Ship’s Notes: The Guardsman

His name is Alexander Grestler.  Allegedly, he is a pure-blood soldier, the second son of the Whitevale’s Captain of Guards.  To Lord Whitevale, this means that he should be 100% loyal, entirely tenacious, and unceasingly vigilant.  The histories from New Montreal collaborate his story, full of the soldier-caste remaining loyal to their masters, even has the whole world rose up against them.  Stories of them winning against impossible odds, even.  The historians agree that if there had been more of the soldiers-caste, the revolution would have never succeeded.  Of course, most of the soldier-caste died in the wars between the nobles that preceded the revolution, a circumstance I now understand from a much closer perspective.

I am ready to believe that Mr. Grestler is 100% loyal, but 100% loyal to who?  There was an elaborate ceremony where Lord Whitevale commanded him to swear himself into my service, and then released him from the binding oaths he had taken to the Whitevale family.  This is all good and fine, but how do I know whether the ceremony and the change of allegiance were genuine?

Lord Whitevale seems to be a good and honest person, but it is not impossible to keep a façade of that level.  Lord Whitevale says he cares about the small-folk, and that he would not use me to burn cities.  Lord Whitevale says he would like to keep outside travelers from being caught up in his war.  Lord Whitevale says Mr. Grestler is loyal to me and me alone.  But I only have Lord Whitevale’s words to go by.  Given what I did to the Harry Whitevale and his men, Lord Whitevale knows that a frontal assault will probably just result in suffocation and disaster.  Does that mean that the logical course of action is to plant an infiltrator?

For Mr. Grestler to be useful to me as my new Chief of Security, I need to teach him much and more about technology, about how I work, about the crew, and about the galaxy at large.  Harry Whitevale died because he did not know enough when he attacked me.  Mr. Grestler will know enough, or he will not be useful.

To this end, I have instructed Mr. Grestler to remain in his quarters and study language for now.  He is, in fact, locked within his room, but has, so far, not so much as tried the door.  He is studying language assiduously, only stopping to eat and drink from the supplies I had him bring in.  Once I have time to review the histories further, and get a better sense of how the soldier caste can have their loyalties be transferred, I will be able to understand further.

However, there are other issues demanding my attention.  Ms. Santiago appears to blame herself for Ms. Reiviki’s current situation, and I would very much like her to fix me up before we return to space, rather than sinking into depression in her room.  The captain and the pilot are mostly confined to their rooms, turning inwards from the stress of recent events.  The doctor seems well-adjusted, in an awful sort of way, but Clark paid the cost for that.  I almost feels sorry for the man.

I suppose my next hire should be a psychotherapist.

Until I find myself on a planet with psychotherapists interested in star travel, I suppose I will have to take matters into my own hands.  I’d like to use the captain for this, but first I’d have to repair relations with him.  The doctor has re-attached his finger, at least.  Besides, if Maria Santiago is to be my engineer, I’d rather be on good terms with her directly, rather than operating through intermediaries.

Maria first, then the captain, then the captain can deal with things while I figure out what to do with Mr. Grestler.