Innes in Command
Copyright© 2026 by Lumpy
Chapter 9
Innes had stopped by the lounge twice in the last four days, timing his visits to match when he’d first encountered Sage, but so far his luck hadn’t been great on that front.
Today was another bust, but he did see someone he knew. Well, sort of. Commander Jun was sitting by himself with a tray of mostly untouched food beside him, staring out at Kaiju hanging in the darkness.
As consolation prizes went, this one wasn’t great. Their first meeting had been tense. Jun and Wexler had not gotten off to the best start, and their subsequent interactions had been cordial but careful. The near-collision with the Prosperity Tide hadn’t helped matters either, even if Innes had been in the right.
He was halfway through turning back toward the hatch and heading back to his rack, counting this as another missed attempt, when Jun made eye contact with him and, to Innes’s surprise, gestured at the empty chair across from him, inviting Innes to sit.
He paused for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Part of him didn’t want to go over there, as everything in their interactions so far said it would be awkward and uncomfortable, but it was also important to keep relations at least friendly, and ignoring an invitation like this could easily be taken as an insult.
Innes steeled himself and turned fully toward the commander, making his way to the table by the viewport.
“Commander,” Innes said as he approached, pulling out the offered chair and sitting down.
“Ensign Kingsford.” Jun’s tone was neutral, neither warm nor cold. “I didn’t expect to see you down here. Your lieutenant doesn’t strike me as the type to allow extended breaks during duty shifts.”
“I just came off shift. Sometimes I need a bit of space before going from one small compartment to another.”
Jun’s mouth twitched, not quite a smile, but close. “I get that. I’ve spent most of my life in a habitat and, while I love this station, it can feel closed in. It’s good to see the planet with your own eyes sometimes, instead of getting everything through screens and sensor feeds.”
Innes nodded. Kaiju was beautiful in its own way, the greenish-blue swirls making interesting patterns against the darkness.
“It’s impressive, no doubt.”
“And unique. When my ancestors first arrived, they thought the gravitational readings were in error.” Jun leaned back slightly, his gaze still on the viewport. “A cold Neptunian planet shouldn’t be able to survive this close to the primary as long as this one has, especially with its magnetosphere intact. It’s an astrophysical anomaly.”
“And yet it’s here anyway. I spoke to a researcher here on the station several days ago, and she mentioned something about progressive orbital field decay.”
“You met Doctor Dalton?”
“I didn’t catch her last name, but probably.”
“Well, she’s right, although I’m not sure what she’ll get from her study that my people haven’t already tried to work out. Still, I’m glad people are taking an interest. My grandfather used to say that Kaiju was one of the first lessons our people learned: that the universe is stranger than we expect, and you shouldn’t let your preconceived notions keep you from seeing the world as it is.”
“He sounds like a smart man.”
“He was. He was commander of Shiro for thirty-two years. He saw the completion of the project that added the promenade ring. I was only a boy when it was finished. It was a big day for us. He believed that we should make Shiro a true home, not just a waypoint station. A place where people would want to live and raise their families. Real trees in the parks, public gardens, space for more restaurants and shops than you’d find in most land-based cities. It took almost ninety years to build it all.”
“It shows. I’ve been on several habs in my life, but this one is definitely unique. The promenade was a surprise.”
Jun absently nodded and looked back out at the planet, not responding otherwise. Innes half-wondered if this was some kind of dismissal.
Just before he decided to stand up and leave, Jun said, “You confuse me, Ensign.”
“That seems to be a running theme with people lately. How so this time?”
“When the Lords passed the Defense Realignment Act, we lost an entire task force. Twelve ships, twenty thousand men, and more than a hundred on this station rotating through, and in return were given a single cruiser and a detachment of thirty to handle inspection duties. I guess I thought that if this system was being relegated to an afterthought, I’d be dealing with officers counting down the days until they could transfer somewhere more prestigious or at the least an inconvenience. And while your lieutenant fits that mold, uninterested in the station and wanting no involvement with us, you push for coordination meetings, spend time here, and apparently chat with researchers based on the station. It’s just unexpected.”
“That’s a very low bar I’ve hurdled.”
“True. I spent five years on Haven working in Viscount Feng’s office, learning civil administration. Most of the nobles I met during that time led me to my current expectations. They were perfectly cordial, of course, polite in all the ways that matter for official functions, but there was always a gap. Even the administrator, a lord in his own right, was an outsider. The attitude we faced there was ... bracing, at times.”
That made sense. Most of the old houses, even ones more accepting of the Dongbei, saw the “new” lords as little more than upstart commoners.
“You can say rude. You wouldn’t be wrong.”
Jun actually laughed, a short, surprised sound. “I would never say that officially, but I will say that they reminded me very much of your Lieutenant Wexler. Correct in form, dismissive in substance.”
“That’s a diplomatic way of putting it. It’s how most of us, by which I mean nobles, are raised. We’re taught from an early age that the universe placed us in our position to ‘guide’ those of less fortunate births and that being too familiar with those of ‘lower status’ weakens the nobility and the Republic as a whole. Some people internalize that lesson more thoroughly than others.”
“But not you?”
“I always thought it was backwards. Assuming it is our duty to lead, which is a big assumption all on its own, you don’t lead a horse by putting it in another room. Not that I am calling people horses.”
“No, I understand what you mean. You know, you remind me of Viscount Feng, actually. He always treated his people as people, instead of tools to be used and discarded.”
Jun clearly respected the man.
“I hope I can live up to the comparison. I don’t know him personally, but I know that he has a reputation for competence and fairness. That’s something worth aspiring to, even if the current situation makes it complicated.”
“The current situation. I can’t help but find it interesting that the detachment I have been saddled with is led by sons of two of the most powerful houses in the Republic,” he said, and then waved him off when Innes tried to offer an explanation that made the situation seem less manipulated than it was. “I don’t need to know the politics behind your assignment, and honestly, I don’t want to know. What I need is for the Fleet presence on my station not to cause problems that I’ll have to clean up later. I invited you over to tell you I appreciated the work you’ve done so far, since you’ve been the one preventing problems.”
He didn’t go so far as to say that Lieutenant Wexler was the one creating them, but Innes heard it all the same.
“I’m just trying to do my job.”
“Well, you’re doing it well,” Jun said. “You said you just came off shift, so it must be getting late for you. I should let you get some rest.”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.