New Dawn (Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  Molly nodded again, this time a little slower. "Your secret's safe with me Admiral." She hid her hand as she giggled.

  "You’re going downside?" he asked, changing the subject. Now that they were in orbit and the formalities were taken care of the crew were eager to get ground side for shore leave.

  She nodded. "I'm on the next shuttle. I want to see that chemical plant; it's primitive compared to ours..." She waved to the nearby replicator. "But we might be able to trade the technology, or upgrade it."

  He shook his head. Once an engineer, always an engineer. "Besides, I hear there's a tavern near the spaceport that makes this mondo drink..." she said suggestively and grinned. She bounced a bit, and then grabbed his arm. "You should come with me! There's a bit of the old town still standing, so you can look around, just like old times!"she said.

  He shivered. "A trip down memory lane isn't what I need." He shook his head.

  She patted his arm. "I'm sorry for reminding you," she said softy. "So, Sprite is your AI," she said and then nodded.

  "Well, you see, Admiral's are given a staff of people to manage their duties," he explained. She looked confused. "A staff?" He nodded.

  "A secretary, flag lieutenant, and others. About a dozen people," he replied. She wrinkled her nose and adjusted her glasses. He shook his head. "Are you going to have the laser treatment?" he asked. She took her glasses off and examined them.

  "Yeah, on the way to Gaston," she said. She shook her head and put her glasses on. "So, why do you need so many people? You do fine here!" she said. She waved to the engineering.

  He chuckled. "Well, an Admiral's in charge of a fleet or facility, or even an entire sector," he said.

  Her eyes widened at that. "I forgot about that. So many ships and things!" she said. He shrugged. "Now hear this! Shuttle two departing in five minutes repeat, shuttle two departing in five!" the overhead speaker squawked. They both looked up at the speaker.

  "Okay that's my cue; I'll see you down there!" She grabbed her duffel and raced out. He chuckled.

  The bucking of the shuttle made her look up from her tablet and tighten her webbing. "Exciting!" one of the girls up front said. Another shudder made her grab her armrests.

  "Sorry folks, we're running into turbulence," the pilot said over the comm. Molly looked out to the LCD window. She could see the hull glowing with red plasma.

  "Wow!" Tia clutched at the arm rests, pale with fear. Molly patted her hand. Tia released her grip and clutched at it, making Molly gasp.

  "It's okay," she said. She set the tablet down in her lap, thought better of it when a buck sent it into the air. She caught it and stowed it. "Just a little turbulence." She waved to Dorah who was staring straight ahead. "So, going my way?" she teased. The shuddering eased.

  Dorah let out a gasp then looked over to Molly. "Sorry, huh?"

  Molly chuckled and adjusted her glasses. "Never mind."

  They were blinded by the morning sun as they exited the craft a few minutes later. "Wow! It's so bright!" Molly stepped onto the boarding ramp.

  "One side ladies, we have more people and cargo to unload," The cargo master said.

  "Oh, sorry," Molly said as she stepped down the ramp, holding her bag to her side and then walked over to the nose.

  "Careful, don't touch, the skin is still hot," the pilot said, looking up from her tablet.

  "I can see that," Molly studied the waves of heat radiating out from the craft. They made the air shimmer.

  “Mom that's so cool!” Tia exclaimed.

  "Wow!" She shook her head.

  "I never thought the sky was so blue!"Dorah exclaimed.

  She looked over to Dorah who was looking up at the sky in wonder. She chuckled. "Or the plants!" Tia said. She dropped to her knees and ran her hands through the grass. She picked a flower and smelled it. "Oh wow!"

  She got up and rushed over to Molly. "Smell this!" She took a cautious sniff, then a deeper inhale. "Oh yes! Beautiful," she said and smiled.

  Dorah pirouetted. "Such beauty!" She danced around in the grass. Some of the other passengers shook their heads.

  "First time on land?" one of them asked. Another shook her head.

  "No, she's always like this. Total ditz," someone else said.

  Molly turned annoyed but Dorah grabbed her hand as well as Tia's and wrenched her around. "Come on! There's so much to see!" She waved to the distant town. Molly looked in the indicated direction and nodded. They could see people milling about, hundreds. "Wow! I've never seen so many people together all at once! Come on! Let’s see what's going on!" Dorah dragged her forward. Chuckling Molly adjusted her glasses and allowed herself to be led.

  At the edge of town the group began to slow on some instinct. The people looked odd Molly thought to herself. No, not odd, angry, and scared. She looked over to a woman and child. The woman scooped the child into her arms and rushed into a house. "What's going on?" Dorah asked, looking around. "Is something wrong? Did someone forget to take a bath before we came?" she asked, suddenly nervous. She looked over to Molly who shrugged.

  "I'm not sure."

  “Mom, we should, I mean, I don't like this, something's wrong,” Tia observed quietly. She was walking beside Molly.

  Molly nodded. “Stick with me kiddo we'll get to the bottom of it.”

  They entered the town square and turned to the left as someone cleared their throat. "Welcome to New Liberty capital of Centennial," a man said. Molly turned to see a portly man holding a gun. She could feel Tia gasp and clutch at her hand, then ease behind her. "I'm afraid; your visit is not going to be a pleasant one," the man said. Several people behind him growled a bit, hefting weapons. Molly looked to the right and spotted another group.

  "They're all around us!" Dorah whispered. "What do we do?" she asked.

  Molly shook her head. "I don't know."

  "No sudden moves," one of the girls said softly. Molly looked over and saw it was Vanessa the Purser.

  "So what do you want?" the captain demanded when the call came in. She tried to suppress her rage but only partially succeeded. "What will it cost to safely return my people? Not to mention my shuttle?" her tone was acid black.

  The engineer winced. Sprite had alerted him the moment someone in the shuttle had gotten a mayday off. "We need to leave this system, take your shuttle and pick up everyone and evacuate us all. Once we're off we'll release them," the voice on the other end was scratchy with static, and tinged with desperation.

  "Why? What the devil do you need to leave for?" the Captain's eyebrows knit.

  "A pirate is coming, we can't pay the ransom. We need to leave! Please Captain! Your crew will be returned, they haven't been harmed," he said.

  She shook her head. "No. You don't understand we don't even begin to have the ability to lift you all," she said with a grimace. She looked at the engineer who shook his head.

  "Look a ship is a lot smaller then a planet, we only have so much room, so much water, food, and air. Not nearly enough for everyone," she sighed in exasperation.

  "Then leave some of your people behind and come back for them," the voice on the other end was definitely desperate.

  The captain's eyes flashed. "Out of the question. Leave my people to answer for yours and let you on my ship?"

  The engineer cleared his throat and waved his hand. He mouthed the words "Call back."

  She nodded. "I'll call you back when we're over head again." She nodded to the communications tech, who cut the transmission.

  The Captain sighed, leaning back. "Great, just what I need. What did I do to deserve this?" the last came out as a murmuring moan only the engineer's enhanced ears could pick up.

  He shook his head. "Penalty of command," he said. She nodded.

  "Captain, we could launch the other cargo shuttle loaded with my people and get them back," the security Chief said, hands on the console, leaning forward looking eager.

  "Eager for a fight?" the Captain asked with a raised eyebrow. She brushed her c
hin with her fingers. "No, the cargo shuttle is too bulky. Flies like a brick and makes quite an entry," she responded. The Chief looked momentarily dismayed.

  "What about one of the civilian passenger ships?" the engineer asked, deep in thought.

  "Go on," the captain urged.

  He stared off to the bulkhead. "Load it with troops, bring it in further out and fly it in atmosphere to the other shuttle. We can use the ships sensors to get a better fix on the crew's probable location."

  Shandra nodded excited. "That's right we can! And we could probably get even better results if we did a couple close orbits with a shuttle or the ship!"

  “Have the sensor watch ping their implants Kasey,” Irons said.

  Shandra smacked her forehead in exasperation. “Why didn't I think of that?”

  The Admiral nodded. "If we get a good location we could run a simulation for the breach team to practice." He nodded to the Chief. For once she wasn't hostile to him.

  "Why?" she asked.

  "It's good practice; it lets them get a feel for what will happen, and the floor plan," he explained.

  She nodded. "Might work."

  The Captain nodded. "Get it done. You have an hour; I'll try to stall from here," she said.

  The Chief rushed out the door. "You coming?" She paused at the door, turning to look at the engineer. He nodded.

  “Admiral, they're going in with civilian grade weapons, one of them has a crossbow,” Sprite reported.

  “No, not on my watch. Authorization alpha two, upload milspec pulsers, flash bangs, armor, Stun grenades, a breaching charge, and NVG gas masks,” he ordered. He felt the data flow.

  “Done. But I need a user to initiate it or they'll get suspicious,” she warned. He nodded.

  He called Jennie, asking her to replicate a few things. "Is Molly okay?" she asked, worried.

  He sighed. "We don't know. But we need to get her out as soon as possible."

  She nodded. "Okay, I'll get on it. What priority?" she asked.

  "Now, immediate, as in, bump everything," he said.

  She nodded. "Right away, gotcha!" she said. As she closed the circuit, he turned to the Chief. She was on the other side of the compartment, standing over a holographic table projecting the shuttle.

  "I want this fast and hard, take them down and get our people out. Team one stays to secure the shuttle, team two the cargo shuttle, team three is with me going after the hostages." She flicked her hands to the areas to indicate them on the map.

  “We'll come in from the south; hit the guards here, here and here,” she said. She pointed to each. “Then hit this door here. From the sensor report they're being held in this room near this wall.” She looked up to the engineer, then back down.

  He nodded. “Chief, I asked Jennie to replicate a few tools to help, ” he said. She looked up. “A breaching charge, some gas masks, flash bangs, body armor, stunners, and some stun gas,” he said.

  “Stun gas?”

  “Breaching charge?” one of the amazons asked.

  “Stun gas, a sophomoric gas that renders anyone who breaths it asleep. Breaching charge,” he paused and looked over the bulkhead for a moment. “It's a single shot gravity warhead. Hold it up to a wall or other structure and it sends a pulse out that sheers through it creating a hole.” The Chief began to smile. “That way you don't have to go through a door like they're expecting, you hit them where they don't expect it,” he explained.

  She nodded, the grin turning evil. “I like it. What about the rest?”

  “Well, the stun guns are self explanatory. The flash bangs are grenades that explode with a bright blinding flash and a loud bang,” he shrugged. “They're designed to stun and confuse the enemy. This way you can get in while trying not to shoot our own people,” he said to the grim faces around him.

  Xena nodded. “Yeah, good idea.” She looked to the Chief. “I like it. We were worrying about hitting our own, this should make things easier.” The Chief locked eyes with the engineer.

  He nodded. “They're my friends and shipmates too Chief,” he told her softly. She froze, and then nodded slowly.

  “All right, we’ll try it your way. Breach here?”she asked. She pointed and looked up to him.

  He nodded. “Good placement, straight shot in from the entry point and good cover for the team from the sides.” He indicated the zones with his hands. “Toss a grenade in once the charge goes off. I doubt anyone will be up though, the breach'll knock them flat,” he said with a tight lipped smile. He shrugged. “Then toss a stun grenade. If we had more time I'd get Jennie to make an aerosol and spray the compound with stun gas,” he said.

  The guard’s eyes widened at that. “You can do that?” one asked. He nodded.

  “We'll do a test run in a cargo hold so you can experience what a flash bang does,” he said looking at the chief.

  She nodded. “Good idea.”

  One of the guards by the hatch pulled out her communicator. “Chief, Jennie called, the packages are ready.”

  “Well, let’s go check them out,” she said. She nodded to the Admiral. “After you.” They trotted out and to the replicator. A dozen guards were milling around, some wearing the new body armor. He nodded in approval. One of the ladies behind him gave a low whistle. Vanera smirked, holding up a new stunner. The gun was triangular in shape, but blocky, with a flat muzzle area.

  “Careful, set that thing off in here and we'll all regret it,” he cautioned. She nodded and checked the safety. “On the other side,” he murmured as he passed her.

  "Okay ladies, we have here the basic military grade STN-31 police stunner." He picked up a stunner and shouldered it, then moved it down to chest level. "We have here the trigger, safety, power level and battery eject button," he explained. He pointed each control out.

  "The stunner sends out a blast of ultra frequency sound that momentarily stuns someone by overloading their inner ear, giving them vertigo."

  He looked up as one of the guards cleared her throat. "So it makes them dizzy? So what?" she asked.

  He frowned. "It drops them to the ground.”

  Only someone with special protection can resist the effects. It's pure sonic hell on your inner ear," he said when they didn't look like they understood.

  The Chief nodded. "Best thing is that it won’t kill our own people when we use it in tight quarters," she said. The others grimly nodded. He turned and set the gun down and picked up a canister.

  "All right, we have here a class two flash bang grenade." He hefted it. "This is the pin. You pull the pin and throw it." He mimed the action. "Remember, once you pull the pin the grenade is live and no longer your friend," he said grimly. He pulled the pin and tossed it into a corner. "Fire in the hole!" They ducked and covered their ears. The grenade went off with a resounding bang; sound rang off the bulkheads and through the room. The light was dazzling, blinding them for a moment.

  Slowly he stood up. "As you can see..." He paused noting some were still covering their ears or shaking their heads confused. "AS YOU CAN SEE IT IS LOUD! WEAR EAR PROTECTION!" Three women came in running, he waved them back out. "Just testing the equipment, nothing to see, get back to your posts."

  After two minutes to allow them to clear their heads he picked up the gas mask and a stun grenade. "This is a gas mask. You've used them before to enter compartments filled with smoke. It has night vision goggles built in," he explained. The group nodded. "This is a stun grenade. Notice the holes on the top." He pointed it to them so they could see it better. "These send out jets of gas that knock anyone out who breathes it."

  The ladies nodded. "The rest is simple. Breach charge," he said. He pointed to the one meter flat oblong shape on the table. "And body armor." His hand rested on the armor. "Any questions?" They shook their heads. "Good, good hunting ladies," he growled. They nodded.

  "I see you’re not going with them?" the Captain asked as the shuttle left.

  "No Ma'am. Getting shot at is a marine thing," he replied. He
turned to her and smiled. "Best to leave it in the hands of those trained to do it," he said.

  She nodded. "Good to know you have some sense." He chuckled and turned back to the plot.

  He watched the feed, feeling helpless, knowing it would be hard to stave off. Seventy plus years of being an officer never quite wore down the weight of command, the ill feeling you had when you sent people on a hazardous mission. Technically he wasn't in command, but knowing it intellectually and in his gut were two very different things. Besides, he was the one who sent them in with tools they were unfamiliar with.

  He grimaced as a heavy but all too familiar weight settled on his shoulders. "They're doing well Admiral, they haven't been detected and have breached the first perimeter,” Sprite reported. She was feeding him the sensor feed direct to his projected HUD. His real time vision was dulled, almost grayed out. One of the tangos went down, then another.

  "Looks like they're inside, but they might have set off an alarm. Accessing..." Sprite paused. "I'm in the shuttle's systems, I can't get into the enemies, and they're not using computers," she reported.

  He grunted. "After seven hundred plus years on an agrarian world, I would be surprised if one still ran. What about electric?" he asked.

  The feed flickered. "No Admiral, no power generators," Sprite reported. He nodded. "It looks like they're using a wind powered radio to communicate with the ship. It's broadcasting north of the hostage site."

  “We're going to be outside of sensor range in one minute thirty eight seconds,” she reported.

  His lips twisted. “Damn. I was hoping we could keep an eye on things,” he sighed as he watched them approach the wall opposite the hostages.

  “Team one reports all clear. Team two in position,” a hoarse voice whispered over the net. He heard the reports, but ignored them, all his focus was on team three. The feed began to break up.

  “Damn.”

  “Planetary occlusion, we will have the feed again in fifteen point three minutes,” Sprite replied. “Might as well be a lifetime. It'll feel that way,” he growled. He turned to the plot.