Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2

by Michael Kotcher

  By the time the Captain and Saiphirelle arrived back at the station the next day, they were up to twelve people who had put in applications for positions on the ship. Their qualifications ranged from completely non-existent to those who had reportedly put in several years on either starships or in technical positions aboard the station. There was even one food handler who wanted to transfer from one of the choke-and-pukes on the station to the mess hall aboard the Grania Estelle. He was a Severite named Noken and by all accounts, a hell of a line cook. Vincent snapped him up immediately.

  Of the others, Eamonn was less impressed. Most were maintenance workers, one had worked for two years in the Environmental systems, but the most impressive of the lot was a human woman in her mid-forties, with steel-gray hair and a determined face to match.

  Saiphirelle led the woman into the small interview room at the Union Hall. “Ms. Eretria Sterling, Captain.”

  The Captain waved the woman to sit with him at the table. She sat down, her back ramrod straight, her face expressionless. “Good afternoon, Captain,” she said, her voice very clipped and precise.

  “Good afternoon, Ms. Sterling. I want to thank you for coming in.” He got himself more comfortable in his chair. “I saw your application for a posting on my ship. I checked what you sent me for your experience. But I’d like to talk some more first.”

  Eretria eyed him critically. “You don’t like women serving on your ship, Captain?” she asked, her voice challenging. “Breaking up the men’s club by bringing me onboard? Or is it that you need someone to warm your bed?”

  Saiphirelle’s ears were flat against her head and she gave Eamonn a look, but their eyes met for just an instant before he looked back to the woman sitting before him. “On my ship, my Third Engineering officer is a woman. Up until recently, my cargo specialist was a woman.”

  “She stopped being a woman?” Eretria asked, with a dark look. Saiphirelle snorted.

  “She stopped being my cargo specialist,” Eamonn corrected. “In addition, my Chief of Security is female, as is my ship’s communications officer and chief pilot.”

  Eretria turned and looked to Saiphirelle, who nodded. “It’s true. Ship’s AI is a female too.”

  Vincent frowned as Eretria’s head whipped around to look at him. He hadn’t wanted to reveal Stella’s existence just yet.

  She eyed him suspiciously. “You have that many women working with you?”

  He gave a slight smile. “I’m the boss, but yes. We all work together to keep the ship up and to get our cargoes from one star system to another. And there are more in the crew, but those are the most visible. We’ve had a rough time these last few months, which is why I’m currently hiring.”

  She nodded slowly. “I understand. What would my duties entail?”

  “Well, before I get to that, I have a question for you. I understand you have four years of experience on the freighter Geldarland as an engineer.” He checked his datapad. “And then another ten working on the station here in the power division.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “So why would you want to hire on to a bulk freighter?”

  Eretria nodded. “I can understand why you might think that strange.”

  Eamonn gave a small smile. “Serving on a freighter? I live and make my living on a freighter. I don’t think it strange at all. I’m just curious.”

  “I’m tired of station life,” she replied after a second. “Things are crumbling, constant maintenance is required to keep the lights on and the fans blowing.” She hesitated.

  He raised an eyebrow. “And you think my ship is a better choice?”

  “I’m interested in getting back out into space, Captain,” Eretria replied. “And yes, getting off the station for a significant period of time would make me very happy.”

  He considered her for a moment. “All right. You’ll be assigned to our Engineering division, where you’ll be working under Chief Trrgoth and my other two Engineering officers. Do you have any experience in Environmental?”

  She nodded. “I do, but I don’t think that’s really the best use of my skills.”

  Eamonn chuckled. “All right. Welcome aboard.” He stood and she did as well. “I’ll put you with the Chief, he’ll decide where you skills are best used.”

  “What kind of contract are we talking about?” she asked. “I’d like to know I’m not signing up for what amounts to indentured servitude.”

  This time Eamonn laughed. “Well, I’m sorry to inform you of this, Ms. Sterling, but you are. I get the sense that you’re a hard worker and that’s good. But life on a freighter is no day at the beach, as I’m sure you know. For now, my ship is undergoing an extensive overhaul and is going nowhere, so until that’s resolved the shares are going to be zero. I have a copy of the contract right here.” He gestured her back to her seat and they both sat back down. He picked up his datapad and brought up the information. “Do you have a tablet or datapad I can send it to?”

  She shook her head. “No, Captain I don’t. I did, but I was forced to leave it behind when I left the Geldarland. Ship’s property.”

  “What about a data account on the station net?”

  “I do have that.” She gave him the number.

  He worked the controls for a second. “I’ve sent that off to you to peruse. I’ve also added the communications code for the Grania Estelle for data transmission. My comms officer will be looking forward to hearing back from you, should you either have any questions or decide to join us.”

  “Can you give me the gist of the contract, Captain?” she asked, frowning slightly. “I’d like to be able to talk with you about it while we’re both here.”

  “Of course,” he replied, mentally giving her a check mark in the ‘approval’ column. “You’d be hiring on as a half-share engineman, working under Chief Trrgoth. Based on his assessments of your abilities, he’ll assign you duties and a watch section. If he and the other engineering officers sign off on you after a sixty-day probationary period, I’ll bump you to full share. In the meantime, you’ll receive the standard pay and allowances for all my half-share ratings.”

  Eretria nodded, the frown easing. “How many crew are currently aboard?”

  He sighed. “Not nearly enough. But we have a crew complement of forty-three right now, which is barely enough for full watch sections. But I’m not just going to flood my ship with people who can’t hack it.” He eyed her for a moment and she didn’t say anything. “I’m liking what I’m seeing here, Ms. Sterling. Take a look at the contract and get back to me within twenty-four hours with your decision. As I said, the comms watch will be waiting to hear from you. Do you have any further questions for me?”

  “Only one, sir,” she replied. “If your ship is stuck here in system because of repairs and such, and therefore our cargo hauling capacity is zero, how would you pay my salary? And the rest of the crews?”

  “Well, seeing as you’re not a member of my crew, I’m not going to discuss my business with you. Yet. But I do have a few jobs going on right now with the station which are paying to stock my galley and pay my people.”

  “I understand. I did hear that you sold a load of helium 3 fuel to the station. The admins and the heads in engineering here were going crazy when they heard you had it to sell.” She chuckled. “I think they’d have sold their mothers and their children to make sure they secured it.”

  “I had that same impression, Ms. Sterling.” He stood and again she followed suit. “Thanks for coming in. I’ll be interested to hear from you.”

  “Thank you, Captain.”

  “If you do decide to sign on, send my ship a signed copy of the agreement, stamped with your thumbprint and instructions will be sent to you on a time to catch a shuttle ride over to the ship. For now that’s the only way over, since we’re not docked.”

  “Yes, Captain. I’ll let you know.” She gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement and then turned and left.

  After a minute or so, Saiphirelle
poked her head in the room. “What do you think of her, Captain?”

  He stared at the open doorway. “I like her. If Quesh or Tamara don’t kill her, I think she’ll do well aboard.”

  Over the next few days things continued to move at a decent pace. Tamara got the collector assembled and was about to take it up to the gas giant when Ka’Xarian met her in the boat bay.

  “Tamara!” he called as she was boarding the shuttle.

  “Xar. What’s up?”

  He gestured to the woman walking next to him. “This is our newest member of the ship’s company.”

  Tamara stepped forward and stuck out her hand. “Tamara Samair.”

  The woman shook it. “Eretria Sterling. It’s good to meet you.”

  Xar made a chittering laugh. “That’s because you don’t know her that well yet, Ms. Sterling.”

  Tamara glowered at him. “Really, Xar? That’s the impression that you want to give to our new Engineman? That the officers are completely undisciplined?”

  His antennae rose to completely straight and upright. “I’m offended, Commander, that you would even insinuate such… scurrilous charges.”

  “I apologize, Assistant Chief Ka’Xarian,” she said, a smile quirking her lips. “So, how can I help you this afternoon? I’m about to take the second collector out to the gas giant.”

  “I know, that’s why I’m glad we caught you. I want you to take Ms. Sterling with you.”

  Tamara nodded in understanding. “Can you pilot a shuttle, Ms. Sterling?”

  Eretria looked over the spacecraft. “I’ve had some experience flying a Palcan-42, ma’am, but that was ten years ago.”

  “Well, these birds here are pretty easy to fly and don’t take a whole lot of training for basic maneuvers. I’ll give you a quick tutorial.”

  Eretria’s face was a carefully composed mask. Tamara looked at her. “Is there a problem, Ms. Sterling?”

  “Oh, no, ma’am. Lead on.” She couldn’t hide the rather dubious look she gave the shuttle, but she boarded without any complaint.

  Tamara and Ka’Xarian shared a look before she climbed aboard, closed and sealed the hatch. “Head on up to the cockpit, Ms. Sterling, and take the copilot seat. It’s the one on the right.” They both sat and strapped in. Powering up the shuttle took only a moment and then Tamara tapped the comm. controls. “This is Shuttle Three to bridge.”

  “Go ahead Ess-Three,” Serinda’s voice replied.

  “Ready to depart on fuel recovery mission and to drop off the second collector. Requesting clearance.”

  “You are clear, Ess-Three. Safe trip.”

  “Thank you, Bridge. Shuttle Three clear.” She pressed the control to end the call and then piloted the shuttle out of the boat bay. Once the small ship was clear of the Grania Estelle, Tamara altered vector and engaged the main drives. “Bringing her up to one third acceleration,” she commented. “Once we’re about a million klicks or so from the ship, I’ll push it up to eighty percent.” She glanced over at Eretria, who seemed interested in the controls, as well as the view out the forward armor glass.

  “Been a while since you’ve been out in space?” Tamara guessed.

  “A few years, ma’am,” Eretria admitted, a bit stiff. “For the last ten I’ve been working on the station. The most space travel I’ve had was a ride every six months to and from the planet for a little vacation.”

  Tamara nodded. “I see. Well, once we’re up to speed, it’s a good jog out to the gas giant. We’re looking at about seventy hours, one way.”

  Eretria grimaced. “That’s a long way, ma’am.”

  “Yes, it is. A rather long trip for just the two of us. There are some bunks in the cargo area, some packets of food and there’s plenty of water.”

  “And what are we supposed to do on this abominably long trip, ma’am?” the other woman asked, stunned.

  “Well,” Tamara said, bringing the ship up to higher acceleration, “I think there’s a few things we could do. I know I am going to be going over status reports and repair schedules for the Grania Estelle. I would suggest you can do a few things to pass the time. I’d be more than happy to chat, but you might find that I’m not great company.” She grimaced in self-mockery. “I’ve been told that I’m not a great conversationalist.”

  Eretria snorted. “I’ve been told the same about me, ma’am.”

  “I would suggest you get yourself up to speed on the flight controls for this shuttle,” Tamara went on. “You got yourself a datapad?”

  Eretria shook her head. “No, ma’am, I wasn’t given one when I reported aboard.”

  Tamara sighed. “All right. No problem. Remind me once we get back to the ship.” Pulling up her HUD, she made a note to get the other woman a datapad. “In the meantime, you can use that monitor to pull up information about the shuttle or other topics.”

  “What other topics?”

  “Well, Ms. Sterling, as I’m sure you’ve heard by now, the Grania Estelle is in poor shape and is going to require a hell of a lot of work to get her back in action. Which means that our engineering teams have to be well-versed.”

  “Which means what, ma’am?” she asked, suspiciously.

  Tamara smiled at her. “Ms. Sterling, I’m an educated woman. I expect that my tech teams will be as well. And yes, you will be working hands-on for the most part, there’s a lot of technical data to absorb. Especially because we work with a lot of fresh parts and replacements. We deal with jury-rigging when we have to, but normally the Captain and the Chief make sure that we’re actually doing replacements on damaged or broken components.”

  Eretria frowned. “Where do the spare parts come from?”

  “The replicators,” Tamara answered. “There are three on board ship. Well four, really, but nobody uses the food replicator in the mess hall, as far as I’m aware, other than me to grab a protein bar.”

  “Where in the name of the shiny stars did you get replicators?” she asked, astounded. “No one has had those out in the Cluster for years… decades!”

  Tamara chuckled. “Grania Estelle already had two when I came aboard and we got another one in Ulla-tran a few months ago. Built the others.”

  Eretria rubbed the tips of her fingers on her forehead. “This is incredible. What can they make?”

  “A lot of things, though there are a number of items that can’t be made without the proper codes. There’s a lot of restricted tech on there. Can’t make weapons, or a lot of hyperdrive components, for example.”

  “Right, I’d read about that,” she replied. “I’d love to see them.”

  “There is a standing order on the ship, Ms. Sterling,” Tamara cautioned. “One that you would be very wise to heed.”

  “And what’s that, ma’am?” Eretria asked, looking over at the engineer.

  “Do not touch the replicators unless Chief Trrgoth, myself or Ka’Xarian is there to supervise. They are very delicate and desperately important devices. We cannot be without them. Anyone caught messing around with them gets reported to the Chief of Security, a lupusan who takes a very dim view of people breaking that rule.”

  The other woman nodded. “I understand, ma’am. Still, I would love to see them in action.” Her eyes were glowing with the possibilities.

  “I’ll take you on a proper tour when we get back.” She unlatched her harness and stood. “Course is locked in and the sensors will alert us to any problems. I’m starving, I’m going to grab one of those meal packets. You want one? They’re actually pretty good.”

  “Um, sure ma’am. I think I will.” She too, unhooked her restraints and got out of the copilot’s seat. “You mentioned studying before?”

  “Yeah,” Tamara said, opening up the locker where the food was kept. She pulled two opaque plastic packets each the size of a large notebook from inside and then closed it up again. “It’s not filet mignon or a king crab, but I think it’s still pretty okay.” She tossed one to Eretria, who caught it clumsily, but managed not to drop it. Tamara
ran two fingers over one edge and the packet unsealed. There was a slight hiss as it opened and she pulled a spoon out of a container just to the side of the locker.

  Eretria followed suit, took a spoon for herself and then opened up her own packet. She took a hesitant spoonful. The officer was right, it was pretty good. It tasted sort of like a spiced oatmeal, a very thick paste of a brownish gray color, but it smelled good. “The studying ma’am?”

  Tamara nodded, swallowing a large spoonful. “Yeah. I want my people knowledgeable and skilled. One goes with the other, so I sat down with the Chief, Ka’Xarian and Stella, she’s the ship’s AI and we worked up a training program for all of the ratings in the engineering department. Goes over the various duties required for the various stations. Knowledge for all the ship’s components, as well as advanced math and other engineering related courses. Ratings exams are every ninety days, you pass the test, you’ll get the advance in rank. But it’s ultimately up to the Captain whether you actually receive the rank and rise in pay and all that.”

  Eretria nodded. “I understand, ma’am. It was the same sort of thing back on the station. They played things a bit more fast and loose on the Geldarland, but the crew was much smaller as well.”

  Tamara smiled as she took another bite. “Do you miss it? The Geldarland, I mean.”

  She shrugged. “I miss the being out in space part, ma’am. But that particular ship? No ma’am. I don’t miss them.”

  Tamara raised an eyebrow. “Really? Why’s that?”

  She eyed the other woman for a moment before answering. “It wasn’t the greatest cruise I’ve ever been on, especially the last six months.” She cleared her throat before taking another bite of food. “And I’ll thank you, ma’am, but I don’t want to talk about it.”

  They ate in silence for several more minutes until they completed their meal. Tamara showed Eretria where to toss the trash, how to use the portable refresher and where the emergency skinsuits were stored. The two women chatted about the status of the ship, about duties of the engineering teams and the repair and overhaul schedule. Eventually, though, they lapsed into silence as they each picked up their reading materials and focused on that.