Chapter 88

"Sundowner" retrieved her parasites and returned to the South Atlantic area where she translated into an area absent of any return on FTL active. Clare had Morg report in to the Southamcon Orbital Regional Control and as "Sundowner" wended her above the mid Atlantic Ridge to the equatorial region where the scouts were retrieved, she was handed over to the Midamcon Region who gave the warning that an emergency NOTAM was in force covering the Norlant regions.

All orbital and interplanetary ships entering the Norlant region were to be stopped and inspected.

Morg's observation of an equine and a stable door drew blank looks from the watch and he had to explain the ancient proverb.

"Sundowner" was challenged as she approached the Azores wreckage by a Noramcon Space Guard cutter to heave to and be inspected.

Clare obliged.

Clare left Morg as OW and used the lift to reach A deck port airlock to greet the inspecting officer, a baby faced Ensign armed with a projectile pistol which looked as if it was too heavy for her to take out of the sagging holster let alone lift and fire it.

The SG workboat detached to stand off after the airlock cycled.

'Nita explained that Morg had come across a website of ancient sayings and was showing off his newfound knowledge when he made the comment about sending a girl to do a women's work.

"Ensign, I am Clare Gillard, Master and Commander of "Sundowner"; welcome aboard and how can I assist the Space Guard?"

"Ma'am, I am ordered to inspect all nuclear material. I will need an inventory of all that you carry, please."

"Excuse me please Ensign. Derrin, can you produce a chip for the Ensign?"

"Of course. Does the Ensign want reactor mass included?"

Clare raised her eyebrows at the Ensign who hadn't really been given that detailed a brief. The Ensign turned to the scrawny Master Machinist's Mate who accompanied her.

"They want us to check everything, Miss Telmut. So yes, Ma'am, everything including place of origin and location on the vessel, please."

"Got that, Derrin?"

"Aye, Ma'am ... Completed. Where do you want the download?"

"The Club, please. Miss Telmut, connect your reader to the 'puter..."

Clare had signalled the inspecting party to accompany her to a desk mounted 'puter, had booted it up and stood back while the Ensign made the connection.

The download light on the Ensign's PDA blinked several times and then the PDA crashed.

Within seconds, Morg's voice came over the top of the action stations bonging

"Action stations space stat, d'ye hear there, action stations space stat."

The startled Ensign reflexly reached for her weapon and found herself thrown across the desk with a dislocated forearm and no weapon. When she looked up from the deck she found her inspection party standing very still as they looked into the business end of the Ensign's pistol held very firmly in a two handed grip by a grim faced Master and Commander.

"One at a time, starting on my left, hands above your heads at all times where I can see them, onto the deck and then clasp your hands behind your neck. Start!"

As the fourth spacer was getting herself comfortable on the Club's carpet, two grey dungareed females holding weapons that looked as big as themselves moved through the hatch and took up positions covering the SG spacers and officer. As Clare lowered the pistol another two took up positions.

"Mr Windsor, sitrep please ... suits ... have him come over for a little talk and mean time Threep is needed up here; the Ensign had a nasty fall. Get to it...

Madame O, keep this lot under guard ... here's as good a place as any. Lethal force."

"Lethal force, aye Ma'am."

Clare passed Threep, exchanging nods. Threep and Art moved to the Ensign keeping out of the line of fire.

One of the SG spacers began getting up yelling

"Get awa..."

She was fortunate in that her NCO had quick reflexes; his hand flashed from behind his neck to knock her down to the deck and she was struck by a fourteen point seven round in the left shoulder blade which perforated the left chest. She was doubly fortunate in being in a ship with a Medical Suite.

Her NCO was less fortunate; he was killed by a round through the head.

Madame O reported to Clare

"They tried to interfere with Threep, Ma'am. One dead and one lung shot."

"I'll send Lyn and Tilly with the field portable ... on their way."

Morg had heard and detailed the SBAs with equipment to A.

Teddy Nolan accompanied them – he had done his time in RMMarines and had gone onto a quiet life(?) in ObGyn only to find it wasn't; women for some reason wanted to carry their progeny and experience(?) live births. His time in RMM had prepared him for the long periods of boredom interspersed with the moments of screaming action when the excreta hit the rotary impellor. Teddy enjoyed the relaxation of his rare opportunities in massive trauma.

Morg dispatched the shuttle bus, with armed escort. to pick up the SG cutter's captain as "Sundowner's" expanding triple shield had damaged the workboat. 'Nita escorted a grim faced SG Lieutenant Commander to the bridge and the tragedy of errors was revealed.

The reaction of the authorities to the destruction of the Azores Orbital Platform had been swift – but a classic case of politicians / bureaucrats wanting to be seen "to be doing everything possible to bring the dastardly perpetrators to justice". All ships in the region or approaching the region to be stopped and inspected for nuclear material carrying the signature of the traces on the orbital's pieces.

Because these same politicians / bureaucrats did not want to upset powerful shipping interests (and being advised the perpetrator was long gone) the tasking was not laid upon the Naval services but given to the Space Guard of the USW.

The USWSG cutter "Jason S. Wingost" had gone to action stations immediately prior to challenging "Sundowner" as the OOD had reported that Jane's had her classified as an armed merchant cruiser.

Lt Cdr Emery Dalton had not made himself aware of "Sundowner's" capabilities as he could have by referring to his HQ whose data was still at pre Betelguese levels. Nobody in USN had updated "Sundowner's" data made available in Captain Dahlgren's reports.

Ensign Telmut's PDA had been programmed to sound an alarm if she manually activated it or if it was damaged in any way.

The download of "Sundowner's" nuclear material was painstakingly detailed by Derrin line by line; Threep, Art, individual robos, individual bomb pumped missiles, individual nest frames, individual Lone Rangers, individual Adama pods on the HACs, the four main pods on the ship herself, the reaction mass in the two fusion bottles and the nuclear rods in the four fission piles. Telmut's PDA memory overloaded and the 'puter crashed (the PDA was a standard issue for the USW forces and had not been upgraded in over a half century). The com link didn't crash and had transmitted the alarm.

The cutter's OOD had ordered his pop gun to put a beam into the bow of "the merchie". The modified triple shielding adherent to the hull prevented penetration but it certainly rang the Sundowners' bell.

"Sundowner" was at stations for entering harbour and that meant the bridge console was manned. Morg activated the expanding triple shield, hit the action stations alarm and called the crew to action stations.

As the expanding shields struck "Wingost's" work boat, opening it to vacuum, Morg directed TJ to "cover that cutter". TJ swung the port main armament mounts to point at the cutter and within thirty seconds the twenty metre virtual barrels of four one- point- eight metre lasers and a two- point- five metre laser were locked and loaded.

"Derrin, where's the Boss?" Morg asked.

"On A deck in the Club with the inspection party; Captain Gillard has the officer's pistol and has the party at gunpoint."

"Thank you. Madame O, take three, projectile weapons, and render the Captain assistance."

Derrin unlocked the bridge armoury and the Gennies departed at the trot- wearing hardsuits without helmets.

...

The bodies of the workboat crew were retrieved and handed over with the Machinist's Mate's body to the "Wingost". The Ensign and her wounded spacer were transported to Old London by "Sundowner" and handed over to the Ambulance Service.

The dead spacers were given low key funerals with full military honours.

The wounded spacer was invalided the service.

Ensign Telmut eventually reached Lieutenant (mandatory promotions) and retired in that rank after one hundred and twenty two years of unblemished service. Her partnering had not helped her promotion chances.

Lt Cdr Emery Dalton was immediately beached and quickly retired.

(He turned his knowledge to construction of orbital platforms, formed his own extremely successful company and was able to tell certain retired politicians and bureaucrats to "go elsewhere". He happily partnered with Georgina Telmut and their four children followed in their father's footsteps – in the company, telling seatwarmers and timeservers to "get lost". [Unbeknownst to the Dalton executives, the knights, Sir Peter Brakeman and Sir Joshua Galbraith had been instructed to "keep an eye" on Dalton and, as he did good work, subsidiaries of Sundowner Inc utilised his services and got value for money.])

Tilly and Lyn reported the Gennies did not require counselling – their upbringing had not been "normal" by the usual definitions of that descriptive.

...

Cedric and his crew berthed "Shiralee" in the Ramsgate orbital and Charles had his workers unload her. The crew returned to "Sundowner" when that ship berthed at Old London.

...

Julie had held many discreet talks with Harold on a very informal basis ever since the establishment of the repository at Sculthorpe and discussed a wide range of esoteric subjects from planetary balance of power down to establishing branches(?) of "Harriers". The conversationalists had established a good feel for what the one wanted for his recovering lands and what the other might be able to do to assist – to mutual benefit.

(Julie admitted to her great great grandchildren that Harold had blindsided her by the grants of titles – both peerage and land – and expressed admiration for the scheming sod's plan to tie Sundowner Inc and its subsidiaries to East Angles.)

Julie and Gabrielle had studied real time satellite imagery of East Angles and had noted specific anomalies scattered throughout the region – longitudinal strips of tarmac surrounded by open land. They sought clarification from the Lands and Titles Office in Whitehall. The explanation was simple. Twentieth century aerodrome runways were like Roman Roads of which some examples were still extant in Enklan – meant to last and cope with heavy traffic; Roman Roads in quantity of traffic and Runways and associated secondary pathways with weight of traffic. Once built, the confounded things were just not economic to tear up, so they were left as blots upon the landscape. Some of the buildings had been taken over by industry as storage where the aerodromes had fallen into disuse. Quite a few had continued to be utilised as atmospheric aviation facilities and these had suffered most during the Supersoldiers' Wars of four centuries ago. Some few had been continued on a care and maintenance basis, just in case.

The Civil Servant in the Lands Office had offered the information that most of the workers involved in the care and maintenance programmes ran farms in the same district as a secondary interest or perhaps it was farmers who worked in the care and maintenance as a secondary interest with a reliable income – she had never been able to fathom it out.

Two specific complexes had, for some reason lost in antiquity, been better maintained and this was reflected by the greater prosperity of the immediate farm and grazing lands – most of the farm land in the region had fallen into disuse and had passed to pasture. Coltishawl was approximately twenty five klicks north of Norch and the Wantasden / Woodridge complex about the same to the east of Folke. Both had reverted to Crown Lands after the wars and passed with the land grants to the newly enobled peers. The knights had been previously pointed at the facilities with the view of relocating from 'Pest; Sir Joshua was familiar with the facilities on 'Pest and used his knowledge in assessing the alterations which would be needed for the establishment of scout, frame and Keyhac production lines.

The Enklan Space Service, which had developed within their Admiralty and which was now the greatest part of that Department, had two BCs fitting out. The Royal Navy had an attachment to BCs even though it had been their Admiral Fisher who had developed the first DN in the historic wet navy days.

The naval chiefs of the Triumvirate were all professional naval officers who had years of line service before advancing(?) to the political levels of command in stark contrast with the USW naval service, USN, who were political animals, with some very rare exceptions, from the beginning of their time in service. Although, line service was still a required part of experience for higher command in USN, line service was regarded as just a box to be ticked; a second ship command was regarded as the kiss of death to a USN career.

That was the reason the Triumvirate's new hulls were missile carriers with secondary energy weapons. The Sea Lord and his colleagues had taken some lessons from the war raging in the galactic south. Their missiles had not kept pace with the developments of that war because of the political and financial constraints of prolonged peace but of late the political leaders were becoming aware of the force projections of the Chencon Empire. And thus the Admiralty was able to build a missile BC or three.