Alina Morrison walked into the bar, wearing the dark blue dress uniform of a Libertonian Navy Officer with a pair of 'fleet wings' on her cap and Commander's insignia on her collar, she was flanked by two Marines clad in gray camoflague. Pausing briefly she glanced around the nearly empty bar, if it weren't for the handful of Marines in the back corner the place would have been a ghost town.
"Right, let's liven this damn place up a bit eh!?"
With that, Alina strode over toward the jukebox in the center of the bar, banging on it once, a gritty tune began to play, causing a smile to cross Alina's lips.
"There! now isn't that better?! barkeep--Alina turned to the automated barkeep.Get me the finest bottle of scotch you've got in this worn out old place!"
Alina turned, and laughing to herself she walked to an empty table by the main view-port and sat down, watching the various different ships float by outside.
Well... at least it is of better taste than what they listen nowadays... the woman thought, alone in her corner. She preferred old compositions from an era long past and a world long lost. Nobody really seemed to notice her, that was mostly because, she liked to pick the most usual place to rest, one where she wouldn't be noticed as out of place, and one where she would be hard to recognize.
Right now, it was in the bar's mildly populated area, where most of the officers stood, one among many. Her uniform was one of the rare in black trimmed with gold - land forces, as they were designated in the Libertonian military. They used to be green, but apparently they were removed out of confusion with their Rheinlander neighbors. That was of course, back when relations between the houses were slightly more cordial - but, that too was another era.
And so her mind jogged down random thoughts one after another to keep herself busy as she sat down at a relatively quiet corner of the bar... there, only one commander was there - the one which picked the song, her mind noted without much interest, as she continued sipping her drink.
She noticed such small details without even making the effort because she hasn't always been the general officer she was today, but because once upon a time, such details could save her life in a similar bar, except, on enemy ground.
Her name plate on her chest, which none noticed (for nobody had ranks in a bar), was written "GEN. KAITLYN". Strange place for someone of her rank to wander to, but definitively better than political lunch. So long she remained low... it would be just like in the good old days, yes?
As Alina sipped at the Scotch that had been delivered to her quite some time ago, she searched the room with her eyes, as if looking for familiar faces -- of which she found none. Eventually though the crisp black military uniform caught her attention, causing her to pause and study the woman at the opposite end of the bar, taking in the fact that there was a gold trim to the other woman's uniform, and what she thought might be stars on her collar.
After finishing her drink Alina stood up, motioning for her Marines to stay by her table as she got up and made a "B-line" across the room toward the table that the other woman sat at, stopping slightly short so she could read the woman's name tag.
Laughing softly as she took the last few steps up to the table, looking down at the General.
"A General? in a place like this!?...and a Land Forces General, no less!" Alina whistled as if she were impressed with that.
"I haven't seen a Land Forces general in a long time, but then again, I've been attached to the Fleet since my Re-instatement so.."She lets out another soft laugh.
"Still though, I never thought I'd find any of the Land Forces in a bar like this, kind of a seedy place, don't you think?. Either way, it's nice to see another woman in here...we're kind of outnumbered, I'm Commander Alina Morrison by the way."
Alina laughs yet again as she pulled out the other chair and sat down across from the General.
Isabelle wasn't too certain the woman was talking to her, and reacted very slow - too slow, her brain told her. She looked up at the commander with a polite smile, an automatic one she put on in front of strangers marked as "friendlies".
"I suppose so, commander. Isabelle Kaitlyn... but please don't call me by my rank here, I'm fine with the spotlights turned on the other side."
Isabelle looked at the woman, her pretty - but definitively cold - cyan eyes examining, analysing in the matter of a few seconds. She looked defiant, that was her first impression. Of course, the standard rivalry between the services was strong, and to those space folks, the land forces were lagging behind them like a backward military force. But to talk so directly to a general, this required either courage or much ignorance. Considering the intelligent eyes that were looking at her, she'd think the first option made more sense. A good soldier, with a strong head. A good libertonian soldier.
Basically, not an enemy. Isabelle smiled softly to camouflage her emotions.
"Of course, I'm not even supposed to be here, so you've never seen me."
She sighed a bit, tasting of the beer she was holding in her hands without really appreciating the taste.
"I've never gotten used to dining with politicians. They talk too much, mostly mutual boot-licking... - and you've never heard me say that either..."
Quick nod,
"So, how's the fleet performing, commander? It's been quite a while I've been to the stars..."
Alina laughed softly, nodding to Isabelle, studying her face, her eyes, and taking in all the details of the woman she now sat before.
"Nothing to worry about, Gen-- er, Isabelle..I don't look down on the other branches of the Service like some do"
Alina let her mind run a bit, She couldn't tell whether this General was trying to bait her into some sort of competition or not.
"Mmnh, Fleet Operations are going rather well lately, though we still haven't managed to gain a foothold in Rheinland yet..Their fleet forces are just too strong for us to push past at the moment, But we'll get there damn it, I'm sure we will! and when we do, I'm sure that your forces will do the jobs they've been trained to do."
Alina nodded and took another sip of her water, listening to the nextgritty melodythat began to flow from the Jukebox while studying the seemingly steady flow of Marines and Sailors entering and exiting the bar.
Shortly after the tune that began to play started, Urielle would walk in. Dressed in her navy uniform, which was of course, loosened up a little bit. Uri's blonde hair was a tad messy, however as she sighed softly. Walking to the bar and plopping her ass down on a stool, nodding to the Tender, she spoke softly. Seeming to have a headache, or something that made her feel like crap. "Some kind of ale.. Please.."
She looked like crap. She wasn't wearing makeup, still vaguely pretty, although she had a massive bruise above her left eye. Which was probably the source of her headache, her lip was split somewhat as well. It was if she gotten into a fight. Or maybe fell down some stairs. The former was more likely the latter. How many women do you see falling downstairs? And it not being funny? This obviously wasn't funny at all!
The general nodded slightly, remaining distant while maintaining polite conversation. She didn't knew why was she doing that. By the past, such exercise had the purpose of making a potential defector feel more at ease to talk... then she converted that skill to entertain politicians and other general officers - because that's what they did; talk and push papers...
"Of course we will. The troops are awaiting that impatiently..."
"It's been a very long time since our land forces has been deployed in large scale. And probably never on such large scale... House-wide wars?... taking over a whole planet by force? That has not been done since the times of the Old Alliance I believe..."
She nodded slightly
"... I tire for those games, I'm afraid. Sending young men and women die for some a rather sketchy and obscure cause..."
She smiled casually for once;
"I hope I do not bore you with my reflections... been a long day."
"Of course they're being impatient about it, I can't suspect those Army boys and girls are much different from my Marines, they're always hungry to get 'into it' as the phrase goes.."
Alina lets out another laugh and sips at her water again.
"Mnh, you are right though that we have not undertaken such a large scale War with such a large objective as the Rheinland Offensive...none the less, I am sure that we -Will- pull it off. Though I agree with you, sending young men and women to die for, a cause that we cannot explain to them? It isn't right, not one bit but...What can we do? I simply try to be a good leader, and kind of like a big sister, or a wolf den mother to my crew, Every member of my crew, Marines included. I won't leave them to the mercy of some politician, Sure we'll go to the front when ordered to do so, but I will not lead my crew on a Suicide mission...it's hard enough when we lose Marines during raiding missions..."
Alina sighed softly and looked to the General again, a soft smile crossing her lips.
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