# Commodore Vann Shatrak — Short Fiction character guide

> Commodore Vann Shatrak in Short Fiction by H. Beam Piper.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Shatrak, Commodore Shatrak, Admiral Shatrak

**First appearance:** 0044-hunter-patrol

## Snapshot

A space navy commodore who has spent forty years watching uniforms change and regulations multiply, now navigating a diplomatic crisis on a backwater planet.

## Who they are

Commodore Vann Shatrak is a veteran officer of the Terran Federation Space Navy, a man who notices the outdated uniform of a ship's first officer because he has lived through ten regulation changes. He returns to his homeworld of Poictesme after five years away and finds the forests thicker, the fields barer, and the future uncertain. His weariness and his sharp eye for detail make him the story's anchor as old loyalties and new crises collide.

## In the story

### [A Slave Is a Slave](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/chapters/a-slave-is-a-slave)

Leads the Imperial occupation force; discusses the impracticality of immediate freedom and considers keeping the population as imperial property.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters/vann_shatrak
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_24_se/characters