| Admiring the Birds |
| Summary: | Laskaris and Archer arrive aboard the good ship Cerberus. Maia, Cidra, and Hellicon admire the aircraft, each in their way. |
| Date: | 023 BCH |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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[ Hangar Deck - Port ]---——[ Midship - Battlestar Cerberus ]
The single largest rooms on the Cerberus are the hangar decks. Each flight
pod consists of two stacked landing bays with adjoined decks and hangars,
which along with computer-assisted landings results in a faster Viper
recovery rate. Mirror images of each other, these two huge areas are located
on the flight pods. The inboard sides of the deck, closest to the ship's main
hull, are lined with parking and maintenance bays for Vipers and Raptors
based aboard the battlestar. The outboard side of the deck contains the
launch tubes used by the Vipers for standard deployment. Huge blast doors
seal the deck into four sections, each one containing an elevator that leads
up to the flight deck directly overhead. The fore-most section contains an
elevator system that leads towards Aerospace Fabrication.
Oh dears. Maia has been busy busy. After piloting the chaplain back and forth
to get supplies from port, the young ECO is in deck coveralls working on the
Raptor she used earlier. There's an agreement with her and the LSO that only
he can touch the bird she uses, and that she can do a bit of needed
maintenance work as well. So that's what she's doing, her cheeks smudged with
a bit of grease as she hrmms and purses her lips. "Okay, you are not a lemon.
Ignition coils all good, no screwed up valves.." and she goes through a few
more things while talking to herself.
Cidra is also nosing around the hangar deck. In an actual flight suit, for her
part. She's been doing some supply runs herself, to get a feel for the
Raptors. She doesn't notice Maia at first. In coveralls as the lieutenant is.
She almost walks right past her. Then pauses. Double-takes. Walks backward a
pace. "Lieutenant?"
The voice is recognized as she winces as in her eagerness to stand at
attention, she bonks her head against the Raptor. "Owwww!" she cries out,
wincing a bit before she finally ducks out and gives the CAG a salute. It's a
greasy smudgey salute, but it's still one nonetheless. "Sir!"
Cidra straightens, acknowledges the salute, and gives Maia a prompt, "At ease."
Not 'As you were,' mind. "What in the Lords' name are you doing under there?"
"I was asked by the chaplain if I could help her bring things on board from
port. So with permission, I brought her back and forth on this Raptor, and so
I'm checking to make sure it's still in proper working order?" She does have
a slightly anal side, but she likes to tinker as well. It's probably the
reason she's there in the first place. "And Captain Hellicon said I had
permission to do maintenance on what I would use every now and then." she
explains. "Sir."
Cidra considers that, giving Maia a long, rather appraising look. "A battlestar
has deckhands for a reason, Lieutenant. They're professionals, just like we
are, and they generally know the work on these birds better than anyone. I
will speak with Captain Hellicon about this, but if you have his permission
then I don't greatly object. Countermeasures is a full-time job, however, and
I won't have my ECO's exhausting themselves with extra work in their 'spare'
time. I'll be monitoring your work schedule to see if this is interfering.
Clear?"
"I know it is, sir, it's just that we aren't running any caps yet, and I
thought I'd try to help out where I can." She is an enthusiastic one at
least, and the urge to tinker within her grows by the day. Maia smiles
sheepishly and nods, "And if it is, then I will stop immediately."
"Deck know their business, Lieutenant. This is their territory. Remember that.
As I said, I don't greatly object. At the moment. I will keep an eye on this,
however." That said, Cidra does give the woman an "As you were" before going
on. "We'll be plenty busy soon enough. The upcoming war games will be a
challenging test for the new Wing, from what I've heard. I'll be briefing you
all about it when more of our personnel are settled in. I suspect I might
have a specific assignment for my ECOs to prep, once I chat it over with
command. In the meantime, stay on your toes. And practice your DRADIS
calculations." She gives the ECO a small wink, lips curving into the faintest
of smiles.
"Will do!" Maia replies with a cheery smile before she hrmms for a few
moments. "Have you been able to meet anybody else coming into the wing yet? I
haven't run into anyone, but then again I've been all over the place as of
late with helping the chaplain and the LSO and all." she admits ruefully.
"We're still decidedly thin. Not that that's anything different than the rest
of the ship. Personnel are just starting to trickle in," Cidra says. "We'll
form up soon. I'll be particularly curious to meet our Viper wing. I'm never
sure exactly what to expect out of the jocks. I got my cert for Viper-flight
on Picon, but I'm still not much on the little birds." She smirks. "The
Raptor'll always have my heart."
"Thin isn't bad. It lets those here get to know each other better, I think."
Maia says as she purses her lips and hrmms for a few moments while motioning
to the various ships around them. "I'm only certified on Raptors, Vipers are
too cramped for me." she says with a soft chuckle of amusement. "Have you
picked one out yet?" she asks, wondering whether the CAG has a chosen Raptor
yet. "I'd recommend that one over there. Looked over it with Captain Hellicon
last night. Pretty much in mint condition."
"Not yet." Cidra turns to eye the Raptor Maia indicated. Brows arching.
Considering. She laces her hands behind her back, strolling over to give it a
closer look. "He does have nice lines, doesn't he?" she observes, faint grin
quirking ever so slightly.
"Very much so." Maia says in agreement with a soft chuckle under her breath.
"Everything checked out on that one. Spent a good bit of time with the LSO
going over the birds. A nice fellow really, I think you'd like him."
Cidra strides slowly around to the front end of the Raptor, laying a palm on
the nose of the craft. She's silent for a moment. Perhaps an overly long
moment, Maia might find it. "I hate to snatch the finest big bird on the
Deck. Should probably save this one for one of the squad leaders, actually.
They'll be more dedicated to it than I will." Though she adds, "I may take
him out for a spin before he's snagged, however."
"Not necessarily! Who knows, one of the Raptor squad leaders may be one of
those hot shot types who doesn't care for his or her bird that much. It'd be
a shame to see it go to a person who wouldn't treat it well." Maia says,
trying to tempt Cidra to claim it before someone else does.
Cidra lets out a throaty chuckle. "You're very good, Lieutenant. Hot-shots tend
to gravitate toward Viper duty, however. Just one of the reasons I vastly
prefer taxing the big dogs." She gives the Raptor another pat before removing
her hand from it. "I'll leave him for the moment, but I will take your word
under advisement. I'm curious what kind of personnel this ship will attract.
I'd imagination quite a few will be eager to get a spot aboard a new Mercury,
and we have quite a large squadron complement. Where was your last
assignment, again?"
"The Pegasus, sir." Maia says as she seems to be finished with the routine
maintenance. She wipes abit of grease from her cheeks onto her coveralls
before she smiles cheerily. "Just got recently promoted to full lieutenant
and then I was reassigned here."
Cidra makes a soft "Ah" sound, nodding. "That's the usual way of things. I just
got my bump to major before I shipped out from Picon Fleet Headquarters.
After I finished my Viper certs. It's not strictly necessary, of course, but
it might as well be, dominated as flight command is by Viper jockeys. The
Pegasus, eh? I've heard that's a challenging assignment." This news seem to
meet with her approval. "Admiral Cain has the reputation as a real maker or
breaker of young officers. You survived. I'll take that as a good sign." Her
tone is deadpan, so it's hard to tell if she's joking or not.
"I was with the Blue Squadron there. I had heard of her reputation and was,
well.." and she pauses, trying to find the proper word for it. "Intimidated.
Very intimidated. But still, she's an excellent officer and was a good role
model for the most part, once you got past being scared in your uniform
everytime she walked back." Maia says with a soft chuckle under her breath.
"Still don't know what squadron we'll be assigned to yet, but that is
entirely up to you, of course."
"Harriers, most likely, though I need to have another glance over the duty
roster," Cidra replies. "They seem most in need of senior ECOs at the moment.
I'd like to keep the squads as balanced as I can, at least until we've all
gotten into a groove. Gotten to know how we all work together. Not a good
idea to try and specialize functions when you barely know what your tools can
do."
Laskaris has arrived.
"They're an assault squadron, that should be interesting. My background lends
more for electronic warfare, but I'm not opposed to doing something else."
She's still decent with weaponry afterall! Maia smiles and nods, "And that's
completely understandable. Don't even know who my pilot would be yet. I don't
envy you. There's a lot of administrative work that you have to sort through,
I would imagine." And there she's standing speaking with the CAG. The young
lieutenant is oddly enough, dressed in deck crew coveralls, having just
finished maintenance of the Raptor she used earlier.
"Death of a thousand paper cuts, Lieutenant. Most common killer of COs," Cidra
replies dryly. She's standing by one of the Raptors, giving the bird a long
look-over and speaking with Maia. The older pilot, for her part, is in a
regular flight suit, helmet tucked under one arm. As one might expect. "It's
encouraging that we've got a variety of skill-sets in a Wing this size. Of
course, I'll still need to see how things'll shake out."
The Cerberus is still taking on crew, with Raptors bringing them up from the
surface in small bunches every so often. Now, another one is arriving, one of
the bulky brown craft being lowered on an elevator from the landing deck into
the hangar. After allowing a minute or two for the flight crew to finish
their postflight routine, the hatch is opened to disgorge her passengers.
It's mostly enlisted on this run; a couple medics, a few knuckledraggers, and
a CIC tech.
There is one notable exception, though. The last passenger out of the Raptor is
definitely an officer; the slim, blond-haired man wears lieutenant's pins on
his collar and wings on his chest. A thin-lipped expression on his face, he
slowly steps down the Raptor's wing, a duffel bag in each and and another
over his shoulder. Taking a few steps away from the Raptor, he pauses to have
a short look around the hangar deck, his lips pursed as he utters a low
whistle.
"I hate paper cuts. They always hurt more than regular cuts for some reason."
Maia replies with a soft chuckle of amusement under her breath. "And it is,
I'm excited about meeting new people. Sure I had a lot of friends from the
Pegasus, but even Captain Hellicon served there briefly, so there's at least
one familiar face for me." she says with a cheery smile. It's then that
another Raptor lands and she peers in that direction.
"And here come more people. Looks like we won't stay thin long."
"I'm eager to meet this Captain Hellicon," Cidra says simply. Tone a little
level. That may be an interesting meeting. But she says no more of the LSO.
There's new folk to gander at. She laces her hands behind her back again,
watching them disembark. The officer is noted and given a longer look than
the others. The wings are eventually spotted. And then the CAG is in motion.
"We're filling out a little at least," she notes to Maia, before approaching
Laskaris himself.
"Frakkin' behemoth, this thing," Laskaris mutters to himself as he takes in the
hangar deck — one of four(four!) on the ship. Nevertheless, he's not the
type to stay awed long, and after a moment more of sightseeing, he hefts his
bags and makes for the exit. That's before he notices someone's eyes on him,
anyway. Noting Cidra's approach, his eyebrow twitches imperceptibly as he
likewise notes the rank on her flightsuit. He stops once more, allowing his
bags to fall to the deck. He manages to get his arm up in a languid salute
just as Cidra enters conversation range. "Major," he greets her tersely, his
throaty, thickly accented voice immediately betraying his origins as a
highlander.
Oooh! There's another person. A pilot even! Maia heads on over, peering at the
wing before she smiles and bows her head towards the new comer. "Hello!" she
says with a bright and welcoming smile.
"Lieutenant." Cidra stops, straightens and acknowledges the salute in a fluid
string of motions. "As you were." Her voice carries the somewhat plummy
accent of Gemenon. If one knows about such things. "Hello." Said in a more
mild tone than Maia's. "Pilot, I presume, or are those just for decoration?"
The wings, she means, judging by the finger-tip she points at them.
Laskaris drops his salute a moment after Cidra does, his eyes flicking from one
woman to the other. He addresses the major first, blinking his eyes at her
question. "Uh, yeah." What, does she think he stole them or something? He
relaxes his posture slightly. "Sorry, Major. Lieutenant Anton Laskaris,
'Lasher'. Just got transferred in to the Knights." A Viper stick, then. He
turns back to Maia, mustering up a thin smile that's considerably less
enthusiastic than the younger woman's. But then, he's never been one for the
warm and fuzzies. He does, however, return her greeting. "'Lo there. Anton Laskaris."
Repeating the introduction is probably a little redundant, but he does it anyway.
"Maia Westfield. Pleasure to meet you." Then she realizes that she's in her
coveralls of the deck crew and her cheeks flush a bright tinge of red before
she gives him a salute. "And I just transferred in as well. I'm an ECO, just
was working on the raptor I was using earlier." she explains, extending a
grease smudged hand out to him.
"Vipers, then." Cidra speaks Laskaris' thought aloud. "Lasher, eh?" Not that
she asks about the callsign just now, mind. She just notes it. "Major Cidra
Hahn. Toast." Her face takes on an even more inscrutable look as she gives
her callsign. "We all just transferred in. Anyhow, welcome. Most of the Wing
is either just unpacking or not-yet-arrived, so things're still getting
settled."
An ECO in knuckledragger orange? Maia gets a raised brow, but he returns her
salute with an amused snort and then reaches over to take her hand, shaking
briskly. He doesn't seem to have much of an aversion to grime, at least; he's
not afraid to get his hands dirty on the hangar deck, either, it seems. "And
you." Not much for words, he looks back to the Major. "Thanks, sir." He
smiles crookedly. "Figured I might as well get my arse up here and claim a
good bunk before they're all taken. Besides, I tend to get restless, spending
too much time on planet when I've got a battlestar to be on." As he's
talking, he starts picking his bags up off the deck, draping the first over
his shoulder once more.
Archer has arrived.
"I have yet to meet any Viper jocks." says Maia. She's dressed in
knuckledragger orange, which is an odd sight. Well, not too odd this time
really. "So I think you probably have your pick of bunks." she says with a
wry grin before idly running her fingers through her hair after she shakes
Laskaris' hand. It was a firm, yet gentle grip. "And I understand how you can
be restless, that's why I'm in the coveralls. We went over some of the Vipers
yesterday, the LSO and I rather. I'd choose that beauty over there.." she
says pointing one out. It's pristine. Ooooh, shiny.
"Not many to meet yet. Or Raptor drivers, either," Cidra says to Laskaris as he
gathers his luggage. "Lots of squads still to fill up. But we'll get there.
No shortage of officers eager to dent their wings on a new Mercury like this.
In general I'm satisfied with the birds on-hand. You have to watch that
sometimes. Lots of commanders try to foist their surplus birds off on the new
battlestars if they think they can trade up. We seem to have gotten a decent
amount of new craft, however." Laskaris has just disembarked the last Raptor
to arrive on the hangar deck. He's still gathering his things as Cidra and
Maia talk with him. Cid's in her flightsuit, but Maia's wearing orange deck
coveralls.
Down the stairs walks a whistling man. He carries with him a coffee cup, and
clipboard, and looks to be on the lookout for Marines. After spotting exactly
zero in his line of sight, he saunters in the direction of Maia and the
conversation she's having.
Laskaris smirks at Maia. "Not sure if it's up to me, but I'll check her out."
The ECO gets a nod, and then so does the CAG in quick succession. "Yeah. A
little surprised I'm here, actually, given how competitive the selection had
to be, eh?" The recent arrival's got a thick Aerilon accent, with a voice
that's gruffly throaty even by his homeworld's standards. "Heard somethin'
about a special delegation from the Quorum that's going to be here while we
put this behemoth through her paces. Probably didn't want the bigwigs and the
bean counters to see a bunch of broken down old birds barely fit for service
in a reserve squadron." A loudly derisive snort and sneer does more than
enough to convey Lasher's personal opinion of politicians and their
accountants.
"I haven't met any of the delegation yet. If they're around, I certainly
haven't seen them." Maia says to the other pilot while she remains oblivious
to the marine headed her way. She's facing the other direction afterall. "So
be careful what you say? You never know, one of them can be walking up right
behind us and overhearing you and that would just be no good." she says,
scrunching up her nose before looking towards the CAG. "Captain Hellicon and
I found a lemon last night, so I think what you said happened already."
There's a sad sigh at that.
"The Lieutenant seems to have a good eye for bird quality," Cidra says to
Laskaris, with a small nod in Maia's direction. "When it comes to the Raptors
at least. I admit Vipers aren't my area of expertise. I came up taxiing the
big dogs. I'm trying to overcome my prejudices, however." Lips curve into the
faintest of smiles. "As for the Quorum, I've heard the same but seen none of
them. I haven't met with any civilians, for that matter." She doesn't sound
particularly sorry. "Hope we put on a good show, but I'm just as glad they
aren't underfoot for the moment. There's always a bit of chaos when things
are sorting out like this." Archer isn't immediately noticed, focused on the
air folk as she is.
Hellicon walks slowly through the deck, clipboard in hand as he speaks to the
person walking next to him. "Okay, this should just about cover it. When
Fleet Quartermaster contacts us with the fufillment confirmation, make sure
the Acting Deck Chief gets a copy of the manifest. CC it to the XO as well
for the ships records," he says as he hands the clipboard back to the young
deckhand with a smile and a salute. "Carry on," he says as he grabs another
clipboard from a nearby workstation for review… Save for a 3 hour power nap
in his rack, he hasn't stopped working since he reported aboard.
Archer continues his walk, and, after spying the insignia on Cidra, he alters
his course just a bit to come to a stop next to Maia, rather than behind her
where his original plan had taken him. He looks over at the Lieutenant
though, and says, "Evenin," politely enough to the woman, before glancing
over at the other two airwing folk, and asking, "Hope I'm not interupting
some sort of flyboy secret meeting?"
"Bus driver, were you, Major?" There's another one of Lasher's wry smiles at
that. Nothing like a little bit of good natured ribbing between Viper jocks
and Raptor drivers. "Well, I'll try not to hold it against you. Sir." Her
opinion about the civilians is met with a fervent nod. "You and me both. My
experience, civilians always find some way to make a nuisance of themselves
on a battlestar. Less I see of them, the happier I'll bloody well be for it."
He shrugs, looking back to Maia with a barking laugh. "I've had to worry
about my mouth torpedoing my career for seven frakkin' years now. I think I'll
manage." As Maia and Cidra both mention the birds, Laskaris finds his
attention wandering, his eyes moving to scrutinize a line of parked Vipers.
The one the ECO indicated does, indeed, have that new-fighter look. Pretty.
"Thank you, Major!" Maia says quite happily as it seems her opinion is
actually valued. That's a good side in her mind. She's about to say more
before she blinks a little, freezing at the familiar voice of the marine. She
slowly turns and gasps as she sees Archer standing next to her. "Kellan
Archer! When.. what.. did you?" uh oh, she's starting to babble. Her cheeks
flush bright red as she's flustered for a few moments before she takes a deep
breath, calming herself down before she reaches out to let her grease smudged
fingers entwine with the marine's. She gives his hand a squeeze and mutters
a, "We'll talk more later." before chuckling nervously. Her cool image was
just broken there.
"I like some size, Lieutenant," Cidra replies simply to Laskaris' ribbing. Tone
so mild it's impossible to tell whether there was any sort of intended joke
lurking in there. She doesn't seem offended, though his comment about his
mouth widens her smirk a bit. "I did my Viper qualifications on Picon before
I put in for this post, actually, but it's still not my strong suit. I'm
hoping to do some more on-the-job work with my Viper squad leaders to make
sure it stuck. Certs on paper are all well and good, but I've always put far
more trust in practical application." Her head turns as she hears Hellicon's
entrance. He is eyed. She nearly starts in his direction, but Archer's
presence requires immediate attention. She chuckles softly. "You are, in
fact. We were about to erect the altar and find ourselves a sacrifice from
another Department for the health of our aircraft. Feeling generous with your
blood today, Captain?" Her smile widens, just to make it clear she's kidding.
"No ma'am, I donate all my bodily fluids to Westfield here." Archer replies,
straight faced and serious, before he winks down at Maia. The man straightens
up a little bit and introduces himself properly, "Kellan Archer, or, Captain
Archer as my Marines will undoubtedly call me. But, amongst officerly types I
tend to go by Kel, Kellan, or 'That Guy who gave my Shampoo a dose of itching
powder."
Hellicon listens in as he reviews his clipboard and chuckles a bit at the
mention of the Altar… He remembered his rookie cruise, and how the
senior-most pilots would joke about that, along with his personal favorite of
smearing cheetah blood on the air intakes of the new pilots Viper. The
comradery of pilots transcends every boundary, and grounded or not, Chris
Hellicon knew what it took. His eyes remain locked onto the clipboard as he
pulls out an intricate silver (and very expensive-looking) pen out of his
pocket to sign some of the sheets he's scanning through.
Laskaris chortles wickedly at Cidra's reply, before Archer's remark gets a
browraise. Not his concern, though, so Lasher says nothing about it.
"Application is never a bad thing. That was what the profs always told us in
school, you can read books cover to cover, memorizing every damn word in it,
but you'll never get to be much of a programmer without actually crunching
code yourself. Same with flying a Viper." He nods.
"Captain? You got promoted too? That's wonderful news!" Maia says brightly,
squeezing the marine's nhand once more before resisting the urge to play
punch him in the arm in front of the CAG. Her willpower wins for now. "Ke..
erm, Captain Archer and I have been seeing each other for a while now. We
were both on the Pegasus together, didn't know he'd been transferred here
too." She's absolutely giddy as a schoolgirl, but does her best to suppress
it, coughing once more as she looks towards the others. She then takes a
quick glance around before she waves over the LSO. "Captain Hellicon!" she
calls out smiling brightly towards the CAG. "It seems you'll get to meet him
now." she says cheerily.
Cidra looks between Maia and Archer and their hand-squeezing, expression
inscrutable. Her brows do some arching at the bodily fluids crack, though,
gaze sharpening. "Just keep any exchanges, fluid or otherwise, off-duty. And
off the hangar deck." The rebuke in her tone isn't heavy, but it's certainly
present. "Beyond that, it's none of my concern." She gives Maia a final look
and leaves it at that for the moment. "Programmer? Your studies were focused
on computers, then?" A hint of surprise. The pleasant sort. She seems about
to ask more. But the announcement of Hellicon's presence gets her attention.
Hellicon looks up from the clipboard and smiles, placing it on the worktable
and pocketing his pen. Grabbing a shop-towel to wipe his hand clean, he walks
over and speaks. "Ahh, the work of the LSO is never done as yet another Viper
is given a clean bill of health," he says with a smile, walking over the
small grouping. Noticing the rank on Cidra's collar, he comes to attention
and offers a textbook salute. "Good evening, Ma'am," he says in a pleasant
voice. "Captain Chris Hellicon, LSO."
"Yes sir." Archer replies simply, before turning and smiling a little at Maia,
"Indeed I did. And, they gave me job as something called an Executive Officer
of the company of marines aboard this here fancy ship. I think this means I
get to make all the important decisions while the Commander is off napping."
Another wink, before he turns back to the conversation at large.
As attention begins to shift away from him, Laskaris was about to pick up his
bags, but he straightens as Cidra turns back to him. He nods. "Computer
science, yeah. Bachelor's from Delphi U on Caprica, master's from Nemean down
on Leonis. Didn't much like the corporate culture, though, so… here I am."
Lasher shrugs lightly, smirking. He's not usually one to be so free with
personal details, but there's something about the major that puts him
slightly at ease. Eyes slide over to regard the LSO.
Archer is given a look. It's a squinty eyed look, but it soon turns into a
smile before she looks back towards the CAG. "Yes sir. No worries, I know my
duty. Remember, we had Admiral Cain watching us on the Pegasus." she says
with a bright smile before looking towards Laskaris. "You have your masters
too! Wonderful! It looks like we should be able to work together. I got my
masters in electrical engineering from Caprica U." she says with a bright
smile as she leans against the taller marine before peering up at him. "How
long have you been here? And congrats! We definitely have to celebrate. Maybe
we can get permission to head back down to port for a nice celebratory
dinner." Cidra, Hint HInt. That's directed at you.
"A Viper jock with a Master's." Cidra eyes Laskaris again, not bothering to
hide her further surprise. "Well, it's a more useful degree than many go into
the Fleet with. I'm surprised they didn't try to slot you into electronic
countermeasures. ECO programs usually get hot-and-bothered over that sort of
thing." She adds a, "Major Cidra Hahn" to all and sundry. She's missed giving
that to a few of them. Her chin arches at Maia. "You're off duty right now as
far as it concerns me, Lieutenant, so you can do as you please. And what you
do with your time on that score is your own. Just keep it away from the work
areas. To Archer she adds a simple, somewhat crisp, "Pleasure." That done,
she still has Hellicon to deal with. His salute is acknowledged and he's 'As
you were'd' quickly. "Captain Hellicon. I've heard a lot about you."
Expression still inscrutable.
"Let's not talk about our dear, dear, former CO. She always gave me the creeps
what with her adherence to unwavering discipline and, odd colored eyes."
Archer says, shivvering just a little for effect. He then nods once to the
familiar form of Hellicon, "Chris," he says simply, before shaking his head a
little at Maia, "I don't think I'll be so lucky. The Old Man wants me to
greet the next wave of grunts that fly in. Apparently we're getting our first
squad today, and the LT in charge is not here yet, so, I get to show the boys
around."
Hellicon smiles and nods. "Don't believe a word of it, sir. I'm really a nice
guy," he says as he drops the salute and smiles. "Truth be told, I've been
burning the midnight oil a bit by going on and getting the skinny on the
birds we have aboard. With the love exception of one Raptor and three Vipers,
your wing is good to go. The bent birds will be green-lighted before this
shift is over with, so you'll have a full wing ready to go before we leave
drydock," he says confidently as he looks to Archer and nods in greeting.
Laskaris' smirk widens at Cidra's surprise. "Bit of an odd duck, I know. Viper
sticks don't exactly have a reputation as intellectual types, eh?" He idly
scratches his chin. "There was some noise about doing that when I was going
into flight school, but I pressed to stay in Vipers. Got something of a speed
fetish." There's another shrug, and he looks back to Maia. "Oh yeah? Good on
ya, then. Maybe we'll compare notes sometime, or something." He chucks a
thumb over towards the line of Vipers. "Know my way around the innards of
those things a bit, myself." Archer's comment about the Pegasus CO gets a
sympathetic nod. "Yeah, never had the, um, 'pleasure' to serve under Cain,
but I've heard the stories." Lasher's being more social than is his usual
wont, but he's also quite mindful of the old saying about first impressions.
Apparently, though, his openness has its limits. "Well. Time I got settled
in, I think. Sirs." Cidra gets a nod, and Maia gets another of his
thin-lipped smiles as Anton picks up his duffel bags and looks around for the
exit.
"A pleasure to meet you too! I'm sure we'll be working together soon." Maia
says, giving Laskaris a friendly salute before peering towards those
remaining. "And I won't talk too much about her. But later on, we need to
catch up." she tells Archer, squeezing his hand once more.
Cidra nods at Hellicon's report about the birds. "That's better than I'd
expected, honestly. I was a little concerned we'd get stuck with a portion of
old surplus. Tell the Deck Chief to take the time he needs to get them fit
and trim. We've still got a *bit* of lead time. I don't even have a full
complement of pilots yet. I'd rather have a few delays now and have them in
peak fighting form for the war games." A nod to Laskaris. "Welcome aboard,
Lieutenant. Settle in. I need to review the roster myself now that a few more
transports have come in. See how we're shaping up." A look to Hellicon. "I do
have a few matters I need to speak with you about, however, Captain. I'll
find you here later."
Down from the elevator to the launching bay comes a Raptor on an elevator.
Archer stares at the insignia on the side of the ship for a moment, and, then
spies a second Raptor being lowered to the deck as well. He nods once, leans
down to place a light peck on Maia's cheek, and murmurs, "And, here we go,"
before he starts off to where the ships are being directed to berth.
"Will do, Major." With the pleasantries taken care of, Lasher doesn't waste any
time in making for the exit. As he reaches the stairway, he pauses long
enough to drop one of his bags long enough to grab a pack of cigarettes from
his pocket. The cancer stick goes between his lips as his duffel finds its
way back into his hand, and Laskaris resumes his stride. Having heard enough
scathing rebukes from deck chiefs and LSOs over the course of his career,
though, he'll wait until he's on the stairwell to actually light the thing.
Hellicon nods. "As a matter of fact, Sir, that's why those four birds are down
right now. I've already sent in a chit to Fleet Quartermaster requesitioning
the parts we needs for those birds. I'm suprised we didn't have the parts in
stores, admittedly, but I guess that's par for the course, especially with us
being a new ship," he says as he sighs a bit. "Ehh, nothing to worry about at
this point. Right now, I'm personally supervising the refit of those birds,
since our Deck Chief hasn't been assigned. It's nothing I'm not accustomed to
doing, since I was an Airwing Maintenance Officer aboard the Bellerophon.
Hope I don't piss anyone off by playing grease-monkey down here in the
meantime," he says with a smile. "I'll be either here or in the launch
control room, so let me know when you want to talk."
Laskaris heads through the exit labeled <DS> Dual Stairway.
Maia accepts the kiss as she lets go of Archer's hand, watching him do what he
has to do. "Oh the burdens of rank." she says with a soft chuckle under her
breath while she peers back towards the LSO. "Wow, I thought I was a
workaholic. Were you able to get any sleep?" she asks curiously.
Archer gets to where he is meant to be, while the Sergeants and the like work
on organizing the First Squad. He places his hands behind his back, waits,
and then gives them a quick briefing about the history of the ship (very
short) and then directions to their berthings (a bit longer). Once finished,
he dismisses them, and attempts to hold a conversation of sorts with one of
the Sergeants as they head off towards berthings and the like.
"Remember. Keep it off the hangar deck, Lieutenant," Cidra says to Maia rather
coolly as she watches Archer depart. But again, she lets it lie this time. A
nod to Hellicon. "I'll track you down on the morrow. We can review the status
of those birds as well. Now, the paperwork calls." With that, she heads off
to brave bureaucracy.
Hellicon nods and smiles. "Chances are I'll be knee deep in Viper guts. I'll
see you then, Sir," he says as he fires off another text-book salute to the
Cag. As she leaves, he looks to Maia and chuckles. "I got about 4 hours, so
I'm good to go. It's nothing I'm not used to, especially after flying for
Cole Taylor," he says. "So, shall we get back to our Raptor or shall we tear
into one of the Vipers?"
"The hangar deck is too cold for anything, Major." Maia replies cheerily
towards the CAG before she grabs some paper towels to wipe the grease off her
cheeks and her hands. "And we can finish the Raptor. That's always good." she
says with a sage nod before giving a glance to her beau before motioning for
the LSO to lead the way.