No Way to Start a War (TCOTU, Book 2) (This Corner of the Universe) Read Online Free Page B

at Titan along with Heskan’s promised first officer.
    Heskan
smiled.  “Don’t be so hasty, Diane.  With Lieutenants Vernay and Truesworth off
the ship, you’re gaining valuable command experience today.”
    “Can’t
valuable command experience wait until I’m a full lieutenant, sir?” she quipped
before refocusing her attention on her console.
    Heskan
rolled his eyes.  “Even when Scott gets here, your battle station will be the
bridge.  Lieutenant Scott will have his hands full leading the second command
team in Auxiliary Control.”  He watched Selvaggio’s hands effortlessly glide
over her console as she fed her navigation computer standardized tasks designed
to calibrate the software.  Diane has everything going for her but she’s so
damned shy and she’s always understating her abilities.  Stacy told me she
refuses to wear her Distinguished Unit Citation because she feels responsible
for the hit that took out Ana’s port GPs.  Heskan shook his head unconsciously.  
A lieutenant commander couldn’t have handled Anelace any better than she did.  I
wish she’d break out of her shell .
    As
Heskan wheeled around to head for the door, Selvaggio grinned wickedly and
called out, “Good luck at the briefing, sir.  Maybe the seat next to Commander
Durmont will be open.”
    Heskan
visibly cringed as he strode into the corridor.  Okay, technically I asked
for that.

Chapter 3
    The
shuttle ride to Lieutenant Commander Durmont’s ship, BRS Bulwark ,
passed without event.  Bulwark , a Bastion class escort light cruiser,
was the command ship for CortRon 15.  The six-ship squadron was comprised of
one escort light cruiser, three escort destroyers, and two frigates.  The
frigates were ill-equipped for escort duty and Third Fleet Headquarters had promised
dedicated escort frigates later, but for now, CortRon 15 would make do with
what was available.  Even if the frigates were something of an afterthought,
the four dedicated escort ships made CortRon 15 a formidable shield for Task Group
3.1, which would center on the heavy carrier, Avenger , and the light
carrier, Eagle .
    Heskan
already knew many of his fellow CortRon ship captains.  Like Heskan, most had
been poached from the Narvi system defense ships.  He was looking forward to
finally working with Lieutenant Kelly Gary, with whom he had shared a lunch his
first day on Hulda.  Of course, Heskan had met CortRon 15’s other destroyer
captain, Lieutenant Stephanie Moore, coming out of Durmont’s office on Hulda under
more interesting circumstances .
    During
the previous week, Durmont had surprised his ship captains by revealing that
Heskan would be the squadron’s second-in-command.  Even though Heskan was the
most senior lieutenant and due for promotion, Brevic regulations granted
commanders a great amount of leeway in organizing their command structure and
Heskan had been certain Durmont would place his “special” lieutenant in that
position.  After the announcement, Heskan not only respected Durmont’s seemingly
impartial choice but began to question whether he had misjudged the man.
    Heskan
was pleased with the decision for both professional and personal reasons.  Not
only was he happy to be the CortRon’s vice commander, but the job guaranteed Kite would be farther away from Bulwark .  Maybe I am wrong about Durmont professionally
but I still don’t like the man, he thought.  Additionally, Gary’s escort
destroyer, Aspis , world be paired with Kite during routine
operations.  Kelly is a very capable officer and has a terrific sense of
humor.  I think we’ll make a great team .  Buoyed by this final thought,
Heskan exited the shuttle.
    After
being piped aboard Bulwark , a petty officer delivered Heskan to a large
briefing room deep inside the ship.  As he entered the room, he found
Lieutenants Gary and Moore embroiled in a heated discussion while they waited
for Durmont to arrive.  Taking a seat at the table, Heskan nodded to