Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (36 page)

              “All right, people,” Eamonn said a second later.  “We have a few more hours before we’re going to arrive, let’s settle in.  Hopefully, it’ll just be a boring few more hours for us.  Don’t get all excited yet.  Isis, how are we on braking maneuvers?”

              “I’ve got the sequence programmed into the helm, Captain,” the woman replied, nodding.  “I had to stage the braking thrusters to fire very short puffs for short periods of time because of the structural damage.  But assuming we don’t have any further problems, we’ll be at a dead stop ten kilometers relative to the station.”

              “Good, keep an eye on it,” he ordered.

              “I’ll be back on watch for the final approach,” she indicated.  “We’re coming up on the end of our twelve hour.”  She glanced at the chrono on the bulkhead.  “Another two hours and we’re off, then I’ll be back to bring us in.”

              “Good.”  Eamonn stood up.  “Serinda, contact me immediately if they respond.  George, you have the bridge.”  He turned and exited the hatch.

              Vincent Eamonn walked down to the wardroom, where inside he found Taja sitting at the table, her datapad active, studying something.  A cup of coffee was on the table in front of her, cooling.  She glanced up as he entered and her expression darkened.

              “So we’re approaching the station.”  It wasn’t a question.

              He sighed.  “Yes, Taja, we are.  But so far they’re not talking to us.  And it also looks as though the battlecruiser isn’t in a workable state.”

              She blinked, confused.  “What?”

              “According to George and Stella’s best guesses, the warship’s reactors aren’t powered up.  It’s docked with the station and it appears that the station is powering the ship.”

              The cargo specialist nodded slowly.  “A threat?  Everyone can see the battleship there and assume that if they get belligerent and move in, then the ship will sweep out after them and carve them up.  Not a bad idea, if the ship really is damaged or disabled.”  She looked up at him.  “So what do we do now?”

              “Well, first, it’s a battlecruiser, not a battleship,” he corrected with a small smile, which she returned despite herself.  Normally, Taja was very exact in her verbiage, as a cargo specialist it was important that she indicate exactly what she needed and was interested in.  It wasn’t like her to use the wrong term for something. 

              “Whatever,” Taja said with a frown.  “You came in here and didn’t immediately leave when you saw me.  Which means you want something from me.”  Their relationship had cooled to nearly absolute zero in the previous weeks.  Taja had blamed Vincent for the pirates, for their actions and for the crewmembers who had been hurt or killed because of the pirates on the ship.  She blamed him for the plan that had killed Cookie, who was beloved by the crew.  But mostly she blamed him for being unable to swoop in and save them all; to save the crew that he supposedly cared so much for, that he was just as helpless against them as they were. 

              He sighed.  “Yes, Taja, I do.  Once we open communications with the locals here, we’re going to need access to the station, we’re going to need the ability to hire new crew as well as look for ways to make money while we’re stuck here.  Quesh, Xar and Tamara all tell me it’s going to be a while to get the ship up and running again to the point where we can exit the system.  There’s a lot of damage, so I’m sure that the people here aren’t just going to let us dock with the station for free, or bore holes in their space, or use their resources for nothing.  They’re going to want compensation.  So if that’s working with them to get orbital industry set up, or trading for helium 3 fuel from our own holds or from their Jovians here, or whatever else you can think of, I need you to get on it and work something out.”

              Taja’s eyes flashed with fire and with some other emotion that he couldn’t recognize.  Was that regret?  But it was gone an instant later.  “What if I decide I want off the ship?” she asked, her voice quiet.

              Vincent closed his eyes for a moment, then clasped his hands behind his back.  “I would want you to stay, of course.  I need you here.”

              “You need?” she asked, her voice harsh.  “Or the ship needs?”

              He stared at her for a long moment.  “How could you say that to me?” he demanded.  “You think that just because we’ve had some problems…”

              “Had some
problems
?” Taja hissed.  “You
gave
this ship over to those thugs!”

              He gripped the back of one of the wardroom chairs hard enough for it to hurt, but he barely noticed.  “And what was my alternative?” he snapped.  He’d been holding this in for so long now that the dam had finally broken, it all came tumbling out.  “They were attacking us.  If I resisted for too much longer, they would have simply butchered the crew.  Making a deal with that bastard was the only way I saw to save our lives.”

              “Save your life, you mean,” she cut back. 

              He glared at her.  “Did they force you into the cargo bay at gunpoint and massacre crewmembers right in front of you, forcing you to watch?  Were you one of those who were killed?”  Taja’s mouth snapped shut, but her eyes still blazed.  “No, you hid.  So did I, I’ll admit that, until they dragged me out.  I left things for far too long.  I couldn’t stop what happened so I made the best decisions I could and then I closeted myself away.  You don’t think I hate myself for that?  But what would getting myself murdered have done?” he asked, fire rising up in himself now.  “You seem to have all the answers, Taja.  You tell me.”

              The small woman held his gaze, unspeaking, until he finally looked away.  And once he did, it was as if that fire had been snuffed out, leaving nothing but a burned husk behind inside him.  His grip on the chair loosened and his posture sagged a bit.  “I don’t want you to go, Taja.  I don’t want you to hate me forever.  I want us to somehow work through this and get back to the team… to the partnership that we once were.”

              Taja looked away, her expression unreadable.  “I don’t know if that’s possible.”

              He turned to go.  “We’ll be within range of the station tomorrow.  We’re not going to dock with them, not yet anyway because it’s too dangerous with the hull integrity issues we have right now.  We’re going to be shuttling cargo and personnel back and forth.  I’m going to address the crew in a little while.  Make your decision then.”  And without looking back at her, he left the wardroom. 

              Taja stared after him, not stopping him, not saying anything to his retreating back.  Once the hatch closed behind him, she grabbed the stylus for her datapad off the table and threw it hard against the bulkhead.  It rebounded and hit the deck, rolling under the table, but her eyes never left the spot where it had hit.

              With less than an hour to go, the Captain had everyone not on watch assemble in the mess hall.  Those who couldn’t be there would be able to see and hear his announcement on the monitors; Stella was broadcasting his words to all the compartments currently occupied by watch standers.  Tamara was among the last to arrive and she stood next to Ka’Xarian by the main door to the mess, and he bumped her gently with his shoulder.  She smiled at him fondly and then looked over at where the Captain was standing, near to where the coffee shrine was housed on the far side of the room from the door.  It looked as though everyone who could be here was here. 

              The Captain raised his hands to get everyone’s attention and the room quieted.  “I want to thank you all for all your hard work during this very difficult time.  As you all know by now, in about forty minutes, we will be coming to a stop near to the orbital station here.  We’re going to look to hire on some new crew, take on supplies and then get to repairing the ship.”  He paused, his gaze sweeping over the assembled people.  “In light of recent events, I can understand if some of you are not comfortable remaining aboard the ship.  I am willing to release as many of you as are willing from their contract as want to go and put you ashore here.  I know that some of you don’t feel safe.  I don’t want anyone to think that I am forcing any of you to stay against your will.”  He looked around again as mutters swept through the crowd. 

              Tamara nodded, surprised.  This was an unexpected turn.  It also opened up a host of new opportunities. 
How many would leave?
, she wondered.  And if enough of them did, how would the Captain keep the ship running?  Right now, the number of people on the ship was well below what would be needed to comfortably run the ship, but realistically, once the repairs were complete, the
Grania Estelle
could be run with about half as many.  But that would cut the safety limits to zero.  The crew would be big enough to cover two watch sections in Engineering, Environmental and the bridge.  With two people in the mess hall, the ship could be run, but the crew would be overworked.  Cargo loading and unloading would also be a problem, because they wouldn’t have the people available to move cargo.  Bots could be assembled to do that job, assuming the cargo people all left, but even then it would be inefficient.

              And if anything actually broke or went wrong on the ship, the thirty people left really wouldn’t be able to stay ahead of things for very long.  They would be able to operate the ship, but it wouldn’t take them long to get overwhelmed by damaged or failing systems.  They could make a go of it, maybe make it to another system to find new people if they couldn’t hire them here, but Tamara suspected they wouldn’t be able to do one or two jumps to different planets before things started to go wrong.  And that assumed that the ship was in perfect working order before they started out on their trade path.

              “So, I know that is a lot to take in.  But as I said, I’m not going to force anyone to stay on as a member of the ship’s company.  I ask that anyone who is going to leave see me privately after this meeting.  Once we unload the cargoes that we’re going to be selling to the locals here, you will be free to depart.”  He looked around at the assembled crew.  “We’ve been though a lot together, this crew.  Some of it was horrible.  We lost some people along the way and I am deeply saddened by that.”  He sighed.  “I’d be lying if I said I would be happy if any of you left.  I don’t want to lose any of you.  But you all have to make your own decisions.  Thank you,” he said, gesturing that the meeting was over.  “I’ll be in the wardroom if any of you wish to come see me, up until the last ten minutes before we reach the station.”

              He turned, poured himself a mug of coffee from one of the large gleaming urns, took a sip and then walked out of the mess, though the crowd of crewmembers.  They were still talking amongst themselves at the unexpected news.  Tamara noticed Taja talking with Marcos and a couple of the others from the cargo division, all of them casting not so furtive glances over at the Captain as he was departing. 

              Tamara slipped a hand into her pocket, pressing her thumb to the access port on the communicator there.  An instant later, her HUD popped up and Stella’s face appeared on the left side of her vision.  She walked out of the mess hall, heading for Main Engineering.

              [So what do you think, Tamara?  Are you going to leave?]

              Tamara chuckled.  “No, Stella.  I think I’m going to be one of those who stay.  I made a deal with the Captain, I signed his contract, so I’m going to keep to my word.”

              [Even after all that happened with the pirates?  Even after all he allowed to happen to you?]

              “Really, Stella?  Are you trying to get me angry?” she asked, turning a corner. 

              [I’m sorry, Tamara.  I didn’t mean to bring up a bad memory.]  The AI did actually look contrite, ducking her head, lowering her eyes.

              Tamara sighed.  “No, it’s all right.  You’re right, it’s was a bad time, one that I’d rather not think too much about, if that’s all right.”

              [Of course.]  Stella paused.  [So how many do you think will go?]

              “I don’t know, to be honest.  Though I’m thinking that there might be a few from cargo that will be leaving us.”  She had at least one in particular in mind.

              And the AI apparently had picked up on that as well.  [You think that Taja might leave.]

              Tamara sighed and shrugged, though Stella had no way of seeing that.  “I think so, yes.  I can understand why she would want to and it isn’t because she isn’t feeling safe.”  She dropped her voice to a level that was sub-vocal before she continued.  “It’s because she doesn’t trust the Captain anymore.  She thinks he betrayed us and just fed us to the pirates.  I can’t say I blame her in that.”  She could feel a tightening in her chest as the anger reawakened.  But she shook her head, gritted her teeth and moved on.  “Don’t start.  I remember what was on those logs,” Tamara said as Stella looked like she was about to speak up.  “I’m not sure I forgive him and I surely won’t forget, but I understand why he acted the way he did.  I’m still trying to sort it out in my head.  But like I said, I can see why she’d want to and I’m pretty sure she won’t be the only one who wants to leave.”

              The AI let out a sigh.  [What am I going to do if too many of them want to leave, Tamara?] she asked, her voice very small and vulnerable.  [Will I be forced to stay on a ship that everyone else abandons?]