Southern Cross by Windstar

Vasily, the on duty Honor Guard, answered her in a still heavily accented Tiri.
"Southern Cross's Battle Group Captains here to see you, Ma'am."
"Thank you, Eric, send them in."
The three figures waiting, more or less patiently, outside her quarters were an odd group of
people. Julie felt her eyebrows start to raise as she took a good look at them as they each came
inside and saluted. They were all military, that was for certain, but who's military was anybody's
guess. The three ships had only been assigned to Southern Cross this morning, and Julie hadn't
even had time to do more than com each of them before they'd started maneuvers.
First through the door was Captain Robin Yu, the first, as Emily understood it, woman to
command a fighting ship from the United States. She was the Captain of the Ranger, a small ship
at "only" nine hundred meters in length. The Captain's back was ramrod straight as she came to
attention, her Asian American descent rather obvious in her name.
Second was a man who was taller than even Emie. His shoulders had a slight slump to them, and
his beard had some definite gray streaks through it. Piercing brown eyes watched her critically,
and Julie had the urge to salute him. That he was Russian was never a doubt as Vasily went as
far as to salute the man as he passed. Captain Kuguar Panteleyev, his reputation preceded him,
had been pulled from retired status in the Ukraine. He now was now the Captain of the new
Heavy Cruiser, The Kiev.
Julie wondered how he had managed to bribe his crew into choosing that name when their ship
had been put on active duty.
The last man to enter was the Captain of the second Heavy Cruiser, The Saipan. The anger that
flashed through his nearly black eyes startled Julie, and she stiffened in an instinctive response to
it. Captain Reed Smith had the boyish good looks of an actor, and Julie wondered what his
problem was.
"Captains welcome to Southern Cross. Please, make yourselves comfortable. Can I get any of
you something to drink?"
She knew it wasn't what would be viewed as a formal greeting through most militaries, but Julie
really didn't care. These people would be in charge of ships dedicated to keeping Southern Cross
in one piece and helping her ship self destroy anything in its way. She wanted to know these
people, to be able to trust them.
"No thank you, Ma'am."
That from Robin, she just got a short shake of his head in answer from Captain Smith, both of
who remained standing a tad awkwardly. Captain Panteleyev had taken her words at face value
and had relaxed on her couch.