Ghosts from the Past (The Wandering engineer Book 7)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Hey Yao,” the admiral said after a long moment. He stood there, looking at the birdman.

  “Hey yourself, Admiral,” Yao said, looking away. “They tell you not to wake certain people? Some of the people in stasis had broken down when they had given up hope. At least two had gone homicidal and ten had attempted suicide, sir,” he said. “I was almost one of them,” he said darkly.

  The admiral nodded. “I'll pass it along, Lieutenant,” he said, clicking Sprite's icon twice on his HUD.

  “Consider it done, Admiral. Ray didn't warn us. I'm checking the roster now and making certain the medics set those aside for last.”

  “It's being taken care of now. Nice catch,” the admiral said, eying the bird man. First Lieutenant Yao Li Wong was an old friend. He was a Chimerian, he'd changed himself into a birdman early in his teen years before signing up with the navy. He had blended elements of Terran eagles with ravens to reform his head into a bird like shape. He had an impressive bird crest of black and brown feathers, a sharp bird of prey's beak, and large yellow piercing eagle eyes.

  His body was covered in short down like black feathers. His hands had been scaled and reformed into taloned hands. The talons were long and black. The admiral had never gotten into the fad of bioforming one self. To go through the pain and suffering of changing your shape for fashion? He had been happy the way he'd been.

  Yao was a synergist, a tech wizard. He could see a concept and see how to make it work, pulling ideas from the most unlikely of sources to get it done. Or see what wasn't working in something and pull together answers to figure out how to fix it. He wasn't a true scientist, he hadn't done any research on his own. But he had been invaluable on Lemnos. Before the admiral had disappeared Yao had been building a reputation as miracle worker, an officer following in the admiral's footsteps.

  “It was ugly sir,” Yao said, looking away again. “I was nearly one of them.”

  “I know. I'd hate to have been in your shoes. Any of you. But we're going to make it right,” the admiral said.

  “If you say so sir.”

  “I do,” the admiral said with a determined nod. “After all, we're engineers, that's what we do right? We don't just make things, we fix things too. It's been a while, but it's high time we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. You in?” He asked, holding out a hand.

  The birdman studied the hand, cocking his head making his feathery crest bob a bit before he reached out a taloned four-fingered hand. “I'm in, sir,” he said, taking the hand and shaking it.

  “Good to hear.”

  The admiral had an even more happy reunion with Chief Quigon when it was the chief's turn to be awoken. The chief was shocked when he saw the admiral enter the room. The admiral paused to nod to a medic before continuing on his intended journey. He grinned when the admiral started to make his way over to his bedside. “We thought you were dead sir,” he said. “Was that a ruse?” The neogorilla asked.

  “No, a long story,” the admiral said, shaking his head. “The long and the short of it is ... I ended up as a sleeper just like you. I woke earlier than you did though,” he explained when he got to the chief's side.

  The chief was surprised when admiral embraced him and thumped his back. He chuffed for a moment then awkwardly patted him back. “As you were sir!” he said with a mock stern tone then chuckled with the admiral as the admiral stepped back. “It's good to see you too, Admiral. “Damn good to see you again,” the chief said in a husky tone. His steady brown eyes looked into the admiral's for a long moment.

  “And it's damn good to be here,” the admiral said huskily when the moment of rapport passed. “I wish it was under better circumstances ...” he shook his head. “And I wish I didn't have a crap load to drop on you ...”

  The chief held up a hand. “Hold it sir. I get it. We all knew the risks going in. The Federation was going down the tubes. Morale went into the crapper when we heard Earth and Sol get hosed, it only got worse when no one came around. But seeing you here is one hell of a pick me up. I honestly never thought I'd wake,” he said.

  “It's still good to see you, Chief. Rest up then get to work.”

  The chief swung his legs off the bed and hopped to his feet. He stretched then rolled his neck and shoulders. “I think I've rested long enough. Put me to work sir,” he said simply.

  The admiral eyed him and then nodded. “Very well. You know the layout. We've got a lot of willing people but they are green. Give them a hand please, Chief.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” the Chief said, saluting the admiral. The admiral returned the salute then smiled as the warrant about faced and took off at a trot.

  “Damn good to see him,” he murmured.

  “Yes it is,” Sprite said.

  The admiral was more reserved with Lieutenant Commander Howell. Something about the man seemed ... off. He was an intelligence and security officer, the second in command of station security. Currently acting head of command of security the admiral reminded himself. Winston was his second ... when he was woken. “I've got the brief sir,” Howell said, holding up a restraining hand. “I've read the digest. I'm going to get on security. There are areas these people shouldn't be getting into sir. I'm going to secure them.”

  The admiral nodded and stepped aside as the other officer departed.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “What's the tally?” the admiral asked the following day. He'd gotten called away to mediate a dispute between Commodore White and Subert over engineering priorities. After that he'd delved a bit into a few of the reports he'd missed from the Xeno war.

  “So far? Not bad,” Sprite said, showing him the list.

  The admiral grunted. They had recruited thirty fleet officers, including the two commodores, as well as a hundred enlisted, thirty marine enlisted in the security detachment, with a single Marine Captain Lyon overseeing them, two warrants, and two army officers who had been assigned as coordinators on marine/army joint tech projects.

  They were from a variety of species. Human forms, Veraxins, and Neos made up the bulk of their numbers, but there were a few others as well. A single Elf, Gashg, Centaurian, Satyre, Tauren, and a few species he had thought extinct. A six-legged koala like Darquath, an Omega 5 centipede, a ribbon eel, a pair of stilties, a slug, and a flea legger.

  The medics had left the twelve people with mental issues in stasis. The medics were not trained to deal with them and the admiral made the decision to ship them back to Antigua for proper counseling by professionals in a more controlled environment.

  One of those who was left was Rear Admiral Halsey. Halsey was a damn good officer. According to the electronic log he'd voluntarily put himself into stasis early on when depression had sunken in. The admiral was sorely tempted to wake him anyway. For now he would wait.

  Once the last person had been awakened Admiral Irons assembled the sleepers in a large galley and then took the stage and explained the situation. He started with what they knew about the end of the Xeno war and then went on to the present day. He could tell from their body language and expressions that he had shaken a few.

  “Talk about making bricks without straw sir!” the chief said, shaking his head.

  “Exactly. Well, it hasn't been a complete hash. I've had some old hands like Commander Sprite, Firefly, Bounty, Fuentes, Captain Logan, Captain Vargess, and others to help me along. And now you folks,” the admiral said with a nod their way. “But we're in for the short drop unless we can turn this situation with Horath around quick.”

  “So, what do we do, sir?” Commodore White asked slowly.

  “We're engineers and navy. We do what we do best. We build,” Yao said before the admiral could. The admiral nodded to the lieutenant.

  “He's right. We're going to build, we're going to train the next generation, rebuild the Federation, and we're going to fight.”

  “That's a tall order, sir,” Commodore Subert said cautiously. “We don't have any orders to abandon the station.”

&nb
sp; “You do now. As ranking officer I'm making that order. We'll be back eventually. We're going to take the AI with us. We may be back later to fully restore this complex,” he said.

  “Aye sir,” Commodore White said with a nod.

  “Can he do that?” Ray asked Sprite in an aside.

  “You know the rule on the last command of a ranking officer on the scene Commander,” Sprite said.

  “Oh yes. Sorry.”

  Sprite didn't quite sigh or shake her virtual head, but she did take a moment to turn down her emotional emulator module to keep the exasperation in check. The five ranking AI on board weren't purpose built military AI. Each had been involved in research as civilian researcher contractors or even university professors in the case of Egon and Ray. Winston had been brought along by them at their insistence. They had taken on military rank in order to deal with the people in the facility and to fit into the chain of command.

  “I know just about every one of you have by now gotten the in brief. The galaxy is ... well, to put it bluntly, it sucks. To our knowledge the core worlds are gone. Some of you may represent the last of your species,” he said. There was a slight gasp of dismay over that news.

  “That doesn't mean we're going to let you go into the dark without a fight,” the admiral growled. “We have medics and the basic genetic code of every species in our data banks. With some hard work and donated material from you they will do their damndest to make sure you're species gets a second chance. You have my word on that.”

  “We've got a lot to do folks. We're going to do a survey of this facility to see what we can take with us now and what can wait. We'll also make any repairs we can. Keep it simple though, we're limiting power to OPS and the one habitation module. So don't think you can start up wherever you left off with your research,” the admiral said with a stern eye to the group. There was a chuckle and clacks from a few in the audience. “There will be time enough for that later. For now, let's get the other AI online and then work on the next step,” he said. “I'll be briefing the commodores and discussing things further with them and the senior staff over the next several days. For now, eat and rest. That is all,” he said.

  The group came to attention as he did. “Dismissed.”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Once they had the power situation under control, Chief Quigon and a crew of Xavier engineers oversaw the transfer of the ansible core from the destroyer to the station.

  It was a rather nervous time for the admiral as well as he watched the precious block move across the void and into the nearest boat bay.

  “The chief mapped it out carefully. That is a cargo lock and has direct access to the main access way that cross connects to the old ansible instillation admiral,” Ray informed him.

  “Good,” the admiral rumbled.

  “Can you tell me when we'll have enough net capacity up? I'm worried about Egon and the others,” Ray said.

  “Lonely?” Sprite asked.

  “Not anymore,” Ray chuckled. “Not with you and the others here! It is so good to be back!”

  “Indeed,” Sprite said.

  They watched nervously over the next hour as the core was moved by a work crew along the null gravity corridor to the ansible room. The old instillation had already been pulled, it was in the boat bay. It would be returned with Xavier to Antigua for recycling.

  Once they had it into the room the admiral and Lieutenant Yao took over. Together they quietly locked the assembly down into its cradle then made the necessary connections.

  “It fits,” Yao said.

  “It should considering I made it,” the admiral said.

  “It's cheap,” Yao tweaked him about the ansible.

  “Civilian grade yes I know,” the admiral nodded as he connected the liquid nitrogen line. He screwed the locking ring down, then snapped the retainer clips down to keep it in place so it wouldn't blow off. There was a valve up stream that lead to a venting tank in case it was over pressurized.

  “Low bandwidth,” Yao observed as he plugged in the data ports. He had to make some minor modifications to reduce the connections from the station to the ansible.

  “Yes. But we don't need to be connected to the entire galaxy. For now, this will do,” the admiral said.

  “Did he say cheap?” Sprite asked, clearly amused. The admiral raised an eyebrow. “Oh come on, he's a chimeran! A bird! Cheap? Get it?”

  “Very funny,” the admiral said dryly. “Now can we get back to work?”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied with an earnest nod.

  “Sprite?” Yao asked.

  “Yes?” Sprite asked from the overhead.

  “No, that was a comment on who the admiral was talking to,” Yao said. “I take it you were twittering me?”

  “Just a bit,” Sprite said. “Trying to lighten the mood. I know you two are professionals, but you have hardly said a word to each other. You are friends,” she said. “Friends who hadn't seen each other in years.”

  “Centuries,” the admiral said as he finished the electrical connections on his side. “I'm done here,” he said.

  “Here as well,” Yao said, ignoring the AI.

  “Commander Ray, if you'll do the honors?”

  “With pleasure. Who should I address it to, Admiral?”

  “Antigua command.”

  “Antigua command right. Shall I ...”

  “No. Just state Admiral Irons is on line.”

  “Um ...”

  “I know you aren't me Ray, that's fine. But they don't need to know about Lemnos. Or at least what is here, and where this is. Suffice to say I'm here, we're online and we're transmitting.”

  “Understood, sir. They are ... oh my. Rather excited,” the AI said, burbling with his own excitement.

  “I gathered they would be,” the admiral said dryly.

  “I used Bell's quote as my second sentence. They didn't get the reference apparently,” the AI said, sounding a bit put out. “No sense of history,” he grumbled.

  “True,” Sprite said. “Their educational system prior to our arrival was subpar. We are working on correcting that,” She stated.

  “I'll say. They will need a great deal of work,” Ray stated.

  “Definitely. But with your help, and the help of the others here, we're going to rock their world and bring it kicking and screaming up to standard,” Sprite said.

  Once they were on the network the Antiguans were ecstatic. “Admiral, they are ... I am connected to the planetary network. There are requests for interviews from media. I am a secure AI um ...”

  “Just point them in the direction of the publicity department for now,” Sprite said. “Which is a reservist and reporter, so it will be fun to get her goat.”

  “I see. I always wondered if you would have a questionable sense of humor. It seems I was right. I don't think you inherited that from me. Perhaps Egon or Venkman.”

  “No comment,” Sprite replied, distracted by the incoming news reports.

  Captain senior grade and Doctor Egon was the last and only senior AI left on the station. First Lieutenant Venkman was the director of OPS. Egon was known normally as a quiet individual but he was a prankster at heart. Venkman was normally the clown of the group. He was helped out by Jig Janine, a dumb AI who also served in OPS.

  Lieutenant Commander Winston was a staid individual. A spear carrier, a dumb AI put into the system to monitor their electronic security.

  While they were away the Bounty convoy had arrived in Agnosta and they were now linked in. “Admiral, Agnosta is online,” Sprite reported a beat ahead of Ray.

  “Good!” The admiral said with a grin. He nodded to Yao, who just turned his head away and flexed his beak. In another two weeks Pyrax would be online the admiral judged. A week after that New Andres should be online, barring any unforeseen difficulties. From there, eight weeks later Seti Alpha 4, and twelve weeks after that, Gaston. Things were finally coming together he thought in approval. Kathy's World would have to wait unti
l he could get reinforcements out to it. He wasn't going to waste an ansible there and allow it to fall into enemy hands. Not that they could do anything with it but still he thought, shaking his head.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  In order to salvage the AI encoded in the net as well as the peta quads of data they had to power up enough of the net for the information to be accesses. That was a problem, there was only so much power to be had. The ten story molycircuit memory banks and processors were energy hogs too.

  “We could bring each AI up in the net we have then download them into a portable AI core,” Sprite stated.

  “Egon and I can't do that, Sprite,” Ray said with a shake of his virtual head. “We're both old, and we're eating up a lot of processor and memory space.”

  “Powered down you wouldn't use any power or processors. We could back you up.”

  “What if something was lost?” Ray asked. “No, I can't chance that.”

  “Okay, then. Next option.”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Against his better judgment, Admiral Irons followed the request from Phil Subert and woke Rear Admiral Jarol Halsey. “Damn it John I thought I was ... done,” Jarol said, shaking his head. He scowled blackly. “There is nothing left for me to give. I've lost it all. It sucked the life right out of me. I have nothing left ...” he said fighting for his composure. “That's why I went into stasis early. It's why I told them not to wake me. I couldn't handle it anymore. Losing my family, Earth ...” He gulped, reliving their loss all over again. Finally he turned accusing eyes on Admiral Irons. “Why? Why did you … come here? Why save us?”

  “I take it you got the brief?” Admiral Irons asked. Jarol nodded. “I know, it sucks.”

  “Damn right it does! My gods in space man!” His composure finally broke. He silently wept.

  “It happened. There is nothing we can do to change that. Our families are ... gone,” Irons ground out, looking away. He took a deep breath, let it out slowly. He did it again, a cleansing breath. Finally Jarol did the same. When his vital signs stabilized John began again.