The Lost Voice

by V. St. Clair

  “Yes, Ma’am.” The man returned to his seat and began coding something into his communicator as Carl and Hyla walked on.

  “Is this whole building full of my people, or are they spread out all over the place?” he asked as they moved down a hallway with buffed wooden floors that reflected the glare of the overhead lights.

  “Two captains typically share a building, so your people are here, but so are mine.”

  Carl turned to look at her.

  “You’re in this building, too?” That’s lucky. It was nice to know the person nearby was willing to be helpful.

  “It’s part of the reason I volunteered for the first introduction with you. I’d rather see what I’m working with sooner rather than later, and it’s easier to forge alliances before some of my colleagues sink their teeth into you.”

  Carl’s surprise elicited a wry smile from her.

  “Come now, you must have realized we’re up to our neck in political games here.”

  “Yes, but I thought the military was supposed to stay out of politics and be—you know—impartial.”

  Still smiling, Hyla said, “Of course we are, which is why we’re actually the most politically-mired group of all. You’ll want to be careful until you learn the ropes here, since everything you do makes a statement, and you don’t want to alienate or align with certain people without understanding the full implications of your actions.”

  “I don’t suppose you want to give me a crash course in personnel and their various alliances and biases?” he asked sweetly, already knowing the answer.

  “I’m happy to, but I’m just as biased as anyone else, so you’d be an idiot to trust me.”

  It was Carl’s turn to smile now.

  “I wouldn’t, but it would still be good information. Besides, if I ask enough people for their opinions on others, I’ll eventually begin to build a picture of my own and see who else was most similar in their assessments.”

  Hyla gestured to the room they had just entered, which was more like a small auditorium.

  “The large conference room,” she said without preamble. “Often used for planning and strategy meetings, or anything requiring a large number of attendees. There are smaller conference rooms on each floor as well, for less-formal gatherings.”

  Other people began to filter into the room, and Hyla took the opportunity to duck out and obtain a copy of the regulation books she promised Carl, who opened them briefly to look at the type size and page counts.

  They’re tomes.

  He mentally bid farewell to his days off for the foreseeable future, trying to estimate how long it would take him to get through everything.

  When Hyla seemed to think everyone had arrived, she closed the door and made the formal introductions. It seemed Carl had ten sub-captains currently appointed to him, though she had no reservations about informing him that he could select new ones at his discretion, which made a few of them nervous. Her own sub-captains were also in attendance, though four of them were currently unavailable, and Carl’s head was swimming with names and fragments of information by the time they finished the introductions.

  “I look forward to working with each of you and seeing what you can do,” Carl said briefly. He decided against mentioning his lack of military experience or asking them for help, since they would already know about the former and the latter would weaken his authority.

  Two of his sub-captains exchanged a glance and one of them daringly said, “You going to tell us anything about your power?”

  Hyla shot a brief glance at him but said nothing.

  “My Gift, you mean?” he corrected pointedly. “Is it relevant?” Carl asked the sub-captain.

  “It just seems weird that they promoted you with no military experience. We all know Jessamine is on a kick to make peace with you all, but it’s not a great strategy to promote someone with no relevant qualifications.”

  Carl raised an eyebrow and said, “While previous military experience would be a plus, it was not an option the Gifted had until recently.”

  “Did you even have to take the qualifiers?”

  Hyla remained silent and watchful. Apparently she wants to see how I play this.

  “I did. I placed fifteenth overall in the physicals, and was in the top two-percent of the candidates in the written exams.”

  A few of the sub-captains exchanged surprised glances at this, though a few seemed to already know.

  “You would have needed specialized training to pass the written exams,” the sub-captain waved a hand dismissively. “You want us to believe there was no nepotism at play there?”

  “You don’t know much about the Academy, do you?”

  Carl waited for the man to shrug before continuing. “While certain careers were closed to us until recently, we were allowed to pursue an education in most anything we desired, not unlike your own schools. I have a degree in electrical engineering with a sub-specialty in robotics. I’ve taken a number of courses in aeronautics, abstract mathematics, and mechanical design. Presumably, my academic qualifications were part of the appeal in hiring me.”

  Everyone remained silent, though the sub-captain who questioned him still looked surly. Carl allowed the silence to fester for a moment before asking, “How long have you been in your position, sub-captain Greene?”

  The man looked surprised that Carl remembered his name from the introductions, sounding defiant when he said, “Four years.”

  Carl wasn’t sure if this was the typical tenure of sub-captains or not, but planned to ask Hyla discreetly later. He had been mentally assessing every person in the room since the moment they walked in, and thought he had a reasonable measure of who the natural leaders were amongst them.

  Time to take a gamble and see if I’m as good as I think I am.

  “Sub-captain Ferris,” Carl turned to the dark-skinned woman directly across from him.

  “Sir,” she came to attention.

  “Have you identified a pool of potential sub-captain candidates from your troops, in the event a position becomes available?”

  Her surprise was constrained to a blink of her eyes, and then she said, “Yes, sir. There are five candidates in my own squad I have identified as high-potential, and sub-captain Berrington has three in his.”

  Carl nodded.

  “Good. A position appears to be available, so please coordinate with the other sub-captains to identify candidates for the role. I would like you collectively to agree on the top three candidates from across the division within the week, and I will begin the interviewing process early next week.”

  She nodded curtly, though Carl sensed she was pleased with the assignment.

  Predictably, sub-captain Greene said, “You’re demoting me because I questioned your qualifications?”

  Carl was ready for the question.

  “Not at all. I encourage productive discussion and critical thinking skills, and have no problem discussing my time at the Academy. I may be new to the Augenspire, but I know that all officers’ exam results are public record, as well as all Academy records, which means you could have easily discovered the nature of my Gift, my full academic record, and all physical and written exam results for my current position. I can tell by the lack of surprise at my answers to your earlier questions that most of your peers already took the opportunity to research their new captain, yet you chose to assert yourself during introductions; an attempt to embarrass me, I expect.

  “This suggests both a lack of initiative and pettiness, neither of which have a place in leadership.” He stood up. “For the rest of you, I’d like to have a daily staff meeting at nine, effective tomorrow morning. For the remainder of the week I will be working through administrative onboarding tasks, but I intend to spend time shadowing each of you in the upcoming weeks.” He turned to Hyla. “Thank you for facilitating the introductions today, Captain.”

  Captain Hyla had a small smile as she said, “Thank you, sub-captains; you are dismissed.”

&nbs
p; They didn’t really speak again until she was driving Carl back to the Augenspire.

  “Well, that was informative,” she said without taking her eyes off of the road.

  “Did I call it right?” Carl asked with interest. “I pegged Ferris as their unofficial leader, and assumed the personality Greene displayed today was typical and grating to her.”

  “Oh you certainly pegged that one,” Hyla smiled. “Well, some of us may have thought Ground-Leader Skye crazy at first for choosing you for this role, but she always has had an eye for talent.”

  “Thanks. I have no intention of failing in my role here.”

  Hyla smiled and shook his hand before dropping him off. “Then I look forward to working with you.” She waved goodbye, calling out to him before she sped away to start reading his regulatory books.

  Carl collapsed into bed, only too happy to comply.

  14

  Jessamine Elaria

  Jessamine scrunched her nose in displeasure as she stared at herself in the mirror, trying to decide what she didn’t like about the wedding dress. Shellina had followed her instructions—little though the Vicerina liked them—and had found a rich purple silk dress that was backless down to the waist.

  “I knew you wouldn’t like it once you saw it on,” Shellina read her facial expression, sounding smug. The designer shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

  “I do like it,” Jessamine corrected her. “There’s something I want changed, but I can’t quite put my finger on it yet.”

  “If I may, Excellency?” The dressmaker approached slowly, as if timid. She wished the man would stop tiptoeing around her.

  “Please, do.”

  He moved to stand beside her, facing her reflection in the mirror and tilting his head thoughtfully to one side.

  “What if I extend these another inch?” He stepped behind her and pulled the edges on both sides of the dress towards him to cover a little more of her back. “It would still leave the dress mostly backless, but would give it a little more structure in the front and sides and may help you feel more secure about not falling out of it.”

  Jessamine felt much less naked with that extra two inches of fabric behind her.

  “It does seem to help support the front, but does it make me look terribly conservative with the high neckline?”

  “I could drop the neckline and change it to something sweeping and loose. It would still nod to the classic style without replicating it exactly; a modern twist, for a modern ruler.”

  Jessamine nodded definitively.

  “Yes, do that. When can I try it on again to see if I like the changes?”

  “Within the week, Excellency.” He dropped his voice and gaze. “Though booking time with you has been a challenge.”

  “Ah, yes, my apologies.” She turned to Shellina. “Make sure he gets a priority booking when he’s ready. I don’t want to look slapdash at my own wedding.”

  Shellina seemed pleasantly surprised by her attitude and nodded cheerfully in agreement. The designer stepped out of the room and Jessamine changed back into her light armor before passing the dress off to her sister, who eventually joined her in the fitting room.

  “Well, it’s still not the look I would have chosen, but it turned out better than I expected,” she announced, as blind as ever to the way her candor might be received.

  “At least I’ll look nice when I sign my personal freedom away,” Jessamine sighed, ignoring her sister’s continued lack of restraint.

  “I know you’re only marrying Darius for the shipping deal, but he’s not that bad. I mean, sure, he isn’t the most handsome man on Elaria, but he doesn’t look horrid.”

  “His appearance is not my chief concern.”

  “Oh I know, but he’s not really so bad when you think about it. He was a little—well, he didn’t know the way things worked around here when he first arrived, but he’s been learning quickly. He’s eager to help out and jumped at your idea to handle all the guilds—that was inspired, by the way—so he’s not useless. You don’t know him as well as I do because you were never one to go to parties, but he is fairly well-liked by a lot of important people. You’ll see, once things have settled down and you’ve gotten more acquainted with him; it’ll be fine.”

  I’m sure it will. If only ‘fine’ was enough to make me happy.

  She changed the subject.

  “I meant to thank you earlier, but we hardly see each other these days. Your tutors tell me you’ve done excellent work recently, and you’ve really committed to your studies.”

  Shellina looked pleased and embarrassed by the compliment.

  “Oh, well, thank you. I certainly had the motivation to get better after what happened on that horrid night…”

  Great, remind her of her failure on the night our father died and I disappeared.

  “You’ve also done really well with the wedding preparations,” Jessamine added, desperate to bring things back to a happier level. “It’s not even your wedding, but I know how much time and energy you’ve been pouring into it, and I can’t thank you enough for doing something I’m so ill-suited for.”

  Shellina brightened immediately at the compliment, her posture straightening.

  “The big day will be here before you know it,” she breathed in excitement. “I’ll miss all of the planning and organizing once it’s over, actually. I don’t know what I’ll do with all my free time; more lessons, I suppose.”

  Feeling unusually sympathetic towards her sister, Jessamine said, “If you wanted, I could assign you some more official responsibilities. I still have a list as long as my arm of things I can’t possibly do by myself, and some of them are bound to be things you’d enjoy and excel at.”

  Shellina looked stunned by the suggestion.

  “Really? Father always said I was still too young to pick up any more official titles or responsibilities—but you would give me a bigger role in your government?”

  “Our government, Shelly. Times were different when Father was still here; we’ve both had to grow up a lot since he’s been gone. I know he would be proud of all the work you’ve done, and would support you taking a larger role in the management of our government.”

  Her sister beamed at this, keeping pace as Jessamine moved towards the elevators.

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “Well, off the top of my head, I’d like to make you an official ambassador. Darius is handling relations on the business side of things, but I’d like you to represent us on the social end. You’re much more well-known in those circles than I am, and going to party after party to socialize and maintain relationships has always drained the life out of me.”

  “Oh but that sounds perfect for me!” Shellina clapped her hands together excitedly. “I can go to all the important events and network with people so they’ll know we are still representing their interests while you do all of the boring stuff here. But it’s such an important job—are you sure I’m ready?”

  “I’ll have to get you some more tutoring—with Darius, come to think of it. Our father named me as an ambassador when I was sixteen, so this feels right. After all, you are my successor to the Viceroyalty and I want you as trained and prepared as possible, in case the worst should happen.”

  Shellina bit her lip, worried.

  “I don’t like to think about that, but you’re right.” She looked away from Jessamine. “But as your ambassador, my words will have real weight—”

  “You’re a Vicerina. Your words have always had weight,” Jessamine countered. “It’s true that you’ll need to be especially mindful of what you say in an official capacity, but we’re all that’s left of our family and we need to stand strong. Together.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that.” Shellina looked slightly stunned by the realization, touching a hand to her lips.

  “People will lobby you in ways they haven’t before, and you’ll be in an excellent position to hear things people won’t necessarily want me to know
about. I’ll need you to gather information wherever you can about possible threats to us and report to me after events.”

  Shellina looked strangely satisfied by the challenge and said, “It sounds perfect. It’ll give me a chance to improve my skills in an atmosphere I’m already comfortable in. I’ll do my best not to let you down or put my foot in my mouth too badly.”

  Jessamine stopped at the elevator and favored her sister with a genuine smile.

  Including her is the right thing to do. It will take even more of the load off of me, and the more involved she is, the more invested she will be in doing well.

  “Then I’ll announce it tonight. Congratulations, Ambassador Elaria.” She shook hands with Shellina to make it official.

  “Where are you off to?”

  “Oh, I have an appointment with Topher. I’ll see you later tonight.”

  Shellina raised a curious eyebrow, but Jessamine didn’t elaborate, stepping into the elevator and pushing the button for level three-hundred. Alone at last, she pulled out her communicator and sent a message to Topher to meet her in her rooms.

  Days had passed since their last visit to Hera’s house, where Topher had collapsed on the floor and claimed to have seen a vision of some sort. She had intended to meet with him later that night to get the full story of what happened, but he had messaged her not to come. When she asked him about it the following morning he told her he was being watched, and would let her know when he was clear.

  She had no idea who was watching him or what they were looking for, but it was one of the many things she intended to find out tonight, since he had messaged her earlier this morning that he thought it was safe now.

  She waited for him in her private sitting room, pacing listlessly around the open space until she heard the quiet beep of the door lock disengaging. A momentary stab of fear washed over her, as it always did ever since the night Fox snuck into her room to murder her, and she forced herself to remain calm.

  Topher stepped inside and quickly shut the door behind him, his eyes taking in the room at a glance.