PENNY, IT DIDN’T LOOK LIKE THEY WERE SHOWING THOSE SLAVES MUCH MERCY, Jack offered.
I KNOW. I HEAR YOU. GIVE ME A BIT OF TIME TO PROCESS IT ALL, OKAY?
WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
I’M HEADED BACK TO THE WASP, KRIS. THEY’VE GOT MY EVIDENCE. THEY DON’T NEED ME. ONE OF MY MARINES CAN HANDLE PRESENTING IT TO THE COURT.
WE’RE ALL CELEBRATING IN THE FORWARD LOUNGE. IF YOU WANT A CHANCE TO SLUG THE ADMIRAL IN THE JAW, THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.
DON’T TEMPT ME, KRIS.
WHO’S TEMPTING? I’M OFFERING.
Kris found herself coming back to the conversation. There was more noise at the front door. Campbell and his XO, Kitano were arriving, along with the Marine detachment commander for the Dauntless. Taussig of Hornet was also there along with the command staff of the Fearless and Intrepid. There was much shouting of someone hogging all the fun and not getting their fair share of the exercise.
All in good humor.
Several tables were found to be empty and were slid together to join with Kris’s. Kris would have sworn that all the tables were full when she came in, but as arrangements were made to seat the others, she spotted how and why the Forward Lounge was gradually emptying out.
Command Master Chief Mong and Gunny Sergeant Brown had taken a commanding table in the middle of the lounge. From there, they had a good view of everything. As Kris watched, a Marine finished his second beer and raised his hand for a third.
As he expected, the barmaid headed his way. However, Gunny also had seen the order and noted the two beer mugs, with suds still foaming in front of him. A nod from Gunny to the Chief Master-at-arms, and two petty officers were at the kid’s elbow before the barmaid.
The trooper was long gone before the barmaid, herself a petty officer during working hours, got to his table. She removed the mugs and wiped down the table.
Marine or sailor, they got two beers today. Tomorrow’s duties would come soon enough, and no doubt the young men and women, away from home for the first time in their lives, would be ready to do their duty.
Kris also didn’t doubt that Gunny and Master Chief Mong were coordinating their efforts with the other pubs in Boffin Country. With nearly half the Wasp given over to civilians and their requirements, the Navy was making fine adjustments.
Which left Kris to wonder what should change, and what should stay the same if she did what she was planning to do.
She was lost in thought when she realized the admiral was talking to her. He’d ordered several bottles of vodka for his officers and had appropriated one of them for himself. No chief or Gunny was limiting his drinks tonight. From the looks of things, he’d need help back to his ship later.
“Excuse me,” she said.
“I was wondering what you are planning to do with those pirate ships you captured.”
“You were?” Kris said. As she understood matters, the schooners and the one merchant ship at the station had been captured by the Wasp and Dauntless. She planned to dispose of them under prize rules.
There’d been some grumbling from the Greenfeld Marines when they weren’t allowed to get in on the fun of their capture . . . or the money. Was the admiral trying to renegotiate the terms of their agreement.
“They’re yours to do with as you please,” he said, and seemed to realize that he needed to get that reassurance out front. “It’s just that they are tying up the three best piers on the station. The piers my battleships are at can’t give them nearly enough air and water or comm circuits. Your five corvettes and the Blood plus those three mean I don’t even have enough docks to tie up all my battleships much less the cruisers. Where are you planning on sending them for a prize court?”
“Not Cuzco,” Kris said, not needing a second to think on that.
Around the table, that got laughs. Apparently, Kris’s legal problems with the last ship she’d captured from pirates were well-known.
“Have you seen a dime from that?” Taussig asked.
“Not so much as a penny,” Kris said. She thought for a moment. “I guess we could send them to Pandemonium. I think their courts would take the right view of pirate ships.”
That seemed to get agreement.
“Course, there’s not much market for pirate schooners around the Rim,” Admiral Krätz pointed out. “At least not a market we want to feed.”
“I don’t know,” Jack Campbell said. “Capture them. Sell them back. Capture them again and sell them again. The right guy could make a career of it.”
That got a laugh.
“There is the possibility of my setting up an Admiralties Court right here on Port Royal,” the admiral said, sounding downright conspiratorial. “I might arrange for the Greenfeld Navy to buy two of the ships. Do you have any idea what we might do with the others?”
“I could be interested in one or two of the schooners,” Kris allowed. “If they are fast enough, the Royal Navy might have a need for schooners as messenger boats out beyond the Rim. Question is, do they have legs? Can they stay out for months at a time? What kind of shape are the schooners in?” she asked the admiral.
The admiral took time to share a victory toast before he answered. “I had a couple of officers take a look at them, all four of them. If the price was right, and we could get permission from Navy Headquarters, I’d like to buy one of the sloops and the freighter. We do need to get something out here to show the flag. Anyway, they all look pretty good. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they came from one of our premier yards.”
“But you know better,” Kris said.
“Why, my dear young lady, of course they couldn’t have come from one of our best yards. Our fine, upstanding businessmen would never do business with pirates, now would they?” he said, giving the table a sly wink as he downed another shot of vodka.
Vicky shook her head in disgust. “We know very well where they came from. Just because they did a good job of filing off the serial numbers and burning their papers . . .”
“But, Lieutenant, they did just that. Your father, our emperor, would never take action against such important financial interests with no evidence.”
“You took action this afternoon.”
“They fired on my delegated spokesman. I merely returned fire.”
Around the table, the newly arrived Royal U.S. Navy officers risked blank looks. Jack whispered, “Eighteen-inch battleship lasers within a thousand meters of my Marine company.”
“They’re on our side, right?” Campbell whispered.
“I wasn’t so sure at the moment,” Jack answered.
“Yes, yes, I know,” the admiral said. “There was some personal risk to you. But we have put an end to the slavers running this show and destroyed all the evidence. Now we can take over this colony and run it the way decent people do. Right?” he said, raising another toast at that thought.
“Right,” the Royal Navy said, for once in agreement with their Imperial opposites.
Vicky didn’t look any more sure of the toast than Kris did. Instead of lifting her mug, she reached inside her purse and pulled out a flimsy.
“What do you think of this article, Kris? ‘My friend the Iteeche.’ ”
Kris choked on her soft drink.
42
Kris struggled for air. When had she ever told anyone about Ron? Certainly, she’d never called him her friend. Then Kris spotted the byline. Even through watering eyes she could read Winston Spencer.
She had never told him that she was friends with an Iteeche! Never. Not once!
Through coughing fits and tear-filled eyes, Kris read the first couple of paragraphs of the news story. Oh, he didn’t mention her name. No, these were other people who were willing to say that they’d been friends with Iteeche.