Read Black Fleet Trilogy 1: Warship for Free Online Page A

improvement. He wasn’t being harsh for no reason; he wanted it perfectly clear in her head that the road to a command slot did not go through him. If she was captain material then she would have to earn a spot on her own ship.
    “All things considered, I expected the ship to be in much worse shape,” Jackson remarked, putting his feet up on the conference table and taking a pull of his coffee mug.
    “You can’t be serious?” Lieutenant Commander Singh said, slouching down into his seat a bit. The other department heads had all filed out after the status meeting and Jackson, Daya Singh, and Celesta Wright were the only ones left in the room. Celesta watched the casual interaction between the two with great interest. The pair were obviously friends outside their capacity as captain and chief engineer.
    “I am serious,” Jackson said. “Those were all very minor problems. A connector pinned wrong here and a check valve installed backwards there, all on redundant or secondary systems. All our primary flight systems look good.”
    “As good as they always do on this antique,” Singh grumbled. “So what are we doing out here, Jack? Is this actually a mission or is Admiral Winters trying to kill us and make it look like an accident?”
    Jackson shot an uncomfortable look at Celesta before answering. “You know as much as I do, Lieutenant Commander ,” Jackson said, emphasizing his chief engineer’s rank. “I can only hope it’s something truly vital for us to be taking so many shortcuts while redeploying the ship.”
    Singh’s next question was cut off before he’d uttered the first syllable as Aston Lynch burst into the conference room, his face red from either anger or exertion.
    “Why was I not informed of a staff meeting being called prior to departing this system?” he demanded hotly, indicating it was the former.
    “Is there a change in your status I am unaware of?” Jackson asked coolly, planting his feet back on the floor. “My understanding is that you are a passenger, a dignitary if you will, aboard my ship. If you’ve been assigned to my crew I will need to see those orders.”
    Lynch turned an even darker shade of red before getting himself under control enough to answer. “I am in operational command of this mission,” he finally ground out. “In essence, you report to me.”
    Jackson had carefully read every word included in his orders and knew the arrogant little prick had zero command authority over his ship and her personnel. Not only that, but Lynch’s demeanor—bursting into a room and accosting him in front of his crew—angered him greatly. He sucked in a breath to respond in kind, but Celesta jumped in just before he could.
    “It was my fault, Mr. Lynch,” she said, managing to sound sincerely apologetic. “Captain Wolfe tasked me with running this status meeting. I assumed you wouldn’t be interested in a list of maintenance issues, which was the only topic of discussion, so I excluded you. My apologies.”
    Lynch stood in the hatchway, mouth opened to deliver another blistering salvo, but Celesta had sucked the wind out of his sails. He straightened back up, adjusted his clothes, and assumed a lofty, bored expression. “Well, Commander,” he said after a moment, “please see that you do not make an oversight like that again. I will decide what information I do or do not need for the duration of my stay on this ship.”
    “Of course, sir,” she said calmly, meeting his eyes. Jackson still looked apoplectic as his executive officer apologized for doing nothing wrong. For his part, Singh looked to be thoroughly enjoying the entire spectacle.
    “Will there be anything else, Mr. Lynch,” Jackson asked through a clenched jaw.
    “I believe that will be all, Captain,” the aide said, turning to leave.
    “We will be transitioning to warp within the next five hours. I’ll ensure that you’re alerted.”
    “See that you do, Captain.” Lynch was through the hatch and gone