Command
By Medeve. Filed in Scarab |
Learning how to combat the Scarabs didn’t make it any easier. Their random pattern of attack infuriated our commanders. Combined with a time frame of less then 30 minutes between the nest egg landing and the planet being lost, there wasn’t much we were able to do.
Finally the leaders of our great Federation decided that the military in its present state was ill fitted for the demands of the current situation and started an emergency reorganization, taking out generals and captains with decades of experience and replacing them with yes men with questionable ability and a lack of background. My own captain at the time was giving an honorable discharge and replaced with cadet younger than myself whose only qualification for the position was a bureaucratic mind frame that the Federation was in love with. It was at this time I realized my chance of becoming a captain no longer existed.
At the same time the Federation called an emergency evacuation of the outer colonies and pulled back all our men. The end result was an apparent view of greater security and success; with less area to defend we were able to respond to the attacks quicker. When we were attacked that is. With the colonies being abandoned the Scarabs didn’t appear to have any desire to push any closer to the inner systems of the federation. Save for a stray vessel being hit or the odd mining colony we didn’t pull back yet, the attacks almost entirely stopped.
Pleased with its apparent victory, the Federation made the change permanent, and the once powerful Federation Navy became a bloated playground for a game of politics. They continued to ignore the every pressing threat of the advancing Scarabs, ignoring those of us who urged them that they were in fact slowly pressing closer.
And now I find my self standing before the doorway to the command deck; a place I have avoided as much as possible in the past. Inside I can just imagine how my captain and his yes-men are casually deciding the fate of the ship and its crew; their safety and escape are guaranteed as part of the new Federation Navy procedure. I imagine they’ll leave shortly after I speak to them.
But still, I am a member of the Federation Navy. It is my duty to respect them, their decisions and see that their commands are carried out to letter. As much as they may displease me, I’d only be tarnishing the memory of the those who came before me if I did not act as expected.
I take a deep breath and open the door.