CHAPTER NINE
The pups and I arrive at work at the usual quarter til seven the next morning. My thighs are burning due to the added weight of Shotzie. With Echo, I was able to increase my endurance gradually to match his growth. Shotzie’s additional forty-five pounds was added all at once. When I fully transition to working from home, I’ll need to increase my running distance and strength training to make up for the decrease in daily bicycling.
I let Shotzie and Echo loose in the dog run for ten minutes while I place my Beretta 21A Bobcat with detached magazine and inside the waistband holster in my office gun safe. In exchange, I take out my over/under shotgun and a few rock salt and birdshot shells. The rock salt shells are loaded in the shotgun, but the break-action is left unhinged and the shotgun is securely mounted to the wall beside my desk. I keep the birdshot shells on me, in case I need a little more stopping power than rock salt. My office sub-compact CZ 2075 RAMI 9mm and two magazines are also removed from the safe and the door locked afterwards. One magazine goes into the handgrip and the other into its pocket on the custom holster mounted underneath my desk. Confirming the safety is engaged, I slide the RAMI into the desk holster too.
I make sure the dog beds, blankets, toys, food, and water are set for Shotzie and Echo. My first conference isn’t until after eight, so I’ll see how Shotzie handles the next hour and if she can be quiet while I work. If she can’t sleep or keep quiet, then I’ll bring them back to the dog run for the morning. They can keep each other company and there’s a sheltered area for them to rest and keep warm. Albuquerque in the winter is cold, but not usually freezing. Snow events often depend on which side of the mountains you live on.
The next hour passes quickly. The results of the orientation survey arrived after I left last night, and I’ll wait until later this morning to review the reports. I also received a meeting request from Sharon Biobaku for a time after lunch. If I move my afternoon around a bit, I can make the meeting, so I accept the invite. I finalize and upload some materials for my first call and look over at the dogs. Both are tuckered out and sleeping, Echo is sprawled out on his bed and blanket, but Shotzie managed to drag her blanket over her on the bed. I take a quick picture, it’s too cute not to.
As the host, I dial up the videoconference for the first meeting and the other party joins within a couple of minutes. “Good morning, Auraria Psycept Police. How is everyone today?” I greet the attendees.
“Pretty decent. The final bit of last week’s snow melted Monday, so we’re back to our regular cold and sunshine. How about you?”
“Doing well, Lt. Alawa. We received our 5,000 new Psycept residents Sunday so we’ve been working to get them settled. Speaking of which, let’s get started on Auraria’s Psycept situation. What updates do you have?”
“Well, we finally got both the Psycept community and the Auraria Council to agree to the Psycepts having their own representative on the Auraria Council meetings. Voting will be held on the Vernal Equinox. We’ll have a big Psycept community gathering that day, so they can vote, then socialize and eat while the results are tallied. Between now and then, the Psycept community and Auraria Council are defining the role of the Psycept representative while we police try to stay out of it.”
“Sounds great. How are the cultural lessons coming?”
“Good. Thank you for getting us in touch with Professor Biobaku. He’s coming up in a couple of weeks to run some workshops. We have his travel arrangements approved from GB and he is set with SWACon too, I have the details in the folder. Professor Biobaku says he’s using us as a trial run prior to your shindig.”
“Interesting. I knew he was traveling up there sometime before our event but wasn’t sure when. I’m glad this is progressing well. Finally, how is it going with redefining the roles and responsibilities of Auraria Psycept Police?”
“We have everything drafted. It’s being looked at by our legal experts now and they should get it back to us in a couple of weeks. Then we will present to both the Auraria and GB Councils after the Vernal Equinox vote.”
“Okay, so we’re coming up on completion of the first goal which is to distance the Auraria Psycept police from being the only conduit Auraria Council has with their Psycepts. The next goal is to have improved unit quality, correct? I think morale will be lifted once some of the more tedious aspects are taken outside the police, so a unit celebration may be warranted. Maybe something small in the next couple of weeks to keep their spirits up, then a larger celebration after the transfer occurs. You can also invest in team building exercises. I think you have quality people; they’ve just been ground down by the additional weight and duties placed on them.”
“I like the idea, maybe we can do the small celebrations and the first team building on the same day, morning for team building and afternoon for small gathering. We can also use this to gauge our groups in the unit, see who is good to stay and maybe encourage a transfer request for those that may not fit in with the direction we are going.”
“Whatever you like. You may also want to reset your unit, like a retrain. Just make sure everyone is on the same page of how cases are to be handled, how the unit will function going forward, etcetera. That may wait until after
