Force G - The lost command

[El_Phil]

Well back for a second stab at this writing gig. With better spacing and maybe some more commas marvel at the tale of the legion of the lost: Force G

"Welcome to Force G. despite what you may have heard this is a real command not a backwater posting you can sleepwalk through." Rear Admiral Miller began every introductory speech the same way so the old hands took the chance to look over the crowd.

'Him, her and maybe him' Group Captain Johnson was trying to pick out his new pilots. A firm believer in first impressions he preferred to meet his pilots face to face before reading their files. It also gave him something to do during Miller's speech. He hadn't much liked it the first time and it didn't get better with repetition. Casting his eye over the crowd he was certain he could spot the pilots, the nervous looking fidgeting ones. But who was airforce and who were navy flyers, he was less sure. 'I’ll find out soon enough' he thought.

His opposite number from the Fleet Air Arm read up all the files before the personnel arrived, so he had no problem picking out his pilots. Captain Baxter was less than impressed with what he saw. Too many blank gazes and not enough attention being paid. 'Admiral Miller needs to work on his speech.' he thought to himself. Anti-piracy duty on the frontier may not be as high profile as a fleet carrier on the Sergetti front, but it didn't matter if a squid or a pirate hit your fighter. You were still just as dead. He made a note to himself to give his pilots a quick facts of life talk when Miller had finished.

The third senior officer present watched the two fighter officers 'Ying and Yang' she though, not for the first time. Johnson was so relaxed he could pass for asleep, while Baxter was searching the room and pacing around like a caged O'Neills Chimera. As the second most senior naval officer she had operational command of all capital and patrol ships in the force and technical command of the Fleet Air Arm units. However relationship between the fleet and its fighter arm were chilly at best, openly hostile at worst. The habit of some fleet commanders of using their fighters as mobile ablative armour for their capital ships didn't help. Attitudes like this, along with the financial reality of R&D costs, had turned the airforce and FAA from bitter enemies to close allies. Luckily the situation in Force G was so markedly different from elsewhere that institutional dislikes had to be put aside. 'As they should be.' Commodore Langford thought.

***

Admiral Miller finished his speech almost identically to the first time he ever gave it, only the acronym had changed. "Remember, we are all alone out here, 5th Fleet is based around Cestus and STAFORMEL have enough trouble of their own. There is no cavalry to rush to the rescue, the nearest friendly force is over two weeks travel away. Don't forget that. Dismissed!"

As the briefing broke up the three command officers started gathering up their recruits. Group Captain Johnson collected his group first. "Right lets get out of here and leave the Navy to sort out its problems." He announced as he started to walk towards the airforce section of the base.

The group of new officers followed Johnson, a few of them took a glance back at the big confused mass of personnel around Baxter and Langford.

"Welcome to sunny Loxford Base, headquarters of your new unit Force G." Johnson continued. "So do any of you have any questions?" Johnson liked to ask questions of subordinates, it told him a great deal about them, what they had learnt and who had the courage to ask a question. As usual no response, no one wanted to look ignorant in front of their new CO.

"Don't worry there are no stupid questions." he said to reassure them.

"Excuse me sir, what does 'STAFOM' mean?" A short pilot officer at the back asked. Johnson looked at the sea of nodding, questioning faces and sighed inwardly. The words of a former CO came back to him 'Of course there are no stupid questions. There are however stupid people.' Harsh, but with a certain grain of truth. Johnston was less cynical and more hopeful than his old boss, so he gave them the benefit of the doubt.

"It's actually STA-FOR-MEL" he carefully pronounced the phrase, hoping it would jog some memories. Nothing.

"Standing Force Melles." Blank faces stared back at him. 'What are they teaching at the training schools these days?' he asked himself. 'This could be a long day'