Commander Susan Piazza wasn’t used to the kind of pushback she was receiving. Most of her career involved communicating with military personnel and she’d worked with her fair share of civilians—except never like these.
What did she have to do to get through to these people?
Most civilian contractors fell into one of two categories: cowed by her military rank, or self-important jackasses who she had no compunction about running over as needed.
In all fairness, there was a third category that she’d done her level best to cultivate over the years: the competent. She remembered something Richard had explained to her long ago. He was a JAG lawyer she’d dated whenever they’d chanced to land on the same base, until he’d settled down for some unknown reason. It was an urge she’d never shared. L
