Audacious

59

The killing wasn't over. Or at least it was a close run thing for the next couple of hours.

An admiral from Eden's fleet met Kris at the door to the shuttle when it docked at High Eden. He demanded she immediately board an outgoing liner. Kris didn't much care for the way he was rushing her out…or separating her from her Marines. And she had at least one major deal breaker.

''Is a certain Victoria Peterwald booked on that ship?''

The admiral was nonplus toward the question. But he did check. ''Why yes, she will be.''

''Then I won't. Haven't you heard? Longknifes and Peterwalds don't play well together in the sandbox. People tend to get suddenly dead around us.''

The admiral failed to understand that. Gunny Brown was wise enough to have four hulking Marines, stinking from sweat and battle, edge the Navy puke out of Kris's sight before Eden lost more of its ruling elite.

Then it turned out the Navy base was unprepared to offer hospitality to a hundred tired, hungry, and war-weary Marines.

Kris got angry when an Eden chief with a huge gut told her the mess hall would not open for anyone until 1130 hours, two hours from now. She got outraged when a voice on the phone insisted the transient barracks didn't accepted new sign-ups until after 1500 hours.

Ever-helpful Nelly told Kris that there was a fine hotel just outside the gate that had plenty of rooms and a four-star restaurant.

But the rental cops at the gate tried to put a stop to that troop movement. It seemed that neither Kris nor any of her Marines were authorized to leave the base. For a second there it looked like matters would get downright mortal.

Fortunately, the base security guards manning the gate were puny…and unarmed. They took one look at the hulking Marines headed their way…many of them still armed to the teeth…and decided it was time for their coffee break.

All of them. All at once.

The hotel manager was a bit taken back by the arrival of one hundred filthy, tired, and evilly disposed hulks led by one very cranky princess. But the moment he got a look at Kris's credit card, amazing things started to happen.

One entire wing of his hotel was scheduled to begin renovation that day. He shooed away the workmen and had his staff put old sheets on beds in record time.

Fifteen minutes after their arrival, half the Marines were sound asleep. The other half made a quick stop by the coffee shop for some chow before joining the others.

Kris's last word to the manager was that many of her troopers were still heavily armed. Disturbing their sleep might not go very well for the one doing the disturbing. The manager nodded and assured her that none of her troops would be disturbed.

If only Kris had told the manager that she was in the same mood and should not be bothered either.

The clock beside her bed said Kris had hardly gotten ten hours sleep when she was awoken by a gentle but persistent tapping at her door.

''Go away or you are so dead.'' It wasn't a very princess way to greet someone, but Kris was not feeling much like a princess.

''But you're the one who summoned me. All the way from Wardhaven.'' That got her attention. The voice did sound dimly familiar.

Rolling out of a bed that had seemed so lovely a short time ago, but now looked full of enough dirt to grow potatoes, Kris crossed to the door and swung it open.

There was Captain Drago of her good ship Wasp.

''What's a pirate like you doing this close to Earth?'' she demanded.

''I heard a princess was in distress and decided to risk hanging in her rescue.''

Kris glanced down at her dress. It was filthy, bloodied, and torn. ''More likely some street urchin. I'd invite you to chow but I'm not sure they'd let me in the restaurant without sloshing me down with a fire hose and finding something else to cover my ugliness.''

''I don't know of whom you speak, Your Highness, but I see a full bath through that door, and I have taken to carrying around clothes in your size just in case you need them.''

''Is that a proposition,'' Kris said, taking the offered blue shipsuit.

The black-hearted pirate just grinned.

''I'll be with you in two shakes,'' Kris said.

Showered and dressed, she found that her shoes of the night before had settled into pumps. Those alone she salvaged from what must have been a very expensive ensemble. Less than a minute later, she was ordering a steak smothered and loaded, and a salad deliverable five minutes ago.

The hotel showed no further evidence that it was occupied by a Marine task force until Jack marched in from one door the moment Gramma Ruth, Abby, and little Cara came in the other.

They all headed straight for Kris's table. Which the manager immediately expanded and filled with water and menus.

''Good to see you again, Skipper,'' Jack said. He had managed to have his uniform dry-cleaned and his shirt washed. His shoes, however, would never again carry the shine required of them.

''Glad to be here,'' Captain Drago replied, ''but I hope you will excuse me. I am glad I wasn't here earlier. I see that the princess has been up to her usual mischief without her beauty nap.''

''Look upon that face…and die,'' Kris muttered.

''I suspect a lot of Peterwald troops did,'' Ruth said, under her breath.

''Where is Bronc?'' Cara asked.

''Sleeping,'' Jack assured her. ''He's got a concussion and a sprained wrist, but he's in a lot better shape than some. That young man came through for us when we needed him,'' he said, eyeing Kris, then Ruth. ''I hope we can do something for him.''

''We already have,'' Ruth said through a wide grin. ''Seems that the requirements for a Wardhaven passport aren't all that clearly codified just yet. A good friend of mine in the visa section was only too happy to provide one for him and his mom.''

Cara looked terrified. ''Bronc is leaving Eden?''

''Bronc and you must get out of here,'' Ruth said, her face now serious. Kris knew what had to come next.

Gramma Ruth did it softly, telling as gently as anyone could a young girl that her mother and grandmother had died suddenly. Violently.

When quiet came again, the girl sat in her chair for a long moment staring at her hands. ''I thought that might be why Aunt Abby wasn't letting me go home.'' Cara shook her head. ''Gramma Ganna wanted so much to move uptown. And it killed her just as dead as the hood kills kids.''

''I want to take you away from the hood,'' Abby said. ''I want to take you away from Eden.''

''Why, you were never here before?'' She was blunt but honest.

''Right, I wasn't,'' Abby said, offering all the contrition she seemed able. ''But you and I are all the family we've got. I want you here with me,'' Abby said, shooting Kris a glance that told one princess to keep her mouth shut. We'll settle anything between us later.

''Will Bronc be coming with us?''

''I don't think so,'' Gramma Ruth said. ''My sister Mary's youngest boy has a boy about Bronc's age. Some folks may think Hurtford is a hayseed of a planet, but its got a good school system and Bronc will get a top-notch education there in a school where no one will try to kill him. I think the boy really needs that for a while.''

''And me?'' came from Cara in a voice already lonely.

''I think your aunt has plans for your education,'' Ruth said, eyeing Abby. She nodded. ''And you and Bronc can send messages to keep up with each other.''

''I'm not sure I like that,'' Cara said.

''All I ask is that you give it a chance for six months,'' Abby said. ''If it isn't working out in half a year, we can look it over again.''

''Are you going to quit your job?''

''I don't think I'll have to,'' Abby said, not meeting Kris's eyes.

''Then we'll be traveling around in space!''

''I'm never quite sure where I'll be from moment to moment,'' Abby admitted.

A waitress arrived to take orders; decisions were hastily made. And Captain Drago asked Kris what he was doing here.

''How big is your ship?'' she said.

''The Wasp has changed a lot since you were last on her,'' Drago said, ''but she's not a whole lot bigger than when you stole her.''

''I captured her fair and square,'' Kris grumbled, but a schematic of the ship appeared on the table before them and it held her attention.

The ship was designed to pass for a vulnerable five-thousand-ton freighter. The command and crew space was forward. Amidship was a long spindle where shipping containers were attached to honest merchant ships. The Wasp could actually take quite a few.

Aft was the engine room that Kris remembered only too well.

Now, a large structure ballooned out to cover the length of the ship. And that was its secret. Smart metal could be rotated along the side of that outer skin, absorbing laser hits and radiating the heat back into space.

The Wasp had a warship's hide on a sheepskin cover.

''And that's not all. Nuu Research made a breakthrough. Our new reactors can strip electricity directly out of our fusion drive. No more having to use magnetic coils to coax electricity from the plasma blasting out our engines.'' Drago grinned. ''Next time we get in a fight while in orbit, somebody's going to be very sorry they went for us.''

''How many people can you handle aboard?'' Kris asked.

''Still only thirty. Maybe forty if they're friendly.''

''I've got a hundred, hundred and fifty marines I need to get out of here.''

Drago paled at Kris's words. ''I'd never count on a Marine to be friendly.''

''There's a Nuu Ship repair and modification facility here on High Eden,'' Nelly said. ''It lacks a full yard capability but it has some tools.''

''For what?'' Drago said.

''People are using containers to ship colonists out on merchant ships,'' Ruth observed innocently.

''But Eden never sends out many colonists,'' Drago answered. ''No one here makes those kinds of containers.''

''I have the designs in my innards,'' Nelly said. ''I could direct the robot shops to make what we want.''

''Thank you, Nelly,'' Kris said.

Drago still shook his head at the thought of loading his wonderful ship full of big, hairy Marines.

But they were ready to sail four days later.