Corajen returned after her two week sojourn, bringing with her twelve individuals, a mix of nine humans, two domaks and another lupusan. She had taken them on a thirteen day trek through the hostile mountain passes on the southern continent, a survival march, with limited provisions, supplies and equipment. It had apparently been something of a bonding experience, because when they returned to the Samarkand they were talking and joking like a team that had been through the wars and fought their way clear. No one would speak to the technicians or the crew of the ship about their ordeal, and Corajen discouraged them from asking. Corajen vouched for them, and she provided full and detailed files on all of them, showing her skill that had earned her the position as Chief of Security of first the Grania Estelle and now this operation.
Four days after the arrival of Corajen and her security force, the smelter began to take shape. The entire team was working long hours to get it up and running, but almost as though they had done the job a hundred times before, the smelter came together quickly and efficiently, the team moving like a well-oiled machine. As they were working, the two new tug pilots, twin sisters Faera and Meliea Solei were busy bringing in the first real asteroid to be torn apart. The rock itself was about the size of the Samarkand, but far more dense, since there was no hollowed out inside like there would be on the ship. The smelter could handle tens of tons of materials at a time, removing the unwanted materials, leaving the ores behind. They would of course need a much larger device in time to handle bigger construction projects, but with the small amount of techs they had, this “small” smelter would do.
The team went out in EVA suits with the shuttle nearby to chase anyone down who fell free. Laser cutters were used to slice up the rock, though they all could see they were like ants trying to pull apart an elephant. It wasn’t the most efficient of means to get the ore they would want. Eretria suggested using explosives and Tamara agreed that it would be far more efficient, but for now she wasn’t comfortable in using them with the level of experience this team had. For the moment, they would have to do things manually.
Then Tamara had an inspiration. Firing up her Perdition fighter, she flew out from the Samarkand’s boat bay, bringing her laser cannons online. The shuttle collected up all of the engineering team, moving off to a safe distance nowhere near Tamara’s line of fire. Lining up her shot, she cut loose with ten precise shots, blasting apart a cloud of debris from the asteroid and cutting a chunk from the small planetoid’s surface.
“Samarkand, this is Em-One,” she called to the ship. “If you could activate your tractoring beams and bring the debris into the opening for the smelter, I would appreciate it.” The smelter had been attached to the edge of the cargo bay, with an intake lock set up on the outside of the hull, which would allow for easier access. In a matter of moments, the cloud of debris was swept together and effectively sucked into the intake port for the smelter, which activated as the raw materials were dumped into its bunkers.
She smiled, nodding in satisfaction. “That worked very well. We’ll let the smelter start working on this round of debris and then we’ll hit it again. Though we’re going to have to come up with a more elegant solution than using my fighter for this.”
“I’m sure we can come up with something, ma’am,” Eretria agreed. “Maybe we could rig laser cannons to either the shuttle or the tugs or something.”
Tamara twisted her lips. “Might work. Probably the shuttle would be the best idea. There really isn’t room on the tug for that sort of thing.” Then she brightened. “Actually, we could use the cannon on the ship. It’ll be safer all round.”
“Cannon’s offline, ma’am,” Eretria said, her voice a bit meek.
Tamara sighed heavily. “Right. Okay, so that’s the next order of business. It’ll make this job a bit easier.” She adjusted her position on the pilot’s couch. She checked her sensor displays, which showed that the Samarkand’s tractoring beams had swept up about sixty percent of the material debris and was working to get the remainder. She was impressed at whoever was operating that tractoring beam projector. They clearly had skill; they weren’t scattering the chunks, dust and particulates all over. She’d have to have a chat with whoever that was. She waited patiently for another four minutes, then signaled. “All right, I’m going to fire again. Samarkand, whoever that crackerjack is who’s running the projector, give them an extra tot of rum for me, will you?”
There was laughter over the comms and Tamara joined in. She squeezed her triggers and fired another ten shots.
It was several days later when Tamara realized that she had missed it. Grania Estelle had passed the hyper limit and jumped away. They had been too far away to see on sensors and the ship hadn’t sent out any messages. She supposed it really wouldn’t have mattered. She was being silly. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t remained behind before while a ship containing her friends flew off into the unknown.
But that ship, that crew, those were the first people she had met out here in this new time. She had worked with them, fought beside them. Stella was aboard that ship. And they were leaving, had already left her behind. It wasn’t as though she was alone, Corajen was here and she had responsibilities again and she was building things again. She was busy and she was happy. But it still hurt.
She allowed herself a long moment of melancholy. The freighter was gone and they would have to go through this trip to Heb and back without her. She laughed at herself. “They’ve been managing for years, decades without you,” she told herself aloud. “You’re being an idiot. Yes, they might have been in serious trouble without you, but you’ve fixed the ship for them and taught them well. They can handle a trip to a single star system one jump away and then come back here.” Tamara shook herself, stood up from the edge of her bunk where she had been sitting, feeling sorry for herself, and exited her stateroom, headed for the mess hall. Maybe coffee and a sandwich would help her take her mind off things.
The mess hall on the Samarkand wasn’t as grand or large as that of the Grania Estelle. It could comfortably seat twenty at several tables with benches. The coffee shrine wasn’t as huge as the one on the bulk freighter either, but two massive stainless steel urns stood on the counter by the kitchen. The messmates grumbled good-naturedly about how their primary job was keeping the urns full, what with the way spacers, and particularly this crew, powered through their coffee.
As she entered, Tamara saw Konstantin sitting at one of the tables by himself, eating something she couldn’t see. She helped herself to a sandwich and a piece of fruit from one of the ready coolers, poured herself a cup of the dark ambrosia, and carried her tray over to where he was sitting.
“Join you?” she asked. He looked up as Tamara approached.
He grunted, waving to the chair across the table. She set the tray down and sat on the bench opposite him. He was digging into a plate of what looked like lamb shanks, and was setting to the task with a will. She took a bite of her sandwich. After another moment, he finished the bone he’d been working on and set it down on his tray. “You look depressed.”
Tamara nodded. “A little. My old ship departed the system and I didn’t even notice until just a little while ago.”
Konstantin nodded sagely. “I understand. Us Navy types have that feeling sometimes. New deployments, new ships, new crews. You get transferred from a comfortable posting when new responsibilities come up.” He shrugged. “You have to deal. What am I talking about? You’re a Commander in the Navy. You’ve been through this before.”
“I know. It’s never easy.” She took another bite of sandwich. “This was the first ship and the first crew that I met after I woke up in this time. It’s not that I thought I’d be on board forever.”
“Sentiment,” Konstantin said with a smile.
She grinned. “Yeah, I suppose. It’s always hard to leave the nest.”
“I suppose it is. But you have friends and colleagues here,” he pointed out. “You aren’t cast adrift, Tamara.” Then he shr
ugged and picked up the last of the uneaten lamb and tucked in.
Tamara chuckled. “Glad to see where my emotional pain ranks on your list of priorities.”
He nodded, grunting as he devoured the meat on the bone. After a few moments, he answered. “You come here, sit with me when I’m eating and expect loads of sympathy for this?” His voice was gruff, but his eyes were laughing.
She laughed and saluted him with her sandwich. “Thanks, Konstantin.”
He bowed his head and smiled at her. “Anytime, Commander Samair. Now,” he said, rising to his feet. “I have to get to sickbay for my shift. Not all of us can lounge around like officers. We enlisted have to work for a living.”
“Go on, get out of here so I can enjoy my august sandwich from my ivory tower.”
“Yes, Commander!” he said very loudly, delivering a crisp Navy salute, lowered his arm and then bussed his tray and left the mess hall. Others looked over and chuckled or just stared at the spectacle before going back to their own meals and conversations. Tamara shook her head, smiling and then finished her lunch.
“You wanted to see me?” Tamara asked, stepping on to the ship’s bridge. Galina was seated in the command seat, the other stations on the bridge were filled.
The lupusan looked over at her. “Yes. We just received a transmission from someone on the surface of the planet. They’re interested in getting several thousand tons of metals for a project.”
Tamara blinked. “Several thousand tons?”
Galina nodded. “I can have the communication played back for you if you like.”
“I’ll check it out in a minute. Did they say what they wanted it for?”
“The company that wants it is called EDI Transworks, Limited,” Galina told her. “Apparently there’s been some sort of business infighting over which out of three different companies can win a government contract to build a hydroelectric plant in Tik’nevi province. Apparently EDI is looking to win, and so they want to get the materials they’d need to get this project.”
“And they want to get them from us?” she asked. “They can’t get them locally?”
“Apparently, they seem to think that by buying from us, it will raise their prestige.” Galina seemed amused by this. “And they don’t seem to care about how much it will cost to bring the materials down from orbit.”
Tamara pursed her lips. “I hadn’t planned for this. I suppose I should have. I had just assumed that any serious business we’d be doing would be up here in space, not down on the planet. Our one shuttle isn’t going to be enough to transship what they want down to the surface.”
Galina chuckled. “You’ve bought a ship before. Buy another.”
Tamara grimaced. “We don’t have the revenue for that,” she admitted. “And I can’t go to the investors with my hand out. I suspect they won’t have any sympathy or any money for me.”
“I see,” Galina replied. “Thankfully, decisions like that are far above what a simple ship’s captain has to deal with.”
She smiled. “In this case. If we were using this ship for its intended function, you most certainly would be involved in this kind of decision.” She looked at the lupusan captain carefully. “And, if you are interested, I can get you more involved.” Galina looked at her. “I mean it. You have a great deal of experience with local politics, and more with the locals than I do. I don’t know how much you actually interacted with anyone here, but it’s certainly more than I have.”
The lupusan was just staring at her. “Why would you even ask this? I thought you just wanted me to run this ship.”
Tamara nodded. “I do,” she said. “It takes that responsibility off my plate, freeing me up for other matters. But I’m an engineer. I can run an operation like this, but I don’t have much experience in trade.”
“And I do?” Galina asked, her ears flattening. “I was a hospital administrator and then a commander of a medical ship.”
Tamara was suddenly aware that everyone on the bridge was either very scrupulously attending to their duties, pretending to be completely unaware that she and the Captain were having a discussion about Great and Important Things out in the open on the bridge, or else were staring in rapt attention. “Perhaps we can discuss this in private, Captain?” she asked, glancing around at the crew.
Galina sighed. “Of course, Commander.” She stood. “Iksa, you have the bridge.”
“Yes, Captain,” the woman seated at the helm replied.
They adjourned to Galina’s stateroom. As the captain of the ship, she received the biggest of all of the staterooms, which wasn’t saying much. It was perhaps a meter or so wider than Tamara’s and about three meters longer, but any luxury on a cargo ship was to be appreciated. Her quarters were spartan, with only a single photograph on the desk beside the bunk to decorate the compartment. Tamara pulled up her HUD after a quick glance, bringing an image of the picture up on the right side of her vision. It was a group of eleven lupusan, Galina among them, standing on a rocky ledge over a sea of sand. They were dressed in robes, most of them had their hoods raised, probably to protect them from the sun or the wind. It was difficult to determine their expressions, based on the picture, but her implants helpfully provided what she needed. They all looked elated, yet strangely serene. Perhaps they had gone on some pilgrimage, or retreat. Tamara wasn’t sure.
Galina saw her looking at the picture, but didn’t comment on that. Instead, she turned and sat herself on the edge of her bunk, motioning for the human woman to sit in the desk chair. Tamara sat down, getting comfortable and crossed her legs. “So?” Galina asked. “You wanted to talk in private. Here we are.”
Tamara nodded politely. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Galina. Truly I didn’t. I was just thinking that perhaps you and I could discuss strategy in private instead of standing on the bridge.”
The lupusan captain looked slightly mollified by this. “Very well. But you’re an engineer and I’m a hospital administrator, a doctor in a past life. Neither of us are all that experienced in free market trading, if that’s indeed what we’re engaged in here. I think that the offer is genuine, with a minimal amount of trying to screw us over,” she admitted. “They want the materials that we can provide, I think because they think we can get the goods to them cheaper and with less fuss than the regular suppliers on the planet.”
Tamara nodded slowly. “That’s very likely, but I think that they’re looking to lowball us on the price. It will be expensive to send a shuttle up and down through atmo to drop off the shipment. A lot in fuel costs.”
Galina nodded. “So we’ll add that in. But I think this is a good deal to take.”
“I do too,” she said. “But I think we’ll need to proceed carefully. It’s a big order. And, I think we need to get another shuttle on the ramp as well. One simply isn’t enough and neither the tugs nor the Samarkand can go into atmosphere.”
Galina flicked her ears. “How many ships can we fit into the boat bay?”
“Right now we’ve got the shuttle, the two tugs and my fighter. The other fighters are sitting in the cargo bay, so they don’t count. I think we could comfortably squeeze one more shuttle of the same size as the one we have and then maybe two smaller shuttlepods, meant for personnel only.” Tamara uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, elbows on knees. “Could carry four to six passengers with a single pilot.”
Galina snorted. “That doesn’t sound terribly useful, the shuttlepods, I mean. Any trips to the orbital or to the surface would probably be better if we could bring a load of cargo in addition to passengers or crew on liberty.”
Tamara grimaced. “You’re probably right about that. I’ll have to see about parking my fighter in the main bay until we can get a better place to store it.”
“Why do you keep that thing, anyway?” Galina asked. “It doesn’t seem very useful.”
Tamara grinned. “Using just that very starfighter and the Grania Estelle’s laser cannons, we fought off six hostile starfighters that tried
to attack us back at the Hecate system.”
“All right, so it isn’t just an item of vanity,” Galina conceded. “But… well, it’s taking up valuable space right now.”
“Well, once we get some sort of facility built, we can transfer the tugs and the fighters over there and free up space on the ship. I’d like to keep my fighter here, though. It won’t offer a huge amount of protection, but I’ll feel better if we had it.”
Galina stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. “Well, you’re right. After what happened at Ulla-tran and what I was afraid was going to happen here when their convoy and warships showed up, I think perhaps we do need some protection. You can keep the starfighter there for now. But you’re right, we do need at least one more cargo shuttle. In fact, can we park the tugs in the cargo bay?”
Tamara pursed her lips. “No. I mean, yes, there’s room but it isn’t practical to use up all the space parking ships.” She paused and tapped her finger against her lips. “Actually, let me check on something.” She pulled out her datapad and punched up a few commands. “Yes, that might work. Okay. So I’ll get with my team and we can see about building a semi-permanent lock or cradle that we can use to secure the tugs to the outside of the ship, attached right to the external lateral airlocks, one on each side of the ship to keep it all trimmed out.”
Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 Page 56