First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3

by KOTCHER, MICHAEL

  “We are doing this under threat,” the zheen declared.

  Nikolas shrugged. “We are beyond choice right now, Koton. Their ships are already well within striking range of our vitals. Of the planet, of the orbital, of our people. We can’t change that now. Even if we tried to hold their people hostage, it wouldn’t protect ours. We both have knives poised at the others vitals so now we are committed.”

  Koton hissed. “I do not like this style of negotiations.”

  “Well I don’t like it either. But we have to get past that.” He sighed heavily. “I am going to speak with these people face to face. I’ve had several conversations with their leader, and he seems genuinely invested in this. I’m hoping that he can deliver on what they promise.”

  “What have they promised?” the zheen asked, interested, despite himself.

  “So far? Nothing. But we haven’t done much more than the preliminaries. The leader spoke about his system and what they had to offer, all of which sounds, well, promising. I want to hear what they have to say.” He glared at the zheen. “And since the majority of the council already agree, you need to take your resentment and bury it.” Koton hissed again, but Nikolas talked over him. “No, Koton, enough. I understand your concerns and to a degree I agree with them. But now you’re just whining like a petulant child. So, are you going to accompany me to what might be the biggest and most important task of your professional life, Koton? Or am I going to instruct the guards to make sure that you are barred from the orbital?”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Are we really going to have that discussion, Koton? I know you are a member of the governing council, but I am President of that council by acclaim. I maintain a healthy approval rating and the majority of our peers want me in the job. You are among the most junior of our peers.”

  More hissing. “I understand. You do not need to humiliate me further by sending me down to the planet. I will join you in the meetings.” He waggled his antennae. “Someone needs to be sure that you stay honest.”

  Nikolas couldn’t help a chuckle. “Glad to have you on board.”

  They sat there for a moment, until Koton spoke again. “What about Hana?”

  The president sighed. “What about Hana?”

  “You know he is going to want to be involved in any serious trade negotiations, Mister President,” Koton pointed out. “And with his stranglehold on all of the fuel in this system, he has the ability to force us to comply.”

  Nikolas rubbed his forehead, feeling a class-five headache coming on. “We don’t know anything about these people! We need to tread carefully with this and we don’t need his ham-fisted way of doing things! He could derail this whole summit!”

  “We cannot exclude him,” Koton replied. “He might not be a part of the council, but he is a significant force in this system.” The zheen leaned an arm against the desk, trying to get more comfortable, but the amount of movement in his antennae betrayed that. “But you are right, he would be a significant disruption.”

  “But if we do exclude him and he shows up anyway, he would ruin anything we might have built.” Nikolas sighed heavily. There was really no way around it though. Koton was right, Hana, the bastard, with his fueling station and his monopoly on He3 fuel here in this system had the ability to insinuate himself into the political situation here. He gritted his teeth. “I’ll send him a message. He can decide how he’s going to respond.”

  Chakrabarti looked up from the communications console in the conference room. The Leytonstone was a big ship, but it was stuffed to the gills with crewmen and Army troopers and as such there was a premium on space. The trio of councilors had taken over the Flag Conference room to use as a base of operations, which strangely, didn’t bother Colonel Gants all that much. As far as the colonel was concerned, if keeping them cooped up in his conference room would keep them out of his hair, it was a small price to pay for peace of mind – happily paid.

  “So, it appears that we’re going forward with the negotiations,” he said to his colleagues. He felt a cautious smile spread over his face. “It’s a first step. It won’t be the easiest but it’s a first.”

  “Good!” Kly exclaimed. “But where are they holding this summit? Here on the Leytonstone?”

  “No. We’re going over to the orbital station. There are a set of conference suites there that can be utilized.” Chakrabarti pressed a control and one of the side displays on the bulkhead lit up, showing several large rooms. “I think it will be adequate for our needs.”

  “How many aides will we be allowed?” Kly demanded. “I only brought two, but I’m sure we could borrow some of the people from the ship’s legal department if we need more.”

  “We’re going to bring a few of the ship’s Army contingent for protection, but other than that, just our two aides each.” He could see Kly’s unhappiness, but he pressed on. “I want this to be about getting this treaty signed, not about who’s entourage is bigger.”

  “Understood,” the other man replied, grimacing.

  Arathos started gathering up data cards and putting them into a folio. “We’ve come a long way for this. It’s incredible that the day has finally arrived.”

  “Don’t get too excited,” Kly cautioned. “As he just said, this is a first step. Which means that the first few sessions are going to be difficult. Everyone’s going to be feeling each other out, testing the waters.” He sighed. “I’d be surprised if anything of significance gets accomplished. Hell, I’d be surprised if we can manage even a few hours before the meeting breaks up.”

  “Well, then we just do the best we can,” the lupusan said, nodding. He turned to glare at Kly. “And despite the uphill climb that we have before us, I am confident that we will be able to hammer something out.”

  Chakrabarti flicked his eyes from one of his colleagues to the other. “Yes. I believe you’re right. What should be the first order of business? Safety of travel? Licensing? Trade goods?”

  “I’m thinking that trade goods should be the first item,” Kly replied, leaning forward, putting a hand on the table. “We need to establish why it is that we want to be trading with these people in the first place. What do they need? What do we have? What do they have?”

  The conversation struck back up, going back over issues and items of interests that they had been discussing for the last month.

  Leicasitaj watched as the string of cargo ships moved in, docking with the orbital station. He’d been monitoring over the last few days, while the Seylonique space defense force ships escorted them the rest of the way in. Once the ships were docked, the destroyers and corvettes moved into a loose bowl formation, keeping themselves close enough to cover the freighters but far enough out that they wouldn’t interrupt the local traffic patterns. Leytonstone had moved into a high orbit of the planet, still close enough to cover the other ships in the flotilla, and to be in easy shuttle range of the orbital.

  Leicasitaj, however, on orders from Colonel Gants had been sent out to five light seconds from the rest of the ships, below the plane of the ecliptic. Gants had made it quite clear that he didn’t need an “outside contractor” interfering with this mission and Leicasitaj and Mondragon were to move off from the station to keep an eye on things from further out. To be fair, it was an important task keeping watch for other ships that might be entering the system, but moving out a few more light seconds wouldn’t provide that much more lead time than the ships hanging around at the orbital. The Romigani was convinced that the colonel only wanted to keep the FP ship away from the regular SDF vessels. Perhaps he was still bitter over the drubbing that Leicasitaj had taken part in giving him.

  “How long are we expected to sit out here, Captain?” Garidhak asked from the tactical station. She was leaned back in her chair, lounging like, well, a cat.

  Leicasitaj turned around in his chair to be able to look at her better. His black eyes bored into her. “You do understand that we are serving an important function, don’t you?” His
tone implied that he didn’t appreciate her slacking off. “We are monitoring for incoming ships.”

  “No we’re not, sir,” the Severite replied, sitting up. She pointed to the main screen. “We’ve been exiled from the mission.”

  “Garidhak…”

  “No, sir, please. Hear me out.”

  Leicasitaj made a watery gurgle. “With me, Garidhak. Mister Wymea, you have the bridge,” he said to the helmsman, getting up from his command seat. The Severite hopped down from her chair and followed him off the bridge to his cabin. He sat down on his chair and indicated for her to close the hatch. She did and stood at rest just inside the cabin. “All right, speak your piece.”

  “Captain, Colonel Gants is just pissed off at us and at Commander Samair for having us along.” The Severite was blinking furiously in anger, her ears flat against her head. “He’s angry because we kicked his ass back at the Kutok mine. He might have evolved as a human being since then,” her tone was clear she didn’t think he had, “but he’s still human. If he was serious about us being an early warning system, he would have positioned us a hell of a lot further than five light seconds out from the orbital. That’s nothing. We should be five light minutes at least!”

  Leicasitaj grunted. That much was true at least. “I argued that same point, Garidhak, but the Colonel game me his orders. He was very specific and I have no cause to disobey those orders. Besides, for the moment, it looks as though most of the system’s defense ships are all clustered around us here at the orbital.”

  “But Captain, we’re way out of range of any of those ships at the orbital,” the tactical officer pressed, her claws extending and sheathing at her sides. “And, in case you were thinking that the colonel put us out here so that we’d see any serious problems there at the orbital and be able to race out to the hyper limit to get the word back home, you can forget it.”

  “I’ve seen the ships. Two of them, corvettes, waiting half a light second from our position,” Leicasitaj replied. “It’d be close to see if we could race them to the hyper limit and jump before they could catch us.” He raised one hand in a half shrug. “Most likely we’d be fighting all the way to the hyper limit, trying to keep them from shooting out our engines.”

  “Exactly, Captain, exactly,” Garidhak crowed.

  His facial tentacles writhed in anger. “So what do you want me to do about it, Guns? Commander Samair specifically put me under Colonel Gants’ command. She told me to follow his orders as if they were hers. He hasn’t done anything objectionable, at least not seriously. He seems to be doing a decent job with what’s been going on and none of the ships we’ve brought with us have been attacked. Yes, putting us out here is annoying, but it does serve a purpose. And even if it was a complete insult and waste of time, there’s nothing I can do. Disobeying his orders would do nothing but get me either completely sidelined, or sent home in disgrace.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  The Romigani sat back, looking somewhat calmer. “Sidelined would mean that he would most likely send me back to the hyper limit to sit there and watch the door.” He growled. “At least there, we would still be a part of this mission, if only peripherally. Otherwise, we go home and FP has no presence here.”

  The Severite hissed in frustration, looking away from her captain. “It’s just so frustrating. And insulting, Captain. I can’t believe the councilors would let him get away with this.”

  Leicasitaj chuckled. “I think the councilors are far more concerned about this whole trade summit than they are with how Colonel Gants positions ships under his command. So long as we aren’t doing anything to derail the talks or embarrass anyone in power, we don’t exist. In fact we’re nothing more than Gants’ problem and responsibility.” He sighed, and his tentacles squirmed again. “Let this go, Guns. We ride this out, and once the talks are over, we’re back home and doing what we were hired to do.”

  “But Captain-…”

  “No, Garidhak,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’m ordering you to let this go. You do your job, stand your watches and keep this ship and the convoy safe, just like you have been. Is that understood?”

  The cat looked furious, but her blinking slowed until finally she was staring at the bulkhead. “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Dismissed.”

  Chapter 27

  Chakrabarti, Kly and Arathos stepped off the shuttle onto the hangar bay of the Ulla-tran orbital station into a well-lit metal compartment, filled with people. Members of the Seylonique Army, outfitted with dress uniforms and polished boots (equipped with deadly looking assault weapons and sidearms) stood with their weapons at port arms on either side of the hatch. Four more soldiers, with their weapons in hand, pointed down to the deck. On the other side was a full squad in battle dress (though their armor was not of the powered variety) also with automatic weapons, spread out near the hatch leading into the station. These troopers were not well groomed or wearing polished boots. These looked like thugs in uniform, to the delegates’ eyes.

  Six people entered from the main doors, all of the dressed in what looked to be formal business attire. The humans wore suits and neckties (something that made Kly smirk), the zheen wore a formal tunic and the lupusan was dressed in a formal kilt with loose tunic with flowing sleeves. The two groups stepped toward each other, with Chakrabarti leading one group and a tall, lean human male leading the Ulla-tran contingent, stopping only a few paces from each other.

  The thin man spoke. “On behalf of the people of Ulla-tran, I would like to welcome you to our star system. I am President Nikolas Montenegro, leader of the governing council here.”

  Chakrabarti nodded politely. He spread his hands. “On behalf of my colleagues and the star system of Seylonique, I greet you. I am Councilor Sebastian Chakrabarti, leader of this trade delegation. I’m hoping that during these talks we can bring about a new level of friendship and prosperity between our two peoples.”

  Montenegro smiled. “That is my sincerest hope as well.” Members on both sides looked as though they didn’t really believe him when he made that statement. Kly rolled his eyes, receiving a sharp elbow in the ribs from Arathos. The man hissed in pain and winced, but did his best not to draw too much attention to himself.

  The president turned, sweeping his arm to the side. “Come, we have conference suites set up, let us get to work.”

  A short time later, the groups were seated in the conference suites, around a large metal table. It wasn’t a particularly warm and inviting room, but it was functional. The aides had gotten together over the comms while Leytonstone was on its way into the system to discuss things like placement of flags, seating arrangements at the table and other minutiae such as this. While the primaries were exchanging pleasantries out in the hangar deck, a second shuttle had landed there an hour earlier and the aides came in and arranged things according to the agreed upon plan. It seemed as though, at least on the surface and with the minor players anyway, things might move along in the proper direction.

  “So what is it that you think we can provide?” Nikolas asked, folding his hands on the table.

  Chakrabarti considered his counterpart across the table. “My mission here is not to take anything.”

  The president sighed. “Yes, thank you, I appreciate it, but the basic premise of my question remains unchanged. You came here to establish trade relations, but the simplest part of that means that there is something here that you, or your nation, wants.”

  “This is a highly industrialized system,” Chakrabarti said. “As is ours. We have different ways of doing things, but I know that both of our nations are interested in each others’ technology. I know a few engineers back home that were quite impressed with some of the computer tech that your cargo captains have sold to our businesses.”

  “So it’s our technology you’re looking for.”

  “As well as markets for our own goods to be sold.”

  The president frowned. “I can appreciate that, but you came here
with the expectation that we would comply. So just opening a simple trade agreement wouldn’t warrant an expedition here with your warships.”

  He shrugged. “It was more of a gesture, to make sure that we would be taken seriously. I didn’t want to threaten or intimidate, I just wanted to give an impression of our strength.”

  “To intimidate us!” the zheen on the Ulla-tran side of the table said, the monotone voice of the t-pack accompanied by the hisses and clicks of his own voice underneath.

  “No,” Chakrabarti replied calmly. “I want it to be clear that Seylonique, while less populous than Ulla-tran, is a force to be reckoned with. We are not interested in fighting anyone, we’re looking to solidify our position here in the Cluster.”

  “Through conquest!” the zheen hissed.

  “Have we made any demands on you?” Kly shot back. “We came here with enough firepower to challenge you and yet at no point did we do anything aggressive.”

  “Your arrival with warships in this system is aggression enough.”

  “Those warships are meant to simply protect our shipping,” Kly said. “The last time one of our freighters came into this system your inspection teams shot one of the crew!”

  The zheen bristled, almost coming out of its chair. “Our customs and inspections personnel have the right to search all incoming and outgoing vessels for contraband. If one of the crew was injured during the course of such an inspection, it must be because the crew resisted.”