A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4

by Michael Kotcher

  Nanjek smiled. “Fifteen.”

  “Twenty,” Frederick countered. “And that’s just for me. I want five million each for my crew members.”

  The journalist’s expression took on a sour cast, and he gritted his teeth. It was a little high, Frederick reflected, but he could tell that the man wanted this story. Wanted it badly. Then, abruptly, he nodded. “Very well, Captain Vosteros. Get your legal counsel together and we’ll get you a contract. And then you will get me that data. And then we’ll get you to makeup, because you and your crew are going to be my first interview tonight.”

  “We get those contracts signed and the credits transferred and we’ll be there,” Frederick promised. He’d seen Hardison’s news program before and the man was a straight shooter. He didn’t bring people in and then ambush them. He was trying to get the best story possible to his viewers, not score points with cheap shots. It would be nerve wracking, to be sure, but not a horror show.

  But the thoughts of the screams of anguish coming from the powers that be at S-Int when the news got out that he’d gone to them first and they’d shooed him away made him smile.

  Chapter 12

  Nemesis’s arrival back in the Tyseus star system wasn’t filled with the excitement and pomp that the warlord wanted for the return from the heavy cruiser’s maiden mission. It was more with a sense of relief that they had returned to a safe system than exulting as triumphant victors.

  The raid on Seylonique had been a mixed bag, though Verrikoth had been willing to call it an expensive success. The loss of three of his four corvettes and all but eight of his fighter craft, all but one of his gunships, as well as heavy damage to Ganges and minor damage to Nemesis wasn’t anything to sneer at, but the haul from the target star system had been good. The warlord’s ships were still functional but he was hardly the conquering hero. Thankfully, the holds of his cargo ships were laden with refined minerals, He3 fuel and various odds and ends plundered from the Seylonique mining station. He also had eighty-seven technicians captured from the mining station; twenty or so of them were supposed to be transferred over to General Typhon’s ships as part of the General’s cut. The General, however, had decided to disobey orders and then tore off on a different hyperspace vector. It wouldn’t be hard to figure out where Typhon had gone, most likely back to Esselon Moor, but that was a problem for another day. But his departure made the transfer of some of the prisoners much easier; now, Verrikoth didn’t have to give any of them over. And that suited the warlord just fine.

  It seemed that the technicians and workers in the yards here had been busy in the fifty-one days the zheen and his warships had been absent. Another dozen gunships were patrolling the perimeter of the yards. It seemed that the yard supervisor had decided to continue building the things after the flotilla’s departure, which was fine for now. The small ships had packed a good punch against light combat ships and Verrikoth was interested to see how they could be integrated into a proper line of battle.

  They’d had weeks during the return to Tyseus to stew over the problem, the rather poor showing his forces had done at Seylonique. Verrikoth had held daily meetings with Commanders Tyler and Sokann where they tried to come up with solutions to the problem. His forces had been shredded in an embarrassing showing and against nothing but light forces. Not a single cruiser among the defenders. And the dreaded battlecruiser, the bane of pirates, warlords and Republic captains everywhere, had been a no-show.

  “My Lord, I’m still convinced that it was the lack of proper fighter cover that turned the tide for us,” Sokann put in, an argument that he’d been making for weeks. The other zheen had been more than a little bitter that his squadron had been destroyed, all the Sepulcres destroyed in a single missile salvo, and all but eight of the nimble Muons destroyed as well. Then of course the strikes on the Nemesis and then on General Typhon’s ships proved that a proper fighter screen would make all the difference in the next fight.

  “Yess, Commander,” the warlord said, his antennae swirling in lazy circles. “I know.”

  “My Lord,” Jensen Tyler interjected, before Verrikoth could deliver a properly scathing comment to his starfighter commander, “It occurs to me that we might be able to do something about this.”

  Both zheen turned to face the human. It was the first time in weeks that he had inserted himself into the conversation about starfighters. “Do ssomething about what, Commander Tyler?”

  The man pursed his lips, absently touching them with his thumb and forefinger with one hand, lost in thought. His lord’s words jarred him back into reality. “Hmmm? Oh, I’m sorry my Lord. No I was thinking about starfighters. We don’t currently have the facilities here to build any, despite the shipyard here, nor do we have any designs for anything other than the Muons or Sepulcres, which I think we can all agree are completely outclassed by the ships the Seylonique pilots were flying.”

  Sokann hissed in dismay, mixed with agreement. “I want to disagree with you, Jensen, but I can’t. Only the best of my pilots managed to stay alive in there. Even if we hadn’t been so badly outnumbered, I don’t think we would have been able to hold up much better against those ships. I wish we could get some of those.” His antennae and mandibles wiggled in rapture.

  “Well, that’s what I’m talking about,” Tyler went on.

  “Wait, you can get some of those fighters?” Sokann interrupted, leaning forward. Verrikoth turned his head to take in both of his officers, interested.

  Tyler sighed. “Well no. I’ve got some of the sensor techs scrubbing through as much of the data as we can on those manta-fighters that the Seylonique defense forces were using, but I don’t know how much we’re actually going to be able to get. Some engine specs, hull design, but we won’t know anything about computer speeds, full engine capabilities, shields, all that. We’d have to extrapolate, but it wouldn’t be exact. We’d essentially be designing a whole new ship and we don’t have the people for that.”

  Sokann hesitated, then spoke. “We’re in a shipyard, Jensen!” he almost roared. “We’re surrounded by engineers and builders! Of course there are people here that could do those things.”

  But the human shook his head. “Yes, Commander Sokann, I’m sure those are things that we can and probably will do in the months coming up, but I was thinking something a little more direct.”

  Both zheen looked confused now. “What are you talking about, Tyler?” Verrikoth demanded.

  “I was thinking about Hecate, my Lord.” There was a pair of mandible clacks. “They have their own wing of starfighters. Centurion fighters, I believe they are called. And as I recall, the engineers there were working on a refit to put a basic shielding package onto them. I think they were doing a redesign on the fuselage for missile capacity as well.” He shrugged ruefully. “At the time, I was a little more concerned with getting Ganges’s hyperdrive active so I wan’t paying as much attention as I might have.”

  “I like where you’re going with thiss, Commander,” Verrikoth said, tapping the table with one blunt finger. “I will sspeak with the engineerz here and ssee what it will take to work on dezigning a sstarfighter for me here, but getting a ssquadron or two from Hecate would be a good sstart in the right direction. I would need a sship sent to Hecate anyway to put in an order for another cruizer.”

  Neither of his officers said anything. They knew that the warlord had a huge treasury and how he chose to spend the money was his business, not theirs and if he chose to spend some of it on building new warships, all to the good.

  “I like thiss plan, Commander,” Verrikoth said, giving a very human nod. He made a note on a datapad. “It iz proactive and I’m ssure the builderz at Hecate can provide for my military needz. With our own Republic technicians here, we can see about making any upgrades as needed.” He turned to his chief pilot. “Commander Ssokann. Pack your bagz. You are going along with the sship to Hecate.”

  Sokann looked confused and slightly dismayed. “My Lord? I have duties here.”
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  “Your dutiez are whatever I ssay they are. Bessidez,” the warlord went on. “I am not ssending you out to Hecate because I am disspleazed. I am ssending you along on the mission because if you are going to be acquiring sstarfighterz I will need ssomeone to be able to fly them. And, I will need pilotss. Who better to recruit than my chief flyer?”

  The zheen pilot looked over his lord carefully for a long moment. “I understand, Lord Verrikoth. And I appreciate your faith in me.”

  “Do not fail me, Commander,” Verrikoth said with casual confidence. His tone belied the threat, but neither of the other two officers was the least bit fooled. “Bring me back a fighting force. I will be ssending two sshipss. One to carry the fighterz back and another for esscort. I expect you to impress me, Commander.”

  “With the proper tools, my Lord, I will,” Sokann vowed. Verrikoth waved a hand at him and he stood from the conference table, bowed and exited the compartment.

  Verrikoth buzzed a sigh after the younger zheen had left and the hatch closed behind him. “I want to believe he will ssucceed. I ssurely hope sso. He iz a good pilot.”

  “If anyone can bring you the fighter complement you need, my lord, I believe that Commander Sokann can. He was one of the few of your pilots to survive and even bring down a few of those manta-fighters.”

  “I know, which iz why I am allowing him to go on this mission,” Verrikoth replied. “And I will admit, your idea to buy fighterz from Hecate iz a good one. I do not know if they can sstand up to the onez in Sseylonique, but they are better than the Muon fighterz I sstill have left.” Another buzz. “But will it be enough of an upgrade?”

  Tyler looked troubled. “I don’t know my Lord. But I do know that the cruisers you ordered will be finished by now and should be on their way here. If they’re able to push into the Green levels of the rainbow, the one from Hecate will get here in roughly forty-five days. From Cetetia, what, sixty-five? Seventy?”

  “That ssoundz about right,” Verrikoth replied. He rubbed his scarred hands together in a gesture that looked like one a lower insect might make. Thankfully, for the sake of Tyler’s stomach, the zheen didn’t belch up a load of slime onto his hands when he did so. “But they won’t have crewz. Just the bare bonez needed to fly the sshipss here.”

  “Our latest recruiting drive should be bringing in conscripts and recruits within the next month, my Lord. Be here just in time to get them integrated into the new ships once they arrive.”

  “I will expect you to get my sshipss ready for battle, Commander Tyler.”

  He nodded. “Of course, my Lord. We’ve patched up the battle damage, but I want to have some of the yard techs double check everything aboard the ship,” he said, glancing around, indicating the ship as a whole. “Need to make sure the flagship isn’t going to have a critical breakdown and some of those patches were only really temporary.”

  “Of course,” the warlord said, bobbing his antennae. He waved a hand impatiently. “In fact, go ssee to the repairz and the unloading of materialz now. I have other captainz in my fleet to sspeak to now.” Tyler also rose to his feet, gave a short bow and then departed. Verrikoth watched him go, his multi-faceted gaze on the hatch for a long moment after the man had closed it behind him. Then he chittered to himself and turned to the communications controls in front of him. Pressing the correct sequence, a display appeared before him. A zheen’s face was on the display.

  “Yes, my Lord Verrikoth, this is Ironhide.”

  “Get Commander Sskygexxz on the line,” he ordered tersely. “I would sspeak with him.”

  “Of course my Lord,” the comms watch replied, and then his image vanished. Only a few seconds later, the face of another fellow insectoid appeared.

  “Lord Verrikoth,” Skygexx replied, upon seeing his face. “We’ve completed docking maneuvers with the outer yard complex. I’ve begun transferring the few prisoners I had aboard and once that is completed, I will begin taking on supplies and fuel.”

  “Excellent, Commander, excellent,” Verrikoth said. “I am well pleased with you and your sship’ss performance in the raid on Sseylonique. But I do have two itemz to disscuss with you.”

  The destroyer’s captain nodded and the slight vibrations of his mouthparts and his antennae betrayed how hard he was fighting to keep a calm demeanor. “Of course, my Lord.”

  “During the battle, you had medical assisstance transferred to Sskale instead of concentrating on your objective of dissabling the mining sstation’z defensez. Only once that waz completed did you return to your duty. Explain your reazoningz.”

  If Skygexx was human, he would have gulped. As it was, he couldn’t hide the curling of his antennae in sudden fear. But then he straightened his posture, his tone confident but not defiant. “My Lord, I felt it was my duty of secure the objective, but also to preserve your ships. Losing Skale would not have secured the mining station any faster, nor would it have in my mind, have taken more than a few minutes to do. The station wasn’t a military one filled with secrets. And I did not believe that the crew of that station was going to blow it up to keep the tons of ore away from us. These were civilians, regular people, not fighters.”

  “And had there been heavier rezisstance?”

  “Then I would have altered my tactics accordingly, my Lord,” he replied. “But after having to watch that Republic cruiser destroy your corvette Wrath here in this very system with me powerless to do anything about it, I decided that I would not let more of our fleet’s people die if I could help it.” There was a slight, very slight, edge of defiance in his tone now. He might be staring at his death and at that moment, he was ready. He’d done right (in his mind) by his lord and his fellow spacers and his conscience was clear.

  “I ssee,” Verrikoth said finally. Then he waved one hand dismissively. “But az I ssaid, I am well pleased with your sship’ss performance. And you were able to bring back another of my sshipss with mosst of it’ss crew. Well done.”

  Skygexx’s antennae flared. “Thank you, my Lord.”

  Verrikoth clacked his mouthparts together in amusement. “Now. I have a job for you.”

  The captain of Ironhide sat a little straighter. “Yes, my Lord. I’m ready.”

  “Good. Once your sship iz fully provizzioned and fueled, you will be esscorting one of the cargo sshipss, probably Fletcher’z Dolly, to Hecate. You will be placing an order for one more light cruizer, I’m ssure the localz will love to hear that, and you will be providing backup for Commander Ssokann, who will be accompanying you.”

  Skygexx buzzed in the affirmative. “Of course, my Lord. I could have Ironhide ready for space in twenty hours.”

  “I’m ssure you could, Commander,” Verrikoth said, his antennae waggling. “But unfortunately, I’m alsso ssure that Fletcher’z Dolly will take considerably longer. I leave it in your capable handz, Commander, to expedite their departure.”

  He nodded. “Of course, my Lord. I will do so with all speed. The freighter did not take damage during the battle, but I will have my own engineering team look her over before we depart. Will we be carrying cargo to Hecate, Lord?”

  Verrikoth considered that. “Get with the Quartermasster,” he hissed. “See if there is anything that could be used for a reasonable incentive for the order of sstarfighterz I will be purchasing.”

  Skygexx paused and then, greatly daring, made a joke. “A dozen Sierra missiles then, my Lord?”

  Verrikoth considered that for a long moment. Skygexx felt himself starting to hum slightly in consternation. Then the zheen warlord emitted a blat of laughter. “Quite amuzing, Commander. And perhapss ssomething to think about if they attempt to reject your initial offer. But I was thinking more of that crate of cosanti-pyramid crysstalz.” Though the various raids Verrikoth had been a part of, he’d “happened” upon a cargo of the fabulous treasures, which had already been cut by a jeweler. It was a motherlode of jewelry, a crate a half meter on all dimensions, filled with jems cut to the size of the average human thumbnai
l. The cosanti-pyramid was an exceptionally difficult crystal to cut properly, but when done so, the jems shimmered with what felt like an inner light. Zheen and lupusan, with their exceptional hearing, had also been known to hear that shimmer, resonating in the crystal. The finer and more difficult the cut, the more it shimmered and the more it could be heard.

  “That would more than pay for the down payment on the cruiser, my Lord,” Skygexx replied. “And if we’re looking for starfighters, I think we would still have enough left over to buy a wing of them: thirty-six ships if that’s what you want.”

  He gave a buzz of laughter. “Very good, Commander. I will have the crate transferred over to the Ironhide by the end of the shift. Keep me informed about the status of your ship and that of the freighter. I want a report by this time tomorrow.”

  “Understood, my Lord,” Skygexx said, making a note on a datapad in front of him.

  “Carry on, Commander,” Verrikoth said and pressed a control, cutting the connection. He began issuing orders about the disposition of the processed materials from Seylonique as well as the fuel. He ordered for all the ships remaining in his fleet to be to have their fuel bunkers topped up and then the materials sent over to the shipyards. Nemesis, Skale and Ganges all needed repairs but once those were completed, the rest of the materials would go toward the new heavy cruiser. At a rough glance, Verrikoth estimated that there would be enough here to finish anywhere between sixty and sixty-five percent of his new heavy cruiser and then the rest woul have to come from local materials. But that was good, because he had been worrying as to where he was going to get the bulk of the materials to actually build the ship in the first place. Now that particular problem was solved.

  Kaspar Bhavanian shut off his laser welder and examined the bead. Seeing what he wanted, he nodded in satisfaction. The rib he’d been connecting was now bolted and welded together, a nice, even, tight seal. It was good work. He raised a hand to his neck to rub the damned disruptor that was attached there, but his gloved fingers pawed the outside of his suit and he cursed. He’d had that damned thing on for months now, blocking all of his implant access which generally was just making his life that much harder. Lord Verrikoth, curse him, had swept up a large number of Republic technicians and enlisted Navy personnel during his attack on the Byra-Kae system several months earlier. A pirate thug with a handful of ships had waltzed into a sovereign star system of the Republic and then systematically took it apart. Of course, the fact that his flotilla included three cruisers might have had something to do with it. The commodore had done her best to try and fight him off, but her own ships were heavily outmatched and in short order, the pirate owned the system.