Undaunted

9

Half the Iteeche delegation were whispering at once.

SOME WANT To Go BUT Think They’re Too IMPORTANT To Be SPARED. OTHERS WANT To STAY BUT HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT To Do on THE OTHER ship, Nelly said.

They can SORT THEMSELVES OUT. I’M GOING To GET THINGS GOING on This SIDE, Kris said. “Professor mFumbo, would you get my boffin advisors back to work.”

“Certainly, Your Highness,” the professor said with a very slight bow. A shooing wave of his hands sent most of the scientists going hand over hand toward the exit. It took some personal encouragement to get de Alva moving, but she went.

“Jack, could we cut down on the honor guard?”

He hardly raised his voice. “Gunny, single up the line. No need to hold them from their other duties for this show.” The wink that the Marine captain and his senior NCO exchanged told Kris all she needed to know. The Marines would be out of sight, but no one would take over her ship with a sudden coup de main.

“Kris, if you don’t mind, I’m going to get Cara back to bed,” Abby said.

The twelve-year-old’s protest of “I’m not tired” had to force its way through a huge yawn.

Kris pointed. “You, bed. That’s an order.”

“It’s not fair,” Cara mumbled, but she was already being pushed upward by Abby.

“Hurry along, little dear, before they put on power,” the maid said, almost motherly.

“Can I go to bed?” Penny asked, not even trying to suppress a yawn.

“Nope, you’re supposed to be a grown-up and an expert in intelligence. What do you know about Iteeche?”

“Not my area of specialization,” the intel officer said.

“Mine either,” Kris said, “but we had these nice seven-foot-tall folks drop in, and suddenly I’m all ears about our four-eyed friends the Iteeche.”

Captain Drago headed back to his bridge, not willing to let anyone else oversee the separation of two such dissimilar ships. Kris waited until he was past her, then turned her back on the still-undecided Iteeche, and whispered, “Captain.”

“Yes,” he said, turning back to Kris.

“Once Abby gets Cara down, tell her she has the bridge watch at my station,” Kris said softly.

For a moment there was puzzlement in the captain’s eyes, then they widened ever so slightly. Kris’s battle station was Weapons. Kris, an active Wardhaven officer, had the duty to make the final choice to fire the Wasp’s hidden lasers. Kris wanted Abby standing by to make the hard decision if it was necessary to fire on the Iteeche Death Ball.

“Tell Abby her commission is activated,” Kris added. That would eliminate any doubt about her meaning. Kris and Drago were in agreement that only someone holding an active commission would give the actual firing order. Abby’s commission was as a reserve Army lieutenant in intelligence. Still, it was a commission, and Kris had just activated it.

“I understand,” the captain said with an informal two-finger salute to Kris.

Kris was trusting . . . but only so far. Right now, she felt a budding kinship with Ron . . . son or grandson or whatever to some Iteeche war hero and all. She strongly suspected he’d grown up with all the disadvantages she’d had. Wealth. Power. Target bull’s eye painted on his rump. Yes, she kind of trusted him.

But those advisors? She was fighting an instant dislike for the green and whites. Maybe not the gray and golds, but the green and whites she wouldn’t trust out of her crosshairs. Abby was neither the confirmed coward she claimed to be nor a trigger-happy “hero.” Abby she would trust with her life. And Cara’s life. All their lives.

With a deep sigh, Kris turned back to face the Iteeche.

They were still arguing. Or going through the motions of what passed for disagreement among their kind. Or maybe their kind in the Imperial court. The body language of the green and whites was so submissive. Their knees, all twelve per person, were bent into a kind of half crouch that left Ron towering over them. Their arms were crossed over their chests. Their words were so soft.

WHAT are They SAYING, Nelly?

I’Ve Been FOLLOWING THEM while you’Ve Been HAVING your fun WITH CAPTAIN DRAGO. “You NEED Me. THAT Monkey WOMAN will wrap YOU AROUND her LITTLE TenTacles. Our years HAVE MADE us wise in The ways of TWISTY PEOPLE.YOU are so YOUNG.” STUFF like THAT. Ron hasn’T SAID More Than a few WORDS. THAT NAVY Type THAT he SEEMS To TRUST has JUST STOOD By. I’Ve MADE a NOTE of his BODY LANGUAGE. I’ll BET THAT is WHAT passes for GRAMPA TOUBLE’S DISGUSTED look.

Kris listened to Nelly, trying not to let her sudden use of contractions send the shivers that she felt down her back. Something big had happened deep down in Nelly’s insides. And, of course, it would happen when Nelly had become the only link between two sentient species. Kris was relying on Nelly to build a bridge of communications across a gulf that could easily overflow with blood and guts if things went wrong.

And Kris had no idea what was going on inside Nelly. No idea at all. All she could do was hope that Nelly’s new interest in telling jokes wouldn’t send her and Ron, humans and Iteeche, smashing into some kind of catastrophic pratfall.

Thank you, Nelly. Keep LISTENING AND LET Me know WHAT you Think.

I Think These Green AND WHITES COULD GIVE your MOTHER lessons in PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR. THAT’S WHAT I Think.

No doubt, Kris thought, as she caught Ron’s eye, or rather the two left ones. Both suddenly seemed to focus on her. She gave him back a soft, knowing smile, and the flutter of colors playing on his neck softened into pastels, with more green and rose playing through them.

Kris was glad that her skin didn’t give her away like that. How many times had she retreated behind a blank mask, not so much as a muscle twitching while Mother or Father or other authority figure went on and on about what she ought to do? Maybe there was something she could teach the poor fellow.

Or maybe it was uncontrolled. What the ears took in and the brain reacted to, the old gill slits put out for all to see.

So, the Iteeche might be seven feet tall, but they did have a weakness here and there.

“How long do you think this is going to take?” Jack asked out of the corner of his mouth.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Kris answered.

“The Iteeche have a preference for consensus,” Penny put in. “They took longer to agree among their own negotiating party than it took us to agree with them. Or at least that’s what your grandfather swore.”

So, suddenly Penny was showing she knew more about the Iteeche than she’d admitted a moment before. Then again, she’d had time to consult her own computer, have it download everything stored in the Wasp’s computer, and maybe get a dump from Nelly.

Oops! That dump might or might not be tainted by Nelly’s new outlook on life. Kris had better take a moment to warn all her staff to keep an eye on Nelly.

But not here. Not in front of the Iteeche.

Lord help us. Kris sighed. All hell’s a popping, and there is no time to form a bucket brigade.

Wasn’t that the story of her life.

But back to Penny’s remark.

Colonel Cortez beat her to it. “Of course, our negotiating team included President Longknife and General Tordon.”

“You mean Trouble,” Jack put in with a wry grin.

“As he is Her Highness’s great-grandfather,” the colonel said with a slight bow, “I thought I should be more formal.”

“Grampa Trouble is Trouble to everyone,” Kris said, half sigh, half growl. “No way to sugarcoat that for me.”

“You hang around Kris,” Jack said, “and you get to know General Trouble up close and personal. I’ve learned all sorts of new cusswords for that man.”

“I see,” the colonel said, his eyes widening ever so slightly. “He’s not as retired as I had heard.”

“Not around his darling great-granddaughter,” Penny added.

“Thank you all so very much for reminding me,” Kris said. “But don’t worry too much, Colonel. At the moment, I’m not on speaking terms with either Grampa Trouble or Grampa Ray.”

“But didn’t I hear the young Iteeche say he needs to talk to King Ray of the Long-Reaching Knife?”

“Yep,” Jack said, “so Her Highness may just have to get off her high horse and go crawling back to her grampa. King to the rest of us no-accounts.”

“Okay, okay, let’s cancel this ‘pick on the princess day’ and get back to what our good military advisor said about our negotiating team including a certain Ray and Trouble.”

“Yes,” Colonel Cortez said, picking up where he left off with no more than a slight grin for the rabbit hole they’d journeyed down. “Those two were rather notorious for getting a bit in their teeth and running with it. Once they made up their minds about something, the rest of our team had to follow or have an excellent and well-ordered reason for not doing so.”

“I have heard that about my kin,” Kris agreed. “Sometimes I even think my father and brother may have inherited such traits. Course, I know I didn’t.”

That got a snort from the humans present, even the two Marines within hearing distance. Kris gave the two guards a solid officer scowl that took the grins off their faces.

Then quickly converted it to a smile when she noticed that Ron had momentarily lost interest in the present wheedling of his green and whites and was looking Kris’s way with what had to be a puzzled expression.

Nelly said something in Iteeche, and Ron gave Kris a small wave with his lower left hand and turned back to his problems.

“Nelly, what did you say?”

“Nothing, Kris. I just told Ron that you were having a bit of trouble with your advisors, just like him.”

“Nelly, you are not supposed to give away state secrets,” Jack put in.

“Even small ones!”

“I forgot to warn all of you,” Kris said. “Nelly has developed, or is trying to develop, a sense of humor. Help her if you can in your spare time, but be aware that what you get from her might be a very poor attempt at humor.”

“Oh, Nelly, that sounds wonderful,” Penny said enthusiastically, but the look she cast to the others was just short of horrified.

“Don’t you humans go getting your panties in a twist,” Nelly said in a voice not all that different from Cara’s. “I’ve done a search on humor and peace negotiations and know they don’t mix. I found a doctorate thesis on the problems of applying humor to conflict situations. It says it only works when used in a closed group, like the way you folks do it, but it is far too risky across major conflict boundaries. Okay. There! You happy?”

“Yes, Nelly,” the colonel said. “You show us more and more that you are not only very smart but also growing in wisdom.”

“Don’t try to butter me up, Colonel. I know I’m the smartest collection of facts on this boat. I also know none of us has anything close to the wisdom we need for this mess Kris didn’t actually get us into. Not really.”

“No, it just happened on my watch,” Kris grumbled.

“Like it always does,” Jack added.

“Hold it, pretty boy, that was not humor. That was saying something snide to my girl,” Nelly said.

“There is a difference,” Penny pointed out.

“But it’s true, all the crap does happen on Kris’s watch,” Jack insisted.

“But it’s not her fault,” Nelly insisted.

“It really doesn’t matter, Nelly,” Kris said. “Jack’s right. I have bad karma.”

“There’s no such thing as karma,” Nelly shot back.

“Karma, fate, destiny,” Jack said, “call it what you want, but it’s there and Kris has every flavor of bad it comes in.”

Nelly didn’t have a quick response to that.

“It seems,” the colonel said, “that one of our visitors wants to visit.”

A gray and gold trotted over to them while the two green and whites continued their running nondisagreement with Ron.

He paused about two meters out from Kris and looped his four legs into the safety ropes with expert care just about the time that Drago announced, “The Wasp will take on one quarter gee in two minutes. Prepare for gravity.”

He glanced at the deck a meter below his feet and reached two hands for a hold an instant after Kris and her team did the same. With a slight bow, he began to speak.

“He says,” Nelly translated, “that he’s Teddon’sum’Lee, a ship leader honored to advise the Emperor’s Trusted and Honored Representative, Ron’Sum’Pin’sum’We. He has been honored with the assignment to come to us and make arrangements for how we shall hold further talks as honored persons to honored persons.”

“Tell him we’ll be glad to get the housekeeping chores out of the way while the green and whites haggle,” Kris said with a smile.

“You sure you want to say that?” Penny shot out before Nelly started to translate.

“You tend to your knitting, and I’ll see how many sharks are really swimming in our little wading pool.”

“On your head, Longknife. Just remember, if they start shooting at you, they’re gonna hit the rest of us, too.”

“You two going to finish your haggling before I forget what it is Kris told me to say,” Nelly said in pure twelve-year-old.

“Computers don’t forget,” Jack said.

“But I’m a computer picking up bad human habits, remember.”

Kris didn’t know what an impatient Iteeche looked like, but the one in front of her was getting wide-eyed and tight at the mouth. “Nelly, translate before this fellow walks off.”

Nelly did. He said something, and Nelly said something more.

NELLY, WHAT ARE YOU TELLING HIM?

HE WANTED TO KNOW WHAT TOOK US SO LONG, SO I TOLD HIM.

All of WHAT we SAID!

Of course NOT. I TOLD HIM ABOUT The HASSLING you were TAKING FROM your HUMAN ADVISORS AND LEFT Me OUT. THAT TRANSLATOR Ron is WEARING is a PRETTY DUMB Machine. They Don’T NEED To know how GOOD I AM.

You GOT THAT RIGHT, Girl. “Nelly’s explaining why we took so long to answer,” Kris whispered.

Jack started to say something, thought better, and didn’t. You really NEED To GET all your people Their own COMPUTER like Me. If They were PLUGGED in like you, you COULD Talk To THEM JUST like you Talk To Me.

AND you’D SPEND all your TIME GABBING WITH THEM, so I’D NEVER GET a WORD in EDGEWISE, Kris said. But Nelly did have a point. She’d been able to get messages through Nelly once in a while from someone else. But that was when they were distant from her. Just now, it would be nice to pass a message and not have to worry about it being heard and reacted to.

SUIT yourself, HUMAN, IT’s your funeral. “Ted here and I have agreed that he’s a Navy captain and ‘housekeeping’ is a good word that the Iteeche ought to steal from us. Are you ready to get some housekeeping issues out of the way?”

“Certainly, Captain. It is an honor to have you aboard,” Kris said. “What can we do for you?”

The Iteeche captain spoke, and Nelly took up a near-simultaneous translation. “He says they will send one of the Imperial banner carriers back to their ship and keep one here.”

“Do they need to keep one?” Penny asked into the silence.

“Do I need to get someone here with a flag?” Kris asked right after her. “We’ve got flags if we need them.”

“No, he says they recognize the authority you have, Kris. It’s just that under law no one may speak for the emperor without having an Imperial herald with full rig present under pain of death. It is an old law, going back to the days when lots of people claimed to speak for the emperor. Now, no herald, no Imperial words, or off with your head. Or something like that. Kris, I’m not sure, but I think the herald may have a recorder or perfect recall. Anyway, no talking without one.”

“Interesting,” Kris said, not remembering anything about this in the histories of Grampa Ray’s peace negotiations. So we live and learn. “Of course the captain may keep a herald present.”

“He also wants to keep all four of his Marines.”

“Ship accelerating to one quarter gee in five, four, three, two, one,” interrupted them. Everyone, even the Marine guards—on both sides—grabbed a handhold . . . or two. As acceleration began, they slowly sank to the deck of the docking bay. Kris was amazed at the graceful way both sets of Marines did it without taking their eyes off each other, or breaking from their stiff attention.

“Jack, are you willing to reduce my honor guard to four?”

“No problem,” the Marine answered, then turned to face the Iteeche captain. “You do realize, I’ll have some others guarding the doors and things. I don’t think any of the people aboard the Wasp still hold a grudge against the Iteeche, but I’m not willing to take that chance.”

“I’ll feel better about the safety of the Imperial Representative if you do take those precautions.”

“Good,” Jack said. “I just didn’t want you feeling surprised or betrayed if you catch a glimpse of extra Marines close at hand.”

“It is easy for an old sailor to understand your need, and I’m glad to see you’re as interested in building trust as I am.”

“I think we understand each other on that,” Kris said. “Anything else?”

“I and another Navy captain will stay with the Imperial Representative. At least one . . .” And here the Iteeche glanced back at the still-debating trio of Ron and his green and whites. He raised and lowered his head, something like a nod, but Kris strongly suspected the intent reflected was more the shake of a head in a human. She’d have to watch herself on that. “At least one of the Imperial counselors will stay with the Imperial Representative. Maybe two if they can ever settle matters among themselves.”

“We don’t mind,” Kris started, then decided she’d better change her choice of words. “It does not matter to me whether one or two Imperial counselors come with the Imperial Representative. What is the issue that causes their discussion to drag on and on?” Kris knew her question could be out of order, but it was time to push back the mutual ignorance between Iteeche and human.

The Iteeche captain again turned his back on the argument and faced Kris. “My fellow captain who commands the Reach into the Dark must have a counselor on board, since he is sailing far beyond the boundaries of the Empire. Otherwise, he is subject to shortening.” Here the captain drew a hand across his throat in an all-too-human gesture.

“Both of the advisors want to be with the Imperial Representative. Neither wants to go back. Can you see the problem?” Kris nodded. “It can only get worse. I warned both of them that our best chance to meet Raymond of the Long-Reaching Knife would be for us to transfer to a human vessel. Neither one of them wants to be left behind.”

“How are they going to settle this if they can’t agree? A flip of a coin?” Colonel Cortez asked.

“A flip of a coin?”

“Nelly, explain to the captain what we humans mean.”

Nelly did. All four of the Iteeche’s eyes widened.

“You would leave something of such honor to a random event generator? In the Imperial palace, they would likely refer a matter such as this to the Field of Honor. The one that lived would go.”

“Iteeche kill each other over such matters?” Kris said.

“In matters of such historical importance, a family’s honor would require the maximum exertion. Of course, I cannot really imagine either of those two being anything but a joke with swords on the Field of Honor.”

Kris didn’t consider herself a good judge of Iteeche fighting quality. She’d leave that to the captain. Still, the problem of having only two counselors on the voyage and no instructions on how to resolve their duties . . .

“You must have known this problem was coming when you set out on this trip.”

“Some of us did,” the captain agreed.

“Did that include the Imperial Representative and his, ah, chooser?”

Was that a smile on the captain’s lips? His nose had flared wide and emitted a huff of air, and his mouth had widened, though his lips were still closed. “Roth’sum’We’sum’Quin did know this time would come. He marveled that the Imperial court sent us only two counselors. I, of course, was not privy to any advice he might have given his young chosen one.”

“Is it normal for an Imperial Representative to be so young?” Kris asked.

The Iteeche captain eyed Kris. “Is it normal for humans to let one as young as you lead them by the hand? I cannot help but note that all your advisors are older than you. All except the immature one, who, I assume, does not advise.”

BUT Boy Does she ADVISE My COMPUTER, Kris thought loudly in her head.

You WANTED Me To hear THAT, DIDN’T you? WELL, I’M LEARNING To Be a KID FROM her, AND I’M ENJOYING IT. YOU OUGHT To Try IT SOMETIME.

I NEVER HAD TIME To Be a KID, Kris snapped, then added, Don’T TRANSLATE This.

Kris turned to her team. “Crew, it seems to me that someone has dumped a basket of hot potatoes right in our collective lap. Any ideas what we do about it?”

Jack was the first to find his voice . . . and note that Nelly had not translated Kris’s words. “Well, I guess we could shoot one of them. Death with honor doesn’t seem to be all that frowned upon.”

“Assuming we can trust this captain’s story about the Imperial court,” Colonel Cortez said. “Considering some of the stories I’ve heard about politicians circulated at O clubs, I’m none too sure we should rely on him as an unbiased witness.”

“Unfortunately, what I know about Iteeche doesn’t give me any better handle on this,” Penny said.

“So we just keep waiting,” Kris said with a frown. “I get the feeling these two are willing to talk until one of them keels over from old age.”

“Looks that way,” Jack agreed. “Maybe I should shoot one. Shall I flip a coin?” he asked, reaching for his pocket.

“Let’s don’t and say we did,” Colonel Cortez put in.

“Does anyone besides me feel that it’s unfair that the Imperial court dumped this hot potato in our lap?” Kris said. “They knew they had a problem. They didn’t solve it. Kind of makes you wonder what they’re up to. Like I occasionally do with my grampas. Huh?”

“This just gets stranger and stranger,” Jack agreed.

“Sure would be nice if we knew more,” Penny said.

“So let’s ask some questions,” Kris said. “Nelly, tell old Ted here that we’ve been talking among ourselves and wondering why they didn’t sail with three counselors. Two could then go on with the Imperial Representative. Or they could have sailed with just one, in which case he’d stay with the ship, and the Imperial Rep would go on alone.”

The Iteeche made a very good effort at a human shrug. “I do not know. It might have had something to do with Imperial court politics. One can never tell.”

“I kind of thought it might. Politicians doing funny things seems to be something you can count on no matter what color your blood is,” Kris said slowly as Nelly translated. “So, what kind of solution do you think the folks back at the Imperial court might have come up with for this problem? If they were all that concerned with solving it.”

“Some of them might not be all that bothered if it wasn’t solved. Not everyone thought we should talk to you humans again. As they see it, matters have gone fine while we ignored you. Why change?”

“Is that your thought?” Kris asked the Iteeche officer.

“I would not be here if it were.”

“But you have no idea how to solve this problem.”

“Not within my authority, no, I do not.”

“Could you chop one of their heads off?” Jack put in.

“If I did, his family would demand blood from my family. Whole families have been decimated in such events.”

“Good idea you didn’t shoot anyone,” Cortez said.

Jack nodded, as Nelly kept quiet.

“So it comes down,” Kris said, “to the same mess I’m often in. I can’t kill them, and I can’t make them do what I want. You know the feeling, Captain.”

“Too often,” the Iteeche said through Nelly.

Kris eyed the captain, wondering what he was doing here. Ron had trusted him to come over and open negotiations, if only on housekeeping matters. But then, housekeeping matters like who sat where at the table had been known to tie up months of haggling. For an instant, Kris had a mental vision of herself in Ron’s shoes, saddled with two nannies who had too many votes behind them to be ignored but too few brains to be much help.

Yeah, that was just the kind of learning experience Grampa Ray seemed to love dumping her in. Drop one Princess Kris in a swamp full of alligators with orders to drain the swamp. But no, you couldn’t shoot any of the alligators. Endangered species and all that. Grampa Trouble would find the whole thing uproariously funny. The problem here was that poor Ron was being chewed on so much by the alligators that he couldn’t find any time to drain the swamp.

Think it through, Kris. His “Grampa Ray” sent Ron on this mission. It has to be doable. It isn’t working. He needs either one more or one less counselor. We can’t kill one of them and make it one less.

Which seems to point to there being a need for one more. Hmm.

“So, Captain, how does one get to be an Imperial counselor?” Kris asked. “Are you born one? Do you go to some school?”

“You must be a chosen of a chosen, yes, that is essential. And you must be properly educated. You must also have demonstrated your skills.”

“How do you do that?”

“Some are drawn from the ranks of junior Navy or Army officers. After the Human War, there were a lot of them. Some are drawn from the ranks of industrial managers.”

“Junior officers?” Kris said.

“I and my fellow captain are long past that career choice. Don’t even think of trying to turn us down that path.” The ITEECHE CAPTAIN is QUITE serious ABOUT THAT, Nelly added.

“So how does one of those junior people find himself in such a career as a counselor?”

“Three counselors must sign his commission.”

The four Iteeche Marines were now drawn up with their backs to the cargo-bay doors. Kris eyed the two green and whites. They were still arguing with Ron at one end of the Marine line. At the other flank, the Navy captain and the two Imperial heralds talked quietly among themselves.

“Do heralds ever make the jump into the Imperial counselor ranks?”

“That is not unusual,” the captain agreed. “The perfect memory they develop as heralds is very helpful for a counselor.”

Why did that not surprise Kris? There was just one more question, and if the Iteeche who bargained with Grampa Ray was anything like the old vulture, Kris was sure of the answer. “So, does the Emperor usually elevate an Imperial counselor to be his Imperial Representative?”

“Why yes. That is so,” the Iteeche captain said with another one of his close-mouthed grins.

“So why doesn’t Ron just elevate the senior herald to counselor and leave him behind on his ship?”

“Because that pair of unchosen Sissa bait have kept him too busy to think and because the senior herald is from a family that Philsos’sum’Fon’sum’Lee, the one on the right and also senior counselor, detests and would never sign off on.”

“Never?”

“You think you could get him to sign?”

“Let’s see,” Kris said, and trotted into the fray. She didn’t wait for an opening, but just had Nelly interrupt the debate in midsentence. Her audacity got her the floor, and she never gave it up. She didn’t exactly twist anyone around her little finger, the Iteeche being so much bigger than she, but she did talk them around to her plan of action by the simple expedient of failing to notice when anyone didn’t agree with her.

Amazing how well that worked with Nelly being the only translator they had. Five minutes later, it was agreed that the older herald had quite successfully served his apprenticeship and well deserved advancement to the rank of Imperial counselor, junior grade, and that both of the senior Imperial counselors would accompany Ron to Wardhaven to meet with Raymond I of United Sentients.

Kris got to observe how a delighted and a decidedly unhappy Iteeche looked. Ron was overjoyed to be quit of this endless argument. He was also appalled at the prospects of having both green and whites at his elbows when he met Grampa Ray.

Which explained to Kris why he hadn’t applied the logical conclusion on his own. There probably had been a time in her development when she would have been just as stubborn in her effort to get rid of two backseat drivers like that pair of green and whites. Still, she had to believe that her visceral hatred of endless yammering would have driven her to cut the Gordian knot.

Then again, her older brother, Honovi, had chosen to follow her father into politics. And she’d heard of him sitting through some truly mind- and rump-deadening meetings. Maybe Ron hadn’t had the option of a more decisive career with the Navy and had more patience with palaver than she had.

She should really help him to get over that bad habit.

Assuming he hung around her for a while.

Well, now that they had all the housekeeping settled, they could get down to something important. Like, why did Ron want to talk to Grampa Ray? Oh, and why did the Iteeche slag the Wasp’s messenger pod?