A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4

by Michael Kotcher

  “I’ll second that,” Carriger replied. “That man always seems like he’s perfectly at home on that ship of his, but he always…”

  “Gives you the creeps?”

  “Just a bit,” the lupusan admitted. “But, until Gants gets back, he is the best we’ve got.”

  “That’s why I sent Curroth out to the outer system. I wanted to be sure we had the gas mine covered.” Kozen’ck stood and began to pace slowly around the conference table. “But I was serious. We’re going to have to take this to the council, see if we can find a suitable candidate.”

  But Carriger didn’t even hesitate. “Look no further. I want to volunteer.”

  The zheen halted his pacing for a moment. “You’re serious? You want to volunteer to leave the planet and the orbital and all of the scheming and plotting to go out there?”

  She barked a laugh. “I can do with a break from all of the wheeling and dealing, yes. Besides, if you think that going to the Kutok mine, or even staying on one of the Navy ships is going to be less stressful than staying here you’ve clearly not been paying attention.”

  The zheen studied her for a long moment, his antennae waving in the air, his mouthparts moving. “You’re sure you want to do this? Because I know Cresswell wouldn’t want to do it. Neither would Kly or Chakrabarti.”

  She looked amused. “There are other members of the admin council you know. And anyone who gets chosen for the job doesn’t even need to be a member of the council to be our representative out there.”

  His mouthparts writhed. “You’re really going to suggest that we nominate someone other than a council member to go out there and represent our interests?”

  Carriger flicked her ears. “No, of course not. There are a handful I would trust to report back to us as our agent to keep an eye on things, but none that I would trust to represent us.”

  He paused for a moment. “So you’re really going to do this?”

  The lupusan glared at him. “I’m not giving up my council seat, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  Kozen’ck chittered. “I was starting to get worried. You were making it sound as though you were going swanning off to the outer system leaving the real work to the rest of us.”

  “I’ll just be a transmission away and three days away by fast ship if you need me for some important vote or conference or something. So don’t you dare think that you’re going to leave me out of something just because I’m out at the gas giant. I’ll be taking a staff with me.”

  “Your own,” he said.

  She nodded. “Of course my own. And as far as the others are concerned, hey, the three on the battlecruiser didn’t didn’t have to leave for Ulla-tran and the others didn’t want to be interviewed by that backstabbing snake of a reporter.” Carriger shrugged. “Their loss.”

  He buzzed with laughter. “I guess so. When will you leave?”

  “In two weeks,” she replied without hesitation. “The first of the new corvettes will be ready. I’ll ride out on that ship; the second one will be ready five days after that.”

  “Might make more of an impression if you were to arrive with two ships instead of having them trickle in.”

  She grinned. “You see, Kozen’ck, ideas like that are why you are the Triarch and the rest of us are not.”

  “They’re doing what?” Tamara demanded, putting a hand to her forehead.

  “I’m only relaying what has been told to me, Tamara,” Galina replied. They were seated in one of the conference rooms on the Kutok mine, where Tamara had been overseeing the rebuilding of the refueling piers and the tank farm which was nearly finished. The regular maintenance had been completed on all of the processing sectors aboard the mine and fuel was pumping up from the atmosphere and through those sectors and into the station’s tanks. From there, the shuttles and the larger fuel tender would bring it up out of the atmosphere and to the tank farm, which was building up a healthy reserve in the completed containment pods. There had been talk of spinning up long hoses made of carbon nanofiber that would extend down from the tank farm to the mine, which would make the transfer of the fuel much easier, but that was a project for another time.

  “The council has decided to take a greater interest in what happens out here,” the lupusan said. “Apparently they’ve decided to take a more active role in what we’re doing as well as the lives and welfare of their citizens on the far part of the system. Which means that they’re sending one of their own out here to ‘oversee’ things.”

  “And what the hell does that exactly mean?” she demanded, throwing her hands in the air.

  “It means what it means, Tamara,” the lupusan said calmly, folding her hands and settling more comfortably in her chair. “I don’t think that whoever gets sent out here will try to get too involved in the day to day operations out here, not if they don’t want to get you pissed off.”

  “I’m already pissed off,” Tamara groused.

  Galina looked amused. “Calm yourself, Tamara. They’re the admin council. They’re just something we need to deal with. And if they start to get too uppity or pushy, I’m sure you’re capable enough to distract them with something shiny.”

  “Something shiny?” Tamara replied, a smile making its way through her funk. Then it hit her. “Like a really big ball of soon to be steel?”

  Galina shrugged. “That would seem to be a good start. And all things considered, the big flying shield is a good idea. If you can make it work.”

  Tamara gave her a sour look. “After all this time, after everything I’ve managed to accomplish and you still doubt whether I can make it work?”

  “Just checking,” she replied with an ear flick. Then she sobered. “I assume everything is still on schedule?”

  Tamara nodded. “Yes. The heaters are done and busy melting down the asteroids, we’ll start slowly bringing in the components.” It had taken some fast talking and more than a few credits to get quantities of the trace compounds needed from some of the mines and quarries on the planet surface. Three Testudo shuttles loaded down with the compounds were making their way across the system, only needing to wait for the molten ball of iron to be fully separated out. The newsies, strangely enough, hadn’t wanted to get aboard a ship and come to the outer system, though perhaps it was more that none of the ship captains wanted one of those bloodsuckers aboard her ship to bring any of them out. It was only a matter of time, though, before one or more of the news agencies decided that getting a crew out here was in their best interests and it wasn’t as though Tamara could ban them. While some areas were off limits, there were public areas on the Kutok mine that anyone could go to and once someone higher up (or a reporter looking for a scoop) figured that out and secured passage, the game would truly be over.

  Five days later, an advance party from the government arrived, having booked passage to the mine on one of the passenger liners that traversed the system every few weeks. A rat faced little man, clearly an officious little toady had stepped off the transport and made a beeline straight for Tiyaana Moreetz’s office. No one seemed to know what to do with him, and he kept brandishing a slip of flimsi denoting his authority as an aide to a member of the admin council, so within less than an hour he’d gotten himself a meeting with the manager of the mine. Five minutes after that, he’d booked a suite (one of the three suites) in the living quarters of the station, to be used as living quarters and offices for the councilor. It didn’t take long for Tamara to get wind of it and she made a trip over to the mine, forcing her to change all sorts of plans to meet up with her new guards at the shipyard, which in turn forced them to have to seek other transportation to come out and meet her.

  Tamara sat in one of the conference rooms, her arms crossed over her chest, trying very hard not to scowl. The little man thought himself impressive; that was clear from his posture, his tone and other mannerisms. “Now see here, Tamara,” the man went on, his use of her given name proof of his lack of respect. “Councilor Hroth will be coming out here in
less than a month and she will be setting up offices here. I need to be sure that everything is perfect for her arrival so that there is a smooth transition.”

  “Lorimar,” she said, using his first name. “I understand-“

  But he held up a hand, cutting her off. “You may address me as Undersecretary Wyatt.”

  She pasted on a smile. “Then you may address me as Captain Samair. You are, after all, on my company’s station and you’re looking for me to get things done.”

  “A useless title,” the man scoffed. “You are a captain of no ship.”

  Her smile remained fixed. “Then clearly your information sources are lacking, Undersecretary. I went through and passed the company’s qualifications for Captain quite some time ago and as far as having a ship, well, that is a matter of public record. Moxie-2 might not be hyper capable, but she’s no longer a company asset. I purchased her outright from the company several months ago. Captain Eamonn has been gracious enough to let me continue to use company resources to keep her fueled and maintained, but that ship is mine.” She let the smile drop. “Now, may we dispense with the bull?”

  The man growled. “Yes, I would expect that’s best. Now as I was saying, the Councilor will be here soon and I need to make sure things are ready.”

  Tamara raised an eyebrow. “Soon? And what exactly do you think it is that the Councilor is going to be needing?”

  “I’ve told you before,” he said with exaggerated patience, though clearly his was coming to an end. “I’m going to need the suite, actually possibly another as well for conferences. We’re going to need daily access to at least one of the conference rooms.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “Now you’re getting ridiculous. This isn’t a hotel. I’m more than willing to accommodate some of these requests, but you can’t have two of the three suites. You can have one. I want to keep two available in case they’re needed.”

  “But they are needed, Captain Samair,” he said, his tone slightly condescending. “You need to make it available for official business for the councilor.”

  “I’ll discuss it with Ms. Moreetz, my Operations manager for the mine. Which brings me to my other point,” she said, giving the man a stern look. “I’m not giving you or your councilor anything. You’re going to pay for everything that Councilor Hroth uses.” She held up a hand. “I’m not saying it has to come out of anyone’s pocket directly, but I want payment vouchers or payment directly from government accounts to cover these expenses.”

  The man spluttered. “But that’s ridiculous! This is a member of the administratory council and her staff! You can’t expect them to pay like transient crewmembers coming aboard the station for liberty.” He was beyond offended at the very thought. “I am not going back to the Councilor with that, an invoice by the stars.”

  Tamara shrugged then. “I see. Well, if that’s your final answer, then you, your Councilor and all of her staff can stay aboard the ships she’s going to be riding out here and she can conduct any and all business from there.” She spun on her heel and walked to the hatch, ignoring his gasp and halting stutters.

  “Wait, that’s it? No negotiations, just ‘pay up or ship out?’” he demanded. “That’s outrageous! Everything is subject to negotiations.”

  She turned back. “No, sir, I’m sorry. Not this time. This is not a government installation, it’s a civilian one owned by a civilian corporation. The government is currently our largest client and that does buy you a measure of good will and even favors that I wouldn’t normally allow, but that doesn’t mean you can just decide that you’re going to overrun the facilities here because you think you are entitled. So, if you want the accommodations, fine, but you will pay for them.”

  He stared at her, flabbergasted. “I’ll have to discuss this with Councilor Hroth before I can commit to any kind of payment arrangement.”

  Tamara nodded. “Of course. This is why she sent you out here, after all. To iron out all the details before her august presence arrives.”

  Several moments later, Tamara was in one of the small offices and Magnus’s porcine visage appeared on her HUD. “Was that wise, Samair?”

  She sighed, setting down her stylus. “I don’t know. Probably not. But I want it understood up front that the council does not own this facility and pissing me off is only going to get me to dig in my heels.”

  He grunted, nodding. “If you annoy them too many times, though, they may just decide that this whole station, the company, everything needs to be away from people like you and just take it.”

  “Just take it? Steal company property? For doing things they should be doing in the first place, like paying for a room they intend using?” She scoffed. Then after a moment, she sobered. “I’ll try and tone it down a bit, but that little prick just made me so angry! And it feels as though they keep sending just the biggest assholes out here to deal with me, as though they’re going to wear me down, or their incredible charm is going to magically make me change my mind or my ways.”

  “All I ask, Samair,” Magnus went on, “Is that you don’t get things too difficult out here. I don’t want to have to be breaking up fights on my nice orderly station.”

  She smiled. “I’ll try, Magnus. And despite appearances, I don’t want to be starting fights either. But they just keep pushing me.”

  He nodded again. “Oh, I have some good news for you.”

  Tamara gave him a grimace. “I could use some right now. But this better not be another joke.”

  “Mondragon is back.”

  She brightened. “Now that is good news.”

  “We’re approaching the gas giant, Captain,” the sensor officer reported. “There’s a lot of activity going on in nearby space and in orbit.”

  “Yes, I see that,” Leicasitaj answered, his facial tentacles twitching. “Is that debris?”

  “Yes, sir,” the officer replied. “Though I’m seeing several tugs trying to police it up. There’s a large collection of it out of the way on a different orbital track than a lot of the construction. I think that the company is putting it there to move it to the new industrial that I’m seeing in orbit.”

  “Commander Samair built another furnace?” he asked, impressed. Then he stopped. “Wait, where are the defense ships? I’m seeing the new destroyer there, but where are the corvettes? I don’t see any of them. And are those government ships there?” he asked, pointing at the display.

  “Yes, sir, they are: the Navy destroyer Curroth and two of their corvettes.” The sensor watch checked his displays, pressing a few keys. “I’m showing no signs of any of the FP defense corvettes, sir.”

  “What in the name of the hell happened here?” Leicasitaj demanded. “We’re gone for less than three months and everything goes all crazy. Why would the company move all the defense ships and bring in Navy vessels?”

  “Actually sir,” the sensor watch said, swallowing hard. “The company didn’t move the defender ships. That cloud of debris contains remnants of at least two different ships, the Eridain and the Cavalier.” She brought up two different images of debris, one of them showing torn hull fragments, one of which had the letters RIDAI printed on them, though it was clear that there were missing letters on either side.

  The Romigani slumped back into the command seat. His head was spinning. “What the hell happened?” he whispered. Then his resolve seemed to return. “Comms, see if you can get Commander Samair on the line. We need to find out the situation.”

  A moment passed while the comms watch contacted the the various ships and finally the Kutok mine, until finally the watch stander turned back to him. “I’ve got Ms. Samair, Captain.”

  Leicasitaj pushed a control on the arm of his chair, bringing up a display. “Commander Samair.”

  “Captain, I have to say it is very good to see you and your ship back here,” Tamara replied, looking relieved. “But where is the rest of the delegation? Was there a fight? The station’s sensor net is not showing any damage to your shi
p.”

  He waved one hand. “No ma’am, the Councilors just sent me on ahead to report. Oh, they’re working out some sort of trade deal with the government of Ulla-tran wherein First Principles will sell them a huge load of fuel. So when you can get Captain Eamonn and Grania Estelle out here to tank up, we’ve got a buyer. I’m sending you the contract with the Ulla-tran government.” He pressed a control, sending the data packet. “Councilors Chakrabarti and Kly wanted to make sure that you got them.”

  Tamara smiled wryly, though it was clear from his still somewhat limited understanding of human facial expressions that the woman was both amused and shocked to hear what he’d said. “Well, it seems I anticipated the request. Grania Estelle left here four days ago on route to Ulla-tran. I’m surprised you didn’t see them.”

  “We must have just missed them before they jumped to hyperspace, ma’am,” Leicasitaj said with a shrug.

  “Mmm. But I have to say that I am shocked to hear that Councilor Kly had anything to do with getting a business contract for First Principles. He hates my guts.”

  Leicasitaj gave a watery chuckle. “He’s not too fond of me either, ma’am. Made me turn over the gadolinium shipment we brought.”

  Tamara froze, her face growing dark with anger. “And I’m sure that he didn’t make any repayment for the large amount of the gadolinium I had you bring along.” When the Romigani didn’t immediately respond, she cursed. “I don’t know what I was thinking, letting you bring that much with you.”

  “You were trying to build bridges between the two systems, Ma’am,” Leicasitaj said, though it wounded lame even to his ears.