"Considering how foul things can be when it's simply a matter of humans not trusting other humans, I can only imagine how much worse it must be with humanoid machines." She shivered a little and took a long swallow of her drink, just stopping herself from making a crack about humanoid aliens.

"Haven't we all," she said to the comment about bad commanding officers. "The ones who forget that they're commanding people, not simply organising resources, the ones who are flat-out stupid ... oh yes. It makes the good ones all the more precious." She thought fondly of Cicero Hood, the "Black Attila" whose fearsome reputation belied the love and loyalty he inspired in his people. Now there was someone she hadn't thought about in a while.