03-05-817AS. 2111 Hours Planet New Berlin, Military Base| Admiral Kriegers Office
A small hallway led from the readyroom to Admiral Kriegers office.
Oberleutnant Malte walked down that hallway and knocked at Admiral Kriegers office.
Hans Krieger opened the heavy door with surprising ease, and looked at the Oberleutnant in a penetrating way.
"Guten Tag Sir." Malexa said and saluted.
The Admiral just stood there and seemed to be a bit absent with his thoughts. It looked like he did some important things in there.
"I dont want to steal your valuable time Sir.
Only one small question Sir." she continued quickly. "Since I am an RTC now, I wondered if I am allowed to handle the promotion requests up to the Officer ranks."
Hans Krieger raised an eyebrow. It seemed Malexa caught his attention. "That would ease things up a bit, especialy for the first, quite fast, reachable requirements.
The higest rank I could promote, would be Hauptgefreiter.
Just a sugguestion Sir, if you dont have your own." Oberleutnant Malte said.
She coughed and quickly added: "Not that you would be without any sugguestions of your own Sir."
Malexa still stood at the door and waited for the reaction of Admiral Krieger.
Suddenly a toothbrush and the Westphalia poped up her mind.
She did not know why.......
As Krieger opened the door to his office, Oberleutenant Malte hastly, yet properly, saluted and engaged in a rushed verbiage. After spending the previous days (or did they sum weeks already?) over intelligence and fleet reports, he had to take a deep breath after Malte took what seemed to be her own first one since she got there to fully diggest what she had just said.
Somewhat startled by the suddenness with which she reassumed a perfect poise of silent readiness after speaking her mind, he turns on his heels and walks back into his office, mentioning her in.
"Do come in and shut the door, Oberleutnant."
Malexa closed the door and walked into the office never wavering from her full stature or attention. She stoped in front of the Admiral's table and performed a crisp half turn to face the older man. Krieger had to suppress the hint of a smile forming at the corner of his mouth in order to keep protocol.
"At ease, Frau Malte. Please, be seated."
"I'd rather stand, sir."
"I am quite sure you would, Oberleutnant. Now, sit down."
Malexa awkwardly withdrew from her preferred military posture, but sat down assuming such a poise that it hardly detracted from her attentive figure.
"You know, Frau Malte, I have been observing your progress in the military career with great interest. Your devotion to the Kanzler, to the Kriegsmarine and your career never ceases to remind me of my own as I was your age and at your current position."
Krieger stood up from his chair and, this time anticipating Malte's snapping into attention and standing up, mentioned her to remain seated. He circled around his table and approached a file cabinet next to where she was seated. He reached inside and produced a sizeable pile of folders, which he then presented her.
"Your offer to work beyond your rank's responsibilities is laudable. But I want you to be sure this is what you really want.
Here, Frau Malte, are the files for all pilots up to sub-officers nearing fulfilment of the respective requirements for their promotions. I want these reviewed, your report and the confirmation that you indeed want this job by the end of the day.
While you're at it, I'll cover for you and command your next patrol. It will be a most welcomed change of pace for me to be in the cockpit again. You can use my desk while I'm away having f... flying! ...while I'm away flying."
Krieger exited the room and left Malexa alone in the darkened office with the pile of papers in front of her. Suddenly, spending time at the Westphalia didn't sound so bad any more.
"Oh holy crap!"whispered Malexa when the Admiral shut the door behind him.
She was looking at a few piles of documents.
Patrol reports, classified documents, tactic charts and finaly she managed to spot the stack of the Pilot dossiers.
"There they are! I wondered already, why I could not find them in the readyroom. It was hard to assign all the Pilots to their patrols this morning, without the files of the new Pilots handy." she thought.
Malexa took a seat at the Admirals desk. As she sat down, Malexa noticed the warm chair with a quite big hollow in it. "The old man must have sat here for years!" she said with a low voice and laughed.
Malexa picked up the first document and browsed through it. "Wow, looks like this boy handed his request in, quite a while ago."she thought when looking at the pages.
After picking 5 other documents, she started to tear her hair.
"We should get him a secretary!" she said and made a quick break. "Oh dear......am I just volunteering for that? beeing his secretary?"
Suddenly she remembered the glowing in his eyes, when the Admiral said that he would leave for a quick patrol with some boys. "Poor man! I can feel with him. Beeing stuck in a room due to the load of pending paperwork, that sucks!
I think we all owe him some backup with this.
Hell yeah! I'll do this!
I will trade in some flightime for helping the old man to get out again!" She hammered on the desk, when the last part of her sentence left her lips.
Oberleutnant Malte arranged her hair again and took a quick look at the clock. "Old Hans will be in the briefingroom soon when his patrol ends. Lets hope I can help him getting out of here again!"
She left Admiral Kriegers office and walked down the hallway to the ready- and briefing-room.
Flieger Ralph Hofmann knocked at Admiral Krieger office's door.
Krieger opened the door to find a pilot fresh out of the academy (they all had this eager look on their faces, even when composed and at attention and specially when around flag officers). The young man saluted and quickly added, "Sir, I have contacted Oberleutnant Malte about my promotion to Gefreiter. Both my Wrath and Snubnose are ready for duty, sir."
Krieger sighed and looked past the young man towards the corridor. Only to find out that his secretary desk was empty. He looked back at the young man, measuring him without saying a word. At such undivided scrutiny from the Admiral, Hofmann gained a good centimeter and a half in height as he tensed the few muscles he hadn't already. Krieger noticed the boy wasn't breathing at all.
"Herr..." Krieger lowered his gaze to the name tag in Ralph's uniform (accustomed to being around flag officers inside RMHC's headquarters; the clean fabric, devoid of any medals and other such accomplishment adornments, struck the old man as odd), "...Hofmann! It looks like you are lost. Do come in."
As Krieger turned around to lead the way Ralph hesitated for a second. The Admiral turned back and raised an eyebrow to the lad, silently asking him what was the hold up. Startled, Ralph hastened his pace and got inside the Admiral's office. Krieger shut the door and walked back to his chair.
"Herr Hofmann, you say you have spoken to Oberleutnant Malte. Considering her observance of details I trust you to have missed her full instructions," he pointed an inquisitive look at the pilot.
"Sir... I..."
Krieger raised his hand to interrupt Ralph's mumbling, sat back and assumed a resigned look on his face, "Son, IF you had indeed listened carefully to Frau Malte's instructions, you would know that these requests are not brought directly to my office, let alone to myself in person. There is an office to which you are supposed to both present the requirements for your promotion as completed and where you make the request for it. This is not it."
Krieger let his last words ring before he spoke again. He stood up from his chair and mentioned the young man to the exit. As he opened up the door, he noticed his secretary's desk was still unoccupied.
Without his secretary, he felt as exposed in his office as he did in space flying without shields. He frowned and looked at the clock. It was that time in the afternoon when they served fresh coffee at the cafeteria. That hellish secretary of his, Frau Ingeborg, had sneaked out again. She was certainly feasting on Strudels. He could even picture the red lipstick smeared fat lips licking up sugar and cinnamon from stubby fingers; crumbles of pastry falling off as the hefty woman munched vigorously.
Krieger had to shake off a shiver as he thought of it. He looked back at the boy and his lips curled up.
"Herr Hofmann, I have a job of the utmost importance for you. You are to remain here and wait for my secretary, Frau Frida Ingeborg. You are to deliver this message to the letter: 'Admiral Krieger has reassigned you to Vizeadmiral Schprokets. Please, gather your affairs and report to the VA's office ASAP.'"
Krieger looked the young man straight in the eye and said in all seriousness, "Frau Ingeborg is quite the sentimental. She may not understand the need for this change nor take the news lightly. I want you to be supportive of her and not to leave until you are absolutely certain she is all right. Understood?"
"Jawohl, Herr Admiral!"
"Very good. Now, should anyone ask, I'm on patrol." Krieger turned around and disappeared down the corridor.
The hapless Ralph sat at the Admiral's secretary desk. He found a framed picture by the monitor and picked it up to examine it closer. He almost fell off his chair. There she was, Frau Ingeborg in an unreasonable close up. Her figure distorted by both her face's proximity to the camera (she had probably taken the picture herself) and those pursed vivid red lips poised in an appalling kiss. To compose the disturbing image, the angle in which the picture had been taken favoured her lavish cleavage generously.
It dismayed Ralph. Hardly had he recovered from the shock, he saw the secretary returning from her coffee break. At the sight of him, Frida smiled and assumed the closest thing to a feline-like walk her body could muster, "Now, who is this dashing young man sitting at my desk?"