Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (81 page)

              The missiles didn’t lose the lock, but they overshot, giving Garidhak the time she needed to shoot down the rest.  Of course, the ship’s weapons facing away from the missiles hadn’t been silent during this time.  They cut through the Delphon fighters, tagging four of the needle-nosed ships, the other two managing to barely get clear. 

              The Aploras moved in, strafing the corvette, managing to avoid the ship’s counter fire.  The
Cavalier
rolled and climbed, managing to shoot down two of the Aploras before another salvo of missiles roared in and took her out.

              “Simulation complete,” Tamara said, her comms activated to reach the fighters outside.  “Very well done all of you.  Aploras, Delphon, return to the station for refuel and debrief.”  She ended the call.  Looking around the bridge, she nodded.  “As I said, well done.”

              “But we lost,” Garidhak said dejectedly.

              Tamara shook her head.  “This time.  But that wasn’t the point of the exercise,” she said.  “I wanted to see how you’d react under pressure.  Without an experienced hand in command, and without your missile launchers in play.  And in the process you managed to evade their missiles and shoot down seven of them before they managed to get you.  I’m well pleased with your performance.”  Smiles and other displays of pleasure broke out on the bridge. 

              “There will be a hot wash of the exercise in an hour.  In the meantime, take us back to the mining station,” Tamara ordered.  “We need to refuel and rearm and I want engineering to go over the shield generators, make sure we didn’t take any serious damage from flying through the belt.  Mister Leicasitaj, you have the bridge.”  She stood and walked out, heading for her quarters.

              The starfighters landed in the bay without any fanfare, only permission from the landing signals officer.  But once the cockpits opened, the pilots poured out, all of them chittering and laughing and using their hands to display the maneuvers they’d pulled during the exercise. 

              Finally, Korqath called a halt to the festivities.  “All right!” he bellowed, an impressive feat considering his race.  Most zheen were not known for auditory projection, but the pilot managed it with what seemed like ease.  “Get yourselves cleaned up and fed.  We’ve got hot wash from the training exercise in one hour!  Good work everyone.  We took more casualties than I’d have liked, but we took down the objective.  Move it out, people.  One hour!” he repeated.  There was a chorus of acknowledgements, some antennae waggling by the zheen, and within minutes the pilots had cleared out of the hangar while the maintenance crew moved in to take charge of the ships. 

              Korqath nodded to himself as he headed for the squad room to secure his skinsuit and life support gear.  “What’s the story with the new ship, Boss?” Hukriss asked, hustling to keep up. 

              “What are you talking about?” he asked.  “It’s a company defensive asset.  I don’t understand the problem.”

              “What I’m wondering is why we have it,” his wingmate replied.  “I mean, we have a dozen fighters right now.  Why not fill out the squadrons, get us up to full strength and
then
get the bigger ships out?”

              Korqath clacked his mandibles.  “I don’t know,” he said honestly.  “Maybe the commander is trying to diversify forces.  I mean if what she’s said about those pirate forces out there is true, having starfighters alone wouldn’t be enough to defend against those cruisers.”

              “Neither would a corvette,” Hukriss pointed out.

              “No, but maybe we’d stand a better chance,” Korqath replied.  “I don’t know.  I think she might have built it with the intention of building more to sell to the government.”

              Hukriss’s antennae straightened.  “That makes more sense.  I imagine there’s a lot of money to be made by building ships for a planetary government.”  He hissed slightly.  “So that sucks.  We get a crappy defense because everyone wants to make more money?  And in the end we get nothing because the pirates roll over us?”

              Korqath shrugged.  “Not my department.”  His antennae waggled a bit.  “But I think I am going to speak with her about retasking some of the constructors to getting us more ships.  But,
after
the debrief.”

              “No, I think that is a good idea,” Tamara said, leaning back slightly in her chair and crossing her legs.  “I’ve been putting it off.”

              “Why, Commander?” Korqath asked.  “I mean, why isn’t it a priority to get the fighter squadrons up to full strength?  Isn’t having forty ships better than having only twelve?”

              She sighed.  “Yes, of course.  The problem is that I only have three fighter designs to work off of.”

              “What?” he asked, flabbergasted.  “But you’re the Chief of all this out here,” he gestured.  He was seated in his own cabin aboard the station, while she sat in hers aboard the
Cavalier
, as they held the conference via communications software.  “All the stuff you’ve built, tugs and shuttles and mining bots, hell, the station!  You can’t make starfighters?”

              Tamara shook her head.  “Do you have any idea how incredibly complex a good fighter’s systems are to design?  I can’t just slap an engine on a box with a control stick and a gun and call it a starfighter.  It takes a lot of work to design something that will be effective in combat.  And I just don’t have the time for that.  I’ve been borrowing some processor cycles from Stella on the
Grania Estelle
to try and work out something useful, but Stella doesn’t have much in the way of experience in designing ships that we could use for that.  So, it’s down to me.  Until I can find someone here in system that could do it.”

              “One person?”

              Tamara laughed.  “No, although if there is a singular person who could design a decent starfighter, I’d hire them in a minute.  No, I expect it would need to be a group of engineers or a design firm doing the work.”  She waved a hand in dismissal.  “But that’s something to deal with later.  In the meantime, I can get the
Samarkand
building some more fighters for the Aplora squadron.”

              “What?”

              “More of the
Sepulcre
class fighters,” Tamara replied.  She shrugged.  “They’re certainly not the most advanced fighters, and they’re a bit light on maneuverability, but they’re the best we can do for now.”

              Korqath’s antennae flicked.  “Looks like I’ll be able to round out the Aploras.  More zheen pilots!” he said excitedly.  “I can think of several that will jump at the chance to join the squadron.”  He rubbed his hands together in excitement.  “This will be great.”

              “I’ll speak with Ms. Sterling as soon as I finish here with you,” Tamara promised.  “She won’t be happy with me about screwing with her build schedules like this, but she’ll understand.”  She looked at her squadron commander.  “All right, Korqath, you get some new recruits, I’ll see about getting you some new ships.”

              “Thank you, Commander.”  He clicked as he spoke, his excitement was so palpable.  “I’ll get right on that.” 

              “Contact me when you have enough pilots to fill out a squadron of twenty,” she told him.  “I’m putting it on you to train them once you have the ships.”

              “Me?” he asked, slightly overwhelmed.

              “You,” she said.  “You’ll have access to the simulator complex on the station, and I expect you to take full advantage of it.  But I also expect to see live exercises in your ships.  I’ll be around to assist, but if you intend to be the commander of Aplora squadron, training is part of your responsibilities.”

              He nodded slowly.  “I understand.  I won’t fail.”  Then Korqath clacked his mandibles.  “What about the Delphon?”

              She pursed her lips.  “Well, I needed more fighters to fill out our ranks, but those ships they’re using really are inferior.  They’re good for traffic control and merchant freighter interdiction, but they’d get chewed up in a real fight.  I’ll either need to find new ships or find that design team we were talking about and come up with something new.”  She shook her head slightly.  “You get on that recruitment.  I’ll get the ships for your squadron.  Contact me when you have them all together.”

              “Yes, ma’am.”  And Tamara cut the connection.  Korqath nodded to himself.  He had some calls to make and trip back to the planet to plan.  It was too long a trip to try and fly in the fighters all the way back to the planet, but perhaps the Commander would be willing to take the
Samarkand
back for a recruiting mission.  Those who just hadn’t made the cut on the original recruitment should do to fill out the ranks…  He’d need to contact the
Samarkand
and get the Commander’s notes…

              Korqath immediately started making plans, jotting notes on a datapad.

              “Ma’am, you need to make up your mind,” Eretria said sourly.  “I know that protecting the system is important and all that…” her tone indicated she thought it was pretty low on the importance scale, “But if you’re serious about getting the fueling station done, we can’t keep stopping and retasking the constructor units.”

              “I know it’s a hassle, Eretria,” Tamara said.  “But it really is important that we get these defenses in place.  And we won’t be diverting the replicators and constructor bots away from the work on the station for too long.  I need you to have Kay’grax and his team work on the fighters.  It’ll make the schedule slip a bit, I know, but I’ll have them back as soon as possible.”

              The other woman sighed, shaking her head slightly.  “And you’re going to do this to me again once you get this squadron of yours up and running.  You’d mentioned wanting to get a second squadron of fighters up to defend the asteroid mining operation and the gas mine.  Which means that you’re going to co-opt my constructors again, aren’t you?”

              Now it was Tamara’s turn to sigh.  “I know it’s not ideal, Eretria, but it really is something we need.  The threat out there is real.”

              “Is it, ma’am?” the engineer asked.  “You’ve talked about this threat many times, but so far, there’s been nothing.  The most we’ve seen are warships from Ulla-tran, but all they’ve done is act as escorts to their own freighters.  We’ve seen nothing even remotely threatening here in decades.”

              Tamara pursed her lips.  “Have you ever been out of the system, Eretria?”

              She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.  “Ma’am, we’ve had this discussion.  And no, I haven’t been out of the system before.”

              “There are some things you need to see,” Tamara said.  “I’ll have some of the sensor logs from the
Grania Estelle
sent over today.  I want you to watch them.  What happened on the bulk freighter only happened a few months ago and only one system away from here.  You need to know.”

              Eretria nodded.  “Very good, ma’am.”  She sighed again.  “I’ll be waiting for the upload.”  It was clear from her tone that she didn’t believe there was anything on those logs that she needed to see.  Eretria nodded and signed off the connection.

              Tamara just shook her head.  She turned to her terminal and began pressing commands.  She sent a request to the
Grania Estelle
for copies of the sensor logs.  She wasn’t worried that Stella or the Captain would hold them back; they were important pieces of information.  At least they’d better not, if they knew what was good for them, she vowed.

Chapter 27

              “So I have some news,” Galina Korneyev said at the next briefing.

              “What’s that?” Tamara asked, her face showing on the display in the
Samarkand
’s conference room.  She was sitting in her own cabin aboard the
Cavalier
.  Working up exercises had been going well.  Her crew was still green, and making their fair share of mistakes, but they were getting stronger and more confident.  Leicasitaj was proving to be a good leader.  Each day he stepped up to the responsibilities heaped upon him as a first officer and managed the ship without complaint.  Tamara was confident that he would be able to take a more forward role in the command of the ship soon.

              “It seems the government has gotten off its ass and decided to commission a ship,” the lupusan went on. 

              “Well that’s good news,” Tamara replied.  “A warship?”

              “A freighter.  My old ship, in fact,” she said bitterly.  “She’s been converted to carry passengers and freight.  They’ve also replaced the fusion reactor and the power systems.  They’re getting a crew together, but from what I understand, the ship will be ready for space in less than a week.”

              Tamara tsked.  “How in the hell is it that they can get that ship up and going in a few weeks, but they can’t get any significant progress done on the
Leytonstone
in six months?”

              “Well, all they needed was to get a new reactor in and upgrade the power systems,” Galina said, her voice still holding an edge of anger.  “And now apparently, they have.”

              “Well, this is certainly news,” Tamara said, “but I’m not entirely certain why you’re telling me this.”

              The lupusan growled softly.  “I’m telling you because I’ve been informed that the
Kara
is being sent to Ulla-tran to try and establish a trade route.  The convoy from Ulla-tran apparently lit a fire under more than a few of the local businesses and they got themselves in motion.”

              Tamara shook her head.  “No they didn’t,” she spat.  “We did.  It was all the running around and networking that
we
did that got things going.”  She ground her teeth in frustration.  “I don’t suppose it matters, really, why they’re getting a trade mission going.”

              “No, I don’t suppose it does,” Galina agreed.  “But a week from now they’re scheduled to head out.  They’re coming to the Kutok mine to get a full load of fuel and then from there they are off for Ulla-tran.”

              Tamara nodded, tapping a finger on the desk.  “Good riddance.  Well, maybe something good will come of it.  Anything else?”

              “The fighters you requested just started rolling off the assembly line, such as it is,” Galina replied.  “Sterling has been irascible about the whole business, but she’s getting the job done.  She said to tell you that the last of them will be done in two days and will be ready for space.”

              “Some good news,” Tamara said with a quirk of her lips.  “Korqath has been pestering me about the ships for the last week.  He’s already got his squadron members chosen and assembled.  They’ve been running the simulators nonstop ever since getting to the station.”  She chuckled.  “Though I can’t say that’s a bad thing, having the starfighter force eager to get to work.”

              “No, I can’t say that it is, not after what we’ve been through,” Galina said.  At Tamara’s scowl, she went on.  “Don’t get all hot under the collar, Tamara.  I know I didn’t go through what you did, but that was only by a fluke of luck.  If they’d turned toward us instead of the
Grania Estelle
, well, my ship didn’t even have any weapons or security troopers.  You were able to fight them and win your freedom.  We would most likely still be enslaved to them.  Enslaved or dead.”  Tamara grunted in acknowledgement.  “Forgive me.  I know those are terrible memories; times that are best forgotten.”

              But Tamara shook her head.  “No, not forgotten,” she disagreed.  “But I don’t think those are memories that need to be dredged up all the time.  I’m… we’re… bolstering the defenses here in the hopes of keeping Verrikoth and his thugs at bay.  But I’m afraid without the
Leytonstone
actively working to defend the system, we won’t be any match for the pirate lord and his flotilla.”

              “We will have a full squadron of fighters in a few days, all crewed by fighter pilots,” Galina reminded her. 

              “Rookies,” Tamara replied.  “Very green.  And I can’t afford to take time away from the
Cavalier
to assist in working them up yet.  Either I leave Leicasitaj here to run the ship by himself and assist Korqath, or I leave Korqath to whip the newbies into shape to get this ship ready.”  She shrugged.  “There are no good or easy answers.  The Romigani needs at least another month before I’m going to be willing to turn the ship over to him.”

              Now it was Galina’s turn to shrug.  “It’s only a month.  In the meantime, if you want the young zheen to step up you need to give him the room to work.  He can’t hide behind your welding apron forever, you know.”

              “I know.  I’m just antsy.”  Tamara rubbed the back of her neck.  “I’ll feel better once this ship is ready for combat and the Aploras have a bit more experience under their collective belts.”

              “I think we all will, Tamara.”  Galina chuffed.  “I’m just glad Eretria decided to fix the hyperdrives on board the
Samarkand
.  I can’t tell you how nervous I was having it all in pieces.”

              “It’s unlikely you’d be able to outrun the aggressor ships if they show up here, you know,” Tamara said gently.  “Unless they come in on just the right vector and you happen to spot them in time, they should probably have the speed to overtake the
Samarkand
before you can make the hyper limit.  Those cruisers of his have some impressive acceleration.”

              The lupusan grunted.  “You know just how to cheer an old wolf up, you know that?”

              “Sorry.”

              “All right, make sure you have your stunners and go,” Corajen told her deputies.  “Get out of here, make sure you go through every compartment, but stay out of the engineers’ way.  I don’t want another pissing contest like we had last week.”  They filed out, all but one.

              “But Chief, they were the ones that were trying to bring the zolen dust through the station,” one of the deputies pointed out.  “They were breaking the station laws.”

              “Yes, Brevel, I know that,” she said tiredly.  “But you didn’t need to toss the guy across the corridor.  You’re lucky we had him dead to rights on the z-dust possession or he might have had you up on charges.”  She pointed a claw-tipped finger at him.  “Don’t give me a reason to find fault in your work.  You follow regulations and enforce the laws.  Because if I hear any more stories like that one, Brevel, there isn’t going to be any paperwork.  You and I are going to have a discussion you won’t like.  And then you’ll be visiting the infirmary.”

              The tall man gulped, fear coursing through him as the predator snarled at him.  “Y-yes, Chief,” he stammered.

              She dismissed him with a wave, her anger still palpable.  “Now go, you have a patrol to get to.”

              He nodded and exited with more speed than he normally would have.  Corajen shook her head and watched him go.  She was seated behind her desk in the security office, two displays open on either side of her, a datapad on the desk.  Station security had been pretty easy ever since the facility had gone online.  With the amount of deputies she had, she was easily able to maintain a presence throughout the station, which helped to keep the crime level almost nonexistent.  There had been a few fights broken up in the habitat area, a few arrests for drug possession, one case of petty theft, certainly nothing serious.  But Corajen believed in preventing crime just as much as fighting it, so she kept up with both regular and random patrols.

              There were over a thousand people working and living on the station now, which meant that Corajen’s one hundred and fifty security personnel had to maintain a good deal of vigilance to keep order.  But so far, things had been going smoothly.  However, plans were in the pipeline to increase the amount of livable space onboard the station.  Right now, there were habitation areas, consisting of living quarters and common areas, which included eateries and a few small shops.  But Corajen had been informed that the common areas were going to be expanded into a promenade level, containing much more in the way of businesses, bars and restaurants.  The lupusan had mixed feelings about this.  On the one claw, she was just as excited as everyone else to have increased commerce on the station.  Stars knew she go for better food than some of the slop the mess attendants thought was edible cuisine and she enjoyed hitting the bar occasionally and living it up as much as the next girl.  But with these benefits came the costs.  She’d have to stay on top of things to maintain order.

              And it also appeared that the locals were starting to get their acts together and follow Samair’s lead in the engineering department.  Two of the groundside companies apparently had received orders to build a cargo ship, the first that had been built in the system in decades.  They were collaborating for this the first build, but after that, scuttlebutt held, they were going to work independently and forge their own separate destinies.  Corajen snorted at her own thoughts.  But, having a ship that wasn’t owned by Vincent Eamonn operating first in this system and then eventually heading out to places unknown meant that eventually they would be coming here to the Kutok mine.  They’d be here for refueling, food and a day’s liberty before heading out into the black.  And then of course, when they returned here from far flung places, they’d want a drink or a meal or to spend some credits.  Which of course meant that it would be up to Corajen and her people to keep order.

              She welcomed the challenge.  Up until the escapades in Ulla-tran, she’d enjoyed working on the
Grania Estelle
, going to new places, seeing new people on the various planets.  And, if she was honest, she enjoyed dealing with the pirates once she and Saiphirelle had been freed from the brig.  Her blood heated just at the thought of the modified hunt.  It was unlikely that she would have opportunities like that here at the mine, but there was always the possibility that Verrikoth and his thugs might come here.  This station was a treasure trove of fuel and volatile gasses that were being collected for sale.  Not of course to mention the fact that the gear was all running smoothly with barely a hiccup.  The Kutok mine would easily be able to gather and process enough helium 3 to maintain operations as well as more than provide a full amount of fuel for the pirate flotilla should they come here. 

              Tamara had broken out all the toys for her in case the worst should happens.  Assault rifles, stunners, body armor, shotguns, and plenty of the low-vel ammo that shouldn’t puncture the hull should there be a boarding action.  She’d been training her deputies in firearms and close quarter combat, should the worst happen.  For the most part, they were happy to have the drills and the structure, most of all, Corajen thought they were just excited and empowered by being able to work with the guns.  It made them feel dangerous, but they didn’t really believe that there would ever be any serious problems.  Or they thought that if there was a pirate threat, it would never come to Seylonique.  The adage of “don’t go looking for trouble and no trouble will come looking for you” pervaded this system.  Corajen thought it was incredibly naïve, but it was a belief that would not be shaken.  For now, the lupusan maintained and increased her state of readiness and her deputies thought of it as a game.  Hopefully that would be enough.

              “So how long are you going to stay, Captain?” Tamara asked.  She was seated in the officer’s mess aboard the
Cavalier
, and Vincent Eamonn had come over to see the warship his company had constructed.

              He sat comfortably in the chair across from her.  “This room is cramped,” he complained.

              Tamara laughed at him.  “This is a warship, Captain.  It’s all about economy of space.  I suppose we could make a warship with all the open space of the
Grania Estelle
, but it would have to be a huge ship.”

              He shrugged.  “Sounds good.  When can you start?”

              Tamara sighed.  “Look, I’d love to put together a battleship, Vincent, but we just aren’t set up for that.  We’d have to build up a proper yard, with construction slips.  We’d need hundreds more employees and shipbuilders, and thousands of bots.  A ship that big, there’s no way we could assemble it on the planet’s surface like we did with this baby,” she said, patting the bulkhead.  “Come to think of it, we probably shouldn’t have built this ship down there either.  I was concerned that the tugs wouldn’t be able to get the ship off the ground without tearing it apart.”

              Another shrug.  “I don’t see the problem.”

              “Really?  I know the money has been flowing in to the coffers, as it were, and FP, Incorporated is probably now the richest company on the planet, much to the annoyance of a lot of the more landed families,’ she said with a smirk, “but do you have any conception about how expensive it is to build a warship of that size?”