BAF Promotions

[pbrione]

Fleet Admiral Nelson sat at his desk in one of his many offices, this one behind the bridge of the Admiralty Flagship HMS Pendragon. A knock at the door, and a young marine officer entered, saluting sharply.

"Sir, the day's casualty reports from the Derby and York Fleets sir." The officer handed over a paid of slim folders and backed out of the room, closing the door.

Nelson scanned the reports with the experienced eye of one to whom a list of deaths and injuries no longer meant anything more than emotionless numbers. Not a bad day, all things considered. Supply difficulties seemed to be preventing the KNF from launching any major offensives at present. A couple of fighter wings badly mauled from the Derby's escort squadrons. Only one capital ship lost - the gunboat HMS Devonshire depressurised on patrol in the LD14 asteroid field, to KNF-K attack wing. At least the bombers had been cut down by BAF fighters afterwards. Unfortunately the Commander, Richard Evans, had been killed at the helm. Nelson would have felt a moment of sadness for the fallen officer, if he did not have to deal with such matters every day. Instead, he felt a momentary relief that the hull was reported as intact and salvegable.

He dashed off a brief order to have the vessel recovered and towed back to Southampton, before opening a database of Fleet Rosters on his desk computer. The BAF had over 100,000 active pilots and crewmen in its Fleet branch, divided among the 11 Fleets. Nelson selected the respective columns for the Squadrons in which the officers had been killed and reviewed the details of prospective candidates. He reached across for a scrap of paper and scribbled a couple of brief sentences.

To Commander, (YGF-II: C/3rd) : Lt Commander Tom Ramey (YGF-II: C/1st-D)

To Lieutenant, (DGF-I: B/2nd-A[3]) : Ensign Alex Moss (of same designation)

Nelson reviewed his decisions. There were a few warrant officers would need replacing from the Devonshire and a number of Ensigns that would need reassigning to make up the numbers in areas of loss, but those could be handled by their respective Squadron Captains. In truth, he could leave even these promotions to the relevent Commodores, but he preferred to keep an eye on causality listings personally, and felt as though he might as well do this at the same time. He called in the marine officer and handed over the notes to be delivered.

Sad that there was no time for a ceremony, but the harsh realities of war were that promotions in the field were becoming ever more neccessary and regular lavish ceremonies were occassions that the BAF could not well afford.

---

Sir Stanley Nelson




<span style="color:#000066">Charles Canning </span><span style="color:#000066"> Foreign Secretary</span>