Kris fell asleep at her desk, reviewing food production projections from both the colonial farms and Alwan.
Next morning, on her way to breakfast, Kris found a bleary-eyed XO with two senior chiefs at her side waiting outside the wardroom. “Here’s our draft policy.”
Kris flipped through it. “You left a place for me to sign?” she pointed out.
“Captain Kitano said we might as well do a full staff job. Whatever draft you sign will need a place to do it at, right?”
Kris thanked the chiefs for their effort and led the XO into the wardroom. She read the policy through, with Jack looking over her shoulder.
“You see a problem from the Marine side?” she asked him.
“Nope. I trust my Gunnies. Besides, if there is a problem, that’s what mod 1 and mod 12 are for.”
Kris signed it and handed it back to the XO. “See that this is published before noon today.”
The young lieutenant was grinning from ear to ear. “Yes, ma’am,” she said. “There is an upside to having a Longknife for a commander.”
“Not many,” Jack assured her, “but a few.”
The exec saluted and headed off at a jog.
“Is that your first policy?” Jack asked.
“Maybe,” Kris said around a bite of bran muffin. “Certainly my first to supplant a Navy reg. We’ll have to wait to see how that goes.”
“Yes, we will.”
Kris was back at her desk in her day quarters when the screens on her walls came to life. “Commodore,” Captain Kitano reported, “we’ve got activity at Jump Point Beta. Lots of it.”
“Show me what you’re getting.”
Jack, who had been going over his Marine reports on the couch, stood up to join Kris in front of her screens.
“Ships are coming through. U.S. registry out of Wardhaven,” Kitano reported. “Renown, Repulse, Royal Sovereign, Resistance, and Resolute. The chief thinks those are heavy frigates. They’re followed by the Supply and Ajax. Auxiliaries, but none of them are in our recognition books, nor are their pennant numbers ones we have.”
“Send my greetings. If we don’t hear something friendly from them in two hours, we’ll take the squadron to general quarters and sortie. Issue a preliminary order for a sortie.”
“Aye, aye, Commodore.”
Then another section of Kris’s screen lit up. “Commodore Hawkings, here. I hope we didn’t scare you, Admiral. Yep, it’s admiral. The king sends his compliments and your official promotion to captain and frocks you up to rear admiral. You’ll need the rank, I’m just the first division through the jump. Wait until you see what’s behind me. Over to you.”
KRIS, THERE IS A COMMANDER HAWKINGS IN OUR DATABASE. FACIAL RECOGNITION GIVES A NINETY-NINE-POINT-EIGHTY-NINE-PERCENT MATCH TO HIM. HE WAS ON THE FAST TRACK, AND IT LOOKS LIKE THEY MOVED HIM AHEAD OF A LOT OF SENIORS TO COME HERE.
LET’S HOPE HE’S AS GOOD AS THEY THINK HE IS. “Commodore Hawkings, good to see you. We’ve got plenty of seats by the fire. Come on down.”
Kris knew there would be a long wait for any reply.
“More ships,” Captain Kitano reported. “Triumph, Swiftsure, Hotspur, and Spitfire. All from the Helvetican Confederacy. They’ve got two ships following them, North Star and Enchanter. Heavy frigates and supply, too.”
“Let’s hope these Triumph and Swiftsure have more luck under my command than the last two,” Kris muttered. Jack came to rest a supporting hand on her shoulder.
“Captain Kitano, are all these ships Smart Metal?” Kris asked on net.
“Sensors say they are. Why?”
“Because we’re going to need more docks real soon. I hope some of the auxiliaries can be merged into Canopus Station, or it’s going to get downright cozy here. Pass that along to Admiral Benson.”
“Doing so, ma’am. Oh, and by the way, congratulations on your promotion, Admiral.”
“Let’s wait until we see the orders that come with it. I no longer trust my grampa, your king.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the captain said with equanimity. Apparently, she was getting used to Kris’s attitude toward the large herd of elephants she descended from. If she kept up with Kris, she might find herself commodore of a frigate squadron since there was now an opening for a new boss for the eight frigates who had held down the fort for six weeks.
“More ships coming through,” Kitano reported. On Kris’s screen, more green dots popped into view. Names quickly appeared next to them. Haruna, Chikuma, Atago, and Tone. There was a pause, then more appeared. Arasi, Hubuki, Amatukaze, and Arare. Musashi was making a major contribution.
Again, Kris’s screen came to life. “I am glad to greet you in a better space, Admiral Longknife,” said now Commodore Miyoshi. “I see something huge and mangled approaching your station with a ship I don’t recognize, but engines my sensor people say are Mitsubishi built. I hope you have left something for us to hunt.”
“I’m very glad to see you again, too, Commodore, as well as the ships you’ve brought. And yes, the space around Alwa is still a target-rich environment. Glad to have you aboard.” That message would also take a while to be received and responded to.
“Following those large frigates are four more ships. Taigei, Soyo, Zingei, and Kagu Maru. That last one is huge. As in Canopus size. They may be bringing their own space dock.”
“I’ll talk to Commodore Miyoshi about merging it with Canopus Station,” Kris said. “Or they can do what they want; I’m just glad to have them.”
“I heard there was a lot of fun going on,” Penny said, joining Kris and Jack in Kris’s day quarters.
“It looks like the cavalry just arrived,” Jack said. “Hope it’s enough.”
“Ever the pessimist,” Kris said.
“We need at least one in this shop,” Penny said.
“Be nice to her,” Jack said. “She’s now a permanent captain and a frocked-up rear admiral.”
“They’re fattening the calf before the slaughter,” Penny said wryly.
“The bastards will certainly know they’ve been in a fight this time,” Kris said.
“When we were picking the bones of the last mother ship, I didn’t notice that they hadn’t been in a fight last time. Don’t think we did either,” Jack said.
“Quiet in the peanut gallery. More ships coming through,” Kris said.
“U.S. from Lorna Do. Warrior, Warspite, Nelson, and Churchill. How very British of them,” Katano said. “Argus and Activity are their supply ships. Good show.”
“You think that’s the last of the parade?” Jack asked.
“I hope not. What’s that give us? Nine Wardhaven ships to start with plus five more. Eight Musashi, and four each from Lorna Do and Helvetica. Thirty to face two hundred or more, depending on how many mother ships hit us next time.”
“Now who’s the pessimist?” Jack asked.
“So we take turns. For the next five minutes, you be the optimist,” Kris said.
“Hold it, there are more,” Penny said. “Another U.S. ship, the Lion, from Savannah. That sounds familiar, but . . .”
“An industrial planet we helped train fast attacks for,” Kris said. “Until someone tried to bomb me, and we got the boot.”
“Right, I remember them. It was the second place we got bombed,” Jack said.