Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (67 page)

              “I have no intention of hiding things from you, Tamara,” Galina assured her.  “But I need you to understand, that if you put me in charge of this ship, things will run my way.  I will be the captain of the ship.”

              Tamara nodded.  “I understand.  Just keep my ship running smoothly and we won’t have any problems.”

              Galina eyed her for a moment.  “You’re getting rather hostile.  I haven’t even agreed to do this yet.” 

              Tamara smiled.  “Now, we both know that is untrue.  Oh,” she raised a forestalling hand, “you haven’t spoken the words or agreed to anything formally, but your body language is all but screaming that you’re interested.  You want a ship.  You want to work.  You want to get the hell off this station and away from the people that screwed you over.”  She nodded to the lupusan.  “I was sounding harsh because I just wanted to set the baseline.  You’ll be captain of the ship, but you’ll answer to me and to Captain Eamonn.  I just want that to be clear.”  Galina looked away for a long moment, clearly taking in what Tamara had said.  “I also need you to be clear that this ship will operating almost exclusively in this system.  The hyperdrive, as you saw, is currently offline.  The ship’s main engine, as you also saw, isn’t operating perfectly.  We can’t push it too hard or it will fail.”

              “Why not just fix it?” Galina asked.

              “Oh, I will,” Tamara assured her.  “But our priority is getting out away from the station and where we can get to work.  Once we’re out there, then I can get the engines, the shields and the sensors properly overhauled.  Right now they just need to work.”

              Galina nodded.  “That makes some degree of sense.  And I certainly agree that we need to get the hell away from the station as soon as possible.  I can have my crew here in… twelve hours.”

              “Excellent.”  She smiled.  “Do you have a cook?  The ones we’ve had aboard
Grania Estelle
have been excellent.  And meals can go a long way toward keeping morale up.  There’s going to be long shifts, hard work, and stressful environments.”  She twisted her mouth to a grimace.  “And we’re going to have to keep the
Samarkand
out system for a good portion of the time.  We’re only going to be back for resupply and liberty.  Only for a few days each time.”

              “I understand.  And yes, I do have a cook.  Ceres is a very good one.  And you’re right, damn you,” Galina said gruffly.  “I do want this.  I wish it would be to other star systems and perhaps it will again someday.  But for now I am content with this.  Where to I sign?”

              Tamara held out her hand and Galina took it in her own, folding her long fingers and wicked claws around the human’s pale skin.  There were no strength games here.  Galina was firm in her grasp, but not crushing.  In fact, her grip on the woman’s hand was delicate, gentle by comparison of what she could actually do with her much greater strength.  They stared at each other for a moment, before the lupusan released her grip.  Tamara handed her a datapad with the contract information on it.  Galina read through it, and then she thumbed the display, authorizing it.

              “So we are confederates, then,” Tamara said, a hint of a smile on her face.

              Galina snorted.  “That’s quite a word.  But appropriate.  Confederates.”

              “Well then, let’s get you to the bridge, Captain Korneyev,” Tamara said.  “I need to get your access updated as well as your Captain’s Key.”  She held out a data storage device the size of her thumb.  “Do not lose this.  Do not give this to anyone but me or Captain Eamonn.  You were the Administrator aboard the
Kara
, I’m sure you know how this works.”

              “Actually, no,” Galina said, taking the Captain’s key from Tamara and peering at it intently.  “The leaders at Seylonique simply enabled my high level access aboard the
Kara
, but didn’t give me Captain’s authority.  So this does that?”

              Tamara nodded.  “It gives you full access to everything aboard the ship, except to my personal data files, or the ability to select a new Captain.  Only the Owner’s key can do that and you won’t have that.”

              Galina blinked, flicking her ears in surprise.  “That’s a lot of trust.”

              “Either you’re the Captain or you’re not.”  Tamara shrugged, but then her face went stern.  “So we have a lot of work to get done.  Are you ready?”

              The launch of Frederick Vosteros’s ship was a bit of an affair at the orbital.  Frederick sat at his command chair on the bridge of his ship and looked to his bridge crew.  “Miss Jorek, are we cleared for departure?” he asked his First Mate. 

              The woman turned to him and nodded.  “Yes, Captain, we’ve received departure clearance from Orbital Traffic.”

              “Very well,” he said.  “Hoshi, disengage docking clamps and retract umbilicals.”

              “Aye, sir,” the young man replied.  He pressed several controls on his operations console then nodded.  “Clamps released, umbilicals retracted.”

              Frederick tapped the communications control on the arm of his chair.  “Engineering, talk to me.”

              “Ready to roll, Cap!” the boisterous engineer replied.  “Reactor’s running hot and strong, just like my coffee.”

              “Very good, Chief.”  He looked toward the forward armorglass viewport.  “Helm, take us out.  Maneuvering thrusters only.”

              The ship shuddered almost imperceptibly as the thrusters activated.  The helmsman eased the freighter out of dock and smoothly pulled back.  Once they were more than a kilometer from the docking slip, he adjusted the controls and the ship easily swung around toward an outbound vector.  After a few moments he throttled up and the thrusters gave them a boost away from the station. 

              “We’re outbound, Captain,” the helmsman reported.  “Speed holding at two-fifty.”

              “Once we’re two hundred klicks from the station, activate the main drive, helm,” Frederick ordered.  He nodded to himself.  After weeks of work, negotiations with the locals, hiring crew, finding cargoes, and finally getting the admins to sign off on his licenses, he and his ship were undocked and flying free.

              Taja spoke up from her place at the communications console.  She was doubling as the comms officer for the moment.  While the ship did need a cargo specialist, there wasn’t much use for one until they reached the next system and she could start looking to sell and buy.  “We’re being hailed, Captain.  Several sources.”

              “Where?” he asked, curious. 
Not the stars-damned locals again.  I cannot deal with their bullshit right now.  We’re out, we’re free and they’re still going to hassle me.

              Taja’s jaw worked, then she spoke.  “
Grania Estelle
is hailing us, as is a starfighter in system.”  Then she blinked in surprise.  “And another ship, the
Samarkand
.”

              “Wow, aren’t we popular today.  Put the big boy on first.”  He pursed his lips in thought for a moment. 

              “Captain Vosteros, this is Vincent Eamonn,” the other captain’s voice said.  “Glad to see you out and about.”

              “It’s good to
be
out and about, Captain,” Frederick replied.  “Here to give me a sendoff?”

              “That’s right,” Vincent said.  “Can I ask where you’re off to?”

              “Bellosha,” he said.  “There’s talk of some business there, we’re off to see what we can whip up.”

              “I wish you all the best, Captain.”

              “Thank
you
, Captain.”  And the connection was cut.

              “
Samarkand
on the line, Captain.”

              He smiled.  “Put them through.  This is Captain Vosteros.”

              “Captain!  Glad to see you flying free again.”  It was Kay’grax’s voice.  “I just wanted to wish you luck, sir.”

              Frederick’s smile widened.  He was touched by the gesture from one of his old crew.  “Thank you, Kay’grax.  Fair solar winds and following stars to you as well.”

              “Bye, Captain.  I uh, hope things go well.  I’m sorry I’m not going with you.”  He sounded guilty.

              “It’s all right, Kay’grax,” Frederick replied.  “You have your own job to do, and I have mine.  I’m just glad to see you landed on your own two feet.”

              “Yes, sir.”

              Frederick pressed a control and cut the connection.  “All right, let’s hear from this fighter.”  Taja gave him a thumbs up.

              “This is Captain Vosteros.  To whom am I speaking?”

              “This is Moxie One to
Redcap Madness
, I read you five-by-five.”

              “Tamara?  Is that you?” he asked.  A quick glance saw Taja grimace, but she quickly covered it up.  Frederick’s gaze flicked from her back over to the main viewport again. 

              “Yeah, Frederick, it’s me.  Just here to give you a sendoff, and to take my baby for a spin, Captain.”  She sounded pleased.

              “I appreciate it, Tamara.  I’m a bit overwhelmed by all of the people calling.”

              “I’ll be hanging around here in Seylonique for a while,” she said.  “If things work out wherever you’re going, swing back this way.  I might be able to get you the friends and family discount on your next tank of fuel.”

              He chuckled.  “Thanks, Tamara.  I believe I might just take you up on that.”

              “Good luck,” Tamara said and signed off.  Out the front viewport was the black, the endless black with its backdrop of glittering stars.  Suddenly that blackness was marred by the bright glow of Tamara’s fighter’s engines as she swooped in front of
Redcap Madness
.   She did a few barrel rolls, then waggled her wings in front of the freighter before looping around and tearing off for the
Samarkand
.

              Frederick gave another chuckle, then made a sloppy, two fingered salute.  “Helm, set a course for the hyper limit, on a vector for Bellosha.”

              “I have the course, Captain, engaging engines.”  There was a shiver as the main propulsion units on the ship kicked in and they accelerated for the hyper limit.  “Estimated thirty-nine hours to the jump point if we maintain a speed of four hundred.”

              “Very good.”  Frederick rose from his command chair.  “I’ll be in engineering.”  He exited the bridge, confident in his people and his ship.

              Tamara watched as the freighter accelerated away from the orbital.  She flipped her fighter around one hundred and eighty degrees so she could actually see the ship with her eyes as opposed to just on sensors.  A quick glance to her sensors showed that she still had a few minutes before she would be in range of the
Samarkand
and there were no other nearby objects that she was in danger of striking, so she took the risk.  She watched them moving away for a little while longer, nodding with a feeling of happiness for them.  Frederick had never given up.  He might have lost his ship and most of his crew, but he wasn’t willing to quit.  And now he was back out, plying the spacelanes again.

              “Good for you, Frederick,” Tamara whispered and nodded one more time.  “All right,” she said in a normal tone.  She flipped the
Perdition
fighter back around and headed back to dock with the
Samarkand
.  “
Samarkand
, this is Em-One.  I’m coming in to dock.”

              “Copy that, Em-One,” the ship’s comms officer replied.  “Doors are open for you.”

              The convoy from Ulla-tran made the jump to hyperspace just as
Redcap Madness
departed from the station.  They’d been on the way out system for almost two weeks, owing to engine problems on one of the freighters.  The convoy had been forced to coast along at a lower ballistic speed because one of the freighters couldn’t keep up and Marklan Turco had not been willing to let them drop back.  They had left without any communications to the other ships in system, though the station administrators had been excited about the whole affair. 

             
Grania Estelle
,
Samarkand
and
Redcap Madness
had kept their distance from all of the ships and refused to have any contact with them.  The ships in the convoy didn’t attempt to interfere in anything they were doing, didn’t communicate with any of them and genuinely pretended as though the other ships didn’t even exist.  As they were going back to a system filled with lots of bad memories for the crews of those ships, no one complained.

              “I wonder if we might ever go back there,” Vincent said as he watched the convoy from the wardroom.  Stella was seated at her favorite perch on holo projector over the table, sitting cross legged. 

              “Ulla-tran?” she guessed.