“Sounds interesting,” James prompted.
Felicity nodded. “It is. We’re pretty sure that it’s operating as a supply base for a group of pirates who are known to have contact with the Charonians.”
“The briefing I have on these Charonians doesn’t make good reading. We don’t seem to have a hell of a lot of data on them or where they’re from, their biology, their technology or what they’re after, and they avoid contact with anything and anyone that might be a superior force. About all we do know is that they are humanoid, they’re capable of interstellar travel, and they’re sniffing around our smaller colonies.” He frowned as he mulled something that really concerned him. “What’s more troubling is they’ve flat out rejected all efforts by the Confederation or the World Treaty Council to make contact.”
Felicity hesitated. “Officially, that’s true, but as you’ll see in the briefing message, someone has made contact and seems to be working with them or for them, or perhaps is using them for their own ends.”
The Admiral steepled his fingers, a mannerism Felicity found amusing, and which told her he was drawing together a number of different pieces of information in that formidable brain of his. “Right. So this mining outpost is a possible meeting point for the pirates, who we know are working for an organisation on Earth and for the Charonians.” His frown deepened. “And we don’t know if any of my ships have had these repeaters fitted?” He saw her nod, and touched his link. “Adriana, I need the full list of all the ships in this fleet recently docked for repair, maintenance or refit.”
“Yes, Admiral. On your display now.”
“Damn. That’s half of them, Felicity. When did this start?”
“About six months after the Niburu War.”
“Okay, we can exclude all those prior to that date I think.” He changed the parameters. “I think it’s time to do a Harry.” He grinned. “That’s a ‘Captains repair on board the Flagship’ signal. I want to brief everyone and issue written orders to a small escort for a certain freighter.”
“That’ll blow our cover,” Felicity protested.
“Not if they maintain coms silence and shadow you within easy range of being on hand should anyone attempt anything on the Thermopylae.”
The Command Centre was still unfinished, but Harry could see it would be a considerable improvement on his previous command. Lieutenant MacKenzie-Banks sauntered into the compartment as if his absence from the ship when her commanding officer was expected was perfectly normal.
“Ah, I see Warrant Ledermann found you, sir.”
“He didn’t, Number One.” He gestured round the compartment. “Is there a problem aboard? I anticipated being met on arrival at least. I seem not to have been expected at all. Was there no signal of my arrival?”
“Signal? Yes, there was. I sent Warrant Ledermann to Arrival Hall Twelve.” The Lieutenant frowned. “We’re behind schedule, but not much. I’ve just been going over the situation with Mr. Carrera, the Construction Manager. He reckons we’ll be ready for the first trial runs in six weeks.”
“Six weeks? That is almost two weeks past the completion date I was given. Is the AI fully trained yet?” Harry winced as a workman began using a power tool beneath one of the consoles. “Let’s take this conversation to my quarters. I would appreciate your bringing me up to date.”
“The AI Trainer is Lieutenant-Commander Fürst, sir.” He stood aside to let Harry precede him into the space designated Captain’s Office. “He says it will be one of the best AIs in the fleet.” He glanced round the space with a distinct air of possessiveness, or so it seemed to Harry.
Indicating a seat for Lieutenant Banks, Harry took one himself, deliberately not behind the desk. “I’m glad Hans Fürst is doing it. He trained my last command and did it extremely well.” He hesitated. “Before we begin, I have a copy of the message informing you of my arrival. It states my arrival would be with the Jorvik Maersk in Arrival Hall Ten. Did you say the Warrant went to Twelve?”
The Lieutenant nodded, his expression neutral. “Yes, yes, I did, sir. I must have misread it. I expect you found the accommodation suitable—it is quite well organised. I sent the Warrant to fetch you there as soon as I had confirmation you’d arrived.”
“I see. Perhaps it is I who failed to appreciate the modern system. I expected to be met and brought here to the ship.” He saw the flicker of annoyance on the Lieutenant’s face. “No matter. Bring me up to date please. Perhaps we should start with the work in progress—what is complete and what is outstanding.”
He listened to the report as the Lieutenant ran through the lengthy list of equipment that had been installed and was, theoretically, operational. Then began a longer list of things still to be completed or installed. “We’ve had a number of hiccups with some installations. I don’t know who planned the fitting out, but it’s created problems with our people getting things operational. Either the equipment didn’t fit where it needed to go or something else obstructed it, so we’ve had to insist on some changes.”
“Lieutenants Matlock and Jakobsen mentioned something of that. Are we on our own power yet?”
“Half and half, sir. Engineering is supplying power to all the systems now complete; the rest, including the life support, is still drawing from the station.”
Harry considered this. “Very well. I would like to meet the senior Rates. Ask the Coxswain to arrange it please.” He smiled. “In my last command, while we were completing, I met daily at oh-eight-hundred for a coffee and an update with my officers. I wish to do the same on this ship. Please advise them that we’ll meet every morning at that time for a chat.” He hesitated. “And I’d like to see all the officers at seventeen-hundred. Is the Construction Manager aboard?”
“Mr. Carrera’s in his office at the gangway.” Banks studied his fingers. “I’ll arrange for the others to meet you, sir.” The Lieutenant’s expression was wooden.
Harry’s eyebrows almost betrayed his surprise at the response, but he maintained control of his voice and face. “As you wish, Mr. Banks. Please ask Mr. Carrera to see me as soon as he can.”
He watched the door close behind the Lieutenant. This was obviously going to be difficult. Clearly Mr. MacKenzie-Banks was not the friendly sort, or he was not inclined to be toward Harry. He made a mental note to research the man’s background to determine why. He leaned back in his chair and focussed on his cyberlink. “Lagan, good afternoon. I wish to introduce myself.”
“Good afternoon, Captain. I hope you will be happy with my progress. My AI trainer says I am almost ready to begin learning your preferences on operational duty.”
“I am pleased to hear it. You may address me as Harry. I shall use your ship name Lagan when I need to speak directly to you and not to a human in proximity to me.” He had noticed the timbre of the voice seemed gender neutral, almost a blend of female and adolescent male, so he asked, “Should I refer to you as he or she?”
There was a slight hesitation. “I understand there is a difference, but it seems unimportant. I am simply Lagan. Which do you prefer, Harry?”
Harry laughed aloud. “I am used to thinking of ships as female, but I am aware that some ships consider themselves male. I do not mind, as long as I know which you prefer, and you use a voice to match.” There was a signal from the door. “Come in,” he said aloud, and in his thoughts, he said to the ship, “I shall want to talk to you later. I have a number of things to discuss with you. In the interim, you may monitor this conversation.”
A well-built man of middle age entered. “You wanted to see me, Commander?”
“Yes, Mr. Carrera, please come in.” Harry indicated a comfortable chair.” I’m delighted to make your acquaintance. I understand you are the Construction Engineer responsible for my ship. Perhaps you can bring me up to date on a few matters.”
Chapter 5
Something Not Quite Right
_________________________
The interview wi
th the Construction Manager, Mr. Japhet Carrera, gave Harry a great deal of information and a number of insights into the source of some of the problems encountered during the fitting out.
“I’ve no wish to complain, officially or otherwise, Commander, but your First Lieutenant is not making my job any easier. Yes, we’ve had a few problems with installations, but it’s not helped by his interfering with my workers. They know what needs doing and the order for doing it. He doesn’t.”
“Thank you for telling me. I shall have a word with him.” Harry indicated several data chips. “And my thanks for the information in these. I can see I have a great deal of studying to do.” He smiled. “Now, perhaps you can give me your best estimate of completion. I must draw up schedules for my people in preparation for your handover.”
“Ah, now that is a bit of a challenge.” The man smiled. “Officially, the completion must be in thirty days. My foreman tells me we’re a week behind schedule, but he’s a pessimist. Assuming we don’t have any more interference, I think I can say we’ll have you ready for the trials in four weeks, say twenty-five days tops.” He shrugged. “But, if anyone tries to change the installation schedules again—well, Mike Denning could be right.”
Harry nodded. “Very well, I understand you. I shall deal with it.” He looked up when he heard a signal he’d been waiting for. “Sounds as if my officers are assembling. I wish to get to know them first, but I would appreciate meeting you in their company at a convenient moment. I think we might be able to resolve a number of things quickly and save further problems.”
The Construction Manager rose and held out his hand. “Glad to.” He paused. “I have a feeling you’re going to have a few problems to get through, Commander, but anything I can do to help, just say the word, and I’m on it.”
Commodore Felicity Roberts studied the displays. The mining platform lay at the centre of a small swarm of autonomous mining units, all busy unloading, in maintenance mode, or idle. “Any indication of signals on those Charonian frequencies?”
“Nothing so far, ma’am, but there’s something showing up on the scans—a sort of shadow beyond the platform.”
“You mean like the sort of thing we used to see with the Consortium anti-scan fields?”
“No, ma’am, this is something different. Shall I go to the high-power scanners?”
“No.” Felicity was concerned. These shadows were being reported regularly, but if she ordered the use of the Thermopylae’s high penetration scanner, it would warn whoever was responsible that the ship was not what it appeared to be. “See if there’s a way to get a visual on that area. I want to know who we’re dealing with, but I don’t want to reveal the true nature of what kind of ship we are.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Platform acknowledges our signal, ma’am. They say they’ll send a barge to collect the equipment.”
Felicity’s senses prickled. “Alert our defence team. Don’t show our teeth yet. Have our boys ready if they try anything. Carry on as if we’re preparing to receive them.” She turned to the scanning team. “Got anything?”
“Not sure, ma’am. It looks like quite a large ship, but it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and it’s bloody good at hiding. It’s keeping the platform and those mining drones between us.”
“Keep a watch on it. If it moves—”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Felicity opened her link. “Bridge, there’s something lurking beyond the platform. Send my special code on the Fleet links.” She paused. “And keep your finger on the ‘get us out of here’ keys.” To herself, she murmured, “I just hope James’ boys are where they’re supposed to be.”
“Platform’s barge is leaving their dock, ma’am.”
“Scan him for life forms. I want to know how many people he’s carrying.”
“He’s carrying twenty people, ma’am.” The ScanRate paused. “But some of the readings look very odd.”
“Damn. I thought that might be what they’re planning. Scan for weapons and warn our reception team, and stand by to prevent any transmission from their barge.” She opened her link again. “Bridge, that barge is loaded with people, and they’re armed. I want you to maintain normal procedure as if we’re unaware, but if that shadow moves, you know what to do.”
Harry opened his link to the AI. His Executive Officer troubled him. The man did his job, but he refused to engage on any level except an official one. It was common knowledge that he’d left his previous appointment under something of a cloud. Harry searched the records and acquainted himself with the facts. It appeared that Mr. MacKenzie-Banks was efficient, though inclined to consider his own ideas superior to anyone else’s. This had resulted in an accident with serious consequences in his previous duty assignment on another ship.
In the ensuing enquiry, the Lieutenant was censured and stripped of seniority, which had resulted in his being denied a command course. It seemed to Harry that this might explain the man’s antipathy to some extent, but there was a further cause for consideration in another record. It seemed MacKenzie-Banks had been cautioned over a liaison with a ComsRate. Storing this in his memory, Harry found the complete list of alterations and amendments made during the fitting out. He was not surprised to find that most of them were instigated and authorised by Lieutenant MacKenzie-Banks—curiously, on behalf of other departments and seldom without resistance from the officer in charge. This prompted Harry to examine the man’s service record again.
When he finished reading, he leaned back in his chair and digested the information. The man had some interesting connections outside the Fleet, and some of them were with organisations that Harry knew Fleet Security had on their watch list.
He returned to more immediate mundane tasks when the door chime signalled a visitor. “Come in.”
Lieutenant MacKenzie-Banks and Mr. Carrera pushed in. The Lieutenant spoke first, and he looked quite smug and pleased with himself.
“Commander, we’ve got another problem in Engineering.”
“We wouldn’t have if you hadn’t made my men do it your way—again!” Mr. Carrera was plainly angry.
“Please sit down, gentlemen.” Harry waited until they’d taken their places opposite each other. He’d noticed the Lieutenant’s use of his rank as Commander rather than his honorary title of Captain, a rather curious break with tradition. He met eyes with the Construction Manager first.
“Mr. Carrera, explain, please.”
Meanwhile, the Lieutenant looked bored and fiddled with his tablet as if he had more important things to do than meet with his senior officer.
“These ships are extremely complex, Commander,” said Mr. Carrera. “If our fitting order and schedule isn’t followed exactly—and in the right order—you can’t install some of the items without taking out what shouldn’t have been installed out of sequence.” He snorted. “I’ve tried to explain this to the lieutenant, but he won’t believe me. Now we’ve got to take out two full panels of the reactor controls because they’ve been installed before the field generator units for the shielding in that area, which are supposed to go in first.”
Through his access to the ship’s AI, Harry already had the change of installation order. It was one of many that had been disputed. He turned to the Lieutenant. “I believe you signed off the change of installation order—perhaps you’d care to tell me why, Mr. Banks.”
Startled, the Lieutenant refused to meet Harry’s eyes. “Yes, sir. We needed the reactor controls installed so that Jenny, I mean, Lieutenant Matlock, and her people could begin the program checks and tests. Those panels have to be integrated into the main controls for Engineering, and it was delaying their work.”
“It’s going to delay it even more now,” Carrera interjected. “I should know what I’m talking about. I am the construction manager, after all.” He glowered.
“Thank you, Mr. Carrera.” Harry looked at the Lieutenant. “I understand Lieutenant Matlock was not in favou
r of the early installation. I believe there is a communication from her saying her programming could proceed without them at this stage.”
The Lieutenant looked surprised, but he recovered quickly. “Yes, sir, we did discuss it, but in the end she saw it would be better to do the whole process at the same time.”
“All of which would seem to be undone by having to pull it all out again to put in the equipment and units that must go in behind it.” Harry struggled to keep the annoyance out of his voice. “Mr. Carrera, I must apologise. I’d appreciate a tour with you in half an hour if that is convenient. Perhaps you can show me where we may have some further problems. You may go now.” To the Lieutenant, he said, “Please remain a few minutes, Mr. Banks. I have several things to discuss with you.”
The interview did not go well. The Lieutenant made no attempt to defend his actions. Instead, he simply sat in front of Harry with a slight smile playing around the corners of his mouth as Harry confronted him with one example after another of delays caused by his demands for a change of layout, early installations or complete relocation of items, only to have them removed and returned to their original positions.
“Mr. Banks, if I were a suspicious man, I might think you were deliberately causing delays to our completion.” Harry’s exasperation was creeping through his tight control of his temper. The man seemed to be trying to provoke him. “In the absence of any response to my request for explanation, I’m perplexed as to the reason for your decision.”
The Lieutenant met his eyes at last. “As I’ve said repeatedly, sir, we can’t let the dockyard dictate how and when we do what we need to do. All of my decisions were necessary.”
“I have to disagree with you, Mr. Banks. Every one of your changes has resulted in major cost overruns and delays.” Harry held up a hand when the Lieutenant opened his mouth to protest. “No, allow me to finish. There will be no further rearrangements without my and Mr. Carrera’s express agreement. This ship will be ready to begin her trials on time.” He stood up. “Now, I know from your submitted schedule that you have several matters to attend to. I plan to tour all departments to get a feel for the ship. I’d appreciate your meeting me again at sixteen hundred this afternoon. We will discuss the schedule for the remainder of the week then. If you need me urgently, I have my link.”
Harry Heron: Hope Transcends Page 4