New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) (68 page)

Mindy nodded. "Actually,
he's an Admiral, whatever that is," she said. She wrinkled her nose.

"Like the Pyrax port
Admiral?" Clarissa asked, getting weakly out of the chair.

Her daughter supported her as she
faltered. She eased her onto the bed. "Oh, he isn't like him at all. No
he's a REAL Admiral from the past!" Mindy said. Clarissa looked over to
her.

"Young lady, you better not
be fibbing," she growled.

Mindy shook her head vigorously,
making her ponytails swish back and forth. "I'm not mommy, honest!"
she had an earnest expression on her face. "We found him in a life pod
over a year ago. He's some big hero during the Xeno war. He fixes stuff!"
she giggled. "I'll introduce you. He can be a Meanie though," she
grimaced, pouting a bit.

Clarissa nodded. "So, what
else has been going on, fill me in," she said. Mindy looked excited and
started chattering. Her mother listened with interest.

"So Admiral, I hear we have
you to thank for my resurrection?" He turned and smiled at a blond female
in a medical smock smiling at him. She had a stethoscope in her front pocket
and a set of scrubs on under her smock.

He chuckled. "I just fixed
the tools and let the medical professionals do their magic," he demurred.
She smiled.

The hatch to the galley opened.
"Buy you a cup of coffee?" he offered.

Her eyes twinkled. "I think
I should be buying you the...uh... coffee?"

He chuckled and waved to the
mess. "Ladies first." She smiled a little as she bobbed a curtsy and
stepped past.

"But why? Why leave
us?" jennie asked.  They were now only a few hours out from the Anvil
space station.

He sighed, trying not to meet her
face. "Jennie, Trisha, do you see what you can do now?" Trisha nodded
warily. Jennie just studied him. "You're making an impact on everyone you
now meet," he said. Trisha's eyes were wide. "Before you brought news
and some goods, now you're a mobile factory, able to go from one system to
another fixing and making things," he explained.

Trisha nodded. "That's what
you do right? So why leave?" Trisha asked.

He nodded. "Yes, and the
knowledge you've learned, some of that is being passed off to others in the
classes taught," he said.

Jennie nodded. "But you can
do more," she said. He nodded.

"And you can be more of an
impact somewhere else?" Trisha waved to the ship. "Why not
here?" He sighed again. "Trisha, you don't need me. Your Chief
engineer and medic are out of stasis and recovering nicely, they've even gotten
into the classes," he said. She nodded.

"Now that you can influence
the colonies you visit, I can move on to another place to do more," he
explained patiently.

Jennie nodded suddenly. "I
see." She studied him. "You want to rebuild civilization?" she
asked.

He chuckled. "Well, I'm an
engineer, which is what we do right? Fix things?"

Jennie wiped her eyes and sniffed
a bit. "Yeah, you're right." She hugged him.

He patted her back. "Don't
worry, we'll cross paths again. With the ship back up to specs, you'll be
hitting more and more systems; we're liable to cross paths again," he said
smiling.

She sighed. "Yeah,
thanks." He smiled and patted her hair. Trisha looked at them, and then
looked away, eyes glistening as well. He took her hand.

Jennie broke the embrace and
looked over to her. "Don't worry. We’ll be fine. He's taught us that
much," Trisha nodded tears flowing.

"Anvil station control, this
is Io 11 come in please," the communications tech looked up after a few
minutes. "Still no reply Captain," she sighed. "There won’t be for
another ten minutes if they respond immediately. I'm getting some of the local
radio traffic including the radio news." She grimaced. "Most of it's
gossip."

Shandra and Leandra perked up.
"Lets here it!" they said in unison, and then giggled.

"No thank you. Why don't you
record it and let people access it when they get off shift," The Captain
replied smoothly. She tugged at her uniform blouse. "Are all the
preparations in order?" she asked the purser softly.

The purser smiled. "Ready
and waiting impatiently." She flicked her eyes to the Chief.

The Captain shook her head.
"She'll miss him when he's gone, we all will," she sighed.

"We're getting her neutrino
signature just fine Captain. We're also picking up the signatures of the other
colonies," Shandra looked up to the Captain who nodded.

"That about does it,"
he shouldered the second bag, and carried the third.

"Got enough luggage
Admiral?" Jennie teased.

He shrugged. "Normal. I'm
not about to wear my suit, and since the pinnance had its...unfortunate mishap,
I get to carry it manually."

She looked the gear over.
"Well, we could get a dolly," she joked. He shook his head. She
shrugged. They exited his cabin and she nodded. He didn't look around much as
he went, just tried to keep the bags from hitting the walls or knockers. The
ship was back in ship shape he thought, feeling a tinge of remorse... but
tempered with pride.

"You do good work Admiral,
and these seeds have been sown well, they'll fly far and wide to seed
more," Sprite's comment made him smile. He almost bumped into Jennie as
she stopped in the gallery. She shifted to the left, and then came to
attention. He entered and looked up.

The crew was there, all of them.
All dressed in uniforms, and standing at attention. The doctor and Hibiki were
the odd men out; doc wore a uniform, but had a white smock of his office on as
well. Bonny, Mindy, and Dorah stood behind and around him. Hibiki wore his
trademark black coverall with red vest. The Captain was standing by the airlock
with the Chief, Faith, Clarissa, Tia, Io, and Shandra at her side.

"Send off?" he
whispered.

"Looks like it," Sprite
answered.

"You deserve it,"
Jennie answered. She took her place beside Tia. Tia looked up and took her hand
with a smile. He approached the Captain and nodded.

"I'll take that," the
Chief said raising her hand to the bags.

The Captain blocked it with a
hand. "Enough of that. Whatever he has, he's more than earned it."
She turned to her granddaughter, gave her a warning look, then back to the
engineer.

Her eyes twinkled. "As long
as it isn't my china set of course," she mock growled. She smiled as he
chuckled.

"Didn't have the room,"
he teased right back.

She snorted. "Well, the
ladies and I wanted to give you a proper send off," her usual gravel voice
had been strengthened and reinforced by the new medical regime.

He smiled. "Here to see me
off?" He cocked his head at the Chief.

She grimaced. "Making sure
you go," she growled. He chuckled. She answered that with a glimmer of a
small smile.

"My boy, you've done wonders
on this ship,” the captain said. The Captain held out her hand. He took it and
shook it. "We have one more thing to attend to." She nodded to the
group behind him.

The Chief came to attention. He
turned, letting the bags slip to the floor.

"Detail Attention!"
Jennie called out. The group came to attention. "Salute!" The group
saluted as one. Tears came to his eyes, these people...

"Quite a send off
Admiral," the Captain said softly behind him. He nodded feeling his own
eyes sting. He came to attention and saluted smartly.

"Detail attention." He
smiled, it wasn't quite by the book, but it still worked. He caught the ancient
faded symbol behind Jennie. He nodded as he broke the salute. She nodded back.

That symbol was the ship's crest.
Above it was the flag of the Federation. He picked up the bags and turned to
the Captain. "Thank you Captain, for that," he said huskily.

She nodded sober. "Yes, I
thought it was proper." She waved to the airlock. "Good luck on your
next adventure Admiral. We know you'll do well," she said. He smiled and
left.

THE
END

My
blog:

http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/

Yes
if some of things are familiar, I admit I used this as a general reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandread

Sites
of interest:

http://www.schlockmercenary.com/

http://www.vexxarr.com/Index.php

http://conceptships.blogspot.com/

http://www.sluggy.com/

http://karanak.deviantart.com/

Mechmaster's
site:

http://www.mechmaster.co.uk/

Be
sure to check out his Dalek comic.

My
cousin's blog:

http://bossymoksie.wordpress.com/

Yes
I'm the “Nice guy” she keeps ribbing. Me and my big mouth. :P