Note: this chapter is inspired by an incident from the life of Braxton Bragg, a 19th century soldier in the US Army. He was far from the best general to lead an army in the Civil War, but he was among the most conscientious.

Zero emerged from his recharge room and entered the Maverick Hunter Squad Leader common room. X was there, wearily working at a console.

Zero blinked. X had been there when Zero went down to recharge. Either X had snuck in some recharge time between when Zero had gone down and gotten up, or…

There were several empty E-tanks on the desk by X's console.

…or that.

"What could you possibly be working on that's this important?" he asked.

X jerked, startled, before relaxing. "Oh. Good morning to you, too, Zero."

Zero's eyes narrowed. "If your situational awareness is so compromised you didn't see me coming, you are standing into danger. What is so preoccupying?"

"Datawork," X said glumly. He gestured at the screen. "It's tying me up in knots."

Zero blinked. This was terra incognita for him; his assistant, Rekir, took care of the Zeroth Squad's datawork. Still, if it was this vital to X… "Explain."

"In my role as Seventeenth Squad Leader," X said, gesturing at himself, "I've put in a requisition for additional heavy weapons- laser, plasma, and kinetic- plus ammunition to support operations of the same, with an additional fifty percent to train the operators. The requisition also includes more and larger transport vehicles so we can move this heavier equipment."

That all made sense so far. When the silence stretched on, Zero nodded, hoping that would get X to continue.

It did. "All of which is appropriate. I briefed the higher-ups on my desire to turn the Seventeenth into a heavy weapons squad, and they agreed. This requisition is supposed to help make that happen."

"That is an important thing to get right," Zero acknowledged. "I understand why you're putting so much effort into it."

"I finished it last night."

Back to confusion. "Then what have you been doing since then?"

X sighed. "Well, with us being so short-staffed, I've also taken on quartermaster duties for half our squads. In my role as quartermaster, I've denied the requisition."

Zero's understanding of the situation collapsed. He could not have heard what he just heard. "What?"

"I denied the requisition," X said, covering his face with his hands.

"The requisition that you put in," Zero said, desperate for clarity.

"Yes."

"Yourself."

"Yes."

"For your own squad."

"Yes."

So Zero had heard correctly. That made his lack of understanding even more glaring. "Explain."

"We can't afford it," X said, lowering his hands to bring up a spreadsheet. "We have so many other holes to fill, so much other equipment to buy, not to mention continuing repair work and upgrades to the Watch Floor, and we did just get a budget plus-up, but that's supposed to be for personnel, and government rules won't let me spend it on equipment. Not to mention that Fourth Squad put in a jumbo requisition for Ride Chaser parts." X frowned. "I don't know why Fourth Squad seems to burn through Ride Chaser parts at double the rate of the other squads… but that's a problem for another day.

"We have to maintain certain stockpiles of ammunition to be ready for major events, but we burn through ammunition regularly, in combat and to keep up Hunter proficiency, and there's only just enough in the budget to keep that steady. Buying new classes of weapons and having to build new stockpiles of their ammunition is just…" he sighed.

"So now I'm having to write a memo telling myself that I can only buy one new class of heavy weapon, that I have overstated how much ammunition I need for training and I need to recalculate, and that I need to submit a request to reconfigure our existing vehicles instead of buying new ones."

Zero grasped for any handhold. "You told yourself to recalculate?"

X closed his eyes as if in pain. "Yes, Zero."

"But you already did the calculations."

"Yes, I did."

There were no handholds. "Isn't that twice as much work?"

"It's how this conversation would go if I were two people," X said, looking at the console again. "As squad leader, I'm supposed to put in requisitions like this. If I were a quartermaster and a squad leader put in this requisition, that's how I'd respond. That's how the system is supposed to work. We're unlucky enough to be in a position where we have one person in those two jobs instead of two, but it's still supposed to work like that."

It was true and nonsense at the same time.

"Besides," said X, hitting "send" and shutting the console, "now it's all documented. Now I have everything I need to go back to the higher-ups and say, "You're telling us to do all these things, and we can't afford half of them. You need to either cut back on our mission load or give us more funds." When bureaucracies fight, the one with better documentation wins."

The mention of combat was a vicious tease. Zero knew that wasn't the kind of fight that felt good or was at all satisfying. It was the kind he needed X to fight… for him…

A burden was lifted from Zero's shoulders.

Oh. Okay. This was An X Thing. He'd been worried that it was something he needed to concern himself with and learn about, but if it was just An X Thing, he could leave it to those capable hands and not worry.

"I understand," said Zero.

X raised an eyebrow at him, as if to accuse him of not understanding all the… stuff… X had just said. Zero maintained his composure, and X let it slide. "One more thing, Zero. Could you not mention this to anyone?"

"Sure," Zero said, confused. "Why not?"

"I understand that the choices I make aren't the… typical ones other people make," X said. "Everyone else would be as confused as you, only I wouldn't be there to explain myself."

"I understand," said Zero, more sincerely this time.

X nodded. "In that case, if I head to the tube now, I can get…" his head drooped. "...maybe ninety whole minutes before I have to be up and ready for the next thing. Wish me luck."

Zero tried, but his memory returned a Definition not found error. Apparently he wasn't ever supposed to need luck.

He gave a herky-jerky thumbs-up in X's direction and walked for the door.

"...And you'll need to sign this requisition," said Rekir, handing a datapad to Zero.

Zero gave it the most cursory of glances and went to sign, only to pause when something caught his eye. Ammunition, in various calibers and amounts… like what X was working on.

"Rekir," he said slowly, trying to gather facts before they squirmed away from him, "you prepare the Zeroth Squad's equipment requisitions, right?"

Rekir's expression went blank. It was overkill- Zero wouldn't have been able to read Rekir's feelings even with the help- but it left Zero fully adrift. "Yes."

"Do you also do quartermaster work?"

"A little," Rekir said, voice perfectly even.

"Have you ever denied your own requisition?"

Rekir's composure cracked. "No," he scoffed. "What kind of idiot would do that?"

"Don't talk about X like that," Zero said heatedly.

The two stared at each other for a moment.

"...oops."