Free Black Fleet Trilogy 1: Warship by Joshua Dalzelle

completely obscured the large ship from the Blue Jacket's passive sensors as well as completely confusing Jackson. Why bother to keep hiding when they'd already identified themselves in the previous communications?
    He was mulling over the possibilities when a specialist he recognized as being one of Juarez's spacers walked onto the bridge and handed him yet another official packet, this one bearing Admiral Winters' signature.
    "Mr. Lynch asked me to bring this to you, sir," the young man stammered. Not serving on the bridge, or anywhere near Officer Country, he was clearly intimidated standing before the captain.
    "Thank you," Jackson said simply, reaching out and taking the packet. "You're dismissed." The spacer spun on his heel in an honest to God facing movement, something nobody did after basic training, and marched off the bridge with his eyes fixed on the exit. Jackson would have almost laughed had it not been for the bundle of almost certain unhappiness he held in his hand.
    "Ensign Davis, you have the bridge until Commander Wright returns," he said as he climbed out of his seat.
    "Aye, sir," Davis said.
    ****
    "Captain Wolfe," Admiral Winters began on the video that was playing on Jackson's terminal screen. "This message is to accompany your official change of orders, which will have been in the packet Mr. Lynch handed you containing this recording.
    "The need for the utmost security should be apparent by this point, so I won't waste time explaining to you why it was necessary. Honestly, all you need to do is follow orders and you don't need to understand the big picture to do that. Now ... the reason for this message has nothing to do with your new routing orders.
    "While I would have ... enjoyed ... telling you this in person, this will have to suffice. This will be the last cruise for the Blue Jacket . In fact, the entire Ninth is being stood down. The Pontiac and the Crazy Horse are already steaming for the Sierra Shipyards to be decommissioned and dismantled. The destroyers from the Ninth will not be replaced. Black Fleet is paring down operations in the face of no threats, immediate or potential. CENTCOM feels the funding can be better allocated and, frankly, I couldn't agree more. With the implementation of the second generation Tsuyo com network the need for Black Fleet at all is coming to an end. But, I digress.
    "I think we both know that given your fitness scores and background that the chances of you being assigned a new command are quite slim. I've taken the liberty of drafting your retirement orders and will have them waiting for you on Jericho when you come back through. I'd like you to take the time you have left on this cruise to give Commander Wright as much time as possible in command. I don't necessarily want you mentoring her, I'd just like her to have as much seat time on a starship bridge as possible." She stopped talking and stared into the camera, her face contorting as she tried to keep her expression neutral and not allow her smugness to be a part of the official record. Apparently not having a graceful way to end the message, the video simply ended.
    "Fucking bitch," Jackson said, the curse coming out as an exhausted sigh as he leaned back in his chair. So that was it. His entire life cut off at the knees in one short, dispassionate video message. The fight was officially over. All the hard fought battles for acceptance and recognition were for naught as someone sitting behind a desk decided four aging warships, in an era of peace and prosperity, were no longer worth keeping around.
    He wasn't sure how long he'd been staring off into space when a chiming sound let him know someone was outside the hatch. It also let him know that person was a civilian as his crew would give the customary single knock. "Come in, Mr. Lynch," he said with all the enthusiasm of someone being led to the gallows.
    "How did you know it was me?" Lynch asked as he strolled in. "It was the chime, right? Every damn