A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 (49 page)

He found he relished the idea of his new designs taking on the best the Argos Cluster could throw at them.  And he couldn’t wait to start hearing about their victories.

Alexsei Vikashev ran a hand across the arm of his chair and resisted the urge to scrape his claws along the metal.  The screeching noise hurt his ears and distracted the bridge crew.  He’d found that out during the battle for the Outer System when his claws had dug deep furrows in the arms of the chair, dropping curlicues of steel to the deck and causing his bridge crew to look around in alarm, thinking that further damage was being caused.  Embarrassed, he’d withdrawn his hands to his lap and tried to ignore the looks. 

The information gathering mission on the pirate light cruiser was going slowly.  This made sense as the cruiser was much larger than the Republic corvette and just as damaged.  This ship, however, showed obvious signs of a boarding action: bullet holes, internal damage, twisted metal and scorching from plasma grenades.  Some effort had been made to clear the debris from the corridors, undone somewhat by the microgravity environment pervading the dead ship.  The ship had been stripped of anything of interest, which was no surprise and it was clear that whoever had done the job was bound and determined that no one would salvage anything of value from this ship except the raw materials.  The fusion reactors had been jettisoned, the fuel tanks breached, the spare parts lockers and cargo bays emptied.  And aside from various holes in the armor, the attackers had unloaded their own ship’s weapons on the cruiser’s engines, turning the whole back quarter into slag and floating particulate debris.

That mattered little to the torte cat and her scavenging team.  Ten engineers entered the cruiser’s dark interior and began scouring for data.  And while whoever had killed this ship certainly had done a good job of hauling out the valuables, they’d done a rather poor job of information retrieval.  This turned out to be a blessing for the scavenging teams, as all of the data modules and drives were still connected to the ship’s computer core.  That made the retrieval operation much easier, though Chief Lexington made sure that her teams went over ever inch of the ship they could reach without putting themselves in danger.  There was no drama this time, however, no bodies hovering in the corridors. 

A day later, the teams were back aboard
Maitland
.  The chief had squawked at pulling her teams off the ship early, but Alexsei was adamant.  He didn’t like sitting around just waiting in a system that just months ago had been overrun by pirates.  In the week since the corvette had arrived in the system, they hadn’t detected so much as a photon out of place, at least not from a living being anyway.  But the lupusan captain was getting nervous.  He didn’t like this dead system, with its dead ships.  So he recalled the scavenging teams after only twenty-four hours of work.  They’d cleared out the computer cores and even the data modules on the bridge and in engineering.  After that, the teams scoured the rest of the ship, but whoever had been here before had done an excellent job of removing anything else of interest.  The teams honestly didn’t need any more time, but Lexington was loathe to leave the ship. 

“Captain, that ship is just a… well, it’s a mess,” Tobey said, sitting on the chair in the very compact officer’s mess.  Alexsei sat across from her, a bowl of tea at his elbow. 

“Well, of course it is, Chief,” Alexsei replied with a smile.  “It’s been destroyed in a battle.”

But the cat shook her head, ignoring the plate of fish in front of her.  “No, that’s what I meant, sir.  The ship is kind of a hodgepodge of components.  It’s as though there were a dozen companies working on the internal components of the ship but none of the components were designed to work together.  So from what I can tell, there were a lot of workarounds put in place to
make
the parts function.  It’s as though all those companies didn’t know what it was they were building for and were contracted just to build the parts.  Then someone collected everything up and installed it all inside the hull.”

“Have you started analyzing the data modules?”

Tobey nodded, pulling her plate back toward her.  Picking up a piece of fish, she tore into it for a moment before swallowing.  “I’ve got a couple of my techs working on it.  The encryption on the pirate modules is less impressive than the ones from the Republic, so I think we could be in and have them decrypted within a few hours.  I think the Republic data modules will have to wait until we get back home.  Let the AIs tear into those ones.”

“But the cruiser is a good find?”  He tried to keep the concern out of his voice.  If he’d wasted time and effort securing information on a lemon, he wouldn’t swing for it, but he might get a good bollocking from his bosses.  Alexsei was a lupusan; he was tough and had been through combat against a stronger and implacable foe.  But it didn’t mean he was thrilled about the idea of being told he was lingering in a dangerous system indulging a desire to explore a nifty piece of dead and useless hardware. 

Tobey considered that while she swallowed another bite of fish.  “I’m not sure.  I mean, the hull and structural supports seem sound.  Engines looked good on the schematics.  It’s just the helter-skelter nature of the internals that was a mess.  I think if we can make the whole thing more homogenous, we might have a viable ship.  Turn over all the data to the shipyard people and the R and D people and give them a month.  If Nasir or one of the other AI’s steps up and helps, I think that we’ll have a viable ship type ready to be built and five to six months of construction time… Well, then I think FP might have a new flagship for the defense flotilla.”  She blinked in amusement.  “Once the blowhards in the government figure out what the engineers are doing, they’re going to be screaming to high heaven to get one.  Colonel Gants will want one to support the
Leytonstone
.”

“He’ll want several,” Alexsei grunted, bringing the bowl of tea up to his mouth and lapping some up.  “Can’t see anything wrong with that.”

“Oh, no, sir,” the Severite agreed, tearing into another chunk of fish.  “If we can make a proper warship out of her, I think the government and the company are going to order up a whole whack of them.”

Alexsei took another slurp of tea and set the bowl down.  “All right, Chief.  Set Honesty to On.”

The cat sighed, setting down the food, swallowing the morsel she’d already put in her mouth.  “Yes, sir.”

“Is there any reason we should stay here and loot that cruiser any further?”  He gave her a hard look, trying not to look threatening but serious.

The Chief understood the question and the look that went with it.  “No, sir.  I suppose not.  Whoever it was that boarded the cruiser and shot the hell out of the inside and presumably the outside tore just about everything out.  I’m surprised that they weren’t tearing up bulkheads looking for loot.  No, if there had been any fuel in the bunkers, I might suggest we siphon some off to top up our own.  But there isn’t any.  No.  I’d like to stay for a few more hours and go over everything again to see if there was anything that we overlooked, but to be honest, I can’t imagine that we did.  Anything left of any value is going to be on those data modules.”

“All right then,” the captain said, pulling out his communicator.  He flipped it open.  “Bridge, Captain.  Set a course away from the derelict and take us deeper into the system.  There’s supposed to be a big trade station around here somewhere.  Let’s see if we can find it.  Maintain a low sensor profile, passive sensors only and please recall any of the drones that are within easy range.”  Someone on the bridge acknowledged the orders and he nodded.  “Vikashev out.”  He pressed a control and cut the connection, then closed and stuffed the communicator back into a pocket.  “We’ll keep an ear out for in system traffic, avoid and pirate patrols and then bring our swag back home.”

The chief nodded.  “Sounds good to me, Captain.”

Chapter 16

              “Commander Tyler, I’ve got two large sensor returns on my screen,” a zheen sensor operator called from the sensor station, glacing over his shoulder to the human officer.

              Jensen Tyler looked up from a report he was reading from a display at his command seat.  “What kind of returns?  Republic ships?”

              The zheen chittered to himself, then his antennae began to swirl.  “No, sir.  They are moving in this direction at what appears to be a decent velocity.  Energy readings are showing cruiser-sized returns but not high enough for them to be running with full shields.”

              Tyler shook her head.  “Extreme sensor range?”  He tapped a finger against his lips in thought.  “Mmm.  No, there’s plenty of time for them to power up if needed.  Comms, get
Skale
on the line.  Have the corvette move to support us.”  He ground his teeth in frustration. 
Ganges
was still in the dock, as her internal structural damage was far more extensive than had been initially surmised.  More thorough scans showed cracks through the superstructure which required a lot more effort to address and repair them.  Hestian and Warlord Verrikoth wanted the light cruiser back up to full fighting form before releasing her from the yard hands.  Which meant that
Nemesis
and
Skale
; a heavy cruiser supported by a corvette to square off against two cruisers.  Things were about to get interesting.

              “
Skale
is responding, Commander,” the comms watch stated a moment later.  “They are moving to join with us.”

              “Very well.  Helm, move us away from the yard,” Tyler ordered.  “Put us on a vector to take us over top of their present course, at medium range for our guns.”

              “Aye, Commander,” the purple carapaced helmsman replied.  A shiver ran through the decks as
Nemesis
’s main propulsion units flared and the ship started to move.  Tyler pressed a control on the arm of his chair.  A second later, a channel opened to the warlord’s stateroom. 

              “What iz it?” Verrikoth asked.  The warlord didn’t sound upset or angry for being interrupted.  Tyler knew better than to page him from the bridge over something trivial.

              “Two contacts are approaching, my Lord,” Jensen reported tersely.  “They have not hailed or sent communications of any kind.”  He rechecked the feed for just an instant.  “
Nemesis
and
Skale
are moving to intercept them now.”

              “I’ll be right up.”  The connection was cut.

              “Bring us to battle stations,” Tyler ordered and a second later klaxons sounded throughout the ship and red lights flashed in all compartments, calling the crew to their stations.  “Raise shields and get the weapons online.  Make sure gunnery is ready.  Comms, hail them.”

              The zheen warlord arrived less than a moment later, a breather mask in his hand.  “Report.”

              “No change in the targets, my Lord,” Tyler said.  “They’ve made no attempt to avoid contact.  We’ve sent out a hail, but as yet there is no response.” 

              Verrikoth sank down onto his command seat and brought up the sensor displays.  After a moment’s perusal of the data, he addressed the commander.  “Continue on coursse.  Inform
Sskale
that we will both target the lead sship.  And commz, continue to hail; I am expecting my two new cruiserz to be arriving at any time.”  He hissed to himself.  “Though if it iz them, I very much want to know why they are ignoring hailz and rissking my sshipss!  Ssomeone will ansswer for thiss.”

              They continued on for twenty-two minutes, both sets of ships racing toward one another, though the incoming cruisers were still not powering up their shields, at least not as far as
Nemesis
’s sensor array could tell.  The heavy cruiser, however, continued banging away with its communications array, constantly repeating the hail.  The array must have been glowing red from the amount of use it was getting.  Sensors were actively scanning the area; there was no need for stealth or subtlety here in one of Verrikoth’s systems.  Anyone who knew anything knew better than to come here, or to any of his protected systems.  And he was being so obvious about his approach because this was no time or place to be perceived as weak.  In the warlord’s mind stealth was all well and good and useful in combat, but sometimes one needed to stand firm and be visible.  He had to
project
power and strength; stealth couldn’t do that.  Wondering where your opponent was could make you cautious and fearful, but it wouldn’t prove that he was strong.

              “Commander!” the comms specialist suddenly called out.  “I’m receiving a hail from the lead ship.”

              Verrikoth hissed.  “Put it up!” he demanded, waiving irritably at the display.

              A zheen face appeared on the display, showing the bug sitting on the bridge of one of the cruisers.  He spoke, in the hissing, clicking language of his people.  The computer was translating, but by scrolling text at the bottom of the display for those who were unable to understand.

              “This is V’ka’sith Ka’zh, acting commander of the Cetetian cruiser
X-97
acting in concert with the Hecate cruiser
Polaris
.  We have brought these ships to you, my Lord Verrikoth and pledge to serve you.”

              Verrikoth pressed a control, opening the channel.  “I welcome you to Tysseuss, V’ka’ssith Ka’zh.  I gladly accept both sshipss and crewz into my fleet.  But I wonder why it iz that ignored my hailz for sso long.”

              The other zheen did not flinch under the harsh gaze or the tone of those words.  “I needed to see if you were truly the warlord we were told about, or if you were another pretender and a coward.”  His antennae drooped and then straightened.  “From what I have seen so far you are no coward.”

              Verrikoth’s mandibles clacked.  He wasn’t going to respond to that.  “Are thoze sshipss ready to fight?”

              V’ka’sith nodded.  “Yes, my Lord Verrikoth, the ships are ready, but we are only flying with prize crews.  We were not able to secure enough personnel in Cetetia to bring us up to even skeleton crew levels.”

              Verrikoth hissed.  “Very well.  Bring your sshipss in toward the yard and ssend me your sstatuss and fitnesss reportz.  I wish to ssee the sstatuss of my new cruiserz.  Will you be returning to Cetetia?”

              “No, my Lord,” V’ka’sith replied, straightening.  “I would stay and fight for you.”

              “I ssee.  You managed to make good time getting here.  You missed ssome fun, but I don’t blame you for that.  Continue on coursse for the yard.  I will be sswinging around to accompany you.”

              “I obey,” the acting commander replied. 

              Verrikoth cut the connection.  “Sstand down from alert sstatuss,” he ordered.  “Commander.”

              Tyler nodded.  “Aye, my Lord.  Helm, alter course to bring us back around to the yard and also to join up with
X-97
and
Polaris
.”  He heard the acknowledgement from the helmsman and then turned to the comms section.  “Comms, hail
Skale
and make sure that they follow suit.  They’re not to wait for us, but they are to escort the new cruisers in.”  He glanced over at his Lord, who seemed to be sitting motionless, lost in thought.  He knew better than to interrupt without anything of serious import and for the moment the warlord seemed content to let Tyler manage things.

              “
Polariss
… 
Xss-97
…” Verrikoth said after a long moment, as the ship started on a long, economical, parabolic course headed back to the shipyard.  There was no point in wasting fuel in simply doing an about face. 

              “My Lord?” Tyler asked, turning to him.

              “The namez,” the warlord replied, his voice soft.  “They are weak, human namez.  Not fitting namez for sshipss in my growing fleet.”

              “Of course, my Lord,” Tyler said, nodding.  He didn’t take umbrage with the weak, human comment.  His Lord wasn’t human, after all, and if he had any problems with the way Tyler commanded a ship, Tyler wouldn’t
be
commanding the flagship.

              “No, two more cruiserz in my fleet need more proper namez, fitting for warsshipss.”  His mouthparts moved, but no further sound came out, he was deep in thought.  “I have ssolved it.”

              “My Lord?”

              “
Xss-97
iz a sserial number, not a name worthy of a proud war vessel.  Sso it iz now
Gawilghur
.”  He looked to his flag commander, who nodded in appreciation.  “And
Polariss
iz no better.  It iz a ssoft, whimsical name.  It iz now
Karimnagar
.”

              Tyler frowned.  “
Gawilghur
and
Karimnagar
.”  Then he nodded very slowly, looking up at his warlord.  “Strong names, my Lord.  If my opinion matters, I think those are fine, proper names.”

              Verrikoth wasn’t listening.  He stood from his command seat and started to walk off the bridge, his mind clearly a million light years away.  “Commander, make ssure that the reportss from V’ka’sith Ka’zh make it to my sstateroom.”  And he walked out.

              Tyler nodded and then turned back to face forward.  “Aye, my Lord.”  He glanced to the communications section.  “You heard him, Comms.”

              “Yes, sir.”

              Tamara was four days late to her appointment at the FP Shipyards, but the meetings with the councilor and the other eccentricities of day-to-day paperwork had occupied her time until her pilot Mike had managed to get
Moxie-2
out to the yards and back to fetch her and her guards.  She wanted to curse the councilor for being the true cause of the delay, but she knew it would be a worthless gesture, which in the end, wouldn’t even provide Tamara with a scrap of relief.  Having a member of the admin council here in the outer system was now a fact of life and it was just something she was going to have to adapt to.  It was only fair, however, for Tamara had been forcing the council to adapt to her and to First Principles for some time now. 

              Arriving at the yards, she was just in time to look out the viewport of her ship to see one of the new corvettes sliding out of the yard proper.  “
Coronado
,” she said, checking the sensor feeds. 
Coronado,
like all of the new corvettes was of the same hak’ruk design with two pairs of sleek, canted wings, making it a beautiful and deadly sight.  Off to port, three more ships could be seen, among them
Cavalier II,
captained now by Nazam Tariq, happy to be aboard the new ship with the same name as his previous command.  Several of his officers and crew had requested to stay together and with their captain and Tamara didn’t want to impact their morale by splitting them up. 

              Nearby,
Darvano
and
Tristram
were holding position, while
Cavalier II
and
Coronado
moved away from the docks and toward their sister ships.  It was a happy sight, one that Tamara was pleased she could witness.  Having these ships several months earlier would have been a blessing, but there was nothing to be done for that. 

              “Beautiful sight, Ma’am,” the pilot said to her, flicking his chin in the direction of the new corvettes.  “Nice to see that the flotilla’s getting back up to strength.”

              “Raydor and Tariq are going to flog themselves senseless with training,” Tamara observed.  Then she smiled.  “And all of the other ship captains.”

              “Do you really think that Gants and Greer are going to participate in the exercises?” he asked, starting his approach toward the station.

              She sighed.  “I sure hope they do.  We all need the training.  Especially the Navy types.  They’re all convinced of their superiority and that our people bungled the job during the fight in the Outer System.”

              “Yeah,” he agreed, nodding.  “If only
I
had been here during the battle.”  The pilot’s voice was mocking.  That was a statement Tamara had heard many times in past weeks, as was the mocking tone behind it.  Conversations had been held across the star system, rehashing and tearing apart the battle, over and over, everyone having an opinion on how things could have been different, how things could have been done better.  The newsies had been going over it all as well, condemning Tamara Samair and her captains, condemning the Navy for not being there, questioning the government, loudly and at length.  Then, to lighten things up, more footage and discussions were held concerning the alien ship spotted in the Bimawae star system, then other news, but eventually, the talk would get back to the battle.