Storm from the Shadows: Snippet Two

    "I hopewe know what we're doing here, Junyan," Commissioner Lorcan Verrochio of the Office of Frontier Security said, giving his vice-commissioner a glance which was less than totally happy.

    "So far everything's going exactly to plan," Hongbo Junyan pointed out.

    "Refresh my memory, but wasn't everything 'going exactly to plan' last time right up until the very moment that lunatic Terekhov blew the entire Monica System straight to hell?" Verrochio inquired with a certain undeniable acerbity.

    "Yes, it was." Hongbo tried very hard, and mostly successfully, to keep a note of over-tried patience out of his voice. "This time, however, instead of counting on a batch of battlecruisers manned by neobarbs who hadn't even managed to get more than three of them refitted and back into commission, much less trained up to any sort of real proficiency, we've got three squadrons of Frontier Fleet immediately on call. And then there's Admiral Crandall at MacIntosh, as well. I'd say that's a significant difference in the balance of available forces, wouldn't you?"

    Verrochio nodded, although it was evident he remained something short of completely enthralled by the current state of affairs.