“Jack, you’re going all formal on me,” Kris said.
He shook his head. “I don’t think we should send the Hermes out.”
“I’m afraid that I agree with your Marine,” Colonel Cortez said.
“Both of you don’t think we need to know what’s coming this way?” Kris said.
“We need to be able to kill anything that jumps through after the Hornet,” Jack said, “but no, Kris, I don’t think we need to leave a bigger trail pointing at that jump point.”
“It would be nice to know if something is following him,” Kris said.
“Certainly,” the colonel agreed. “Is there any chance that your boffins might be able to get their jump-point periscope working so we could peek through?”
“Nelly, get Professor mFumbo,” Kris said.
“I’m busy,” he snapped a second later. “There are several approaches that might crack these images, but right now, none of them have worked.”
“Quick question, Professor,” Kris said. “So far the jump-point periscope has only succeeded in showing us the closest other side of the jump point. Any chance we could dial it around to show us some of the other systems connecting through the jump point?”
“Like the seven-hundred-light-year-away system that the Hornet just left?”
“Exactly, Professor.”
“Sorry. Not a chance. Our grasp on what we’re doing is very tenuous, Your Highness. I see why you would want some selection in your view, but we can’t offer it at this time. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to give you that.”
“Thank you, Professor. You can get back to your other assignment.”
The link clicked dead.
“Okay, if we can’t do that, could we bushwhack them as they enter our system at speed?” Jack asked.
“Like we think they have been doing our scout ships,” Ron said.
The admirals were still on-screen, but all had turned away to consult with their staffs.
“Admiral Krätz, you said that during the last war no one ever thought of stationing ships at the jump point and shooting up anything that came out.”
The Greenfeld officer turned away from his officers to face Kris. “Yes. You could never tell when a jump point might take it into its head to zig or zag. Far too dangerous for the ship. And much too exhausting to the crew of the ship to be floating in microgee for weeks at a time. The health of the crew requires that we tie up to a station for some gravity at regular intervals. That’s also why we usually accelerate at one gee, young lady.”
“Admiral, I believe that the 18-inch lasers on your battleships now have triple the range of the guns we used back then. So you don’t have to get real close to the jump point to clobber anything coming out of it. Your battle squadron is also not tied up to a space station pier just now, but . . .” Kris said, and waited for a light to dawn.
The admiral said several phrases in a language Kris didn’t understand.
YOU WANT ME TO TRANSLATE, KRIS?
NO, NELLY. I SUSPECT I HAVE A PRETTY GOOD IDEA WHAT HE’S SAYING.
The admiral fell quiet, fixing Kris with a scowl. “ And I imagine that you want me to take my battle squadron over to that jump point and take station to engage anything that exits it.”
“It strikes me as a brilliant use of your invention.”
“I would rather evacuate this system.”
“I am not ready to leave.”
“Young woman, you have no respect for rank, or your elders.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, sir, but I must represent the interests of the United Society as it is given me to see them. I have a ship not yet in from what is turning out to be a very hostile neighborhood of the galaxy. You are free to leave, sir. However, if you choose to stay, may I suggest that you take your four battleships over to where you may apply your 18-inch lasers to anything that exits Jump Point Delta.”
“That will take me farther away from the exit jump, Longknife.”
“For God’s sakes, Georg,” Admiral Channing snapped. “If you don’t want to do what needs doing, Kōta and I will take our ships over there. Though, Lord knows, you’ve got the biggest guns in the fleet.”
“I go. I go. Captain, send to BatRon 12, to keep the little Longknife girl happy, we will set up a prepared defense thirty thousand kilometers from Jump Point Dora. There. Are you happy?”
“Thank you very much,” Kris said, taking care to keep her tone as sincere as the law allowed.
Kris leaned back in her seat and thought seriously about ordering a drink. Clearly, it had been one of those days. She sighed and fought down the temptation, consoling herself with the thought that it couldn’t get any worse than this.
“Ah, Kris.”
“Yes, Nelly.”
“The Intrepid just jumped in system. He says you really want to hear what he has to say.
Kris groaned, and just managed to avoid giving voice to something that would not have been very princesslike.
“Put him on. Admirals, you might want to hear this.”
28
“We found a new alien civilization,” the skipper of the Intrepid announced, breathless with joy. “I think we were there when they sent up their very first artificial satellite. I mean, there was nothing up in orbit, then there was this little thing going beep, beep, beep.”
“Did you get any pictures of these aliens?” Kris asked.
“Yes. They had radio and TV. Primitive sets. We had no trouble translating the pictures, but we have no idea what they were saying. Well, some. What passed for news had a lot on it about the satellite launch. At least, we think it did.”
“Please pass your data capture to the Wasp,” Kris said, keeping her voice even, but she sounded tired even to herself.
The captain seemed startled to have his news taken in with no more excitement than they were giving it. “Is something wrong?”
“The Hornet found what we think is a bug-eyed monster’s mother ship. It’s huge, and they look to be totally nasty.”
“Oh. Well, this was a voyage of discovery. Looks like we made quite a few good ones.”
“Excuse me, Captain,” Nelly put in. “Did you follow the course laid in by the boffins for your round-trip?”
“Yep. No surprises there. Five out, then four back. The bird people, that’s what we’re calling them. Their TV had an advertisement that seemed aimed at keeping eggs at just the right temperature for a perfect hatching, or that’s what it looked like. Anyway, the bird people were on the third system out from here. They sure looked like the nicest people you could ask to meet.”
“Third system out,” Kris said. She’d heard that number before.
“Kris, we have a problem,” Nelly said softly.
On-screen, Admirals Kōta and Channing turned back from whatever they’d been doing to give the screen their full attention. A Greenfeld commander who had stayed attentive to the screen took a while to get Admiral Krätz’s attention. He was none too happy to be disturbed.
“What now, Longknife?” he demanded.
“Nelly, please explain yourself,” Kris said.
A new window opened on the screen. It showed a huge swath of the Milky Way, five thousand by five thousand light-years square. Each of the four search sweeps showed as a long white loop. The Wasp had taken the rightmost sweep and showed the murdered planet as a flashing yellow datum. The Fearless had taken the left sweep and had nothing exciting to show for the trip.
The Hornet and Intrepid had the inside sectors. As luck would have it, they’d both started on the outside legs, farthest from each other. As they returned back, they swung inward.