Chapter 70

"I take exception to "disease"" Dell expostulated, and then grinned "But what a wonderful way to take over the place. Screw your way to power. Seriously, TJ, all you have is a proposition and no proof."

"Even so," Morg added "does it matter? Don't think so. There is no control — all that happens is our genes spread in the best traditions of natural selection."

"I like the idea of natural selection" Allie almost leered at TJ.

Bet vamped TJ,

"Can I share my genes with you, TJ?"

TJ laughed, more at himself than at his friends,

"Suits, I admit there is nothing sinister in this."

"Well, I'm not sure I'd go that far, TJ" Morg mused "the genetic engineers must have had some idea of tribal loyalties and such like; but like all egg-heads were bigger on theory than practice...

Intertribal bickering is only forgotten during an actual physical attack on the tribe...

I can see some people getting upset at your theory, but practically, we have a better quality crew than we had before. We hold it close? — its pure speculation anyway."

All agreed the idea might disrupt relationships so close held it was.

Ninety three days under construction and "Sundowner" was getting ready for her shakedown cruise.

The training course (for ninety day wonders) had moved onto Command and Staff and the simulators ran hot. (Let us not forget the voyage time.)

In the end over four hundred GP robos had been utilised; most of them "expired" from radiation during work in progress; some more were beyond refurbishment but fifty two were available for use. The Engineers had done some more research and eight robos were adapted for working on HACs, including in space. The C-robos were to be carried in a receptacle in the hull which allowed access to both inside and outside the hull. Fourteen additional robos were allocated to general maintenance and unit level repair in the boat bay. The other thirty were under the Engineering Department for workshop level repair and maintenance of the ship and parasites.

Clare called a conference to brief the Sundowners on the changes. Most of them knew the details about part but not about the whole. Warp velocity was not mentioned in the briefing.

The changes were presented by Cedric who got a very hard look from Clare as she handed over.

The hull had been completely worked over and reshaped. The multiplicity of air locks had been eliminated and the strength of the old locks used as supports between the inner and outer hulls. The outer hull was of proven Armouralloy. Additional belts of armour had been placed about the magazines and the original double layer decks were now made solid by the armour belts.

The external shape was a combination of Carcharodon and Delphinidae; the Engine ers had found a stern vertical energy sink of the required surface area and trailing edge would, if placed symmetrically about the long axis, protrude into the path of the boat bay; their solution was to place the after sink horizontally.

The fractal surface of the hull allowed binding of the modified triple shield at all velocities and created a surface which allowed applied energy to pass frictionlessly across its surface.

To minimise drag, all systems were either flush mounted on the hull or on the energy sinks.

The sensory systems were arranged in a manner very similar to the snout and lateral line arrangement found on Carcharodon — Cedric's cheeky grin and comment about using a proven system was squelched by a glare from his Captain — with additional points mounted on the energy sinks.

Armament turrets, one point eight metre lasers and twin barrel PDs, were inside the double hull and pivoted at the hull; this restricted the field of fire and additional mounts had to be built to give coverage — energy requirements were not significantly higher because the number of weapons which could bear at one time, except for a full broadside, was the same as on the pre-build hull. Two heavy bow chasers, two point five metre grasers were positioned as the curved bow did not allow a single turret to cover the arc from bow to beam

With the new skin, impellor shields for n space or nodes for sails were no longer needed. Energy requirements for n space were marginally increased but the saving from the shields just about evened it out. Defensive shield generators were flush mounted inside the double hull and these generators also formed the adherent modified triple skin. Dune (tuned anti-detection shields) generators were positioned adjacent to the defensive generators but Cedric had insisted that each generator have its individual power supply from the engine room. (Orville was heard muttering as this point was made.)

The port and starboard boat bays had been eliminated. The boat bay was now E deck with the entry port being a lowered flap in the hull area at the level of the after engine room bulkhead. Tractor beams had been fitted to the edges of the portal.

The original boat bay spaces had been partly utilised to provide passenger lifts and very large cargo lifts accessing all decks on either side.

Cedric handed over to Morg who described the missile systems.

The forward and aft cone ready use magazines had been retained with a somewhat decreased capacity of one hundred and two aft; forward cone had a capacity of four hundred and eighteen. Both forward and aft had two sets of missile tubes fed by continuous feed from a single magazine. The forward tubes were on either side of the two bow chaser mounts The after tubes were side by side at the very stern of the ship above the horizontal energy sink. The missiles were controllable by the battle 'puter but were not frame compatible.

The main missile magazines had been reworked and were each now capable of holding three thousand and forty missiles in standard frames. B magazine discharged through a flap opening in the after upper hull which when raised pivoting on the after bulkhead forming a wide tunnel; the opening in the after bulkhead was by opening doors which formed the side walls of the tunnel. D magazine opened similarly to a lower flap door pivoting on the forward bulkhead. Force fields retained the environment when the magazines were opened. All these missiles were controlled by the frame 'puter which would be in constant communication with the battle 'puter. Additional missile frames could be tractored alongside the hull but velocities would be drastically decreased because of the absence of impellor shield.

The Engine room still had its forward bulkhead but had had the double hull extended to surround the compartment. Two additional fission piles had been manufactured and fitted to supply the peak energy demands of the four Adama pods. Additional external access to the engine room was made via hatches in the overhead of the engine room — the armour belts were extended aft to protect the engine room - into the base of the after missile tunnel and could be used via the external hatch without having to open the after hatches of the B magazine.

Scout missiles were housed in a compartment under the engine room deck connecting with the boat bay and with an external iris opening with ejection machinery for deployment. The missiles would be recovered via the boat bay, refurbished and then returned to their compartment,

Clare replaced Morg and announced that at the end of the conference all Trainees and Gennies were to collect all personal items and move to the new accommodation in C forward. The catwalks had been removed and a crew mess constructed for all personnel. The robos would demolish the temporary quarters. Master Chief and Secombe would then organise the boat bay.

(The missile storage under the false deck in C had been emptied and the false deck removed. A horse shoe mezzanine floor of cabins had been constructed with the open end facing aft.)

All the New Harriers, House of Tulip and fabric equipment and bolts of material had been transferred to A deck which had retained the A3 and A4 airlocks. The forward area of A was the entertainment area and the after area, the galley, dressing rooms and the spinning and weaving equipment. (This was Bert Belter's new home, as manager under the supervision of the Windsors. The Colony also utilised the area as its spinning centre and gathering place but otherwise roamed the ship when not in a Companion ear bud.)

Clare then threw a holo of "Sundowner". The hull was Carcharodon, even to the forward frame portal looking like the lower jaw. The energy sinks were Delphinidae. There were no piscine experts in the crew so no one was too upset — except for Clare. The ultimate shape had not been discussed in detail and Clare, and others, had assumed the streamlining would have been imposed on the usual design of a varying diameter cylinder with hammerheads. Cedric had acquiesced to Derrin's suggestion of using the full Carcharodon model so as to have adequate trailing edges from which to dissipate energy and not leave an energy trail. The protrusion of the after structure into a boat path necessitated modification and the dolphin provided the solution. The hull retained it's shark appearance because the bow chasers necessitated an under slung portal for the forward missiles.

But as Morg phlegmatically remarked,

"There aren't that many visual observers in space and it's not as if we'll see the shape from the inside."

Every system was tested even to the ejection of frames. Recovering the frames exercised the work boats and tested the boat bay. Armaments were tested using the metal mills as targets. There were glitches but Murphy did not make an appearance — this was largely due to there now being three trained and experienced engineers backed up with a bio enhanced 'puter system.

The return to Bhute was the shake down cruise. The Trainees and Gennies were spread across the three ships' complements and found themselves shifting from one to the other. Clare was in no rush for Bhute and took the opportunity to exercise "Sundowner" in company.

Warp velocity was not trialled as Clare had made an executive decision not to trial until after the Dahlgrens had departed. The months prior to this happening would be spent in exposing the Gennies and to a lesser extent the Trainees to crosstraining before commencing specialist training.

Clare had discussed the Introductory Command and Staff early in the piece with John Dahlgren and concluded it was an error in timing — nothing drastic but could have been better arranged. Dahlgren was fascinated at what had been done with the Tulips, the Trainees and the Gennies and saw TJ and Morg, without being aware of their effect, be the glue bringing the disparate groups into cohesion. Similarly, Cedric, Orville and Dorothy. Dahlgren thought Clare was aware of the effect of the others and used it to her ship's advantage. He noted to himself to follow up the Students.

(He found that even though each of the Students had been expected to be a leader, the majority of them were a decade or two ahead of expected.)

A half T-year had passed since "Sundowner" had been in the Bhute system. Planet fall was uneventful until they made their presence know. Then the coms overloaded; the newsies were the worst because they knew of most of the methods to contact a ship in space and had no qualms about using them. Once the link outside usual channels was identified, it was ignored — Clare, however, was a somewhat cautious soul, and four scouts with an anchor watch were deployed. The anchor watch utilised her deck officers as overseeing Senior Officers of the Watch, the Daughters as JWOs, the Tulips as POs and the Trainees and Gennies as watchkeepers — the crew actually put in more hours in synchronous orbit around Bhute star itself pacing the planet than at spacing watch. Dorothy was told (by Clare) to stop being ridiculous wanting a watch and told to get on with being Bosun.

The liner and the yacht had continued in to anchor in the outer harbour at the instructions of the Courts. Clare had had them shadowed in with 737 and recovered the crews before the authorities boarded. Another spate of coms!

Meantime Clare was bypassing the chaos,

"Sean, you are a difficult man to reach. Your minders guard even your PDA."

"Ah! Captain Clare Gillard! The same can be said about you. How are you these days? Created any more diplomatic incidents lately?"