Kris Longknife 13 - Unrelenting (27 page)

Only when those eight frigates, along with the four Kris needed to replace her early losses were in commission, would the yard supervisors like Benson get to lay down the next eight ships for them to command and crew.

“I think that qualifies as motivation,” he was heard to grumble as he passed the word along to the other yard bosses.

It was a good plan. It lasted a whole week. Then the aliens made it obsolete.

41

“Kris
, you need to wake up,” Nelly said.

Kris didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to see how her dream ended.

Kris was in an all-too-familiar position, flat on her back on an examination table. Her legs were up and spread. Only this was not an examination.

It had taken her a while to realize it, but the people busying around her were laying out instruments to perform an abortion on her.

Kris told them, in the most rational words she could come up with, that this was unnecessary. She had everything under control.

They ignored her and kept on laying out huge and horrible metal objects.

Sometimes, the nurse looked like her mom. Sometimes it was Admiral Yi or Commander Sampson. Whoever they were, they would not listen to her.

Even as Kris kept arguing her case, she came to realize that she was not tied to the table. She was free to get up and run for it. She stayed put, doing her best to dissuade whoever it was she was talking to, but in her heart, she’d already made up her mind.

If they picked up one of those horrible things with intent, Kris and baby were off to the races.

They would not take what she was becoming.

Even in her dream, she thought that strange.
It’s not my baby they want, it’s me.

Kris struggled to wakefulness without learning the ending.

“Yes, Nelly, what time is it?”

“Way too early, Kris, but the duty section woke up Admiral Kitano, and she thinks you need to see this right away.”

“See what?” Jack asked.

“It looks like we have another fast-moving suicide ship coming in, only this one is different,” Nelly said.

“How different?” Kris asked as she rolled out of bed.

“They are coming in a lot faster. Faster and wilder. This one jumped into a system only seven out. It managed to skip five systems. The estimate is it’s doing four hundred and fifty thousand kilometers and accelerating at 3.45 gees.”

“Ouch,” Jack said, and pulled on a fresh set of khakis as Kris reached for whites.

Five minutes later, they were in Kris’s flag plot staring at a screen showing Alwa’s picket system while Admiral Kitano and the duty officer reported from another.

“This report arrived fifteen minutes ago,” the duty officer, a young lieutenant, reported. She looked very calm for a JO who’d just woken up a total of seven stars. Nine, if you counted Jack.

“I must point out that this report has been five days, eight hours in transit. It is possible that the suicider could be jumping into our system anytime.”

“Nelly?” Kris said.

“I’m working on it, Kris, with
Wasp
’s nav computer. We don’t do these kind of jumps, and I don’t have this stuff in memory.”

Kris raised an eyebrow. Nelly sounded sharp, harassed, and busy. Kris chose to cover another matter. “Kitano, who has jump-point duty?”

“BatRon 5,” she answered quickly, then glanced off screen to check herself. “Hispania has the
Libertad
and
Federacion
at Alpha, the
Independencia
and
Union
at Beta Jump. The Esperanto League was scheduled to relieve them next week.”

“All of those are 20-inch frigates,” Kris said, measuring their 160,000-klick range against this fast move. “Alert the Esperanto League division to get under way immediately, as in ten minutes ago.”

Even as Kris was issuing orders, another blip appeared on the picket line. Then another. The last was only four out.

The duty officer’s attention was drawn offscreen. “Two more bogeys reported. One is going five hundred thousand klicks. That’s got to be wrong—the next is reported at nine hundred thousand.”

Kris rubbed her tired eyes. “If it jumped eight systems, maybe more, it would have to be going that fast.” Kris really could use some help from Nelly.

“It will almost certainly miss,” Nelly reported. “Even if it brakes in that system, it will jump past us,” Kris’s computer reported. “It’s the second one that might be a problem.”

“When?” Kris asked.

“A bogey has just entered the system,” the duty officer reported, almost as calmly as she likely wanted to.

“Right about now,” Nelly said, in a rather tardy answer to Kris’s question.

Kris waited to be told how the Hispania frigates had done against the intruder. While this was news to them, the alert frigates had handled this problem several hours ago. Kris tried not to grit her teeth too tightly as she waited for the speed-of-light delay.

The screen beside the multisystem lit up to show only Beta Jump and two frigates anchored to each other. A fast-moving blip shot through the jump at the worst moment. Neither of the ships had its bow or stern on to the jump.

That didn’t hold them up. In less than a second, both ships had broken loose from their mooring and were going bow or stern on to the target. Three seconds after the suicide ship showed up, nine lasers sliced into it, hacking it to pieces. The reactor blew, and most of the pieces were caught in a rapidly expanding ball of gas.

“Send a very well done to the
Independencia
and
Union
,” Kris said. “Nelly, talk to me about that ship we just blew away.”

“This is just a preliminary report, Kris, but the ship seems to have only had one reactor. It was denser than the usual alien ship. It may have had a minimal crew, but we need more data. There were several sensors pointed at that jump, and we’re compiling their data now.”

“How about the reactor?” Kris asked. “Is it from one of our usual suspects or has a new ship been heard from?”

“The reactor was different,” Nelly reported. “Smaller than
what we’ve seen before. Whether it’s a new version of a familiar design, I need more data.”

“But the bastards have come up with a new twist,” Jack said.

“It sure looks that way,” Kris agreed through a yawn. “Now, if there’s no more fun for tonight, I’ll leave the watch to those who have it and get a few more hours’ sleep. No doubt, tomorrow will be another busy day.”

“No doubt,” Kitano said, and showed no interest in her bed as she turned to her duty officer.

“Nelly, keep up with what’s going on, but unless all hell breaks loose, let me sleep.”

“Will do,” Kris’s computer answered, and the screens went dim.

“You that tired?” Jack asked.

“Yes, maybe,” Kris said, although another yawn reinforced the yes. “I was having another one of those dreams. Really weird. Now this. I don’t know if I want to go back to sleep, but I do know that my people need their sleep, and tomorrow will be soon enough to start ripping up our latest plans and cobbling together the next ones. Hold me. Help me sleep, dear.”

He was very good at holding her.

42

Nelly
awoke Kris at her usual time. “I’ll have a report for you before breakfast, but you might as well shower and dress. There’s nothing that can’t wait.”

Kris headed for the shower after only a quick peck for Jack. She couldn’t remember any dream from the second half of her sleep, but something must have been going on. She felt like she’d had more of a workout than a rest.

Jack followed her into the shower this morning, having laid out fresh uniforms for them. Kris dressed as she eyed the screens in her flag plot. There was plenty of activity.

Fourteen bogeys were scattered around the picket line. Nelly had backtracked most to their launching system. Systems. No more than two had come from the same place.

“Have these learned anything from the mother ship we wiped out?” Jack asked, joining her.

“Nelly,” Kris said, “any report on the reactors? Is it a single design or are we dealing with several base ships?”

“The reports from the pickets are not as informative as I would like. All the bogeys have a single reactor. It’s smaller than the two we put on our freighters. It may not be all that well made. One of the ships exploded as it boosted from one jump to the next.”

“Are they shooting out our pickets?” Jack asked.

“No. The one bogey that made it into our system didn’t shoot, and I didn’t read any lasers or capacitors on it.”

“But it’s denser?” Kris asked.

“Yes, Kris, denser with one small reactor and minimal life support.”

“A crewed suicide rock,” Jack said, sipping his coffee.

“Launched from the opposite side of our perimeter,” Kris observed, “away from the System X quadrant.”

“Yes. It’s as if they want you chasing off as far from System X as possible.”

Kris shook her head. “I wonder what’s happening out there with the three squadrons I sent. We need couriers to get word back fast, and we needed them last week.”

“But we need guns at our jump points,” Jack pointed out. “And we need to know which of these is the main thrust.” He turned to Kris. “Aren’t you glad now that you’re here and not out there?”

“Yes, love, I’m glad I’m behaving like a good admiral and not having any fun.”

“No fun at all?”

“No fun blowing shit up,” she said, and gave him another peck for a promise.

Breakfast was soon interrupted. Kris was still going down the steam table and surprised to find the scrambled eggs and ham unusually attractive this morning when Pipra and Abby came in. They made a beeline for her.

“I hear there was fun last night,” Pipra said, as Kris gave in to temptation and added the eggs and ham, from whatever source, to her plate.

“If you mean that we have a new wave of suicide attacks coming at us, you’re right,” Kris said.

“And you want to rework my production plan.”

“The thought has occurred to me,” Kris admitted.

“When?”

“Can I at least eat my breakfast in peace?” Kris said.

“I warned you she was cranky before she ate,” Abby said.

“I’m not cranky, I’m hungry,” Kris shot back, but with a smile, or at least an attempt.

“Will nine o’clock be too soon?” Pipra asked.

“Nelly, advise all the usual suspects that we’ll be reviewing our situation and its impact on production at 0900 in my flag quarters. Show up if you want to protect your ox from my goring.”

“They are informed, Kris.”

“Good. Now let me eat.”

Abby took Pipra by the elbow, and the two quickly disappeared, though not in the acrid puff of smoke Kris could have wished.

“Kris, does leaving you alone include me?” Nelly asked with amazing deference.

“If it’s entertaining, talk to me.”

“The data is still preliminary, Kris. It appears the new suicide ships are made to two similar schemes. Lightly crewed, heavily built, but the reactors are slightly different. It could just be the difference in production lines on one ship, but normally an alien base ship always does the same thing the same way.”

“That’s the way it’s been,” Jack agreed. “Is there any pattern to the difference? Are we being hit from one section of sky by one type, the other section by the other type?”

“It’s still too early to tell, sir. Some of the buoys aren’t as sensitive as others. I’m afraid some of our own construction efforts have not been all that standard.”

“Well, that’s just human,” Kris sniffed.

“But it’s causing me trouble,” Nelly sniffed right back.

“Enough, girls,” Jack said. “Is there any way to check this out, Nelly?”

“I expect it will shake out as we get more data, sir.”

“How come he gets a sir and I just get lip?” Kris demanded.

“He’s a general, Kris. You’re just a princess and a pretty poor excuse for one at that, if I may say so.”

“I am also the person with her finger on your OFF button.”

“You wouldn’t dare push it, Kris. Too much is happening that you need me for.”

“She has you there,” Jack pointed out.

Kris sighed. “Yes, Nelly, you win this one. But when things calm down . . .”

“Kris,” Nelly interrupted, “things never calm down.”

Jack licked a finger and made two marks in the air. “Two good ones in less than a minute. Nelly, you’re magnificent.”

“I keep telling you so.”

“And she believes it,” Kris grouched.

“A bogey just jumped in using Alpha point,” Nelly reported. “The
Libertad
and
Federacion
nailed it in two seconds. Kris, there is wreckage this time. Could you have them
launch a pinnace to collect it? I’d like to examine it, maybe determine where it came from.”

“Magnificent idea, Nelly,” Kris said. “Order the
Libertad
to collect any junk they can find and bring it in when they’re relieved. Order the
Union
to do the same if they can spot any debris from the first one.”

“It is done, Kris.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Now, girls, isn’t it nice to be nice?”

Kris waited for Nelly to respond. It turned into a long wait.

“Well, maybe not,” Jack finally said.

Kris had just enough time to check the screens before her meeting began to form. There were now two dozen identified bogeys. Two had blown up. Eight had made jumps that carried them past Alwa. Unless they had the fuel to turn around, they were headed into deep, cold space and a slow, cold death.

“How do they get volunteers for a job like that?” Penny muttered as she joined Kris eyeing the screens.

“You have to indoctrinate people at a very deep level to get this kind of fanaticism,” Jacques said, joining them. “They’ve got a very closed system, both in fact and fiction. What the Enlightened One says is the way it is, and there’s no way for a reality check.”

“So we provide the reality,” Kris said.

“Yes,” the anthropologist said, as Amanda came up beside him.

“You going to redo the economy again?” she asked Kris.