “You still want us to play pirate though?” Nata'roka asked. “That will limit our speed.”

  The Admiral nodded. “Yes. And alert Commander Sindri to step down our reactor to match the previous settings. The same for the rest of the ship. We're going to play the excited comrade in arms ready to and eager to take on supplies and fuel,” he said.

  “Aye sir,” Commander McGuyver replied with a chuckle. He nodded to the Ssilli and then to the helm.

  “Commander Sindri grumbled but he's implementing Trojan horse now Admiral,” Sprite reported. The Admiral smiled.

  “Let's go then folks,” he said, sitting back and rubbing the arm rests of his couch. “We've got some flies to catch.”

  <----*----*----*---->

  A day later the crew was getting excited and nervous. They had another eleven hours before their ship and the three enemy ships made rendezvous.

  “The convoy arrived a day after the five week estimate. That is pretty good, getting it that close to a scheduled date,” Sprite said.

  “Good for them, bad for us,” the Admiral said.

  “Oh, how so?” she asked.

  “If they are getting their logistics in order, and getting their timing this good... it bodes bad for us,” he replied absently. “Something else to think about.”

  “Yes.”

  “But later. Right now we have to focus on the here and now,” he said, intent on the system plot. The ships were slowly moving t
o his location. So far so good, he thought. He was glad he hadn't changed the IFF and hadn't gotten rid of all the uniforms. They would be needed soon.

  “Is the hologram ready?”

  “As it ever will be. Hopefully we won't get tripped up by someone that knows Hathaway,” Sprite said. “Or sees through the hologram.”

  “If we have to, you could use the scans to alter my face,” Irons said.

  “Oh, that's a thought,” Sprite said. “A disturbing one,” she said.

  “Very. But if it gets the job done and it's temporary,” Irons trialed off.

  “Let's see how the hologram works,” Sprite replied. “Somehow I don't picture you in leather chaps. It's just not your style Admiral.”

  “Definitely not,” Irons agreed.

  They had hard numbers on the three incoming ships now. The lead ship was a corvette, an Apollo class. She seemed in good condition. The Apollo class was large for the class, pushing the envelope. She was also old, but a well-worn and proven design used at one time by thousands of star systems as militia or police forces.

  The warship had two rail guns; six point defense lasers, which doubled as energy weapons, two torpedo bays and twenty-four external hard points for missiles or missile packs. She was a very capable shooter against anything in her class or smaller. She had a nominal crew of fourteen and was normally supported by a class two dumb AI.

  She also sported eight frigate drives in four nacelle pods and a class two hyperdrive. She had speed, but her powerful sublight drives and low grade inertial dampeners tended to force her to take wide turns so she wasn't as maneuverable as smaller ships were normally known for.

  The Admiral reminded himself not to take the ship lightly. The rail guns and lasers were optimized for short-range combat. If the enemy smelled a rat at close quarters, it could get very ugly very quickly.

  The middle ship was a medium freighter, a Clydesdale from her silhouette and mass readings. Most likely pressed into service as a collier. She was rather slow though, and from the looks of her, one of her port engines was at half power. Instead of the ships slowing so she could stay in balance the ship was using her RCS to keep her course, a wasteful use of fuel.