Defender

43

Two days later, they were accelerating at one gee on approach to their jump out. There was no question of hitting it with the speed they’d come in with, nor was anyone willing to put twenty revolutions per minute on the jury-rigged wreck hanging on the Wasp’s nose.

The way home would be a different set of jumps from the way here.

Kris wasn’t expecting Captain Drago when he came in and plopped down on her couch.

“Something on your mind?” Kris asked.

“Jack’s been spending a lot of time here.”

“Yes,” Kris was quick to point out, “in my day quarters. He has his own night cabin a deck down and halfway around the ship.”

“Yes, I know. You two have been scrupulous to give the ship’s company a good example.” The conversation hung there for a long time. Kris joined the captain, taking an overstuffed chair beside his couch. Jack took the chair opposite her.

“What’s on your mind, Captain?” Kris finally said. She knew how to wait out a reluctant petitioner, but being Commodore was teaching her the bad habit of not wasting time.

“Cookie’s moved in with Mother MacCreedy,” Captain Drago finally spat out.

“Those two must be approaching eighty,” Kris said.

The captain scowled. “Trust me, young lady, when you are old and gray, you will find the comfort of human companionship no less desirable.”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Kris said, then realized it was what she meant. “Well, they’re both contractors, consenting adults, and old enough to know better. I don’t see how it’s a Navy problem.”

So the captain told her. “In the last two days, with quarters shrunk, a lot of folks have chosen to merge their living space, and no doubt other things as well. I suspect the vast majority of my contractors and your boffins have set up abbreviated housekeeping.”

“Still not my problem,” Kris pointed out.

“You know that cute astrophysicist that made the diagnosis of heavy-metal poisoning? Well, at breakfast she suggested to the skipper of the Musashi Marine detachment that he move in with her.”

“Now that’s my problem,” Jack said.

“It’s not your only one,” the captain said. “Abby and Sergeant Bruce are a couple.”

“What about Cara?” Kris asked. She would have considered a teenager as good a chaperone as any seventy-year-old.

“Cara is spending most of her time with your younger women Marines,” Captain Drago said. “They’ve even fitted her for a uniform of sorts and have found her a battle station with their central aid station. She’s almost fourteen and getting quite handy.”

“And leaving my maid free time on her hands to get in trouble.”

“I think we can count on Abby to take care of herself,” Jack put in.

“How far has this, ah, adjustment of quarters gone?” Kris asked.

“I really don’t know,” the captain said, raising his eyes to the overhead. Which meant he had a pretty good idea but officially was working hard not to notice.

“Ah,” Nelly said. “I can get you an answer, ah, if you want it.”

“Nelly, you’re getting quite tactful,” Kris said. “Captain, do we want it?”

“Before we decide that,” Jack said, “can we first examine the situation we’re in?”

“Such as?” Kris said.

“We’ve come close to being killed twice in the last month. Only one fight was at close to even odds. We’re all the way across the galaxy from most of our next of kin. Or any kin at all. I’d also like to point out we don’t have any shore establishment to speak of. It’s not like we can reassign one-half of a couple, wed or otherwise, dirtside. And if we start shuffling crews because folks are seeking creature comforts, we’ll be breaking up trained teams on the eve of battle, and we are always on the eve of some battle. Kris, Captain, this is one major problem, and it’s not going to fit into any of the usual answers.”

“And we do know that the other ships of the squadron were having issues with people using that app to open doors between quarters,” Kris said, “and we chose to look the other way.”

“I wonder what we’ll be going back to,” the captain said with a frown that had way too much grin in it.

“So, what I’m hearing is that we need a solution for the moment, here on the Wasp, but we better be ready to apply it throughout the squadron when we get back.”

“And, we hope,” Jack pointed out, “that the squadron will be reinforced.”

“Jack, I love you, but I’m hating you at the moment,” Kris replied.

“You’re the commodore, viceroy, and CEO, dearest love.”

Kris would have stuck her tongue out at Jack, but they weren’t alone. She chose to let him have the last word and turned to Captain Drago.

“So you brought this monkey in. Are you just dumping it on my back, or do you have some idea for getting it off all of our backs?”

“I have discussed it with the Wasp’s senior chiefs, but I didn’t want you hearing it the first time when you go to dinner.”

“Thank you for caring about my digestion,” Kris said dryly.

“I intend to let my division heads and leading chiefs know that I’m willing to loosen the rules on Navy personnel since it’s already come loose for all the contractors. We couldn’t limit the Forward Lounge to just civilians, could we?”

“Good analogy,” Jack said.

“I’ll tell them this is just a Wasp practice and we’ll see how things go when we get back to the squadron.”

“Where this will land in my lap,” Kris said.

“Yep.”

“Tell me, Captain, is there a girl you have your eye on?” Kris asked.

“No,” Captain Drago shot back bluntly. “I don’t think there’s anyone willing or able to break the splendid solitude of my command.” He paused. “Though I might have trouble saying no to a few of the more mature women aboard. Let us pray that I am not led into temptation.”

“One question,” Kris said as the captain stood to go. “I’m assuming that your female contractor personnel have been issued the same birth-control implants that are required by the Navy for all females signing up.” Kris had been issued her first set right after she was sworn in. Three years in, she’d been issued a second set. What with Jack around, she’d better make sure she got her new implants in a couple of months, when she passed her sixth year in the Navy.

“You don’t think Admiral Crossenshield would forget a thing like that, do you? Strange, if I do say so after some thirty years of service, how we insist that our men and women not use certain gear God issued them, but we make real sure that nothing can come of it if they do.”

“The right way, the wrong way, and the Navy way,” Kris said for the millionth or more time since she’d raised her right hand and been sworn in.

With that, the captain left, leaving Kris and Jack alone.

“You know, this is going to cause trouble,” Kris said.

“Men and women, being men and women, have caused trouble since time began,” Jack pointed out.

“We’ll have spats and breakups and love triangles,” Kris said.

“Just like they do in the civilian world. Ever watched the movies?”

“I found those topics deadly dull.”

“Somehow, I don’t think there will be any dull in our future. Still, if things get too messed up for anyone, we can ship them off to another frigate, and we do have the station to keep staffed.”

“The worst offenders can find themselves protecting the fisherfolk,” Kris muttered.

“That’s my girl, solving every problem before we come to it.”

Which left Kris staring at Jack as he stared at her. The question hung in the air between them, thick enough to stab with a knife.

At the same moment, both shook their head. Maybe Nelly could have spotted who started shaking first, but Kris really didn’t want to know who first came to the obvious conclusion and who took a split second longer.

“I’ll keep my separate quarters,” Jack said, “and I will sleep there.”

“I think that’s a good idea. At least until, and if, this question is dumped in my lap for the whole squadron.”

For a moment longer, they stared at each other, tasting their decision and finding it good. Then Kris let herself slip on an impish grin. “But we can save water if we shower together.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Jack said. “And I could use a shower about now.”

As soon as he had shucked his uniform, it was clear he needed a shower. A cold one.

Kris was only too happy to provide an alternate solution to his problem.