Kris felt a flash of anger. ''I told you I wasn't going to fight a defenseless station, a museum relic. I won't have people dying for nothing.''
''If we lose the high ground, Lieutenant, a lot of my friends are going to die in a hopeless resistance. Kris, Chance was never meant to be occupied; ordered around by someone like Hank. He's called us out. It's personal now. We fight him on the high ground. We fight him on the shuttle landing grounds. We fight him in the streets and in the hills. I read that somewhere. Forget who said it, but he could have been talking about us here.
''As I see it,'' Steve went on, ''your job now is to command the force we crew. Hank's inbound at two g's so we don't have a lot of time. Shall we quit wasting what we have?''
''You know we're all crazy,'' Kris said.
''Better to be crazy than defeated.''
Jack and Penny smartly marched up six girls and boys in green shipsuits. He took in the scene and raised an eyebrow. ''So, what do I do with this bunch of fire-breathing dragons?''
Kris eyed the shuttle bay. The new arrivals were forming up at their chief's orders, facing the Patton's crew.
''What would you do?'' Kris said, not looking at Steve.
''I'd authorize my chiefs and petty officers to comb through the Patton's crew; find the ones they can put to use. Sign up the green suits as trainees, the blue suits as assistants. Then I'd get this station and that cruiser ready for what's coming.''
Kris wanted to say ''be it on your head,'' to wash her hands of what she saw coming. But a Naval officer can't do that. Instead, she stood to attention. ''Proceed as you propose.''
Steve saluted. ''With your permission, Your Highness.''
Kris returned his salute. ''Carry on. I'll be in the Command Center. Report there when you're done here.''
Penny waved the dragons to rejoin their crew. Having heard the officers, they raced to spread the word. Jack and Penny formed on Kris. ''So now we fight with everything we can beg, borrow, or steal,'' he said.
''Again,'' Kris said. ''You'd think just once we could do this with a decently trained and ready bunch of ships and sailors.''
''Why send a fleet when a certain princess will make do?'' Jack said.
Which almost made Kris miss a step. Was she getting so good at yanking miracles out of hats that someone thought all they had to do was send a hat and her. She very much hoped that wasn't true. Because if they thought Grampa Trouble was a problem, they had no idea what Princess Kris could be.
Assuming she survived this particular hat trick.
''Which ship will you take out?'' Penny asked.
''I think Steve wants to fight the station,'' Kris said slowly. ''Drago probably will be best with the Resolute. I'm thinking I should take out the Patton. It's got the most fire power and ice armor. If it actually can fight, it's our best ship. You've spent time on the Patton. Is it good to go?''
''They coated it with a few inches of ice last week. It'll need more. The lasers look fine, but none have been fired. The engines look good, but, again, they haven't actually been run. We need to break her loose and give her a test run. Soon.''
Kris nodded. ''What do you say we both do that.''
''So if you take the Patton, who gets the Wasp?'' Penny said.
''You want it?''
''I've studied what you did at Paris debriefing the Typhoon's crew. I was with you at Turantic and Wardhaven. Who do you have here that's better at conning a small combatant? Yes, I know I've been an intel weenie my whole career, but, Kris, you got to know there isn't a JO hatched that doesn't want her own command.''
Kris considered the request; there wasn't anyone handy close to her experience and qualifications for the Wasp. Should she bounce Penny to the Resolute and give Drago the bigger ship? Change this late was never good. No. Penny deserved the Wasp.
But was Penny a good call? Was a grieving widow the best person to command what might be Kris's best combatant, if the Patton went flat? Would she command the ship as well as she said she could… or would she go berserker on Kris at a critical moment? Would she follow orders, or lose herself in a killing rage to get Hank, the son of the man who killed her husband?
Neither giving Penny the Wasp, nor giving someone else the ship was a good bet, but Kris would have to lay her money down, and now was better than later. ''Is the Wasp ready for a shoot?''
Penny mulled that over as they came to the escalators down to the Resolute. ''Materially, she's good to go,'' Penny said. ''I assume we're going to talk Drago into loaning a few hands. Steal some from Steve. But yes, you give the order and the Wasp will answer all bells, and be underway with all pulse lasers loaded.''
''Then she's your baby. Take good care of her,'' Kris said with a smile she really felt. ''I don't think I've made the last payment on her.''
''I'll try not to scrape the paint.''
Down the escalator, they headed for the ship. ''Shall I call Abby and tell her she's out of hack?'' Jack asked.
''Let her stew for a while,'' Kris said. ''I don't like the idea of someone selling news about me. I've never liked the newsies. I don't see any reason I should like it in my maid.''
''We might could use her?'' Penny pointed out. ''She brought twelve steamer trunks this trip. Who knows what's in them?''
''I'll talk to her about that later. Right now, we need to juggle crews.''
Captain Drago was not at all happy to have a draft put on his ship to seed the others. Interestingly, he never asked Kris for the Wasp. He did ask for Smart Metal. Kris promised him all she had left to coat the Resolute and headed back to the Command Center. There, she relented and sent Jack to explain what they now knew and release Abby from house arrest.
''Do I bring her back?'' he asked.
''You decide. If she's got some good tricks to share… and knows what she sees here isn't shared.''
Jack returned with Abby about the same time Steve arrived. ''I've got our folks organizing. You going to need any of them for the other ships?'' Penny beamed him a list of what she wanted for the Wasp and what they'd stolen from the Resolute. He glanced down the list. ''We can do that. Hilary,'' he shouted.
A girl in greens ducked in the door; Steve printed out the list Penny had sent. ''See that this gets to Chief Ramirez.'' And the girl was gone like a rabbit.
''I kept some spare troops that didn't make it to permanent party as runners. Let's keep our communications to something Hank can't hack, and let these track stars earn their keep.''
''How many did you keep as permanent?'' Kris asked.
''A bit over half of Patton had bigger brothers or sisters willing to stand for them. If Momma Howe said they knew their job, we took them. Then I added the runners. I'll get them out of here before the shooting starts, okay, Your Highness.''
''Momma Howe?''
''Yeah. The woman you were bulldogging when I came up. She's good. A might bit slowed down by the hip replacement, but with that cane, a solid traveler. I'll use her and a lot of the blue suiters on the station. There won't be any high g's here.''
''How do you fight a station that just has to sit here?''
''Who told you a station just sits and takes it?''
''Nobody, they just all do. Sit,'' Kris said. ''The 6-inch lasers on Hank's cruisers can reach out sixty thousand klicks and are really effective at twenty thousand. If they can see you, they can shoot you full of holes.''