Aggy book 2Chapter 55
- 3 years ago
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Sally and Nan were bustling about the Captain's Cabin, tidying up. McCock had finished his ablutions and was adjusting his waist band attachments; the insistent beeping of his PDA sounded. McCock extracted the instrument as he moved into his office examining its face and it told him this was a com on the FTL link to Mountserrat and very few people had his private com link.
"Good morning, McCock."
"Aggy, good morning to you, Uncle Gus. Trudie included your com in a list of contact numbers. Your information was that this PDA linked to the Settlement exchange and having a spare moment I thought I'd fiddle."
McCock just snorted at the thought of Uncle Gus fiddling.
"Now I have you, Aggy. Thank you for the information; it was helpful in explaining the increased activity of the Chencon consul with the Sol embassy going about normally. Spoke with Elizabeth today and we will link with the Lord Protector later. That is a point I will raise; my inability to com to Renmark except through Elizabeth."
"Uncle Gus, you will just have to trust your allies a bit more. For purely technical reasons we were not able to join you to Renmark. You are on the wrong galactic arm."
"And thank you, I am happy being here; it's further away from Sol. Your assessment of the situation, please."
"Well, ascribing the worst possible motives to Chencon, I consider destruction of Mountserrat for control of the Junction and the Perseus arm trade as being a probability. How much of the kingdom they would plan on destroying I cannot assess. Without Settlement and the Mountserrat orbitals, there is no kingdom. Even with what reinforcements Renmark and Amiranti can spare us, that size fleet as appears to be assembling can't be stopped from doing whatever it wants to do. Even with all fleets combined and that would be risky under our present circumstances, I think we could only give them a black eye and not stop them. If they are reinforced with Harbourian fleet, we won't even blacken their eye. We need more time to produce missiles and CVs but our experience here locally is that idiots in the bureaucracy seem to take this as an opportunity to increase their power bases. It is not looking good on this side of the fence, Sir."
"Reiperbahn agrees with you and he is recommending pulling all our units back into Home Fleet for the defence of our Empire. We do have an obstacle defence not many know about, and that is an extremely turbulent hyperspace above the Empire. It is why my ancestor decided this was the place for him; we can only be attacked from the disc. It's also why the wormhole stops short of Amiranti. If Chencon controls the Junction, we wither on the vine. Harbouria has always desired a foothold on Orion arm and that makes Renmark attractive to them. Thank you Aggy, please do keep us informed. Augustus, clear."
Sally had waited by his desk while Nan had departed, pecking McCock on a cheek. She elevated an eyebrow,
"Uncle Gus touching base" she was informed, "and why are you waiting for me?" She held up his skinsuit as Evan Evans appeared.
"Good morning Commodore; I see your PS has got you organised for me. I do have to concede an advantage though."
"Any smart comment from you, my lad, and the Boss won't be the only one with a black eye."
"I am suitably chastened, my lady. Boss, we have combined things. The three of us are going on check rides in the barge whilst we go on an inspection tour of GmBH holdings. Your skin suit, Sir. Yours too, Sally."
McCock and Sally retreated into the living quarters to don their new dark gray 'skinnies'. McCock noted on the right breast a new patch which he studied closely and identified as being the "Queen's Honour" and the number "451" beneath. He looked at Sally.
"Came through two months ago with Cowboy's PMV, but we've been a bit busy of late and it wasn't until MFH drew our attention to it. DSO to you and MCs to the Flock. There is a strong rumour going around there are peerages in the offing, officially for Gorgipest's recovery but the same rumour says for New Liege."
McCock studied Sally closely and then reached for his PDA entering a code and when linked another,
"Sorry to trouble you, but there is a whisper about peerages for New Liege. I would rather there be silence about the perpetrators of that raid."
The female voice replied,
"My sources tell me that is still held very tight even in the Service and the politicians remain ignorant but you can't stop speculation."
"I would suggest that Abe be instructed to heavily play the 'nobody knows' theme on Sol. The only solid evidence presented to date is that still of what might be a Snipe and bits of metal which might be from seventy year old missiles etc etc."
"Agree, we need every bit of propaganda we can get. I'll com him now. Clear."
"Still have friends in high places, Aggy?"
"Mutual advantage, Sally," McCock said sadly, "Mutual advantage, only."
Entering the barge through No 5 hatch on "Trader", the party was greeted by Alan, Harryoh, and Felix. They seated themselves in the comfortable suite in the forward compartment just aft of the pilot's cockpit.
"We are as ready for deployment as we are going to be, Sir. We are tight in crew but we aren't going to get anymore. We are at peacetime establishment level and Manning bluntly state there is no more available for us. Retraining on energy torpedoes is finished but could do with some more practice. Mr Kowalski reports that he is satisfied with the system for manning "Shriek" and practice deployments have gone well. Our ward room is relatively inexperienced particularly in ship handling but...
The PGS major carefully scraped this boots on the scraper besides the door of the Grace and Favour apartment attached to The Round Tower. He then just as carefully scraped them on the door mat before entering his home. Once inside he stood on the carpet square, removed his boots placing them in a box close to his hand, put on soft coverings and walked down to his sitting room. His wife was already seated and pouring his cup of tea to place it gently on the coffee table before him. It was a...
The Queen waved the men to the spindly appearing chairs at the low table off to the side of the office, and asked "Slow?" Aggy seated himself seconds after the Queen seated herself before answering "I want to divide 119 so my tasks will be a bit more manageable and not bogged down in minutiae. I've slotted Slow as Captain D (Grendles) which will probably include "Vector", Denny to take "Warburton" as Captain D (VWs) and Timothy Avers to be Commodore FURS; and before you ask, you...
Slow glared at her putative commander. "You'd do that, wouldn't you?" McCock asked. "Blood's oath I would, and I'd get Denny and Polack to literally sit on you while I commed her. I want your oath, Aggy, and no tricks. You do not personally do any exploration. You command but don't participate. Your oath, now!" "Gently, Slow," McCock said, "you have it. No exploring! My oath on it!" "Aggy, tell me " enquired Major Logan, "are all your subordinates so insubordinate?" Slow...
"Aggy" as Hugh Avers buttonholed McCock outside the Purser's Office the day after the Board Meeting, "on the matter of work force. I've been hearing that the Navy Yard here has been slowing down and has put out feelers for voluntary redundancies. I also had a word with the people on the farms who are basically surplus to requirement and there are some families who have expressed interest in removing the families from the war zone to somewhere neutral and who will look very seriously at...
Polack had his stick in his hand about to insert it into the lock and the door opened to its full extent. He smiled at the short thin brown man standing facing them, "Barati, I'll beat you yet." The brown face split into an excreta eating grin which said 'in your dreams, bossman, in your dreams'. He took their forage caps and was murmuring a quiet "Welcome, Commodore." as a duo of energetic children exploded about either side of him and impacted into Polacks legs with cheerful...
Sir Henry knocked at the open door of the Admiral's Quarters on "Vector" and entered as McCock waved him in to a seat. McCock extracted the chip and placed it into the box file on the table in front of him and then looked enquiringly at his Intel Officer. "A courier headed for the Chens from the direction of Old Earth is two hours out and coming fast. I waited for five minutes to be sure of it. He certainly knows exactly where he wants to go and that means a prior set up RV — last...
Another day passed before the word was received that the RMN BC squadron was returning having found no enemy out to the southeast. At that point, "Vector" began recovering her assets preparatory to returning to the fitting out yard. The only mishap was a Gnat which missed the lights and richocheted off the hull. The Gnat controller was quite shaken; the Havildar tartly remarked that perhaps next time, if ever his grounding was rescinded, he might attend to his craft rather than the female...
"Hello, Aggy" greeted Sir Henry as McCock entered "Vector's" CIC, "to what do I owe this pleasure?" "Your report this morning made the point "Dowager Lady" is expected. Why should we be interested in a small freighter tramping about local space? Apart from the fact they are connected with an attack upon my ladies." "After "Widow Lady" departed, I had a good look at the vids from Fergusons and went over Lloyds register; ran some figures through the 'puter and made a couple of...
Sir Thomas Cassimatis shook the hands of RearAdmiral McDermid and Commodore McCock, "Thank you all for coming, and so quickly too. I would desire an explanation for the rapidity of the journey. Be seated please." McCock noted that on the Admiralty side, the four Space Lords were accompanied by Rear Admirals Rowan and Cochrane. He also noted there were no recorders. "No recording, Sir Thomas?" "No, Aggy, this is to be a truly 'caps in the corner' conference. The sole purpose of this...
King Harold granted the indulgence of Commodore McCock and granted the boon of an audience when the King's duties allowed him to be in the Admiral's Quarters on "Vector" at say four in the forenoon watch which was in an hour's time and the King would honour the Commodore by travelling in the Barge. After all the verbiage, Sir Austen explained it, "Your Grace, Harry wants to speak with you urgently. Would you send the Barge and he is ready now." "Herald King at arms" laughed McCock...
"Commodore, "Gremlin" asks us to come alongside to take on board an EVA; ah, its Captain Gort, Sir." "Thank you, Pilot; we'll come up and squeeze into the flight deck," McCock turned to his seated companion, "C'mon, Marcel, that damned woman and her EVAs has caught us without skinsuits." They both unbuckled and up the walkway they passed the Crew Chief hurrying aft to the hatch and securing his suit hood as he went. McCock signaled Thoreau into the Crew Chief's seat and he...
'Polack' took a deep breath as he punched up the holo of a ship's engine room with figurines placed at points about the diagram. "We decided to look at a destroyer's engine space; we had to start somewhere and all ships are but a destroyer writ large". He waved away McCock's raised eyebrows. "We know that's not absolutely true Sir..." "Aggy." "Uh, Aggy, but as I said we had to start somewhere and small and simple we thought was better than jumping in on a BB's...
After Slow was seated, McCock continued "This news raises a critical decision which has to be made. Ma'am, your Navy must forsake any construction larger than a CA, and absolute priority must be given to Cruise missiles, missile carriers post Wamirant, KeyHACs, some UVAs and CVLs. For the latter we'll have to strip the bases to mount the necessary numbers; and I suggest that the BC construction be changed to make them into CVLs." "Its strange you should raise that matter, Aggy," the...
McCock was entering the shuttle when he remembered. The Queen settled beside him and the PGS trooper closed the hatch and mounted next to the driver. They set off and McCock raised the matter, "Ma'am, what with the hard space work being done, the Flock are finding they are out of our depth with the very high level mathematics involved plus the demands of their command responsibilities don't leave enough time for research these days. I ask permission to approach MU for a mathematican, if...
"Navy radar, this is "Shriek' at the hyper, for the harbour, request clearance, over." ""Shriek", clearance denied, you are to proceed directly to the navy yard, call control on 4315 for onward clearance stat, clear." "Aggy, why do I think we are knee deep in the stuff?" "Alan, I have no idea why you might even contemplate such a thing? Let's see what happens." "Navy control, this is "Shriek", at the hyper, request clearance to the navy yard, over." ""Shriek" you are...
"Aggy, Baron Glanville on the FTL link; do you want to talk with him?" Sally asked from the Purser's anteroom, "line 3?" McCock pressed '3', "Prime Minister?" "Commodore, Willie Bruce, any prospect of patching up the differences?" Silence. "Oh, well, I had to ask; not that I was asked to. Blue Hills was suggesting yesterday that you might have access to political intelligence that we can't obtain in a timely enough manner and he suggested that we send a liason officer down...
"Aggy" commed Slow, "Navy local have just informed me that the covering BC squadron has gone off to the southwest investigating reports of some marauding force taking out merchies. Gorgipest is uncovered and they request we send out our VWs as scouts. I didn't tell them they were tasked and out of the area." "We could send out some UVAs but you have already thought of that, haven't you;" replied McCock, "you want to sortie in "Vector". What is the status of that third...
"Commodore, Crypian McDermid. I have just received signal orders to report to the Admiralty with my staff for discussions regarding possible operations in this area. There is a memo from Evan Cochrane personally asking you attend quote as an observer unquote. A nice touch, that, I thought. When would it be convenient for you to travel?" "Let me mull this over for a bit ... Crypian, I'm going to try something. I'll com you back. Clear." McCock extracted his PDA and entered a com...
"Aggy, I followed up that sniff and I think it is a Chencon courier who snuck out via the South Pole where we don't have cover. And nor does any body else. I have no idea where he went to but if he is coming our way he should be here within three or four days." "Thank you, Henry. Do you think we need to put cover over the other ends of the planets we watch?" Sir Henry answered thoughtfully, "All things considered, Aggy, no, I don't. Originally, we placed the UVAs for sigint purposes...
"Information alpha for Runnymede control. Temperature is sixteen degrees Celsius and pressure is one zero one ninah. Wind is from the planetary south west at twelve knots gusting to eighteen. Shuttles for full stop are to use the western pad to a hover and then follow the marshal to the parking area. Call control on 5675 at fifty klicks... Information alpha..." Alan Avers switched to guard and continued the descent through the atmosphere. Colin Avers remarked "Approaching fifty,...
"Bernard, did you... ?" "Yes, my lord of Montrose, I saw the whole thing on vid as did my planet. It has done one thing for sure and answered any doubters. My capitol is virtually deserted and I haven't given the order to evacuate. The U93 feed seems to be expanded, Aggy. Did you do that?" "Yes, Bernard; I put four U40s down into n space and joined them into the feed from U93." "Would you do the same for U94 if that armada heads this way. I want a full evidence book when I bring...
Sir Henry began again, "Another thing while I've got you; the overheads of the 'Widow' show that there was a period of electronic interference broadcast about the time a 'tainer was discharged from the vessel out of usual hours. We got the feeds from the overheads and have identified the safe house being used. I put in some Ghorkhali teams to follow the people inside buildings and I am seeing an interesting mesh being made. Sidney has been most helpful, he has identified one of the...
The next morning McCock bit the bullet and commed Erin at "The Residence". "Erin. Good Morning. When are you intending to return to Gorgipest?" "Probably tomorrow. Shelly wants to complete her yacht training and then space down in the yacht. We are using the Barge and Trudie, Nan and I will crew her under supervision of Alan and his people. Shelly will christen "Vector" for us and then return here; she doesn't want to leave her work. She feels happier at WepDev. Now, what do you...
To the denizens of the floor, nobody else in the world seemed to think war was coming. It was all surreal. They worked long hours spending weeks on and off planet on short fleet attachments which left the Crypt always feeling dissatisfied. In the Navy, but not in space, navigating a desk going nowhere with blood – upon – the – floor arguments with always higher ranking serving officers from time to time. When he didn't have the duty, McCock, as an Ensign was required to undertake his...
McCock utilized the time between his cabin watches and sleep time in accessing the Naval dockyard library on the black computer. The Head Librarian would have been horrified to learn that anyone could access the memory of the Library. The security and counter intelligence at the yard would have had a collective coronary if they had known that an outsider could get in and just how deep the penetration was. The Library had access to most but not all of the secrets of the Weapons' Development...
"That's it!" screamed Slow coming over the Flock's com. link, "no more, I'm feyed with this local ordering. Aggy, we need a 'gofor'!" McCock found Slow in a pile of mashed and melted mache in the lounge. She was pounding a crumpled mess into a smaller mess with a glue gun. As she heard McCock enter the lounge, she had turned to him offering him a twisted offering of some material which was burnt around the edges. She snarled, "That's two days work. It blister'ering melted; its...
Commander Mathews had given after lunch lectures in the past. "Gentlemen, all the chairs and tables in the middle of the lounge. Now!" "Good, now, Admiral Higgins lead your party at the double five laps around the lounge; Sir, we'll follow. That means everybody," eyeing the Flock who were edging away. The Flock actually handled the wake-up best; they did rigorous daily workouts when on "Trader". Allowing his audience, now awake, to settle, the Commander began, "There is no need...
It was an odd collection of people waiting in the corridor outside the conference room of the First Space Lord. All were in mess dress uniform and were lined up with most senior nearest the door down to the most junior. Vice Admiral Milligan, RMN, Rear Admiral Rowan RMN, Lt Cdr McCock GDF, Chief Yeoman Writer McGraw, Petty Officer 1st Denholt., Petty Officer 1st Gort, Petty Officer 1st Indira and Petty Officer 1st Kowalski. Polack was feeling very exposed on the end of that line. He had been...
The convoys went on and 119 thought of it self as being the forgotten people of the RMN. This of course was not true; transfers and replacements of personnel occurred; compassionate leaves had been granted; promotions promulgated; and repairs and maintenance were forever needed. There were from time to time side trips to the Amiranti Empire. Commander Wallace had received his orders to take "Victoria" back to Mountserrat for refit of a fusion bottle which had become a worry to his Chief...
"Our choices are limited" began McCock over Tabes to his other Captains and the com was being piped throughout each ship. "We don't have enough bunkerage to be confident we would all reach Hebrides. We have enough between us for one to probably return to Mountserrat. So one – do we send one or two ships with everyone on board out to Hebrides, hoping we are not detected while transhipping bunker mass and crews. Two – send everyone on one ship to Mountserrat. Three - surrender to the...
"So, there it is Emily," Elizabeth said in an almost exasperated tone, "Aunt Caitlin, when she stops laughing, says I should leave it alone." Caitlin Winsor, sitting opposite the others, was indeed viewing the Queen's discomfort mirthfully and just managing not to laugh outright, "I also said they should sort it out themselves." Elizabeth glared back at her aunt, "Oh I agree, but there is the small problem that none of them knows about the others – to be exact I presume each knows...
"Still no honours, Aggy?" asked the Second Space Lord with a broad smile which took any sting out of the question, shaking McCock's proffered hand. McCock looked somewhat sternly at him before replying, "'Sniffy' is now in the Grey Line Shipping Company." Turning to greet the PS, "Hello, Sally." and returned her salute. "Good morning, Commodore." And Sally returned the slight frown with a perfectly bland expression. McCock led the visitors to his quarters They settled into the...
Captain Carlton was demonstrating the antics of a decapitated fowl. The news from the Academy was excellent; a full course of fifty candidates had passed selection and were ready for training. They would begin at beginning of next week. Initial kit issues were to be Navy. Initial training was to use atmospheric aerofoil fitted vehicles. More advanced training required introduction to the vessel type to be ultimately used and simulators were somewhat limited for pilot training as opposed to...
Sir Joshua was talking to the multinational regarding assets it was considering divesting in three days. He had organised the 'puters the next day and by that day's end Polack had made the connections with the disorganised assistance of Bollinger- the blighter wouldn't stop drooling and dashing away to enter something else he wanted to explore on the system. In the end, Polack tossed him at Sally to keep out of everybody's way and borrowed some Avers from the 'shop. Polack had Sally...
Angie came into the Purser's outer office as Sally had established the link and was waved by that worthy to the guest's chair. Sally put the link on speaker. "Trudie, Sally, how are you? How are the boys?" "If you mean our two, they are getting on fine. If you mean your lot, they are driving Barati crazy. He says whenever he talks to one of them he has to measure his height and then remember the line of them before he can guess the name of the lad he is talking to; otherwise they are...
McCock was enjoying a post prandial relaxation time in the office attached to the sleeping quarters of the Admiral's Quarters with his Aide, Evan Evans and discussing the visits to the orbital warehouses and the dirtside warehouses and factories associated with GmBH on the morrow. The ladies had arrived and Sally had departed after dinner to see to their meal and to get them quartered; their plan for the morrow was to inspect several properties on the outskirts of Gorgiepest for their...
McCock listened while donning his skinsuit to Hugh Avers tale of woe with regard to the Navy's decision not to accept the past six month's production of UVAs and Keys giving as their reason that they wanted to concentrate on the newer missile pods and at present they claimed there were sufficient tractored missile controllers in inventory to cover needs for twelve months; Navy was pushing very hard to get as many HAC CV hulls into operation as they could. "I spoke to Admiral Rowan two...
"The Green Man" proved pleasant enough, catering as it did for the middle level at the yards and occasional residents of itinerant ships' officers. It was within walking distance of the shuttle ramps to both yards hovering in near orbit and to the city dirt side. The hotel had a well stocked bar and kept a good board for the steady flow of diners; you didn't dine out there, you 'ate', - a dockside café rather than an up town restaurant. Mine Host ran his establishment well and pardoned...
The flock had gathered in the Rec Room. They had doffed their skin suits and were hooked about the table except for Slow who was still in the Cabin but on the intercom. McCock took a deep suck on his bulb, "Now, tell me about the yacht," to Polack and to Slow's gurgling chortle "and you stay out of this M'lady." "I've got to talk to you about 413 first, Aggy, its important." McCock considered momentarily. "Go, but I still want the story on that yacht." "The work on 413 is a...
McCock was swiping his card for Room 3003, when he heard the lift door open and then light footsteps. He braced as a remembered voice said "Ah! Making a good impression I see. Its first names – respectfully, please note – between officers at least. Paul.", all said with a pleasant smile. "Uh. Well I was called "Aggy" at the Academy – I came from the R.M. Agricultural and Military College" in response to the interrogating eyebrow. "Good engineering that lot" as he padded ahead of...
Rowan was alone in the Dungeon having as usual arrived early. He had just replenished his coffee from 3003, sat himself down and punched up desk top com when the alarm lock sounded off. Someone – very high up- had been trying to get him before he had arrived, putting a lock on his com to open the link as soon as he punched in and that spelt major trouble. It was. The features of a stressed out Aide – de – camp to Admiral Dame Diana Halliday, Captain Percy Gantry, appeared on the screen....
The navigator alert notified McCock that his last way point was fast approaching. After obtaining clearance, McCock, going manual, turned and took up the yard's heading. He was pointed at a solid flare of white light, which, as he came closer translated into the glare of several large portable lights illuminating the wreckage of the yard outer gates in which was embedded one end of a barge – about three to five hundred tonnes he thought. He hoped it was the low end of that size or the inner...
"How much of this goo do we need anyway?" moaned Cowboy as he twisted himself between the barge hull and the coffer dam edges, trailing the applicator tubing over his suit's shoulder. He rotated to prevent the umbilical cord looping about the suit. "A lot" came the rumbling reply from Polack, "keep it off the sealing area – it's a devil to remove without using a vibrating chisel and that scratches the surface and that's not advised. That's me finished. How much longer for you,...
McCock went on, "When I read it, there was a major competition for racing yachts, multicrew, space capable, not hypercapable, to be held off Griffen in three T-years. We will establish our reputation by winning, I hope, that prize. It will explain why there are parts of the yard closed off; it will give cover for when we are working on it; the yard's machinery will be available for us when needed; our mock ups won't look out of place and we can space test the yachts in plain sight. EW can...
Milligan completed his inspection of the HAC and departed to continue his inspection of the Navy Yard. The Horde discovered "Offspring". Whenever some of them were at loose ends, they would take "Offspring" for a run out to near space. It would have been hilarious to the Flock, listening to Flag Officers squabbling with Chiefs as to who would be coxswain, except that they were being worked hard whilst intruders were playing with their toy. However the 'put out' feeling was being...
"Can I help you?" Angie turned to a red haired woman about her age. 'Deity. Who is she? The way she holds herself;' "The lounge? I was told ... directed to the lounge. I believe there is be a confidential discussion and I have yet to complete my business." "I'm Sally McGraw, dogsbody and general factotum, the lounge is over here. Coffee?" "Angie Merton. Thank you. Both please before you ask. Have you any idea how long they'll be?" Sally shook her head, returned to her office...
The Flock were in "Shriek" doing maintenance assisted by the crew of NCOs who were presently under training. The routine was broken by McCock's com. There was a whining conversation which the others were shutting out. "Oh! Shit! SLOW?" "Dammit! Denny, not into the com, you nearly blasted my head off" aggrievedly said Slow, "I'm sitting next to you. Ooooh what's wrong?" As a blonde Denny had naturally a pale complexion but as he looked at Slow, he was almost transparent, "We...
The "Crusher" topics had been dealt with somewhat to Gold Roper's relief; he had been dragged into them and his experience and knowledge has been sorely tested by five highly dedicated minds. The topics had been widened by the introduction of "Shriek" into the simulations. The crew was kept active as was needed on the constant convoy duties to break the tedium and maintain their standards. The crew, grumbling about being underpaid and the extra work they were having to undertake, was...
Evan Cochrane was a humane man who had realized early in the deployment that, with a certain amount of finagling, he could send detachments through the Junction so that his crew members could make contact with their loved ones as much as was possible in war years. It was noticeable that the crew's adaptability allowed more partnered than single "ashore on Raffles" and the opposite in Paracelsian or Amiranti ports. Polack was one of those who enjoyed "shore leave" at Raffles but events...
The disaster at Gorgipest had burst over the faxes on Settlement. The Brown Hollow government fell. The old team were back at the Admiralty. People with relatives or friends on Gorgipest were worried. There was a number of women on Settlement who had partners and friends on 119. They were worried almost literally sick at the lack of news plus the added worry of a babe orphaned before its birth and the prospect of children never knowing a father. There were glaring gaps in the knowledge of the...
The Navy Board would have been surprised at just what McCock and his friends had been doing. He desperately needed crew for the surviving destroyers. "Shriek" needed to be in six places at once and the demands on that cohort were extreme. He enlisted navy personnel who had no work with the yards in the state they were in. He took only those who would swear to his service. This did restrict his choices but he wanted no conflicts of loyalty in his ships – "You either trust me or you...
Two pairs of women smelled a large dead rodent when the news of the proposed settlement for salvage of Gorgipest broke. There was a suspicion that the leak came from the Palace which very pointedly indicated that it did not comment on any matter. The survivors of what they called the "Death Ride" had spent a little of their time researching and discussing salvage in all its ramifications. They had come to a conclusion that GmBH as owner of the salving vessels was going to get a very big...
"This McCock fellow seems a bright young man. I like his ideas." Sir Victor Carlton glanced across at his putative commanding officer as that person flicked across the screen in his PDA. "And why's that Sir?" Captain acting Commodore Peter Scott RMN shifted his eyes to look at the other occupant of the office. Carlton was tinkering with the entrails of the desk's 'puter, "You will be able to put that back together again, won't you, Chief? I might need it from time to time for...
"I lied" McCock said bluntly to Commodore Tremaine and Captain jg Sir Victor Carlton as they stood in the Command Centre of HMS "Infamous". Sir Victor said "Aggy, I got that horrible sinking feeling when I read our orders. You wrote them didn't you? They were so vague – couldn't have written them better myself. Of course, this fine upstanding example of an RMN officer couldn't envisage anyone being so sneaky. Now the full story Sir." McCock looked at his COHAC with a slight smile;...
"Where is Andrea, Millicent?" asked McCock as the Squadron approached the Maureen's Moon junction. "She joined "Infamous"." "Without permission makes you stowaways." Millicent smiled widely, "I think I'd prefer to call myself an official observer." They sat in McCock's cabin where Millicent Utah was almost inhaling her second helping. "Where were you?" "In the Boat Bay ready room. I was there before you left and your crews regarded me as part of the furniture. We never...
"Giant" had hove to in the upper part of the epsilon hyperspace band. Captain Felix Arburthson had ever so carefully manoeuvred her to this position on the cosmos side of the Mountserrat system which sat in the outer edge of the Orion Cygnus arm of the Milky way. He had direct coms with his Commodore and his Captain D; in fact, Aggy and his Flock were on the bridge of HMS "Infamous". He had TQO "Shriek" in company and there was a wide circle of UVAs around them. His vessel's two UVAs...
"Aggy, is it your coming to see me? Both recent times you look as if you spent the night carousing rather than sleeping in your bed. Oh, that's it, you were overnighting at "The Residence". I shall have to speak with Trudie about your comfort." 'It wasn't the bed' he thought 'it was Nan. How did she know I was coming? I came unannounced and there she was at Dinner; and later... ' He shook himself mentally, inhaled the cup of coffee and reached for a refill. The Queen...