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doubled as a rather nice bar and restaurant. Each of the lounges had a different atmosphere, but<br />
Emily found she liked Lounge One, or Cosmo's as it had come to be known, the best.<br />
"Emie? You still with me?"<br />
Blinking, Emily smiled and focused on her radiant dining companion. Grinning as she took a sip<br />
of her red wine and tried to pick up the line of conversation again, and failing when she saw the<br />
smile Julie was giving her.<br />
"What were we talking about again?"<br />
Julie laughed and took a sip from her own glass, enjoying the white wine.<br />
"Reed? You know, the Captain of The Saipan?"<br />
A man was definitely the last thing Emily wanted to talk about at the moment, but she knew Julie<br />
really was interested.<br />
"Yeah, he barely made it past screening, then failed out the first day."<br />
Green eyes focused on her at that, and Emily could feel the warmth pass between them. Julie<br />
smiled a bit shyly then shook her head and continued.<br />
"Ah, so how does one get booted out the first day?"<br />
"One refuses to go through training, demanding that he be allowed to skip ahead since he<br />
obviously knew more than the civilians around him. Then one gets caught trying to sneak specs<br />
of the new Guardian-class design to American Intel."<br />
Julie opened her mouth in amazement, having to blink several times before she could come up<br />
with something intelligent. Emily had to bite her lip to keep from telling her friend how cute she<br />
looked.<br />
"What? But we shared everything with them! That's insane! How come he's in charge of a Heavy<br />
Cruiser?"<br />
Emie's laughter caused not a few heads to turn their way in surprise. The First Guardian laughing<br />
was not a common occurrence.<br />
"Trust me, Julie, if I could, he'd be in charge of an ore shuttle shipping back and forth from Mars<br />
to the Asteroid belt. Unfortunately, we don't have enough experienced personnel as it is, and he<br />
did make it through his Imperial training after failing Guardian training. I can try to switch him<br />
to another Battle Group if you want though?"<br />
Julie sighed, but shook her head, surprising them both <strong>by</strong> reaching across the tabletop and taking<br />
the First Guardian's hand in her own.
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