“It’s okay, Nelly,” Kris said through a deep sigh. “It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. Now, at least, I know what I’m up against.”
Kris sat there for a long while, letting it all sink in.
“Nelly, the president of New Eden complained about King Ray’s wanting a big Navy. How much did the New Eden media cover us?”
“Not a lot, Kris. A few sources did it well. A lot didn’t. Only one carried Vicky’s presser, the short version. It wasn’t shown on many markets in the U.S.”
Which media they watched might explain why Inspector Johnson had such a different attitude from Senior Chief Inspector Martinez.
“Kris?” Nelly asked in a little girl voice she used less and less these days.
“Yes.”
“Why did Vicky do that? I thought she was your friend.”
Kris shook her head, sadly. “We humans have a long history of betrayal,” she said. Then she frowned. “How many times have I said, ‘It seemed like a good idea when I did it’?”
“Lots,” Nelly said.
“I suspect, to Vicky, it looked like a good idea while she was doing it.”
“But why, Kris?”
“She talked her dad into lending her four battleships. She made it sound easy, but that might have been for my consumption. God knows I felt miserable reporting back to my king that I’d lost a squadron of corvettes. Imagine what she’s going to face having lost a squadron of battleships and all those Sailors.” Kris paused.
“I might not have cared much for my welcome, but she has to go back to that den of vipers Greenfeld calls the Imperial court. And then she has her new stepmom carrying a male heir to the throne. No, Nelly, my shoes have been no fun to walk in, but I’d much rather walk in them than Vicky’s stilettos heels.”
Kris might have stayed in that quiet corner of the great battleship longer, meditating on the human condition and all the problems it caused her, but her stomach grumbled. That was a problem she could do something about. And Kris made one of the best calls of her entire life. She headed for the chief’s mess.
She’d certainly had fancier food than she had that evening, but she’d never had it better cooked or in better company. Now that the word was out that their shipmates on the other battleships had died an honorable death, Kris was welcome company. And there wasn’t so much as a blink when Kris passed up the offered sake after one small cup.
She’d been down that rabbit hole once more. She would not go there again.
As Kris returned to her quarters, she allowed herself a smile; there were no Marine guards at her door. Then Nelly said, “There’s a message for you.”
“Who from?”
“Honovi. It’s personal, not official traffic, but he coded it.”
“Can you read it?”
“His computer and I exchanged codes many years ago. We haven’t used them in a long time. Basically, he says he took Brenda over for Grampa Al to dangle on his knee. She was smart enough not to spit up on the old boy.”
“She must save all her spit-ups for me,” Kris muttered.
“Honovi asked Al about your effort to see him. He said he didn’t want to talk about it and made sure of it by walking away. The next time Honovi managed to get a word in, he made it about the aliens you found. This time Al didn’t say a word but told them the visit was over. How very rude of your grandfather,” Nelly added.
“He’s a Longknife.”
“I’m beginning to think you use that excuse for anything you want to do that a normal person would never get away with.”
Kris thought for hardly a second. “You know, Nelly, you might be right.”
“Anyway, Honovi says he’s inclined to agree with you now. He’s met again with that certain agent and will get back to you when he can.”
“Did he say anything about my bank account?” Kris asked, thinking ahead to when she could no longer hit the Mutsu up for free room and board.
“Sorry, he says. He wasn’t able to bring it up with Al, and all his contacts at the family corporation say they must check with their supervisor.”
“And I thought government was the only place where you got the bureaucratic runaround,” Kris said with a sigh.
Jack was waiting in her quarters. She propped the door open and settled into a chair a comfortable distance from his place on the couch.
“So, honey, how’d your day go?” Jack asked.
Kris had discovered there was a lot of pleasure in having someone listen to her talk about her day. Almost as much fun as really listening to how Jack felt about his.
Admittedly, there were other things that would be even more pleasant to do, what with Jack and her no longer sharing a chain of command. But the door was open, and a trial was barreling down on them.
Shared feelings would have to do for now.
44
The Mutsu had barely tied up to the pier at the High Kyoto station before Kris was receiving a long line of visitors in suits. She’d expected a quick visit from the police, but the suits first in line were much too expensive to belong to civil servants.
First was a reporter. Kris asked Captain Miyoshi if it was possible to skip him. The Marines at the gangplank sent him on his way.
The next could not be avoided. A lieutenant ushered Mr. Nigel Pennypecker, the senior representative of Nuu Enterprises into Kris’s quarters. The door was open as had become the custom; six Marines now stood guard under the watchful eye of Gunny himself. Kris appreciated the honor.
The small man neither bowed nor offered his hand but launched immediately into why he was there. “I am instructed to tell you that you may make no demands or requests on Nuu Enterprise assets, nor will you receive any assistance from the same.”
“Thank you,” Kris said through the wide smile that she reserved for people she’d rather shoot but couldn’t. “I wasn’t planning on making any such requests.”
“Oh,” the little man said, deflating in the face of acceptance when he clearly was prepared to weather a hurricane-size blow.
“What did you do to Alexander Longknife?” he asked. “I’ve never received instructions like these for the visit of a major stockholder, or even a minor one.”
Kris allowed herself a shrug. “Apparently, I’m not on Grampa’s nice list.”
“I should say so,” the man said, and settled, uninvited into the closest chair.
Kris took the one across from him.
“I did try to arrange a line of credit for you at All Nippon Bank. I’m afraid to report that I failed. It seems that you cannot access any of the accounts that have your name on them.”
“Yes, I know. I think Grampa Al has made a special naughty list just for me.”
The little man actually seemed concerned. “I am sorry to hear that. I understand that you are in quite a bit of trouble. If I can advance you some funds personally . . .”
Kris shook her head. “No. I don’t want anyone to end up on Grampa’s naughty list on my behalf. I’m a Longknife. I will figure out a way to survive.”
“Even broke?”
Kris thought about that for a moment, then laughed. “I’m sure that Great-grampa Ray must have had some tight months on his army pay before Rita Nuu fell head over heels in love with him.”
The man seemed to doubt that, but having nothing more to say, he stood to go. Then he paused.
“There is another man on the pier waiting to see you. A Mr. Kawaguchi. He’s one of the best men of the law on the planet. I would strongly suggest that you listen to anything he has to say to you.”
“I imagine if he’s the best, he must also be the most expensive,” Kris said.
“He is most definitely that,” the Nuu manager said as he dismissed himself.