“You may want to stage your people now. Evacuate the non-essentials,” Irons said, moving warily though a group of people. Most stepped aside.
“I... there is no way we can evacuate seven thousand people Admiral. I... the shuttle can't handle that. Not in the time we have left.”
“Seven?” Irons asked surprised, slowing to a halt. A bulk carrier was only rated for a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty. Seven thousand though? Where the hell were they putting them all? He wondered. Where were they getting the life support?
“Checking files. Yes admiral, the crew in the main section is one hundred twenty however the cargo holds have been converted into habitats. I am estimating around six thousand plus individuals in there,” Sprite reported.
“Who was that?” The captain asked.
“My AI. Commander Sprite, Captain Chambers of the Kiev. Captain, Sprite.” He'd deal with her little oversight later.
“Pleased,” Sprite said dryly. “I take it the time for, as the admiral pithily loves to put it, 'dicking around' is over captain?” she asked.
“Yes. For the time being.”
“Truce,” Irons said shaking his head. Here he was the wronged party and the captain sounded like an ass. Like he was pulling teeth. He'd heard and experienced stiff necked captains but this one was a piece of work.
“What can you do?” O'Mallory asked. Irons snorted. Trust Sprite to have tied the chief engineer into the conversation. From her position indicated on his HUD, O'Mallory had changed course for main engineering. “You're an admiral no offense. I mean...”
“I'm an engineering admiral chief,” Irons said. “With AI support and access to a small military grade replicator and database of parts. I just finished rebuilding Anvil space station, the star freighter Destiny, not to mention the Io 11 and building a start up yard in Pyrax. I can handle a bulk carrier easily Chief. I can do it in my sleep.”
“Oh,” O'Mallory said eyes wide, eyebrows up near her hairline. “If you say so,” she said dubiously.
“Chief I've been an engineer for a hundred and four years. I may have been on ice in stasis for seven hundred and thirteen years but that doesn't mean I'm rusty. Besides, I'm all you've got now,” he said with a tight lipped smile.
“True,” she said grudgingly.
“We need your ship. We need...”
“Yes you need my help. No you're not getting my ship or her parts,” Irons replied firmly, answering the captain and trying to cut off his attitude. He squeezed through a partially closed airlock door and entered the main corridor to engineering. It was heavily patched. He winced at the view. The corridor had been breached more than once.
“Chief, please let your crew know we're coming. I'll need unrestricted access to your computer and your reactor. Sprite's been tearing into your nonessential systems, cleaning out the viruses and fixing what she can, but she couldn't access the core systems from my cabin.”
“You...” the captain froze and looked at the ops tech. The Veraxin looked up and nodded.
“I had wondered why the systems were running smoother,” the Veraxin chittered. “Now we apparently know.”
“Thanks,” O’Mallory said dryly. She wasn't sure about letting this admiral character connect to her computer net but what choice did she have?
“Yvonne give admiral Irons full access. Jerry get someone to clear those parts. We'll need them,” she ordered.
“Chief your reactor is about to lose it badly. A scram needs to be initiated now,” Sprite informed them. Irons winced.
“Yvonne what the hell's going on in there???!!” O'Mallory snarled, leaping over a box and then pushing a pair of people aside. “Make a hole! Get the hell out of the way!” She snarled, now moving at a run, ducking cables and picking her way along the corridor.
“Irons I'm sorry. We need your parts. We need your launch. There isn't a choice here. We're trying to survive,” the captain said. Irons grimaced. The captain sounded self righteous. In a way the man was right, he was responsible for his ship and those on it. But Irons was responsible for the bigger picture.
“So am I captain. I have as much a right to survive as you do. I know you're responsible for others but so am I. I will take whatever measures to protect myself and Federation property as needed. Now, if the pissing contest is over I've got work to do.” Sprite put a timer on his HUD. “I've got about a ten minute window to scram your reactor before it destabilizes and breaches. If you want to help keep your people out of my way,” he snarled.
“He's right captain,” O'Mallory said, sounding shaken. She'd paused to squeeze through the half open lock door and glanced down at her tablet. Her tablet was set to repeat the main read outs from main engineering. “We've got ten minutes maybe fifteen.”
“Then by all means go.”
“Admiral without the reactor we won't have enough power for life support. We're about to cut the power to the sleepers,” O'Mallory said.
“Sleepers?” Irons asked.
“Stasis pods. Anyone with a major injury or radiation poisoning was put into stasis over the years. We've got nearly nine hundred in stasis. They...”
“We're going to have to cut power to them. I've ordered it,” the Veraxin ops officer said. “However it will take some time to do.”
“That's a lot of people you're sentencing to death! Family!” O'Mallory snarled.
“Never mind. I get the idea,” Irons said holding up a hand. They really didn't have time for a long conversation. “Chief can your people scram the reactor?” he asked.
“I'm... yes,” she finally said. She tried hard not to let her emotions get to her.
“Fine. Tell them to do it. I'm going to my shuttle. Get the crew there to find some cables. I'll tap my fusion reactor to help power life support. Do you have a critical parts list for your reactor?” he asked.
“Um...”
“Get it and get it to me. Sprite will watch the net. Put it up in the public net and flag it for her and she'll put the replicator to work on some of it right away. I'll need materials though.”
“Um...” She cocked her head in confusion slowing down her headlong run. “I can get you some in a few minutes admiral,” she said with a shrug. They didn't have a choice they had to trust the man. He could easily jump into the shuttle and leave, but something told her he wouldn't.
“Reactor shutting down in five... four... three... we have flame out... cooling now.” Yvonne reported over the intercom. The lights dimmed. Irons heard a few gasps. More than one person started whimpering as the lights flickered and then went out. A few emergency lights here and there popped on, but they were weak.
His sensors reported the chief was coming up behind him. Warily he turned to her. He motioned the guards back with the weapon, as she approached. She looked at the stunner in his hands and slowed but didn't stop. The guards hung back, clearly at a loss on what to do. He's surprised by that.
He looked around with his enhanced vision and nodded to O'Mallory as she entered behind him. “Sprite sitrep?” he asked.
“Main power is down admiral. Kiev only had what charged plasma and battery power it had on hand to power the ship. Solar is out.”
“Oh?”
“Too diffuse. We're also in the shadow of the planet for the next few minutes.”
“Lovely. Chief,” he turned and nodded to her. “Can you get me that list and start clearing the way to the reactor? I'll need that material as well.”
“Your little ship can't power everything and replicate parts too admiral,” O'Mallory said uncertainly. He shook his head.
“Essential services only. Bare minimum. Tell everyone not to eat, eating uses up oxygen. Don't open and close any airlocks. Cut life support to any space not occupied. Cut power to the grav emitters. Cut the heat exchangers or dial them back on the sunny side. Cut back on the pressure if possible. Try to remain calm and keep a cool head. Tell them to keep a clear path from the bay to the reactor.”
“All right,” she said nodding
. Barry came in behind her. “Barry go with him,” she nodded to Barry.
“We trusting him?” Barry asked as he looked at the admiral.
“I think we don't have a choice,” O'Mallory said, looking Irons up and down. He cocked his head. “I saw what you did in the corridor, good work for such a short time and little to work with.”
“Corridor?” Barry asked, clearly confused.
“Corridor outside his quarters. Quarters cleaned up too I suppose?” O'Mallory asked.
“Of course,” Irons said turning to return the way he had come. “I wasn't going to live in a pigsty if I could help it. Ship shape and bristol fashion is a navy tradition,” Irons said with a half smile.
“I see,” O'Mallory said, nodding again. “Warner won't give you any shit. At least he'd better not. I haven't a clue on how to get the reactor back up. We've only had a flame out twice in... Well...”
“I better get going. Let the reactor core cool. Do what you can with what you've got. Get me that list. Start with essentials but don't limit it if you have to. Get me that material now.”
Yvonne came up the tube and paused looking at them. She looked at Irons and then to her boss. “Boss what do we do?” she asked near tears.
“We roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Irons growled. He handed over his work bag. “Tools and a cleaning bot inside. Put the bot to work cleaning. It will flag areas that need repair. Make sure it's bin is cleaned out when it needs it. Do you have a reactor bot?”
“One,” O'Mallory said with a grimace. Yes one elderly broken down reactor bot left. It barely functioned and was a bitch to control.
“Then we'll have to build or repair another. One is suboptimal for repairs. Get the parts I gave you going. Get the parts they were going to replace out. Start working on that.”
“We need a lot more of those force emitters,” she said. “Control runs are okay but we've got a lot of problems with...”
“Heat damage?” he asked. She nodded. “Carbon-Carbon can only deflect heat for so long before it begins to ablate under the plasma. Get a wifi link up so Sprite and Proteus can get in and help.” He turned. “I'm on my way.”
“Proteus?” she asked, turning back to him. He paused at the lock door and smiled. “My engineering AI. You really didn't think I just had one did you?” he asked amused. She blinked at him in shock. He did a quick morph, letting his right fingers flex and change into various tools and then back.
The crew and O'Mallory's eyes instinctively locked onto the motion then widened in shock and surprise at the sight. “Yeah...” she drawled, eyes narrowed. “Okay, you’re the real deal. No one has implants like that.”
“Told you so,” Irons said. Sprite chuckled from the speaker. He glanced at it.
“Admiral we've got a partial list. I've got small parts going in the replicator now. I need your authorization keys to...”
“Going I'm going,” he said shaking his head. He used a hand to stabilize himself as he stepped over the comber and into the corridor. “Fast track them Sprite. Full tray. Stack them if you can. We're going,” he said nodding to the others.
“Admiral we've got a problem,” Sprite reported.
“Oh?” He paused. He hadn't gotten far up the tube.
“It seems they didn't power down in time. There is some plasma in the chamber and they are losing containment.”
She fed him the readouts on his HUD and he grimaced. The reactor watch made a mistake and he winced when he sensed its tumbling stability. There was no longer time to get to the bay and off the ship. He turned and rushed past the guards and O'Mallory. He motioned her to follow and they run for engineering. “What's going on?” O'Mallory asked.
“Instability in the core. A plasma string was left behind and it's wobbling all over the place. The watch can't handle it. It's chewing through your repairs.”
“Shit!” she snarled picking up the pace. He was still a couple of meters ahead of her. People dodged out of their way.
They work out what they need to do as they enter engineering. She swung into action, issuing orders as the admiral turned to the reactor controls. He shoved a tech out of the way and plugged his implants in, and had his AI scram the reactor. The reactor pulsed, and plasma began to build as a fuel valve to the emitters stuck open.
O'Mallory immediately ordered her team to open the backup valve as Irons tapped the robots in the chamber and sets them to work. O'Mallory had been right, only one robot was functional; the other had been locked down to an implant override... He wasn't sure why and he didn't have time to think about it now. A quick pulse from his implants had unlocked it.
Stunned techs look in disbelief as the robots flash into action. O'Mallory turned to look at him. His body was etched in concentration, and his fingers flew on the virtual keypads. She turned. She could see the jack connecting him to the computer and nodded. She turned and berated the crew back into motion. The fuel valve was frozen open, welded by the intense heat of an artificial sun.
“O'Mallory if you can't get it there don't waste your time. Tell your team to shut the fuel down upstream,” he ordered with a flicker of attention her way. O'Mallory's face set as she parsed out the logic of the order and then she gave him a choppy nod.
“Do it,” she said passing on the order. The engineers complied and in a few minutes the fuel trickled and then stopped.
The engineer sighed in relief and turned to the AI to check on their progress. Proteus had the bottle's imbalance under control and was working it into a stable slowing pattern. The force beams were only catching a bit of the plasma as the ribbon passed near a collector, but each time it destabilized the ribbon a bit.
Proteus hadn't waited for orders. It had dived in and was busy balancing the surviving emitters in the chamber, and reported half were either jury rigged parts from hover carts and shuttles, or was at max impedance.
Sprite was disgusted about the engineering system. For once it was clean of viruses, but it wasn't optimized and the memory had a lot of errors in it. “A diagnostic and defrag would help. There are banks of ram and rom that are just trash,” she muttered getting to work. He pulled up a general schematic and grimaced in thought as he watched the AI fill in the blanks. A lot of sections were red or yellow.
Proteus had a TOE database going, Sprite was adding to it as fast as he was. Most of the things Sprite was adding to the Table of Organization and Equipment were not critical however. Those that weren't were going on a secondary list.
Quinna leaned into his field of view. He turned and explained as the AI highlighted the faulty emitters. “It will be at least an hour before the reactor chamber was drained, but they had managed to contain the damage. I've got the remaining pair of robots set up to scan the damage,” he explained, flicking the next order through his link and then turned to face her. Her face tightened in concern and bleak helplessness. He pointed out the structural damage and how the emitters had been unbalanced and caused the overload.
“Do you have those parts I sent?” he asked.
“We were about to install them.”
“All right. We'll have to do a partial rebuild. I'm not sure how far we can go. It depends on your emergency reserves. We obviously can't do a complete tear down and rebuild or replace right now,” he said dryly.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “How did you get the parts?” she asked.
“I'm an engineering admiral chief; I've got the keys to everything and just about anything built into my implants. Which means I can replicate the parts you need as long as they aren't too big for my replicator. And as long as I've got power and materials.”
“Ah,” she said, finally understanding what he had been trying to get through to her. Suddenly she realized there was a distinct chance of survival. She turned as they heard feet approaching. Irons knew who it was and turned his head to look over his shoulder. O'Mallory's face tightened even more. He snorted and returned his attention to the chief.
“What we need to do is yank out a
s much as we can and plug in new as quickly as we can get it replicated.”
“What about testing it?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Normally I would and I'd definitely recommend it in most circumstances unfortunately we're in a bit of a time crunch. You're going to have to take what I give you on faith Chief.” He shrugged and spread his hands. She looked at his shiny right arm, how it was doing things to the board even though he moved it. She nodded.
“Of course if you've got some of this stuff it will go faster and easier,” he said.
“Show me,” she said.
The exec, captain, and a group of guards arrived as he finished his explanation. He ignored them as he pulled up a repair list for O'Mallory. She began following the list with her finger line by line, as he explained.
She listed for him what parts they had on hand, and what they did’t. The captain and exec stepped up to glare at the Admiral. He turned to them and sighed, noting the weapons. The chief ordered the crew to get some of the parts, and then absently asked him how to get around the stuck valves. He turned to her and explained as Sprite accessed their cargo manifest. She didn't find the parts, but she did find two that might work if they were modified. He explained the situation to O'Mallory, letting her know what they were and where, and the chief sent a crew to get them.
Taken aback by their discussion, the captain crossed his arms and waited, fuming. The exec pulled him to the side and started whispering, and the engineer pulled up his audio sensors. This was a conversation he needed to hear, it affected his future after all. “Captain I think we need to reconsider how we're going to treat this situation. Admiral Irons is a sleeper. He's the real deal sir.”
“I don't give a damn who or what he is. I want my ship fixed. Get into his shuttle and get the parts. That's an order.”
“Sir. You need to reconsider that. He's obviously not going to allow that. But he is helping us. We can't afford to jeopardize that right now sir,” O'Malory's eyes implored him not to push this any further.
The captain glared at her. Before he could repeat the order the exec started talking fast. The exec described to the captain the changes in the corridor and room, and had him go with him to see, leaving the confused guards behind.
Ghost Station (The Wandering Engineer) Page 4
