Kris Longknife: Defender by Mike Shepherd Read Free Book Online Page A

the only way we managed to break contact and get back to human space were those jumps. You need special navigational gear to spot them.”
    “Well, they got us into this neighborhood. We took axes to the surviving armor on our two ships. The
Furious
was less damaged, so we piled everyone in her, fed anything we thought might work into the plasma chambers, and started trying to slow down.”
    Again, Granny Rita raised her now-half-empty glass. “We were down to fumes and hard tack when we stumbled into a system with that beautiful blue-green orb. It could have gotten messy, but the Light People took us in. That, my dear, is why we’re here to say howdy to you.”
    “But will the Alwans be talking to us tomorrow?” Jack asked as he joined them. “The Captain’s Gig is back. The crew report the Alwans didn’t say a word on the drop down. Not even a thank-you as they disembarked. It was made clear to the bosun flying the gig that they wanted him gone soonest.”
    Jack flagged a server down, one of his Marines supplementing his pay, and ordered a beer. It arrived very quickly.
    Granny Rita just shook her head. “The Alwans are not stupid. I know they have this blind side about fighting. They seem to have evolved into their present system of conflict resolution. I benefited from it. It will be a tough fight against hereditary impulses, but I can’t help but think when they see they were the target of an attack, and now have seen your ship attacked, that they’ll do what has to be done.”
    “Kris, there is a call coming in for you,” Nelly said.
    “From whom?”
    “One of the media services.” Nelly did her best to do something with clicks, coos, and warbles.
    “Oh, them,” Granny Rita said, “they’ve been the best when it came to reporting on the things where we Heavy People and the People got it right. One of the calls the Alwans made the first month we arrived was that they didn’t want any sudden influx of human technology. We agreed to hold things back. We didn’t bring stuff down from the
Furious
we really wanted, like a reactor. It’s worked pretty good. We still schooled our kids that there’s a lot more to the world than they can work with. That launch to the
Furious
that you observed. We finally got permission to bring down the gear for a thermonuclear reactor.”
    “They were going to let you bring a reactor online?” Kris said.
    “Oh yes. They know we use a lot of electrical gear, and it’s catching on among their young. We showed them how to dam rivers and set up electrical power plants, but they noticed how it shot the hell out of the fishing upstream. They asked us if we had anything better, and we suggested the reactor. I’m hoping you have landers that can help get the containment coils down. Anyway, that media service was first and strongest in supporting us on the reactor.”
    “But why would they want to talk to me?”
    “Maybe they think a pretty young face will get more viewers.”
    “Do they think we Heavy People are pretty?” Jack asked.
    “Not likely, considering how they avoided looking at Penny and me while we were loosening up their water tanks,” Kris said.
    “They think of us about the way we think of a hippopotamus,” Granny said with a grin, and finished her drink.
    “So I don’t need to powder my nose,” Kris said.
    “You could take a bath,” her great-grandmother said. “I don’t care what you say about those eggs of yours, a lot of sweat went into that fight.”
    Properly chastised, Kris set a time around noon according to the time at the Association of Associations meridian, then paused to look at Granny Rita. “What will my talking have to do with anything? They won’t understand a word I say.”
    “Still, you have the video of the attack. Both of them. There are a few reporters who have gotten pretty good at translating for us. At least I think so.”
    “But you don’t know so,” Kris said.
    “Different brains. Different vocal cords. Different