Valiant Tales

by Lindenharp

Summary:

A series of 100-word drabbles about the people who lived, worked, and suffered on the Valiant during the Year That Never Was.

I have chosen not to list specific warnings, but there are references--not explicit--to torture, slavery, violence, executions, and non-con. Read with care.

Chapter 1: The Accountant's Tale

I was an accountant in the USAF Quartermaster Corps until the new regime drafted me. When the rocket factories need steel, I decide which mills must overproduce; which workers are transferred across the world.

My ancestors were Crow Indians: nomadic warriors. Their wartime triumph was counting coup: touching an armed foe with a stick, leaving him alive but humiliated.

I manage small deceptions. Redirected shipments of rice. Disappearing truckloads of blankets. Guards' medicine going to an orphanage. If discovered, I'll be guest star on "Morning Execution". Until then, I honor my ancestors, counting coup on the Enemy of the World.