Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane (26 page)

Ten minutes later a group of five former prisoners arrived in the
lift. All the men were in unpowered armor, with heavy marine weapons. Gustov
was one of them. He passed one of the two weapons to Admiral Irons and then
checked the injured. He handed out a couple first aid kits to the grateful
medic.

Admiral Irons waved him off Miller, informed him he was dead.
Sighing Gustov moved on to Enric and administered first aid.

“I give up,” the guard said, sobbing.

“Clancy! Don't you do it! I'll have your balls!” the Captain
raged. “Don't you dare!” he snarled.

“Shut up!” Clancy screamed defiantly. There was a shuffle then a
thud.

“This is Ian. All clear. I say again, all clear. He's handed me
his weapon and well, sat down. He's um, crying,” Ian said uncomfortably.

“Understood,” Sisko said. “But we're um, not just going to take
your word for it,” he said.

“It's true,” the Admiral said. “I'm looking through the camera
now. You can go in, but by all means, go in with caution.”

“Roger,” Sisko replied sheepishly. The hatch opened and he warily
looked in. When Ian smiled and waved him in he tossed in a first aid pack and
then followed.

A few minutes later the Admiral smiled grimly. The guard Clancy
was in his own chains, on his way to the brig. Work crews were policing the
bodies and moving the sleeping Horathians to the brig.

“You bastard!” The Captain cursed and ranted until Admiral Irons
cut him off.

“You're all alone now Captain,” Irons said, practically crooning.
Savage satisfaction ran through his team. “Ball is in your court. Your turn and
guess what? You have no hostages to trade,” he said with a nasty smile.

Clean up

“Proteus, I think I have enough of walking in another man's
shoes. It's time to return to normal,” Irons said, looking around. He
straightened. “But you can leave out the beard.”

“Understood Admiral. Please have a seat,” the AI said. The Admiral
sank into the command couch and then waited. He closed his eyes as he felt the
nanites go to work.

The Admiral changed back to his normal form. When the unnerving
process was finished he stood and tugged on his sleeves a bit, checking himself
over.

Enric was the first to look out of the corner of his eye and
notice something was wrong. He did a double take, which made the Admiral smile
crookedly and Sprite grin on his HUD. The change in John caused some
consternation and confusion until they noted his coverall and where he was
standing.

“What the hell just... He changed!” Enric said, sputtering. Irina
looked up and then to Enric. She saw where the wounded man was staring and
pointing and turned to look over her own shoulder.

“He... who the hell are you?” Irina demanded warily. The Admiral
raised his right hand and allowed it to morph. “Oh, um, John? What um...” She
stared, wide eyed. Slowly she licked her lips. “You're not, um, well, you.”

The Admiral raised an eyebrow briefly and then shrugged. “I asked
my AI to return my face and body to normal,” the Admiral replied mildly. He
glanced at the ship stats and then back to her.

She gulped slightly, eyes round. Someone whistled softly. She
started to glance over her shoulder to s
ee who had done it but then stopped and returned her attention to
Irons. She studied him for a long moment. “Yeah, I've seen images of you. You
are definitely him. Irons I mean,” she said smiling. She nodded, grinning.
“You're famous! Talk about Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde! The pirates had no
idea what they had! I mean, who they had.” Irina whistled, shaking her head in
wonder and excitement. “They would have shot you on sight!”

The Admiral nodded grimly. “That was the idea. I couldn't fight
them, Phoenix was hurt and out of fuel. I couldn't run, again, the damage and
lack of fuel. So, the only thing to do was to take them from the inside.”

Irina nodded thoughtfully. “I see sir. So, um, now what?” Irina
asked. She ran a shaky hand through her sweat soaked hair.

“Now I get my coveralls back while you get a head count,” the Admiral
ordered. The young woman nodded. “Once that is done we get to work putting the
Horathian's in the brig and then on damage control.” She grimaced but the
nodded. “Once that's sorted out, we'll get the crew fed and cleaned up. From
there, well, we'll play it by ear.” He shrugged. He was actually several steps
ahead of that point, but wasn't certain the crew could handle it all at once.

“Aye aye sir.”

“And Irina, if you want a commission you can have one,” the Admiral
said, looking at the blond woman in the eyes. “That was some fast steady
thinking there. Very good job,” he said. “Excellent leadership skills.”

The woman turned to stare at him. He raised an eyebrow as he had
Proteus morph the coverall back into a military grade one with his rank.  She
blinked in astonishment again. He heard someone gasp. He cocked his head.

“Being in the Navy comes with all sorts of perks. Full medical,
education, and getting some of your own back against the Horathians.”

Her body sat still for a long moment. “I'll certainly think about
it sir,” Irina said slowly, nodding thoughtfully.  After a long moment she
nodded. “I just may take you up on that,” she said and then blushed as he
looked at her. “It's not like there is a whole hell of a lot of other things to
do. And I want to get some payback,” she growled.

He nodded as he resumed his seat. “Hopefully you aren't the only
one.”

<----*----*----*---->

“Where is Waldo? Anyone seen Waldo? Crewman Waldo? Damn it, I
know he's around here somewhere,” Sindri swore. His team looked at him in
amusement. Waldo was an old hand at finding a nice out of the way place to keep
out of sight so he didn't have extra chores assigned to him. Apparently old
habits were reasserting themselves. “Come on, big tall guy, wears those broken
glasses of his, Wavy brown hair, thin... well, all of us are thin but...”

“The guy in the tattered red and white striped shirt?” Hoshi
asked coming up behind him.

“Yeah!” Sindri said, turning to her. “You've seen him? I want him
to take charge of the drives,” he said.

“Last I saw him he was in the boat bay. I think. I'm not sure if
he's still there or not.”

“You think,” Sindri growled. He sighed, shaking his head
mournfully. “Someone page his ass? I don't have time to play where on Bounty is
Waldo?”

<----*----*----*---->

Kinja frowned, studying the readouts. Half the crap she barely
understood. The feed to the weapons she gladly shut down. But that created
another problem; the ship's reactor was only putting out twenty percent power.
Since the ship was idle, it was barely holding on with the crude software they
had running the thing. “We need to do something about that,” she muttered.

“Yeah. We're not drawing enough power to maintain a stable
bottle. It's backing up.”

“Power. Of all times not to need it,” she grumbled. She never
thought a ship could produce too much power. The bottle was hard to keep
stable, even with the software the Horathians were using. Apparently having the
power draw above thirty percent kept the stream stable. She wasn't sure where
she could dump the excess power.

“I'm here,” a voice said from the overhead. They looked up. “And
fortunately, I've got some software in my files to help,” the female voice
said.

“Who are you again?” Kinja asked.

“Lieutenant Commander Sprite. An AI.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I'm the one who has been feeding your implants updates.
Hang on, request from the Admiral. He's asking that you open the hatches for
Captain McGuyver and the other teams.”

Kinja nodded. “Can do,” she said, pointing to Yosef. “Get it
done.”

“My pleasure ma'am,” Yosef replied happily. He made a show of
cracking his knuckles and then started tapping at his board.

<----*----*----*---->

“Mister Gustov,” Sprite said through the man's implants.

“Yes?” Gustov asked, looking up. The others did as well and then
returned to their tasks. Rajesh was dabbing at a minor cut on Yorrick's chin.
The man was accident prone, he had run into a box on the wall.

“We'll need a medic on the bridge. Unfortunately I believe Mister
Miller expired. But others require aide. Mister Yuan is overwhelmed.”

“Understood. Is this the AI?”

“Lieutenant Commander Sprite. One of the AI,” she said.

“One of the AI?” Gustov asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked
around. His eyes fell on Rajesh. Silently he indicated the man should follow.
The Indian finished packing his paramedic bag and nodded as he shouldered it.

Gustov wasn't certain how the slim man could handle the orange
thing, it was probably heavier then he was. He shook his head and waved for
them to move off. “One AI?”

“Several AI. Four active, one we've yet to free and determine its
sanity.”

“Oh.”

“I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy and all. We can talk later,” Sprite,
said, signing off. She put a map up with an orange line leading to the bridge.
Gustov nodded and followed it.

<----*----*----*---->

Admiral Irons had Kinja open the doors to clear a path for Ian,
Sindri, and the others to join them on the bridge. A few minutes later they
arrived. The former prisoners gleefully and somewhat roughly turned the tables
on the Horathians and used their former manacles on the techs. Irons didn't
voice any objections
on how
rough the new prisoners were treated. After all, the Horathians had it coming.

Gustov escorted an SBA, a wiry Indian named Rajesh Ramada in. The
young incredibly thin man took one look at the young acting medic and gently
motioned him aside. The volunteer nodded and quietly briefed him.

Irons studied the newcomer briefly. He had curly black hair,
black eyes, but he was equipped with a medical bag and seemed to know his way
around it. After a moment the Admiral nodded as he observed Rajesh's
professional and quiet demeanor. The man immediately triaged the patients and
went to work with what materials he had on hand. He called out for an
additional emergency pack.

“We'll get you to sickbay shortly. We still need to clear the
atmosphere there,” Gustov said, patting the medic on the shoulder. Rajesh
looked up with a smile and nod. While the medic dabbed at Enric's cut chin and
burns the officers took stock of the situation.

“We've got an improvised sickbay set up in the MPR. Holly Glenn
is handling it. She's a nurse. Mary is there; she looks like she'll survive. We
lost Rob though.”

“Damn,” Sindri muttered.

“Yeah,” Ian sighed. “They rushed the guard.”

There was a long silence. Irons nodded. “We'll mourn our dead
when we've got more time. We'll have a funeral.”

Ian nodded. He slapped his thigh, making a few jumpy people
flinch. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I've got Lara alone guarding the mid-deck
life support module. She's not thrilled about it,” McGuyver reported.

“We'll figure out something shortly,” the Admiral said.

“Admiral, a situation. Captain Hathaway has gained access to the
ship's computer net. He's trying to hack the system,” Sprite warned him through
the overhead PA. The former prisoners looked up in confusion.

“Who... is that an AI?”

“Yes. One of several with me,” the Admiral replied.
“Introductions later. For now, Lieutenant Commander Sprite, report.”

“As I was saying, the Captain, or I should say, former Captain is
trying to hack in. I've met him half way and I've cut him off but he's near a
main trunk, he's doing damage as well as getting around a few of my lock outs.
Not for long though,” she said.

“What is he trying to do?” Irons asked. “Get the doors open?”

“No, he's no longer interested in retaking the ship. He's trying
to jack in... Ah hell, he's in. I've pinging him with crap to delay him.
Defender, some help?”

“On it,” Defender said through the Admiral.

“I've got him locked up,” Defender reported after a moment.

“
Good for you,”
Sprite said dryly.

“Mister Gustov, could you arrange an escort for the Horathians? I
think the brig would be more than appropriate don't you?” Irons said, turning
to the former security officer. Gustov cocked his head.

“Why not the nearest lock?” Someone growled.

“Oh, a quick death is... too slow,” Irons said, sounding maliciously
thoughtful. There was a grunt of agreement and a growl of anger. “I think they
should... come to see things from our point of view don't you? A few years or a
life time in a small room with bars... eating gruel... that might be
appropriate don't you think?”

A few nodded. A few of his team looked belligerent, but they
didn't protest when Gustov and a volunteer escorted the thoroughly cowed
ratings out.

“The dead bodies though, we'll need to store them.”

“Why not space them?” Irina asked.

“I want identity and intel,” Admiral Irons replied.

“Oh.”

“Anything we can get off them we will, even if they are dead.
Besides, we need a hard head count on the Horathian crew to make sure we bagged
everyone. I don't want to find someone had hidden somewhere. There is no
telling what a desperate person would do right?”

Irina caught the hint and then nodded. “Right,” she replied
firmly. “Since we've just come from desperation,” she muttered.

“Status report Commander?” Irons asked, looking up to the
overhead.

“Four dead including Mister Miller here on the bridge. Five
wounded in the MPR, another two here. One of which seems to think he's fine,”
she reported, tweaking Enric.

“I'm fine,” he said as the SBA helped him put his arm in a sling.
“Besides, they are overloaded here,” he said, indicating Rajesh. Rajesh nodded

 “Very well then. All the Horathians have been tentatively
accounted for except the Captain and his guard. Most are either asleep, a
prisoner, or dead. A few have died from asphyxiation due to the use of carbon
dioxide and monoxide in the ventilation system.”

“Ah, well, we've got a status change,” Sprite said. “It looks like
the initial head count is low, we are getting reports of someone calling for
help through the ship's communication's net. They are in the keel tower.”

“Understood. Dispatch a security team to their location,” Irons
replied calmly.

“Already in the works. They aren't going anywhere,” Sprite
reported, sounding smug.

Irons smirked. He caught a few of the people looking around and
smiling grimly. Admiral Irons tapped his implanted communicator had accessed
Bounty’s systems. Entering the code, he made his way to the master control of
the life support systems.