First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 (76 page)

              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 moment 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.”

              “You will get your chance, Captain.”  The pirate captain paused.  “And from now on, refer to me as
Lord
.”

              Skygexx’s antennae curled and angled to the sides at forty-five degree angles.  “Of course, Lord.  We serve at your command.”

              “Excellent.”

              Things started moving quickly here in Tyseus once
Nemesis
was launched.  Tyler and Hestian took command of their respective ships and the ships started on exercises.  Verrikoth was determined that his flagship would have a well-trained crew, something he’d learned from fighting the Republic.  With far less firepower than he’d had, despite the technical edge, their much more accurate gunnery had turned the tide.  Now, he was going to be the one with that edge.  He didn’t want to tie up the construction dock to upgrade his ship’s weapons with Republic gear, but he would be damned sure that his gunners knew their business. 

              Plans were simple: build up and train his standing forces, and get another of the light cruisers built. 
Cierre
and
Ajax
had unloaded their precious cargo to the construction dock, and the prisoners were brought to the dock as well.  They were given their instructions and a very nice shock through their implants.  Very quickly they were compliant and ready to work.  The implant disruptors were turned up to their maximum setting, blocking all implant access so that they could play no games with computer access.  All but their leader, Commander Saul Truesdell.  His implants were blocked from wireless access, but Verrikoth made sure that his manual access port in his hand was still active.  However, the man was informed that any funny business, or if any of the replicators suddenly melted down, that his colleagues and friends would start their journey to the ends of their lives, their long, agonizing journeys.  After Verrikoth had one low-ranked crewman taken out of the line and electrocuted to the point of unconsciousness, Truesdell broke.  He was ready to help and Verrikoth made sure that he understood; Truesdell needed to be happy and compliant.  The poor crewman was taken to the infirmary and treated for electro-shock trauma.

              The databases that his people had managed to get their hands on were worth their weight in precious metal.  They contained a great deal of information on tech upgrades, Republic systems, even specs for ships.  The engineers took this information and the new access to the industrial replicators to start fabbing parts for the new light cruiser.  One of his ships, the corvette
Korokat,
was outfitted with a portable refinery and sent off, heading for the shipyard at Hecate, also with the specs for the light cruiser.  Verrikoth decided that both this yard and the one in Hecate would start construction on the powerful vessels, deciding that having another ship ready in six months would go a good ways toward continuing his good relations with the people there, as he would be pumping credits into their economy.

              The engineers were confident that they could have another cruiser up and ready for space in four months.  With the Republic technicians and their replicators assisting, this new light cruiser would be more powerful and more advanced than
Ganges
, which would annoy Hestian.  That alone was reason enough for Verrikoth to approve construction.

              The techs were a week into construction, laying out the keel for the new ship when the
Sessilan, Toroj
, and
Fletcher’s Dolly
arrived in system.  Verrikoth was in the middle of another gunnery exercise, with both
Ganges
and
Nemesis
shooting up a pair of asteroids.  The pirate lord was looking for tight groupings of shots, the same as it would be on the firing range for hand weapons.  Turbolaser bolts lanced out from both ships, stippling the large rocks, all gunners on both ships trying their best to group their shots together.  The pirate lord had promised to break open the kegs of beer they took from Byra-Kae and find out if the Republic actually did make good drinking stock. 
That
motivated everyone to new levels of excellence.

              The comm-tech turned to Verrikoth, seated on his command chair on the ship’s Flag Bridge.  “Captain, I have an incoming transmission from
Sessilan. 
It’s Leader Mogrin.”

              “Put him through.”  Verrikoth turned to the display as it activated at his chair, bringing up Mogrin’s face.  “Good to ssee you again, Leader.  I’m glad to ssee my sshipss are sstill in good working order.”

              “Yes, Lord Verrikoth,” Mogrin agreed.  “There was a low risk when we were in Heb, a small convoy of ships came in from Seylonique.”

              The zheen tapped his fingers together.  “A convoy?”

              “Two freighters, Lord.  One big bulk freighter and a smaller freighter, a bit bigger than
Fletcher’s Dolly
.”

              “That iz all?”

              “No, Lord.  There was another ship with them.  A warship, bigger than
Sessilan
, but smaller than
Ironhide
.  I don’t know the name of the classification.”  He looked away from the vid pickup and then an image popped up, splitting the screen.  “That is the ship, Lord.  As you can see, there are a lot of weapons.”  Text popped up at the bottom of the image.  “And the power output is high for a ship that size.  They’re running on refined helium 3, just like the Republic ships are.”

              “Our sshipss are az well.”

              Mogrin nodded.  “Yes, Lord, but we’re only just changing over.  And with the state of our refinery here, we can’t stockpile a huge reserve.”  It was true.  As Duncan Harth had noted when the
Legacy
had come through this system several months ago, the ancient He3 refinery was barely functioning.  It was producing perhaps 8% of its total capacity, but there was no way to increase it.  The machinery was old, corroded and decrepit, most of it was damaged beyond repair and the workforce for the refinery consisted of slave labor.  It was dangerous, dirty work and Verrikoth used it for punishment detail, despite how necessary the fuel was becoming.

              “That iz true.”  His antennae straightened.  “But you ssound az though there iz more to your tale.”

              “Yes, Lord, there is.  When the ships departed Heb, we followed them, discreetly I assure you.  I sent
Toroj
in behind them and they followed them to Seylonique.  They deployed a Republic spy satellite on highest stealth configuration and observed the system.  And Lord,” he said, his eyes lighting up, a smile spreading over his face, “there is so much there.  They have space infrastructure like I haven’t seen since Ulla-tran.  Better, really.”

              “Ssince Ulla-tran?”

              “Yes, Lord.  There’s a huge He3 refinery, a gas mine really, but they’re bringing up millions of liters of fuel.  There are two
huge
tank farms of fuel, one by the mine at the gas giant and another one at a shipyard complex they have at one of the Lagrange Points.  Plus there is a large stockpile of refined minerals being held in space just at the edge of the asteroid belt.”

              Verrikoth was nodding now.  This was sounding promising and with his growing pool of warships, he was going to need that fuel.  This was looking more and more like a system that needed to be brought into the fold, under Verrikoth’s protection… with some appropriate compensation, of course.  Then he sobered slightly.  Too many ships had fallen to the Republic in recent months.  He could not afford to go in guns blazing and lose any more.  “What are the ssysstem defensez?”

              Mogrin sighed.  “I did see a few ships,” he admitted.  “I’m sending a full readout on everything we saw.”

              Verrikoth nodded as the information came in.  “Get in ssysstem az quickly az possible.  I want a full debrief.”  A battlecruiser?  This was a system ripe for plucking, but if they had a battlecruiser acting as watchdog, then there was no possibility, even with
Ganges
and
Nemesis
operating at increased efficiency.  This would require some thought and some serious planning, assuming he even decided to go forward with this.