Earl - 14. Earl Chapter 14

My colleague here, is Lord Tyler Finch, the Earl of Portland, and I ask that you address him by his proper title,” Lewis said. “Excuse me sir, but didn’t you leave out your official title?” one of the staff asked, and Lewis heard Tyler chuckling behind him before whispering, “Busted my friend.”

“Very well, I am officially known as, Sir Commander Lewis Shaw, CVO,VC, SC, DSC, but my awards are mostly military, and the others are awarded for service, so I am not to fazed about my title, where my friend here is an aristocrat by blood, so he is to be respected as such” Lewis replied.

“Thank you, Sir Lewis. Just to let you know that even though I have inherited my title, I am Australian born and bred, and only recently took up the position as Earl of Portland, after the passing of my late uncle. Now that is all cleared up, let me pass all these out to you, and as I do, Sir Lewis will explain a few things,” Tyler announced.

“Thankyou, my Lord. When you receive your ID cards, you will see that it has a yellow strip at the bottom, which means you are General staff, the Executive staff who arrived yesterday, all have ID cards with blue stripes, and the Operations staff have ID cards with green stripes,” Lewis explained.

“Excuse me sir, we see you have a red stripe on yours,” one of the staff stated, “Yes, true, and only the Corporate staff have these, and none of us will be here full time. The corporate staff are the owners of the Northport Consortium, and they are Mr Lloyd who you all met at your interview, myself, Lord Tyler, and also Mr Wagner, who for those who do not know is my husband,” Lewis announced, and he paused to see if there would be any reaction to this news.

“Anyone who’s views and beliefs are against Sir Lewis and Mr Wagner’s partnership are advised to grab their belongings and head home, as we do not accept any bigotry in this organisation,” Tyler said breaking the silence and once again there was a pause to see if anyone responded, but there was none.

“Good, thank you. Now on the back of your ID cards you will see some letters and numbers, which is the location and suite number of your quarters. You are all located on level two, and those on the West wing, your suites are WL2 01 to 10, on the East wing, your suites are EL2 01 to 10.

There are three sections on levels 1, 2 and 4, which are North Centre and South. All accommodation is located in the centre of the complex, so you need to use the centre elevators. The information cards you are being issued will give you the information on where everything is located at the complex.

Level 3 of the complex is sea level, which is where you enter the complex, and on this level you will find sport and recreation facilities, the main restaurant and two cafés, two park gardens and a large swimming pool, for your use at any time that you are not on duty, Lewis said.

“Right, we will board the Swath boat and make our way to the Harbour city, where you will have till 1400 hours to settle in before reporting for your first shift of work, please follow Sir Lewis to the vessel and we will be on our way,” Tyler said, and everyone followed Lewis through the last set of doors and down the side of the wharf to the last boat, and fifteen minutes later they arrived at Northport Harbour City, where Hamysh was waiting.

After the general staff has been directed to where the elevators are to their quarters, Hamish, Lewis and Tyler headed up to their private lounge where Sebastian was waiting for them. “Any problems?” Sebastian asked as they entered. “None at all dearest, our friend Lord Tyler made sure of it,” Lewis replied smiling.

“By the way, did you know that Lewis and I live in the Gascoyne region of WA?” Sebastian asked Tyler, “No, I did hear that you live somewhere in WA, but not in the Gascoyne, it can get quite hot in that region, my family are from the Mid-West, due east of Geraldton,” Tyler replied.

“Yes, I did a bit of research, and discovered that you were brought up on a fairly large cattle station, just north of Pindar,” Lewis said. “That is correct, my adopted parents still live there, and until I learnt of my inheritance, I planned to live and work there till old age, but now… Well I have no idea what he future holds for me, as I have a heap of responsibilities in the UK, with my home seat consisting of an abbey and a castle.

I also have a hideaway retreat in the UK, where I mostly live now, to get away from the bloody media, and only my immediate family and senior staff know it’s location,” Tyler replied, and everyone chucked at Tyler’s comment. “Well, I am glad that you have a place to retreat to, just like we have, although we are not as secretive with where we are, as it is fairly remote, and just south of Denham, Shark Bay,” Lewis said.

“A very nice area of WA, but it too can get quite hot there,” Tyler responded, “That is true, but our house is right on the beach of a small bay, so it gets a nice breeze in the afternoons during the summer months, which makes it more comfortable, and our home is fully independent of any services, as we produce our own power from solar and wind turbines, we have a desalination plant for water, and we have a waste treatment plant to deal with all of our wastes,” Sebastian said.

“We also have a number of businesses in the area, in the area of accommodation in Kalbarri & Denham, plus an airline business based in Broome, hence the reason for living in the region, to be close to the businesses,” Lewis explained.

“Broome is a long way North of Denham thou?” Tyler enquired, and Lewis smiled, “That is true my friend, but as well as providing transport services between Broome and Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands and the Archipelago, being the three Indian Ocean Territories of Australia, we also do flights from Broome to the Abrolhos Islands, via Exmouth, Denham and Kalbarri, as we have been working with our friends, the Lloyd Corporation on a number of projects now,” Lewis replied.

“I see, I would love to come and visit your home one of these days, when I am still in Australia, which will not be long, as I will need to return to the UK soon,” Tyler explained. “Well, how about you join us for the trip back to Western Australia, in our own Executive jet, we will need to stop once to refuel, then after a visit to Denham and our home just to the South, we can deliver you to your home on the cattle station, I presume you do have an airstrip on your property?” Sebastian asked.

“Yes, we do, and we keep it well maintained, with a North South and a West East runway,” Tyler replied, “Good, then it is settled, once business has concluded here in Darwin, we will be on our way,” Sebastian replied.

At 1445 hours that afternoon, Hamysh, Lewis, Tyler and Sebastian gathered at the North landing jetty awaiting the arrival of the Navy. “Harbour Control to Mr Lloyd, Naval boat leaving their harbour and heading this way, over,” came the call over the radio, that Hamysh had attached to his belt, and he unclipped it and responded that the message was received.

“What the…” Lewis said a few minutes later, “What is it Lewis?” Hamysh asked, and all eyes were now on him. “That is not one of the normal boats that is stationed in Darwin, it is not just any ordinary boat, that is the Admiral’s Barge, which means that the Admiral of the Fleet himself is on board that boat,” Lewis announced.

“Well, it looks like we have attracted some attention with our new facility,” Hamysh replied smiling broadly, as he handed Lewis the radio. “Sir Lewis Shaw to Harbour Control, be aware that this is a VIP vessel, the Australian Admiral of the Fleet is onboard, over,” Lewis said.

“Message received, over,” came the response as Lewis handed the radio back to Hamysh. Less than two minutes later, all twelve Executive and Operations Staff were standing in a line along the jetty, awaiting the arrival of the VIP guest, with the boat now only fifty metres away.

Lewis let out a groan, when he had a clearer view of who was on board the barge. “What now?” Tyler asked quietly, “Not only do we have the Admiral of the Fleet, but we also have the Chief of the Navy, a Vice Admiral, and the Commander of the Australian Fleet, who is a Rear Admiral… and that looks like it is the Senator who is the current Australian Defence Minster,” Lewis announced as the barge approached the jetty, and Lewis snapped to attention.

“What are you doing?” Sebastian whispered to his husband, “Sorry old habits are hard to remove, plus it is a sign of respect as a former member of the Navy,” Lewis whispered back, as the boat came alongside them, and the two harbour controllers grabbed the mooring lines and secured the boat to the jetty, before the dignitaries stepped onto the jetty, with the AOF walking directly towards Lewis.

“Commander Lewis, good to see you again,” the Admiral said with a smile, “And you to sir,” Lewis replied, shaking the Admiral’s hand. “May I present Mr Sebastian Wagner, Mr Hamysh Lloyd and Lord Tyler Finch, the Earl of Portland,” Lewis added.

“Mr Wagner, I hope your husband has been behaving himself since leaving the Navy?” the Admiral said as he shook hands with Sebastian, which resulted in Lewis showing an expression of shock and surprise, and Sebastian chuckled, “It has been difficult, but I manage, with the assistance of my twin brothers, who have returned to their home in Perth,” Sebastian replied.

“My Lord, it is a pleasure to meet you, I have read a little about your inheritance, and I am sorry to hear that you are having a difficult time with the media in the UK,” the Admiral said to Tyler, as he snapped to attention and gave a bow of his head. “Thank you for your kind words Admiral, and yes I do have a problem with those vultures, and unfortunately soon after I have a short visit home to my hometown near Geraldton, in Western Australia, I will be heading back that way,” Tyler replied.

“No doubt, Commander Lewis has informed you all who the others are that have joined me for this visit?” the Admiral stated, “He has sir, and on behalf of the Northport Consortium, we welcome the Senator, Minister of Defence, the Vice Admiral and the Rear Admiral, to this facility,” Tyler replied.

“Mr Lloyd, I have read a lot about your magnificent research submarines, and unfortunately every time I read about them visiting somewhere around Australia or New Zealand, I seem to not have the time to come and visit one of them,” the Admiral said to Hamysh.

“I will make sure to invite you to inspect the Aquaria, when she is visiting Sydney next, so you can have a tour and experience what it is like to be on board while travelling under the ocean. These twelve men and women are the executive and operations teams that run this facility efficiently.

They all live here on Northport Harbour City as we call it, we also have 12 additional staff that live onsite, with another 8 yet to be employed,” Hamysh replied, as he led the visitors inside to begin the tour. Once the tour was nearing the end, they entered the Harbour Master’s Officer which is located behind the harbour control centre, but only Lewis and Hamysh entered with the guests.

“Now that the tour is complete, can I ask you the real reason for this inspection, sir?” Lewis asked the Admiral, who gave a short laugh. “Always directly to the point, the Navy lost a very capable and skilled sailor the say that your resigned from the Navy, after you completed your time as Administrator of the Indian Ocean Territories,” the Admiral said.

“He is correct thou, sir, you have come here for a special reason?” Hamysh added. “Yes, we have. The Australian government feels, that now we have control of Darwin harbour back in the hands of Australian’s, we want to make sure that it stays that way.

We are not sure how the Chinese company will react with Northport being commissioned, and done is such a quiet way, without too much publicity, which we congratulate on doing very well, so far the Northern Territory Government has received a strongly worded email from the Chinese company, in regards to the NT Government allowing the establishment of another port facility, to be established in the harbour.

Meanwhile the Chinese government has sent and equally strong worded email to our Government via their Ambassador in Canberra, asking why they have allowed a private company to be under-minded by the construction of another port facility in Darwin Harbour.

After advisement from our PM, a response was sent back to the Ambassador, reminding them that this matter is in Australian Territory, and that the Chinese Government should mind their own business. I can tell you, that the Ambassador did not take that very well, and apparently he stormed out of the building furious,” the Senator stated.

“Having being a Territory Administrator myself, I can imagine just that, and wished I was there to see it,” Lewis stated, which had everyone laughing. When everyone has calmed down, the Admiral was the next to speak.

“It is exactly for that reason, that we have been advised to keep a very close eye on port operations, that are controlled by this Chinese company. Representatives from your Consortium, plus your Harbour Master, Senior Border Control officer and your Tug Master, are requested to attend a meeting at Government House this evening at 1800 hours, to discuss what measures are to be taken, to ensure the security of the port and harbour,” the Admiral announced.

“Since Lord Tyler is returning to the UK soon, I suggest that it be myself and Sir Lewis from our consortium that attend that meeting, I will let the other three staff know shortly,” Hamish replied.

When the guests had left the city, and Hamysh had notified the three staff of the meeting this evening, Hamysh asked for a consortium meeting in the Corporate private lounge, where there is two doors separating the Guest foyer from the lounge, so it is a secure and private place to meet.

“I’ve asked you all in here now, as there are a few business dealings that I need to update you all on. As you may have read in the media recently the company Freightlink has gone into receivership and has been trying to sell its assets, namely the Darwin to Tarcoola Rail line.

I know you read that it had been sold to a US company, but that has fallen through, and so Sebastian’s and my companies have done a deal, and under the same consortium name, we have purchase a 60% majority share of the rail line, with the NT Government and the Federal Government each having 20% shares, this way the rail line remains in ownership in Australia, and not overseas.

This means that we control the rail line on East Arm Port, and in anticipation of getting control of the rail line, we have built a large shed, just South-West of the Darwin Rail passenger terminal, that has a length of 320 metres long, covering over the rail lines and also the main road into the port.

We will be using this shed as a Customs & Quarantine station, for all freight coming into East Arm, and travelling out to businesses and further south to other states of Australia. We, the consortium has built this giant shed on behalf of the Federal Government, so that all freight can be quickly scanned for any illegal or dangerous items that may cause harm to the Australian people or the environment,” Hamish announced.

“Wow, that will teach me to not listen to my husband about business deals that he is doing,” Lewis commented, and Sebastian smiled at his husband. “Well, that is good news, it makes me feel a lot safer, knowing that you guys are doing great things to keep the Top End of Australia safe,” Tyler said.

“We just wanted to let you know what is happening, because I think after this meeting tonight, word will quickly spread about our newest acquisition and how things are going to be changing with operations within Darwin harbour, which may include having Naval personnel posted at Harbour control,” Sebastian stated.

After the very long meeting, at Government house which included dinner, as was suspected a roster of Naval staff would be stationed at Harbour control from 0600 to 1800 hours each day, and they would manage the operations of Naval shipping coming in and going out of the harbour.