Defender

40

Kris and Jack had hardly had time to finish a quick shower when the Klaxon went off. “Battle stations, battle stations. All hands to battle stations.”

They hastily dressed. Abby must have taken up mind reading, because a set of Jack’s khakis was laid out beside Kris’s blue shipsuit. Done, they shot from Kris’s day cabin onto the bridge.

“What’s the situation?” Kris asked in her commodore voice.

“An alien ship just jumped in using a jump we haven’t used,” Captain Drago reported. “It’s about six hours out, assuming it holds to their usual two gees and flips at midpoint.”

“Have they spotted us?”

“We are not squawking, but our reactors are online, and our lasers are charged.”

“Then we can assume they know we’re here and will be coming to visit,” Kris concluded.

“We could try to run for the other jump,” the captain offered.

“Has the navigator plotted a course?” One showed up on the main screen.

“If they hold to their usual two to 2.5-gee acceleration, and we go at 3.5, we should just make it to the jump before they get in range,” the navigator reported.

“Can we make 3.5 gees in our present condition?” Kris asked.

“Condition?” Jack echoed.

“The Wasp is pregnant with the Hornet,” Kris said.

“I was wondering where the Hornet went and why the Wasp has all these bumps and lumps,” Jack said.

“You didn’t think I’d abandon two perfectly good reactors, did you?”

Captain Drago cleared his throat. “We can’t make over 2.5 gees in our present state. We’ll need to drop our load to show them our heels in a run.”

Kris mulled that. “Has any other ship jumped in?”

“None so far, but remember, we’re only getting our information from that jump point at the speed of light, so it’s been a while.”

“Captain Drago, will you please join me in my quarters,” Kris said, and wheeling herself in microgravity, pushed off the closest station and launched herself for the door to her day quarters. Captain Drago did not look happy, but he followed her, Jack right behind him.

“You don’t intend to fight, do you?” the captain demanded, as soon as Jack closed the door behind them.

“There is only one ship.”

“Maybe. That could change any second.”

“We have the 20-inch lasers. We should outrange them.”

“We suspect that. We don’t know for sure,” Captain Drago shot back.

“We’ll need to find out the answer to that sooner or later. Why not now?”

“My ship is loaded down with a wreck and my sick bay full of barely alive survivors. Do you really want a fight just now?”

“We’ve never had a one-on-one fight with one, not since the first fight. Admittedly, this is probably one of those four- or five-hundred-thousand-tonners the aliens are so fond of. Still, it’s even odds. I’d like to take this one alive, or at least separate it from its reactors enough that it isn’t blown to gas.”

Captain Drago didn’t fire back a response to that but settled down at Kris’s staff table. “Know your enemy, huh?”

Kris nodded. “Have we had a better chance? They think they’re coming in on a badly damaged hulk. Likely, they intend to board it for intelligence. Maybe they even think they can capture the crew.”

“They’re looking for one ship,” Jack said, settling into the chair across from the captain. “They only found one.”

“Yes, but we’ve got our lasers charged and our reactors online,” the captain pointed out.

“So maybe they won’t be all surprised,” Kris agreed, “but if our 20-inch lasers can outrange them, we could do damage to their lasers while we run away and keep the range where we want it.”

“Assuming they can’t do more than two gees,” Drago said. “Remember, the 20-inchers are our surprise. What kind of surprise do they have up their sleeves?”

“We can always dump the Hornet and run faster,” Kris said. She’d hate to do that, but if needs must, she would.

“I’m disliking this idea of yours, Your Highness, a bit less than most,” Captain Drago said slowly. “But I have a few sneaky tricks we can add to your pot.”

For the next half hour they laid their plans. For the next half hour, no reports came into Kris’s quarters of a second ship. As it began to look like they might, indeed, have their first ever even fight, a grin slowly spread on the captain’s face.

“Yes, we might just have the souvenir Professor Labao would just love to field-strip. Your Highness, would you care to take Weapons again, just for old times’ sake?”

“Why, I don’t mind if I do,” Kris said, sounding less like her commodore self and more like her old self.

Together, they headed back to the bridge.