First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 (65 page)

“
Cavalier,
ma’am,” the hak’ruk said calmly.  “They’re saying for us to take the lead and they’ll follow us in.  ‘We’ll watch your back’ is how they ended the transmission.”

She sighed, rubbing her temples.  “All right.  Send them an acknowledgement and continue in system.  Trudy, make sure you get that course ironed out.  All right.  We’ll continue in, and we’ll get back on schedule.  Send the message, Huznall.  First section has the watch.  You have the bridge, Trudy.  I’m going down to the galley.”

“Anything good on the menu?” Rezal asked, typing in the last of the commands necessary into the helm.  There was a small nudge as the engines powered up and the ship headed in system.  The last thing Lujayne saw on the consoles as she exited the bridge was the sensor display on Huznall’s board showing
Cavalier
moving up to follow
First Horizon
.

With a crew of twelve, the galley on the ship was small, but capable of comfortably holding all of the crew at once at the large table in the eating area.  The kitchen contained a large oven, deep sink, prep area, even a microwave and large cooler.  There was a walk in refrigerator and freezer and the ship’s steward, Sara Croft, was stepping out of the refrigerator, with a sealed tub of what looked like individually wrapped pork or chicken, and a large can of preserved vegetables on top.  The dark-haired woman was dressed in a standard FP shipsuit, but she had a white apron on over it.  She closed the refrigerator door with her hip and set the containers down on the prep counter then turned and jumped.  “Captain!  You scared me.”

She smiled.  “Sorry, Sara.  I thought you heard me.”

“Well, we should be ready for dinner in about half an hour,” she said, going back to the counter.  She popped open the tub and taking a knife, began cutting open some of the packages.  “I’m just going to make something quick and hot, and I want to use some of these,” she flicked her chin to the can.  “And I have a few hot peppers that need to get used up.  So, I figured a chicken sorga.”  A Seylonique favorite, strips of meat, usually chicken, with peppers and vegetables in a spicy sauce.

Lujayne grinned.  “Sounds good to me.”

“There are some sandwiches in the cooler over there, Captain, if you need something now.”

“I know.  I’ll just grab some fruit while I wait.  Not going to risk missing your cooking.”  Thankfully, Tamara Samair had done an excellent job in her selection of ship stewards, always wanting to be sure that her crews got good meals on either their patrols in system, the work in the yard or the mines, or on the cargo ships. 

Sara blushed.  “Thank you, Captain.  I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

Lujayne laughed, taking a piece of purple fruit from the cooler.  “So far, Sara, you’ve been doing a very good job at that.  No one’s complained to me anyway.”

“I’m just glad you’re all happy with my work.”  She started slicing up the meat.  “But, Ulla-tran.  We’re in a whole other star system!”  She clearly was bubbling over the idea.  “I mean, new people, new way of life, a whole new
planet
!”

“It is amazing,” the captain replied, taking a bite.  “I mean, as soon as Ms. Samair started building up this company I got all excited about the possibilities.”

Sarah scraped the meat off the cutting board and into a large bowl, throwing some chopped peppers and veg in there as well.  She turned and pulled a few containers of spices from a cupboard.  “I know.  It’s all so exciting.  I mean, I’m running a restaurant in space!  A flying restaurant!”

“Yes, yes you are.  And I’m going to be interested in seeing what’s going on in this system,” Lujayne said, taking another bite.  The fruit was very tart, just how she liked it, but it wouldn’t be filling enough for her to miss this meal.  She chatted with Sara until the meal was ready, the smell of the food cooking enough to get her mouth salivating.  The crew, aside from those on duty watch, got together for the meal, making a small party out of it, their first jump into a new star system.

The trip in system took three days, but it was an uneventful three days.  There were patrol ships moving around near to the planet and the orbital station: pinnaces, cutters and a pair of small corvettes orbiting the station, the planet and flying in long wide orbits.  It would be more than enough to overwhelm
Cavalier
; even just the two defense force corvettes would be enough to stop her.  But Lujayne was determined that they were going to make this run safely and manage to turn a profit.  So far, even as they drew closer, the defense ships didn’t make any threatening moves.  It wasn’t until the ships were less than five million kilometers from the station before they took interest.

“Ma’am, I’ve got Captain Tariq on the line for you,” Huznall reported, as one of the corvettes and one of the cutters started on a vector to intercept
First Horizon
.

Nazan Tariq was the new captain of FP’s first defense corvette.  In the few months he’d been in charge, he had worked diligently to live up to the good name his ship had and to get and keep both himself and his crew up to snuff.  They were more than happy to keep up with him, since all of
Cavalier
’s original crew had gone with Leicasitaj over to
Mondragon
.  No one wanted to let down the proud name of their ship.  And since they were getting to escort the company’s newest cargo ship into a place where the COO said there might be danger, everyone was on high alert.

“Captain Tariq, this is Lujayne Orzo.”

“Captain Orzo, I assume the approach of those two defense ships isn’t going to stop you from going to the orbital?”  Tariq had a determined look on his face.

She shook her head.  “No, I have a load of cargo that I need to deliver and sell, and Ms. Samair is expecting that we come back with more goods to sell.  If possible to set up a regular route here at Ulla-tran.”

“Understood.  I just wanted to be sure of what your intentions were.”

“Why would you even ask that?” she flared.  “Did you think I would run just because two ships turn our way?”

Tariq glared at her.  “No, Captain Orzo.  I wanted to make sure that you were still committed to this course of action.  I’m glad to see it, actually.  I just wanted to know what you were going to do.  So I’m going to ask you to slow your acceleration a bit and let
Cavalier
get in front a bit.  Also, make sure that your shields are fully powered.  If you have any weapons on that ship, and I see you have a few, get someone in there to crew them.”

“Only the one cannon,” Lujayne said, feeling slightly ashamed at admitting that.  Of course, Tariq was a company officer, and a warship captain, to boot, so of course he knew everything there was to know about
First Horizon
.  It was a cargo ship, meant to haul lots of goods.  It wasn’t a pocket warship, bristling with weapons.

He tipped his head to the side, acknowledging the comment.  “I understand.  Still, hopefully it won’t come to that, but if it does, I want you to be ready.  If things go bad, lock your weapon on the cutter and shoot.  Then I want you to haul ass for the hyper limit and jump out of here.  Don’t wait for us.  There won’t be anything you can do to help us in the time it will take for the rest of the local SDF to get here.”  He gave a gentle smile.  “I don’t mean to frighten you or your crew, Captain.  But I want to have a clear plan of action set up beforehand in case things go sour.”

She controlled her fear, swallowing hard.  “Thank you.  We’ll be ready.  But for now, I’m just going to continue on my course for the orbital station.”  She took another deep breath and squared her shoulders.  “I have a large load of machine parts that are looking for a buyer.”

Tariq nodded.  “If they call you, make sure you bring me in on the call.”

“Understood.”  She nodded.  “You sure you can handle them?”

Tariq looked at her, radiating extreme confidence.  “Don’t worry, Captain.  We’ll keep you safe.”  And he closed the connection.

Rezal looked over at his captain.  “That didn’t sound all that confident.”

Lujayne smirked.  “Just stay cool, Rezal.  Keep us on course for the orbital; don’t make any changed to course unless I tell you.”

The Severite nodded.  “Copy that, Captain.”  He looked to his console again, as though the course and speed that was already entered and locked was going to suddenly change.  It didn’t.

“Unknown vessel, this is System Defense ship
Garidos
.  State your identity, home port and your business here in Ulla-tran space.”  The voice on the other end of the comms sounded angry and curt. 

“Comms are coming from the corvette, Captain,’ Huznall reported, nodding her long head toward the forward armorglass port.

Lujayne nodded, pursing her lips.  “Not really a surprise.  Makes sense that the more powerful ship would be the one to issue ultimatums.  Put me on with them, please,” she said.  Huznall pressed a few controls, then nodded to her.  “This is Captain Orzo aboard the
First Horizon
out of Seylonique.  We’re here to engage in trade and profit with the businesses on the orbital.  I have a load of machine parts that I’m sure someone would be willing to buy.”

“Seylonique?” the voice came back.  “No ships ever come out of Seylonique.”

“That might be true until now.  But I think you can expect a lot more ships coming out of Seylonique in the next few months.  Both from our company, First Principles, Inc, and with others.  Possibly even government flagged vessels.”

There was some barely audible grumbling going on just below the pickup range for the mic, but a moment later, the voice came back on.  “I see, Orzo.  Very well, carry on to the orbital station.  Maintain your course and maintain directives from orbital traffic control.”

“Understood,
Garidos
.  We will maintain course and follow directions for docking by traffic control. 
First Horizon
out.”

Moving in to dock at the station turned out to be simplicity in itself.  Traffic control was surprisingly smooth; they directed
First Horizon
into one of the docking ports, while
Cavalier
remained nearby, about two hundred thousand kilometers out.  Traffic control had offered them a docking port as well, but Captain Tariq politely declined.  Lujayne was surprised at this.  The fuel and other consumables on board a ship as small as a corvette were finite, much less so than the freighter she was on.  But Tariq seemed to think he and his ship would be all right, and he didn’t want to consult Lujayne about it, so, she let it lie.

“Docking maneuvers completed,” Rezal reported.  “Engines offline.”

“Moorings attached, docking clamps secured,” Huznall said, nodding slightly. 

Lujayne pressed a control on her command chair.  “Ernie, talk to me.”

“Looking good, Captain,” the engineer reported.  “Main reactor is in gray mode now, minimal power only to life support and computer control.  Everything else is offline.”

“I hope you left communications up as well, Ernie,” she chided.  “I kind of need that if I’m going to be making business deals and to keep in contact with
Cavalier
.”

There was a pause.  “Sorry, Captain.  I should have thought of that.  It’ll take only a few minutes to get the comm array back up and online.”

She sighed, putting a hand on her forehead.  “You crashed the communications array?” she demanded.

“I’m sorry!” he said, sounding like he was harried and moving around a lot.  She could hear him hammering away on keys.  “Array is powering back up, Captain.  I’m sorry about that.  In-ship communications are still online, and we can use the mooring linkages to make contact with the station through their internal comms.  But it will be a few minutes before we can contact
Cavalier
again.  I’m sorry, it’s unacceptable.”  He swore.  “I know better than that.”

She sighed again.  “Just don’t do it again, Ernie.  Make sure that everything is secured and then as penance, you, sir, get to stand dock watch with Santino for the first shift.”

Lujayne could hear him sigh over the comms.  “I understand.  Give me twenty minutes and then I’ll be out there.”

“Very well.”  She ended the call and turned and pulled up the communications display, linking into the station-net.  “All right.  We’ve got a load of cargo to sell, parts that I know will go quickly and then we’re going to have to look into picking up a new cargo.”

“Any ideas, Captain?” Huznall asked, getting up from her station.  She was going to leave the bridge, since it was clear that the Captain was going to be maintaining the bridge watch.

She shrugged.  “No idea.  Right now I’m going through the cargo trades.  There are a host of freighters that came to Seylonique a little while ago,” she glanced to the hak’ruk, who nodded, “so clearly there’s a market for our home goods here.  I just need…” she pressed a few more commands and the screens changed, “to find it!  Ha!”

A long list of cargoes appeared on the display.  It was broken down by cargo size, mass, price, the works.  “This is perfect,” she said, smiling.  She made a note on her datapad, and refined her search to remove anything that
First Horizon
was incapable of carrying, which didn’t actually cut down the cargoes all that much.  She saw that a fair few of the cargoes were to be delivered to either the fueling station in the orbit of the gas giant, or to the three mining colonies set up either on the surface of several of the moons, or to the shipyard at the Lagrange point ten light seconds from the planet.