By the time Joe Mauser called it a day and retired to his quarters he
was exhausted to the point where his basic dissatisfaction with the
trade he followed was heavily upon him.
He had met his immediate senior officers, largely dilettante Uppers with
precious little field experience, and was unimpressed. And he'd met his
own junior officers and was shocked. By the looks of things at this
stage, Captain Mauser's squadron would be going into this fracas both
undermanned with Rank Privates and with junior officers composed largely
of temporarily promoted noncoms. If this was typical of Baron Haer's
total force, then Balt Haer had been correct; unconditional surrender
was to be considered, no matter how disastrous to Haer family fortunes.
Joe had been able to take immediate delivery of one kilted uniform. Now,
inside his quarters, he began stripping out of his jacket. Somewhat to
his surprise, the small man he had selected earlier in the day to be his
batman entered from an inner room, also resplendent in the Haer uniform
and obviously happily so.
He helped his superior out of the jacket with an ease that held no
subservience but at the same time was correctly respectful. You'd have
thought him a batman specially trained.
Joe grunted, "Max, isn't it? I'd forgotten about you. Glad you found our
billet all right."
Max said, "Yes, sir. Would the captain like a drink? I picked up a
bottle of applejack. Applejack's the drink around here, sir. Makes a
topnotch highball with ginger ale and a twist of lemon."
Joe Mauser looked at him. Evidently his tapping this man for orderly had
been sheer fortune. Well, Joe Mauser could use some good luck on this
job. He hoped it didn't end with selecting a batman.