Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (78 page)

              “How long until she’s ready for action?”

              “She’s ready now,” Tamara replied.  “If need be.  I’d like a day or so to go over things one more time, then all she needs is a crew and most importantly, a captain.”

              “Good,” he said.  “Once you’re in a good place, get yourself somewhere private and call me back.  We have to have some discussions.”

              “Understood.  I should have it all cleared up at the end of the watch.  I’ll call back then.”

              “Well, I have the name of the ship,” Tamara said, ten hours later.  She looked exhausted.  Clearly she hadn’t slept and was running now on coffee alone.  The aforementioned cup was of course in her hand, and she sipped it as she spoke.

              “Oh?” Vincent asked.  He’d been chafing at the delay, but knowing that Tamara wasn’t going to call until she was satisfied that the ship was in decent working order.  So, instead of just sitting in his

              “Yes,” she replied.  “Say hello to the corvette
Cavalier
.”

              “Appropriate, considering our attitude toward things here in this system,” Vincent said with a smile, leaning back in the chair at his table in his stateroom. 

              She saluted him with her coffee mug.  “That’s why I chose it.  So how about you?  We needed a naming convention for the name of this whole enterprise here as well.  I’m sorry, you might be the captain of the
Grania Estelle
, the one who thought up all this, but you’re not a king.  Can’t keep working a company name with the designation ‘Doing Business As: Vincent Eamonn.’”

              He nodded.  “Yes, you do have a point.  I’m not so much of an egomaniac that I need to have things under my own name.  So after a considerable amount of thought and deliberation, I decided.  You are talking to the founder and CEO of FP, Incorporated.  The initials stand for First Principles, which I believe we have actually started to take care of here: fuel, raw materials and personnel.  I already talked to the bank and the lawyers and got the paperwork taken care of while you were working on the warship… I mean the
Cavalier
.  So it seems that a fair amount of work got done.”

              Tamara smiled.  “So it would seem.  But I know that you didn’t want to talk in private to discuss that.  In fact, I know that’s something that should be discussed publicly.”

              “It was.  I already discussed it with the crew and of course with Stella.  They’re all excited about it.  Actually being part of something, more than just a ship’s company.”

              “Hey,” she said indignantly.  “There’s nothing wrong with being part of a ship’s company.”

              “No, of course there isn’t,” Vincent agreed.  “And some of us have been only that for a lot longer than you have, Moxie,” he reminded her.

              She nodded.  “But I’m guessing you wanted something more.”

              “For a long time, this ship has been my home.  It still is,” he said.  “But after that attack and being boarded in Ulla-tran, I realized that this big girl isn’t quite as safe as I would have liked.  She’s large and impressive, but she isn’t particularly good in a fight.  And I, and most of the crew, those who stayed anyway, realized that it might be safer if we were officially part of something, something big and impressive if we were going to stay safe and still be able to carry on in this lifestyle.”

              Tamara nodded.  “Makes sense, but the people here in Seylonique, the movers and shakers, anyway, haven’t been terribly impressed by us.  Well, the Triarch, but he’s in a very small minority.”

              “But powerful,” Vincent pointed out.  “He got us started, he’s kept us going.”

              She smirked.  “And now that the
Cavalier
is online and active, I’m sure they’re going to like us even less.”

              “Which brings us to the reason for this meeting,” he said.  “I need you as Captain for that ship, Tamara.”

              “Damn it, I told you, Vincent.  I am
not
going to be the captain of this ship.  I’m needed at the mine; I’m needed on the
Samarkand
.  I have engineering teams that need to be looked after, especially now that we’re going to be building a second corvette.”

              “All true,” he acknowledged.  “And I had Stella look over our finances.  You’re right about how expensive those corvettes are.  I don’t think we can swing more than one more without some serious outside investors.  And I doubt that the good Triarch has the funding we need.”

              “No, he doesn’t,” Tamara said.  “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m not taking that position.”

              “Think about it, Tamara,” he said evenly.  “Who do we trust around here?  Our own people, probably.  I could probably bully George Miller into taking command.  He’s got the skills and probably the chops for it.  But he’s not a military man.  No one in our organization is.  No one has the skills we need to command a warship.  We’re merchant crews and engineers and miners.  You’re the only one who can do this.  I know it’s not what you wanted.  But I literally don’t have anyone else.”

              “Recruit someone,” she countered, but she knew her arguments were feeling feeble.  He was right.  Again.  Damn him.

              “Who?” Vincent asked.  “Anyone we recruit is going to need ship handling experience.  There are precious few people in this system that have that.  Most of them already work for me.  Those that don’t are probably involved with the local government either in private contract work or are working on the
Leytonstone
.  We might be able to find someone suitable and train them up, but in the meantime, who’s going to do that training, Tamara?  Who other than you?”

              She sighed heavily.  “I knew that when I took this job, when I started construction on Phase Two that you were going to somehow rope me into this.”

              “Tamara, I’ll be honest.  You’ve been working miracles out on the
Samarkand
.  If I had anyone who could possibly do the job, I’d pick them.  I need you working right where you are, but I don’t have anyone.  Maybe I can find people in another system that could do it, but for now, I only have you.”  He sat up straighter.  “Will you do it?”

              Tamara stared at her coffee mug for a very long moment.  She’d known that this might happen; that it probably would happen.  But he was right.  For the moment, she was all they had and
someone
did need to take command of the
Cavalier
.  Eretria Sterling had been doing well as her second on the engineering work.  It looked like that for the moment, Sterling was going to get a bump in grade while she was off gallivanting on the warship.  Eretria would be thrilled.

              She didn’t want this.  But she knew there was no one else.  “Very well,” Tamara said gravely.  “I accept.”

Book 3: Construction and Disaffection

Chapter 26

              “And now that bitch has herself a full-fledged warship,” Kly said, slamming his fist against the boardroom table.  “And she scrounged up starfighter support from somewhere.  When the hell are we going to get off our asses and do something about this?”

              Hyacinth Cresswell sighed.  She had seen the way things had been moving and she was forced to agree with the man.  She really didn’t like the amount of influence that these outsiders had gathered for themselves and the thought that they did in fact now have a fully functional warship scared her.  Terrified her, in fact.  So far, neither the freighter captain nor his leashed pit bull of an engineer that he laughingly called his “Chief of Operations” had done anything overtly wrong or illegal.  They’d skirted very near with this warship business, however.  Sadly, there was nothing in the local laws or statutes that said that someone needed anything more than a class 5A6 license to construct spacefaring vessels.  The laws didn’t specify if they needed to be of civilian design or if military vessels could be built.  That was something that Eamonn’s lawyers were banging on about, anytime the subject came up. 

              The local news vid was active and reporters had swarmed the orbital after the near total surprise launching of FP, Inc’s newest vessel, the corvette
Cavalier
.  She hated that name.  She hated them for getting a ship through production and into space faster than her own engineers could get the
Leytonstone
up and operational.  Right now, the reporters were speaking to the captain as he was directing loading of some cargoes that had been shipped up to the orbital for transfer over to his own bulk freighter.

              “Captain Eamonn, I’m Jared Coleman, IDIN news.  Are you concerned that the construction of such a blatantly military vessel is going to cause friction between FP Inc and the local government?”  The reporter was in his mid-thirties, human, and very carefully hiding any emotions he might have been feeling.  For all Cresswell could tell by looking at him, he might have just asked Eamonn what were his favorite cold cuts for sandwiches.

              The dark-skinned captain nodded to one of his crewmen and thumbed a tablet, confirming the cargo delivery, most likely.  Turning to the reporter, he flashed a winning smile, which made Cresswell want to vomit.  “Well, Mister Coleman, I know that there are some that are not going to be entirely thrilled with the steps I and my associates have been taking since our initial arrival in Seylonique a few months ago.  But you can’t tell me that the things we’ve done haven’t been for the better.”  There was a murmur among the reporters.  “But as far as the
Cavalier
goes, no, I’m not concerned about any friction with the government.  As you well know, I’ve done nothing illegal.  I’m well within my rights to build any ships that I want with the licensing that I have.  And since we live in such dangerous times, Mister Coleman, I’m not willing to just leave all of this infrastructure I’ve built, all of these FP, Inc facilities out there unprotected for anyone to try and steal.  I’m not trying to step on anyone’s toes.  I’m just trying to protect what rightfully belongs to my company.”

              “What about the new procedure that’s being rumored about absorbing FP, Inc. into governmental control under eminent domain?” another reporter, a human woman asked.  “Are you concerned about that?”

              “As far as I know, it’s all just speculation at this point,” Eamonn said, his face serious but unworried.  “If the government made such a blatant power grab like that, seizing my company’s assets because we are showing a serious profit, other businesses would be understandably upset.  I’ve worked with local ground-based businesses since I started work in this system and it’s helped the local economy immensely.  There might be a bit of an uproar if the government stepped in and started changing things.  I think that they’d have more than just me or my associates to deal with.”  His face turned nasty.  “I’d sick my lawyers on ‘em.”  There were chuckles in the crowd.

              “Are there any plans for more ships, Captain?” a third reporter, a zheen, asked.

              “FP, Inc. is in the process of constructing a second corvette, but construction on that has been halted for the time being for the need to train personnel.  As you all know,” he went on, “While this system has a great deal of personnel in space, there are very few ships that have actually come through this system in the last several years.  Up until we started refurbishing a few and building a few more, there were
no
actual ships that were moving anywhere in system, aside from a few shuttles that were making trips to and from the orbital station.  So it’s taking time to properly train people and I don’t want to have the ship just sitting around, ripe for theft and or vandalism with no one to crew it.  So I’m slowing the temp of things for a short while.”

              “Any other projects on the horizon, Captain?” Coleman asked, speaking over a few other reporters.

              “Oh, you never know, Mister Coleman,” Eamonn said with a smile.  “But I’m not at liberty to discuss that at this point.  And I’m afraid duty calls,” he said, gesturing to the shuttle behind him, which his workers had apparently finished loading.  “Thank you all.  I hope to be seeing you all soon.”  And with a wave, the freighter captain strode aboard his shuttle and Cresswell muted the vid pickup.

              “Smug bastard,” Kly said, shaking his head.  “Listen to him playing up to the cameras like that.”

              Cresswell shrugged.  “Why shouldn’t he?” she spat, angry, but not with her associate here.  “He’s right.  Everything he touches turns to platinum.  That pit bull of his has rounded up talent from all over, kicked their asses and now they’ve got an empire, one that they built out of nothing.  And what have we been doing about it?” she demanded.  “Nothing.  We sat around watching, bitching about how these people have come here and stomped all over our nice complacent little pond.”

              “And what can we reasonably do?” Kly asked.  “Things in the cabinet are stalled.  But we can’t sit still for much longer.  He’s building warships.  How long before he decides he doesn’t like things the way they are and turns his guns on the orbital and calls for all of our resignations?”

              Cresswell blanched, but rallied quickly.  “That’s ridiculous.  We have a battlecruiser.  His pathetic little corvette is no match for that.”

              “Do we?  I’ve talked to the engineering crews aboard the ship, I’ve spoken with Colonel Gants about the status of his ship and I’ve looked over every scrap of flimsi that there is concerning that ship.”  Kly looked disgusted.  “The work crews have been on board that ship for nearly six months and what do they have?  The reactor from that hospital ship integrated.  One more bank of turbolasers online.  Barely forty percent shield coverage.  One main propulsion unit online.  About the best that can be said is that the life support is fully functional.”  Kly toyed absently with his coffee cup.  “And what about them?  In the same amount of time, look at all they’ve accomplished!”

              “But that ship is… puny compared to the battlecruiser,” she protested.  “Sure that has to mean something.”

              “Of course it does,” he replied hotly.  “It means that so long as Eamonn can keep that corvette moving quick enough, he can pepper the
Leytonstone
with shots and not have to worry about too much.  I don’t know how strong the weaponry aboard their ship is, but even if it’s very light, they could cripple the battlecruiser without a whole lot of effort.  Our cruiser is a mess, plain and simple.”

              “But why would that matter?”  She picked up a remote and pressed a few commands.  The news feed vanished, replaced by an image of the
Cavalier
and another of the
Leytonstone
, both images to scale.  “You’re honestly going to tell me that this… flea,” she pointed at the picture of the corvette, “could cripple this sabertiger?”  She grimaced.  “I don’t see it.”

              “That sabertiger has two broken legs and is just recovering from open heart surgery,” Kly told her.  “And that flea has some surprisingly sharp teeth.”  He growled in frustration.  “Unless Colonel Gants gets some very lucky shots, that flea could bring the sabertiger down.”

              “So you’re saying it’s hopeless?” she asked bitterly.

              He laughed derisively.  “Oh, it gets worse.  The fuel we’re using to power the
Leytonstone
?  We get it from them!”

              Cresswell slumped in her seat, stunned.  “That’s insane.  This can’t go on.”

              “Well, like I asked before, what do you want to do?  The council is going to dawdle and just hope the problem goes away, but I find it highly unlikely that they’re going to take direct action.”

              Cresswell set her lips.  “What about you?”

              “Me?” Kly asked, looking over at her.  He sighed.  “Those bastards either have to be brought to heel or they have to go.”

              “And what are you prepared to do?” she asked, feeling as though she was standing on the precipice.  Right now it was just two people talking.  Once he answered that question,
if
he answered the way she thought he would, they’d be committed.

              “I don’t want it blowing back on me,” he told her flatly.  “Us, rather.  But otherwise, if there’s an accident…  Or if these vaunted pirates Eamonn and that bitch wrench turner of his keep babbling about should make an appearance…”

              Cresswell’s eyes lit up.  “Now, that is a good idea.  I think we can work with that.  But then I need to know what we actually have to work with.”

              “Well, if you really think he can pull it off, I’m sure I could get Gants to join in the festivities.  Maybe the
Leytonstone
could make a heroic save of the helpless victims of the gas mine.  But as far as any… pirate… activity, our options are very limited.  We don’t have any ships.”

              “That’s not true,” Cresswell said.  “We have the one that the Administrator used.  The one they pulled the reactor out of.”

              “Yes,” Kly answered.  “It does fly.  One problem: there’s no reactor.  It’s a dead metal box.”

              “Well, then we need to get a bit clever.  What if we get a reactor from the pit bull herself?  Buy one from her?”

              Kly laughed.  “I love it!  Now all we need are some toughs that could pull this off.  Can’t use any of the army soldiers.  Got to have deniability.”

              “I wouldn’t use the Army anyway,” she said sourly.  “Bunch of fat layabouts, the lot of them.  We’d have to use mercs.”

              Now it was Kly’s turn to look sour.  “They’re expensive.”

              “If we get that gas mine, and we’re the ones controlling the flow of the fuel, we can more than make up those losses.  Probably in a day or two.”

              “Well all right then.  How long do you think this will all take?”

              Hyacinth thought about it for a moment.  “We can’t just throw this together.  We need to get in touch with the mercs, with a crew for the ship, get the reactor purchased and then installed.  Say… a month.”

              Kly nodded slowly.  “That sounds about right.  I’ll start making calls, get moving on getting the ship outfitted.”  He chuckled.  “Imagine the look on their faces when the pull up to the mining station for refueling and a company of fully armed soldiers comes bursting out!”

              Cresswell managed a chortle, but she wasn’t really listening.  “You know, I we want to get mercs in the mix that can’t be traced back, then we’re going to have to get Ghovorak involved.”

              “Ugh.  There has to be someone else.”

              “Not in a month’s time.  Not that we know that could get the job done and keep his mouth shut.”  She sighed.  “I think this is going to take some serious planning.”

              “I think so as well.”  Kly actually started to show signs of life again.  “You know, I’m glad of it.  And if it works out, we’ll get government troops and workers on the station, and I think the good captain and his compatriots will find it very hard to eject them once they are there.”

              “What about that warship?  Or her fighter squadrons?”

              He frowned.  “I’ll need to talk to Ghovorak about that.  But honestly, I don’t know if there really is much we can do about that.  Once he gets his soldiers on the station, there would be little they could do about it.  Too many hostages and too much prime real estate.  And the corvette would be way too small to be carrying boarding parties.  No, a crew of fifty or so at best and they’ll be needed aboard the ship to keep things running.  If Ghovorak lands his company of soldiers, that’s a hundred and fifty heavily armed troopers.  I’ll see what we can do about getting more.  I don’t know how large the crew aboard the mining station is, he might need some additional support to be able to take it and hold it.”

              “All right, so we load up the ship with Ghovorak and his men, they head to the station, pretending to be going for refueling.  Once they are hooked up to the station, they jump across, or board however they can, get aboard and secure it.”