Stella paused to consider what Tamara had just told her. She ran through security footage and even sat and contemplated everything in the logs, the debriefings, the medical logs, anything related to the previous attack. She allowed a full second to consider everything, looking for patterns, other ways of thinking, any alternative solution she could. And while there certainly were things that would help and that she would bring up, there was no denying that an AI, or several AIs in fact, would increase productivity and efficiency here in Seylonique.
“All right, Tamara,” she said after that interminable second. “Is there anything I can do to help you with it?”
Tamara smiled. “Yes, little sprout, there is. You and I are going to get together and bring another AI into the family. Give me a couple of days to get things sorted here on the Cavalier and get Leicasitaj installed as her new captain, because when I get over to the Samarkand again, we are wheels up and engines hot. We have a lot of work to do and a limited time in which to do it. Because we both know that once your critical repairs are completed, you and your crew are off to another system and I’ll be left to keep this mess together.”
Stella laughed joyously. “You love it. You know you do.”
“It’s true, but there are a lot of things that we need to get done,” she repeated. “And a few new changes we need to make. One especially between me and Captain Eamonn.”
“What are you going to do, Tamara?” Stella asked, a bit worried.
She held up one hand placatingly. “Nothing crazy. But I think it’s time that some things start swinging my way for a change.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” Tamara promised. “And I think that there are going to be some that won’t and even if they do, they won’t like it.” Her smile turned just shy of feral. “And won’t that just be too bad?”
“And I think you’re ready for this responsibility, Leicasitaj,” Tamara said. She and the Romigani were in her tiny office just off the bridge.
“I’m flattered you think so, ma’am,” the executive officer replied, his watery voice sounding steady. “I’m a little less sure.”
“We’ve been doing drills and work ups ever since we got this ship back in space. You’re ready for this.”
The squid-like officer wrung his tentacle hands for a moment longer, but then he nodded. “Thank you for the opportunity, ma’am. I’ll try not to let you don’t.”
She chuckled. “Don’t worry about letting me down. You just worry about the ship. You work your crews and continue using that instinct for this that I’ve seen you use. I know you have it.”
He nodded again. “So what happens now?”
“We do the change of command, which is a lot simpler since this is a corporate security vessel, not a Republic Naval vessel. After that, you continue on with your patrols and your exercises and your vigilance and I go back to the Samarkand and start shaking things up again.”
He gave a small chuckle. “Again, ma’am? I’m not sure we can take too many more of those. We’re already reeling from everything you’ve already done in this system in the few months you’ve been here.”
“You, sir, are a very insubordinate male, do you know that?” she asked with a toothy grin.
“Hey, I’m about to be named Captain of a warship,” he shot back. “It gives one a very unique perspective and a sense of enthusiasm.”
“As well as a swelled head,” Tamara said with a fond look. “Seriously though, I know you’ll be fine. In short order, I’ll have the second corvette online and you’ll have someone to train with.”
“Are you going to take command of that one too while the new crew is trained?”
She shook her head, surprising him. “No, Captain. Your crew and the new crew are going to be swapping around, cycling through both ships. It’s going to be a pain in the ass for a while, but I want the new kids to get some of the benefits of your experience. And I have too much to do in this system on the commercial side to be commanding a warship again.” She sighed. “It’ll be rough for a little bit, but I have Stella vetting everyone and we’ve got simulators running full blast over on the station. It’ll be a while before we’re fighting on steady feet, but I think that we’ll be able to work through it.”
“I understand,” Leicasitaj said. “And I think I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
“Good,” she said simply. Then she stood. “Now, let’s get to the bridge and get you put in charge of this tub.”
“Hey, that’s my ship you’re talking about, ma’am!” he retorted indignantly. “This is my first command. You will not be speaking about this ship like that.”
Her face split in a huge grin. “Now that’s the spirit.”
The change of command went through smoothly, and within an hour, Tamara was off the Cavalier and onto one of Samarkand’s shuttles heading for the constructor ship. They are a good crew, she thought to herself as she watched the corvette recede through the shuttle’s aft sensors. He’ll take good care of them.
When the shuttle landed in the Samarkand’s cramped boat bay, Tamara was pleased to see the lupusan Galina Korneyev, captain of the ship, was there to greet her. The gray-furred wolf woman was slightly stooped, but still spry despite her years. A former hospital Administrator, Tamara had hired her to captain the Samarkand when it became clear Galina was persona non grata with the local admin council and they had blackballed her for having opinions conflicting with theirs. Being the commander of a constructor ship wasn’t truly a great use for her talents, but it paid well, got her away from the planet and stuck a finger in the eye of the very admins who disliked her.
“Commander Samair,” Galina said with a small bow, her hands folded under the large sleeves of her blue robe. It was an odd garment to be wearing aboard a space ship, but Tamara didn’t mind. So long as the lupusan could rapidly get into a protective suit should an emergency arise, Galina could wear anything she wanted.
“Captain Korneyev,” Tamara replied with a smile, bowing back. “Good to see you in person again.”
“And you as well. I’m sure Ms. Sterling will be pleased to see you back aboard the Samarkand as well.”
Tamara snorted. Eretria Sterling was one of the first recruits that the company had hired, back when all they were doing was finding replacements for the crew of the Grania Estelle, back before all the infrastructure and other real estate had been built. On their first day working together, when Tamara had admitted that she had once served in the Republic Navy, the other woman had immediately clammed up. Clearly, Eretria had some sort of past with the Republic Navy, a past that she refused to speak of. It had taken some time, but eventually Eretria had thawed toward Tamara. They would never be friends, but they’d formed a good working relationship.
Sterling was also a talented engineer and Tamara had brought her with her when she left the Grania Estelle to start building up FP Inc’s infrastructure. When she had switched to captain of the Cavalier, Eretria had stepped into her shoes as engineering chief until Tamara returned.
“So,” Galina asked as they started walking to the main engineering deck of the constructor ship, “What are your plans?’
“My plans are to hit the ground running,” Tamara replied. “And get a new crewmember assigned to your fair ship, Captain.”
She flicked an ear in interest. “Oh? And who is this new crewmember? I assume he isn’t on the shuttle.”
“No,” Tamara agreed. “There’s not a new crewmember on the shuttle. No, Stella and I are going to get together and make one.”
Building an AI for the second time in a year proved to be much easier the second time. With Stella able to do much of the coding what had taken Tamara two months of work in her off hours now took about two weeks. Within that time, the two of them had molded a core matrix for a new AI and started on a second after the first week. While that was going on, Tamara had engaged in a secondary project.
She drew up plans for an in system craft, similar to the s
huttles that FP was using. “No, what I want is similar to the standard shuttles we’re using, but with some modifications,” Tamara said to Eretria when she approached her about the idea. “I want it five meters longer, three meters wider. The drives could use a five percent increase in power and a ten percent increase in the size of the fuel bunkers to give it the legs it needs to make long trips in system. A bunk and a small head for comfort. Also, I want a secondary reactor installed.”
The other woman nodded, running a hand through her steel gray hair as she looked over the plans. “All that sounds perfectly doable, ma’am. But why do you want the extra power?”
“Because I want to install a replicator on board,” she said.
Eretria blinked in surprise. “A replicator, ma’am? Why?”
“So I can use the ship as a roving repair vessel. Or if I’m down on the planet I can whip something up right there for a customer instead of having to request it from up here.”
“Makes sense. These plans look pretty comprehensive. When did you design this?” the other woman asked, looking over the file with the schematics.
“Stella and I mocked it up while we were working on the fledgling AIs,” Tamara admitted. “There was time when she would be compiling the code for the AI matrix and she had some extra processor cycles.”
The older looking woman smiled. Physically, Eretria looked to be in her late forties, early fifties and therefore about ten years older than Tamara, but Tamara had been in frozen hibernation sleep for nearly two and a half centuries. Eretria had nothing on her, age wise. “I like it. I think, actually, that minus the replicator, that kind of ship would be perfect for doing cargo runs to and from the orbital or the planet out here to the mine. We get four or five of these babies…”
Tamara nodded. “I was thinking more like twenty, but let’s just start with the one.”
“Twenty!” Eretria gasped.
Tamara smiled. “Can’t think small. Besides, I think we can really entice people to get into space and moving around. And once they do, they’re going to need ships that can get them and their cargoes from A to B.”
“So what are we calling this design?”
She frowned. “I’ll talk it over with Stella, see what she thinks.”
Eretria gave her a hairy eyeball that was just one eyelash short of insubordinate. It was masterful. “Please, ma’am. It’s been a long few weeks. We both know that you already have an idea for the name. Assuming you even want Stella’s advice or input on the name, I know you would have already gotten it before you brought it to me. It isn’t like you to come in with only a half-baked idea.”
Her lips twitched. “All right. Well, I did intend to think on it a bit more, but with the extra size and width, I was seriously considering the Testudo class cargo shuttle.”
Eretria nodded. “That works for me, ma’am. I’ll get the team working on the first one.”
“Excellent. I’ll get the parts for the replicator fabbed and then assembled.”
“What kind of replicator?”
Tamara considered this. “That’s a good question. About the only thing that we could wedge into it would be a class one, but that would defeat the purpose. A class one can’t make enough specialized parts to make it worthwhile for the power expenditure and the mass.” She pursed her lips.
“Can’t you use the class five to make a scaled down replicator?” Eretria asked. She stepped over to the computer and pulled up a file. “Yes, here it is,” she said, pointing. “Right here, I knew I’d seen something like that before.”
Tamara checked the file. Then she chuckled. “Good eye, Ms. Sterling,” she said. “I’ve never seen replicator tech miniaturized like that. We didn’t have those back in my day.”
Eretria grinned, the first truly joyous expression Tamara had ever seen on the woman. “You sound old when you say something like that.”
She shrugged, unable to hold back a smile of her own. “I am old. But I’m not too senile to whip your tail, young whipper snapper!” Tamara said, affecting an elderly brogue and stooping a bit. They both laughed. “When did that miniaturized replicator get developed?” she asked, sobering slightly. Pressing a few commands, she changed the information on the screen. “About ninety years ago, it seems. No wonder I’ve never seen it before. Look at the specs for this. It can’t make parts as large as the ones we’re currently using, but it only draws about sixty percent of the power.” She brightened. “You know, I think we could sell these.”
Eretria looked horrified. “I’m sure you could, ma’am. I know the people in this system would want to get their grubby mitts on them, but are you really sure that’s a good idea?”
Tamara nodded. “I do. They’ll still have the lockouts on them, so they won’t be able to build restricted tech. And if we put in a proviso that we can request access when needed, say a few hours every month in an emergency, then if FP assets get destroyed or stolen either by pirates or the local government, we could rebuild. Put the devices on a five to ten year lease, they make payments to us during that time, and we set up an AI to monitor them to make sure that they’re following the terms of the arrangement and making the payments.” She grinned. “It helps the locals get a jump start on their business, and it gets us a mountain of credits in the process.”
“I can’t argue that,” Eretria said, nodding in approval. “But you’re sure it’s the smart thing to do to release our monopoly on the replicator tech? What if a customer figures out how to duplicate one?”
“Well,” Tamara said, “In order to truly do that they’d need to get into the constructor matrix and, well, replicate the nanite matrix. But the problem is, once you open it, it self-destructs. And that matrix is really the most important part. The rest of it is reasonably easy to make. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I’ll have the AI we build monitor for things like that. And if they try to make something on the restricted list, they get one warning. They do it again, ever, the replicator melts down.”
“I like this idea, ma’am,” Eretria says. “Have you talked to Stella about getting another AI going?”
She sighed. “No. But I should do that soon. All right, priorities. Get your team working on the first Testudo. I’ll be out to assist in a little bit. I’m going to start working on the first mini replicator. Is there a designation for that? I don’t want to call it a mini.” She grimaced.
Eretria consulted the file. “It’s designated as an A2. An A2? That seems rather… mundane.”
“Hey, it’s easy to say. I’m tired of things being given unnecessary complications just to validate some bureaucrat’s job. Get to it; I’ll be with you as soon as I get the replicators moving.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It would be another day before the first Testudo was ready for space, Eretria and her primary team were in progress of assembling the life support system and then doing final checks. After that, they’d do a shakedown and Tamara could install the A2. It was amazing, the work ethic, organization and skill of her teams here on the constructor ship. They’d finished with the plans, replicated the materials and charged into the fray. The ship’s keel had been laid that same day as her discussion with Eretria, and then they’d gotten to work. Three days later, the ship was nearly completed.
Tamara had more plans that she was working up. The Samarkand was so far doing a good job of working as a mining ship as well as the main constructor for FP. But if things were going to be building up more, they would need an independent mining construct, be it ship or station, to allow the Samarkand to go elsewhere without disrupting production. So, Tamara had decided to build a small station, nothing as grand as the Kutok mine, but a platform the size of the Samarkand’s main bay with a boat bay capable of holding all the necessary tugs. Refineries and processors would be, for now, similar in size as those on the ship. In the future, operations would be expanded, and as needed, materials would be shuttled over to the Samarkand to keep her raw materials bunkers topped up. It was something in the
works, but first a proper docking slip was going to be constructed at the Kutok mine. That would allow them to properly build corvette number two and perform maintenance on FP’s ships. Which meant that since the Grania Estelle was a massive vessel a kilometer in length, it was going to need to be a big slip.
Right now the Samarkand was about five light seconds distance from the Kutok mine, working on the last big rock the tugs had pulled out of the belt. Her mining bots were slicing apart the rock and tossing what they gathered into range for the Samarkand’s tractoring beams to gather up. Tamara had finished building the first A2 and diagnostics checked out. Its constructor matrix was primed, it just needed to be hooked up to power and have its bunker filled up. She had two more in the works, with the parts nearly completed; they just needed to be assembled, the constructor matrixes initialized and then fired up.
Her comm panel beeped. She pressed the key. “Samair here.”
“Commander, we have an incoming transmission from the Grania Estelle,” the ship’s comms officer reported. “It’s Captain Eamonn for you, ma’am.”
“Understood,” she said, setting down her multitool and turning to the comm panel. “Put him through please.”
“Ma’am, he’s requesting a private conversation.” The comms watch sounded a bit flustered. “Should I pipe it through to the office?” There was a pause. “It’s currently empty.”
She nodded and then remembered the comms watch couldn’t see her. “That would be fine. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Copy that, Commander.”
Chapter 4
Tamara entered the small office and closed the hatch behind her. Sitting down at the desk, she activated the comms. Vincent Eamonn’s displeased looking face appeared on the display before her. “Yes, Captain, how can I help you?”
First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 Page 9