CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The weather had been good, Fial stood at the bow of the Ghost in the crisp morning air as he caught the first sight of Cork harbour. Cameron and McGee stood beside him. The sight of home initiated memories of familiar smells inside them although they were not present. At last they were close enough to touch their own land.
"And what now Fial?" asked Cameron.
"I have turned into a man; I was an angry lad for a while. We will not be wasting our lives for the glory of the British Empire. I feel a bit too much like Arthur Wellesley, a British puppet. I think he is chosen to fight in Portugal. They speak of him in Plymouth like he is some kind of god. He has forgotten where he came from; I have not. He was born of affluence and education. I was born of hardship and horror. He helps build an empire yet I feel I must fulfil a calling. The land war is not going so well but the navy has won some decisive battles on the French coast. We have made a difference."
"You are a legend Fial. They will speak of you forever," said McGee.
"I was an angry young man who demanded respect by death and destruction. I have changed. I will be judged on what I do with my life, not how many people have died at my hand. I read of that Genghis Khan of the Mongol empire and they talk of him in Ras al-Khaimah. I don't like what he did. The people there are descendents of him and brought what I have learnt of him to life. If I am to be remembered like that I need to change. My mother would kick my arse all round the kitchen if she knew what I had been up to, God rest her soul."
"If we had not fought Fial, we would be dead," remarked McGee.
"Everyone who died at my hand I attacked. This is the first time I ever negotiated an outcome instead of confrontation."
"They had to negotiate; you have a reputation," said Cameron.
"True enough, the time had come to use it more wisely."
"You have been."
"Ronan, I love you for more reasons than I can mention. Two days ago you questioned my direction and we had a debate."
"We asked Bongo about hocus pocus and he palmed it off on Number Three," said McGee.
"Welcome to the parliamentary process. Nevertheless things were questioned and the outcome was successful. Empires are built on this process where everyone has a voice. What if we took this to a place where Bongo and his kind have never known anything but war? What if we show them who's boss before we sow the process. If we can do that we have achieved something. We will always be considered pawns here; the process already exists and they will not let us in. The Congo has the biggest resource of all people. I have been thinking of this for a while now."
"That we have noticed and we spoke of this at Bantry while you were negotiating terms with the French."
"I have a quest that one day people will be judged by the content of their character not their creed or color. What we have here is not much but it's a start." The Ghost sailed quietly into the harbor. "Look at this, the Ricard brothers have dropped anchor all over the place, there will be hardly any room for the rest of the fleet. Looks like they have done this to have guns bearing on all areas of the harbor but avoiding each other. We will have to choose our layout wisely with the rest of the fleet to achieve the same. Any of our ships must be able to open fire without affecting another ship of the fleet. Look at the British, six ships of the line all next to each other at Haulbowline Island. Nelson spoke of this practice. They are sitting ducks should the port come under attack. Lay anchor at Ringaskiddy. I could do with a drink.