Read Online Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) by Chris Hechtl - Free Book Online

nagging me about it later,” he smiled as she chuckled.
     
    He
looked the pile of parts over with pleasure. The gear from the Io was fresh and
factory new, literally newly fabricated. The broken parts were already set
aside. He looked up as Sprite blinked onto his HUD. “What is it?” he asked.
    “Admiral
we have a situation at the lock.” She said tightly as a window came up. He
frowned as he noted the visitors at the door. He groaned as he got up.
    He
had been deep into the rebuild for several hours. Defender was already spinning
his shields up. “Admiral power reserves are at twenty percent. I don't
recommend combat,” Defender reported.
    “I'll
try to remember to tell them that,” he answered dryly.
    “It's
not like you need shields Admiral, facial recognition has identified them as
Buana and Hera.” Sprite reported. He nodded. They were warriors from the Io,
guarding a pair of nervous cargo handlers who had pushed a pair of cargo
pallets to the quarters.
    He
opened the door and smiled. “It's nice to see some friendly faces around here.”
He nodded to them as Defender put a caret around a pair of figures skulking in
the dark near the corner. He looked over to them and felt Sprite reach out.
Weapons were identified.
    “Let’s
get you ladies in before we have a problem,” he said quietly. The cargo
handlers looked around nervously. Hera nodded.
    “You
spotted them as well?” she asked softly.
    “Yeah,
two possibly more. Down the corridor. One has what looks like a needler, the
other some sort of cut down plasma carbine and molecular knife.” He pushed the
door open and stepped hastily aside as the women piled in with the cargo.
    Sprite
had freeze frames of each male in a window on his HUD; she was running a facial
recognition program. He shook his head. They hadn't been here long enough to
get to know anyone.
    He
escorted the women into the shuttle bay. They whistled at the tug. “Someone's
has been busy,” Buana smiled in appreciation.
    He
nodded. “Only way to get something done once you know it needs doing is to dig
in.” He helped the women unload the pallet.
    “This
is the last load Admiral. Faith said the satellites, weapons pod, and fighter
pan out so you have quite a hefty tab,” one of the cargo handlers said, handing
him a chip.
    He
chuckled. “I bet the purser isn't pleased about that.” He smiled as they tried
to hide grins.
    “Well,
we'll see what I can get. You folks still on schedule to leave?” He looked over
to Hera who nodded.
    “Five
days twelve hours. From the sound of the negotiations, it is not soon enough
for the captain,” she said sourly. He chuckled.
    “How
is Jorge?” He asked as he hefted the last part. Buana smiled.
    “Let's
just say we're glad you got him to the docs. He's got a lot of damage. The
nurse said the internals were bad; they’re going to have to operate and dunk
him as well. Juanita is beside herself,” she sighed. The Admiral nodded.
    “I
can't say I blame her. She feels that she should be here with her family and
blames herself for not being able to.” He looked over to Hera who grimly
nodded.
    “Wish
we could do something about that, but we can't,” Buana sighed.
    “Still,
what you’re doing here should tip the scales a bit more in their favor,” Brie
replied. She smiled at him as she brushed a curly of hair out of her eyes. He
nodded and gave her a return smile.
    “Well,
it's a start.” He waved to the women. They filed out. “I don't think they'll
give you any trouble since you're empty handed,” the Admiral said softly to
Hera and Buana. Both women nodded. “We're going to have a couple extra guards
meet us just in case,” Hera reported.
    Outside
the coast was clear. The Admiral stepped up his implants to maximum and could
not get a whisper. “Nothing. Either they cleared out or they are near the
lifts.” He nodded to Hera. She stuck her hand out and he shook it.
    “Good,
Chief is in the lift now.” She smiled.
    “How
did