Free Daring by Mike Shepherd

planetary assault craft . . . they did make a major contribution to the hunt for chunks of the alien wreckage.
    Maybe it was the very ad hoc nature of the fleet, but it seemed to gain more structure . . . and pay more credence to her suggestions . . . as they assimilated the full impact that they had met an alien—and Kris Longknife had blown it to bits.
    The different nationalities of her fleet had made their own arrangements for their supply needs. Most were containerships, good for passing a container from freighter to warships and quick resupply. Kris, however, needed a huge, enclosed space for collecting and organizing a messy jigsaw puzzle that had once been a truly alien ship. She drafted the Constant Star ; its large Number 2 hold was just the place to do the postmortem on humanity’s latest encounter with an alien race.
    The Constant Star had been leased in haste by Admiral Channing when it became clear that this little jaunt of Kris’s might not be over in a few weeks. The Star was an older, breakbulk freighter, capable of handling containers, but still with huge cargo holds for storing this and that, and more of both. However, even after both Helvitican battle cruisers had stuffed themselves to the gills, there were still supplies piled high in the Constant Star .
    Over protests all around, Kris ordered the other supply ships to take on the balance of the Star ’s cargo and empty her totally out. The skipper of the Star wasn’t very happy to be losing his paying cargo. He only perked up at the hint from Kris that he would be going home first . . . and could return with another load of supplies.
    Kris, herself, was changing her own plans. She’d intended to send the Mercury home immediately with a negative report. Instead, the Mercury hung around to help refuel the fleet and wait for Kris’s team to complete its initial analysis of this first alien encounter. Then the Mercury would escort the Constant Star back to human space so the rest of humanity could meet their new neighbor.
    Kris could well imagine the political firestorm that would follow.
    There were definite advantages to being several thousand light-years away from home.
    Kris waited until the Swiftsure made orbit, then invited all three admirals to bring whomever they chose to tour the growing collection of twisted metal tied down in the Constant Star ’s forward holds. Admirals Krätz, Kōta, and Channing immediately replied that they’d be there in an hour.
    So Kris found herself, escorted by her own staff, drifting weightless through a collection of blackened and torn metal, plastic, and ceramics.
    â€œAny of this new to us?” Vicky asked.
    â€œThere’s a lot of machinery,” Kris said. “Some of it’s pretty obvious what it does. Other chunks are so fragmentary that no one has any idea what they’re supposed to do,” Kris pointed at write-ups that were attached to some pieces of metal. “These explained what can be explained. Other sheets of paper have only a big question mark.
    â€œOur problem is we can’t decide if our ignorance is because of the damage it suffered in the explosion or whether it really is something new. It could be just a different take on what we already have that works. Their air-reprocessing system is very different from ours. I’m not sure it’s better.”
    â€œAnd they didn’t say anything. Just started shooting, huh,” Admiral Krätz said.
    â€œI’d prefer to discuss that when we’ve got some weight on, if you don’t mind,” Kris said.
    â€œSo you like my idea.” The admiral grinned like a proud papa.
    â€œWas it yours?” Kris asked.
    â€œClose enough,” Vicky said, like she was in on a secret that she wasn’t about to share with Kris.
    â€œI hate weightlessness,” the admiral said. “When it was clear we were headed out where there were no spaceports, I offered a prize for