Staff Sergeant Bernard Raymond Washington (died 434 IE) was a Royal OrdersMarines” show=”Marine”] NCO assigned to the Navy Special Forces unit aboard the CNV Cygnus under the command of Lieutenant Mitsuko Yamato. A native of Belsham, Washington had a talent for handling young, inexperienced commissioned officers.
He used the names Bernie and Ray alternately.
After the liberation, he became a consultant to the Bonapartan Household Guards. Mitsuko’s personal platoon found itself elevated to Navy status during the Cubist crisis on Aphrodite in 434. However, as Admiral Eileen Burke gave the order, he was not permitted to resume his Marine rank. Traditionally, Navy Special Forces platoons had Marine NCOICs, but Burke insisted Washington be a senior chief petty officer for this mission, equivalent of a Marine gunnery sergeant. Aboard the Goldeneye, he helped Mitsuko brief the newly elevated platoon for Davra Andraste. Davra worried that the veteran troopers would not take a nineteen-year-old lieutenant seriously.
During the trip upriver to Kurz’s encampment, Washington offered to ride on Davra Andraste‘s boat when they decided to split up the troops. He suggested Mitsuko ride on the Special Force’s raft as he felt the troops needed to see Mitsuko both as a commander and a future queen. On the morning before the raid, Washington and Mitsuko brought in a man flagging them from the shore. He asked for Mitsuko by name and said he had a message from Suicide. They questioned him and learned Kurz had been setting a trap for them. Connor Duffy, using spider drones, made contact with Suicide, who further explained the camp contained a modified version of the Gelt suicide toxin modified to kill humans. Furthermore, he sank a giant mech in the lake near the encampment to block their team from attacking. He and Mitsuko asked their troops if they felt it was a feasible attack. Only Arestes and Sakimoto dissented. Arestes said that should not be a reason not to do it. Sakimoto said no one had ever asked him before.
Washington helped lead the raid on Kurz’s camp, surviving the attack by Kurz’s remaining mech, but falling to enemy fire.
Appearances: Flight Blade, Royal Orders