Ajay was surprised by the commanding officers' informality. Back where and Amita hailed from, officers tended to be aloof, formal and very impersonal with their orders and manner; at least the ones that weren't enlisted, anyway. And he'd had very little experience with those, what with being a pilot and all. While it was vicious rumours and libellous to the highest order, much of the back-room gossip from the pilots and other personnel leaned toward the fact that most officers in commander positions in the armed forces had got their positions through connections, wealth, favours or blackmail, rather than deserved promotions.
Of course, it wasn't his place to think about such things.
Instead, he gave a brief glance over their commander-to-be instead. He seemed friendly, which was... surprising! Not unwelcome, but surprising. He glanced at Amita, who was looking around at the other pilots, trying to be discreet about it, but her interest and curiosty about their new comrades was hard to disguise, as was the interest on her face. For his part, the older pilot leant back in his chair a little, and tried to put his mind at ease; he was eager to hear more about what would come next.