"Go right on ahead Major." Jane hauled her chair a few inches to the left, cheap plastic leaving scuff marks on the floor. Ruperts everywhere. At least this one was a Marine.
"Patterson?" She paused, mentally filtering through a mass of files. "Iwo Jima, wasn't it? What happened to the old girl?"
The Iwo Jima had been one of very few fully marine-operated warships. More a floating barracks, she'd still been more than capable of bringing the full firepower of a Battlecruiser to bear. The ship had been an enormous source of pride to the Corps. Jane had lost track of it after the artefact incident, and never bothered to look it up again. To sit in a bar speaking to the Commander all these months later was just darn odd. The Xeno fought off the urge to pinch herself, taking another gulp of the drink. By that point, she'd completely given up on trying to taste it. Judging by the wine, that would've been a nasty idea from the start.
