Nana looked at her watch. She was almost 10 minutes late. She rapidly slipped into the elevator. The door closed silently and almost immediately reopened. At the elevator exit door her adjunct was waiting for her. “Only a routine exchange,” Nana thought, “A leftover from a previous age!”
- “Good morning, Captain Olbrich. How are you?” Sergeant Don Wright asked.
- “Good. Very good. Thank you for asking! And you?” Nana answered.
- “Thank you very much. I am good, very good...” Sergeant Don automatically repeated.
Nana entered the meeting room. On the commander’s desk laid the latest map of Alamo. Nana went to the centre of the room. She stood there and looked very tense. General John O’Keefe approached Nana and asked her the question:
- “What happened? You look very nervous,” General O’Keefe asked.
- “I have a strange premonition that if we do not sent a suitable fleet to support Alamo, the expedition will not succeed,” Nana answered slowly.
- “You know that suitable plans already are undertaken,” General O’Keefe said strongly and directly.
- “We are not ready to go there. You know it! We will lose our people!” Nana stated with a great deal of self-possession.
- “You know that those decisions are not mine! I just follow instructions! Do you want to go there or not?” Captain John asked, his voice getting louder.
- “Yes, I do, but… not now. We are not ready!” Nana tried to say this clearly.
- “If you’re scared, we can choose someone else! This is not professional behavior, Nana! The President is expecting success!” He knew immediate he said too much. His rising blood pressure reddened his face.
- “Ok. I understand Captain. Still, we don’t know enough about this place. That’s all… Can I go now, General?!?” Nana saluted him and expected to go.
Nana looked at him few seconds. His face was like marble with no any emotion. He looks like a programmed machine. Nana bent her head lightly as a sign that she has nothing more to say.
- “Yes. You can go!” General O’Keefe said. He knew that – ready or not – this mission had to go.
Nana left the National Air Force & Royal Council Room and disappeared in the shadows of the dark corridor.
- “Good bye, Sergeant Wright.” Nana tried to smile to cover her emotion.
- “Good bye, Captain Olbrich.” Sergeant Don said quietly.
Discipline in the army was of the utmost importance. The rules were very clear: subordinates can talk to superiors only as a slave would with his master. One had to ignore one’s own ambitions and ideas. The procedure was clear from elaborate discussions in previous decades in Military Association Forces (MSA). The same was true with Air Force which cultivated the best traditions of the past epochs.
