Among the Kicking Birds — Mike Shepherd

Princess Kris Longknife is Viceroy for the Royal US government to the aliens of Alwa. She commands a fleet and an industrial base, and the humans manning the ships and working the factories would like some vacation time. They'd also like a stake in the Alwa they are defending. So Kris finds herself approaching natives for land. Her Native American heritage balks at the thought of her trading a few beads for land, so she will handle these negotiations herself.Of course, nothing ever goes down easy for a Longknife. She'll face beasties, angry natives and an assassin before she's done, but hey, she's a Longknife. That's what she does.This story was originally part of Kris Longknife - Unrelenting but these 7600 words had to be cut because the novel was too long. Now you can read the full story that was covered in one short paragraph in Unrelenting.