Jasleen Badawi surveyed the large auditorium from the back of the room, leaning against the wall, her arms crossed. Such meetings were inevitable with a leadership change, especially one as abrupt as this one had been. But she would rather have been anywhere else at this moment in time. She watched as the other department heads, a dozen in all, slowly filed in, muttering to each other, myriad conversations taking place at once. A few nodded in her direction as they entered, and she politely nodded back. The auditorium was designed to hold almost two-thirds of the complete complement of Luna 1 personnel, but since many posts couldn’t go unmanned for very long—or un-womaned as her wife liked to say—it seldom held nearly that many. But everyone who was free had turned out for this meeting, if for no other reason than to get a good look at their new commander.

The new chief medical officer entered, glancing around as if she was uncertain she was in the right place. Spotting a couple of people with blue stripes on their tunics, she waved to them and moved down toward the front of the room.

Jasleen considered the doctor. She had read her personnel file along with that of their new commander. She had been a combat medic and had set up hospitals on four continents, but she had never even been to space, let alone the Moon. That could be a problem.

Harrison Teague was another matter. His file was exemplary. Squeaky clean. And he had been to the Moon, even if it had been back before Jasleen was born. But Dr. Cole was his ex-wife. That could potentially be another problem. Either they got along too well, or not at all. Either way, that spelled trouble in Jasleen’s playbook. In a thin nanocarbon bubble surrounded by cold vacuum and ionizing radiation, they were in enough trouble already. Simply existing was difficult enough without adding interpersonal tension, and Jasleen had already broken up three petty squabbles that almost turned into brawls just this morning. The explosion of Donovan's shuttle had soured the base's mood. Even though the man had been all but universally unliked, and Jasleen herself wouldn't go to the trouble of attending the bastard's memorial service, his death had everyone on edge, and she found herself looking over her shoulder even more than usual.

Jasleen took a deep breath and tried to relax. Mara was always complaining that she didn’t trust people enough. Of course, when you were the head of security being untrusting was in the job description. It was her job to look for problems to the point where she saw them everywhere. Even where there were none.

She watched the base personnel as they entered the auditorium, locking onto each face, matching it with personnel records she had reviewed early in her contract, her eidetic memory tying the two together. She remembered them all. Nidhi Sing from Life Sciences, sitting next to Nate Patel from Engineering with whom she shared a casual, on again off again romance. Eric Ramirez from Hydroponics, who worked closely with Mara and was the husband of the pregnant Sylvia Ramirez. A thousand seemingly disparate connections unfolded in her mind, threads connecting everyone on Luna in a complex web of interactions and familial ties. Mental associations that took most people years of close quarters contact to form, but she had established them in less than a month.

Jasleen slumped against the wall as Commander Teague entered from a door near the front of the auditorium. Dr. Leneski, Luna’s chief science officer, shadowing him.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Leneski said, getting right to the point, “There's a new sheriff in town. I’d like to introduce Commander Harrison Teague.”

A few people clapped, which Teague had the good taste to snuff out with a dismissive wave. “Thank you. I know you’re all very busy, so I’ll make this quick.”

Jasleen studied him as he spoke. He was an older man, older than the outgoing commander by several years, but ruggedly handsome if you were into that sort of thing. He still had his hair, as well as a set of glacial blue eyes that must have smitten many a lady, and possibly more than a few men, in his day. He exuded charm and confidence, but there was a naivete there too, probably born of being in a strange new environment with little knowledge of that place’s expectations.

He introduced the new chief medical officer, and the clapping began anew. She shrugged off the perfunctory adoration with a warm smile and said a few words about being available for all of them and having an open door policy so that they could come to her about anything blah blah blah.

Then came the boring part, where the head of each department stood, introduced themselves, and gave a brief rundown of all the goings on in their department. Jasleen knew all these people, knew she could trust them, and she only half listened to their mundane reports. If anything was out of the ordinary, they would have already come to her. If there was anything important enough to come under her purview she would already know about it.

At last, it was her turn to speak, as every head shifted to the back of the auditorium. She uncrossed her arms and stood at attention. “Jasleen Badawi, Chief of Security. I have five people under me. Nothing untoward going on at the moment. Sir. Other than the shuttle explosion, of course.”

That sent a low murmur moving through the room, and Commander Teague held up his right hand. “I’m glad you mentioned that. I do have a brief report on the findings of the recovery team investigating the, uh, incident. Traces of an explosive were found on the site.”

More murmuring, louder this time, more insistent.

“We believe the reactor was breached, causing the explosion. That is all we have right now. We will be coordinating with the appropriate departments as we continue our investigation. In the meantime, if you need anything, my door is always open. Dismissed.”

Jasleen watched as everyone reluctantly began to file out, even Leneski and the good doctor. As the room emptied Teague glanced up at her. “Sergeant Badawi, can I see you in my ready room in five?”

“Yes sir,” she said with a curt nod. At least he got her name right on the first try. That was more than she could say for that prick Donovan. She turned and filed out with the others, heading straight for the command blister and the new commander’s ready room.

* * *

When she arrived the door flicked open. As she stepped inside, Teague was standing behind his desk, his back to her. He was regarding something on the row of built-in shelves that covered the back wall of the ready room.

“You wanted to see me, Commander?”

Teague straightened and turned, allowing Jasleen to see the object of his focus. It was a baseball, yellowed with age and scrawled with autographs. What was it about white men and baseball? She would ask Mara, and the two of them would have a hearty discussion about it tonight over dinner.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Yes, thank you.” He lowered himself into his chair. It made a soft squeak as the hydraulics worked to accommodate him. “I am responsible for three hundred people,” Teague said. “People I’ve never met. People I don’t know. I’m trying to get a sense of this place, get a feel for it. There were some shady things that happened under my predecessor that I need to stop. Not to mention the incident with his shuttle. Do you understand what I’m getting at?”

“You want to know about Donovan,” she said. “Sir.”

“Yes. Among others. I need you to be my eyes and ears. At least until I can meet with every person here.”

“You want me to spy.”

“Not exactly. And I’m not asking you to play teacher’s pet. I’m just—I need to know what I’m dealing with. Who I’m dealing with. I was sent up here for a reason.”

“Donovan was adversarial,” said Jasleen. “No one liked him. I believe that’s what got him sent home.”

Teague nodded, a look of mild disbelief on his face. “Are you sure that’s all?”

Jasleen stared at the baseball behind him on its little clear plastic mount. “I don’t know what to tell you, Commander. There are six people in my department, including myself. Together we are responsible for the safety of over three hundred. We can’t be everywhere all the time. We rely on security cameras and the honor system.”

“I understand that,” said Teague.

“These are good people here. They slip up sometimes. Get drunk. Steal food rations. Break a piece of equipment. Get in a fight. They are punished. We move on. This base needs their participation to continue running.”

“I see,” said Teague, steepling his fingers. “So you don’t think there is anything else going on here that shouldn’t be.”

“Not that I’ve seen, Commander.”

“What about the shuttle?”

Jasleen risked a slight shrug. She had read the initial findings. “Whoever planted the explosives knew what they were doing. They placed the explosives on or near the reactor so that it looked like mechanical error. It could have been planted on Earth, and then set to go off when the shuttle started home with Donovan aboard. Or remote-detonated.”

“You don’t think anyone here could have done it?”

“I don’t know of anyone here with that kind of expertise. We’ve got scientists and engineers, not munitions experts. Not even the guys on my security team could do it, and they're all ex-military like me.”

“Fair enough.” He unlaced his fingers and placed them flat on the desk. “But there is a lot riding on the success of Luna and the work we’re doing up here.”

“I understand that, sir.”

“Good. Because I need someone I can trust.” He started to say something else but stopped. He looked as if he was trying to find the right words.

Sensing where Teague was going she added, “Not even I could do it.”

Teague looked as if he’d been struck, which set Jasleen at ease. She was prepared to be considered a suspect, and knowing that Teague hadn't considered it gave her a sense of relief.

“No, I wasn’t accusing you, or anyone else. But since you brought it up.”

“Donovan and I had a history.”

Teague nodded, looking as if he’d been let off the hook. “Well, yes. I read the incident report you filed. Wanna tell me about it?”

“Everything’s in the report.”

“It says you threatened him?”

“I did. He was harassing my wife, so I threatened to space him if he didn’t leave her alone.”

Teague raised an eyebrow. “Space him?”

“Toss him outside without a suit.”

“And what happened?”

“He never bothered her again. Shortly after that, the investigations into his behavior began, and I guess he was too busy to retaliate.”

“So you didn’t—”

“Blow him up? No sir. If I was going to kill him, I would have spaced his ass when I made the threat.”

Teague nodded slowly. “I see. Well, I’m glad we got that cleared up. Let me be clear, I didn’t suspect you of any wrongdoing, but things must be highly transparent from now on. We’ve got to all be above reproach. There can be no, uh, spacing anyone.” He fixed her with a grin as he said this last.

“I understand sir. And if I hear anything I will let you know immediately. This happened on my watch. That is unacceptable.”

“Good. Let’s work together to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Dismissed.”

Jasleen turned to leave.

“Oh, and you can drop the sir. This isn’t a military installation, even though you served."

“Three tours in the Climate War,” she said, an edge of pride sneaking into her voice. "And you don't have to call me sergeant. Chief is fine."

“Yes, I know,” said Teague. “And thank you.”

* * *

Mara was cooking dinner when Jasleen returned to the quarters they shared. Tandoori chicken with bean curd masala.

“Smells wonderful,” Jasleen said as she came up behind Mira and gave her a little squeeze around the waist.

“It’s almost ready. My shift got called a little early. There’s still a problem with that one nutrient vat. Tech guys are gonna pull an all-nighter to fix it.”

“Let’s hope they actually succeed this time,” said Jasleen.

Mira turned and gave her a playful smile. “So how was the meeting? What’s the new commander like?”

Jasleen shrugged. “He’s nice enough I suppose. He met with me after. In his ready room.”

Mira arched an eyebrow as she scooped chicken into a bowl. “Oh? And how did that go?”

“Other than him almost accusing me of blowing Donovan to bits, not too bad actually.”

“What? Jesus.”

“It’s all right. He just wants to know who he can trust. Can't say I blame him. If I was in his position I'd feel the same way.”

"You are the same way," Mara said with a giggle. Did you tell him what happened?”

“Yeah. But only because he already read the report.”

Mara closed in for a hug. “I just don’t want you to get in trouble, Jazz.”

“I’m not going to get in trouble. Everything’s fine. Unless you burn the chicken again.”

Mara punched her on the arm. “Can you stop being a smartass and set the table?”

Jasleen laid out plastic utensils as she considered everything that had happened since Teague’s arrival. She’d rather focus on the future than the past. Donovan was gone now. He wouldn’t get to answer for his crimes and rot in a prison cell on Earth, but he was gone just the same, and maybe Commander Teague would make everything run more smoothly. As smoothly as anything could run up here on an airless satellite of Earth. Due to a marked lack of volatiles and raw materials, Luna 1 would never be even remotely self-sufficient. But the supply chain problems on Earth had made them resilient. They had learned how to do more with less over the past several months. Still, she wondered if it would be enough.

Mara was a hopeful antidote to Jasleen's jaded cynicism, but she was no dummy. If she said they could live on the Moon indefinitely maybe they could. It was worth a try anyway.

Earth had become dirty and overcrowded, with the major world governments fighting each other over what scraps were left. That was what convinced Jasleen they should come up here.

Jasleen finished setting the table and Mara made the final dinner preparations, scooping rice into a bowl. Jasleen smiled as she watched a few errant grains fall toward the cooktop in slow motion. She thought she would have gotten used to that by now, but she hadn't. She didn’t know what that meant, but it felt like it should mean something.

Jasleen ate in relative silence as Mara recounted the minutiae of her day, pushing her meeting with Teague as far from her mind as she could. She was officially off duty, even though there was no such thing for her, and she tried to leave work at work, as Mara would say, even though that was all either of them had to talk about. They had no friends like they had in SanFran, which had been rebuilt better than new after the Big One ravaged it. They couldn’t do pub crawls, or visit trendy nightclubs. They couldn’t go somewhere different. Wherever they went, they were stuck inside the same gray walls, the same gray, airless landscape outside. She tried to push such thoughts away by focusing on Mara, but it was hard sometimes. She had to remind herself that wherever Mara was, that was home.

When there was finally a lull in the conversation Jasleen said, "So, tell me about baseball."