Innes in Command
Copyright© 2026 by Lumpy
Chapter 20
Innes had barely gotten situated in ops and was just pulling up all the administrative work he’d left the night before when he received an incoming priority message from Captain Barrett on the Illustrious.
After Aria’s warning, it wasn’t hard to figure out what this message was about, although he thought he had a little more time before things came to a head.
Unlike the administrative work, though, he couldn’t put this off.
“I need to take this, Chief. You have the watch,” he said, getting up from his console and carrying his coffee into the briefing room, where at least he could be yelled at in privacy.
Getting situated, he keyed in his access code and the captain’s stern face came up on the screen. As predicted, she did not look pleased.
“Ensign Kingsford, I have reviewed your reports about the recent incident, and I will get to that in a moment, but first, we have an issue. I have received multiple communications from High Command about you, and I shouldn’t have to tell you how unusual it is for admirals to send even one communication about a newly minted ensign, let alone multiple.”
Had this been a reprimand in person, and this would almost certainly have been a reprimand, Innes might have pointed out that she had already received a communication from High Command about him when she was instructed to put him on this assignment in the first place.
Of course, he probably wouldn’t have. Captains tended not to have a sense of humor about those sorts of things.
“The gist of these communications is that your handling of the situation around the seizure and impounding of the Pioneer Spirit was poorly handled, and they have made it very clear that the situation has generated consequences far beyond this system. Multiple noble houses have filed formal complaints with the Admiralty regarding the treatment of equipment and personnel of House Gervais, citing gross overreach by a junior officer, improper application of prize law, and suggestions that the entire event was politically motivated.”
Of course, it stopped short of an official reprimand. The Admiralty Court had found in his favor and been the one to award the prize and push through charges against the crew. They couldn’t very well turn around and reprimand him for something LegSec had blessed by advancing the case to trial.
“Beyond the issue with the Pioneer Spirit, it seems you have also put the Republic’s foreign relations in jeopardy. A trade representative on the station named Jayden Tan, who I’m assuming you are aware of, has filed a diplomatic protest with the Protector’s office citing multiple instances of discrimination against Meryd-flagged vessels that he says are politically motivated by the son of the First Lord and has accused the Protector of authorizing a campaign of subversion against them. The Meryd Embassy in Haven has submitted a slew of complaints and demands that you personally be brought up on charges and removed from your post. Between this and the complaints from the noble houses, the Protector’s Office has been forced to take action against you specifically, and have requested a report on your activity from me and from Admiral Loudon, who I can tell you is not too happy to be under the watchful eye of the Protectorate and is asking me why I can’t keep control of an ensign under my command.”
Aria had undersold it. Not just the Navy as a whole was coming after him; they were attempting to bring the entire bureaucracy of the Republic against him. The captain was right that it was very unusual for the commander of OuterCom2, the military district that included the Kumo, to have conversations about an ensign.
Also, it was normally a very bad sign.
“All that being said, it has been decided that a formal reprimand will go in your file for inability to maintain command. I want you to understand that you got off very easily. While a formal reprimand should concern you and will follow you the rest of your career, most of the officers who’ve made it to admiral rank have received these at some point in their career. The reason you’ve been given this gift is because complaints are not the only thing High Command is receiving, which brings me to the other thing I wanted to discuss with you. I’ve read over your report on the attack on the Andomaru and, with the exception that you should not have been on that shuttle, the choices you made in that operation were commendable. I understand it must have been hard to make the decision to leave the engineer and her men behind, but it is clear that you saved your people and the other civilians on the ship by doing so. You showed you are capable of making the hard decision under pressure, and for that I commend you. While I am pleased to see you rise to the occasion, that alone would not have been enough to save you from a harsher penalty than a reprimand.”
She paused again, picking up a datapad and swiping up on it.
“High Command received multiple communications from Kumo settlement command, from Administrator Fang and from Commander Jun there on Shiro station, along with individual letters from the families that were on the Andomaru, thanking them for installing an ‘officer of your caliber’ as their new detachment commander. They commended you not only on the actions against the pirates, all making the point that you saved lives and showed the Republic’s commitment to the system, but also about your handling of operations on the station as a whole. You also received an official commendation from Admiral Menard in LegSec for your decisions around the Pioneer Spirit. She seems particularly determined to take up your cause against House Gervais and apparently personally authorized the granting of prize monies for that ship, calling their actions ‘beyond egregious.’”
She set down the datapad and looked into the screen directly.
“Honestly, I’m not sure High Command knows what to do with you, and on that I agree with them. It seems for every enemy you make, you’re also making allies, and you’ve brought to light tensions that have been simmering for quite some time now. Which is why they have kicked the decision on what to do with you down to me. Your decisions on the Pioneer Spirit were technically correct and by what the book says you should do in situations like this. What you need to understand is that what separates a good officer from a great one is understanding what the Navy wants versus what the book says to do, knowing when you should deviate from it or stick to it closely. The Navy likes things to operate smoothly and, above everything else, they don’t want waves. You are making a lot of waves. You need to get it together. It is clear to me that you act on instinct as much as anything else, and I think these instincts have proven sound in a crisis, but you have to learn when to temper those decisions with what is the correct decision politically. I understand that you are not a fan of politics, but being an officer in the Republic, there is no way to avoid it. Everything we do is political. I would have hoped someone in your unique position would have recognized that. I support my people as best I can, but I cannot protect you if you give them the ammunition they need to sink you.”
Innes knew she was right, of course. His time here had proven that, but he still thought he had made the right decisions. Tan was trying to get his shipments through without customs inspections and, considering the reality of relations between their governments, that should concern everyone at High Command. House Gervais had been smuggling mines to pirates, of that he was certain, and again, High Command should not want that to happen. The fact that Admiral Menard had personally taken up his case should show he’d been right on that, too.
When she said they didn’t want anyone making waves, he also knew that they were always looking for someone to pin the blame on. Had he allowed the mines through and something had happened with them, High Command would have scapegoated him for not following procedure and hung him out to dry.
It was a real damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.
“Now, you might have noticed that the ten-day deadline I gave you has come and gone and we have not come back to relieve you. Things on Hokkaido continue to need my attention and my work with the administrator won’t let me leave anytime soon. That, and the fact that Administrator Feng has made it clear that she would prefer for you to stay, have led me to the decision that I am leaving you in command of the detachment until Lieutenant Wexler’s family business has concluded and he can come back and relieve you. I am doing this to show my support for you to High Command, but also because you have managed to make enough friends out there that it’s convenient for me to do so. But, and I need you to hear me on this, you need to get it together. I don’t want any more communications from High Command about you. I will support you as long as I can, but I cannot save you from yourself. I expect you to use your judgment. Barrett out.”
The screen flicked off and Innes sat there for several minutes, thinking. As reprimands go, that was about as confusing as it could possibly be.
He was glad the captain had decided to back him, but she’d also put him in a place where he couldn’t possibly win.
Which was maybe why she didn’t want to put anyone else out here. As an ensign, he was expendable.
Or ... maybe she had faith in him after all.