Kris Longknife: Tenacious (Kris Longknife novellas Book 12) Read Online Free

things that left us wanting to get a better look. There were aliens. At least I think they were aliens.”
    “Did you get a DNA test?” Jack said.
    “A very basic one. Again, we didn’t dare drop anything too sophisticated,” Masao said. “But it was the different tribes down there. Once you got well away from the plain of glass, there were some pretty sophisticated hunter-gatherers. I think there was even some farming. They had stone-edged weapons and were hunting some real big stuff.”
    “But not close to the plain,” Penny said, taking back over the story. “The small hunting groups there were really primitive. Bare-ass naked, not that the climate was all that cold, but still. No tools but some wooden spears and clubs. No stone chips. They had to make due with small game or scavenge stuff the large carnivores had chewed open.”
    “Why the difference in skill sets?” Jack said.
    “Your guess is as good as mine,” Penny answered.
    “What happens when the two tribes meet?” Kris asked.
    “I wish I knew, but it didn’t happen while we were there. Kris, we could only stay in orbit for two, three days. There were two jumps into that system, besides the one we came in, and if one of them started coughing up alien monster ships, we would have run. But if all three got active at once . . .” Penny let that thought run free.
    Kris didn’t much care for the situation either.
    “If we go back there, we’ll need to put warning buoys at all the jumps, maybe even detach a ship to drop off buoys for the next three systems out from those jumps.”
    “So it couldn’t be a small expedition like the one that rescued the
Hornet
’s crew,” Jack said.
    Kris nodded, but her thoughts were already chasing down another rabbit hole. “Have your boffins been talking to other boffins?”
    “They’re scientists, Kris,” Penny said, sounding irritated. “Of course they talk. While you’ve been busy putting out fires for two weeks and enjoying married life, all the boffins have been talking about is our expedition. However many ships you take, there will be more than enough scientists begging to fill them up.”
    “And if I’m going to go, I’d better go soon,” Kris said, throwing Jack a sorrowful look. “No telling when those three alien clans will start getting frisky.”
    “We’ve got a ship out replacing the warning buoys that got shot up during the recent unpleasantness,” Jack said. “It’s also stretching the warning net to eight jumps out, giving us two extra layers.”
    “That’s nice,” Kris said, not really feeling all that good about it. She’d used up just about every trick she had to win the last battle. That her next set of attackers would know how she clobbered this last bunch meant she’d have to cobble together a whole new strategy for the defense of Alwa.
    She’d barely managed to patch together this last one. What could she possibly do next time?
    One day at a time,
she reminded herself.
    Kris stood.
    “Okay, Jack. You owe me another twenty-seven days of honeymoon.”
    “Aye, aye, wife, Viceroy, Admiral, bosswoman,” he said, saluting with a broad grin.
    “I’m sorry, Kris. I didn’t mean . . .”
    “Yes, you did,” Kris said, cutting off Penny’s apology. “And it needed to be done. Okay, it’s back to work for me and you. You’re going back. Not in the
Endeavor
. This time we go prepared for a fight. I’ll take what’s left of BatRon 1,” Kris decided. Would six ships be enough? Maybe she should pull in another couple to bring it up to a full squadron.
    “Did you two bring a car big enough for four?” she asked Penny.
    “Yes.”
    “Fine, we’ll ride back with you. Jack, time to put on our game faces, or at least a uniform. After you,” she said.
    To Kris’s great sorrow, Penny and her boyfriend stayed waiting just outside the cabin door. There was no way to stretch the delightful morning with one last quickie.

3
    Kris used the drive back to rehash