Apologies for the delay in rolling this out. All is more or less generally well, I just could not bring myself to work on it. I will try to move it along a bit faster now.
As you will see, this first chapter continues as a sort of prologue to the story - because I don't quite know what they will do or how to move it along, quite apart from the minimal technical research required to make it believable. // VP
PS: Many thanks to those who voted for my stories in the TurtleDove awards. I still shake my head in surprise that I was even in the lists, let alone twice. (Thanks especially to @FriendlyGhost for kicking off the nominations!)
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CHAPTER 1 Part 3: England Expects More....
THREE
“Lieutenant Joseph Walke?” Walke nodded, lips pressed firmly together. “Come in. I'm Commander Torrance Smythe. I was indeed about to send for you.”
“Pleased to meet you, sir.”
“And I am very pleased to meet you. Your Captain speaks well of you.” Smithy paused. “And so did Admiral Moore last year when I was working with him on the Fleet Action Control Tables.”
Walke looked away briefly before he spoke. “Admiral Moore showed me that if you know your ground you can deal with whomever and whatever you need to, sir. I was only back in the navy a few months and he accepted me as if I was a long serving veteran when we analysed the gunnery records after Dogger Bank.”
“And a good lesson it was: be prepared and stand your ground when you know you are right.” Smithy waited a moment. “You said you came back to the navy. That was after your time at Oxford?”
“Yes, sir. After Osborne I went to Dartmouth. There I was in the top tier of the class in anything mathematical or technical. And so when I asked, and begged a bit, they let me go on half pay to attend Oxford. I was there two years to get my degree, Then I had to come back to the navy to keep my career moving along. And, it seemed like the Kaiser was getting restless. I may be a mathematician but I have always wanted to be a naval officer.”
“A naval officer with an advanced mathematical background, you may find yourself making contributions to gunnery or navigation, or other challenges currently unknown.
“Lieutenant, I have an assignment in mind for you – I would like to Shanghai you onto my team. But, it will involve working in what might be an unstructured command. and coordinating with others who may not always want to cooperate fully with us. Nevertheless, this job will require that we be able to work both with them and around them at the same time. That means within what rules there are, and making them up when there are none. Please think about that – can you work with that uncertainty?”
“Sir, of course I can't say for sure, but.... Let me try to put it this way sir: if we have some reasonable idea of where the actual limits are, then we can define the open spaces in between. And that works for me. As to the grey areas, I can't say for sure, sir. I... I... sometimes I am becalmed by uncertainty if I don't know what the limits of my own authority are, but only if I might trespass on others. Otherwise I think I can make use of the absence of limits.
“Sir, I believe you have heard in advance how I dislike ambiguity, that I like to know what my limits are. Another side of that is that I have acquired some experience at rationalizing my way out of a transgression or three.” Walke smiled. “You might say I parse the rules apart in pieces, and identify how I am not actually breaking someone else's rules as they are written. If that might be helpful to you.”
Smithy burst out laughing at this. “Ha! Ha-Ha! A young sea lawyer! Destined for high command no doubt!” He paused and smiled. “Quite seriously, that is actually a skill we will need. Very well then. Lieutenant Joseph Leonard Triggs Walke,* you and Captain Green will be notified forthwith of your transfer to my command. I have the orders here, I just need to endorse them and hand over copies.”
Taken aback at this strong show of approval, Walke spoke quietly. “You sound quite certain sir, all I can promise is to do my best.”
“That's been quite good in your naval career so far, Lieutenant. I'm sure it will be all that England expects.” He stood and offered his hand. “Now, we're going to be a small unit. Do you go by Joseph?”
“Only on official documents, sir. I rather dislike it. Leonard, sometimes very informally Len, sir.”
“Very well, Leonard, you go get packed – yes, now – while I meet with the Captain. Here is your copy of the orders. We'll meet at the next boat. There's one scheduled in about half an hour – at 1100.”
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*Full name for Lieutenant Walke. (Note, his family actually uses ”Triggs Walke" but he has been undecided about using the double-barreled name since Osborne, when he found some of those classmates who were so encumbered were not to his liking.)