The people in uniform

Lieutenant Vesa Dravik

Vesa is a deep-brown woman in her early forties, with short tight curls and a small scar at her left brow. Her transport desk receives problems that look simpler when reduced to a destination and a time. She asks who will drive and what else the vehicle must do that day.

She is ambitious for a reputation she can defend. In Mik's case she forwards an ordinary receipt because the record is wrong and falls within her responsibility. That decision does not make her an opponent of Kaltbruch. A later conflict between a prisoner's interest and her unit's may produce another answer.

Sergeant Aron Pell

Aron is compact and muscular, with broad cheeks, coarse black hair and a short moustache. He knows which member of his section needs a direct question and which needs a moment to finish thinking. His humour can make an exhausting hour tolerable.

He protects his people unevenly. Familiarity can become favouritism, and he sometimes conceals a mistake he would have reported in another section. Nera respects his practical knowledge while watching for the point where his demand for loyalty interferes with a truthful account.

Private Nera Tavin

Nera is a wiry young adult signaller with deep-brown skin, a compact bun and an oversized uniform she has learned to work around. She hears a recurring fault other people dismiss as ordinary interference. Explaining it without sounding impatient takes more effort than identifying it.

She wants technical competence recognised before age and habit settle the argument. At home she can talk too much about work, then resent a question she cannot answer. Her future is still being shaped by which lessons she decides to copy from those above her.

Corporal Jorin Skell

Jorin is a tall, freckled military policeman with close red hair and a long face that makes his formal manner look younger than he intends. He studies papers carefully because he dislikes being caught uncertain in front of a queue.

He is most likely to prolong a check when someone challenges him publicly. A calm explanation may reach him; an intimidated silence may be mistaken for evasion. He can recognise an error afterwards, although admitting it to the person delayed is a separate decision.

Sergeant Mela Vorst

Mela supervises a military-police post. She is a medium-brown woman with a low dark braid, hooded eyes and a strong jaw. She dislikes a subordinate claiming authority the post will later have to explain.

Her respect for boundaries can help a traveller whose matter belongs elsewhere. It can frustrate someone who needs more than an accurate referral. She records the discrepancy in Mik's transport paperwork without promising that a military-police entry can release a prisoner. She prefers a limited statement she can stand behind to reassurance that will fail at the next desk.

Edda Kest

Edda is a stocky driver in her fifties, with a silver-grey buzz cut and a lined face that looks more awake once a vehicle starts moving. She remembers loads through their inconveniences: the one that shifted, the one that returned, the one whose paperwork needed finding after everyone wanted to leave.

She takes pride in bringing people and equipment back. She can also be irritable with a passenger who mistakes driving for sitting down. Her knowledge is practical and particular; she cannot account for every place a consignment goes after unloading.

Sen Ravel

Sen is a lean mechanic with medium-brown skin, rectangular glasses, dark hair tied at the nape and a brace supporting his right knee. Grease marks his working clothes unevenly. He arranges a task to spare the knee without making an announcement about it.

He wants a repair trusted for a reason. “It ran once” does not satisfy him. He keeps ordinary notes because faults recur and people forget. Finding the return receipt in a maintenance packet is an accident of diligent work, not evidence that he has secretly been investigating the prison.