Read Online Destiny's Choice (The Wandering Engineer) by Chris Hechtl - Free Book Online

chimp at his back wasn't such a good idea, Irons thought as
the purser sputtered. “But he... he...”
    “He
what? Saved the ship? Replaced the replicators? Your stores? You're one
ungrateful son of a bitch you know that? What do you want? Him to gold plate
your head?” Bailey demanded, spreading his hands and then pointing to the
narrow door leading to the wash room.
    “That's
enough Chief,” the captain said calmly, coming in behind him. “Sorry I'm late.”
He nodded as the officers stood at attention. “Ah Admiral, chief, so good of
you to make it. We don't see you often enough at dinner.”
    “Which
is sad, making them come is probably the only way you can get either one to eat
a proper diet at a decent time,” Sprite said from the overhead speaker.
    The
captain and guests looked up to the speaker and then at the Admiral. He
shrugged. “Ah yes, our gallant heroine. Thank you for your generous efforts on
our behalf,” the captain said one hand over his heart. He bowed to the nearest
speaker.
    “I'm
pretty attached to my own electronic hide as the Admiral puts it. And his for
that matter. Our lives were on the line as well captain. But like the Admiral
said, it does feel good to right a wrong.”
    “When
did he say that?” the captain asked, sounding genuinely curious.
    “Just
after he found out you had been cheated on the replicators and the stores,”
Sprite said, telling a little white lie. “I'm afraid he's always the white knight.
Which is what got him in trouble on Vesta.”
    The
replicators weren't the only thing left out in the stores. They had found that
the boxes with Holographic projectors and LCD screens meant for the passengers
and crew had been empty. Irons wasn't sure how they could have missed that.
Entire crates of nothing but packaging. It left him with nothing to replicate
the missing equipment with too. That sucked.
    Part
of keeping a crew happy and content on such a long voyage was in entertainment
and education. Keeping them occupied helped, even if it was watching a vid in
their quarters. The lack of vids was a problem. One that would probably force
people to occupy areas that did have the entertainment screens. And inevitably
bored people or those who wanted to watch different things would fight over
them.
    The
purser was lucky to be hanging on to his job, Irons thought. He would have
canned the stupid prick when all the missing equipment had been discovered.
Hell, come to think of it Bailey was lucky to hang on to his job.
    He
looked at the simian chief. Bailey was dressed in a formal uniform, surprising
to some apparently. It was gray with green shoulder boards and trimmed in red.
A gold wrench was pinned to his right lapel. Apparently that was some sort of
signatory of his civilian rank. He had two hash marks on each sleeve like most
of the other officers. The captain had four.
    “Yes,
yes. We heard,” the purser said as the crew took their seats. “So you say.”
    “So
my video shows. Audio as well. I was there after all Mister. You think I'd go
along with abnormal behavior? I assure you, as an officer of the Federation
Navy, I and the Admiral take our oaths very seriously,” she said sniping back.
Irons winced. Maybe it was a good thing that the holo projectors were missing? That
way Sprite wasn't present physically as well.
    “Which
is why you got in trouble in the first place,” the captain said nodding. “I
know. You were set up. Railroaded I believe is the term. I'm sorry. And I'm
sorry my ship had a hand in it.” He turned to Irons letting some sincerity show
in his expression. Irons nodded.
    “More
than you know,” a delegate muttered, looking down. Only Irons and those closest
to the delegate heard it. The delegation from Pyrax was led by a Miss Mayfair,
a shrewish woman who apparently peddled her influence to someone on the
council. She and a few of the other delegates weren't happy about Irons
presence aboard ship. That pretty much told him that who ever was