Kris Longknife Stalwart

by Mike Shepherd

  "Actually, I have not," the Iteeche Guard general admitted. "We lack the gadgets that you use to listen in on our conversations. I am told that less and less meetings are taking place on clan palace rooftops. I can tell you that I knew as soon as they stormed out of here that the meeting was over and many of them did not care for the fish that they had been fed. My defense center now has feed from your cameras. I am grateful that I can see what your General Bruce watches," he said with a bow toward the Human general.

  "We're both on the same side here," Steve answered. "You want to keep the Emperor safe. I want to keep this district secure and my wife and kids safe."

  "As well as my companion and the swimmers that we hope to choose a youngling from in a bit. Yes. We are in this together. So, what are you willing to tell me about your meeting with the clan chiefs? Did it go well?"

  "From their point of view, I do not think so," Kris said. "They came insisting that I back away from the many minor clans that had volunteered battlecruisers to fight with me in the Combined Fleet. That is something that I would not do. They finally agreed to conduct their own operations, seizing one or two good planets while I would take the Combined Fleet out to capture two or three more."

  "That was what I expected would happen. You have helped me win a bet with a subordinate. He expected you to cave to the clans."

  "Longknifes do not cave," Kris said, stating the obvious for anyone who knew her way of doing business.

  "So, you will be departing in the next week or less," the general stated.

  "Yes, and that is why I need to discuss matters with you. I remember when I last returned that protests had surrounded and blocked off my embassy from food and other services. What will happen this time while I am gone?"

  Kris let the rhetorical question hang in the air for a moment before going on.

  "It is tempting to pack up the embassy and my children and send them back to the safety of Human space. However, I just learned that we are the only Human presence in the Iteeche Empire. The programmers that have been assisting Iteeche shipyards to spin out battlecruisers have been sent packing. I cannot allow all the bridges that we have built between our two people to be demolished. We must hold our position here in the Imperial Capital."

  "What help can the Imperial Guard give you?" the general asked.

  Kris had not expected her plea to be met so quickly.

  "The last time I sailed, I left behind the Pink Coral Palace, and that was all we had to defend. I have no more Human defenders, but now I am responsible for an entire district of nearly forty square blocks of housing, shops, and small craftsman's workshops."

  "Yes, Your Highness," the Iteeche Guard general said, "but most of the housing in your quarter is filled with soldiers, sailors, and Marines of the Combined Fleet and Navy Headquarters, as well as my Guardsmen, in addition to the consorts many of them are choosing to share their quarters with. I do not think any of them would like to see their apartments cut out from the Embassy Quarter and taken over by some clan, no matter how senior or powerful it is."

  "We intend to defend the legation, General. We think we can hold the line at the major boulevards and avenues. I have General Bruce here, and you. Do I need to add any more to this conversation before we draw up a plan to defend the Embassy Quarter's boundaries? Defend them while feeding everyone who lives within its limits. Provide them with power, water, and waste removal. Hold a patch of land deep in the middle of an immense city, and hold it while also defending the person of the Emperor."

  "Thank you for adding defense of the Emperor. For me, of course, that is the first priority. However, it might be one of the avenues that open up our chances of avoiding blockade."

  "That is something I want to talk about, but do we have the right people for now?"

  "Your Admiral Ulan, Number One of the Combined Fleet Staff should be at this table," General Konga said. "It will be his sailors and Marines that defend the Embassy Quarter because they will be defending their right to keep the apartments you gave them. You have much loyalty among the sailors and even the old chiefs. They like the way you treat them."

  "Nelly, could you ask Admiral Ulan to meet with us? Tell him that you will provide a bridge and elevator car to hurry him to my garden."

  "He just closed down a meeting and is on his way. I will save him the time of going down, across the bridge, and up."

  "This should be fun to watch," Grampa Trouble said, happy as a kid with a new gadget. He led the others to gather at the edge of the balcony as the Magnificent Nelly put on quite a show.

  A moment ago, there had been nothing. Now, an elevator hung on the side of Main Navy near the thirtieth floor. It flowed up the building, then slid across the space between the Iteeche Main Navy tower to the Embassy tower by riding a rail that suddenly appeared along the top of the walkway at the fiftieth floor. As soon as it touched the side of the Embassy, it began to rise again until it came to rest right next to the garden.

  Abby just had enough time to get there and greet him. They hurried through the garden. Still, Ulan was impressed with just the glances he got of the beauty around him.

  "Quite a ride you had there," General Konga said to Admiral Ulan.

  "I take it that I was in the reliable hands of Your Highness's brilliant computer?"

  "My reliable computer who loves to show off?" Kris asked.

  "Yes, Kris, I do like to make sure that people know what I can do," Nelly replied.

  "Just keep your head small enough that you don't need to buy an entire new set of cover and hats," Gramma Trouble said.

  "I know that is metaphorical, Brigadier General Trouble, but when you are the best, you just have to suffer the problems it brings."

  "Oh, love, I think she just burned you," Grampa Trouble said.

  "I accept the burn," his wife answered.

  "How was the ride?" Kris asked, trying to get her meeting back on track.

  "Other than the way that my elevator car slid at crazy angles over walls and windows, it was quite pleasant. I assume that I would not have been hurried here if it weren't for a serious need."

  "Yes," Kris said, and ushered everyone back to the table. It was interesting how they arranged themselves. General Konga sat at Kris's right elbow, with Admiral Ulan at his right. Grampa Trouble sat next with General Bruce at his elbow. That brought the table around to Gramma Trouble and Abby who sat at Kris's left.

  While putting the combat flag officers together, the women had ended up in a single lump. Since Nelly had turned the table into a circle for the seven of them, it really didn't much matter.

  Kris quickly explained to Admiral Ulan the question before them. Could the Embassy Quarter be defended if enclosed by an armed barricade?

  "Strange, that," Admiral Ulan said, "I have just come from a meeting on the very same topic. Tell me first. There are approximately eight Iteeche divisions in the compound. I think you have at least eight brigades of US Marines. They are all comfortably billeted, and we are having no problems providing them decent and diverse rations. I believe the Human story is, ‘They followed me home. Can I keep them?’ "

  "A joke from an Iteeche flag officer," Kris said, feigning amazement at the startling turn of events. Then she got serious; her lips disappeared into a concerned line.

  "For now, let's assume they are available to defend the quarter. I've been promised a million and a quarter soldiers to support my planetary assault effort. However, riddle me this. Can we maintain a force of ten divisions this close to the Imperial Palace without the clan chiefs having a cow?"

  "I like that one," General Konga said. "Once you realize the size of the orifice you Humans have to birth a child, birthing a cow becomes quite funny."

  "Since all the women at this table have birthed children, we can tell you that even a six- or seven-pound Human is not something that our men would want to birth."

  The Human males at the table had the good sense to agree. That balcony was quite close, and the rail wasn't nearly
tall enough. Maybe they could learn to fly. Or maybe the Magnificent Nelly could spin out a butterfly net before they reached the bottom.

  None wanted to test their luck.

  "Getting back to the matter at hand, General," Kris said. "How do we persuade the clans that more than eight divisions are not a threat to the Emperor?"

  "There are two avenues into the heart of the Imperial Precincts. We could block them off. Indeed, it would be very nice if we got several large boulders and placed them in the center of the approach to the bridge. Maybe even add three staggered rows so that a vehicle would have to slowly wind its way through them."

  Nelly quickly produced a hologram. The entrance from the circular avenue was blocked in most places by rough boulders, cut from the same rock as the moats blocks. However, they were not the only blockage. Just as you got to the bridge across the moat were two more lines of large stones that would require any vehicle trying to enter the Palace Grounds to first zig right, then do a hairpin turn to pass between the first and second row of boulders before doing another hairpin turn to pass down the second and third rows of standing stones.

  Stonehenge it wasn't, but it would drastically slow down any armored vehicle attempting to charge into the Imperial Precincts. This would also fragment any attempt by a larger force. A tidal wave of armor would be reduced to a trickle. A trickle that any anti-tank weapons could ratchet down to a halt by destroying a single tank at the entrance.

  "We could also add a coating of Smart Metal," Nelly went on to suggest, "to all of the guard houses and barracks at the bridges."

  Kris nodded.

  "One question," the Iteeche Guard general asked. "How do we make all this happen without every great Clan Chief knowing we did it when you have the key that can not only make the boulders disappear but reappear as tanks and gun trucks?"

  "Who controls the quarry where the stones are cut?" Grampa Trouble asked.

  "The Imperial Guard, Most Eminent General," the Iteeche answered.

  "I may be an old soldier," Grampa Trouble said, "but couldn't you have a few explosions out there to show you're blasting the raw face to create some new rocks? Meanwhile, we pull small flitters off our building and hustle them out to your quarry. Your flatbed trucks pick up the Smart Metal boulders the next morning and haul them in, wench them into place, and there you have it. A defense no one can squawk about."

  Kris eyed the Iteeche Guard general.

  "We can do that," he said. "I imagine that you would fly the same small flitters and wrap them around our Guard buildings. Not many would notice a few centimeters of extra rock."

  "That closes down the approach from our Human Embassy. Can you do anything with the other four?" Kris asked.

  "We could use the same type of boulders to block the avenues, limiting access to a single-wide opening in the standing stones," the Iteeche general said. "You could thicken up our buildings. The only thing we wouldn't do is the stony zig-zag."

  "You can work out with General Bruce various code words that could get you immediate standardized reactions," Kris said. "If things develop that require a measured response, he and his computer can do anything you need."

  "Very well. Now, if someone attempts to shut your embassy up like a clam, we can bring food in at night to keep the garrison going. For myself, I have a hard time believing that they will attempt that again. After all, you are also quartering the Navy Headquarters and all the sailors that work there. Then there are my Guard battalions. I think they are much more likely to try to level the embassy with rockets, or maybe a truck bomb."

  "We will need to search trucks traveling through the avenues that drive by us," Kris said.

  "That's a very busy avenue," General Bruce observed.

  "Nelly, can you set up sensors?" Kris asked.

  "Kris I can have warning sensors set up several blocks out in any direction. If a vehicle smells of explosives, both refined and raw, I can spot it and blow out its tires. With any luck, your "helpful" guards should be able to separate the driver from his load and maybe close down the explosives before they get a chance to harm us."

  "It's going to be a tough time," Kris said. "We'll have to keep a step ahead of them."

  "You have your snoops," the Iteeche Guard general said. "Can't they keep you safe?"

  "General," Kris said, and allowed herself a deep sigh. "I don't know how things are with the Iteeche intelligence services, but usually it's the tiny bit of data that you failed to notice or refused to believe that gets you every time."

  The examination of different options for the defense of the embassy continued for the rest of the morning. Kris had lunch brought in, a nice picnic for both the Humans and the Iteeche. The garden allowed for the occasional pleasant break for coffee or its equivalent for the Iteeche. Several times they all gathered at the terrace rail to eyeball parts of the Imperial Precincts, looking for ways to move food or troops.

  The meeting ended shortly after Jack and the kids got down the beanstalk from the fleet exercise and updating. Kris gathered her kids and together they went to the water park. Aware of the coming separation, the kids stayed close; Kris was glad for that.

  That night, she held Jack close. Their pillow talk involved holographs created by Nelly as she brought him up to date on their efforts. One thing led to another, and it was quite late when Kris finally drifted off to sleep.

  21

  A week later, Kris led a fleet of some 7,000 ships drawn from clans, septs, cadets, and families that had never before formed a fighting force. Exactly where they were headed, no one knew, but they were eager to follow Her Royal Highness, Grand Admiral Kris Longknife, Imperial Admiral of the First Order of Steel.

  Kris, back on the Princess Royal for this operation, was not impressed. Each of the 7,000 battlecruisers had been upgraded to her standards: new fire control computers, and lasers tightened in their cradles. However, the crews were slow. Reloading the lasers on those 6,400 new ships took almost twice as much time as it did on the 640 ships that had fought with her before.

  Admittedly, the 64 new Human battlecruisers weren't as bad as the Iteeche, but even they had some hard work ahead of them.

  During the run out of the Capital System, Kris had her ships at a modified Condition Baker. She wanted the crews to get comfortable at something less than the pleasant Condition Able before they went to Condition Zed. The drills getting the new battlecruisers into their tight fighting shape had not gone well. Many of these ships and their crews had never been at anything but Condition Able.

  Too many of the crews had never really expected to have to fight.

  This explained why Kris's first fight in the Imperial Capital Defense System had been a slaughter before she showed up. Most of the ships fighting had never done anything but swing around the space station.

  Now Kris had the ships at a Modified Condition Baker. It was still tight for the crews, but the ships were bloated with extra tanks of reaction mass. Kris did not want to run out of fuel as she drilled the crews constantly.

  Some battlecruisers showed improvement. Some didn't. Some showed major improvement. Hard-to-believe improvement.

  Assuming they were cheating, Kris cheated, too.

  Nelly used the backdoors that she or her kids had created and went inside the Iteeche ships' computers, checking their actual time. Her reports were interesting.

  Almost all of the ships that showed little improvement hadn't bothered to drill very often; possibly half of what Kris ordered. The major problem was that Nelly found that ships that showed vast improvement had done no more drilling than the first bunch.

  No surprise, it was the ships that had drilled by Kris's schedule who showed the smaller increments but earned hard-won improvements in gunnery.

  Kris needed to make changes.

  She promoted the XOs on her experienced Iteeche battlecruisers and dispatched them, with a Marine platoon, to relieve the skippers that were the most lazy or biggest liars. In the case of another thousand, she fired
the captain and promoted the XO with orders to follow the book or they, too, would end up on the beach.

  The drills had shown one battlecruiser to be in unacceptable material condition. How it got away from the pier without killing its crew was a minor miracle. Kris dumped her failed captains on it, then made an announcement to the entire fleet.

  "I want a fast ship and a willing crew for I intend to go in harm's way. If your ship is not fast enough or you are not willing, please request a transfer. The Emperor Urg 273 will be returning to the Capital with officers I have relieved of command. Anyone reluctant to follow me into battle should immediately put in for a transfer to the Urg. Alternatively, any of the crew of the Urg may request a transfer to the remaining ships of the fleet. Admiral Longknife sends."

  Twelve hours later, the Emperor Urg 273 fell out of line and proceeded to the nearest space station in the Guard System. Nelly set the Urg to Condition Able+. She had to, it carried over 3,000 officers and barely enough chiefs and ratings to get the ship there.

  However, the Urg was replaced when 33 ships began boosting from the four fortresses in the Guard System eager to join Kris's Combined Fleet.

  Not bad for a culling of deadwood officers.

  With matters better in hand, and drills going twelve hours a day, Kris set a course at one gee for the improved jump out, one of Nelly's fuzzy jumps, with more ships than she had when she entered the system.

  Kris intended to use the improved jumps to get her to three highly productive planets that had not been on any of the options she had offered the clan chiefs to choose from. There was no doubt in her mind that the list she showed them had been passed along to the rebels before the sunset that day.

  Obviously, Kris needed to be somewhere else.

  To do that, without taking forever to get there, she needed to use the shortcuts the three alien races who created the jump points added just before they gave up traveling the stars and vanished. Kris thought of it as a highspeed highway connecting two cities that saved you the time of driving through all the other towns and villages in between.