After this was a meeting where each district director received a memo with the new agency mandate and what assets they were supposed to take over. As Eric looked over the list, he saw 'direct local military forces defending rift locations, set rules of engagement, reallocate forces as needed, request additional forces from US military, both active and reserve, as needed.' “I'm supposed to be in charge of military units?”

  Monika agreed, “Yes, they still follow the usual chain of command, but they are directed to support you and follow your instructions. For the state units that also requires the permission of the governor, but all the governors are onboard, given the stakes and what happened in Korea.”

  Eric kept reading, 'establish a local law enforcement and civilian protection agency to deal with criminals with classes, liaise with local and national law enforcement agencies.' “I'm supposed to set up a police force too?”

  “Think of it like a specialized FBI, intended just to deal with people who have classes. Obviously your field agents at least will need to have classes in order to deal with these threats.” Monika explained.

  Eric got to his budget and almost fainted, “I'm in charge of billions of dollars!”

  “Welcome to the big leagues.” She grinned. “Don't worry, OPM has already assigned bean counters, payroll, HR, etc. for each district, you will need to poach or hire your field teams though. Broadly, our responsibilities are guarding against hostile incursions from rifts, controlling access to rifts by humans or friendly aliens, developing trade and defense agreements with friendly aliens-your interactions with the orcs made up much of the handbook on that, protecting the public from individuals with classes, regulating classes, and dealing with accusations of unfair competition by people with classes. Really it is two big jobs combined, mostly because the source of one is the other, but also because the heavy hitters you will need are going to be the same for both.”

  Eric sighed, “Please tell me that OMB at least got me a good administrative assistant.”

  “You will have to judge that for yourself. Um, also, we are basically nomads until our new offices are built, but an office building in Phoenix has been rented for you until construction is complete-please take a look at the design of your new HQ before they break ground.” Monika seemed to be enjoying how worried Eric was feeling.

  After returning to Phoenix, he went to the temporary office, and found staff already bustling about, mostly moving furniture, running wires for the computers, and standing around waiting for their offices and computers to be set up. Eric looked at the directory and found his office was on the top floor of the four story building, and went up to it.

  A skinny redhead with freckles dotting her face like stars in the night sky looked up from her laptop, “I'm sorry, the new director is not in yet, can I take your name and contact information and I'll have him contact you as soon as she is able? He almost got lost in her green eyes, but realized it wouldn't be appropriate to think about such things with a subordinate.

  Deciding to tease her a bit, he answered her question, “Er, yes, I'm Eric Brown, I work for the Department of Rift Security, region nine, and I was told to report here. My phone number is 555-813-5712 and my e-mail is .”

  “Wait, that is the same name as-you are the new director? Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you.” She stammered.

  “Don't worry about it, I doubt they provided you with a picture. So I'm in charge of California, Nevada, Hawaii, and here in Arizona? Have you seen plans for offices set up in more local regions of the other states?”

  She stammered, “no director, but I can look into it.”

  “Hey, it is Eric, and what is your name?”

  “Alicia,” she answered, looking down and to the right at the floor.

  “Well Alicia, I'm going to need a team, and you are going to be an important part of that team, so I'm going to trust you with things. One of the most important things you can do for me is tell me you don't know something. Don't feel ashamed by that, it helps me, knowing what isn't known is an important part of filling holes in our institutional knowledge.” I realized I was preaching a bit, “Er, anyway, please do look into what plans we have for local offices. Also, I want to brainstorm with you on org structure.”

  Eric went into his new office and found his computer was already set up, but didn't have internet yet. There was a separate computer in a locked room that did have a connection, but only to the siprnet. Eric logged on there, and reviewed a number of e-mails about various threats and issues. He saw a coast guard complaint that three ships had disappeared in the Pacific off the California coast in the last week. Once he finished with that, he went back to his office, locking the room behind him, and got his cell phone from the locker next to it.

  A burly man was under his desk, so Eric waited, when the man pulled back he started, “Oh, um, sorry, I didn't know you were there.”

  “No problem, sorry, I just didn't want to interrupt your work,” Eric apologized.

  “Well, you should have internet now, we set you up first.”

  “Thank you.” After the man left Eric looked at his e-mails there, which took almost two hours. He kept a few open for later review, including 'requesting reassignment of skilled federal employees from other agencies.' Then he drafted an e-mail to Colonel Melendez and another to Special Agent in Charge Gonzalez.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  He went to meet with the Colonel first. “Colonel Melendez, thank you for meeting with me.”

  “Call me Ramon, please,” the Colonel answered.

  “So, I wanted to talk to you about having Captain King working directly for me. I need a military liaison, and I know and trust Lashawn.”

  “I think he would be a good choice, and it would be good for his career. We are in the process of converting a lot of the national guard members with classes to US Army, and shifting around the folks who don't want that conversion. I don't expect the full change to happen until about May of next year, but King will be in the US Army soon, and I worry my guys will not have the same opportunities as folks who joined as regulars.” With that it was decided, and Eric sent a text to Alicia to make sure an office was available for Captain King. He had her set up another office too.

  When he met with SAIC Gonzalez, in charge of the Phoenix FBI office, the agent just sighed, “How much of my office are you taking?”

  Eric blinked, surprised, “Er, I was going to ask for Agent Parks, and maybe three agents of your choosing-assuming you don't try to give me your dead weight. My office will have to grow over time, but for now I just need a solid core of people who have law enforcement experience plus levels.”

  “That...isn't nearly as bad as I worried it would be. I'll have Kendra look at my list to make sure they all work well together, but I have a list in mind already.”

  “It gets worse though,” Eric warned, “I'm going to need agents in California, Nevada, and Hawaii. Can you tell me who to talk to in those areas?”

  “You mean can I set up introductions? I know you know how to google 'special agent in charge Los Angeles.”

  “Yeah,” Eric admitted, “I think the important thing is that I don't want to burn bridges. I want your folks to feel ok about asking my folks for help, and vice versa. I'm going to be lean on manpower to start, as I want a good team not a big team. So I'll need to depend on the FBI for support, especially investigation. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to make my team heavy hitters, so if your folks run into something bad, my folks can protect them.”

  “I'm not sure I like the idea that my agents need to be protected, but I guess some of the so-called adventurers running around the country are nearly level fifteen, and I remember what a level six did to my headquarters. I'll do my best to explain to the other Agents in Charge what sort of relationship you are looking for.”

  “Thank you Special Agent Gonzalez.”

  “Call me Jose, please.”

  When he got back to his office, he was surprised to find Kendra in his office with Tilly. She asked “So, I already got the news and hurried right over. Where is Tilly's office?”

  Eric facepalmed. Of course the law enforcement liaison from the other side of the rift would fall under his office. “Alicia, can you get an office set up for Tilly here. Also, we probably need to look into the most rugged gear we can get, I imagine some high level people will have exceptional strength, and we don't need keyboards or desks broken by regular use.”

  “Got it boss.” She answered.

  He saw an e-mail from Katie Smith, “Mr. Brown, I hope you remember me from when you contacted me about trade with the orcs. I have heard that you will be in charge of rift trade in four states. I have a short list of people I would like to recommend to you.” He read through the rest of the e-mail, then pulled up information on the people she recommended. He found that Jason Smith, who lived in California, was her nephew. It felt like a nepotistic quid pro quo, but he wasn't sure he was in a position to fight it, so he arranged for the man to at least get an interview.

  The next day a gawky, earnest looking young man with unruly black hair wearing a suit entered his office. “Sir, I'm Jason, er Jason Smith, and, well...” His voice trailed off and he rubbed his hair, making more of a mess of it. “Look, sir, I know my aunt probably put you up to this interview. But I want to earn a job on my own, or not. If I'm not the right person, I'll explain it to my aunt, so just, um, let me try on my own merits.”

  Eric had looked over the man's resume and been impressed, though not sure why he was applying for trade envoy. “Your degree is in operations research, but you are applying as a trade envoy?” Eric asked.

  The man looked down, “Yeah, sorry, I guessed I was a bad fit.”

  “For that job, yes. But let me ask you one question. Could you analyze trade flows for multiple areas, say on both sides of a rift, and identify new trade opportunities? Could you help place locations for trade hubs and advise companies on that information?” Eric asked.

  Jason's face lit up, “Yeah, that is right in my wheelhouse.”

  It took a bit to find an appropriate job category, which was a GS7, and slot him into it. “I'm not doing this for your aunt, you impressed me, so I want to see what you can do.” I also hired one of the other suggestions as an actual trade negotiator.

  Then I put out an ad on the internet, “Adventurers wanted! Seeking classed individuals to guard trade envoys, negotiators, and other VIPs on trips to worlds on the other side of rifts.”

  While I waited for those to fill, I started poaching the higher level classed folks in any federal service in my district. I found a few folks in the high single digits outside my region too, but just told their region Rift Security Director as I thought it would be rude to poach them. I actually got a level 10 park ranger-of the ranger class as well as his former job. Apparently he got trapped on the other side of a rift by some sort of golem and had to level up by killing other monsters until he could kill it to get back home.

  That led me to a realization. High level adventurers wouldn't want to stay in government jobs for peanuts. Yes, some would stay for patriotism, but even the national guard troops that got levels were making more money from 'patrols' on the other side of the rift than from paychecks. I drafted an e-mail to Dr Cohen, had an idea, and re-wrote it from scratch.

  Dr Cohen,

  Re: Retention of higher level government employees.

  I worry that higher level adventurers will have better opportunities outside government service, so we will lose our best people to adventuring or private entities as time passes. I think in the long run we need to think about a pay scale that takes level into account, but in the short run I think we can retain those individuals by providing an adventuring support network. What do I mean by that? Helping our employees form teams, providing medical support and at least an attempt at rescue services, medical support, supporting markets for gear and other needed goods for adventuring, and even providing minor expenditures for things like camping supplies as “job related equipment.”

  Sincerely,

  Eric Brown

  Director, Rift Security Department 9th district

  Then Eric got to work setting up as much of what he just described as he could within government regulations.