"The Political Officer" is a science fiction novella by Charles Coleman Finlay. It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, in April 2002.
Maxim Nikomedes is a political officer who must not only locate a traitor on the crew of a spaceship, but also identify his own attempted assassin.
"The Political Officer" was a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 2002,[1] and for the 2003 Hugo Award for Best Novella.[2]
Steven H. Silver praised its "carefully thought out and interesting setting with plenty of indication of an actual history behind it" and its "intelligent and riveting" narrative,[3] while John Joseph Adams stated that its presence would make a collection "worth buying for that story alone."[4]
"The Political Officer" is a rewritten version of "Negri's Boys", a fanficofLois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.[5][6]
