creases around the edge of his mouth that had nothing to do with his tiredness.
‘You’re taking over Training and Personnel on promotion, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Congratulations.’ And he smiled at me with the warmth and sparkle of normal times.
‘You—’
‘Yes?’
I swallowed. Hard.
‘You… you surprised me, that’s all.’
He burst out laughing. ‘You are such a liar.’
‘Yeah, well. That wasn’t nice.’
‘But fun.’ He smiled.
I didn’t think so, but he had a more robust sense of humour than I. I think most men did.
He went over to his coffee machine and brought me back a cupful to which he promptly added a slug of brandy.
‘For the shock, of course,’ he said and winked.
*
Branca was ‘retired’ on medical grounds. She had to get dried out as a condition of drawing a full pension, which I thought was fair. Although I was functionally in charge of such things now, I lost interest once I’d seen the mess she’d left the department in. Branca’s executive officer, Captain Petrus Sergius, had held it together as much as he could. His human resources background before joining the PGSF had been invaluable. No, it had pretty much saved it all from going under. I was mentally exhausted, but in a way grimly satisfied, after our long hours hammering out the new framework.
‘Thank you, Sergius, good session. Let me have the budgets as soon as you can. Last thing, can you open up a feedback mailbox on the department intranet?
‘Do you mean like a suggestions box, ma’am?’
‘Exactly so. I want input from everybody.’
His grey eyes looked wary.
‘What?’
‘Colonel Branca expressly forbade such a thing and made it a disciplinary.’
I couldn’t believe it. She really had made the rules up as she went along.
‘Well, Sergius, news for you. I want to know. You might find a revisit to the legate’s standing orders about transparency and teamwork of, what, nearly eight years ago, worthwhile.’
His face closed down; he tightened his mouth, his eyes lost a little light.
Oops .
‘Don’t take it badly, Captain. You did a great job. Now you’re going to help me do a better one. Besides,’ I grinned at him, ‘apart from knowing what they’re bitching about, we may learn something ourselves.’
‘Very well, Colonel, I’ll get it set up.’
Colonel! I’d have to get used to being called that.
He ran his fingers along the side of his el-pad and hesitated.
‘Something else?’
‘It’s something Colonel Branca dealt with. It’s done, but—’
‘Try me.’
‘It’s fairly routine, just a follow-up after the recent exercise.’
‘Okay, Sergius, let’s get a few things straight if we’re going to work together. I don’t play games with colleagues – I don’t have time. If you have something to say, say it. I really don’t mind if it’s as trivial as somebody sniffing in a different way, or a major attack. If it has any significance, or it’s bothering you, you tell me. Use your judgment, sure, but err on the telling side. Okay?’
He nodded, looking a little defensive. He’d get used to me, I hoped.
‘It’s a mail we had from the English liaison officer, Browning, enquiring about a familiarisation visit.’ He paused, looking awkward. ‘Although it was addressed to you, it got routed to us as it had a training code in the reference. I suggested forwarding it to you, but the colonel insisted we deal with it and replied that we were too busy to entertain such informal trips.’ He threw a speculative look at me and decided to stop talking.
Good move. He learned fast.
‘Okay, Sergius. Thanks for telling me.’ I couldn’t take it out on him. ‘Forward it, and Branca’s reply, to me ASAP. I’ll sort it out with Captain Browning.’
He looked relieved.
‘Oh, and don’t call them English. They get seriously miffed if you get their complex nationality thing wrong. Their naval and air forces are “royal” and their army “British”.
‘You’re taking over Training and Personnel on promotion, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Congratulations.’ And he smiled at me with the warmth and sparkle of normal times.
‘You—’
‘Yes?’
I swallowed. Hard.
‘You… you surprised me, that’s all.’
He burst out laughing. ‘You are such a liar.’
‘Yeah, well. That wasn’t nice.’
‘But fun.’ He smiled.
I didn’t think so, but he had a more robust sense of humour than I. I think most men did.
He went over to his coffee machine and brought me back a cupful to which he promptly added a slug of brandy.
‘For the shock, of course,’ he said and winked.
*
Branca was ‘retired’ on medical grounds. She had to get dried out as a condition of drawing a full pension, which I thought was fair. Although I was functionally in charge of such things now, I lost interest once I’d seen the mess she’d left the department in. Branca’s executive officer, Captain Petrus Sergius, had held it together as much as he could. His human resources background before joining the PGSF had been invaluable. No, it had pretty much saved it all from going under. I was mentally exhausted, but in a way grimly satisfied, after our long hours hammering out the new framework.
‘Thank you, Sergius, good session. Let me have the budgets as soon as you can. Last thing, can you open up a feedback mailbox on the department intranet?
‘Do you mean like a suggestions box, ma’am?’
‘Exactly so. I want input from everybody.’
His grey eyes looked wary.
‘What?’
‘Colonel Branca expressly forbade such a thing and made it a disciplinary.’
I couldn’t believe it. She really had made the rules up as she went along.
‘Well, Sergius, news for you. I want to know. You might find a revisit to the legate’s standing orders about transparency and teamwork of, what, nearly eight years ago, worthwhile.’
His face closed down; he tightened his mouth, his eyes lost a little light.
Oops .
‘Don’t take it badly, Captain. You did a great job. Now you’re going to help me do a better one. Besides,’ I grinned at him, ‘apart from knowing what they’re bitching about, we may learn something ourselves.’
‘Very well, Colonel, I’ll get it set up.’
Colonel! I’d have to get used to being called that.
He ran his fingers along the side of his el-pad and hesitated.
‘Something else?’
‘It’s something Colonel Branca dealt with. It’s done, but—’
‘Try me.’
‘It’s fairly routine, just a follow-up after the recent exercise.’
‘Okay, Sergius, let’s get a few things straight if we’re going to work together. I don’t play games with colleagues – I don’t have time. If you have something to say, say it. I really don’t mind if it’s as trivial as somebody sniffing in a different way, or a major attack. If it has any significance, or it’s bothering you, you tell me. Use your judgment, sure, but err on the telling side. Okay?’
He nodded, looking a little defensive. He’d get used to me, I hoped.
‘It’s a mail we had from the English liaison officer, Browning, enquiring about a familiarisation visit.’ He paused, looking awkward. ‘Although it was addressed to you, it got routed to us as it had a training code in the reference. I suggested forwarding it to you, but the colonel insisted we deal with it and replied that we were too busy to entertain such informal trips.’ He threw a speculative look at me and decided to stop talking.
Good move. He learned fast.
‘Okay, Sergius. Thanks for telling me.’ I couldn’t take it out on him. ‘Forward it, and Branca’s reply, to me ASAP. I’ll sort it out with Captain Browning.’
He looked relieved.
‘Oh, and don’t call them English. They get seriously miffed if you get their complex nationality thing wrong. Their naval and air forces are “royal” and their army “British”.
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