| Access Walkways |
| Summary: | S3 and MaA discuss security cameras |
| Date: | 26 Apr 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | Anything to do with access walkway security cameras. |
| Players: |
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| Master-at-Arms Office - Deck 6 |
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| Glorified supply closet, with filing cabinets |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #424 |
Constin had caught Vandenberg at the entrance to Marine Country, and gruffly requested a word in his office. Thus, through the Security Hub and into the MaA's office, where Elf had insisted on hauling the hatch shut behind them before saying anything. Even then the big man had wandered back to his seat before speaking.
Vandenberg doesn't seem surprised by the request. She's back in her greens and probably still working on strike planning. No secret she's been in higher spirits the past few days - even despite the promotion the night before. She follows him in and seals the door behind them and quirks her brow. "What's kickin, Elf? Somethin' goin south?" Natalie asks, stuffing her hands into her pockets.
Constin clears his throat at the 'whats going south' question. "Ahuh. Hmm." Stoneface kept intact, even following the unusual throat-clearing. "Nah, Vandy. Figure you just kicked off work in Map Room on Deck seven maybe twenty minute ago, yeah?"
Vandenberg nods a few times. "Yeah. I'm firming up the dropzone coordinates as much as possible. Its old data but I've been trying to look at old weather patterns for the area around Lampridis. Lookin at wind sheer and that kinda stuff. Don't wanna get blown sideways into a cliff face or something aye?" She smirks but notes the clearing. Nat lifts her chin. "What's up? Don't figure you're walkin me in here for coffee talk and gossip. I go to Corrath for that." She winks at the big honkin MaA.
Constin doesn't give the typical dry sniff of humor to the jab at Corrath's expense. "Was sitting in on security monitoring in the Hub a bit ago. Pretty routine thing. Reviewing the security feeds, Deck by Deck. Working on Deck Four, scanning through the feeds, looking for anything where folk set still for too long." A drawn breath. "Came upon a piece from Twenty-four April. Little.. side access corridor, don't get much traffic, but there was a couple folk parked there for a little while."
Vandenberg nods along easily as Elf goes through what he was doing.. then he gets to the part about people lingering on Deck Four. That expression falls and she stops breathing. Twenty-four April. Side access. She finally remembers to breath again and pulls those hands out to cross her arms. She's trying to be calm but doing a horrible job. "Yeah?" It probably isn't hard for a cop like Elf to pick out when someone is nervous personally. "S- so what'd you see?" Swallow.
"Vandy, you gonna make me spell it out?" Constin asks plainly. "Ain't a thing wrong, just thought you oughta know. There ain't a whole lotta places where there ain't no surveillance, but access walkways ain't on the list, yeah?"
Vandenberg's boot bounces, the color draining from her face. She is a complete deer in the headlights. To his first question, the shake of her head is very short and fast, almost looking like a spasm. Nerves to that to you. At the end she moves quickly for the seat i nfront of his desk and leans forward, looking at him while she hugs herself. "Elf. You haven't told anyone have you?" She isn't quite to Panic, but she's worried. Definitely.
Constin gives the new Captain an almost offended look. "Course not," he mutters. "The Em-Pee who was running the feed at the time saw- can't say for sure if he knew who it was- but made it real clear that it'd be his ass in a sling if he let it slip." Belatedly, he settles into his own chair.
At some point while Elf was moving to his chair, Natalie's hands have moved to cover her mouth. "You saw who was on it." Well duh. She seems to sort of relaxing now that he's said all that. "Oh Gods, Elf. Thank you. I- I didn't want to say anything. I want to protect her.. from.. stuff." She swallows hard, the color still gone. "She's so great at being strong and.. Canceran. I don't want people to start seeing chinks in that armor. It wouldn't be fair to her. And if she thinks I'm going to be a burden I-" She takes a breath and looks away, her hands dropping. Van looks delirious. Elbows prop to her knees and her face disappears into her hands with another heavy sigh. "Frak me, Elf. Only time and we get busted on a godsdamned security camera."
"Damnation, Vandy, keep the crazy on the inside for a second, will you?" Elf returns after listening while Vandenberg's nerves go verbal. "Take a couple breaths in quiet, yeah?" Letting out a breath of his own, before he goes on, Elf notes, "Armor still goes on over flesh and blood. Being human ain't a chink in the armor. ..Well, unless it's one of these fellas-" he motions at slanted eyes, with a tight grin. "There's a whole lotta places where folk can find a touch of privacy, hear?"
Natalie lifts her face from her hands enough to look up at him when she tells him to take a few breaths. In the end she nods slowly and sits back in the chair, crossing her legs and resting her head in the palm of a hand, leaned slightly to the side as she looks back at the man across the desk. "Yeah. I gotcha. Thanks." Eyes drift. "Yeah, I'm just worried I'm going to be a giant pain in her ass. Heh, as if that's not something I should be used to by now." She flashes her eyes at the irony of her statement. "You, ah, you're probably my best friend on the boat, Elf." She keeps the words tight, clearing her throat nervously. "You want to say anything to me? Not as, like, Marine to Marine. Just, you know." She's trying to be cool about this but being thrown into shock like that suddenly takes a few minutes to wear off.
"Was gonna say.." Elf drawls, with a short-lived smirk as Natalie adds her line about being used to her 'pain in the ass' status. The latter invitation to speak is answered with a moment's consideration. "You got Oh-Three marine clearance, Vandy. You can access any non-essential storage you want. Deck Eight's got some space." After another moment, he adds, "No shit? If this is a good thing? You damn well keep it. Long as you can." A small smile tugs his lip upward. "Hell, least you got good taste, yeah?"
Van finally manages a short laugh and rolls her eyes away with a small smile at his remark about the pain in the rear. She nods to the mention of the place on Deck Eight. "Yeah. Just looking for privacy on this ship is ridiculous. I'll take any recommendations I can get from you. At least you, well, have experience finding them." She looks back to him with the last and blushes a bit. "Thanks, Elf. Really. I have no idea what I'm doing. That ..it means a lot. In case you can't tell this is a little nerve wracking. Nobody plans for this."
"You don't say?" Elf drawls at 'more than a little nerve wracking'. He nods a couple times, relaxing back into his chair, and shifting his weight in a effort to get more comfortable. "Well, you skipped the easiest way to find privacy: get with a Deckie. Past that, just try to frakking relax. Damnation, should've taken a video of your face just a bit ago, so you could see how twisted up you was," he needles lightly.
"Yeah, actually I do say!" Natalie retorts with mock wild eyes. At least she's still smiling, running her hand up into her hair. "Yeah, I imagine between you and your wife you found some good places to be private. I- Its not that I'm looking for a place to- well- you know. That's.." Awkward silence. She's still not sure about that. "I know how I feel but that's a different- Or I don't know. I didn't say that." To the rest she barrows her eyes playfully. "You're just lookin for a new wound, ain't ya? I'll try to relax, though. Always stuck with guys. I still like guys. Just- weird. Tryin to go with it." She clears her throat. "You think you could make sure that videotape never gets further than the incinerator?"
"Like I said, Vandy: ain't sure what this is for you two? But I know real good how big it gets to unwind with folk you can trust. And that it gets a whole lot easier when you got a touch of space to yourself, yeah?" Elf cracks a broad grin at being accused of looking for a new wound, before reining it back in to reply, "I ain't gonna destroy security footage, Vandy. I can bury it in the database, and I already did clear the timestamp from the monitoring station- ain't no reason anybody will know there was anything special about that camera at that time- but I ain't gonna destroy the tape."
Natalie listens to the first part with a little bit of a smile and nods at the end. "Yeah. Every guy I've dated? Its been great to have time alone. Just to relax. Like you said, unwind. I guess its not a bad way to look at it, aye?" she says impishly. "She ain't, but that's.. who I've been? Who I am? Hell, I don't know anymore." She rolls her eyes at herself and lifts her head from her hand. "Yeah, okay fair enough. Thanks. I just want something like that buried. I've got enough guys that I think are interested at the moment that I don't think it would help Khloe or I any." At least she's using the name. "Eventually it'll become public knowledge, I'm sure. Nothing stays hidden on these ships for long, I gather. I'd just rather it be about us at this stage. Not a pair of blonde and a brunette Captains."
"Heh. You'd be surprised how far some discretion and a bit of forethought will get you," Constin notes, with a knowing grin of his own. "Long as you two don't get chatty, should be all good." A breath drawn and let out. "Listen, I ain't gonna bring this shit up? But you need a word, you can have it. So there you go." He smirks, briefly. "But I won't tell your chain of admirers about this blond and brunette Captain thing. Cause then you might need a stick to chase them off."
Natalie smirks, shaking a finger at him. "You have an excellent point, my brother. Maybe I should apply some of my S-Three duties to this relationship, aye?" She winks and then nods to the rest. "Thanks, Elf. I might need someone to vent at. I'll keep it in mind. But you got somethin' to say, just tell me. We ain't a coupla blokes from shit creek, darlin. Speak your mind if it finds ya. And I appreciate about the chain. Last thing I need is people gettin ideas. I don't know whether to be embarrassed or giddy half the time. Part of me still thinks I'm nuts, but hey.. like ya said.. If its a good thing, keep it as long as I can."
"That last bit's all I really gotta say. Said it. You heard it," and that's as far as Elf pushes it for the moment. "Sometime all us folk from the Old World gotta set around and have words, yeah? Unless you gotta go passing notes to each other under the table, or.. some other kinda girlie shit."
Natalie nods to Elf and slowly rises from the chair with a long breath taken in. "Yeah, we do. Thanks, man. Seriously. You're a life saver. Sorry for that reaction. Feels kinda good to be able to talk to someone about it. And.." She chuckles. "No, no notes under the table. We're adults, Elf. Hopefully we can all behave like it. Thanks again for keepin this down." She flashes him a smile.
Constin dips his head to the gratitude, but doesn't dwell on it. He even passes up the joke about what adults do in place of passing notes. "You got it. Luck," he wishes in conclusion. Raising his left hand to itch at the side of his neck, he wonders, "Anything else, Vandy?"
Van shakes her head. "Nah. Just- if ya hear someone rumoring? Tell 'em to shut up or ask the source. I'd rather personally quash or fess to stuff than have people smirking." She rolls her eyes again. "Alright, I'm out. Hopefully you won't see that kinda stuff on camera again." She flashes a quick smile and heads for the door.
"What, you kidding? That shit's hot," Elf deadpans "Come on, you had to let me get one jab in, yeah?" he quips, cracking a grin before climbing back to his own feet. "Be seeing you, Vandy."
Van turns at the door, her face a feverish red. "Frakkin jackass," she mutters, choking back a smile. "Beat ya with your own arm." She taps her temple with her middle finger and heads out the door.