Defenders of Justice

[Manticore]

Vice Admiral James Lambert
Liberty Navy First Fleet

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James Lambert sat at a booth, partially concealed in shadow along a wall in the Minneapolis's officer's club. As always these days, he was wearing his service blues - resplendent with all the trappings of his rank and chest full of colorful ribbons.

It had been a long day of meetings at Cheyenne - the massive headquarters of the Liberty Navy in the heart of the Virginia system. Ever since his promotion to Vice Admiral, that had become his life. He'd been to every type of meeting imaginable: general staff meetings, government briefings, ceremonies, christenings, planning sessions... the list went on and on. Lambert desperately wanted a real drink this evening, but he'd had to settle for a glass full of some sort of energy cocktail that the bartender insisted was all the rage on Los Angeles these days. It wasn't too bad - but a splash of vodka would've made it far better. He glanced up, wistfully looking at the bar and the several off-duty junior officers who were in the process of indulging their freedom by getting drunk - rather loudly drunk, in fact.

His companion cleared her throat, clearly having noticed the direction of his gaze. "Don't even think about it, sir."

Lambert sheepishly looked back across the table at her, relaxing his posture slightly into a slouch. In almost every other situation, a Lieutenant could never get away with chastising a Vice Admiral - but the rules had never strictly applied to Lambert's relationship with Tanya Carmen. High cheekbones, cold blue eyes - if you took away the difference in their uniforms, Tanya looked much more the admiral than he did at this particular moment.

"A man can look, can't he?" Lambert asked.

"You weren't just looking, your eyes were practically making sweet love to those bottles on the shelf."

"Psh. That's not true," he said, a hint of defensiveness creeping into his voice.

Tanya made a disapproving noise, then glanced down at the small datapad on her lap. "Doesn't matter, your seven o'clock appears to have arrived. Just received a note that he docked a few minutes ago. Should be able to find his way up here, I'd hope..."

Lambert nodded, taking a sip of the blue energy cocktail. "Maybe you'd best go meet him at the door. No civvie gets in here unless they're accompanying a senior officer - one of the few hard and fast rules they stick to out here on the frosty frontier."

Tanya nodded, and stood to leave. However, after stepping away from the booth, she abruptly turned and looked back at him. "I may be gone a moment. Behave."

Lambert cracked a grin, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"... Sir," she reluctantly added.

He made a shooing gesture, and she walked off towards the door. He resumed his wistful gazing towards the bar.

Just this last little meeting, then I can enjoy myself a bit. Hope this guy isn't a chatty one.

.

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