The Thief and the Commander : 01
Jan. 3rd, 2001 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
manicdakChapter 01: An Earthian Apart
Ehrenfried Behrendt sat at his desk in the windowless squad room he shared with his class of recruits. As they often did while the boss was away from his office, the rest of his peers were milling around the room gossiping and fooling around rather than concentrating on studying or the stacks of mindless paperwork that were part of their on-the-job training. What they were interested in were the field exercises, the virtual reality training for use of the Time Travel Device, and everything exciting that went along with the job.
That was what Ehren had been looking forward to as well until it had been handed to him on a silver platter, or rather, he had backed his commander into a position that gave him no choice but to drag Ehren along on a real field mission. He tried to remember the first flush of excitement as Commander Grey had reluctantly handed over that velvet box meant for graduation. The Time Travel Device was in Ehren's hands well before he was qualified to use it, and he couldn't believe his luck. His luck had turned sour fast however, when the thief, Feliu Viernes, had pick-pocketed and replaced it with a ring he'd presumably stolen from the diamond sector without Ehren noticing a thing until it was far too late.
Feliu was gone along with his I-GAS issued TTD. There was no denying it had been Ehren's fault, but there he was, back at work, while Robin Grey took the brunt of the blame for it. As if that weren't enough to ruin his entire day, he couldn't forget the three simple words that were scrawled hastily on the note that had been with the ring.
“With Love, Feliu”
They were burned into the back of his brain, confirmation of all the signs he had witnessed and tried to ignore when they had intercepted and apprehended Feliu Viernes.
Commander Grey didn't return for almost two hours, by which time the slackers had organized a virtual tennis tournament in the middle of the room. The holographic display was in full view when Robin stomped into their midst.
"What is the meaning of this?" His voice commanded attention and the recruits in question stared up at him.
Ehren barely looked up from his paperwork. He scribbled notes and tapped at his computer's holographic display diligently ignoring Robin as he stormed around yelling in a frustrated and barely coherent manner at the rest of the squadron. When he had finished, they were left to shuffle out of the room for their assigned punishment: toilet cleaning and garbage duty.
Ehren tried to shrink in his chair as he could feel Robin's laser like glare boring into him from where he stood in the middle of the room.
"Well?" Robin finally said; his voice dripping with impatience.
Ehren sighed inwardly and geared himself for yet another confrontation with his commander.
"I'm sorry?" He looked up to meet Robin's eyes. "Am I meant to join them, because..." He gestured from his ingoing paperwork box to the outgoing one, which had grown three times as large in the time that Robin had been meeting with the high commander.
Robin's steely glare remained fixed, but Ehren could tell that he had once again managed to push the right button.
Right before his eyes Robin seemed to crumple in defeat. His rigid posture deflated, he sighed loudly, and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair.
"Fine, whatever, Ehren. Do whatever the fuck you want." He waved helplessly in Ehren's direction and turned his back to head towards his office.
"It's Ehrenfried," the recruit said softly. "Or Behrendt."
"Fine." Robin said as he shuffled away.
Ehren bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't say anything. If he kept his mouth shut and pretended like he didn't know intimate bits of Robin Grey's life, then maybe things would go back to normal. He could forget the monumental mistake that was his first real field mission. He could get back on his track and in five years time be granted admission to the Time Academy. If he played his cards right it might be sooner. It seemed, however that he had woken that morning with his sense of self-preservation and tact on holiday.
"Do you love him?" Ehren said just as Robin's hand met the biometric sensor and activated the door to his office.
He stood for a moment with his back still to Ehren.
"Are you kidding me?" Robin finally said. He turned slightly to glare at the recruit out of the corner of his eye.
Ehren remained seated at his desk, wavering between pressing forward or apologizing completely and running away to help the rest of his squad with the toilets.
"What gives you the right..."
"I think I deserve an answer. It's not just your career on the line. You may have taken responsibility for my actions, but he stole my TTD and disappeared to...who knows where with it," Ehren said.
Robin snorted indignant laughter.
"Are you kidding? Nobody's going to blame a stupid fucking recruit that doesn't know what the fuck they're doing for letting someone like Feliu Viernes take advantage of him. 'Sides, there's always going to be room for a pencil pusher like you at I-GAS or the Agency or whatever the fuck. I don't have that luxury. My strikes have been spent. Why the fuck do you think I'm on this stupid fucking planet? Do you think people actually aspire to be a class C commander on the shittiest planet in the known galaxies, training idiot recruits all day long who are more concerned with playing games than doing their jobs?"
"Did you get fired?" Ehren asked.
"It's none of your business." Robin stepped forward, intent on escaping to his office, but Ehren still wasn't finished.
"I think it is my business." He stood up from his desk.
"Really? How is that, recruit?" Robin bristled in outrage at Ehren once again standing up to him. It had been unexpected that morning, but it was starting to become the norm; a quite annoying norm that Robin could do without.
"Well." Ehren stepped from behind the desk and out into the open as he spoke. "If you are no longer my commanding officer, then I can tell you to fuck right off. I'm not stupid. I'm not a fucking pencil pusher, and you are an asshole!"
Robin tried valiantly to contain his rage. It was difficult as the recruit stood in the middle of the room with his hands placed on his hips, and his chin jutting out in as challenging a manner as he could manage. Robin really had no idea where the sudden streak of defiance in Ehren had come from. He was the smallest, quietest member of the squad, and he was always getting pushed around on field exercises. As a commander, Robin had never felt at such a loss with a subordinate.
"Just...Just...go to your room!" He finally screamed and pointed the way towards the dormitory.
Ehren stared at him blankly for a moment before doubling over in barefaced laughter.
"Are you laughing at me?" Robin sputtered. He stalked up to the recruit and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him roughly until the laughter subsided.
"Oh, my god. You just told me to go to my room!" Ehren was biting on his lower lip in an attempt to keep from erupting again, but his eyes still glowed with mirth at Robin's expense.
"That's it!" Robin muttered. He released Ehren and shoved him towards the exit. "You are confined to quarters until I send for you."
"But...I..."
"Shut-up, recruit! March! Now!"
Ehren snapped his mouth shut as instructed, saluted, and scuttled away from his commander as fast as his legs could carry him. He had finally gone too far, and he knew it. His career in temporal law enforcement was over before it had begun.
***
Axel bounded into the room he shared with Ehren later that night only to find his roommate tossing his belongings into a suitcase on his bed.
"What are you doing?" Axel asked; his booming Pexian voice echoed off the walls of the small space.
"Packing," Ehren muttered. "I don't think I'm going to be around much longer."
"Because that thief escaped? Really?" Axel sat upon his own bed and tapped his pointed chin ponderously.
"No," Ehren replied. He didn't turn around to look at Axel. He concentrated on the task at hand. "I think...I mean I know...I kind of told Commander Grey to fuck off."
"Oh, my!" Axel said. "Why would you do that?"
"He's an asshole," Ehren said. "He called me a pencil pusher. You know I am just as good in the field as any of you!"
Axel eyed him dubiously then shrugged. He didn't want to point out to Ehren that he was physically outmatched by every other recruit. If his roommate was anything, it was determined to prove himself. That morning's foul up would most certainly have come as a terrible blow to his self-esteem.
"So, he is sending you home?" Axel asked. "We have not been here for that long, but I did not think the commander would do such a thing. He has spoken on your behalf. Has he not?"
"No, I just..." Ehren scowled at the wall. He slammed the suitcase shut, whirled around, and flopped down on his bed with both arms flung over his face.
"God, Axel. My mom always told me I was too dramatic. That's why she worries about me. He didn't sack me. Not at all."
He propped himself up on his elbows and gave Axel a sheepish grin.
"He sent me to my room."
Axel's laugh was booming as it always was when something tickled his funny bone. The Pexians were a loud and boisterous race; always the life of the party and always engaging. The fact was that Axel was the only person who would talk to Ehren. The squadron was as happy to ignore him as he was to immerse himself in his paperwork and studies. It made for a lonely existence on that cold planet, but having Axel as a friend made it bearable.
"So," Axel said when his warm laughter had subsided. "We have to clean toilets with very small brushes because we played tennis, yet you have told the commander to 'fuck off' and your punishment is to sit in your room?"
"Yeah," Ehren said. "It could get worse though. I think he just didn't know what to do with me and my big stupid mouth. I'm confined to quarters until he decides otherwise. He's probably thinking of something really terrible. Worse than toilets."
They both grew quiet at the reality of impending punishment. Insubordination was a serious offense in I-GAS.
"I guess there's nothing to do, but to wait," Ehren said. "There's worse things than being sent back to Earth. At least our star is close enough for, y'know...light and heat. The commander was right. This is the shittiest planet I've ever heard of. I wouldn't want to be here if I was him either."
"Yeah." Axel huffed indignantly. "Well, he should have thought about that before he became a traitor!"
"Wait...what?" Ehren shot up from his reclining position and perched on the edge of the bed.
"Have you not heard?" Axel eyed him curiously. "Of course you have not."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ehren frowned.
"You are not exactly the most social here at HQ. When do you ever even talk to anybody besides me?"
"How is that my fault?" Ehren grumbled. "Nobody talks to me! They make fun of me, and my Earthiness. I can't help it. Fuck them."
"Ehrenfried..."
"They do," Ehren said. "Don't make excuses for them. You know it can wear a person down to constantly be called stupid by a bunch of people with the IQs of sandworms, and they get high marks on their field exams because they can scale a wall in two seconds. What good is that going to do if you don't disable the laser defense system first, huh? But no...nobody will listen to an Earthian..."
"Are you still angry about that?" Axel said. "Seth...well Seth is awful, but..."
"Yeah, of course I'm angry. I finally thought I was going to get some respect after I got to go on a real field mission with Commander Grey, but... Now everybody knows I'm a giant screw up, and the Commander is a traitor? How is that? Viernes is a thief and it was my fault anyway."
Axel moved from his bed and flopped down beside Ehren.
"Did you know," he said, "that Grey used to be a Class B field commander?"
"Really?" Ehren said. "So he's gone backwards? How is that even possible?"
"From what I hear told, he has captured this Feliu Viernes many times before. Somehow, he always escapes. Mysterious, no?"
"No." Ehren rolled his eyes, and the subsequent phrase rolled out of his mouth before he could process the implications of it. "They're lovers."
Axel blinked at him and was quiet for a moment as Ehren cringed.
"I mean..."
"I thought you did not trade in gossip?" Axel interrupted him before he could snatch the words back.
"Wait. You know?"
"Of course." Axel shrugged. "Everybody knows, or at least they suspect. That is why the commander lost rank and was assigned to training. It is on public record if you care to search for it. This was a highly illegal relationship. Viernes is a wanted man, and Grey was helping him to escape. He was disgraced and demoted, but the high commander granted leniency. He was allowed to stay in I-GAS if he cut all ties with Viernes. We see that is not the case now. Who knows what will happen. I would not be surprised if we have a new commanding officer in the morning."
Ehren frowned.
"Shit," he said. "Shit. Shit. Shit."
"What?" Axel eyed him. "It is not your fault."
"Except it is," Ehren replied. "I can't be responsible for him getting discharged! He was so angry at that guy. I mean, maybe it's just because I was with him, but I am absolutely certain he was going to turn this Viernes character in this time. He wasn't happy about it all around, but he was gonna do it, and I... It's my fault."
"Perhaps he set you up?" Axel offered. "I would not be surprised."
Ehren scowled at him.
"Is that somehow supposed to make me feel better? I don't see why he would shoulder the responsibility if he was trying to set me up. He didn't want this to happen, and I shouldn't have even been there!" Ehren said.
Axel tried his best to cheer Ehren up but he was inconsolable. The amount of trouble he had amassed from overhearing one ICD communication was depressing. Despite his rationalizations, once Axel had planted the seed, he couldn't quite get it out of his head that maybe, just maybe, he had been set up after all.
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Ehrenfried Behrendt sat at his desk in the windowless squad room he shared with his class of recruits. As they often did while the boss was away from his office, the rest of his peers were milling around the room gossiping and fooling around rather than concentrating on studying or the stacks of mindless paperwork that were part of their on-the-job training. What they were interested in were the field exercises, the virtual reality training for use of the Time Travel Device, and everything exciting that went along with the job.
That was what Ehren had been looking forward to as well until it had been handed to him on a silver platter, or rather, he had backed his commander into a position that gave him no choice but to drag Ehren along on a real field mission. He tried to remember the first flush of excitement as Commander Grey had reluctantly handed over that velvet box meant for graduation. The Time Travel Device was in Ehren's hands well before he was qualified to use it, and he couldn't believe his luck. His luck had turned sour fast however, when the thief, Feliu Viernes, had pick-pocketed and replaced it with a ring he'd presumably stolen from the diamond sector without Ehren noticing a thing until it was far too late.
Feliu was gone along with his I-GAS issued TTD. There was no denying it had been Ehren's fault, but there he was, back at work, while Robin Grey took the brunt of the blame for it. As if that weren't enough to ruin his entire day, he couldn't forget the three simple words that were scrawled hastily on the note that had been with the ring.
“With Love, Feliu”
They were burned into the back of his brain, confirmation of all the signs he had witnessed and tried to ignore when they had intercepted and apprehended Feliu Viernes.
Commander Grey didn't return for almost two hours, by which time the slackers had organized a virtual tennis tournament in the middle of the room. The holographic display was in full view when Robin stomped into their midst.
"What is the meaning of this?" His voice commanded attention and the recruits in question stared up at him.
Ehren barely looked up from his paperwork. He scribbled notes and tapped at his computer's holographic display diligently ignoring Robin as he stormed around yelling in a frustrated and barely coherent manner at the rest of the squadron. When he had finished, they were left to shuffle out of the room for their assigned punishment: toilet cleaning and garbage duty.
Ehren tried to shrink in his chair as he could feel Robin's laser like glare boring into him from where he stood in the middle of the room.
"Well?" Robin finally said; his voice dripping with impatience.
Ehren sighed inwardly and geared himself for yet another confrontation with his commander.
"I'm sorry?" He looked up to meet Robin's eyes. "Am I meant to join them, because..." He gestured from his ingoing paperwork box to the outgoing one, which had grown three times as large in the time that Robin had been meeting with the high commander.
Robin's steely glare remained fixed, but Ehren could tell that he had once again managed to push the right button.
Right before his eyes Robin seemed to crumple in defeat. His rigid posture deflated, he sighed loudly, and ran a hand through his sandy blond hair.
"Fine, whatever, Ehren. Do whatever the fuck you want." He waved helplessly in Ehren's direction and turned his back to head towards his office.
"It's Ehrenfried," the recruit said softly. "Or Behrendt."
"Fine." Robin said as he shuffled away.
Ehren bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't say anything. If he kept his mouth shut and pretended like he didn't know intimate bits of Robin Grey's life, then maybe things would go back to normal. He could forget the monumental mistake that was his first real field mission. He could get back on his track and in five years time be granted admission to the Time Academy. If he played his cards right it might be sooner. It seemed, however that he had woken that morning with his sense of self-preservation and tact on holiday.
"Do you love him?" Ehren said just as Robin's hand met the biometric sensor and activated the door to his office.
He stood for a moment with his back still to Ehren.
"Are you kidding me?" Robin finally said. He turned slightly to glare at the recruit out of the corner of his eye.
Ehren remained seated at his desk, wavering between pressing forward or apologizing completely and running away to help the rest of his squad with the toilets.
"What gives you the right..."
"I think I deserve an answer. It's not just your career on the line. You may have taken responsibility for my actions, but he stole my TTD and disappeared to...who knows where with it," Ehren said.
Robin snorted indignant laughter.
"Are you kidding? Nobody's going to blame a stupid fucking recruit that doesn't know what the fuck they're doing for letting someone like Feliu Viernes take advantage of him. 'Sides, there's always going to be room for a pencil pusher like you at I-GAS or the Agency or whatever the fuck. I don't have that luxury. My strikes have been spent. Why the fuck do you think I'm on this stupid fucking planet? Do you think people actually aspire to be a class C commander on the shittiest planet in the known galaxies, training idiot recruits all day long who are more concerned with playing games than doing their jobs?"
"Did you get fired?" Ehren asked.
"It's none of your business." Robin stepped forward, intent on escaping to his office, but Ehren still wasn't finished.
"I think it is my business." He stood up from his desk.
"Really? How is that, recruit?" Robin bristled in outrage at Ehren once again standing up to him. It had been unexpected that morning, but it was starting to become the norm; a quite annoying norm that Robin could do without.
"Well." Ehren stepped from behind the desk and out into the open as he spoke. "If you are no longer my commanding officer, then I can tell you to fuck right off. I'm not stupid. I'm not a fucking pencil pusher, and you are an asshole!"
Robin tried valiantly to contain his rage. It was difficult as the recruit stood in the middle of the room with his hands placed on his hips, and his chin jutting out in as challenging a manner as he could manage. Robin really had no idea where the sudden streak of defiance in Ehren had come from. He was the smallest, quietest member of the squad, and he was always getting pushed around on field exercises. As a commander, Robin had never felt at such a loss with a subordinate.
"Just...Just...go to your room!" He finally screamed and pointed the way towards the dormitory.
Ehren stared at him blankly for a moment before doubling over in barefaced laughter.
"Are you laughing at me?" Robin sputtered. He stalked up to the recruit and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him roughly until the laughter subsided.
"Oh, my god. You just told me to go to my room!" Ehren was biting on his lower lip in an attempt to keep from erupting again, but his eyes still glowed with mirth at Robin's expense.
"That's it!" Robin muttered. He released Ehren and shoved him towards the exit. "You are confined to quarters until I send for you."
"But...I..."
"Shut-up, recruit! March! Now!"
Ehren snapped his mouth shut as instructed, saluted, and scuttled away from his commander as fast as his legs could carry him. He had finally gone too far, and he knew it. His career in temporal law enforcement was over before it had begun.
***
Axel bounded into the room he shared with Ehren later that night only to find his roommate tossing his belongings into a suitcase on his bed.
"What are you doing?" Axel asked; his booming Pexian voice echoed off the walls of the small space.
"Packing," Ehren muttered. "I don't think I'm going to be around much longer."
"Because that thief escaped? Really?" Axel sat upon his own bed and tapped his pointed chin ponderously.
"No," Ehren replied. He didn't turn around to look at Axel. He concentrated on the task at hand. "I think...I mean I know...I kind of told Commander Grey to fuck off."
"Oh, my!" Axel said. "Why would you do that?"
"He's an asshole," Ehren said. "He called me a pencil pusher. You know I am just as good in the field as any of you!"
Axel eyed him dubiously then shrugged. He didn't want to point out to Ehren that he was physically outmatched by every other recruit. If his roommate was anything, it was determined to prove himself. That morning's foul up would most certainly have come as a terrible blow to his self-esteem.
"So, he is sending you home?" Axel asked. "We have not been here for that long, but I did not think the commander would do such a thing. He has spoken on your behalf. Has he not?"
"No, I just..." Ehren scowled at the wall. He slammed the suitcase shut, whirled around, and flopped down on his bed with both arms flung over his face.
"God, Axel. My mom always told me I was too dramatic. That's why she worries about me. He didn't sack me. Not at all."
He propped himself up on his elbows and gave Axel a sheepish grin.
"He sent me to my room."
Axel's laugh was booming as it always was when something tickled his funny bone. The Pexians were a loud and boisterous race; always the life of the party and always engaging. The fact was that Axel was the only person who would talk to Ehren. The squadron was as happy to ignore him as he was to immerse himself in his paperwork and studies. It made for a lonely existence on that cold planet, but having Axel as a friend made it bearable.
"So," Axel said when his warm laughter had subsided. "We have to clean toilets with very small brushes because we played tennis, yet you have told the commander to 'fuck off' and your punishment is to sit in your room?"
"Yeah," Ehren said. "It could get worse though. I think he just didn't know what to do with me and my big stupid mouth. I'm confined to quarters until he decides otherwise. He's probably thinking of something really terrible. Worse than toilets."
They both grew quiet at the reality of impending punishment. Insubordination was a serious offense in I-GAS.
"I guess there's nothing to do, but to wait," Ehren said. "There's worse things than being sent back to Earth. At least our star is close enough for, y'know...light and heat. The commander was right. This is the shittiest planet I've ever heard of. I wouldn't want to be here if I was him either."
"Yeah." Axel huffed indignantly. "Well, he should have thought about that before he became a traitor!"
"Wait...what?" Ehren shot up from his reclining position and perched on the edge of the bed.
"Have you not heard?" Axel eyed him curiously. "Of course you have not."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ehren frowned.
"You are not exactly the most social here at HQ. When do you ever even talk to anybody besides me?"
"How is that my fault?" Ehren grumbled. "Nobody talks to me! They make fun of me, and my Earthiness. I can't help it. Fuck them."
"Ehrenfried..."
"They do," Ehren said. "Don't make excuses for them. You know it can wear a person down to constantly be called stupid by a bunch of people with the IQs of sandworms, and they get high marks on their field exams because they can scale a wall in two seconds. What good is that going to do if you don't disable the laser defense system first, huh? But no...nobody will listen to an Earthian..."
"Are you still angry about that?" Axel said. "Seth...well Seth is awful, but..."
"Yeah, of course I'm angry. I finally thought I was going to get some respect after I got to go on a real field mission with Commander Grey, but... Now everybody knows I'm a giant screw up, and the Commander is a traitor? How is that? Viernes is a thief and it was my fault anyway."
Axel moved from his bed and flopped down beside Ehren.
"Did you know," he said, "that Grey used to be a Class B field commander?"
"Really?" Ehren said. "So he's gone backwards? How is that even possible?"
"From what I hear told, he has captured this Feliu Viernes many times before. Somehow, he always escapes. Mysterious, no?"
"No." Ehren rolled his eyes, and the subsequent phrase rolled out of his mouth before he could process the implications of it. "They're lovers."
Axel blinked at him and was quiet for a moment as Ehren cringed.
"I mean..."
"I thought you did not trade in gossip?" Axel interrupted him before he could snatch the words back.
"Wait. You know?"
"Of course." Axel shrugged. "Everybody knows, or at least they suspect. That is why the commander lost rank and was assigned to training. It is on public record if you care to search for it. This was a highly illegal relationship. Viernes is a wanted man, and Grey was helping him to escape. He was disgraced and demoted, but the high commander granted leniency. He was allowed to stay in I-GAS if he cut all ties with Viernes. We see that is not the case now. Who knows what will happen. I would not be surprised if we have a new commanding officer in the morning."
Ehren frowned.
"Shit," he said. "Shit. Shit. Shit."
"What?" Axel eyed him. "It is not your fault."
"Except it is," Ehren replied. "I can't be responsible for him getting discharged! He was so angry at that guy. I mean, maybe it's just because I was with him, but I am absolutely certain he was going to turn this Viernes character in this time. He wasn't happy about it all around, but he was gonna do it, and I... It's my fault."
"Perhaps he set you up?" Axel offered. "I would not be surprised."
Ehren scowled at him.
"Is that somehow supposed to make me feel better? I don't see why he would shoulder the responsibility if he was trying to set me up. He didn't want this to happen, and I shouldn't have even been there!" Ehren said.
Axel tried his best to cheer Ehren up but he was inconsolable. The amount of trouble he had amassed from overhearing one ICD communication was depressing. Despite his rationalizations, once Axel had planted the seed, he couldn't quite get it out of his head that maybe, just maybe, he had been set up after all.
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