“What do you get a Commissioner for Christmas, Citizen Admiral?” Shannon asks Admiral Tourville in her politically naive voice, barely remembering the “Citizen Admiral”.

 

 

“Who did you draw?” he prompts her.

 

 

“I drew Commissioner Honeker and Berjouhi. Who’d you draw, Citizen Admiral? If you can tell me, that is.”

 

 

“I drew Admiral Theisman as my first draw and Commissioner Pritchart as my second.”

 

 

“I’m sorry, sir–” his cringe reminds her to correct herself, “I mean, Citizen Admiral,” Shannon continues in that voice that both brought him joy, and made him cringe, “Well, Citizen Admiral, I guess we’ve got the same problem. However, if you submit your order fast enough, I can make sure none of us have to pay for it, you know, so we can stretch that 20 credit limit a lot farther. I’ve extended the same offer to Berjouhi, all she said she’d take me up on it, though she didn’t want me to share who she drew, and I didn’t tell her. She did sound stressed, though.” 

 

 

“Thank you for the offer, Shannon. I don’t regret taking you on, you know. As for Commissioner Honeker, maybe a coffee mug with someone from the Committee’s face on it? And a bunch of coffee? Or how about air fresheners and a plant?”

 

 

“Okay, thank you, s– Citizen Admiral. Have you considered maybe getting her a pin with St-Just’s face on it? Or maybe chocolates with the logo of Twelfth Fleet on them? Most everyone likes chocolates. Or maybe a box of her favorite snacks? I can review the security footage to figure out what she grabs the most often.” Shannon asked cutely.

 

 

“I don’t think you realize how dangerous she is. She’s St-Just’s girl. Allegedly, she’s so ice-cold she’ll grin while shooting naval officers, and forcing their colleagues to watch.”

 

 

Shannon replies like his past statement was mostly ignored, “She got involved in our debrief, Citizen Admiral. She seemed scary, but that’s because I was operating on no sleep, and was trying to help people stick to their cover stories.”

 

 

“It wasn’t your lack of sleep, Shannon, trust me.”

 

 

 

In her darkened quarters, People’s Commissioner Eloise Pritchart tries to figure out what she can get Citizen Admiral Thomas Theisman. After all, her secret partner will be easier, although they’ll still have to be careful. Maybe, whenever they do those “debriefs” in his quarters, another kiss? 

 

 

 

 

Hmm, what does he want to take the pain off his mind? Likely, either Dolist beer, some nice T-Whiskey, or Vodka. The middle one is too expensive, even though as the senior Commissioner, I could just use my override power to up the budget limit for this. He does deserve an apology, and although I can’t give him one verbally, I can at least try to help. Dolist beer would make me look cheap, though, and I have to be the perfect Commissioner. After all, I’d be in as much trouble as the Navy, if they ever found out that I’m not the disillusioned-Aprilist I’ve been pretending to be. But vodka kinda says “you need to get drunk”. And, as I’m supposed to be getting rid of things like bootlegging operations, and black markets, I can’t just go to the resident bootleggers. That’d blow my cover faster than kissing Javier in one of those long, boring staff meetings.

 

 

I guess Dolist beer it is, despite never liking that stuff myself. Or maybe whiskey stones, and a poker hololamp? I can’t just ask one of his staff officers for ideas.

 

 

I guess some Dolist beer and a poker hololamp.

 

 

Now for Javier, one of those Naval Academy hoodies, because I can’t get him a ring? No, I need to stomp on Naval culture and traditions, to maintain my cover as St-Just’s girl. Not a plant, he’ll kill it. A coin holder would make me look too pro-Navy, so there went that idea. 

 

 

Maybe a custom bottle opener, with his name and Twelfth Fleet’s logo on it? And I can also just steal some of those chocolates from the boxes of snacks that appear at all those meetings Admiral Tourville hosts. It’s not like anyone will dare complain.

 

 

So, some chocolates and a custom bottle opener for Javier, and Dolist beer and a poker hololamp for Admiral Theisman.

 

—

 

In a barely more furnished set of quarters, Commissioner Everard Honeker tries to figure out what to get Citizen Commander Shannon Foraker and Commissioner Denis LePic. Shannon’s the hard one, because she messes up so often on those “Citizen Rank” titles. At least LePic won’t mind me just getting him a Committee poster. What would she even like? Why did I sign up for this again? Oh, yes, because at the dinner Tourville had made, I had one too many. And it would be an abuse of power to just try to change the rules for my benefit.

 

She’s into tech, she’s really smart, and she seems to like to sing sometimes. She’s also extremely politically incorrect.

 

 

A password disk? She probably wouldn’t use it, in fear of it being bugged, though she might not have enough paranoia to figure that out. A coffee-proof datapad case? That makes it look like I’m saying she’s clumsy. Some computer books? I don’t know which ones she wants. Didn’t she play some chess? Does she need an automated chess board? She’s more likely to want a gaming mouse. What about a floating wireless speaker? Doesn’t she already have one, that moves out of the way when people get too close? Fancy, connectable gamer jewelry? That has some of the same issues as the password disk, though it might just slip under her paranoia radar. But she’s gotten more paranoid since Ransom got mad at us. I know, what about a guide to being politically correct, so she can behave when my colleagues show up? That might go over poorly, but she does need it. 

 

 

I guess it’ll be that and some various used computer books. I know I’ll probably choose wrong, but it’s not like her friends would be good enough to know and tell me what she really wants in the way of tech books.

 

 

In his flag quarters, Citizen Admiral Javier Giscard tries to pick gifts for Admiral Tourville’s ops officer, and his chief of staff. Shannon’s not that bad, but what does Captain Bogdanovich even like?

 

 

“Citizen Admiral Tourville here, what is it?” Admiral Tourville replies automatically.

 

 

“Les, I have a bit of a problem. What does your chief of staff even like?” his friend from the Havenite Naval Academy asks.

 

 

“Um, he likes… What does he like? Maybe alcohol? I’ve been too busy trying to figure out what to give Commissioner Pritchart. Shannon was unlucky enough to draw one of our political minders as well, though thankfully not Iceheart, so I kinda had to help her, Citizen Admiral.”

 

 

“Speaking of your ops officer, I drew her, as my other draw.”

 

 

“How’s she doing?”

 

 

“She pretends to be fine, but I can tell Silesia and PubIn did a number on her. She’s more paranoid, and drinks more coffee than she did when she started, let alone in the report you sent me. Good luck getting her to admit it, though, especially the former part. I don’t regret asking you for her.”

 

 

“So maybe get her something techy to fiddle with, instead of random tech objects?” he prompts, trying to confirm his ideas.

 

 

Tourville rants to his friend, “She just tried to fix the coffeemaker that I bribed Engineering to sabotage. She fell asleep in the staff break room, and I had to go in there, and turn out the lights, and grab her a pillow and blanket. She then tried to claim she was fine, and then went and posted a message on the chat server about there being a reward for tips on future incidents!” 

 

 

“Sounds like her. Have you tried positive reinforcement, like rewarding her for not being a wreck?” Javier replies nonchalantly.

 

 

Tourville explains, “She’s concerned I’m going to get rid of her, because of her past. Thus, she works harder than the rest of my staff, and doesn’t sleep much, mainly because of her nightmares of Silesia, StateSec and PubIn. She even gives me headaches, with how hard she works.”

 

 

“So you need to teach her self-care, not overworking herself to the point of collapsing, and what else?”

 

 

“That, and that I actually care about her taking care of herself. It’s not the greatest example to the rest of the ops department when she does this.”

 

 

“You may need to try… She sounds like a bit of a wreck, so I figured I’d give her to you. Maybe a public sticker chart will convince her to take care of herself? One sticker for each time she actually sleeps, and when she gets X number of stickers, you get her a treat.”

 

 

“She’s got a lot of potential, but I’d like her to not be on the verge of burnout.” 

 

 

Javier nods.

 

 

“So, some sort of techy project and a techy fidget toy, not some decent broken hardware for parts, chocolate with stimulants and extra coffee?”

 

 

“Absolutely no coffee! She sources a lot of it, somehow cheap to free, if what she’s told me is correct. Is your office clear?”

 

 

He nods, before asking, “And yours?”

 

 

“Good. What I’m going to tell you, could get her killed, at minimum, and the rest of us punished, so be careful, and you never heard this. Do you understand, Citizen Admiral?” Tourville hopes he can trust his friend from the Academy, despite his Commissioner, and that Javier had at first, before the shootings and Commissioners forced on the Navy, liked the Committee’s ideas. He did send me Shannon, though, instead of just shooting them.

 

 

Javier knows how serious his friend must be, and hates that his best friend is that concerned, though understanding that he’d needed to be. After all, while the general idea of the Committee taking power away from the wealthy is good, it’s gotten too extreme. It got too extreme, long ago. It’s not like the Navy liked being forced to carry around political anchors, for the most part, although he doesn’t regret falling in love with Eloise, “I understand.”

 

 

Tourville slowly explains, “It took a lot to get this story out of her, and I didn’t exactly ask her for permission to tell you, but, you know how she’s a stolen officer?”

 

 

“Yes. From Elvana, if I remember?” his friend replies.

 

 

Tourville takes a deep breath, before puffing on his cigar, “She’s not the Dolist she claims to be. Elvana, especially before the Legislaturalists took over, had a Royal Family. Shannon’s related to the Royal Family.”

 

 

“Like how closely related?” Javier prompts, hoping his friend will trust him.

 

 

Tourville puffs on his cigar again, “There’s the Queen, who’s officially not been in charge since the Legislaturalists took over when Shannon was little, there’s Shannon’s mom, as the heir to the throne, then there’s Shannon.”

 

 

“Seriously, Les?”

 

 

“It started when someone was being rude to her in a meeting, and I was like ‘treat Shannon like the princess she is’. That didn’t go over well with Shannon, and she ended up confessing the story in my office. I think I was the first non-Elvanian officer to get let in on this.”

 

 

Javier mutters, “No wonder she took it so poorly. Chaos magnet is right.”

 

 

“So please be careful what you get her, Citizen Admiral. I’m the one who has to convince her to sleep, and keep her alive.”

 

 

“Will do.”

 

 

After the call with his friend ends, Citizen Admiral Giscard tries to process everything, and goes back to gift shopping. He finally picks out a techy fidget cube, and a somehow incredibly cheap kit of a small computer, with a bunch of sensors, that comes with nerdy stickers for Shannon. Hopefully, this won’t be too easy, he thinks. He tries to pray, despite not believing as much as he used to, growing up, that Shannon will finally learn self-care, so she can stay alive. While he may think the Committee's ideas are better than the Legislaturalists, he had never liked the general idea of the Navy carrying around political anchors that could override them, even though he loves Eloise.

 

 

He then orders a bottle of some cheap whiskey for Tourville’s chief of staff, Captain Yuri Bogdanovich, as Tourville wasn’t able to give him any ideas.