Chapter 14

Things settled down over the next several days, none of which seemed to have enough hours in to cover the subjects they were now covering. Ivy's introduction to the hard suits plus the promise of prize money induced her to obtain her own to be ultimately used as her body armour in the constabulary.

(Ivy followed all the study the men did and with her already obtained qualifications was able to persuade the Rescue & Salvage School to certify her as competent for EVAs — not the salvage work as the men were.)

Ivy, who attended the evening unarmed combat training, was fascinated by the experiments by the 'muties' to develop control of their augmented systems; using their experiences, Ivy was able to much improve her capabilities, physiologically and intellectually. Her abilities in dealing with unwanted advances at her school led to the nickname which went out of the Navy with her — "Poison Ivy". Ivy was ambivalent about the name but there was nothing she could do about it.

...

Berryl returned to Settlement travelling again on "Hebrides' Trader".

Bill Sorenson and she contacted the Herald's office and presented their problem. The Herald King-at-arms was sympathetic to their problem and was aware of the problems associated with keeping secrets in a bureaucracy which, of necessity, had to include capable people who also carried outsize egos — not all of them but enough to spread the ranks of the 'in the know' to the point that a secret wasn't. Despite his calm exterior, the Principal Herald was enthused (too weak a word, actually) to discover someone, in this Kingdom, had developed an FTL communication capability and he fully appreciated the significance. The Principal Herald suggested a discussion be had with Admiral Halliday and himself in the Herald's Office as he could guarantee security. Some days later the meeting was held and a free ranging discussion was had in which the problems involving security in the use of FTL.

The discussion was interrupted by a com on Berryl's PDA which informed her of the formal decision by Vice Admiral Higgins who had the (independent) authority to buy the Yacht "Tangerine" into the Sovereign's service (not just the RMN) as a beacon ship tender — details to be resolved later. Needless to say, the Principal Herald was interested in this happening and presented a possible solution, cf the Royal Yacht; the yacht to be crewed by suitable RMN personnel with the yacht as part of the Herald's Office and the electronic technicians to be Heralds. Constabulary, Admiralty and manufacturer's representatives (without the principals themselves being aware) agreed in principle to this proposal. The Principal Herald explained his laugh — a public servant's dream — an empire spontaneously handed to him by others.

This led to the decision that knowledge be restricted to certain natural persons: Herald's Office: commissioned Heralds who would include electronic technicians; Constabulary: Queen's Constable in Settlement and the Chief Constables off Mountserrat; RMN: The Space Lords individually, Admirals commanding fleets and outlying naval bases and, where absolutely necessary in the view of the Space Lords, a Captain of a warship on independent service; Manufacturers: the Directors (who included the present constabulary contacts), the LUST executives who knew already and of course the developers.

The agreement was unanimous that the politicians, particularly the Cabinet, be kept far away from the knowledge because as sure as the planet rotated about the star, the stupid!@#$%^ would either use it to com their partners saying they would be delayed in Settlement and wouldn't be home for another day or so or, worse still, brag about having the knowledge.

Berryl had discussed costs of manufacture with the Windsor's distaff side working on the basis of hand construction by TJ and Morg of the circuitry; the commercial costs of the gain chambers was known. Add in the theoretical costs of development in a research facility and the Royalty payments. Amortisation of assets over anticipated numbers produced was calculated. A figure was arrived at, a profit margin added and a negotiating figure was reached.

Admiral Halliday approved the initial purchase of one hundred equipment sets and then dropped the bombshell into the other Space Lords' laps. The meeting was held in a secure cage in the lowest level of the Admiralty. The fourth Space Lord, as Comptroller of the Navy, was only slightly peeved as he understood the need for absolute secrecy and appreciated that a mere civilian, Berryl Hobson, would not be conversant with the intricacies of Naval administration and would contact a Space Lord more exposed to the public. The Lords collectively were a trifle peeved by the Heralds' involvement but again ... They definitively approved the cover of the beacon ships and the Second agreed with the others that when the official notification came through from Higgins that a "Sovereigns' Thanks" would be awarded — something that would go with Sorenson to the constabulary. (They accepted Ivy was police orientated and consoled themselves that her services would not be lost to the Crown even if the Navy couldn't retain them.)

Total funding for the sets was within the First Space Lord's discretionary funding.

The matter of funding for the beacons, their tender and on going maintenance would not be borne by the Admiralty and a smirk or two was seen about the table on that one. The Herald King-at-arms was petitioning the Sovereign as they spoke but nobody doubted the funds would (initially) be forthcoming as the politicians would fall over themselves to get their names attached to such a humanitarian enterprise; they would conveniently forget the idea originated in the mind of an RMN matelot.

...

The cadcam equipment for the gain chambers arrived and was delivered to the Club. During a time when the Club was teeming with activity above, Morg and TJ transferred the equipment using the underground way to the Dancer premises and set it up; they made sure there was no access from the ground floor.

As cover, Julie had LUST establish a clothing factory in the above ground part of the Dancer premises utilising labour from the Stews; the factory actually made a marginal profit (though giving a very poor return on the investment).

LUST purchased the supplies for the FTL from various suppliers. The actual quantities were not large and so did not trigger anybody's attention. The electronic clean rooms and equipment were easily organised in the upper floors of the Sloane Square building and incorporated the family laboratory.

Gabrielle joined the girls in the making of the circuitry for the antennae and the gain chambers. A separate room was utilised to marry the gain chamber to its circuit, enclose the gain chamber and the antenna circuits in their casings supplied by subcontractors; the sets were then delivered to the radome factory for fitting and connections and then delivered to the Navy Base.

...

Over the next several decades, HM Tender "Tangerine" wandered the corner of the galaxy emplacing and servicing the beacon ships and visiting the occasional flagship to fit the emergency beacon receivers. The Mountserrat Heralds adamantly refused offers from the United Solarian Worlds to have "Tangerine" space under the USW flag or to accept funding from the USW; and despite the subsequent disasters to the realm that situation remains to this day.

...

Before Admiral Higgins was able to buy "Tangerine" into Royal service, the Admiralty Court boggled and the Judge Advocate in Gorgipest developed a blinding headache trying to sort it out. Eventually, she did what all subordinates out of their depth do, she sought advice from higher authority — it might be pointed out that no one in Gorgipest was higher technically than the local JA as hers was an independent appointment from the Second Space Lord; but the rank badges do have some meaning.

"Boss, Commodore Swanne, with the enn eee, begs a minute of your time when convenient. Says the Admiralty Court has a slight problem swallowing "Tangerine"", Captain jg Thomas N. Phelps informed his superior.

Higgins was not averse to being distracted from his perusal of some arcane reports from the metallurgists discussing the merits of sundry alloys of metals for hull construction,

"I can, I think, spare the JA a moment. Com her to come over and get some fresh coffee laid on. You might sometime tell me how a compromise is reached in projectile protection, beam protection and radiation proofing to decide what metal to use in hulls" waving at the chip viewer.

"Who? Me? Boss I'm a lowly captain appointed to sit at your feet to receive instruction on such erudite matters. I'm 'nav' and I rely on the experts to provide such things as hulls to keep me safe while I try to shift them from one place to another. I'll com her now."

Commodore 'Prissy' Swanne pushed an errant curl off her forehead and smiled thanks at the ADC's proffering of a brew,

"Thanks Tom. My caffeine level needs restoring"

"And how can the Station Commander assist the JA this afternoon?" Higgins enquired.

"For a start, you could tell me, so I can inform the Court, who or what authorised that barge to be out on the asteroid in the first place?"

"C'mon Prissy that was just anoth ... er, no, it wasn't routine was it?"

"No. It wasn't a routine or even a special supply run. The best, I've been able to find out is that since he became a captain of a warship, Bonder has been followed about by a bumboat of grog wherever he goes."

"Grog? Prissy, please, that stuff is the pure quill; overproof rum, the good stuff. Wash your mouth out. Grog, indeed" Higgins corrected her "but that doesn't help you. Deity, this could be a right can of worms. Technically its Captain's personal supplies and (groan) our ships are 'dry' officially and here is Colin Bonder supplying alcohol to his crew."

"Yessir and the brass is complicit in helping him. Satan's canines, there are so many Regs shattered here I wouldn't know where to begin. The only little peek of sunlight I see is that nowhere in the official paper work is the word "rum" mentioned, just "crates"."

"There you are then, Prissy" Higgins smiled in joyous relief "just crates of supplies for "Naseby". Just don't look any further. What are you worried about?"

"Suits. That's one down. Who or what authority put that powered barge on the asteroid? And don't tell me the Chief Clerk has the authority — legally, that is. I know he does it all the time but whose authority does he work under? The Court is asking and I haven't got a clue?"

"Prissy, you are looking too closely at this. The authority stems from the Navy's charter. We are required to man ships in space and with that goes the ancillary requirement to supply them once they are there. Once supplies are authorised on the request of the captain, the authority just exists."

"We are going around in circles here because the supplies were never requested to be authorised."

"That's the whole point, Prissy. The Captain has authority to locally purchase supplies and he actually has discretionary funds to do so. Now, I admit, "local" is a bit of a stretch and no Navy funds were required. However for "local" read "Captain's discretion" and there is no problem. Drop that on the Court — they are looking at a way out of this particular snarl, too — they know what has been happening and don't officially want to know. Next?"