“And the fourth place we got the bum’s rush out of,” Penny recalled. “That was before we ended up on Chance. Now those were good times.”
“Good times,” Kris said. “The only thing good about them was we didn’t get suddenly dead.”
“Yes, but we survived,” Jack said. “And we went on to greater and more fun things, and now we can look back on them fondly. Just think. Five years from now, we’ll be looking back on this and saying, ‘Now those were the good times.’”
“Because we’re in worse trouble than this?” Penny said. “God help us.”
“Rest assured, He will,” Jack said.
“She will,” Penny shot back.
“Crew, crew, look at what Santa brought us. Lion, Tiger, Jaguar, and Puma.”
“What, no skunk?”
“Trust me, Penny, if it would get me another 20-inch frigate, I’d make it my flag.”
“Well, Savannah is adding a Cougar, Cheetah, Lynx, and Leopard,” Jack said.
“Still no skunk.” Penny sighed.
“No, but Sirius, Regulus, Polaris, Castor, and Pollux should help keep us supplied.
“Thirty-eight frigates and fifteen auxiliaries,” Jack said. “Now tell me, how are we going to feed them all?”
“You were supposed to be the optimist,” Kris pointed out.
“My time was up. I can go back to my default mode. An optimistic Marine is usually a dead one. You want me pessimistic. Pessimists are cautious and stay alive.”
“Okay, my love, you may be a pessimist if it will keep you coming home to me,” Kris said, and gave him a quick kiss.
Penny raised an eyebrow.
“Haven’t you read my first policy memo, Penny?”
The new lieutenant commander shook her head.
“Fraternizing is now allowed, so long as it is not harassment. If he harasses me, I get to shove him off to another ship.”
“But she only fraternizes with me,” Jack put in.
“You’re biting the bullet,” Penny said.
“Will this change anything between you and Iizuka Masao?”
“I don’t dare. The last time I loved a guy and married him, he got killed. I almost got killed, and Wardhaven nearly got pounded to dust. I’m unlucky at love for all those around me.”
“More ships coming through,” Captain Kitano announced on net.
“We’re not done,” Kris said, turning from her friend to the screen. More blips appeared identified as Altair, Algol, Andromeda, and Diphada of the Star Line.
“They’ve only got two reactors,” Senior Chief Beni, ret., announced on net. “I’m showing no lasers, but they’re big. As an old chief, I’d bet they’re transports. Big ones.”
“What has Santa Claus sent this good little girl?” Kris asked with a grin.
“Are you a good little girl?” Penny shot back.
Kris gave Jack a sideways glance.
“Well, she’s certainly a good girl,” her loving husband supplied, right on cue.
Kris rewarded him with another quick peck before turning to Penny. “We’ll find out what they are when they get here. Now, Penny, girlfriend to girlfriend, you can’t really believe you’re responsible for what happened at Wardhaven. Vicky Peterwald as much as told us that her old man was behind the whole attack.”
“I know,” Penny said. “In my head, I know. But somewhere between there and my heart, my gut, and lower down, I can’t seem to get it.”
The jump point had finished disgorging presents for Kris. She pointed Penny at the couch, and the two of them adjourned to the comfortable seats. Jack seemed to sense girl talk was on the schedule and excused himself for Marine business.
“Penny, how well is your head screwed on?” Kris asked. She’d planned to give Penny a job. A critically important and very dangerous job. However, if her friend was only holding on to herself by her fingernails, Kris might have to look elsewhere.
“Kris, I’m fine,” Penny said, folding her hands into her lap. “Have you had any problems with my work?”
“None whatsoever,” Kris said. “Are you up to commanding a ship?”
Penny made a face. “The last time I commanded a ship, I think I killed Hank Peterwald. Have you got another old boyfriend you want popped?”
“He was never a boyfriend, and you didn’t kill him. Whoever sabotaged his survival pod did that. But actually, this time, I would most definitely not want you to get in a fight.”
“You’re ordering me to command a ship but not get in a fight? Strange words from a Longknife. What’s my potential command, a garbage scow?”
“I’m not sure what your command is, at the moment, though I’m sure it will have the six 18-inch lasers we took off the Wasp. Three pointing forward, the others aft.”
“So I’ve got just as much firepower running as chasing, huh?”
“Pretty much. Here’s the situation. Professor Labao thinks he’s narrowed the location of the alien home world to four or five stars. Assuming the stars we saw in several places on the overhead of the alien mother ship is actually a night sky of their home world. I need someone to go look, see, and run back home fast to report.”
“You’re not sending me with any Hellburners, are you?”
“No. And I mean no. Take a peek. If you see any ships, run. That will tell me as much as your seeing the planet. I have a hunch that these folks have all but abandoned their home world. However, if you start running into heavy traffic, that tells me to forget that hunch.”
“I see,” Penny said, thoughtfully. “I poke my nose under the tent but keep one eye on the exit the whole time.” She paused for a moment to think. “I can be that timid.”
“This really has to be a recon. One where I learn what you see. Heroes need not apply.”
“I get the point, Kris. I’m your coward.”
“I don’t think any coward would take this mission. It takes a lot of guts to stick your head where the lion’s mouth may be.”
“What ship can you give me? The Wasp?”
“Sorry, I can’t let a 20-inch laser out of orbit here, Penny. I was thinking of patching some of our ‘spare’ Smart Metal to the leftover Hornet reactors and six of the 18-inch lasers, but these new ships arriving may give me other options.”
“As in respinning a Smart Metal transport into a scout ship?”
“Something like that.”
“How do you think the crew will take to that?”
“Part of me says not well, but another part of me wonders why anyone would agree to come out here if they weren’t overstocked on a spirit of adventure.”
Penny smiled as she shook her head. “You expect a lot out of folks, Kris.”
“And sometimes they give me more than I have any right to ask for. Like you, Penny. Will you take Iizuka Masao with you?”
“The man is waiting with more patience than I deserve for me to get my act together. Will he follow me into the lion’s den? I’ll have to ask him.”
“You go ask him, and Nelly, make sure Mimzy gets a copy of my new fraternization policy.”
“My kids already have it, Kris. It’s you humans who haven’t opened your mail.”
“I’ll read it. I’ll read it,” Penny said. “Now, don’t you have some other fine person’s life to ruin?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. Have a good one, Penny, you deserve it. And change your shoulder boards. A frigate skipper is a commander’s billet.”
Penny was already making for the door. “Thank you, Kris. Good-bye, Kris.” Leaving Kris smiling . . . and wondering whose day a princess should mess with next.
Nelly settled it. She had the manifests from the Star Line ships.