Chapter 17: It starts, 889/890 AD

Scott ordered Sigurd to come with them to Inveraray. He made ready to ride back immediately, expecting everyone else to follow suit. When they arrived back at the camp, the colonel and Scott's father sought him out.

"Would you really have allowed your men to kill this Norseman and sink their ships, wouldn't that have been a little savage?" His father asked.

"Dad, with respect, you don't know what you are dealing with here. The least sign of weakness and the Vikings would descend upon us and lay waste to everything we hold dear. Yes, I would have allowed him to be killed. You heard what he said. He cast doubt on my position as High King and was insulting towards Scotland. The only language the Norse understand is the language of strength."

"I can see I'm going to struggle to earn my keep here your Grace. You seem to have the military situation well in hand!"

"Not so Colonel, I admit I have learned from experience, but I am not a professional and my next mistake could cost many lives. I try not to fool myself."

The Colonel was doubly impressed. Normally the human reaction would be to believe you were better than you actually were, Scott's successes would tend to re-inforce that, yet here he had a man who was being brutally honest about his abilities, wasn't afraid to admit others might be better qualified.

When they arrived at Inveraray Scott was surprised that Sigurd showed little interest in seeing his daughter and Helfe wasn't in any rush to seek out her father either. The Norseman seemed impatient more than nervous, as if he wanted to know what Scott planned for him so that he could get on his way quickly. Scott and Gabrain met with him to set out what they wanted.

"Sigurd we had a deal, trade between us and no raids on the Scottish mainland. You had no intention of keeping to that deal and were raiding in Moray almost as quickly as I had sailed out of Kirkwall harbour. That is why I let my sea wolves loose on you, because you broke your word. With that as an example, why should I have greater faith in any new deal we come up with between us?"

"Sire, we have learned our lesson, have seen the destruction your ships can wrought. Common sense tells me that I don't want to pick a fight with you again. Now, what would you have me do?"

Sigurd's use of 'Sire' was a surprise to Scott, indicating an acceptance from the Norseman of Scott's superiority over him. He wondered whether there was anything to be gained here.

"I would remind you Sigurd that Orkney is in fact part of Scotland and you and Harald Fairhair hold it by force. If I was so minded I could simply take it back using the same method."

Sigurd looked up quickly, eyes flashing for an instant at what he perceived as a challenge. The look passed quickly however, as his memory of the power of Scott's ships told him that this was no bluster from Scott, he really could take Orkney by force if he so wished. His face now took on a look of resignation, but also determination.

"You could not take on the might of all Norway your Grace, even with the weapons you have, but you say 'could', so obviously you don't plan this currently. What is it you wish instead?"

"I want Harald and yourself to recognise and accept once and for all that Orkney is part of Scotland. In return I am willing to name you my Earl of Orkney and not interfere in your affairs so long as our trade can prosper."

Sigurd was surprised now at what seemed a generous offer to him.

"I will personally discuss that with Harald, but I can give no guarantees he will agree. He has not had the 'pleasure' of seeing your ships in action."

"Aye, and let's hope he sees sense and has no wish for a demonstration. Now, to other matters. I need access to ores from which to extract metals. Norway herself has great reserves of iron ore and Portugal has Tungsten, Tin and Chromium. I will send one of my geologists with you and supply you with cargo ships to transport this ore. In return for this I will share with you many of the improvements we have already achieved here. It may be that your wife will welcome these in your islands."

Gabrain smiled at what his friend had achieved. Cooling of the enmity between themselves and Sigurd and hopefully a supply of some of the raw materials his newcomers needed. And if Harald Fairhair accepted Scott's demands they would secure Orkney for Scotland without any further bloodshed.

Sigurd agreed to the trade aspect of Scott's deal and they discussed arrangements for the ships and the geologist being delivered to him. Scott had already decided to take the cannon out of two of his large ships and give these to the Norse as transporters. He sent messengers to Oban to ensure this was done as quickly as possible and told Sigurd the ships and the Geologist would be waiting for him when he arrived back at Oban.

Very quickly Scott found a procession of the specialists beating a path to his door to complain about the absence of even the most basic of their requirements. The manufacture of the machinery necessary to build roads was not as straightforward as Scott imagined. There was a need for various cables - for brakes etc - and the precision engineering machines needed power and instrumentation. Power also called for cable, to run the electricity from the plant to wherever it was to be used, and also wiring for the machines.

Scott authorised the construction of a cable plant and the acceleration of the work his father was leading on the construction of a hydro electricity plant. Argyll was a natural spot for such a plant. There were numerous sites where the water gathered from the mountaintops and rushed downhill with great force. Scott remembered that there were perhaps two such plants in his own time.

The arrival of the snows put a halt to any major construction work on the power plant and seriously hampered work on the cable plant. The laboratory had been finished however and his scientists were already spending long hours there trying to work their magic. Scott had asked them to focus their attention on three things in the first instance. Nitrates were important in terms of their use as a fertiliser and as an explosive and he wanted access to both. Plastics could be used in any number of ways and Scott was determined to have these available to him. Finally, medicines were virtually non-existent in the ninth-century and Scott wanted the people of Scotland to have access to modern drugs to help improve their health.

Lachlan had sent word to inform Scott his raiding into England had passed off without any difficulty. He now had several hundred 'prisoners' spread throughout his settlements in Ayrshire, exposing them to Scotland's improved way of life - a way of life far ahead of what they would be used to.

Scott discussed the progress of things with the specialists each week. It had become the norm for them all to gather in the hall-house and share what had gone on over the preceding week. Scott had made sure that each of them had worked on the various blueprints and plans they would need before they left the twenty-first century. This meant that they had a 'library' of what they wanted to achieve on their computers, but their inability to take any of the projects forward was really frustrating them. Nonetheless Scott was amazed at the progress they were already making with little technology yet to assist them. In particular the lack of power was a major obstacle.

It was a classic 'chicken and egg' situation. The cable plant needed power to progress and enter production. The power plant needed cable before it could provide the power and so on.

Fergus' estimate was that the hydroelectric plant would take the best part of a year to complete and then there would be further work required to link the power to Inveraray. Estimates for the cable plant completion were in the same ballpark so it was unlikely that Scott would have access to any road building machines this coming spring. Scott was determined to speed this up and break the logjam. He pushed his specialists, suggesting the possibility of manufacturing generators to provide power for the cable plant.

The newcomers hung their heads in shame at not having thought of this simple solution themselves, but quickly shook that off as they realised Scott had given them the chance to get back on track. Scotland had access to plenty of oil from Scott's oil shale finds and a generator would be possible. If they could just manufacture a relatively small amount of copper wire they should be in business.

In contrast to the others, the Colonel had made great progress unaided by Scott. As a consequence, Scotland was close to having access to modern firearms. Working with the scientists he had developed shell casings and the correct grade of powder to fill them with. Scott's hand-tools had been pressed into service to help create the precision moulding for handguns and automatic rifles and the scientists had also managed to develop hard plastics to help the design along.

The Colonel indeed was a revelation. There was little about modern warfare that he didn't know. He was a demolition expert, an expert marksman and could use virtually any weapons system they could create. Already he had also manufactured simple mortars and his improved explosives were also on track to provide shells for much improved artillery pieces.

When the specialists had visited Oban they had swarmed over the steel plant that was already well on the way to being completed under Scott's orders, upgrading the facilities that were already in place. They set about making necessary alterations to the original design and were pleased that steel would soon be available to them in the quantities they needed. Already they had worked out the first machines that should be manufactured using this.

Scott also had access to a retired Royal Navy Captain and he had tasked this man with developing a more modern ship for sea warfare. The absence of modern technology suggested a modest start. The Captain was working with the engineers and Scott's shipwrights at Oban to build the first metal hull ship. Between them they had easily overcome the problems Scott's people had stumped by for years and a prop-shaft was already developed. The scientists had helped with the manufacture of the gases required for welding and riveting was also employed.

The Captain suggested he would have a working boat within eighteen months, taking up much of the steel production from the steel plant.

The design for the ship was based on the Brave class fast patrol boats manufactured by the Royal Navy in the 1950s and incorporated several of the Colonel's latest developments - forty millimetre Bofors guns and torpedo tubes. The Colonel was also helping with the development of self-propelled torpedoes - based on the flywheel design pioneered by Lt Commander John Howell in the late nineteenth century. These would require a motor to drive them and that of course would require copper wire. The Captain hoped production would be up and running in time to fit these when his ship was ready.

The ship would be around one hundred feet long and the Captain said it would weigh-in at around a hundred tons. Power would be delivered initially through steam three engines. But the Captain was also demanding copper wire for the manufacture of better engines, a version of the Bristol Proteus gas turbine. If he could manufacture these he claimed the ship would be capable of a maximum speed of over fifty knots. The steam engines would only help him deliver a speed in the mid-twenty knots and he badly wanted the faster speed.

Scott was amazed at just how busy the Colonel had been. He had urged the various engineers to design machines that could be used for multiple purposes. The engines that were being designed for bulldozers would also power an early form of tank. The engines for the Captain's ship would also double up for a steam engine to run on Scott's rail network. Scott thanked his lucky stars for the day he met MacKelvie.

Scott's mother had completely re-vamped the educational system too, once he had managed to get her to calm down at finding herself royalty. A curriculum had been developed and she was busy overseeing the intensive training of the brightest of the Dalriada children coming through the schools, so that they could teach the advanced lessons now available.

The initial printing press design had to be upgraded so that sufficient text books could be made to meet the demand and the scientists and engineers were 'moonlighting' to put on advance level classes in their own fields. In effect Scott realised they had created the first University and the potential for an exponential growth in the skilled workforce was significant. He knew most of his specialists were in their forties, fifties and sixties so it was important that they trained others up to their level before old age caught up with them.