Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2

by Michael Kotcher

  “Copy that, Em-One,” the ship’s comms officer replied. “Doors are open for you.”

  The convoy from Ulla-tran made the jump to hyperspace just as Redcap Madness departed from the station. They’d been on the way out system for almost two weeks, owing to engine problems on one of the freighters. The convoy had been forced to coast along at a lower ballistic speed because one of the freighters couldn’t keep up and Marklan Turco had not been willing to let them drop back. They had left without any communications to the other ships in system, though the station administrators had been excited about the whole affair.

  Grania Estelle, Samarkand and Redcap Madness had kept their distance from all of the ships and refused to have any contact with them. The ships in the convoy didn’t attempt to interfere in anything they were doing, didn’t communicate with any of them and genuinely pretended as though the other ships didn’t even exist. As they were going back to a system filled with lots of bad memories for the crews of those ships, no one complained.

  “I wonder if we might ever go back there,” Vincent said as he watched the convoy from the wardroom. Stella was seated at her favorite perch on holo projector over the table, sitting cross legged.

  “Ulla-tran?” she guessed.

  He nodded. Standing, he went to the displays behind his normal chair which were showing the convoy of ships getting to the hyper limit. “They’re about three minutes out.” He sighed. “It’s too bad that everything that happened there was so…”

  “Terrible?” the AI supplied.

  Vincent shrugged. “Yeah, that’s a good word. Because between these two systems, I think we could set up a great amount of trade and make a lot of money. They have space industry, Seylonique has well… none. Yet!” he said, holding up a finger. “And I know the people on the surface would be interested. And yet… We can’t go there. I don’t want to subject any of my people to the danger that would entail.”

  “I understand, Captain,” Stella replied. “It isn’t as though I have a lot of fond memories about that place.”

  He smiled, not looking away from the displays. “You did get rather forceful back there, though,” he pointed out. “You were all set to go riding to Emilia Walker’s rescue.”

  Stella grimaced, ducking her head in embarrassment. “Yes, Captain, I remember. I won’t be making suggestions like that anymore. I know my limitations.”

  He glanced back at her. “I know. And I learned a few things as well. Like Tamara kept saying, the old girl is a bulk freighter, not a battlecruiser.”

  “You’re upset that the UT’s are starting up trade with this system, aren’t you?” Stella asked after a moment’s silence.

  “Yeah, I am,” he replied. “But until and unless we can get some escort ships, I’m not going to risk any of my people or my ship in that system.”

  Stella nodded emphatically. “I heartily agree with that, Captain.”

  He watched the displays for a few more minutes, waiting until they crossed the hyper limit and made the jump. During the long period of refit, George had put forth the idea of dropping a sensor buoy out at the hyper limit near to the vector leading to Ulla-tran to keep an eye out for potentially hostile forces. Of course, he didn’t come up with the idea until the convoy of ships had arrived and was already heading in system, but with it placed, it relayed information back to the ship, allowing Vincent Eamonn to watch that same convoy depart. Grania Estelle’s sensors were good, but they didn’t have quite that much range to them. Once the ships were gone, Vincent nodded and sat back down, picking up his datapad and getting back to work. Stella sat there, not speaking for several more minutes before she vanished, leaving him in peace.

  “So what is our actual plan of attack, ma’am?” Eretria asked a few hours later. The Samarkand was on course for the asteroid belt, but wouldn’t get there for another sixty hours or so. The engine was getting them where they needed to go, but it was clear that Tamara’s estimate of how long they would be able to use it without serious overhaul had been optimistic. Galina had gotten the Samarkand moving, but the engine had redlined in a matter of minutes. They’d barely been able to accelerate to point oh five of lightspeed before the engine began to show serious problems. Parts were overheating, control lines had failed; it was just a mess. They were coasting along on a ballistic trajectory for now, while EVA teams began tearing down the engine from the outside.

  Tamara rubbed her face. “Well, the gas mine is our priority. But to do that, we need materials. And so we’ll need to use the tugs to pull some of the really big rocks out so we can harvest those materials. So, first order of business is raw materials. We use those to build us a serious smelter.”

  Eretria looked confused. “Ma’am, we already just load the raw materials into the replicators. Can’t we just continue doing that?”

  She nodded. “We could. But if we can separate out the loads of garbage from the actually useful materials, it will speed up the process. Besides, we won’t be using everything we harvest from the asteroid field. Some of it we’re going to be selling to the locals and simply dumping everything into the replicator to refine the materials is not a great use of its capabilities.”

  Eretria nodded. “Makes sense, ma’am,” she replied. “So you want me to get started on a smelter? How big?”

  Tamara smiled. “Very. We’re going to be needing a lot of processed materials. So we’re going to need a smelter that can handle hundreds of metric tons of rock at a time.”

  Eretria nodded, smiling. “Ma’am, I think I can get you what you need. I have a few ideas I’ve been working on.”

  “Draw it up and have it to me by the end of the watch.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Their working relationship had improved over the last few months and while they might never be close friends, they were certainly able to work well together.

  “I’ll look over your plans and we’ll tweak them as needed. Once we’re closer, we’ll have the tugs move out and grab us a nice fat rock to harvest. We’ll pull it clear from the belt, then have EVA teams get out and slice it apart.”

  Eretria frowned. “We only have a few people on the teams ma’am, and aside from me, Kay’grax and yourself, only three of them have any serious experience in EVA. And all of them are currently out on the hull working on the ship’s main engine.”

  Tamara gave her a lopsided grin. “Well, Miss Sterling, once you get done with the plans for that smelter, you and I get to start EVA drills. We’re going to need an engineering team that can handle serious work outside. Sadly, we’ve only got the one small team, so we’re going to have to work up in stages. I’m hoping that if business picks up, once people in this system realize what we’re doing, that we can hire on more people.”

  The dark-haired woman smiled. “But in the meantime, ma’am, you want me to whip these kids into shape.”

  Tamara clapped her on the shoulder. “Damned right I do. I can’t afford to keep on people who can’t pull their weight. Get them up to snuff, Miss Sterling. Kick as much ass as you need to.”

  “I will, ma’am.”

  “Corajen, you and I need to have a chat,” Tamara said, waving the lupusan into her small stateroom.

  “Of course,” she said, stepping inside. Corajen grimaced as she stepped inside. The stateroom was small, with barely enough room for her to turn her wide frame in the confined space. Tamara gestured to the only chair in the room, the one at her desk. Tamara was seated on the edge of her bunk. Corajen sat. “What’s on your mind?”

  “How are you with your security teams?”

  Corajen’s left ear twitched. “Teams? I have no teams. For the moment, there’s just me. And now that I’m all the way out here, I can’t bring on new people.”

  “Then I’ll get you on the shuttle in thirty minutes and it’ll take you wherever you want to go,” Tamara said seriously. “The orbital, the planet surface, whatever you like.”

  Now both of her ears lay flat. “I appreciate the forward thinking, Tamara, but why
now? I thought you wanted to wait until the first round of work was completed to bring up security teams. And where would we put them all? This ship doesn’t have a whole lot of room?”

  “How many people would you need to adequately defend this ship?” Tamara asked, leaning back on her hands. “If I pulled out all the stops on equipment, armor, weapons, everything? No sugarcoating, just fact. How many?”

  The lupusan didn’t even hesitate. “For a ship this size, I would need at least a dozen to do it properly. And I would need all the toys you can give me. What’s the sudden rush?”

  Tamara hesitated. “I’m concerned about the things I’ve been seeing coming from the orbital. The newsfeeds and the ‘secure’ channels the admins have been talking on are making noises about us. They don’t like that we just came in, threw some money around and are making changes in the status quo. They’ve been holding things at a certain level for a long while and then Captain Eamonn and now I have disrupted that. I imagine that if we push things too much farther and if too many things change, especially down on the planet, they might start sending some rather unpleasant notes our way.”

  “Unpleasant… notes…” Corajen repeated, then nodded. “You’re thinking they’re going to try something?”

  “I think they’re either going to try and seize our property or simply blow it up.” She smiled. “And I think it might be beneficial to thwart those ambitions.”

  “You want to send them home crying.”

  “I do,” Tamara replied. “We can’t make things too obvious, or it might force their hands. But I don’t want to move too slowly. We have to be ready when they move, because they will. So, I want to start with your security teams. I know when we spoke about weapons aboard Grania Estelle all those months ago, I didn’t want to give you the things you asked for. And I opened up the toolbox a bit when the pirates showed up. But,” and she sighed, “I can’t afford that now. The box is open. I’ll show you what I’ve got, you choose. I’ve got some things that you’ll like, some things you’ll want and a few that you’ll need.”

  “I like the way you think, Tamara, you know that,” Corajen told her. “At least with weapons.”

  “Good. Get yourself down to the boat bay. I’ll have the shuttle take you back as soon as you’re ready.” She looked at the bulkhead. “I hope I don’t need to tell you that the people you bring in need to be loyal and they need to be tough. We can’t afford to have anyone who would turn their coat.”

  “Don’t you worry, Tamara,” Corajen said. “Though I wish Sai was here, I’ll find the people we need.”

  “How?”

  “There are a few people I’d been keeping an eye on when we started looking for personnel,” Corajen admitted. “Saiphirelle and I did some scouting for Grania Estelle’s security contingent and we hired on more than a few of them.”

  “So they’ve already been snapped up?”

  “I think there’s a few out there yet.” Corajen shrugged. “I’ll talk with Sai and see what we can get.”

  “Turn over every rock,” Tamara told her. “Whatever it takes, Corajen. I want to be ready when they eventually come for us. Because they will.”

  “I will, Commander,” the lupusan said with a smile.

  “I know you will.”

  Months of work, frustration at every turn, loss of life and certainly loss of profit had finally come to fruition. Quesh had just signed off on the repairs to the internals. All the power, electrical, life support and control linkages had been completed and tested. He, Ka’Xarian and Stella had signed off on everything. “Ship is ready for space, Captain. Fill the holds and let’s get the hell back on the road.”

  “I like that statement, Mister Trrgoth,” Vincent said with a grin. “I’ve got me a new cargo specialist and we’re looking to fill the holds.”

  The Parkani blinked. “When did we get a new cargo specialist?”

  “About two hours ago,” Vincent admitted. “And he came aboard with the other cargo handlers I hired in the last shuttle trip. But I’ve been speaking with him for a few weeks now.”

  “How did I not know about this?”

  “Because you’ve been busy, Quesh,” Vincent said with a smile. “And, don’t take this wrong, but when you get involved with your many and sundry responsibilities, you get laser focused on them, to the exclusion all else.”

  The engineer rubbed one hand over his scalp. He grumbled something, but didn’t dispute that. “So am I going to get to meet this person?”

  “You’ll meet him at the meeting in a couple of hours. He’s at the cargo docks securing the next round of items for the holds.”

  Quesh nodded. “I see. Anything good?”

  “Well, two of the holds are being filled with just rocks for raw materials for the replicators. I’m putting in six twelve meter cans of helium 3 fuel in cargo bay eight, to either top off our own tanks if needed, or to sell if possible.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Vincent rubbed his chin. “Well, Redcap Madness headed off to Bellosha, which was where I intended going, and I think that it might ruffle some feathers if we go there. So I’m thinking that of the other systems that are only one jump away, that leaves Tyseus, Randwell and Heb.”

  “Okay.”

  “Heb is probably where we’re going,” the captain said. “They have some industry, nothing in space, but they have a lot of mining and ground-based facilities. I think that we could do some good business there.”

  “Sounds good,” Quesh said. “Well, as I said, we’re ready to roll. Fuel tanks are at ninety percent, we’ll have them completely full in about four hours.”

  “Excellent,” Vincent said. “Excellent. Well, be back up here for the meeting and we’ll get everything ready to roll.”

  “So, this is going to be our last officer meeting before we depart,” Vincent said to his gathered officers in the wardroom. Turan sat to his left, next to Quesh, with George Miller at the far end of the side of the table. On the right sat Ka’Xarian and Noken, and at the far end was a new face, that of the new cargo specialist.

  “I’m sure a few of you have already met, but for those who haven’t, this is Ardeth Marven, our new cargo specialist.” All eyes turned to him. Ardeth Marven was a big man, tall, with skin nearly as dark as the Captain’s, but whereas Eamonn had a fair amount of muscle on his frame, Ardeth was rail thin, looking gaunt and underfed. A few weeks aboard the Grania Estelle, getting some of Noken’s excellent fare should remedy that. He had a rather cold and calculating look in his eye, but his smile was ready enough.

  “Good to meet you all,” he said in his very gravelly voice.

  “And somehow, against all odds, this good man has managed to find more than a few items for us to bring to Heb for sale,” Vincent said approvingly.

  Ardeth shrugged. “Actually, it was all of you that helped to get some of those sales. A few of the vendors on the surface, after having bought materials from you, wanted to turn around and sell them back to us to bring to another system.” He’d managed to pick up four aircars from one of the vendors that was a friend to Suriaya at a good price.

  “We’re going to be turning over the starfighters that are taking up space in the cargo bay to Tamara’s operation. She requested them and I approve that she’ll need a little protection that they might be able to bring. So, Mister Marven, your job, once this meeting is completed, is to contact the Samarkand and work with them to offload those fighters.”

  The new cargo specialist nodded. “I’ll get right on it.” He didn’t sound the least bit concerned or upset about this particular assignment.

  “Other than that, I’m told we’re good to go,” Vincent said, looking around the room. “Anything that we’re forgetting?” There was silence from the gathered officers. “Good. Then I’m adjourning this meeting. Let’s get back into space. I think I’d like to see Heb.” There were noises of assent from the others.

  Chapter 23

  “I don’t know what to say,” Stella sai
d, appearing on the display in Tamara’s stateroom aboard the Samarkand. “You’ve always been on the ship, or at least nearby since I was brought online. I’m not sure how I’m going to cope without you.” The AI actually looked as though she might cry.

  Tamara gave a small smile. “It’s all right, Stella. This day had to come eventually, you know.”

  “I know!” she wailed, looking stricken. “But I’ve been online less than a year! I figured you’d be with Grania Estelle for a lot longer than that.”

  “It’s not like you’re going to be all alone on a derelict hulk, Stella,” Tamara pointed out. “The Captain hired on new crew to bring the engineering teams up to snuff. There’s a hundred and twenty-five other people on that ship. Plenty of people to socialize with.”

  Stella sighed. “It’s not the same, Tamara, you know it.”

  “Yeah, I do,” she conceded. “It will be hard doing all this without you. But the Captain is leaving the system, as he should, and you’re off to grand new places while I’m staying here.”

  “You will be here when we get back, won’t you?” Stella asked, her eyes pleading.

  Tamara chuckled. “That’s the plan. This ship certainly isn’t hyperspace capable, yet. And I’ve got too much other work to be doing to worry about that for the moment. Perhaps in the future that will be different, but for now, we’re stuck here.”

  “All right. You just be careful, Tamara. I won’t be there to watch your back this time.”

  “You too, Stella. No more death rides, charging into the mouth of battle.”

  Stella waved her hands as though to ward off evil. “No! No no no no no. Never again with that.” And they both laughed.

  Things started moving at breakneck speed from that point. As Grania Estelle lumbered off toward the hyper limit on a vector toward Heb, the engineering teams on the Samarkand started their EVA training. Tamara set Eretria to the task and it turned out that the woman was a hard and worthy taskmaster. She didn’t let anyone slide, though for the moment there was only a team of ten to work with. The main work bays (formerly cargo bays) of the Samarkand seemed huge and cavernous and empty because of the small amount of workers involved. Corajen flew the shuttle back to the orbital so that the lupusan could scout and hopefully recruit the people she wanted to fill out her security teams. From there, she went down to the planet’s surface, scouting the people she had her eye on. She was gone for two weeks, during which time, Tamara began work on the smelter, using Eretria’s design, with a few tweaks. She had the team help when they weren’t doing EVA exercises and things were moving along ahead of schedule, which was to Tamara’s satisfaction.