“What do you think we ought to do with them, once we get their teeth pulled?”
“From what Steve was saying, this model has a secondary detonator. It can be command detonated. I think we ought to put them over where the Squirrels are likely to come out of FTL, so that when they see us here, and hit the command detonator, they get a little surprise.”
“Wipe out their fleet, just for being pains in the butt?”
“These charges aren’t even as big as your Hiroshima bomb. In space, the only damage you get from a nuke at distance is radiation, and they have good enough autodocs to deal with that. If one of them comes out right on top of one, they are going to have a bad day. Otherwise, it’s just a few hours in the box.”
“I can approve of that. They are coming to attack us, anyhow. Are you ready for the girls to start disarming?”
“I don’t see anything we can do to make it safer for them, Bob. Send them out.”
Sally said, “They are underway.” I looked up at the main screen and saw three small ships making their way toward three of the ships in the yard. I looked at Sally. “I don’t want to know, but it’s my job. Who’s in the third ship?”
Sally replied, “I’m not sure, Boss.” Topper just put a song on. As the strains of ‘Help Me Rhonda’ came out of the speakers, I looked at him and asked, “For real?”
“She heard about what Janet and Milly were doing, and wanted to be a part of it. They trained her up, just like them.”
“She’s certified for vacuum?”
“And free-fall. She’s been busy training while she’s been aboard.”
We watched as each ship docked with a carrier. I was on pins and needles until they undocked and headed to the edge of the system to get rid of the charges. Of course, then they went to other ships, and started over. All told, it only took a couple of hours for them to clear the ships. Felt like a month, to me. Topper put Scotti on the overhead. “Boss, I’ve got the printers running as fast as they can, printing power cores for these bots they’re bringing in. I’m going to need some extra help getting them installed. Can I pull non-essential personnel, with the understanding you get them back immediately, if the Squirrels show up?”
“As we get the rescued bots up and running, you’ll be able to use them to put in power cores, correct?”
“Yes.”
“So, we’re only talking about a short time that the ship will be short of personnel?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Do it. I assume you are going to need the rescued bots to get the other ships ready to fly?”
“I’ve got maintenance reports from the ships, and I’ve got a lot of the parts we’ll need in stock. The ships that still have operational printers are helping with the rest. Once we have enough functional bots, it shouldn’t take too long to catch them up on their maintenance and get us all out of here.”
“That’s all good news. Thanks for your hard work, Scotti.”
“No problem, Boss.”
She cut off, and then came back, obviously speaking to the whole ship now. “All bots and humans who are not vital to the function of the ship, report to Engineering to aid in the repair of the rescued bots. I say again, all non-essential personnel to Engineering.”
I looked at Sally. “Both of us don’t need to be here, as long as there are no Squirrels in the system. I have a bunch of nervous energy I need to work off. Your ship.”
Sally looked at me strangely, but said, “My ship, yes Boss.”
Saucy said, “I’m done for the time being, Boss. I’ll go with you.”
We grabbed a transit, which was slower than usual, with all the traffic. Gene dropped us off at a bay where Scotti had bots and tools arranged, ready for workers. Saucy had to show me a few things on my first one, but soon I was as quick as any of the humans. Once the whole bay was functional again, Scotti came over to me, and said, “Go ahead and make your salvage speech, Boss. Then we can get them working on the rest of the bots.”
I summoned up Captain’s voice, and explained how we had found them adrift, and they were salvage, and property of Bob’s Saucer Repair, no longer part of the Commonwealth Navy. Scotti waited for all of them to check in and agree, and then she nodded at me. I continued, “When we have all you in shape to work, we will proceed to salvaging your ships. Your absence has left them sorely in need of maintenance. We have already dealt with the destruct charges that were placed on the ships, and Scotti here has them building the parts they need replaced. I look forward to working with all of you, and welcome to Bob’s Saucer Repair.” Much to my surprise, a cheer went up in the bay, after which all the bots set to work, getting organized to help their fellow bots. Scotti came up to me, and said, “Nice speech, Boss. I made a recording, so you won’t have to come down and talk to each new bunch. I have plenty of help, now, so you can head back to the bridge.”
“Let me see if I understand you. The immediate crisis is over, so could I please get my slow, organic hiney out of your way, so you can get on with what you need to do.”
“Well, Boss, if that’s the way you choose to interpret what I said, there’s really nothing I can do about it, is there?”
“I’ll see you later, Scotti. You’re doing great.”
“Later, Boss.” As I was walking
