Auberon (The Jessica Keller Chronicles Book 1) by Blaze Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

instead of bravado and bluster. Jessica wasn’t sure what to make of her.
    “Sharp,” she replied, “but not too sharp. Commander Kwok had us the range at Simeon every six or eight months. Plus regular piracy patrols.”
    “Ever catch any?” Jessica asked, looking at both the pilot and her new Executive Officer, deep in his own mug of tea.
    Bitter Kitten shrugged and sipped at a glass of port. “Rarely. Kwok would come out at a safe distance, launch the birds, and then let us chase them. Usually, they had enough time to get away. We were rarely cleared to launch the kind of missiles that could run them down and scrag them before they could jump.”
    “So,” Jessica turned to Jež, “standard fleet carrier tactics?”
    He shrugged in turn. “The commander was very by–the–book on those sorts of things. Plus he was…well–bred.”
    Jessica nodded. “One of the Noble Lords, rather than a Fighting Lord?”
    “One could phrase it that way, commander,” he replied diplomatically.
    Jessica took a drink to let the air simmer. She nodded to herself and fixed each of them with a look of irritation.
    “I imagine things will be changing significantly around here, then. Jež, Lagunov, our orders are to rattle cages out here in the hinterlands. To do that, we’re going to have to act like a warship in a warzone, and not an oversized Revenue Cutter on patrol. Everything I’ve heard about this ship suggests she could be among the best in the fleet, so I’m going to work the rest of you almost as hard as I work myself, and see what we can become. Questions?”
    “Am I allowed to gossip about what I’ve heard, commander?” Bitter Kitten murmured.
    Jessica’s smile lit up. “Absolutely. I asked you here so I could pick your brain and see things that would not necessarily bubble up from the lower decks. A lot of Command Centurions say they have an open door. Few of them actually exercise it. Just remember that you’ll be signing your name when you walk through that door. Most of the time, we will outrun the news of what we’re doing.”
    “Understood, sir,” the pilot nodded at her. She pushed back from the table with an accidental burp. “Excuse me. Since I’m off duty for a while, I’m going to go sleep for twelve hours. That food was lovely, sir. Thank you.”
    Jessica watched her stick her head into the kitchen to thank the staff before disappearing into the hallway.
    She turned to see Jež giving her a strange look. “Yes?”
    “Nothing,” he said after a moment.
    “Ask now,” she replied. “When we leave here, you’ll be scoring the exercise and preparing to turn back into the Executive Officer.”
    “Are you really as hard and tough and good as they say?”
    Jessica blinked. Well, she had asked for it.
    She fixed him with a stern look. He didn’t blush or blink. Good.
    “Yes,” she said simply. “Denis, I believe I could win this war if given the chance. Not just push the Fribourgers back to where they started, but actually design the strategies and logistics to defeat them. First Lord sent me out here to start a war. In his words, to set the frontier on fire and make them dedicate whole fleets and committees to stopping me.”
    She took a sip and gauged his reaction.
    He nodded back at her.
    So far, so good.
    “ Auberon is a tool. The Flight Wing is a tool. This crew is a tool. They are all good ones, and you don’t blunt a saber by mashing it against a rock. However, they are tools. They will get honed by use. Sharpened. Probably dinged and dented. Because we are going to go do something nobody has ever imagined. This little strike carrier is going to frighten entire fleets of Imperial ships. I would like to camp in orbit about St. Legier and say hello, one of these days.”
    She stopped to take a breath. Denis nodded at her.
    “How can I serve?” he asked simply.
    Jessica flashed to the notes in his personnel file. Loyal subordinate. Had served under several Command Centurions generally