Kris Longknife: Welcome Home / Go Away Read online

  No doubt, the camera operator was in some other room with a producer watching everything and doing what would sell the most soap or whatever was paying the most for advertising these days.

  You got to be less cynical, old boy. This guy is willing to let you do what you can to spin your kid into the best light.

  Maybe, his cynical self replied.

  Winston opened with a couple of softball questions.

  Trouble identified himself. Yes, he was a veteran of the Iteeche War. Yes, he knew Ray from way back. Oh, and yes, both he and the king had the proud honor of having one Kris Longknife, sometimes styled princess and a serving lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, as a great-granddaughter.

  And yes, she had indeed led out a Fleet of Discovery not too long ago.

  Winston broke in to mention that he’d interviewed Amanda Kutter about the change in the fleet’s mission. They paused as the lovely Miss Kutter described the horror the fleet had found and its preparations for battling the same.

  That left Trouble to wonder if his interview would be cut down to the few seconds that seemed to summarize all that Amanda had had to say about the selfless choice of thousands to do battle against impossible odds.

  Trouble guessed that didn’t sell soap.

  “So, General, I’m told that the only reason the Fleet of Discovery could hope to engage the huge alien ships was that the U.S. government provided them with a totally new and immensely destructive weapon. Something chipped off a neutron star, isn’t it?”

  Bushwhacked in the first two minutes, Trouble growled to himself, but he smiled and answered. “Well, if somebody told you, maybe I should be interviewing you. Tell me, what do you know about this new superweapon?”

  “Come now, General, it was in several respected magazines. Space Technology as well as Physics Today. Certainly you can speak about it.”

  Quick excerpts were played on the screen. No doubt, some producer had started planning this ambush right after he called to ask to be tossed into this den of worms.

  “That’s interesting stuff,” Trouble said. “I’m retired, Winston, and I don’t get the secret briefings I used to.” Trouble tried to poor-mouth himself. “But those do look like some real deadly toys, if you know what I mean.”

  “Well, General, if you had access to such weapons and the ships of the Fleet of Discovery, what would you do? Arm the battleships with them?”

  Trouble cringed at the question.

  Well, old man, the door is right over there. You walked in. You can walk right out.

  But who will talk for Kris if you do?

  Clearly, the answer was no one.

  “That’s an interesting question, Winston, and you’re asking it of an old gravel cruncher. I was a Marine, not a squid. I wasn’t a ship driver, like my great-granddaughter is. But, if you want my uneducated guess, no, I would not put them on the battleships.”

  “Aren’t they the most powerful ships in her fleet?”

  “Yes, but they are also the biggest. And big in this sense means a big target. Now, as a ground pounder, I am qualified to talk about a few things. Like tanks. Now, there are a lot of guys who like to drive around in those big, heavy-metal coffins. Then there are guys like me, who like to use our ability to stay small and not worth a lot of shooting at. And who love to sneak up on those big armored behemoths and slip a rocket into their back end.”

  “So you think Kris would have kept the neutron torpedoes for her small corvettes and used them to sneak up on the aliens?”

  “That assumes that there was a way to sneak up on something that big and bad,” Trouble pointed out. “You know, we’re guessing. Just fighting battles made of smoke and supposition. In a few days, Kris may be able to tell you herself what she faced and how she chose to face them.”

  “So you think she’ll be brought here to Wardhaven and made available to the media?”

  “May God have mercy on her soul and preserve her from such a fate,” Trouble said, and his host had the good humor to laugh at his prayer.

  “But, yes, I can’t see any reason why Kris wouldn’t want to be available to you. She’s a big girl now and can handle herself quite well.”

  “So, General, why isn’t she here already?”

  “Winston, space is big. Our own human sphere is several hundred light-years across. Kris’s voyage covered tens of thousands of light-years. We may travel across those distances, but it takes time. The basic news that Kris is back can be flashed across space quickly. Getting more information needs more time. And getting Kris from where she is to where you want to interview her can take even more time.”

  “Where is she?” Winston slipped in with an angelic look on his face.

  “You know as much as I do about that,” the general evaded.

  “That’s part of the problem, none of us know. The word we all have seems to have originated at Chance, in the Helvitican Confederacy. We’ve asked our associated news sources from there to confirm that she’s there, but they haven’t gotten back to us. I would assume that if she was there, we would be getting all kinds of reports flowing from there and not have to be asking them for anything.”

  “Don’t you just hate waiting for the speed of light to cough up stuff?” Trouble said. “I’ve got several criminal associates and scofflaws trying to figure a way to break that law.”

  “Let me know if they have any luck on that,” Winston said, going with the joke. “But for now, it does seem strange that the media have nothing to say from Chance.”

  “Maybe that’s because they don’t have anything to report,” Trouble said. “Just because a report comes from somewhere doesn’t mean that it started there or that there’s more to see there.”

  “So, General, what do you think about the speculation that the Greenfeld Empire will take it personally if Kris doesn’t bring home their battle squadron?”

  “As I recall, there were eight battleships. Four from Greenfeld and the other four from the Helvitican Confederacy and Musashi.”

  “But the new Emperor, Henry I, sent along his only daughter. If she’s lost, that could change a lot of things between the U.S. and Greenfeld.”

  If Crossenshield was right, Harry might just send a “thank-you” to Ray, or Harry’s new wife most definitely would. But what could Trouble say, without, ah, getting into trouble?

  Well, there was a reason he had that name.

  “I really don’t think we need to worry about Emperor Henry worrying about his daughter’s safety,” Trouble said.

  The reporter’s eyes lit up. “Do you know something we don’t, General?”

  “Possibly. And I think I’ve said all I need to on that topic. Kris is back, and, I assure you, the Grand Duchess Victoria is at her side.”

  “Well, you heard it here first. Her Imperial Grace, Victoria, the Grand Duchess of Greenfeld, is safe and with Kris Longknife. How did that happen, General?”

  “Like you, Winston, I have no idea how it came down that Kris and Vicky are both on the Wasp.”

  “So, the Wasp is back, too. That is Kris’s flagship, isn’t it?”

  Oops. “Yes, the Wasp is Kris’s flag.”

  “Are there any other ships with it?”

  “That is something I don’t know. Like you, I’m waiting with my fingers crossed for more information to get to us from wherever. It’s nerve-racking for all of us, this wait. But that’s the way it is in these kinds of situations.”

  “And what kind of situation do you see this as, General?”

  Trouble was getting tired of this gotcha stuff.

  “As I understand it, and I think your watchers understand it, Kris launched herself and her fleet at a force that is the enemy of all life in the galaxy. I think it’s safe to assume there was a battle. Likely a big one. Reports after battles take time. Those of us who fought in the Iteeche War, or had loved ones on the front lines, know what it’s like to wait for the good news or the bad.”

  Trouble paused to let that sink in.

&n
bsp; “From the barest reports we have now, there is some good news. Kris is back with one ship and the Grand Duchess. We just have to wait to see who else comes back. And I wouldn’t assume that we need to keep our eyes only on Chance for news. If it was like several of our battles against the Iteeche, ships may come straggling in from a whole lot of different directions. You may have noticed that in your history classes.”

  “Matters like that are rarely covered in the history classes folks take today. For that, you have to read some of the good books written by people like you. Have you written a book, sir?”

  “No, Winston, I don’t have a book to wave for your watchers to run out and listen to. Sorry about that.”

  “Well, I wanted to wave it if it was there to wave, sir.”

  “Thank you, Winston.”

  “So there you have it folks,” the reporter said, turning to face front on into one of the cameras. “As you’ve no doubt heard, Princess Kris Longknife is back. We know nothing about the battle she may or may not have fought, but the general here has told us, and you’ve been the first to hear, that Kris’s back, along with her flagship, the Wasp, and the Greenfeld Grand Duchess Victoria. This is Winston Spenser, returning you to your regularly scheduled programs.”

  He paused until a disembodied human voice announced, “Cut. Well done, Winston, and thank you for your time, General.”

  “Thank you for having me,” Trouble said, noticing that the cameras were still showing little red lights on the wall. One of them even zoomed in on him as he watched.

  “Was it a good interview?” he asked Winston.

  “I was afraid it was going to be very short when you balked on the neutron torpedoes.”

  “I wasn’t aware of what was in the public domain. My wife mentioned something about them yesterday. I should have asked her to brief me on what she knew.”

  “We do have those torpedoes, right?”

  “If you’re asking me to validate what has been published in the public domain, sorry, son. You need to talk to someone whose job that is. I’m just a retired old warhorse who no one tells nothing.”

  “But you were called to the king’s private chambers last night, weren’t you?”

  Trouble moved quickly to deflect that with a nonlie. “I had supper last night with my loving wife. She ordered up delicious Greek fare that I could not name to save my life. What else I may or may not have done is not for me to say.”

  “We have the picture of you hurrying out of a cab and entering the Grand Hotel de Wardhaven.”

  So there was more gotcha. “Then I guess you can play it, but you won’t get me commenting on it, or anything Ray Longknife and I may have discussed about our peripatetic great-grandkid. Though, if you push me, I will tell you that I’m proud as punch of her, just like I am of all my kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. And if you press me on it, I can produce pictures of each and every one of them. Even a few of them with their bare bottoms on a bear rug.”

  “Now one of Kris so flagrantly delectable might be worth me sitting through all those pictures.”

  “You can let him go, now,” that disembodied voice announced, and this time, the cameras did go from red to green.

  “You are one smart cookie,” Winston said.

  “I’m alive. A lot of dumber or just plain unlucky folks aren’t.”

  “Yes. May I walk you out?”

  “Yes, please. That was quite a rat’s maze they led me through.”

  Winston did walk Trouble through the corridors and out through the main lobby. Only when they were back on the street did he speak.

  “General, I’m rooting for your grandkid. There are a lot of folks in this business who aren’t. We get a lot more coverage when we’re tearing people down. Not so much when we’re reporting how they did something good. I think she did something good. I’ll try to get that message out if I can get past all the dragons, who start with my producer and include management and sponsors.”

  “I figured your job wasn’t all skittles and beer.”

  “Not as deadly as your profession, sir, but not a bed of roses, either.”

  “Well, you do what you can, and I’ll do what I can.”

  “Say hi to the king for me the next time you see him,” Winston said, as Trouble took his leave.

  “You’ll likely see him before I do,” Trouble said over his shoulder. He didn’t turn back to see how the reporter took the answer.

  “In a pig’s eye,” may or may not have been Winston.

  * * *

  Trouble didn’t get to the end of the street before his computer was telling him he had incoming calls. Ruth’s wasn’t the first in line, but he took her call before the rest.

  “You didn’t do too bad, dear. Did you know they were distributing you live?”

  “Nope. They didn’t mention it. Must have slipped their mind,” Trouble said, ruefully. “And, honey, I made a mistake last night. I should have had you brief me about what was in the public domain about those damn torpedoes.”

  “Oh, you did just fine without it, dear. I take it you’ve been thinking about how you would have used them if you were there with Kris.”

  “It’s been a thought as I try to get to sleep after bothersome days.”

  “You didn’t tell me that Vicky came back with our Kris.”

  “It may have slipped my mind last night. You were very distracting.”

  “The day my old body distracts you from anything green or blue will be the first time,” she shot back at him.

  “That is a cruel canard on my manhood. There have been two or three times when you have most successfully distracted me.”

  “Two or three times in eighty years.”

  “That’s better than most career Marine’s wives, I assure you.”

  “I guess I’ll have to settle for that. Well, no doubt there are a lot of calls coming in for you. Networks that want to talk to you now that you’ve dropped a few crumbs more than His Royal Chambers have.”

  “Hmm. Speaking of the devil’s own home, I’ve got a call from said Royal Chambers.”

  “You better take it before Ray splits a gut.”

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t want to have to attend an old war buddy’s funeral because I killed him now, would I?”

  “In Ray’s case, I might just give you absolution.”

  “Yes, but trust me, the next ten folks waiting in line for his job are a whole lot worse.”

  “Likely you’re right. See you for dinner, love?”

  “I might be a bit late if they want to call me on the carpet and read me the riot act in person.”

  “I’ll keep it warm for you.”

  “You always keep everything warm for me.”

  “You just be sure to come home, you hear?”

  “We aren’t likely to hear anything new from Kris until tomorrow morning at the earliest. What could keep me from you, my love?”

  “You want me to read you my list? It’s long and growing.”

  “Trouble out,” he said.

  “Ruth waiting,” she said, ending the call.

  The computer asked him who he wanted to talk to next.

  He glanced down the long list of incoming calls. The vast majority were from media outlets. No doubt they’d seen him with Winston and figured their expert interviewers could extract more from him or maybe twist him better in the wind.

  But there was one from the Royal Chambers. “Answer the royal call,” he told his computer.

  “Where are you?” came an unidentified, demanding, and not at all respectful voice.

  “Who wants to know?” Trouble shot right back in just as demanding a voice.

  “King Raymond wants to see you right now.”

  “Okay. I’m walking home from an interview.”

  “We know about that interview. We’ve got a car waiting for you right outside the media headquarters.”

  “It wasn’t there when I came out,” Trouble snapped. He was developing a definite distaste for this person on t
he line.

  “Well, activate your beeper, and the car will come to you.”

  “Computer, give them a homing beacon.”

  “Activated, sir.”

  “They’ve got it. Stay right there.”

  “Who is this? Because if you don’t have four stars on your shoulder, this four-star general is going to eat your ass for lunch.”

  Trouble found himself talking to a dead circuit.

  “Kids these days. They ought to have to storm a Black Mountain or two. They’d learn some respect. If they lived through it.”

  A car pulled up. The Secret Service man riding shotgun quickly dismounted and trotted toward Trouble.

  “Are you General Tordon?”

  “You see anyone else with a ramrod backbone around here?”

  “No sir, I do not. May I ask you to please join us in the car?”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” the general said.

  As he settled into the backseat, the car was already moving. In the front he heard a whispered, “We have the problem child, and boy is he pissed.”

  Well, at least someone is getting the word.

  * * *

  There was a major waiting for Trouble in the basement of the Grand Hotel. He grabbed the general by the elbow and rushed him into a waiting elevator. Trouble had to elbow the guy in the ribs to get him to let go of his arm.

  The corporal holding the elevator developed a lovely case of dimples as she took in the scene, but she didn’t turn around enough for the major to notice.

  Trouble gave her a smile, and the dimples became even more delightful.

  The elevator went straight to the thirty-second floor and disgorged them into the waiting arms of a bird colonel.

  “What the hell did you think you were doing?” the colonel demanded.

  “Mister,” Trouble snapped. “Either you sprout a whole lot more stars on your collar than you got now, or you pass me along to someone who does, because, son, I was ripping colonels’ new assholes before you were even in diapers.”

  The colonel looked about to explode, but the cute corporal was back, no dimples in evidence.

  “Sir, Field Marshal McMorrison would like to see the general now, Colonel.”

  Trouble left the colonel sputtering to himself and followed the corporal to Mac’s office.