<i>Lieutenant. </i>He stiffened a bit further at that and opened his mouth to correct her--he wasn't LT anymore, not officially anyway. But before he could the drell interjected, and Cole's eyebrow arched rather high. Talyet's tone took him back at first. Was the alien happy or disappointed? And what did anything have to do with how he looked? He had heard rumors of strange, dark things that went on in the upper echelons of alien society. Asari Matriarchs who liked to keep pet humans. A handful of turian brass who found human copulation fascinating. None of it was true, or so he believed, but an evaluation based on looks alone was unsettling. He murmured assent as she turned to lead the way, adjusting the pack on his shoulder as he fell into step.<br/><br/>If this were some kind of military outfit, he decided, it was the least formal one he'd ever seen. This woman was apparently a commander, but wore no identification to that end. And if the drell were part of the crew... abruptly he found himself wondering in an entirely new light. Shepard had been the first human Spectre, as far as anyone knew, and the success of<i>that</i>Commander could be considered legendary. People could say what they liked about the outcome of the Battle of the Citadel, in Cole's eyes Shepard had saved the right people and pushed for the best options despite the shitfest that had unfolded. What if the council had decided to hand-select another commander? What if this woman was the second human Spectre, and he had been handpicked for covert operation in her crew? It would certainly balm the sting of his dismissal from the Alliance navy.<br/><br/>He was still half-lost in thought when they came to a stop, but when she pointed he followed her finger to the ship itself. That caught his attention something proper. She was a frigate, and on the smaller end at that. Sleek and shiny, the ship couldn't be more than a week old, given the paint job--either that, or the ship's crew took better care of it than he could imagine. But, first things first. He straightened and scowled faintly. "All due respect, ma'am, I'm not really a lieutenant anymore. The Alliance classified me as Cat-6, so I don't really have any kind of proper rank left now." With that said, he looked down at the ship again, then at her. "There's a ton of questions. First of all, what the hell<i>is</i>this? That ship doesn't have any military markings, and I don't recognize the NCS designation. Who are the rest of the crew? What is it that you do?"<br/><br/>Before any of those questions could be properly addressed the hatch just behind the nose of the Anzio slid open, and a quarian wearing as much black and red as she could muster came stomping out onto the dock. "Reese! Please tell me that's the<i>bosh'tet</i>we've been waiting for? I can't finish with everything until I know where he is going to be bunking, and the<i>fre'eg</i>of an engineer won't stop fretting about where his stuff will go. As if that is going to affect the ship's balance!" She threw her hands up and turned to storm back inside, swearing explosively in her native tongue. Cole's mouth was left half-open from the last question he'd asked, his eyes fixed on the angry, petite form as it vanished. He looked back up to Reese and Talyet and quietly pointed after her.<br/><br/>"Uh?"