"Unfortunately. I've been here for something to the tune of... five months." Phil takes the hand with a professional shake, if a little hesitant--he's still getting used to the claws.

Phil is so glad that he's run into a guy who can take a sarcastic barb or two and dishes them back out. He's really not in the mood to expend energy being more polite than comes naturally to him. "We'll walk and talk. You've got a muster drill to go to, don't you, trooper?"