Chapter 22 - 22: A Threat to the Throne

Bruckner, Chief Engineer of the Naval Technical Committee, adjusted his spectacles with the slow irritation of a man about to crush someone's dreams. He rose stiffly, cleared his throat, and spoke with authority that smelled like mothballs and old textbooks.

"Your Highness," he said, "I must emphasize: while research into oil-fired boilers and steam turbines has begun, it has produced nothing of value. All of our capital ships rely on coal-fired boilers and tried-and-true triple-expansion engines. To leap recklessly into new systems—systems we do not understand—is to gamble with the fate of the fleet."

It was the eternal engineer's argument:

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