"Corporal Samuel Righter..."  A silken, female voice said, dripping with venom.<br/><br/><em>Uh oh...</em>Sam thought.  He was in the middle of prepping hundred-mike ammo for himself and the boss, when he'd heard it, and he knew something bad was up.<br/><br/>"That's me."  Sam replied, without moving.  He was hunched over a wooden table, comparing charts of ammunition assignments against those of available stores.  "Who's asking?"<br/><br/>"Alice Miller."  The voice said.  "Federation Intelligence."<br/><br/>At that, Sam did move, turning to face the voice.  He found that it belonged to a leggy blonde, which stood with all the arrogance and self-assurance of a career spook, unlike him.  She stood, hip cocked, smoking, and looking at Sam with something that he couldn't be sure of.  Contempt?  Curiosity, like that of a predator?  He just couldn't tell.<br/><br/>"Well, if you're here to bring me back into my old billet, you can forget it."  Sam said, looking her in the eye.  He knew that the one fatal flaw most people did with Intel was to show weakness.  "I'm a suit pilot, first and foremost."<br/><br/>"I'm not here to birng you back, Sam."  Miller replied.  "I'm doing a follow-up investigation on the case of Colonel Alexander."<br/><br/>"I wasn't here."  Sam said, simply.  "We were on a walk, testing sensors.  The boss's, as well as mine."<br/><br/>"So I've read."  Miller replied, cooly.  "Strange, to do that sort of work at night."<br/><br/>"Not when my night-vision sensors are screwed."  Sam said.  "Best time to recalibrate 'em, at night."<br/><br/>"Indeed."  Miller said, feeling the bite of momentary defeat.  "Strange that all of your unit's suits' data-recorders were blank when you returned."<br/><br/>"The price you pay when you get new equipment."  Sam answered.  "Gotta have time to work the bugs out.  Besides, Anaheim Electronics isn't known for getting everything right.  They built a damned good suit, but there's still a few problems to work out."<br/><br/>"I see..."  Miller said.  Before she turned, she shot Sam one last comment.  "I see that this base isn't short of paperclips, Corporal."<br/><br/>With that, she turned and walked off.  Sam, a bit off guard, simply stared at the woman for a long moment, before he returned to his job.