Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (15 page)

              “Taja told me a little about what you’ve all planned, that you want the ship to go to Seylonique and that you want to get the locals there to help you with getting rid of the pirates.”

              Cookie nodded, adjusting his seat on the chair.  “Yes, Captain, that’s correct.  And we figure that the
Kara
should get there about the same time we do, now that you’ve got the hyperdrive going better.”

              But the captain was shaking his head.  “Yes, if we changed course right now and jumped for Seylonique from here, you’re right, we would.  But we’re going to Amethyst first, then to Seylonique.”

              “I realize that, sir, but
Kara
was pretty damned slow under normal sublight engines, if what Xar and Quesh are saying.”  He shrugged.  “Never was much of an engineer, unless I was fixing the stove.”

              The Captain laughed.  “Yeah, you did keep the galley running, even under the worst of times.”

              “So?”

              Eamonn nodded.  “So.  The reason I brought you down here is that I want to hear what you think about our current situation.”

              Cookie blinked, confused.  “We’re under the control of pirates, Captain.  They murdered twenty-six of our crew when Tamara killed a bunch of theirs.  The ones that are left are eyeballing everyone.”  Then his face darkened.  “Especially the ladies.”

              “What have you heard?” Eamonn asked. 

              “Nothing.  No one’s talking, not even the crew.  But what I’ve seen is a steady rise in the amount of harassment toward the female members of our crew, the three in the brig notwithstanding.  Nothing happens in groups, but more and more of our crew is getting harassed and beaten when the pirates think no one can see.  I’ve chatted briefly with Turan, he’s had more than a dozen crewmen in for contusions and even a couple of cracked ribs.”

              Eamonn sighed heavily.  “Well that’s just wonderful.  Though I can’t say I’m surprised.  Actually, what does surprise me about that is that it hasn’t started sooner.”  He paused and thought for a moment, and then spoke.  “But that wasn’t really the reason I asked you here.”

              “Okay.”  Cookie shifted again.

              “I’m concerned about what happens when we get to Amethyst.  According to what Jax tells me, it’s just a way port, a small space station where he’s going to bring on more soldiers.”

              Cookie snorted.  “Well that’s just great.  Even if he only brings on just enough to bring his numbers back to what they were before we’d be in serious trouble.  And we’re shorthanded enough as it is.  Almost worse than when Tamara came on board.”

              “And that brings me to why you’re here.  I need your opinion.”  He took a deep breath.  “Do you think we could rush the soldiers and take back the ship?”

              Cookie blanched.  “I didn’t think that was the plan.”

              “It wasn’t, originally,” the Captain conceded.  “When I heard the plan from Taja, I thought it was good one.  But the longer Jax and his people are on my ship, the more likely something serious is going to go down.”

              “More than a bunch of them getting gunned down?  Better to take our chances?  Captain, the only soldiers we’ve got on our side are Corajen and Saiphirelle.  And they’re locked in the brig.”

              Eamonn tipped his head to the side for a moment, acknowledging the point.  “Yes, they are, but I think we can get them out.  In fact, I know I can.  I’m the captain.”

              “Should I go and fetch your cape, Captain?  To complete this super hero delusion of yours?  Rank won’t stop a bullet.”

              “Silence, you scurrilous dog!” he threatened, grinning.  Cookie smiled back.  “And you’re right, it won’t.  But it does give me the right to wander around the ship.”

              “Okay.  Let’s assume you can get the ladies out of the brig.  There are always guards on duty there.  The instant you open that door, they’re going to start shooting, whether you have an agreement with the pirate boss or not.”

              “Yeah.”  He stood up and walked into the refresher.  “I guess it wasn’t really a good idea.”

              “I just wish we had more to work with,” Cookie said.  “The rest of Security are gone, we don’t have anyone else who’s trained in fighting.  And all the weapons are under lock and key.”

              “No, but most of the crew have been involved in a fight or two, more than a few in that fight back at Instow.  And there are only sixteen of them left.  I know that’s a lot, but there’s a way we can trim them down even further.”

              “Oh?”  Cookie looked skeptical.  “I can’t wait to hear this.” 

              The captain went over to his small shower and reached up to the ceiling.  Pressing up on one of the panels there, it popped up and he reached into the hole.  He fished around for a second, apparently found what he was looking for and pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle.  Stepping out of the refresher, he went back over and set the small bundle down on the table. 

              “Not all of the weapons.”  He pulled the wrapping off to reveal a stun pistol with a full charge.  “I took this out of stores before we hit Ulla-tran and kept it in here in case the pirates decided to try for me.  It holds more shots than a needler or regular sidearm and I know how to use it.  Figured it might come in handy.”

              Cookie was nodding slowly.  “Yeah, it would certainly help.  You could hit the guards in the brig and get the sisters out.”

              “I could, but that’s not what I’m going to do with it.”  A smile slowly spread over his face.  “I think I’m going to need to speak with Quesh to borrow a few things.”

              “Then why show me this?” the cook asked.  “If you’re not going to use it…”

              “No, I’m not.  You are.”  Eamonn beamed at his friend.

              Cookie blinked in surprise.  “Me?  What?”

              “There are always two of Jax’s thugs in the mess hall, or at least during ship’s day.  How many at night?”

              Cookie shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Whenever I go in there, there are always two.”

              “Always the same two?”

              Cookie nodded.  “Ever since we stopped here in the void, yes.”

              “Good,” the captain nodded.  “Have they ever really paid much attention to you?”

              “Not really.  They’re always in there, but unless someone moves in their direction or one of the prettier female crewmembers walks through, they’re usually just talking to themselves or playing dice.”

              Eamonn nodded and set his shoulders.  “Perfect.  Then they won’t suspect anything.”

              But Cookie didn’t look convinced.  “Are you sure I can do this?  I’ve never shot anyone before.”

              “It’s only a stunner,” the captain said with a shrug.  “It won’t kill them.  Just put them down and tie them up.  Secure their weapons and radios and stash them in one of the coolers.”

              Cookie nodded nervously.  “All right.  But what about you?”

              He shrugged again.  He was starting to feel as though he was getting a nervous tic, he was shrugging so much.  “Don’t you worry about me.  I’ll tell you about it later.  This way you can’t tell them anything if something should go wrong.”

              The chef really didn’t like to hear that.  “You’re not making me feel better about this whole thing.”

              “Talk to your group,” Eamonn told him.  Cookie looked surprised.  “Oh, please, I know you’ve been getting together with Taja and Vosteros, probably a few others.  Let them in on what’s going on and have someone there in the mess hall with you when it goes down.  You’re going to need someone else to handle weapons.  When I bust the ladies out, they’ll get the guards’ guns, I know they’re much more proficient than I am.”

              Cookie was frowning so hard it looked as though his eyebrows might touch.  “Okay, that takes care of four of them, but I’ll bet the Armsmen won’t be among them and he’s the most dangerous.”

              “We’ll just have to improvise.  And I want to get this done before we jump back into hyperspace.  If guns go off, I don’t want to have to worry about someone blasting something critical and the ship tears itself apart.”

              Cookie went stark white.  “Don’t even joke about that.”

              The captain shook his head.  “Believe me, I’m not.  I’m completely serious about it.”  He nodded, flicking his chin toward the door.  “Stow that stunner under your apron and head back out, Cookie.  I think you’ve been in my stateroom long enough.  Don’t need them to get all suspicious.  Remember,” he said sternly, standing coming over to put his hands on the smaller man’s shoulders.  “Be calm.  You just left my quarters, we had a good chat, and now you’re going back to finish lunch.  But don’t do
anything
until I tell you.  And put that somewhere safe, but somewhere you can get at it if needed.”

              The chef nodded.  “Got it.  Calm.  Calm.”  He stood, continuing to repeat that word like a mantra, hiding the stunner under his apron.  “Calm.  Calm.”

              “Cookie!” the captain barked, smiling slightly.  The other man blinked.

              “Sorry,” he said, abashed.

              “
Be
calm,” he told his friend, smiling broadly.  “Don’t
say
calm.”

              “Right.”  Cookie went to the hatch.  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Captain.”

              Eamonn snorted.  “So do I, old friend.  So do I.  Oh, one favor?”

              Cookie raised his eyebrows.  “Well that depends.”

              “I think it’s one you can deliver.”

              The rotund chef sighed, dropping his arms down to his sides.  “What?”

              “When this is all over and we have the ship back, for the massive party that I’m going to throw afterwards, would you make your famous lasprauga?”

              Cookie’s face split into a massive grin and he guffawed with laughter.  “You’ve got a
deal
, Captain!”  And with that, he opened the hatch and stepped out into the corridor.

              “All right, bring up section twenty-three on the display,” Quesh ordered.  “I want a full diagnostic of these new components as they’re installed.  I do
not
want to have to yank everything back out again to test them and we don’t need faulty components breaking the good ones.  Understand me?” he roared to Main Engineering at large.

              “Yes, Chief!” the workers chorused. 

              “Good.”  Quesh traced through the lines of code that were showing up on his display, nodding slowly as he mentally ticked off each one as looking good.  The teardown of the damaged hyperdrive nacelle was going slower than he would have liked.  Getting it actually stripped and taken off the trusses was easy, but then he insisted on going over every component, wire and fiber optic to make sure there were no further failures. 
Good thing I’m doing this too, we’ve already discovered three near critical failures that needed replacement.  If they were running too much longer might have had a catastrophic failure in the topside nacelle. 
“And that would have been very bad,” he said aloud.

              “What was that, Chief?” Starkey, one of the engine room techs asked, looking up from his own console.

              “Nothing.  Just babbling to myself.”  The man nodded and turned back to his own console.  Quesh went back to his diagnostics.  “Oh, now what is this?” he said, looking at one of the lines.  He tapped a few commands, correcting the error.  They kept cropping up.  Apparently the fighting back at Ulla-tran had scrambled a few processors in the ship’s network.  Over the last few months, either Samair or Stella had done what was needed to keep the software parts of the ship running in tip top shape.  Now that both of them were out of commission, it was back to him to fix things and he didn’t have their knack for the quick and efficient fixes.  But he was working it out and there was no sense in whining that he wasn’t as good as they were.

              There was something fully satisfying about getting the ship’s systems back up and running again.  Things had been as close to factory-new as they’d ever been before Ulla-tran and Quesh didn’t like the state of things now.  Thankfully, things like the reactor and life support were still operating at peak efficiency, but there were plenty of things that needed a lot of love and a lot more work before they’d be back to Quesh’s satisfaction.  Of course, he loved getting his hands dirty and getting the ship working again, bringing her back to life for a second time.  While there was a great deal less work and less stress when everything was operating perfectly, he had to admit, things did tend to get a bit boring.  He was sure that his people appreciated the down time, after months of constant maintenance and patch jobs to keep the ragged systems functional.  But now he was truly happy, getting the old girl running again.

              “Damn, I miss Stella,” he muttered to himself, making sure to keep his voice low.  The last thing he needed was for one of the damned pirates to hear him and start asking questions.  There was probably already enough instances of people slipping up to get them interested in who this ‘Stella’ person was.  One of the engineers had made the slip early in the journey from Ulla-tran but had recovered quickly, persuading the pirate that Stella was a woman he’d met back at Kazyanenko that he’d spent a wild night with.  The thug seemed to buy it and the matter was dropped.  But a couple of others had slipped up as well and it was unlikely that the pirates were going to believe that this Stella was friendly with all of them, even if she was someone who sold her wares in a red-light district.