by Peter Grant
“What of the rest of their team, and our second team?” Agim demanded, face red with anger.
“That is very strange. The other two members of their team were not harmed or arrested. They drew straws to see who would bring us the news. Drita has remained on Constanta, to monitor the situation. Flamar returned here last week. He awaits instructions, and new members of their team if we decide to send them back with him. The other team was not contacted, and should still be unknown to the Constanta authorities – but we cannot be sure, of course.”
“They are still reporting on schedule?”
“Yes. Nothing appears to be wrong.”
“But how do we know that? How do we know they have not been penetrated, or even arrested, and their places taken by Hawkwood’s or Constanta’s people?” Agim paced back and forth in agitation, thinking hard. “No. The risks are too great that we might be deceived. We must extract both teams, and bring them back here. We will debrief them very carefully, to make sure we understand as much as possible of the situation there; then we shall send one or two controllers there, senior people we can trust absolutely. We shall give them enough money to hire locals to spy on their behalf. If we decide to attack, or they recommend a strike, we shall send a team to join them for that purpose only, then they will get out fast. That way, our risks of losing more people will be minimized.”
Fatmir and Endrit nodded in unison. “I shall send word to our people there at once,” Endrit promised.
“Tell them to be careful as they leave Constanta. In their haste, they must not make mistakes that might identify them. Hawkwood is too dangerous an enemy for us to take that sort of chance.”
That night, Agim paced the carpet in his private study at home. His mind raced as he weighed possibilities, considered alternatives, and selected options. The responsibilities entrusted to him by the Patriarch sometimes seemed like a crushing burden, weighing him down, forcing him to exert every sinew of mind and body and spirit to keep up with them.
So… our hopes for the Callanish consortium have proved fruitless. They are useless! I do not understand how they could have so deluded themselves as to think they could compete with Hawkwood as equals. They have been out-thought and out-fought at every turn!
That started him wondering. Who was this Captain Cochrane who had founded Eufala Corporation, later to become Hawkwood? On first investigation, some years before, he had appeared to be merely an officer in a minor Fleet who had fallen afoul of his superiors, and been axed for political rather than service reasons. That was hardly the pedigree to be expected of one who had shown so much ability over the past few years. Had he somehow been prevented from displaying his true potential, due to service politics? Whatever the reason, he had shown himself to be an opponent worthy of respect.
What am I to do about you, Captain – or Commodore, as I understand you are now styling yourself? Are you so dangerous to us that I dare not let you live? Are there others working with and for you who are equally capable, or more so? If I remove you, will that expose us to an even more formidable opponent? Is there anyone close to you, someone we can use as a lever against you? What about a member of your staff who can be pumped for information?
He thought for a while, then came to a decision. He had to learn more about Cochrane. He would send a personal investigator, who would work independently of any other agents and report to him alone. They would find out every scrap of information about Hawkwood and its boss that might be useful. Only when he had a more rounded picture could he decide what to do next. If the decision was for direct action, then that agent could lead a team to undertake it. They would already have all the knowledge they needed to succeed.
So… whom shall I send?
8
Setback
CONSTANTA
Frank Haldane’s three months of trials with HCS Bobcat proved to be rather more adventurous than planned. He sent a message that he’d be returning with his crew, leaving the frigate prototype in the shipyard’s hands for modification, but provided no further details. Cochrane was bursting with curiosity and impatience by the time their ferry vessel, provided courtesy of Kang Industries, pulled into orbit.
“What happened?” he demanded, almost before Frank could take a seat in his office.
“Bobcat wasn’t sufficiently stable, sir,” Frank said simply. “They shortened her by about thirty-five meters compared to her parent design, the Desroches class destroyer. That meant her length is very short in relation to her beam, which is still a destroyer’s cross-section. Her pitch and yaw responses at high speeds are very quick – too quick. They’d foreseen that, and provided additional ballast tanks to compensate; but the pipes connecting them were standard width. When ballast had to be transferred in a hurry, they weren’t wide enough. The transfer was too slow. We had a few moments during high-speed trials when she almost porpoised out of control. That was… interesting.”
“I believe you! Was the Qianjin Admiral aboard at the time?”
Frank laughed. “No, sir. By then we knew she was twitchy at high speed, so we didn’t let her have her head. Even so, he and his senior commanders were very impressed with her. I suspect they’re thinking about putting cruiser pods into destroyer hulls in due course.”
“I’ll ask Hui about that when she gets back next week. What are Kang going to do to solve the problems with Bobcat?”
“Three things, sir. First off, they’re increasing the size of the ballast tanks and installing wider pipes between them, allowing liquid to be pumped more rapidly. Second, they’re recalculating her moment of inertia in all three axes. They need to figure out how to improve her longitudinal stability. Clearly, their initial calculations weren’t good enough. They’re very embarrassed about that, which is why they paid for a ship to bring us home at their expense. Third, they’re considering putting back a few of the frames they took out to shorten her. The designers’ first-pass conclusion is that if she’s several frames longer, between the missile pods and ahead of the leading pod, with a moderate weight redistribution, that should restore a lot of the stability she’s lost. They’re not going to do anything until they’ve recalculated everything, but they say that’s the most likely solution.”
Cochrane grimaced. “That’s going to cause a big delay in building the next two frigates, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir. Mr. Kim said to ask you whether he should build four more corvettes while the modifications are being worked out and tested. He can start the first two frigates immediately after that. It’ll delay their entry into service by about six months, he says. On the other hand, his designers might be able to incorporate a row of tubes for defensive missiles in the space they’re adding, as part of the weight redistribution. I know you were worried that a frigate, with only seventy defensive missiles, might have to face off against a destroyer with a hundred or more offensive missiles, which might swamp her defenses. If we can raise her defensive missile count, that might be worth having.”
“It won’t completely solve the problem, but it’ll help. I’ll be very glad if Kang can make that work. Very well, I’ll let him know to go ahead. When will Bobcat be ready for fresh trials?”
“He says five months, sir. They’ll have to separate her into three sections, insert the additional frames and defensive missile tubes – they’ll be stand-alone, not part of the missile pods – and then reconnect everything, including lengthening the spine, pipes, the wiring harness, and so on. It’s a big job. Fortunately, their robotic constructors can do it fairly quickly.”
“They’ve certainly made things faster compared to the old days. I’m very glad we’ll have a couple of arsenal ships ready soon. In the absence of our frigates, we’re going to need them to back up our corvettes, in case they run into something they can’t handle.”
“What’s happening on that front, sir?”
“We’ve just taken delivery of the first two fast freighters. Grigorescu’s shipyard has fabricated frames for eight cruiser-cum-frigate m
issile pods apiece. They’re installing them in the midships holds, along with a pod-mounted reactor and generator to power their mass drivers, and a wiring harness to connect them to the ships’ datalink. The corvettes will be able to talk directly to the missiles through the datalink, to program and launch them on command.”
“Sounds like the extra corvettes will be really useful, then.”
“Yes, they will – so much so that I think I’ll retain Amanita for the present, rather than sell her back to Kang in part exchange for another, larger model. Until the frigates enter service, we can’t afford to lose her.”
“I get it, sir. Do we have enough missile pods for the arsenal ships?”
“Not yet. We have six on hand. We’ll install three in each ship for now. I’m hoping to get thirty more in three months’ time from Kang; and we’re about to get an insurance windfall, courtesy of the Callanish consortium, that should allow us to buy a lot more.”
“Come again?”
Cochrane told Frank about Saul’s ‘theft’ of Molly Malone, and how he’d arranged for Dunsinane’s firm to insure Hawkwood against the loss of the missiles she’d purportedly carried. By the time he finished, Frank was laughing out loud.
“I know Saul can’t talk about it, for obvious reasons, but I bet he wishes he could! He could dine out on that story for years to come!”
“He certainly did a good job, from our point of view. If he’d like an opportunity to go straight, and if you can honestly recommend him, I’ll give him a chance.”
“Thanks, sir. I’ll send word to him. I don’t think he’ll accept, but you never know.”
“We owe you, too. After all, it was your idea to arrange for the Albanians to ‘steal’ our missiles. We let the Callanish consortium do that instead, but the effect was the same.”
“Does that mean I get a commission on the insurance payout, sir?” Frank asked with a cheeky grin.
Laughing, Cochrane pretended to swat at him, and Frank ducked. “Greedy bugger! Still, you never know. We’ll see what happens when the money comes in.”
Cochrane took a couple of days off to welcome Hui back from Qianjin. He booked them into a mountain resort, far from interruptions. They luxuriated in each other’s company for a few uninterrupted days.
“What are we going to do, Andrew?” she asked him one evening, lying naked and unashamed on a sheepskin rug in front of a roaring fire. “Coming back to you like this… it felt just like I was coming home – but Constanta isn’t my home. That’s on Qianjin. This isn’t home for you, either. It’s just a temporary base for Hawkwood. What am I going to do about you? I said I can’t leave Qianjin. My whole family is there, my whole life until recently… but now, I’m just not sure anymore.”
“If you’re saying home is where I am, I’ll be very flattered – and very grateful,” he said quietly as he lay beside her, equally nude. “I feel pretty much the same about you coming back. Life was empty without you. I don’t know what we’re going to do, Hui. I love you, and I want to be with you. I don’t know where that will take us, and quite frankly I’m not worried. If you and I are together, I think we could make a home anywhere, and be happy. It’s not the place. It’s us.”
She hugged him gently. “Thanks for saying that. I guess I’m torn between who I was, and what life had made me, compared to what you’re making me as we grow together. I know I’m a different woman today from what I was before we met, and that’s all your fault.” She stuck out her tongue at him, smiling.
They returned with the issue still unresolved, but both knew that it would have to be settled soon. Neither of them would be able – or willing – to continue in limbo for long.
Captain Dave Cousins, in command of Hawkwood’s ships and operations in the Mycenae system, came back to Constanta for consultations. Cochrane took the opportunity to call together several of his core team to discuss future options. They met for breakfast, then adjourned to a meeting room.
Frank opened by discussing their present and projected fleet size. “We have seven corvettes at Mycenae: Amanita, Banewort, Belladonna, Castor, Datura, Hellebore and Hemlock. Two more, Manchineel and Mandrake, will be delivered next month, and work up their crews there. Kang Industries will build nine more for us over the next few years, as well as nine frigates – at least, those are our plans at present. We have the first two of our six new fast freighters, Beluga and Narwhal. They’re here at Constanta, being fitted out as arsenal ships. Missile pods for them should be available this quarter. Orca continues to be our only armed freighter and training ship. She also handles special projects. We have another fast freighter, Pilot, to resupply the Mycenae system every month. We have two very large warehouse freighters, Humpback in Constanta orbit and Bowhead at Mycenae. There are also two depot ships there, Anson and Jean Bart, with a third, De Ruyter, due for delivery in a couple of months. She’ll go to Mycenae to work up and relieve Anson, which will move to Constanta for routine maintenance, then provide basing facilities here. There are three more depot ships on order. We have three courier ships, Agni, Hermes and Zaqar, with eight more on order from Fujita. Finally, there’s our repair ship, Vulcan, also in Mycenae.”
Cousins pretended to mop his brow. “Whew! We never see all of them together at one time, so it’s easy to lose sight of just how fast we’re growing. I make that twenty-two ships either in service or about to be, and another thirty-three on order. That’s a heck of a jump from having no ships at all, about four years ago!”
“It sure is,” Cochrane agreed. “I’m still amazed, sometimes, to think back on it. We couldn’t have done it without everyone who took a risk, and joined us early on. They’ve shared in our profits, of course. Thanks to that, they recommended us to their friends, who could see the money they were making and became eager to sign on. So many of them have responded that, at long last, we have more spacers than we have berths for them. That won’t last, of course. In fact, we’ll need to mount another recruiting drive as soon as the next ships are ready.”
“What about officers, sir?” Frank asked.
“That’s still a limiting factor, but the Lancastrian retired warrant officers and Limited Duty officers we hired to set up those programs for our fleet have come through for us. We now have fifteen warrant officers and seven LDO’s, and there are more in prospect. We’re using Warrant Officers as department heads on some corvettes and transports, which eases the officer shortage for those classes of ship. They’re working out very well, and our senior NCO’s are glad to have a new avenue for promotion. It wasn’t often available in the New Orkney Cluster, where most of us come from, and it’s helping us to recruit more of them.
“Now, I want to discuss our deployments. We need to make some changes. Commander Sue McBride, Hawkwood’s Chief Engineer, tells me the oldest corvettes will soon be in need of a one-month maintenance period in a shipyard. She wants to begin rotating them back here for that purpose. We’ll use Grigorescu’s facilities, of course. He’s done great work for us so far. We also need a couple of corvettes based here for local defense, plus an arsenal ship, and a surveillance satellite will be deployed here later this year. The Albanians have already tried to hit us once, and I’m sure they’ll do so again. I want sufficient local defenses to deal with that, if necessary.”
After some debate, they agreed to send Amanita and Banewort to Constanta as soon as the two new corvettes arrived in Mycenae. The older corvettes, first of their class to be delivered, would be serviced in the shipyard. Banewort would then assist the new arsenal ships to work up, because she had full-length destroyer arrays on her longer hull, allowing her to better control their missiles. Amanita, a slightly smaller ship with shorter arrays, would go back to Mycenae to relieve Belladonna, which would undergo maintenance, then join Banewort for local defense. As more corvettes were delivered, the earlier ships would cycle through the shipyard in their turn, relieving Banewort and Belladonna. Each ship would offer its crew a period of extended liberty, rest and recreation during their
maintenance period.
Cochrane broached the subject of senior appointments. “Dave has done an excellent job as Officer in Command at Mycenae. However, I haven’t done nearly as good a job here! I’ve been running from pillar to post, doing too many things myself, because we haven’t had enough officers to form a proper staff. That’s got to change. What’s more, Dave needs a break from Mycenae, otherwise Elizabeth is going to kill me for keeping her husband so far away!” The others laughed.
“Where are you going to get staff officers, sir?” Frank asked curiously. “I don’t think many of us are staff-qualified.”
“That’s true. Dave and I have done Staff College, but I don’t think anyone else has. We’ll have to offer part-time Staff College training. There are plenty of distance education materials from Staff Colleges all over the settled galaxy. I figure we can buy what we need, and set up self-study periods for our people. By working and studying at the same time, they’ll take longer to learn, but they’ll apply what they learn at once. That’s the best we can do right now.”
“Who do you want for your staff, sir?” Cousins asked.
“You, for a start, Dave. We’ve got to set up a proper Personnel function. We’ve been running that on an ad hoc basis since we began. You’ve had oversight over it, but you’ve complained long and loud that it’s a makeshift solution at best. I want you to move back here as my combined S1, Staff Officer Personnel, and S7, Education and Training. We’ll run those functions in tandem for now. I’ve got Caitlin Ross as my S2, Intelligence. She’ll share that function with Tom Argyll, who’ll be S2 for Security. Their people will work with you to screen new hires. Lachlan MacLachlan is my combined S4, Logistics, and S8, Finance. Yes, he’s a civilian, but in the final analysis, Hawkwood is a civilian company, so I don’t think that matters. Warrant Officer Jock Murray will handle S7, Communications and Technology. He should be at least a Lieutenant-Commander by now – his contribution to Hawkwood certainly rates that – but he says he doesn’t want commissioned rank, and I’m not going to push the issue.
