Ark Royal Read Free Page B

completely.”
     
    The shuttle altered course, allowing him to see every last detail of the carrier’s hull.  James had to admit that she looked good, if crude.  She might have been in the reserves, but her crew hadn't been allowed to slack off ... even if they had felt they’d been exiled to the ass end of nowhere.  He felt an odd flicker of admiration for Smith.  The man might have a reputation for drinking, yet he'd managed to keep his command in shape.
     
    Smith keyed his terminal as the shuttle straightened out and headed towards the shuttlebay.  “I’m calling the senior crew to the shuttlebay,” he said, by way of explanation.  “There won’t be a formal welcoming party, I’m afraid, but I’ll introduce you to the senior officers.  You can meet the others later, once we’re more organised.”
     
    “Yes, sir,” James said.  There were senior officers who would be furious if the formalities were ignored, but he saw Smith’s point.  Ark Royal’s reserve crew didn't have the manpower to put on a display.  He swallowed again as he realised the depth of his own ignorance.  Ark Royal’s crew knew far more than him about their starship’s condition.  “I look forward to it.”
     
    Smith smiled.  The shuttle landed – there was a faint shiver as the shuttle’s artificial gravity field merged with the starship’s internal field – and the hatch hissed open.  James rose to his feet and followed Smith out of the hatch and into the shuttlebay, looking around with considerable interest.  The shuttlebay looked as crude as the starship’s interior, but it was clearly kept in good shape.  Two more shuttles, both partly cannibalised for spare parts, sat on the other side of the giant compartment.  They looked oddly pitiful to James’s eyes.
     
    It took him a moment to realise that something was missing ... and several more moments to realise what it was .  The omnipresent background noise from the starship’s drives was simply absent.  James felt his eyes narrow, then realised that most of the drives and their fusion cores would have been shut down while the starship remained in the reserves.  There was no point in placing further wear and tear on equipment that was effectively irreplaceable.
     
    They stepped through the airlock and into the welcoming lounge.  James saluted the flag, then straightened automatically as he saw four officers waiting for them.  All four of them looked alarmingly dishevelled, as if they’d only just climbed out of their bunks.  They didn't seem to have much pride in themselves, he realised grimly, and yet there was something about them that kept him from dismissing them automatically.  He couldn't place his finger on it.
     
    “Welcome aboard,” Smith said.  “Commander Fitzwilliam, please allow me to introduce Alan Anderson, Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Daniel Lightbridge, Helmsman, Lieutenant Commander Keith Farley, Tactical Officer and Midshipwoman Janelle Lopez.”
     
    There was a long moment as they exchanged salutes.  James studied them, silently promising to read their files as soon as possible.  Anderson looked tough; his left arm had been replaced with a metallic prosthetic that made no attempt to pass for natural flesh and blood.  Like most senior engineering crew, James knew, he would have spent most of his career on Ark Royal , working his way up the ranks to Chief Engineer.  Chances were that he wouldn't have a hope of another posting, even if Ark Royal were to be permanently decommissioned.  His experience would be years out of date.
     
    Lightbridge was a tall black man, his bald head gleaming in the cold light from overhead.  He held himself so still that it seemed almost unnatural, although there was a hint of easy competence in his stance.  All helmsmen, at least in James’s experience, resented not being starfighter pilots and tended to put their ships through exaggerated manoeuvres purely to prove they could.  Ark Royal