New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (29 page)

"Boss, you want us to come
too?" one of his team called. "No, stay and finish up there. Watch
for that stuck bolt, don't try too much force or you could tumble when it gets
loose. Use a cutter to break it if you have to and then retap," he said as
he panted as he moved. A fan came on, drying the sweat on his face.
"Plasma cloud dissipating, I'm getting their locater beacons now. The team
is okay. We had one Dutchman, recovering now," Molly reported. He sighed
in relief.

"What happened? You said
something about a plasma breach?" Molly asked.

"Is there a bleed anywhere
on the starboard side Molly?" he asked.

"Yes, now that you mention
it. I'm locking it down now." He caught sight of the team. Some were
upright; a few were flat and supine drifting about until their tethers locked.

"Status report." The
com channel crackled and popped.

He could hear garbled chatter,
and a few girls crying. "I can't see!" He reached the nearest floater
and caught a flaying arm. She began to scream.

"Relax it is me, just
relax," he said soothingly. He pulled her down to the deck. He clipped her
safety line to the deck as she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed.
"You're okay, just take a minute to get your breath." Her suit shook.
He looked over to the others. Gena's team had arrived and were pulling the
others down. "All right, get them to the airlock. The plasma burst
probably fried some of their suit systems."

He changed channels. "Molly,
have the doc and nurse ready in case of injuries." He watched as the cloud
of plasma spread out along the hull. Since the ship had a slight roll, it was
twisting around. "Bridge this is the Admiral, we've had a plasma burst on
this side. Recommend you do an OMS burn starboard side to get clear of the
cloud after all parties are inside," he urged.

The Captain's voice came on after
a moment. "Suggestion approved. Injuries?" she had a note of concern
in her voice.

 "Too soon to tell Captain,
maybe a few minor injuries, no casualties," he replied. Most of the girls
were oriented and being escorted to the lock. Gena gave him a thumbs up.

In the airlock he watched as Gena
and Jennie helped Nancy out of her helmet. The girl had a serious case of the
shakes. "You're okay, you’re safe now," Jennie said and patted her
arm.

She clutched at it for a moment,
and then eased. "Goddess that was scary! One moment nothing and then boom!
That blinding flash!"

She shook. "You’re lucky
your suit's polarity shifted or you would have been blinded," Rodriguez
called. He nodded.

Molly was standing nearby. The
doc and nurse were going through Nancy and Gena's teams one by one. "I
haven't run into any broken bones or serious injuries, looks like a few pulled
muscles and one dislocated shoulder so far. They were lucky," the doc
said, not looking up. Molly rang her hands. A girl clutching her shoulder
rocked back and forth, groaning softly.

The Admiral noted his team coming
in through the boat bay lock. "Pod's in the boat bay Admiral," a
radio tech said.

He opened the channel. "Good
work. Take a break for a moment." He looked over to Rodriguez. She
shrugged.

Jennie nodded. "I want to
get back out there too.”

He nodded and looked over to a
waiting tech. "Call cookie in the mess deck, ask her if she could send
over a platter of sandwiches and some drinks," he ordered. The tech nodded
and softly spoke into her com. "Okay take off your helmets and plug in
people, get some down time. We'll be going back out in thirty."

Tatiana's team scowled, but
obeyed. "I want to go," Nancy spoke quietly.

He nodded. "If you think
you're up for it, your suit clears, and doc gives the go ahead, no
problem," he said. The best medicine for her to get over the shakes was
another go around. He knew it from experience, you had to get back onto the
horse or spend the rest of your life running from it. She nodded and went over
to plug in.

"Don't you think she should
wait a while?" Jennie leaned over asking softly so the others wouldn't
pick it up.

He shook his head. "Best
thing for her is to get back on the horse as fast as possible,” he said.

She looked confused. "What's
a horse?" he chuckled at her expression.

"Beast of burden."

"Oh,” she said, wrinkling
her nose.

"The expression means it's
best to get back to the job before you can think about it too much and start to
worry," he explained. She nodded as she watched Nancy set her helmet down
and then plug in. Her movements were steady. "I think she'll be
okay." He wiggled his hand back and forth. "She had a scare, but
isn't letting it throw her off. Good example for the others too." Jennie nodded.

"We'll get what we can do
now. We have fifteen days after all. I can do a few walks every shift and watch
over things, once the rest get some experience we can divide into shift teams
and keep a team or two out every shift," Irons said, laying out his plan.
Rodriguez nodded.

Molly came over and touched his
arm. "The first shield pod Jennie pulled has been torn down. We should
have it rebuilt in a couple hours. The patches are in the bay now," she
said.

He nodded. "So, let’s focus
on fixing the hull and survey work for the next walk. I'll tear down a couple
more broken pods with my team.”

Jennie raised her hand. "I
can do that too. I mean, if that's okay," she said.

He nodded. "That leaves you
on welding and survey detail Rodriguez," he said.

She groaned softly. He could tell
she was kidding. "Why do I always get the boring stuff?"

Molly looked concerned. "We
could always switch..."

She shook her head. "It's
fine Molly really." She hid her smile as Molly looked away and played with
her glasses. "I'll keep Nancy and her team with me." A noise made
them look over to the left. A tray of food and a pair of women came around the
corner with a clatter and curse.

"Lunch is served,"
Molly said getting out of the way.

"Admiral to the bridge,
second space walk will commence in five minutes," he reported in,
embarrassed he hadn't sooner.

"What again?" Shandra
said in the background.

"Isn't it too
dangerous?" another voice called.

"Quiet," the Captain
ordered. "I checked with the doctor, two injured and three with suit
malfunctions. Are the others okay with going out again?" her voice ground
out. He looked around. Several nodded, a few gave thumbs up.

"Ready and willing Captain.
We have a ship to fix," he replied.

She cleared her throat. "Get
on it then." The channel closed with a click.

"All right ladies, you heard
the Captain, time to rock and roll," Rodriguez called over the crew,
flashing a tight grin. She slapped the side of her helmet and then put it on.
They had trooped down to the starboard airlock after lunch and the injured had
been escorted out.

The bay was full, the three
craft, two shield pods, parts, equipment, and suited workers were a little bit
of a tight fit. Each of the shield pods were the size of a small shuttle.
Jennie's was already partially stripped down. His was a write off. Everything
not going out with the workers was strapped down. Rodriguez checked her suit.
Then her partner's and then looked over the panels.

"Great mullah, this is going
to be fun. If my family could only see me now," she said. She attached a
gripper to a section of the biggest plate, then another a meter apart.
"Everyone on gripper detail set your grippers and triple check them and
your clearances. Then plan your moves with your team. Let’s get this right the
first time ladies," Rodriguez called over.

"Well cut the gravity after
the air is removed," Robin called.

"What's this?" Jennie
leaned over and took a close look at a girl's suit arm.

"What?" the girl asked.

"Your suit is breached. Left
arm," Rodriguez looked up, turned and stomped over to them. She grabbed
the offending arm, took a close look then turned and glared at the woman's
buddy.

Her face fell. "Sorry. Must
have missed it," she mumbled.

 Rodriguez held the glare,
swelling. The Admiral walked up behind her and brushed her hand aside.
"May I see?" He took a quick look and then nodded. "It didn't
breech all the way through, just the outer skin." He held her with his
left hand and placed his right palm over the rip.

"What are you doing?"
The girl asked, trying to look.

"Hold still," he
ordered.

"Proteus, suit repair,"
he sub vocalized.

"What did you say?"

"Sometimes I say the
commands I need to get my implants to work,” he replied. He concentrated and
watched the flow of nanites swarming over his hand and the rips. Proteus had
them highlighted and magnified; he would never have been able to see them even
with his enhanced vision.

"Repairs complete,"
Proteus reported.

"Okay there." He pulled
his hand away. The rip was gone.

"What, how'd you do
that?"

He shrugged. "Explain later,
let’s get to work. Everyone double check your partner now!" Rodriguez
turned and ended that statement with a glare. Fabric and plastic rustled as
they hastily obeyed. Murmurs of orders and complaints. "Hey not so rough!
That tickles!"

She nodded as each person gave
her a thumbs up. "Okay, by the numbers ladies.”

"Not bad," Rodriguez
wiped sweat from her brow a few hours later. It had been a very productive
shift.

"We need sweat bands,"
Jennie said, unlocking her helmet and then setting it on the rack. She took a
towel off the peg and wiped her face. "I kept getting sweat in my eyes. It
burns." Her face was red, tear lines were down her cheeks.

 "Did you get it done
though?" Nancy looked over to her.

"Yup! It works nicely too.
Ops is reconfiguring the shields now!" she grinned and so did most of her
team. The group perked up, slapping each other on the shoulders.

The Admiral nodded.
"Ahem." He turned to Rodriguez who looked at him then tossed her head
to the hatch. A few of the girls were looking at him.

He snorted in sudden
understanding. "I'll just give you some privacy. Don't forget to shower
ladies." He waved as he left. The guards were waiting; they escorted him
down the corridor. The lead one turned as they went around the bend, her nose
wrinkled.

"You stink. Gah!" she
said in disgust.

He chuckled wearily.
"Yup."

"Did you get the job
done?" The other guard asked behind him.

"Yes, two more shield pods
are in the bay, and Rodriguez managed to patch over twenty holes. Jennie
installed her shield node, it's booting now," he reported. He smiled
wearily. "Space walking takes it out of you though, I'm no spring chicken!"
He shook his head.

He heard a gasp on the net and
looked up. "What? What’s wrong?" Mary was looking up at the sky. He
turned. There were sparks and halos every few minutes along the bow.
"Debris hitting the shields," he observed. He watched as a large
piece slammed into the invisible barrier. A purple halo around it appeared then
it seemed to bounce away. "It looks neat, but it can be a bit
distracting."

He turned back to the job at
hand. He'd taken one shift off, but was now back on the job. A few others
looked up and gasped. He managed to get the plate free and looked up.
"There done!" He turned and looked around. His team and most of the
others were all staring off at the bow fireworks. "If one of those gets
through..." He heard a voice say over the net.

He sighed. "All right
ladies, time to get back to work," he said. He carefully used a pry bar to
get the plate out. It floated for a moment. Mary wasn't paying attention and it
struck her. She offed, going off spinning. Her safety tether jerked taught.
"I said, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!" He turned, suddenly angry.

"Mary report," he said.

She coughed. "I'm all
right."

He snarled, and then opened the
channel. "You’re lucky. All eyes on the job, watch the fireworks
later!" Get with it people before someone gets killed!" He turned to
see the women around him start and then turn reluctantly to work.

"You’re doing a wonderful
job, keep it up," The Captain said, looking over the newly renovated
space. She gave them each a look, and then finished with the purser.
"You're working wonders, all of you." the Captain said, locking her
gaze to the purser. She squirmed.

"We aim to please
Captain," the Admiral responded. "Though, a little thank you to the
crew does help," he said. He gave the purser, and then the Chief a look.
The Chief stared back defiantly. The purser looked down.

"All right, I'm sorry."
She turned to Jennie.

"Thanks." The Captain
nodded and turned to leave.

"Can I get into my quarters
now?" the purser asked plaintively. The Captain chuckled as she left.

He nodded to the purser.
"We'll get a work crew out as soon as we can. We've a lot of other
priorities," he said. He turned and left, pulling Jennie along by the
elbow. "You didn't," he said softly to her, not even bothering to
hide his amusement.

"Why Admiral, whatever do
you mean?" she said, eyes innocent, but her voice was rich in
satisfaction.

He chuckled and waggled a finger
at her. "Naughty naughty," he teased. She giggled. The guards
following did as well.

"We've gotten the basic hull
patched a fare-thee well, looks a bit like my grandmother's old quilts,"
Jennie commented. A few smiled at that. Even the Captain snorted.

"Will they hold?" she
asked.

"Well, the basic hull is
actually a series of layers Captain. We're just welding plates over the
breeches then back filled them with a resin compound before plating it over on
the inside. I can't even begin to describe the amount of force it took to make
those holes! The hull has so many layers and spall shields and deflection
areas...it's insane," the engineer replied as he looked up from what he
had been doing. "This is just a basic hull with little armor. A warship
had a lot more, and had a self sealing hull."