Chapter 56

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 forgot to put the 'specs' for the "Shriek's" hole in space into the docs we gave Silas. He had the originals, the one he said the manufactures weren't interested in."

"Yeah! How much shit are we in?" asked Slow nodding at his PDA.

"Don't know," turned off the mutes, "Aggy we gotta talk."

McCock's reply was

"Wait", with a long pause, then, "Ward Room now; oh, and expect the brass."

What had happened was that McCock had turned to the Captain who had heard and their attitude was expressed by 'Dred Yoncey,

"You are not cutting us out of this. I don't know why the Navy has sent this team to this Deity forsaken exile, but I never refused any of the deplorable gifts my Great Aunt Sophie gave me as I could always find a use for them and this is far better then Great Aunt Sophie; and I want the story behind why they are here, Evan, but this first."

McCock looked at the nods of agreement and made his reply to Denny.

"Gentlemen, I extend an invitation to the Ward Room for lunch. They have prepared for you here but the Flock and you won't fit in here."

The Captains moved to the Ward Room. After discussion with Gold Roper, the other ward room officers, engineers all, were allowed to stay. The Stewards put out the sideboards and departed. The Master – at – Arms secured the companion way. McCock as President of the Mess instructed, "Please get your food and then find a place to sit. Take the chairs away form the lounge side of the table and the Flock will sit on the other side as they will be the centre of our attention. Denny you can starve for the time being while you explain."

Denny explained abut the failure to put 'hole – in – space' Mark 2 on the "Shreik's" construction record saying that he had been influenced and discouraged by the original reaction which McCock had to expand. He also said that later while working on Period's patents, he'd briefly looked at it but put it aside. Denny told the story of "Naseby" and went on about the reverse engineering. Slow chortled when he started on the construction of the little box; they had taken a commercial chip which was used to even out harmonics in transmissions and had deliberately shorted out two adjacent strips which would normally junk the chip. It needed X-ray magnification to see and do and this wasn't available outside either a major manufacturing facility or a research laboratory. Hole – in- space mark2 was simpler but still required a high level research facility, and of course, certain chips. There was silence about the Ward Room as food was eaten and information was digested.

No one noticed the Second Engineer nudge the Chief and whisper in his ear. They looked at each other, seemed to come to an agreement and the Second moved to the Ward Room com and had a quiet brief conversation. His face broke out into a big smile as he nodded to the Chief.

"Ah! Gentlemen? Would a small electron microscope help? We have one in the impeller room. Seems when the Bhutes had "Vance" as a training ship, they also used her as a school,"

Very intense eyes turned to Denny, who mumbled

"The chips?"

Yoncey snorted,

"We're only two days from Mountserrat here and a miracle could happen and there are chips in this backwater; Wormhole Control is here and there are some other facilities."

Gold Roper rejoined,

"'Dred, I have to keep reminding you, this is unproved and not approved. We don't really know what happens under all circumstances and with time."

"Evan, you weren't the one being pounded with missiles; you were out there doing a damned good job of orchestrating but you were invisible. I was the one being pounded and that focused my attention wonderfully. Next time we swap!"

"Evan, the lad has a point" joined in Brian Wallace, ""Shriek" used it here. "Nasby's" used it to the point her squadron mates won't let her play on exercise with them and this is for real here. You ran it for real first time here."

He glanced at and then looked again at the Flock who were looking everywhere but at him,

"Where?" he snapped. McCock looked at Gold Roper who shrugged helplessly. McCock said flatly,

"Helena. We spent nearly two days there. We think we weren't detected."

"You spent two days at Helena. And no one shot at you?"

The Flock were visibly squirming on their seats.

"No," said McCock, po faced, but truthfully, "no one shot at us."

Those DD Captains had been around the traps before and they knew when the facts were being clutched tightly. Jim Brownleigh, "Vector",

"No one shot at you? But something happened before you swanned off? What?"

McCock gave up,

"We took out a Battle class CA, Intel thinks it was "Bastogne", and then we took a blockade runner. A Solly."

There was a stunned silence which lasted for nearly a minute before Brownleigh broke it softly,

"You are lucky you got sent out here and not buried fire hundred metres beneath the Admiralty."

'Dred Yoncey broke it up, he was frustrated and getting annoyed with his Captain DD,

"The 'hole – in – space' mod is combat tested and that's it. My order is in and I'm going to make a continual nuisance until I get one. They've just told us the kit can be 'home made' and I've got a wonderful home for a set the day before yesterday. We all know we are going to be out here for a long time and that we are not at good odds to survive. I want every edge I can have and I'll take a few risks to have that edge. Now that detection gear?"

McCock explained,

"It's under Crown patent by now. Slow, Denny, have you still got it on your PDA? Good. We will need a Rockwell–Henry Type 72 and their type 14 arrays. We can fit them with current resources. Slow and Denny will need a few other supplies to make the mods but we will have to prise the sets out of the Admiralty and that equipment is not on our TO&E. Putting in a justification will expose the Crown patent and that will draw our Masters' attentions which I submit is undesirable."

Captain Evan Cochrane, Viscount Gold Roper, knew when he was beaten.

"Denny, dirtside please, and see if you can find any chips. Slow, will you look at the set on "Vance" and see if and what needs to be done? Consult with Chief Engineer and check out that school room. Also Slow, an exact list for what you need. You other three help them. I have a contact who should be able to help. Anything else before I go and get something to settle my food? 'Dred, what now?"

"Denny" enquired Dred "that graser on "Shreik". It looked as if it was firing continuously?"

"Its not really, it just appears that way. Cowboy and Polack got at it. Its repetition rate is increased and that pair also did something about the heat and energy loss. Works like a charm though, doesn't it?" said a grinning Denny only too pleased to shift attention elsewhere.