Chapter 53

The Admiralty shuttle carried some very dazed people. McCock was least affected as he was used to wealth. He realized he had the responsibility to his colleagues to educate them in the ways of wealth and the pitfalls of its sudden acquisition. There was not the Prize Money in their pockets yet as the official Admiralty Court decision had not been handed down.

McCock pondered the situation. When the group was in their quarters, McCock having again confused officials and shared quarters with the others, he gathered them about him. He gave them a precise and concise outline of the problems to be faced but he could see it was not being recorded in the memory circuits of his listeners. He then made the announcement which did light up the consciousness.

"Over the next two weeks while you are on leave please concentrate on just one problem while you enjoy spending your accrued pay – Navy and GmBH – and don't ask me how that happened. The decision is whether or not you wish to remain in the Navy. The wealth you will have will allow you to do what ever you want to do. When you get your prize money, you would have to work hard or just be plain stupid to spend it all in a short time; you can however lose it quite quickly. I can make arrangements for MFH here in Settlement to act for you and they can advise you on possible temporary and permanent financial arrangements; I am always available for advice. Tomorrow, we can ask MFH to act for you and have Marcel Thoreau and my parents to oversight – this is the arrangement I have. Yes? Good! But! You have to decide about the Navy; you will be able to get your discharge later if you want to but it would be very difficult to rejoin once you leave.

I shall book rooms for us at the "Excelsior" here in Settlement for the last two nights of our leave. I'll get the Avers there. I at least want to farewell my shipmates properly before they return home and I wander off to Paracelsus. Then we can take it from there."

He looked at Denny's and Cowboy's reactions.

"Yes?"

Denny said,

"'Mina's here."

"That's was quick," McCock observed, "and you can't come or you want her to be there too?"

"Spend the time there with her. She'll understand the reason for the party."

"Cowboy?"

"Shelly. I don't know what I want to do." There were varied but approving responses to the news about Shelly.

McCock temporized,

"I'll book the suite for you. Go with whatever she is happy with. I'd miss you if you weren't at the last night but its not as if I'm not going to see you again but the Avers and Sally ... If you are worried about the cost if you don't use it, you can pay me back. Your petty cash will have no problem. Suit everybody?"

They broke up, collected their quite meagre belongings and went their ways.

McCock made contact with the Avers through Harryoh for the farewell party and during the course of that conversation realized the Avers didn't know about the prize money. He had got them together for a luncheon at the "Excelsior" assuring them that his pocket would easily carry the cost of entertaining friends. Their reactions surprised him.

"Prize money."

"What prize money?"

"What for?"

Until he remembered the reaction of the Flock. Despite being long term service NCOs, their attitude to prize money was that other people got that, it didn't concern them, they just got on with the job.

McCock had contacted Sir Laurence's office and after a personal meeting with him was given the information. It wasn't a breach of confidence as McCock already knew of it and knew the information of his share. The Admiralty Court had made an interim decision declaring "Bonaventura" a prize but reserving condemnation until the final value was known; that could take years but under the Court Order, distributions could be made. The reason for the Avers not knowing was simple but bureaucratic. When the "Bonaventura" berthed the Avers had happily made themselves scarce. They knew the Navy and knew its procedures for which they had a less polite description. The officials in Sir Laurence's office could only act in response to official actions, the Space Lords could discuss and give advisories – to the Flock – but the officials couldn't act until the Court made its order. Then the officials sent the notices – to Gorgipest, the official residence of those Avers. When those Avers put their relatives visiting on hold to meet McCock for a friendly lunch, McCock passed around copies of the notices. The notices being of official nature gave no unofficial estimates. In response to the rather equable almost disinterested enquiries,

"Oh how much?"

They were enjoying their lunch and they all knew that the Captain got most of it, and rightly so, McCock passed around the Navy Boards assessment. It listed the known value of the metals, then the insurance value of the luxury goods and then the listed value of the war supplies. In a footnote, the Board advised that estimate was likely to be only a fraction of the realizable value of that equipment. In a second footnote it advised that the war supplies were subject to seizure by the Crown for reasonable value. It was a multi page statement, the last page of which gave the breakdown of the shares for the crew; in the first column was the share of the calculable values. The second column for estimated share carried only question marks. Even so the minimum value of each Aver share made them double digit millionaires.