At the back of the lounge sat the Savonians. It wasn't that they had a predisposition against mingling but rather that the squishy beanbag chair was at the back; [I]Abigail's[/I] squishy beanbag chair. Her throne upon which she slouched and oftentimes spilt food onto both herself and the chair. At present, she was lazily sipping a Froot Skwurt and half dozing off in an attempt to muster up whatever final vestiges of professionalism she had left prior to her time on leave. To her left (on a firmer leather couch) was the hulking Zalavi veteran Jakunta, and next to him sat Aleksanderin Danielsson. Neither had any difficulty composing themselves in a collected, alert manner; they simply chose not to and were engaged in some quiet conversation before Ingram corralled them back for the debriefing. 

Upon mention of Horizon Point, Abigail straightened up to crane her neck at the lounge windows and look out across the unappealing bustle of the shipyard that preceded the food courts, nightclubs, hotels and shops within. Abigail asked Jakunta something, prodding him in the arm. He replied, pausing and sipping his drink - a can of beer. The harsh drawl of a Zalavi accent mingled unpleasantly with the Savonian dialogue.

This was reciprocated by a wistful comment from the younger woman as she slumped back into her beanbag and continued the arduous task of listening. Her eyes narrowed slightly as her datapad lit up and she stared at Clara with a sort of cold curiosity. Jakunta's expression was indifferent and Aleks was typically inscrutable.

 Almost immediately, the comments started. 

Abigail's face furrowed with confusion; she asked something. Jakunta answered her. She continued to talk with some measure of scrutiny before leaning over Jakunta and asking Aleksanderin a question, gesturing to her datapad as she followed it up with some sort of observation. There was little doubt by now who they were talking about.
 
Their previously-silent commander went on a surprisingly long spiel to Abigail. Aleks nodded to himself, traipsing through the conversation like a hiker, stepping through each topic and moving swiftly - jarringly, even, to anyone who didn’t already know him - to the next, like they were obstacles, or puddles on a muddy path. He wondered over something idly, looking down at Abigail sucking on her own little Froot Skwurt. 

Abigail spread her arms in a grandiose gesture. Her eyes lit upon the new girl with a glint of amusement. She started with something in Savonian, then abruptly swapped to English "Welcome aboard, Lieutenant," she called out. No fanfare - no comments, no remarks. Only a big grin and a nod. Aleks gave a nod in the newbie twoie-louie’s direction as Abi called out to her. He made another, quieter comment in Savonian and by that point the name 'Alcántara' undoubtedly cropped up as he added as an aside to Jak and Abi. Abigail leant in to respond.  She really put on the accent as she redirected her grin at the commander, spelling out an 'Alecks-sander-in Danny-ell-sson' at the end of her sentence.

Her comment had unfortunate timing as Ingram explained that the gentleman she just insulted was also in charge of granting her leave request. Her grin was cleanly wiped off her face, the palid expression of realisation replaced it and then twisted into determination. She snatched her data pad and started frantically pressing on the screen. A half second later, Aleks' pad started incessantly pinging with notifications.

"Accept my leave request," Abigail grumbled in English. 

“No.” Aleks grinned, turning his pad to silent.

"A real Savonian warrior would kneel at the request of a fair lady," Abigail reminded him. 

“Savolax.” He corrected her politely. “You are also neither fair nor ladylike.”

"Can't fault you on that one, but this is...well, it's entrapment. We don't really need to wait until 1700 hours, do we?" Abigail gesticulated at the window. "It's right there! There's people on it! Safe as can be!" 

“Only until it explodes, or the Coalition launches a surprise invasion and captures us as prisoners of war, or the water supply becomes contaminated and people violently hallucinate, or the world ends - et cetera, et cetera, and so on.” Aleks snarked at her. “You should learn to think before you speak, just imagine all of the boys in shitty bars you won’t have to buy you drinks now.”

"And girls. Mostly Savonian, some foreign. It's hard being a celebrity sometimes," Abigail sighed. "All I have are my fat UEE royalties cheques to wipe my tears at night. It's all they're really good for because I can't go on fucking leave to spend them." She changed tactics. "But enough about me. Think of poor Jakunta!"

The Zalavi grunted and stopped staring at Clara to glower down at Abigail as she continued her tirade. "We're denying this soldier his dues. He has a right - a fundamental human need - to physiotherapy after such a long and stressful mission. How can you face yourself in the mirror each morning knowing you've let him suffer for so long?" 

Aleksanderin looked down at Abigail and responded in patronisingly formal Savonian. Even the English speakers could make out the phrase 'cocksucking' tossed in once or twice and whatever he said had immediate effect as Abigail's expression instantly turned into one of outrage. "That's low. Even for you," she hissed with disgust. "Ingram! Aleks says I don't get [I]any[/I] leave today!" 

Aleks was grinning, a big, stupid, chesire cat smile. He had nothing to hide.