New Dawn (Wandering Engineer) Read Free Page A

the cable.
    He pulled the shunt leads, and
then motioned them to move. The ship shuddered; he reached out and steadied the
brunette. "You okay miss?" he asked. She nodded, then looked up and
got a wary look. "Molly, get this to engineering, I am going to go ahead
and get things moving faster. We're near the hyper threshold. The Captain will
need the hyperdrive up ASAP." Molly nodded, not even looking up.
    He sprinted down the passage. He
ducked hanging wiring, wincing as one wire caught his shoulder and sparked.
"Sprite, Proteus, get into the net, see how they're handling damage
control and help them where ever possible," he ordered. He felt the AI's
shift as data began to flow to his wireless access nodes.
    “That plasma conduit is about to
burst. Thermal is going through the roof.” Proteus alerted him as he passed a
crew member working on it frantically.
    “Lock it down, bypass it and
drain it fast!” he gave the order, and then turned to view the exposed conduit.
The girl didn't even look up. His vision shifted to thermal viewing, he noted
the skyrocketing temperatures and went into action. He twisted and pulled the
girl down instinctively covering her. She squeaked, and then screamed as the
seal ruptured and plasma streamed out. Defender slapped his shields up just in
time. His shields took the brunt of the damage. Proteus locked the plasma
conduit down through the computer.
    He looked up when the high
pitched squeal and crackles slowed. Plasma had burned the upper bulkhead,
melting into it and tearing wiring and conduit. Drops had pitted and burned the
floor around them.
     “Thanks. Can I get up now?” The
girl asked. He smiled as he got up and helped her to her feet with a hand.
    “We better get back to work.” He
turned and started off at a jog to main engineering, leaving her gaping behind
him.
    "Guards at the
entrance," Defender alerted him.
    "No time for subtlety get
that door open for me." He sprinted around the corner, and before the
startled guards could react, through the still opening doors and into main
engineering. "Help them with the cable!" he called back over his
shoulder. Main engineering was chaos, not the controlled chaos of a well run
ship, but utter hysteria. He took a look around as one guard stepped up behind
him.
    The other was trying to call on
her comm, but Defender was scrambling it. He reached out and steadied a woman
as she stumbled around a piece of debris. "Easy there miss." She
didn't even look up as she staggered on.
    "Help the work crew get that
cable through the hatch," he called over his shoulder again.
    "She is about to strike
you!" Defender warned. Instinctively he twisted to the side as Defender
brought his shields up. The butt of the gun clipped his shoulder. His right arm
grabbed the gun and twisted, natural limbs no match for his bionic one. She
gasped as he snatched the gun out of her hands.
    "BELAY THAT! WE DON"T
HAVE TIME FOR THIS CRAP!" he bellowed at full augmented volume. Main
engineering sounds abruptly stopped. He turned to glare at the compartment.
"As you were, get that cable off the hyperdrive and out of the way
NOW!" The women looked at him in shock then bolted, command voice working
wonders. A sense of order quickly began to get into the chaos. He turned to the
stunned guard.
    "I gave you an order miss.
Get that cable in here NOW!" He tossed her the rifle, and then moved to
the hyperdrive. Molly and her work crew were near the hatch. He approached the
work crew and looked the cable over. The copper was obvious; they hadn't even
taken the precaution of jacketing it with an insulator. It was severely
scorched and the ends molten and burned. Bits of what looked like flesh were on
one end.
    "Do you have it off
yet?" he asked the work party.
     "One end, but the other end
is stuck.”
     "Get clear then." He
yanked the detached end, and tossed it to the side. A woman dodged it. He took
a look at the other end as Molly approached. "Molly, get one end