| Infoquest |
| Summary: | Cora has a background check, and gets some more freedoms about ship. |
| Date: | 20 June 2041 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: #114 |
For the first time in several days, the pile of folders in the CO's desk box marked IN hasn't grown by leaps and bounds. Several files have even made their way to the OUT box, in fact. Along with the other marines stationed here, dutifully going through the steps of investiagting the backgrounds of several expedited cases (the S1 and S2 pressed into doing this as well, to speed things along), Madilyn sits at the desk in the far back, waiting for the next person on the list.
Lance Corporal Scott escorts that next name on the list to the major's office, and Cora presents herself with a salute, "Major Cavanaugh, sir. I see the expedited interview process is very expedited indeed," she says with a faint smile.
"Call it a second wind, of sorts. Or a distraction from other matters." To show what she means, Madilyn taps on the stack of files before returning the salute. "Please, have a seat," she says, motioning across the desk to the chair that may still be a bit warm from the last interviewee. "Major Tillman made it a point that he wanted to see you ASAP." Behind the desk, Madilyn sits and waits for Cora.
Cora drops her salute when it is returned, and moves towards the chair Madilyn indicates, dropping to a seat. "Yes, I spoke with him already. He seems eager to have the background check completed as quickly as possible. I was somewhat surprised," she admits, "But I certainly am pleased, and more than happy to cooperate however I can."
"Good to hear. Let's get down to business then." To start, Madilyn produces a new personnel file, complete with fresh blank name label and fresh blank data entry cells on the vitals sheet within. To start, Madilyn asks all the basics: name, DOB, Colonial military ID number, etc etc. "You've had a chance to visit supplies and draw a uniform, shower, and be cleared medically, correct?" she asks after the very basic information is ascertained.
"Yes, I have," Cora replies with nod, after providing the basics, "I'm cleared for light duty at the moment, given a cracked rib and hand," she lifts the splinted and bandaged appendage illustratively, "And, of course, not cleared at all pending this check, but yes, the MP you assigned escorted me around to those stops."
"Excellent. The first steps are complete then," Madilyn replies, adding a sticky note to the inside of the brown folder. It's a note to obtain the medical records, the official clearance following being brought aboard, and add them to the file as well. "How about your service record? Stations first, from most recent to most distant."
"Most recently," Cora begins, having watched the notes being made, "the Battlestar Atlas of the 7th Fleet, under Admiral Guido Muscilli. Before that, Battlestar Asteria, also of the 7th Fleet, under Admiral Aetos Nikephoros. One year at Colonial Fleet Flight School, and prior to that, four years at the Colonial Fleet Academy on Caprica."
As Cora talks, Madilyn fills in the information on the paperwork. "Is the rear admiral you father? Some other relation? Or merely a strange coincidence? Also, Major Tillman said you were an intel officer onboard Atlas, yet you mention you were in flight school? Would you care to elaborate?"
"The Rear Admiral is my paternal uncle," Cora supplies, obviously a question she was anticipating. The one about flight school was as well. "I focused on ECO duties at flight school," she explains, "And decided after a time that I didn't wish to continue with that avenue of training, and that my abilities and interests would be best suited by a move to the tactical department."
"How did that transition work out for you?" Besides the fact that it's gotten her bumped to LT and serving aboard two battlestars. "I'm lead to assume that the transition was voluntary, and not disciplinary?" She keeps on writing while Cora gives her the Life Story Lite.
"I was pleased with the transition," Cora replies, "I think my skills are better and more broadly utilized in a tactical setting. My training with electronic countermeasures and the like provide a useful addition to intelligence analysis, which has always been my primary focus. My degree from the academy is in counter-intelligence," she explains.
"Sounds as if it's a better match for you than my degree has been for me. I spent four years in fleet academy on Scorpia, earning my degree in systems engineering. And, to make my father at least a little happy, I went back to school on Caprica to earn a master's in the same thing. A lot of the marines in the fleet are, as you can imagine, MPs, but for some reason, they have an assault engineer in charge. How esoteric is that?" She gives Cora a friendly smile, as things are looking in order so far. Just a few more important questions to ask.
"Systems engineering?" Cora's brows rise, and she smiles in return, saying, "Yes, I doubt that comes up terribly often in your duties. But not having an immediately relevant degree doesn't seem to have held you back, obviously. I actually did political science as well," she offers, "That comes up a good deal less, I can tell you."
"Well, you do what you love, right?" Madilyn smiles just a little more, but soon returns to the paperwork. "Why exactly were you on Leonis on February 26, 2041?" No coming or going after that, of course.
"Yes," Cora replies to that smile, before her expression inevitably sobers at that question. "I was on leave while the Atlas was at Virgon, and I traveled to Leonis to visit my brother Enean. He had recently gotten married and relocated there, and I had missed his wedding."
"Alright…Atlas at Virgon, you on leave. Can you describe, briefly, what happened on Leonis? How did you manage to survive until our crew on the ground discovered you?" The notes continue to pile up, some on the official forms, some on those sticky note reminders to see what can be verified through fleet records, what little bit is available. That ship location may go a long way to verifying this whole story.
Cora nods, "Of course, major." She shifts just slightly in her chair, settling, and relates, "I met my brother a bar in the theater district adjacent to downtown Kythera. It happened to have been constructed in an old bank vault, that was its… thing. We spoke for a while, and then he left to go to an appointment. I was planning to meet another friend in the city at the same place a bit later, so I stayed, and was there when the attack occurred. The vault provided sufficient protection from the blasts that everyone inside survived, but many immediately fled its safety. I deemed it most prudent to remain."
"Your brother was a civilian? No Colonial military affiliation? Also, in which district of the city of Kythera was this bar? If not in the same district as your recovery by Cerberus crew, how did you wind up moving from one to the other? How long did you remain in said bar? What was the impetus, if any, for not staying put and waiting for rescue in the absence of information regarding a coordinated simultaneous attack on all twelve Colonies? I need to get a vague sense of the timeline between the attacks and your recovery, almost four months later. That's a hell of a lot of free time on Leonis."
Cora smiles crookedly, ruefully, "You don't have to remind me it was a long time, major, I assure you." She lifts her good hand to brush it over her hair, dragging a finger along a thin, shallow cut near the hairline, lightly scabbed since the escape. "The bar was northeast of colonial row where I encountered your crew. I can point out its location on a map of the city if you have one. I remained there with sixteen other survivors for a period of roughly three months, during which time we ventured out in search of supplies and information, and manages to avoid the cylon presence, which seemed to be primarily in the suburbs further north of us."
"We did wait for rescue, but it became clear to me when neither that nor a counter-attack against the cylon presence arrived that there must be some larger action occurring elsewhere and preventing colonial forces from focusing resources on Kythera. We began to venture further afield, and on one occasion, a scouting party accidentally alerted the cylons to our…base…at the bar. Roughly half of us escaped their initial attack, and I decided we ought to head towards the consulate district, as those buildings seemed most likely to be intact, and to contain useful supplies and intelligence and possibly even personnel. On our way southeast across the city, we encountered another centurion patrol, and the rest of my group was killed. I escaped on foot, and managed to avoid detection until meeting your crew near Virgon House."
Madilyn continues to make notes in the files, more for verification. "Very good Lieutenant," she nods, scribbling down. "There are a few details I still feel need to be verified with what limited fleet resources we do have. Particularly, I want to verify the location of both Atlas at the time of the Cylon attacks, and also to double-check the location of this bar on our air-recon maps of Kythera. If you have any personnel files still in our computer systems, dated though they may be, I also want to do a quick check."
She closes the file and slides it aside, into a small pile - fourth one on her desk, with just a handfull of folders there - and waves the lance corporal over. "At this time, I'm giving you conditional clearance to travel where you please on this battlestar, following all security guidelines. Munitions and arms lockers are strictly off-limits. Access to CIC, engineering, and the deck is limited - strict permission and invitation of the XO or CO, the chief of the deck, or the chief engineer. Pending confirmation of the aforementioned details, your living space will remain in the starboard hangar bay. Lance Corporal Scott with remain your escort until such a time that the XO and CO make a decision regarding any potential commissions as a member of the Cerberus crew. You will, however, be cleared to meet with Major Tillman in the map room as per his request. Do you understand these rules in accordance with battlestar operating procedures and CMC regulations for battlestar security?"
Cora nods at Madilyn, "Of course, major." She watches the marine shift the file into a different pile, and then looks back up to listen to the decision, and the related restrictions. She's clearly listening carefully, and nods at the last, "Yes, I understand, major. Thank you."
"Before I can officially close this file, I need a full medical clearance as well. Physical, I'm about to obtain from Lieutenant Bia. However, you need to schedule a meeting with the ship's psychologist. The restrictions still apply until such time. I will notify you." And with that, the interview seems to be over, as Madilyn stands and offers a hand. "Welcome to Cerberus Lieutenant. I hope your story and information checks out with what our crew reports. Lords know we can use all the help we can get out here by our lonesome." Madilyn's smile is a little reserved, since there's quite a lot that hasn't been said about the current situation on the ship.
"Who is the ship's psychologist, sir?" Cora asks, "So that I can schedule that as soon as possible. I imagine he or she must be… rather busy." She rises as Madilyn does, and again takes the offered hand in her left, giving it as firm a shake as she can from that angle, "Thank you, Major. If there's anything else you need from me, obviously you'll know where to find me." She smiles faintly, and then salutes again, awaiting dismissal.
"The ship's psychologist is a man named…Byrne, if I'm not mistaken? A civilian himself, since I don't recall him having a rank. I'd check sickbay to inquire as to his whereabouts. Until then, you are dismissed lieutenant. Lance corporal, you are dismissed as well. You know the drill." The dark-haired MP nods and looks ready to escort Cora where she needs to go.
"I'll look him up there," Cora replies with a nod, "Thank you for your time, Major Cavanaugh." She offers a bit of a smile, and then drops her arm and turns to go, lance corporal in tow.