The only constant, p.35
The Only Constant, page 35
part #7 of Samair in Argos Series
Aumelda almost exploded. “Well, what then?”
“Hull plating, Ma’am,” the sensor operator replied, flinching at the vitriol in the Expedition leader’s voice. “It looks as though they are working on replacing some of the cruiser’s worst areas.”
That brought Terios up short. “Hull repairs?”
“It would seem so,” the tech said, straightening slightly.
“Thank you, Helos, that will be all,” Jellico spoke primly.
The young woman slumped a bit in relief. “Yes, Captain.” She nodded to Aumelda, then hustled away.
Aumelda hardly noticed her go. “Captain, please open a channel to the cruiser and get Captain Reach on the line. Transfer the call to my cabin. I need a little chat with our military escort commander.”
(((***O***)))
Five minutes later, she was looking at the PLEASE WAIT prompt on the display when the face of Akorrus Reach appeared. He looked tired, heavy circles under his eyes and a noticeable droop in his features. Upon receipt of the call, however, he became more alert, though he couldn’t mask his fatigue.
“What is it you need, Ms. Terios?” he asked without preamble.
“Making deals behind my back, Captain?” Aumelda couldn’t keep the ire out of her tone.
He scowled at her. “I am the commander of this ship. When you hired me, you gave me the authorization to do what was needed to protect the Expedition,” he growled back at her, his temper straining at the leash. “Annexation of Puerto Rico is a wreck, plain and simple. Madrigal and the parts she provided helped a great deal to get beyond some of the critical failures we were starting to see in her systems, but the engineering teams still have to work around the clock patching systems and damage just to keep the main systems running. Now I find out I have severe metal fatigue in sections of the hull. Sections that might fail if I put the ship through combat maneuvers. Maneuvers I might need to perform to protect the ships of the Expedition. So, yes, I was engaging in a bit of commerce with Eamonn and his people in order to get whatever he would sell.”
“And he just happened to have what you needed?” she scoffed.
Reach nodded. “His ship has fabricators similar to ones aboard Madrigal. Once my teams gathered the minerals he needed for repairs, and the other ones he wanted for payment, Eamonn put them to use and made the plates we need to fix the worst of the corroded sections of my cruiser’s hull. The actual repairs were up to my crew, he was very clear about that. And I actually prefer that,” he mused, a bit of the anger fading. “I don’t need unfamiliar people aboard my ship.”
“I don’t appreciate you making decisions like this without consulting me,” Aumelda said, trying to regain control of the conversation.
“I don’t always have time to discuss things in committee,” he riposted. “And as I said, you’d already given me the authorization to do what must be done in order to protect this convoy.”
She clenched her fists. “That doesn’t mean I like you contacting foreign agents and companies without first consulting me or another member of the Expeditionary council. You were brought on to protect this convoy, yes, not to make deals with outsiders.”
He sighed. “Fine. I’ll make sure you’re in the loop the next time.”
She blinked but quickly recovered. “Thank you, Captain. And I… hope your repairs go swiftly.” She cut the channel before he could respond. She hadn’t expected him to make the concession he did, even if he might go back on it in future dealings. Aumelda slumped into her chair. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another in this Expedition. Herding cats with a couple of newborn puppies thrown in, just to make things interesting. And she understood why Reach would act in the manner he had, his ship needed repairs, a lot of them. And having to run to mama for permission every time he had the opportunity to make a deal would be both humiliating and wasteful. As he’d said, he didn’t always have time to work in a committee. And he might be able to jump on opportunities if he could act independently. But it just irritated her so when he decided to go rogue like that.
She sighed. Back to work. She hauled herself up and exited the compartment, heading back out into the ship, back into battles of her own. Trying to keep this convoy together was certainly a war unto itself after arriving here. They were so close! Only a few weeks more and they would be there.
(((***O***)))
“Incoming transmission from one of the mining ships, Captain,” Serinda reported, tucking a strand of her raven hair behind one ear. “It’s the Mukaikubo.”
Vincent let out a chuckle, but then his face turned serious again. “What do they want?”
“They want to talk with you, Captain. I have a woman on the line that is asking what they should do with the load of refined minerals they have. A large load of gold, and some heavy elements.”
“Put her through.” The display activated and showed a woman’s face. She was youthful, energetic, with almond-shaped eyes and dark hair, wearing what looked like a heavy shipsuit, though he could only see her collar and shoulders. “This is Captain Eamonn. How can I help you, Ms…?
“Nagata-Edwards,” she replied her tone light, but firm. “But everyone calls me by my first name.”
“I see,” Vincent said, nodding seriously. “I can see that they would.”
“Huh? Oh!” she said, covering her mouth to stifle a giggle. “Sorry. It’s Reiko. I’m just so excited about finally getting to work after all these months of being cooped up on this ship.”
“Well, Ms. Nagata-Edwards,” he began.
“Reiko,” she corrected lightly.
Vincent couldn’t help a small smile. “Reiko, then. How is it that I can help you?”
“Well, the miners have gathered up a large load of the minerals you were looking for,” she told him. “I have to say, I’m impressed with the density of usable materials in this belt. Or rather, in this part of the belt. We’ve found a good amount of uranium and gold and even some platinum here. No gadolinium so far, but I’ve only just gotten the sensors back into tune so we can properly detect what it is we’re looking for.”
He raised a hand to cut off her flow of words. She was speaking very rapidly, her excitement all but palpable. “I’m glad you’ve been able to find what I asked for. I’m hoping it would be enough to convince the locals at Instow to give you the food and water supplies that you need for the rest of the trip to Seylonique.”
“Oh, I have no worries in that regard, Captain Eamonn,” Reiko said easily. “The concentration of useful materials here is very high. I’d say that even if we stopped the convoy here for six months, we’d barely scratch the surface of what we could get. And that’s just in this segment of the belt alone.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’m sure George will. And our people back at headquarters will be too. A worthy investment.”
She cocked her head slightly to the side. “Investment. Is that what concerns you most, Captain? Money?”
He shrugged. “Not at all. But I have a business to run, employees to pay and investors to keep happy. Besides, I love my ship and she doesn’t keep up and running for free. So, money is often on my mind.”
She nodded gravely. “I see.” Her look turned speculative. “I’m to understand that some of these minerals are for you?”
“Well, not me personally, but for my company. We’re going to bring them back home and sell them there. Or possibly to other worlds on our trade routes. They’d get sold, believe me.”
“I understand. Well, I’m impressed at your ship’s carrying capacity. I’d bet the Expedition wishes they could have hired you to work for us.”
Vincent snorted. “I dare say. But I’ve got other commitments and other priorities. Though I’d hope the shares on a haul as big as this one would be sweet.”
Reiko grinned and giggled again. “Absolutely. Though I think the bulk of the actual payment might be in whatever the minerals we gather can sell for. The better the haul, the better the sale and the better the profits.” She frowned. “At least, that’s my understanding.”
“Well, I’d have hoped that there would be a little more upfront payment or a guaranteed one at the end of the road than just speculative pricing, but you’re right about how that works. How goes the prospecting?”
“Great!” she gushed, all but clapping her hands in delight. “I mean, the Expedition really came out here looking for gadolinium, but what we’ve found so far in this system is excellent. We could have honestly sent an expedition here and made a healthy profit.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Of course not! We wouldn’t come all this way out here just for some rare earths and metals. It’s the gadolinium that we want, and I hear that Seylonique has an incredibly large amount of it.”
“From what we’ve found so far, yes,” Vincent confirmed. He couldn’t help a little leap in his heart to see how much excitement and even avarice appeared on her face at his words. “A whole lot of it.”
“I can’t wait to get there. I don’t suppose you have a chart of the asteroid belt in Seylonique I could study? Map out the best places to start prospecting?” She had the passion of a young child with a fascinating new toy on her face.
It made him feel like a curmudgeon having to turn her down. “I don’t think so, Ms. Nagata-Edwards. I can’t just give that information out, especially to someone I just met.”
She stifled her enthusiasm. “Oh, no, of course not. How silly of me. We are acting as business rivals now and simply handing over valuable information like that would be crazy.”
“Certainly not my first inclination,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t come to some sort of business arrangement on our own. And the Expedition is going to have to negotiate mining rights with the administratory council in Seylonique. And they’re going to need something in the way of capital or collateral, but they’re also going to need good relations with your people. Simply waltzing in the front door and setting up shop will never do. You’ll get in a shooting match with the Seylonique Navy in no time if you do that.”
Reiko dropped her gaze. “I hadn’t considered that. It was simply made clear that if we come out here, find the minerals, the hardest part would be the journey, not worrying if the locals in the star system would allow us to extract them.” She put a hand to her cheek. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
Serinda gestured to him to catch his attention. He looked over and he nodded. “I’m afraid I need to sign off here, duty calls. But I would like to continue this conversation at a later time.”
“I’ll be busy for the next several hours,” Reiko lamented. “Looking over this sensor data is intense and I need to be there to help the other ships make landing decisions. But say in…” She checked her watch. “Four hours?”
“I can do that. I look forward to speaking with you again. Grania Estelle out.” And the communication channel closed.
“Consorting with the enemy, Captain?” Isis said with a grin, as he looked to his pilot.
“Yeah, Captain,” Serinda added. “Sounds like you’re getting kinda buddy-buddy with her.”
“I mean, she’s pretty,” Isis commented, looking over to Serinda.
“Oh, I agree, Isis,” Serinda replied. “Very pretty.”
“If you go for that sort of thing,” the pilot put in.
“Absolutely,” the comms officer agreed. “Stella, what do you think?”
“She’s not the enemy,” the AI said, appearing on the holoprojector by the front of the bridge. “But I can see the attraction. And I can also see, Serinda, that you’re a bit jealous of our Captain here.”
“What?” the comms officer simpered. “That’s not possible. I mean, she’s attractive and all, but not really my cup of tea.” She looked back to Vincent. “And besides, that little chickie over there only had eyes for one person on this bridge and it certainly wasn’t me.”
“All right, enough!” Vincent declared, hauling himself up out of his chair. He couldn’t conceal his smile or irritation that the ladies on his bridge had pegged his feelings so well, but he didn’t want them to think he was angry. “She’s an attractive woman, but sorry, Stella, they’re right. She is the enemy at this moment, working for the Republic.”
“I’ll be in my cabin. Let me know if anything changes.” He ignored the snickers as he walked off the bridge.
Chapter 17
A call from Xorik Kay, Attorney at Law was almost never good news, in Tamara’s opinion. A call from her lawyers, or rather, the company’s lawyers at 0330 nearly always portended doom. It was a prerecorded message, sent from the main orbital facility above the planet, so she didn’t need to worry about actually taking a call this early, which was of some small comfort.
Bringing up her HUD, Tamara brushed her hair out of her eyes. Accessing the message queue, she acknowledged receipt and brought up the file the lawyers had sent. It contained two items: a text document and a video message. She thought clicked the message to begin playback.
The image of the human male appeared. Mr. Xorik, as always. He was one of the senior partners at the firm and, as such, did most of the face time engagements with Tamara or Vincent Eamonn. “Ms. Samair. I apologize for the time of this message’s arrival. I know it is inconvenient, but this could not wait. The administratory council has decided they are indeed moving forward with their intent to seize your Guardian Station under the eminent domain clause.”
Tamara let out a long breath and Xorik paused, as though he knew she would a second to process this information. She rubbed her forehead as she lay in bed and considered. But Xorik went on.
“Per our recent discussions, of course, this is not a surprising action on the part of the council. Though, as of twenty minutes prior to me recording this message, the council voted and with a ten-vote in the affirmative with two abstentions, the motion to seize the station carried.”
“I know they are looking to offer a settlement package to First Principles to compensate for this, but as I understand, it is a bit on the low side, considering. But I understand they will discuss a leasing agreement for you to retain your assets on the station, though maintenance and control of the station’s critical systems will be turned over to the government.”
“There are more details, but I wanted to get the highlights to you as quickly as possible. The full report on what I was able to get is in the attached text file. We will speak again soon. Good day.”
And so it truly begins, Tamara thought to herself. All that work and the government is just going to swoop in and gobble it up. She was going to need to work quickly to make sure she could stop them from completely screwing her and the company out of everything they were owed.
She sat up in her bed. “Lights, low.” A lamp in the corner of the room came on, bathing the compartment in soft, yellow light. She rented a good-sized apartment on Guardian Station, which had two separate bedrooms for her guards, separate bathrooms, a kitchen, and a large common room. The apartment was in the living areas of Sector 19, one of the many unfinished parts of Guardian Station, about a five-minute walk to the maglev trains used to traverse the inhabited areas, and about ten minutes further to the hangar docks, where Moxie-2 and her Perdition starfighter were berthed. Tamara decided, once the living areas were built, that she would find a place for herself. Moxie-2 was starting to feel awfully cramped and she needed more than just a bunk to lay on and a closet for her clothes and everyone needed to not be in each other’s space all the time.
She immediately sent out a call to two people, Grethis Mor, one of the chief administrators on Guardian, and Xodok’ren, the zheen admin in charge of construction. “Thank you both for responding. I know exactly how early it is,” she told them when they appeared on her display. The lupusan and the zheen both gave a sign in the affirmative. “I just got word that the government is going to seize the station. To that end, I want you to stop all construction on anything that is less than ninety percent completed, except for the hulls in the station’s shipyards. Those are under contract, they won’t be interfering with those.”
“Stop building?” Xodok’ren exclaimed. “I’ve got fifty-four teams working on all manner of projects, Tamara Samair. Maybe five of those teams will be at ninety percent by the end of the day today, at most.”
“I understand, Mr. Xodok’ren. I do,” she said. “But with a takeover imminent, I’d rather not have our people mid-project without a government contract in hand.”
“Money issues?” the lupusan asked.
Tamara nodded. “It always comes down to that. And we have a lot of employees and workers to care for. I don’t want them twisting in the wind while the government dithers. In the meantime, we can allocate personnel to the yards as needed. I also don’t want those people idle and unpaid, if we can help it.”
“I understand. I think I can reassign eleven, maybe twelve teams, but that still leaves a lot of workers unassigned.”
“I’ll make sure we all move swiftly on this and that no one is forgotten. And those I can’t find work for will get time off with pay until I can shift them somewhere useful.”
Grethis looked mollified and Xodok’ren wasn’t chittering anxiously as much now. “I’m sure you will, Tamara Samair,” the zheen said, after a moment’s pause. “You take good care of your workers. They trust you. But are you sure you want to do this?”
“No, Xodok’ren, I’m quite sure I don’t want to do this. It’s just one of those things that must be done. As I said, I’ll work as fast as I can to get a government contract so we can get our people back to work.”
“I know everyone will appreciate that, Tamara Samair. I know I certainly will.”
She nodded to them. “Begin the recall and shutdown. I have some more calls to make.”
Once the call ended, Tamara got up and padded into the bathroom. She did have more calls to make and none of them would be that easy. Also, her interests would be best served if she didn’t look as though she’d been rousted in the middle of the night.
