We Shadows

Chapter 25: a new lieutenant

Lully hopped off the hover and helped Joan unload materials and gear into the print bay. There were already bins marked to take out to the site and these they loaded quickly. Joan saluted him before getting back on the hover.

"So soon?" he inquired.

"I'll be back this evening," she promised. "But I can't leave all those people outside without tents or gear. That would be an uncomfortable night."

"See you soon," Lully told her.

He waved to Vertov who beckoned him to his office as Joan pulled the hover around and headed back out into the bright sunshine.

"First off, I'm sorry about how abruptly I wanted you to come in," Vertov told him. "I realize now how alarming that must have seemed. Sit, sit. You're not in trouble; I just need some information and I didn't want to message you incessantly."

Lully sat, though still felt like he was in a little bit of trouble.

"Dylan has brought up the need for a lieutenant," Vertov said. "Someone to oversee the projects and be apprised on base priorities as well as be the captain's second in command, and so second in command of the base. And I realized, you do that already. You know every department's budget, everyone's projects, anything pertinent to the future shape of the base."

"I don't want to be lieutenant," Lully cut in quickly.

"But Lully, that's what I'm saying. You are lieutenant of this base right now."

Lully's mouth gaped open. He understood what Vertov was saying, but since he had come into the conversation hoping to get out of being in printing altogether, he was not prepared to already be told he had another job. Was this how Levi had felt? Poor man.

"I want to take your position out of printing and make it the official lieutenant role of the base. And I'd like you to still fill that role. You do a good job, Lully. You were on top of the issue when there were extra guns on the base and you have kept the projects printing even when we were running out of materials. You're good at this."

Lully let out a nervous laugh and sat back in his chair. Vertov seemed so earnest, so passionate that if Lully didn't say his peace now, he would never get to. He didn't want to be lieutenant.

"I was going to ask to leave the printing after this meeting," Lully told his boss. "Joan and Curie asked Esperanza and I if we were interested, and after being out there, I do want to join exploration. They need a printer when they're too far from home to get the parts they need."

"Oh."

Vertov didn't elaborate, leaving Lully to ramble on.

"Being lieutenant would mean that I would have to stay here, wouldn't it? I don't want that."

"Why the sudden change?" Vertov asked. "Is it credits? The hours? Is there anything I could offer to make you stay?"

Lully rolled one shoulder. "Sir, yesterday I came to the same conclusion you did; I have too much power to influence the base. Dylan is my friend and she usually gets priority over other projects just as valuable. I'm not unbiased."

"Is that why you changed the queue last night?" Vertov cut in.

"I did. I realized that I wasn't being fair, and that Dylan specifically has no one to keep her from pushing her requests through. I don't want to be the stopgap; that's too much responsibility."

"Perhaps, but who would do it?" Vertov asked. "We're going to have an election in a week, and I know that Dashiell will most likely return to being captain. We need someone who can oversee our future alongside the captain, someone that all sides respect and trust. If not you, then who?"