Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “I was curious if you were working alone,” Irons said. He studied her readouts carefully. He toyed with the idea of throwing names at her to see which she reacted most strongly too. He abandoned the idea almost immediately, the others seemed done with waiting. “But it seems you are the lone assassin type.” She flushed a little at that. From her responses she had acted alone. He was glad to know that, he still wanted to know who was behind her, but he was pretty sure he could guess.

  This time the Admiral smiled, turning to the captain. He turned back to the assassin. “You don't deny attempting to kill me and killing crewman Dallas and the others?” he asked.

  “You caught me red handed remember?” she asked with a snarl. She glanced at the guards on either side of her. Neither had moved within arms reach. “Just how did you deactivate my trap?” she asked, hands on her hips.

  He snorted. “You might have gotten around the bot so you could loop the video, but Sprite was there watching when you did. And you may have looped it, but you didn't loop my launch,” he said. He waved to it. She glanced that way, face cold and eyes flashing and then looked back to him. “When she detected the first anomaly she checked the feed from it. And lo and behold, there you were. You underestimated her.”

  “Ah,” she frowned.

  “The trap... well, I cut the power the moment you sent the signal to activate it,” Sprite said smugly. “Can we get this over with soon? We need to go through her gear and get back on schedule. Kiev will be in range in two days.”

  Willis's eyes widened. “Wait you...” she scowled. “Then how...” Her eyes darted back and forth.

  “All a trap,” Bailey said with a feigned yawn. He loved seeing the psychopathic bitch squirm. “One you fell for. Neat. Catch a saboteur in her own snare,” he chuckled an earthy chuckle. Willis scowled, face red in shame. He turned to the Admiral and jiggled his ears. The Admiral snorted.

  “I just wish we had done something like this sooner. For April's sake. For those you killed,” he growled a little as two guards came up behind the woman. “Just a moment.” He raised his right arm and a blue bolt arched out. She spasmed in place then fell to the ground. “There.”

  “What'd you do? Kill her?” Bailey asked as a guard toed the girl.

  “Check her hands. She's got something in one. A weapon of some sort,” Irons advised.

  The guards opened one tightly clenched palm. Blood dribbled out of the hand. A small knife was there between her fingers. The other hand had a tiny capsule.

  “Flash bang I bet,” Bailey sniffed. “Or poison gas.” He turned to the captain. “So what do we do with her now?”

  Ferguson studied the situation for a moment and then nodded, straightening and adjusting his uniform. “I take it you recorded and broadcast this entire incident?”

  “Still recording actually, I haven't broadcast it ship wide yet. I was about to,” Sprite said happily.

  “You can pause now,” Chambers said. “We all know her for what she is,” he nodded to Irons in grudging respect.

  Bailey turned brown inquiring eyes on the captain.

  Ferguson grimaced. “As you said chief, we have our own way of justice. One I plan on putting into motion now,” he said firmly. He motioned to her. “Take her to the nearest airlock and seal her in. I'll be along behind you Ed in a minute.”

  The security chief nodded mutely at the two guards.

  “What are you going to do sir?” Bryan asked, looking up from working on Chloe.

  “What has to be done.”

  There was a whistle from the overhead speakers fifteen minutes later. “Ladies and gentlemen, your attention. For those of you watching the monitors, please be patient. Those with children or weak stomachs are asked to look away,” the captain said firmly.

  Irons was proud of the man. He may be putting what he thought was his career in jeopardy but he was doing the right thing. He was standing up for his crew and his ship.

  “For the past several months we have been haunted by sabotage. A person was damaging this ship, killing and injuring this crew to perform a paid assassination. This was someone we trusted, someone we knew. We trapped that person a few minutes ago. You will most likely be startled and dismayed to discover the identity of the culprit.”

  On the LCD screens the feed from the Admiral's shuttle played out. A few people in the wardroom and rec rooms gasped at seeing little Miss Willis, the friendly buxom blond turn out to be a ruthless killer.

  “I assure you her guilt is genuine. We have her own recorded confession of her misdeeds. She has shown no remorse for the death of crewman Dallas, Zerek, Ciera Dawn, or the others. Or the injuries and damage she has inflicted,” the captain's iron voice ground out. A small window opened and played the events in the boat bay from minutes ago. When it was done he continued. Her confession left more than one person rattled.

  When the recording reached the part where the Admiral had stunned her it froze and the captain's voice returned, stern and full of righteous wrath. “And now she is going to be punished.” The feed cut to a view of the airlock once more. She floated there, looking around, a little muzzy.

  “Miss Willis do you have any last words before I pronounce sentence?” the captain asked politely. She flipped the camera the bird then looked at the outer airlock door window and gulped. Tears sparkled around her eyes, drifting free to float around her. To be spaced was a spacer's worst nightmare. To drift, helpless in a suit was one thing. Explosive decompression was something else. At least it would be quick. Not however painless to her, Irons thought without a touch of remorse over what was about to play out. She did deserve it after all.

  “Eloquently put I suppose. Very well then. Miss Willis for the crimes of multiple sabotage of this ship, endangerment of her crew and passengers, murder of three crew members, and maiming of four others, I hereby sentence you to death. Sentence to be carried out immediately.”

  She stared at the view port then to the camera. Mutely she shook her head back and forth. “Good bye and good riddance Miss Willis. May the goddess of space keep you. We don't want you, or your kind,” the captain said coldly.

  She gulped again, terror written over her features. Then a strange calm came over them. The fans in the airlock shut off and closed. She looked around. “The captain pressurized the airlock to twice normal,” Sprite said quietly.

  “Hush,” Irons said, clenching his jaw. The airlock opened and Willis screamed silently as she was flung out into the void. The airlock closed then cycled.

  “Sentence is carried out. If anyone has a problem with this you may leave the same way, or debark on Triang. I frankly don't care either way. Carry on,” the captain said. The circuit was cut and then regular programming resumed.

  Irons grimaced as the people around them began to talk.

  “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” Bailey said with a snort. He looked around, shrugged then downed his beer. “She got what was coming to her. Just wish we'd caught her before,” he said and shook his head.

  “Me too. Me too,” Irons sighed.

  Chapter 32

  “Coonies need a lot of love and attention,” Bryan said, practically in tears. He knelt and patted the pelt of the two. “Luke and Daisy will do you right. Just don't feed them any cat food. Or at least not too much. It causes gout in them when they get older.”

  “We wont,” the girl said, nodding. Her pigtails danced. Bryan smiled as Luke reached up and played with the bows in her hair. “Stop that,” she giggled tickling the chittering beast.

  “They are quite beautiful,” the pudgy mother said, smiling. The young boy played with Daisy. She yawned needle sharp teeth and then closed her eyes after a moment. “She's tired hon.”

  “Both are from prize winning parents so you'll have no trouble trading them. They eat bugs and small pests too so they will help keep pests under control. They are nocturnal, so expect them to be up and about at night,” Bryan said.

  “They are beautiful,” the father said, resting a han
d on the boy's shoulder. “Never did see a black one with white on it,” he said softly. He shook his head. “I had a regular one when I was a kid. But the last time we had a plague...” He shook his head, cutting himself off from the painful memory to spare himself and the kids.

  “They've had all their shots. I made sure of that,” Bryan said nodding. “I gave the local Doc more for later litters.”

  “Thought you said they're from the same litter Doc?” the mother said.

  “Oh I'm not a doctor. At least not yet anyway,” Bryan said straightening. “I'm just a paramedic. But I'm learning,” he sighed. “And believe me, there is a lot to learn,” he grimaced as they nodded. “But back to the litter... well, see when I was leaving I had my coonie Nara over there implanted with embryo's of other coonies. That way she would bear a litter that could interbreed if necessary.”

  “Ah.. What's...”

  “Later dear. When you're older,” the mother said, smiling down at her thoroughly confused daughter. The girls nose scrunched up in disgust then she shrugged as Luke tugged at her shirt collar then tried to burrow into the front of her shirt. She squirmed then shrieked a giggle. The adults laughed.

  “They do that. Especially when it's cold out,” her father said smiling. “Come on, thanks Doc, or Mr para... What was your name again?”

  “Bryan. Bryan Kelly,” Bryan said with a smile. They shook hands.

  “Thanks Mister Kelly. We'll take real good care of them, honest,” the girl said turning away.

  “That's all I ask. Take care,” Bryan nodded as the family moved off. He dashed a tear as he turned away. “It's hard,” he sighed. He looked down to Nara. “I know. You'll miss them.”

  She chattered and waved behind her then tugged at his pant leg. He picked her up, hugging her to himself, then walked back to the space port.

  “Admiral did you hear the news?” Sprite asked. He looked up. They were about twelve hours from their departure time. The medic had returned to the ship a few hours ago looking like he'd just sold his soul. He shook his head. Bryan shouldn't breed animals if he couldn't handle the final separation. Was there too much empathy there? As a medic he needed it. But as a farmer or in this case a breeder? He sighed. He'd tried to tell the young man not to get too attached. He'd been through this before on Anvil, you'd think he would have learned by now.

  “What?”

  “The Neo felines have made a deal to remain on the planet. They set up a territory in an uninhabited mountain range with a series of valleys in between. The area is heavy with game, but untouched because of it's remote location.”

  “Oh? Good.”

  “You knew.” Sprite accused.

  “I guessed. It wasn't a hard guess, I was pretty sure they weren't going to go back to Agnosta or Pyrax after all.”

  “True.”

  “I believe we arranged a present for them?”

  “Yes, they should get it when they land,” Sprite said amused. She wasn't sure about Irons' generosity, but since he was adamant about going through with it, she might as well watch.

  The Admiral had donated replicated camping gear to get them set up in a valley they chose as a base. They ran into the felines in the boat bay as he was loading his launch. Asia thanked him. Hera growled, but thanked him as well.

  “You are not what I expected Admiral. Not at all,” Hera growled gruffly as the others looked on. “I was expecting a poppycock Admiral. All wind and piss,” she said then wrinkled her mouth and nose and looked away.

  “Some people are like that,” Irons said shrugging. “It just goes to show, you can't judge a book by it's cover.”

  “Yes I see that now. You aren't a good looking cover, too little hair,” she growled. She turned away clearly amused. “But you have incredible depths. Filled with a generous spirit and a stubborn do gooder streak. Good luck with that Admiral. You are going to need it. The universe isn't a very forgiving place. And nice guys finish last.”

  He snorted. “Thanks.” She turned and held out a hand paw. He accepted it without reservation. They shook. She nodded. “Good luck and good hunting. To you all,” he nodded to the others.

  A few were nursing kits. They looked up and nodded. “You as well Admiral,” the nearest murmured, then went back to her kits. Hera looked over her shoulder as their grips released. “Lets go.”

  Irons watched them go. “Curious. You seem almost sad to see them go,” Sprite said as the Neo-cats left.

  “You're curious about that? I'm more curious about that crack about not being a good looking cover,” Irons said with a laugh.

  “Funny,” Sprite said. “So Kiev is going to be our new home?”

  “Looks like it.” He watched as their shuttle undocked. “Destiny is headed back to Pyrax. That's a dead end. For now. We'd be constantly harassed by this cloud hanging over me, and we'd be a magnet for every assassin in the system.”

  “Perhaps,” Sprite sighed. “Onward and upward to new challenges and adventures?”

  “Now you're talking,” he said nodding to her on the HUD. He turned and left the observation lounge.

  “I've copied the civilian side of the database for you. We've created a couple of cores. We're going to leave them with others, but this should help you if you need it,” Sprite said to the kid.

  Everette nodded, hand caressing the stack. “Hundreds of Petabytes of information. I can't wait to get into it,” he said, eyes a little glassy. He was looking a little dreamy. Sprite sighed, recognizing the signs.

  “It's not your personal play toy you know,” Sprite said shaking her virtual head. “It's to help you and other hobbyists on the ship. Drivers, manuals, tutorials, movies, copies of star maps, Encyclopedia Galactica, that sort of stuff. Plus a ton of other stuff I'm not going to get into. It will be fun for you to discover on your own. Like I said, we're giving this to everyone. The Admiral gave a copy of the medical information to Bryan and each of the medical personnel as well. Don't lose this. Or screw it up. Just copy it. Don't try to write stuff in there.”

  “Oh I won't.”

  “Read only. Seriously,” she said knowing the organic wasn't paying attention. She sighed giving the assistant engineer a dark look.

  Harry spread his hands and had an amused but exasperated look on his face. “I'll keep them honest ma'am.”

  “You do that,” she said. She shook her head. “There is a copy of every piece of software in Destiny in there. So if something goes down, this is your last line of defense to get it back up and running. Take care of it.”

  Harry prodded the kid. “Thank you ma'am. We will treasure it.” He prodded the kid again. “Say something dummy. And stop making out with the thing, you're freaking me out.”

  “Huh?” the kid looked up and then blushed. “Uh, Thanks?” he said then hunched his shoulders. His fingers clenched. From his expression he was light years away. Obviously he was eager to get into the data. The Admiral was right, a little taste of knowledge, or the ability, the sheer interest in learning and organics became addicted to it. At least the good ones.

  “Like a kid on his birthday. Can't wait to open the gift,” Sprite said with a laugh. “All right I'll leave you to it. You've got about an hour before we leave to shoot me any last minute questions. Make them good.” She cut the channel and went on to her next project.

  He shook hands with Bailey at the shuttle lock, nodded to the purser and the others there. “Another send off. From the look on his face I'm sure he's glad to see you go. What's with you and pursers?” Sprite asked him amused.

  “I've paid for cargo to be transferred to Navy command in Pyrax,” Irons said, ignoring the AI. “I'd like Horatio to get it.”

  “He will Admiral, you have my word on it,” the captain said with a nod. Bailey nodded as well. The purser looked like he was going to object but then shut his mouth and shrugged.

  “Count on it Admiral,” Bailey said giving the purser a dirty look. “Even though you've got two whole cargo holds filled with stuff,” he said shakin
g his head.

  “That should help them out,” Irons said with a smile. “Parts and machines to make parts. All key coded to Horatio and the command staff's implant signatures. If anyone else tries to access them they will self destruct,” he said, giving the purser a warning glance.

  “Right. Good for you Irons,” the captain said with a nod. He caught Notuma's dyspeptic look of annoyance and frowned. The purser schooled his face to a blank mask when he caught the look.

  “You'll most likely make the Agnosta run once more if they don't have one of the other ships up and running. I'm not sure how much my departure has messed up the yard schedules.”

  “Probably a lot,” Bailey said shaking his head.

  “I've got a feeling once you do a turn around in Agnosta you'll be tapped to go to Gaston and then to Seti Alpha after that.”

  “Oh?” the captain asked, quirking an eyebrow upwards. “I thought we didn't have the nav data....”

  Irons smiled slightly, ducking his head a little. He rubbed at his hair and tugged on an ear.

  “We do?” The captain glanced at the holo of the AI and then back to Irons. The Admiral nodded. “When?”

  “I took the liberty of copying it from Io 11's navigational drives when we parted company. Her entire drive actually, which you have.”

  “We do?”

  “It's in there captain. We locked it down in case of, well...”

  “In case we ever ran into pirates again. You don't want that falling into the wrong hands,” the purser said. He gave a nod of grudging approval.

  “Exactly. Don't attempt to copy it or write over it. It's protected.”

  “Good to know, I'll pass it on to the crew.”

  “Gaston is a nice planet. Agro world like Triang and Agnosta. They were just getting back to an industrial period when we passed through.”

  Notuma rubbed his jaw. “Once you've seen one agro world, you've pretty much seen them all. The faces and systems may change, even a few of the materials in and out...”