Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (76 page)

              “A warship, Captain Eamonn,” she told him and he nodded, having guessed correctly.  But then she spread her hands.  “It isn’t a big one.  A corvette-sized ship.  An old Republic design because I didn’t want to go out and try and come up with something from scratch.  It’s a hak’ruk design, if you can believe it; venerable, a workhorse from back in my time.  I checked local records, they of course don’t have any notion of that sort of ship out here in the Cluster since a decade or two after the war.  I’ve updated a few things, power systems and a few things with the shields, but otherwise, I’ve left it alone.  I’m not going to fix what isn’t broken.”

              He nodded.  “Makes sense.  What about the local government?  Have they been giving you any hassle with it?”

              Tamara sighed.  “No, because I haven’t told them I’ve been doing it.”

              “What?” he said, surprised.  “How have you managed?  I’d assumed they’d be all over you for building a warship on their soil without their permission.”

              “Well, I talked with your friend Triarch Kozen’ck.  He’s given me implied approval for doing this.  More of a ‘I don’t want to know, don’t make this my problem’ but so far he’s helped to smooth over any rough spots.  Your lawyers have also done a good job of it too.  I made all the businesses sign non-disclosure agreements and made it perfectly clear that if anyone can’t keep their mouths shut, they will find themselves out in the cold and I’d make sure no one works with them again.”

              “Harsh, Moxie,” he said, though he couldn’t quite suppress a smile.  “Why build it on the ground?  Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to build it in space?”

              “Infinitely easier,” she agreed.  “But a hell of a lot harder to hide.  Space might be big, but I’d have to find a place to put it, and then there’s the problems of supplying it with materials and parts, ferrying personnel and bots to do the actual building.”  Tamara shook her head.  “For this first one, anyway, we’re doing it on the ground.  If I can finance another one, that one might be on the ground too.  After that, maybe we can get the locals involved.”

              “And getting it out of the planet’s gravity well?”

              “We send the four tugs in and drag it up to low orbit, and then her own engines will take care of the rest.  Simple.  It’s just a matter of making sure everything’s done to spec.  Which sadly means I have to drop in unexpectedly every week on each business to make sure they aren’t cutting corners to save a few credits.”  Tamara sighed.  “That’s why I didn’t call you when you first came into sensor range.  I was on the planet, kicking some ass.  Uniplex and Ysevey decided that they didn’t need to go to full spec on the trusses they were making, so I had to make them scrap the whole line, melt it down and redo the everything.  That took two days and a lot of screaming at people.”

              He smiled.  “Sounds like fun.”

              “Oh, it was,” she said with a smile.  “But it is exhausting.”

              “Where are all of these modules being put together for final construction?”

              Another sigh.  “We’re bringing them together at R3 Systems’ complex, they have an open field that’s perfect for that.  The others weren’t terribly happy about that, but when I pointed out the fact that all of the others were in urban areas without enough space to actually assemble the ship, they grudgingly agreed.”

              “When will it be done?”  This was fascinating.  He’d never been involved, even peripherally, in a project this large.  Actually building a ship, something bigger than a shuttle.  Hell, no one other than the pirates had done this since the Republic left the Cluster.  And now he was the owner of the company that had not only done this, but started up serious industry in this system, built a gas mine, who knew what else? 

              Tamara actually thought about that.  “Another week, the components will be done.  Then at least a few days getting everything to the R3 Systems complex and a few more to put it all together.  Say two weeks.  Then I’ll just need a crew.  People we can trust to fly it.”

              “Hmmm,” he said, contemplating that.  That was more troublesome.  “As of right now, we don’t know anyone who we can trust to captain that,” he said.  “No one that doesn’t have some sort of hidden agenda or who might not turn on us.”

              She held up a hand and shook her head.  “You can stop right there, Captain,” Tamara told him.  “If you’re thinking of making it my ship, you can forget it.  I’m already trying to keep everything together with the stuff I’m building.  No, sir.  You can find someone else.”

              “Tamara,” he said, “Be reasonable.”

              But she shook her head more vehemently.  “No.  I’ll be happy to consult with the new captain, help out where I can, but I’m not taking on that responsibility.  Besides, if anything does hit the fan, I’m of better use in my fighter than on the bridge of a big warship.”

              “A corvette is hardly a big warship, Tamara,” Eamonn said.

              She gave him a look.  “You know what I mean.”

              “Yes, I do,” he said heavily.  “Well, for the moment, get it up and running, go through your shakedowns.  I’ll work to try and find someone we can work with.”  He threw a hand up in disgust.  “I don’t know where the hell I’m going to do that.  But sure, what the hell?  I’ll look.  Oh, and speaking of finding things, where the hell did you get those needlenose starfighters?”

              Tamara laughed at that.  “Would you believe I found those in a warehouse down on the planet?  Just rusting away.  They’d been there for decades.  There were twenty-five of them, but most were in pretty bad shape.  I cannibalized parts from most of them to salvage the good ones, replicated a few more parts and got those six off the ground and ready for action.  I’ve got four more that need a few more things and they’ll be good to go.  The rest we just cut apart and fed into the replicators for raw materials.  Once those four are ready, I’ll have sixteen ships.  I’ve already got the pilots.  So, not quite a full squadron, but certainly enough to give make people stand up and notice.”

              “Including yours?”

              “Oh, no.  So seventeen then.  The hangar facilities on the gas mine are up and running, and they’re actually designed to old two full squadrons so for the moment, we’ve got plenty of room.  I’m working on either finding or building a few more fighters soon, but I want to get the corvette up and running first.”

              “What were you going to name the ship?” Vincent asked.  “Well, you said it was hak’ruk design.  You could name it for Kutok.”  His voice was very quiet.

              Tamara felt ice flow into her stomach.  “No,” she replied, just as quietly.  “Kutok was a sweet person, who didn’t deserve any of the terrible things that happened to her.  But above all, she didn’t want to hurt anyone.  I’m not going to name a ship of war for her.  A freighter maybe, but never a ship designed for destruction.”

              “It would be meant as protection, Tamara,” Vincent said.  “A defender.”

              “No,” she said adamantly.  “Not for Kutok.  I won’t dishonor her like that.”

              “It’s my company, Tamara,” he told her, though his voice hadn’t changed pitch or tone.  “I could order you.  I could make the name official on my own initiative.”

              “And two seconds after that, you’ll be finding a new Chief of Operations and dealing with all the headaches and issues,” she said, folding her arms over her chest.  “I told you, I won’t do that to her.”

              He sighed, grimacing.  “If you weren’t so damned good at your job, Moxie, I wouldn’t put up with your shit.”

              She smiled sweetly.  “Thank you, Captain.  I won’t name the ship for her, but I would consider naming the mine for her.”

              “The Kutok gas mine?” Vincent said, trying it out.  “Actually, it would be Kutok Hakanae gas mine.  Her family was from Hakanae.”

              “I like that.”  Tamara felt a warmth flow through her chest as though the universe was approving this.  “I think she would too.”

              “So that’s one crisis solved,” Vincent said with a smile.  “I know all of this has to be difficult.”  He hesitated.  “Do you need Stella to stay here?  We can disconnect her from the
Grania Estelle
and plug her into the
Samarkand
.  I know it can be done.  You could write us some updated software for controlling the reactor.  I know you could do it.”

              She nodded.  “I could.  And I know she would be a huge help.  But no.” Tamara patted the table.  “This is her home here.  She can come and visit when you’re in system, but she belongs on the ship.”

              “You’re sure?” he asked.  “I mean I don’t want to give her up, but if you need her…”

              “I’m sure,” Tamara said.  “We should bring her back in though.  She’s about ready to blow a processor from curiosity if I know my little AI.”

              “Stella, end privacy mode, delete the quarantine information.  You can come back in now,” Vincent said to the air.  The AI had been monitoring the whole time, in fact, she’d been incapable of turning off her monitoring systems, but the captain’s authorization had forced her to put any information she learned from anything going on in this compartment into quarantine, where even she couldn’t access it and if ordered to do so, all the data would be permanently deleted.

              “So, you must have been talking about me,” Stella said cheerfully into the silence.

              “And why would you think that, Stella?” Tamara asked.

              “Because you’re not answering me,” Stella said.  “You’re providing a classic human evasion.”

              “Stella,” the captain said.  “It wasn’t anything bad.  In fact, I don’t really know why I had you stay out.  We were talking about possibly removing your AI core from the ship and transferring you over to the
Samarkand
.”

              “What?” the AI almost shrieked, her image on the display looking distraught.  “Why would you want to get rid of me?”

              “It isn’t about getting rid of you, Stella,” Tamara went on.  “The captain offered to transfer you over so that you could work with me here in the system.”

              “Oh,” Stella said.  “”But I’m a ship AI,” she said, uncertainly.  “I don’t know the first thing about running all this industry out here.”

              “I know you’re a quick study, Stella,” Tamara replied.  “But you don’t need to panic.  I turned him down.  I want you on the ship.  I want you to go out and travel and see the surrounding systems, meet new people.  And that won’t happen if you stay here.  Oh, people will come here and you’ll see them, but you’d be like me: so busy that you don’t have much time for socializing.  And I’ve got a lot of people here that can help me, so if it’s okay, I’d like for you to stay aboard the
Grania Estelle
.”

              Tamara smiled at Stella’s obvious relief.  “I don’t want you to be upset about this, Tamara,” Stella said.  “It isn’t that I don’t miss you, or don’t want to see you more often.  But I really like it aboard ship.  I’d miss the challenges and well the thrill of traveling faster than life.”

              “Faster than life?” the Captain said with a smirk.

              “Oh, did I say life?” Stella asked.  She beamed.  “I mean faster than light, of course.  Traveling through hyperspace.”

              “No, you’re being ridiculous!” Quesh yelled. 

              “Stop being such a drama queen,” Tamara said, putting her hands on her hips.  “You’re here now; the ship is in good order.  You’ve only got two sublight engines that need work and the shuttles will be done in the next couple of days.  You can spare me one of your three engineering companies for a few days.”

              “No, Tamara, you’re going to throw my watch schedules all out of whack,” the Parkani said, throwing his hands into the air.

              “Oh, you are so full of shit in your little kingdom here,” she shot back.  “You’re in port now, effectively.  That means that some of the crew, at least two thirds, is going to be off the ship for liberty.  Some will be staying at the orbital, a few will head down to the planet, and one watch rotation will be here on the ship.  Which means that some of those people will be free to help me out with some of my projects.”

              “What about your own people?” Quesh demanded.  “You’ve got a ton of people working for you.  Why do you need my people?”

              “Because I know the engineering teams on the
Grania Estelle
, Quesh,” Tamara said.  “I know what they can do.  I helped train them.  They know what they’re doing.”  She pursed her lips.  “Actually, Quesh, what about you?”

              “What about me?” he said.

              “Come and help,” Tamara told him.  “We’re building a ship.”

              “I’ve already got a ship to look after, Samair,” he reminded her.

              “Yes, Quesh, but you just said yourself, it’s one to look after.  I’m offering you the chance to help build one,” she said enthusiastically.  “Don’t tell me there isn’t a little part of you that isn’t interested.”