Chapter 35

McCock resolved the questions of precedence during construction as he usually did. He asked the Navy; it was just that Navy wasn't aware of the question. Using the black 'puter, McCock accessed the procedure manuals of the major Naval Shipyards. He would examine the manuals of mainly the smaller vessels, flivvers, launches, pinnaces, cutters, shuttles and rarely those of the space going vessels of the fleet. He would assess the procedures and selected the one which had the best fitted with the project. He invariably found that the Naval tried and true methods were just that – tried and true.

The fleet counter missile missiles, bench modified to be pure and primary attack weapons had been confirmed; in fact dummy missiles and their tubes would shortly be arriving. These were for B tween. The tubes were to be integrated into a nest which itself was to be integrated under slung in the hull. There were to be ten of them and from intermediate ranges the salvo would give even a cruiser a bad headache – and then the HAC had better show its legs – and stealth. Firing could be single or multiple shot.

The firing system was to be almost original with control on the bridge through the tactical computer which also performed the navigational calculations. The sets of equipment selected were those of serving cutters with the missile firing added on. McCock realized that the production model would almost certainly go to the fleet in a form significantly different to his prototype. He just had to build it, demonstrate it functioned and prove the concept sufficiently that a testing unit would be formed to fully assess the weapon.

McCock was very definite in his reports to Rowan that the HAC was a parasite weapon tied to a mother ship. (McCock's blunt opinion always brought a smile to Rowan's face.) McCock was kept abreast of work – in- progress in plans for a mother ship but things were not going to progress beyond that until the test unit was formed. Thought was being given to attaching the HAC externally to fleet vessels but it wasn't being enthusiastically followed at that time.

Even using the wiring harness of the original courier plan there had still been some difficult little problems particularly with the weapon mounts. Discussions between Cowboy and the rest of the Flock had got sharply pointed at times not quite reaching 'heated'. Three twin barrel laser mounts had been selected, capable of being anti shipping to anything smaller than a light cruiser and also as last ditch point defence. In the anti shipping role they were to be controlled as a single weapon from the bridge; in point defence they were to be under local independent control having a short range detection system and intrinsic firing control; here there was a link to main computer so that in the event of an overwhelming number of targets, the main computer prevented local control becoming confused and not firing. Slow and Denny were very pleased with that modification and Cowboy was fulsome in his praise. McCock had sent that modification up to Rowan to slip into the Wep Dev network. (Rowan reported back that the work was greatly appreciated and was being rapidly explored for fleet use as 'locking up' caused by multiple targets was an on-going problem for point defence.)

McCock set out his proposals, recognizing that Murphy had not yet had his say. Environmental and harnesses (which had been contracted by Wep Dev to a Settlement company using existing expertise) would be next. Cowboy was to put in the weapon platforms but to mount gun cameras using the local targeting and over ride system. Travelling around a harbour with gun mounts on a civilian vessel would attract a lot of undesirable attention. The obvious appearance of areas of hull suitable for weapon mounts were to be passed off as options available to Navy buffs to fit camera mounts and indulge in simulated single combat with like minded individuals. The obvious under slung area was to be passed off as somewhat luxurious passenger accommodation. The actual manning of the project required a cruising minimum of five: crew commander, weapons, Tac/Nav/Coms, EW, and power plant. Automation built in allowed for an absolute minimum of two: commander, fighting the vessel, and power plant/EW the other. Of course there was no accommodation planned and the original plans space for this in couriers had been somewhat ambivalently utilized for the weapons systems. The bridge space was less cramped allowing the more modern crew restraints which could be unbent to allow the user to stretch.