The rest of my meeting with Captain Hendricks lasted about fifteen minutes, most of which he spent convincing me to step back from the details. To his credit, the man endured several minutes of my uncertain worrying about how the funeral should go before he took over the arrangements.
It was a relief to let him do so, even if part of me felt like I was letting my fallen soldiers down. I was the one responsible for their deaths, so shouldn’t I be doing as much of the work as possible?
In the end, the captain noticed my hesitation and talked through it with me. The older man was understanding yet firm about what I needed to do. I had too much responsibility to handle everything myself; trying to do so would only lead to poor-quality results.
If I wanted this to be about honoring the dead instead of just about assuaging my guilt, then I needed to let him make the ceremony the best it could be. Which meant stepping back and letting the professionals handle it.
Hendricks had organized dozens of funerals during his time in the military while the mayor and had a wealth of experience with events in general. Between the two of them, they would handle the job faster and better than I ever could.
When he put it like that, I didn’t have a leg to stand on. The man was right, so I put aside my need for control with as much grace as possible.
The meeting wrapped up swiftly after that, and I gave Hendricks my sincere thanks as I turned to leave. Before I could reach the door, the captain called out from behind me.
“Lord Hope, one other thing. I’m organizing therapy appointments for the surviving soldiers, and I would recommend you and Linnea see someone as well. I can provide a list of recommendations if you wish.”
“Right,” I sighed, turning back to face him. That was another thing I should have considered; I’d thought about it for myself and Linnea but not for everyone else involved. Of course, the troops would need help, too.
“Thank you for thinking of it. I fully approve; make sure they get as many appointments as they need. Please send the list; I’ll find the time.”
“Of course, Sir,” Hendricks responded as he tapped the holographic screen in front of him. My watch buzzed in response, indicating a new message. A quick glance confirmed it was a list of names, and I thanked the man a final time before leaving.
Outside the command building, the military camp was buzzing with activity. Fresh recruits trained to my right, while a squad geared up on my left, preparing for patrol. Almost all of which Captain Hendricks had built with only financial assistance on my part.
Much like the mayor had built most of the town, I’d been happy, even deeply relieved, to let them, so why was I so hung up on delegating the smaller tasks?
It was a conundrum that occupied my thoughts as I walked across town toward the frigate.
----------------------------------------
By the time I entered the frigate’s main airlock, I had my answer and it was a humbling one indeed. It wasn’t that I was fine delegating some things and not others; I hadn’t been delegating at all.
What I’d actually done with both the town and the military was to dump any problems that were too overwhelming for me to process on someone else. Real delegation would have required me to provide oversight and support; instead, I ran off and hid in the wilderness with Linnea all winter.
Sure, locating the mine had been important, but it wasn’t something that required my full attention. If I was honest, I hadn’t been required at all. I could have hired any number of explorers to go out and do it, but my excuse of keeping it secret was kind of weak.
The truth was I’d been overwhelmed by the sudden change in my status and unprepared for the new responsibilities that came with it. I’d held it together for a while, then ran away when it all became too much.
Who was I to rule over hundreds of people I now realized were real human beings? People who needed protection, jobs, and amenities? I hadn’t even held a management job in my life, let alone something like this.
If either Captain Hendricks or Mayor Kosfeld had been out to take advantage of me, I would have been in serious trouble. Instead, I’d had incredible luck finding two competent people to handle those jobs for me.
This realization left me with not one but two major areas for improvement. On one side of the spectrum, I was too involved, providing too little support and direction; on the other, I was involved too much.
I’d been slowly improving on the first issue, and I reaffirmed my plan to return to the mayor’s office tomorrow and address all the outstanding issues requiring my attention. I’d also have to find time to do the same with Captain Hendricks before the next expedition.
For the second, today was the first progress I’d made. Between letting Linnea take over hiring mercenaries and Captain Hendricks the funerals, I’d made my first forays into shifting tasks I wasn’t required for off my to-do list.
Which was a very good thing with how large it had grown. Now, it was time to take another step. I’d been planning on sitting down and reviewing all the details of securing the ship with Elana, which was another instance of needing to keep control.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Elana’s technical abilities and design skills were far superior to mine. Insisting on being part of the entire design process would waste my time and hers. Instead, I could use this as another opportunity to practice letting go.
The inside of the ship was quiet, with only Elana, Mira, and a single pilot on duty. With my regular elite squads all injured or on leave, we were keeping the regular guards outside the ship for now. While I trusted all my troops in theory, there was no need to risk one of them trying something inside.
Everyone else with access to the ship was on leave after the battle. I’d tried to send Elana off for a rest as well, but, like her sister, she’d insisted on continuing to work. We might have restored the worst of the damage, but there were still plenty of lingering effects from the Psion’s attack.
It was the first time I’d been on the other end of a Technokinesis attack, and the effects were humbling. It was one thing to know I was breaking all the rules when I used it and another thing to see Elana’s damage reports.
Security programs had been forced into invalid states and were now throwing all sorts of errors. On the physical side, there were fried electric systems, shattered locks, and hydraulic systems forced open without clear physical cause.
I was very glad that particular Psion was dead, but I also couldn’t shake the fear that they weren’t alone. If one had gained access to the ritual chambers without us knowing, then why not more? And even if there were no more Technokinesis users, there were bound to be Psions with other powers.
However, that was a concern for later, so I put it aside as I greeted Mira and moved toward the engineering section.
----------------------------------------
Elana looked up as I entered, A tired smile in place of her usual smirk. The young woman looked exhausted, yet she was nonetheless doggedly working at the main computer terminal.
“Hey, boss,” she sighed, waving a hand. “You didn’t need to come all the way down here. I’d have let you know when everything was sorted.”
A twinge of guilt went through me when I considered that she was once again fixing this entire ship on her own. Sure, she had some drones to help, but she still needed to direct them.
And here I was about to give her more work. I should have hired more engineers ages ago. It was something I’d have to do next time I was in…
I caught myself before I could fall back on my old go-to of handling it all myself. It was a hard habit to break. Just minutes after thinking things through I was already defaulting back to it.
“I actually came down here for something else,” I sighed as I walked over from the door. “Which I now realize is pretty unfair when you’re already overloaded with work.”
Elana shrugged in response. “No worries, I can’t complain when I’m the one who asked for the job.”
“The job you asked for was Chief Engineer,” I continued, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Not sole engineer. That job includes hiring underlings to do the job work. You deserve more help around here.”
“Oh, thanks, Jared,” Elana relaxed as she dropped the formalities, returning to the sister of the woman I was dating. “I’ll do that when I have some time. Anything I need to keep in mind?”
“Just do what you can to vet them first. We don’t want a traitor on the engineering staff. Maybe ask Captain Hendricks to interview anyone you're seriously considering as well. Beyond that, if you could give me a heads up on what their salaries are going to look like, that would be good.”
“Yeah, I can look into what the industry average is around here,” Elana nodded, her face brightening. “I’ve done hiring for Dad’s company before, so I know the basics.”
“Now, I know you didn’t just come down here to offer me extra help,” she continued, her regular smirk returning. “What did you actually want?”
“To give you a budget increase,” I continued with a straight face, forcing myself not to laugh and surprise spreading across her face. “Seriously,” I continued, holding up a hand when it looked like she was going to call me out.
“After that fight aboard the ship, I realized we can’t hold off on installing internal defenses any longer. We need the ship to be secure, even if it’s going to cost a lot.”
“I see,” Elana tilted her head, eyes narrowed. “You know that no amount of technical defenses would have helped against the Psion. Right?”
I shook my head, “that’s not entirely accurate. Everything that man did took energy. That’s why he was able to take out the main engines, force open the doors, and block the coms but couldn’t open the smaller doors.”
“If that happens again, we can’t stop them from hitting any individual system. However, the more security measures we install, the more targets they have to worry about.”
“Ah,” Elana nodded, her face clearing. “So it would be useful even if there's another Psion, and if there isn't, we'll have a massive advantage."
“Exactly, I wouldn’t be nearly as worried about deploying the ship in that case.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Elana laughed. “What kind of budget are we talking about here,” she continued, a gleam in her eye.
I paused, rubbing the back of my head. With how eager I’d been to start taking steps, I hadn’t quite gotten to that part yet. I needed to sell off our huge haul of beast cores to see how much spare cash we had on hand.
Even then I also had to consider the budgets for the town and the military before making any final decisions. Perhaps full-time accountant was another role I needed to consider delegating.
Thankfully, I didn’t need an answer quite yet. “A decent-sized one,” I hedged. “How about you put together a proposal, Chief Engineer? Estimate the cost for a few different security levels so I can figure out what’s worth it.”
“We’re doing proposals now, hey?” Elana raised an eyebrow, “finally getting serious about this, are you? It’s about time, Jared. Sure thing, I’ll get something to you by the end of the week.”
“Thanks,” I blinked, thrown by her swift agreement. Then again, I probably should have expected it. If Elana worked for a design company back on Earth, then this was likely routine for her.
“Last thing then,” I said as a thought struck me. “Captain Hendricks is sending all the soldiers to therapy after everything that happened. The last battle was the worst, but all the work in the tunnels was no joke.”
“I’m going as well, and I’m going to suggest it to Linnea. You were right there with us, so if you need to see anyone, let me know, and I’ll pay out of the budget. Whether it’s about the battle, the tunnels, or…” I paused, unsure how to put it.
“My real body being locked up in a VR pod somewhere as a hostage,” Elana responded, frowning. “You don’t need to sugarcoat it, Jared. It’s not a situation we can do anything about, so I’ve come to terms with it.”
“Linnea made me see someone about it anyway, though I had to couch it as a past event.” Despite her words, there was a hint of sadness about her that Elana was unable to hide. “If you think it’s important, I’ll make another appointment."
I almost told her about a deal with Broker to find a way to locate her body. But, in the end, I held off.
It was far from a certain thing, and I didn’t want to get her hopes up if it fell through. Since Linnea hadn’t said anything either, I figured keeping quiet was the right choice. She knew her sister a lot better than I did, after all.
Instead, I could make it a pleasant surprise if Linnea came through with the mercenaries she’d promised.