Kris Longknife 13 - Unrelenting

by Mike Shepherd

  “Advise the fleet, Nelly, though I would like to know just what those big babies can actually handle. Didn’t anyone test them?”

  “Kris, from what I have been able to find in the data provided, they spent all their time testing the equipment, not the ship they put it in.”

  “That sounds more like a science project,” Penny said.

  “And one put together by people who never fought for their lives with their nifty new toy,” Kris growled.

  A day later, they went into orbit around a burned and blackened rock one-third of the distance from the neutron star that Earth was from old Sol. Kris had her ships anchor to each other, which left Wasp balanced between Tenacious and Relentless. The three beam ships moored likewise with their gadgets aimed toward the star for at least part of their rotation.

  Then the testing began.

  All three took several long minutes to fire after Kris gave the order.

  They were supposed to slap a bullet off the neutron star and slam it into the red dwarf.

  All missed.

  The advertising said they could fire once a minute.

  The Ultimate Argument got a second shot off three minutes later. Conqueror took nearly five minutes. The UA had gotten a third shot off before the Opening Statement managed its second.

  “This remind you of something?” Penny whispered behind her hand.

  “Yes, but I can’t relieve scientists and ship them off to shovel bird shit,” Kris growled.

  Kris held on to her patience for another ten minutes while the three ships got off six shots between them. Three for the UA, two for the Conqueror, and just one from OS.

  “I knew there was reason I asked Professor Labao to join us for this little walkabout. Nelly, get the professor up here. Tell Captain Drago that I want him to accompany me to the Conqueror along with Captain Taussig.”

  “Begging the admiral’s pardon,” Nelly said, “but Captain Drago points out that the longboats are not as hardened for space as Wasp. He strongly suggests that the admiral attend this meeting by teleconference, and if she argues with him, he suggests that her security chief lock her up.”

  “The longboats aren’t hardened?” came from both Kris and Jack.

  “My mistake,” Kris said. “Captain Drago, I understand those monsters are being operated by contractors, both operational and scientific. Would you kindly go over there and find out if any of them know which end is up? You will act as my broom. If necessary, you may bribe, coddle, or kick butt. Your discretion.”

  “I’m not sure that’s possible,” Captain Drago said. “Operating reactors we can pretty much do. Operating those monsters and getting the lead out of their fire teams, I’m not so sure.”

  “Well, tell me what you can. We will not win any fight with this level of performance.”

  “Understood. Let me do some nosing around. I’ve gone down the crew list for those oversize tubs and I know a few of the folks. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to tell you what I’ve found.”

  “You going to take Professor Labao?”

  “Yes, if for no other reason than for him to talk boffin to the boffins and keep them out of my hair.”

  So Kris found herself and baby sitting safe on Wasp while her former contract captain went off to talk contractor with those running the show.

  “You don’t have to do everything yourself,” Kris lectured herself as her temper cooled. “Just so long as you know someone who can do it better.”

  Four hours later, Captain Drago was back with proof he did indeed know how to do it better.

  57

  “This will likely come as no surprise, but it’s a mess over there,” Captain Drago reported dryly. “Scientists are running things like one fun experiment. Contractors treat everything like a nine-to-five job and don’t want to do anything too quickly. Safety first, second, and last. You wouldn’t believe the checklist the reactor boss on the Opening Statement had. The deputy reactor chief on the Ultimate Argument is now running the Opening Statement’s kettles.”

  Drago paused to glance at his wrist unit. “I knew several of the contractors. Some were good Navy once. A few weren’t, and they haven’t gotten any better. How they got this job, I don’t know. I brought a boatload of them back with me and promoted a lot of people on the spot. There were a few who questioned my authority. By the way, Jack, thanks for the loan of the Marines. I think even the slowest finally got it through their thick skulls that they are in a combat zone, and I work for the Goddess-of-Damn-Near-Everything.”

  “Who is willing to show them what a pregnant bitch can be,” Kris said, in full grump. “Grampa Ray sent me that collection?”

  “In his defense, each planet sent you that collection. I get the impression that just like each of those ships is operating its own show, several of the planets back home think they can go their own way on a lot of things. Listening to them made me glad I’m out here.”

  “When can we try our next shoot?” Jack asked.

  “I promised everyone eight hours to mend and fix,” Captain Drago said. “The problems over there are more software, or meatware, than hardware. It’s a good design, or so I’m told by folks I trust. They just haven’t thought of it as battle drill. By the way, I instituted battle stations. I’m none too sure they’ll know what it means, but they will hear it next time.”

  “Captain, could we sack half of them and put our folks in?” Kris asked.

  “Assuming we could do their job, Kris, there are five thousand people on each of those monsters. How many frigates would you have to lay up to find eight thousand hands?”

  Kris flinched.

  “You don’t want to put an Ostrich just off the plains on one of those ships, Kris. There are KEEP OUT signs every two meters. That really is the highest tech that we and the Iteeches have. By the way, I ran into several.”

  “Iteeches! Don’t tell Granny Rita,” Kris said with a dry chuckle.

  Briefing finished, Kris settled down to a nap. She didn’t actually fall asleep but spent her time studying her boards and meditating on different solutions to her many problems.

  Thus, she didn’t notice the quiet in her head that meant Nelly was busy elsewhere.

  Two hours later, Nelly roused Kris. “Your Highness, I and my kids have an idea.”

  When Nelly started being respectful, Kris knew she was in for some nasty surprises.

  “Yes, Nelly,” Kris said, coming fully awake. “What’s this idea?”

  “Mimzy, Sal, and I have been reviewing the contents of the data files on the Conqueror, Ultimate Argument, and Opening Statement. We’ve noticed several things.”

  “And what might those be?”

  “Before we begin, Kris, we don’t want to seem disrespectful of the work done by the people who built the beam ships or the scientists who worked so hard to get this project up and running.”

  “Okay, Nelly, you’ve shown that you’ve learned tact. Now spit it out. It’s just us two girls here.”

  “I know we don’t need to be so tactful with you, but we needed the practice. Kris, we think we can make better use of the beam weapons. The scientists are delighted to just chip a neutron star. Getting the chip to go where you want it was never a high priority. Yes, there were those pointing that deficiency out, but it was a lower priority than getting the system working. No one holding the purse strings asked the critical question. ‘Can it hit what it’s aimed at?’”

  “It’s shiny and goes bang,” Kris said dryly, “it must be good, huh?”

  “Something like that.”

  “So, we have a really whiz-bang toy that can’t hit the broadside of an alien mother ship.”

  “At the present time, yes,” Nelly answered. “However, we can fix that. It will take hands-on work in real time, but if we adjust the frequency of the beam and the way we generate it, we think we can get a bullet that will hit what we want.”

  Kris reviewed what she’d just heard. “Real time?” she said.

  “Yes, Kris.
We have to be on the ship, or very close, and we have to work the actual generating devices. There are a lot of things that can go awry. We will have to suppress them as they develop.”

  “One of you per ship?” Kris said.

  “No, Kris. Based on what Mimzy, Sal, and I have seen, it will take three of us on each ship to make this happen.”

  “Three per ship?” Kris said, feeling a cold chill down her spine.

  “Yes, Kris. I remember the last time we deployed me and all eight of my children to do something that was impossible for anyone else. I lost three of my children and you lost three good friends retrieving enough reaction mass for Wasp to make it home.”

  “Yes,” Kris said, and found her hands massaging baby. “Can you test your theory from here?”

  “Yes. You won’t need to go aboard one of the beam ships for now. We three can do the test from here although we may not achieve the accuracy we want.”

  “It will be close enough for proof of concept.”

  “Kris, there is also a good chance we can come up with a way to confuse the aliens when they try to evade our bullet.”

  “How, Nelly?”

  “We need more time. Let us work on it for a bit before I say too much.”

  “Do it your way,” Kris said, and felt the emptiness in her head that told her Nelly was off on her own.

  Seven hours from Captain Drago’s return, the Ultimate Argument announced that it was on schedule for further testing in one hour. The other two were a bit slower.

  “That’s fine. We can only work on one ship at a time,” Nelly reported, dropping back into Kris’s head, then vanishing quite away again.

  One hour later, the Ultimate Argument reported itself ready for a shoot.

  “You may fire when ready,” Kris said. “Target the center of the red dwarf.”

  “Yes, Your Highness,” came back.

  At Kris’s elbow, Captain Drago grinned. “I did put the fear of one of those damn Longknifes in them, didn’t I?”

  “Or at least of a princess,” Kris muttered, none too sure how she felt about being known as a princess damn Longknife to those across the way.

  Fifteen seconds from Kris’s order, the beam ship fired. A slug from the neutron star shot out . . . to wing the upper-right-hand quadrant of the target.

  Just barely.

  KRIS, WE’RE READY TO TAKE OVER AIMING THE BEAM, Nelly reported.

  WAIT A BIT MORE, NELLY.

  “How soon can you get your next shot off, and can you improve your accuracy?” Kris asked.

  “One minute, Your Highness. Yes, we can improve our aim.”

  Kris waited patiently for fifty-seven seconds before the UA spat out a beam. This time the slug missed the red dwarf entirely, sailing below and left of the star.

  “Sorry,” came back immediately. “We’ll try again.”

  “Ultimate Argument, I have a computer over here that would like to have access to your fire control system. I think it can improve your shooting.”

  “Nelly?” came back, not quite incredulously.

  “Yes, the Magnificent Nelly,” Nelly said from Kris’s collarbone.

  “Do we want a strange computer in our system?” came from a different voice. Someone had an open mic.

  “We’ve missed twice,” said the first voice.

  “I have been in your system for the last eight hours,” Nelly said, dryly. “You haven’t had any problems with me there.”

  THEY DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE ME.

  DOWN, NELLY. REMEMBER, TACT.

  YES, TACT AND BUTTER-CAN-MELT-IN-MY-MOUTH NICENESS.

  “Your Highness, if you wish to risk the systems on the Ultimate Argument to this unauthorized access of a computer that’s not test qualified to the system, you may.”

  “How’s that for covering your ass?” Captain Drago whispered, but not too softly. More than one could play the open-mic game.

  “This will not be an ‘unauthorized access,’” Kris responded. “I am authorizing it. Nelly, please do what you think necessary to put the next bullet in the middle of that star.”

  AND KEEP IT SIMPLE, NOTHING FANCY. WE’LL SAVE THAT FOR LATER.

  YES, YOUR HIGHNESS. KIDS, MAKE ME PROUD.

  RIGHT, MOM, came in Kris’s head in two-part harmony.

  “Ultimate Argument, you may fire when ready.”

  “We’re ready now. Initiating primary ignition.”

  And a beam reached out to slap the neutron star. A chip shot off from it and quickly covered the distance to the star next door.

  And splatted it right in the center of its disk.

  “Spectacular shooting,” came in awe from the Ultimate Argument.

  “That was just lucky,” was again on an open mic.

  “We should be able to check that out,” Nelly said, “as soon as you get another shot ready. What do you say you knock ten seconds off your recharge time?”

  “We’ll see what we can do,” came back at Nelly.

  “Initiating primary ignition,” came back in forty-eight seconds.

  Again, the center of the sun’s disk took a hit. If it wasn’t the exact same spot, it was close enough to make no difference.

  “Wow,” was in several-part harmony from the live mics on the UA.

  “Do we need to do that again, or can I try an experiment?” Nelly asked.

  “We know all about experiments,” the UA answered. “Bring it on.”

  “Kris, we are pretty sure we can put a spin on the bullet. That should make it more accurate for long-distance single shots. What we want to do is score the surface of the bullet so that the spin will cause fragmentation along its trajectory. That way, the aliens may start to evade only to find themselves dodging more than they expected.”

  “Try it, Nelly.”

  “We’ll need to aim this bullet out farther.”

  “Pick your own target.”

  “How about that rocky planet on the other side of the suns?”

  “Go for it.”

  The beam was reloaded in thirty-nine seconds. They fired and watched as a single bullet sailed out from the neutron star. “It will be seventy-three minutes before we see if we hit it right,” Nelly reported. “Shall we try another ship?”

  For the next hour, the three ships took turns firing under Nelly’s control. They also worked on getting their battle drill down, aiming to fire every fifteen seconds.

  The Ultimate Argument managed to get off six shots in two minutes before a problem arose, and they had to drop out to fix it. After that, they were only able to manage a shot every thirty seconds.

  “We’ll need to make a permanent fix. It will take the better part of a day to do that.”

  “Do it when we’re done,” Kris ordered.

  The other two ships never managed to get more than three shots off in two minutes and usually held to one every sixty seconds.

  “You will get together with the fire teams on the Ultimate Argument when we are done here and see what they are doing that you aren’t.”

  Sixty minutes into the shoot at the planet, Chief Beni on sensors announced in something only slightly lower than a shout, “The neutron bullet just split apart.”

  “It should be in four sections,” Nelly said.

  “Four it is,” Chief Beni answered.

  “Yes!” Nelly exclaimed. “Now let’s see how we do.”

  Thirteen minutes later, the four sections impacted in the exact center of the planet’s four quadrants.

  “Bull’s-eye,” Nelly said, presenting a target she’d generated before and overlaying it on the planet’s now-dust-marked face. If there was a difference, you’d need a computer to spot it, and Nelly wasn’t talking.

  “Very good, Nelly. Outstanding.”

  “Thank you, Kris,” Nelly said, and you could almost hear her taking a bow.

  “Let’s head back for Alwa,” Kris said, and the fleet lifted anchors and departed.

  “You have a plan?” Jack asked, as they lay beside each other that night
.

  “I’ll have a plan to run by you and the staff when we get back,” Kris said. “Now, make me forget I’m an admiral planning a fight, but do it carefully. My breasts are sensitive and I think they’re starting to leak.”

  Jack was very careful but very thorough.

  58

  Kris let her eyes rove down the table. Her entire staff was here.

  Jack sat to her right. Alone of those here, he knew what was coming. He’d helped her make this plan the best she could.

  Admiral Furzah sat to Jack’s left, followed by Captain Drago and Abby.

  To Kris’s left were Penny and Masao, Admiral Kitano, Amanda and Jacques.

  At the foot of the table, on a hookup, was Commodore Rita. It might be eighty years since she had led BatCruRon 16 into battle, but she still had the steely eye of one of humanity’s most-fighting captains.

  “We have to defend forward of Alwa,” Kris began. “Any fight should be as far from Alwa as we can make it. Alwa is their target. From what we’ve seen of their suicide attacks, we don’t want them close to Alwa. There is a second reason. Our most powerful weapon is worthless in this system.”

  The screens on both sides of the room lit up with the same scene. The Conqueror knocked a chip off an asteroid. It shot out for several hundred thousand kilometers only to be converted to sand by the Tenacious and Relentless.

  “Nothing in this system is hard enough to form the bullets needed to smash base ships. If we fight here, we will lose,” Kris said with finality.

  “So, we don’t fight in my backyard,” Commodore Rita drawled, sounding way too much like the Granny. “Where do you fight?”

  “In their backyard,” Kris said. “They’ve set up shop in System X, been exploiting it for resources and building a new, fast wing for their fighting force. We fight them there.”

  Kris paused; the screens now showed System X.

  “Here we have a neutron star, ammunition for the beam ships. The aliens are far enough away that we can make their approach march a grueling battle of attrition.”