First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3

by KOTCHER, MICHAEL

  Tamara heard a yip of a chuckle from behind her. None of the others seemed to have heard. “I’m the one who has a shipyard that you and the Triarch want to use. So if he wants me to build warships for him, I absolutely will be dictating terms, ma’am,” she said, doing her best to maintain a strong grip on her temper. “Triarch?”

  The zheen’s antennae waggled, betraying his calm, but he nodded. “I will agree to that, up to a point, but I will expect to see steady progress, Ms. Samair. If, in my estimation, I find that you are dragging your feet…”

  “Triarch, I know that you’ve gotten updates on the construction in my yard for quite a while now. In fact, ever since I started it up. At any point have I ‘dragged my feet,’ to use your term?”

  He shook his head, antennae curling a bit. “No, I have not. But up until this point, you haven’t been working on a government contract for what will be a government ship. And based on past history…”

  “If you’re that concerned I will screw you over, Triarch, why are we here? Why come to me?”

  He hissed out a sigh. “Because you’re the one with the shipyard and the design schematics for a Republic warship,” Kozen’ck said flatly. “I understand relations between FP, Inc and the admin council have been… strained… in the past year-…” The woman on his side of the table snorted loudly. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize you and your company’s expertise.”

  Tamara hesitated, looking at the council member skeptically. Everything he was saying was true, of course, but the fact that his flunkies were being belligerent made her believe that something else was going on here. But then she looked at the strategic situation here in Seylonique. Leytonstone was a powerful asset, the most powerful Tamara had encountered in her time since waking up from hibernation sleep and now that the overhaul on the ship was completed, it was a threat to anything that opposed it. But Verrikoth had several ships under his command, most likely more than Grania Estelle had seen before. So this system needed stronger defenses and that meant building more warships. FP, Inc had a great deal of resources and once the cargo ship was off the line, crewed and loaded, she could send it off to Ulla-tran to work on increasing revenue streams. But the company’s resources were not endless. Yes, she had enough in the way of credits to buy a great many things, she couldn’t afford to build an entire fleet herself. As trade continued and increased, that might change, but for now, the one destroyer she was building for FP would be the last for a while. But if she built four for the government and got paid a hefty commission for doing so? There might be more ships on the horizon.

  “All right, Triarch. Draw up the paperwork and send it ASAP. I have a lot of work to do and I’d like to be started immediately.”

  Kozen’ck clacked his mouthparts in excitement. “Excellent. Thank you, Ms. Samair. It will be good to work with you. Perhaps we can mend some fences while we do so.”

  You mean I should fall into line and behave like a good little girl. Mend fences. The only reason you mend a fence is because you want to keep something contained, or you want to keep it out. And I’m pretty sure he isn’t talking about Verrikoth. “Yes, of course, Triarch,” Tamara said instead, flashing another dazzling smile. “I would like that very much. And I hope that this is just a continuation of a long, profitable and happy business relationship.” She reached out her hand and the zheen leaned forward, shaking her hand warmly.

  “Well, that went better than I could have hoped,” Kozen’ck stated after the hatch sealed behind Samair and her pet lupusan. The very drunk henchmen miraculously lost their stupor and instantly became razor sharp.

  “Yes, sir, it did,” one of the men replied. “I was sure that she was going to hold out for more; like over a billion per ship. I can’t believe you got her down to seven eighty.”

  “I was surprised, myself,” the zheen admitted. “I was thinking at least eight fifty. She’d been such a hard negotiator in the past, I can’t imagine it’s because she suddenly decided to cut us a break.”

  “No,” the woman said, rubbing the tip of her nose with one finger. “You’re right. And despite the price we got, she’s still coming off well. If she only takes twenty percent for profit?”

  One of the men whistled. “I wish I could do that. But I can’t imagine she’s taking the huge amount of profit and using it for a new… wardrobe or something.”

  The woman glared at him. “You are so irritating. I cannot believe that such nonsense just came out of your mouth. So because she’s a powerful woman, she would spend her money on frivolous things?” She looked to be working herself into a full-blown tirade. “Look at all of the things she’s built in the last year! Does that look like someone who cares about clothes and shoes?”

  “She looked pretty good tonight,” the other man commented, looking thoughtful. But then he shrugged. “But maybe she has a steward or a maid or something that looks after things like that for her. Can’t let the grubby engineer embarrass the company by looking less than her best. I mean, she’s attractive enough as a front-woman that they would want to keep her looking good.”

  “All right,” the zheen said, getting to his feet. “Atrus, get the contracts drawn up and sent over to the lawyer. And don’t get cute, writing in codicils and other ways to cheat her. We’re already getting a fabulous deal out of this, don’t blow it.”

  “Of course, Triarch. I’ll have it there within the hour. I already have a rough draft written up,” the man said.

  “Excellent. Now I’m getting out of here, as are you Atrus. But if you want to stay…?” he said to the others. The other two nodded. “Go, have fun. But remember that you have to be back in the office at 0900. We have that meeting.”

  “Of course, Triarch,” the woman said. “Come on, I want to dance!”

  The man nodded, ushering her out the door. Kozen’ck was the last one in the room, Atrus hustling out the hatch before him to get that contract set up. This might actually work out. And with two more companies opening up cargo hauling businesses, perhaps the time of isolation is truly over. We can get goods and credits flowing into the businesses, into the economy and the coffers through the taxes, we can thrive. We can rule this part of the Cluster. He hissed a chuckle. I’m getting ahead of myself. But I think it is a challenge I am looking forward to meeting head on.

  Tamara nodded to herself as Marat followed her back to the airlock on the docking ring, going back to the ship. Well, that turned out about as well as could be expected. They low-balled me a bit, I probably should have held out for at least eight hundred; I probably undersold myself there a bit. Oh well. She snickered. When did I change enough that I can shrug off fifty million credits? What happened to me? Even back in the old days when I was running Hudora I wasn’t like this. Of course, budgets were Captain Bythe’s problem. I wonder if that’s how it started? He started skimming funds from the budgets here and there, a few million credits every so often and pretty soon he had enough to buy a battleship. And by that point, he needed a patsy to dump it on.

  But, now I’m getting my yard back, except this time it’s just as I want it. All of the successes and failures are on me. And I like it that way. Now. About those destroyers…

  “Wait, wait, wait. They want four of the Republic-class destroyers?” Eretria Sterling demanded, flabbergasted. “That is so much hardware. I mean, their battlecruiser still outguns them, but having four destroyers added to their order of battle?”

  “It would certainly be a good thing as far as keeping the system safe, Ms. Sterling,” Tamara pointed out. “And while I’m certainly a little uncomfortable with the admin council having so much firepower under their direct control, I’m a businesswoman and a resident to this fine star system.” Eretria snorted. “I know, it sounds fake even to my ears. But, they’re willing to pay. I could have pushed them for a whole lot more money, but by going a bit low, we still make a nice profit margin, and we get the possibility of repeat business. Besides, we’re not dropping construction of Persistence of V
ision,” she went on, referring to the new FP destroyer that was in initial stages, “and in getting these contracts, we can build her as well as the other ships without draining the accounts.”

  Eretria shrugged. “You’re the boss.” It seemed that she agreed with Tamara’s reasoning.

  She sighed heavily. “Now, there’s a lot of work to be done and a tight schedule to get it done in. How are we doing on the First Horizon?”

  The yard manager nodded. “She’s looking good, ma’am. I have to say, after working as an engineering machinist on the Geldarland, being a manager at a construction yard feels like such a huge jump. Now I’m building a ship. Many ships. My own fleet.”

  Tamara raised an eyebrow. “Your own fleet, Ms. Sterling?” she asked, her voice questioning.

  Eretria colored. “Oh, of course I meant the company’s fleet.”

  Tamara snorted, nodding. “Of course you did. And if it’s anyone’s, it’s Vincent Eamonn’s. I know that we engineers feel possessive about the ships and such that come through our yard, but try to keep things in perspective, Ms. Sterling.”

  “Sorry, ma’am,” she said, flushing completely red. “That was a completely inappropriate comment.”

  “Forgiven. Now, about the First Horizon?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the engineer replied. “The First Horizon will be ready to go by tomorrow.”

  Tamara smiled beatifically. “That is excellent work, Eretria. I’m sure our new captain will be well pleased about that.”

  Eretria mimicked Tamara’s earlier expression, raising one eyebrow questioningly. “Oh? Who did you get, ma’am?”

  “Lujayne Orzo,” Tamara replied. “She came into one of the recruiting stations two weeks ago. I was interested in her cargo background. I guess she ran her own planetside cargo service for eight years and got excited when we started advertising for the position of captain for one of our cargo ships.”

  She nodded in understanding. “Sounds like an ideal cargo specialist. Does she have any experience in captaining a ship?”

  “Well, she has management experience, which is important. But she has no experience in space, much less as the captain of a ship.”

  “And you want this woman to be the captain of the First Horizon?” she asked incredulously. “I’m actually surprised at that, ma’am.”

  Tamara chuckled. “I’ve had her going through simulations and study materials ever since that interview. Normally, I’d have her go through a trial period, working for an experienced captain for a couple of months. Actually, I’m really wishing I had another ship that she could be working on in the meantime.”

  “Well, the only cargo ship we have that is hyper-capable is Grania Estelle, ma’am. And she was already outbound when we started working on First Horizon. She’s probably already in Heb by now.”

  Tamara got a distracted look on her face, obviously accessing the information on her implants. “Yes. Assuming they didn’t redline the engines, the bulk freighter should have exited hyperspace three days ago.” She shrugged. “We’ll have to work something out. I can’t conscience sending the First Horizon off on a trade mission without a competent captain.”

  “Well, Orzo really only has to be in charge, yes?” Eretria asked. “I mean, make sure she’s well covered with experienced spacers who can do the jobs that are needed, and just get her feet wet on the actual run.”

  Tamara mulled that over for a moment and then nodded. “That sounds good, but I want to send the First Horizon to Ulla-tran. Granted it’s been quite a while since we’ve been back there, but I’m concerned about sending a complete novice out there.”

  “Well, ma’am, all Orzo needs to worry about is making a profit and bringing the ship, crew and cargo back safe. The crew can take care of the maneuvers, and Orzo can take care of the cargo.”

  “And we’ll be sending Cavalier along for cover, at least on this first run.” Tamara thought about it for another few minutes, then nodded again. “All right. You’ve sold me. Orzo gets some firsthand experience, as well as some time to get the qualifications.” She snorted. “Not that she really needs them. It isn’t like there’s some overarching bureaucracy that’s monitoring licenses.”

  Lujayne Orzo was more nervous than she ever had felt in her whole life. She’d been lifted by shuttle from the surface to the orbital station, which was an experience all in itself. She was used to the hustle and bustle of crowds and was expecting a crush of people on the orbital. When she stepped out of the hangar bay and out onto the main concourse, she was surprised to find that while there were a number of people here, there was a great deal of room to move and breathe. There was actually more available space, or so she felt, than there was back down in the city streets.

  She made her way to the small offices that had been rented by FP, Incorporated, and entered. The young man sitting as receptionist looked up at her as she approached. “Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said politely. “How can I help you today?”

  “I’m Lujayne Orzo,” she said, somewhat awkwardly. She still couldn’t believe that this was all happening. “I have an appointment.”

  The man checked his display, then nodded. “Yes, Ms. Orzo. Go right on through. They’re expecting you.”

  Lujayne walked through the door and into the office beyond. She blinked when she saw that one of the big bosses of the company, Tamara Samair, was seated at the small desk in the cramped office. “Ms. Samair. I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought I was going to meet up with you at the Samarkand.”

  The dark-haired Chief of Operations waved her to the only other chair in the cramped office. “I thought about that, but I also thought we could make the trip back to the yard together. I only really met you the one time, and while impressed, I don’t really know you that well. And if I’m going to give command of one of my cargo ships over to you, I think I might want to understand you a bit better.”

  “Of course,” Lujayne said, sitting down. “What would you like to know?” She knew that her voice sounded nervous and she mentally kicked herself. It’s just a job. Get a grip on yourself. It’s a good job, but it’s just a job.

  “Talk to me about yourself,” Tamara said, getting herself more comfortable in the chair. “Where you grew up, where you worked, that cargo business of yours. Why come to work for me?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Am I being interviewed again?” Damn it, no. Please no. That was grueling enough.

  Tamara shrugged. “If you want to look at it that way. I was thinking more that this was a conversation between two colleagues.”

  Lujayne signed. “Well, I was born on Holaga Island, daughter to a bus driver and a school teacher. I got a decent education, but nothing really that impressive. I decided I didn’t want to follow along in my parents’ footsteps, so I got out. Started working at the loading docks at seventeen, worked my way up to cargo picker and finally specialist. Started my own business working off those same docks and made a decent living at it. But I sold it about a month ago, when I heard there were opportunities in space. I’d never been in space before.”

  “Why would you assume that FP would have opportunities in trade? Up until recently we only had one cargo ship capable of reaching other star systems.”

  The woman smiled. “Ma’am, I’d been watching your business. You’ve been growing in leaps and bounds. You’ve already built a few cargo ships for other companies, which I knew to mean that you would be making more for yourself soon enough. There have to be too many good markets out there to pass up.”

  “And that’s why you joined?”

  “Yeah,” she replied. “I proved I can make a profit in a shipping business, and with the opportunities popping up I wanted to see what foreign markets looked like. Maybe see another world or two.”

  Tamara nodded. “That’s how it goes. Right now we’re only going to be trading with three worlds, all of them within one jump of Seylonique. There’s a pirate threat and until we know things are safe, I want to keep our ships close to home p
ort.” She looked to the prospective captain before her. “There are three things that I want from you if you decide to take this position.” She paused.

  “And what would those be, ma’am?”

  “Don’t embarrass the company,” Tamara replied, ticking them off on her fingers. “That is by far the least of the three. It’s important, sure, because I want to be able to keep trading with the nearby systems. But compared to the other two…” She shrugged. “Item number two: make a profit. I don’t really care what you buy or trade in, but please be smart. Don’t buy or sell weapons or drugs or slaves or anything like that. To my knowledge, there isn’t any people trafficking going on in Ulla-tran, Heb or Bimawae.”

  “Ma’am,” Lujayne said with a grimace. “If that was a joke, it was in poor taste.”

  “I wasn’t joking,” Tamara said. “I was just explaining parameters. I probably didn’t need to,” she admitted, “but I just wanted to set clear expectations.”

  FP’s newest employee nodded slowly. “Very well, ma’am. You said there was a third thing?”

  Tamara nodded, a slight smile on her face. “I should think that was obvious. Make sure you bring your crew back safely. And the ship.”

  “And that warrants third place in the pecking order?” she asked, dubiously.

  Tamara shook her head, openly grinning now. “No, it deserved the last place in line because it was the most important. I want to build up a good reputation for this company in the surrounding star systems. I want to have my ships turning a profit. I want to grow this business. But most important of all, I want my people to be safe. I want to be able to continually send them out, knowing that they will be able to come back home.”