First Command by Rodney Smith Read Free Book Online

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           Cindy had been unhappy about Valeri’s failure to get the bonus for the transporter rings that all the other workers on the team received.   She kept harping on how much he contributed to the project for nothing.   He’d been gone less than a month when they announced the bonuses.   One would think they could make an exception.   Moira Blake told him they had pushed hard to get him included in the bonus fund, but the finance bureaucrats said no.   Moira even offered to give him her bonus, but he couldn’t accept.   Besides, Fleet owed him the bonus, not Moira.
           Cindy kept bugging him about it as if there was anything more he could do.   Even now, after this unexpectedly memorable lunch, she couldn’t leave it alone.   He wondered if this was just a set up to make him go back and tilt at the bureaucratic windmill…again.   He smiled, because if it was a set up, it was one he could get used to.
     
    * * * * *
     
           Friedrich Debran was impressed with Irina Bugarov.   She carried herself well, and was knowledgeable about Debran Industries holdings and recent company activities.   She had done her homework.   She also had a pretty good idea of what her job would entail, and had several ideas she offered freely to improve the company’s exposure in the defense market.   There were changes and upgrades needed to Fighter Force aircraft that could be marketed to her former colleagues, if they could be simultaneously marketed to key members of the GR Assembly.
           He liked her sense of duty, commitment and political manipulation.   She freely told him that she had no romantic, family, or other commitments, and could devote however many hours the job required to ensure it was done right.
           His mind was made up.   He offered her the job at a reasonable salary, by private sector standards, but significantly more than a two-star general made.   He enjoyed giving Flag Officers low initial salaries, as it fueled his sense of superiority.   She accepted.
     
    * * * * *
     
           LTJG Cortez pushed the engine modifications through in record time.   A big incentive was the fact that she couldn’t leave for her new assignment as the Vigilant’s XO until she had the modifications installed and tested.   In a week and a half, the modifications were fitted to the Vigilant and ready for live testing.
           Half of Connie’s team from the Repair and Refit Directorate embarked on the Vigilant for the in-space trial.   There were wires run everywhere to connect all the instrumentation that had been brought aboard.
           Kelly truly took actual command of his ship for the first time, when he requested permission to take off for the test.   Upon approval, he gave the order to lift off and experienced almost an electric rush of excitement as the ship, his ship, rose into the air.   They quickly left the atmosphere and moved out of the system.
           Connie was afforded the use of the XO’s position on the bridge for test monitoring purposes, although technically she was not yet the XO.   Her boss, LT Roger Dahlens, who Kelly had met his first day on Armstrong, was the senior engineering officer on board and in charge of the test.
           Kelly watched their progress through the system and ordered them to FTL Power 1 as they crossed the last orbital plane, leaving the red giant Antares behind.   Chief Blankenship sent the helm a transit course though dark space, the ship smoothly speeding up to light speed.   Kelly asked for a status check from the engine room.   Everything was operating well within tolerances.   LT Dahlens nodded at this information and turned to Kelly, “Captain, would you increase speed to FTL Power 3, at your discretion?”
           Kelly gave the order and the ship smoothly accelerated to many times the speed of light.   He called back to engineering and got a report that all was