A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 (26 page)

              “He
does
have proper respect for his superiors, Captain Greer,” Tamara said.  “He’s only been with the company for a few months, but I’ve never had any problems with him.  I’m sorry if he offended you.  In his defense, however, there has just been a large amount of fighting out here.  It can take its toll.”

              “Hmph,” the man replied, grimacing.  Then he straightened.  “Well, on that note then, I will be redeploying the military assets in this area.”

              Tamara hid a scowl.  It seemed that Wotan hadn’t been exaggerating when he’d said that this blowhard was trying to take control.  “I see.  And by military assets, you of course mean only your own three ships, correct?  The Seylonique Navy ships?”

              Greer let out an exaggerated sigh.  “Oh, dear, Miss Samair.  Clearly you’re going to have to teach your subordinates the meaning of efficiency as well.  I thought you would have been informed.”  She feigned a look of incomprehension and he misinterpreted that and pounced.  “No, Miss Samair, I’m going to be taking command of
all
military assets, by that I mean warships and fighters.”

              “
You
mean?” Tamara asked, her voice smoothing out a bit.  “I’m afraid there’s some sort of issue with these orders and with your interpretation of them, Captain.  My ships,
all
of my ships are independent security forces, not military vessels.”

              “You have the same military vessels that the Navy does,” the man pointed out.  “So the difference is immaterial.”

              “No, Captain, you’re incorrect,” the Chief of Operations replied.  “You’re incorrect in thinking that I am going to cede authority of any of my ships over to you or to anyone else.  My people have done excellent work and have fought hard.  I am not going to then tell them that they have to take orders from someone who, frankly, has never put himself or his ship on the line for his world or his people.”

              “How
dare
…” the man spluttered, completely losing his air of contempt and disdain, his face turning purple.

              “How dare I?” Tamara demanded, clenching a fist.  “You were sent here to assist in the defense of the area, Captain.  And yes,” she said, holding up a hand, “I know exactly what those orders say.  But if you think you’re going to waltz in here and tell me what to do, you are
sorely
mistaken.”

              “You will do as you are told,” he said, his voice raising an octave as his fury rose at her gumption.

              “As I’m told?” she said with a laugh.  “Captain, you are in
my
area of space right now.  You do not want to push me here.”

              Greer just stared at the screen and was about to reply when his XO cleared her throat.  He stabbed the button to hold the transmission and a “hold” screen replaced Tamara Samair’s face.  “What?” he demanded of the woman.

              “Sir,” the woman replied, looking nervous.  She hesitated.

              “Well, Duchesnse, spit it out!”

              The woman flinched.  “I’m sorry, sir.  But I’m slightly concerned about our odds here.”

              “Our odds?” Greer demanded.  “We’ve a three to two advantage over them!”

              “Even if that’s true, sir,” Duchesne replied, trying to fight through her anxiety of speaking so publicly, “I’m not sure that we can afford to fight them.  Or rather, fight them and take any serious damage.  The Navy is pretty short handed, and if we lose these ships, or even if they’re laid up for repairs, we’re going to have a serious problem.”

              Greer growled in frustration.  Damn her, but she was right.  While the council would certainly be happy to see FP’s ship’s take another hit, they would not be happy to see their own Navy vessels get damaged or destroyed to do it.

              “They cannot stand against us,” he said after a moment, his voice suddenly more calm.  “We hold the advantage over them,” he repeated, trying to convince her, convince himself.

              “Not a great one, Captain,” Duchesne said, her voice soft.  “We have only one more corvette than they do.  Their destroyer can match this ship.  One twist of fate and suddenly we’re the ones who are in trouble.  And…”  She broke off again, flushing.

              “What…?” he asked, his voice almost a croak.

              She swallowed hard and then looked up at him.  “Well, sir, it’s just that their ships have faced down that pirate flotilla.  We… Well, we haven’t.  We’ve been training, involved in the exercises…”

              “Yes, yes we have!” Greer barked.  “And we’ve been scoring in the top twenty-five percent every time.”

              “Yes, sir,” Duchesne replied, nodding with pride.  “But… it’s just been one drill or exercise every two weeks.  These people here have been through a battle.  A proper battle with a real foe.  I’m concerned that they’ve got the real world experience that our crews can’t match.”

              “Hmmm,” he said, considering.  “I hadn’t thought of that.  All right, you’ve convinced me.  We’ll play nice for now.  But when the
Leytonstone
comes back, I’m going to petition both the council and Colonel Gants to step in and take a firmer hand.”  He was actually sounding relieved, as though his XO had given him an out he had been desperately seeking, but his ego and bravado wouldn’t allow him to back down.  His eyes sharpened, hardening as he thought about the implications.

              He gritted his teeth, then blanked his face and pressed the control again, restoring the connection.  “Miss Samair, I apologize for my earlier comments.  I will not press the issue, but I will be retaining commands of the SSN vessels currently out here.”

              Tamara hesitated for a long moment then she nodded.  “Understood, Captain.  I appreciate how difficult this situation is, and I
do
understand about orders.  I was a Navy woman myself, a long time ago.”

              Greer’s eyebrows constricted as he frowned.  “Navy woman?  Here in Seylonique?  I’d have heard of you.”

              She chuckled.  “No, Captain, not with Seylonique.  And it was a very long time ago.  No, I’ll send off a message to Triarch Kozen’ck later, seeing if he could clarify the situation.”

              Aloicius Greer blinked in surprise.  “You have a comm line directly to the Triarch?”

              She smiled impishly.  “Of course, Captain.  Don’t you?”

              “Well, I’m certainly glad to see you alive, Tamara,” Triarch Kozen’ck said, in a communiqué he sent back.  Because of the light speed lag, any conversations from the gas giant and its environs to the main orbital station were one way.  There were no easy answers or quick fixes to be had here.  There was no faster than light communication, sadly, or if there was, it wasn’t available here in Seylonique, even with the Republic replicator technology.  It made communication rather annoying, since one would have to wait hours for a response to a message one sent, but it couldn’t be helped.

              “Yes, I just bet you are,” Tamara said with a chuckle.  Perhaps that was a bit unfair.  While she had proven to be a pain over the last two years, and a source of embarrassment (when she’d called him out publicly on some rather unflattering comments), the zheen didn’t actively hate her like some of the other councilors did.  In fact, they’d worked well together for most of her tenure here in this system.  In any case, First Principles had proven to be a serious money maker and it had helped to drag Seylonique out of the doldrums it had found itself in after years of isolation.

              “I would like to discuss with you the terms for building another of the Republic-class destroyers for the Navy, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed; there’s a need for them now.  Our citizens and our infrastructure have been attacked, our sovereign star system has been attacked and we must not let that happen again.”  He calmed a bit.  “So there will be a separate message concerning the construction contract.”  She brightened a bit at hearing that.

              “In regards to your request…”  He trailed off. 
This was the part where his friendship would fade.  He had to save face with the council,
she thought bitterly. 
Can’t be showing favoritism to a local businesswoman, especially not to me, even after all I’ve done for this system.
  “The orders to Captain Greer got a bit jumbled from when I originally issued them.  I deployed
Curroth
and her two escorts to the gas mine environs to ensure and beef up the local security.  I didn’t intend for him to step in and take command of forces there, but it seems that the orders were… modified… slightly from my original intent.  But you know how this goes, Tamara,” the Triarch went on.  “You get mad and publicly face down a Navy Captain and then come crying to me and suddenly the orders get rescinded?  You know it isn’t that simple and I can’t show that kind of favoritism.”

              And there it was.  Even if she believed his story, which she wasn’t entirely convinced by, it didn’t change the fact that Kozen’ck was going to leave her holding the bag with this.  She and Greer would continue to butt heads until either enough pressure caused her to break, or shots were fired.  Either way, Tamara Samair would lose.  She sighed and continued with the message.

              “That being said, I can’t recall
Curroth
.  I won’t; you need the ships there to assist with security for the area.  I won’t recall him, but I will see what can be done to keep the peace between you two.  Just do what you can.”  There was a pause while Tamara seethed.  “I know this really isn’t what you wanted to hear, but that is what I have to tell you at this time.  If the situation changes, I will let you know.”  He nodded and the transmission ended.

              She sighed.  This was going to be an interesting time.  Hopefully, Greer would agree to just run his own affairs and let her run hers.  She was going to need
Maitland
and
Persistence of Vision
’s energy weapons for the shield project and she didn’t need him handing over her shoulder, demanding updates, questioning her orders and generally getting in the way.

              “Miss Samair,” Aloicius Greer asked, some time later.  “I take it your questions with the council have all been cleared up?”

              “Yes, Captain Greer, they have,” she replied, maintaining a professional smile.  “I understand that you will be in command of the Seylonique Navy ships and my forces will continue to act independently.”  She nodded at his surprised look.  “If we find ourselves in another combat situation, I will, of course, be happy to have your command presence with our forces.”  It was a lie, she didn’t need him getting underfoot then either, especially then, but Tamara figured it might be the best way to keep him in check now, when things weren’t so dire.  And having his “command presence” with the forces didn’t mean that he would actually be in command.  She wondered if he would catch that little mental slight of hand.

              The captain looked as though he was about to argue with her, as his orders did not specify a combat situation, but the way this woman was willing to go to the mat over this, he suspected this might be the best outcome.  It didn’t mean that he was going to just meekly accept her assurances.

              “Thank you, Miss Samair,” he said, trying for his most accommodating smile.  “I know that this whole situation has been trying, but as you know, orders
are
orders.  But the instant any problem occurs your ships are subordinate to
my
orders.  We are not going to play games about this.”

              “Indeed.  Now, my defense ships will continue on their assigned patrols to the gas giant, but in a few weeks they will be engaging in some construction activity with the help of some tugs.”

              He shrugged.  “By then perhaps the
Leytonstone
and the rest of the trade delegation will have returned.” 
And I can get some more ships to bolster my authority out here.  For now, I will play that woman’s game, since there might be some dispute over force levels.  I don’t like that she can apparently just call up the Triarch of the council. That’s a lot of power for a businesswoman.  The XO is right, I can’t take them in a stand up fight, but once Colonel Gants has returned, that will change.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

              “So I have a question for you, Tamara,” Nakil Radha asked a few days later.  She was out of the infirmary, looking much better for all her ordeals.  She was back in a clean shipsuit and back in the ship’s office.

              “Before we get to that, Nakil,” Tamara said, sitting down in the chair in front of the desk, letting her take her customary seat behind it.  “I am formally transferring command back to you.  I’m glad the docs let you back out, though I understand that you’re on light duty.”

              She nodded.  “Yes.  Your wolf there is very insistent about that.  I have to say I’m a little unnerved by a lupusan medic.”

              Tamara smiled.  “Tyannikov?  He certainly looks scary, but don’t worry, he and Doctor Kassix are the best at what they do out here.  In fact, with the modern sickbay on the ship and the infirmary down on the Kutok mine as well as the one out in the shipyard complex, I’d say we have the best medical facilities anywhere in the system.”