It was uncommon to get summoned into the captain’s office. She had a bad feeling about this. Her mission wasn’t set to start for another six weeks. For what purpose would the captain need her now? As if she wasn’t busy enough with preparations. She had only finished mapping out the course last night and was still in the middle of the standard multi-week process of getting Ordnance and Supplies to deliver the supplies requested by her. Those stupid, lazy slobs were a bunch of good for nothing, power tripping bureaucrats. Lazy as dogs and prone to make mistakes. If you didn’t make your requests at least two months in advance, there was no chance you’d get anything delivered on time. If only a ship’s engines could run on paper forms, she’d have enough fuel to traverse the entire empire and back. It seemed like Ordnance and Supplies needed you to sign off on each and every separate nut and bolt you ordered from them.
She sat in the poorly lit waiting room. The word room was a tall stretch though. It was a slightly widened corridor with a reception on the opposite side of the waiting chairs. One could barely pass through the corridor if someone sat on one of the chairs. Behind the glass window of the reception sat one of the faceless ones. Ulterian guards, they were called officially, but everyone called them the faceless guard or faceless ones behind their backs. They wore blue suits, dark brown leather boots, grey gloves and round void helmets that featured a full tinted dome that was made out of polymer coated acrylic glass. They were always armed with blasters. The only unit on the entire spaceport that had the privilege of being armed at all times. A privilege that created distrust and envy. The helmets obscured their faces from view and they never seemed to take their helmets off, causing them to be faceless to the outside world. The only way to distinguish them from one and other was through the differing sizes and shapes of their bodies, and the identifying numbers on their chests and backs.
image [https://imgur.com/a/CIGqNsx]
Most people disliked the faceless ones. A wholly separate unit that never intermingled with the others and only seemed interested in fulfilling their duty, no matter how arduous or boring it may be. They even had their own separate quarters that they never seemed to stray from when not on active duty. She didn’t know anyone who ever chose to join the Ulterian guard. Nor did she know anyone who knew anyone who did. For the most part they were a mystery. Every member of the Fifth’s upper officer corps had their own entourage of Ulterian guards. They doubled as personal staff and bodyguards. As much as she distrusted them, she couldn’t deny that they were excellent at their jobs and that she’d happily accept her own four man squad of faceless ones when she made captain.
The door to the captain’s office opened. A faceless one appeared into the waiting room. He spoke. His voice was distorted by the void helmet, giving it a metallic undertone.‘The captain will now see you, Lieutenant Vanmire.’. She got up and followed the faceless one into the captain’s office.
The room was one big, over the top, display of power. It was the most spacious room she had ever seen aboard the spaceport. It was richly adorned. The left wall was covered with handcrafted tapestries from the eastern mountain districts. They depicted heroic scenes of Fifth Branch officers. One was planting a dual flag of the Imperium and Fosfat on a distant planet. Another one was seen boarding a Proxima-Delta-Q voidcaper ship. His shotgun firing into charging pirates. A third one showed a general in his immaculate uniform. He sat on one knee and was being knighted by the Earthian emperor. The right wall was covered by wooden cabinets. Some of which had glass windows, others had wooden doors. All cabinets were closed and locked; as was standard procedure aboard all spaceports and void ships. On the wall at the far end of the room was a large, interactive map of the empire. Hundreds of lights indicated the locations of inhabited starsystems. Thousands of smaller lights indicated the estimated locations of void freighters and communication probes. Each light had their own little display next to them, showing what planet or ship they represented. The floor was covered in a soft, bordeaux red carpet. There was a seating area near the left hand wall with luxurious leather chairs and sofas. Several plants adorned the room. It was a subtle display of power to have such luxuries aboard the spaceport. The captain was in charge of everything related to the Fifth aboard this spaceport. This made him one of the most powerful officers within the Fifth, and a likely candidate to become a general in the high council somewhere in the next few years.
The captain sat behind an ornate, mahogany desk in the middle of the room. His arms rested on the supports of his equally ornate, mahogany, wingback chair with velvet seating. Two of the faceless ones stood behind the captain. One on each side of him. She didn’t like seeing him in this setting. It turned him so cold and formal. Much unlike how she had come to know him.
‘Have a seat, lieutenant.’. One of the faceless ones walked over from the seating area on the left with a simple, wooden chair in her hands. She positioned it right behind the lieutenant. The lieutenant sat down, cautiously awaiting what the captain had to say.
‘I’ll get straight to it, lieutenant. You’ve been pulled off mission FD32. You are..’
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She erupted in anger. ‘I what? What are you talking about? This is MY mission. I did the research. I came up with the idea. I did the preparations and now on the day that I handed in the detailed mission outline, you pull me off? You can’t do that!’
The captain patiently let her finish her tirade, ignoring even her blatant disregard of proper addressing of rank. ‘Oh but I can, lieutenant. I am the captain aboard this spaceport. The last time I checked, that entitles me to making such decisions.’
‘This is my mission though. I did everything to prepare it. You waited until I handed in the full report and then you took it from me. How could you do this to me, captain?’
The way she had said captain amused him. Same old lieutenant Vanmire. Words that snap at you like a Jack Russell. ‘I’ll admit that this whole thing doesn’t deserve a beauty award, and I’ll also admit that I indeed purposely waited until you finished your report before letting you know this mission is reassigned. However, it’s too late to change anything about it now. Everything has been arranged.’
‘It’s those bloody higher ups, isn’t it? They and their scheming. Probably have some untalented lieutenant they want to push forward for promotion..’
‘Careful, lieutenant.’ A wave of gravitas suddenly flowed over his words. Strong enough to snap even the lieutenant out of her angry state and into the realization that she was moving on very thin ice right now. Insulting the top brass could get you in serious trouble. ‘I’d leave the council out of this if I were you, lieutenant. It’s also what I did when I made the decision to reassign this mission.’
‘Wait… It was you? You reassigned it…?!’ Her voice turned weaker. She was well versed in the scheming and elbowing that was part and parcel of being an officer of the Fifth. She knew that everyone was two tongued and that only fools trusted their ambitious rivals. But the captain… The captain had always been like a father to her. This didn’t just feel like betrayal, it felt like filicide. Her own petefather had stabbed her in the back. His blade thrusted right through her heart.
‘Yes it was me, lieutenant. I made the judgment. I made the assessment that Lieutenant Verstate is a better fit for this mission and I gave the order. Lieutenant Verstate has already been informed that she has been assigned the mission and with it the crew that you’ve assembled; bar a few personnel changes that she requested be made to them. Seems like she wasn’t too enthusiastic about your pick for a mechanic. Recruit Voss was it? Do you have any further questions or comments you wish to make?’
She hesitated. There was nothing she wished to say to him, and then again, there were a million things she wanted to say to him. None of them were very nice. She decided to hold back and pick her battle more strategically. ‘No… captain.’
‘In that case you’re excused. I understand you are upset about this, Vanmire. Rightfully so. You’ll have to trust in my decision in this one. There are good reasons for my actions. Reasons which I am not at liberty to share with you at this point in time. I’m giving you a forty-eight hour leave as of this moment so you can have some time to process this before you get back to duty. The Ulterian guard will make sure your station is made aware of your leave. Now dismissed and please don’t do anything stupid. We both know that temper of yours gets you into more trouble than good.’
She got up and stormed out of the room, not even giving the captain the usual, obligatory salute before walking out the door. One of the Ulterian guards looked like he was about to stop and force her to pay her proper respects, but the captain waved a small hand signal and the guard took a step backwards, allowing her to pass.
There must have been times when she had been even madder, but she couldn’t remember when. She was furious. She had been but a split hair away from snapping and smashing the captain’s face in. Faceless guards or no faceless guards. This was her mission. Her idea. She had set everything up from scratch. It had taken her months of lobbying to get approval and months more to get her crew together. Now that everything was set and done, and their departure was scheduled in less than two months, it was taken from her. No, scratch it was stolen from her by captain Debois. The only man she thought she could trust in all of Fifth Branch turned out to be the biggest snake of them all.
Replaced by a “more suitable” candidate she scoffed. Lieutenant Verstate was the most mediocre, airheaded bimbo to have come out of the academy in fifty years. She had probably worked the captain’s “judgment” real hard and long for him to assign her that jewel of an opportunity. She should have known that the captain was just another self-enriching pervert. They all were. She’d find a way to get back at them though. She’d get her mission back and make both Verstate and Debois rue the day they took her mission away from her.
Right now she had to lick her wounds and accept her loss though. This wasn’t the time for rash decisions. The captain knew her too well. He would be keeping an eye on her. Any misstep from her now would get her into serious trouble. Most importantly, news about this couldn’t get out. If Voss learned about this, he might do something stupid. She couldn’t afford the delay of finding a new mechanic. Not at this stage.
She got so lost in thought that she almost bumped into sergeant Reiniger who was just on his way to see the captain. The captain looked like he was about to scold her for it, but then decided otherwise. Opting to continue to head to the captain's office whilst shaking his head.
Vanmire had barely noticed her little altercation with the sergeant. Her thoughts were still mauling at record pace. Trying to weigh options and alternatives. Would Voss even need to know? Nah, she’d get her mission back in time and he’d be none the wiser anyhow. For now she had to lay low and make a well structured plan. Find a way to get her mission back without provoking the captain’s ire. And she knew just where to start…