Liam was drinking his beer and maybe drank it a little too fast, dealing with what he and everyone else at the SGC deals with, drinking beer is a necessity. Getting out of the base whenever possible and when on Earth is also a necessity or you'd never get out, something always comes up and sometimes you just need to hit the pause button and make a run for it.

Liam got another beer and watching the baseball game, it was only the Royals and the Tigers and Liam didn't like either of them but it was early still and the real games didn't start until later and Liam wasn't a big fan of watching baseball, too many games and too long to watch. Now football, hockey, those are real sports and exciting to watch, more so for football rather than hockey since there are only 16 games which are far more entertaining.

Liam sat down by himself for a few minutes and it looked like the SGC was busy or people just didn't come here tonight, Liam decided to go say hey to David and his lady friend who Liam was sure was military but didn't recognize her, she could be new or just doesn't work in the SGC, the Air Force Academy and Peterson Air Force Base is just right up the street, she could work at either of those. The Army is also nearby and she may be in the Army.

Either way, Liam would find out momentarily. He left his Doritos on the table, they were gone and Liam took his beer with him as he walked up to David's booth. "Hey David, long time no see." Liam said then turned to his female companion, "Lieutenant Colonel Liam Hart, US Army." He normally wouldn't include his rank in there but he had a feeling she was military and to find out she would reply after he said that rather than just Liam Hart. He extended his hand for a handshake as he stood next to their booth.

"The AK-47 hadn't been put into production yet, so he was definitely not wrong. And sadly, no. Picked it up at an estate sale from a kid who thought it was rusty old relic from something his grandpa had half-lied about doing to make himself seem more important to uncaring shits of grandchildren. If I felt like dealing with the Pentagon I could try to pull the service deployment record of the weapon but that would only be half the story and the guy who brought it back is long dead." Needless to say, that was a great loss that was so grand in scope the two of them combined couldn't properly appreciate it so they were both going to shrug it off. Like soldiers were supposed to do about things that were beyond them.

Taft resisted the natural urge to look at the subject of her question when she asked about him. That would have been a dead give away that they were talking about him. "A Lt. Colonel, Heart if I remember correctly. He's in our program but has been on leave since before you arrived at base. If all goes well your roommate will be the focus of most of his attention for the foreseeable future." Taft subtly flattened his hand on the table and patted the surface twice, a standby signal as he suddenly caught the shape of the very same Lt. Colonel approaching them.

He looked at the Lt. Colonel levelly before slowly shifting his eyes as he was suddenly divided from Fia by implication of assumption. Somewhere, vaguely, he recalled an Ask Miss So-and-So column that had insisted that the common connection between two strangers, such as the situation dictated Taft was in that moment, do the introducing. Alas, Heart must not have read that one. Taft's position settled ever so slightly into a completely different demeanor. "Please, sir, call me by my Christian name..." he started.

Fia caught the signal seconds before the Lieutenant Colonel came into her peripheral vision. He seemed a friendly sort, wandering over with beer in hand. Perhaps he hadn't realized this was a date, Fia had been prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. Until he spoke...

Maybe he thought the fact they were off base allowed for laxity, though Fia couldn't imagine how he had come to that conclusion. She had been in the mountain 2 weeks, and it had only taken days to catch on to Taft's preferred name. Hell, she knew the taste of the man's skin and even she didn't call him David.

The over familiarity had an effect on Taft as well. The quasi smile he had sported most of the day disappeared and the gleam in his eye became a glint. That was the face to strike fear into lesser men. The soldier across from her rumbled, "Please, sir, call me by my Christian name..."

Sergeant Major she finished, punctuating it with knowing smile and a swig of her second perry. She let that hang in the air for a moment before Nana's insistence on good manners, regardless of circumstances, kicked in. Major* Fiametta Serigliano, US Air Force. She answered, nodding in greeting.


*(I know everything says captain, the thread where she earns the promotion hasn't gotten to that point yet.)

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"Please, sir, call me by my Christian name..." What is it with this man and wanted to be called by his rank? Liam didn't know, everyone knew his rank and most people called him by it but not Liam, he was one of the few who could call him by his name, whether he liked it or not, he didn't like to call everyone by rank, not unless he had too. Is Sergeant Major even a Christian name? Liam didn't think it was, but that was the wry sense of humor of the Marine...

Sergeant Major. The Major finished the sentence for him. It seems like he met his match, they're already finishing each others sentence, isn't that sweet? And if she is military she is obviously an officer, she looked like one much more so than an enlisted member.

Major* Fiametta Serigliano, same. Ah Italian woman, clearly. Liam returned the nod, she is obviously new to the program or Liam would've known her, but he didn't so either she wasn't in the program or she just started within the last few weeks...

Well, nice to meet you Major. Where are you based out of? Liam asked not wanting to say the name out loud if she wasn't in the program, it is highly classified and is a special access program, he wasn't going to say it out loud unless she already knew about it, which she would only if she was involved in it. It is good to see you as well, David. Liam said with an emphasis on David.

(Understood, Warlord gave me the heads up before, also.)

Taft narrowed his eyes. It wasn't so much that the man called him David, though that was annoying enough all on its own. It was that he addressed Fia as Major without request, displaying respect for her accomplishments, in one sentence and then dismissed the request for the same from Taft. Well, it was his fight to pick. Taft was just gonna oblige him. "Fortunate you weren't around, people got hurt." No suggestion about why that was good. He took a swallow of his lemonade and let Fia answer the questions aimed at her for herself.

Oh, the expression on Taft's face did not bode well. While she had no doubts things were going to get interesting, she decided then and there to say out of it. Boys will be Boys, as Nana said, no matter their ages. And these two boys looked like they about ready to get in a pissing match.

I transferred into the mountain couple of weeks back, under General Hammond. She answered Hart's unspoken question as discretely as she could. Before that I was stationed out of Davis, 48th Rescue Squadron. Seems like ages ago, not just a couple of weeks. She smiled, her normal friendliness coming to the fore. She would have Taft all to herself for the rest of the night, she could give up a little of that time to Hart.

Haven't seen you about, on leave were you?

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"Fortunate you weren't around, people got hurt." Liam wasn't sure what to make of that, was he really upset I used his real name instead of his rank? He is starting to sound like John-117, Master Chief, Liam thought. He may not be a huge scifi fan but his son is and he happens to know a little bit about Master Chief who is one of the main Spartans and the first. But another reason why he used his first name was because he knew him personally, more so than the Major and a lot of other Officers and Enlisted personnel.

Not sure what that is supposed to mean, but for the record in all of my years being a Special Forces Officer, only four people under my command got injured, two died. As an SG Team Leader, I got the same results, the enemies out there are a lot more dangerous than the Taliban. Liam said before hearing the Major talk.

I transferred into the mountain couple of weeks back, under General Hammond. Before that I was stationed out of Davis, 48th Rescue Squadron. Seems like ages ago, not just a couple of weeks. Liam nodded, before she continued. Haven't seen you about, on leave were you?

"That I was, fortunately. I never really took time off before and my son is thirteen years old, I had to go see him while I could. I was gone for the last two weeks and now I am back for who knows how long, we never get out of the mountain as much as we should." Liam said lying, they got out of the mountain, quite often, just happened to be on other planets and that isn't something he could say out loud in a restaurant.

(I edited my intro post up above, I said US Air Force, Liam is US Army... I forgot.)

Small sphere of responsibility. Narrow tactical goals. Hand full of elite, heavily trained, highly skilled, immensely motivated, battle hardened soldiers who were well rested and impeccably equipped. Against enemies who often didn't know they were there, or what their primary goal was. Watched over with real time satellite imaging, advanced tactical analysis, and a control center full of very intelligent people to assist with planning and alteration should things not work out according to that plan. Somehow, apparently, Hart had managed to lose a couple of them. Special Ops...

"Now bust yourself down to Staff Sergeant and try invading a city full of people who hate you with the utmost intensity with nothing but street maps taken out of local gas stations, laughably inaccurate, misnomer-ed 'intel', and 30+ 18-year-olds who've never been in a fist fight let alone had a bullet fired at them in anger. Four injured and two dead would suddenly become very impressive." Percentage-wise, 6 down was really pretty at the Sergeant level. Epic, legendary, miraculous even. Up at the Special Forces level that was equal to a 100% team loss. Taft knew, he'd done both jobs. He took a casual sip of his lemonade, the whole thing had been delivered in an analytical tone. Channeling the Gunnery Sgt experience of 'advising' officers on how best not to spend their troops like wooden nickels.

Fia's eyes flicked from one man to the other. That was one of the few areas she and Taft differed. She, like Hart, had been part of a elite team. While she certainly had seen her share of combat, Fia had never truly been 'in the trenches'. That sort of experience shaped a different kind of man, and Taft had sought out that experience. She smiled over at him, reflecting it was just the right kind of different.

He has a point. She turned that smile onto Hart, though it lost of it's little fire. I don't know how far down on the ladder you started, but i know my 'tours' weren't a day in day out fight. We were called in for special missions and held in reserve otherwise. The guys with their boots on the ground were fighting a very different war than I was.

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"Now bust yourself down to Staff Sergeant and try invading a city full of people who hate you with the utmost intensity with nothing but street maps taken out of local gas stations, laughably inaccurate, misnomer-ed 'intel', and 30+ 18-year-olds who've never been in a fist fight let alone had a bullet fired at them in anger. Four injured and two dead would suddenly become very impressive." He may have a point but he knew what he was signing up for as did Hart when he decided to try out to become a Special Forces Officer.

Well Sergeant Major, that is the difference between us. I am a Lieutenant Colonel and a career Special Forces Officer, I was never really on the front line but when we are in action, it is always dangerous and no matter how good the intelligence is, there is always something that happens that throws that intelligence out the window. Intelligence changes between the time we get the intel to the time while we're performing our mission and then even extraction has to change quite often because we encountered a problem and had to change to a back up plan. Now, some of our missions are unplanned missions that just came in and intelligence sucks as it is urgent and needs to happen ASAP before the hostage dies or the terrorist leader leaves the area.

Me being an Officer on an elite team is different than you being a Senior NCO on the front lines, you knew what you were signing up for and you knew most people on the front lines are young kids, surely you are going to deal with more losses than I would but that doesn't mean that because we're more highly trained and covert that we shouldn't or couldn't lose people. Now those four people injured resulted in two caused by gunshot wounds and the other two being accidents with falling down and breaking an ankle or leg. The two that died was from a booby trap that was planted that intelligence didn't catch, it turned out that they knew we were coming and were waiting for us and were long gone.

He has a point. I don't know how far down on the ladder you started, but i know my 'tours' weren't a day in day out fight. We were called in for special missions and held in reserve otherwise. The guys with their boots on the ground were fighting a very different war than I was. Siding with the Sergeant Major, interesting.

True, he does have a point, a very relevant point. The thing is, no matter how position we're all fighting the same wars, maybe different angles but that is the point of Special Operations (as in the whole US SOCOM community), we are the elite units that work behind enemy lines and are usually always outgunned and outmanned. We rely on our training and teammates to succeed, and when in doubt we could get injured or die. Being on the front lines is definitely different but we all lose people, we don't work under ideal circumstances, we may have better training, equipment and intelligence but nothing ever goes according to plan and when that happens, we're on our own and we could die. You both obviously know that, we may work in different arenas but we are facing the same enemy and they are ruthless and deadly.