Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (47 page)

              “No, I just got knocked down,” Tamara replied.  But then a symbol on her HUD popped up that she hadn’t seen since her Navy days back on Hudora.  It was a symbol indicating that this male, this elderly lupusan carried Navy implants, similar to her own.  She tried to mentally send a recognition signal, but then winced when she remembered that because of that damned disruptor, she couldn’t send any signals. 

              But it seemed that this wolf caught the same thing and his implants pinged hers.  Information flooded into her HUD and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw it. 
Konstantin Tyannikov
,
Republic Navy, Retired.
  Her breath caught in her throat.  “Constant Tyranny?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

              The lupusan raised his head, his topaz eyes boring into hers.  “I haven’t heard that nickname in over two hundred and fifty years,” he said.  Then his eyes widened.  “Commander Samair?”

              “Chaplain Tyannikov, it
is
you!” she gushed, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder. 

              His breath became shallow.  “H-how?  How is this possible?  You should be dead!”

              “I nearly did, Chaplain,” she replied.  “One of the officers under my command set me up on smuggling and larceny charges and my CO made sure the charges stuck.  I was about to be convicted and the only thing that saved me from a guilty verdict was the attack by the Federation.  That officer grabbed me, shot me and stuck me in a damaged escape pod.  I went into hibernation sleep and just drifted out of the battle area.  I was picked up a few months ago by the crew on a freighter; I’m with them now.”

              The lupusan was at a loss for words.  “By the light of the stars, this truly is a miracle.”

              “I’ll say,” she beamed.  Impulsively, she hugged the wolf man, throwing her arms around his neck.  “I thought…  I thought that it was all gone.  That I would never see any of the good people from…  from back then.”  She said.  She released him but didn’t step back far, putting her hands on her hips.

              “Samair!” Eamonn’s voice bellowed out of the crowd.  Tamara turned her head and saw the three of them hustling back toward her.

              “You in trouble again, ma’am?” Konstantin asked, an amused look on his face.

              Tamara rolled her eyes.  “Oh, Chaplain.  I don’t care about any of that right now.  How is it possible you’re here?  I thought you were stationed in the Otakai system.”

              He patted her arm.  “Oh, the dimness of officers.  Ma’am, that
was
two and a half centuries ago.  You didn’t expect me to stay there, stationed with the others on the old
Steadfast
forever?”

              “Up until one minute ago, I thought you and all the others were all dead,” she said, grinning like a fool.  “It just seemed so strange that you would be so many light years away.  Two sectors away!”

              The lupusan as well was smiling.  “This is not the place to catch up.  And the stars know we have so many stories to tell.”

              “Samair!” the captain’s voice carried through the crowd.  People in the shops were looking around, trying to see who was yelling.

              “You’re right, Chaplain,” Tamara said, her head spinning.  Things were moving so fast.  “That’s my Captain calling for me and you’re right.  We can’t talk here.  Are you going to be on station long?  Can I meet up with you… um… later this evening?  I don’t know how long the meeting is going to last.”

              He chuckled.  “Of course, ma’am.  I will be here on the station.  I can meet you up at Shaunessey’s up on level four.  I’ll be up there after 1600.”

              “That should be fine,” she said, unable to stop herself from grinning, feeling as though she was babbling. 

              “Then I shall see you this evening, ma’am,” Konstantin said, standing up straighter.  “Enjoy your meeting.”  And with that he turned and walked off, into the crowd.  She watched him go.

              Tamara turned to the Captain and the other two lupusan females as they approached.  “What the hell happened?” Eamonn demanded.  “We turned around and you were gone.  And why the hell are you so happy?”

              “I…” she trailed off.  Her head was still spinning from what had just happened.  “I just met an old friend from my old life.”

              The Captain and Saiphirelle both looked surprised.  Galina looked only confused.  “Who?”

              “Chaplain Konstantin Tyannikov,” Tamara replied, smiling after her old friend, who had long since disappeared in the bustle of people through this section of the station.  “He was the chaplain aboard my last cruiser posting, when I was Chief Engineer on the
Steadfast
back in the Republic just before I got reassigned to Hudora.”

              “You know the Star Chaser?” Galina asked derisively.  “The one who says that the stars will save us all?”

              Tamara shrugged.  “He was a good person when I knew him.  And I look forward to knowing him again.”

              Eamonn eyed her for a long moment.  “Well, it’ll have to wait until we’re done.  We have a meeting to get to.”

              She nodded.  “Of course, Captain.  Please, lead the way.”

              Galina eyed her for a moment, but Tamara was flying too high now for the Administrator’s mood or words to bring her down.

Chapter 16

              The conference room selected for the meeting was fairly opulent by the standards of the orbital station.  The interior of the room was large, with a long table wooden capable of seating forty.  The deck was covered with plush, maroon pile carpeting so thick that Tamara marveled that people didn’t lose their shoes in it.  The upper sections of the bulkheads were painted a pale yellow with the lower half painted a hunter green.  There were glow panels illuminating the lower section of the wall, giving it a soft, oblique lighting making the compartment seem bigger and more comfortable for it.  There were ornate wall hangings, a few were tapestries, others were oil paintings, and one was a large mirror framed in gold.

              Two consoles were located within the compartment, one just inside the door, the other at the far end.  No one sat at either one, though a dozen people were already seated on one side of the table.  It was a mix of people, eight humans, evenly divided with males and females, two male Severites, a male zheen and a male lupusan.  All of them were dressed in business attire, and it seemed to Tamara that her own party from the
Grania Estelle
were looking particularly shabby in their gray red-trimmed shipsuits.  The gold star spiral rank devices on the Captain’s collar twinkled in the light, but none of them from the freighter looked to be as professional as those on the other end of the table.  Saiphirelle in her tunic, vest and kilt, decked out in weaponry definitely looked out of place in this compartment.

              The zheen stood, his deep mauve carapace seeming to absorb the light in the room.  “Captain Eamonn, thank you for coming.  Please, you and your people may sit.”  He gestured to the seats.  Eamonn led his people closer to the opposite side, seating himself in the middle, flanked by Tamara and Galina, while Saiphirelle took a seat down the table from the others, with easy line of sight to everyone else in the compartment.  Eyes flicked over everyone in Eamonn’s party, taking in the appearance on that side of the table, though no overt comments were made.

              “I am Triarch Kozen’ck,” the zheen went on, sitting back down.  “And we’ve convened this little get together so that we can speak about matters concerning the battlecruiser
Leytonstone
.”

              Eamonn cleared his throat, suddenly feeling that this meeting was far more formal than he’d expected.  “Yes, Triarch, that’s right,” he replied, correctly assuming that the word Triarch was the zheen’s rank.

              “Well,” Kozen’ck went on, “over the last few weeks, we’ve seen the impressive repairs you and your crew have been affecting on your ship.”

              “I’ve also noticed,” one of the humans, a plump, balding man with a wheezing, nasal voice, and an air of importance, “that you’ve been helping yourself to a great deal of our resources in this system.  The asteroids and the fuel from one of the gas giants.”

              “And I’ve been happy to refine the minerals from the gas giant into useable helium 3 fuel,” Eamonn countered, “At a considerable discount from what I normally would charge.”

              “A discount?” the man nearly shrieked, his face going red.  “You’re selling our own fuel back to us!”

              “
Mister
Kly,” Kozen’ck snapped.  “Control yourself.”

              The man glared at the zheen, who refused to back down.  He swallowed several times, forcing himself to calm down.  His face turned a few shades lighter, but it was clear he was still angry.   “So you came here, helped yourself to the asteroids and materials from this system without any sort of permission from proper authorities.”

              “I have another point I’d like to bring up,” one of the women asked, her eyes on the freighter captain.

              Kozen’ck gave a buzz, a zheen equivalent of a sigh, but when he spoke, his voice was clear and uninflected.  Tamara noted that, as well as the somewhat political tone that she was detecting.  It was clear that the members gathered here all had their own agendas, that was no surprise, but it was also clear that there was an undercurrent of hostility between the various members here, and not all of it was directed Captain Eamonn and his actions.  It seemed that more than a few of the people here were upset that this meeting was even taking place, that their otherwise comfortable, orderly and predictable routines here were disrupted by the arrival of this outsider trader and his crew.

              “Yes, Ms. Cresswell?”

              She straightened a bit in her seat.  “I’d like to know where it is that you and your crew are getting the parts and equipment you need to fix up your ship, Captain,” she said.  “And since we’re here to discuss the repair and restoration of our battlecruiser, I’d like to know how it is that you plan on doing that without a serious industrial operation.”

              “Well, ma’am…” the captain began, but Kly cut him off.

              “Yes, I’d like to know that as well,” he blustered, giving Eamonn a dirty look.  The captain sat for a moment and waited.  He knew that the man wouldn’t be able to stop himself from asserting his authority.  His patience was rewarded.  “Well?  You demand this meeting and now you don’t speak?  What the hell are we doing here?”

              Eamonn simply sat and patiently waited.  The others wouldn’t let this stand.  And he was right.  Kozen’ck stood.  “We aren’t going to be learning anything if you keep interrupting.”  Kly started to speak again, but it was Kozen’ck that cut him off.  “Please be quiet,
Mister
Kly.  Let the Captain speak.”  He kept his face turned toward the man until Kly subsided and sat back.  “Thank you, sir.  Captain, please continue.”

              The captain gave a bit of a smirk.  “Thank you, Triarch.  My ship has several industrial fabricators and machine shops that are able to provide the industrial support needed.  All we need is fuel, personnel and raw materials.  I already have contracts with several parties on the station to deliver quantities of helium 3.  I petitioned for and received a license to operate my own collectors in the gas giant’s atmosphere.  In fact, business is booming.  I need to look into getting another collector made.”  He looked over to Kly.  “So to answer your accusation, sir, I’m providing a service that so far no one else was doing.”

              Kly scowled, but said nothing.

              Cresswell leaned forward a bit in her chair, tapping one manicured finger on the table.  “Captain, you said you have machine shops and… what was the word?  Fabricators?”

              “Yes, ma’am,” he replied.  “That is correct.”

              “And where did you get these fabricators?”

              “I’ve always had them on my ship, ma’am,” Eamonn told her.  “A little less than a year ago I was able to utilize them to their fullest potential and was able to overhaul the majority of my ship.  Unfortunately, we got into a tangle with a pirate flotilla about two months ago and she got shot up.  We’ve been working to repair the damage.”

              “Why is it that you think we need your help, Captain?” Cresswell asked.  Her voice seemed curious, not accusing. 

              Eamonn smiled.  “Ms. Cresswell, I’ll be blunt.  You may decide not to take
my
help, but that ship does need help.  My sensors indicated that the
Leytonstone
is nearly completely powered down, though we have been able to determine that the ship is running off the station power.  A ship that size should have a crew of, what?  Two thousand?”  He glanced at Tamara.

              She nodded.  “At least.”

              “And who is this?” Kly asked loudly.

              “My name is Tamara Samair, I’m Third Engineering Officer aboard the
Grania Estelle
,” Tamara answered coolly.  “I have some experience in working with warships.”

              The others looked interested, but Eamonn spoke before they could.  “So instead of having several thousand people on board, as of a week ago we detected about a hundred people aboard.  Not really conducive to protecting the system against threats, in my opinion.”  Some of the members exchanged looks, but no one said anything.  “I’ve noticed that the ship has one turbolaser battery that seems functional.  Without seeing it in action, I can’t really tell, but the sensor feeds look to be decent.”  He eyed Kly sardonically.  “But again, not really conducive to protecting this star system.  Oh, I think you could make a good show of it.  Anyone with a small enough force coming in might be fooled seeing the ship at the station, but if they come in far enough, they won’t be.  And maybe, if they came in on the right vector,
Leytonstone
might be able to tear them a new one, but if they don’t, well…”  It didn’t need further elaboration.

              More looks exchanged.  Kozen’ck’s antennae whirled in a combination of aggravation and amusement.  “Well Captain, now that you’ve sufficiently scared us to death, now what?  Assuming we’re interested in working with you, why should we?”

              Vincent shrugged.  Tamara smiled inwardly.  “I’m the one who can get you what you need.”

              “And you know what that sounds like,” Cresswell said sourly.

              He raised his eyebrows.  “What does that sound like, ma’am?” he asked.

              “It sounds like you’re strong arming us,” the woman replied.  “Don’t think I didn’t notice that very subtle dig that made about your ship getting into a tangle with a pirate flotilla.  So either we work with you and buy the parts and equipment you can provide, or we send you packing and be completely defenseless when that flotilla shows up in our backyard.”  She spread her hands.  “So, I applaud the barrel you’ve got us over.”

              There was a long pause while people shuffled their feet or cleared their throats.  “Well, ladies and gentlemen,” Vincent said, putting his palms on the table.  “As I said from the outset when I first contacted your government, I felt I had a service that you needed.”

              “All salesmen think that,” Kly said snidely.  “I think my esteemed colleague was correct.”  He indicate Cresswell.  “I think you’re here to try and badger us into buying from you.”

              Eamonn gave a tired smile and then looked to Tamara and then to Galina.  Both of them locked eyes with him for a moment and then he nodded.  “Well, I understand that your own engineers have already started to bring the ship back up to operational capacity.  I guess this meeting was little more than pro forma.  Though I do appreciate your time.”  He stood and the others followed his lead. 

              “Wait,” Kozen’ck said, holding up one mauve hand.  “What makes you think that we are working on the ship?”

              Eamonn gestured to Galina.  “My friend here indicated that her ship had its main reactor removed as well as the entire power distribution system.  I assume you’re pulling that gear to install it aboard the
Leytonstone
.  It’s really the only scenario that makes sense.”

              “Really?” Kly asked, his voice dangerous.  “And why exactly is the
former
Administrator doing flapping her gums about…
anything
to do with government assets to outsider civilians?”  He looked straight at the lupusan, who visibly flinched. 

              Cresswell rallied to this point as well.  “Yes, I’d like to hear about this also.  Why is this person even
at
this meeting?  I remember specifically ordering that we did not need or, for that matter,” she said with a scathing glance at Galina, “
want
her at this meeting.”

              “I requested she accompany me to this meeting, ma’am,” Vincent replied, looking over to and nodding to the lupusan. 

              “Why?” the woman asked.

              Vincent looked over to her.  There was no doubt that her demeanor and her facial expressions were challenging, even hostile.  “Ms. Cresswell, I met up with Administrator Galina some months ago when her ship was in distress in a system my ship had just arrived in.  Well, I say in distress, but the crew had all evacuated down to the planet, save for a few engineers.  The ship’s reactor was in a bad way, leaking lethal amounts of radiation and the crew was trying to effect repairs.  Sadly without much luck.”

              “Yes, yes,” Kly interrupted.  “We’ve all heard this sob story.”

              “Oh, good,” Eamonn replied, his face earnest.  “Then you know that had my ship not showed up, the
Kara
most likely would be dead in orbit of that planet and the crew stuck down on the surface.  The Administrator and I spoke at length, and we struck up an arrangement that would allow her to get her ship fixed up.  My engineers went aboard, and we worked together to remove the damaged reactor, affect radiation cleanup of the entire ship and then install a new one.  In addition, my engineers replaced or otherwise upgraded the entire power distribution system, as well as a few other systems.  And from what the good Administrator tells me…”

              “It seems the ‘good Administrator’ likes to run her mouth,” Cresswell said caustically.  “Especially to civilians who have no business poking their noses into official government affairs.”

              Galina glowered at the woman, with a look of pure venom.  Eamonn tipped his head to one side, perhaps in acknowledgement.  “She tells me that the
Kara
is getting stripped down to the bulkheads, pulling everything that my people put in and bringing it over to the
Leytonstone
.  Now, you need to understand that jury rigging those components might be possible, but it certainly isn’t going to be a perfect solution.  They’re civilian grade components.”