((Sorry, been a long morning and just getting to this. Long Post)<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/6b/Lt_Laura_Alicia_Hicks.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Lt. Commander Laura Allecia Hicks</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>(Mission Commander's Office</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td> Lt. Col. Louise Cotter &amp; DMC (Deputy Mission Commander) Stefan Versatile</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td> Conducting Business.</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>Laura felt her cheeks brightening but shot back to Lou, "be careful, I might like it. Falling over your lap is a lot easier up here." Spanking was perhaps the only thing that she could think of that she hadn't expected, nor tried. "You pervert" she finished with a subtle wink when Stfan's back was turned. Their relationship wasn't secret, but there was no point in imphasisizng it before the company rep.<br/><br/>She nodded and settled down to watch the recording, looking back to Lou as the mention of her friends loss was mentioned. She offered her friend and lover a sympathic smile, knowing how much she still cared for her lost love. Laura had also lost friends, companions and even a lover; but they had almost exclusively been in combat or a training accident. SEALS trained hard and injuries were far from unknown... and their missions always carried high risk labels. But, this was different and Laura could understand that. She would offer some words later when they were alone.<br/><br/>She nodded in agreement as Lou finished the transmission going back to Earth, "Perhaps we could name the new housing block after him... hell, we could name just about every structure on the planet after the lost mission members... a lasting memorial to their sacrifice." She thought for the moment, How about the Control Center?"<br/><br/>She listened to the proposals for ranks, "We're on Mars Colonel, we can pretty much do whatever we feel necessary for the good of the colony... We don't have a navy, won't have one for decades and all of the other forces all use the same rank system..." She smiled slightly, "You could say that our enlistments ran out halfway here; my official time ends next year, so I'll be fine as a major... even if I strove for Captain." She smiled a little wider, It does make sense."<br/><br/>She thought for a few moments again, "I do have one thing to bring up... our people have been working hard for months, and then sleeping for more months... they are going to want to get out onto the surface and if we try to stop it, we're going to just make them more determined to do it." She looked from Stefan to Louise and bit her lip, "I would suggest that we let them venture out, short distances, when they get off duty. They can take a look around and as time goes on, go a little further... I'm already working up SAR exercises for when someone gets lost, or there's an accident... I'll have that on your desk later today. I'm thinking that if we allow them short periods of freedom now, they won't be tripping the alarms of the emergency locks trying to sneak out and we know who's out and when... they've waited a long time to get here and they won't be kooped up much longer."<br/><br/>She let out a breath and nodded to Stefan, "If you like, Mr. Versatile... we'll have to work together for a long time and formality in private will only make it more difficult."<br/><br/>She gave Louise a mischievous grin and hit her with a pic she had been saving for months... a extremely provokative pose of herself with a sign over her chest, "Welcome to Mars!"<br/>