Control your own destiny or someone else will
                                                 - Jack Welch

If everything seems under control, you aren't going fast enough
                                                 -Mario Andretti

"So you're some kinda super brain, huh?"

Major Nyda O'Bannon is staring at the projected screen that contains your life story Kaya and frowning.  When she first tried to log onto your file, she frowned and cursed because of all the security protocols she had to leap through.  Now she's frowning...maybe she just always frowns.  Was she frowning when you walked into the room?

You call up the picture of her.  A short, stocky woman in a crisp naval blue uniform, clean except for the coffee stain on the hem of her right sleeve.  And she seemed to be frowning.  At least she wasn't smiling.

So yes.  She is a frowner.

Major O'Bannon turns the screen off.  She sits back and stares at you for a moment.  You've only met four other people since you enrolled in the academy who knew you were an Ace.  They had varying reactions.  O'Bannon is the first to look at you with such overt disapproval.

But she's got the jack sockets in her shoulder and base of her neck showing she's an AI pilot.    So it probably comes as no surprise she would disappove.

"So tell me..." she finally says in a thin, dispassionate voice, the frown still not fading.  "Why fly for the navy?  Someone like you...you could probably make a lotta cash flying for a corp.  Why'd you go through the academy?"

Welcome to it Kaya.

So you just recently graduated.  For the past little while you've been cooling your heels at a naval base on a moon called Iomede Lesser.  This morning, you got orders from General Ogadi that you should report to O'Bannon.  Ogadi sponsored you into the academy.  You've met him twice in person.  Once when you were recruited and once when he handed you your insignia at the graduation ceremony.

Ogadi's orders were sparse, as has been most of his communications.  O'Bannon has full knowledge of who and what you are.  You can speak openly to her, which makes her the fifth such person in the Navy you would be able to.

I decided to just jump right in.  Let me know if there are questions or concerns.  Thanks

Kaya remained at attention and kept her gaze just above the major's right shoulder, not directly looking at her but at the wall just behind her, a skill pretty much everyone in the armed forces developed quite fast to deal with angry - or annoyed - superiors: it gave the appearance of paying attention without being confrontational.

The young woman decided to take the opening remark as a statement and not a question, so simply didn't answer. Since there probably weren't any right answer anyway, it was for the better. The other questions though... There was no way to avoid answering them. She considered answering some platitude about wanting to serve the Empire or something like that, but it wouldn't be particularly convincing: it already wasn't to her - much - so making anyone else believe it would be a stretch.

Instead, she decided to answer with some truth. Not the whole truth, but a truth nonetheless, “Ma'am, assuming a corp would have paid for flight lessons, half the sector would know what I am after a month, ma'am.” Alright, maybe it wasn't the truth but a "simple" concern, but it was a valid one nonetheless. Corps were good at keeping secrets, but only when that suited them.

Hopefully, O'Bannon wouldn't want to dig deeper into her answer and would instead decide to take care of business. Which, Kaya hoped, meant new orders for her. Meaningful orders that wouldn't keep her frozen on the ground.