Kris Longknife: Tenacious (Kris Longknife novellas Book 12) (33 page)

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?”

“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.

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?”

“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.”

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.

Reinforcements were arriving.

The first ship through was the
George Washington
, with Rear Admiral Yi of Earth. It was a 22-inch frigate and led the
Abraham Lincoln
,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
, and the
John F. Kennedy
.

“Our problems have even Old Earth rearming?” Jack observed.

“With frigates, Jack,” Kris pointed out. “They’re cheaper, and their smaller crews cost less come payday.”

“It’s still nice,” Penny said.

“I’ll take any help we can get,” Admiral Kitano muttered.

“Next up we have the
Lenin
,
Khrushchev
,
Bismarck
, and
Frederick the Great
,” Kitano reported.

“Do they have the
Lenin
and the
George Washington
in the same squadron?” Amanda said. “I thought those groups didn’t like each other.”

“The bigger reach,” Nelly said, “is the
Kennedy
with the
Khrushchev
. The two men almost blew up Old Earth during the first atomic crisis. I am told this class is made up of great war leaders or peacemakers.”

“Well, they didn’t blow up Earth, and we got to be here,” Kris said. “I’ll put those two down as peacemakers.”

“Kris, Chief Beni is having a problem with these ships.”

“What kind of problem?” Kris asked.
Haven’t I exhausted my supply of new problems yet for this month?
she managed not to whine aloud.

“The radar image he gets off these ships is nowhere near as large as his mass-density detector says it should be. His laser bounce from them is even less. Our gravity detector says there’s a good fifty thousand tons of ship out there. The reactors are what you’d expect, but the radar bounce is more like a fifteen-thousand-ton corvette and the laser reflection is more like a five-thousand-ton schooner.”

Kris eyed her staff. She got a lot of blank looks in return.

“I guess Old Earth’s dog may have taught itself some new tricks,” she said.

Nelly went on. “The next division is led by the
Charles de Gaulle
; there’s another
Churchill
,
Clemenceau
, and
King George V
. They’re all 22-inchers.”

“Nice. Very nice,” Jack said.

“Get your history book ready for this one,” Admiral Kitano said. “
Admiral Yamamoto
,
Chairman Mao Zedong
,
Admiral Togo
, and
Sun Tzu
. All 22-inchers again.”

“No, Nelly, we don’t want a history lesson,” Kris told her computer as it began a dissertation on who these ships were named for. “Earth can name their ships after anyone they want. Just so long as we get them to fight with us, it’s all very fine by me.”

“But, Kris, a lot of these people were at each other’s throats.”

“That was four hundred years ago,” Jacques said. “A lot can change in four hundred years.”

“Unless you’ve got an ‘Enlightened One’ passing down the same old same old,” Kris said.

“Yes,” came from everyone present.

“Leading off the next division is the
Nelson Mandela
, followed by the
Shaka Zulu
, the
Simon Bolivar
, and the
Jose de San Martin
.”

“I guess we know who paid for them,” Amanda said.

“Here comes the last division,” Kitano reported. “
Julius Caesar
,
Alexander
,
Saladin
, and
Genghis Khan
. Behind them are a dozen merchant ships named
Apple Blossom
,
Cherry Blossom
,
Pear Blossom
, and the like. Lots of flowers. Oh, and what looks like two more stations. At least, that’s what I hope
Shang-hi
and
Plymouth
mean when you put the names on huge ships.”

Kris stood and walked over to examine the board with her order of battle.

Of the thirty-four that had sailed out to meet the enemy in the last battle, twenty-six were ready to answer bells and get underway. There were seven more in dock. Maybe four could be made battle ready in a few days.

It was anyone’s guess when the
Hornet
,
Constellation
,
Royal
, and
Bulwark
might sail again. If they ever did.

Admiral Kitano had trained up another thirty-two. They were drilled and ready. The twenty-four that Earth had just provided would need to adopt to Alwa battle methods and be put through a few shakedown cruises.

With luck, the enemy would give them the time they needed.

Kris really did have a fleet now. Eighty-two, maybe eighty-five frigates.

Almost triple what she’d had the last time the aliens attacked.

Of course, at least three times as many aliens were likely to come at them.

The screams of the old woman echoed in Kris’s mind. “All of them are coming for us. Jacques, how many is all of the alien base ships?”

“We’re studying the writing on the wall, Kris. As best we can tell, there are at least thirty of them. There are some that seem to have left only one memorial and pile of heads. If they are still out there and come calling, there might be as many as fifty.”

Kris shook her head. “We’ll worry about them later. Just now, we have this other problem—fast movers. Let’s see how we handle them.”