"OESA Command Order number 215903-9570 - To all citizens within the limits of the Orion Empire; comprising all space within a region extending in a spheroid one hundred light years from the Orion Empire central government, at planet Earth; by order of the C&C and Mobile Fifth RAC Commander as prescribed by OESA regulations and protocol; Kurt Brubacher has been awarded the OESA Award of Excellence for his selfless contributions to the OESA and the Orion Empire. This action was in response to the creation and standardization of a method of proofing new vessels before putting them into active service.' He read the order as I stood in front of him at attention; then, Edward III pinned the medal on my left breast pocket. Edward handed me the warrant as Admiral Bryant stepped forward and handed the Emperor an envelope which he passed to me. 'Congratulations Kurt, we truly thank you for such a valuable contribution. I heard about the condition of the Loki. We could have lost six thousand souls. You did a great job." He said as he shook my hand vigorously to boisterous cheers from the crowd. Edward sort of guided me. We both turned to face the crowd and the flashing cameras.
The rest of the day is a blur. All I could think of was Helena. I sort of wandered through it all until the dance floor opened up, after dinner. We did several slow dances tightly entwined. I know I blushed when Admiral Bryant's voice came from beside us on the dance floor.
"Now, this really brings back memories; doesn't it Marie?" He said with as they laughed.
I can feel the heat in my face and Helena's red, too. The blush is a dead giveaway. I do remember congratulating Captain Elasima, sometime after that.
All the Fleets are still together from Mobile Fifth have been parked beside Valhalla; since the last move The two dozen autonomous frigates are here, too. Savign boards the Loki at eleven hundred. She comes to my new office. I have made Loki the Task Force 1 Flag ship.
"You are looking mighty spiffy, Admiral." She says as she lifts my right collar point just a touch.
"How are you Savign?' I asked as I shook her hand vigorously. 'Take a seat and take a load off." I finished.
"I'm fine and the Shenzhen is great. The entire team misses you; though, we are all very proud of you. We were all so happy about the promotion. Thanks for inviting us to the shindig. We all thought it was very thoughtful. What else is new?" She asked in a strange tone; insinuating she really knew something.
"Not much, really. I've got a lot of problems. I need a Group Commander for Loki Group. And I need to find out the condition of my staff. I don't even know if I have a Chief of Staff. If so, I don't know if the Chief is any good. I may need a lot of people." I answer; trying to avoid the inevitable.
"Come on - you know what I mean. We all saw you climbing all over that Admiral. Looked like love to all of us." Savign tries to simulate a sly grin. She never could smile.
My mind is still on Helena. I moved my quarters to the Flag deck, immediately on returning to the ship. We ended up spending three hours in her quarters; but, I went back to mine for the last hours’ sleep. I was lucky, my stewards woke me up at seven hundred; or, I'd have been late. Elasima had moved my old team; instead of assigning me a new one. He did add three more stewards as allowed a Rear Admiral. Dave Angstrom started them on the right track.
"Okay, don't talk about it in port. Keep it on the Shenzhen. We are a little crazy about each other. That had nothing to do with the promotion. After testing out the Loki, Admirals Bryant, Nichols and Leeds cooked up quite a scheme to get me through the War College as fast as possible. All the time, they were planning this Task Commander job; but, I worked under the impression I was trying to get the Group Commander job. It was all Bryant's idea. He liked my skills and he liked my record. Helena and I were working so close; it was almost predictable. We are two of a kind. I had been on the Loki four months and was more than half way through the war college program; pushing hard for the Group Commander job, when it struck us. But they all had their plan together while I was doing the Loki trials. We kept everything purely professional, until my promotion." I explained.
"You mean - last night?” She squealed.
"I didn't say that. I just misspoke.' I stammered. 'Anyway, I have to get going. I haven't met with my new staff, yet.
"Well, it's been great. Try to keep in touch. Drop a line once in a while. We all still care about you on the Shenzhen." She said as she rose with her hand out. We shook hands and she left.
I checked the directory. It listed the name Captain Amrit Singh as my COS. I composed an e-mail advising the ships in the Task Force that, I needed to see all Commanders, immediately. It took nearly twenty minutes for everyone to shuttle to the Loki and appear at my door.
There was seating room for twelve in the conversation area of the office. But there were eleven ships' captains, two Brigadiers, two Colonels, and a Commodore at the door. I buzzed Dave Angstrom.
"Dave, can you get two office chairs for the desk and three additional chairs in here, quick. And order rolls and breakfast beverages for seventeen. We may be here for a while." I said and click off after he acknowledged.
"Everyone in here. We can start with some of us standing.' I said. 'The first issue is the most urgent. I don't want to enter my command codes; until you are ready. Once I do, you are dead in the water until you enter new ones I issue you. Everyone got their pads?' I ask and look up for nods. There is a hundred percent assent; so, I continue. 'I will send a blank message to all Task Force One Commanders. You will return it with your name, command name and rank. That will give me an easy list to work with. I will generate new codes for each of you. Once I have them in the reply messages, I will enter my codes. Then, I will hit send. You can enter your command codes in you pads and issue new ones to your subordinates from here. Advise them to continue the process down the line. We don't want to be out of service for more than fifteen minutes. It's dangerous." I said as I tapped my screen to send out the blank messages.
I started receiving replies in a couple of minutes. It takes a moment to read each one. I would look up and call a name. When a hand rose, I would generate a code for the e-mail and add the name, rank, command and command code issued to a spreadsheet. Once I had all the replies complete and all the codes in the spreadsheet I looked up.
"Is everyone ready?" I asked. There were nods all around.
I went to the Change Command app. I punched in the name of the Command and it self-populated a lot of the blocks. I filled in the name, rank, title and serial number block. After a pause it prompted me for the command code. I entered it. There was a pause. "Change of Command successfully completed." Came up on the screen. Then, I went to "Issue new command codes for subordinate commands." All the sub commands came up with an empty block for the code. I selected enter from spreadsheet and directed it to the document. The blocks all filled with alpha numeric characters. I checked them against the list. When satisfied, I hit enter. "Subordinate Command Codes entered successfully" appeared on the screen. Then I went back to the mail app selected all and sent the messages out. I could hear enunciators going off all over the room a minute later. People typed furiously repeating what I had done. I kept getting messages from the Command App that, this ship or that command had been activated. Twenty minutes after convening, everyone in the room was reactivated.
"Don't forget to pass it down. We don't want a ship crippled because a propulsion system tech can't work." I said.
I punched up a message to the Task Force personnel explaining that activation codes had changed and anyone not having a new one should contact their immediate supervisor immediately. Once I was sure we were as complete as we could be from my office, I started my office recording system; and, continued the meeting.
"The extra chairs are here. Take a seat if you are standing. This meeting is being recorded; so, watch your language. That is not to say you should hold back. Feel free to comment or ask questions, at any time; just keep it all sanitized. We could be here a while. Feel free to grab a drink and a roll, anytime.' A few rose to go to the trays on the table
. I waited a few minutes.
'The next order of business is security. There are nineteen thousand eight hundred and ninety-three OESA personnel in this command. There are another twenty-eight hundred forty civilians distributed amongst all the ships. That number includes press corps, civilian wives and children and civilian subcontractors like barbers, tailors and bar managers. So, I would say that out of twenty-three thousand people there is a relatively good chance that one is spying for someone. It may be an enemy. They may be an industrial spy looking for space technology. Or they may just be someone naively passing information to a different arm of the OESA.' I paused and looked around. Many eyes had widened. This was a train of thought that had not occurred to many. 'So, here is the new Task Force 1 policy about security. Business is not discussed or displayed in the presence of anyone it does not concern. That means you don't go to your quarters at night and tell your wife. It portends that; if, I tell you something related to business it is for you. It is not repeated. If I'm fomenting rebellion, it's your responsibility to tell someone superior to me. Otherwise, what we discuss is between you and me! That goes unless there is consent to pass it down; or, it is posted common knowledge information. Task Force 1 will always operate as if we are at war; as far as security goes. Consider everything classified; unless, you have direction that it is not. Is the security policy of Task Force 1 understood?' I look around for consent.
'Good. Now, the next step is to conduct the same meeting with all your senior officers. This policy isn't just for you. If you need to convey information to them, it may be sensitive. They should not pass it on; unless you authorize it. Anyone, breaching the security policy will be relieved of whatever their job is. Loki already runs that way; because that was my policy when I was her Commander. Everyone else needs to get on board.
The second issue is the condition of our ships. I conducted the readiness evaluations for the Loki. It had several potential catastrophic faults built in; though, it was in service. In particular, we ran into serious issues with electrical equipment produced by one company. I am sending you the list of offending parts. It has the batch numbers of the production runs that were a problem. If your ship has those parts with those batch numbers, I want them out, now. I will give you an example. One part is a coil that generates the magnetic field in the particle traps. The one in our matter trap was defective. The same part was defective in one cannon assembly. The problem was that the AMPE anti-matter trap had the same batch part number. Even though it was working at the time, it would have failed. Anti-matter coming into contact with the trap housing means the ship blows up. So, I am sending you all a memo. It has the offending parts, their batch numbers and the assemblies they are in. Make sure your engineering people check thoroughly. One moment of carelessness could mean six thousand lives.
My last order of business is the Group Commands. Thor Group seems to run well Commodore. But, without a commander for Loki Group we have a problem. It means I have to stay with Loki; when, we split the Task Force. I may want to go with Thor for some reason; but, I can't. I have not found anyone in this Fleet that can fill the bill. There is no insult intended to any of you. Most of you are new at your commands; and, haven't been exposed to tactical situations. It is impossible to accept a person for a tactical role; if, you have no way to determine if they can do it. So, I will be going through the entire OESA system looking for a candidate. In the meantime, I need Thor to run like a fine piece of machinery; so, I don't have to babysit. Are you okay with that Commodore?' I pause for a nod. 'Good, I will need all the ships' logs for the fifth of this month and the twentieth of last month, from each Captain in Task Force 1. I want your logs for the same dates, Commodore. I would like the Brigade logs for the first two weeks of last month from each Brigade. I am not looking for anything specific. This is not some kind of secret investigation. I am trying to get the flavor of the way you run your ships and commands. I will need those, today. I will also expect reports on your mechanical - electrical investigations, by tomorrow. We will be receiving orders soon; and, I don't want any problems in any ships we have in service. Are there any questions or comments?" I ask.
"Yes sir.' One Captain has his hand up. I nod. 'Sir, it’s a lot of work to get you those specific logs, today and get those checks done by tomorrow." He observes. I see the Commodore cringe out of the corner of my eye.
"What's your ship Captain?" Captain.
"The ESS Thor, sir." He responds.
"How many people on the Thor do you command, Captain?" I ask.
"Six thousand and nine, sir." He replies.
"I didn't ask how many people are on the ship. How many people work for you, Captain Levinson?" I remembered his name from the Command Code exercise.
"I'm not exactly sure, sir. Somewhere around thirty-five hundred." He responds.
"So, if thirty-five hundred people work for you, are you checking for the defective parts yourself? Are you going to retrieve those logs yourself?" I ask him.
"Well sir, I would ask my Chief Engineer to look after the part issue. I would get the logs myself." He responds.
"I have two questions for you. How many people work for the Chief Engineer? Why would you get the logs yourself? You have five senior subordinate officers who have access to them. Why wouldn’t you ask at least one for help?' I ask; then, turn back to the assemblage. 'Do you see what's happening here. I don't want to hear that you can't do it; or, it's too hard. I have had to do these things myself; and, still have to. You have to be able to delegate; and, you have to ask for help, when you need it. But never tell me you can't do it. I try not to ask for the unreasonable. Sometime there is an urgency to things; so, we need them quickly. But, I temper that with the knowledge of what's really possible. Any other question or observations?" I ask.
"Yes sir.' El pops up. 'When will we receive the parts list?"
"Right now, Captain." I lift my pad locate the file and mail it out to them.
"Anyone?" I ask and there are all negative nods.
"OK, that's it. We'll break it up. I need you to stay Commodore. Everyone else is dismissed." I snap. “Room recorder – off. Convert the last audio file to text and move it to my personal pad.” I command my system.
"Commodore Ngyuen, what do your friends call you?" I ask him.
"They call me Can. It is my first name." He responds.
"When we meet in private, you will first pay the required respects. Then, you will call me Kurt. Never in public; but, always in private. May I call you Can?" I ask.
"Yes Kurt, I would appreciate the informality." He responds.
"I had one question for you, before the meeting; but, now I have two." I inform him.
"What do you want to know, Kurt?" He asks.
"Well Can, where did you get that guy that's commanding Thor. I can't believe that discussion." I ask.
"He had the Command, when I took the Task Force. Chan protected him. He liked having inferior people. He belittled them and used them; but, he was happy having them there." Can responds.
"Well, I don't like it Can. Are there any more like that?" I ask.
"I have two more. They are not as bad; but, they shouldn't command a ship. Two of the three shouldn't be first officers. The third one could command a supply vessel, maybe." He replies.
"Okay, I'm about to start a major search for a Group Commander. I can add three ship's Captains. Are you okay with that?" I ask
Righteous Reign Page 40