Kris Longknife: Defender Read Online Free PDF Page B

ready to move us right or left on my order.”
    “Aye, aye, sir.”
    The long wait continued. A hundred thousand kilometers out, the alien ships did what they had to do if they didn’t want to fly right by the hulk. All three flipped ship and began to decelerate at a quarter gee. If all went well, they would arrive at the hulk with no headway, ready to go into its weak orbit.
    Of course, it was Kris’s job to see that things did not go well.
    “The right ship has eight reactors,” the senior chief reported. “The other ships have only six.”
    “I suppose that makes the rightmost ship our target,” Captain Drago said.
    “Main battery is locked and loaded.” The new frigate packed four of those huge battleship guns into her bow. They had great range, but a problem.
    They could be fired only fifteen degrees to the left or right, up or down, of the direction the ship was pointed. Somehow, Captain Drago would have to get his ship over to the right of the wreck fast enough to surprise the enemy but arrive with the bow aimed dead on his target.
    The brilliant engineer who designed the class hadn’t come up with any suggestions as to how you fought his marvelous new toy.
    Then it got more complicated.
    “The Alwans want to know if you are going talk to the aliens,” came over the net from Granny Rita.
    “We’d kind of planned on killing them, Granny. We are outnumbered, and every time we try talking, they just shoot.”
    “The idea of not making any demonstration upsets the Alwans.”
    “The idea of our all getting suddenly dead kind of upsets us, Granny.”
    The nods from around the bridge supported Kris’s position. They were in the eggs, but the eggs weren’t the all-encompassing containers they would be at four or five gee.
    “Kris, honey, I understand where you’re coming from, believe me. I’ve been where you are. But I have to live with these people. I beg you to accommodate them.”
    Kris had already offered Granny Rita a ride home, if only for full rejuvenation. The strong-willed old woman had turned her down. The Alwans were in danger, and she was not leaving them in their time of need.
    Kris expected that position would cause a lot of trouble. She’d expected that trouble at some indefinite time in the future. Strange how it popped up sooner.
    Well, what do you expect from a Longknife, even one that calls herself Granny Rita Ponsa at the moment.
    “There was the approach you tried on that scout ship in the Iteeche system,” Penny said.
    “There’s not time to launch a communication buoy,” Kris muttered. “Nelly, can you put together some nanos? Make them give off enough noise to seem like a ship, as well as send a ‘we come in peace for all humanity’ message.”
    “It will mean that I lose some of my next child’s matrix,” Nelly complained.
    “I’ll buy you more.”
    “From the other side of the galaxy?”
    “Nelly, we don’t have time for this argument.”
    “I know, Kris. I’m already collecting the nanos and forming them into the craft you require. There is a hole in the wreck we can launch it out of. I’m using the collection of messages we sent the last time. I hope the Alwans won’t mind us sending in Iteeche as well as human.”
    “The hostiles are a hundred thousand klicks out and flipping ship,” Captain Drago said. “I’d like to knock out one or two of them before they’re close enough to ram,” he added dryly.
    “Nelly, launch the diversion,” Kris ordered. “Lasers 1 and 2, prepare to fire; 3 and 4 stand by. Laser 5, maybe we can come up with a target for you.” Laser 5 pointed aft.
    “Helmsman, prepare to rotate ship ninety degrees to starboard, lay on three gees acceleration for five seconds, then rotate ship ninety degrees to port. Lay on one gee but begin Evasion Pattern 6. Understand?” Drago ordered.
    The helmsman was a chief bosun’s mate, but he still blanched at the order. “Sir, I’ll try.”
    “Try ain’t good enough, Chief,” the