as it had the first meeting. Kris’s PatRon 10 officers held the ground nearest the bar . . . which was doing a fair business tonight. The Imperials were as far from the Royals as they could be, and the Helviticans and Musashi occupied the neutral middle. Jack had saved her the table nearest to the forward screen.
Kris headed for it, the Iteeche right behind her.
All hands, of the human variety, took this first opportunity in eighty years to get an eyeful of their previous mortal enemy. While Ron and Ted kept their eyes straight ahead, the poor Army officer looked like he wanted to bolt. His head swiveled through the full 270 that it could. What with his four eyes, that pretty much covered everything from front to back.
Halfway to her table, Kris chose to have mercy on her fellow sailors. “Admirals, ladies, gentlemen, may I introduce the Imperial Representative Ron’sum’Pin’sum’We qu Chap’sum’We. He’s kind enough to answer to Ron. He is the reason we are making this voyage of discovery. I’m glad he could join us.”
The admirals came forward to be formally introduced. All of them managed not to wince as they shook the hand Ron offered them. Vicky also presented herself. She did a bit of a curtsy and winked at Kris.
“Kris insisted she had not met you or anyone of your species. I’m glad you’ve made her an honest woman.”
“I can understand her, ah, subterfuge,” Ron said with a bit of a bow. “The powers that be make great demands on their messengers.”
“Does he have a sense of humor?” Vicky asked.
“Oh, yes,” Kris said. “It just takes a while for it to come out.”
Vicky pursed her lips in some doubt.
Kris got to the front of the room where Jack, Penny, Abby, and the colonel awaited her. Three of the barkeeps arrived, pushing the heavily carpeted arrangements that had served the tall Iteeche as chairs during their last visits to the Forward Lounge. Kris gave the thoughtful help a thankful smile.
The amenities finished, Kris turned to face a roomful of officers, most of whom outranked her and the majority of whom came from associations that wanted nothing to do with Grampa Ray’s United whatever until Crossie sent them his little home video of that recent family get-together between Grampa Ray, Trouble, and the “boy” Kris had brought home to dinner.
Kris cleared her throat. “I wasn’t sure how to start this briefing. Most of you have seen the report of what happened. I doubt you want me to go over it again. However, now that we have been joined by Ron, the Iteeche who first brought us the news that there was something powerful out here in the galaxy that was shooting first and not bothering to ask questions, I think we should start with a review of what I did on my summer vacation.”
That drew a dry chuckle from the humans. Ron gave her a blank stare. Since he gave it to her with four eyes, it was something to behold.
“Nelly, roll the video take,” Kris said.
The screen behind her changed. The sight of the Intrepid, hooked to a pole a couple of thousand meters long, swinging against a star field with a moon and gas giant occasionally coming into view vanished. Filling the screen in its place was a view centered on the moon’s hot spot, a ship rising from it.
It took five minutes to go through the executive summary. Now it had Penny’s voice-over to explain what was happening to anyone whose eyes balked at admitting what they saw.
“I am sorry, Kris,” Ron said into the silence at the end of it. “I know you do not enjoy violence.”
“She didn’t have any choice,” Admiral Kōta said before Kris could.
“I find myself wondering,” Kris said. “While, admittedly, everyone may not be as big a fan of talking as I am. Still, it’s hard to believe anyone would prefer a knock-down, drag-out firefight to a bit of calm, quiet conversation. The actions of the captain of this ship leave me groping for an explanation.” She paused before going on.
“We’ve completed a biological scan of all the bodies. Every one of them shares similar genetic material. It appears that this ship was crewed by a family or clan. What would cause a grandfather/captain to consign his own children and grandkids to the cold vacuum of space?”
Around Kris, several in the room groaned. Lots of heads shook.
“I’ve got to file some kind of report on this encounter. I’m struggling