Intrepid

''Don't bet on that to last forever,'' Jack said, giving Kris an evil grin. ''If she takes a mind to it, Kris might draft you right into her Navy. She drafted me out of the Secret Service.''

''Computers have our rights.'' Nelly stormed on. ''Civil rights. Human rights. Oh,'' she said and paused for a long second, which, for a computer, must have lasted beyond forever. ''Jack has human rights, and you drafted him. If I had rights, you could still draft me. I need to think about that.''

The last was spoken in the standard computer voice, the one Nelly only used when she was devoting a major part of her power to something a mere human would likely find beyond complicated.

''Nelly, my dear,'' Gunny said, ''you do know that you're a major part of our team and all of us, Marines and Navy, respect what you do for us.''

''You do?'' was still in that standard computer voice.

''We do that, my dear. Now, does Sergeant Bruce need any more help with his nanos?''

At OCS, Kris learned that senior NCOs were more like unto God than, well, most humans thought God was. And that NCOs made it a point to look out first and foremost for their troops. Gunny was often more hands-on than any recent apparition of the traditional Divine Being. Though his attention was usually to the surprise and dismay of said subordinates.

Just now, Kris watched Gunny in full transcendent concern for not only Sergeant Bruce but all his trigger-pullers.

''No, Sergeant Bruce is good to go,'' Nelly said, starting to sound more normal.

Sergeant Bruce nodded. ''I think I've got them under my control. I've had my computer cycle them through a series of tests, and everything is working. The range looks to be limited, but I think it will do.''

Which left Kris with only one more problem to handle this evening. The one that couldn't be solved.

As Sergeant Bruce marched off on the first leg of his journey to the dugouts, Kris glanced around the large barn she expected to spend the night in. Like most other barns she'd seen on Panda, it was dug out and sod covered. So far, Thorpe hadn't paid any attention to them.

One of the last trucks to arrive that night had disgorged Penny, with old man Fronour and Gramma Polska. Kris couldn't name the other gray heads that dismounted, but she suspected someone had called a meeting of the senior farming clans and forgotten to cc her on the matter.

Bales of hay were being arranged into a kind of forum. Gray heads were settling into seats. Kris had foresworn the political life of her father … but she wasn't blind to its trappings.

Penny joined Kris. ''Sorry this got out of hand.''

''It had to be faced,'' Kris said, and led them to where a speaker's rostrum would be if the forum were more formal.

Kris stood at parade rest … and let her eyes rove the elders before her. Slowly, the babble settled to silence.

Kris cleared her throat, and asked. ''Do you have any questions for me?''

The silence gave way to murmurs as heads turned to the people next to them. No one among them moved to stand, to take the lead. Had Kris moved before they were ready, or had the different views failed so far to coalesce?

Pandemonium had no planetary government. Kris had been surprised to hear from Andy Fronour on the trip out just how minimal the town governance was, a council, no mayor. He'd been proud of just how little government they got along with.

Kris hoped she wasn't going to have to teach a whole lot of reluctant souls How to Decide Things 101.

''I hear there's going to be a fight tomorrow up the road a ways,'' Bobby Joe Fronour said. ''What are we doing all the way back here?''

''There will be a battle up the road at what I've come to call the dugout,'' Kris said, ''but we aren't going to be there.''

''Don't it take two to have a battle?'' The man who stood up held his rifle at the ready, as if he might find an enemy sitting beside him. He was one of the youngest in the barn, hair still flaming red.

Kris gave the question a nod. ''If you want to go down in the history books as a great conqueror, it does help if some opposition shows up to fight and get their butts kicked.''

A momentary pause got the laughter Kris hoped for. ''Us showing up serves no one's benefit except Colonel Cortez's. His launching a smashing assault on a host of barnyard animals should make him the laughingstock of his entire command, as well as human space once the story gets out, don't you think?''

That got a good laugh from the gathered elders, but the redhead just scowled. ''You can't win a battle unless you fight one,'' he said when the laughter died down.

''No, and depending on how fast Cortez recovers from our little joke, he should be in that battle late tomorrow or early the next day,'' Kris said.

Now she had everyone's attention.

''Where we gonna kill those bastards?'' Red demanded.

Kris did not like the question. It presumed a lot. That they would be able to kill said bastards, and that they would want to kill the same.

Red seemed to have no doubt about either.