First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 (72 page)

              “Oh?”  His scowl slipped at the potential for such change.

              “The level two implants are ready for surgical implantation.”

              Vincent blinked in surprise.  “What?”

              “They’re ready,” she repeated.  “Doctor Kassix over on the station has successfully given the implants to my guards, as well as the command staffs of the warships.  He’s still trying to get Eretria Sterling to agree to the procedure, but she’s being stubborn about it.”

              “You really…”  He swept his gaze over to the guards, his expression flabbergasted.

              Ekaterina raised her hands over her head in a grand gesture.  “Let there be LIGHT!” she growled.  All of the internal bay lights increased in brightness, flooding the bay with illumination.

              Tamara smiled, and was about to say something when Stella appeared on the display at the rear of the bay.  “Hey, stop messing with the lights in my cargo bay!”  She looked indignant.

              “You didn’t do that?” Vincent demanded, squinting in the bright light, shading his eyes.

              “No, Captain, I didn’t,” Stella replied.  “But I am doing this.”  She extended a hand, palm up, and her image was suddenly hit with what looked like a great wind.  Her hair flew in all directions, pigtails whipping around her head, as though she had just cast some magic spell.  A moment of her posturing and the lights dimmed again to normal levels, and her image returned to normal, as though the spell and the wind died.  “There,” she said with a self-satisfied smirk.  “Trying to pull tricks like that on
my
ship are you, Miss Trusov?”

              The lupusan flicked her ears and chuckled.  “I know better, Miss Stella.  It’s just that the Captain needed proof that we had received the implants and doing it through the question and answer method would have taken too long.  I apologize for any misunderstandings.”

              The teenaged girl smiled back at them.  “No misunderstandings, Miss Trusov.”

              “All right, all right,” Vincent said, raising his hands.  “I believe you.  But what I want to know is, when’s my turn?”

              Tamara chuckled.  “According to Kassix, you, George, Quesh and Xar are scheduled for this afternoon, if you’re ready.”

              “What about Turan?  You leave him out and he’s likely to find you and cut you open,
Captain
Samair,” Vincent said, his eyebrows raised.

              “Don’t worry, he’s on the list.  Though Kassix and I thought it might be best if you and the others went first and then him.”

              “I think it might be best that he goes right after me,” Vincent corrected.  “That way, once he recovers enough he can assist with getting the others their implants.”

              She shrugged.  “Makes sense to me.  Just give me the word and I can give you a ride over to the medical facility.”

              “Was that all you wanted to talk about?  That’s why you came over here?  We could have just gone to secure comms for that.  Even using whisker lasers.”

              “I know.  But I wanted to have my ship here in case you wanted a ride.  That way you could leave the shuttles here for cargo unload.”

              He smirked.  “All right.  Turan and I will go now.  George can handle things until we get back.  Stella, let him and Turan know of the change in orders.”

              She nodded.  “Understood, Captain.  Turan will be down here in five minutes.”  Stella laughed.  “Once he heard things were ready he was out of sickbay like a shot.  One of the orderlies had to pick up a tray of metal instruments he knocked over in his haste.”

              “Sounds like Turan.  You might want to give George an update personally, Captain before we go.” 

              “Right.”  Vincent turned away, pulling out his communicator and flipping it open.  Tamara could hear George answer and the Captain giving him instructions, then an acknowledgement.  He was just signing off, when the tall, gray-skinned, long necked doctor burst into the bay. 

              “I’m here!” the Guura declared, and Tamara burst out laughing.

              “Yes, you are,” she said.  She gave a grand gesture toward the open hatch of the
Moxie-2
.  “Hop aboard, Doc, and we’ll head over to the medical complex.”  Tamara laughed as he rushed past her, nearly knocking her aside in his exuberance.  Marat didn’t react, but Ekaterina huffed a chuckle.  Viktoriya only continued her scowl, though she’d been briefed as to what was going to be happening here.  And it wasn’t as though she didn’t know the captain or the chief medical officer of the company’s largest trade vessel.

              Once they were all aboard her ship, it took a few minutes to depressurize the bay and then they were off.  “Well, I see where you’re spending all the company profits.”  Vincent sank into one of the plush chairs and sighed contentedly.  I don’t understand how you don’t gain weight, living in a pleasure palace like this.”

              Tamara chuckled, lifting one eyebrow.  “You think I just sit in that chair and eat bonbons all day, Captain?  And that all this just magically appears?”  Then she sobered.  “Of course, I do have a parade of male slaves come through here and feed me grapes, and I have a few stand behind my chair with big fans to keep me cool.  It’s hard work keeping this company’s profits in the black.”  She made this statement with a clipped, deadpan delivery.

              The guards all gave huffs of laughter, and even Marat flicked his ears in amusement.  Turan gave a blat from his gills and Vincent threw back his head and roared with laughter. 

              It took less than half an hour to fly from the freighter to the medical complex, which was located at the shipyard.  Logic dictated that the most injuries would occur here, and sadly, experience proved that as well.  Turan had been consulted on its construction and outfitting and it seemed as though the Guura was slightly jealous as they entered the facility.

              Kassix greeted them with boisterous enthusiasm.  He was emitting an excited hum as his visitors arrived.  “Welcome, welcome!” he said in a slightly buzzing tone.  His pointed legs clicked across the deckplates as he skittered over to them.  “It isn’t every day that I get such august persons in my medical facility!”  He held out a black-carapaced hand in a very human gesture and Eamonn shook it, careful not to pierce his skin on the doctor’s pointed claws.  He greeted Tamara and Turan, but the guards stayed back and melded into the background.

              The hak’ruk led them back into one of the surgical theaters, where six orderlies were preparing various tools and instruments.  There were four biobeds here, their sensors ready to be activated. 

              “So, Captain Eamonn, I understand you and the good doctor are here to finally get the level two neural implants,” Kassix said with gusto.  It was amusing to see the amount of energy he was exuding.  Tamara almost expected him to start to dance a clickety-jig right there in the operating theater.

              “Yes, Doctor,” Vincent replied.  “I am. 
We
are.  And I have to say, it’s a long time coming.”

              “Now, these are, so far, the most advanced cranial implants that we’ve been able to develop.  They still aren’t a match for Captain Samair’s,” he gestured with one hand to her, “but they are far more advanced than the level-ones you’re currently using.”

              “That’s great,” Vincent said, feeling his own energy level rising again.  “When do we begin?”

              “Immediately!  Each of you will just need to lie down one of the biobeds,” Kassix replied, gesturing.  He led Turan over to one, and Vincent went to another, one of the orderlies walking just behind him.  They each lay down on one of the beds and the sensor suite in the bed and in the ceiling above immediately activated, the displays lighting up with all the pertinent data.  “Now, I want to assure both of you that we’ve done this several times now and we’ve gotten it down to a science.  It’s a perfectly simple procedure, one that I believe we’ve ironed most of the kinks out of, to use a human expression.”  He chittered a laugh.  “We will have to put you under for this, to prevent you from moving around while we’re doing the work, but we’ll be monitoring you the whole time.”

              “You can trust them, Captain,” Viktoriya said from across the room.  “I had them done and they work great.”  The shorter lupusan female nodded her head soberly.  There was no more joking around, not about this.

              “All right, let’s get started, shall we?” Kassix said, seeing his two patients keeping themselves calm.

              Three hours later, Kassix entered the office area where Tamara was conversing with a few of the FP underlings.  The COO was borrowing a desk and console, trying to stay caught up on paperwork and a few other things.  She looked up when she heard him approach.  “Doctor.  You have news?”  She looked to the others.  “That’ll be all for now.  We’ll pick this up again later.”  The subordinates nodded and gathered their things, datapads, etc, and left.

              “Nothing bad,” he assured her, as the others moved out of the area.  “They came out of surgery just fine and they’re both resting comfortably.  Doctor Turan has a bit more swelling than I expected, so his recovery will be a few days longer, but otherwise it went perfectly.  Now it’s just a question of them adapting to the new sensory input.”

              Tamara nodded sagely.  “Oh, I remember that.  It’s a pain in the ass the first time.  You’ve got all sorts of things flashing in your face and popping up at inconvenient times.”  She waved a hand.  “They’ll figure it out.”

              Kassix nodded.  “I know it was difficult at first.  But if an old stick in the mud like me can figure them out, then I’m sure the two of them can.  But that wasn’t the only thing I wanted to speak with you about, Ms. Samair.”

              She switched off the display.  “Please, Doctor.  You can call me Tamara.  We don’t need to stand on ceremony, at least in private.”

              “Then please, call me Kassix.”  He settled himself somewhat uncomfortably into one of the human chairs.  His long, segmented lower body could sort of sit on a chair, if it was turned around, which was what he was doing.  “So, the other reason I came to see you.  We’ve cracked it.”

              She blinked, not understanding.  “You’ve cracked it,” she repeated in a monotone.

              He pointed one sharp talon at her.  “Your piece of pirate jewelry.  I’ve been working with a few of the engineers, with the Republic specs and with Nasir.  And after almost two thousand variants and countless simulations, we cracked it.  We can remove it safely.”

              Tamara gasped, her hand unconsciously flying to touch the metallic device on her neck.  There was no further excuse.  She’d been delaying the removal of the device for months now, not actively helping out in the solution finding because she’d been afraid of some unseen failsafe in the pirate modifications.  Some failsafe that would either kill her, or fry her implants.  And if either of those things happened, the heightened access FP had to the replicators would be gone.  Oh, they would still be able to make many things, but weapons?  Hyperdrives?  The plethora of milspec parts?  Gone.  And with that critical advantage gone, the company’s mastery over all things engineering would vanish and they’d be little better than any of their competitors.

              “You’re sure?” she demanded, her voice a touch harsher than she intended.

              The hak’ruk nodded.  “As I said, we’ve run
many
simulations.  Nasir, the engineers and I are convinced that we have solved the problem.  We’ve gone over the scans of the device and went over them side by side from the specs we got from the Republic database.”  He chittered slightly.  “As I said, Tamara, we’ve cracked it.”

              She took a deep breath and then let it out, albeit shakily.  “Very well, Doctor.  What do we need to do?”

              He put his hands on the back of the chair and hoisted himself to his feet.  There was a brief screeching noise as his pointed “feet” caught purchase on the metal decking and then he was up.  “Come with me.  We just need to stop into one of the labs, summon Nasir and we can get that thing off you.”

              Tamara followed along behind, her heart thudding in her throat, as if it too wanted to try and get the accursed thing removed.

              They moved off into one of the labs, with Tamara’s guards following along behind.  Once there, the doctor began to scurry among some of the cabinets, opening drawers and extracting a few bits of equipment and placing them on one of the tables.  Tamara walked in and leaned against one of the tables, watching.

              “How concerned should we be, ma’am?” Viktoriya asked, looking more grumpy than usual.

              Tamara sighed.  “Worst case, the procedure fails and the device kills me.”  All three of the guards reacted to that.  “But I suspect the doctor has figured out how to bypass that.”  Kassix looked up from his gathering and nodded, not saying anything.  “But I suppose the biggest danger is that the disruptor will burn out my implants.”

              Ekaterina nodded.  “But if the neural damage is fixable, he can just supply you with a new set.”

              “Yes, he could, but that isn’t the problem.”  She took a deep breath.  “The problem…”  She trailed off.

              “Your command dataset,” Viktoriya said, picking up the thread.  “If these implants are destroyed, you’ll lose the replicator codes.”

              “And I can’t get them back,” Tamara finished.  “The only way to do that would be to go back to the Republic and get a new set.  But it would have to come through channels and most likely would be rejected.  If I was lucky,” she said dryly.  “More likely I would be imprisoned and interrogated about all of our activities out here in the Cluster, as well as what has been going on here.”

              All of them, including the doctor, stopped to look at her over this.  “Imprison?” Viktoriya asked.

              She nodded.  “Yes.  From what I’ve heard from members of the
Grania Estelle
’s crew who had encountered people from the Republic military, as well as my own experiences has led me to believe that this isn’t a sweet, cuddly group of people, far more paranoid and angry than the Republic I remember.  Based on how happy Commodore McConnell was to see someone outside of her sphere of authority in control of Republic replicator technology, I’d be surprised if they didn’t simply shoot me on sight.”  She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.

              Kassix stopped what he was doing and stared at her, though Tamara couldn’t actually see his eyes through the blackness of his facial carapace.  “Are you sure you want to do this then, Ms. Samair?  If you’re not comfortable with it, we can postpone or even just hold off entirely.”

              A quick glance at her guards indicated what they thought of that idea; clearly they were all for it.  But she squared her shoulders.  “No, I don’t want to postpone or cancel.  If you’re certain that you can do this…” she gritted her teeth.  “If you can do this, then I’m ready to move forward.”

              The doctor chittered to himself.  “Very well.  I need to attach some leads to the device.”  He gestured.  “Please take a seat.  In fact, it might be best if you lie down.  Even if all goes well, the device is going to retract those tendrils and I don’t want you to fall over.  You might suffer some small trauma and I want to be ready to take care of it immediately.”

              Tamara hopped up on the table and lay back.  But before Kassix could begin, she put out a hand to stop him.  “It’s going to be okay, guys,” she said to her guards, of who only the females seemed distressed.  Once again, Marat seemed as though he was a thousand light years away and couldn’t care less about what his principal was doing.  They shifted their weight and tried to look uninterested and calm, but Tamara wasn’t fooled.  She released the doctor and turned to look back at the overhead.  “Go ahead, doctor.”

              The hak’ruk nodded and began attaching leads and clamps to the disruptor.  He was humming to himself, though Tamara was certain that unlike a human making that noise, he was probably speaking, walking himself through the steps of the procedure, not singing a song.  It took several uncomfortable minutes of trying not to think about those needle-sharp fingers so close to her jugular vein.  Finally, the doctor seemed to finish what he was doing and then took a step back.  Tamara opened her eyes and swiveled her eyeballs to look at him.  She didn’t want to move her neck and accidently dislodge one of the leads.

              “We are ready, Tamara,” the hak’ruk said, his voice sounding nervous. 

              She nodded, trying desperately not to tense up too much.  She couldn’t help it.  Tamara knew that no matter how effective Kassix’s and Nasir’s solution was, this was going to hurt.  It was modified Republic technology; modified by a rather sadistic pirate with a penchant for pain.  It was inevitable that anything that was attached to her body by Armsman Gideon Jax, or any of Verrikoth’s subordinates would not be easily or painlessly removed.

              She gritted her teeth, her breathing shallow.  “Do it!”

              Kassix gently placed a hand on her shoulder, to try and reassure her, but she shrugged him off.  He made a noise and the guards all stiffened.  He nodded.  “All right.  Here we go.”  He pressed a series of controls on his datapad, then hesitated.  When the pause stretched on to the point where Tamara could bear it no more, he pressed one last key.

              There was a sensation of what felt like barbed wire sliding through her skull and her neck.  That coupled with a powerful electric shock, caused every muscle in her body to seize up.  A noise, too low to be a scream, too strong to be a groan erupted from her mouth.  Her spine arched, her hands tried to fly to the device, as though to rip it off her neck.  Her legs thrashed, heels scraping on the table.

              “Hold her!” came a voice.  Tamara couldn’t determine who was speaking.  Shifting, grinding, alternating white-hot agony then a hook-like tearing.  Hands grabbed her wrists, wrenching her hands away from her throat.  She tried to fight them, anything, anything she could do to get the pain to stop, but she was no match.  The pain was never ending…

              … And then it finally stopped.  There was a clanking sound, metal on metal, and her neck felt as though a burning brand had been pressed against it.  Her head felt as though it was pulsing, as though the tissue in her head was actually expanding and contracting.  “Hold her still!” the same voice ordered.  There was a sharp jab on her neck, then the pain subsided.

              Her vision cleared and her muscles relaxed.  She started to turn her head, but another hand, this one furry, like the ones holding her wrists, clamped down on her forehead, immobilizing her head.  “Don’t move, ma’am,” Marat’s voice told her.  “I know you’re in pain, you’re disoriented, but the doc is working on your neck.  You need to keep still.”

              Tamara could hear that the doctor was doing something, but the area where the device had been attached was completely numb.  It was several long minutes, what felt like hours while the doctor did whatever it was he was doing.  There was some unseen signal and suddenly the hands released her. 

              “Can I move?” she asked.

              “Slowly, Tamara,” Kassix said.  “But try not to turn your neck too much.  If one of your guards here will help you sit up, nice and easy.”  Strong hands gently raised her up to a seated position.  She braced herself on the table.  “How do you feel?”

              Tamara took several deep breaths.  She started to reach up to touch her neck, but the doctor stopped her.  “No, no.  Don’t touch.  I gave you a shot of quick heal and some painkillers.  Then there are some sutures and a pad covering it all.  Need to let it sit for a few hours before you start poking it, Tamara.  But,” he said happily, “the device was deactivated and according to my scans, your implants should be unaffected.  You should be back to normal.”

              “Really?”  Even as the word escaped her mouth, her HUD popped into existence.  An instant later, her implants connected with the medical facility’s central datanet and information poured into the HUD.  She let out a gasp of relief, tinged with laughter.  “It’s been so long.  I thought it would be gone, crippled forever.”  Tears rolled down her cheeks.  It was silly, really.  It wasn’t as though she’d lost full function on her implants, only the ability for remote access to computer systems.  But now, it was all back.  She turned her bleary eyes to the hak’ruk.  “Thank you, Doctor.  I owe you so much.”

              He chittered a negative.  “You don’t owe me anything,” he told her.  “Without you and this company, I would be nothing.  I would be working surgery in some third rate clinic on the planet, wondering if my next patient was going to have a fever or be an auto crash victim.  Now?  I’m chief surgeon on the most advanced medical facility in the star system.  No, Tamara.  Thank
you
.”  He gave her thigh a gentle squeeze.  “I’ve secured the device for further study.  I’m sure you’d rather I just threw it in the recycler, but in the future there might be some use for it, even if only to perfect the method for removal without harming the host.  But, ma’am, I think it’s a good idea that you get some sleep.  Here, in a biobed where I can monitor you.  If your guards would be willing to help…”

              Without a word, Ekaterina swept up her boss into her arms, as though she was a child.  Tamara tried to protest, but the lupusan only grunted.  She only put forward token resistance, but when the burly wolfwoman tightened her grip in response to her protest, Tamara relaxed and allowed her guard to carry her to the recovery area.  It was a trifle embarrassing, but she could already feel herself getting a bit woozy and lightheaded and was glad she wasn’t walking.  Soon, they entered one of the recovery rooms and Ekaterina gently set her down on one of the beds. 

              “I’ll be monitoring you constantly, Tamara,” Kassix told her, activating the bed’s sensors.  “You just get yourself some rest.”

              Tamara nodded, and an instant later she was asleep.

              “Found it!” the sensor-tech crowed.  He stabbed a finger at the display.  Then he whistled.  “Damn, that’s a big bastard.”

              Gokon quickly activated his own display, pulling up the sensor data.  There it was; the scourge of the Argos Cluster, the reason that everyone feared the Seylonique system.  Their boogeyman, that damned battlecruiser.  And there it was in all its glory.  From what Gokon could infer from the sensor data and images sent by the spysat, as the tech had said, this ship was a big bastard.  “Look at that, turbolaser batteries, heavy lasers, over a dozen railgun emplacements, and six forward mounted missile launchers in the bow.”

              “That’s a lot of firepower, Trammen.”  The sensor tech had a combination of awe and worry on his face.  “Does Lord Verrikoth have anything that could stand up to a ship like that?”

              The zheen waggled his antennae.  “I don’t know.  But it isn’t our job to worry about things like that.  Besides, if we can jump in, catch that ship out of position, we could load up on goodies and be back over the hyper limit before they could catch us.  We have some
very
fast ships.”

              “Yeah.”  He didn’t sound entirely convinced.

              “We’re not going to fight that ship,” he said.  “At least I really hope not.”  Gokon laughed and clacked his mouthparts.  “Don’t worry.  They can’t see us.  Give the satellite another ten hours and then we’re out of here.”  He hissed.  “I’m sorry to lose the spysat.  It’s expensive and quite useful.”  He sat and thought, considering the images of the warship for a long moment.  “But there’s nothing for it.  I’m not going to risk this ship and all the data we’ve gathered just to recover a satellite.”  He rose.  “I’ll be in the galley.  Inform me if there are any further changes.”

              Armed and armored boarders tromped onto the
First Horizon
.  They were wearing skinsuits with helmets, but these were more than pressure suits.  Special plates had been added to the torso, neck, and groin area, making the suits look more like riot gear than a suit to wear in space.  Lujayne Orzo tried to keep her composure as the armed patrol boarders rushed her, pinning her to the bulkhead.

              “You are the Captain?” one of them demanded over the suit’s external speakers.  She was being held face first against the bulkhead, with her arms pinned behind her back.

              “Yes!” she cried, her arms screaming in pain.  “I’m Lujayne Orzo, Captain of this ship.  Please, you’re hurting me!”

              “Secure her,” the male voice ordered.  “Then we move through the ship and secure the rest.  After that, we’ll… inspect the cargo.”  There was a pause.  “You’d better hope we don’t find any contraband, and that your manifest matches what’s actually in the holds.”

              “You won’t,” she gasped as heavy plastic binders were fitted over her wrists and tightened to the point of cutting off circulation.  “And they will.”

              “Outlanders are all the same,” the voice went on.  “Always think that they can pull their tricks, sneak things by us.  Get up.”  She was roughly pulled away from the bulkhead and frog marched down the corridor, armed men all around her.

              One of them remained with her, the rest of them tromped off.  Lujayne winced as she heard shouts, cries of alarm as the soldiers accosted her crew.  Then there were louder shouts and then gunfire.  More shouts and screaming.  Lujayne’s breath caught in her throat.