Free The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) by Stephen Sweeney Page A

could hold off from asking them…
erm… until the end of the presentation, and then Scott will…
will gladly take them.”
    “ Probably a good idea,” Dodds whispered to Enrique, sat next
to him.
    Ainsworth studied the podium for a moment, appearing unsure
about how it operated. He pushed a button and then jumped when it
did not do as he had expected: his microphone cutting off and
classical music beginning to stream in through the hall’s
speakers.
    “ Oh God, this is going to take hours…” Enrique murmured, as
a befuddled Ainsworth, aided by Mansun, attempted to regain control
of his presentation. There were some stifled chuckles from the
other teams and Dodds wondered what Ainsworth must be like when the
lecture theatre was full.
    Ainsworth was a tall, thin-looking man with pasty white skin.
His head was covered in lank, long blond hair that fell just short
of his shoulders. A gold earring sparkled in the light as he turned
his head. Dodds got the impression that he was the sort of man who
had never quite found the strength to sever his ties with his
earlier hedonistic years, even after embarking on what seemed like
quite an illustrious career.
    “ I… I’m sorry about that,” Ainsworth said as the music
ceased. “I’m not used to this theatre.” With the presentation back
in his control, Ainsworth pressed the correct buttons on the podium
and the lights began to dim.
    Dodds looked over at the other teams as the light level
lowered, seeing that, unlike the White
Knights , the other two teams were both
single-sex. Five men and five women were seated together and Dodds
wondered if this was again part of the team selection. Maybe the
Navy wished to discover if a single-sex team was more suited to the
project and its long term goals. But there again, it could just be
pure coincidence.
    There
was not one face amongst the team of women that he recognised. One
turned her head in his direction, a contented smile on her face.
She did not meet his eyes, however, and faced back to the front. He
guessed she was doing the same thing that he was: sizing up the
competition. Neither did he recognise any of the men; two
olive-skinned men seated at the end of their row were whispering to
each other.
    The
lights didn’t shut off, but instead dipped only to a level in which
they did not drown out the presentation screen at the front. Dodds
hoped that he would not find himself with an elbow in the ribs from
Estelle after falling asleep. He felt as though he was in a warm,
comfortable cinema and he sensed the impending danger, even more so
after such a filling lunch.
    “ Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Advanced Tactical
Assault Fighter, more commonly known as the ATAF,” Ainsworth began.
“It is the… er… spiritual successor to the standard Tactical
Assault Fighter which you all know so well, though with many
enhancements as… as we are about to see. I’m sure that you will
find the following presentation t-t-to be both very informative and
impressive.”
     
    * * *
     
    The presentation started, the screen showing a sleek, black
starfighter moving against a backdrop of planets, nebulas and
starships. It appeared to be a mixture of
artists ’ impressions and real footage of the fighter, as it weaved its
way around other Confederation starfighters.
    There
were no official markings or identifiers on the craft, the black
armour complimented only by silver trims on the wings, fins and
body. Despite being more or less black, the definition of the
fighter was not lost against the inky darkness of space, the armour
catching the light and softly reflecting the environment about
it.
    With the introduction over, Ainsworth went on to speak at
length about the new fighter. He was keen to point out that the
ATAF, though descended from, was quite different from its TAF
cousin and was not just “a TAF with more guns”, as he put it. Over
the next two hours, he detailed each and every aspect of the craft,
focusing on