When the young pilot started into her life story, Lee couldn't help but be a little relieved-- it at least was a subject other than the "Captain Apollo" she had written a paper about in school. Valerii mentioned her landing troubles, and he nodded. Lee had noticed that in her jacket, but other than a few carefully worded but clearly annoyed notes from the Chief of the Deck, no one seemed to be considering that particular shortcoming too terrible. "Well, I'm sure you're working on those landings. If you've got any questions, I'd be more than happy to give you some pointers," he said off-handedly. "I'm Raptor rated."

Returning the young woman's salute, it was tough not to smile at her exuberance. Lee was sure he'd never been a rook that excited, but then he'd taken a lot different road than Sharon Valerii. In any case, he shuffled the papers of her service records back together, filed them and stood, letting the younger pilot lead the way out of the room.