Kris Longknife: Tenacious (Kris Longknife novellas Book 12)

by Mike Shepherd

  It would be a long voyage.

  Kris wondered what she’d find at the end of it.

  60

  The Wasp came through the Beta Jump of the Alwa System with plenty of velocity and began immediately to brake at 1.15 gees.

  As soon as Alwa knew Kris was back in system, she was inundated with message traffic addressed to her as Viceroy; Commander, Alwa Defense Sector; and CEO of Nuu Enterprises.

  “Must be nice to know you were missed,” Jack said with an evil grin, as Kris surveyed the pile of flimsies stacking up on her desk.

  “You want half of these?” Kris asked.

  “Oh no,” Jack said, heading for the door. “There’s got to be some nice Marine stuff I can lose myself in. Inspecting the heads. Checking out the storage rooms. Seeing how my deputy did organizing a brigade of Marines and National Guard. Lots of really fun stuff.”

  Kris made a nasty face at him, then turned back to the first flimsy. It was from Granny Rita, the acting viceroy. It opened with how glad she was to have Kris back.

  Considering that Granny Rita had led the survivors of her battlecruiser squadron in scratching out a life for themselves on Alwa eighty years ago, Kris was left to wonder what could make her so happy to lay down her burden.

  One quick read, and Kris had Nelly round up Amanda and Jacques. “Tell them to get here pronto.”

  Two minutes later, they were there. Out of breath, but there.

  “We got problems on Alwa,” Kris said.

  “We knew they were having problems when we flew through here before,” Amanda said.

  “Well, it’s worse,” Kris said, passing over the message flimsy to both of them.

  “The old-line Alwans want their old ways back,” Kris said. “Only now, we’ve got new-line Alwans who like what they can buy with the money they earn working for the humans. Humans will slow down and stop if a Rooster type wanders into the road. Now Alwans are driving the big rigs instead of humans, and they don’t stop for nothing. Some old, bald-feathered Alwan wanders into the road in front of them, they don’t slow down. And if the old coot doesn’t get out of the way, they don’t go back to see if they hit him.”

  “Ouch,” Amanda said. “That kind of makes it hard to figure out who did what to whom.”

  “Exactly,” Jacques said. “So the old-liners hold all the new kids responsible for anything bad that happens to them.”

  “It seems we humans have created a cash-based society that runs on a schedule,” Kris said.

  “No wonder the old farts want their old world back,” Amanda said.

  “That old world is not coming back. They have a choice between us and those bloodthirsty alien space raiders,” Kris said, and sighed.

  “But how do you get them to see it our way?” Jacques said. “We’ve done just about everything we can to rub their noses in the facts. They just ignore what they don’t want to see.”

  Kris leaned back in her chair and eyed the overhead. “Maybe we have something new for them to look at.”

  Jacques raised an eyebrow at Kris.

  “Nelly, get me Doc Meade.”

  “Yes, Admiral,” came quickly.

  “If I were to take the old woman alien down to Alwa, could you keep her sedated for the ride, then cut back on them when I wanted her in full rage?”

  “I’ve got a pretty good idea on just how much to medicate her to keep her out of trouble,” the doctor said.

  “I may want her to get in trouble,” Kris said, vaguely.

  “I’m a doctor, Admiral. First, I do no harm. What kind of trouble do you have in mind?”

  Kris told her.

  “Yep, I think I can keep her meds at the right level for that without hurting her or her hurting anyone else.”

  “Good. I’ll let you know when everything is arranged.”

  “You think that will do it?” Jacques asked. From the look on his face, he seemed doubtful.

  “Nothing beats a try but a failure,” Kris said. “Now, about this money-based economy. Amanda, are we doing this right?”

  “Kris, you want production, you have to pay people to produce. There aren’t enough humans for all the defense you want, so you need to recruit Alwans. They’re new to this whole concept, but they like the TVs, computers, and amenities. I understand we’ve got a computerized egg warmer that is all the rage. I helped develop the advertising for it when it was still in R&D. You’re starting to sound like one of the old farts.”

  “Oh, no, Amanda,” Kris said through a grin. “They don’t want to have anything to do with our cake. Me, I want it in my grubby little hands, and I want to gobble it down whole. We’re very different.”

  “How’s the defensive effort going in general?” Amanda asked.

  “Admiral Kitano seems happy. They’ve got the damaged ships back in full commission and spare Smart Metal to boot. I’ve already sent a warning ahead that the squadron got shot up badly and will need first call on the yards’ time. Admiral Benson says he’ll be waiting for us, and we can take the ships right into the docks. I’ve apprised Captain Drago, and he’s passed it along to the other ships.”

  Kris’s grin got even bigger. “He doesn’t think our shot-up 20-inch lasers are worth fixing. He wants to scrap them and replace them with some of the new 22-inch lasers he’s now got coming out of the yard armory.”

  “That ought to make you Navy types happy,” Amanda said. “You may not like businesspeople, but you sure like the toys they make for you.”

  “No, Amanda, we like staying alive, which the weapons made by the industrial base does for us.”

  “Same thing,” Amanda said.

  “Very different,” Kris countered.

  “Before you two get into a catfight, and may I point out, we now have cat allies to do that for us, may we take our leave?” Jacques said, standing. “Unless there’s something else?”

  “Only other thing I’ve got is a rather short and cryptic message from Pipra Strongarm. You may remember her as the woman I left in charge of Nuu Enterprises,” Kris said.

  “What’s her problem?” Amanda asked.

  “She didn’t say. She did say that she needed to meet me as soon as I got in. Even said she wanted to be ahead of Admiral Benson.”

  “But not why?” Jacques said, rubbing his chin in thought.

  “No explanation.”

  “You going to give her the honor of first meeting?”

  “She’s got my curiosity up. I might put someone else last in line just for giving me that ‘I got a secret and I won’t tell’ kind of treatment, but I trusted Pipra.”

  “If you trust her, you have to go with that trust,” Amanda said.

  The two left, leaving Kris to wade through production reports from everywhere about everything. The good news was that there was a lot of it.

  Kitano reported herself happy that the new squadrons were training up well since the first exercise, a quick trip to the moon and back. Their latest run out to the closest ice giant had been 4.0.

  That was good to hear. Assuming every alien ship in the galaxy wasn’t standing in line to jump down her throat, she might have a fighting chance.

  And if they are?

  We’ll burn that bridge when we come to it.

  61

  They made orbit and, as promised, the Wasp-Hornet went directly into Benson’s yard. The Royal-Connie was assigned to the Musashi docks, the Intrepid-Bulwark was directed to the Yamato yard, and the Congress-Endeavor barely made it into the Portsmouth yard.

  They only wanted one ship to a yard until they figured out if it was one ship or two they had.

  Kris had signaled that she would move her flag to the Princess Royal and was on her way there when Pipra intercepted her.

  “We’ve got to talk.”

  “You’re talking,” Kris said. “I’m listening.”

  “We’ve found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

  “I take it that’s a metaphor. What are you really telling me?”

&nbs
p; “When we got here, you pointed out, and you were quite right at the time, that there is nothing here that we could ship back to human space and make a dime off of.”

  “The transportation costs alone would eat up any profit,” Kris said.

  “Well, we’ve found something light enough and worth enough that we can make all our fortunes shipping it back there. Assuming that they don’t synthesize it or start growing it as soon as they get a good look at our first cargo.”

  Kris slowly came to a halt. This could be a game changer. Assuming she could ever get Pipra to spill what it was.

  “Okay, what is in this pot of yours?”

  “It’s a plant,” Pipra said. “We found it on their south continent in a river. Can you believe it, it can uproot itself and move! Really move, like scoot out of the way of some hungry fish.”

  “A plant,” Kris said incredulously, “that can move?”

  “And has sensors. At least it can sense a fish moving toward it and run away.”

  “That sounds like an animal.”

  “No, it’s a plant. It does that photosynthesis thing. Boy does it ever. It can store up energy like nothing we’ve ever seen before, and when its mitochondria start burning that energy, it can pull its roots up and take off upstream or wherever it wants to go with the kind of speed that leaves most fish behind.”

  “Does it have a brain?”

  “We don’t think so. It seems to react more than act,” Pipra said, but not confidently. “Any scientists who can get their hands on some of this are in it up to their ears. This is going to be worth megatrillions.”

  Kris closed her eyes. She kept hearing this was a game changer and worth money, but she wasn’t hearing a whole lot of why.

  “How does it work?” Kris demanded.

  Pipra made a face. “We’re working on that. There are flying fish and a batlike thing that can move fast enough to catch this plant and also have the stomach enzymes necessary to use it.”

  “So it’s complex.”

  “Complex as hell.”

  “And people are going to want to pay money for this because . . .?” Kris said, waving her arms vaguely.

  Pipra looked at Kris like she was a particularly dumb three-year-old. She started to open her mouth, then seemed to think better of it. A moment later, she finally said, “You use nanos, don’t you?”

  “Lots of them.”

  “I’ve never met a Soldier that didn’t like their nano scouts,” Pipra said.

  “It can save your butt.”

  “But they don’t have much endurance. Not enough power.”

  “Right,” Kris agreed.

  “And you want to recover them, right?”

  “Right.”

  “But if a wind comes up, they might not have enough power to fly back to you.”

  “Yes, then you lose them, and commanders and budget folks get very cranky. Speaking of which, I’m getting very cranky.”

  “Yes. Okay. Now, assume that your nano has one of these mitochondria powering it.”

  A light went off inside Kris’s head.

  Pipra went on. “Marines gobble down candy bars before a fight. It gives them energy. Now, what if we could give them a candy bar with this stuff inside?”

  “Would it work?”

  Again, Pipra made a face. “If we can figure out what the flying fish and bats have in their bellies that allow them to access the full power of this stuff, yes. Maybe.”

  “How close are we to making this work?”

  Pipra shrugged. “Six months. Six years. Very likely not six weeks or sixteen years.”

  Kris made a face. “So we’re talking raw science with lots of unknowns.”

  “And we’re dealing with people on one end.”

  “But nanos don’t have civil rights,” Kris said.

  “But there are a lot of people that wouldn’t want weeds or spiders running around with this kind of strength. This could be the invasive species from hell,” Pipra said. “I suspect that a lot of people won’t want this anywhere near them.”

  “Ouch,” Kris said, seeing the downside for the first time.

  “Most of our research is taking place on a new lab on the moon.”

  “Who paid for it?”

  “We all did.”

  “And how much will it take away from the defense effort?” Kris demanded.

  “Not a lot,” Pipra answered vaguely. “Listen, you said the first day we were here that no one cared if we lived or died, so long as we died hard and the aliens figured we belonged here. Well, some of the scientists have pointed out that our DNA won’t pass the smell test if the aliens do any checking.”

  “That thought has crossed my mind,” Kris admitted.

  “Now we have something on this planet that humanity needs, really needs. And we really don’t want the aliens to get their hands on this stuff, assuming they’d look before they raped this planet down to the bare rock.”

  “Yes,” Kris said, feeling like the word hardly carried enough meaning for the job.

  “So, I invested your money in this.”

  Kris nodded, thinking hard and fast. “I think you did good.” Then she changed the subject to her own concerns. “By the way, have you hired a lot of Alwans?”

  “Lots of them. Kris, our consumer products are catching on like a house afire. They love our microwave ovens. Down south, our solar-powered riverboats are selling just as fast as we can deliver them. That’s what they’re using to troll up this plant.”

  “Everything is changing.”

  “Damn right it is.”

  “Some Alwans don’t like it,” Kris reminded Pipra.

  “They can disagree with it all they want, but they better get out of the road. We’re coming through.”

  “No doubt,” Kris said. “Are we done?”

  “Pretty much. I hear your ships got shot up pretty bad. We’ve got a decent supply of Smart Metal that should be good for repairs. We’re also building our own reactors and lasers.”

  “Twenty-two inchers, I understand.”

  Pipra grinned. “You bet they are.”

  The businesswoman left, to get about her business.

  Kris turned back to her walk to the Princess Royal.

  For Pipra, business was business.

  For Kris, it was complicated.

  She had two cultures she needed to bring together in harmony. No, make that three. She couldn’t forget the felines.

  She might have a good job for them.

  She was lost in thought, and almost to the P Royal when an ensign ran up to her.

  “Admiral Kitano sends her respects and requests your presence on the flag bridge immediately, ma’am.”

  “Nelly?” Kris said.

  “I’m in the dark about this as much as you.”

  Kris began walking briskly.

  62

  Rear Admiral Kitano was waiting for Kris in her own day cabin, which looked very much like a flag bridge at the moment.

  The place looked downright homey. It had a wooden desk just like on the Wasp, only its carvings looked like angels rather than Greek pillars. It had several sofas and armchairs. These were in a lovely royal blue rather than the Wasp’s earth tones.

  Kitano wasn’t seated at any of them but stood before one of several large screens.

  “You didn’t rob the chief’s mess for the screens, did you?” Kris asked.

  “I wouldn’t dare. These are all local production. Among hardworking Alwans, sixty-inch screens are catching on. I got half of the first production.”

  Kris went to stand by her subordinate. The screens showed the Alwa System in the middle and jumps covering a dozen systems out.

  Two were flashing red.

  “Is there a problem?” Kris asked.

  “No and yes. Or maybe yes. Do you want the good news or the bad news first, Admiral?”

  “Make it Kris among admirals.”

  “And I’m Amber,” Kitano said.

  “And we are faced with?�
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  “What looks like incoming reinforcements, headed for Alpha Jump. That’s nice, but also headed for Alpha is something else.”

  “Does this something else have some substance?”

  “It just jumped into that red system farthest out. Six I think, but if we’re right, if it’s going fast enough and puts on some turns, its next jump takes it to our system.”

  Kris frowned. “You know about what we found when we caught up with Sampson and her mutineers.”

  “It’s a big report, Kris. Did I skim over something I shouldn’t have?”

  “Some of the alien warships from the mother ship we first blew away put on some speed and revolutions and didn’t try to slow down until they were quite a ways from here. I don’t know if what they did was common knowledge or just something they stumbled across.”

  “It looks to be developing into common knowledge, Kris. A week ago we had a ship jump into a system five out from our Beta Jump. It built up speed crossing the system and hit the jump at close to eight hundred thousand klicks an hour.”

  “What did it do here?”

  “It never got here,” Amber said. “It must have missed the jump. You know how the normal jumps do wiggles. We figure it zigged out of their way, and they went flying past it.”

  “I wonder if they had enough fuel to slow down?” Kris said.

  “We don’t think they did. Not if it was like the fast movers they used against us last time.”

  Kris mulled that over for a bit. “So they sent a fast mover on what can only be a suicide mission, and it killed itself with nothing to show for it.”

  “It looks that way. Now we’ve got another one incoming. I don’t think we can expect to be that lucky again.”

  “Admiral, please get two 22-inch frigates moving toward both of your jump points.”

  “You think we can shoot it down?”

  “We better be able to. Because, if we don’t, I suspect it intends to make one hell of a hole in the planet below.”

  63

  Several hours later, Jack had rejoined Kris on the new flag bridge aboard the Princess Royal. He’d brought their private gear. Amanda and Jacques, Penny and Masao sat around the conference table with Professor Labao and Admiral Kitano.