First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3

by KOTCHER, MICHAEL

  He looked up. “Feeling any better?” he asked awkwardly.

  She nodded. “Thanks for being here.”

  Nazan gave a lopsided smile. “Of course. I know it wasn’t much of a help, but I’m glad I could do… something.” He cleared his throat, setting the book back on the small shelf. “But if you are feeling better, I need to get back to my ship.” He looked uncomfortable at the thought.

  “Yes, I suppose you do,” Lujayne replied. Damn it, now it was awkward. He started to head to the hatch, but she caught his arm. “I mean it, Nazan. Thanks.”

  He smiled, more sure of himself this time. “You’re welcome.” He hesitated and then seemed to come to a decision. “Buy you lunch when we get back home?”

  “I’ll try not to turn into a blubbering mess,” she said, his smile infectious. “But it’s a date.”

  Chapter 23

  “Captain, I have some good news for you, sir,” Jensen Tyler said, stepping into the zheen’s private cabin aboard Ganges. It was a place few ever entered. As one of those chosen few, Jensen had the displeasure of knowing all the horrors within. It wasn’t like in the holo vids with bones or body parts strung everywhere. No, the Captain had other tastes. His ran more to sex slaves and live food. And like most zheen, he preferred greens and various types of creepy crawlies to eat. Every time Jensen set foot in his Captain’s cabin, he had to worry about what might be crawling around on the bulkheads, on the deck, and possibly on him. Verrikoth made no effort to contain the little beasts; they roamed everywhere in his quarters. He wanted them available whenever he wanted a snack, he’d just reach out and pluck one of the flying ones out of the air, or one of the skittery ones from either the deck, the bulkheads or a piece of furniture. This of course, meant that many of the bugs would find their way out into the corridors, so crewmen and bots were used to either capture them, or simply eradicate them. A quarantine barrier of repellant and outright minor bug killer (harmless to zheen) was sprayed all around the Captain’s quarters, in the vents, in the plumbing. The crew hated the pests and the captain refused to do anything further about the situation.

  “I would be glad to hear ssome good newz, Commander,” Verrikoth hissed. He was seated at one of the chairs in the small cabin, looking over cargo manifests from the haul at Byra-Kae. There was no way that this was his first perusal, Jensen thought. He knew for a fact that the Captain had looked over this information at least twice on the trip from the former Republic system to Tyseus, but now that they were here, there was only so much to do while they were waiting. “The tech from the Republic iz impresssive, to be ssure, but until we can implement any of it, we need to keep it ssafe.”

  “Understood, sir. The defenses here in Tyseus are adequate, though with the destruction of one of the defense ships and a good portion of the fighters, those will need to be bolstered to bring things back up to snuff.”

  The zheen turned his head toward the human commander. “Yess. Now, you ssaid ssomething about good newz?”

  “Yes, sir. Nemesis has finished her trials and is ready for space.”

  The pirate lord’s antennae rose. “Now that iz excellent newz. I will transfer to her immediately. Ganges haz been an excellent flagsship, but with a heavy cruizer under my feet, no one will be able to sstand in my way.”

  Jensen nodded. “I understand, sir. I’m sorry to see you go.”

  “Oh, you and your command team will be transferring with me, Commander,” Verrikoth told him. “You have provided good work in the past battlez, I want you to continue to do sso.”

  Jensen felt his heart lift. “Thank you, sir! I won’t let you down!”

  “I know that you won’t, Commander.” The zheen was very sure about that. “Now, ssecure our gear and get the transferz completed. I want Nemesiss out of the construction sslip az ssoon az posssible. We have other sshipss that need to be built.” He handed the commander a datapad as he stood up. “I’m looking into more light unitss. We need to be fast and maneuverable. Nemesiss and Ganges will provide the firepower, the fast unitss will provide the hookss and the netss we need to keep order.”

  “If I might, sir,” Jensen said. The captain gestured for him to continue. “It might not be a bad idea to get another cruiser like Ganges, sir, in case the Republic shows up here in the Cluster again. Hecate’s yard is still open. Nemesis has an impressive array of weapons, but as you know we lost two of our heaviest hitters back there in Byra-Kae. A heavy cruiser supported by two light cruisers, as well as a host of corvettes and cutters and perhaps some fighter squadrons? Our enemies will think twice before coming up against that.”

  The zheen’s mouthparts moved slowly, a sign that he was thinking. “Your wordz are wize, Commander. I will think on thiss. I know there iz a corvette and a light cruizer waiting for pickup, but they will be monthss in transit. I am hoping that the Republic will have had itss fill of this Clusster, but I susspect that they will be back thiss way. Ssomeday.” He nodded. “Having more firepower can only be a good thing.” He hissed a laugh. “Which meanz we will have to sstep up our ‘recruitment’ efforts.”

  “I believe such a hiring drive is already underway, sir,” the commander replied. “Xiy’jan and Lollie Marie are moving through the Vinas Loop on the eastern edge of the Cluster as we speak. If they can hit capacity, those ships would bring back 2500 new recruits.”

  Verrikoth raised a hand in acknowledgement. “And aside from you and your command crew, is Nemesiss fitted with a full crew?”

  Jensen nodded vigorously. “Yes, sir. I spoke with them just half an hour ago, sir. The ship has a full crew, full missile package, fuel tanks are topped off. As I said, sir, that warship is ready for space.” He was starting to get an itchy feeling between his shoulder blades and on his legs, as though things were creeping up his skin. It was a common occurrence when he came to the Captain’s cabin, one that he never enjoyed.

  “Good.” Verrikoth turned from the conversation and began pulling some few clothes (he didn’t wear much) and other things, datacards, a few weapons, as well as several control access flash sticks and putting them into a large equipment bag. During all that time, he secretly relished the increasing discomfort of his flag captain. It wasn’t fair, not really, and he knew it. But there were too many times when Jensen Tyler was just a bit too pompous, a bit too sure of himself. Having him come here to a place where there might be creatures that would crawl, bite and sting him (nothing harmful, only irritating) amused Verrikoth. It was another sign of control that he had over the man, that he could force him to come into this cabin that he clearly hated and require his reports here. In minutes, he had everything he needed and was walking to the hatch. “I will be taking a sshuttle over to Nemesiss. Have one prepped.”

  “Yes, sir. I have a shuttlepod coming up from the construction dock to bring you over to the ship. The command team and I will join you in about two hours, once I get things closed out here and the new commander arrives.”

  “Good. I expect to ssee you aboard my new flagsship in that time.” The zheen walked out of the compartment and headed down the corridor.

  Jensen immediately rushed out of the cabin, rubbing his chest and his arms and then he walked briskly down the corridor, his head held high. He was the commander of Lord Verrikoth’s light cruiser Ganges, by the stars. It would not do to see him flapping his arms and screaming, tearing off his clothes in a panic because he might be covered with bugs. He hustled as fast as he could while still maintaining his dignity to his own cabin, and once the hatch was closed behind him, then he had his uniform off in less than ten seconds, tossing all of it into the laundry, and pressed the control to run the machine. His boots he blasted with a chemical spray, one he had used plenty of times before to remove the insects and bugs. Most of the insects Verrikoth would eat were large, about the size of one of the bones in his finger and larger, but lately the sadistic bastard had taken to bringing smaller ones in. He said that they were sweeter, but Jensen had the feeling that the only thing Verrikoth tho
ught was sweeter was seeing his flag captain’s discomfort.

  Once that was done, he dove into the shower and turned the water as hot as he could stand, with the pressure as high as he could stand. Squinching his eyes shut and holding his breath, once he was sufficiently wet, he blasted himself with the same chemical compound. It probably wasn’t the healthiest of things, but his continued time subjected to this from Verrikoth had made him obsessive about cleanliness, thankfully only when he went into the captain’s cabin. Maybe things would be different when they changed over to Nemesis.

  Verrikoth stepped out of the shuttlepod and into Nemesis’s hangar bay. His new ship, 450 meters long, bristling with weapons and thick hull armor was a thing of beauty. It wasn’t quite as fast as his old flagship, but only by a small amount. Besides, Nemesis was meant to inflict damage and project power; it was the job of Ganges and the lighter units to chase down prey. This shipyard and its workers were better than the ones in Hecate, which meant that the ship looked less hodgepodge than his other ships. This was a professional yard, crewed by professionals. And, with the Republic prisoners they’d captured from the station, things would be even better. With a batch of the implant disruptors, he could keep them in line. And with the threat he could hold over the others, the strongest ones broke. They always did.

  He was met by the acting captain, an elder lupusan male, with graying fur. He nodded to his captain in respect as the zheen stepped closer. “Commander Hestian, how iz my sship?”

  “She is a thing of beauty, Captain,” the lupusan replied. He gestured into the ship and they walked out of the hangar. There were two cargo shuttles here, including the pod, as well as a pair of assault shuttles. The bay was tight with barely any room to move, much less land a pod. Verrikoth nodded in appreciation. This would be a good ship. “She’s been waiting for you, sir. And I swear that she’s been straining at the leash, waiting to be cut loose.”

  Verrikoth laughed, a buzzing, hissing sound. “I find mysself anxiouss to try her out. What about the Republic upgrades? Were they integrated?”

  “Some,” Hestian said. “We got the parts for the communications, sensor arrays and the power systems. But the weapons, shields and propulsion haven’t been upgraded. There wasn’t time if we wanted to launch today.”

  Verrikoths’ antennae spun in spirals. “I ssee. I must ssay I am dissappointed to hear thiss. I was hoping that thiss sship would have better weaponz.”

  “Better weapons?” Hestian scoffed. “Sir, were you not aware of what we have here?” He gestured to the bulkheads around them as they walked down the corridor. “This ship has more firepower than anything else in the Cluster. We have turbolasers, batteries of heavy laser cannons, railguns, missile launchers, everything a growing wolf needs. Those Republic ships you fought in Byra-Kae? If you’d had this ship then, we would have lost none of our ships.”

  There was a noticeable drop in temperature. “Are you questioning my leadership, Commander Hestian? Are you questioning my tacticss?”

  The lupusan growled. Of all the people under Verrikoth’s command, Hestian was the only one who could stand up to him. He wasn’t afraid of him. In fact, he was the one who had given the pirate lord most of his scars. “I am not questioning either, Captain. What I am saying is, that if this ship had been in the battle at Byra-Kae, we would have had a clean sweep.”

  “If you were anyone else, I would not tolerate ssuch insubordination.”

  “Captain, you need someone to tell you how things are,” Hestian replied. “You need to have someone to give you the real scoop. Not these yes men that are surrounding you.”

  The two males stopped and turned toward one another. They stared one another down, difficult for Hestian, since Verrikoth’s compound, multi-faceted eyes didn’t blink. “Yes men? Is that what you think of my loyal crewz?”

  “I think that they are afraid of you. I think that they are afraid that if they tell you news you don’t want to hear, they will pay. Therefore, they want to avoid telling you anything that will cause them pain, even to their detriment. Even to yours.” He flicked his ears in morbid amusement.

  Verrikoth was silent for a moment. Then he pointed a blunt finger in the wolf’s face. “It is a good thing you’ve delivered so much in the past.”

  “I brought the Red Sphinx and her three ships, as well as four worlds for tribute to your banner, Verrikoth. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “I forget nothing,” the zheen retorted. “It is the reason I allowed you to live after the way you continually sspeak to me in thiss manner.”

  Hestian took a step closer and Verrikoth gripped his pistol. “If it was not for me, Captain, you wouldn’t have as much wealth as you do. You wouldn’t have this ship. I brought in the technicians and the raw materials that allowed for its construction. Don’t you ever think that you don’t need me.”

  “And what iz it that you want in return, Commander Hesstian?”

  “Ganges. You give me command of that cruiser and put Ironhide under my command.” Hestian was adamant about this. He didn’t step back; he didn’t reduce his threat profile or his presence.

  Verrikoth paused; an outside observer might actually think that he hesitated. Then he clacked his mouthparts. “You want a cruizer and a desstroyer? You sseek to challenge me?”

  “What I seek,” Hestian said, clearly having a hard time keeping his composure, “is to secure this Cluster under your banner. Your forces control a dozen worlds here. There are worlds that still are independent, ones that might grow to challenge us. They need to be brought to heel and you cannot be everywhere at once.”

  The zheen eyed him for a long moment. Everything the lupusan said was correct and it would be smart to have someone like Hestian in command of Ganges, in fact the wolf was the best choice. Since Tyler was going to continue on as his flag captain aboard Nemesis, Hestian would be the next in line to step up as Ganges’s new commander. But having it shoved so aggressively in his face… The zheen was feeling as though he should refuse just because Hestian wanted the position so much. Could he trust such a powerful and capable subordinate? If he gave him those ships, would he be a subordinate anymore? Having two ships as strong as those under his command, especially if Verrikoth sent him out on independent missions… Hestian could carve himself up a nice little empire, one that might even consist of worlds from his empire.

  “Very well, Commander. Ganges is yourz to command. I will conssider what to do with Ironhide. I am not quite sso willing to give up ssuch a powerful asset. And her current captain has done az well az could be expected. He did defend thiss sshipyard from that Republic cruizer.”

  Hestian nodded. “Captain Skygexx is a good officer. He has fought well for your banner, for your cause. But I believe his talents, while impressive, are wasted here. He deserves to be in a unit that is moving, going somewhere.”

  Another hesitation on Verrikoth’s part. “Yess, I agree. He haz done well. But I am not decided yet whether he will be with me and Nemesiss, or if he will go with Ganges.”

  “I understand, Captain. I will of course, await your decision.” Then he flicked his ears and nodded. “Now, perhaps you’d like to continue that tour, Captain Verrikoth?”

  He waggled his antennae. “Yes, Commander Hestian. Show me around my new flagship. I want to see every compartment.”

  “Captain Skygexx, incoming message from Nemesis. It’s for you, sir.” The comm-tech sounded crisp and professional. It wasn’t often that a message came directly from the pirate lord himself. And that was confirmed that it was straight from him, because an eyes-only message only came from one ship commander to another. Anything else that came through would just be delivered to the intended person.

  The zheen angled his antennae in Kezzin’s direction. “Is it from Captain Verrikoth?”

  Kezzin nodded. “Yes, sir. It is.”

  He buzzed. “Very well. I will take it in my cabin.” He rose and headed off the bridge. “Kezzin, you have the bridge.”

  A m
oment later, he closed the hatch to his cabin and activated the comm unit. Verrikoth’s scarred face appeared there. “Captain, sir!” Skygexx said, straightening.

  “Sskygexx, good. You have new orderz. Your sship iz no longer to be a part of the ssysstem defensez here.” Skygexx could feel his heart thumping in his thorax at the news. Finally! He and his ship were being removed from purgatory. “You will be joining up with one of the raider squadrons.”

  A raider squadron! Finally, he and his beleaguered and bored crew would get a chance to get out there and do what all the other ships of Lord Verrikoth’s fleet were doing: collecting tribute and catching ships.

  “I am honored, Captain. I will show you that both Ironhide and myself are worthy of your trust.”

  “Ssee that you do, Sskygexx. You have sshown your loyalty to me in the face of overwhelming oddz. I have seen the ssensor telemetry from your fight with the Republic heavy cruizer. How you protected the sshipyard and fought az hard az you could. I know that there were losssez, but you handled it the besst you could.” He made a buzz of anger and his antennae straightened. “My own forcez, which were much more ssubsstantial than yours here, were torn up by that thrice-damned Republic cruizer. We losst Meghna.” His mouthparts clacked together and his antennae waved. “But they losst the ssysstem. We sstripped that sstation of theirz down to the bulkheadz, and then…” He put his fists together and then pulled them apart, spreading his mauve fingers, mimicking an explosion, hissing along with it.

  Skygexx nodded. “I cannot wait to get out into space, Captain. I was glad that we were here to drive the Republic ships away when they came here, but my crew and I are chafing to get out and do something.”