They walked into the captain’s office with lead in their boots. The lieutenant first and Voss second. The captain sat in the middle of the luxuriously adorned room in his ornate, wooden wingback chair. The faceless ones had positioned themselves behind him and stood guard. Voss had never seen such an impressive room in real life before. Not even back on Fosfat. Especially the grand map behind the captain blew his mind. Nobody ever told him just how many stars and planets had been colonized by humans. Slum dwellers weren't supposed to know such things. So to see the thousands of lights on that map felt almost overwhelming. The empire was much larger than anyone in the slums ever imagined.

The lieutenant wasn’t distracted by the grand map of stars and ships behind the captain or the lavish draperies like Voss was. She had been in this room more times than she'd like to admit, so none of it impressed her anymore. Instead, she was focused on what was at hand.

The captain wasted no time. He got straight to business. ‘Lieutenant Vanmire, recruit Voss. You’re both here because your brash and incompetent behavior led to a total loss of two void bikes and the near loss of two recruits. Not to mention the danger you put everyone else into.’

The captain looked Voss in the eye. ‘Recruit Voss, I’ll start with you. What’s your defense to these accusations?’

‘Captain, sir..’

‘Just captain, recruit. Sir is a civilian title which I shan’t tolerate whilst on duty.’

‘Apologies captain. My only defense is that this was my first time in the void and that I have had zero training in operating a void bike before.’

‘Did you make the lieutenant aware of this lack of training?’

‘I did once we got onto the bike, captain.’

‘Why didn’t you do so sooner?’

‘Because I wasn’t aware of the fact that we are to receive special training to learn how to operate void bikes, captain. Us recruits are never really told anything in advance. I assumed the lieutenant knew what she was doing. I didn’t find out that she was under the impression that I had already received such training until we were on the bike.’

‘I see.’ The captain’s eyes jumped towards the lieutenant. ‘I expected better from you, Vanmire. I was not impressed by what I saw and by what the sergeant relayed to me. It seems you started out strong but then lost your cool around the time recruit Hiyo experienced difficulties with his oxygen supply. The sergeant and I got the sense that you panicked..’

‘I didn’t panic at all, captain!’ the lieutenant interrupted him. ‘The only mistake I made was trusting in my recruit’s capabilities and training.’

Voss noticed a slight change on the captain’s face. A heightening of his senses, like a predator locked into his prey and ready to spring his trap. The lieutenant had walked right into it. ‘You both point fingers at each other. Neither of you shows self reflection or willingness to take responsibility. I see zero ownership over the situation. Voss is a mere recruit. He can be forgiven for such fatal flaws, because they are possessed by many who don’t make the cut. Considering his status as a recruit, I find his defense reasonable.’

The captain pointed his finger at the lieutenant. ‘You on the other hand, Vanmire. You are a lieutenant of the Fifth. As such, I hold you to higher standards. In between your dribble of weak excuses, I heard one important, unintentional admission. “The only mistake I made” you said. You indeed made a mistake. A mistake that put the lives of twenty three people at risk, including your own.

You were in charge of that mission by your own declaration, lieutenant. That means that everything that happens is your responsibility.’ The captain’s voice had shifted from calm to angry as he said it. A tone of resentment now reverberated through the captain’s voice. Voss could tell this was something the captain was very passionate about. ‘Your actions out there, and your words here, show zero leadership. I gave you a chance to redeem yourself and instead you spit on everything the Fifth stands for. You took zero ownership. What’s even worse, is that you spit on your father’s legacy. Lieutenant Vanmire sr. was everything you are not. He was a man of great integrity who understood the meaning of leadership. A man who embodied the virtue of extreme ownership.

Your father was an exemplary officer of the Fifth. In fact, the only reason a man of such great virtue is in his grave, instead of in a seat on the high council, is because someone he should have been able to trust blindly “Only made one mistake”. There is no mercy in the void, Vanmire. Zero room for mistakes. You, out of all people, should know that.’

The lieutenant spoke up, attempting to defend herself against the captain’s accusations. ‘Captain, I made a calculated judgment. It’s impossible to prevent every outlier accident from happening. I can’t control my men like some puppeteer pulling strings. You’re being unreasonable.’ The captain’s face remained stoic, but Voss knew the lieutenant had just dug her own grave. Whatever was to come now, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

The captain lifted his lower right arm and made a small “move” gesture. ‘Out.’. The faceless ones both nodded and headed for the door. Voss tried to join the two guards in making a quick exit, but the captain stopped him. ‘You there, stay.’.

Just his luck, he thought. He somehow managed to get himself caught up in another clusterfuck. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time seemed to have become his specialty.

The faceless guards left the room and shut the door behind them. Voss felt a shiver run through his spine. They were now trapped inside the Tiger’s cage. His destiny was in the hands of a ruthless captain and an arrogant, headstrong lieutenant.

‘Vanmire, Vanmire, Vanmire. What am I to do with you? I gave you a chance at redemption and what do you do with it? You let it blow up in my face. If you had been anyone else, I’d have removed you from the Fifth a long time ago.’. The captain stood up from his chair and turned around to face the map behind him. A nostalgic tone now entered his voice, as if he was conversing with someone left behind in the past.

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‘I tried to convince myself that you’re still here because you’re the most talented cadet I’ve seen graduate from the academy since your father. But I can’t kid myself any longer. The only reason you’re still here is because I feel obliged to your late father, obliged to do whatever I can to have you succeed.’

The lieutenant could no longer hold her tongue. ‘I must protest this, captain. You describe me as if I am some royal failure that does nothing but cause trouble. When really, I have done much to prove myself. You’re right. I am one of the most talented individuals to ever join the Fifth and my hard work and talent have done much for it. We have all made mistakes and mine was far from the worst.’

She must have said something funny because the captain laughed heartily. ‘Ow how right you are despite possessing such limited self-awareness. You are indeed one of the most talented individuals the Fifth has seen join its ranks in the past fifty years. Which is exactly your problem. You’re an individual. You operate solely based on what is best for you. You’d be willing to watch half of the Fifth burn if that meant you’d gain control over the other half.’

The lieutenant spoke out in anger. ‘You know that’s not true, captain. I may be an individual, but I always have the Fifth’s interest at heart.’ she snorted. ‘Besides, even if it were true that I place myself over the Fifth, how would that make me any different from those in the high council?’

The captain turned back around to face them. ‘It would make you no different from them, which is precisely why I keep trying to teach you to be better. It’s this individualism and egotism which is the rot that eats away at the foundations of our beloved institution.’

Voss felt increasingly uncomfortable as the conversation progressed. Things were being said that he as a recruit should not be aware of. He felt like a child eavesdropping in on a secret conversation between adults. It didn’t make sense to him that the captain had wanted him to stick around to hear them air the Fifth’s dirty laundry. These were matters that didn’t concern him. This was knowledge that served him no purpose and could only lead him to get into trouble. He wished the captain and the lieutenant would stop speaking on them already, before either shared something that could turn Voss into a liability for those in the Fifth’s high command.

The captain continued. ‘This is exactly why I took your mission away from you and gave it to lieutenant Verstate, Vanmire. I cannot, with clear conscience, give control of such an important mission to an individualistic lieutenant such as yourself. One that views her crew as mere pawns and who would sacrifice them in the blink of an eye if that ensured her the success of the mission. Especially not when I know that she only cares about that mission to the extent that it benefits her career.’

Fury arose inside Voss. Her mission had been taken from her?!? She had known about this and had lied to him about it? It took Voss every fiber in his body to not erupt in anger. All the hard work and sacrifices he had made these past few months, only to end up working space freighter engines for the next forty years. The lieutenant had used him like a disposable pawn. He knew there was nothing he could do about it, but this was something that he wouldn’t forget. The lieutenant was a fool if she thought he was ever going to do her bidding after this.

‘See!’ the captain exclaimed. ‘That’s exactly what I’m talking about, Vanmire. You didn’t tell him, did you? Too busy with you little selfish schemes. I bet you were utterly convinced that you’d somehow find a way to get your mission back without him ever finding out any of this ever happened.’

The lieutenant’s jaw fell open, betraying that she had no idea the captain had been aware of her careful planning and scheming.

The captain turned to Voss. ‘Don’t judge her too harshly, recruit Voss. She can’t help herself. She’s always thinking three steps ahead. Always devising plans and making schemes. She’s highly intelligent but she has a crucial flaw. Her ego doesn’t allow her to factor in the possibility of failure. She’s too convinced of herself and her little plans. It makes her terribly predictable once you get to know her.

The reason she neglected to tell you about her mission away from her isn’t because she was trying to deceive you, Voss. It’s because there was never a doubt in her mind that she’d find a way to get it back. This is her biggest limitation. The flaw that I keep trying to warn her about. I can liberate her from her delusions though. She won’t be getting her mission back. I couldn’t give her her mission back, even if I wanted to. The departure date has been pushed forward. Verstate and her crew departed weeks ago.’

‘WHAT?’ the lieutenant blurted out. The veins on her forehead throbbed and her hands were clenched into fists as if she wanted to lash out. ‘How could you do this with my mission? I..’

She didn’t get to finish her sentence because the captain’s voice roared through the room. ‘YOU WHAT?’ His demeanor had gone from friendly to terrifying in the blink of an eye. Voss now understood why the captain had such a feared reputation. ‘YOU PETULANT BRAT! I should have you dishonorably discharged for your insolence.’

Voss dared not look either the captain or the lieutenant in the eyes, nor did he dare to avert his gaze. He ended up keeping eyes focused on the captain’s neck as an uncomfortable compromise. He’d rather be anywhere else than here right now. Even mining asteroid fields didn’t sound that bad right now.

Meanwhile, the lieutenant had never felt so small before. Tears welled up in her eyes and her lip began to shiver uncontrollably. It took her every ounce of strength to not break down completely. The captain had well earned his reputation, and she had just ruined hers. She had overstepped the captain’s boundaries and she was going to pay dearly for it.

The captain meanwhile, changed his demeanor back to calm again with the ease of a trained swordsman sheeting back his sword after a well executed combination of deadly flurries.

‘A mission it is that you two want? Well I’ve got one for you alright. One that’s most dangerous and will thoroughly test the both of you.’ The captain spoke his words with an ominous glee. ‘This mission will be your last chance before I personally kick you out of the Fifth, lieutenant. Vanmire or no Vanmire, you’ve got to earn your place here just like everyone else. Is that understood?

‘Yes, captain.’ The lieutenant said with a weak and frail voice, her lip still quivering. Internally she was swinging back and forth between hope and despair. An agonizing, powerless feeling that she had never felt before.

The captain smiled knowingly. ‘Good. And you, Voss. For better or for worse, your life and career are now bound to the lieutenant. Thus it’s only fair if we make this a reciprocal relationship. Your grand exam is coming up soon. If you fail it, you and the lieutenant will both get assigned to forty years with the asteroid mining division as laborers. If you succeed, you’ll get briefed on your new mission. Is that understood, recruit?’

‘Yes, captain.’

‘Good. Now as a final thing before I send you off; I sentence you to five lashes.’

Voss couldn’t believe his ears. Was the captain really going to punish him with lashes yet again for something that wasn’t his fault?’

The captain must have read his thoughts, because he continued: ‘Don’t see it as punishment, recruit Voss. See it as protection. Now leave us. I have further matters to discuss with the lieutenant. My guards will escort you to where you’ll receive your lashes.’

‘Yes, captain.’. Voss saluted and turned around. The captain's words made little sense to him, but he wasn't in a position to question him further. As he walked out of the room with the faceless ones right behind him; He wondered if any man or woman in the Fifth had ever been so eager to head out towards their lashes. Anything was better than sticking around here. He almost felt sorry for the lieutenant for having to stay longer, almost.