Intrepid

''How much time will we have to take our shot?'' Kris asked.

''Somewhere between 1 and 1.5 seconds. Assume 1.25 as most likely,'' Chief Beni said.

The wall went blank, speckled by a few unblinking stars. Then one of them grew huge, filled the screen, and was gone. If anyone blinked, they didn't see a thing.

''Thank you, Chief, I expected something like that.''

''But now you've seen it,'' he said. ''By the way, the reason we don't know just how much time you'll be in range of the Tourin is because we aren't sure just what our acceleration will be.''

''Captain Drago said 3.2 gees,'' Kris said. ''Maybe more.''

''Or maybe less. I called one of my buddies who has a buddy down in Engineering. Turns out they never tested this ship above 2.25 gees, Your Highness.''

''Didn't we do 3 gees or so around Panda's moon?'' Penny asked.

''Yeah,'' the chief agreed, ''and the snipes sweated blood. We do it steady for three, four hours this time.''

''Thanks for the clarification,'' Kris said … and meant it.

''So all is not so well in the vaunted Wardhaven Navy,'' the security colonel said with a smile.

''Whose ship is ready to split its guts to get under way and whose ships are tied up like beached whales?'' Vicky shot back.

The colonel swallowed his smile.

''Chief, give me the broadside view, again.'' The wall changed. ''Where are the main electrical generators?''

Captain Krätz eyed the other schematic, then indicated an area forward of the engines. A bit farther forward were two huge areas that could only be the fusion reactors.

Kris put her finger on one. ''I hit here, and what happens?''

''Nothing or everything,'' Krätz said.

Kris nodded along with him. ''My shot could go through and do nothing but stir the plasma the wrong way. Or I could take out enough superconductors to let the plasma eat the ship.''

''Everyone dies,'' Jack concluded.

''Farther aft, I hit the electrical generators and, again, everyone dies. Only if I hit the rocket engines do people live.''

''But if you miss aft,'' Vicky pointed out, ''my dad dies.''

''Yes,'' Kris whispered softly.

''Could you slice the ship in half?'' Colonel Cortez asked.

''Why?'' Jack asked.

''Well, the other young lady mentioned a few moments ago that you might be able to cut it in half or thirds.''

''Yes,'' Penny said. ''Our lasers have the power for it.''

''And the ship is a huge target, is it not?''

''It looks that way,'' Kris agreed.

''Where is the reaction mass carried?'' the infantry colonel went on.

Captain Krätz eyed the other files for a moment, then said, ''In huge tanks in the center of the ship.'' He stepped to Kris's schematic and ran his hands along the middle of the drawing. ''From just where it starts to taper at the bow to where it starts to narrow at the stern.''

''And what if you cut into those tanks? Where would the reaction mass go? Could the engines continue their huge acceleration if that reaction mass was bleeding out elsewhere than the reactors?''

''Captain Krätz, how much reaction mass would the Tourin have on board at this point in her voyage? How much is she gulping down to keep up this acceleration? Could we damage her enough to make this whole stunt impossible?''

The Greenfeld captain just shook his head.

''And assuming we unleashed the reaction mass into the ship, what would it do to the people on board?'' Kris said.

''And if we did separate the forward half of the ship from the aft half,'' Penny pointed out, ''the havoc as different parts of the ship lost power, the wrenching as the forward portion twisted away from the aft portion with its reactors still trying to push the ship. No, I'm sorry, it would be more merciful to grant these people a quick death. I have been on a wrecked ship.''

Once again, the room fell silent.

Kris spread her arms to reach back for the engineering spaces and ran her fingers over the tiny target she and Nelly would be aiming for. ''So this is it. The engines themselves.''

''That or the containment field,'' the colonel said.

''We are Wardhaven Navy, not murderers.''

''If your softheartedness causes our First Citizen to die, there will be a lot to talk about.''

''Enough,'' Vicky half shouted. She walked in Kris's footsteps, running her hands along the large bulk of passenger area, and deep within it, the reaction mass to feed the reactor.

''It's a big, easy target. Are you sure it's not the best?''

''We don't know how much reaction mass is in it,'' Kris pointed out, raising a finger. ''We'd have to use two of our lasers to burn through any try at cutting the ship in half. That would be chancy at the best of times.'' A second finger came up. ''At the speed we'd be traveling, it's a huge gamble.'' A third finger joined the others. ''We could punch lots of holes in the tanks, and they'd still have enough to complete their suicidal dive.'' All four fingers were up now. ''Yes, Vicky, it would be the easiest to hit, but no, there is no good chance that we'd be hitting what we need to hit.''