Comptroller Reyes

Reyes has a small notebook filled with numbers that never appear in public reports: the true cost of a convoy, a crew’s accumulated leave, the price of replacing a machine a manager calls expendable. She began keeping it after watching a promising campaign consume supplies faster than anyone admitted.

On Net Position, she brings the same attention to a fight. She prefers a modest expenditure that settles a problem to a spectacular display that creates three more. Her officers know that thrift is not timidity; once Reyes decides a costly action is necessary, she expects it carried through.

The comptroller’s close curls and composed expression make her easy to underestimate at a distance. Up close, she asks the questions most people hoped nobody would think to ask. A deal with Reyes can be fair, but anyone hiding the cost in somebody else’s column should expect her to find it.