i command armies

[autokinetic]

Sue graduates from Tactical School a year early, he's barely fifteen. He's toned down the flirting - he treats Aegis completely platonically, in particular - and has cut down on the unhealthy amount of sleeping-with-everything-that-wants. And he's apparently, via his independent study, gotten far enough through the curriculum that they're nudging him along to Command.

They've given Sue a strange old man for a tutor, who appeared in his room and started a physical confrontation, which Sue won; Sue related this story to her with something between amusement and irritation.

And a quicker-than-average flurry of notes has been piling up in the psych data since about that time, according to the timestamps.

Aegis knows before they tell her that they're going to send her to Command early too. She's just barely fifteen herself when she gets another update of the psych files and sees that Sue's had - well, the files aren't terribly clear, some of the communication is happening via in-person conversation and memos that don't get stored in these folders, but Sue's had some kind of breakdown and the only things they can think of to get him out of it, get him back into shape to train and fight, are her friendship and Howlett. They have mixed feelings about both - Howlett's insubordination problem; their bewilderment that Aegis and Sue can be so close when "she's the one person he can't link!" - but they're desperate.

Bird? They don't talk as often over the long distance, just as there was a lull when he went to Tactical ahead of her; their schedules have nothing in common and their contexts less. But he knows her, and he can reach this far if he tries. And she wants to know what's wrong.

Comments

[pythbox]

"The one thing all our psych people seem to agree on," he sighs, "is that this kid can't be handled in standard ways."

[autokinetic]

"So... you want me to handle him in a nonstandard way, sir?" asks Aegis. She starts broadcasting the conversation to Sue.

[pythbox]

"I want you," he says plainly, "to do whatever it takes to get him back on the simulator."

[autokinetic]

"What are my resources for doing that with, sir? So far I haven't even been allowed to see him."

[pythbox]

"You can be moved to his corridor, if you think that'll help," he says. "You can have free access to his room."

[autokinetic]

"...But I don't get the information he wants so I can tell him I know it and it's okay even if he himself can't know it, or whatever files you have on him and this situation, or anything about why it's so important that this particular student plays games instead of getting iced?" Aegis asks.

[pythbox]

"The file we have on him at this point amounts to a dozen bureaucrats yelling at each other," he snorts. "I might release it to you just for the entertainment value."

[autokinetic]

"It's not impossible that it could help, sir."

[pythbox]

"And I don't know what gave you the idea that I'd reward his bad behaviour by giving you whatever he's prying after," he adds.

[autokinetic]

"I didn't particularly expect you to, sir, but it could easily be the quickest way to get him to do what you want," Aegis says. "I don't know what the information is or why he wants it, but it sounds like he's willing to have a power struggle about it, and it won't actually make him any more likely to pull this kind of thing in the future if he wins one. It also won't make him less likely to do it if he loses one."

[pythbox]

Dryly, "Have you been reading his psych files?"

[autokinetic]

"I've been his friend for years, sir. Students don't have access to the psych files."

[pythbox]

"So I've heard," he mutters. "Well, why don't you go ask him what he wants."

[autokinetic]

"All right, sir, where can I find him?"

[pythbox]

He conjures the appropriate directions on his desk and rotates them so she can read them from her side of the table.

[autokinetic]

Aegis reads them. "And - just confirming, sir - at present my only resource for convincing Sue to do anything he doesn't want to do is my charming company and the vague threat that I might be taken away?"

[pythbox]

"You came up with that vague threat," he says, "not me. You can threaten to take yourself away if you think it'll help. I'm done threatening things."

[autokinetic]

"Sir, the threat was issued when I arrived on this station and he wasn't there to meet me. Unless you explicitly tell us that we can see each other whenever we want in perpetuity - and Sue believes you - then the threat stands."

[pythbox]

"I don't see any profit in arguing that point with you," he says. "Go talk to your friend."

[autokinetic]

"Yes, sir."

Aegis gets up and follows the directions.

[pythbox]

All necessary doors open at her touch, including the one to Sue's room.

Sue himself is flopped out on his bunk, not moving much.

[autokinetic]

"Hi, Sue," says Aegis softly.

[pythbox]

He mumbles something unintelligible into his pillow.

[autokinetic]

"I was kinda hoping for a warmer welcome than that," says Aegis, closing the door behind her and swaying.

[pythbox]

He curls up and starts to cry.