Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2

by Michael Kotcher

  “Really?” Kly asked, his voice dangerous. “And why exactly is the former Administrator doing flapping her gums about… anything to do with government assets to outsider civilians?” He looked straight at the lupusan, who visibly flinched.

  Cresswell rallied to this point as well. “Yes, I’d like to hear about this also. Why is this person even at this meeting? I remember specifically ordering that we did not need or, for that matter,” she said with a scathing glance at Galina, “want her at this meeting.”

  “I requested she accompany me to this meeting, ma’am,” Vincent replied, looking over to and nodding to the lupusan.

  “Why?” the woman asked.

  Vincent looked over to her. There was no doubt that her demeanor and her facial expressions were challenging, even hostile. “Ms. Cresswell, I met up with Administrator Galina some months ago when her ship was in distress in a system my ship had just arrived in. Well, I say in distress, but the crew had all evacuated down to the planet, save for a few engineers. The ship’s reactor was in a bad way, leaking lethal amounts of radiation and the crew was trying to effect repairs. Sadly without much luck.”

  “Yes, yes,” Kly interrupted. “We’ve all heard this sob story.”

  “Oh, good,” Eamonn replied, his face earnest. “Then you know that had my ship not showed up, the Kara most likely would be dead in orbit of that planet and the crew stuck down on the surface. The Administrator and I spoke at length, and we struck up an arrangement that would allow her to get her ship fixed up. My engineers went aboard, and we worked together to remove the damaged reactor, affect radiation cleanup of the entire ship and then install a new one. In addition, my engineers replaced or otherwise upgraded the entire power distribution system, as well as a few other systems. And from what the good Administrator tells me…”

  “It seems the ‘good Administrator’ likes to run her mouth,” Cresswell said caustically. “Especially to civilians who have no business poking their noses into official government affairs.”

  Galina glowered at the woman, with a look of pure venom. Eamonn tipped his head to one side, perhaps in acknowledgement. “She tells me that the Kara is getting stripped down to the bulkheads, pulling everything that my people put in and bringing it over to the Leytonstone. Now, you need to understand that jury rigging those components might be possible, but it certainly isn’t going to be a perfect solution. They’re civilian grade components.”

  “Now we should bow to your amazing technical expertise,” Kly spat.

  “No, but you might want to listen to your own engineers,” Galina said, her voice low. “I’m sure they’re impressed with the quality of the parts they’re ‘transferring’ from the Kara to the Leytonstone, but I know that they’re also telling you that it will take some work to get them integrated into the cruiser. And,” she went on, “because they’re civilian grade components, they won’t have the endurance or the sheer power of a milspec unit.”

  Kozen’ck raised a hand. “Very well. We will speak with the engineers. But that doesn’t actually answer what you are doing here at this meeting. You were told not to attend.” It was hard to tell with his compound eyes, but it looked as though he glowered at her.

  “I asked her to attend,” Vincent asked.

  The other members looked at him, belligerent looks on all their faces, but the Captain didn’t back down. He’d been on the business end of pirate weapons, he’d watched crewmen executed before his eyes, he’d watched death bearing down on him and his people. The stern and aggravated glances of the members here did nothing to shake him.

  He shrugged. “I did,” he said, as though he was explaining himself to a child who simply didn’t understand. “I thought she was instrumental in getting this meeting set up, but when I heard what had happened to her ship, I thought I would need her counsel here.”

  “Did you,” Kly said, a false smile on his face. “And what could a hospital administrator possibly be able to contribute to this conversation.”

  Galina’s ears flattened to her head, but aside from that she didn’t rise to the bait. “As the former commander of the Kara,” Eamonn went on, “And the one who had been operating the ship with the upgrades, I figured she would have insight into how effective my engineering teams were and how well all the parts we installed worked.” He cleared his throat. “But, you seem to have things well in hand. I’ll be returning to my ship. If you change your minds about working together, you have my comm codes. Please give me a call.”

  He stood and the others followed. “Have a pleasant afternoon, all of you.” As he turned and walked out, the others following along behind, he could hear the voices of the members calling him back, angrily demanding that he explain himself. But he ignored them and continued out of the compartment.

  Once outside and the door was closed, Tamara chuckled. “Well that was a productive use of my time. Thanks, Captain. If you don’t mind, I’m going to go see if I can find my friend the Chaplain.” She gave a little bow to Galina, who bowed back, nodded to Saiphirelle, then headed off on her own.

  “What just happened in there?” Galina demanded, spreading her arms wide. “I thought the point was to get them to agree to your proposal.”

  Vincent nodded. “It was. And I still believe that they’ll come around. But I think it better that they think I’m an arrogant asshole. And as my associate Ms. Samair proved, you have to be willing to walk away from a deal to try and get what you want.”

  Galina’s ears flicked. “You really think you can pull this off?” Her voice was skeptical.

  He shrugged. “I’m honestly not sure. Kly wasn’t convinced and nor was Cresswell. But I think that Kozen’ck might be. And I don’t know about the others, but I think at least one of them might be interested. One of the other men, the dark-haired one with the darker skin, he was interested in what we were saying.”

  “Oh, and how do you know that?” the lupusan replied, scathingly.

  “Because his face lit up at the Captain’s mention of milspec components,” Saiphirelle said gruffly. “What?” she said, eyes sweeping the group, who all had shocked looks on their faces. “Don’t look so surprised. You didn’t think I was napping in my chair there, or mentally checking all the people in the room for weapons. Just because I’m a security officer doesn’t mean I might not have other skills.”

  “You’re right,” Eamonn said, impressed. “I caught that too. Sadly, I didn’t catch his name, but I’m hoping the good Administrator here knows him.”

  “Sebastian Chakrabarti,” she answered, her eyes on the bulkhead, though it was clear she wasn’t seeing the metal. “He’s one of the governmental finance ministers. A leading light in the government and he’s definitely one that holds the purse strings.”

  “One?” Vincent asked.

  “Well, yes,” the lupusan replied, folding her hands under the sleeves of her robe. “There are three, but only one was in that compartment with us. And if Chakrabarti is interested then it means we might have a chance.”

  Eamonn grinned, clapping the elder wolf woman on the shoulder. She gave a slight growl when he did and he nodded in apology, withdrew his hand and stepped back. “Well that is good news. I’ll let it stew for now, work on the ship and continue with the fuel collection and sales. I also want to bring on some more deck and engineering personnel. But for now, we’ll leave the members in there to discuss their thoughts on my proposal.” He gave one last look toward the compartment hatch and then beckoned to the two wolfwomen. “Come on. Let’s head over to that restaurant on level six. I could go for a good steak. My treat.”

  Both of the lupusan brightened immediately. The idea of hitting an eatery that served fresh beef was definitely one guaranteed to get their attention. “Sounds great to me, Captain,” Saiphirelle replied. “Though I do have to admit, that new cook Noken does a good job.” But then she clapped her hands together. “But, steaks await! Come on!” she said, hustling them all down the corridor, all of them laughing at her enthusiasm
.

  Tamara was at a loss. The meeting was supposed to have lasted for several hours, discussing terms and specs, setting up times for surveys, perhaps even looking over schematics for the battlecruiser. She had planned to be out with barely enough time to run down to Shaunessey’s to meet up with Chaplain Tyannikov. But in truth, the meeting had lasted less than twenty minutes and now she had many hours to kill before the chaplain would be there at the pub. She could go wandering aimlessly through the station, trying to find him, but in truth, the idea of what might end up as a fruitless and exhausting search was not at all appealing.

  So she wandered over to one of the cafes to get some lunch. It was a small joint with only about five tables inside, which was filled with customers, most of whom were human. The hostess at the door waved her inside. “Just find a seat anywhere, honey. That table there, closest to the back is open.” She pointed.

  “Thank you.” Tamara threaded her way through the tables, passing by other people who were eating. She accidently bumped into the chair of a young woman who was sitting with an older man. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.

  The young woman turned, a slightly irritated look on her face. But then the features brightened. “Tamara!” she exclaimed, hopping to her feet.

  “Taja?” It was her. “It’s been weeks! I didn’t expect to see you.” She reached out and impulsively hugged the woman, who hugged her back.

  “Come, sit with us,” the tiny woman replied, gesturing to the open seat.

  “You’re sure?”

  Taja gave Tamara’s arm a little tug. “Stop being an idiot and sit down.” Tamara chuckled and sat. She looked to the man sitting at the table.

  “Wow, Captain Vosteros,” Tamara said, flushing in embarrassment. “How did I not notice it was the two of you here?”

  “Please, call me Frederick,” he admonished, smiling. “It isn’t like you haven’t called me by my name before. We did used to work together, you know.”

  “Yes, I remember, it wasn’t all that long ago.”

  Tamara picked up a menu as the young waitress approached. She smiled at the young woman and ordered a salad with what the menu claimed was chicken. At the prices they were charging here, it was unlikely that the café had actual chicken, even if it was being transported up from the planet. More likely it was cultured meat grown in a vat, or perhaps some sort of soya product. Either way, whatever was going to be on the salad would most likely taste like chicken.

  “So how are things on the ship?” Vosteros asked, before taking a bite of his sandwich.

  “Repairs are ongoing,” Tamara replied, leaning her elbows on the table. “Working to get the new crew up to speed, which is always a chore. I have to admit, though, it isn’t the same without you two.”

  “I’m sure,” he replied, through a mouthful of sandwich. Taja’s face had darkened and she was suddenly very interested in her soup.

  “Sorry,” Tamara said meekly. She pushed on, trying to get past the awkward subject. “The Captain’s up to some new tricks, looking to open up new lines of business. So what have you been doing all this time?”

  Vosteros took another bite, chewed and swallowed. “I’ve been trying to secure a ship.”

  Tamara nodded. “That’s not surprise. But in all the time we’ve been here, we haven’t seen any ships leave the station. I’m guessing you haven’t found one.”

  “Oh, I found one,” he replied with a smirk. He made a flicking motion with one finger, indicating somewhere near the station. “There are a few ships that are docked at the station that are without owners, or rather the station leadership owns them. Right now they’re just taking up space in the docking ports and occasionally they’ll salvage one for parts. But there are still a few wrecks that might still fly.”

  Tamara started to answer, but the waitress came back and deposited the plate with her salad expertly in front of her. There were some gray shards of what might be meat on top of wilted leaves with a few ground up pieces of some sort of orange root vegetable. “There ya go, hon,” the waitress told her and sashayed off. Tamara’s nose wrinkled at the sight of the food.

  The others grimaced when they saw it as well. “Ugh,” Taja said, lifting up one of the pieces of “meat” between two fingers. “That isn’t chicken, Tamara. I think it’s slug meat.”

  Gingerly, Tamara speared a piece as well as one of the pieces of lettuce. Then, with great daring, she popped the forkful into her mouth and chewed. Then she gagged and nearly spit it out, but she forced herself to continue and then swallowed. “You’re right, that was slug meat. And I cannot understand how anyone can believe that is chicken,” she said, setting the fork down carefully on the table, a look of abject horror on her face. She pushed the plate away.

  Taja looked at the plate and then at the other woman with sympathy. “I’m sorry. I’ll get it for you,” she offered.

  But Tamara waved her off. “No, I’m the idiot who ordered it, I’ll pay for it.” Taking a paper napkin, she covered over it. Then she looked up, her expression brighter. “So, you said you found one. Care to show a lady a good time?”

  Taja threw back her head and laughed, but Vosteros looked confused. Taja patted him on the arm. “She wants to see the ship.”

  He gave her a very false smile. “Yes, I got that, Taja, thank you,” he said, primly and she smiled. Frederick looked to Tamara. “Very well. When are you available? We have to go all the way out to Hub Four.”

  “I’m available now,” Tamara reassured him. “I have to get back here to a place called Shaunessey’s by sixteen hundred.”

  The captain nodded. He gestured to himself and Taja. “We’ve been there.”

  Tamara couldn’t help a smile from forming on her lips. “You two have certainly gotten cozy.”

  Frederick smiled, but shook his head. “No, it’s not like that, Tamara.”

  She looked them both over, the captain seemed sincere, but Taja wasn’t meeting her gaze, again very interested in her soup, which was almost gone. Then she shrugged. They were adults and it wasn’t her business who they slept with. “Of course. Whenever you’re done, let’s check out this prospective ship of yours.”

  Thirty minutes later they were standing at the armor glass window looking out at the ship in the dock. It was small, barely eighty meters in length compared to the kilometer long bulk of the Grania Estelle. It had a boxy shape to the main body and an angular look to the bow, similar to that of ground lorries that would tractor large trailers across country. From what Tamara could see, the ship had two decks, and the cargo area could probably carry about two hundred metric tons. Not a lot, again in comparison to the bulk freighter she currently served on, but something that looked to be right up Vosteros’s alley. She was dilapidated, there were large corrosion spots in three places that she could see. It didn’t look as though it had too much external damage, not from this vantage point, but there was no telling what the interior of the ship looked like.

  “Well?” Frederick asked, looking a little nervous. “What do you think?” It seemed important that Tamara like his choice. Taja stood a step or two away, gazing at the ship.

  Tamara shrugged. “It looks very functional, a lot like the Emilia Walker. I would guess a ship that size wouldn’t need a crew bigger than ten. Probably eight, if everyone works on loading and unloading cargo in port.”

  Frederick nodded, running a hand over his hair. “Yeah, that was about what I was thinking. Taja was thinking of coming along to act as my cargo specialist and purser, freeing me up a bit to do the day to day operation of the ship.”

  Tamara glanced over at the shorter woman, who was pointedly not looking at her. Apparently, the view out the armor glass was particularly riveting. She only shook her head and turned back to the captain. “So, do you have access to the ship? Can we go aboard and check her out?”

  But he shook his head. “I’m afraid not. We need to have someone from station admin to come down and let us in.”

  “For legal reasons?” Tam
ara asked.

  Taja shook her head, finally turning back to face them. “No, they’re the ones that have the access codes to the ship. We can’t get in without them.”

  Tamara snorted. “Oh, please. If there’s any power left on the ship and assuming that the control system is in some sort of language that I can read, I’ll get us in. That part isn’t a problem. Do we know who the previous owners were?”

  They both shook their heads. “What about the admin person who let you in? Actually, have you been aboard before?”

  “Only once,” Frederick said. “About a week ago.”

  “And the person, human? Zheen? Lupusan?”

  Taja nodded. “I see where you’re going with this. She was human. She used a data key, similar to the one Eamonn uses aboard the Grania Estelle. She inserted it into the access panel at the docking port airlock, a few lights lit up and then the hatch slid open.”

  Tamara nodded, frowning in thought. “Yeah, then I don’t think this should be a problem. Unless the ship is of some weird construction, like hak’ruk or something, I should be able to get inside without an issue. Are you concerned about getting in trouble?”

  “Aren’t you?” Frederick asked, surprised. “I’d have thought since your captain is trying to get in good with the locals, that you wouldn’t want to cause trouble.”

  “All right then,” Tamara replied. She gestured. “Call admin, tell them you’d like to make another look at the ship, you’re considering a bid.” She frowned again. “I gotta tell you though, even if it’s completely scrap, they’re not going to want to let it go for probably anything less than a million. And that’s if it’s just stripped down to the bare metal, with no computers, no drives, no reactor. Start adding those things in, price goes up.”

  “I’ve secured funding for a loan.”

  Tamara blinked. “How the hell did you do that?” she asked. Then she looked down. “Sorry, that’s not my business.”