Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) (21 page)

“You
get the hell out of this ship's net and stay out you tin plated bitch!”

“Someone's
been eating their fiber this morning. I'd like to see you come in here and try
and make me,” Sprite said snidely.

The
captain cleared his throat. “Sprite, I mean Commander Sprite can go where ever
she chooses as long as she doesn't break any laws. Since we owe our lives to
her and the Admiral I don't see a problem with her here. Since this is my ship
my word is law.” He let steel ring in that statement, locking eyes with
Mayfair. The woman seemed ready to rant again but then she cooled as Willis
rested a hand on her arm.

She
looked down at it for a moment and then brushed it off. “Fine. Whatever,” she
muttered, clearly unhappy with the entire situation.

“Ladies
we've been at this for an hour and not getting anywhere but tired and more
upset. I suggest we take a moment to collect ourselves, get our minds back on
balance and review the contingency plans for this situation. Perhaps they will
offer a path for us to follow.”

“A
good idea.” Willis said, nodding as she stood. “I think we definitely need to
look them over.” She glanced at her boss, nodding her head to the door.

Mayfair
paced for a moment and then left without a further word. The captain sighed,
sitting back and closing his eyes.

After
a moment he began to rock back and forth and tap his index fingers against his
lip. “Sprite?”

“Yes
sir?”

“That
didn't help you know.” His voice had just enough a disapproval in it for her to
take it as a rebuke.

“They
had no business knowing what his activities are. Especially when they rather
callously do not want his advice, help, or opinion in ship matters at all. As
the Admiral says, what is good for the goose is certainly good for the gander.
Or... well, okay gender rolls reversed but you get the meaning. Since his life
is at risk I had no desire or legal reason to inform them. Also he specifically
ordered me not to do so.”

“Is
he doing something...” the captain paused, feeling a bit amused and a little
ashamed at his own curiosity.

“He's
taking the problem from a different perspective I guess you could say. He
always took the long view.”

“Ah.
Which would explain why my long range sensors are in heavy use right now.”

“I
thought you'd missed that,” Sprite said after a moment. She seemed chastened.

“I'm
the captain, I don't miss much on my ship.”

“Good
to hear captain,” she said with a smile of approval in her voice.

“Dismissed.”

“Admiral,
what are we going to do if this turns into a serious problem?” Sprite asked as
her attention returned to his quarters. “Admiral?”

He
held up a hand. She sighed and checked his visual. He was accessing files on an
asteroid just on the edge of the range of the launch. He grimaced as the
calculations came back. It was just in range. Without a reserve. Which ruled it
out, his cautious nature...

“It's
a go,” he said getting up. He'd just have to be careful.

That
surprised her. What was he thinking? Was he trying to get himself killed? Or
just deliberately running away from the problem she'd just... no he had been
working on this before she'd brought it up. He had something else up his sleeve
apparently. “It's... ah Admiral there is no reserve...”

“We
can do it.”

“Sir...”

“We're
going to launch in...” he looked at his HUD clock. “Twelve minutes and do a
burn. Snag the asteroid and get it to orbit.”

“Admiral
that will take more fuel than the launch has! It's a launch not a tug!” It was
one thing to do a snatch and grab with a tiny iceball... quite another to do
something in the couple of hundred kiloton range! Was he crazy? She did a quick
assessment and then felt annoyed. No, not crazy. Just determined.

“Sprite
is correct Admiral. Your plan is severely flawed,” Proteus interjected. His
eyebrows rose at that uncharacteristic interjection. Proteus rarely stepped
outside it's narrow field of expertise. “Upon review of the specs of the launch
it lacks both the range and impulse power to move a rock of that mass and size
in the allotted time frame.”

“Damn,”
he sighed rubbing his temples.

“You
took the most optimistic calculations? That's not like you Admiral. You always
have a fudge factor built in. Always. It's in your nature,” Sprite said,
sounding disturbed.

“I
know, I know. I was getting desperate I guess. There are a lot of rocks in this
system but none where we need them to be. None of the right size and
composition anyway. This is as close as it gets.”

“Which
is probably fortunate for the people on the planet. Had any been within range
of the planet they would have impacted. The resulting kinetic event would have
severely damaged and destabilized the fragile and largely artificial
ecosystem.”

“At
one time or another. And yes, some have.” He pointed to the holo of the planet.
“Not all of those craters are from the Xenos or the pirates.”

“Ah.”
Sprite checked the asteroid he'd been interested in. “Admiral this is more mass
then we can safely board on Destiny. It is also on a potential collision course
with the planet. Another two centuries...”

“I
know. I was trying to kill a few birds with one stone.”

“Or
catch one stone and prevent a few bird deaths. I'd say you were definitely
biting off more than you could chew here Admiral. At least with the tools we
currently have access too.”

“Maybe
two or more shuttles...”

“The
shuttles are already loading and prepping to land. None are available.”

“
Harumph
.”

“Cute.”
She waited a moment and then shrugged mentally. “Do you want to hear what
happened with the diplomats?”

“I
can guess. A lot of hair pulling out, ranting, screaming, F bombs, and
scratching heads?”

“Among
other things yes,” Sprite said, sounding amused again. He snorted softly. She
sketched out Mayfair's busy body attitude quickly. He snorted when she was
through.

“Diplomats
and politicians can be predictable. When things don't go their way they whine
and then jump. Usually the wrong way and then point fingers.”

“True.”

“They'll
figure it out. They've got the high ground, they just need to keep working at
it.”

“Good
point.”

“Which
your'e not going to point out to them. Let them do it on their own,” he said,
turning accusing eyes her way.

“Me?”
she asked, pointing a virtual finger to her chest. He snorted at the HUD image.

“Yes
you. Stay out of it. Let them handle it. Just keep me in the loop if it seems
they are going to get someone killed.”

“Yes
sir.”

The
captain grimaced as he sat in his chair. He glanced over to the observation
chairs to his left and tried to hide a scowl. Willis and Mayfair were there
once more. Willis he didn't mind, the blond woman had a talent for smoothing
things over. She, unlike the others, seemed to be a natural diplomat. Her boss
though... she was a queen bitch. The ancient term was Diva with a capital D.
Someone with power and purpose, but  in her case not a lot of knowledge of how
to use that power properly. Hopefully Willis would learn from her example and
not turn into a clone. Hopefully.

They'd
spent the past several days trying to convince the people on the ground that
they were friendly. He wasn't sure what they were doing, if he'd been stuck
down there he'd be heading for the hills with as much as he could carry and not
trusting some damn schmuck on any communication channel.

At
least now they were safely in orbit and didn't have the long wait time to talk.
Not that the shorter delay was doing them the least bit of good.

“Shall
we try this again?” he asked, glancing at Mayfair. She just gave a disdainful
sniff. Willis caught it but just gave him an encouraging smile. He glanced to
the communication tech and nodded. The young man, not his Gashg superior what's
his name nodded back and touched his earphone.

“Agnosta
colony this is Destiny. We have achieved stable polar orbit and are requesting
permission to land at Grid 435 by 768 point four. Please come in.” That was the
closest flat piece of terrain near the largest surviving town.

“What
the hell? Pirates asking permission to land?” a scratchy female voice said over
the communications channel a moment later. The captain sat up straight,
suddenly interested.

“This
I gotta hear. My son's been nattering on and on about you for days now,” the
voice said. From the sound it was distinctively older. Mature. Someone with a
lot of life burned out of them but still a lot of fight in them.

“Agnosta
control this is the star freighter Destiny, we are receiving your transmission
five by five,” the tech said, trying to adhere to protocol. He glanced at the
captain.

“Well,
yeah, duh! I can hear you just fine too sonny.” The voice had enough granny
qualities to make everyone smile a little.

Willis
covered her mouth as she snickered. The captain shook his head, lips puckering.
He tapped a control on his chair and cleared his throat. “Agnosta control this
is Eli Ferguson, captain of the Destiny. We're no longer under control of the
pirates. This ship was captured by Federation forces in Pyrax and we are here
to return your missing people and lend aide to help rebuild your colony. Please
ma'am, we are the real thing.”

“Well,
a polite pirate no less,” the gravelly voice came back a few seconds later.
Ferguson sighed, sitting back. There was less amusement in the voice however,
she seemed to be taking it more seriously from the tone.

“Ma'am,
perhaps we can put you through to some of the liberated slaves we've got on
board? You can then verify for yourself if you'd like.” He hadn't been sure who
had thought of that idea. It hadn't been Mayfair, that was for certain. He had
a sneaking suspicion who but hadn't asked.

“And
what? Believe someone who's got a pulser to the back of his head? Keep
dreaming.”

“Would
it be better if we sent them down in the first shuttle and let you see them
face to face ma'am?”

“That'd
be mighty fine sonny, you just come down here. I've got my hunting rifle all
set up and waiting. Ole Petunia will do right by me before you take this old
bitch down.”

“Ma'am...”
he sighed, rubbing his chin and face vigorously. “I wish we could talk face to
face. You only seem to have audio though.”

“Never
did say that sonny.”

“You...”
He glanced at the communication tech. “We're broadcasting a video signal?”

“No
sir. I... ah, we didn't see a need since they couldn't receive. Or said they
couldn't.”

The
captain straightened his uniform and then nodded. “Open the video channel as
well mister Sims, by all means.”

The
young man nodded and touched a series of controls on his console. “You're live
captain.”

“Thank
you.” He smiled to the camera. “Can you see me now ma'am?”

“My
what a pretty uniform you've got there mister pirate! Looks clean! Oops, spoke
too soon, you've got some fluff on your right sleeve.”

“I
do?” he lifted his right arm to check. “Thanks,” he grimaced wryly, amused by
the byplay. Obviously the video pick up was streaming in high definition. He
suddenly realized that the ground side station also had enough ability to
process the same. Interesting. So they didn't lose all their tech to the
pirates. Good to know. The bridge lift door opened and a head peeked through.
Ed turned and scowled blackly.

“Go
on,” a voice said, pushing a young black boy out. The youth was a teenager, one
of the kids the pirates had taken. “I'm right here.” A woman followed him out,
and turned, jerking her head to another pair of women in the lift. “Come on you
two. We don't have all day.”

“What's
going on up there?” the granny voice asked. The captain and bridge watch had
turned to look at the new arrivals. “I'm not important anymore or something?”
the woman said with a sniff.

“Nanna?”
the kid asked, looking up, eyes tearing. “Is it you?” he came to the railing
and grabbed onto it. His face was screwed up in emotion, clearly he was upset.

“No,
is...” there was a pause and a sniff and then cough. “Damn, you, damn you all.
To play such a trick on an old woman....”

“It's
me Nanna Jersey, I'm here,” the young man said looking around. The captain
waved him over.

“Come
here son,” he said, indicating the chair as he got up and vacated it. “Sit here
and look into the camera. I think someone needs to talk to you.”

“Billy!
Billy! Go fetch my son. Tell him to get his worthless ass back here pronto!”
the old woman yelled to someone in her background.

“Nanna
Jersey you know you shouldn't talk about my Pa like that,” Pidge said,
adjusting his glasses. He looked at the others uncertainly.