He looked up and smiled. "Speaking of which... Kara, be careful with that ribbon cable, it's the fiber optic data bus for the port sensor feeds..." She started, and then settled down as she looked down.
A young girl came up holding the parts he had requested. He checked them over, and then nodded to Jennie.
Jennie grinned and took the top package. "The new...What did you call it? Processor?" He nodded. The girl fumbled the packages. He reached up and steadied her. "I got it; they aren't heavy, just awkward," she said sounding put out. He chuckled.
"That they are. Here, let me help you with that. He took the bottom package, an LCD display and passed it to Shandra to replace the burnt one at the console in front of her. Kara reached up and caught the MPU module the girl tossed to her.
"Easy there, they can be delicate," he cautioned as he gave the girl a reproving look. She blushed and handed over the electronic modules. He nodded. "I checked the computer; the next project is the life support on deck three," he said. The girl nodded. "You'll probably need a mech and a gravity dolly to help get it all. She gulped. "No worries, we can all lend a hand when we get this done," he said as he indicated the wiring hanging from various places. She nodded.
Kara plugged the module in and grinned. "There!" She started to button up the panel but he cleared his throat. She looked up as the girl left.
"Don't forget to run diagnostics," he suggested. She grimaced and picked up a probe, then sighing dug into the feeds to test them. He gave the navigator a look; she ducked, then looked back and nodded with a smile. He nodded.
The module was working, but it wouldn't hurt to have her double check. "How do you know about the ship and stuff?" He looked over to Shandra who was had plugged the screen in, tested it, and was now securing it to the console with the old screws.
"Some of it I learned as a child in school. Some they taught us at the academy." He looked over to the plaque. "But I took a shine to it when the COB on my first cruise explained it," he had a soft wistful look of remembrance.
He looked over to the girls. "I was a wet behind the ears midshipman. So new I squeaked," he snorted as they giggled. "They taught us early to pay attention to the Chief of the boat, the COB."
Shandra clipped the cover plate on, then took a rag and gave it a quick satisfied wipe. "What's a COB?" she asked, looking over to him. He chuckled as he finished the splicing and Proteus reported it was clear to close up.
"A COB is the Chief of the boat. The senior member and leader of the enlisted on a ship."
She looked confused. "I thought that officers lead enlisted," she said, sounding like she didn't believe him. He snorted.
"Of course. But there is a rank structure in a ship."
Jennie looked up. "Why?" He nodded to her work as he picked up the plate and set it in to cover the opening.
"Well, for one thing rank is a way to show who is in charge. Also it gives people a goal, to show themselves and others their achievements and career progress," he explained. He flipped the catches closed. The lower port one stuck, he fiddled with it for a moment until it caught and locked down. "The rank structure is called the chain of command. On this ship we have the Captain, then the department heads, and then each department has its own command structure." He looked over to the girl at navigation and cleared his throat. After the second throat clearing she looked up and then gave a smile and thumbs up. He nodded as he cocked his head.
"Okay, port sensors are up and running again." He checked Shandra's display. She ran a possessive finger over the edge. He smiled. "Nothing quite like a job well done." He nodded to the screen. "Especially when it is putting something back together." He looked up into her amber eyes. She stilled for a moment, and then nodded.
"It's like the ship is coming back to life. It feels I don't know...right I guess you could say," she said softly. He nodded.
"Well ladies, I have an appointment to fix the life support on deck three, so enjoy." He nodded to each, and then walked out. He caught them murmuring about rank structure with his enhanced hearing as he left. The guard and Jennie followed.
On Deck three he diverted around a pair of ladies manhandling scorched sections of duct work out of the ceiling.
Jennie swore softly as she dodged a falling tool. "Careful!" she called up, glaring.
"Sorry." Was the muttered reply. The guard nodded to the woman lounging nearby, holding up a bulkhead and sipping a drink.
"Waiting for something?" she asked with a lingering look. The woman turned and went back to making herself look busy. Jennie snorted. She was holding the broken bits from the bridge, she handed them to a girl as they crossed a passage. The girl looked confused, and then sighed theatrically.
They ducked around another work party, and then paused since the path was momentarily blocked by a pair of ladders and duct work being manhandled by a pair of women. "So what do you think your rank should be?" one of the girls asked as she stepped up the ladder.
The other snorted. "I should be a Chief of course. What do you think Wicki should have?" She shoved her end up into the hole. Her partner's reply was muffled as they ducked under the duct and got back underway. He had to smile. The ship's grapevine was like any other, faster than the speed of light.
"I want to talk to you!" the security Chief snarled as he stepped around cables.
He paused, giving her a long look. "Yes?"
She stopped, hands on her hips and glared. "What's this about you setting up rank on the ship and undermining my authority?" she stepped close, trying to intimidate him.
He snorted. "Hardly, I was working on the bridge and we were discussing various subjects. How rank works on a ship was one of the ones brought up," he explained with a shrug.
She glared. "So you admit you're undermining my authority!" She had her hand on the butt of her pistol. He tried to throttle his temper.
"No Ma'am, I did not," he said cooly. The Chief's lip quivered in a snarl.
"It's true Ma'am," a voice behind him said. He looked over to the guard. She looked down. "He discussed the history of the ship, and how the Federation military was set up. That's all." Jennie, who was looking away, caught the Chief's eyes and nodded confirmation. He cocked an eye at her.
"If you'll excuse us, we have work to complete," Irons said. She didn't get out of the way, so he turned to the side and stepped around her. He could feel the heat of her breath as he passed.
"Admiral are you almost finished?" He heard the exasperated voice but ignored it as he finished his weld. Unlike old traditional welders his built in welder used nanites and a plasma toroid to heat and meld the material together.
"Proteus, you have it?"
"Of course Admiral." He felt Proteus take over control of his arm.
He looked over his left shoulder. "I will be done in a few minutes. Why?" He felt the fatigue, he knew he needed rest.
Hopefully there wasn't another problem. "I was wondering when you would get some rest," the girl said, clearly irritated.
He sighed. "After this is finished I promise," he said. The woman nodded. Proteus finished the weld and pulled his arm back. "It looks good." He checked the thermal and ultrasonic read. Proteus blinked a green light on his HUD. "Yup, we're good to go here." He turned to the women.
One of them was holding his duffel. "After you ladies."
One gave him a dirty look but the other, Tara nodded. "Lead the way Delphi." The girl gave her a look, and then complied. They went down the corridors to the lift. "Don't tell me the brig again, there are guest quarters you know," he sighed.
"No, you broke the door remember? The Chief has somewhere more...secure in mind."
He turned and gave Delphi a look. She returned it with a challenging gaze. He sighed. "Okay." The lift ended with a jerk. "Gotta fix that," he sighed.
"Later Admiral," Tara said as she patted his arm. Delphi's nostril's flared as she passed him with an elbow in the ribs.
"This way," the other woman said coldly. They followed. Delphi led
them to an airlock. "In here." He looked. On the floor was his bedroll and blanket.
"I don't think so," he said. He reached in and grabbed the roll and blanket and tossed it out. "No, I draw the line at airlocks." He gave Delphi a look.
"She said here," she said stubbornly.
He shrugged. "Fine." He kicked the roll against the bulkhead, and then wearily knelt.
"What are you doing?" Tara asked.
"She did say here," he replied. He rolled the bed roll out, duffel to the bulkhead then laid down. He flipped the blanket over his side. "Night ladies."
They moved off whispering to one another. "We can't let him sleep there, what was she thinking?" Delphi asked.
"Do you honestly expect him to sleep in the airlock?" Tara responded.
"Hey, I don't want to get in trouble if she finds out he didn't sleep in there." Delphi responded. "Well, we'll just have to live with it." Tara sighed. "I for one am leaving him alone, he deserves it. I'd offer him my bunk, but it's on deck six," she sighed and looked over to him. "Let him sleep."
The Admiral had his eyes closed. "The lights are almost out in this section anyway. You take that end, I'll take this one," Tara urged. She nodded her chin to the other end.
Delphi snarled then turned. "Fine." She managed to kick the Admiral as she stepped over him. "Oh, sorry," she said snidely. He sighed.
"Quite all right, you apparently can't walk," he said. She turned but Tara snapped her fingers and pointed. The woman punched a wall plate then went to the bend in the corridor.
"The ship is looking so much better already!" the girl sent to wake him practically bounced as he looked over to her. He sighed. Too damn early in the morning to put up with chipper crap. Especially without caffeine. He eyed the girl then stretched. Despite the nanites he was a little sore, he must have slept wrong. He rubbed his shoulder and felt Proteus release endorphins and a muscle relaxant.
"And you are?" he asked. He gave the girl a long look wishing she would go away.
"I'm Leesa; I wanted to thank you for doing such a good job. But why are you sleeping on the corridor floor?" she asked. She waved to his bedroll.
He sighed, and then got an idea. "Well, the Chief said there are no available rooms, so I have to sleep where I can," he said as if explaining. He shrugged. One of the guards blushed. The two had been changed out in the night.
Lessa frowned. "Oh! That's not right; we have a lot of empty quarters! You’re doing so much for us, the least we could do is give you a bed to sleep on!" The girl's eyebrows knit together in thought.
He sighed a little theatrically. "Tell that to the Captain."
The girl's expression cleared then she smiled. "I will!" she said firmly. He looked up a little alarmed. "I'll just go do that right now!" She rushed off. He reached up, sighed, and then put his hand down shaking his head. He gathered that would be an interesting interview. He gathered up his gear.
"Admiral, you should know the airlock you were supposed to sleep in cycled in the night." He froze at Sprite's report then finished folding the bedding.
"Okay. Not good," he said. He finished with the blanket and rolled the bedroll up.
"Why don’t I do some snooping, I think from now on I need to keep a better eye on things," Defender cut in.
He nodded. "Good idea. Get on it," he sub vocalized. "Sprite, why don't you see if the Chief can have a few accidents?"
He tossed the blanket on top of the roll then picked the bundle up. "Permanent ones I should think?" she asked a little to hopefully.
He sighed. "No, just nasty ones. Nothing with permanent injuries," he said suggestively. He nodded to the lead guard. "Ladies. Time to get cleaned up.” He shouldered the duffel and pointed to the nearby head. The guard nodded. He stepped into the head and turned on the light.
His eyes watered at the smell. "Gah!" He looked over to the overflowing toilet. Not good. "Okay, I can hold it." He ran the water in the sink, wrinkling his nose at the smell.
"Admiral, she is about to take a shower, should I play with the controls?" Sprite asked.
He smiled wickedly. "Yes, but not until she is in. Scald her medium rare." Sprite's icon blinked in acknowledgment. "I think her gravity plates should malfunction as well," the AI reported.
"Don't get carried away."
He sighed as he washed his hands and splashed water on his face. "Don't drink it," Proteus reported.
"I wasn't even dreaming of it. Gray water...Hell nasty water." He shut the tap off and pulled a towel out. "Is there another head working? I'll have to get cleaned up before hitting the galley." He knew his implants would handle his waste, recycling it quite a few times, but eventually he would have to purge to make room for new.
“The head near the galley, bow side is working according to sensors," Sprite reported. "Ah good, scalded and floating naked and wet," She sounded satisfied. "Now for a stuck door," He sighed. He should have known better then to have turned Sprite's malicious side loose. "And let’s turn out the lights..." she said as she snickered.
He shook his head. "Never let an AI do revenge." He tossed the towel into the bag.
"Oops, she has claustrophobia...Oh boy, she's a screamer," Sprite reported a moment later. He grunted "Someone's at the hatch, yup, manual bypass initiated, she's in." Her head came up on the HUD. "Wanna see?" she asked. He shook his head.
After a visit to the other head and galley he went to work. The girl Jennie, and other be-speckled girl, Molly, the acting Chief engineer followed him around for a bit. "The security Chief is on her way...and boy is she in a snit," Sprite reported fifteen minutes into their shift.
"Defenses on line," Defender reported. He could feel the tingle and slight vibration as the shield emitters spun up to strength.
"What the hell happened today?" she said as the hatch opened.
"What do you mean?" Molly asked nervously, adjusting her glasses. The Admiral finished his check of the logs and then busied himself with the nearby patched control run. "What do I mean? I mean my quarters! The water, the gravity, the hatch, the lights?" she snarled slamming her hand on the console. Molly shivered.
"Accidents happen," the Admiral murmured.
"What? What did you say?" the Chief snarled. He looked up. Her face was blotchy with red marks that extended down her neck. Her hair was a mess.
"I said, accidents happen, like oh, let’s say airlocks cycling," he said firmly. He locked his gaze to hers.
"Don't try me," she snarled.
"Personally, I don't like accidents and malfunctions. That is why we are working on fixing things," he said simply. He kept his gaze locked to hers. "Of course, some accidents are a bit...more dangerous than others," he said locking eyes with the chief. Molly and Jennie were gaping at the two of them.
"Yes Miss Chief, we need to get back to work. We need to get as many repairs done as possible," Molly managed to recover and insert herself between them. He broke off.
"Yes, good point." He looked over the log.
The Chief snarled. "This isn't over."
As she turned and left. "Did she really try to kill you?" Jennie asked shaken.
"Yes," He replied.
"Did you do that? All that stuff?" Jennie leaned over to him and asked more softly.
He chuckled. "Oh, I wouldn't do a thing like that would I?" he smiled evilly. She shook her head and giggled.
"Admiral Can you show me how to fix the brig?" Tara asked him. He turned.
"Sure. Get a parts list of what needs replacing, and we can replicate the parts then swap them out. I would start with the hinges, bars, and force field emitters,” he suggested as he smiled. She grimaced. He shook his head at her expression.
"Okay, let’s start with the obvious." He keyed in the hinges and emitters. "Okay, they're on the list. Um...down a ways though I am afraid, they aren't priorities," he said.
She sighed. "The Chief wants it right away."
He shook his head. "I can get the hinges, but the emitters are a bit of a stretch, too
many competing priorities." He went through the menu and bumped it up. “Okay, the hinges and lock will be ready in an hour."
She nodded. "I asked Jen to get someone to cut out the old and patch in the new." He looked up then keyed in the video feed for the brig on the console. "How did you do that?" she asked as he smiled. "Military secret." They watched as a pair of girls used a plasma torch to cut off the old torn hinges.
"Okay, looks like they're doing fine," he said and then grunted as a girl squealed. "Oops, spoke to soon." The girl slapped at her arm where a spark had landed. Her outfit smoldered. She was crying. He tapped the communications channel and typed in sickbay.
"Sickbay, is someone sick?" the nurse Mindy asked.
"There's a burn victim coming your way, girl who was hit with a spark."
There was a pause. "Who is this?"
Tara leaned over his shoulder. "Never mind that Mindy, get the first aid kit out and get ready." She looked at the video feed as the two girls left the brig. "It doesn't take two of them to get to sickbay," she muttered, shaking her head.
He came in to the galley for an evening meal and stopped in the hatch as the sound of music washed over him. It was coming from a darkened corner. His enhanced sight easily made out the girl sitting on a stool strumming an ancient plastic guitar. The instrument was battered, cracked, but still in tune. He nodded to her and went to the replicator.
The girl finished the set and then took a sip of water. She wrung her hands out and looked over the audience as they clapped. Hastily he set his fork down and clapped as well. "More Miley more!" She smiled softly.
"She's good huh?" His table mate leaned over to him. He nodded.
"I'm glad some things survived," he said simply. He nodded to the girl and smiled. She blushed. Jennie came into the galley dressed in a red kimono. "Tea." She waited as the machine finished the cup and went dark. Carefully she took the cup out and took a sip. She looked over to Miley and nodded.
Her eyes roved over the audience and then locked onto the Admiral. She smiled and came over. "Moonlighting Admiral?" she asked. He chuckled.
New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) Page 11
