Pursue the Past: Samair in Argos: Book 1 (34 page)

              The Captain of the
Emilia Walker
was a thin man, almost gaunt, as though his ship had been on short rations.  Judging by the state of his ship, that might not be a bad estimate.  When he stepped out of cargo bay one, he looked around the bay in wonder. 

              "Wasting a cargo bay for shuttles and a
fighter
!  But it's all so
clean
!"  The man's head looked as though it was on a swivel; it never stayed still for long.

              Vincent Eamonn met him at the main cargo doors heading into the ship, Taja and Corajen with him.  The first was there to help out if any questions came up about trade deals, the second was there in case the other captain decided to try anything.  She only had her sidearm and it was holstered on her thigh, but then, the lupusan herself was a weapon and scans had showed he wasn't bringing any weapons aboard.

              "I see you like one of my cargo bays, Captain," he said.

              "Yes, I do!"  The man reached out a hand.  Eamonn shook it.  "Captain Frederick Vosteros of the
Emilia Walker
."

              "Vincent Eamonn," the Captain returned.  "
Grania Estelle
."  He gestured and the four of them began walking. 

              They began the nickel tour and through all of it, Captain Vosteros maintained his look of wide-eyed wonder.  They showed him the active cargo bays and replicator one.  The man's eyes nearly goggled out of his head when he saw three of the techs manhandling a chunk of metal into the replicator to break it down.

              "What are they doing?" Vosteros asked, fascinated.

              The Captain gestured.  "They are loading a piece of the boat bay doors into the replicator to break it down for raw materials."

              "The boat bay?  You mean you actually have one?"

              Eamonn looked over at him.  "Of course.  The only reason we're using a cargo bay is that we took some damage to our boat bay a few months ago.  We're only just now able to get around to fixing it.  I assume they're rebuilding the doors."

              One of the techs spoke to his fellows and the three of them gave the chunk of metal a heave and it slid neatly into the replicator.  The one who spoke closed the main door and then glanced inside as the constructor matrix went to work tearing down the metal.  Vosteros was enraptured.

              "I can't believe you have working replicators," he said, his voice dripping with envy.

              Eamonn nodded in understanding.  "They are certainly useful.  It's one of the services we offer."

              Vosteros blinked, not following.  "I don't understand."

              "For a fee, we would be happy to sell replacement parts that you would need aboard your own ship."

              The man blinked in surprise, then his eyes narrowed.  "What kind of fee?"  Taja helpfully handed over a data pad, showing a list of items and fees.  Vosteros nodded slightly.  "Well, these are quite reasonable.  I think I might have to have a talk with my purser and get back to you.  I need a lot of things."

              "That's another issue," Eamonn replied.  "If you like, I can send over one of my engineering teams over to your ship for a full survey and a software cleansing."

              "Cleansing?" he asked suspiciously.

              "Cleansing," the Captain repeated.  "We had the same problem.  Our system was laden with viruses and faults which was slowing down our entire computer system.  We got it taken care of and now everything runs smoothly."

              "And how much with this cost me?" he asked in resignation.

              Taja named a figure.

              Vosteros blanched slightly, but then color returned to his face.  "Yes," he said finally.  "I would like that.  I have to tell you though, I don't have the funds to be able to afford everything I need.  We're a very small operation and trying to hold my ship together has been absorbing almost all my funds."

              Eamonn nodded sagely.  "I understand, believe me.  Until we got our replicators running properly, we were having similar problems.  Let's get the survey and cleanse done and then we can talk about payment.  I don't want to cheat you and I also don't want to fly off knowing we could have helped."  Vosteros gave him a hairy eyeball, but didn't comment.  Eamonn nodded to Taja, who pulled out a communicator, flipped it open and began speaking.  When she finished, he said, "I'm having my team gear up now.  If you like you can accompany them back over, or if you prefer, I can bring you to my bridge and you can call your ship and let your people know they're coming."  He paused.  "That is, if you're still interested."

              Vosteros nodded.  "I'm loathe to see the report on what they find wrong with my ship, but I'm quite interested in that software 'cleanse' that you mentioned."

              The first thing that Tamara and her team noticed when they stepped aboard the
Emilia Walker
was the smell.  Every ship that Tamara had been on had its own particular odor.  Some had the strong stinging bouquet of industrial cleaners, as though the crew might actually enjoy that antiseptic smell.  Others smelled like food from the galley and people.   The life support scrubbers on the
Emilia Walker
should have taken care of the funk, but obviously they weren't.  It was a meaty smell, a blending of putrid garbage and unwashed bodies.  It pervaded the nostrils and olfactory senses of everyone who came aboard and the smallest reaction was a wince.  Mairi actually looked as though she might be sick.

              "Hold it together people," Tamara scolded.  "We're doing business with these people, we don't want to offend them."  There was a chorus of groans, but everyone nodded.  Taking out her datapad, Tamara started taking notes.  First on the list: life support overhaul.  Second item on that list: a thorough scrubbing of the inside of the ship. 

              Stepping forward was a stocky man in a grubby ship suit.  The suit had a symbol on the right breast indicating he was a member of the ship's company.  The symbol was a bird, possibly a dove, flying over a shooting star.  He had grease stains on his hands and judging by the sheen of sweat and grime on his face and neck, it looked as though he hadn't had a shower in at least two days.  He walked up to them, a belligerent look on his face.

              "And what the hell is all this?" he demanded, his nasal, whiny voice causing Tamara to wince.  With the volume of that voice, it was actually painful to hear him speak.  "Who the hell are you people?"

              "We're an engineering team from the
Grania Estelle
," Tamara replied calmly.  She activated her visual and audio functions on her implants.  She saw the name 'Coolidge' sewn in above the symbol.  "Your captain hired us to do a full survey of the ship for repairs, Mister Coolidge."

              But the man was shaking his head.  "Hell, no, lady.  No one goes into my engine spaces without my permission."  He cracked the knuckles on his big hands.   "So all of you can just turn your asses right around and get the hell off my ship."

              Tamara shrugged.  "You heard the man, kids.  Let's go.  We've got work back on the
Grania Estelle
anyway.  I want to get some more of the external hull repairs done."

              The man gave a lascivious grin as he watched them all leave.  "That's right.  Get off my ship, Scarface."

              A laugh forced its way out of her throat.  She couldn't help it. 
Scarface?  Are we on the playground now?
  "Back on the shuttle," she ordered.  "Sorry to have taken up your time."

              "You laughing at me, bitch?" he demanded, planting his fists on his hips. 

              She looked him up and down.  He just looked... ludicrous.  "Yes, Mister Coolidge, I am.  And since my ship is functioning and yours isn't,
you
can explain to your captain why we left and left him stranded.  Good day."  Stepping back through the hatch, she pulled it closed behind her.

              Mairi was taking deep breaths of the shuttle's cool, clean atmo.  "By the stars it stinks in there," she complained.  "I seriously thought I was going to throw up."

              Tamara nodded.  "It was pretty bad."

              "Are all other ships like that?" Victor asked.  "I mean,
Grania Estelle
isn't in the best of shape, but she doesn't stink.  And we're doing serious work to try and fix it.  If that guy is the head of engineering, I would say he's dragging his feet."

              Pip shrugged.  "Best scenario, he's in over his head and is all dirty and belligerent because he doesn't know any better.  He's covering for the fact that he really can't handle all the responsibility.  Worst case?  He's deliberately dragging his feet because it gives him a sense of control and the rest of the ship is afraid to deal with him."

              "Cora would scare the stink out of him," Rory said darkly.

              But Mairi shook her head.  "No way.  I mean, you're right, she would.  But with her nose she'd take one whiff of the atmo in there and pass out."  She shivered at the memory.

              "At least," Tamara agreed, remembering the lupusan's acute sense of smell.  "All right, get us back to the ship."

              The Captain was waiting for them as they landed in the cargo bay.  The boat bay was still under construction and would still be for at least another week.  The Captain and his cargo specialist were itching to get cargo bay one back to its intended use.  As the ramp lowered once the hold was repressurized, he opened the hatch and entered the bay. 

              "What the hell is going on?" he demanded.

              "Take ten, guys," Tamara told the rest of her team.  "Head down to the mess hall and get some coffee.  I'll join you in a few minutes."

              The Captain fumed for a moment while the others nervously left.  He had the patience not to say anything until the others had left and closed the hatch.  "Why are you back here, Moxie?"  His tone was not friendly.  "I sent you over there to do a job."

              "Yes, you did," she replied reasonably.  "And when we got there, the engineer there refused to give us access to the ship.  He was of the opinion that none of us were going to be doing anything.  Aside from attacking him, I saw no reason why we should risk injury or further embarrassment by letting him hold us up.  So I turned us around and left."

              "You were on that ship less than five minutes," he protested angrily.  "You couldn't talk to this guy for more than five minutes?"

              She held her ground.  "He wasn't going to be reasonable.  I had the distinct impression that if I argued even just a little more, he would have tried to hit me."

              He stood there, fuming for another moment.  "I'm going to have to speak with Captain Vosteros about this."

              She nodded.  "I'll go with you if you'd like.  I made a recording on my implants.  I can upload it to a data disc so you can both see it if you like."

              He blinked.  "Yes," he said slowly.  "I want to see this great beast that held you up."

              "Then let's get to a terminal and I'll get you the copy."

              Ten minutes later, the Captain turned off the recording on the display and ejected the data disc.  "That little puke..."  The menace in his voice was almost palpable.

              "Softly, Captain," she warned.  They weren't in the privacy of his stateroom or even the wardroom.  They were standing in the corridor outside the cargo bay, using the cargo terminal to upload and view the video.

              "With me," he ordered and set off down the corridor without waiting, fully confident that she would follow.  She did, only to see what he was going to do and perhaps restrain him if he got
too
angry.

              They reached the wardroom a few minutes later, where Captain Vosteros was speaking with Taja, their heads together over her datapad.  The man looked up, a confused smile on his face.  "Captain!  And is this your engineer?  I thought she was leading her team over to my ship."

              "She did."  Eamonn tossed the data disc, which was only about a centimeter in diameter across the table to him.  It bounced and slid to a stop against Vosteros's hand, which was resting on the table.  "You might want to view this.  It shows the reason why my team went over there and then came all the way back."

              Vosteros blanched.  Picking up the disc, he scanned it into his datapad and ran the video.  His face was resigned and then grew livid.  When the video ended, he leapt to his feet.  "That bastard!"  He looked to his fellow Captain.  "Vincent, I need a ride back to my ship and your team to accompany me.  A member of my crew needs to be taught a lesson."

              "A harsh one, I hope," the Captain replied, crossing his arms over his chest.  "I've been wasting a lot of fuel on these trips.  Not to mention the time my engineering team could be working on other projects."