At a nod from Kris, Gunny stepped on the colonel's polished toes. ''Pardon me, sir,'' Gunny said, but by the time the colonel recovered, he found himself surrounded by an infantry colonel and a Marine captain. An Army lieutenant and a Navy lieutenant, too.
Kris looked at the schematics one more time. ''I am finished here. Jack, I'll be on the bridge, setting up a shoot with Nelly as soon as she's available. Tell Ensign Peterwald that she is free to join me with her associates when she is done.''
Kris passed the ensign and her captain in the passageway, their heads together. So that was what a palace coup looked like. Kris hoped it didn't come down to that. Vicky deserved a better chance at survival than she'd have today. Given three or four years, who knew what the woman could grow into.
Hopefully, someone who liked Longknifes better than most Peterwalds did.
51
''We've got the minimum containment field up. Prepare to release antimatter into Reactor A,'' Captain Drago said, as Kris entered the bridge. Silently, she slipped into a high-gee station that was in the usual place for weapons. Careful not to jiggle any elbows, she left the station cold and inert.
''Captain, we've got a steep drop in power from the station,'' Sulwan suddenly announced. ''Containment is weakening.''
''Hold the antimatter,'' the captain ordered.
Kris snapped her commlink and raised the station chief. ''This is Princess Kristine. We were promised power. We are at a critical stage. Who cut it? They are criminals and enemies of the state. Do I need to talk to General Boyng?''
''No. No, ma'am, I swear it's just a glitch. We got a lot of ships making demands we aren't anywhere close to rated for it.''
''Get us power,'' Kris demanded.
''Yes, ma'am,'' and the man was off-screen.
''Should I rely on our own auxiliary power?'' Drago asked. ''I wanted to save it to jump-start our second reactor. Get us out of here faster.''
''Keep auxiliary ready to use antimatter, but see if we can get a start using station power the next time it comes up.''
''Station power coming up to specs,'' Sulwan announced.
''Engineering ready to bleed antimatter into the reactor.''
''Everything is ready,'' Nelly said in her normal voice.
''No questions?'' Kris asked.
''I think we will rewrite the procedures on how to do this,'' Nelly said. ''Nothing our boffins and I couldn't handle. But I'd hate to see anyone do it without all we have here.''
''Nelly, we need to work on a firing solution when this is done.''
''I figured we would. First things first. We have plasma. The containment is holding. We have enough plasma to start our own power generation. Yes!'' The computer's cheer was echoed by several on the bridge and over the commlink.
''We have fusion,'' Captain Drago announced. ''We are growing the plasma core. Thank God we are taking electricity directly from the core. Give me another five minutes, and I'll be ready to jump-start Reactor B. Sortie in fifteen minutes, Princess.''
''What do you mean you're drawing power directly from the core?'' Captain Krätz asked as he escorted his ensign onto the bridge. The colonel behind him had heard the question; he said nothing but seemed to want to look at everything at once.
''Something we can't talk about,'' one captain said to the other. ''However, we do have plasma and should be under way in fifteen minutes.'' Drago tapped his commlink. ''Set getting-under way details, minimum.'' Throughout the ship, came the noise of hands moving to stations.
''I understand we are going into another battle,'' announced Professor mFumbo, following Vicky's team onto the bridge.
''You want to get off?'' Kris asked.
''If I wanted off this tub, I would have left before these mad scientists jump-started the reactor. No, I'm not leaving, but do we really have to be confined to bed?''
''Afraid so,'' Drago cut in. ''Unless you like the idea of standing around at three times your own weight, maybe more, I'd suggest you get in bed. A nice soft one.''
mFumbo scowled. ''Could we at least see what's going on?''
''Won't be much to see, but I'll send you the picture,'' Drago said, and ordered his quartermaster to get the scientists off his neck. With quick efficiency, the Wasp prepared to get under way. Today, some things were different. Kris's station came up as a fire-control post. Vicky's high-gee station next to hers had all the readouts of Kris's. Just none of the active controls.
Captain Krätz settled into a high-gee couch next to Captain Drago's station. The State Security colonel was parked at the rear of the bridge, where he could see everything and touch nothing. He had two Marines behind him and Gunny in front.
Jack took position closer to Kris, where he could keep an eye on all of the strangers aboard. With a glint in his eye, he looked ready for anything.
Exactly thirty minutes from when Captain Drago said he could get the Wasp under way in a half hour, the pier tie-downs began to rattle backward, and the Wasp smartly backed away from the dock.
''Nelly, start an intercept clock,'' Kris ordered. A clock before her began to count down. The initial display was 3 HR 24 MIN 24.242 SEC, but it quickly changed.
52
For the rest of Kris's life, she would know exactly when things began to go wrong. And like so many of the things that would go wrong, Kris made the decision herself.
It seemed like a very good idea at the time.
''Stand by for high gee in five minutes,'' Captain Drago announced as soon as the Wasp was away from the pier. ''If you need more time, holler, but don't expect to get it,'' he finished.
Kris mashed her own commlink. ''Professor mFumbo, can your scientists get their best sensors up and running? I want to know everything I can about that ship. If its reactors burp every five minutes, I want to know.''
''We were expecting this call, Your Highness. Our people should have everything we have online well before our captain starts putting on weight. You can count on us.''
''Thank you, Professor, I expected I could.''
Beside Kris, Vicky had a strange look on her face. ''Courtesy, huh. Does it work?''
''When you have the best people who can think for themselves, honey is a whole lot better than a baseball bat.''
Which left Vicky with a thoughtful look.
''Captain Drago, do we gain anything by putting on more than 2.5 gees? I understand the Wasp was only tested up to there.''
''That, sadly, is true. Sulwan, could you please calculate two intercept courses. One at 2.5, the other at 3.2.''
Two lines appeared on the main screen, showing close encounters for both accelerations. ''If we intercept and damage them closer to Birridas, we need to do more damage to their engines, but they have less time to repair them or correct course. Farther back, they have more time to effect repairs, but they are farther off course for a collision.''
Kris studied the lines and the tables. While the distance was measured in millions of kilometers, it didn't really seem to matter all that much on the cosmic scale of things.
''Captain, it's your call, but pushing the Wasp above 2.5 gees doesn't seem to gain me anything.''
The captain said, ''2.5 it is.'' There might have been a hint of a sigh behind his words, but Kris was too busy with her next question to be sure.
''Captain, do we gain any advantage by being under acceleration when we actually make the flyby of the Tourin?''
''Help me follow your thinking, Your Highness.''
''Our closing speed is going to be nothing short of breathtaking. We're going to have to track that ship while firing at close to maximum range. Any wobble could be the difference between hitting it and missing. Between hitting the aiming point and slashing the ship somewhere that could start catastrophic failure for the people aboard.''