Chapter 100: New Suspicions Part 1

"Lady Shillingsworth will no longer go anywhere without me," Bundo stood immovable as a rock.
"I can't allow non-Navy personnel into this facility." Chief Petty Officer O'Brien looked just as stubborn as Bundo. "I'm sorry, Commander, my orders come from the Admiralty. Even you can't override them."
"Very well." Cal forced her voice to be as icy as she could. "You explain to the Admiralty why all work at the Shed has stopped." She turned to leave. "Let's go."
"You can't do that!" O'Brien stepped in front of her.
"Did you suddenly get a promotion I didn't hear about?" Cal no longer had to work at the coldness. "Are you the Lord Admiral now? Perhaps you're the new heir to the throne and the news hasn't caught up with me yet." Cal pointed to the Shed. "This is my ship, Petty Officer. Nobody tells me what I can and can't do on my ship. Not you, not the Admiralty, not the Queen herself. If I say work stops, it stops. Now."
The engineers formed up, ready to leave, but the guards held them back.
Cal spun and pointed at a cadet.
"You, fetch the Vice-Admiral, on the double. Tell him we're calling an emergency meeting of the Admiralty, right here, right now. And if you see His Highness, invite him to attend."
The young man paled, but after one look at Cal's face he took off at a flat run.
"You go back to work while we wait." O'Brien pointed to the engineers.
"No." Cal stepped up until she was nose to nose with her security chief. "Are you familiar with what happened to the last Navy officer who mutinied? It may be back before your time. I happened to look it up when the Crown Prince gave me this job. They hung him, then buried him as deep underground as they could dig, so his body wouldn't return to the sea even if the ocean washed away the Academy. Then they marked his record with black ink, and read it out loud at every graduation for the next fifty years. His great-grandchildren finally petitioned the Crown to stop, which is why you wouldn't have heard his name."
O'Brien paled and his hands shook, but he stood his ground. Cal didn't move until the Vice-Admiral came out at a trot.
"I've sent messengers to the others. What is going on?"
"We are having a discussion about who is in command of the Royal Engineers. Apparently, O'Brien has decided he is."
"That's not - " O'Brien put his hands up. Bundo stepped forward, but Cal held out her arm.
"It is exactly what this is about." She didn't look at Vice-Admiral Peysk. "Either the Royal Engineers are truly a separate branch of Her Majesty's Navy, and I am their Commander. Or I have been lied to, and forced to serve under false pretenses."
"Oh dear." The Vice-Admiral sighed. "Would it be too much to ask to get a chair while I wait for the others?"
Cal pointed at one of the guards.
"Chair, fetch." He ran into the Shed, his feet banging on the stairs. His steps sounded slower as he returned.
Peysk settled into the chair with a sigh.
"The others will want chairs too." The guard ran back into the shed. As he brought out the chairs, coaches and steam carriages brought the other Admirals, including the Lord Admiral.
"We have a quorum," he said. "What is this all about?"
"You put me in command of the Royal Engineers, correct?"
"Yes." He frowned at her as if he was about to warn her that he didn't appreciate being summoned to answer foolish questions.
"Then why is this sailor telling me I don't have command of my own ship?"
"Ship? You aren't on a... " One of the other Admirals turned red as he trailed off.
"This Academy is treated as a Navy ship for the purposes of discipline." Vice-Admiral Peysk rubbed his eyes. "There are other precedents. Commander Shillingsworth is quite correct in stating the Shed is her ship."
"But..." The Lord Admiral began to rise.
"Don't say it, Sir." Cal met his eyes. "Not unless you are willing to accept my resignation on the spot."
"We are far enough along, the project can be completed by one of the other engineers," someone supposed aloud.
"Not bloody likely," Landers shouted from where he stood. "We're competent engineers. She," he pointed at Cal, "is a genius. Not one of the advances we've made would have happened without her dropping hints to us. Commander Shillingsworth has gone out of her way to make us look good. Not one of us is prepared to take her place."
"That's insubordination," the Lord Admiral yelled. "You'll work how I tell you to work."
"Like hell, we will." Lander put his hands out. "Go ahead lock me up, see how much work you'll get done then." The rest of the engineers held their hands out, too.
The royal coach pulled up. The footman ran to open the door.
"His Highness will talk sense into her," someone muttered loudly enough to be heard by everyone.
The Queen took the footman's hand and stepped out of the coach. Everyone went to their knees. Her Majesty walked over to Cal, with HRH Prince Hubert mere steps behind her.
"Lady Shillingsworth, please rise."
Cal stood and waited for the Queen to ask her to explain herself.
"It has come to Our attention the Admiralty doubts the ability of a woman to fully exercise command over men." Folding her hands primly, she surveyed the kneeling admirals. "Which one of you wishes to tell Us that We are not the Admiral Royal of the Navy?"