Austin dwelled on his own thoughts as he listened to Holden's comments, it was like a knife that twisted into his own gut. He shook head before knocking back his own porter. Rick and Austin were both soldiers of the same pedigree, and this was how he treated someone who had respect for him without knowing the damnable things that he ended up doing, eventually leading to his own fall? It was a rare sight to see, certainly, and this Lieutenant didn't deserve the lashing he had received, Austin knew that and swallowed what little shallow pride he had left, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that had happened. Just know I'm not the hero you used to look up to, and I've done things that I regret doing, and every passing day is a struggle to keep those memories at bay while trying to honor the ones who I've failed." He offered a brief apologetic smile, but it faded away almost immediately as he continued, "It seems you're dealing with something similar right now with what's happening in the Omega's... trust me, taking the life of an armed civilian isn't enjoyable, but this is war, and we have our orders. It only gets harder from here." Austin thought it was ironic that he included himself in the statement, he wasn't a currently serving soldier - despite wearing the flight jacket.
He was cut off by Holden's attention suddenly shifting towards the feed that began playing a breaking news story, "Of course she's still kicking around..." Were the first words to come out of his mouth, "You're currently serving, any idea who the hell this Victor Steiner guy is? You might be more in the loop than I when it comes to the current inner workings of the Armed Forces, being an officer and all." He finished, nodding over at the feed as it blinked over towards a well timed recruitment advertisement for the Armed Forces. As he turned his attention back towards Holden a woman slid between them at the table, which caught him somewhat by surprise as she softly spoke; "Hey, don't mean to bother either of you, I just.... don't want to get hit on tonight. You mind if I just sit here and pretend that I've got wingmen?"
"No need to waste your credits on either of us, lass. But I don't have an issue with you sitting here, even if it's startin' to become a little crowded for my tastes. How about you, Lieutenant? Mind playing wingman for a lass in this hellhole?" Austin replied to the woman, and to Holden, sliding his chair a good arms length away from her before returning to a leaning position on the table. He raised his hand over towards the barkeep and signaled for another round of Tabby Porters, and made a gesture for an additional one for the woman that had just joined them.
