Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Is this in the net?” he asked. “I would have thought you would have brought it up earlier,” he frowned.

  “No. That's just it. I picked it up when we went for that last load an hour ago. I set the system to record while we were gone. I check the feed when we get in range. Two of the delegates were talking out of school near a microphone and the bot I left behind faithfully recorded the entire conversation. Do you wish to hear the juicy gossip?”

  “Spare me,” he said, holding his hands out.

  “Well, one more piece, I just got the blurb from my bot and I've been digesting it as we talk. It seems the pilot of the shuttle, the one that had it's accident? Mister Garth Brooks? That one?”

  “Yeah?”

  “He was having a bit of a brag session with some of his fellows. It seems Miss Willis seduced him the day before the accident. Even sweet talked him into doing it in the shuttle after he told her you would be working on it later.”

  “Really?” he asked in slight disgust. “And this factors in...” he paused as he suddenly understood. He froze as pieces came together. Damn... double damn. “She got access to both the boat bay and the shuttle?”

  “Yes.” She waited a moment pausing to digest more information. “Get this, before he moved out of range of the microphone he said she wore him out so bad he blacked out. The next thing he knew they were scrambling to get out of there before Dieter caught them. He said something about their streaking out and ducking behind crates and then streaking to a supply closet to get dressed. When they were done she dumped him on the spot.”

  “Huh.”

  “She also seduced one of the engineers. He made a crack about her thighs and strong muscles...” he made a face. “Which I take it you don't want to hear.”

  “Right,” he growled.

  “The thing is, this engineer tech is assigned to the plasma grid on the deck...”

  “Where April and I were at. Giving him, or her access. I get it,” he said sitting up. “So she's a suspect?”

  Sprite's avatar nodded, cold sober. “Oh, prime suspect. Definitely. She has some martial arts training. She's manipulative, and she doesn't stick her head out. She was at or near several of the accidents that weren't accidents. From her behavior on Briev she has no qualms about killing someone.” She replayed some of his memories of Briev, freezing and zooming in on the woman's face a few times. “It does make me wonder who paid her. And why? Also, why is she still trying after they tried to kill us all?”

  “Possibly a promised bonus,” Irons sighed. “The other question is a bit more ticklish. Is she acting alone? If it really is her that is. So far all we have is circumstantial evidence to go on. Supposition is not proof. ”

  “You mean we need to catch her in the act.”

  “Yes,” Irons sighed. “Which means laying that trap we have been planning.”

  “You sure about this Admiral?” Bailey asked giving a dark look to the enhanced image of the battered old ship. “She's a rat trap,” he said, sounding disgusted. The ship was indeed battered, covered in patches they could see even from this distance.

  She wasn't an ordinary free trader though. She was huge, a bulk freighter, designed to carry large amounts of cargo in her six massive holds. Unlike other ships she had a fat ponderous silhouette, probably due to the fact that the cargo holds were in pairs side by side instead of arranged in a linear pattern. Her bridge and crew quarters were on the bow and spine, jutting out between the forward most cargo holds and extending back to the rear. The rear had a truss arrangement of eight fusion drives. Along her spine and somewhere in between her cylindrical holds the single class one fusion reactor was tucked in, along with the hyperdrive and other things needed to run a ship.

  She was ponderously slow, mainly because only one or two of her sublight engines were still functioning. She didn't have a wedge, her particle shields were barely up, and from the thermal imaging she was dangerously overloaded with people. From the looks of things she was a flying space habitat. Four thousand life signs from the look of it.

  He wasn't sure about her, but he was running out of options. From what he and Sprite had picked up on the planet, Kiev was one of only four ships that visited the planet, one other being Io. Since he knew Io was avoiding this area he was pretty sure they weren't coming back this way any time soon.

  The other two ships had been and gone several months ago and weren't due back for a year or more. Which left Kiev. Bulky, slow, but the only option.

  “Probably, but beggars can't be choosers at this point,” Irons shrugged. Which was true. He had no intention of sitting on his ass on the ground for a year or more.

  “She's still out there John, not even half way here. She's not due to make planetary orbit for another week. Which means her drives are pretty shot,” Bailey said, wrinkling his nose. He didn't bother to mention that they would be leaving a day before the ship managed to get into orbit of the planet. They wouldn't even be passing each other on the way either since Kiev was coming in from the Senka jump point.

  “Or she's low on fuel. Or overloaded,” Irons shrugged.

  “He always liked a challenge,” Sprite replied with a suffering sigh. “I thought Io 11 was bad, then we got here with little or no tools to fix stuff. No offense chief,” she said hastily.

  “None taken,” the chimp snorted. He shook his head. “Just don't go bad mouthing my ship now that we've gotten her straightened out.”

  “She's a good ship. With a good crew,” Sprite admitted.

  “That she is. So you're going with this Kiev?”

  “Yes. I was hoping a ship would be heading to Senka but Kiev just came from there. Your captain isn't happy about doing a blind jump to the space colony since we don't have the nav data. Kiev confirms the space colonies are still there, but wont release the transit data or much more beyond that.”

  “The good news?” Sprite said with a smirk. “The good news is no one on board Kiev knows about that crap in Pyrax. And I'm keeping it that way. I'm monitoring the communications to the ship. Nothing is going out without my say so.”

  “Ah. Well, if you find someone has been talking out of turn, let me know. I'll gladly tie them into knots for you,” Bailey said with a simian feral yawn.

  “Deal,” Sprite said with mischief. Irons sighed shaking his head.

  “I can't say I blame the skipper for not wanting to do a blind jump to a system that was torn up by pirates,” Bailey said shaking his head after a moment. “They could still be around. I'd like to steer clear. One encounter in my life is my limit.”

  “I can't blame him either. Since the cargo hold is about empty of trade goods, except the ones I'm sending back and all that grain and wool Notuma traded for. So you are on your way back home,” Irons said shrugging. “Which means I'm going with Kiev to her next stop. She's going to Antigua.”

  “Hmmm,” Bailey said rubbing his chin in thought. After a moment he shook his head and tugged on one ear. “Nope never heard of it,” Bailey said with a shrug.

  “I have. I was there over seven centuries ago. So if it is still around there is some hope it will have more tech than Triang or Agnosta.”

  “Your hoping for another system to bootstrap like Pyrax?”

  “Something like that,” Irons smiled. In truth he wasn't sure. Antigua had been an agro world with a moderate space industry but according to the data he'd gotten from Io that space industry had been blown away in the war. They had a dense population and like Triang had a network of defensive weapons on the planet's surface that was most likely deterring the pirates.

  “It seems to me this is... I dunno each system you upgrade is going to be like the city states of ancient Greece on earth,” Bailey mused.

  Irons turned to the chief in surprise. Bailey rubbed his chin then turned his brown eyes on the Admiral. “What? You think I don't read?” he asked amused enough to let a canine tooth show.

  “Never dreamed it chief. Just surprised you're into ancient history.”

>   “I've dabbled once in a while,” the chief snorted. “Mainly out of boredom or a cross reference from something I was looking up... or to keep up with the wives. I hate it when they talk over me and get a patient look when I ask stupid questions. I'm curious if I'm right though.”

  “You are,” Irons grimaced. “That is how most of the systems were working. They were independent city states if they had any central organization. Most don't though.”

  “Yeah, that's true, every man for himself,” Bailey said nodding. “So bootstrapping them...”

  “Will upgrade their standard of living and give them something to export,” Sprite replied.

  “Which they can trade to other nearby colonies,” Irons said nodding. “They are doing that now but in small penny packets. One ship every couple of months or one a year,” he grimaced.

  “To trade you've got to have a surplus of something of equal value to trade for,” Bailey replied. “Most colonies are still living hand to mouth Admiral. So the goods will pile up.”

  “Ah, but that's where it gets interesting. As the Admiral said, upgrading the standard of living and manufacturing will cause an economic boom. Goods will be traded first internally, then market forces will cause expansion to new markets. But industrialization will drive down the cost of goods. Which means they can be made quicker and cheaper, and thus sold cheaper,” Sprite explained mischievously.

  “Not at first I bet. Someone's going to charge an arm and a leg for stuff.”

  “Of course,” Sprite replied in agreement. “Profit, though they won't see it that way. Start up has it's own costs, paying back the initial loan, and paying for the next run. But after a while as trade becomes routine and competition sets in, the cost should come down.”

  “Maybe,” the chimp rubbed his chin. “How are they going to find out about what is needed where?”

  “Same way anyone else will. By talking to people. Which will also get the ball rolling towards civilization again.”

  “Oh,” Bailey shrugged. “So they get in a rut after a while. How are they going to get out of it?”

  “It will have to change and adapt when we keep upgrading planets,” Irons replied. “I'm not stopping at these. Each will influence those around them first, and others will in turn do the same.”

  “Oh,” Bailey nodded. “But that just makes everyone a juicier target for the pirates,” he grimaced at the thought.

  “We all hang together or we all hang separately,” Irons murmured. “An external threat will force the systems to work together to rebuild each other and provide for common defense. For if a pirate is on your border, he can cross over to your neighbors.”

  “He got that analogy from an old grass fire one from earth,” Sprite replied dryly.

  “Huh?” Bailey said, brows knit in confusion.

  “Never mind,” Irons said testy, shooting an annoyed look up. “By working together they can protect themselves and each other. That will also generate cooperation in other avenues.”

  “Which will stimulate trade and knit the Federation back together. I see it now. It's all rather neat.”

  “It's a mess of variables. What if's are a pain in the ass to build a plan on. Supposition on top of supposition. If one proves untrue the entire thing can come crumbling down,” Sprite sighed.

  “But it's what we've got to work with right now. That and another.”

  “What?”

  “Well, do you really want to go back to the dark ages?”

  “Ah, I gotcha.”

  “The natural desire to make a better living for themselves and their children. Another factor we have in this equation.”

  “An important one,” Irons replied.

  Chapter 31

  “Got everything?” Bailey asked as he came out of his quarters. He patted the bag and nodded looking over to the chief engineer. His personal things were all stored in the navy duffel of course. Everything else was already on the launch.

  “Yup.”

  “You travel light. Like a spacer,” the chimp said with a nod of approval.

  Irons smiled. That was a stupid observation. “Been one for my entire life chief so I oughta,”

  “Sorry, forgot about that,” Bailey said with a snort.

  “You sure you want in on this?” Irons asked, looking down at the chimp.

  “Wouldn't miss it for the world,” Bailey growled softly. Irons snorted. They made their way through the ship to the boat bay. When they entered the Admiral felt a flare of energy and froze. Bailey did as well.

  “What?” he asked softly. Brown eyes studied the boat bay. He didn't see anything amiss.

  “Keep still.” Irons growled softly back. “Act like your feet are glued to the floor. Heavy gravity.”

  “Ah Admiral. Chief. Sorry you are caught up in this,” Miss Willis said, coming around the nearest stack of crates. She was dressed in a black stocking suit. She was holding a stripped down Briev plasma gun in both hands. He was curious about how she'd smuggled it on board his launch and onto the ship. She was good apparently. Too good at her job. Too bad her time had just expired.

  “What happened to Chloe?” Bailey asked, looking over to the boat bay officer slumped over her console. The white haired woman seemed okay from the brief scan Irons shot her way. Her vitals were stable anyway. His entire focus was on the assassin.

  “She's taking a nap,” Willis said with a nasty smile, glancing at the heavyset woman. “Don't worry, she won't remember a thing. She'll have one hell of a migraine though.”

  “Teserac poison,” Irons ground out, nodding. “That explains the mystery migraines Bryan ran into. It breaks down in minutes once it wears off.”

  Willis cocked an eyebrow and then smiled nastily. “You're both strong I'll give you that. That is at least ten gravities coming from that plate,” Willis said, walking around them. From the look of it she was lining up so her back was to a plasma conduit. No doubt attempting to conceal that a plasma weapon had been used.

  “Ah. So, you rigged the plate to go off, and all the other traps?” Irons asked, formally for the record. He could tell she had tried to scramble his communications, but she wasn't the only one to have cards up their sleeve. Cards he wasn't quite ready to play just yet. He wanted to give her just enough rope to hang herself good and proper. They say confessions are good for the soul.

  “Yes,” she smiled a nasty smile. “I had to come out in the open this time, since you've forced my hand by stubbornly not dying.” She smiled a little bitterly over that fact. “I'll say this about you Admiral, they made you a tough customer. But not tough enough,” she glanced over her shoulder to make sure she was positioned correctly.

  “I wasn't happy about the virus, I think my employers will not be happy when I get back and explain to them just how unhappy I am about it. But that's neither here nor there,” she shrugged aiming. She shifted, trying to get the marks lined up just right. She wanted this to look good. She also wanted to see Irons squirm before he died. He'd caused her no end of pain. It wasn't personal.

  “Who are you're employers?” Bailey asked.

  “Now, now, I'm not the ordinary villainess. I don't do monologues,” she said coyly as she smiled again and leveled the weapon to aim carefully. “I believe the gravity emitter will distort your shields. They shouldn't be functional.”

  “Normally yes,” the Admiral said with a shrug. “In this case...” His shields flared a bright blue as she fired. The yellow and white plasma bolt sizzled against the shield, energy arching down to scorch the deck and bulkhead. The air flashed, popped, and crackled with the discharged energy. Circuitry in the path of the discharge popped like popcorn. The lights flickered. Those near exploded in a shower of sparks. Bailey looked around wide eyed. His fur was standing on end. Irons glanced at him to make sure he was okay. He wasn't sure if it was from the static energy or stress of the moment.

  She fired twice more then grimaced and threw the cut down rifle down. “No matter. When I blow that hatch you'll be
sucked out into the dark,” she said. She turned heading to the hatch.

  “Nope,” Sprite said slamming the hatch shut and locking it with audible clicks and thunks. Irons shook his head as Willis paused and started to turn back to him.

  “As I was saying, ordinarily, a grav trap would have distorted my shields. Had it worked in the first place,” he said. He took a step as she turned. Her eyes went wide. The door behind the engineers opened and security personnel came in followed by the security chief and the captain. Both senior men were scowling blackly, holding weapons.

  Her eyes darted for the plasma gun she had discarded. Irons morphed his hand into a blaster. “Don't,” he warned.

  She licked her lips in uncertainty. “I can pay you a lot of money,” she said, glancing at the captain, then the others. Her eyes shifted about, a rat caught in her own trap. “A lot of money.”

  “Save it sister, we've heard all we needed to hear,” Bailey growled. The medic was making his way through the crowd of security personnel to the slumped Chloe. Security personnel in the front were holding him back, keeping him from getting too close and becoming a hostage.

  “So what are you going to do?” she asked hands at her side. Irons detected the item she palmed.

  He shrugged. “That is up to the captain. I am a passenger after all. I was the wronged party, and I am a Federation Navy officer, so legally I suppose we should hand you over to the local authorities,” he said. “Of course I could have you charged under Federation law. But I think the locals...” He looked at the stern captain. Ferguson nodded.

  “You mean in Pyrax?” Bailey snorted. “Oh hell no,” he shook his head.

  “What?” Willis said darting glances at him then to the others.

  “You honestly think we'd trust that den of thieves and murdering swine? We have our own code of justice missy,” Chambers the security chief snarled. His fingers tapped a rhythm on his thigh. “So, one shot at mercy lady, who paid you?”

  “You'll get nothing out of me,” she said, lifting her chin. “So you might as well send me down to the planet,” she said defiantly.