| Alternate Employment |
| Summary: | Shiner asks Damon for something he can do while injured. Cameo by Sofia! |
| Date: | 28 Oct 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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| Hangar Deck - Port - Midship - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| Post-Holocaust Day: #244 |
| 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. |
| Condition Level: 3 - All Clear |
Shiner stumps down to the deck, shuffling along on his crutches with growing confidence, feet only occasionally catching and making him stumble. He pauses for a brief glance around and lifts his chin when he spies Damon. "Hey, Chief! Got a moment?"
Damon, who is just about to head into his office, stops and turns around. "Hey, Shiner," he calls back. He's just gotten back from a meeting with the CAG and the Marine CO, and whatever it was must've been big, because he looks preoccupied in thought even as he smiles to the Apprentice. "How're you holding up?"
"Fit as a butcher's dog, Chief," Shiner insists, flashing a cheerful grin as he swings towards the man. "Mostly. Apart from the obvious. Been missing me down here?"
"Productivity's gone up through the roof amongst the female deckhands," Damon says with a lopsided grin. He walks over to Shiner, so the crutch-bound man doesn't have to go as far. "I'm thinking about putting up a giant poster of your squinting, smiling face just so they don't get depressed." He claps the Apprentice on the shoulder good-naturedly.
"Just my face? Damn it, and here was me ready to model for a nudey calendar and everything," Shiner responds, wobbling just a little at the clap to the shoulder. He shakes his head, wrinkling his nose. "So… uh… I was wondering if there's anything I can actually /do/ down here, y'know? Truth be told I'm bored off my tits. Never thought I'd live to say it, but I want to get back to work."
Damon laughs - a single explosive, "Hah!" - and shakes his head at Shiner. "I want the women to work without contemplating suicide for lack of your presence, not spend their entire shift staring up at a triple-life-size poster of you in all your glory," he says. As for work… "Well, I mean, it depends what the doctor clears you for," he muses, thinking. "But I was just thinking earlier that I need someone to help me keep all my paperwork in order. My memory's shit, and my organizational skills are… well, you've seen my desk." It's a massive, messy pile of paperwork and schematics. "Even though it's Deck-related, you'd basically be my secretary."
Shiner raises an eyebrow. "You want me to… push paper? Me? I mean, I can probably do it, sure. Can't promise I'll be any good at it. I kind of skipped out of any kind of writing stuff at school."
Damon shrugs, his lips twisting into a wry expression. "It's the only sedentary position I can think of off the top of my head. It'd give you a good idea of the bureaucracy you'll have to deal with as you climb the ranks, and you'll get a healthy does of the technical and theoretical side of the house, even if it ain't hands-on." He taps Shiner's crutch lightly with the toe of his boot. "I hate to say it, but almost all the work on the Deck can't be done when you're on crutches. Unless you wanna help out the survival equipment team - they probably have stuff you can do while sitting down. Mending or altering suits, that kind of deal."
Shiner leans up against the bulkhead, easing one hand out of the crutch and holding it up to show Damon. "Yeah, maybe not so much when I still can barely hold anything in the old claws, huh?" He rolls his eyes. "Who'd have thought necks were so frakking important, huh? You should see me trying to make a cup of tea. Laughable. I'm going to go see that new doctor guy who's all into nerves and shit, but… uh… yeah. It's getting better, but I still can't see me holding a needle any time soon, y'know? How about driving work? Need me for any of that?"
Damon considers for a moment, eyes lingering sympathetically over Shiner's claw-hand. "Are you okay to drive? I wasn't sure how extensive the damage to your lower body was. We could have you roll the forklift for whatever's needed, or get you one of those scooter-carts for shuttling stuff around the ship when we need it. Y'know, anything from laundry to memos to supplies. Henry hasn't been needed since the civilians got their own working facilities."
"I'd give it a go, for sure," Shiner agrees readily. "Anything to get away from watching all the vids in the rec room. Again. And your paperwork and shit. Whatever. Just… frak, I'm going /mental/, man."
"All right, how's this?" Damon rubs at the scruff on his chin, sorting the plan out in his head. "We'll have you start off on the forklift. We've already got it on the floor and it'll keep you doing Deck stuff, even if it's menial. I'm gonna break up your work hours, though, so that instead of working regular rotating shifts, you'll work days only with a couple hourlong breaks. Every third day, you spend a couple hours in the office helping me out with… well, whatever's going on at the time. How's that sound?"
"I want to marry you and have your babies, Chief," Shiner replies with relief, cracking a grin. "I was getting worried I'd end up like one of those fat chicks who stay at home all day watching reality TV, wrapped in a blanket with sleeves and listening to Aerilon crooners."
Damon gives Shiner an odd look, taking a step back and cocking his head. Yes, he's envisioning Shiner as a fat chick. No, it's not pretty. "I…" He frowns, shakes his head, and the sentence is never completed. "I'll take that as a yes. Tomorrow morning, zero-seven-hundred hours. Coveralls, ear protection, leave the toolbelt in your bunk. If we haven't got anything for you to forklift around, hell, you can forklift the coffee table and wheel it around the Deck."
"I've always wanted a second career as the tea lady," Shiner tells him, deadpan. "I'll be here at seven, no worries."
"Better a tea lady than a fat chick," Damon mutters. He's standing and chatting with Shiner near his office - yes, he's finally gotten around to considering it his office now - and it appears that their talk is winding down. "And make sure all this is okay with the doctor, yeah? First priority is your recovery. Even if it means you gotta sit on your ass and be bored out of your skull, if that's what it takes for you to heal faster, that's what it'll be."
Shiner waves one claw vaguely. "Oh, sure, sure, I'll sweet talk the doc, don't you worry. She thinks I'm cute."
Exit light, enter Sniiiiipe. Sofia wanders in, with a clipboard. She's glancing around as she heads towards the office. She pauses, spotting Shiner and Damon. She beams. "Hey you two!"
Shiner glances up at the voice, offering Damon a conspiratorial grin and noting quietly, "Speaking of chicks who think I'm cute…"
His conversation with Shiner finished, Damon's about to head into his office when Sofia's voice brings him to a halt again. He turns around and waves to her. "Hey, Sofie!" he calls back, his voice booming across the busy Deck floor. He gives Shiner a quick elbow to the ribs. Not too hard, of course - he doesn't want to beat up on the cripple. "What brings you down to the Deck? Dare I hope for more presents?"
Sofia pauses. She kind of eyes Shiner suspiciously. Did she hear? Hmm. Hard telling. She beams. It's Damon! She moves over towards Damon and Shiner. There's a soft laugh. "Always. I love bringing you guys stuff. How are you? The cart's just outside, I wasn't sure if you guys were on shift or not."
"Not just yet I'm not, but I'm back on duty from seven tomorrow," Shiner is pleased to relay, flashing Sofia a happy grin. "Fork lifting the coffee around, a vital job. No more moping around, stalking pretty engineers I'm afraid."
"Better, now that you're around!" Damon says with a grin. And just because he hasn't done it in a while, he reaches out and ruffles Sofia's hair. "Just routine stuff this time, right? I don't think we requisitioned anything special. Unless someone snuck something onto the list that I didn't notice."
"I'm glad to hear that," Sofia admits. Back to full Shiner Capacity! She beams back at Shiner then laughs softly. "It's okay, you still flatter me," One eye closes. She beams at Damon and grins as her hair is ruffled. She really doesn't seem to mind at all. A headshake. "No, nothing special. Just the usual. I'll bring the cart in for you then. I'm glad to see you both." She really is. "By the way …"
"I can't help it, you're hot," Shiner tells Sofia amiably, rolling his shoulders and moving to grip his crutches once more. "By the way..?"
"Completely shameless," Damon comments, shaking his head at Shiner. But he's grinning, and the words are spoken kind of affectionately. "What's the by-the-way, Sofie? If you want, I'll kick out Shiner's crutches out from under him when he least expects it. Just say the word and I'll make it happen."
A soft snort at Shiner and a smile. Then a shrug. "Thanks. You're kind. And hm?" Sofia peers at him before looking to Damon. "Well, - er, no I can't kick a crippled dude." She holds up her hands. "I was wondering if anyone on deck knew about Coll's projects." She looks sad.
Shiner is ever the tactful one. "Like toaster diagrams or something?"
Damon shoots Shiner a glare. Everything else didn't annoy him, but that comment obviously strikes a nerve. "Anything and everything that Coll was working is undergoing evaluation right now," he says to Sofia. "The Strike Viper project got shut down, but the other stuff - like the missiles - is being looked at. If it gets cleared by the authorities, we'll continue the work. If not, well…" He shrugs. "They're taking their sweet time, but I guess they wanna be sure, y'know? I don't blame 'em."
Sofia looks pained by that. She closes her eyes a moment. She takes a deep breath and nod. "Really? That's too bad, it seemed like a cool idea, the Viper," Sofia admits. "Was someone working on the raptors?" She considers. "I understand. Just seems sad. She was a good person and - well, it's not fair the Areion's people get all the cool toys," She winks. "I mean, I like Fi and their deck people - I'm not cheating on Cerb's deckies honest, but …"
Shiner wrinkles his nose. "She's still one of /them/, though. I mean, come on, you can't expect the CO and everyone to just say yeah, everything she did was great and we should go along with it. What if it's all a big cylon plot, huh?"
Damon looks a little pained, too. The subject is obviously a sore one with him. "I'm in the process right now of starting talks over details about custom modifications to Vipers and Raptors with the Areion crew. See what we can do for our birds." His jaw clenches at Shiner's words, but it only lasts for a second. "That hasn't been proven," he says quietly. "If such a thing can even really be proven. In any case, like I said, her work's being looked at. Either it'll be cleared for continuation or it won't." His words carry a tone of finality to them - it isn't a subject he relishes discussing. "How're things going in Engineering, Sofie? Any news coming down the pipe about the freighter there?"
Sofia takes a deep breath. She just folds her arms across her chest. She eyes Shiner uneasily, some pain evident. "No." She states simply. She doesn't push it. Then a beam at Damon. "That's good. I'd be glad to help with what I can." She looks around. "Some. We're wiring things up and making the interior all nice," She explains. "And - they're also going to have some of us work on improving ECM between the ship and Raptors."
Shiner tilts his head thoughtfully. "They need anything driving over there? On the new freighter, I mean? Just saying, Chief, if there's nothing to lift here, I could lift things there?"
"That's not a bad idea, Shiner," Damon agrees, maybe a bit too quickly. He's clearly glad to leave the topic of Coll behind. "I'm planning on heading over there to take a quick look and get a sitrep on where we stand; I'll see if you could be helpful there." He gives Sofia a smile and a nod. "That sounds interesting, and I've heard bits and pieces of something like that - the ECM thing, I mean - but nothing substantive yet. Which reminds me that I need to go and read over all those reports sitting on my desk if I'm gonna have any hope of catching up on the status of the Deck, so as much as I'd love to catch up with you, I gotta go." He finally heads into his office, and looks back over his shoulder from the doorway. "But I'll see you both again soon, yeah?"
Sofia smiles, "I'll check but you'd probably be able to beat me to it." She nods at Shiner. Deckies are fast. "Well, I'm an oddball who enlisted with a degree," She notes wryly. "And I can work an ECM for a living if I HAD to," She pouts a little, "But I mostly fix them," A hand wave. "And sure thing. I'll drop the stuff off and you guys can enjoy your loot. It was good to see you and you probably will. I seem to find myself in Deck a lot."
"Catch you later, Chief, and thanks, yeah?" Shiner notes earnestly to the man, giving him a nod of respect. "I think you might have stopped my otherwise inevitable descent into insanity." He runs a hand through his hair, then, switching on his best smile to Sofia. "So… uh… what time d'you finish today?"