Deserter Read Online Free

tonight?”
    “A ball, sir.” Kris scowled. She’d hoped the test would take longer, give her a good excuse to be comfortably absent.
    “Right. So why don’t you head dirtside.”
    “Sir, did my mother—”
    “No, the Prime Minister’s wife has not taken to issuing me orders for you . . . yet. But my wife did notice in the gossip columns that your absence at last week’s Ball for United Charities was commented upon at length. So my personal computer, nowhere near as smart as yours, is now searching the social pages for what I suspect are your social duties. Lieutenant, we all have our responsibilities. So long as you insist on juggling Navy duties with those of a Princess, I don’t expect you to short the Navy, but I can’t afford to report to the Prime Minister or his lady every time you short the other.”
    “Sir, I joined the Navy. I got drafted into this Princess stuff,” Kris spat.
    Hayworth actually smiled. “We all must bear our burddens, Lieutenant. The elevator is that way,” the Captain said, pointing Kris toward the trolley line that would take her from the yard to the central station hub and thence to the space elevator down to Wardhaven.
    Kris glanced at her wrist unit, which was faster than thinking, WHAT TIME IS IT, NELLY? “My mother will be happy to know I have four full hours to get gussied up for her ball. I’ll tell her my Captain shares her concerns for my social calendar.”
    “Or at least his wife does,” Hayworth added as he turned toward the Firebolt .
    Kris scrambled onto a passing trolley and plopped herself down in a vacant seat. She could spend the time in a pity party, not a bad idea with the mess her ship assignment was turning into. General McMorrison, the Chief of Wardhaven’s General Staff, said he didn’t know where he could dump his least-favorite billionaire Junior Officer, Prime Minister’s brat, now Princess, and, oh yes, mutineer. But Kris hadn’t picked her parents! And she hadn’t had much more choice in relieving her last Skipper.
    Still, Kris had asked for ship duty. Like every other Junior Officer, she wanted it in the worst way. And she’d gotten about the worst ship duty anyone could get. With the Firebolt tied up to Pier Eight going through change drills, the crew slept aboard the station . . . and Kris slept at home.
    At least in college she’d gotten to sleep in the dorm. Here she was a grown woman sleeping in the same room she’d had as a kid. It could be worse; at least Father and Mother lived downtown in the Prime Minister’s Residency.
    And for this I went to college and joined the Navy!
    “Kris, would you like to go over today’s mail?” Nelly asked out loud, bringing her owner out of her funk.
    “Might as well. Anything good?”
    “I deleted most of the junk mail. Financial reports have been filed. I will give you a synopsis Friday. There is a message from Tom Lien. I did not review it.”
    “Thanks, Nelly,” Kris said with a smile. Tommy was the one friend she’d made in the Navy. Problem was, he was still on the Typhoon, and she was now on the Firebolt . That was the Navy Way.
    “Hi, short spoon,” Tommy started, a laugh in his voice. “I’ve got some leave to burn.” Kris knew just where she wanted him to burn it, too.
    “There’s this new planet, Itsahfine, out past Olympia. They say they’ve found some old ruins, maybe from the Three. Anyway, I’ve booked cheap space on a tramp starship, Bellerophon, and I’m headed out there for a week.” Maybe Kris would take some leave. It’d be fun digging around in stuff left behind by the ancient races that built the jump points . . . with Tommy at her elbow.
    “This leave,” Tommy continued, “I’m not going near a Longknife. With luck, no one will just miss killing me, and I can actually relax.” He was probably softening this with one of his lopsided grins, but Kris didn’t have him on visual. She felt slugged in the gut. It wasn’t her fault Tommy’d been too close