Lieutenant Jane Xavier luxuriated in the feeling of the cool linen sheets wrapped around her. And in the knowledge of the fact that it was long past noon, and she was still in bed. A day off, she decided, is the most beautiful thing in the universe.
At that moment, a polite beeping from her desk informed Jane that she had an incoming call. She sighed. "No rest for the wicked," Jane observed wryly as she untangled herself from her bed sheets. Managing to extricate everything but one foot, she hopped over to her desk and tapped the answer button. "Lieutenant Xavier here," she told the monitor, before the image of the caller had a chance to appear.
"Good afternoon, Jane," a cheerful voice replied, accompanied by the image of a young redheaded woman in a military uniform appearing on the screen. The woman took stock of Jane's bed-hair and pajamas with a glance. "...Or morning, as you prefer. How're you doing?"
"Well, I was doing great, Cassie, until you woke me up out of the dream I was having," Jane grinned suggestively.
The woman, Cassie, pretended to look remorseful. "My deepest and most profound apologies, then. Listen..." she switched to a more serious tone. "I know it's your day off, but this assignment just came across my desk, and I thou---"
"Cass..." Jane whined with deliberate melodrama, "when was the last time I had a day off, huh?"
"I know. I keep telling you that you work too hard. But I think this assignment will be a nice change of pace for you. General Kellan's having a diplomatic dinner party with some offworlders tonight. We're talking about informal guard duty, and a free meal on the military's tab that doesn't come in a bar or a tube."
"Alright, alright, you've talked me into it. When do I have to be there?"
Cassie glanced to the side, looking at a flexi. "Dinner's at 1800. There'll be a short briefing in the General's office at 1720. And since you'll be on base, you might as well stop in here at 1700 so I can tell you how you should have done your hair." The redhead grinned mischievously.
Jane rolled her eyes, paused, and self-consciously began to tame the brown mess on her head back into something resembling a hairstyle. "Evil woman. Okay, I'll see you at 1700 then. This is military dress, I take it?"
The other woman glanced down at the flexi again, and nodded. "You got it."
Having just achieved victory over her hair, Jane gave a long-suffering sigh. "I will never get used to uniforms. Oh well. See you tonight, Cass." She turned off the transmission, and looked over her shoulder to glare at her uniform, which was innocently draped over a chair. When it stubbornly refused to burst into flame under her gaze, she got up and headed for the shower.