***
Calvin spent the next several minutes arguing with various station controllers. For some reason the commodore and his direct underlings had been evasive about talking to Calvin a second time, but as he continued to request—no, demand—clearance to dock with the station, by invoking fleet bylaws, he eventually found the commodore’s face again staring back at him from the other side of his comm display.
“It’s nothing personal, Lieutenant Commander,” the commodore said. “But our bays are shut down pending further investigation of the Harbinger attack, and any ships coming to dock are considered a security risk by definition. We’re only following protocol.”
Calvin doubted it was as simple as that. “Yes, protocol,” he said. “Thank you, that’s just the word I was fishing for. You see, my ship is having some electrical systems failures, and we have to put in for repairs.”
“That sounds like the sort of thing you can handle on your own. Don’t you have an engineering staff and a standard set of replacement parts?”
“I do,” Calvin admitted. “But in order to expedite our hunt for the Harbinger, this repair could be done twice as fast using your resources, especially your computer scanners and calibrators.” Calvin didn’t know what that meant exactly but Andre had told him to say it.
“I wish I could help you.”
“Oh, and did I mention we are low on fuel cells? Current estimate says we couldn’t initiate an alteredspace jump of more than 45 percent potential. At that rate we’d get to Iota several days too late. And all because you wouldn’t restock our fuel, which, by the way, you’re required to do. Do you really want to be responsible for that kind of delay? Especially when both Intel Wing and Fleet Command have a vested interest in this?”
“Is that a threat?”
“Let me put it to you this way”—Calvin leaned forward in his chair—”I hear the Kisho Mining Belt isn’t such a bad place to govern this time of year. It’s almost summer. But you’d still need a full climate suit to go outside.”
The commodore’s face twisted into a frown. “I don’t like your attitude, Mr. Cross. But if your ship is in such dire need of supplies, I will authorize you to dock next to our support bay. However, your men are confined to your ship.”
“I’ll need two men to deliver reports and coordinate with your staff face-to-face, not to mention oversee the movement of cargo.”
“Very well, but only one man, not two.”
Calvin smiled. “See, you’re not so unreasonable after all.”