"What kind of problem, sir?"

"The kind that ignores orders and tries to extort classified information out of his superiors," he says dryly.

"If he's disobeyed legal orders, sir, then there's already a standard array of ways to handle that. What do you need me for?"

"The one thing all our psych people seem to agree on," he sighs, "is that this kid can't be handled in standard ways."

"So... you want me to handle him in a nonstandard way, sir?" asks Aegis. She starts broadcasting the conversation to Sue.

"I want you," he says plainly, "to do whatever it takes to get him back on the simulator."

"What are my resources for doing that with, sir? So far I haven't even been allowed to see him."

"You can be moved to his corridor, if you think that'll help," he says. "You can have free access to his room."

"...But I don't get the information he wants so I can tell him I know it and it's okay even if he himself can't know it, or whatever files you have on him and this situation, or anything about why it's so important that this particular student plays games instead of getting iced?" Aegis asks.

"The file we have on him at this point amounts to a dozen bureaucrats yelling at each other," he snorts. "I might release it to you just for the entertainment value."

"It's not impossible that it could help, sir."

"And I don't know what gave you the idea that I'd reward his bad behaviour by giving you whatever he's prying after," he adds.

"I didn't particularly expect you to, sir, but it could easily be the quickest way to get him to do what you want," Aegis says. "I don't know what the information is or why he wants it, but it sounds like he's willing to have a power struggle about it, and it won't actually make him any more likely to pull this kind of thing in the future if he wins one. It also won't make him less likely to do it if he loses one."

Dryly, "Have you been reading his psych files?"

"I've been his friend for years, sir. Students don't have access to the psych files."

"So I've heard," he mutters. "Well, why don't you go ask him what he wants."

"All right, sir, where can I find him?"

He conjures the appropriate directions on his desk and rotates them so she can read them from her side of the table.

Aegis reads them. "And - just confirming, sir - at present my only resource for convincing Sue to do anything he doesn't want to do is my charming company and the vague threat that I might be taken away?"

"You came up with that vague threat," he says, "not me. You can threaten to take yourself away if you think it'll help. I'm done threatening things."

"Sir, the threat was issued when I arrived on this station and he wasn't there to meet me. Unless you explicitly tell us that we can see each other whenever we want in perpetuity - and Sue believes you - then the threat stands."

"I don't see any profit in arguing that point with you," he says. "Go talk to your friend."

"Hi, Sue," says Aegis softly.