First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 (74 page)

              Lujayne growled at the thought of the bastards that had shot him.  Then she nodded, her expression closed.  “Get over to the holds and help check on our cargoes.  I’m sure the inspection party opened up everything and it’s all strewn over the decking.  I’ll be down in a little bit to assist, I have to head up to the bridge first and make sure the ship is secured and back on course.”

              “Right,” he said and trotted off down to the main doors heading into the hold.

              She stepped onto the bridge to find Trudy, Rezal and Huznall busy at work at their consoles.  The Severite laid his ears back in response to her footsteps.  “Captain, we’re still on the same flight vector we were when they had us cut the engines.  But they’re still docked.”  He had his head turned to his console, but Lujayne could see him bare his fangs.

              Right on cue, there was a heavy
ka-clunk
noise as the frigate released their docking clamps.  Lujayne could see from her own displays as she sat in her chair that the customs frigate had flown free and was now moving off.  The two other corvettes were slowly following, reluctant to turn their backs on
Cavalier
, who was moving up like a protective bulldog, her shields raised and weapons powered.

              “I have Captain Tariq on the line for you,” Huznall said, raising her voice slightly.

              Lujayne sighed heavily and pressed a control to activate her comm display.  Nazan’s face appeared, he looked angry.  “Are you all right?” he demanded. 

              “We’re a little banged up and my chief engineer got shot, but he’s in the medbox, recovering.  But if you could send over a medic and someone to help out in engineering, at least until we get to the hyper limit, I’d appreciate it.”

              He nodded, his angry face softening.  “Understood.  We’ll be moving in to dock.  If you could please maintain your course and speed?”

              She looked over to Rezal, who nodded, taking his hands off the flight controls and holding them up to shoulder level.  “We’re continuing on our ballistic trajectory.  Try not to knock against my ship too hard.  We’ve already been handled a bit roughly by men in warships.”

              He growled.  “I’ll remember.  Be about five minutes to line up for docking.”  And the display went blank.

              “I wonder how close he got to firing on the customs ships,” she mused, her voice low.

              “Very close, Captain,” Huznall replied, startling her.  When she looked over at the hak’ruk, Huznall went on.  “
Cavalier
’s weapons and shields are powered and it looks as though up until we called them, their weapons were locked on to the frigate.”

              Lujayne put her head into her hands, breathing heavily.  “What a mess.  I can’t say I’ll be too sorry to be gone from this place and back home.”

              “Really?” Trudy asked.  “I mean, yeah it was really scary with them boarding us and Ernie getting shot, but how much profit did we make here?  And how much do we stand to make once we get the cargoes you purchased back home?”

              Lujayne sat up straight, looking at her navigator.  “Is that the green monster of avarice I’m hearing coming from you Trudy?”

              The young woman flushed and ducked her head.  But after a moment, she turned away from her navigation console and looked Lujayne straight in the eye.  “I suppose it might be, Captain.  But think about it: with the profit we made on this run and the projected profits we’re going to make when we get back to Seylonique, what is the likelihood that the bosses are going to end this route just because we got roughed up a bit?”

              Lujayne sighed.  She was right.  “Well, I’ll be making a full report to Ms. Samair when we get back about how we were treated here, but we both know you’re right.  I just hope that the next time we come into the system we can get out again without having to have one of the crew shot.”  She shook her head.  “The profits were good, you’re right, but it isn’t worth nearly getting someone, getting
all
of us killed.”

              Nods from the others on the bridge, though Huznall wasn’t paying much attention, she was too focused on her operations console.  “It doesn’t look as though the borders did any damage to our equipment, Captain, though they did download our ship’s database.”

              Lujayne stared at her, the blood draining from her face.  “Great.  Ms. Samair is going to
love
that.  At least we didn’t have one of the company’s primary data cores on board.  Just the ship’s protocols and cargo databases.”

              “No replicators, either,” the hak’ruk replied.  “Neither the big ones on the
Samarkand
or the Kutok mine, or the little A2s that the company leases for commercial applications.  I know Ms. Samair would not want any of those to be lost.  Luckily the specs for any of the company replicators are not on the ship’s database.”

              “Oh good,” she said, putting a hand to her forehead, feeling the stirrings of a raging migraine.  “Well then, I won’t be immediately fired for not purging the database before we were boarded.”

              The others all turned to look at her.  “Seriously, Captain?  You can’t think that Samair would fire you for that,” Trudy said, agape.  “I mean, we were boarded!”

              “Yes,” Lujayne agreed.  “And it was my responsibility to purge the ship’s proprietary database to keep that information out of unwanted hands.  I didn’t think to do that and now all that information is in the hands of the crew of that ship.  And anyone who they choose to give or sell it to.”  She clawed at her head, silently cursing herself for that
massive
slip up.  She might not escape getting fired after all.  “Well, this might have been the shortest command stint in history.  All right.  I’m going down to the airlock to meet the team from
Cavalier
.  I’ll call up to the bridge once I get there.  You have the bridge watch, Huznall.”

              “Understood, Captain,” Huznall replied.

              Lujayne left the bridge and headed down to the airlock.  The sooner they could get the ship up and running the better.  Besides, the medbox could do a decent job of treating Ernie’s injuries, but they all would feel better once the chief engineer was well again.  It was meant as more of a stabilization device, not for full treatment for any serious injuries.  She had no idea what
Cavalier
’s sickbay was like, how skilled their doctor was.  She’d have to find out.

              “I have one final surprise for you, Vincent,” Tamara said, as a small party had gathered aboard
Moxie-2
.  It wasn’t an elaborate affair, but the furnishings were quite comfortable and the main compartment of the ship was more than triple the size of the
Grania Estelle
’s wardroom.  Noken and Hot Pads had gotten together to prepare a feast, both cooks working their hardest to outdo each other.  As it was, with the ten people they would be serving, there was a plethora of goodies to choose from, and Tamara insisted that the two cooks share this bounty with the crews of both
Grania Estelle
and the
Samarkand.
  Neither cook had a problem with this and certainly none of the crews did.

              “Another surprise?” the captain replied, taking another bite of cornbread.  A pile of short rib bones was on a plate in front of him and he had just set down his napkin.  “I don’t know if I can handle anything more, especially with you conspiring with the two finest cooks in the system to cause so many of us to explode.”  Cups were raised in a toast, shouts of pleasure and agreement, the two cooks; one human, one Severite, raised their own glasses.  Padderson beamed at the praise and Noken blinked, showing his pleasure.  The cat rotated his ears as well, flattening them down on the sides of his head.

              “It isn’t more food, you glutton,” Tamara said.  Everyone chuckled, though not too loudly.  Clearly, the laundry services aboard all three ships was subpar, as everyone’s clothes seemed to have shrunk in the last day because what else would account for the fact that they didn’t fit? 

              “Well?” he demanded, trying to speak in his grandest command voice, but not succeeding too well.

              Tamara activated her implants and with that same joyous surge she felt nowadays when she could access the computer systems, she brought one of the monitors to life.  Stella and Nasir were present on two of the others; this one was being used for ship status updates.  The data disappeared and another face appeared.  It was a human male, dark-skinned, his head shaven.  “This is Wotan,” she said.  “He’s the new ship AI for our newest warship,
Persistence of Vision
.”

              All eyes turned his way.  “It is an honor to meet you all,” the AI said, in his very deep, gravelly voice.

              “Wotan, if you would?” Tamara asked, gesturing to the holo projector.

              He nodded.  “Of course.”  His image disappeared from the monitor and then reappeared in the air.  He cut a fine figure: tall, well-muscled.  He was dressed in a First Principles, Inc. ship suit, with the galactic spiral stitched into the left breast, as well as on the right sleeve.  He stood in a heroic looking stance, head back, spine ramrod straight, as though he was posing for a recruiting poster.  There were oohs and ahhs from around the room as everyone took a long look at the new AI.  Wotan appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties by human standards.

              Vincent stood up and nodded.  “You look good, Wotan.  How does it feel to be the first warship AI in this star system?”

              The AI looked at him, his glare cold.  “I am pleased at the honor and I will strive to do the best that I can to assist my crew and protect those under our care.”  He didn’t sound all that pleased.  He sounded as though it was a duty to perform and nothing more. 

              “I suppose that’s the best that can be hoped for,” Vincent admitted.  “From a warship AI, I mean.”

              “I will do my duty, Captain,” Wotan replied.  “You do not need to be concerned about that.”

              “I’m not.  I’m sure you’ll do excellent work, just as your fellow AI have,” Vincent said, gesturing to the other monitors at Stella and Nasir’s images.  Magnus should be here as well, the man realized, but the Kutok mine was far enough away that he really would not have been able to participate with the light lag.  However, no one wanted him to be left out, so there were plans to throw another similar party once
Persistence of Vision
was launched.  “How long until you launch?”

              “The engineering teams are doing good work, Captain Eamonn,” Wotan replied.  “We should be ready to launch in eight days, once the last engine trials are completed.”  The AI was quite certain of this, which only made sense, since he was plugged into every system on the ship.  He quite literally was the ship, for all practical purposes.

              “I look forward to seeing the
Persistence
in action, Wotan.”

              “The
Persistence of Vision
, Captain,” the AI corrected.

              More chuckles.  Vincent held up his hands in surrender.  “Of course. 
Persistence of Vision.
”  The AI nodded, mollified.  He turned to the room at large, holding up his glass.  “To FP’s newest ship,
Persistence of Vision
and her ship’s AI!”  The crowd roared its approval, but Wotan scowled at the acclaim.  They all ignored him.

              Stella linked in with Wotan through
Moxie
-
2
’s datanet.  “Ease up, Wotan,” she told him.  “It’s a party.”

              His scowled deepened.  “It is a waste of time,” the youngest AI complained.  “We should be working on the ship.  These people should be working on either the ship or with the other areas of the business.  Not cavorting around on this vessel gorging themselves with food and getting intoxicated on spirits.”

              Stella gave a virtual shrug.  “They have been working, Wotan, and they’ve been working hard for months.  They’re taking one night off to celebrate and unwind.  You take time for down cycles to process, that’s what they are doing.”

              “That is what their sleep cycles are for,” Wotan said.  “They don’t need this.”

              “They’re not machines, Wotan.  They cannot function at optimal efficiency as well as AI.  Every so often they need to take time to rest and relax.  Which means that you need to let it go.”  At his continued disapproval, she went on.  “I’ve been working with these organics for years now.  They are good people and they have accomplished a great deal.  This one little party is not the end of the world.  By tomorrow, they’ll all be back to work and efficiency will be back up again among these senior officers.”

              Wotan didn’t answer, disappearing back into the destroyer’s datanet.  Stella chuckled at her younger brother’s obstinacy.  He’d come around.

              “What about the government ships?” Vincent asked.

              Tamara took a sip from her glass.  “Assuming no problems, the first two destroyers will be ready a week after
Persistence of Vision
.  And believe me, the government inspectors have been all over me about that.  They want status updates every six hours, even though the schedules and the deadlines have remained the same.”