Kozen’ck hissed a laugh. “Councilor Hroth, I believe you have just found exactly the lever we’ll need to get the rest of the council on board with this little project.”
~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~
The council members, those that were still here in the system, were cautious at first about signing on with the project. But when Hyacinth and Carriger pointed out the benefits, they agreed to lend their support (and more importantly their treasure) to this endeavor.
“And how long will it be until the ships are ready?” one of the council asked.
“I have already spoken with representatives from R3 Systems, Tegean Industries and Vulcan’s Forge. They’ll have their factories and yards running at full tilt churning out components and parts for the various ships.” Carriger looked around the table to the other councilors as she explained. “They’ve already started, in fact. They just received a cash infusion and they’re waiting for the next one.”
“The first one?”
“Yes,” the lupusan councilor replied. “Cresswell, the Triarch and I have already put forth our shares of the amount for the ships. The first two are already in the pipeline.”
“Eight ships?” the other councilor asked, considering.
Carriger nodded. “That’s the thought. That’s what the three companies have agreed to at the price we agreed to. And before you ask,” she said, holding up one hand, “we did bargain them down. We’re not going to get a better deal than this.”
The other lupusan nodded. “I’ve worked with them on the last corvette deal we did a few months ago. The price you’ve quoted is probably the best we’re going to get.”
Cresswell scowled a bit at that comment, but her face immediately smoothed back into an unreadable mask. She clearly thought Carriger, or perhaps another member of the council, could have gotten a better deal, but she was practical enough to know that they needed this deal. They needed it for both the extra firepower the ships would bring, the bargaining power they’d bring with the press and the populace, and having their own task force answerable to no one but the council. It was certainly worth keeping the straight face.
“So you just went ahead and bought these ships, Carriger?” the other lupusan councilor demanded. Desdemona Nemkar wasn’t one of Carriger’s biggest fans, despite them both being wolves. “Without the consent of the council?”
Carriger glared at her. “I don’t need the council’s consent to buy ships. The law is rather open ended about that, which is how the First Principles people have been building up their own fleet.”
Desdemona grimaced, but nodded. “But you still came to us.”
“Eight ships are better than two,” Carriger said, shrugging. “And my pockets certainly aren’t deep enough. Besides, I was thinking of the good of the council here.” The others exchanged looks, though none of them openly disputed that comment. “I was! We need to restore some semblance of order and confidence in our leadership,” she pointed out. She gestured vaguely toward the table. “This could do that.” Seeing the lack of utter conviction on the others’ faces, she shrugged. “In the very least, it will add to our gross firepower, and I can’t imagine that anyone in this room thinks that’s a bad thing considering what just happened in the outer system.”
No one did, of course. Another few minutes of bickering and they all decided to sign on. They would put in the order for the first six ships, leaving the last two for when the Leytonstone and the remaining three councilors returned from Ulla-tran. Most likely they would all sign on, either because they agreed or because they wouldn’t want to be the only ones who didn’t have direct access to any of those ships, or because the others’ had shamed them into it. It didn’t matter really.
“The engineers and the coordinators assure me that the ships will be ready to roll off the line in just over a month and a half. And, I’ve made doubly sure that we can drop in for an inspection at any time, to make sure that our money isn’t being wasted. Oh,” she said, raising a finger. “This is the design we’re using, it’s more function over form; rather utilitarian. I am more concerned that it can do the job, not so much that it’s the sweeping model of beauty.”
“You mean like those hak’ruk designs FP uses?” one of them asked, disgust wrinkling his features. “Gaudy designs, with all those fins and wings and such. Seem wasteful, truth be told.”
“These ships are much less… gaudy,” Carriger assured the room. “I’m sure the design will be perfectly serviceable to our needs.”
“So it’s settled then?” Kozen’ck asked to the room as a whole. There were nods and indications of assent from the rest of the council members. “Excellent. Councilor Hroth, get with your contacts and make sure the extended order is in. And to all of you,” he gestured to the rest of the room, “make sure that the money is transferred into the account.”
“We’re not going to need to worry about you making off with this money, do we?” Desdemona asked, a sneer on her face.
“If you’re so concerned,” she said placatingly, “The construction account’s books are open for all of you to peruse.” She waved a hand. “Feel free.”
“Now if that’s settled,” Kozen’ck said, surveying the room with his compound eyes. “We need to start looking into recruitment and increasing trade with other systems…”
“Ma’am, you need to come in,” Tiyaana said, her face appearing on the cockpit display.
“Just a little while longer,” Tamara replied, maneuvering to grab another chunk of floating debris. This apparently was once part of the tank farm in orbit. So far she (on Moxie-2) and two other shuttles had been rounding up all the bits of metals and composites that had spread out like a cloud. It would go a lot easier and quicker if they could use a tractoring beam, sadly, her ship wasn’t equipped with one. For now, though, after seven hours of flying around and using the grapplers, a decent sized pile of debris was being clumped together, hovering in high orbit. Between the three ships, they’d collected up little more than fifteen percent of the debris, but progress was being made. They were simply lumping it all together and with a quick magnetization, the debris was holding together. It wasn’t strong enough to suck up all the drifting metal, but the charge was strong enough to hold it together once they brought it in. There was a floating ball of metal and composites that were hovering in high orbit above the gas giant, one that would be getting bigger, unless a tug dragged it off to the industrial furnace. For now, Tamara wanted to clear up more of the navigation hazards first.
“Ma’am, you really need to come in now,” the operations manager said. “I know you’re out there having fun, being one of the line workers, but now we really need you to get in here and take charge.”
“What about Captain Eamonn?” she asked, while her copilot winced. Obviously her voice was a little harsher than she’d thought. I must be getting tired. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, Ms. Moreetz. But what about him? Isn’t he in the nearby area?”
But Tiyaana shook her head. “No ma’am. Grania Estelle boosted toward the main planet when the battle started and by now…”
Tamara sighed. “Right. They’re well on their way by now and they’re going to be picking up some goods.” She made a mental note, with her implants, to send Eamonn a message about cargo. Once the gas mine was back up and churning out fuel at full capacity again, Grania Estelle would need to start hauling it to other systems. The bulk freighter was perfect for that sort of thing and using it to carry mixed cargoes was really a waste of its assets. “All right, Mike. Playtime is over. Carefully, please, take us down to the gas mine.”
The copilot sagged in relief. He’d been sitting in this cockpit as long as she had, longer. He’d been aboard Moxie-2 since the battle had started, and even before that while Tamara had done her inspection tour of the Kutok mine. She looked over at him. “Mike, just how long have you been in this cockpit?”
He shrugged. “I’ve lost track, Ma’am. Sixteen hours? Seventeen?”
“Damn it, m
an, why didn’t you say something?” she flared.
“What am I supposed to say, Ma’am? Gee, Ms. Samair, I’m awful tired.” He affected a drawl to his voice. “I’s been sittin’ in this here shuttle for a powerful long time. But you’s been awake as long as I’s been, but can you drop mes off back at that there Kutok mine so I can get some zee’s? Sure, Ma’am. That’s exactly what I would have said to you, to my boss who’s been busting her ass ever since the attack started.” He focused his attentions back on his controls and displays.
Tamara chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I have been pushing pretty hard. I’ve just felt so useless during the battle. I mean, I did help a little, but it just felt so… useless,” she repeated. She stood. “Can you take over? Get us down to dock with the mine?”
He nodded. “No sweat, Ma’am.” He focused his attention on the controls while she left the cockpit.
Viktoriya was waiting for her, a small bowl of some sort of liquid in her hand. She looked up as her principle entered. “I was wondering when you were going to stop flogging yourself and come and get some rest.”
Tamara shook her head, heading over to the small refrigerator, helping herself to a fruit juice. She took a sip from the pouch before answering. “Not too much rest, I’m afraid. There’s still a lot of work to be done. What have you been doing during the last few hours?”
The wolf shrugged, lapping up a little of the liquid. “I’ve been coordinating with the various people in the local area, trying to get a complete and accurate map of what our status is.”
Tamara tsked. She drank some more of the juice, then sighed and flopped down on one of the couches. “I should have been doing that.” The bodyguard didn’t shrug this time, but she didn’t answer either. Tamara grimaced. “And it seems like you think I should have too.”
Now she did shrug. “I wasn’t going to say anything, Ma’am.” A second later and a host of data popped on Tamara’s HUD. “Here’s what I’ve gotten so far.”
Slugging the last of the juice, Tamara began sorting through the information. It was all very thorough and well indexed. Apparently, her chief bodyguard had used her time well.
“Well, since you’ve clearly spent this time more productively than I have, give me a sit rep.”
“Not much that you don’t already know,” Viktoriya replied. “Maitland and Persistence of Vision are the company’s only defensive vessels. Thirty-two of the Vision fighters are operational, though Leader Korqath has landed most of them. I think he only has a combat aerospace patrol of four ships currently out. The rest of his pilots are down and landed. I think he intended that they all get some rack time.”
“Good. I’m sure they need it. They certainly deserve it, after the performance they put in.”
The wolf flicked her ears and grinned. “As I understand, though, Leader Korqath is planning a victory party tomorrow. It was supposed to be for just the pilots, but when the mine personnel caught wind of it, they demanded to be a part of it.”
Tamara actually laughed. “Any excuse for a party. I don’t think it took all that much to get Korqath to agree.”
“No, Ma’am, it didn’t. I guess everyone is invited and they’ll bring the party to the infirmary and the hangar decks for those who come in late.” She tipped her head to the side briefly. “Where they’re getting all the food and drink, I have no idea. The amounts that are appearing, especially since we’re not expecting another food shipment for another week, means that there has been a good deal of skimming going on. I can’t say I blame them, especially in this case, but it might be something we need to look into.”
“I’ll let it go for now,” Tamara said, but then nodded. “But you’re right. I think there might be some serious accounting of resources that needs to be done.” She wondered how much had been skimmed off the top from the various shipments of food and sundries that had been bought, paid for and delivered to the Kutok mine. There had been talk about building up and expanding the hydroponics bays, but it had been a lower priority, what with all the food shipments that had been coming in from Heb. Perhaps that was something that should be looked into again. “Let them have their fun. They’ve earned it,” she said again. She gestured. “What else?”
“We’ve lost three shuttles, four tugs and of course, Eridain, Cavalier and Angara.” Tamara sighed at this news. “Almost half of the mining station’s personnel were either taken or killed, with all the security staff captured. They took everything not welded down on board that station: food, medical supplies, spare parts, all of the metal stock aboard the station and in nearby space. Hell, they even ripped a few consoles and power cells out of the bulkheads. They also made off with the entire store of gadolinium that was aboard the mining station. Thankfully we, or rather you, already had two-thirds of it transferred to the shipyard complex.”
Tamara shook her head in disgust. “I can’t say that it’s really a surprise. What is a surprise is the fact that they only destroyed the tank farm and the defensive platforms. I was actually expecting a full-fledged slash and burn of everything.”
“It’s strange,” the guard admitted. “But I think there’s really only two reasons that the pirates would leave with most of our infrastructure still standing.” Tamara gestured for her to continue. “Either the pirates had taken more losses than they’d expected and ran away for fear of losing more.”
Tamara shook her head. “That heavy cruiser had been hit hard by Korqath’s strike, but the point defense on that beast was just hellish. Not as much of the fighters’ missiles got through. That cruiser was more than capable of fighting, and even with the knife strike that transport had taken, I’m sure they would have been able to patch things up and launch shuttles down to the Kutok mine in a matter of hours. Corajen might have been happier if that happened, though,” she said musingly.
Viktoriya chuckled. “Yes, I suppose she would have.”
“What’s your other reason?”
“They did it deliberately,” she responded. “And you’re too shrewd not to have guessed that for yourself.”
Tamara nodded. “You’re right of course. It is something I’ve considered. And the only reason I can think of for that is because the pirates intend to return. They’ve cleaned us out of fuel and metals and they made a good haul of it. I suspect Verrikoth is well pleased with what he made off with. And if he did well this time, I’m sure he’s thinking he could do just as well next time.”
“Sound logic,” she said. “But he got exceptionally lucky. If the Leytonstone or more of the system defense ships had still been here when he showed up, I think this battle might have been quite different.”
“True, but he came in under stealth. I think that if his sensors had detected the battlecruiser, they simply would have ignited their engines and tore out of here. A heavy cruiser and two light cruisers even with their escorts would have been hard pressed to take on a battlecruiser and emerge as anything other than battered wrecks.” The woman grimaced, gritting her teeth. “But we can’t ever hope on getting that lucky again. We won’t be that lucky again. We caught the pirates by surprise and their fighters weren’t anywhere near as effective against our Zlk’vzn’s. But the next time they come here, they’re going to have heavier forces, better ships. We can’t stand.”
“What kind of attitude is that, Ma’am?” the bodyguard asked. “We did before, we will again. And in a month or so, Leytonstone and the task force will be back and the pirates will think twice about coming here again.”
But Tamara shook his head. “No, we cannot keep counting on that ship. Not alone. Even if the battlecruiser was in the system when the pirates showed up, if it was near to the planet when the pirates hit the gas mine, the outcome would have been the same. We can’t rely on the hope of that battleship riding to the rescue again. Not again. Never again.” There was a dark fervor in her eyes when Viktoriya caught her gaze. “I heard that the government is calling on some local companies to start building more ships. I approve. But we’re going to have
to do a great deal of work of our own.” She cleared her throat and ran her fingers through her hair. “First things first, we need to get the Kutok mine back up to production and get a place to store any surplus. I need to get on the horn with the Samarkand, get them out here and rebuild the tank farm.”
“Actually, Ma’am…”
Tamara sighed heavily, her spine turning to ice. “What…?”
“The Samarkand took two hits from the pirates retreating from the mining station. Her engines are down and the main production floor’s been breached.” The wolf’s voice grew very quiet. “Nineteen dead and sixty wounded. I’ve been speaking with Nasir. I guess several of the power conduits were damaged, two severed. Repairs are underway, but it’s going to be several days before the ship is even mobile let alone getting operational again.”
“Oh, well, that’s just wonderful.” Her face got a faraway look, accessing the ship’s internal comms through her implants. “Mike, change of plans. Take us up out of the atmosphere and set course for the Samarkand. We’ve got some work to do. You can rest here on the ship while I go and assist with repairs.”
“Ma’am,” Viktoriya interrupted. “You’re exhausted. You’ve been running full tilt just like everyone else. You need some rest. Get a few hours rack time and then you can help out the people on the repair ship.”
But Tamara shook her head. “I can sleep later.” She closed her eyes. “Mike, you heard me?” Then she nodded as she received his reply. “Thank you.” She opened her eyes. “I’ll have to liaise with Nasir while we travel, but we can’t wait. I can’t stop for half a day and get distracted by parties and meetings. That ship has to get back online and get back to building.”
The bodyguard nodded. “Very well, Ma’am.” She seemed understanding, but Tamara had the feeling that the discussion wasn’t over. Maybe she could rack out for a few hours while they flew to the repair ship. Mike should too. There was a couch he could use and Viktoriya knew how to fly the ship. She could handle that while the two of them napped for a few hours.
A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 Page 18
