| Beyond Ugly |
| Summary: | Watters reports for duty after being rescued from Tauron. |
| Date: | 29 Jan 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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| Marine Offices - Deck 6 - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| This offices consists of desks for those under the CO, along with his desk toward the back of the room. The S1 and S2 have desks here and the place is neat as a pin, with everything in its place. At the front of the room, a Marine sits at a desk to meet people as they come in through the hatch. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #337 |
If the marine lieutenant making his way into the offices at the moment looks as if he's perhaps a little lost, well… that's probably because he is. Sure he might have spent a few years here and there on battlestars before, but every one has its own little quirks. Still, the uniforms in this area seem to be the right ones, so he can't be too far off, right?
The transition from smaller battlestars to the newest Mercury-class vessels can be disorienting, to say the least. Bigger in every sense - beam, length, and draft - the fact that this ship has an entire deck devoted to its marine compliment is mystifying and amazing to most new crew members. On deck 6 here, though, uniforms change from navy olives to marine tans. The majority of traffic on this deck seems to start and end in one locale: the marine offices. Those aren't too hard to find.
And those, at least, Watters seems to have found readily enough. After all 'follow the uniforms' is a tried and true tactic for reaching someone of importance. Which explains how he's managed to make his way into the room, glancing around for a brief moment. In search of the proper person to pester, no doubt.
The office is in a state of mild chaos, to say the least. Operations are being planned, runners are moving back and forth with surprising regularity, and every desk seems to have every square inch covered in that most-despised paperwork. In the middle of this organized chaos, looking over various memos and diagrams, duty rosters, equipment lists, and everything else pertaining to the upcoming Operation Silent Mastiff, a rather tall blonde woman with her hair pulled back into a headache-inducing tight bun seems to be running the show.
Watters spots that blonde haired woman who seems to be managing the chaos present here at the moment, making his way along directly towards her. A quick flick of his eyes to her collar seems to confirm his destination. "Pardon the interruption, Major" he greets her simply. "But I was told to report in up here"
As put-together as she may seem, the woman looks considerably drained, a little pale, and otherwise older than her years would dictate. There's a few crinkles and wrinkles that seem like permanent fixtures on her face now. While most of the officers around the desks are drinking coffee, she's drinking down water from a bottle. "New transfer? Papers?" she asks, regarding the younger officer.
Watters can't help but give a little dry chuckle at the response. "I suppose you could call it a transfer, yes" he comments, apparently amused by the idea of thinking of it that way. "And here you are" he adds, handing over at least what documentation he has.
More papers. An endless stream of papers. Ignoring the reactor core of the ship, if this place were to spark, all the paper around here would turn it into a raging inferno! The documentation is taken, page after page flipped through - personal info, service record, awards, commendations, disciplinary actions - as best as the Cerberus computers had known or updated from anchorage computers, supplemented by personal interview. "You're my new S4, hm? Picked a good time to join us here from Tauron, preparing for this operation as we are."
"If you'll forgive my saying so, Major, the operation you're preparing is probably the least of the reasons I'm glad to be somewhere that's not Tauron right now" Watters replies to her with a little smile. "But, it's good to be properly back in the fight."
Madilyn's eyes narrow a little bit, and she wonders, "Were you one of the Cylon hostages down there?" Sure, there's been a lot of talk behind closed doors about that trade, but when you're in it for the species, every life is important. If he's wasn't one of the hostages, no harm no foul - he'll just think she's a crazy old broad. Sometimes, under the current circumstances, that's more truthful than not.
Watters looks back at Madilyn and gives a little shake of his head. "No ma'am" he replies to her. "I was a separate pickup, from the equatorial desert. Near Tau Garrison." He pauses there. "Well, where it used to be, anyway." he explains. "A few of us survived and had been carrying on our own private little war… until the Cylons disappeared, and you lot showed up."
She nods slowly, but there's a little twinge to the corners of her mouth. It would've been more reassuring had one of those Cylon prisoners turned out to be a marine officer, or at the very least, gone a long way to reassure her of the decision made. Needless to say, she's been second-guessing herself since then…while the detractors talk and talk. "Few pilots from Tau, if I'm remembering correctly. It's possible that you may know one or two of them."
Watters gives a little bit of a nod at Madilyn's words. "I'll have to see if there's anyone I ought to be steering clear of, then" he replies to her less than seriously. "Glad to hear it was more than just us you pulled out from Tauron, though. They haven't filled me in on much of what's gone on from your end of things, but… well, I can tell you for a fact it was beyond ugly down there"
"It's beyond ugly all over the place. Leonis, Saggitaron, Aerilon, Tauron…it's all a godsdamned mess." Clearly, she holds little hope for Caprica, and has resigned herself to that fact. "Long story short? We're about to launch an exceedingly non-traditional assault on a Cylon facility, the likes of which we've never seen before. You're going to have your work cut out for you, in gathering the appropriate equipment for this operation."
"I'd assumed that was the case, even if I'd hoped it wasn't" Watters replies to her. "As for your." He pauses for a moment, then corrects himself "Our assault, just let me know what it is you need and I'll see to it we're taken care of" Watters assures her. "Though I suspect I'll be wanting to catch up on the 'long story' as well, soon enough"
"Plans are still shaping up. It's highly-collaborative, as we're borrowing deckies and snipes to get us inside using their heavy tools. If you've ever done EVA…well, anything, that's a plus. Otherwise, I want you to get with our S3, that's El-Tee Vandenberg, and find out from her mouth exactly what she's going to need. That's one more body to help take some up some of the slack in planning this thing."
"Afraid not on the EVA. Most of my time's been planetside, and from the tours where I have been on Battlestars… well, apparently the navy-types don't like assault engineers on the outside of their ships. Funny that." Watters replies with a little chuckle. "But I'll get with Lieutenant Vandenberg as soon as possible"
"She's got the details. I'm just the glorified accountant and secretary of this whole operation sometimes. As for the operation itself…well, it's outlined here," Madlyn replies, motioning to the mess of papers on the desk. "Highly-dangerous, highly-risky…but then, that's been everything we've done to this point."
"At this point, I think 'being alive' falls in that category" Watters replies with a little wry smile. "Anything on top of that is just a chance to punch back" Or at least, that seems to be the way that he sees it. "Anything else I should make sure to check up on while I'm catching up?"
You say, "Well, you've got a bunk to secure, and supplies to draw, but I'm sure you're an old salt at that, hm? Beyond that, it's just a matter of integrating yourself into the crew and doing your job. That's all we've got left to keep us sane." Madilyn takes a sip from that bottle, and puts the man's personnel files on top of her own desk, haphazardly tossing them on top of the mess."
"On the bright side, Major… if we were all crazy, there wouldn't be anyone to tell the difference" Watters points out, before he gives her a little smile. "Was there anything else you needed from me before I headed out?"
A weary smile pulls at the corner of her lips as she regards the new officer once more. "No…no, that should be sufficient for now. Of course, it's possible something's slipped my mind. If that's the case, a runner should be able to find you fairly easily, at the very least. That being the case, you're dismissed."
"Thank you, Major" Watters replies to her, snapping to attention and performing a crisp about-face before moving to head along out of the room, and see about taking care of the other pesky tasks of getting settled in.