| PHD #230: Engineering Reconnoiter |
| Summary: | Captain Belgoin of the Areion is snooping around Cerberus' engineering deck. Sofia Wolfe comes to give some requested information. Information is exchanged. |
| Date: | 14 Oct 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Power Lines |
| Players: |
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| Engineering - Deck 11 - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| Pipes, conduits, and cramped passageways. Heat and the smells of sweat and machine oil. Engineering is a maze of hallways that run deep into the aft of the Cerberus. Dotted with a few storage rooms, offices, and workshops, this section of the ship is constantly staffed by a huge team of professionals. From the main fuel tank feeds to the massive FTL drive room, no other part of the ship is more important than this section that provides propulsion and life support to every section of the battlestar. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #230 |
Amidst the noise and the banging and the grinding of Cerberus' guts is the friendly engineer from the Areion, Captain Belgoin. As usual he's taking his mystery notes, occasionally jotting things down on a variety of blueprints and scratch paper as he wanderes about. Tonight, he's apparently doing a survey of some of the main power conduits of the Mercury-class Battlestar. Odd how something so menial isn't deferred to a junior officer, but then again, the Areion is fairly elite when it comes to ranking; still, it's odd to think of Thaddeus at the bottom of the Areion's engineering barrel, so to speak.
It's Sofia's more appropriate home! Sofia is wandering out, likely after grabbing her day's assignments with her toolkit around her waist (Yay belts!) and humming a soft tune, manilla folder under her arm. She seems to be less fearful these days and almost skids to a halt, noticing the Captain here. Blink. She doubletakes. "Oh! Hi sir." Beam.
"This," Belgoin says, tapping at an overhead conduit - a thick pipe - "is precisely what I was looking for. This runs the length of the ship, passing several bypass stations, going from the tylium power plant and giving a direct feed into the FTL drive. These E-class drives are something," he says, chuckling. He begins making a notation onto his clipboard. "Smaller, more efficient, and damned difficult to coax variable geometry out of." He glances over at the beaming Sofia, mirroring her smile with his own. "Hello, Crewman. It's nice to see you, as well."
Sofia smiles as Belgoin points out his finding and nods. "Yeah, they're - I don't know, they are themselves. But you and the other FTL folks know way more than me," She holds up her hands, conceding defeat on that field. "They're pretty nifty and Cerberus has a new one. How are you, sir? I was wondering if I'd find you or find an officer to go straight to you," She admits.
Belgoin clicks his pen and tucks it into his uniform breast pocket. "Oh?" He turns to face her fully, flipping the protective page of transparent, flexible plastic over his clipboard to protect it from gods-know what gobs of gunk might fall out of the ceiling. "Do you have something for me, then?" His turn is awkward and gimpy, as his cane is hanging several meters away on a catwalk railing.
Sofia nods, "Well. See. The thing is, it's kind of a long ole list. Cerberus is no different from many ships in that the lowest bidding contractor kinda did a lot of the supplying…" She frowns. She doesn't seem pleased. To spare him walking too far along without his cane, she moves over and holds out the folder. "I found the records. A lot of it I helped do," She admits. "Wiring throughout the ship has been a problem, mostly because the contractor didn't really provide good insulation. You've had to strip down and replace the wiring in the galley, in CIC, in Engineering, in several storage rooms, and various other non-critical parts of the ship. That's just the exact list in there."
Belgoin takes the folder from Sofia, and rather than reviewing it now, he tucks it into his clipboard, underneath his paperwork and such. "I see. Non-critical, I'm not so much concerned with, but CIC and engineering are going to require a closer look-see." He glances around him, frowning lightly. "I was hesitant on requisitioning more crew from the Areion, as I don't want it to seem as if we're snooping around your ship." He chuckles, looking back to Sofia. "Well, I'm snooping, but that's just one." He winks. Then he changes gears. "Tell me, Crewman, what's the extent of your ECM knowledge?"
Sofia nods and shrugs. Then a faint smile. "I figured it would be bad if someone got electrocuted in the head with their trousers down." Embarrassing, that. She looks around as he does, subconsciously mirroring the gesture. Then a glance back to him. She considers something, and smiles at his wink. "I dunno though, is it snooping so much if you talk to us while you do it?" One eye closes in thought. "Um, my ECM skills? I can work one reasonably well. They wouldn't turn me away if I tried to work the DRADIS at any rate. What's up?"
Thaddeus begins hobbling towards his cane, passing Sofia as he does so. "I've been meaning to talk to your Raptor squadron lead, and presumably your CAG, to discuss a demonstration of Cee-Ell ECM. That's 'Centrally Linked'. Familiar with the subject?" Taking up his cane, he turns to regard the young woman with a quirky, curious grin. He's up to something.
"Yeah?" Sofia peers over as Thaddeus passes over her. "I'm sorry, I'm kinda low on the old ranking pole so - news takes a bit to get to me," She admits with a blush. "Um, a little bit." She furrows her brows. "I mean, I'm not as awesome as an ECO or you guys but…" She's definitely far from clueless. Her eyes widen a bit at the grin.
Belgoin nods slowly. "Centrally Linked ECM — walk with me —" he says, beginning to slowly head down the gangway. "CL ECM is an advanced procedure we've been experimenting with aboard the Areion. What it does is create a power tap and computer network between Raptors and the carrier, increasing ECM effectiveness by a magnitude greater than the combined ECM capacities of the individual Raptors. Now normally, this would be dangerous, as any sort of networked solution invites Cylon hacking. But, as you know, the Areion has a leg up on Cylon technology."
Sofia nods in turn, following as she listens. Eventually she moves to walk alongside him. She listens. She's a good listener, nodding and hm'ing softly, even peering up from time to time. "Yeah…" Cylons do like those network. "And I heard that. I didn't get to see it, though," She alas, was probably busy sniping it up somewhere. "That makes sense though."
"We have a working system aboard the Areion, and the system can easily be installed on Cerberus' Raptors, with some proprietary modifications," Belgoin explains. "Naturally, it would require your CAG and Raptor Es-El signing off on it, and authorization from your CO, but… baby steps." Smiling pleasantly, he seems less bothered by his old wounds when he's talking shop with the Crewman. "So, what do you think?" He asks, coming to a stop, so he can be serious with Sofia. "What can you tell me about your Raptor SL? Lieutenant Trask. We've talked about him before, but not in an official capacity."
Sofia smiles. She nods and listens. "I think it'd be interesting, personally. And hmm. He likes tobacco, doesn't really like alcohol. He seems like he can be really mean if he thinks you're dumb, but he's a good dude," She admits. "So just kind rough on the outside maybe? I don't talk to him much," She admits. "I wish I could tell you more. He's probably just really busy often." She taps her chin. She smiles as he does though. "At least, kinda busy to be bothered by a snipe at weird hours."
"I sympathize," Thaddeus says. "The tobacco, versus alcohol. A fine brandy or amaretto goes well with the right cigar, but you're not going to find any of that aboard. Probably ever again," he says, sniffing at the air and briefly scowling. But, that quickly gets stowed. "Do you think you'd be able to arrange a meeting? Do you think your CAG would mind if I discussed things with him, first, or is she the chain-of-command type? I'm afraid I know very little about her, as well, Major Hahn."
A headtilt. "Which one? I think there's some decent booze on board. I know there was a wedding recently that had some nice drinks," Sofia admits. She goes quiet, "So it's best not to mention it around him," Sofia notes. Then a glance over. "She's positively inscrutable," Sofia admits with a smile. "But she is a good person. Very wise and kind once you get past that. I don't think she'd get too ruffled if you met him before her," She considers. "As long as your intention is good. She's - pretty perceptive."
Belgoin considers, scratching his chin. "I see. I may have a meeting with her, then, as well. It couldn't hurt. After all… inscrutable… that sounds interesting. Does she smoke?" The engineer begins his slow walk again. For an officer, he is certainly easy-going with rank and procedure. This is practically an idle conversation between friends.
A smile at that. "Yeah, as far as I recall. I've seen her smoke now and then," Sofia nods. "She really is. That's the best word for her. She can just be there and you have no idea what goes on in her mind. But she is kind, and very thoughtful. Pragmatic sometimes too," She adds. "But you can count on her," Sofia ticks off on a finger. She seems surprised by how easy going Belgoin is, but it lowers her guard a bit. "Are you thirsty or anything? It'd be rude not to offer juice or something I guess, since you're here a bit."
"No, I'll be fine, but thank you, Crewman," Belgion says with a chuckle. "I was just going to hit the head and wash up a little bit before catching my Raptor home." A smile for Sofia. "You're certainly a breath of fresh air, Miss Wolfe. So many starched collars and stuffed shirts on the Areion." He holds up a finger. "But don't let me catch you spreading around that I said that." Wink.
Sofia smiles and nods at that. "You're welcome sir. I understand. And um, thank you, that's very kind of you to say!" She considers, tapping her chin. Then a pause and a brief grin. "I promise. It's not fair to spread around what people give in confidence anyway. Be well, then. I hope those records help," Nod. "It's nice to talk to you."