"So?" He said finally, his patience worn.

Finn paused and looked at the Major more than a little surprised. Frohman almost seemed giddy, excited, like a child on the last day of school. It was odd to see such enthusiasm from his mentor. It was also contagious. Finn smiled, getting caught up in the energy and then he stopped, cold.

"Am I an 'Agent of Influence', Major?"

"Pardon?"

"The General referred to me as an 'Agent of Influence'."

"Are you sure?" Ethan had a terrible poker face. Finn said as much.

"Yeah, sort of."

Finn was adamant now, "How was I supposed to influence him?"

"MacPherson's been spending too much time with 'Fleeties'," Finn bristled at the phrase, he didn't like the inter-departmental rivalry between Fleet and Ground Ops, mostly because he'd been in both branches, "he needs to get back to his roots."

Finn didn't understand. His expression gave it away a moment before the light came on, "So, you're surrounding him with Elite Ground Forces so he'll…" Think, Finn, think! "It's about money!"

Ethan smiled. This kid was good. He nodded. "We pushed to get a Ground Ops Commander in charge of the military two years ago so we could even out the funding imbalance, since MacPherson took over though funding for Ground Ops has dropped more than ten per cent."

Finn was uncomfortable with the political end of funding, both services needed more, "If the Admiralty is able to make the better case for more funds then..."

"It's nothing about case arguments, Leftenant. It's all about spending the extra cash they're already getting to wine and dine the one who signs their cheques. General MacPherson needs to be reminded there are other forces under his command, which is why the six of us are leading "Green Teams" that will do everything possible to keep the 'Fleeties' away, and show him not all of the 'best and brightest' wear blue."

You couldn't argue with that logic. Finn knew all too well funding was insufficient for field teams. Armour was lacking in key areas but more importantly Troopers were spread too thin on some important missions and that increased mission failure rates.

"So how did I do?"

Ethan stopped; his expression grew serious very quickly. Finn turned to him, "Surely you were watching."

Reluctantly Ethan nodded, he held up a portable display for Finn to see, "He's signed off another ten thousand Troopers for the area. Good job, Leftenant, we'll make a spy of you yet."

Finn chuckled at the thought. Spies... what an outdated concept that was.

It hadn't seemed that long ago that she and Victoria were both traipsing around the Globe, spacesetters in the Titanium Age of travel, marking their conquests in ways that sometimes made her blush to think about, though usually they brought a wry smile to her pursed lips.

Sure, the tight bun she kept her hair in did nothing to soften her looks, but it was eminently functional and that seemed to take priority these days. In fact, as she thought about it, "functional" was the guided principle of her life now.

Still, why did they have to put these damn mirrors everywhere? It was bad enough aging, did one have to witness it as well?

She glanced at her chrono, ten seconds, nine, eight, seven... A final tug at the dress, a final flick of that wayward lock and...

The elevator stopped at the 3rd floor and its doors opened revealing the towering form of an Amazon woman in Station Security togs with the name "HARGITAY" on her nameplate. She eyed Andrea keenly before determining that she wasn't a threat. Silly Trooper.

Then Hargitay stepped aside, allowing her V.I.P, Bradley Robinson, to enter alone. He looked tired, a fact Andrea noted, another indication of how intense the negotiations were going. The doors closed cutting off the din of a packed conference and the elevator resumed its ascent without further delay.

"Packed house." She said plainly.

"True." He replied warily while watching the indicator track their ascent.

"So, we've got ten thousand Troopers out of the old goat..."

Robinson's finger came up rapidly and his intense gaze put an end to her sentence immediately. He reached over and tapped in a series of codes that brought the elevator to an immediate stop and then pulled out a small comm-unit, at least that's what it looked like, and as he held it up, he slid a trigger active which caused the device to emit a gentle and soothing hum. Only then did he say anything.

"You've got to be more cautious than that, Leftenant."

"I'm sorry, sir." She'd never directly spoken with Robinson before, despite being present for many of the meetings with him at the Strategic Intelligence center on Station Five. He was definitely more threatening in person and doubly so in such a confined space. Andrea found it quite invigorating.

"MacPherson has released ten thousand Troops to the Buffalo Commons mission."

"It's not enough."

Andrea was deflated. It was five times what they had currently. "Maybe once they get in-field we can..."

Robinson cut her off. He was speaking with a supernumerary and knew there was little point in doing so, but he was also mad as hell. "We need more than a few thousand recruits to do this job! We need trained specialists, a wide range of skill sets! Buffalo Commons is bigger than the Sudd. We should have at least as many Troopers!"

Andrea knew it wasn't about size, the Sudd was a war zone, the Network was the only thing halting decades of genocide and dictatorships. By comparison Buffalo Commons was a bar fight. It was probably why MacPherson didn't see the need for large-scale operations. "General, with all due respect, it's hard to justify Troopers on the basis of size."

Robinson glared at her. It was bad enough he couldn't convince others, but his own people? "The Sudd has infrastructure, running water, the mechanisms of government, electricity, everything. Even the highways in the Commons are grown over rubble."

"Ten thousand is a good start."

It wasn't good enough, Network operations for the quarter would have their budgets locked in days. He reached over and reactivated the Elevator allowing it to resume transit. As it arrived on its floor and the doors opened, Robinson started out, but stopped and turned to with his most intense look yet, "Fix it, Leftenant!"

He left and as the mirrored doors of the elevator closed Andrea looked at her reflection and noted she'd just aged another year.