New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (67 page)

“You got that right; it's going
to take me another six months to get everything sorted out at this rate!” the
AI said dryly. Faith chuckled.

“Moral is high, although there
are some people who are upset over the Admiral leaving. Io and the virtual sim
may offset that over time,” the moral officer turned a mock scowl on the
Admiral, and then smiled to the AI.

“That's good to hear,” The
Captain nodded. “And our course?” She turned to Lessa and Shandra. Shandra
smiled.

“We should be arriving in six
days Captain,” Lessa reported quietly. She was staring at the AI.

“five days, twenty three hours,
twenty two minutes and fifty five seconds to be precise,” Io replied.

“Mindy and I are working on
Clarissa's regeneration; her first surgery is this afternoon,” The doctor
forestalled any retort from Lessa. “I'm hoping for good news, but please
forgive me if I'm late for tomorrow's meeting,” he said.

The purser smiled. “Going to have
a late night with someone?” she asked.

The Captain chuckled. “He said
he's going to work on Clarissa, so in a way yes Vanessa. I believe the doctor
will be spending much of his valuable time in her service.”

The purser looked sheepish. “Oh.”

"A word of caution
Captain," The Admiral held up a restraining hand. "When I leave you
will be limited to civilian grade replicator abilities," he warned.

The Purser looked at him.
Suddenly her delight at his leaving was fading. "What do you mean?"
she asked warily.

"It means no weapons, no
military grade hardware, no nanites, and no replicating replicators," he
warned.

She grimaced. The chief's eyes
narrowed. "But we did all that before," the chief said.

He nodded. "Because I was
here, without a fleet officer on board the replicators will be limited to civilian
production." The Captain sat back.

"Can it be over
ridden?" the Purser asked, looking at Jennie and Faith before settling on
Io.

"I wouldn't try it. If you
do the replicator will lock down permanently," the AI warned.

Faith blanched. "Do you have
a list?"

 He handed her a tablet. She took
it and scrolled through it. "I put the list up on the web as well. Io has
special permission to replicate a few things, but I can't extend my authority
to a civilian AI," he said. He nodded to the Purser and Captain.

"Good to know, thank
you," the Captain said and then sat up straight. "Now, Vanessa, you
were saying you want to trade a fuel injector for more shuttle parts?"
Vanessa nodded. The meeting continued as usual.

The chief scowled as a knot of
girls blocked their way. "So, Churchill says that evil prospers when good
men do nothing," Tara comments.

The lean blond girl with her
shakes her head. "No, it's Tyrants prosper... Oh Captain! Chief!" The
girls look up and then immediately step to one side.

"Ladies. What were you
discussing just now?" the Captain asked curiously.

"Oh um, Terran history,
World War 2, actually," Tara blushed.

"History now?" the
chief scoffed. "What good is that? I thought you were supposed to be
studying ships?" She shook her head derisively.

Tara glared. "We are, but
some of us got into the historical connections database, and well... we formed
a study group," she said, feeling sheepish. She waved to the other girls.

"History?" the Captain
murmured.

"Well, yes ma'am. It started
with discussions on naval architecture and the chain of command, traditions,
and it well..." red headed Dorah piped in and then smiled and shrugged
helplessly.

"Well I'm glad you’re
learning something constructive," the Captain leaned back and smiled.

"Oh learning our heritage,
it's so exciting!" Dorah exclaimed.

The chief recognized the warning
signs of Dorah about to go hyper. "I do believe you wanted to check the
changes to deck two?" she said suggestively. She tried to extract the
Captain with the helpful suggestion.

"Eh? Oh right," the
Captain took the cue. She nodded. "All right, carry on ladies." The
girls snapped to attention. The Captain looked startled, and then nodded as she
passed.

The Chief waited until they were
out of ear shot. "Now he's teaching them historical nonsense? Whatever
came out of studying the past? Waste of time!" she snarled. The Admiral
came around the corner rubbing his left shoulder while hefting his tool box.
"You!"

He looked up and sighed.
"Yes?"

"What did you do this
time?" she demanded.

He looked around to the guards.
They shrugged. "Um, if you mean the port injector feed, I'm waiting on
parts. I was working on the bow OMS pod...."

The chief waved it off. "Not
that, all this crap the girls are spouting, historical drivel!"

The Captain raised her hand.
"Softly dear." She turned her attention to the Admiral. "I see
you've been busy."

He nodded. "Well, some of
the ladies were asking about my sources, so I dumped the historical database
into a website and left links...it sort of snowballed. I understand they can
now put some of the material from the holo novels into context again."

The Captain nodded. "Good to
know, and good that they're keeping busy," she said. He nodded.
"You’re turning this ship into a small city right?" she asked
softly.  Her eyes glittered. He wasn't sure why at first, and then recognized
her body language as amused.

"Well, manufacturing,
knowledge..." he said and then shrugged.

She froze, and then nodded.
"Yes, but, we can't keep it all in one basket," she murmured.

He nodded. "Glad you
understand."

She nodded. "Yes, yes now I
do." She straightened. "Carry on." She moved past them. After a
moment her granddaughter followed.

"I heard you two took Tia in
hand," the Captain nodded to Jen and Shandra. They looked at each other
than to the Captain.

"Well, someone had to, and
since I'm on afternoon shift and Shandra is on mornings..." Jen said.

The Captain nodded. "Well,
I'm glad you’re giving her some comfort. Is she settling in?" she asked.

Jen grimaced. "She's still
having nightmares and sleeps with us," Shandra sighed.

"Oh," the Captain
quietly stirred her cup.

"Perhaps she needs some
counseling? Or medication?" the doctor suggested.

Shandra grimaced. "No drugs.
But counseling," she turned. She gave Jen an imploring look.

"We'll get back to you on
that," Jen replied firmly. "All right, so you’re down to replacing
the replicators and putting the final touches on the repairs to the primary
flight control center?"

Faith nodded. "I've a lass
in mind to act as the boss. We're still up to our necks in shuttles too."
She turned to the Admiral. "Why did this ship need so many?" she
asked.

He smiled. "Well, not all of
them were shuttles; many were robots, work pods, and the like. This is a
tender, designed to support a fleet," he explained. Jen and several of the
other officers nodded.

"I understand you built
satellites for the people of Gaston?" Faith asked.

"Yes, as well as a few other
things," he said.

She smiled. "No argument, I
just was wondering how many different things we can make..." He leaned
back as Jen practically bounced.

"Oh not this again,"
Vanessa sighed. "Honestly, some of us have heard it before. Can we get off
this and back onto the ship status?" she demanded. Jen closed her mouth
with a clop.

"Perhaps another time Jen,
why don't you give me a computer status?" the Captain suggested
diplomatically.

"Very well," Jen
glowered a little at the purser. "We've gotten most of the hardware sorted
out, and with Io here," she waved to the AI who smiled. "We're
finally on tract for software repairs. We've even salvaged a lot of data; it'll
be a while before we sort it out though," she sighed.

"All right and fuel?"
The Captain looked over to Leri.

“Well...”

"Hi baby," a hoarse
voice said softly.

 Mindy felt a hand stroke her
hair. She looked up surprised at the soft rough voice. "Mooom?" she
asked uncertain.

"My have you grown. But what
have you done with your hair?" her mother asked.

Her eyes teared as her mom ran
her hands through her hair once more. "Oh mom!" She clutched at the
bed sheets and dropped her head to her mom's lap.

She sobbed for a few minutes.
"There there, I'am back. I'am so proud of you! You've been a good girl
right?" her mother asked. She patted Mindy's hair as she nodded.

"I've tried."

The doc cleared his throat from
the doorway. "Ah, I see you’re awake."

The two exchanged a wordless nod.
"Thank you. I mean, if you’re the one who put me back together,"
Clarissa waved to her broken body.

"Yes, well, we had a lot of
help," The doctor said and then he shrugged.

Mindy looked up suddenly.
"We woke up an Admiral who put the ship back together and taught us all
kinds of things!" Her normal exuberance had reappeared, but quickly
faltered. "But we lost Molly," she said and bit her lip. Her face
crumpled again. She bit her lip. Clarissa sighed.

"Mindy, why don't we let
your mom rest a bit longer. You can check on her in a little while," the
doctor said, studying Clarissa. She gave a weak nod.

"We have your new clothes
right here mom," Mindy said. Mindy got up and bounced to the smock hanging
from a hook. "See?" She put it on and pirouetted.

"That's nice dear,"
Clarissa sighed and closed her eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Mindy,
instantly contrite patted her mom's hand then checked her forehead. "No
sign of fever," she said. She took the jacket off and put it back. She
kissed her mom on the cheek and then tip toed out past the doc. The doc caught
Clarissa's peek as she opened one eye. He snorted. Mindy shushed him.

He chuckled softly, turning with
a wave. "Get some rest; you’re going to need it."

"Mom! You’re awake
again!" Mindy bounced excitedly as Clarissa stood in the doorway. She was
swaying a bit. "Easy mom," Mindy said. Mindy stopped and rushed a
chair to her. Her mother had disdained her patient's dress for a coverall and
the medical smock.

Gratefully she eased into the
chair. "You should give those muscles time to heal doctor," Kess
said, coming over and handing her a glass of water.

"Kess right?" Clarissa
took a sip of water and looked up at her.

"That's right doc, it's good
to see you again." The doctor came in, as did the new nurse.

"What are you doing
here?" Clarissa demanded.

Kess waved. "Oh, I'm doing a
bounce shift." Clarissa looked confused. "I'm helping out in sickbay
after the doc fixed some of my bio-sculpt," she said. She pointed to her
ears, and then turned to let the doctor get a better view.

Clarissa ran a hand through her
hair, and leaned forward to examine them closely. "My my, and without a
scar!" She looked over to the male doctor, giving him a wondering glance.

He shrugged. "We've been
learning the machinery. Now that it's all repaired." He waved to the
sickbay.

"Mom mom! I'll give you a
tour!" Mindy excitedly wheeled her mother around for a moment.

Clarissa stopped her at a bay.
"One moment Mindy." Clarissa looked a bit motion sick. "You’re
going a bit fast, and the sudden stops," she said. She shuddered.

"Oh, sorry," Mindy said
contrite.

The male doctor came over and
chuckled. "Well, if you'd stayed in bed you wouldn't have this problem
yet," he teased.

Clarissa looked up. "Well,
they do say doctor's make for the worst patients." She grinned at the doc,
who smiled back and bowed.

"I do remember reading
something about that," he chuckled.

"So, you have a staff?"
she asked and then waved.

"Well, actually they're
your
staff," he corrected. He shrugged and indicated Bonny, Kess, and the
girls.

Kess was back to work at a table
looking through a microscope. "My staff?" Clarissa looked confused.

"Well..." The doctor
looked away.

"We sort of kidnapped him
mom," Mindy said quietly. She leaned over her mother, and then came around
to kneel beside her. Her mother looked at her confused then back to the male
doc.

"Kidnapped?" she asked
looking into his eyes. He nodded.

"Don't be mad at us mom. We
had too," Mindy said.

The doc sighed. "The Captain
said I can get off at my home world in a couple months," he said. He
nodded and left them.

"You kidnapped him?"
Clarissa turned on her daughter with accusing eyes.

Mindy looked down guiltily.
"We needed someone to help you mom. You and Faith and the others, and
anyone else who gets hurt." She waved to the other bays."

Clarissa slowly nodded.
"Still, that doesn't excuse kidnapping!"

Clarissa laid back in the chair.
"The Captain said she'll make it right, she's going to set him up with a
full sickbay when we get to his home world, complete with power plant to run it
all," Mindy said.

Clarissa looked over to her
daughter stunned. "What?" Mindy bounced up. Clarissa tried to follow
her but stopped when she got behind the chair and pushed her back to her bay.

"Yup, but don't tell him,
it's a secret," she stage whispered then giggled. "Jennie and Kess
are working on the stuff. We have an entire cargo bay for it all," she
said and then waved. "I helped a little, but I've been busy," she sighed
theatrically. "There's so much to do now! Everything is fixed! And we can
do so much now!" She waved.

"So someone managed to fix
it all huh?" Clarissa sighed.

"Oh, not just anyone, the
engineer," Mindy said eagerly.

Clarissa looked over to her daughter
as they stopped at her bed. "Engineer?"