Jack joined her a moment later from where he had kept her in sight. ''An interesting man,'' he said.
''In an interesting situation. Nelly, you better advise Abby that I will be needing my dancing slippers tonight.''
''I told her. You are half an hour late to get gussied up for a night on the town, which will not involve making tar patty cakes or tossing oversize replicas of the male anatomy.''
''If I'm only thirty minutes late, I can still check in with the duty watch at the Command Center,'' Kris said, and she and Jack quick walked toward the elevator.
Kris tried to use the time Abby spent flustering over her to think. It didn't help. Hank's intentions were ambiguous. This could be just a ship visit. So why did Kris feel she was already in a countdown to a coup? The tightness at the back of her neck that failed to soften even under one of Abby's world-class hair washings was fed by what the chief and captain left unsaid.
They had a secret they could not share. Was that secret a planetary take down? And if it was, how did Hank plan to do it? The takeover of a planet was not something you just put at the top of your Order of the Day. It took preparation. You needed an excuse to march in and throw out a government. ''What are you going to try,'' Kris muttered, ''and when? And where?''
''You saying something, Baby Ducks?''
''Yes, but I doubt you know the answer.''
''You got that right. No way do I know when Hank's going to make his play to take over this here planet.''
''So you've noticed our predicament?''
''Just cause I'm underpaid, Kris, don't mean I'm blind.''
It also didn't mean a lot of things.
An hour later, dressed befitting a princess, despite Abby's insistence that she needed another two hours, Kris headed for the lander bay. A bright Kelly green cocktail dress with a flounced skirt swished pleasantly about her with each step. Tonight she was wearing her spider silk body stocking. If the other side felt the need for protection, she might as well give Jack what he wanted before he asked. Jack, in dinner blues and reds, fell in step with her before she got to the elevator.
''Do you have a camera in my bedroom?'' she asked.
''I refuse to answer that on the grounds that I'd be giving away state secrets and might lose the best entertainment a lonely man ever had. You and Abby are better than any comedy routine this side of Earth's Las Vegas.''
''Come to think of it, all the bug catchers I have come from you,'' Kris said. ''Do you give them a blind spot?''
''Or I could just pay Abby a few bucks a month to give me a heads-up on when you're ready to leave your room.''
''She is always complaining that she's underpaid. That's a story I could almost believe.''
''I doubt it would be the first time a maid picked up a few bucks on the side.''
''Nelly, what shape is the shuttle in?''
''I have monitored it since Captain Slovo asked you for a ride. I also reran the records on it for the last twenty-four hours. No events out of the ordinary nor has anyone gone near it that is not on the preapproved list. We should be safe.''
''And I will preflight it,'' Kris said.
''I feel better already,'' Jack said dryly.
The chief maintenance mech met Kris at the door of Shuttle 41. ''It checks out. I've been running a positive charge through the skin. If so much as a fly speck out there touched it, we'd have spotted the spark and any nano would have been burned.''
''You're paranoid. I like that in a crew chief.''
''That was the first question the boss asked me. ‘Do you trust your own mother?' I said ‘hell no,' and he said ‘I want you working on my bird.' ''
So Kris did her own check. A half hour later, she was just finishing up when there was noise aft. Kris pulled herself out of the command pilot's seat, using handles on the instrument panel she usually considered reserved for the old and feeble. Still, she turned her ankle before she was standing in the middle of the flight deck. ''The working parts of a shuttle were not designed for two-inch heels,'' Kris grumbled.
''You might be right,'' Jack said, leading Kris aft.
In the shuttle bay Captain Slovo waited with the two older skippers from the Greenfeld ships. ''You are here ahead of us,'' he said. Jack saluted, and the Greenfelders returned the honor. Kris nodded and offered Merv her hand. He kissed it as did the others as they were formally introduced. Max Göckle of the Eager, Georg Kratz of the Surprise.
''You really are a princess,'' Kratz noted in surprise.
''Actually, I just found the tiara,‘' Kris said, grinning; the officers chuckled politely.
''Hold up,'' came a familiar voice from the escalator. Trotting toward them as fast as their overburdened condition would permit were Chief Beni, and three from the Resolute. ''Mind if we hitch a ride down with you, Princess? There's a really nifty bistro on the south side of town we found last night, and I don't care what anyone says, spaced beer just don't taste right.''
Kris waved her junior-most subordinate aboard first, as per protocol, though somehow, captains waiting for chiefs to arrive did not seem to fit what traditionalists had in mind when they set that bit of Naval lore. She also wished he hadn't shouted where he and the Resolute's drinkers would be spending their evenings dirtside. Hopefully, it would go unnoticed.
Kris boarded after Jack and headed for the flight deck. The captains boarded last. The chief and his buddies buckled into the aft seats, leaving the forward compartment to the officers.
''You are going to fly the shuttle, Your Highness?'' Captain Slovo said as he buckled himself in.
''We're running a bit late and any normal shuttle pilot would have to wait for the next orbit to reach Last Chance. I figure I can cut a few corners and get us there on time.''
That caused a murmur among the captains.
''All ashore that are going ashore,'' Jack called as he slipped Kris's shoes into the pouch at the back of her seat, then closed and verified the lock on the rear hatch. Kris finished her final preflight and glanced aft before she cut them loose. Everyone was seated; no one was pounding on the hatch to get off. How little they know. Guess they really are reading the expunged version of Peterwald's folder on me.
Exactly thirty minutes later, having shed excess energy with several not-so-gentle S curves that were nothing like those that had won her the trophies back home on her mantelpiece, the shuttle settled to the runway with a kiss and soft caress.
A tug waited for her at the end of the runway, but today they towed her to a hanger on the far side of the field, well away from where the liberty launches would be lined up later. Steve Jr. brought the limo up, now with a top on. Maybe one that could stop a bullet? How things had changed in one night.
Jack slipped her heels out and laid them on the floor for her. Kris had learned to do a lot in the footwear demanded of young woman. Breaking a shuttle to a stop was something done better barefoot than in heels. Captain Slovo rose to offer Kris an arm as she walked into her shoes.
''You are quite an accomplished pilot. Now I think I know why my commodore is so reluctant to let you near the controls of our crafts. You might very well show up our pilots.''
Kris rewarded the thickly slathered on praise with a smile. She noted that the other two captains seemed a bit unsure of how to react to her. Clearly, they needed practice responding to female officers. The flag captain and the royal she exited the shuttle first. Steve Jr. was in formal chauffeur dress and even held the door open. ''They're going to lock down this hanger as soon as we leave and have it under guard and surveillance while you're away. Dad figured you'd want to know.''
He left the ''you'' undefined, but Kris found it good to know, and suspected the captain did, too. And if he chose to warn anyone assigned to mess with the shuttle, they'd still have to figure out how to get to it. Kris expected Chance might be harder to crack than they expected.