First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 (49 page)

              “Well, we thought that since three of our prospects were out of the system, we’d start with Ms. Sterling,” Konstantin explained. 

              “Again, not sure why you’re coming to me.  I’m glad to know you’ll be pulling her off the line for a few days while she heals and adapts.”

              “That’s just it.  I spoke to her about this already,” he went on.  “And she’s telling me to move on.”

              “What?” Tamara was thunderstruck.  “Having implants would give her so much more in the way of capabilities.  Nasir?”

              He sprang immediately into existence above the holo projector.  “Yes, Tamara?”

              “Can you please tell Ms. Sterling that I want to see her in here, ASAP?”

              He bowed slightly.  “Of course.”

              The two chatted for a couple of minutes before Eretria entered the office.  “You wanted to see me, ma’am?”  She glanced at Konstantin sitting in the chair and she scowled.  “This again?”

              “This again,” the corpswolf replied.  “You’ll have so much information immediately available to you, Eretria.  As well as scanning and recording abilities.  I don’t understand the problem.”

              “I don’t like doctors, ma’am,” she said stiffly, speaking directly to Tamara and ignoring Konstantin.  “There have been some very bad ones in my experience.  And I certainly do not want to go under the knife to get an elective surgery for something that I really do not need.”

              “You really don’t have any idea of what you’re talking about Supervisor,” Konstantin chided gently.  “The Commander and I have worked with implants for many years and I can assure you that they are beneficial in so many ways.  You will have instant access to the ship’s computer systems, as well as any data banks in your immediate area.  You can call up any information that you need that’s available and your implants will sort the data for you so that you can immediately understand and reference.”

              “Yes, yes,” she snapped.  “That sounds fascinating, really, but I don’t have time for this.  Ma’am, I don’t need these things and I don’t want them.  I don’t want Doc Kassix rooting around in my head with his talons and his knives.  I can’t afford to be off the construction floor for that long of a time while I’m waiting to recover from the surgery.  My teams can’t afford to have me gone.  I’m sorry, ma’am, but I absolutely refuse.”

              Tamara watched her yard supervisor for a long moment and then nodded.  “All right, Eretria.  I know that you’re very passionate about this.  We’ll discuss this another time, perhaps.  You can go.”

              “Yes, ma’am, another time.”  She nodded brusquely, turned and left, clearly indicating what she thought about this topic of conversation.

              Tamara sighed.  “Well, I didn’t expect that strong of a reaction.  She
is
going to need them at some point.”

              The old wolf nodded.  “Yes, Commander, she is.  And if her teams start getting them and she doesn’t have them, she’s going to get left behind, or in the very least, be less efficient than they will.”

              “I’ll talk to her again.  It isn’t like we can just stun her and have her wake up with the implants.  She’d quit.”

              “It is a thought, ma’am,” he mused. 

              “Don’t even think about it, Konstantin,” she warned, pointing at him.  “I was joking, and I think she would absolutely explode if she was operated on against her wishes.  I’ll talk to her again.”

              “All right,” he said, sighing.  “Then that leaves your head guard.”

              Tamara pulled her communicator out of her pocket and flipped it open.  “Viktoriya, can you stop over to my office?  There’s an issue that we need to sort out.”

              “All right.  Anything I need to be concerned over?”  There was a tone of suspicion in the guard’s voice.  Clearly, she was concerned that her primary was in danger. 

              “I just need for you to come down.  There’s just a small issue that I need to speak with you about.  Nothing to get worked up over.”  Tamara and her bodyguards had worked out a few verbal cues to indicate duress, things that wouldn’t arouse suspicion.  They had decided that any statements that Tamara made where she expressed excitement would be her sign of distress and that the guards needed to get there quick.

              “Of course, ma’am.  I’ll be right there.”  The bodyguard arrived in the office less than a minute later.  Tamara guessed that she had probably jogged through the corridor of the ship to get to the office, but no one would dare say anything to the lupusan, or try and stop her.  They all knew that the boss trusted her guards and that seemed to be all they needed.  She stepped inside.  “You wanted to see me, ma’am?”

              “Yes, Serzhant Eristov, please come in.”  Tamara gestured.  “You can relax.  No threat here.”

              The lupusan visibly relaxed, though she didn’t entirely stand down.  She never did, especially when there was someone outside of her team in the compartment with her primary.  “Of course, ma’am.  Corpsman,” she said, addressing Konstantin.

              “Serzhant,” he replied, flicking his ears.

              “How can I assist you, ma’am?” she asked.

              “Serzhant, we’d like to talk to you about getting your own set of neuro implants.”

              Viktoriya didn’t even hesitate.  Tamara had shown her some of the functionality of the implants a few days after their arrival and the two females had expressed an interest in getting a set for themselves.  The advantages they would give!  Marat actually seemed to come out of his malaise, asking a number of medical questions concerning the implants, regarding the surgery to install the implants, swelling and other recovery problems, as well as recovery time and follow on issues.  “Yes, ma’am.  I’ll need to speak with the others briefly, but otherwise, I’m ready immediately.”

              Konstantin barked a laugh and Tamara chuckled.  “Oh, the enthusiasm of youth,” the elder lupusan joked.  Viktoriya looked as though she was offended by his remark, turning to glare at him.  “Calm yourself, young one.  I was once young and vigorous as you.  When you meet someone in two hundred and fifty years getting
their
first set of implants, think back on this conversation.”

              She huffed.  “Yes, of course, Corpsman.  So, ma’am, when can we get started?”

              Tamara looked to the medic.  “Konstantin?”

              “Doctor Kassix has an opening in one hour.  Will that work for you, Serzhant?”

              She nodded, unable to conceal her eagerness.  “Very well.  I’ll speak with my team and I will meet you in sickbay in one hour.”

              “I will see you there, young one,” he replied.  Viktoriya nodded to Tamara and hustled out, stopping to have a short, murmured conversation with Marat before scampering back to their shared quarters.  “Were we ever that young?” Konstantin asked.

              “I think I was,” Tamara answered, smiling.  “I know when I graduated from the Academy, I couldn’t wait to get out to the stars, flex my wings, kick some ass, and show the flag.  You, Old Wolf, I think were born old.”

              He chuckled.  “I certainly didn’t squeeze the blood out of life like many of my brethren,” he admitted.  Then his face turned contemplative.  “But I’d like to think that the Divine didn’t age me too quickly.  I’ve had fun over the years.”

              “Don’t get all maudlin on me, Konstantin. 
Somebody
was looking out for both of us.  I mean, what are the odds that you and I would meet up here, two hundred and fifty-two years after we last saw one another?  Clearly there must be some sort of plan.”

              “Plan?” he asked.  “Perhaps.  I like to think of it as a wink from the Divine.”

              She chuckled.  “I like that better, I think.  All right,” Tamara said, waving her hands at him in a shooing motion.  “You have a surgery to prep for.  Git.”

              He stood, laced his fingers before him and bowed.  “I will see you after the surgery.”  He turned to leave.

              “Nasir will contact me once it’s done.”

              “Of course, ma’am,” he said from his holo projector, and then disappeared.

             
Redcap Madness
broke over the hyper limit back into Seylonique an hour later, coming in on a vector from Ulla-tran.  Tamara was just finishing up a shift on the construction floor, having finished work installing a new scrubber tank into a life support component.  It was heavy, sweaty work, but it was something that needed to be done for one of the new corvettes.  She had worked with one of the small teams to assemble the unit, and now that it was completed, it would be transferred over to the yard for installation.  It felt good to get out on the floor and get her hands dirty.  She made it a point to take a shift every week and get out there and work, taking on any project, no matter how tedious or difficult.  She even spent an entire eight hour shift wiring up four sets of control junctions, freeing up some very grateful techs from the tedious and eye straining job.

              When she stepped into her cabin to shower and change, Nasir informed her of the ship’s arrival.  She nodded but refused to rush through the shower.  It would be hours before
Redcap Madness
was close enough for a conversation and Tamara needed the hot water to relax.  She stood in the shower for a long while, letting the scalding water pound against her back until she finally couldn’t stand it anymore, finished cleaning and got out. 

              Padding out of the refresher and into her room, she dried off and changed into a fresh set of clothes.  “I never quite understand the human obsession with modesty,” Nasir said, his face appearing on the monitor on the bulkhead above her bed. 

              Tamara went to the tiny cabin’s small refrigerator and took out a drink pouch of orange juice.  Opening the corner of the pouch, she took a sip and sat down on the edge of the bed.  “I think it’s mostly to do with keeping warm and making sure that our rather fragile bodies are protected against the elements.  There were nudity taboos that happen in many of the human societies from time to time, but in a lot of cases, pragmatism tends to erase that.  Military and in other places where both sexes are living in close proximity, like on this ship in the common berthing areas, for example.”

              He shrugged, a very human gesture.  “Makes sense I suppose. 
Redcap Madness
will be arriving in easy contact range of the yard in the next few minutes.”

              She sighed.  “A few minutes more won’t make much difference.  Open a channel please?”

              He blinked.  “Channel open.”

              “
Redcap Madness
, this is Tamara Samair on the
Samarkand
.”  She sent the message and waited.  At the distance the ship was from the yard and the Lagrange Point there would be a ten second delay between the conversation.  Annoying, but it was still manageable.  And the time between conversations would be decreasing with every second that passed.

              The monitor display changed, and the dark-skinned face of Taja Mbuto appeared.  Tamara hadn’t seen the woman in quite a while, ever since the cargo ship was first purchased and repaired, repaired by Tamara’s own hands.  After that, the two women had done a decent job of avoiding each other due to personality conflicts stemming from their time aboard
Grania Estelle
when the ship had been hijacked by Verrikoth’s people.

              “Tamara, this is
Redcap Madness
.  It was just my luck to be running the comms checking on cargo data when you called in.”  The grimace on her face clearly showed just how ‘lucky’ she felt.

              “I see you found the cargo beacon the locals set up,” Tamara replied, putting a smile on her face, but they both would know it was fake.  With the increase in cargo shipping in the last several months, R3 Systems in conjunction with two other companies had petitioned the government and received approval to build a communications beacon that the three local companies would load with current cargoes and pricing data.  So far they’d been using the beacon sparingly, but everyone knew that as more ships were built, more cargoes would be moved and inevitably more companies would buy time on the beacon.

              “Yes, it would appear so.  I’m impressed at the breadth of data on here.  And there are a lot of cargoes on the list.  Apparently R3 and the others really want to start moving some goods.”

              “Yes, there has been an awful lot of change and industry growing up around here in the last few months.”

              “Not that this isn’t fascinating,” Taja said, clearly bored with the conversation, “but I can’t imagine that you called to speak with me about cargo prices.”

              “No, I didn’t.”  She hesitated.

              Taja sighed, grimacing again.  “I’ll get him.  Wait one.”  The transmission paused, the screen changed, showing a hold message. 

              Tamara ground her teeth for a moment until the screen changed again.  Frederick Vosteros looked back at her.  “Tamara, good to see you again.”