Chapter 12
“Moxie, this has got to stop,” the Captain told her, slapping one hand on the desk. He clearly was not happy but he wasn‘t angry, at least not outwardly.
“Which part, Captain?” she asked blandly. She was seated at the wardroom table, her hands folded in front of her on the table.
“The part where you keep walking out in the middle of my transactions! You keep throwing wrenches into my deal!” he nearly shouted.
“Captain, I’ve been trying to work with that crew…” she began.
“No, what you have done is twice… twice… walked off that ship once the boys looked at you wrong.” He glared at her. “What do you have to say about that? What happened to the Navy steel you’re supposed to have in your spine?”
She glared back. “I tried to work with them…” she began again.
“You are not authorized to change or end… any deal that I make,” he said, biting off each word, the full weight of all of his menace behind those words. He didn’t get up. He didn’t shout at her. He didn’t try to make himself larger. He simply sat there and… seethed.
And Tamara couldn’t help it. Her mouth went dry. “Captain, I need to explain…”
“You don’t need to explain… anything,” he hissed.
“Yes, I do.”
“I have given you so much leeway,” he said as though she hadn’t spoken. “I have looked the other way when I really should have come down hard on you.” His voice changed from menace to iron. “But those days are over. Now, one of two things is going to happen. Option one: you are going to do an about face, march down to the shuttle and fly with your team and the first set of replacement parts and get to work on fixing the Emilia Walker. Option two involves me having a security detail march you down to the cargo bay, while you watch as Quesh disables the weapons on your fighter. You would then board that fighter and leave my ship. And you would not be returning.”
She didn’t answer for a moment, simply sitting at her seat and trying to regain her breath.
“Do you think I’m kidding? That this is an elaborate joke?”
“No, Captain, I don’t think that.” She swallowed hard. “But I need you to listen to me.”
He sighed. “So we’re going with option two then.”
“No, listen!” she insisted. “I wasn’t doing this to hurt you or the deal. I was . ..”
But Serinda’s voice interrupted, coming in over the PA. “Captain, I have Emilia Walker on the comms. Captain Vosteros wants to speak with you immediately.”
He growled, getting to his feet and leaning on the table with one hand. Pointing at Tamara with his free hand, he said. “You… do… not… speak…”
She nodded.
“Put him through.” There was a click. “Captain?” His voice was friendly and open.
“Captain Eamonn,” Vosteros’ voice answered. “I would like to speak with you about what happened on my ship a little while ago.”
“Yes, Captain. I’m sorry about that…”
“I can’t lose this deal, Vincent. My ship is in trouble. Your Miss Samair’s work on the computers was amazing but that’s just the first step. I need so many things and I can’t afford to lose this opportunity.”
Eamonn blinked, shaking his head slightly. This wasn’t going according to the script in his head. “So what would you like to talk about?”
“I’ll pay anything, do anything to get the parts I need for my ship. You’re playing a really hard game here, but I’m in.”
“Okay,” he said, rapidly trying to keep up with the conversation. “I’m very glad to hear that.”
“And I was thinking. I know I can’t pay for all of the parts that I need, there are simply too many. But what if we were to work together? Form some sort of… I don’t know. A cooperative?”
Eamonn’s head was spinning. He looked over at Tamara, who was trying her best to look innocent. “A cooperative?”
“Yes! Perhaps… going into business together?”
Now Tamara was trying very hard not to look smug.
“That sounds like something we can discuss, but I would prefer not to do so over the comms. This sounds like something we should talk about in person, yes?”
“Of course. If when your shuttle comes over, could I hitch a ride back with my purser? I think he should be involved.”
“That sounds fine. The shuttle should be leaving here in about ten minutes. I await your arrival.” He pressed a button on the table that ended the call. “Talk.” It was an order and he was back in his serious voice again.
Tamara took a deep breath and slowly let it out, but couldn’t hide the small smile on her lips. “The crew was rather… difficult to work with. They clearly don’t like me or the bulk of my team.”
“I wonder why?” he mused wryly. “There are times when I don’t like you, Moxie.” He gestured for her to continue.
“I could tell that working with them would be a challenge, though yes, I knew I could get them to get over their male pride and buckle down to save their ship.” She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms under her breasts. “I thought it might be to everyone’s benefit if the two of you, you two captains I mean, were to join forces.”
“And you thought by pissing me off, that would do that?”
“No, Captain, I though t that by making them think that you were not all that interested in helping Vosteros fix his burned out wreck of a ship, they’d get desperate and go for something more drastic than just credits.”
“And why would I be willing to settle for something other than credits? And why should I trust that he’s going to actually want to work with me? What’s to stop him from just flying off after the Emilia Walker is fixed?”
“Technically, nothing,” she admitted. “But I think he’s more savvy than that. I think he genuinely wants this deal. I think he would want to enter into some sort of partnership with you. And think about it. If the two of you pool your resources, and set up some sort of headquarters, I think you could do some serious trade in and among the surrounding systems.”
He wasn’t seeing it. “His ship is tiny. A hundred metric tons? That’s nothing. You can’t carry any kind of goods like that.”
“Not the kind of goods you carry about the Grania Estelle, no,” Tamara agreed. “But his ship isn’t designed to try and compete with you in that manner, Captain. His is built for speed. Emilia Walker is meant to bring less bulky items, like medical supplies, electronics and luxury goods and she’s meant to do it fast. Yes, we can carry a thousand times the amount of goods, but it would take this ship almost four times as long at optimum efficiency.”
“And…”
She grinned. “And he can make many more trips from home base than Grania Estelle can. Which mean that while each individual trip might not make as much money, but he’ll make many more trips to make up for it.”
Now he was grinning. “I like this idea. I think we might be able to make something work. Now, I need to say two things more, Moxie.”
She sighed. “Yes, Captain.”
“I’m very pleased that this might actually be a very profitable relationship. And I want to thank you for helping to bring it about.”
“You’re welcome, Captain.”
He glared at her again, in all seriousness. “Don’t ever do something like that again without my express approval. I don’t want to be protected or anything cute like that. I will decide what it is that I need and I will allocate personnel and resources accordingly. If you see something that might work out well for me or my ship or my crew, you bring it to me.”
Tamara nodded, looking down. “Of course, Captain. You’re absolutely right. This is your ship. You need to be making the calls.”
He chuckled. “Praise the stars! She can be taught!”
She snorted but rose from her chair. “So, Captain, with your permission, I will grab my team and the parts and head over to the Emilia Walker and work on getting your fledgling trading empire on its feet
.”
“Damned right.”
The next month passed in a whirlwind of activity. The boat bay on the Grania Estelle was repaired and restored, much to the Captain, Taja and Tamara’s delight. Her fighter and the shuttle were moved out of the cargo bay, though the shuttle got very little downtime as it was almost constantly in use. It was either bringing in rocks for materials or transferring material or personnel between the two ships and the surface.
The machine shops and the replicators were going nonstop. The concept of downtime on both ships became little more than a fond memory for both crews. In a short period of time, the Emilia Walker was torn down and then built back up. Dealing with the smell became priority one, especially as crewmen from the Emilia Walker were leaving the ship and coming back. The cleaner bots made impressive headway in a short period of time, leaving gleaming deckplates and bulkheads. The life support was completely overhauled, members of both crews simultaneously gagging and smiling with delight as the almost completely contaminated scrubber matrices were changed out and disposed of (out the airlock). But the real problem was the waste recycler system. It was leaking and was the biggest reason the ship stank. This came as a complete shock to the crew, who over the months and years simply didn’t notice the stink anymore. Perhaps their nasal passages were simply burned out. The flushing out, repair and complete replacement of components were finished within five days and finally, the air on the ship didn’t seem to have a miasma of decay.
The Captain hired on another twenty-five people, all of whom came aboard the Grania Estelle in wide eyed wonder. None had ever been in space before and unlike at Instow, where there was always a feel of being in space, Folston was far less advanced. The planet was an agricultural world, known for grains and cattle. This made many of the crew happy as everyone was thoroughly sick of fish. The idea of chops, ribs, burgers and steaks was amazingly appealing. Cookie stocked up on all sorts of foodstuffs, but particularly beef, including a fair amount for trade in the next system. Taja was happy to trade in electronics, machined tools and other such things. She also managed to pick up a fair amount of local medicines sourced from the forests and jungle areas. Taja also traded a few discs and e-readers providing the locals with some lectures on engineering, mathematics and science principles and the tools to take advantage of some of those. With enough people willing to put in some hard work, Folston might be more than just an agricultural world.
After the month was up, Emilia Walker was almost an entirely new ship. From bow to stern, she was functional again, engines and life support completely overhauled. The crew grumbled a little, but in truth they were ecstatic over the state of their little flying home. Engine tests demonstrated that the ship sliced through space with ease. While not as maneuverable as a shuttle or Tamara’s starfighter, it could now easily run rings around the Grania Estelle. With her cargo bays full of medicinals for trade, Vosteros determined the next system would be Yoka-Hana.
By contrast, Grania Estelle didn’t have as much of a drastic change. All of the cargo holds were now repaired and in use. The boat bay was completed and Ka’Xarian was well on the way to building a second shuttle. The bay was quite spacious and even with Tamara’s fighter, it would easily hold three shuttles. Perhaps at some point they would build another one. So with the crew just topping ninety, the holds full and a secondary reactor installed, the final details for the cooperative were hammered out.
For now, they would be working as a loose-knit partnership, putting in two shares of each ships’ profit into the cooperative. For now, that didn’t mean much since they had no base of operations. Each ship would be holding that money in reserve for now, which each captain knew would cause a bit of grumbling among the crews. Though as far as the crews were concerned, since each ship was now moving faster and carrying more goods, the shares would be better regardless. Once a suitable planet was found, they would set up offices and perhaps even a dock for refueling and maintenance. But that was something to be dealt with later.
“So how are we to meet up again, partner?” Vosteros asked, with a huge grin on his face. He was exceptionally pleased with how things turned out. They were meeting in the wardroom of the Grania Estelle and one of Cookie’s mess attendants had delivered a tray of beers for the illustrious company.
This was a good question. Since faster than light communications were not available (in fact, not possible in this day and age) ships had to be sent out to other star systems in order for different worlds to talk with each other. So unless by some happy accident they arrived in the same system, they would need to set up some sort of rendezvous in order to compare notes and compile profits.
Eamonn smiled, taking a sip of the beer in front of him. “Well, partner,” he said with a chuckle, “you are a lot faster than I am. I’m also going to be making a stop in the void to tear down and replace my ship’s main reactor. So that’s going to be a few days longer. I imagine by that point you’ll get four or five systems ahead of me. How about we meet in Ullu-tran in six months? That’ll be four stops on my route and should give you the chance to make, what? Ten?”
Vosteros squinted in thought. “Possibly. I’m going to shoot for eight, but we might be able to make ten before we loop back to Ullu-tran. I’m not used to having such a fast ship. It’s going to take a serious shift in thinking.”
“That’s great. Ullu-tran has enough of an industrial base that I think it will work out for us.” He nodded slowly. “Well, Captain, I think all I have to say is good luck and I’ll see you in six months.” Eamonn stood, setting the beer down on the table. He extended his hand.
Vosteros reached out his own and took it, shaking it firmly before releasing it. “And to you, Captain. May the stars’ light shine on you.” Taking his glass of beer, he chugged the rest down, slammed the glass down hard in salute, turned and left.
Eamonn picked up his own glass and downed the rest. It was time to get moving.
An hour later, the Emilia Walker broke orbit, heading toward the hyper limit in the direction of Yoka-Hana. The ship raced across the system at amazing speed, as though it was moving at combat velocity. The Captain sighed as he watched the light freighter moving away from the planet at great velocity.
“So, what do we think?” he asked the bridge at large. “Do we think they’re actually going to be at Ulla-tran in six months? Or did we just fix them up to let them skate off?”
“I want to believe them,” Serinda commented. “From the conversations I fielded and the ones I heard you with, Captain, I think Captain Vosteros wants to be there. To work with us.”
“I agree with Serinda, Captain,” George put in. “But I talked with the engineering teams who worked on the other ship. The crew of that ship isn’t too keen on us helping them out.”
The Captain raised an eyebrow. “You think they might mutiny?”
George shrugged. “Not so much mutiny, Captain. They like and respect Captain Vosteros, but I think it more likely they might talk him out of the deal.”
He twisted his mouth in concern. “I don’t like the sound of that. With a shiny new ship and some distance from us, he might let himself get convinced.” He sighed. “Well, there’s nothing for it now. Helm, are we ready to leave? I think we have a cargo that needs to get to Hecate.” The day before, Taja had snagged a load of gadolinium, a mineral essential in hyperdrive construction. The load had been scheduled to go to Hecate on another vessel eight months before, but that ship had dropped the consignment and left. So the shipment of gadolinium had sat in a warehouse on the planet ever since. Taja only found it after overhearing some gossip between workers in a local pub. But that grab and others like it was only one big reason he kept her around. He smiled at the thought.
Sadly, since they were picking up the shipment, the receivers on the other end weren’t going to be happy about the delay. They might even try to stiff on the payment; it had happened before. He and Taja were good hagglers and negotiators, but if the receivers blamed them for the late arriv
al of the shipment it would take some fast talking to get them to pay for it. But there was an upside. If the receivers refused to pay, they would keep the gadolinium and use it for any hyperdrive repairs that might crop up.
“Astrogation, plot us a course for the hyper limit, course for Hecate. Helm, take us out of orbit. Make sure we stop at the collector before we go.”
“Aye, Captain,” the pilot answered. The ship answered immediately under his hands, easing out of the parking orbit and turning to head out into deep space.
“I think you’ve finally reached the point where I can start introducing you to the crew,” Tamara said.
[I would like that very much.]
“I think it might be best if we did this slowly. At least at first, while you get used to them and they get used to you. Once you’ve got a group of people that know you, and we can get the ship’s computer core up to snuff, I’ll introduce you to the crew as a whole.”
[I understand.] The AI paused. [Tamara, may I ask you a question?]
“Of course.”
[Do I have a name?]
“Not at the moment, no, you don’t.” She considered this. “Would you like one?”
[All sentient beings have names. You have a name. Did you name yourself?]
She shook her head. “No, my dear, I didn’t. My parents, my creators gave it to me.”
The AI paused to mull this over for a few moments. [You are my creator, Tamara. Would you give me a name?]
Tamara nodded. “I will. I’ve been intending to make you the primary AI for the ship we are on, the Grania Estelle. So I think that you should be named for the ship. Does that make sense?”
[You are choosing the name, Tamara, not I.]
She laughed. “Well, my dear, I don’t want to give you a name you will hate.”
[Why would I hate it? You are giving it to me.]
“Thank you, dear one. You are far more forgiving and loving than I would be. But I am going to name you for the ship.”
[Very well. I am the Grania Estelle?]
Pursue the Past: Samair in Argos: Book 1 Page 29