October 2, 3062, edge of the periphery...The Clan had been here for over a decade now. Long enough that veterans of the first wave of Operation:Revival were rotating to the PGC covering this part of space as they tested down from the front line warrior formations in favor of younger warriors fresh from their trials of position.
Point Commander Arlene has been assigned here almost since arrival, a garrison specialist brought in under Khan Ulric's orders, she had managed to keep a low profile, and she cared about her duties here, enough to resist the call to follow the Wardens into exile, enough that as political winds shifted, she simply changed flag and uniform as needed.
There is little call for conventional infantry leaders with the best of the Touman, and she had been a PGC soldier practically since barely making it into the Warrior Caste back in 3048. She wasn't trueborn, she was a freebirth, and that gave her a certain...perspective in dealing with occupation duty, and that certain 'feel' for the currents of sentiment among the lower castes meant that she handled things a little differently.
There were fifteen files on her desktop. four were marked 'Deceased', one was listed as lost to the Jade Falcons, but still alive, and that left her with ten warriors and a gut feeling that someone
really wanted those ten warriors dead. that ten,
specifically.
"you turning in tonight, Deputy?" her nickname had become 'Deputy' because of her unorthodox methods of crime control. Instead of rounding up suspects for interrogation in groups, she invested
time and effort into each case, seeking not to find someone to punish for order's sake, but instead, seeking to find the specific guilty party.
Star Captain Robert was new to this garrison...he was also on her list.
"No. Not yet." she answered him, "I still have details to apply to the latest report."
He laughed. "You should get out more, when was the last time you took recreation?"
"I don't." she told him. "I am well past my prime, and getting old. If I am to keep making a difference, I have to maintain proficiency while performing effectively."
"Why? this is a dead-end assignment with no glory."
"An assignment that still must be done." she countered.
"You will accompany me, and the rest of the Headquarter Star, for drinks."
"Is that an order?"
"Aff."
she sighed, and closed out the desktop. "Fine..."
***
"...your attention to duties is laudable, and you have a great deal of experience to pass on."
"I am not prepared to step down yet." she told him as they walked down the mostly-empty streets to the canteen. "Let me get it out of the way-my chances of promotion are nil, I am too old for even a second-line position in most of the Touman..." she watched warily anyway, and a civil worker, a laborer waiting at the transit stop tripped something...an instinct. she slid her walk slightly askew from the normal disciplined subordinate march, moving slightly ahead of her new CO. "...I am unlikely to earn promotion higher than my current rank, but I occupy a position that is undesirable, on a backwater. There is no chance I will ever be included in the breeding programme...so, that is all out of the way."
the worker turned and started toward them.
something is not right.Arlene paused in reciting her defects.
definitely not right."You! Identification!"
The woman stopped, and fumbled for an identicard.
too submissive.She reached out, and took the woman's hand.
it was
ice cold, more like dead meat than living flesh. "This identicard is incorrect." she said, "you will co-"
and then something remarkable happened, and it happened in front of them both.
Arlene was holding nothing, except a slip of duraplast, because the woman was
gone.not running away gone, not slipped the grip and ducked into an alleyway gone.
gone.
just gone.
"And this is why I don't step down."
she glanced at Robert, and his face was as white as the vanished woman's, only it was
fear white.
"Star Captain, I think I need to ask you some questions about a case."