revised scene: Major Shivers thinks about retirement

During the invasion:

== 2064: Goldwater facility, Aristillus, Lunar Nearside

Major Shivers leaned back in the chair and took in the office. The Goldwater CEO had probably sat right here, probably just a day or two ago. He nodded. The guy had decent taste. It was understated, but the desk was nice and big, and to one side there was a bookshelf. A real bookshelf – with old fashioned paper books. It was a bit eccentric to have that many antiques in a working office, but the effect worked.

He let his eyes run over the titles – no military history, but there were lots of books with impressive-sounding titles on their spines: mining, chemistry, archeology. He continued his survey until, two shelves further down, he reached a shelf of libertarian nut-bag stuff. He shook his head. That was exactly the crazy bullshit that had gotten these people into the losing side of a shooting war.

Shivers turned away from the shelf and put his hands flat on the desk, running his palms over the surface. It was nice. One massive slab of thick, dark brown wood. He could enjoy sitting behind a desk like this.

Over the last few weeks a lot of the senior staff had been talking about their positions after the war, and he’d been among them. The suppression of insurgents in Alaska, Texas, Chiapas and Chile was going to go on forever, so there’d always be work in Western Command, but promotion got even more political once you hit O-5. Add to that the fact that colonels and generals didn’t tend to retire so much as keel over, and it made perfect sense to start looking around once one hit Major.

He rubbed the surface of the desk again. Would the Aristillus colony be kept in place after the war? He’d been trying to read the tea leaves. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it would be. – which led him to the interesting question: did he have enough pull to wrangle an appointment to run one of these lunar firms after the war?

He let himself dream about running Goldwater for a moment, then opened his eyes and looked around at the office again. No. Running a firm like THIS was too big a plum. There must already be some one or two star with his eyes on Goldwater. Him, though? He was just a major – and he didn’t have enough pull. He shook his head.

No, even if the colony was kept alive, he’d get one of the smaller firms…at best. He should have spent more time making friends over the past years, like his wife had told him over and over again.

But.

But.

But what if he found the gold? Well, then the situation would be different. He’d be the hero of the hour, and he’d have favors that he could bank and use. If he got some pull inside DoD he’d be smart about it. He wouldn’t use it for himself. No, that was a fool’s strategy. He’d be clever – he’d use those favors to help others. Find some folks who were getting it in the ass from the Bureau of Industrial Planning, maybe. Oh, you need some extra electricity to run a factory and meet quota? Turns out I’ve got some pull on the DoD’s carbon quota. Or maybe – you need military airlift for your NGO immunization program in Chad? I know who to call.

Play it smart…and then get his own back scratched six months later.

Major Shivers looked up from the polished surface of the desk to the empty room and as he did the fantasy crumbled and fell apart. There were no favors. He hadn’t found the gold.

He rubbed the desk one last time and sighed, then took his hands off of it.

There was a knock on the open door. He nodded and an AAS trooper walked in. The low lunar gravity meant that he really didn’t need to use his cane, but he leaned on it obviously anyway. Shivers repressed his reaction. He knew the type – practically no one ever lost an AAS rating once they got it, but the idea of losing the extra pay and reduced duty meant that folks were extra careful to never seem regularly abled. “Report.”

“Captain has found a prisoner. She’s outside.”

Major Shivers tilted his head. “Found? You mean captured?”

“No sir. The captain says you really want to see her. She’s outside.”

Major Shivers nodded. The AAS turned and yelled “bring her in!”.

Two troops escorted Louisa into the room.