New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (8 page)

He shook his head. "Damn.
Stupid," he grumbled. That seemed to mollify her.

"So the Captain was...out
and about and found this ship?" She nodded. "And turned it into a
place for women to escape?" She nodded again. He nodded. "What about
the outfits?"

She looked down at her low cut
outfit and blushed. "Vanessa the Purser found a warehouse filled with this
stuff and... Adult toys." She got that out with another blush; even the
tips of her ears were red.

He chuckled. "I'll bet, and
that explains the mad rush to get new outfits." She nodded and got back to
work.

"Heavy worlder?" he
asked the blond heavyset guard. She was muscular, squat, and heavy boned.
"Huh?" the brunette asked, looked over. "What do you
mean?"she challenged.

He shrugged. "From your body
design I would say the three of you are heavy worlders, or at least descendants.
The genetic changes are dominant." They gave him a wary look. He sighed.
"Some planets had a higher or lower gravity quotient and early
terraforming couldn't change that. So, our ancestors changed the colonists to
better fit the environment," he explained. The blond warily nods.

“I'm going to work on a couple
more things here in this electrical closet, and then we can check in with Miss
Molly to see what else we should work on.” He fed a wire into a jack, and then
sighed when it sparked.

“Voltage regulator is fried
Admiral, it is spiking at double the acceptable voltage.” Proteus reported.

 “Great. Okay, it's going to be a
few minutes.” He started tracing the power supply lines again.

"So what happened?" he
asked Molly quietly.  She looked a lot better now that she had a nap.

"What happened when? Here?
We were..."

He shook his head. "No the
war," he asked softly.

She sighed, shoulders hunched.
"The Xeno's hammered us. Planets began to fall fast. You were there for
Nexus 3," she said. She gave him a sidelong look. He grunted.

Nexus 3 had been a nightmare. He
had lost a quarter of his ships to destroy the enemy fleet. But one bomb, just
one had managed to get through everything his fleet had to detonate in the
atmosphere of the colony. Nanite viruses, disassemblers, bio-weapons... all
spread like wildfire. It hadn't been like Tau Ceti, with the rock bombs, or the
strontium clad bombs at H'akata...this had been worse, far far worse. But
weapons like that on a galactic scale? He turned a bleak look to her. "The
Feds retaliated with nova bombs," she said. He nodded, a little surprised
at first that she knew about them.

He had been on the development
board overseeing their design, he knew what they were. "The first ones
went well, the Xeno colony defenders ignored the missiles and didn't even
intercept them when they went to the sun...and the sun consumed the system when
it went nova,” she said.

He nodded. "Quantum black
hole. Unstable, powerful, and it rips the sun apart," he explained. She
nodded.

"They tried to negotiate, it
didn't work. The Xeno's sent back the team loaded with nano viruses," she
shook her head at such stupidity. "They hit colonies with nanite
bio-weapons, targeting the planets. We hit back with nova bombs. It was a
slaughter. After the first few strikes both sides began to defend in depth,
eventually it took suicide units to break through." He gave the bulkhead a
bleak look at this admission.

"Defenses became harder and
harder to crack near the core worlds. Eventually the Xeno’s got the bomb too.
They took out Centauri, the other home worlds, and Sol with it," she said.
He felt the rolling tide of depression and tried to fight it. "They threw
everything they had at that, but Admiral Perry junior scrapped together
everything that could fly, freighters, warships, everything to strike their
home worlds too." He felt nausea ripple. Proteus and Sprite fought it down
with nanites and his chemistry implant. "We don't know for sure what
happened, no one came back," she said softly. He sighed.

The Federation was shattered.
"We lost a lot, but Admiral Perry gave the survivors a chance to
live."

He nodded. "Vince
Perry?" He knew Admiral Perry by reputation only. He had been a hard
charger, frontal assault type.

"No, his son, Perry
junior," she said, shaking her head.

He turned to her confused.
"He was what, twenty? How could he have been an Admiral?" he
demanded.

She shook her head.
"Attrition," she said quietly. He looked at the bulkhead and shook
his head.

"A few planets survived, but
they were devastated. Nanites were seeded in some of the refugees with delayed
activation, they hit hard," she explained. He nodded. She looked over to a
stained faded photo of a dolphin navigator. "When the Xenos had realized
we used cetaceans and others to navigate hyper, they targeted them," she
said. He groaned softly. "There aren't any left that I know of. Just a
memory now," she finished softly stroking the frame of the photo.

"Why them?" He looked
over to the guard by the door. The fourth pair of guards had gone off shift two
hours ago. He sighed. The raven haired hulkress gave him a cool look.

"The cetaceans and a few
alien species were the best at hyper navigation,"  he explained.

Molly nodded a little exited.
"See they could navigate without a star map," she said.

He nodded. "No computer
could match their flight skills. Explorer ships had them on board, mapping
paths between star systems," he said. The ladies nodded.

"See, when a civilian ship
jumps, it downloads the current maps of the path from its destination
beforehand. That is why ships jump from one known way point to another. They
are called jump points." The guard was scowling. "The path between
those two points are heavily mapped and  are kept up to date. So a ship doesn't
need a cetacean to map them." Her face clears as she understands.
"That was why it was so important to guard those points, as well as the
perimeter of a system,”  He said

"Also, why a lot of
cetaceans and Ssilli were in fleet. The ability to jump in from an unguarded
vector was strategically and tactically vital," Molly nods.

He sat with Molly and pulled up
the tablet. She was clearly taking to using the tablet now that he had
introduced them. “Let’s start with a status report. Okay, for obvious reasons
we can't work on the hyperdrive, power plant, and bow sensors. Exterior hull
too." She nodded to herself as she spoke.

"I suggest we focus on the
other sensors, as well as any internals we can," he suggested.

She nodded again, looking over
the list, and then whistling. "We can fix all that?" she gulped.
"That's a lot of work!" she said looking up in concern.

He shrugged. "It is a long
voyage. With the replicators we can fix almost everything on the ship."
She looked dazed at that, then began to blossom in excitement.

 He frowned at the tablet's
display. “Okay, life support is at forty one percent, we can do a few things to
bump that up.” She nodded. “We can also replace a lot of the broken computer
hardware, leaving it unplugged if necessary. We can work on wiring, internal
communications, and do a few general tune up issues,” he said. He scanned the
tablet as she looked up to him.

“If the replicators need material
where are we going to get it to make things?” Molly asked, suddenly
crestfallen.

He looked up. “Oh, we can feed it
broken and damaged materials for now. We will need a lot more material for
large scale repairs like the broken struts on deck three or the hull panel’s
starboard aft,” he said with a diffident shrug. She nodded.

“But where can we get the
materials?” she asked.

He smiled. “Not our problem right
now, let’s just get what we can done. Start small, learn how things work and
then go from there,” he said, trying to keep his tone encouraging. She nodded.

"So why such a big
crew?" He turned to Molly. "I mean, if only a handful of you know the
basics..." He waved around to the room full of techs.

"Well, some do, but most
were fetching and carrying and trying to learn when they could," she
sighed.

"Apprentice level," he
muttered.

"Huh?"

"An ancient method of
teaching. Someone would latch onto a master, someone who knew a craft, they
would have them do scut work, basic chores and such while they tried to pick up
the skills."

She cocked her head thinking the
analogy over before nodding. "Yeah, that sounds similar. A few like
Rodriguez over there came from a space colony so they know more and started out
better."

He glanced her way, then back to
the drive controls. "Most of the hands are for when we are loading and off
loading." Molly said, and then swore as she burned her finger.
"Darn!" She waved it around then popped it in her mouth.

"All hands on deck," He
muttered.

She nodded. "UM Hmm,"
she mumbled. He chuckled.

"Okay, the drives are
balanced for now; we can't do much until we are out of hyper and can tear them
down," he said returning to the list. She nodded. "Want me to get
started on the clogged fuel injector for the port ERCS?" He hefted the
tool box.

She nodded. "Yeah, if you
would. I don't understand why they get clogged!" She shook her head.
"Water," he said. She looked up. "The fusion reactor, plasma
drives, and ERCS all use the water from the tanks. A current is run through the
water to separate it into hydrogen. The hydrogen is used as fuel, while the excess
O2 is used for the air," he explained patiently. He flicked his free hand
to the air.

She nodded. "Oh."

"The water has trace
minerals and stuff in it that builds up over time."

She looked confused for a moment
then gets excited. "And the build ups cause a clog! Oh! I get it now! So
we need water that is cleaner!"

He nodded. "Or better fuel
like helium 3." She wrinkled her nose.

"Okay, I ran into that in
the manual, but I don't know what it is," she admitted. He smiled.

"Later. I will tell you over
lunch."

Her smile brightened. "It’s
a date then!" she called as he left. Work stopped for a moment, and then
chattering began to ring around the compartment.

"Did you hear that? Molly
dating the Admiral? Ew! That's like dating my grandpa!" He chuckled and
shook his head as he left.

"Admiral, from my database
files, people who have experienced stasis are prone to insomnia and time shock,
but you're carrying it to the extreme." He sighed as Sprite started in.
"Even you need rest, and frankly, so do some of your helpers. You've gone
through twelve and a half shifts." He continued the weld, then when it
finished leaned back as it cooled.

"Is it done?" A girl
leaned over the bar to see the weld.

"Yes," he said curtly.
He looked up and didn't recognize her. She was studying the weld. "Okay, I
am going to the head, and then we can work on the next project."

The girl nodded. "Wait,
head?" He pointed. Her expression cleared. "Oh! Bathroom.
Right!" She waved and reached down. When her finger tips came within a few
centimeter’s of the weld she yanked them back. "OH! HOT!" she yelped,
shaking her fingers and blowing on them. He stopped, shook his head, and then
continued.

"Are they totally
clueless?" he asked under his breath as he entered the head. The two
guards set themselves on either side of the door.

"Oh, some like Miss Molly
and Jennie aren't all bad." Sprite replied. "Give them time
Admiral." He nodded. He relieved himself then checked the water.

"Grey water is bad Admiral,
even for you. Try the other one." He turned the control. Blackish water
came out of the spigot.

"Okay, not good," he
sighed as he turned the water off. He looked for a towel, didn't find one and
so rubbed his hands on his coveralls.

"Admiral, power reserves are
getting low, you need to..." He cut Proteus off with a wave as he stepped
out.

"I need a drink of
water," he said. He turned to the guard. She nodded. He passed the woman
studying the weld. "I'm going for a drink," he waved. She nodded.

"You've been on a roll
Admiral." The lead guard said over her shoulder. "Plumbing, welding,
electrical, plasma conduits... What can't you do?" she asked, clearly
awed.

He smiled. "I'm an engineer.
About the only thing I can't do right now is sleep."

She waved to a girl dressed in a
maid's outfit. "Can you get the Admiral a drink?"

The girl looked up and nodded.
"Sure!"

He smiled as she bounced off.
"Water is fine!" he called.

"So, what's next?" he
asked.

The guard shook her head.
"Damned if I'd know, you’ve run us all ragged. Ops pulled the plug on your
replicator though; it was sucking too much power," she reported. He
sighed.

“Okay, so working on the hyper
collectors just got bumped up the priority list," he said. The girl came
back and tentatively handed him a cup. He took a sip. She smiled. Her teeth
were a little green and she had a bad smile but it looked like she still had
all of them.

"Good thanks," he said
with a polite nod her way. He downed the drink and then handed her the empty
cup. "Thank you," he said.

She smiled. "You're welcome!"
She bounced off.

"Why the uniforms?" he
asked.

The rear guard growled. "Why
not?" He shrugged.

"What ever," he said
and then  pointed. "This way ladies, we have some more work ahead of
us." The rear guard carried his duffel. He passed the girl still staring
at the weld. "It should be cool in another minute. I'm heading out to work
on the hyper collector." He gathered the tools he had appropriated or
replicated.

"Oh?" The girl looked
confused. "What's a hyper collector?" she asked, wrinkling her nose.

He sighed. "I'll be on deck
nine." He waved.