“So what does that mean for us now?” Jim Carson wondered.
“It means, my friends, that ‘Ashton’s Gang’ is going to be run by Dominick Ashton, from now on until he gets tired of the job,” Carter said with a grin. “And for the time being, he is also the Field branch lead – and that could end up being a permanent assignment, too, given we’re still short of personnel, and likely will continue to be for the next few years. He will be supported by Winston Peabody as his assistant and backup, and by Peter Stone as what we might call the ‘backup to the backup.’ Effectively we have a partnership backup, if you will. Which is why, Mr. Stone, you are up here with us,” he said, turning to the trio on his right. “Gentlemen, are you good with this?”
All three nodded, and said, “Yes, sir,” in near-unison.
“So,” Carter said, grin growing wider, “how does it feel, ladies and gentlemen, to truly be ‘Ashton’s Gang’?”
The room erupted in a raucous roar of delight. Papers and styluses got thrown in the air, and the atmosphere was one of general celebration for long minutes.
Peabody leaned over to Ashton and murmured, “And that’s why you have to be the division lead, Nick. You’re loved by these people – by us – in a way I’m still learning to appreciate. Thank you for the chance. On so many levels.”
“What he said,” Stone agreed, chiming in.
“Amen,” Carter pronounced benediction, much to their surprise; they hadn’t realized he was listening, or could even hear, given the racket going on in the room. “Oh come on, guys! I’m not as young as I used to be, but I’m not blind, and I’m not deaf. Now you three go handle ‘Nick’s Gang,’ for the latest cases – don’t forget to stay on their asses about packing for the move – and we’ll meet at the Laughing Cat tonight to celebrate. I’ll ping Maia and she and Cally can join us. Peabody, don’t forget to invite your wife, and Stone, do you have a girlfriend, boyfriend, or significant other?”
“I do, sir. Mary and I have been together for several years now.”
“Bring her. It’s time we unwound a little together, for a change.”
Two months later, and at long last, the new building was ready for IPD Headquarters personnel to move into it.
The contracted moving company arrived and began loading the equipment, documentation, and furniture from the rental building as the IPD staff packed it. By the end of the day, the rented building out of which they’d operated since the Emperor reconstituted the IPD Headquarters was empty, and the custodial crew was called in to clean it one last time.
Carter notified ICPD Chief Brigadier General Harold Quan that IPD would be ‘down’ in the Imperial City for a few hours during the move, and Quan told him that the ICPD would hold the fort as the two men had planned.
The next morning, everyone showed up in the spanking brand-new building, ready to help the movers determine where everything went, and unpack in preparation for resuming work.
Changes
The IPD’s New Headquarters building had a total of seventeen floors, both above and below ground. The top two of the three sub-basements comprised the Imperial City’s principal morgue; the bottom sub-basement was the lockup and interrogation area – one of New Headquarters’ two lie detector chairs was located there. A single elevator reached it from the ground level, and that was coded both in VR and biometrics to a small and select group of officers.
The standard basement was Police Medical, comprising an ER-level infirmary, a couple of operating suites, and two ICU-style rooms, as well as around ten standard hospital rooms. There was also a tiny ambulance hangar, with a ramp leading up to the arcade level.
The first floor – the arcade level – was comprised of Reception and the Oath Ceremonial Room; the other lie detector chair was here, and the room was decorated to look exceedingly distinguished. It also had a small area of raked seating for any guests the new officer might wish to observe his or her swearing-in ceremony. The back of the floor held the long-term Storage facility.
The second floor was Dispatch, along with the computer records and hardware required to make it work for such a huge metroplex as the Imperial City. The next two floors housed Accounting, including Payroll and Procurement. Procurement was also responsible for maintaining the storage area on the arcade level. The fifth floor housed what was still called the ‘Evidence Room’ despite its size, and all of the archiving required for it. The sixth floor housed Facility Maintenance, and the seventh was the Equipment Maintenance Division and Arsenal, and was heavily reinforced on all six sides. These seven floors comprised the Administration branch of IPD New Headquarters.
The eighth floor housed one of the special teams, the emergency response team, called in for especially violent situations; this team had been completely gutted and replaced, as Gorecki had originally headed it, and it now would be used to combat the very sorts of people Gorecki’s goons had been. It had been decided to place that team close to the armory for speed of access, even if the other special teams were elsewhere.
The ninth floor consisted of what Ashton considered ‘odds and ends,’ things like a large auditorium, a gymnasium and locker rooms, a heavily-armored practice range, and several conference rooms.
The next three floors housed the ‘field officers,’ more commonly known as beat cops, with the division lead’s office on the middle of the three floors.
The top floor housed Investigations and the rest of the Special Teams, including Forensics,
