I-186-Oliver: Captree Main Orbital, Concourse Café
“That competency test you mentioned, my own results were strong for Operations, but my Commissariat score was high enough that they tried hard to get me to request a change of class.
She briefly breaks eye contact with Oliver, staring into the past instead.
“I had a conversation with your grandmother about that while I was at the Academy – she was concerned about the quality of her fellow Commissars. She said that the Commissariat are always short-staffed, so they’ll try and stuff any Forerunner that comes along into a red tunic whether they’re suited to the duties or not. That convinced me to stay with the Operations path, to be the best I can be.
“So yes, a good Commissar. It seems to me that she tried to act with integrity and use, not abuse, the power that can come with a position like that.”
Her voice takes on a slightly musing tone, “Who knows, I might complete the Commissariat course and become a double class.”
“As to whether it’s orthodox to give a suspect a test, I’d say decidedly unorthodox. That said, if we’re talking about Usher, Commissar Operatives have a lot of discretion.”
Marissa assesses her son.
“I’m not sure if it’s relevant or not, but when the Legion recruiters were chasing you they hinted that there could well be a red uniform in your future.”
Note: I’m going to leave it to you to decide whether Oliver’s grandmother is still alive. If she is alive, I’ll say she’s not on any of the planets where it may have been convenient in play for Oliver to contact her, but somewhere else in Dominion Space; she may or may not still be on active duty. If she’s not alive, she died under circumstances that are classified by the Legion. Do either of those work for you?
Grandmother – More than happy for her to be inconsequential to the story at large. I don’t have a current age for Marissa but I’d be basing my decision about the current status of her mother on how old she is herself. Unless she died in some sort of cruiser accident I imagine she’d age out quite well.
Commiserate: Oliver nods. “I’ve had varying results with my own encounters about how they run their operations.”
Double Class: “I know you’d be good for it, your sense of duty would prevent you from falling into the same trap as many others do.”
Test: “I would imagine it would be based on how the suspect was currently positioned, as to if they could provide useful information to the Legion.”
Recruiters: “I had the feeling they were indirectly trying to steer that when they interviewed me.”