“New?” Sergio asked mistiming an OMS burn. He corrected it then slowed his approach.
“Talk about it later. Focus now,” Iron's ordered as space suited workers piled out of the nearby airlock. Some jetted to the rock and began firing pitons into the rock and running lines back to the platform. From the looks of the crew they were practiced at this sort of thing. The suits were old though and had seen better days. Most likely hand me downs.
“So you were saying?” Sergio asked as he pitched the tug up and over a broken gantry arm and under a shredded radiator twenty minutes later.
“Well, the crew and I rebuilt the ship. Her previous captain scrammed the AI core when she was abandoned, so we had to rebuild it. I and my implants wrote a new AI core. She's not military grade, but she is a good AI.” He looked away.
Sergio shook his head. “Is there any way we could...” He ran his hands over his controls.
“There is an AI in this already. I improved it when we rebuilt the electronics. It's adaptive, but not a smart AI.” The Admiral watched as Sergio expertly turned and backed into open bay. He tapped the controls once more and the craft settled to the floor with a gentle bump and grind.
“Doors closing,” they heard over the radio. The two of them looked up from their controls then tried to look out the side window. Mrs. Valdez was in the control booth. Glaring.
“Crap its mom. She looks pissed too,” Sergio muttered with a sense of dread. The Admiral shook his head hiding a smile.
Chapter 4
“We didn't miss dinner; I don't see what the big deal is...” Sergio grumped as he washed the dishes. The XO had even turned the water back on for them. He wasn't sure if he should be glad or not. Sergio clearly wasn't.
The Admiral shook his head. “I think we gave her a scare. Don't worry about it.” He dried the dish and put it away.
“Yeah well, next time you wash, I dry.” Sergio grumped. The Admiral chuckled.
A few hours later he came in from the workshop. He nodded politely to Anita sitting at the table then got himself a cup of coffee from the replicator.
“Thanks for fixing the shields and wedge. My father in law died during a solar flare. It's been a nightmare for me, wondering if Sergio or Jorge would end up the same way every time they go out,” Anita said softly, cleaning the counters.
The Admiral nodded drinking a cup of coffee. “How did they get the tug back?” he asked.
“Papa knew he was dead. He flew the tug as close as he could to the station, then pitched it over so a rock was between it and the sun when the flare hit. It didn't help him, but it saved most of the electronics.” She sighed.
“Jorge went out after the flare and brought the tug and rock in. The bastards upstairs were more concerned about the rock than my father in law.” She looked up full of bitter anger. He nodded. “We cleaned the suit; Sergio was using it until you had Io make new ones. Thank you for that too.” She looked away. He patted his arm as he set the cup into the sink.
“No problem.” He walked off.
“Why is the wedge so important? And why can't I use it next to the station. It's much bigger than the tug!” Sergio grumped while the Admiral was working on an emitter.
“Well, let’s have a little demo shall we?” He asked. “Plug that in for me will you?” He held up a power plug.
“Two-twenty or one-ten?” Sergio asked.
“Oh two-twenty definitely.” The Admiral smiled as the young man complied. He watched as the capacitor charged. When the light lit green he nodded. “Okay, now, what we have here is a basic emitter right?” He looked over to Sergio who nodded amused. “Right, now, this emitter is about ten kilos. That tool chest over there is what? One hundred? Two hundred?” He looked over to Sergio. “Now, let's see what happens when I do this.”
He fed a program into the emitter then stepped hastily back. “Get behind me.” He ordered just as the emitter came on. It locked onto the nearby mass of the tool chest and began to pull itself toward it. The chest started skating across the floor toward it shaking the entire time. The emitter rose up off the work bench as it switched polarity. Suddenly the tool chest was thrown backwards. The emitter spun around for a moment, then its gyrations whipped the power cord out and it settled to the deck with a clang and clatter. Blue sparks flew from it for a moment.
The tool chest shook teetered then crashed to the deck spilling tools everywhere. “Nasty,” Sergio replied. His sister poked her head in.
“Mom says to keep it down in... “ Her eyes went round then she looked at them. “I'm not cleaning THAT up.” She backed away. “Someone's in troubbbbleee.” She raced off. Sergio grimaced.
“Little tattle tale.” He sighed. The Admiral chuckled as they walked over to survey the mess.
“So you see, the composition has to be solid or you’re in trouble. If that had been a soft asteroid, one made up of pebbles it would have been a real mess. You get the idea though right?” he asked as he lifted the chest back onto its wheels. It squeaked as he set it down.
“Yeah, it makes a mess,” Sergio grumped with a small smile. The Admiral laughed.
“Yeah, that too. Let's get this sorted out.” He waved as they heard the pitter patter of feet. “Anyone who comes in gets drafted!” he called. The pitter patter screeched to a halt. A face poked around the corner then they heard the kids run off.
Sergio laughed. “I wish I had thought of that trick a long time ago.” He shook his head as he helped the Admiral pick up the tools.
“There is something else to consider when you’re dealing with this. Sort of an after affect of the wedge, shields, and your speed. See, the faster you go, the more likely you are to hit something that could do damage to you. And at high speed, that is what we would consider a bad thing.”
Sergio winced, nodding.
“Now, with the wedge, it creates a focused singularity in front of your tug. It sucks in small bits of matter. Like say, dust and stray hydrogen atoms.”
“Okay...” Sergio said looking up. He looked a little confused. Irons sat on the edge of the work bench and crossed his arms.
“When you get up to speed you've got this dust ball hanging around your wedge, and at the singularity point, it's being crushed. All that crap blocks your forward view. But if you change course or speed... or shut the wedge off...”
“It keeps going?” Sergio asked pausing in his clean up as well.
“Exactly,” Irons said nodding. “and when it hits something...”
Sergio paled and winced again. “Boom?” he asked.
“Depends on what it hits and the speed it was released at. But yeah. Big boom. Big enough that if you’re not careful you could destroy a colony, or even Anvil.”
Sergio bit his lip.
“Or a planet.”
The kid looked up, eyes wide in shock. Irons nodded soberly. “That's how the Xeno's were destroying planets in the early stages of the war. Simple thing. Run a missile with a singularity up to near C, pointed at your target. It's called a C bombardment. Almost impossible to stop if you’re on the receiving end. It's what happened to the two planets in this system.” He grimaced looking away.
“If the wedge is on too long it's singularity can become self sustaining. Which would take a hell of a lot of initial energy and matter, more than your little tug is able to put out.”
“Oh.”
“But that was another favorite planet buster the Xeno's used.”
“It was?” Sergio asked, bending to pick up a wrench.
“Yeah. But we figured out a counter. We discovered a simple thing, send another ship on an opposing vector at the singularity. If timed right they would collide. Or in some extreme cases, the wedges of two or more ships could rip the singularity apart.”
“Oh.” Sergio rose with the wrench. “Doesn't sound like a good idea though. What if you missed?”
“It's more like what if you don't get it right.” Irons grimaced. “Miss and it will still hit the planet. If you don't knock i
t off course. Hit and the gravitational shear would usually burst the ship's drive pods or rip the ship apart.”
“Ew.”
“We were working on gravitational counter missiles. But I'm not sure how well they did in practice.” He grimaced then shrugged.
“Moral of the story? Be damn careful with the emitters. Make sure you treat them with respect, and make sure you clear the space around you, and your flight path. Treat it like a weapon. Like it can be if you’re not careful.”
“Yes admiral,” Sergio nodded.
“Now, let’s get this sorted out and get to bed. Something tells me tomorrow is going to be a long day.” Irons smiled as they went back to cleaning.
The next morning he woke after his customary four hours of sleep and stretched. He took the time to go through his training katas feeling his muscles un-knit. He had been without exercise for a little too long; he knew he needed to get back into shape, even if it was more for psychological impact over physical.
He nodded as the family ate breakfast then hustled into the shuttle bay. Sergio was already suited up and ready to go. “Remember what I said,” the Admiral cautioned. Sergio smiled and waved. “I'm going for the rock forty thousand clicks down by thirty three thousand out mom, don't worry.” He smiled to Anita who nodded and jotted the information down on a pad.
“Flight plan has been approved,” she replied looking up.
He sighed. “Yeah, well, first up is a stop at the tank farm to top off. No way am I going anywhere without more fuel.” He climbed into the cockpit. The Admiral and family stepped out of the shuttle bay. The kids waved as the lock door closed.
“Pick me up! Pick me up!” The little boy jumped. O'Reilly chuckled as he hefted him up to his shoulder. Deidra picked up his sister. They waved. Sergio waved back then went back to the controls.
“Atmo evacuated. Door opening. Safe flight Sergio,” Anita called over the com. He smiled. “Back by dinner mom, I promise.” She nodded as he tapped the controls and the craft drifted up then out of the bay.
“Well, we have to get off to our shift. You kids need to hustle or you'll be late for school.” O'Reilly hefted the kids then pretended to drop them. The kids squealed until they were caught.
“Again again!” they called eager.
Deidra laughed. “Maybe later pumpkin, now mommy has to go work.” She ignored the "aw"s and set them down by the front door.
“What are you going to do now Admiral?” Anita asked getting a thread barren sweater on over her shoulders. He shrugged.
“Oh, this and that, check the station out a little, maybe look for work. I may dig into the junk pile too.” He waved it off. She gave him a look then shrugged and left.
“So what are you going to do today?” Sprite asked.
He shrugged. “Dig into the refresher and kitchen and fix everything I can this morning then go walk about after lunch.” He smiled as she sniffed.
“Typical. Can't put the spanners down for an hour without going into withdrawal,” she teased.
He chuckled. “You know me so well.”
“I should shouldn't I?”
“Admiral, I've done what I can for the local deck computer net, the station AI restricted most of my access beyond it. Everything in the core is now under a five hundred twelve character read only password protect I can't access.” Sprite sounded exasperated. He shook his head.
“Okay, what about the exterior scans we took yesterday. Can you compile what we have with the information from the station net and the Io's scans and give me a hull map with damage control assessment? Give me two versions, an over all and a deck by deck.” He set the part he had been cleaning down and looked at her on his HUD. She seemed a little chagrined.
“Make work you mean?” She asked. His eyebrow rose. “Aye aye Admiral,” the AI responded, monitoring his emotions. “I'll get it done,” she sighed.
It took nearly two hours to get the dishwasher sorted out. Fortunately the manual was embedded on a firmware chip inside. Once he found it he uploaded the plans for the broken parts to the replicators and it was then just a matter of putting the parts in and testing it out.
The ultrasonics in the bath were a bit more straight forward. The flickering gravity plate was a bit trickier, but he managed a partial fix. He made a note to get it replaced later. No way was he going to have waste in free fall at the wrong moment. He did his business in the bath then left whistling.
“Now what?” Sprite asked. He shook his head.
“You have better ideas?” he asked looking up. She swirled onto his HUD. “Admiral, this station if falling apart. Literally. I've been monitoring the com traffic for the past three days; apparently the last fusion reactor is on its last legs.”
She uploaded what data she had. “I was monitoring the radio net earlier and there was a call for paramedics in engineering, it seems the chief engineer collapsed.” The Admiral winced as he made his sandwich.
“Bad?” he asked.
“You could say that. I hooked a ride and got a weird echo. Admiral he's a sleeper like you.” The Admiral froze, sandwich in his hands mouth open.
“That's interesting. Why didn't you tell me earlier?” he asked with a bite to his question. He took a bite of the sandwich then put it down suddenly not having an appetite.
“Because I just found out when I tagging along. Main engineering is on it's own subsystem so I couldn't get in. The paramedics were passing through our deck when I caught on. I pinged the paramedic team's electronics and piggy backed into their communications so I could tag them. I got a fleet personal IFF transponder. I zeroed in and discovered who he is.” She pulled up a window and a fleet identity faded in.
“CPO Horatio Logan, noncom, class of... hmm, wait, he's from my time! I know him!” The Admiral stopped stunned.
“Yes I don't have any data on him though beyond that.” Sprite reported, testy.
He chuckled. “He was before your time. I vaguely remember him.” He shrugged.
“Are you going to eat that?” Sprite asked. Mechanically he picked up the sandwich and ate it. “Before you ask, he was stable when they moved him, from what I could determine he was suffering from extreme exhaustion, implant fatigue, dehydration, and old age,” Sprite reported. “I couldn't get into the paramedic's equipment; I didn't want to do any damage to them that would...” The Admiral held up his hand.
“Agreed. Good thinking.” He tried to think. “How is Sergio doing?” He asked after a moment. He finished the sandwich then put his cup in the dishwasher. Time for a test run. He turned it on and winced at the starting grind, then nodded as it leveled off at a purr.
“I'm not sure. I got a peak an hour ago... I think he is okay, but that damn civilian AI slapped me out of Ops so I didn't get enough of a look to be sure. The station's sensors are myopic.” She sighed in disgust. He chuckled.
“Add it to the list. The bottom of the list.” He shrugged.
“Hmm, that's interesting; we're getting a com call from sickbay,” Sprite reported. “Coincidence?” he asked.
“Doubtful. The only guy with implants goes down, and then you show up?” The AI said sounding sarcastic.
“You need to work on your sarcasm... at a later date Sprite.” He looked up. “Understood. Routing call now.”
“Um hello? Is this thing on?” a voice said.
He sighed. “Yes who is this?” he asked.
“This is chief medical officer Nara Thorby I am looking for the guest of the Valdez family?” She sounded stuffy.
“Speaking.” The Admiral didn't volunteer anything. He wasn't sure if what had happened to the goons had filtered to the Port Admiral or not, but the most likely path was through sickbay given the injuries he inflicted.
“Yes, well, um, I was going over your entry records and we have no record of your medical files. We need a medical scan for our records. Please come to sickbay right away,” she said the last with a hint of arrogance of her rank. He nodded.
“Right away doct
or.” He closed up the tool box, rinsed his hands under the ultrasonics, then put his toolbox into his room.
“Any indications of trouble?” he asked.
“Do you mean is this a trap?” Sprite asked. “No idea,” she replied after a moment of calculation. “Voice analysis does not indicate malice. There is a hint of curiosity, and a little anxiety,” Sprite reported, opening a window to display the timbre changes on his HUD. He waved it away.
“Power reserves are at ninety three point two four percent Admiral. Good thing you recharged last night,” Defender reported.
He snorted. “All right, let's not keep the lady waiting. Sprite plot me a course.” He locked up as he exited the module.
“I don't think any of the Valdez clan thought to give you that code. Glad I did.” Sprite sounded smug. He looked around the corridor, feeling his long range sensors sweep the shadows for trouble, and then nodded.
“They're going to be curious about how I got it. Remind me to make some more repairs to the module electronics so they can draw the proper conclusion,” he said softly as he passed a thread barren beggar lying on the floor.
“Is it just me or is it a lot chillier in here than in the module?” the Admiral asked watching his breath in front of him. “Dimmer too.” He looked around.
“Gravity, lights, heat, and life support have been severely cut in the lower decks Admiral. I've managed to keep a trickle of power going above what Ops are letting us have,” Sprite reported. He grunted.
“Is the trickle only to us?” he asked as he made it to the deck lift. An old man stared as he punched the security code in and the doors ground open. He waved. “Need a lift?” he asked. The old man shook his head vehemently then seemed to reconsider. He shuffled forward then sat down heavily and shook his head. Iron's jaw tightened.
“You go on without me,” the old man's withered voice said. The Admiral's jaw tightened.
“Bump up...”
“The life support and heat, got it Admiral, I will do what I can. This deck is getting ten percent more power in the Valdez compound over the rest of the cut off areas. If word spreads...” Sprite left the thought for him to draw the natural conclusion. He sighed.
Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) Page 9