27 December, City K Military Base

Having finished the call with Joseph, Matthew shut down his laptop, and secured it and the paperwork notes carefully, before leaving his office to head out for lunch. He paused at his administrative assistances desks and requested that they arrange two meetings for him. The first meeting with his junior staff and the second with all staff on base with the rank of major, with the latter being the first meeting.

After grabbing a quick lunch in the staff canteen Matthew headed back to the base hospital to visit again with General Man. Matthew knocked on the door, and as he delivered a salute, he said "General Man, I need to speak to you alone."

General Man, looked at the medical and other military staff in the room, and said firmly "Out, I need to speak to Colonel Rong." As the last person left the room Matthew closed the door behind them and turned back, pressing the button on an electronic listening device disrupter hidden in his pocket.

"General Rong, please take a seat."

"It is Matthew sir."

"And Edward when there is no one else in the room Matthew, or will I need to make that an order, given I do outrank you. Now what is it?"

Shaking his head, Matthew continued "You know of the current staffing issues. There are no colonels on base. Ok let me rephrase that, there is no one with the true rank of colonel currently on base, although to all the staff I am the only one on base with that rank."

"Four are away on manoeuvres, two are on scheduled leave, two are on emergency leave one from his wife going into early labour and the baby being at high risk of dying and the other due to the death of his parents, one in hospital from a car accident and finally the only female falling down yesterday and breaking her arm."

"Standing orders are such that we would have to cancel the scheduled leave or call back those on emergency leave, given the two that are ill. I looked at the service records of those on leave. The two on scheduled leave had not had any leave for over 18 months each, and therefore it is inappropriate to cancel their leave. As to the colonel on leave due to his wife being in labour, they have been through multiple miscarriages before she carried this baby as long as she has."

"The indications are that the child will not survive so it is appropriate he spend as much time with the child as possible. As to the one whose father died, his father was a senior general twenty years ago, before he retired. His only son not being at the funeral would be a slap to the military. You and I can agree to override standing orders as Colonel Yu has offered, despite her broken arm, to come in and assist in managing the base until others return from leave or manoeuvres. Two of those on manoeuvres are due back Monday, so we only have to cover until then."

"You have done your work, Matthew."

"Well sir.." Matthew saw the look on General Mu's face "Apologise Edward, as third in command of the base, I should know what the situation is with the senior officers here, exactly for a situation like this as much as I should know what is happening with the officers in my direct line of command."

"Spoken by someone who has had the indoctrination given to all newly appointed Generals."

"Actually, if Colonel Yu can some in, that would be the best option, rather than facing a difficult choice on whose leave to cancel."

"I will sort that out. I should .."

"Sit Matthew. Do not rush. I know at present only the base commander and I know of your true rank, but tradition is on this base the commander of the special forces group, is the third-in-command. Despite your true rank not being known, no one will dispute your position as third-in-command."

"What can you tell me about the other tasks that you have been sent here to do?"

"I have a meeting with my staff later, and hopefully will be able to start to figure out the cause of all the issues with the special forces group. Someone, and it could either be enlisted or officers, is working with the terrorists. There are too many coincidences for it not to be the case."