Aggy book 2Chapter 55
- 4 years ago
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"You want to do what?" said Slow in horrified tones.
"I want to put an MDM into "Vector" to test the defensive shield" repeated McCock.
"That's not what you said before, you said you wanted to fire a missile into "Vector"" Slow accused him.
"The shields are part of "Vector", aren't they?" McCock rejoined.
"They are, if they are raised," Slow was not letting McCock off the hook for giving her that fright, "and if they aren't raised, a missile will strike the ship."
"I think I'll start again." McCock said, "We, that is, "Vector", has been struck by two CL missiles without untoward effect but we weren't guarding the flux monitors at the time. I want to determine the strength of "Vector's" defensive shields. To do this, I intend to have a Gnat fire, first, an inert FNF missile and then a live missile. We will then calculate the energy exerted against the shield and the efficiency of its dispersion. An inert missile from an armed cutter will be tried, assessed and then a live HAC missile. If everything is ticketyboo, we will repeat using "Shriek". Assuming no problems, then "Sprightly" will load MDMs to fire at us and if that does no damage we will move onto cruise missiles.
We will be monitoring the shield flux values for each individual test.
We know the energy output of each of our missiles and running the information through the 'puters we will ascertain what energy output the shield will withstand and thus be able to make some sense out of the Solarian grading system — we are talking pomegranates to walnuts at present,
I then want to open a tunnel in the shield and allow a "Shriek" missile into it and then close down the tunnel and see what happens to the missile. I then want to explode a "Shriek" in the mouth of a tunnel and see what happens with the 'gel' between the shields."
"Why didn't you say so before" demanded Slow with just a touch of smugness. "Here," sliding a chip across to him, "it's laid on for day after tomorrow; I've been working on it for the past nine days."
McCock put the chip into his PDA and scanned the headings. Slow was way ahead of him. She had included investigation of the after barrier and also the effect of energy weapons. He also saw that Denny and Polack were supervising the shield monitors and Sir Henry was to provide the 'puter back up in real time. It was a well thought out plan stretching the envelopes with safety provisions incorporated.
"It has been circulating for past two days and briefing is tomorrow eight morning. You are invited, of course" Slow gurgled at McCock.
Left behind again; still good staff are always a step ahead of the chief.
Algy Hardman, being the careful soul that he was, had the first Gnat flown off loaded with blue painted SQR missiles only and had the Gnat firing circuit for the lasers disabled just in case the Gnat pilot got carried away. That postulate earned him a truly murderous stare from the Ghorkhali pilot at the briefing. It, however, resulted in the Ghorkhali pilot, Naik Bahadur Thapa, after flying his Gnat back on, rapidly moving from his control seat to the Hangar Deck and making a nuisance of himself until his Gnat's laser firing circuit was enabled. The Naik was also a trusting soul.
The practice missile was held in the outer shield and was used as an aiming point for the second Gnat's white painted SIM. The explosion dislodged the inert missile from the shield and transformed it into very small fragments. However the screen flux indicators didn't move. The Gnat did a laser attack which caused a glow at the point of impact. To spread the experience around, Algy had detailed a number of Gnats to make firing runs, each increasing the fired pulses. The last Gnat fired ten fast pulses into the same point of the screen and the effect was not discernably different from the first single pulse. Denny, Polack and Slow joined McCock, all making calculations on their PDAs and nodding appreciatively.
The HAC and "Shriek" missile attacks were no more damaging; the graser / laser blasts did cause the shields to momentarily glow at impact point.
"Sprightly" fired an MDM and on a second run, a cruise missile. As these were basically the same missile, the effects were basically similar — a glow lasting over several seconds spread over a twenty metre circle. The flux monitors did move off the base line but barely.
Whilst Denny and Polack expressed satisfaction, Sir Henry stated that the results did not enable him to calculate the peak energy loads the shield was capable of withstanding.
McCock was intrigued by the effect of the intra shield matrix; it appeared to dissipate most if not all of the energy impacting the outer shield. The outer shield itself appeared to be flexible to a limited degree and absorbed part of the energy of the impacting forces and withstanding the residual energy. To satisfy his curiousity, he spent some time in conversation with the inventors who were extremely interested in his results. The laboratory itself had not been able to test the composite wall; it had all been theoretical except that the shields each could withstand the latest Solarian missiles which unleashed energy equivalent to the latest Mounty missile class of Mark Ds.
What results had McCock had with the automatic point defence system on the behemoth, and had he tried the decoy system yet? The shield developer had not been involved in their development but had come in contact with the installation and had been fascinated by them. He had even gone so far as to get copies of the manufacturer's and developer's directions and the initial user manuals. McCock requested copies of the documents as they had not been provided and he was not sure if his people were maximally utilising the systems. That did not create a problem as his new found friend in the Old Earth laboratory was as intrigued as McCock as to how effective the systems were. The chip downloaded as they were chatting generally about the shields and McCock closed the conversation with a promise to pass on the results and general comments about "Gigantic".
McCock appeared preoccupied as he boarded the Barge for the journey home and responded abstractedly to attempts at conversation by Polack and Denny. He did put away his PDA during the meal and join the conversation around the table. He learned that David Murchien, Slow's peripatetic friend had relocated to Gorgipest and was co-habiting with Slow; he was now a junior partner with Sir Joshua with responsibility for the GMBH funds and the Trust accounts of GmBH. His monthly audited reports to the Trustees were carefully examined by the Avers and by MFH in Gorgipest for the Flock and he was managing the funds well with diverse investments outside GmBH Holdings. Matthius McCock expressed his satisfaction at the results; he had appointed himself unofficial assistant to David while they were in Settlement just to give himself something to do in semi retirement.
McCock called a Staff conference as soon as he boarded "Vector" the next moring. He instructed Sir Henry to find everything he had on the 'kiddy' 'puter and have it with him. He then commed Captain Harryfor Avers and requested his and his First Lieutenant's presence at the conference. Trojan distributed the coffee and munchies having been told that this was to be a brain storming meeting rather than to an agenda for which he usually provided nothing until afterwards.
After opening the meeting, McCock started it by innocently asking Denny about progress on "Vector's" decoy system.
"I don't think anymore that it has one" Denny replied; "for the first couple of weeks, I researched everything we had on chip or on the 'kiddy' 'puter. I even snuck down to Chagos while I was down there sitting in cosmic to hunt around the dock — nothing."
"Point defence?" asked McCock of no one in particular.
"Hasn't got any" said Slow and Polack nodded in agreement. "I took the opportunity to walk over the hull..." which statement cause chuckles from her listeners which Slow chose to ignore, "and there aren't any or if there are I couldn't find them and I looked. There are a number of radar and laser antennae mounted over the hull that seem to be more than necessary but I followed the connections and they are all joined to the detection bus bar. So, no; I think DDD was reliant upon those shields: remember he wasn't navy and probably didn't comprehend the possible need behind his shields."
"That's a point," conceded McCock, "but GEC are naval vessel builders and they would be a trifle hesitant to rely on experimental shields. Henry, have you anything?"
"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...
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...
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...