Their Lordships Request: A Harry Heron Adventure by Patrick G. Cox Page A

else have we got onboard, I ' ve seen the Command Team list and I must say I ' m looking forward to working with them. I know Valerie of course, we were in the same year at College and Nick was a term behind. Ben Curran was in my Class and I know Fritz by reputation. Mary Allison as well – it ' s an impressive list. Whose arms did you break in the Appointments Office? "
     
                  Captain Heron laughed. " Actually it wasn ' t that hard. She is the first of class and so has lots of innovative features, not to mention a whole ship full of untried tech – it just made sense to pull in a team that includes most of the people who have a hand in its development. " He waved a hand at a shelf with a collection of models – only one of which looked anything like the ship now under construction and added, " She is as much a technological leap forward from anything we ' ve built before as the first armoured dreadnought type there was from the ship Nelson knew or the nuclear submarine there was from the dreadnoughts. We are going to have quite a learning curve I think. Not least with the computer system which Fritz tells me is self-aware, though just how much so no one actually knows. "
     
                  Richard Grenville ' s eye rested for a moment on the exquisitely created model of the earliest Vanguard , a seventy-four-gun ' ship of the line ' , once the flagship of the great Admiral Nelson. " I wonder what Nelson ' s people would think if they could see our ships, " he mused, then returned to the task in hand. " I ' ve scheduled a meeting with all the key Warrant Officers and Heads of Departments so I can get to know them and they get to know me. I ' ve already seen the Chief Master Warrant and gone over his present Watch and Station bills. He ' s identified the key personnel we need to get at each stage of the roll out and, if Drafty plays ball, we should have the full crew aboard and ready to begin training up as soon as the final trials begin. "
     
                  " Excellent. Have you got the schedule for the training simulations to get used to the new Command displays? Good, I ' ve done several runs on it now and I must say once you get used to standing at the centre of a globular display its fantastic; you have a 360 view in all directions. It is a bit distracting at first, but it ' s probably the nearest thing we ' ll ever get to actually being able to stand on a deck and see what is happening around us. "
     
                  " Yes, " the Commander nodded. " And I ' ve done the introductory run in the Training suite at Woomera Base. As you say, it ' s quite an experience. "
     
                  " Better and better. As you know, we have some concerns regarding the political scene and some of the intel from the colonies suggests that there is some sort of threat to the democracies developing. The World Treaty Organisation is struggling to keep things stable. Fleet Intelligence suggests that there is an organisation actively working to undermine the treaties and destabilise elected governments. "
     
                  " I ' ve seen the assessments. It ' s worrying. "
     
                  " With everything else we have to do the last thing humanity needs now is a war, yet it looks as if the Eastern Powers, particularly the Sino-Asian Imperium are looking to expand their territorial claims and to take a bigger share of global resources. There is a lot of concern about it all and the Admiral has indicated that our working up successfully is expected to send a warning signal to some of the more ambitious ones. "
     
                  " I wondered, " the Commander said. " OK, I ' ll make sure the team know what ' s at stake and that everyone is on their toes. We can ' t afford any sabotage either and there will be those who may be tempted in that direction. "
     
                  " I ' ll keep you updated on