[color=C5632B][h2]LT Anu Varakjit[/h2][/color]

"A-and what would you like to drink, sir?"

Lieutenant Anu Varakjit raised an eyebrow at the young crewman that was the bartender of the officer's bar. He took a deep breath.

"Water."

"J-just water?"

"Yes, [i]water[/i]." 

"A-at once, sir."

Anu quietly shook his head as the crewman dove yet again into the sea of glass and alcohol. The lieutenant was, as always, decked out in his officer's uniform, his officer's stripes proudly gleaming on the sides of his shoulders. As the crewman rummaged through the sea of bottles, corks and mixers, Anu let out a deep, long, and very noticeable sigh.

The crewman turned around, slightly startled.

"S-sir?"

"How [i]long[/i] can it take to find a glass of water?"

"S-sorry, sir." 

The crewman forced a smile and returned to his search. For a brief moment, Anu let himself study the man. He was clearly very, very fresh, as denoted by the lack of anything noticeably shiny on his uniform, and was a little too red-faced for a battle-tested soldier who let his blood flow more productively. He could also tell it was his first time in the officer's bar by his blatant servility. 

[i]Servility[/i].

For a moment, Anu cringed inwardly. Servility. What an ugly, ugly word. It was what smothered the talents of the best of men, and what upheld the dainty little positions of the fat cats up top. Servility was the one thing he detested as a soldier. If all a soldier was to do was to follow orders, then why didn't they replace all the Navy with drones? No. A soldier was to fight, and if breaking the rules meant he would fight better, he would break the rules. And it was because of the apparent lack of understanding of the term [i]servility[/i], Anu mused, that this little man in the officer's bar would not get very far in his career.

The crewman promptly reappeared with a glass of water. Anu set it aside first. The crewman awkwardly shifted from side to side with a typical cadet's visitor's smile. Anu in turn turned to stare at him - or pierce his very soul with his deep, mahogany brown eyes, tilting his head ever so slightly to give off an aura of condescension. The crewman was terrified. Anu relished the fact that he was terrified. It was one of the perks of being high up. He allowed himself to chuckle, and the crewman exhaled in relief.

"From where do you hail, private?"

The crewman was evidently taken aback, but the doctrines of the academy still had full control over his mind and mouth. "The Beta Cygni system, sir."

"Ah." Anu turned to focus his eyes on a peculiar colored liquid in a bottle in the distance. "Very nice, I recall. Their colonies had wonderful birds they brought from Earth."

"Uh, m-my colony had no birds, sir."

Anu again raised another eyebrow. "What?"

The crewman swallowed. "I-I only saw birds when I got to the a-academy on Earth, sir." He started shifting from side to side again. "But we did have some beautiful possums back home."

"Ah." Anu made no effort to hide his utter disinterest in the crewman's life story. He then picked up his glass and drank.

Half a second later, the crewman found himself sprawled at the other end of the bar. A few meters away from him, the lieutenant's eyes were screaming wildfire. 

"That was [i]vodka![/i]"

"Oh, m-my apologies, si-"

"Don't you know I'm forbidden to drink alcohol?!" Anu marched forward, and the crewman braced for an impact that never came. Anu had been swiftly restrained by his fellow officer patrons.

"I'm going to have you reported and court-martialled, you son of a bitch!" Anu was frothing at the mouth, his saliva centimeters away from staining his crisp uniform. "What's your name and serial number?!"

"Hey, hey, soldier, let me take it from here." A big Irishman stepped in between them, as he directed two other officers to get the crewman to his feet. Anu shoved him away and turned to march out of the room.

"Jesus [i]fucking[/i] Christ!"

Another officer quietly sniggered at the back. "Thought this bloke was Hindu."

Anu whirled around, searching for the heckler, but failed to find him. "My god is a god of peace, and I do not call on him if I am angry," he spat.

"I'm not so sure about yours."

[hr]

[i]"All hands, the Galatia will be exiting hyperspace in 30 minutes. Elevating readiness to Alert 1, report to your commanding officers and await further orders."[/i]

"Sir."

"Lieutenant."

"Lieutenant."

"Sir."

Lieutenant Varakjit did not return the greetings he received as he traversed the zero-gravity corridor. He was still deep in rage from the 'incident' that occurred at the bar a few hours earlier, they said. Whatever they said, the lieutenant was strongly inclined to not give a shit. He had to get into a mission to keep it off his mind. 

He pressed the green button at the briefing room and went in.