"Who's that?" he nodded his head to a tousled raven haired boy wearing parachute pants and a Japanese style kimono top. It had taken a quick and brief interview with the captain to get the order barring him from the boat bays rescinded.
"Oh, that's Hibiki. He's Charlie and Hanna's son. Charlie died a few years ago. The pilot Diedra took him on because he's a natural," Jennie explained.
He nodded. "He's what fourteen?" he asked. He turned to Jennie.
She gave him a long look. "We have to grow up fast Admiral, or not at all," she rebuked quietly.
He nodded. "I'm not complaining, just asking," he said. He watched as Hibiki checked over the shuttle, and then nodded to the pilot. The hatch opened and a red haired streak came running in.
"Hibiki!" Hibiki jumped and ran.
"Dorah?" he asked as he nodded at the girl as she chased the boy around the shuttle.
"Dorah," Jennie sighed. "She has a major crush on him."
She shook her head. "Mindy is jealous, and so are some of the other girls on the ship. Since he's one of the few males..." she gave him a long look.
He smiled and waved his hands apart. "Nice to be wanted sometimes," he said. He looked back to see Hibiki had been cornered. "Not all the time though," he chuckled.
"Heads up!" Jennie looked then ducked with a gulp. The ball sailed over her head bouncing off a bulkhead and then dribbled down the corridor. She looked up with a glare, shoulders still hunched. When Dorah and a group of kids came around the corner she glared. "Um..." Some of the younger girls looked a little embarrassed. "How many times have you kids been told not to play in the corridors?" Jennie snarled. "I could have been carrying something dangerous! Or there could have been an open panel!" she growled. She shook her head.
The kids all ducked their heads down. "We're sorry," one said. Jennie readied herself for another blast.
"What seems to be the problem here?" the Captain's gravely voice startled Jennie again.
She turned. "Oh, sorry Captain, I didn't see you there!" she said surprised.
The captain nodded. "I hear you’re reading these crew members the riot act eh?" She turned to give the miscreants a stern gaze. "Maybe a night in the brig will help settle them down eh?" she asked. She tapped her fingers on her arm rest.
One of the kids looked up horrified; a few looked like they would like a camp out. "Dorah, Mindy, take your charges to the rec deck and confine them there while we discuss this," she said. She glared at the kids, but her eyes twinkled. The kids stepped past her, heads down, mumbling apologies. When they were out of earshot the Captain sat back and chuckled. "Young whippersnappers," she said. She shook her head. "It wasn't too long ago I chewed you out for doing the same thing Jennie!" she teased. Jennie blushed.
"I remember you were a terror with your corridor pickup games, and wasn't it you that got caught in the locker with that brunette in cargo a year ago?" the captain asked, not ready to let up just yet. The Captain turned her gaze on Jennie. Jennie squirmed, blushing furiously. One of the Captain's guards sniggered. The Captain turned her gaze to her. The guard stifled the laugh and returned to a polite mask of attention. She nodded then returned to Jennie.
"Yes Captain," she shook her head with a sigh.
"I think you need a break young lady, you've been working far too many double shifts. Taking classes on top of all that..." she shook her head. "You can't burn the engine at both ends dear," she chuckled. "Go finish your shift, and then I want you off rotation for an entire ship's day."
Jennie looked to protest. A single cocked eyebrow stopped her in her tracks. Defeated her shoulders slumped. "Aye Captain," she said and then nodded.
"Good to hear. Once you do that, we’ll get Molly and some of the crew to take time off too, maybe we should have a party?" the captain suggested. She turned her chair. "Hmm, I think I'll just have a chat with Vanessa and Tsunade about that...” she mussed as she left. The guards followed.
"What are we doing again?" Jennie asked amused. Trisha was mumbling something as she wrestled with her end of the plastic. The guards guffawed, laughing as she tried to beat the plastic sheeting into submission. Finally she got the upper hand. She stomped on it then turned, brushing her hair out of her face.
"There! Stay down!" she growled. She swatted at it as a breeze from the nearby vent sent it fluttering.
"We need weights," a girl said, and then set a block of plastic down on a corner. "Got one." Another girl placed one on her corner. She tugged the sheet until it was straight. "I have another!" she said.
Jennie squeaked as the sheeting billowed behind her and between her legs. "Hey!" she said turning. "Well, get out of the way!" Trisha said. She got her end down and sat on it.
Hanity came over and handed her a block of plastic. "Here you go," she giggled. "Though you’re doing fine without it," she said with a smirk. She jumped back with a laugh as Trisha tried to kick her.
"Meanie!" She stuck out her tongue. Jennie looked them over shaking her head. "I think the Admiral's right, this is a loony bin," she growled.
He looked up. "Well, since it's December I thought we could do with some fun."
She looked up confused. "December? Since when? Why do we have to have fun in December?"
He indicated the flapping corner. Trisha wrestled it down. A girl came in pushing a hover pallet loaded down with clear blocks. "What's that?" Jennie asked.
"Give me one." Trisha called.
Jennie went to pick one up. "Oh cold! She snatched her hands back.
The girl who pushed the cart in handed her a set of gloves. "Of course it is dummy, it's ice!" she said. She took a block, set it on the plastic then skated it to Trisha. Trisha waved a thanks as she caught the brick.
"Okay. Now I'm going to insist!" Jennie glared, hands on her hips.
The Admiral chuckled. "Hand me a brick will you Tasha? I think it'd be more fun to show her then explain," he said. The machine he had been working on came to life with a loud groan then grinding noise of whirling blades.
"What is that thing?" Jennie hollered over the noise. Her hands had automatically moved to cover her ears.
She looked at the chute sticking out of one end. The girl wrestled a block into another chute then went for another. "What is this?" Jennie asked just as snow whirled out, covering her. The Admiral hastily shut the machine down. In the silence they tried to stifle giggles as Jennie spat out snow. "What the hell?" she growled. She brushed snow out of her eyes.
Flakes clung to her eye lashes and hair. "What is this?" she demanded.
He shrugged. "I thought it was obvious, it's a snow machine," he said with a grin. He motioned her away. She obeyed, slow at first, then hastily as he pushed the button. Snow began the stream out once more. He handed her a pair of ear muffs. "Here," he said. Trisha put hers on. Jennie looked around to see the others following suit.
A train of girls with blocks of ice came, unloaded as they looked around and then left. The Moral officer came in the see the girls having a rollicking snowball fight. The Chief followed, ducking a snow ball. "Oops!" someone called. She looked over to see Anita smiling and tossing a ball up in the air. "Catch!" She tossed her the ball. The Chief dodged it, and then glared.
"Don't block the door dear," The Captain's gravelly voice came from behind. She turned to see the Captain, doctor, Mindy, and dozens of others trying to get in. She moved aside. "Well!" The Captain chuckled as the Chief slipped and fell on her rear. "My my," the Captain chuckled looking away. Some of the girls were making snow angels, a few were trying to make a snow man or woman.
"You sure know how to keep things lively Admiral," she said and smiled over the noise. He nodded and handed her a set of ear muffs. She waved it aside. Jennie came over holding a pair of snowballs. "For me?" The Captain intercepted one. Jennie goggled as the Captain tossed the ball in the air, and then caught it. When the purser came in she had her back to the Captain. She tossed the ball, then chuckled as it splatted on the back of her head.
"Who
threw that?!" the purser snarled. The Captain smiled holding her hand up. For once her granddaughter was giggling. The purser dropped down and got a handful of snow. "Oh yeah?" she growled. Jennie handed the Captain another ball and then ducked behind her chair.
"No fair!" the Captain laughed as she tossed the ball.
The purser ducked, then came up smiling savagely. "Take this!" she said. The ball smacked into the Captain's chest. The captain threw here head back as she laughed.
"All right Vanessa, you win,” she said. Suddenly the purser was engulfed in snowballs from all around. The Captain chuckled as Vanessa beat a hasty retreat. "Thank you ladies for coming to an old woman's aid."
She waved to the cheering crowd. "Enjoy," she said. She flew around the perimeter, talking to individuals for a few moments, then left.
"Well, that was interesting!" Jennie said, slipping and sliding up next to the Admiral. Some of the girls were shivering, a few were sliding nearby.
She tried to dodge a girl sliding on a piece of plastic, failed and came down on her can once more. "Ow!" She rubbed her abused rear end. "Damn!"
The Admiral laughed. She got a mischievous look, and then started to gather snow. "Wait now, uh..." he said, taking in her expression with a suddenly sinking heart. The Chief gathered more snow behind Jennie. "Now ladies can't we talk this over?" he replied weakly as he stepped back. A few girls behind the Chief grinned, patting snowballs. "Oh crap," he said ducking as the deluge began.
The next morning everything was back to normal. The crew however were a bit more chipper. Jennie looked over to the Admiral and grimaced. “I'm getting some static from the Chief about the weapons,” she sighed.
“What's wrong with that?” he asked.
She nodded to the part he was holding up. “It's a millimeter off,” she said. The tip of his index finger morphed into a dremel tool to reshape the bore. “So, anyway, I was wondering when we're going to get around to the weapons? I agree it isn't a pleasant feeling being naked in the big bad galaxy,” she said suggestively.
He finished with the shaping and blew on it. “I'm sorry, I can't help you there. I still have to follow the guidelines of the Federation.” He placed the coupler back into the robot.
“What do you mean? The Federation?” Jennie asked as she crossed her arms. “It's been dead for centuries!” she said.
He looked up and caught her eyes. “Not as long as I live,” he said quiet but firmly to her.
She sucked in her breath. “You really believe that don't you?” she asked in wonder. He nodded. “Okay, so why can't you fix the weapons? You broke one of them! I know Molly fixed that power cable so we have the port graser again, but we need the others fixed too!”
He shook his head. “Although this ship was a military vessel, the Captain has declared salvage rights, so it's now in civilian hands,” he explained.
She grimaced and wrinkled her nose. “And that means?”
He sighed. “Jen, I can't turn over weapons or prohibited tech to civilians. It's both against the law, and morally wrong. I can bend the rules with those stunners, but...” he shrugged helplessly.
She nodded defeated. “I guess so,” she muttered and then looked down.
He locked the cover plate back onto the robot and screwed it down. She reached over and hit the button. The LED's lit. “Okay, that did it,” he said.
She stepped back fast when the little robot wobbled into the air, spun and began cleaning. “Fast bugger,” she said and shook her head. “So, where does that leave us?” she asked.
“Have you checked the net lately? There are all sorts of things on the net now. You may find it interesting,” he suggested absently. He picked up his tools and left.
Trisha sat down beside her. “No luck?” she asked.
Jen shook her head then her eyes lit. “Gimmy your tablet for a minute.” She snapped her fingers and then wiggled them.
Trish frowned, but handed the tablet over. “Why?”
Jen typed rapidly, and then used her fingers to scroll. She sat back grinning. “Why that sneaky so and so,” she said with a smirk. She looked over to Trish.
“What? I heard the part where he said he couldn't do anything...” She looked over Jen's shoulder. “Power cable repair, laser sight, parallax debugging... Wait, is that the graser manual? Is this all what I think it is?” she demanded.
Jen grinned. “How could it be? After all, he said he couldn't help us right?” she asked. She tapped the tablet on her chest. “Come on! Let’s go see if it can help!”
Chapter 12
"This is the backup generator?" Trisha asked. He leaned over to see Trisha looking the reactor over. "It looks like a smaller version of the main reactor." Molly jumped down. Trisha started, jumping and clutching her chest. "Don't do that! You scared me half to death!" Molly smiled and adjusted her glasses. Dorah giggled in the corner. "Yeah, isn't it neat and we have three of these!" Dorah exclaimed before Molly could fully open her mouth.
She closed it then turned on Dorah. "Hey I was going to say that!" she said. Her hands were on her hips.
Dorah spread her hands apart. "Beat you to the punch Molly. It’s not my fault you're old." Molly turned to glower at the red haired girl.
“My someone is asking for trouble today,” the Admiral commented as he jacked into the reactor.
"So can we fix it?" Trisha asked ignoring the byplay.
"Oh we already did. Had to replicate a new fuel line, the old one was ruptured." Molly waved to the shiny new line, and then pointed to the shredded line lying on the cart.
"Wait, you said there are three of them..." Trisha turned to Dorah, "Okay you did." Dorah smiled. "Why three?
" Molly adjusted her glasses. "Backups in case the main goes down or power demand," she replied. "Oh," Trisha replied. The Admiral unjacked.
"Okay, it's all set. So Dorah, you're reactor watch on this reactor for this shift," Molly said. Dorah had said she wanted a break from the kids. Trish looked like she was going to object. "You'll do fine," Molly said, then picked up her tool box and grabbed Trisha by the elbow and led her out.
The Admiral followed. "Think she can really handle it?" Trisha asked Molly, leaning over to her to be discrete in front of the guards.
"Oh, she can handle it, as long as she doesn't scram it,” The Admiral interjected.
Molly sighed. "You would have to mention that," she growled. She turned around and entered the room again. Dorah froze; hand over the big red button. "Freeze!"
Dorah moved then froze. "I was just going to push it, it looks important," she said innocently.
Molly sighed. "You dunce! That's the scram button; push that and it scrams the reactor then blows this entire section into the void!"
Dorah paled and snatched her hand back. "Oh," she said making herself small.
"Now don't touch anything unless I tell you!" Molly pointed to the chair. "SIT!"
Dorah hastily obeyed. "We'll be back later," Molly turned and left. "Now she can handle it," she said. She nodded to Trisha and the Admiral.
Trisha sighed shaking her head. "What a goof ball."
"Admiral, what about the hyper collector, and the, um, antimatter reactor?"Trisha asked.
He looked over to Trish as they rode the lift. "Well, the hyper collector uses a bussard ram scoop made of the shields and magnetic fields to suck in electrons in hyperspace. With the shields down and out of balance, the ship's power generation was severally limited." The lift stopped with a bump.
"Going to have to fix that," Molly muttered.
The doors opened, and then closed. "Looks like that too," Trisha observed wryly. She hit the open button again. The doors opened.
"The antimatter reactor is fine, except it has no fuel." The Admiral said as they exited.
"What about the fuel, can't we make some?" Trisha asked. It took him a moment to remember she hadn't been in the classes when he had explained that.
Molly sighed. "No, it requires fuel to make fuel."
Tri
sha's brows knit together. "That doesn't sound right; you want to run that by me again."
The Admiral snorted. "Okay, antimatter is like a battery. You take power and convert it into antimatter, then bombard the antimatter with matter later on to get a return on your energy investment." He shrugged. "But no engineered system is one hundred percent energy efficient. That's basic engineering 101. Some power is lost all through the system," he explained. "Take my word for it, it isn't doable now."
She nodded. "Oh okay."
Molly looked down at her pad. "3a, 3b...oh here it is, 3c." She touched the door controls but they wouldn't open. "Crud." She played with the door panel.
"So what's wrong with this one?" the guard asked. Molly didn't get a response as she started unscrewing the panel.
"The tank was holed one deck up. We want to pull it, but I want to run a diagnostic to make sure it's worth fixing before we go through all that headache of yanking the old tank and putting in a new one," Irons replied.
Molly didn't look up, focusing on the job. The guard looked startled. "Hand me that screwdriver." The guard reached for one. "No the other one," Molly said. Molly didn't look up. In a moment the guard handed her the handle.
"How did she...?" she asked.
She looked over to the other guard who shrugged and smiled. "Darn! What the heck is wrong here...?” Molly demanded. The Admiral stood back and watched. Trisha started to offer his services but he waved her off.
"Let the lady do her job," he said. He turned and studied the corridor. He spotted a broken fixture. "I'll be over here if you need me," he said. He went over to the fixture and started pulling it down.
A tech arrived. "Hey! That’s my job," she growled at him. He stopped and looked the woman over. She was wearing a coverall and squirmed a bit.
He nodded politely then stepped back. "Have at it," he chuckled shaking his head as he came back to the girls.
"Got chased off I see," Molly commented, not even looking up.
New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) Page 37