Chevon's Mate Read Online Free PDF Page A

muscles to see how far they can push the military leaders.
Right now they are attempting to put into place a mandatory rule to rotate out
command structure of cruisers on a regular basis. Which no commanding officer
in the armada would ever stand for. But we also know not to say anything to
them, merely put in a notification to our commanding officer about their idiocy
because this sort of thing is a distraction technique. They throw out something
that will raise our ire while they are working to implement something even more
devious.”
    “That would break the ease that
one would have in a vessel this size. You have to have a strong commander in charge of the
military.” She was no strategist but she was sure that a rotating command system
would be awful for everyone on the ship. The commander needed to know his people, needed to
know every nut and bolt of the vessel to be any good at all in his position.
    “A commanding officer of any
cruiser, even one like mine that is primarily for training the new recruits,
has to have people in place he or she trusts. We are a training vessel, but we have run into situations where
having a stable command structure was the only reason we were able to come out of it intact.
Banged up, yes, but with no lives lost. The command crew has to be able to
practically read one another’s minds, anticipate what is needed, and act
without waiting for an order.”
    “Why is it that you are the one who is running the training
vessel? You don’t seem to be aged enough to have been removed from the fighting
lines and placed on as an instructor.” It was odd. He seemed as if he was very
fit and capable and more than willing to be in command of a fighting vessel if
he had wanted to. “If only we no longer had this stupid war. It’s senseless.”
She then frowned and something drifted in her mind, something she had read
somewhere. “There’s something … ” She rubbed her temples as pain throbbed at the base of her
skull, and the elusive memory was gone again. “It will come later, right?”
    “Don’t push,” he said quietly . Sitting forward in his seat,
he touched her cheek with his fingertips. “It will come when it is time. As to
why I am a training officer. I am one of the few Imarians who has no real
temper. There are only a rare few who are calm enough to handle both training and combat. Even as a training vessel, we do not shy from any confrontations or disputes that require assistance. If we are the closest vessel … ”
He shrugged. “It’s a good chance for the crew to learn what is expected,
needed, and how to handle a situation by being there for themselves instead of
reading about it in the data packets.”
    “ Well, whatever it is, I’m thankful it was
your craft that found me.” Because she could have possibly continued to tumble,
maybe even into the asteroid belt and possibly into one of the asteroids—or she
could have bled to death.
    “ Well, we do tend to utilize this section of
space for the training, at least in the early days of a new crew, because it is
usually quiet. Though if women in tiny spacecrafts continue to come tumbling
through I may need to rethink the decision and possibly relocate.” Chevon
winked at her, then returned his attention to the data pad when it flashed. He
read whatever had come up, then returned his full attention to her. “We have
been getting an inordinate amount of traffic through here in recent cycles. Not
that I’m complaining, but this is not what we consider normal by any means.”
    “The cruise I was on selected
this as their normal route and it’s on its fourth cruise, ”
she told him. “On this route, that is.” She frowned as she thought about it and shook her head. “Wait, no.
That’s not right.” She looked at Chevon and simply focused on him. “Wait, the
cruise that I was on normally doesn’t come as close to the asteroid belt as I
had to have been. It typically stays a parsec from that belt because of