First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3

by KOTCHER, MICHAEL

  “Very well, Captain,” Brianne said with a sigh. “Has your cook ever served a Secaaran before?”

  “Don’t you worry, Commander,” Vincent said with a laugh. “I’m sure that we can find something that will suit your fancy.”

  “So can you tell me who attacked you?” Vincent asked a short while later. He and the Republic commander had retreated to the wardroom, stopping off at the mess hall and finding food for themselves. Brianne had grudgingly admitted that the scrappy little Severite indeed knew his business.

  “Pirates,” she said after a moment and another spoonful of a fish soup. “A small flotilla of seven ships.”

  Vincent grimaced. “Verrikoth?”

  She looked up at him. “You know him? He commands an unusually strong force, especially for out here in the Argos Cluster.”

  “Yeah, I’ve had the bad fortune to meet up with his forces twice in the last two years. The first was just a raid, stealing some things and attacking my people. Then, several months later, we met up with his flagship while it was still under construction. We barely managed to get away then and as luck would have it, he gathered his forces and we just happened to run into him again at Ulla-tran.” He looked down at his bowl of beef stew and then took another spoonful. “We didn’t get away that time.”

  Brianne nodded. “But you managed to get yourself free at some point.”

  “Yes, we did. As luck would have it, a Republic cruiser showed up as the pirate flotilla was starting to leave the system. And we were part of that flotilla, but the pirate lord decided that my ship was going to his base at Amethyst, so Grania Estelle and one of his ships, a corvette, broke off from the group and headed for the hyper limit. The cruiser came in and attacked the corvette but the pirates aboard ship forced us to jump to hyper.”

  “What cruiser?” She was suddenly pulling out of the funk that had settled over her shoulders.

  He shrugged. “Stella?”

  The commander blinked. “The ship was called Stella?”

  The holo projector on the table powered up and the AI appeared, sitting cross legged. “No, Commander Crgann,” she said politely. “I am Stella. I’m the AI for the Grania Estelle.”

  The Secaaran blinked in astonishment. “You have an AI?”

  Vincent grinned. “I’m not running on a shoestring budget anymore, Commander. We’re based out of Seylonique now.”

  “Damn! I don’t even have an AI at Byra-Kae. This is truly incredible, Captain.”

  Stella preened a bit. “I’ve never been talked about like that before.”

  Vincent chuckled. “Don’t let it go to your head, Stella.” She stuck her tongue out at him, but they both smiled. “So, Stella, can you remember the name of that cruiser?”

  She nodded. “Yes, Captain. Heavy cruiser Legacy.”

  Brianne frowned in thought. “Legacy.” She stared off distractedly, getting that faraway look that Tamara would get when she was accessing her implants. Stella and Vincent exchanged glances, the AI looking slightly concerned. Then the Secaaran nodded. “That’s Commander Duncan Harth’s ship. He’s attached to Admiral Tandred’s fleet though. What the hell would a ship driver like that be doing out here in the Cluster?”

  Vincent shrugged. “No idea. We never got a chance to speak. He was dealing with our escort while we were escaping the system.”

  She nodded slowly, taking in what he was saying, but it was obvious that she was off in her own headspace. “What would he be doing out here?” she whispered.

  While she was thinking, Vincent’s datapad beeped. He apologized and activated the screen.

  [Captain, it’s me.] He looked up at Stella, whose image was not looking in his direction. He snorted at his own folly. She wasn’t an organic and most of the time he had no problem remembering that. Her image didn’t need to be looking in his direction in order for her to see him. [She and the other officers have neuro implants similar to Tamara’s. I’m concerned about data security. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to keep them out of my critical systems if they decide they’re going to invade.]

  He quickly typed a message, trying to be surreptitious about it. Luckily, it appeared as thought he Navy commander was lost in her own thoughts. [Do what you can, Stella. Get with Quesh and Xar, see what they can do to enhance your firewalls.]

  [Understood. I’m not sure if we should bring it up or not.]

  [Not. Keep me up to date on this. Oh and make sure Saiphirelle is in the loop on this.] He set the datapad down on the table after wiping the screen clean. “So what happened, Commander?”

  She blinked, obviously coming back from wherever her mind had wandered to. “He brought his flotilla into the system and we moved out to meet him.” She took a deep breath, one hand clenching into a fist on the table. “And we fought him. We were heavily outgunned, what with his three light cruisers against our two destroyers and escort ships. We did what we could but in the end he was just too much for us.”

  “Were you able to damage any of his ships?” he asked, alarmed at her sudden wash of defeatism.

  She bristled. “Damage? Yes, we damaged them. We damaged two of his armed merchant freighters so bad they exploded!” she raged, slapping her armored palm on the table so hard it shook. The Secaaran didn’t seem to notice. “While my light units were doing that, Horus and the other destroyer attacked his cruisers. We got out clocked cleaned, but we managed to bring down one of the light cruisers. But when the other destroyer was disabled, the Commodore decided that we couldn’t stay. So Horus and one of the corvettes, the Wayfarer, we turned and…” she gritted her teeth.

  “Ran,” Stella said, her voice low.

  “Yes, we ran,” Brianne said harshly. “Hardest order I’ve ever had to obey.”

  They sat in silence for a long moment. Brianne was trying to bring her emotions under control, Stella tried to keep herself busy with ship systems, and Vincent simply couldn’t think of anything to say.

  “Oh well that’s just fucking great!” Saiphirelle raved, flinging her arms up in the air. She was in the security office with two of her deputies. Stella was projecting her image into the screens on the side of the office. “You’re telling me that our mainframe is essentially an open book to these people?”

  “I’ve got encryption set up in all systems,” Stella said. “But these people have Navy issue implants, Saiphirelle. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to keep them out of they make a determined effort to breach security on my systems.”

  “Is there anything we can do to bolster our firewalls?” the lupusan asked.

  Stella sighed. “I’m not sure, Chief. The fact that I’m here will certainly help, but we’re definitely going to need to speak with Tamara when we get back. She’s the software girl. But I’ve spoken to Xar already, he’s going to see if there are further encryptions he can put on the datanet.” Another sigh, this one deeper. “But without knowing how good their hack and crack software is, I don’t know what I’m up against.”

  The silver wolf smiled. “Well, we happen to have a Republic warship floating alongside. Can you get in there and get a lay of the land?”

  Stella smirked. “Well, sure, but if their security is good enough, they’re going to know I was in there.”

  “Ah, but the ship is damaged and almost all of their crew is over here. You’re not going to get a better time. The commodore is in sickbay and the Captain’s got their commander in the wardroom eating supper. Get in there!”

  “I should check with the captain…” she said, uncertain.

  Saiphirelle shook her head. “No, you don’t have time and you might tip off the commander if you do so. You need to go and you need to go now. I’ll square it with the Captain later. Go!”

  “No, Chief,” she replied. “Think!” she said, when it was clear that the lupusan was about to start screaming. “I’m already concerned about their ability to compromise my security and there are one hundred fourteen members of that ship’s company aboard, either in the cargo bay
or with the doctors. But there are still twelve crewmen aboard the Horus. I can’t guarantee that my intrusions into their systems won’t go undetected and if they catch me…”

  “I’m telling you, Stella,” the lupusan urged, “now is the time to do it. They’re going to be so preoccupied with keeping the ship functional that they won’t notice you.”

  “No, Saiphirelle! Listen, their gear is at least one hundred years more advanced than ours, most likely more. Even damaged, they might be able to detect the slightest intrusion into their data systems. I am not going to risk what goodwill we’ve built up with them just to grab a few secrets. Am I scared that they might be able to hack my mainframe? Of course! But…” She sighed, frustrated. “I can’t do it.”

  Saiphirelle flicked her ears and scowled. But then she brightened. “That’s all right. When we help out with repairs on that ship, I’ll see if I can get Quesh or Ka’Xarian to help.”

  “No, Sai, you’re not,” Stella declared. “I will go straight to the Captain with this. In fact, what’s to say I’m not doing it already? I’m not organic. I’m the ship! I can be talking to him while I’m keeping up a conversation with you.”

  “All right, all right,” the security chief growled, throwing her hands up in surrender. “I won’t do it. But think of the things that we can learn from them, Stella! Like you say, they’ve got toys and presents that are at least a hundred years more advanced then what we’ve got now.”

  Stella nodded. “I know that. Maybe we could find all sorts of things to make the ship better, or make money, hell, even to get everyone implants or get that thing off of Tamara’s neck. I don’t know. But I’m not going to risk an uprising just to put my hand in the toybox. As Chief of Security, you should know that too.”

  She tipped her head to the side, then she sighed. “Maybe the Captain can negotiate for some things. I know the implant thing would be a huge boon, a hell of a payment.”

  The AI nodded. “I’ll speak with him about it. That’s actually a good idea. Maybe he can work something out. Just make sure you keep things together, Saiphirelle. Can’t have any problems while that crew is aboard.”

  “Yeah,” she said, stretching slightly. “I’ll take care of it, keep things calm. Can’t have the AI that’s controlling our air getting pissed of at me. But if you reconsider…”

  “Good afternoon, Chief,” Stella said, smirking and vanishing from the screen.

  Book 2: Ascendance

  Chapter 9

  Five days after Horus arrived in Heb

  “One minute to breakout,” the helmsman reported.

  “Very well,” Duncan Harth replied, sitting himself more comfortably in his chair. The small task force, heavy cruiser Legacy and the corvette Ravage were arriving at the Republic Naval base in Byra-Kae. The heavy cruiser and her crew had been in the Argos Cluster for nearly a year now, chasing after a bulk freighter, the Grania Estelle. They’d been on the move ever since a report had made it back via a Navy courier vessel that the freighter was a Naval Reserve vessel, operating in an area where it had no business being and captained by a Commander Tamara Samair, someone who had proper identification codes, but otherwise could not be found in the Republic databanks going back a century. Once the information had been received, Admiral Tandred had dispatched Commander Harth and his ship to track down this wayward vessel and get some answers. They’d chased the ship across half a dozen systems before finally catching up with them in Ulla-tran. However, the ship had already been intercepted and captured by the pirate Lord Verrikoth and his flotilla. Harth had engaged disabling the Ravage but Grania Estelle had escaped into hyperspace before she could be disabled and boarded. The remainder of the pirate flotilla had also departed, but they were headed toward Byra-Kae. Harth had captured the Ravage, fixed her up, put a prize crew aboard and headed off after the freighter.

  But they hadn’t been able to catch the cursed thing. The freighter had given Harth the slip and after a run into a nearby system, Harth had abandoned the chase and was heading to Byra-Kae to refuel, get repairs and regroup. And now, after a month of tooling around in the low Yellow range of the hyperspace rainbow, they were finally almost there. Hopefully, the garrison forces had either destroyed or driven off the pirate ships and he could get his own vessels in to resupply.

  “Five… four… three… two… one… and… breakout!” the helmsman reported. There was a slight shiver as the heavy cruiser exited hyperspace and entered the star system.

  “Sensors, report.” Harth affected a casual demeanor, though he really wasn’t all that concerned for what might be in the immediate vicinity of their drop out.

  “Board is clear, Captain,” Ensign Droven, the turtle like creature called a domak said from the sensor station. “Strike my last. Hyper footprint. It’s the Ravage, sir, one hundred thousand klicks off our upper starboard side. No other contacts within a light minute.”

  “Very well,” Duncan said. “All right, let’s head in system. Navigation, set a course for the Naval station.”

  They were only three hours in system when Droven turned back to the Captain. “Sir, I’m detecting some debris up ahead of us, sir. It could be from a recent battle.”

  “What kind of debris?”

  “Metallic fragments, mostly,” the domak admitted. “But it’s in a pattern consistent with an attack.”

  “How big?”

  “Well the individual parts are quite small, nothing bigger than the size of your fist, but there’s enough of a debris pattern to account for a ship perhaps the size of a cutter, or maybe heavy damage to a corvette.”

  Harth pursed his lips. “Well, it seems as though the battle did take place here. That’s not really a surprise.” Then he frowned. “What is surprising is that whatever ship that is is so close to the hyper limit to Tyseus. The pirates jumped in on a vector from Ulla-tran, which should put them a good distance from here.”

  “The fighting could have spread, sir,” Droven pointed out. “Whatever that ship is, it could have been trying to run and the pirates could have destroyed it here.”

  “Seems reasonable, Captain,” the XO, Mischa Kamerov replied, nodding slightly.

  “Yes, XO, I agree. But I don’t have a clear number on what ships were stationed here. What we have is two years old,” Harth replied. “They could have had reinforcements in that time. They technically aren’t part of Second Fleet, so it wasn’t part of the upload we got before we took off after the freighter.”

  Kamerov nodded slowly. “Well, we know from Captain Sykora on the Fury that there is some sort of gathering of defensive ships. And actually,” he consulted his implants, “here it is, sir.” He pulled up a list of the defensive ships stationed in Byra-Kae and sent it to his commander.

  Reading it through quickly, Harth nodded. “Yes. Well, then this is most probably from one of those, since the pirates didn’t have any corvettes or cutters with them when they made the jump to hyperspace.”

  “They could have had reinforcements arrive from a different vector,” the XO mused, glancing around the bridge.

  Harth tipped his head slightly. “I suppose that’s possible. But we’ll just have to wait and see as we get in closer.” The heavy cruiser sailed onward, the corvette maintaining position relative to the larger ship. “Send a message to Ravage,” Harth ordered. “They are to range out ahead of us ten light seconds, to extend our sensor range. Make sure they remain in contact at all times and immediately report all contacts.”

  “Understood, sir,” the comms watch replied. He turned to his console and sent the message to the other ship. “Ravage is acknowledging, sir, say they’ll report back if they find anything.”

  “Good. Steady on, helm.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “I have a sensor contact,” the sensor watch cried from the other side of the bridge.

  Commander Jensen Tyler scowled. “Mister Homma,” he said, his voice as cold as frozen helium. “I understand that you are a new conscript. But this is a milita
ry vessel under the command of Lord Verrikoth. You will control the level of your voice, or you will be removed from this ship. Lord Verrikoth does not have patience to deal with mewling curs who cannot handle their responsibilities.”

  The spacer flushed and then suddenly went pale as the implications hit him. “Y-yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” He straightened, trying to banish the fear, or in the very least appear to.

  Tyler stared at him for a long moment. “Very well. Now, a sensor contact?”

  “Yes, sir. Two ships, incoming. They’re both flying Republic Naval IDs, but one of them is the Ravage.” He looked hopeful.

  But Tyler scowled. “Ravage? No, they were captured by that Republic heavy cruiser back when we were at Ulla-tran. And since they’re flying in convoy with them now…” The implications here were not good. A heavy cruiser? He pressed a control on his command seat.

  A moment later. “What iz it?” the hissing buzz of Captain Lord Verrikoth answered. He sounded annoyed that he was being summoned but then he nearly always sounded that way.

  “Captain, we have a pair of ships approaching,” Jensen reported. “The Ravage and that Republic heavy cruiser.”

  “I ssee. I will be right up.” The channel closed.

  “Contact the rest of the flotilla,” Tyler ordered. “Inform them that we can expect company. More Republic ships are coming this way and one of them is a heavy cruiser.”

  There were looks surreptitiously exchanged by the bridge crew, but no one dared speak. A moment later, the pirate lord stepped through the hatch onto Ganges’ bridge. “Report.” His voice was deceptively calm.

  “The two ships are approaching on this vector, Captain,” Tyler reported, pointing at his display. “And that’s definitely the Ravage, sir. Which means that this indicator is the same heavy cruiser that we met back in Ulla-tran.”