A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 (21 page)

              The captain nodded.  “I was thinking the same thing.  I trust your calculations, Wotan,” he said quickly as he saw the AI about to bristle.  “But I don’t want to have chance play too much a part here.  Run the numbers, please.  Calculate another salvo, Wotan and feed us the data.”

              The AI scowled.  “I have the coordinates and timing set up.  Feeding the data to you all now.”  He looked highly offended at having his work questioned.

              “Thank you, Wotan,” Kol said, inclining his head to the AI.  “I…
we
appreciate all your efforts.” 

The AI harrumphed.  “Five seconds.”

Tamara watched on sensors as more missiles raced out from the gathered military vessels, and smiled as more explosions hit the now expanding cloud of asteroid debris.  Checking her own readouts, she nodded in satisfaction. 
Well done, boys
.  She breathed a deep sigh of relief.  There was nothing more than a cloud of sand and the largest bits her ship’s sensors were picking up were roughly fist-sized.  Those would burn up in the atmosphere of the gas giant, leaving the mine unscathed.  She sent a message to all the nearby gathered ships, congratulating and praising all of the ships, captains and crews on their job well done.

Then, a thought hit her and she keyed the comms again.  “Shuttles and tugs in the area around the asteroid, move in and see if you can grab those large pieces that you pulled out of position.  The pieces marked six, nine, twelve, thirteen and fourteen you can ignore, those are going to plunge into the atmosphere of the gas giant well away from the Kutok mine, but the rest of them should be on vectors where they can be caught and stopped.  Acknowledge receipt of signal and your change in orders.”

“You want to grab them, ma’am?” Mike asked, puzzled.

She shrugged.  “You never know.  There might be some precious minerals there that the good pirates just decided to throw away.  We found that huge load of gadolinium almost completely by accident.  Maybe there’s more in these pieces.  Could be some osmium or other metals in the platinum group.”

“You think so?” Mike asked, his jaw dropping.

She chuckled.  “No.  Sensors were reading cooper, zinc, iron, some gold.  Might be worth a few credits, but since the rocks are out here anyway and still within range of the tugs and shuttles, seems a shame to waste them.   And there might be enough trace amounts of other more valuable minerals that the ship’s sensors didn’t pick up to make the harvesting worthwhile.”

The pilot looked dubious then nodded.  “I guess that makes sense.  I mean, they are all out here anyway.”

“That they are.”  She leaned her head back against the headrest.  “After they capture the rocks, we’ll do a proper survey, keep the good ones and get rid of the rest.  After that, the tugs and shuttles will get back to work in cleaning up the salvage and the scrap and we can get back to work.”

Her cheerful demeanor suddenly darkened.  “And we’ve got a
lot
of work to do.”

              Verrikoth clacked his mouthparts, hissing in anger. 
That bastard deliberately disobeyed me!  He threw a rock at the gas mine after I told him to leave it alone.  Nemesis
was far enough away from the gas giant at this point that they couldn’t pick up much in the way of detail of what was happening here, but Verrikoth had enough information.  Hopefully the locals would be smart and capable enough to deal with the asteroid before they lost all of the real estate Verrikoth had gone to such lengths to protect.

              But the general… well, it was obvious something was going to have to be done about him.  He was a powerful force, to be sure, but that came from his weight of soldiers.  His fleet presence was rather light, as was his skill in fleet actions.  The pirate lord would have to show the general a thing or two about fleet actions.  And he would have to remind him who was in control of this area of space.

Chapter 7

              “This is Vanessa Marchant with S-Int News.  We’ve received unconfirmed reports that an invasion fleet has entered the system and is in the process of attacking several facilities on the far side of the system.  No one seems to have a clear picture of what has happened yet, and sources inside the government have been suspiciously quiet.  Representatives within First Principles, Incorporated have been scrambling for information about the attack but have been unwilling to comment.  Is this all just a ruse to drop stock prices?  Or is the system actually under attack?  And if the FP facilities near the gas giant and at the asteroid belt
are
under attack, is it only a matter of time before the invaders hit the inner system?
We will bring you more news as the story updates.”

              The news of the pirates’ arrival in the system had hit the civilian sensor nets and communications nets and set them on fire.  People were in an absolute panic.  Half of the population on the inhabited planet’s surface had gone indoors, locked themselves away and considered whether it was better to just cower in the basements or if they should board up the windows from the inside.  The other half of the population grabbed up any sort of weapon, be it a pistol, rifle, pitchfork or pickaxe and marched on government buildings.  Unfortunately for the torch-bearing mobs, the members of the administratory council were not
on
the planet’s surface, and were content to let their underlings take the pointy end of the stick for them while they remained in their armored offices up on the orbital station.

              Of course, the station’s population was less than thrilled about what was happening planetside and the council’s seeming lack of concern for events.  Station security had their hands full trying to contain the nearly full-blown riot aboard as terrified citizens tried to get some answers and reassurance from the government.

              If they only knew what was going on with the council, perhaps the people on the ground and on the orbital might have been a bit more understanding.  But then, perhaps not.

              “This is insane!” Hyacinth Cresswell shouted.  “I
knew
that this trade delegation was a terrible idea.”

              “Calm down,” Triarch Kozen’ck said from his seat at the head of the conference table.  “Getting hysterical isn’t going to do anything constructive.”

              “Calm down?” Hyacinth demanded, standing and raising her voice to new levels.  “We’ve got hostile ships attacking the outer system and you want me to
calm down
?”

              “Yes,” the leader of the council told her, his antennae upright and erect.  “Right now there is rioting on the orbital and down on the planet.  We have to come up with a plan of action and we need to do it fast.”

              “We can’t send additional ships to help,” Carriger Hroth, one of the lupusan female councilors pointed out.  “Even at maximum speed, the warships would be three days in transit.  If there’s still fighting going on by the time they got there, it would all be over.  And if it wasn’t…”  She put a clawed hand to her head.  “I can’t imagine the kind of damage those ships could do to this system.”

              “To Samair and Eamonn’s space stations, you mean,” Cresswell said with a bitter smile.

              “No, I don’t mean that,” Carriger spat.  “Get off your pulpit about First Principles, Cresswell.  All the whining you do about it makes you sound like a child with a tantrum.”  Hyacinth sputtered.  “I think we need to send some sort of a relief force.  We need to show the populace that we care about what is happening to their fellows at the gas mine.  And besides,” she went on, “The Kutok gas mine is a critical part of our infrastructure.” 

              “What are you babbling about?” Hyacinth demanded.  “We need to keep those ships
here
if the system is under attack!”

              “We need to make sure that the gas mine is secure,” Carriger told her and the room at large.  Kozen’ck’s antennae curled in thought.  “Since the fleet, the civilian shipping, the power stations, even the orbital reactors all run on helium 3, we need to make sure we concentrate some of our defensive assets there.”

              “We need them here,” the woman repeated.

              Carriger glared at her.  “Yes, Cresswell, I know that.  But we also need them there.”

              “What we need,” Kozen’ck put in, “is more.”

              The lupusan nodded, as did others in the room.  “Exactly.”

              “Can we call back Colonel Gants and the
Leytonstone
?” one of the others asked.

              Carriger shrugged.  “Not easily.  We’d need to send a ship to Ulla-tran, disrupt Chakrabarti and the talks and then get them recalled.  We have no idea if they’ll believe us or even if they’ll respond immediately.  And then it’s another month’s trip to come back.  And if they kept to the schedule, the bulk of the delegation will be leaving Ulla-tran within ten days.  There’d be no point in sending a ship.  We’ll just have to wait.”

              “This is a nightmare,” Hyacinth said, dropping her head into her hands.

              “So then,” Kozen’ck said, leaning forward.  “We need to send ships to the gas giant to show the flag, help secure the area.”

              “
Curroth
and two of the corvettes,” Carriger said, consulting a datapad, referring to one of the two remaining destroyers in area around the planet.  “That will leave
Revenant
and the remaining light units for defense.”

              “We’re stripping our defenses bare.”

              “Enough, Cresswell,” the Triarch said coldly.  “You’ve made your point, but there is nothing more that can be done about that.  We need to make sure that mine is well protected.  And we need to be seen doing something.”  The others looked as unhappy as Cresswell, but no one said anything.  “I don’t want to send those ships away either, but it can’t be helped.  We sent a lot of defensive assets away from the system with the trade delegation.  Until they get back we’re just going to have to make do.”

              “Could we get more?” Carriger asked.  “I think I can find some room in the budget.”

              The zheen nodded.  “I think that might not be a bad idea.  Get with the FP people, Samair, if you can swing it.  What can we afford?”

              “I’d like to see if we can get our hands on a few of those frigates they’ve been fielding,” the lupusan said, her voice speculative.  “But we can see about getting started on laying down three or four more corvettes.”

              “Won’t do much good now,” Cresswell grumbled.  Then she sighed.  “But I think it might be a good step.”

              “So glad you approve,” Carriger said dryly.  She looked away from her in disgust and then smoothed out her features.  “I think we can get R3 Systems to build another pair of corvettes for us.  In fact I think they’ll jump at the chance.”

              “And First Principles?”

              Carriger shrugged.  “I’ll see if I can get enough credits together to fund another destroyer.  If Samair is willing to go with our previous numbers, I think we can afford one on this quarter’s budget.”

              “I’ll need to make a statement,” the Triarch said, getting to his feet.  He gestured to the conference room door.  “Not that much of anything I said is going to make any difference, not until the dust settles.”  He buzzed.  “I just hope that the battle is contained in the outer system.  If the pirates get past Samair’s ships and come into the inner system… well.”  He didn’t really need to go into further detail.  He could see that everyone around the table was already thinking the same thing.

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~

              “This is Vanessa Marchant with S-Int News.  I’m here on the orbital station where Triarch Kozen’ck is holding a press conference.  This reporter is hoping that we’ll finally start getting some answers about this supposed attack in the outer system.”  She glanced over her shoulder toward where the zheen was stepping up to the podium.  The other reporters were quieting down as he appeared ready to speak.  “Let’s hear what he has to say.”  The vid pickup zoomed in on the Triarch.

              “Good afternoon.  I am here to inform all you good citizens that the reports of the attack by hostile forces in the outer system are indeed true.”  He had to pause here as the reporters began buzzing and speaking and eventually shouting over one another to be heard.  He held up his hands for silence and it took nearly a full minute for control to be reestablished.  “People, please!”  Finally they quieted.  “As I was saying.  We’ve received an updated data burst from one of the ships out at the gas giant.  A battle is waging right now between Seylonique forces and a fleet of pirate ships.  Lives have already been lost and the battle is not yet over.”

              He paused again, giving the reporters time to absorb the information.  “As you all know, a good portion of our defensive ships are out of the system and are not expected back for some weeks.  This is a fact we must work with, I’m afraid.”  It was clear that the crowd was less than thrilled with this answer, no matter how true it must be.  “In response, I have detached the destroyer
Curroth
and two of our corvettes to head to the outer system with all speed.”

              “How long will they be in transit?” one of the reporters asked loudly.  Strangely, none of the other reporters tried to voice their own question.

              “As some of you may know,” Kozen’ck answered, his mouthparts wiggling in irritation.  “As some of you may know, in a civilian vessel, the journey from the orbital here to the Kutok gas mine takes about a week.  In our military vessels pushing their speed up, the trip can be halved.  So three and a half days.  I know,” he said, holding up one mauve carapaced hand, “three and a half days is an eternity as far as the battle is concerned.  They might only show up once the fighting is over.  There’s nothing we can do about that now.  We can only send out what help we can to the outer system and hope that they can arrive in time to help pick up the pieces.  I know that fear is prevalent now.  I ask for your patience and your courage.”

              “What else are you doing to stop this?”  There was a murmur of general assent for this question.

              The Triarch buzzed, the zheen equivalent of a steadying breath.  “I know we are all expecting firm answers and perfect fixes for this situation.  But with the
Leytonstone
and her task force out of the system, there is precious little in the way of forces that we can send and still keep some defenses here.  We have already started to step up new construction for more hulls and I will be speaking with Chief Samair about more of the Republic-class destroyers.”

              “Isn’t that just closing the gate after the children have gotten out?” one of the reporters called out.  There was a general sense of agreement.

              Kozen’ck paused for a moment, but there was no sense that he was hesitating, only allowing for all of them to settle back down; forcing them to wait on him.  There were more than a few moments of grumbling, as though the reporters couldn’t believe his cheek.  “There might be some degree of that, yes,” the zheen agreed, nodding slightly.  Before the reporters could start shouting again, he went on.  “But we had no way of knowing that the invaders would show up just as Colonel Gants and his task force would be out of the system.  If our battlecruiser had been here when the enemy ships showed up, perhaps things would be a bit different.”  More grumbling.  “As I said, I ask for your patience and your courage.  We’ve sent everything we can spare to the gas giant to help with the defense.  Once the battle is over, we will be working extensively to increase our defenses…”

              Carriger Hroth sat with Hyacinth Cresswell in the otherwise empty conference room.  Neither of the females liked each other, and the lupusan had great difficulty restraining her more feral instincts when it came to dealing with the human woman.  If she didn’t need her now, Carriger might actually leap the table and attack her, feast on her flesh while she continued to whine.  Carriger snorted.  The annoying chit might not even give the satisfaction of screaming.  With an effort, the lupusan forced her thoughts back to the matter at hand.

              “I need you to join with me in the next council session,” she said, leaning back in her chair, tapping one claw on the wooden table.

              Hyacinth eyed the predator suspiciously.  She didn’t think of herself as a sheep or some other prey, but being around this… creature… always filled her with dread.  Which tended to make her self-conscious and bitter.  She tried to mask those feelings by projecting strength, but this tended to push away her fellow council members even further.  But she controlled her feelings and managed a sneer.

              “You need me?” she asked, sarcastic.  “After publicly humiliating me in the last session?”

              “Oh stop playing the martyr,” Carriger snapped.  “You sound like a silly ass.  You still have power and position, and you know your worth.”

              “Do I?” Hyacinth couldn’t help but ask.

              “Yes, you annoying squeak-ant, you do.”  The lupusan grunted, wishing for the tenth time that she didn’t need to be here.  “Now that you’ve managed to force me into a compliment, how about you listen to
why
I want us to stand together in the council?”