''You wouldn't have done that,'' Kris said, trying to make it more a definite statement than a question.
''Who cast the decisive vote?'' Abby asked.
''I did'' came from about five voices on net.
''Well,'' Abby drawled, ''if there'd been just one of you'all, I might have had to be nice to you.''
''Where do you want to go next?'' the captain and navigator said together.
''The planet that sent the last message to this one, or so we think,'' Kris said, loosening the first button of her top and moving along to the next one.
''You really want to go there,'' Captain Drago said.
''I really do,'' Kris said, trying to coo as she toyed with that second button. Now, how do they do this in the movies.
''I do, too, Princess, so that is where we're going.''
''Aw, Captain, you could have at least waited to see if that second button came undone,'' Abby grouched.
''How am I supposed to learn to be a femme fatale if no one lets me practice on them?'' Kris tried to pout.
''In case you haven't noticed, Kris,'' Jack drawled, ''fatal is what you do.''
''Fatal I don't have to work at. It's the femme fatale I need to get a handle on,'' Kris insisted.
Kris was still defending her right to explore other aspects of her nature when Captain Drago ended the quarantine.
The Resolute was already at 1.5 g's by the time Kris was back in a shipsuit and on the bridge. There was just time for chow and a general briefing on what they found before the ship hung motionless before another jump point. Again, a buoy went through first. This time it returned with no radio noise, but some decent shots of a planet, several moons, and what looked like orbital habitats. Very sophisticated.
''I think I make out ships in orbit,'' a laser tech with a surprising skill in photo interpretation said, highlighting several bodies in space, smaller than habitats. ''Look at the size of those space elevators.''
Kris whistled, along with everyone looking. ''And look at the number of them. Six I can count from just this side alone!''
''Is this place active?'' Jack asked, eyeing Kris like he was about to haul her back to her room and lock her away.
''No way to tell from these photos,'' the tech said.
''Captain Drago,'' Kris said. ''If you please, will you take the Resolute through the jump at minimum speed.''
''Honey,'' the navigator said, ''you crawled faster than I'll move this tub. That is, if you say we're going, Captain.''
Drago eyed Jack. The two of them seemed to be doing that male telepathic thing Kris hated. She could almost hear Jack shouting ''Run, run, run for our lives'' in mental silence.
Then Drago grinned. ''I could never go back without seeing what we've found. Sulwan, my girl, petite steps. Tres petite.''
The buoy went through first. They gave it time to settle down at a comfortable distance out of their way, then Sulwan goosed the Resolute through, just a tad after doing the same for the five scouts Kris had out ahead of the ship.
A brief disorientation, and then they were there. Kris was out of her seat, hanging over the helmsman, eyeing his close-in scan, glancing up at the expanding picture coming back from their deeper sensors. ''The buoy's there,'' the helmsman reported. ''And all five of the scouts.''
''Four,'' Kris said as the left one winked out of existence.
''Right a nudge,'' Captain Drago ordered, and it was so.
''There goes the next left one,'' Kris said.
''Halt the ship. Take all way off her,'' Drago ordered.
Kris thought they were going about as slow as they could. Still, she bumped the forward screen as the ship stopped more suddenly than she was ready for. Than Jack was ready for. He plowed into the navigator's station.
''The ship is marking time in space,'' the helm reported.
''Princess, do you have any more of that magic stuff for scouts. I'm not going anywhere but back through that rabbit hole until I've got lots and lots of bugs out in front of me.''
''Abby, grab all our Smart Metal and goo and meet me in Engineering.''
Kris paddled aft; Jack right behind her, rubbing a shoulder. ''You ought to put some ice on that,'' she said.
''I ought to get another job,'' he grumbled, but did stop off in the galley and when he caught up with her in Engineering, he had a sack of ice taped to his shoulder.
''Nelly, make them plenty and dumb,'' Kris said. ''We want a cloud of these ahead of us whenever we move. They'll tell us all we need to know when they vanish.''
''And if we want to do further exploring?'' Nelly asked.
''You can reform them into something bigger, smarter.''
An hour later they were back on the bridge as the Resolute began a slow approach to what they called Alien 2.
''You have a problem with that?'' Captain Drago asked. ''Maybe you wanted it named Kris.''
''Why not,'' Jack drawled as he settled into a seat. ''The planet almost killed us, and Kris gets us almost killed a lot.''
''You wrong me,'' Kris said, innocently. ''What have we found out so far from visual scans?''
''Interesting planet,'' Captain Drago said. ''Take the moons. Three of them, about equal in size. All tidal locked on the planet and each in the same orbit. Offset one third of the orbit from each other.''
''Unless this is the strangest accident I've ever heard of,'' Jack said, ''someone is moving moons around this system.''
''Very likely,'' Sulwan said. ''I'd love that power plant.''
''We think we've spotted large cities on the planet,'' the photo tech said. ''Not absolutely sure. There're no lights showing on the night side, but when we get sunlight, it sure looks like man-made structures… huge ones.''
''But no lights?'' Kris said.
''Dark is dark. Sunlit is, well, what we see.''
''Infrared? Radioactive readings. Anything hot?''
''Sorry, Princess. It's as quiet as if hatched yesterday.''
''Except we're missing those two probes,'' Jack and the captain said at the same time.
''So something is active.''
''Somebody forgot to turn a few things off.''
''Assuming they left.''
''Seen enough, Kris? Can we go home now?'' Jack said.
''No, I didn't make up all those scouts to guide us back through the jump,'' she said, taking a seat next to the captain. ''If you will, sir, see if you can find us a closer orbit that this planet doesn't object to.''
''Sulwan, take charge of the scouts our employer has so graciously allowed to us. Put half of them ahead of us. We'll use a few as a string back to the jump. I think the Marine does want to assure a line of retreat.'' Jack gave a sour nod. ''Then send the rest exploring. See if there is any other place safe around here for us.'' Six hours of sweat and bad language later, they had the Resolute in a planetary orbit about halfway between Alien 2 and one of its moons.
''I really don't want to go any closer than this,'' Drago said. ''We've got six layers of your bugs out around us. If something changes its mind about letting us hang here, we ought to get the first hint and have time to bug out.''
Kris eyed the situation from behind the helmsman, found it good and turned to the photo tech. ''How good are your sensors?''
''I've got quarter-meter resolution from here.''
''I must thank Penny when we get home for hiring such a versatile crew. Or should I thank Abby now?''
''Don't know what you mean by that, Princess,'' the captain said, not looking her way.
''So, let's see what there is to see.''
There was plenty. The moons were airless, but splotched with structures connected by what looked like a rail system. And they had large structures orbiting them that looked innocent, strange, and dangerous all at the same time. ''Are those laser weapons?'' Kris asked pointing at protrusions jutting from the nearest satellite.
''They don't look like anything we've got,'' the Resolute's chief gunner answered. ''God herself only knows what they are, and she quit talking to me about the time I left home.''