Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer)

by Hechtl, Chris

  "You mean the rescues and attacks?" Harris asked.

  "That yes, but also the Xeno attacks. When they hit Admiralty row with the nuke, it opened up one hell of a vacuum at the top," Irons explained. Harris nodded.

  "Nuke?" Standish asked confused.

  "Another story for another time. Get Firefly or our resident history buffs to fill you in," Irons grimaced as he set his cup down.

  "We still have holes in Bu-personnel, Bu-research, JAG, Bu-training, and Operations. Don't even get me started on Bu-Intel. Right now, I really don't think we need much R and D, and Ops..." Irons grimaced. Harris laughed.

  "Yeah, I'm it for now, I know," Irons answered with a tight smile. Harris nodded.

  "Any nominations to run personnel? Or training for that matter? Other than Matilda?" Thorby asked. "I can ask Matilda, maybe she would be willing to take a reserve post like me," she suggested. Irons nodded.

  "Good idea. You can pitch it to her."

  "Admiral."

  He looked over to Sprite's avatar. "Yes?" he asked.

  "We're getting an SOS. It's coming from the liner. She's been booby trapped but I just got a return on the bot I sent out." He nodded.

  "Show us," he said.

  "She's a star liner. Venture Carnival class. The White Star. Records showed she had a hive virus but apparently there is more. She's got about a thirty six people in cryopods," Sprite explained. A holo of the ship was projected.

  "They are real?" Standish asked suddenly interested.

  Logan's eyes were wide, then he looked sad. "Yeah. They're real." He looked over to Irons. "I heard about her. She's infected with a nanite bug. It's a sleeper. The people left aboard are bait," he shivered. Irons grimaced.

  "Any way we can get to them?" the CMO asked.

  "I doubt it, They're in the middle of the ship," Sprite reported. "In order to get to them we'd have to get a team in and wake them up. The nanites would infest them in seconds," she explained. “That also leaves the people themselves. We could be opening a can of worms if we get past the nanites.”

  "Not if they were in suits," Standish replied.

  "How can you wake the sleepers up and get them out in a vacuum?" Sprite returned. Standish paused then sat down head in his hands.

  "You're right, you're right. I didn't think of that," he sighed.

  "Admiral, there is a Ssislli as well. Larval. It was on its way with its ROTC class. Most of the survivors are kids. A few are ROTC," Sprite informed them.

  Irons sat back. "Damn," he muttered.

  "For real? A Seti Ssislli?" Mayweather asked suddenly enthusiastic. Naomi looked just as interested. “I thought they were extinct!”

  "Yes. I have the bio readings and compared them to ones in Firefly's medical files. They are real," Sprite answered.

  "Damn it!" Mayweather said sitting back rubbing her chin.

  "What about robots?" Logan asked suddenly. Irons looked over to him.

  "Same problem as the suits," Mayweather said dismissing the idea.

  "No, there might be a way..." Irons said smiling suddenly. "We'll need detailed blueprints. And a portable medical robot, something that can scan those viruses and upload the data to the medical team.”

  The CMO nodded. "What do you have in mind?" she asked.

  "Doing a little surgery of our own," Irons traced a finger right down the ship. Firefly looked amused.

  "All right Captain, let’s see how well this works," Irons turned to Mayweather who nodded.

  "Dan, when you’re ready."

  Dan nodded. "We've got precise targeting, I'm still keeping at least two decks and three compartments away. It's going to get tricky around the core."

  "Fire at will," Mayweather intoned.

  "Firing," Dan replied.

  Space between the ship and Firefly was pierced by invisible beams of intense energy. They seared into the ship, boiling away unarmored hull plating and decking. Firefly was oriented perpendicular to the ship, using her bow mounted grasers to burn through the deck. Tractors held the ship in place so it couldn't be pushed away by the impacting beams.

  It took nearly three hours to carefully cut out the slice around the sleepers.

  "Tractors Shelby. Back it out slow," Mayweather said.

  Irons watched as they backed away carefully from the glowing hole.

  "What are we going to do with the rest?" Janice asked.

  "Sun scuttle," Irons answered. "Just as soon as we're done here," he said softly.

  "Too bad, we could have used her," Janice replied. Irons grunted. She was once a beautiful ship, white, with red trim. Portholes peppered her sides. Her ventral decks had giant clear domes that covered pools and recreation areas.

  "Not now. She's too dangerous. Don't worry, once we get our feet under us, we'll make more," Irons said.

  Janice looked up at him then back to her displays. "You say so Admiral," she muttered. He smiled.

  "What, after all this you don't trust me?" he teased. She blushed but didn't answer.

  "Compartments secure. We've got it under tow. Robots have the cryopods on battery backups," Shelby reported.

  "Vital signs are good," Standish reported. "When can we wake them up?" he asked. Irons sighed.

  "One step at a time doctor." He nodded to Mayweather.

  "Rover is spraying the nannies now. Hopefully this works," the tech said.

  "Nannies?" another tech asked. They'd been spraying that goop for hours. She'd come onto shift in the middle of it and hadn't been briefed. Her shift was almost over now.

  "Nanites. Didn't you listen to the briefing?" she snarled.

  "Oh. No, wait, if there are nanites there why do we need more?" the tech asked.

  "You idiot, these nanites are destroyers. They’re going to find the Xeno nanites and tear them apart. Then we can pull those poor sods out and get them back to Firefly."

  "Oh."

  “So, um, why didn't they use them before? To decontaminate the ship I mean.”

  “I think we've only got so much. Enough for this,” the other tech said. “Above my pay grade and yours. Lets just hope it works.”

  "No nanites detected captain," Firefly said. It had taken nearly a full ships day to clear the entire cryo hold.

  "Scan it again," Mayweather said, not looking up from her tablet.

  "I did, twice," Firefly replied.

  "Scan. It. Again." Mayweather said tightly.

  "Aye aye captain, scanning a third time. Nanometric scanners deployed," Firefly sighed. “Estimated completion time one hour.”

  "You know you can be a real pain the ass Mayweather?" Firefly asked after a few moments.

  "I try to be," she shrugged. "I don't want any of those things on my ship," she said looking up at the avatar. “You can never ever be too thorough.”

  "Point taken."

  "How are they?" Irons asked. He was glad they'd gotten the crew off and safely aboard. It had taken a shift to get them through another round of careful scanning and decon before they had been passed to medical for decanting an hour ago. He glanced at Sprite's thumbnail report on his HUD but then ignored it for a more direct brief.

  "Not good, time shock is still causing some problems," Standish replied. Irons nodded. "We've got them isolated. the worst off were sedated. We've got a few we'd like you to meet though Admiral."

  Doctor Standish waved to a nurse who nodded," he's awake doctor." She motioned.

  "This way." Standish led him to a nearby bay.

  “Lieutenant Vargess?" Standish asked as Irons rounded the cloth wall. The Admiral paused.

  "First Lieutenant Vargess, this is Admiral..." Standish turned to Irons. His patients eyes were wide in recognition.

  "Irons. Well I'll be god damned. Good to see you sir. I see the rumors of your demise were exaggerated!" The man's smile was almost blinding. "So is this all a cover? This time junk?" he waved. "When are we going to kill the Xenos?"

  Irons sighed. "Afraid not." He stood there with his cap under his right arm
. "It is for real Lieutenant. We are all victims of cryopods." He shook his head. "Well some of us." He indicated Doctor Standish.

  Vargess's eyes were wide. "Damn." His face fell. "Shit," he sighed then his voice caught in a suppressed sob. "Damn the ghosts." Irons sighed and patted the man's arm gently.

  "Yes, we've all got them. They just got a lot of company now," he said softly looking around. "At least you've got company, Commander Logan and I each woke up alone," Irons said.

  "Commander Logan?" a nearby young woman asked. "So the fleet still exists?" she asked.

  "Of course it does! We're on a fleet ship aren't we rookie!" Vargess snarled, not looking at her. She stiffened in the bed.

  "Not quite. We're on a naval vessel, but the Federation and Xeno's fell destroying each other." They looked at him in disbelief. “The last shots were fired over seven hundred years ago. Both sides obliterated each other. Or at least tried too," he said with a grimace.

  "No no..." the woman started to wail. Standish stepped over to her, murmured quietly then held her when she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed.

  "I lost my world early on. My wife, my kids," Vargess said with a frown of distant remembered pain. Irons nodded.

  "Colonial militia. Volunteered for naval duty. Held up as an ROTC trainer while waiting for transport to central," Sprite reported.

  "Get that from his dog tag IFF?" Irons subvocalized.

  "Yes Admiral. And from some of the talk on the deck," Sprite replied. Irons nodded.

  "Well, we're offering you..." he turned to face the other bays, "...each of you a new future." He looked at Vargess.

  "With what?" he asked. "You said it was all destroyed!" His fists clenched, gripping the bed sheets.

  "Not exactly. A few Federation colonies survived," Irons said. “Pyrax is one of them. Her planets were destroyed, but some of her space colonies were left to die on the vine. They obviously didn't." He looked around the room and stopped at Doctor Standish.

  "Obviously," Standish said with a humorous smile. Irons bowed slightly.

  "Now we're picking up the pieces." He looked around. "We've been pulling the system together. We just salvaged Firefly..." he waved to indicate the ship. "And several other ships. A few weeks ago we fought off a pirate attack." Vargess's eyes widened.

  "Seems like no matter what the time, there is always some bottom crawler out feeding on others," he muttered. Irons nodded.

  "So, you've got some ships?" he asked after a moment, looking at Irons.

  "Yes. Firefly is currently our heaviest unit, but we're working on changing that. We've got a couple of beat up tin cans, a corvette, some gunships, and a couple other ships in the fleet, and we're laying the ground work for more."

  He looked around. "You are going to be in on the ground floor to rebuild the fleet. Right here,” he tapped his right foot. “Right now. Think about it folks." He started to back away but Vargess latched onto his hand.

  "I'm in." He looked down to the man. His eyes were clear. "It is not like I have anything else to do, anywhere else to go," the man said. Irons nodded.

  "Think you can handle a tin can?" Irons asked.

  "It is a jump up from my militia frigate but what the hell?" Vargess gave a Gaelic shrug. "Sure, I'll give her a shot," he nodded. Irons smiled.

  "Commander Logan has the pirate ship Damocles at Anvil rebuilding. She's a tin can, Arboth class. We beat the hell out of her when they jumped in so she's going to take a lot of work to refurbish. We're en route to pick up Fuentes, another tin can that's on autopilot and has been heading in to the system. But not until after we perform a final duty here." Standish gave him a look and slow nod. "I think you'll want to be present when we do it." He looked away.

  "Sun scuttle? I heard," Vargess replied. "Good. No one needs a Dutchman of that type of nightmare." He shuddered. Irons and the others nodded.

  "Right. Service is at oh-eight hundred tomorrow. We're towing her until then. Captain Mayweather is going to hold a brief service then we're headed for Fuentes then docking at Anvil Station," he smiled.

  "I'm in Admiral," a timid voice said, then cleared its throat. "That is if you'll have me." He turned to see the girl Standish had calmed down. She nodded, straightening under his gaze.

  Vargess returned the nod and caught the admiral's eye. "They're good troop Admiral, some rough edges, but they're good." Irons smiled as the group blushed.

  "Coming from you Lieutenant Commander, that must be high praise. Good to hear. Since you've got experience training, you get to help set up Bu-personnel and Bu-training with Matilda."

  “Lieutenant Commander?” Vargess's eyes were wide.

  “Yes,” Irons nodded. "You already accepted a commission in the Federation navy right?"

  Vargess nodded. "So I get a promotion?” Irons nodded. “Hell of a way to earn it though,” the man growled then shook his head. “When my colony went down they evacuated. We abandoned my Herkimer for a navy tin can." He sighed then brightened. "I wonder if Herkimer is still there?"

  Irons smiled. "Good thinking. IF you can remember her course and general location, give it to Firefly, when we check the system we'll look for her." Vargess nodded.

  "All right folks, let Firefly know what you need or if you also want in. Each of you will get an automatic jump in grade. We're also going to be looking for people to man some merchant marine ships, along with other duties." He looked around the compartment.

  "I'm not going to honey coat anything folks, this is hell to some of us. In this room and in a few other places are some of the last trained people in the universe." Several people sucked in their breaths.

  "It is a monumental challenge to get things turned around, sorted out, and back on the road to recovery. But we're not doing anything else now are we?" He looked around with a smile as the cheers erupted. He nodded as they quieted.

  "Right. Carry on. See you at oh eight hundred." He turned and walked out.

  Doctor Thornby watched the listless creature in the tank. It was a larval, more an adolescent then a preform Ssislli. She sighed softly. “I'll do what I can.”

  Waves slapped the catchers on the top of the tank as the creature rose for a breath. It's rear head crest rose out of the water to expose it's blow holes. It's nostrils flared and spat mucus and sprayed water on the ceiling before sucking in air with a long rasping sucking sound. A multi-octave moan came forth as the creature's head submerged once more.

  “Why bother doctor. Just let me die with my species,” the AI translated. She turned to Firefly and frowned.

  She looked at it for a moment then back to the tank. “That's out of the question midshipman. You are the last of your race. We have a duty to help you.”

  “Exactly. Unless your plan is to stuff and mount me in a museum?” the Ssislli's translated voice asked. It's eye stalks swiveled as the door opened and the Admiral came in.

  “Admiral on deck,” Firefly said stiffly. Irons gave the holographic avatar a look then nodded politely to the doctor and midshipman. He'd just finished checking in with the bipeds, he couldn't resist seeing their last survivor before he racked out though. Now he was glad he hadn't put it off.

  “How are you doing midshipman?” he asked, voice full of concern.

  “Why did you save us?” the voice asked. An eye stalk turned his way then nictating membranes closed.

  “Because it was the right thing to do. Better than the death of sleep,” he frowned.

  “It seems he's depressed,” Thornby stage whispered. She turned to Irons and grimaced. “I can't say I blame him given the circumstances.”

  “I can hear you Doctor,” the alien said blowing a raspberry.

  “That's Lieutenant commander actually,” Irons said. “She's on the rolls as a reservist.”

  “My apologies commander.”

  The doctor waved it off. “You can call me doctor,” she smiled a closed lipped smile. The eyes swiveled to her then away. Slowly the Ssislli settled on the bottom of the tank. It's usually
mobile spines were listless, resting on its body.

  “You need to buck up son,” Irons said coming over to the tank. He could sense and feel the ultrasonic scan the Ssislli did on him.

  “You're for real? Admiral?” the Ssislli asked.

  “Yes. A sleeper like you. I'd be dead by now if someone had not found my pod.”

  “I wish you had left me to die.”

  “You're lucky we didn't” Irons said.

  “Why? To live out my life alone?”

  “You are not alone son. We're working on it.”

  “On what?” the voice asked, as the Ssislli's head rose. “There is nothing to do.” His head rested once more.

  “Not if I can help it,” Thornby said scowling. “I've got every geneticist in the system working on this. Doctor Martel is already working on the problem on her end. Hopefully she'll have more to report when we get to Anvil.”

  “So?”

  “So we should be able to clone you soon enough,” the doctor answered.

  “Again; So. What?” The alien demanded. His eyes closed. “A copy of a copy doctor.” He shook his head. “Eventually the copies break down.”

  “Not exactly,” Thornby said shaking her head. “I've gotten into Firefly's database, as well as the medical college texts on Anvil.” She nodded politely to Firefly who nodded back. “With what we've got we should be able to introduce some variation in each clone to make for a stable population.”

  “Yeah, of males. And again, it doesn't matter in the end anyway does it? The genome will self destruct after three generations.”

  “You'd be surprised what we can correct with nanites these days,” Irons said dryly. The eyes opened to stare at him. “Besides, if we found you, there is no telling what we'll find in the void.”

  “It is statistically improbable that we will...” Firefly began. Irons waved him off.

  “You were a one in a million find. Hell, one in a billion! Yes that's true. But do you know if any of your kind managed to get to one of the surviving colonies? There could be colonies in the oceans and no one knows!” he waved.