Vicky Peterwald: Target Read Online Free PDF Page B

getting back from our little ‘excursion,’ sir.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I have the sensor take from the
Wasp
’s main computer. Computer, display battle visuals on the admiral’s screen.”
    The large screen to Vicky’s left came to life. There was the main alien ship, fresh from the jump, looming huge and deadly, filling most all of the screen. Then the battle started. Lasers flashed through the thin space where the earlier scouts had died. Missiles from the
Wasp
lashed into the alien monster. Then the Hellburners smashed in, spewing fire and wreckage all over the screen.
    Which went blank as the
Wasp
ducked through the jump the aliens had just used.
    “That’s how she got out of there? That Longknife woman went where the aliens had just come from? She should have run into a huge fleet train.”
    “Sir, the main alien ship
was
their fleet train,” Vicky said. “The previous system was as empty as any we had seen. It didn’t stay that way. The aliens were madder than hornets at us for burning their nest. They followed us. They followed us through three or four jumps before the
Wasp
managed to go one way and the
Hornet
seemed to lead the aliens in some other direction.”
    “How did that happen?”
    “The Wardhaven jump sensors can identify something they call a fuzzy jump. We’ve heard reports of this thing from research ships that have visited the newly discovered alien ruins that Kris Longknife found,” Vicky said. It was strange how often she had to say that woman’s name. Her fingerprints were on way too much of what was happening in human space.
    “But those fuzzy jump points are only one of the surprises the Longknife princess popped on us. Those Hellburners as they call them. Where did they come from?” Vicky asked the admiral.
    “I have no idea. That doesn’t bother me as much as our own intelligence services having no idea. The U.S. is pulling stuff out of their hat that has us scratching our head way too much. And while their researchers give them more and more, our own scientists have to stand in line for bread. Greenfeld needs a new day.”
    That was a phrase that could be treason if said in the wrong place. But Vicky had heard it often enough from Admiral Krätz to know it was popping up more and more around wardrooms. “My dad is doing his best to settle the unrest. Admiral, the Navy is doing all it can to calm down the rioting.”
    “Killing the Commander of State Security and dissolving that force was not well done.”
    “General Boyng tried to kill my dad. What did you expect Dad to do, kiss him?”
    “Of course not, Lieutenant. The Navy is not a pack of fools. Yes, State Security was rotten. It needed pruning. But burning down the tree, root and stem, has not worked for Greenfeld. Or do you see it differently?”
    Vicky took time for a deep breath. Lieutenants did not argue with admirals. Certainly a young woman who needed a safe ride home did not argue with the only safe ride in sight. “No, Admiral, I do not see it differently. The suppression of State Security has caused no end of trouble. Separating the diseased limbs from the healthy ones looks wiser, with the benefit of hindsight, but it looked way too risky at the time. Dad solved the immediate problem. Yes, that did create the problem we have now. At the time, no one had a better idea for Dad.”
    The admiral nodded. “That is the way it is with a benevolent despot. What he can see and do well is done well. What is beyond his grasp easily gets out of hand.”
    “You’re starting to sound like Kris Longknife. Next thing I know, you’ll be calling for elections,” Vicky snapped.
    “And let the mob raise up its own tyrant? Never!”
    The two of them found themselves out of words, staring across the table at each other.
    “What is happening right here and now?” Vicky finally asked.
    “I’m trying to decide what to do next,” the admiral said, thoughtfully.
    “What can you do next?” Vicky asked, suspecting that