9th of March, Star Marshal's Office, Troy:Star Marshal von Brandstetter. That's new. When Captain Davis Caamano, commander of the 1st Scout Force, arrived on Troy after making contact with the race that's now being called the "Gliesians", he was operating under the belief that
Star Marshal von Brandstetter was still just "General" von Brandstetter. Apparently in the eight months that he was gone, ol' Saladin turned over a surprise retirement and returned to his home on Mars. The senate naturally selected one "Joachim von Brandstetter" to take his place as Star Marshal, just as his grandmother Britta once did. Apparently "Captain" Meinhard, formerly commander of the TAC Active, was promoted to Colonel and now commands the TADL Mars, since Lt. General Braginsky was moved to the flagship of the 1st fleet, the TADL von Brandstetter, named after Joachim's grandmother. Unfortunately poor Braginsky wasn't gifted with a promotion like the other two men in the room.
"I've gone over all of your reports and I have to ask... Do you have any idea what the frakk you've just done, Captain? That first destroyer you shot down could've been a diplomatic envoy! You may have just thrown Humanity into a galactic war with an alien race we know nothing about!" Brandstetter yells as Colonel Meinhard and Lt. General Braginsky watch on without expression.
"I believe I had no choice but to fire, sir. We had no way of ascertaining the ship's intent. It closed to within Phase Three range, and showed no signs of slowing down. Sir, if it wanted to stop and
envoy--" The captain makes a pair of finger quotes "--with us it would have cut its engines and let its TN hull do the rest for it. I did what was necessary to ensure the safety of my crew, and to give the crews of the other eight survey craft the opportunity to escape." Caamano straightens his posture as he stands his ground against the Commander-In-Chief. "You'll see from our sensor logs that several of the ships that we believe killed the Fadlan and Pasha were already en-route to do so. The only thing I regret about this exchange is that we did not kill the Ankt-oh-oh-one sooner, and that I lacked the firepower to smash more of their fleet before we left."
The other two senior officers look at Brandstetter in anticipation for his response.
"Very good,
Captain. I like the way you speak." The Star Marshal responds, and the two other officers display a great deal of confusion.
"What you did is exactly the same thing I would have done. I just wanted to see if you had the strength of character to defend your actions,
Colonel. If you can defend them infront of me,
Colonel, then you can defend them infront of the senate."
Colonel Davis Caamano had a nice ring to it, but he couldn't believe it. Surely he heard something wrong and the Star Marshal was addressing Meinhard?
"Yes, you heard me right. You'll have your new rank in July, and you'll be placed in command of the TADL Guardian. Between then and now, I want you to keep your captain's badge. You're coming with me to Earth, we'll meet the president, and then we'll be delivering this information to the senate. I expect with ol' Claud holding the presidency for the next three years, we'd have found ourselves at war regardless of what you'd done. Even if we don't go to war, we need to be prepared to defend the border at Procyon just in-case these
Gliesians are a vengeful people and come looking for us. Now get some rest, and in the morning send those medal recommendations for your men to Braginsky. You're dismissed,
Colonel."
"Yes sir!" Davis gives a salute and then turns to leave the office.