Kris Longknife: Defender (6 page)

“Did Kris sign them?”

“I don’t think so,” Jack said, thoughtfully. “Sal, can you bring up a copy of the latest?” A moment later the standard four-page evaluation was projected onto the dirt in front of them. The first signature on the form was some general at headquarters. The last endorsement was Field Marshal McMorrison.

“Holy cow, I’ve been working at that level and never even bothered to find out.”

“Interesting,” Kris said.

“Very interesting,” Granny said. “Kris, what’s your position in the great chain of command?”

Kris took a second to think about it. “I don’t know how many times I’ve joked that my chain of command was tied up in macramé knots. Nelly, doesn’t Captain Drago have a ship’s table of organization on the wall in his in-port cabin?”

“Yes, Kris. I have a copy. Here it is.”

In the dirt between them now, a chart appeared. At the top of it was a box marked
THE CAPTAIN
with Drago’s name under it. Below, led to by solid black lines were the Division Officers, including the Marine Detachment.

“This must be before the crew was augmented and we got an XO and a command master chief,” Kris said.

“But Kris, I notice your name in a box off to the right side of the captain’s box. Is that a dotted line between the two of you? It looks like your box is dotted, too.”

“Yes, I think that was Grampa Ray’s idea. Let me give Drago my best advice, but if he didn’t like it, he was to provide what I jokingly called ‘adult supervision,’ and set me straight.”

“He never did,” Jack said, and there was pride in his voice and a vision of her reflected in his eyes that Kris only wished she could live up to.

She sent a kiss in his direction. He sent one right back.

“So, all this time, Kris, it looks to this old ship driver and commodore that you and Jack have never been in the same chain of command.”

Kris liked where Granny was leading, but she knew it wasn’t true. “For the last year or so, I’ve commanded PatRon 10. We took down some pirates. Went exploring the galaxy, blew the hell out of the alien base ship, and got wiped out. I watched two of my ships take on horrible odds, beat them for longer than the law of averages would allow, then be blown to bits. The
Hornet
went one way so the
Wasp
could go another. We never heard from the
Hornet
again, and the
Wasp
dragged herself into the first human port it could make, and they broke her up in place. As ComPatRon 10, Drago was under my command, and Jack was under his.”

“It doesn’t sound to me like there’s much of your command left. You still ComPatRon 10?” Granny asked.

Jack had the decency to chuckle dryly.

“Nope. Doesn’t exist. Not even the
Wasp
’s logs, as I understand it. My lawyer tried to get them, but the Navy insisted they had no logs from the Voyage of Discovery. The last job I have official orders for was in East Siberia. ComFastAttackRon 127. I think the leave I approved for myself has run out, so I’m AWOL from that job. Jack was sent to West Siberia, security on HellFrozeOver. I think his leave has run out, too.”

“No doubt about it,” Jack said with no contrition at all.

“They still have a base on HellFrozeOver?” Granny asked.

“Yes, and I have the frostbite to prove it,” Jack said.

Granny mulled that over for a few seconds. “But you’re both out here on another
Wasp
. How’d that happen?” Granny asked.

“It’s a long story involving Musashi children holding bake sales and donating their pennies to buy me a ship, and my not being found guilty of crimes against humanity.”

“But not innocent either,” Jack put in.

Kris went on. “Your darling little Alex, my grandfather Al, seemed hell-bent on sending out a trade fleet to make contact with the aliens and negotiate trade agreements.”

“I guess I did raise a dumb child. In my defense, I will point out, I’ve been on the other side of the galaxy during his formative years and all the rest of them.”

“Anyway, the
Wasp
managed to intercept and stop that dumb idea. Somehow. Captain Drago ended up back as contract skipper to the new
Wasp
. I’m back doing the princess thing, handling delicate political issues. Oh, and when the need arises to kill people, I have Nelly lock the crosshairs on the target, and I close the firing circuit.”

She gave Jack a forlorn look. He tried to give her a grin in return, but it was a weak one. “Other than that, I twiddle my thumbs and while away my time.”

“Honey, don’t kid a kidder. I saw the full show about how you had battleships running away from that monster, distracting it while your tiny corvettes got in their superpunches with those, what do you call them, Hellfires?”

“Hellburners,” Jack corrected.

“Ship wreckers,” Granny said.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, nobody asked me for my opinion, but you two are going to get it with both barrels. Captain Drago has the
Wasp
up there in orbit. I understand he’s going to be sending the crew down in stages to make sure they stay healthy.”

Kris did not ask her granny how she found that out, but said nothing.

“Your crew needs a break. You two need a break. If something goes all tits over ass, you’ll have some warning. I saw you deploying buoys at the jump points. Right?”

“Yes,” Kris agreed.

“The two of you are a couple of million words short of knowing how you feel about each other. Have you ever taken some time for each other?”

“Well, there were a couple of days while we were on the lam from the cops.” Kris coughed with ladylike delicacy. “That would be when we finally got to enjoy each other’s company.”

“You were busy staying one step ahead of the law!” Granny said.

“And planning how to break into the high-security tower your son Alex had built to keep him safe from anything,” Jack added.

“That must have left a lot of time for whispering sweet little nothings in each of your ears.”

Both Kris and Jack shrugged.

“Okay, has your granny got a deal for you,” Granny Rita said. “You two are taking a vacation. A two-week vacation.”

“I can’t do that!” Kris said.

“How come?” Granny shot back.

“I’ve got to get the reports from the boffins on what they find out about the ship. I want to know about the DNA from the one boot they found. It will tell me if this is a new bunch or more of the same that we’ve met before. There’s lots of stuff.”

“I get it,” Granny said dryly. “You’re irreplaceable. Nelly, will you get those reports?”

“Yes, Granny.”

“And will you be able to show them to Kris?”

“You bet I can. I do it all the time.”

“And how long would it take you to get a message from Captain Drago?”

“We’ve deployed the communication satellites in synchronous orbit. Delay can’t be more than two seconds,” Nelly tattled.

“Kris, there is no reason why you and Jack can’t take some time for yourselves . . . other than that you’re afraid of what you might find out,” Granny said. “Sometimes the human heart is the most terrifying thing in the world to face. I know. I’ve blown up ships and sent others to die in my place, and the three scariest times in my life were when I faced, really faced the men in my life that I loved.”

She paused for a second. “Did how I persuaded Ray Longknife to marry me make it into the history books?”

Kris thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“Ray had been to the war, and I’d personally flown the transport that held, long after the recall, so they could drag his sorry ass aboard. His back was broken. Some said he’d never walk. Some said he was dead from the waist down. The man who had loved me told me to walk away. Get out of his life.”

“What did you do?” Kris whispered.

“It was in the back gardens at Nuu House. Do they still have gardens there?”

“The most lovely,” Kris said.

“Do you know that there are no security cameras in one section?”

Kris shook her head; it was news to her.

“I paid off the guy who installed the security system to make sure I had one place I could take a boyfriend and not worry about being watched. I took Ray there one afternoon when the docs said he was healing, or should have been healing, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t
letting
himself heal. He didn’t believe he could. My war hero was afraid to try and fail.”

Granny was watching the wind in the trees again, far across the galaxy and years.

“I stood over him. Then slowly took my dress off and showed him that he wasn’t dead below the waist. I won, but dear God was I scared the whole time. Likely, little Alex was conceived that day. I was scared. So scared. I still don’t know how I did it.”

Granny paused, took a deep breath, and seemed to come back to her body.

“Okay. Now you know more about your family tree than you ever wanted to know. But I ask you again. There’s this little beach resort. I know the owner. I’m sure I can get the two of you a place for two weeks. He offers candlelit dinners and a small dance floor. The beach is sandy and white, and the water is so clear, you can go snorkeling and see the bottom twenty meters down. Oh, and it’s small, only twenty cottages. If I say the word, I can guarantee you that there won’t be anyone else from the
Wasp
staying there while you are.”

“Granny Rita, you’re a tyrant.”

“And I have the signed certificates on my wall to prove it. Some in blood. So, do I win this one?”

Kris looked at Jack. He gave her a tight little smile in return, but there was also a slight nod to his head, a lowering of his eyelids.

“Make the call, Granny. We’ll stay for two weeks or until Captain Drago announces all hell’s broken loose, whichever comes first.”

“Good girl!” Granny said with joy in her voice. Then she sobered. “And good luck to the both of you. I know. You’ll need it.”

Kris
sat on the bed. It wasn’t too soft or too firm. From the feel of it and the pillow, it must be made out of down. Apparently there were prey birds; she’d caught glimpses of a few flying birds on the drive out.

The owner himself was showing her and Jack the room. It was spacious. There were no glass windows. Instead, most of the room was open to a softly blowing breeze. The owner showed them how to shutter them if the weather changed. “But you won’t likely need to do it when the duty shower comes over about three o’clock.”

He was too young to be one of the original crew but likely the son of one. His language was sprinkled every once in a while with Navy. “There are two closets, one for him and one for her. Feel free to use any of the clothes there. We’ve washed them since the last couple used them.” He listed the times for meals but promised if they missed chow, there was usually someone to slap together a sandwich for anyone hungry. “And we have snorkel gear and boats for anyone who wants them. Sailboats. Rowboats. Maybe now that you’re here, we can get back into the powerboat business. Haven’t seen a powerboat since I was knee high. Anyway, I’m glad I could do Granny Rita a favor, and I want to personally thank you for what you did, saving all our necks.”

“Thank you, sir,” Kris said.

Without any further encouragement, the fellow left, leaving Kris and Jack alone. Kris stayed seated on the bed. Should she and Jack put it to use immediately?

Kris found herself surprised on how unsure she was. Shy even.

Jack kicked off his shoes, saying, “Follow me,” and headed out to the beach. He walked the full distance down to the water. It was low tide, so that was quite a walk.

Leaving Kris to wonder what was going through his mind.

She was a woman; the owner had piqued her interest about clothes. She checked out the closet with a skimpy two-piece swimsuit painted on it. There was a big, colorful muumuu. There were several pairs of shorts and tank tops from nice to so skimpy Mother would never have let Kris out of the house in them, even in college. Not that Mother knew all that much what Kris wore in college since she and Father had moved into Government House.

Even with the house to herself, Kris kept to Mother’s standards. It wouldn’t help Father’s next election to have a photo of his daughter dressed inappropriately.

Hey, baby ducks,
Kris could almost hear Abby saying,
remember, other side of the galaxy.

The swimsuits went from skimpy to Oh My God bits of string and not much else. What had the sign said at the restaurant?
TOTAL NUDITY NOT ALLOWED
.

Kris eyed her closet and wondered where “Total Nudity” ended or began.

She grabbed the muumuu and stepped into the bathroom to change. She had the cottage to herself, but she really was feeling shy. What if Jack returned when she was only half-dressed?

The bathroom was nice. A large tub, clearly intended for two. The shower seemed fully open to the outside, but no, when she looked closer, she spotted shutters.

They didn’t look like they’d been closed for a while.

Dressed in a muumuu and nothing else, she followed Jack to the shore. He seemed so intensely focused on the ocean, Kris was almost afraid to disturb him, but she put a hand on his back and began to gently rub it.

“Thank you,” Jack said. “That feels good.”

“I’m glad then. A penny for your thoughts?” she said.

It took him a while to answer. When he did, he surprised Kris. “I love the ocean, and it scares me.”

Kris owed Jack a whole lot more than a penny for that. Never in her life would she have guessed it. “You’ve got to explain that.”

“I know you love sailing.”

“It’s some of my best memories as a kid. We quit sailing after Eddy died. The family did, but I could still get some of my friends to go out sailing. And yes, I loved the freedom of it.”

“But you were sailing a lake. Did you ever sail so far out you couldn’t see the shore?”

“The lake was too small for that.”

“The ocean is a totally different matter. It’s been here for billions of years, waves pounding on the shore, turning rocks to pebbles, and pebbles to sand. The ocean goes on forever.”

“Yes,” Kris said, aware of the geology lesson, but not at all sure what this meant to Jack.

“And it will go on for billions of years more after our bones have turned to dust.”

“My, aren’t you the pessimist. We could screw up, let the aliens take the planet, drain the oceans, then no more billion years.”

“Now who’s the pessimist? I wasn’t thinking of the ocean going on after us as something pessimistic. I was thinking that our time is so short, we have to be fools to waste it.”

“Oh,” Kris said. She found that reply on the weak side. “Good point.” she added, and felt like a bigger fool.

“You come here often?” she finally said, throwing in a smile and hoping he’d forgive her loss for words.

“To the beach, not nearly enough. Here, only once with the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. Really spectacular girl, did I tell you? Not so great a conversationalist at times, but wow, can she blow up ships!”

“But can’t open a can, cook spaghetti, or warm water,” Kris added, smiling as she enjoyed his choice of words. He saw a woman she could never believe existed.

He put his arm around her. Now it was him massaging her back. Just her back, nothing more.

“Can we sit down?” she asked.

“You’re dressed for it. Do I really want to get my greens sandy? Will you stay here while I go change?”

“Make it quick. A Sailor might come along and ask me to show him a good time.”

“You warn him that if he takes off with my girl, I will track him down and beat him to a pulp.”

Kris considered several replies, and was leaning toward “Can I watch the fight?” when she thought better of it. “I’ll warn him off and send him on his way, a sadder but wiser man.”

“You do that,” Jack shouted over his shoulder as he jogged for the cottage.

Kris sat down cross-legged. The damp sand quickly soaked through the thin material. She’d even left her spider silk behind. When she’d put them in a bureau drawer, she’d found no underwear.

Interesting.

She’d also taken a peek into Jack’s closet. There were shorts, from long to scandalously short. Shirts from casual to hardly enough to keep the sun off. Swimsuits from indecent to “Oh My God, Why Bother?” and some colorful thin scarves that you could see right through. Lava-lava she thought they were called.

Kris sat patiently, eyes on the ocean, ever-changing, yet ever the same, waiting to see what Jack showed up in.

His shorts were long, and his shirt would not have been out of place in a casual bar back on Wardhaven. He settled down beside her, then winced. “The sand didn’t look that wet.”

“Ocean, Jack. It’s been wet for, what did you say, billions of years?”

“Yes, but what am I going to wear to supper tonight? These were the only decent shorts in the closet.”

“And this was the only muumuu in mine.”

Jack looked sidewise at Kris. “You think your granny did more than just reserve us a cottage? You think she chose our wardrobe?”

“She was a Longknife. Long ago, admittedly.”

“I’m sorry, Kris. I hope you won’t take offense, but from where I sit in the cheap seats, once a Longknife, always a Longknife.”

“Honey, you have not been sitting in the cheap seats. You’ve spent nearly as much time in the same room with my Grampa Ray as I have lately, and you’re closer to him.”

“That’s so I can jump between you two if you ever come to blows.”

“Whose side would you be on if it ever happened?” Kris asked. More than curious.

“Raymond is my king,” Jack said. “But you are my girl.”

Kris couldn’t help but grin. Not “my primary,” “my girl.”

“You’re the first guy to call me his girl in a long time.”

“There was someone before me? Should I be jealous?”

“Nope, he was a dork. Just wanted to be able to say he’d scored on a Longknife, and I was foolish or lonely enough to let him get close to me. Mother had warned me about boys like that. I ignored or forgot the only good advice Mother ever gave me.”

“I admit, I was jealous of that fellow on Chance. Mayor what’s-his-name,” Jack admitted.

Kris got pensive. “Yeah, that one had prospects. But he took one good look at what happens around a Longknife and beat feet for the exit.” Kris sighed. “Like they all do.”

They watched the ocean in silence for a long while.

“Why haven’t you beat feet or married one of the other girls around me? Amanda Kutter, now, she’s got to be the most beautiful girl a guy could ask for.”

“She’s not bad-looking,” Jack admitted.

Kris elbowed him in the ribs.

“But she took the ticket home, remember? No way I was leaving your side with one hell of a battle coming up.”

“But it was ship to ship. Nothing for your Marines to do.”

“There was that mining concern Admiral Krätz wanted us to capture. Don’t forget. You got yourself shot down trying to get a good look at it. Tell me you could have gotten that canopy open without my strong back.”

“No, I could not have, and I’d likely have burned to death or been blown to bits when the antimatter containment went, or worse, been captured. You are so right, my wise and eternally vigilant security advisor.”

“And my Marines would have been massacred when they flew into the trap the mining head had set for them.”

Kris gave Jack a puzzled look. “I do dimly remember a wise and perpetually overaggressive young woman who has insisted on that point.”

For several long, peaceful minutes, they enjoyed the ever-changing waves.

“We have saved each other’s asses a few times, haven’t we?” Kris said.

“And, if I may be permitted to say, and dredge up from memory, yours is a most beautiful ass.”

“Yes, you may, kind sir,” Kris said, “because if my dim and fading memory is right, yours is a most spectacular ass in its own right.”

“But not as round and smooth as yours,” Jack countered.

“But more muscled and hairy,” Kris replied.

“My ass is not hairy. It has a fine down, maybe, but not hairy.”

“Hairy as a monkey’s,” Kris insisted. “I know. I spent some wonderful time stroking it while you were sleeping.”

“I wasn’t sleeping, I was enjoying your touch. And it is not hairy as a monkey.”

“It’s your rear. You never look at it in the mirror.”

As things were progressing, Kris half expected Jack to drop his shorts right there in front of her and twist himself into a pretzel to see his own rear. She found herself looking forward to where that might lead.

The dinner bell rang for supper.

Jack gave Kris a questioning raised eyebrow.

For all of five seconds, Kris considered her options. The problem was she hadn’t eaten since breakfast on the
Wasp
, and her tummy was very empty, and while the thought of filling it from something other than food was getting more attractive by the moment, she doubted it would quiet the rumbling.

She offered Jack her hand up.

She enjoyed rubbing the sand off Jack’s shorts while he dusted her behind with long and loving strokes.

She reconsidered how hungry she was, but her tummy rumbled again.

“I wonder what they mean by ‘Total Nudity Not Allowed’?” Jack asked no one in particular.

“You are such a guy,” Kris muttered.

“Don’t tell me you won’t be checking out the guys. I saw what was in my closet.”

“Did you check out mine?”

“I have the right to remain silent because you are way too good at blowing up ships.”

“Smart man. Educable. I should keep you.”

“Besides, my commission is for the duration, and I think you just started a war that’s going to have a very long duration.”

“Promise me we aren’t going to talk about that. Anything that happened before the Voyage of Discovery is fair game. My Granny Rita is fair game, but the bug-eyed monsters who look too damn much like us are out of bounds.”

“I’m sorry, Kris. You shouldn’t have had to tell me that. The stars are coming out. Aren’t they lovely?” Jack said, changing the subject.

They walked to the restaurant, discussing stars. And they spotted their first songbird. Apparently it was a night creature, and it sang the most lovely song as it flitted among the trees. More birds, with different songs, joined in.

The walk became quite pleasant.