Getting face to face with people was what she did, after all, and she was eager to have another crack at the alien operators she had only briefly engaged previously.
First, though,
she thought as she stepped into the command offices and walked over to the secretary sitting behind the desk there,
I need to get Kane with the program, and that could be a challenge.
“Master Sergeant Aida to see Brigadier Kane.”
****
Brigadier Samuel Kane liked to think of himself as a man who didn’t suffer fools easily, or quietly, or at all, by preference. He also really didn’t much care for Operators. Oh, he couldn’t deny that they were effective, nor did he refuse to make use of their skills, but he found them distasteful to deal with as a general rule. If he were being honest, his biggest issue with them was the fact that they generally answered to an entirely different chain of command and, often as not could, and often did, tell him to go to hell on his own base.
Oh, not in those words, of course. They used words like ‘classified,’ ‘need to know,’ and occasionally even ‘over your pay grade.’ It set his teeth on edge to have some junior officer or, worse still, a non-com look him in the eye and tell him any of those things with a straight face. The hell of it was that it was often true, and they really didn’t mean any disrespect. Which wasn’t the same as not enjoying the hell of out spouting that crap to a general, of course.
He’d seen Aida’s name on his appointment list when he checked it during his morning briefing and only wished that he’d been surprised by it. When Valkyrie put into Hayden Station, he’d started a mental countdown on how long before he had to deal with her, though he was somewhat surprised that she’d come to him directly. He’d expected the approach to be made by Lt. Crow, or possibly the captain of the Cheyenne, depending on just how serious she was.
Aida had grown attached to the locals here on Hayden, something that happened often enough for him to be familiar with it. Mostly it wasn’t too much of a hassle, though it always resulted in more annoyances than benefits in his experience. Soldiers in a foreign nation were like houseguests and fish, rarely welcome more than three days and only welcome that long under duress as a rule.
Still, he knew what she was here to speak on, and Kane didn’t disagree.
So, when his secretary announced her presence, Kane just thumbed the comm switch. “Send her in.”
The master sergeant looked different out of armor, he noted as she stepped in and came to attention. Her Solari white dress looked good on her, the uniform was even competently tailored, which was something that didn’t happen every time, in his experience. She stood a hair under five foot nine in her boots, dark eyes focused on the wall behind and above him as he sized the woman up from his seat.
“At ease,” Kane told her, nodding briefly before turning his attention to the deskwork in front of him.
He felt more than saw her stance widen as she clasped her hands behind her but generally didn’t pay any more attention than that as he signed off on a requisition form and started filling out personnel reports. She didn’t so much as twitch a hair while he worked, which was as it should be. Finally he signed his name again and looked up to where the master sergeant was still waiting.
“Well, Master Sergeant,” he said. “Why don’t you wow me, then?”
“Your pardon, sir?” She blinked, obviously surprised and confused.
“Your reasons for stirring up the hornets’ nest on the world below,” he expounded. “Why should I send an Operator team into Hayden’s jungle while things have obviously quieted down?”
“Sir…I…”
He smiled thinly at having put the woman back on her heels. “Come now, Sergeant, I’ll thank you not to take me for a fool. There is no other reason for you to be here, yet if you had orders from OPCOM, you’d have presented them.
First, though,
she thought as she stepped into the command offices and walked over to the secretary sitting behind the desk there,
I need to get Kane with the program, and that could be a challenge.
“Master Sergeant Aida to see Brigadier Kane.”
****
Brigadier Samuel Kane liked to think of himself as a man who didn’t suffer fools easily, or quietly, or at all, by preference. He also really didn’t much care for Operators. Oh, he couldn’t deny that they were effective, nor did he refuse to make use of their skills, but he found them distasteful to deal with as a general rule. If he were being honest, his biggest issue with them was the fact that they generally answered to an entirely different chain of command and, often as not could, and often did, tell him to go to hell on his own base.
Oh, not in those words, of course. They used words like ‘classified,’ ‘need to know,’ and occasionally even ‘over your pay grade.’ It set his teeth on edge to have some junior officer or, worse still, a non-com look him in the eye and tell him any of those things with a straight face. The hell of it was that it was often true, and they really didn’t mean any disrespect. Which wasn’t the same as not enjoying the hell of out spouting that crap to a general, of course.
He’d seen Aida’s name on his appointment list when he checked it during his morning briefing and only wished that he’d been surprised by it. When Valkyrie put into Hayden Station, he’d started a mental countdown on how long before he had to deal with her, though he was somewhat surprised that she’d come to him directly. He’d expected the approach to be made by Lt. Crow, or possibly the captain of the Cheyenne, depending on just how serious she was.
Aida had grown attached to the locals here on Hayden, something that happened often enough for him to be familiar with it. Mostly it wasn’t too much of a hassle, though it always resulted in more annoyances than benefits in his experience. Soldiers in a foreign nation were like houseguests and fish, rarely welcome more than three days and only welcome that long under duress as a rule.
Still, he knew what she was here to speak on, and Kane didn’t disagree.
So, when his secretary announced her presence, Kane just thumbed the comm switch. “Send her in.”
The master sergeant looked different out of armor, he noted as she stepped in and came to attention. Her Solari white dress looked good on her, the uniform was even competently tailored, which was something that didn’t happen every time, in his experience. She stood a hair under five foot nine in her boots, dark eyes focused on the wall behind and above him as he sized the woman up from his seat.
“At ease,” Kane told her, nodding briefly before turning his attention to the deskwork in front of him.
He felt more than saw her stance widen as she clasped her hands behind her but generally didn’t pay any more attention than that as he signed off on a requisition form and started filling out personnel reports. She didn’t so much as twitch a hair while he worked, which was as it should be. Finally he signed his name again and looked up to where the master sergeant was still waiting.
“Well, Master Sergeant,” he said. “Why don’t you wow me, then?”
“Your pardon, sir?” She blinked, obviously surprised and confused.
“Your reasons for stirring up the hornets’ nest on the world below,” he expounded. “Why should I send an Operator team into Hayden’s jungle while things have obviously quieted down?”
“Sir…I…”
He smiled thinly at having put the woman back on her heels. “Come now, Sergeant, I’ll thank you not to take me for a fool. There is no other reason for you to be here, yet if you had orders from OPCOM, you’d have presented them.
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