The Starport

The duke sat down at his desk once again reviewing the crew assignments that had been processed recently with the accept or reject that the ruling council gave to each of them. He frowned when he saw one of them had been rejected. He walked out of his office and off the ship to the chambers the ruling council was meeting. He barged into the meeting, quite unlike his normal self and threw down the name with a photo attached.

He began speaking loudly as he pointed at it, "You said I could have anyone I wanted for this mission, yet you've declined to give me Erickson for the fifth time. Don't tell me I can have anyone if I can't have anyone."

"Erickson is on a high profile mission and can't be spared at the moment," The commanding duke informed the intruder. One of the other dukes in the room cleared his throat. "Yes?"

"That's not technically true right now," The other replied. "I just got word a few minutes ago that he successfully completed his mission in record time and requested a few weeks leave before he starts his next mission."

The man in the center of the room looked desperate, "I need Erickson. I don't care about his leave."

One of the dukes in the far corner of the room was slightly agitated by that statement, "Not only has Erickson not had a single day of leave for five years, but he's done more for this country than most people will ever know. You would ask us to send him off with you on a mission he might never come back from with no better reason than you need him?"

The duke in the middle was annoyed now, "I'm risking everything of mine on this mission as well and one of the stipulations I was given is that I could have anyone I wanted, no questions asked. I don't just need Erickson, I want him."

The ruling council members glanced around at each other for a moment before the commanding duke said, "Very well, you can have Erickson, but you get to deliver the news about his canceled vacation personally."

"Good, I'll pick him up on our way out of the galaxy," The grinned and walked out the door and back to his ship. Having Erickson meant he wouldn't need anyone else specifically. Erickson could, no Erickson would, carry the weight of the entire expedition.