The creaking noise of the wooden door opening made General Shaw look up from the papers spread out on his antique wooden desk. A small child decked out in a blindingly white uniform slipped into the room through the smallest possible gap. She swallowed hard as she found General Shaw watching her. She turned and gently closed the door behind her. The floor manager had been very specific to tell her that this door was very special to the General and should not at any cost be damaged.

General Shaw snorted and rolled his eyes as he watched his young assistant try to close the door as if it were made from delicate Zuashi glass instead of sturdy ancient mahogany. The sun streaming through the side window made the girl glow like a light bulb. Why does the national color of Qui have to be white? Couldn’t the founders have come up with something less abrasive?

“What is it?” General Shaw barked, his eyes watered slightly from the glare, but he forced himself to not look away. He was not that weak.

“U-um, excuse me, sir, um,” the young assistant bobbed a small bow before stepping forward with halting steps. “Um, Gary Hartfield, um, is, um, here to, um, see you, sir.”

“Good.” General Shaw grunted. He pushed a button and a video of a man milling in the lobby appeared on his desk. He watched the man slowly look about the room. The man seemed at ease, strolling from one window to the next as if he were looking at art in a gallery.

The assistant shifted from one foot to another. General Shaw caught the movement and fought the urge to frown. The assistants the Government Sector assigned to him were becoming younger and younger as the years passed. As a result, they lacked patience; they lacked manners; and they always complained. They let just about anyone intern in the Government Sector these days. General Shaw snorted to himself. “Send him in.” General Shaw gave a perfunctory wave of dismissal.

The assistant bobbed another small bow and left hastily. Slowing to carefully open the door just enough to slip out.

A few moments later, a tall, slim man in his mid-40s entered the room with graceful long steps. Small hands closed the door silently behind him.

“Ah, Gary.” General Shaw kept his voice light, as if surprised to see the man. “What do you have for me today?”

Gary bowed slightly, but his piercing blue eyes looked up at General Shaw.

“Very important things, as always.” Gary’s voice was soft, just barely above a whisper. Yet it carried across the room easily.

“I will be the judge of that, as always.” General Shaw said unamused.

“Of course, as always, you will be the judge of what is important.” Gary bowed a little deeper, his suit pulling tight across his back allowing General Shaw to see just how gaunt the man really was under the layers before he straightened and sat across from General Shaw.

General Shaw clenched his jaw as he watched Gary. He did not like fake humbleness. He did not like flattery. In fact, he didn’t like Gary, but the man was useful. And it was far more beneficial to employ Gary than to have him be recruited by either of the other two nations of Qui.

Gary took out his HOL from the inside pocket of his jacket and placed it on the desk. His hand hovered over the small device as he looked around the room. “Could you darken the room please?”

General Shaw didn’t answer, but he pushed a button and the shades began to lower. Once they were all the way down, Gary pushed something on his HOL and six photos were projected across the desk: two girls and four boys.

“Please tell me I get to choose my own assistant this year.” General Shaw said dryly.

Gary gave a quick smile that more resembled a rubber band quickly being stretched than an actual smile. “These are Akademy’s Top Six Younglings this year.” Gary said softly. “They will be starting their Government Sector training within the week. Most of them are from Gavi Quintar this year, and three, perhaps four, could possibly challenge you for General of Gavi Quintar in the future.”

General Shaw narrowed his eyes, his fingers tapping his desk lightly. He did not like competition. “Continue.”

“The first girl on the far right is Hyanna Haron. She is formerly of the Punishment Collar, or PC bracket as it is called these days.”

“How did she get into the Akademy?”

“She was sponsored by President Kushman, who is close friends with her adopted father, Wik Haron.”

“So she is representing Yamara in the Top Six.” General Shaw nodded his head in thought.

“Yes and no.” Gary hesitated.

“What do you mean?”

“Hyanna was born in Gavi Quintar to two PC bracket parents. She grew up in the PC bracket of Gavi Quintar, so her citizenship is technically Gavi Quintar. Since her adoption, her records have temporarily been moved to Yamara. However—”

“However, since she was born in Gavi Quintar, once her Qui Duty is activated and becomes a full Qui citizen, she will belong to Gavi Quintar again. And with Government Sector training, she could potentially be a candidate for General in the future.”

“Exactly.”

A crow. That’s what Gary reminded General Shaw of as he sat there in the chair across the desk. His blue piercing eyes watching intelligently in a cold, detached manner. And they always seemed to capture everything. “What I’m more interested,” General Shaw looked steadily at Gary. “Is how she was adopted by a man from the Elite bracket.”

“It’s not unusual.” Gary shrugged, two thin bones protruding up for just a moment. “Even I have adopted two PC bracket children.”

“As have I,” General Shaw nodded.

Gary’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

General Shaw shrugged. “Found him in a community home just after his release from the Playground Islands. He was a bright kid, but I sent him back after a week though. Not my thing to raise a child.” General Shaw wrinkled his nose in distaste for a moment, but then he leaned forward in dead seriousness. “But you see, I found him in the Playground Islands, but I waited to see if he would survive them before I made the adoption. But I found him. Not some rich man from our Elite Bracket. So how does another PC child get adopted by a wealthy man from Yamara’s Elite Bracket?”

“You are most wise in your evaluation of the situation.” Gary tilted his head in another bow, but his eyes hinted at a hidden amount of glee. “May I?”

General Shaw sat back in his chair and gave a small wave for Gary to continue.

Gary tapped the picture of the girl, Hyanna. The six photos disappeared, replaced by three documents: an adoption agreement, and two death certificates. “If you look at the dates, the death of her parents and Hyanna’s adoption are only a week apart. As you are aware, I am sure, adoptions are never that fast. Unless…” Gary let the sentence hang in the air. His eyes never leaving General Shaw’s block-like face. The General was a short, stocky man with hair so blond that it almost looked white. Gary cocked his head to one side as General Shaw narrowed his eyes in thought, his fingers drumming a slow beat on his desk.

One…

Two…

The small man never slouched in his chair. He leaned back, yes. But he never slouched. And he stared at Gary second for second as if the General was daring the him to look away first.

One…

Two…

The noise was like that of a slow moving clock. The noise giving away just how disturbed the General was beneath his calm demeanor.

One…

Two…

One.

“Unless…” General Shaw started but trailed off when he saw Gary’s eyebrow twitch. Gary only twitched his eyebrow when something was interesting to him. General Shaw let out a short bull-like snort. “There’s no way. General Kushman wouldn’t be so stupid as to try that.”

“Are you sure?” Gary asked, the bones of his back popping slightly as he elongated his neck to lean forward. “It’s the only logical explanation as to how she went from a PC orphan to the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in all of Qui. And if she is from the Playground, that means—”

“You don’t have to tell me what it means.” General Shaw snapped.

“Of course, of course.” Gary bobbed his head and retreated back into his seat, but his eyes never left the general. They never even blinked.

General Shaw opened his mouth then closed it. Then opened it again. “Get me more information on her. I don’t care what you do to get it.”

Gary smiled a wide, toothy grin. He enjoyed his visits with the General. They were always so satisfying. He pushed a button and the six photos returned.

“Next to Hyanna is the second girl, Tash Mirav. She is from Mara and came to the Akademy on scholarship.”

“Is she a threat?”

Gary hesitated. “Yes and no.”

“Explain.”

“The boy next to Tash is Garett Dovik. He is Tash’s cousin in the Akademy records, but DNA samples have confirmed that they are not actually related.”

General Shaw shrugged. “So one of them was adopted.”

“No. There are no records of Garett’s family, and there are no records of Tash’s family ever adopting.”

General Shaw tapped his finger on his lips again. “How does this affect the girl?”

“Garett never does anything without her.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. Is the girl a threat or not?”

“…No, but she will be a useful leverage point.”

“How so?”

“Tash’s Qui Duty is tied to the Mistress House of Hanra.”

General Shaw’s eyebrows shot up. “The Akademy let in a Mistress-in-training? That is rare.”

Gary nodded. “And if my sources are correct, it was all because of her cousin, Garett.”

“If they are correct? I don’t pay you for—”

“They are correct. Forgive my thoughtless words.”

General Shaw narrowed his eyes.

“And if I may be so bold,” Gary continued. “I think Garett would make a good asset to your leadership.”

General Shaw raised an eyebrow, unamused.

“Garett joined the Akademy four years ago, and within that short time span, he has been able to join all the brackets together under Rena Mabawala.”

“He has a nose for politics.” General Shaw mused. “That makes him a threat, not an asset.”

“Isn’t it better to mold him into something useful rather than remove him? Someone with that sense of people is worth having, don’t you think?”

General Shaw pursed his lips into a thin white line. “I need more information on him than just he is good with people. I want to see his Government Sector Exam scores, I want to know his exact relationship with this Tash, and I want to know if his family will be a problem in the future.”

Gary opened his mouth to answer.

“And don’t give me excuses about how you can’t find his family.” General Shaw cut in before Gary could take a breath. “I pay you for knowledge, not for excuses.”

Gary’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he nodded anyway. “Very good, sir. And if he makes top marks on the Government Sector Exam?”

“If he makes top marks on the GSE and if everything else lines up, then I will consider him. I want to make sure the Government Sector of Gavi Quintar has standards for who becomes its top officials…Standards have been lagging of late.”

“So it seems.” Gary agreed, his eyes pinning General Shaw for a moment. “The next three are Younglings from the other nations.” The six pictures returned with a swift flick of Gary’s finger.

General Shaw shifted in his chair. “Anything about them that is useful?”

“Of course.” Gary’s eyes twinkled. “The boy next to Garett is named Kirosh Trivar. Kirosh is particularly interesting because…” Gary tapped the photo of Kirosh and it expanded to include a second photo. “Of this this boy right here: Nathan Shax.”

“So?”

“Nathan Shax is a Gavi Quintar citizen while Kirosh Trivar is from Zuashi.”

“Lovely.” General Shaw said dryly. “How does this affect me?”

“Over the four years they have been at the Akademy, these two boys have each had seven fingerprint glitches, four failed physical exams, and two malfunctioned bone density growth chart recordings. Usually a Youngling will have one wrong recording in only one area, and even that’s pushing it. But to have the amount of malfunctions they do is not something I would like to ignore. In fact, before they came to the Akademy, the school never had only ever had seven malfunctions, and those dating almost twenty years before these two boys arrived at the school.”

General Shaw cracked his knuckles one by one. “Interesting. Very interesting. I want more information on these two boys as well.”

Gary bobbed his head before continuing. “Next, we have Roshcar Nishk. His mother was a researcher for DiMech Inc. and was one fatalities in the tragic cave-in a few years ago in the Krro Jistен Ice Caves.”

“Was she a Gavi Quintar citizen?” General Shaw asked confused.

“No, but she gained special permission to do research in the Ice Caves.”

“Special permission? That would have had to come through my office.”

Gary’s eyebrow twitched again.

General Shaw pursed his lips. “I’ll look into it. Do you have anything else interesting on the boy?”

Gary leaned forward again with his toothy grin. “He was there when the tragedy happened. One of only two survivors out of a team of fifteen.”

General Shaw let that statement hang in the air for a moment. “…and Where’s the other survivor now?”

Gary hesitated.

“Never mind, I don’t want to know.” General Shaw put up his hand. “I want a full report on the second survivor by the end of today. Assuming you do know where he is.”

“I can have the report within the hour.” Gary slinked back into his chair again and pushed his on the last photo of the Top Six.

“Last but not least is Dryden Ekbur, son of two Middle bracket sanitation officers for Gavi Quintar. This boy is a non-threat. In fact, I am not even sure how he made it into the Top Six, and that makes him interesting. Don’t you think?”

General Shaw snorted. “If he’s a non-threat, then I don’t care what you think. He is of no concern to me.”

“Then, I can have him?”

“Sure.” General Shaw gave a perfunctory wave. “I don’t really care. What I do care about are the things I asked for: more information on Hyanna Haron, Garett Dovik, Kirosh Trivar, Nathan Shax, and the report from the second survivor of the Krro Jistен Ice Cave incident. I want to know if this…Roshcar is it?”

Gary nodded.

“I want to know if he is going to be an issue later on even if he isn’t a citizen of Gavi Quintar.”

“Yes sir.” Gary bobbed his head. “I’ll send my two boys over with the report this afternoon.”

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