Bennu Station, 497:6
I wouldn't believe today if I hadn't experienced it myself. Shah came and brought me into his office so I could read the official memo and ensure he wasn't fucking with me. On his screen, official handshake icon in the corner, was a mandate from our parent company in the core to hire two temporary workers, until the increased work due to the fast travel station is complete. Apparently the metrics sent from Bennu put the inspections per person over the limit of feasibility, and tripped some automated system. We hadn't been over the limit because we had enough staff, but whoever made the layoff decision is apparently not the same person who gets the automatic notification based on the actual data from the station. It seems unlikely that they even talk or are aware of each other's existence. What it all means, is that Shah can offer two short term contracts, renewable every three months, at half the rate of pay of a permanent employee. He said he wouldn't even mention it to the Jannsheks if the postings weren't circulated station wide.
And it turns out that it doesn't matter whether or not the Jannsheks are aware of the job, because they are not eligible for it. Legal knots would need to be cut for them to resume their former positions, as the core forbids firing a permanent employee and then hiring them back as disposable workers at half the cost. Instead, the Jannsheks will remain permanently disposed, and we will need to go through the hiring and training process all over again. It's a good thing that with the increased ship traffic that we don't have an increased work load necessitating longer hours and more trained staff, and I can instead spend my time training new employees.
I can reach my hand outside the last concentric, but the core reaches inside everything that matters. I'm sure the Jannsheks feel protected by the bureaucracy that bans them from applying for the jobs they are literally the most qualified on the station for. Fleeing to the farthest reach of the lash only maximizes the suffering it inflicts.
I need to start talking more to the people who run the ships I inspect. Maybe one day I won't come back from an inspection, and see what freedom looks like from the outside of the rings.