''Or three years,'' King Ray snorted with good humor. ''For what I'm sending you into, Kris, you'll need political intel. I've busted Penny loose for you. I hope you don't mind me sending you off world just before your wedding.''
''It's all right, Your Majesty. Kris's mother was telling me every little thing I need to do for a simple garden wedding.''
''Lord God forbid that woman gets her hooks into anybody's wedding,'' the king said.
''Any chance you could, sir? Forbid it?'' Kris asked.
''I warned your father he was marrying a woman with a whim of iron. He laughed at what he took for a joke. I haven't noticed him laughing that much around his wife of late. No, I'm afraid all I can hope for is that with Penny off planet, she'll get distracted and wander off into someone else's business.''
''Can you get Tom off planet with me? We made a great team on Turantic,'' Penny wheedled, Lieutenant to king.
Kris started to shake her head, but Grampa smiled sardonically. ''Actually, I can. Apple of your eye those tiny boats may be, Kris, but the word I'm getting is that Pandori's going to sell them off as private runabouts.''
Kris's mouth dropped open, but it was Tom who spoke first. ''Didn't you say they were sending the fleet to Boynton? What will they have left to defend Wardhaven?''
'' ‘No one would even think of attacking Wardhaven,' '' Grampa said, even getting Pandori's hand wave right.
''And you gave this bunch full power,'' Kris said.
Grampa sighed. ''Believe me, they didn't talk like that when they came in here. And they did have that 53 percent majority vote in Parliament. It seemed like a good idea at the time.''
''Well, you kids do be careful,'' Abby said. ''I hear being around one of those damn Longknifes can be dangerous.''
''You're going, too,'' Kris said.
''I can't wait to count your steamer trunks and see what you pull out of them this time,'' Jack drawled.
''I don't know why I'm going,'' Penny said. ''Have you ever noticed a Longknife to pay attention to the advice they get?''
''Ouch,'' came from both king and princess.
''You're going to have to get away quickly,'' the king said. ''I've still got the Halsey seconded to me, but if she's not away from the pier fast, she may get orders, and if I have to go to Pennypacker to straighten out conflicting orders with a lot of Longknife names on them, I can't guarantee anything.''
'' ‘Tis a wonderful thing to be a pirate king,'' Tom sang.
''You've obviously never been one,'' King Ray muttered. ''Oh, Kris, the skipper of the Halsey is Sandy Santiago. One of those Santiagos. She'll look after you good.''
Now it was Kris's turn to answer with a soft, ''Oh.'' Grampa Ray's political career had been launched when he survived assassinating the Unity tyrant President Urm. It had been in all the papers. Only recently had Kris learned just how it happened that Grampa lived through delivering a suicide bomb. It might be interesting to hear how the story was told among the family of the man who actually walked the bomb in.
Jack and Abby were dispatched to Nuu House to pack. Penny and Tom headed out to do the same.
Kris settled in as they left. ''I was afraid you'd called me over here to set me straight about Father and Grampa Al.''
''I know the hot water your old man is in. What's my son's beef with you, girl?''
Kris told him about finding out she owned slums. ''Oh, ho ho,'' Grampa Ray chortled. ''The old boy hasn't been keeping good enough check on his middlemen, has he now.''
''Middlemen?''
''Kris, I'll let you in on a little secret. I can't do everything. You can't do everything, and though he'll deny it, my son can't do everything, try as he does. Little Alex has a bad case of micromanagement, but even he can't be everywhere. So some of his second-, third-level VPs take shortcuts. Folks do that. You find them out, fire them, and put in new people. Hope my boy takes this for a learning experience.''
Then a message came in, and family time was over, and Grampa Ray was back up to his earlobes juggling business from ninety planets and firing off his best advice. ''Advice, gal. Nice not to give orders anymore. Just advice.'' In between he remembered the Iteeche Wars for Kris. The operations he'd sent Ha'iku'lani and her Special Boat Squadron on were heavy on his mind. He could name the planets and the dead as if it was only yesterday.
But it was the present that bothered Kris. ''It's like someone is nibbling at us. This planet has that beef with that planet, and suddenly they're using warships to settle them.''
''No, Kris, not planets. People. This group here. That group there. Always look for the groups behind the actions. And notice how much of it is just posturing and threatening. Threats work better than shooting,'' Grampa pointed out.
''Take Flan, or Yacolt, or Mandan only last week. Greenfeld tells them they really want to join their new alliance… and runs a squadron of battleships across their orbit to overawe them. And Peterwald gets a planet with no messy rubble.''
''That why Pandori is rushing the fleet to Boynton?''
Grampa shook his head. ''Boynton's practically in our alliance. We're not trying to overawe them. We're trying to protect them, and we don't need nearly that large a force. I think Pandori's doing it to get votes this election.''
''And Hikila?''
''They just need some hand-holding. A bit of encouragement. I know them. They're our kind of people. Oh, and don't you let looks deceive you. On the surface they may look primitive. Take a second look. Ask the second question. They'll surprise you.''
Jack called. They were packed and waiting downstairs. Kris joined him and Abby. ''How many trunks?''
''I counted eight when we left the house,'' Jack said.
''It's not like we're going to rescue anyone,'' Abby sniffed.
''Count again when we go through security.''
But Kris got distracted at the space elevator. Penny and Tom went through, no problem. Kris ran her ID card through to prove who she was and pay her fare … and got beeped.
''Card's no good, ma'am,'' the young man in the booth said. Kris ran it through again; same result. ''It's not the card, ma'am. It's you. You ain't cleared to go up. To leave the planet,'' the fellow said, turning a screen around for her and Jack to look at. ''See, you're limited to planet travel.''
''King Ray has ordered me on a diplomatic mission,'' Kris said, eyeing the report on her. ''I'll be back before my court date in… three weeks!''
''Delayed again,'' Jack said.
''They really want to drag it out,'' Tom said.
''You that Princess Longknife,'' the gate attendant said. ''I saw you on the news last night. You did a lot of good stuff on Olympia. Pretty mean of them to do this to you.''
''You know about Olympia?''
''Researched it for a college paper for night school,'' he said, glancing at the screen. ''Three weeks. Where you headed?''
''Hikila. Be back in two weeks. Maybe less.''
''Why don't you and that fellow behind you go through at the same time. You know. One swipe, two walks.''
''Won't you get in trouble?''
''How much trouble can I get in if you get back in time?''
''Joey,'' Kris said, reading his name tag. ''Everyone who gets too close to me gets in trouble.'' Jack nodded vigorously.
''You just go ahead, ma'am. As you said, King Ray wants you somewhere. Why should Wardhaven Transit stand in your way?''
Jack flashed his badge as he ran his card through. Joey whistled as his metal detectors did their detecting thing. ''You are taking good care of her, ain't you.'' And Kris was through.
Abby followed, leading eight steamer trunks. Kris counted as they rolled by. They made it as a ferry was locking down.
The Halsey was also just about to seal locks as they reported to the Junior Officer of the Deck. He frowned at the baggage and called for a quartermaster detail to secure it. Abby pulled a smaller subset of luggage from one trunk for her and Kris, and they all followed the JG forward to the wardroom.