Captain Nelson marched purposefully along the corridor of the BAF recruitment centre as secretaries hurried to and fro clutching armfuls of papers. As he pushed open the door of the head recruitment officer's office he sighed at the sight of the pile of paperwork covering the desk. The BAF were being swamped with new applicants, no doubt as a result of the new advertising initiative my the Ministry of Defence, and the usual recruitment officer's stress level had been stretched to breaking point, with the result that he had been ordered to take a few days holiday for health reasons.
As he sat down behind the oversized desk and started sorting through the mountain of papers, Nelson began to regret telling the BAF that he had experience in administrative work...
...after several hours of painstaking work, and the rejection of over a dozen applicants including one that was blind, and one that was so clearly mentally unstable that he had scribbled the word "marmalade!" all over his form, Nelson finally picked out 2 highly promising looking forms. Jason Cullinane, an experienced looking pilot, exactly what the BAF needed more of, and *Nelson cringed slightly at this point* Lord Sir Sebastian Tarrant. Well, nobody could doubt his loyalty or ability, and much as he pivately disagreed with the unfairness of the entrenched system of class privilage, Nelson knew that applications from members of the nobility were always to be quickly approved.
Still, he gave a quick smile as he assigned them to the fleet of Admiral Kaiden and the wing of Commodore McKenna, two ex-regulars who had worked their way up without any upper-class connections. Privilage wasn't eveything these days.
As he was handing the two papers to the duty clerk, however, the young Captain paused in a brief moment of regret. The office brought back memories of his own recruitment years ago, when Captain Isaac Brock had sat behind the very desk he was at now. Nelson had to hold back a tear at thought of his fallen compatriot, as looking down at his own Captain's insignia made him realise how many of his fellow officers he had outlived to get where he was. With the country at war, the Forces were a dangerous place to be. He only hoped he wasn't just sending two more brave men out to die...
Sir Stanley Nelson <span style="color:#000066">Charles Canning </span><span style="color:#000066"> Foreign Secretary</span>