Fall of Knight

Fall of Knight by A. Bertram Chandler - Sir Ian's proposal shocked them all. They were spacemen. This was not a thing that they'd know how to do. It is customary for the spacemen serving in the Federation's star ships to sneer at the titles bestowed, with a lavish hand, by the Kingdom of Waverley upon its spacefaring subjects. An officer who rises to become Master of one of the Empress Class vessels equivalent to the Federation's Alpha Class-is invariably, after a short period of probation, dubbed Knight. His Chief Engineers-Reaction and Interstellar Drives-usually are given the title of Esquire, as is the First Mate. There are quite a few Dames among the senior Pursers and Catering Officers. A spaceman is a spaceman, however, no matter what fancy handle he has to his name, He has to know his stuff, otherwise he would not be where he is. He has to be efficient, otherwise he would never wear upon his shoulders the four gold stripes of captaincy. So it was with Captain Sir Ian MacLachlan Stuart, Master of the interstellar liner Empress of Skye. When things went wrong he coped, and nobly, and saw to it that his officers coped.