The problem with commanding a city disguised as a military base was that eventually people started expecting the commander to actually be everywhere at once.
By ten in the morning, Adrian had already attended two briefings, signed construction approvals for a new residential district, approved expansion plans for the refinery storage facilities in Bataan, reviewed northern reconnaissance reports, and somehow found himself mediating an argument between two engineers regarding whether spare turbine blades qualified as "urgent necessities" or "luxury inventory."
Apparently, according to one of them, civilization itself depended on those blades.
According to the other, civilization could survive another week.
Adrian had escaped before they dragged him into the debate.
By noon he found himself standing outside headquarters holding a cup of coffee that had long since stopped being hot while staring toward the flight line.
For once, the sky above Basa was quiet.
