The Oncoming Storm Read Online Free PDF

bulkhead. By tradition, he couldn’t formally greet her until after she had made her salute.
    He drew in a breath as she turned to face him. She was pretty, he had to admit, too pretty to be quite natural. Cosmetic surgery and genetic programming had been nonexistent on Hebrides until after the Commonwealth had rediscovered his homeworld, but Tyre had never lost the technology. His captain looked like a perfectly proportioned young woman, attractive enough to set hormones raging throughout the ship. Even her uniform was perfectly tailored to draw attention to her beauty. He had to call on all of his years of discipline to remember that she was his captain, as well as a fellow officer.
    And if that doesn’t prove that the Commonwealth is decadent, he thought sourly, what will?
    She lifted her elegant eyebrows. “Permission to come aboard?”
    “Permission granted,” he said, and then saluted. “I’m Commander McElney, your XO.”
    “Thank you,” she said, returning his salute and then extending her hand for him to shake. “I’m Captain Falcone.”
    William nodded as he shook her hand. Her voice seemed to lack an aristocratic accent, although four years at Piker’s Peak and then several more years as a serving officer would have probably helped it to fade away. And her salute was perfect, something that really shouldn’t have been a surprise. Young cadets were drilled in saluting until they could do it in their sleep. She still looked absurdly young, but she was a graduate of Piker’s Peak. It was only experience she lacked.
    “I took the liberty of preparing a tour of the vessel,” William said. “We’re still working up for departure, but most of the officers and crew are in place.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Most of the officers and crew?”
    William was mildly impressed. He’d known captains who wouldn’t have picked up on his words. But then, she’d served as an XO too. And being an XO was good experience for understanding the difference between what someone said and what they actually meant.
    “Yes, Captain,” he said. “We’re short around forty crewmen. The Admiralty needed to assign additional crew to Thundercloud and tapped the men who were supposed to be assigned to us. We’ve been promised replacements within a week.”
    “Failing that, we might have to draft some of the Yard Dogs,” Captain Falcone said. She didn’t sound as though she was joking. “Overall, Commander, what is our status?”
    William smiled. He’d taken the liberty of preparing a set of detailed briefing notes too.
    “We ran full-power tests last week, then replaced several components and ran the tests again,” he said. “Drives, life support, shields, and weapons are all at optimal readiness, apart from long-range shipkiller missiles. The Admiralty has promised us a resupply within the week. Overall, we’re at roughly ninety percent readiness right now. I expect we will meet our scheduled departure date.”
    “Unless they choose to move it forward,” Captain Falcone said.
    “Yes, Captain,” William said. He’d been expecting a message telling him precisely that for several weeks, ever since Lightning had been formally commissioned into the Navy. Ninety percent readiness was hardly bad. They could fly, fight, and generally give a good account of themselves if they ran into hostiles. “It’s a very real possibility.”
    The captain smiled. It was sweet, but he thought he detected an air of cool calculation behind it. “I think you’d better give me the tour now, before I formally assume command on the bridge,” she said. “I want to see everything for myself.”
    “Certainly,” William said, with the private thought that it spoke well of her. “If you’ll follow me . . . ?”
    He half expected her to grow bored within minutes of the tour beginning, but Captain Falcone managed to surprise him by keeping herself awake and attentive as they moved from department to department. Sickbay, Main Engineering,