A new duty commissar came on duty to a line outside the office. Emil Andreyev sat behind the plain, old-styled desk in his office and rubbed his eyes. How did they ever talk me into this duty? he thought as he eyed the stack of applications already on his desk.
Emil keyed the intercom on his desk. "Alright, send the first one in."
As he listened to Vladimir Stukov's impassioned speech, Emil felt a little for the guy. He wasn't the jaded shell that some other commissar officers were. Stukov finished his story, and handed Emil the picture.
Emil looked for a while at the picture, nodding his head. Then, he casually flipped the holograph back to Vladimir as he leaned forward.
"Tell me this Comrade. You've apparently spent some time in the spies of the Coalition, though my records indicate nothing of the sort." Emil looked directly at Stukov without a hint of emotion for several seconds. Waving his hand in the air he said "Never mind that for the moment. The Coalition is very good at rooting out spies who think themselves clever enough to infiltrate us."
"But I'd like you to answer me one question. Whom do you believe is better, the Queen of Bretonia or the President of Liberty? And 'neither' is not an answer I will accept. Go outside and contemplate your answer before I will hear it. Dismissed."
Emil watched Stukov leave, and leaned over to key the intercom, when a disheveled man barged into the office. Quicker than expected, Andreyev had a pistol out and pointed dead at the man's chest. The man introduced himself as Vyacheslav Nikitin and rambled something about sleeper ships. Emil never really believed recruits talking about sleeper ships that were not from Coalition space. He pulled the hammer back.
Watching the brash young man waiting for an answer, Emil watched as a clerk handed him a piece of paper. Still training the gun on Stukov, he glanced at the paper, saw the name 'Gohel', and tossed the paper into the trash Why can't these people follow directions? We don't take idiots on the SCRA. But as for this guy
"Give me one reason, Mr. Stukov, that I should not kill you where you stand for barging into my office like that?" If it were any other commissar, you'd be falling dead in a pool of your own blood right now."
