“That is good,” he remarked. “Might be some recruiting opportunities here, though perhaps on a more limited basis.”
“You know that the governor would scream to high heavens,” Stella pointed out.
Vincent smirked. “Well, we won’t poach all of his people. Perhaps just a choice few.”
She laughed. “You’re incorrigible, Captain.”
“I know.” He went back to his console and more paperwork.
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
Turan came to after twelve hours in his bunk, groaning and stretching. He felt rested, but not particularly refreshed. He got up, stumbled to the small refrigerator and poured himself a cup of juice and gulped it down. Taking a ration bar, he made short work of it and then climbed into the shower. He allowed himself several minutes longer to let the cool water to sluice over him.
Stepping out, he dried himself off and pulled on a clear ship suit. As soon as he pulled on the suit jacket, Stella’s voice came over the PA. “Good to see you up and about, Doctor. How are you feeling?”
He grunted, heading to the hatch to his stateroom. “I feel hung over,” he complained. “And I didn’t even have the fun of the party beforehand.”
“No, Doctor,” she replied. “You didn’t. But you nearly killed yourself, Turan. I know you feel an obligation to the patients, but you can’t push yourself that hard. You collapsing from exhaustion is not going to help anyone.”
He flipped his small trunk up. “Yes, Mother Hen.”
“Gotta make sure all my little chicks are okay, Doctor,” she scolded lightly. “Can’t let one of my roosters get too cocky.”
He groaned. “That was a terrible joke. Please stop.”
“Very well, Doctor. But I am relaying from the captain, no more stims. Not for a while.”
“If something comes up, Stella, I’m going to do whatever’s needed,” he told her as he walked down the corridor, heading for sickbay. “And I’m sorry, but I’m not going to lose even one patient because I needed a nap.”
“I could have someone sedate you,” Stella said.
“I just got up from a very long sleep, Stella. And none of my nurses or sick berth attendants would be stupid enough to try and stick me with a hypodermic full of drugs.”
The AI laughed. “Then I’d get Saiphirelle to blast you with a stunner. And don’t tell me that you think she’d be too cautious to try it.”
He chuckled. “You are an evil little cloud of software, do you know that?”
“I know you mean that with all the love in your amphibious body, Doctor,” she replied before signing off.
Turan arrived in sickbay and was greeted with a lot of tired smiles. “How are things going?”
“I think we’re mostly on the mend, Doctor,” Mizran said. “Only have four cases that are still critical, but no emergencies overnight.” He flicked her ears and tail. “But I’m glad to see that you got some rest. I was about to call the Security Chief to stun you and drag you to your bunk.”
“Is the whole ship going to joke about that?” he growled, pulling up a display and starting to check status on the first patients in line.
“Who’s joking?” the Severite muttered.
“I’m going to check on the Commodore,” Turan told the SBA. “Holler if something changes.”
“Right.”
Heading over to where the woman was laying on one of the biobeds, Turan checked the readings. The woman blinked as he walked up. “Easy there, Commodore,” he soothed, stepping to the side of the bed. “I’m Doctor Turan. Do you know where you are?”
She opened her mouth very slightly, tried to speak, but then swallowed and she tried again. Turan grabbed the cup of water on the table next to the bed and brought the straw to her mouth. “It’s water. Take little sips.” The officer complied and after three sips, Turan took the cup away. “Just a little at a time. You’ve been through a huge trauma but you came through all right. Well, you’re alive. There’s some more work on you that my team is going to have to do, your legs and right arm especially.”
She was staring at him intently and he passed a flipper hand over the woman’s face. “Stop scanning me, Commodore. You’re probably not going to find me in your files. I haven’t ever gone into the Republic and I’ve never been aboard a Republic ship or station.”
Her voice came out as a croak. “You-…” She swallowed and tried again. “You know about naval implants?”
Turan smiled, checking the biobed sensors, and pressing a couple of controls. “I know a lot of things,” he said, nodding in satisfaction. “My colleagues and I are working on getting some for the crew. We’ve already equipped the crew with level one implants, but one of the engineers and I are developing some more advanced models. Are you in any pain?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m assuming you’re the ship’s doctor?”
He gave a watery chuckle. “Yes, I’m sorry. You’re aboard the freighter Grania Estelle. My name is Turan. What’s yours?”
“Theodosia McConnell,” she said, her voice almost a whisper.
“You’re the commander of the Republic forces in this area of space, aren’t you? Commanded a light squadron or something, right?”
She nodded. “I did at one point. Now?” She gave a wry laugh. “Now I command a squadron consisting of one ship. I’m supernumerary right now. Commander Crgann, if she’s still alive can take care of things better than I can right now.”
Turan raised his flippers in a shrug. “Not my department, Commodore. But from what I hear,” he said, examining her face, checking her eyes. “You did everything you could to get your squadron out of that system and you smashed up the pirate force but good. And I hear that the pirate forces were much greater than you.”
“Yeah,” Theodosia replied weakly. “It certainly doesn’t feel like a victory, only managing to get one ship out. I don’t know what happened to the trade station we were using as a base. They trashed the repair slip we were using to fix up that other destroyer. I just lost my command.”
“Don’t be so defeatist,” the doctor chided. “You leader people are all the same. You still have a ship left, which means you still have crew that are depending on you. I’m going to take very good care of you and get you back on your feet as soon as I can.”
“How is the ship?” she asked, sounding far more concerned about that than she was about her own condition.
“I’m not the one to ask,” Turan replied honestly. “I’m just a doctor. My job is with the organics, we’ve got engineers to deal with the metal bits. But from what I understand, the ship’s pretty banged up. We were dealing with all of your wounded first, and then we’d work on fixing up your ship.”
“How many wounded?” she asked, struggling to try and sit up.
“No, no, no,” the Guura stated flatly, gently pushing her back down on to the bed. “You are in no condition to be going anywhere. I’ve taken care of the internal injuries, but it’s going to take time for the damage to your legs and arm to be repaired. Until then I’m sorry, ma’am, but you are not going anywhere. As for wounded, there were quite a few. But I’m sorry to tell you, but a little more than a third was lost in the battle and subsequent trip. There were quite a few more that were injured and wounded, yourself among them. That crackerjack petty officer of yours that was acting as a medic is a marvel. I think Commander Crgann mentioned something to my Captain about making sure he gets a medal.”
“I’ll definitely sign off on that,” Theodosia muttered. Her eyes started to flutter.
“Rest, Commodore,” Turan said, pressing a control and increasing her pain meds, and she drifted off to sleep. The Guura waited until the readings indicated she was out before turning away to the next patient in the line.
“Captain Eamonn,” Brianne Crgann said, appearing on the vid screen.
Vincent turned to face the display. “Captain Crgann. How can I help you?”
“I want to start sending small groups of my technicians over to the H
orus to begin repairs,” Brianne said. “It’s been almost four days and I believe that I’ve had my people sitting on their asses taking up your air for long enough. I do very much appreciate your hospitality, but I can’t just have my people sit on their laurels forever. Besides,” she added thoughtfully, “your ship is big and certainly impressive, but it can’t stand up to a pirate attack.”
Vincent sighed, trying hard to keep his ire in check. “No, my girl is designed to haul lots of cargo, not fight off pirates. But there’s only so much that we can do in the way of repairs here at Heb. Unless you’re just going to head back to the Republic, Commander, I think it might be best if you come with us to Seylonique.”
She nodded. “Yes, so you’ve said, Captain. I believe that would be the best idea. I don’t have any currency aboard the ship, but I’m sure we might be able to come up with some sort of repayment.” The Secaaran sighed. “I can’t expect you to be willing to make repairs to my ship for free.”
“I’m sure we can work something out, Commander. And yes, I’m happy to allow small teams aboard your ship. My own engineering teams are still down on the surface, but I can see if my chief engineer can shake loose a few bodies to lend a hand.” The other officer nodded at this, though it was clear that she wasn’t as enthusiastic about allowing outsiders on her ship as he was about his own. “But I have to stress, Commander, that you need to be careful not to overdo it. We’ve seen no pirate activity in the system so far. I know they’re still out there, and I know they know where you went. But it’s clear now that they’re not in hot pursuit. Would I like for you to get your ship up and running again so you can offer some protection to my ship? Absolutely. But please don’t kill yourselves doing it.”
“You don’t seem to understand, Captain,” the warship commander replied, drawing herself up stiffly. “While I greatly appreciate your hospitality, that is my ship. I love that beat up old man out there as much as I’m sure you probably love this great lady.” She patted the bulkhead. “But more than that, he’s a warship. It’s our job to protect civilian shipping such as this from pirate scum like those bastards.”
“They seem to be more than scum, Commander. They have several proper warships. And I’ve met their leader, their Lord Verrikoth.” There was a degree of derision in the freighter captain’s voice, but there was an undercurrent of fear as well. “He’s smart and he’s ruthless. We saw that he was building his flagship Ganges in the Hecate system, which leads me to believe that he’s got more construction slips in other systems building more ships.”
Brianne shook her head in confusion. “That is actually only reinforcing my argument, Captain. All the more reason to get my ship up and running again.”
“Speed and efficiency, Commander. Yes, I want that ship up and running again, but if you push your crew too hard and rush-…”
She held up a hand. “Enough, Captain. You’ve made your point. I won’t flog them to death trying to get the repairs done.”
He chuckled, holding up his hands. “Now, now, Commander. I didn’t say that. Using the whip is the only way to keep all the lousy ingrates moving sometimes.”
“Captain, you are definitely a strange one,” she said, frowning at him slightly. “I’m going to go collect my people.”
“So I’ve got a Republic Adder-class destroyer tractored to the side of my ship, Quesh. They’ve got a few of their engineering people back over to the ship, for upkeep and to start working on sealing the hull back up. But think of the opportunities here. To get a real look, a close look at a Republic warship; that is an opportunity that we cannot pass up. I need you to shake loose some people.” He paused. “Quesh, I want a look into their toy box. Figure it out; surely you can get five people back up here.”
The Parkani sighed. “Captain, do you think I’m lying to you when I say that I want a look at their tech toys? A Republic ship, even an older one like that? But the problem is we’re committed to this power plant. We both agreed that this was what we needed to do, we’ve made agreements, and you’ve signed contracts and shaken hands. If I pull people, anyone, it’s going to throw off all my schedules. I know what you’re going to say; surely you can pull a few people. The truth is, Captain, I can’t. I have my crews spread out all over hell just trying to keep things moving along and to keep the work up to spec. The locals have some good people, but there are more than a few that seem to think they can coast or slack off and I need everyone that’s here to keep things on track. I’m sorry, Captain, but there’s only so much that I can do.”
Vincent took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was right, he knew that Quesh was right about this. And while the Republic toys would certainly be interesting, there was no guarantee that they would get anything that could be reproduced or would even turn a profit. And on top of that, as the Parkani had pointed out, Vincent had signed contracts and his people were committed to this project. And it was certainly lucrative. With the fuel contracts that would be coming from this, it would be an ongoing constant source of currency.
“You’re right. But damn would that be nice. Just to get a look, a possible leg up on things.”
“I know, Captain, it would. But we just cannot swing it. What about Stella? Can’t she infiltrate their datanet?”
Vincent sighed. “I talked with her about that and she’s adamant. She won’t do it. Says she can’t predict if they’d catch her or not and since Republic systems are so much more advanced than ours, or at least, we presume they are, she can’t guarantee that she’d be able to get in and out without a problem. And, she stated, correctly, that if we get caught trying to steal Republic secrets, it will destroy any and all goodwill we’ve built up.”
The Parkani shrugged. “Well, that was really my last idea. With only one team aboard the ship, they’re handling all the watch sections. I’m sure they’re pissed off about that too, having to deal with all the regular maintenance.”
He grunted. “There have been some grumblings,” Vincent admitted. “How long do you think we’re going to be before you’re finished?”
“You’ve seen the schedule, Captain,” the engineer answered. “You can see as well as I can how long it’s going to take.”
Vincent sighed. “I’m getting concerned about how long we’re sitting in this system. This ship isn’t a construction vessel. I know we needed to be here to help with the install, but what with the news about the pirates and such, it’s making me nervous.”
“I know, Captain. But we’re really going as fast as we can while still being safe. We can’t just rush the job, or the same thing that occurred with their own failed reactor is going to happen again.”
“I know. Just keep me informed and do your best.”
“Always will, Captain.”
Once the call ended, he summoned his remaining engineering officer and Ardeth Marven. The third shift engineering officer was a mottled brown and gray furred lupusan, tall for his people, towering nearly two and a half meters of corded muscle. “Ardeth, Sakai, good, come in. Take a seat.”
“What is it you need, Kapitan?” the wolf asked, sitting on the edge of one of the wardroom seats. He was a new addition to the ship’s company, picked up and trained at Seylonique. He’d been working with Tamara and her people for a month before transferring to Grania Estelle, where he worked under Ka’Xarian’s tutelage for several more months. After the ship returned from its first trip to Heb, he’d been promoted to Third Engineering Officer, on a probationary basis. He was a bit of a plodder, unlike his predecessor, and was definitely a by-the-book type of engineer, which wasn’t a bad thing. Vincent had plenty of innovators, he also needed people who would buckle down and get the job done without cutting corners and inventing new ideas.
Vincent sighed. “I need some of your engineers, Sakai. I need to find a way to get a team, a small one, over to the Horus.”
“Why?” the wolf asked, puzzled. “I understand that there is a lot of damage to their ship, but there is only so much that can be done fo
r them. Even if all of my team were available, with the damage to their life support, we can’t work in shirtsleeves. We’d have to suit up.”
“Yes, that’s correct, you would. But what I need to know, is are there cargo people that we can swap for a few of your techs?”
Ardeth frowned. “My people are cargo pickers and cargo handlers, Captain. They’re not trained for technical duties.”
Vincent nodded. “I know. But there have to be some jobs that can be done without a whole lot of training.”
“Kapitan, we selected the people for the engineering division based on their technical aptitude. Now, I understand that it doesn’t mean that other cannot do the job, but I have one team. One team already doing the job of three. Now I could pull perhaps… three people off their current assignments and we could substitute people from cargo or deck division. They’d basically be monitoring various systems, Environmental and Power, but the people I’d be freeing up are quarter share crew. They don’t have a lot of experience in any case and wouldn’t be the kind of people that you can send unsupervised to perform any kind of serious repair on the destroyer. And while they’re qualed on their suits, they’re not qualified for vacuum welding. I’ve got them started on some tasks, but I need to have a supervisor there to keep an eye on them.” He flicked his ears. “Honestly, they’d really just be in the way.”
Vincent growled in frustration. “Ardeth?”
The other man shrugged. “I’d tend to agree, Captain. Like I said, my people won’t be able to do much without serious supervision, and anyone that you can swap for those kinds of jobs isn’t going to be able to help out much.”
“I’ll be honest. I want to get people on that destroyer. I want to be able to take a peek at their gear and see if we can reproduce any of it. I want to get a look at their datanet, everything. Is there anything we can do?”
First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 Page 26