''Accessories make the outfit,'' Kris said. Fashion gossips might ignore the Wounded Lion; people like Grampa knew better.
''Earth is grateful you saved their bacon.'' Grampa Ray grinned. ''And their battle fleet,'' he added with one of his tight, warm smiles that anyone would risk their life for.
''There really wasn't another option, '' Kris said. Her eyes suddenly watery, she settled them on the deeply carpeted floor.
''Been in that horrible position myself a few times,'' King Raymond answered. ''Lousy situations to be in. But the survivors make for nice company.'' Kris was halfway home before she lost the glow from that moment.
''Kris,'' Nelly said, ''I have a collect call. I think you should accept it.''
''Who is it?'' Kris quit taking collect calls early in her high school years. It was amazing the people who wanted to talk to a Longknife and expected her to pay for the privilege.
''A Miss Pasley is calling from the starship Bellerophon.''
''Bellerophon! Should I know that ship?''
''It is a tramp, mixed cargo and passengers. Tommy took passage on it, you may recall.''
Kris had forgotten. ''I accept the charges.'' A system voice told Kris she would be debited for a price that made even Kris's eyes widen. Miss Pasley, whoever she was, had slapped a very costly priority on her message. Kris undid the top buttons of her choker collar so Nelly could project a holovid of the call.
A young woman, long, straight blond hair falling to her shoulders, came up. ''Miss Longknife, or Princess Longknife,'' she said nervously, ''you don't know me. But I know Tommy Lien, who says he's a good friend of yours. He told me that if anything strange happened to him, I should call this number.''
The woman glanced off camera. ''I think something has happened to Tommy. He wanted to see the ruins on Itsahfine. We were studying all the stuff about them in the ship's database. He even had stuff he'd picked up, so I know he intended to go to Itsahfine. But he's not going there.
''The Belly, that's what we all call the Bellerophon made a stop to refuel or maybe shift cargo here at Castagon 6. A guy came up while Tom and I were talking, said he was Calvin Sandfire and had to pass some words with Tom.''
''Tom left me, and I haven't seen him since. The ship's left the station, and we're on our way to Itsahfine. I've asked all the other passengers, and no one has seen Tom. I've called him on net, but he doesn't answer. I checked with the Purser, but he says Tommy's room is still his, and he won't do a search. I think he thinks I'm just chasing him. But I think Tom left the ship with Mr. Sandfire. Maybe it's nothing, but I thought I ought to let you know that I think something strange has happened to Tom.''
Kris went over the message quickly in her mind as she told Nelly to save message. ''What do you think?'' she asked Jack.
The secret service agent rubbed his chin. ''When you're free and unencumbered, you can change your priorities very quickly. Maybe Mr. Sandfire made him a better offer than crumbling relics of the Three. Maybe he was from Santa Maria and had a message for Tom from his family.'' Jack shrugged. ''It could be a lot of things that don't add up to bad.''
''Or it could be bad,'' Kris said. ''Nelly, do a search on Mr. Calvin Sandfire. Start with Santa Maria.''
''Already working,'' Nelly said, her voice back to its usual sweet self. Tru would have to wait a while longer to crack the rock chip and the Three. ''I am also searching on Wardhaven, Earth, and Greenfeld.'' Wardhaven was home to Kris. Earth was Earth. Greenfeld… well, that was a totally different can of worms. With luck, Nelly would draw a blank there.
''Also, Nelly, check ships' registries for a Mr. Sandfire.'' Of course, that would tell them nothing if Mr. Sandfire was getting the use of a ship by leasing, renting, stealing, hijacking, or any of the other myriad of ways that people had of getting around starship ownership while acquiring needed mobility.
The problem with having readily available information about a hundred billion people on six hundred planets is learning patience while it was converted from ''readily'' to ''available.'' The long silence of the drive home was broken. ''Mr. Sandfire is not in the Santa Maria database.'' No surprise there.
''Mr. Sandfire is not a registered owner of any starship.''
''You couldn't expect things to be that easy,'' Jack said.
''Mr. Calvin Sandfire is the owner of Ironclad Software, registered on Greenfeld,'' Nelly reported five minutes later.
''Oh shit,'' Kris moaned. There were times when even a Princess had to say what she had to say.
''What should I know about this fellow?'' Jack said.
''He's not already in your official reports?''
''Nope, but you have this way of not letting my agency know of all the people that want you dead.''
''I don't think Mr. Sandfire has tried to kill me yet,'' Kris said, giving Jack a cheery smile. He didn't look at all mollified. ''He is reported to have paid off the man that added a heart attack to the last meal of my previous squadron commander, Commodore Sampson. His software was what Sampson used to keep the ships of AttackRon Six at the Paris system from hearing their attack orders were bogus.''
''Oh shit,'' Jack echoed her.
Harvey didn't bat an eyelash at all those answers to his questions about Paris. ''Well, at least he's far away from us.''
''For now, at least,'' Kris said. Jack eyed her, but Kris offered no further comment, and Jack said nothing.
Chapter 4
Kris drummed her fingers on the dressing table while Abby got her hair down. ''Search on ships that docked at Castagon 6 a week before the Bellerophon and get their passenger lists.''
''Yes ma'am,'' said Nelly.
In sweatpants and tank top, Kris joined Harvey and Jack in the sitting room, now an intelligence center. One wall proved to be a screen. It now showed what they knew: not much. Lotty arrived; no one was in danger of starving tonight or going without caffeine.
As Kris settled into a lounger, Nelly announced the search of shipping to Castagon 6 was negative. Only the Bellerophon had docked there in the last week. ''Why do I find that hard to believe? Nelly, Tru has this way of getting better information about shipping. Check with Sam.'' Nelly made a call.
Sam suggested the list of ships jumping to a port often showed more traffic than the list of ships the port said arrived.
The morning sun streamed through Kris's unused bedroom before Nelly completed a much broader search. Done the other way around, it seemed that the yacht Space Adder had jumped from Turantic 4 with the destination of Castagon 6 two days before the Bellerophon arrived. The Space Adder was back at Turantic two days after Tom's ship left. Ah, the bits of information in the public domain databases… if you just didn't get misled by the easily doctored answers.
Lotty arrived with breakfast as Kris sat silently organizing her day. She should report to the ship. It was Saturday, and she didn't have to, but the Captain usually put in half a day, and Kris tried to match him. She stifled a yawn and reviewed what Nelly had sifted out of the mass of information available. The wall screen was now full; down one side was a chronology. While Kris had found out about Tom's travel plans and interruptions only in the last twelve hours, it had been longer in the doing.
Tommy had messaged her before boarding the Bellerophon five days ago. Being a thrifty, underpaid junior officer, his message went standby and had been bumped from the queue several times in its transit through two jump points from High Cambria to Wardhaven. Kris wondered if that was Tom's way of ensuring he was well on his way before she could do anything.