Free Kris Longknife: Defender by Mike Shepherd Page A

the
Wasp
fitted out. We didn’t become the USS
Wasp
until a bit later. Long story. We’ve got Sailors and Marines from Musashi and Wardhaven, contract personnel and civilian scientists aboard the
Wasp
, and a couple of restaurateurs subcontracted to the main contractor.”
    “Child, how did you get yourself into a command structure like that?”
    “Trust me, Granny, she had to work hard to do it,” Jack cut in.
    “And where do you fit into this lash-up, if you think my old brain can follow it?” she asked Jack.
    “I was Kris’s Secret Service Agent,” Jack started. “Grampa Trouble suggested Kris draft me into the Marines so I might provide for her safety when she was off planet.”
    “Trouble, you say?”
    “Yes, Granny,” Kris said, eyes sadly downcast, “I have learned that Trouble means Trouble even if he is my nice old grampa.”
    “I warned her,” Nelly whispered, “but would she listen to me?”
    Q UIET, N ELLY .
    Jack continued. “As you may have noticed, she outranks me, and is a princess and all that. However, by law, I can countermand any order she gives that, in my opinion, could lead her into bodily harm.”
    “And his opinion of what could hurt me is huge. Just huge.”
    “This has the smell of Raymond wanting to make up for some of the more stupid things he did as a JO,” Granny said.
    “Eighty years away from him, and you still can peg him on one,” Kris said.
    Granny looked around. “Everybody looks awful busy. Let’s take a walk out among the trees.”
    Kris checked around; all her team were busy. Even Abby and Sergeant Bruce had cornered a mixed trio of humans and Alwans and were deep in some conversation, helped along by Nelly’s kids using the translating app. In fact, a check of the group showed Nelly’s translation app was going over like the best thing since sliced bread.
    No one seemed to need Kris Longknife for the moment. Granny was already leading Jack down a shady path. Kris hurried to catch up and got there just as Granny fixed the two of them, and asked, “So, are you two sleeping together?”
    “Granny, what kind of question is that?” Kris answered, doing her best not to blush. Still, she felt her face go warm.
    Jack just looked at Kris. Clearly, whether or not the question was answered was her decision.
    “Honey, I’m old enough to ask the tough questions, and I’m experienced enough to know they need answering. I take it from your dodge that you and Jack have experienced each other’s company to the fullest. And from the red on your face, you thoroughly enjoyed it.”
    Since Granny was doing such a good job of answering her own questions, Kris figured there was no need to risk either a lie or the truth.
    Granny turned to Jack. “So, may I ask what your intentions are toward my great-granddaughter?”
    Jack didn’t even flinch. “She’s already told me in the presence of her brother that I’m going to marry her.” He also failed to suppress a canary-ate-the-cat grin. “Ah, at least she will just as soon as things calm down, we can arrange things properly, and figure out how to avoid breaking the Navy reg on fraternization.”
    “Wow, that’s a long list of requirements, none of which have anything to do with how much either of you love each other.”
    Kris found herself eyeing the ground. “My brother, he’s a member of Parliament, offered to marry us the very evening that I proposed to Jack.”
    “But it fell through when he chickened out,” Jack scowled. “You see, he has to share a planet with Kris’s mom, and if she was thwarted at arranging every little thing of Kris’s wedding, he figured he couldn’t go home.”
    “Hmm. I see your problems. But it looks to me like they’re all on the other side of the galaxy. Nice things about that, I can tell you.”
    “Granny, we’re still in uniform, and Navy regs apply. Very likely in this galaxy and the next thirty over as well,” Kris pointed out.
    “No doubt you’re right about that,”