Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (68 page)

              He nodded.  Standing, he went to the displays behind his normal chair which were showing the convoy of ships getting to the hyper limit.  “They’re about three minutes out.”  He sighed.  “It’s too bad that everything that happened there was so…”

              “Terrible?” the AI supplied.

              Vincent shrugged.  “Yeah, that’s a good word.  Because between these two systems, I think we could set up a great amount of trade and make a lot of money.  They have space industry, Seylonique has well… none. 
Yet!
” he said, holding up a finger.  “And I know the people on the surface would be interested.  And yet… We can’t go there.  I don’t want to subject any of my people to the danger that would entail.”

              “I understand, Captain,” Stella replied.  “It isn’t as though I have a lot of fond memories about that place.”

              He smiled, not looking away from the displays.  “You did get rather forceful back there, though,” he pointed out.  “You were all set to go riding to
Emilia Walker
’s rescue.”

              Stella grimaced, ducking her head in embarrassment.  “Yes, Captain, I remember.  I won’t be making suggestions like that anymore.  I know my limitations.”

              He glanced back at her.  “I know.  And I learned a few things as well.  Like Tamara kept saying, the old girl is a bulk freighter, not a battlecruiser.”

              “You’re upset that the UT’s are starting up trade with this system, aren’t you?” Stella asked after a moment’s silence.

              “Yeah, I am,” he replied.  “But until and unless we can get some escort ships, I’m not going to risk any of my people or my ship in that system.”

              Stella nodded emphatically.  “I heartily agree with that, Captain.”

              He watched the displays for a few more minutes, waiting until they crossed the hyper limit and made the jump.  During the long period of refit, George had put forth the idea of dropping a sensor buoy out at the hyper limit near to the vector leading to Ulla-tran to keep an eye out for potentially hostile forces.  Of course, he didn’t come up with the idea until the convoy of ships had arrived and was already heading in system, but with it placed, it relayed information back to the ship, allowing Vincent Eamonn to watch that same convoy depart. 
Grania Estelle
’s sensors were good, but they didn’t have
quite
that much range to them.  Once the ships were gone, Vincent nodded and sat back down, picking up his datapad and getting back to work.  Stella sat there, not speaking for several more minutes before she vanished, leaving him in peace.

              “So what is our actual plan of attack, ma’am?” Eretria asked a few hours later.  The
Samarkand
was on course for the asteroid belt, but wouldn’t get there for another sixty hours or so.  The engine was getting them where they needed to go, but it was clear that Tamara’s estimate of how long they would be able to use it without serious overhaul had been optimistic.  Galina had gotten the
Samarkand
moving, but the engine had redlined in a matter of minutes.  They’d barely been able to accelerate to point oh five of lightspeed before the engine began to show serious problems.  Parts were overheating, control lines had failed; it was just a mess.  They were coasting along on a ballistic trajectory for now, while EVA teams began tearing down the engine from the outside.

              Tamara rubbed her face.  “Well, the gas mine is our priority.  But to do that, we need materials.  And so we’ll need to use the tugs to pull some of the really big rocks out so we can harvest those materials.  So, first order of business is raw materials.  We use those to build us a serious smelter.”

              Eretria looked confused.  “Ma’am, we already just load the raw materials into the replicators.  Can’t we just continue doing that?”

              She nodded.  “We could.  But if we can separate out the loads of garbage from the actually useful materials, it will speed up the process.  Besides, we won’t be using everything we harvest from the asteroid field.  Some of it we’re going to be selling to the locals and simply dumping everything into the replicator to refine the materials is not a great use of its capabilities.”

              Eretria nodded.  “Makes sense, ma’am,” she replied.  “So you want me to get started on a smelter?  How big?”

              Tamara smiled.  “Very.  We’re going to be needing a
lot
of processed materials.  So we’re going to need a smelter that can handle hundreds of metric tons of rock at a time.”

              Eretria nodded, smiling.  “Ma’am, I think I can get you what you need.  I have a few ideas I’ve been working on.”

              “Draw it up and have it to me by the end of the watch.”

              “Yes, ma’am.”  Their working relationship had improved over the last few months and while they might never be close friends, they were certainly able to work well together. 

              “I’ll look over your plans and we’ll tweak them as needed.  Once we’re closer, we’ll have the tugs move out and grab us a nice fat rock to harvest.  We’ll pull it clear from the belt, then have EVA teams get out and slice it apart.”

              Eretria frowned.  “We only have a few people on the teams ma’am, and aside from me, Kay’grax and yourself, only three of them have any serious experience in EVA.  And all of them are currently out on the hull working on the ship’s main engine.”

              Tamara gave her a lopsided grin.  “Well, Miss Sterling, once you get done with the plans for that smelter, you and I get to start EVA drills.  We’re going to need an engineering team that can handle serious work outside.  Sadly, we’ve only got the one small team, so we’re going to have to work up in stages.  I’m hoping that if business picks up, once people in this system realize what we’re doing, that we can hire on more people.”

              The dark-haired woman smiled.  “But in the meantime, ma’am, you want me to whip these kids into shape.”

              Tamara clapped her on the shoulder.  “Damned right I do.  I can’t afford to keep on people who can’t pull their weight.  Get them up to snuff, Miss Sterling.  Kick as much ass as you need to.”

              “I will, ma’am.”

              “Corajen, you and I need to have a chat,” Tamara said, waving the lupusan into her small stateroom.

              “Of course,” she said, stepping inside.  Corajen grimaced as she stepped inside.  The stateroom was small, with barely enough room for her to turn her wide frame in the confined space.  Tamara gestured to the only chair in the room, the one at her desk.  Tamara was seated on the edge of her bunk.  Corajen sat.  “What’s on your mind?”

              “How are you with your security teams?”

              Corajen’s left ear twitched.  “Teams?  I have no teams.  For the moment, there’s just me.  And now that I’m all the way out here, I can’t bring on new people.”

              “Then I’ll get you on the shuttle in thirty minutes and it’ll take you wherever you want to go,” Tamara said seriously.  “The orbital, the planet surface, whatever you like.”

              Now both of her ears lay flat.  “I appreciate the forward thinking, Tamara, but why now?  I thought you wanted to wait until the first round of work was completed to bring up security teams.  And where would we put them all?  This ship doesn’t have a whole lot of room?”

              “How many people would you need to adequately defend this ship?” Tamara asked, leaning back on her hands.  “If I pulled out all the stops on equipment, armor, weapons, everything?  No sugarcoating, just fact.  How many?”

              The lupusan didn’t even hesitate.  “For a ship this size, I would need at least a dozen to do it properly.  And I would need all the toys you can give me.  What’s the sudden rush?”

              Tamara hesitated.  “I’m concerned about the things I’ve been seeing coming from the orbital.  The newsfeeds and the ‘secure’ channels the admins have been talking on are making noises about us.  They don’t like that we just came in, threw some money around and are making changes in the status quo.  They’ve been holding things at a certain level for a long while and then Captain Eamonn and now I have disrupted that.  I imagine that if we push things too much farther and if too many things change, especially down on the planet, they might start sending some rather unpleasant notes our way.”

              “Unpleasant… notes…” Corajen repeated, then nodded.  “You’re thinking they’re going to try something?”

              “I think they’re either going to try and seize our property or simply blow it up.”  She smiled.  “And I think it might be beneficial to thwart those ambitions.”

              “You want to send them home crying.”

              “I do,” Tamara replied.  “We can’t make things too obvious, or it might force their hands.  But I don’t want to move too slowly.  We have to be ready when they move, because they will.  So, I want to start with your security teams.  I know when we spoke about weapons aboard
Grania Estelle
all those months ago, I didn’t want to give you the things you asked for.  And I opened up the toolbox a bit when the pirates showed up.  But,” and she sighed, “I can’t afford that now.  The box is open.  I’ll show you what I’ve got, you choose.  I’ve got some things that you’ll like, some things you’ll want and a few that you’ll need.”

              “I like the way you think, Tamara, you know that,” Corajen told her.  “At least with weapons.”

              “Good.  Get yourself down to the boat bay.  I’ll have the shuttle take you back as soon as you’re ready.”  She looked at the bulkhead.  “I hope I don’t need to tell you that the people you bring in need to be loyal and they need to be tough.  We can’t afford to have anyone who would turn their coat.”

              “Don’t you worry, Tamara,” Corajen said.  “Though I wish Sai was here, I’ll find the people we need.”

              “How?”

              “There are a few people I’d been keeping an eye on when we started looking for personnel,” Corajen admitted.  “Saiphirelle and I did some scouting for
Grania Estelle
’s security contingent and we hired on more than a few of them.”

              “So they’ve already been snapped up?”

              “I think there’s a few out there yet.”  Corajen shrugged.  “I’ll talk with Sai and see what we can get.”

              “Turn over every rock,” Tamara told her.  “Whatever it takes, Corajen.  I want to be ready when they eventually come for us.  Because they will.”

              “I will,
Commander
,” the lupusan said with a smile.

              “I know you will.”

              Months of work, frustration at every turn, loss of life and certainly loss of profit had finally come to fruition.  Quesh had just signed off on the repairs to the internals.  All the power, electrical, life support and control linkages had been completed and tested.  He, Ka’Xarian and Stella had signed off on everything.  “Ship is ready for space, Captain.  Fill the holds and let’s get the hell back on the road.”

              “I like that statement, Mister Trrgoth,” Vincent said with a grin.  “I’ve got me a new cargo specialist and we’re looking to fill the holds.”

              The Parkani blinked.  “When did we get a new cargo specialist?”

              “About two hours ago,” Vincent admitted.  “And he came aboard with the other cargo handlers I hired in the last shuttle trip.  But I’ve been speaking with him for a few weeks now.”

              “How did I not know about this?”

              “Because you’ve been busy, Quesh,” Vincent said with a smile.  “And, don’t take this wrong, but when you get involved with your many and sundry responsibilities, you get laser focused on them, to the exclusion all else.”

              The engineer rubbed one hand over his scalp.  He grumbled something, but didn’t dispute that.  “So am I going to get to meet this person?”

              “You’ll meet him at the meeting in a couple of hours.  He’s at the cargo docks securing the next round of items for the holds.”

              Quesh nodded.  “I see.  Anything good?”

              “Well, two of the holds are being filled with just rocks for raw materials for the replicators.  I’m putting in six twelve meter cans of helium 3 fuel in cargo bay eight, to either top off our own tanks if needed, or to sell if possible.”

              “Where are we going?”

              Vincent rubbed his chin.  “Well,
Redcap Madness
headed off to Bellosha, which was where I intended going, and I think that it might ruffle some feathers if we go there.  So I’m thinking that of the other systems that are only one jump away, that leaves Tyseus, Randwell and Heb.”

              “Okay.”

              “Heb is probably where we’re going,” the captain said.  “They have some industry, nothing in space, but they have a lot of mining and ground-based facilities.  I think that we could do some good business there.”

              “Sounds good,” Quesh said.  “Well, as I said, we’re ready to roll.  Fuel tanks are at ninety percent, we’ll have them completely full in about four hours.”