Kris Longknife: Tenacious (Kris Longknife novellas Book 12) Read Online Free PDF Page B

between quarters, it had brought on a Navy leadership challenge way past epic proportions.
    Kris had followed the Navy Way of handling it. She’d convened a committee of senior chiefs and ships’ executive officers and told them to fix it. After a sleepless night of gnawing at the problem of commanding a lot of young, healthy, and unattached troops who might die at any moment and would have to depend on each other for their own survival, the Alwa Defense Sector had written its own fraternization policy.
    It had survived the test of its first battle. Kris could only hope her innovative approach to human relations in the crucible of war would continue to hold together.
    Pipra was already seated at the conference table that dominated Kris’s day quarters. As usual, Kris’s desk was clean though she suspected her in-box had reports and messages stacked up past the virtual overhead.
    Before Kris could settle into her chair at the table, Pipra was reeling off problems at the mines, fabricators, mills, and everywhere in between. Jack gave Kris a smile and a shrug before he took their small travel bags and disappeared into their quarters. Quickly back, he gave Kris a jaunty wave and allowed that he would check in on the Marines while Kris attended to business.
    As he left, Captain Drago sauntered in. Had he planned for moments like this when he arranged for Kris’s admiral’s cabin to be just off his own bridge? The first time Pipra paused for a breath, he asked Kris, “You enjoy your vacation?”
    “Too short. When can you get the
Wasp
underway for a month-long voyage of exploration?”
    Pipra glanced at what she was about to read from and put it aside. “So you
are
going to do this crazy visit to the alien home world I’ve been hearing about.”
    “Since I didn’t know I was going to do this crazy thing until six hours ago, I’m intrigued that you knew about it before I did,” Kris said.
    “Well, everyone knew that your scout ship was back and that it found the alien home world. You being one of those damn Longknifes, I figured you’d be chasing off after it.”
    “First, I’m your CEO, not a damn Longknife,” Kris said, but softened it with a smile. “And second, from what our scout found, the home world has been abandoned by the alien space raiders for some time.”
    “Then why are you going?” her senior vice president shot back.
    “A good question. So you don’t think I should go?”
    “No, I didn’t say that. Information is power. Knowing where these crazy, bloodthirsty whatevers came from might tell us something. I’m just wondering if now is the time to do it?”
    “And a better time would be?” Kris asked.
    “There won’t be a better time or a worse one,” Captain Drago put in. “You pay your money, and you take your chances. Me, I figure sooner is better. My best guess is those alien observers will need time to report back. Then more time while they think about what they saw. With three huge clans thinking on that, it may take them quite a while to decide on anything.”
    “There may be only one person who matters on each of those base ships,” Kris said.
    Captain Drago dismissed that thought with a wave of his hand. “Even in a dictatorship, there are currents of opinion that have to be considered. I never heard of a system that didn’t have competing power blocks that had to be weaseled and browbeaten into doing something.”
    “I hope you’re right, Captain, because I’m betting that that’s the way it is. Please ask Commodore Kitano to drop in at her earliest convenience. I’m going to steal her squadron, what’s left of it, and leave her with the hot potato of Acting Commander, Alwa Defense Sector.”
    “I don’t think she’ll be too bothered by being left behind. Her
Princess Royal
is one of the ships that took so much damage that it’s tied up to the pier awaiting more Smart Metal.”
    “It is?”
    “Yep.”
    “Skipper, we’ve got action at one of our close-in