Their Lordships Request: A Harry Heron Adventure (122 page)

             
"
Well,
as
long
as
they
are
fit
for
duty
and
aren
'
t
likely
to
do
anything
that
will
jeopardise
the
ship,
I
'
ll
leave
it
with
you.
"
James
Heron
was
strict
but
fair.
"
Warn
them
they
'
ll
be
off
this
ship
faster
than
a
Strike
Fighter
if
they
do.
"

             
"
Already
done,
sir.
"
Richard
Grenville
had
made
this
very
point
very
clear
to
both
offenders
earlier.
"
I
think
they
got
the
message.
"

             
"
Good.
"
The
Captain
nodded.
"
Now
our
next
set
of
evolutions
start
tomorrow.
I
shall
want
everyone
in
the
briefing
room
at
nine
hundred
hours.
We
'
re
embarking
the
Training
Team
again
for
this
one
so
they
will
require
accommodation
for
the
next
month.
I
suggest
you
put
them
all
in
the
Flag
Officer
'
s
accommodation.
Keeps
them
together
and
gives
them
somewhere
private
to
hatch
their
devious
plots.
"
He
smiled.
"
Has
Mary
forgiven
them
for
making
her
carry
out
the
emergency
shutdown
of
two
of
her
reactors
yet?
Or
evacuating
her
Control
Room?
"
He
saw
the
grin
spread
on
his
Executive
Commander
'
s
face
and
said,
"
I
thought
not.
Still,
she
and
her
team
came
through
that
in
the
middle
of
our
'
battle
'
with
flying
colours.
Though
I
think
the
Observer
'
s
ears
will
take
some
time
to
recover
from
the
scorching
she
gave
them.
"

             
The
incident
he
was
referring
to
was
likely
to
go
down
in
Fleet
legends.
The
Exercise
Director
had
inserted
a
random
option
into
the
scenario
and
it
had
turned
up
containment
failure
of
the
reactors
in
two
reactor
rooms
and
a
fire
in
the
Engineering
Control
Room
in
near
parallel
events.
Commander
Mary
Allison
and
her
team
had
carried
out
the
Reactor
Shutdown
Procedure
while
simultaneously
fighting
the
fire
and
donning
evacuation
suits.
Because
Mary
had
simply
ordered
the
activation
of
the
SCRAM
procedure
–
which
quite
literally
stopped
the
fusion
reaction
in
its
tracks
by
injecting
a
fusion
damping
stream
of
Boron
particles
into
the
core
–
and
then
hit
the
atmospheric
decompression
button
which
vented
the
Control
Room
'
s
atmosphere
into
space.

             
The
Engineering
team
had
had
seconds
rather
than
minutes
to
get
their
suits
on
from
the
moment
she
gave
the
order
and
then
they
had
had
to
rescue
one
of
the
Observers
who
had
failed
to
bring
his
emergency
pack
with
him.
Mary
'
s
dressing
down
of
the
individual
–
having
shoved
him
into
an
airlock
and
slammed
the
hatch
just
in
time
–
was
going
to
be
the
basis
of
a
new
and
rather
rude
song
to
be
sung
on
Mess
Nights
in
the
Wardroom
and
the
Senior
Rates
Messes.
The
fact
that
she
was
small
and
rather
petite
and
the
Observer
had
been
a
large
and
well-built
individual
certainly
added
to
the
ribaldry
of
the
words
already
circulating.

             
"
I
gather
that
one
or
two
changes
have
been
made
to
the
team
we
will
be
shipping,
"
agreed
the
Executive
Commander.
"
I
hear
one
of
the
Engineering
Observer
'
s
is
still
jumping
every
time
he
hears
a
hiss
and
has
asked
to
work
with
another
group.
"

             
"
Serves
him
right.
"
Captain
Heron
was
less
than
sympathetic.
"
Fleet
standing
orders
say
that
when
we
are
at
action
stations
everyone
must
have
their
emergency
survival
pack
with
him
–
and
of
all
people
he
should
know
that
if
you
set
off
a
smoke
canister
in
battle
exercises
the
venting
of
the
compartment
is
what
you
are
going
to
get.
"

             
"
I
agree.
"
Richard
Grenville
was
a
stickler
for
safety
and
had
added
his
own
strictures
to
the
more
colourful
views
expressed
by
the
Engineering
Commander.
He
hesitated.
"
Have
you
seen
the
latest
reports
coming
in
from
the
Colony
on
Pangaea?
Seems
that
the
election
there
has
been
declared
null
and
void.
There
'
s
a
court
case
pending
over
vote
rigging
and
gerrymandering,
but
the
current
governor
is
remaining
in
office
even
though
he
apparently
lost
the
election
by
a
landslide.
"