''Yes.''
''I am using it to buffer me from bombs in this nasty network. None of them have gotten by the first buffer. Kris, I am safe. Now may I continue?''
Kris gnawed her lower lip. Why was Nelly so confident about rushing in where mere humans feared to tread? Did the computer really have the situation in hand or was she just a teenager blind to her risks. ''Continue, Nelly. But if any bomb gets into your second level of buffers, stop and bring it to my attention.''
''Yes, Kris, I will most certainly do that.''
''Think she can handle it?'' the captain asked.
Kris considered letting him in on just what Nelly had handled so far, then decided against it… for now. ''She'll do just fine. You finding anything interesting?''
''Not much hardware I dare touch,'' he said. ''There's a lot of workstations on this bridge. Too many for an honest merchant ship. But with them all dead, there's no way I can tell what they might be used for.''
Kris eyed them: helm, command, navigation. And two more. Weapons and defense she would have named them on the Typhoon.
''That's interesting,'' Nelly said.
''What's interesting?'' Kris asked.
''This merchant ship packs four twenty-four-inch pulse lasers.''
''Four twenty-four-inch pulse lasers! My first ship, the corvette Typhoon, carried that armament. Nelly, keep searching.''
''Kris, I think this ship has Smart Metal.'' Nelly said.
''Smart Metal? Beni, what do you show?''
The chief's face screwed up in puzzlement as he studied his black box. He glided over to rest it in contact with the steel of the hatch. ''No, it's standard metal, same as any caveman used. But I am getting something. This is weird.''
''Kris, I think it would be best if I activated the defensive station,'' Nelly said. ''You will need to see what they are doing to get a full understanding of it. It is very unexpected.''
''Do it,'' Kris said.
The station next to the helm lit up. On the screen appeared a replica of the ship. Most of it was red. One patch was green. The green section covered the side of the ship broadside to the Resolute. ''They sheathed the ship in Smart Metal,'' Nelly said.
''I thought you couldn't mix smart metal and regular steel?'' Jack said.
''That's what the techs at Nuu Enterprises said. When you made a hull half smart, half steel, the new stuff migrates and mixes under unusual circumstances. Like when you're hit.''
''Someone has put a film of Smart Metal over the regular hull, then shifts it around,'' Captain Drago said. ''You put this where you're likely to get hit, and it ablates the laser heat.''
''Glad you didn't get in a shoot-out with it,'' Kris said.
Drago cringed.
''You think someone came up with a smarter way to use this stuff than the folks at NuuE?'' Jack said.
''Looks that way. Though I wonder how this stuff does if you get a burn-through. Can it patch a hull breach?'' Kris asked.
''Don't know,'' Captain Drago said. ''But if it keeps my hull intact through a few hits, I'll not look a gift horse under the arm pits.''
Kris didn't like the idea of someone building on Nuu Enterprise's patents. Or fighting ships like this one. And she liked even less that the idea had come from someone other than Grampa Al's crew. ''Nelly, find the nav and ship control routines and get them working.''
''I am hunting for them, Kris. This is not easy sledding.''
There were muffled laughs from the humans around Kris. ''Keep up the good work, Nelly. Let us know when you think the ship is safe to move.''
''You planning on putting a crew aboard?'' Drago asked.
''If you will loan me a full watch. Can't leave this hulk drifting out here. No telling who might steal it.''
''Good point,'' Drago agreed with a grin that would have fit well on any pirate from the proverbial seven seas of Earth.
Chapter 5
Three days later the Resolute docked at High Chance. The ship of many names docilely followed in its wake. Kris spent the time in transit composing a full report of what had happened for General Mac, and a shorter version on developments for Grampa Al. ''Your brain trust isn't being very brainy,'' Kris began. Kris composed a request for permission to visit New Bern, the nearest colony to Chance. Normally, she'd just visit a place, but being Commander, Navy District 41, and a princess… and a Longknife, New Bern might want to know she was coming before she showed up.
Kris watched the docking from the bridge of the Resolute. When she stood to leave, Sulwan stood as well. ''Ah, Your Highness, the crew has asked me to pose a question to you?''
Very formal. Even a tiny ducking of her head for a bow. ''Yes,'' Kris answered, trying to quickly slip into Noble when all she'd been thinking was Navy.
''About that ship out there. Is it a prize?''
Oh, right. Prize money. How could I have missed that? Kris did some quick thinking. ''It certainly looks like a prize to me, but as to whether or not we can keep it, or sell it under the ancient prize rules is a question I don't know how to answer. Tell the crew I'll try to have an answer in a day or so.''
The bridge crew seemed content with that answer.
Nelly, look into how we can make a ship appear. Papers as solid as false ones can be. And not traceable to my holding company that puts the money out.
I have been working on that. What do you want to name the ship?
Kris had had enough of being all sugar-and-spice nice. The Wasp. Cross it and it will sting you.
Penny waited at the gangway, Ron at her elbow. Kris raised an inquiring eyebrow. ''A Longknife goes out with one ship and a second follows her home. I figured you'd want to keep it and needed an adult to ask if you could,'' the mayor said.
''Depends on what legal niceties Chance will let me pull over some eyes, Mayor.''
Kris filled in both on the vanishing jump buoys and her little discovery of why. Captain Drago wandered up and stood by listening, apparently ready to provide a non-Longknife viewpoint.
''So you blasted the ship blasting your buoys,'' Ron said.
''Hardly,'' Kris answered. ''If there had been a fight, we would have been the one blasted. That ship is as heavily armed as a Kamikaze-class corvette.''
''A Typhoon in sheep's clothing,'' Penny whistled.
''Yes, yes,'' Captain Drago cut in. ''This young Longknife did very well. She had my ship fake steering problems and we invited the other ship over to help us. Thank heaven for that.''
''We put most of the crew asleep with drug darts,'' Jack said, quickly gliding past the ''most.''
''Upon interrogation, several admitted they boarded us with the intent of seizing the ship and taking us captive. Only the captain knows what he intended to do with us once we were prisoners. He's not talking.''
''So you did unto them before they could do unto you,'' Ron said in summary.
''By about half a second,'' Captain Drago said.
''Why was the ship destroying the buoys?'' Ron asked.
''Your guess is as good as mine,'' Kris said carefully. ''There was nothing in their records and those who know aren't talking. I replaced all the buoys. They'll tell us if any ships head this way from Brenner Pass.''
Ron looked at Kris like she was crazy paranoid, but didn't say it. ''Where is this ship registered?''
''About four different places, depending on which of its four sets of papers you're looking at,'' Captain Drago said. ''All in Greenfield territory.''
Ron's next glance at Kris said she was less paranoid than before. ''I want you, Captain, to come with me. There're some folks dirtside that will need your testimony.''
''Not mine?'' Kris said.
''I don't think you could help this matter,'' Ron said.