''Well, there was one fight where the menfolk were making their stand against the hill bandits, and just when it looked like they were beat, the womenfolk and kids, decked out with any stick or whatever looked sharp or pointed, they come running around the hill beside the fight. The bandits took one look at what they took for reinforcements and ran.''
''Confusion and misdirection,'' Penny said.
''Confusion to my enemy,'' Sandy toasted.
''The more, the merrier,'' Kris agreed. ''Maybe we could start out making like light cruisers, then have half of them start to leak like Triumph-class battle cruisers. Just the kind of old units that might still be swinging around the reserve fleet moorings and been overlooked.''
''Confuse them more and more.'' Sandy nodded.
''And if that's not enough,'' Kris said, ''Patrol 8 isn't the only gun in town.'' That got a raised eyebrow from Sandy and open stares from the other two. Kris filled them in on what the armed yachts wanted to do, and that there were more of them wanting in on this brawl.
''Oh, sweet Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,'' Tom prayed. ''Just what we need, a crowded battlefield.''
''No, I'm told they'll be behind us, looking to go in after us and fight what we've damaged.''
''That might not be such a bad use for them. Privateers cutting out the enemy wounded and putting them down.'' Sandy nodded. ''Somebody thought they could leave Wardhaven defenseless if they shipped the fleet away. Don't they know you can never turn your back on a free man, free woman? Not while they got their teeth. Their fingernails.''
''I suspect 12-inch pulse lasers on an armed yacht qualifies a bit higher on the threat scale than teeth,'' Kris said.
''But you get my meaning.''
''Yep. We cut a hole in the battlewagons, leave them bleeding and shocked. The armed people of Wardhaven will take them down with what they've got.''
''And my Halsey and the Cushing will cut a hole for you to go in. That we will do,'' Sandy said, hands slowly clenching into fists. The four of them thought on that for a long moment. It was a plan. The only plan they had. And no battle plan survived contact with the enemy.
What will I come up with when this one comes apart?
''I need to make a call dirtside,'' Kris finally said. ''See how things are going with my brother. Since my last call to him didn't get blasted all over the newsies, it looks like Beni's commlink is a good one. Can I borrow it again?''
''Ask him. Lieutenant, please have Beni report to the CIC.''
''Aye, aye, ma'am.''
Two minutes later, the 1/c reported, rubbing sleep from his eyes and zipping himself back into a rumpled shipsuit.
''I wake you?'' Kris asked, realizing her first question should have been about Beni's schedule, not his availability.
''You sure enough did, ma'am. This important?''
''I hope so. Can I borrow your commlink?''
He handed it over, looked around for a empty chair, sank into it, and appeared to be asleep in two blinks. Kris talked in her codes and Honovi's number.
''Rose, I told you… This you, Kris? Don't hang up.''
''It's me,'' Kris said.
''Good. I'm meeting with Kusa Pandori. You remember her. She kind of does for her old man what I do for mine.''
''I remember Kusa,'' Kris said. ''I'll call back later.''
''No. No, don't you dare. I want you to hear this, and I want her to hear what I tell you. Kris, understand. She has to know that there is nothing being held back here. I can't afford to say one thing to her, then another thing to you.''
''Open covenants, openly arrived at,'' Kris quoted Father quoting some other politician.
''In spades, Sis.''
''What's happening?'' Kris asked as she heard, ''So that's really your sister. So what? She's out of jail. Who cares?''
''My sister is up the beanstalk preparing a dozen fast patrol boats to take on the incoming battleships.''
''We don't know they're battleships. Those expensive toys are headed for the scrap heap, and my father ordered the Navy to stand down. Besides, if anyone with a name like your sister was doing anything like that, it would be all over the news. Why haven't I heard about it?''
''Beni, can you put this on some kind of speakerphone?'' Kris whispered.
''Yes, ma'am,'' the technician said, coming to his feet from his apparent sleep. In a moment, the entire CIC was listening to Brother's response, as Beni whispered, ''I've got you on mute. If you want to talk, Lieutenant, hit this button.''
Kris nodded and listened.
''Do you honestly think someone would send luxury liners to broadcast a surrender demand?''
''It could be all a bluff,'' the woman's voice said. Kris measured it for conviction and found it wanting.
''They've got battleship reactors and turbines.'' No answer there. ''And my sister is doing everything she can to get those dinky boats you want scrapped ready to attack those battleships, ‘cause they're the only ships we have that can.''
''Don't forget my Halsey,'' Sandy said with a grin. A grin that was answered around the CIC.
''That's suicide.''
''Maybe. Kris doesn't think so. And she's spending every second she can reducing the odds against her.''
''They can't do it.''
''Then what does your father intend to do? He can't surrender. Face it. Sooner or later, he's going to have to do what we all know we have to do: fight. Order everything we have to fight. You wanted to be known as strong on defense. That's why you sent the fleet to Boynton.''
''We thought if we were seen as strong, no one would try us.''
''They were bluffing,'' Tom spat.
''And if they were bluffing at Boynton, no wonder they want to assume someone's bluffing here,'' Penny said.
''Nobody bluffs with battleships.'' Sandy scowled.
''But you must be bluffing,'' the young woman went on. ''The news would be full of any preparation for battle at the Naval Station. That would not go unnoticed, Honovi.''
''No, Kusa, it hasn't gone unnoticed. Just unreported. My father talked to his contacts in the media. They are sitting on it. They will sit on it until your father and mine announce that a coalition government is moving to defend Wardhaven.''
''My father has his contacts in the news—''
''And if they can get up the beanstalk, and if they can get on the Naval Station, and if they can get their news bite, does your father really want to say that what is going on is in violation of his orders? Orders that he did not put in writing for some reason.''
There was a long pause in the phone conversation.
''Why doesn't your brother just tell her how the cow's gonna eat the cabbage?'' Beni asked.
''Because sometimes, the true measure of a politician is not what he says, but what he doesn't say, and the patience he has in not saying it. The Pandoris painted themselves into a corner. A corner they didn't see coming and never intended to be in. Now they need help out. Thank God my father is finally trying to help them out of it.'' More likely, Honovi had persuaded Father to let them out. After this crisis, Kris suspected the relationship between father and son would never be the same.
Between brother and sister might be kind of different, too.
''What do you want?'' the young woman asked.
''My sister wants to lead out her squadron obedient to our orders. She begs that she not be required to sail in Wardhaven's defense as a rebel against verbal orders. If they have the loyalty, the courage, and the willingness to risk their lives, the least we can do is give them our permission. That's all I ask. Your dad can stay Prime Minister in the Government of National Unity. My father would like Defense. We can work things out if you have problems. But whatever we do, we have to have this done before they sail.
''When's that?''
''Kris?''
''We need to be away from the station eight hours before the hostiles arrive. Say go into the boats two … three hours before that. Give us an hour before that to pass the message along the pier. If you could, Honovi, Kusa, we need twelve hours before their scheduled arrival.''