Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2

by Michael Kotcher

  Eamonn looked at the other man as though he had grown another head. “Can you hear yourself right now? What the hell do you think I mean to accomplish? I want to get my ship back up to speed so that we can get out of the void and back into hyper. And I want to get where we’re going in less than six months.”

  “Then we jump now and your engineers can reinstall the nacelle while we’re in hyper.”

  But the captain shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. Once we jump, no one can go out of the ship. We’d have to stop again to replace the components and that’s just another waste of time.”

  Jax’s eyes narrowed. “You seem to have grown a spine in the last few days. Make sure it doesn’t get you killed.” Without another word, he left the room, leaving the captain to stare at his retreating form in astonishment. In days gone by, Jax would have pounded the Captain for daring to stand up to him, but now he simply had an argument and then left the room after a snide comment. Clearly something more was going on.

  During all this time, Jax had been in high dudgeon, in supreme control of himself, his men and the situation as a whole. Now, however, his hostility had increased and the leash was slipping. More and more instances occurred of crewmen coming into sickbay nursing bruises or other contusions, male and female. The females of the ship’s company had started moving around in groups; no one wanted to be caught alone in a passageway or a compartment. No one had been raped or killed yet, but the random attacks were becoming more frequent. Crewmen lowered their eyes every time they passed one of the pirates in the ship’s corridors and everyone made sure not to make eye contact if they were in the same compartment. Morale was plummeting faster and something needed to happen and soon.

  But for now, repairs were moving apace, and things seemed to coming around a corner. Once they reached Amethyst, of course things would change and probably in rapid succession. If it was true that Jax intended to bring on more of Verrikoth’s bully boys then the problems and the tension might just ratchet back up. No, they would ratchet up, there was no doubt. Eamonn sighed. There was nothing to be done at this point, unless he was willing to throw caution to the wind and try and retake the ship. With so few pirates, they might never get a better chance than this.

  He stopped in the mess hall, seeing Cookie standing over a large pot of stew, grumbling to himself as he threw in some spices. Eamonn walked over, staying on the outer side of the galley steam tables, which were switched off at this time. Dinner mess wasn’t for another three hours, and lunch cleanup had just been completed a short while ago.

  “Hard at work already, Cookie?”

  The chef turned and looked over. “Captain! I’m surprised to see you here in my galley.”

  He shrugged in return. “Just thought I’d come down, see how you are.”

  Cookie’s eyebrow shot up. “And that’s all?” He flicked his glaze to a view behind the captain.

  The captain glanced over at the pair of pirate soldiers sitting at the table closest to the door. They didn’t appear to be doing anything important, just sitting and drinking coffee. “How long have they been there?”

  “Since about halfway through lunch. They ate, they tossed their trays on nearby tables and then got coffee. They plunked themselves back down at that table and haven’t moved for almost an hour now.”

  Eamonn turned and looked at them, and they looked right back. A pair of zheen, coffee mugs on the table in front of them. Their carapaces were a dusky mauve festooned with white scratches, most probably from various scrapes they’d been in. They were wearing the same surcoat as their fellows, but had bandoliers and pouches on, holding weapons, ammo and other trinkets that they didn’t want to have off their person. Zheen tended to look intimidating to most humans and these two were certainly no exception. However, having served on the Grania Estelle for years with a number of zheen, much of the mystique and ability to terrorize had worn away from the race as a whole. They were no better than any other thugs that the captain had dealt with in the past, and while they might be nasty customers, they didn’t cause him to clench up in fear. He gave them a lazy salute, two fingers up to his brow. They chittered at him, their taloned hands gripping their weapons, antennae curling in anger.

  “I can chat in about an hour, Captain, when my boys come back on to help with the dinner mess. For now I have to take care of this,” he gestured with his free hand over to the stew pot. “And then I have a few other things to take care of. But in about an hour I should be free.”

  Eamonn nodded. “That should be all right.” He pointed to the ready cooler off to the side. “Still got sandwiches in there?”

  Cookie chuckled. “Of course. Might be running a bit low, but still should be a few in there. I’m not going to let my crew go hungry, Captain.”

  “Thanks, Cookie. Meet me in my quarters when you get done here.” He stepped over to the cooler and divested it of a pair of cold cut sandwiches, and a piece of yakna fruit. He saluted the pirates again, who clacked their mandibles at him in disgust.

  A short while later, the two men were in the Captain’s cabin. He had tidied up a bit, the bottles had been tossed in for recycling, and he’d had one of the cleaner bots give the whole stateroom a thorough scrub. It no longer smelled like the bottom of a barroom trash can and even the clothes and sheets had been properly laundered. At the time, Eamonn didn’t care at all what anyone thought; he was too wrapped up in his own grief and self-pity over the whole situation in the cargo bay. Now, however, in hindsight, he was embarrassed at his antics and the state he’d allowed himself to drift into.

  Cookie nodded in approval at the other man’s stateroom. “I’m glad to see you’re looking better, Captain. I was worried about you.”

  “I’m still worried about me, Cookie, as well as everyone else,” Eamonn replied, perching on the edge of the bed. He motioned for the other man to sit at one of the chairs at the small table. “Now, I know that you and a couple of others have been plotting while your Captain has been wallowing in self-pity.”

  The chef chuckled. “Yes, Captain, we have.”

  “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 so
oner.” 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.