He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (52 page)

“No, it's definitely not paint, some sort of anti-radiation coating, I think.”  She scratched her head for a moment.  “It has to go on about an 3” thick all over in 1” lifts, and with what looks like titanium chicken wire between each layer.”  Mike and Pete looked at each other.

“I have the feeling that the Admiral has had someone working on Gables coating.”

“Oh, this didn’t come from the Admiralty, this came from Gravatronics R&D people.”  Seeing the surprised look on their faces.  “I see you took some battle damage to the hull.”  Cynthia stopped and looked up at the damaged plate.

“Yes, and the forward battery, but thanks to you, nothing serious.”

“Hmm, I’d better get that hull plate off and send it over to the R&D lab.”  Cynthia took out her pad and added it to the list of repair items.

“Why R&D, Cynthia?”  Pete asked, looking a little puzzled.

“Oh, they like to do a detailed examination of damaged hull plates.  That way they can tell much about the state of the enemy ordinance from the blast pattern.  It helps the R&D weenies improve our armor plate and shielding.”  She saw Mike and Pete nod.  “I take it you’ll be leaving a standby crew on board, Mike?”

“Yes, for security mainly.”

“Good, I have orders to maintain a very tight security myself, and only use people I know and trust.”

“I suspect you and Conner Blake will be working closely together on security, Cynthia.”

“Oh, I hope so.”  She flashed him a smile, blushing slightly.

“Anything else you have to do?”

“Yes, a few minor retro fits on your weapons, plus the installation of some small launch tubes, but I have no idea what they are for.”

“We do, and I’m sure Adam will be delighted.”

That was one thing Adam had complained about, not being able to launch his counter measure canister correctly.  He felt that part of the dispersal problem was due to the canisters falling into the drive wake, and said so in his report.  The tubes Cynthia was installing gave him the ability to shoot them out sideways near the stern and away from the drive plume.

“My instructions read that you are to get top priority for refitted, and get you back out of here as soon as possible.”

“I’ve given the crew a thirty days, is that too much?”

“No, that’s just about right.  We should have everything finished by then.”

“Good, it’ll give me time to catch up on a few things in the mean time.”  He desperately wanted to go to London and see Lady Ann, but with everything that was going on he doubted he’d have time.

“You might want to get some shore digs for a few days, as we will have to power her down, and it’s going to get noisy in there, Mike.”

“I’ll have Jenks check on our old digs and see if they are available, that way you’ll know where to find me if I’m needed.”

Mike took the leave parade, his eyes travelling over his smartly turned out crew.  They all look proud and eager, chests straining the shiny brass button on the dress blue uniforms.

“Nice turn out Chief Petty Officer Blake.  Well done.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“Well.”  Mike stood on a landing jack so they could all see him.  “I take it you are all eager to get back to your duty station.  We do have a whole list of items...”  Rude noises started coming from the rear of the parade.  “Do I take it that you’d prefer to go on leave instead of working on your...”

“Parade, dismissed.”  Pete barked, grinning from ear to ear as he cut Mike off in mid sentence.  With the sound of a cheer and a lot of laugher the crew fell out and climbed aboard the waiting shuttlecraft.  Mike smiled and waved, wishing them luck and a happy leave.

“Well, so much for the chain of command.”  Mike grouched, as he patted Pete on the back.

“You couldn’t hold them back much longer, Skipper, you’d have a mutiny on your hands.”  He chuckled.

“You have fun on your leave, Pete.  See you back here in a month.

“Aye-aye, sir.  You too.”  Thankfully, it didn’t take Jenks long to convince the landlord to let them have several rooms. 

Adam was staying behind, as was Chief Blake and Sergeant Rice.  That only left five Marines and six sailors onboard as the standby crew.  Their main function was security, not to watch the yard crew, but for any unauthorized visitors.  No one wanted a repeat of the last time, and a virus in the main frame, so even the communications units was completely shut down.  As a precaution, Janice and Grace Goldman removed the hard drive and locked it away the moment the ship powered down.  His first act was to send a message to Lady Ann, informing her that he was back, but even after he arrived at his digs, there was still no response.  He had to admit to himself, that she did have a few other duties to take care of, besides seeing to the romantic and somewhat licentious thought of one lowly Leftenant.  Reluctantly Mike moved into his digs, three small rooms, and a bathroom.  It wasn’t much, but them again it was a lot more than he had aboard ship.  The first night he couldn’t sleep at all, it was too quite.  He was use to the feel of the ship around him, and the small sounds you hardly hear.  The slight vibration from the drive, or the muffled sound of hatches opening and closing.  None of them really intruded on a conscious level, but they were there, nonetheless.  The sound of wind softly whistling around the eaves of the old house seemed out of place, more like the sound of air escaping than anything.

The following day, with nothing better to do, He took a stroll around Davenport, marveling how little the place had changed in all the years it had been here.  At one time they built sailing ships for the Navy, then steam and iron hull vessel.  Yet, with the coming of the space age and Ag units to lift ships into space, the town had remained much the same.  In some ways, the town itself seemed to resist change, as if it had some sort of time shield around it.  He imagined himself walking around these street 200 hundred years ago.  The street advert and names over the shops might have changed, and maybe the window displays.  But the town itself would be the same with cobbled streets and Elizabethan houses, the smell of seaweed, tar, and salt in the air.  In a way it brought a feeling of peace to his soul, and anchor in an ever changing world.  He was glad the town fathers had resisted the drive to rip everything down and build some ugly modern building in their place.  Most had no character and little taste.

Here he could feel, see, touch and taste the past, feel closer to all the famous and not so famous seamen and sailors of old who’s walked these same streets.  After a good dinner and several glasses of wine he walked back to his digs, feeling relaxed for once, but it wasn’t long before someone was knocking on his door.  Jenks had taken leave along with the rest of the crew and up in London checking on Taffy and the till, so he padded barefoot across the wooden floor to the door.  He took the precaution of picking up his service blaster and flicking the safety off.

“Who is it?”  He asked through the closed door.

“Message for you, Mr. Gray.”  A muffled voice answered.  Mike carefully unlocked the door and opened it.  The moment he did, someone rushed him and before he could react the person threw themselves against his body, knocking his back several feet.

“The message is… I love you!”  A female voice whispered just before her lips touched his.

The Princess Royal wrapped herself round him in a loving embrace as he staggered forward and kicked the door shut as he wrapped his arms around her.  Mike quickly flicking on the safety as he reached down and lifted her off the floor, their lips still locked together, and carried her into the bedroom.  Mike didn’t have a clear recollection of what happened after that, only that her clothes evaporated and he lost himself in showing her how much he loved her.  The universe turned on its axis several times before they finally lay side by side just looking at each other, hands softly touching skin, lips finding new places to kiss.

“God, I missed you so much, Mike.”

“I missed you, my love.”

“I was so mad when you left without saying goodbye at Christmas, and for a while I thought you might be tired of me.”

“Good God no!  I couldn’t tell you, it was an emergency...”  She placed one finger over his lips.

“I know, I understand.”

“You do?”

“Yes, father reluctantly showed me your report, and the video of your last mission.”  The way she said it he knew it scared her.

“It had to be done, my love.”  He stroked her hair softly.

“Oh,” she sighed, “why did I have to fall in love with a swashbuckling hero, and not some nice safe normal man who would stay at home and look after me?”

“Hero, me?”  He looked surprised.  “I’m not that by any stretch of the imagination, just an officer in His Majesties Navy doing his job.”

“Right, and sneaking into a heavily defended Star Base, stealing two ships and nearly destroying the whole place is a normal part of your job description I suppose.”  She laughed.

“Well, it wasn’t that dangerous.”  He grinned, pulling his ear lobe in embarrassment.  He looked like a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar at that moment, and Ann giggled.

“To you maybe.  And what about taking on three Sirrien Warships.  One of which was a Cruiser no less?”

“Luck, nothing more.”

“Right and pigs will fly.”

“By the way, what is swashbuckling, and how do I buckle my swash?”

“Like this.”  She said, and for a while they lost themselves in each other again.  When they came up for air, Mike sighed. 

“Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted.  I just do what has to be done, that’s all.”

“As Father said, he was just glad you are on our side.”  She giggled, cuddling closer to him.

Sometime later, they lay there looking into each other eyes.  Mike smiled softly, thinking he was the luckiest man in the universe at this moment, yet a question still nagged at the back of his mind.

“What on Earth were you doing on the courier ship?”  She stiffened for a moment, then relaxed.  She’d anticipated that Mike would ask eventually.

“I suppose I have to tell you the truth, you of all people should know.”

“Right.”

“I was on a diplomatic mission using the cover of a ‘King’s Messenger’.  Sometime earlier, we, the Royal family that is, received word from a Voss Trader that someone in the Harmony wanted to open negotiation with us.”  Mike immediately flashed back to the ghost ship they encountered in the void of hyperspace.

“So how come the Princess Royal had to go?”

“That's a long story, and an understanding of how Harmony society is constructed.  They don’t have a Government, or elected leaders, only the ruling class, a Royal family if you will.  They insisted in their message that they would only speak with a representative of the Royal family itself.”

“Did Prime Minister know you went?”  He asked, seeing a patch of skin on her neck he didn’t think he’d kissed before.

“No, only the King and a small group of people.”  Ann sighed softly as his lips caressed the soft spot behind her ear.

“Also, as a ‘King’s Messenger’ I had complete freedom of movement, without question, and only answerable for my actions to the King… my father himself.”

“Makes sense.”

“It did.”

“It was clear that they understood the concept of an elected Government, but to them they were nothing more than drones, and the ruling class doesn’t negotiate with workers, they just tell them what to do.”

“Oh a hive mentality.”

“In a way, yes.”

“The message implied they wanted to meet with the King, but that was impossible, so either the Prince of Wales, or myself were the logical choice.”