Admin45

==Chapter 45 - The Administrator==
Semier Data-Tron Headquarters
Antoinette Greer Station
Rhodes orbit, Duran System
Lyran Commonwealth
3144
Julian Greer saw her step off the tram and the reports didn't do her justice-Sharon Ngo was a big girl, her skinsuit seemed ready to over stress under the weight her muscles, and at first she almost looked like a Clan Elemental. Her firm steps threw that impression right out the lock-she walked like someone used to using magnetic boots for long periods. Her issue skinsuit was organized like one of the Folk or a Belter, not like someone born on a habitable world.
She must exercise constantly to keep that physique. In his eighty one years, he'd seen men and women in LCN uniform who didn't have that step, or that careful body-language.
In his youth, he'd seen Kowloonese Marines. Even without the press or the file, he would pick her out as Kowloonese, possibly even a "Rockjack"-and that's in spite of a physique no one born to space could have achieved.
He turned from the office doors, to pretend to study a point outside his window, as she entered the offices.
"Sir, Admiral Ngo is here." Stebbins said.
"Show her in." he said, timing to turn around as if suddenly interrupted.
"Sov McQuinsoton!" she greeted him with a bottle of amber fluid. Guestrite. my god, she's even got their manners.
"Admiral, I trust your journey was safe?" He accepted the bottle for what it was.
"Clean sailing, Sov McQuinsoton. Clean sailing, Her Majesty sends her compliments as well." Sharon said.
He chuckled, and looked at the bottle. "My god, this must have cost a fortune!"
"Worth the reaction mass and tonnage, sir." she said, "and the seals are unbroken. Straight from the Well to your table."
"Let's break the seals then!" he said, retrieving a pair of glasses. "I heard a rumor you rode in on the hull. What did you think of the view?"
"Beautiful. You are the right the contractors." she said with conviction. "Lockheed didn't deserve it, I'm glad we didn't go with them."
"But you were concerned." he said, passing her a glass.
"I worried." She conceded, "I'm not polishing alum here, I saw proof Semier is the right contractor for the navy..I just have to make sure those thieves at Lockheed CBM don't worm into the subcontracting work."
"Thieves?"
"They tried to underbid you." She said, "Only I have inside knowledge-they don't have the capacity. What they were claiming to be able to charge-it would be yet another incomplete contract rife with cost overruns and delays. They have yet to deliver another Mjolnir class, and it's been sixty years since the last one."
"Which is why you canceled the contract." he mused.
"Yes." she nodded to a model of Semier's proposal. "YOU can actually build it and will actually build it, I am now convinced."
He peered over his glass, "Yet you opposed the program entirely."
She nodded, "I did."
"You want to call it...boondoggle."
"A battleship without escorts is a huge waste of money and lives." she stated. "The Landmark class destroyers fill one gap. However, to be a proper fleet, we need more than a battleship, and a destroyer. It's the same mistake they made in the 3060s-right along with giving command to sheep ******."
He raised his eyebrows, "That's...remarkably crude terminology, Admiral. Please-"
"It's kinder than my actual thoughts." she confessed, "It works like this, a male sheep is called a 'ram'...and that's what those imbeciles did. Time and time again-thousands of lives and billions of Kroner on futile ramming attacks. Hence, sheep ******, and so, a man orders that. He is obviously a sheep-"
"I caught the reference." he said, "You came up through the Coast Guard."
"Yes sir." she said, "We don't use public property in a vain attempt to be admired by glory-hounding youngsters."
"You will use the Frederick Steiner class better?" he asked, emphasizing the corporation's internal name for the class of battleships.
"I will not see them wasted by ******, Sov McQuisoton. It would be disrespectful to your people, to the taxpayers, and to the nation." she said it fervently, "If you build it, I will make sure that for as long as I have influence on promotions, doctrine and training, that your ships will be used properly in the defense of the nation."
"Can I convince you not to name one after a horrific waste of money, then?" he asked.
She examined her drink, watching the faint coriolis forces swirling the amber liquid. "We will name it...Frederick Steiner." she said. "Lead ship of the class should name the class." she raised her eyes, "I sometimes forget myself, Sir. Thank you for the reminder that not everyone is...as scarred as I am inside."
"How many tours on the Quarantine did you serve, Admiral?" he asked.
"Two in space, one on the ground." she said.
he reached out a hand, grasping her shoulder, "I...I understand how easy it is, to shut off your feelings after seeing such things." there was genuine sympathy in his eyes.
"To the Frederick Steiner!" she said, shifting gears in an effort to force the memories back down. 
Sharon raised her glass, he raised his, "Skol!" and they drank.
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