| PHD #268: Nobody's Fault |
| Summary: | Khloe and Wade come to the same conclusion: Lucky's death was just a case of her being a good pilot. Khloe, however, doesn't seem ready to let it go. |
| Date: | 21 Nov 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Not Out Of The Woods - Air Wing, What Went Wrong?, No Easy Answers |
| Players: |
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| Ready Room - Deck 7 - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| With the hatches at the rear of the room, the walkways on both sides slope down towards the dais at the front of the room. The stadium seating forms a partial semi-circle around the speaking podium and provides enough seats for all three hundred members of the Air Wing. The walls are adorned with the patches of each squadron aboard and their mottos stenciled in white lettering above each one. Behind the podium is a set of large LCD screens that can display any matter of material from reconnaissance to maps to gun camera footage. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #268 |
The room is dark, lit only by Viper camera footage being projected on the large pull-down screen that is located behind the podium. Captain Vakos sits in the front row, the remote control in her hand, occasionally pausing the playback or inching it back or forwards frame by frame. She seems unmindful of Wade's entrance, apparently lost in her thoughts and in her task of the continued review of the Aerilon skirmish.
When Wade walks inside the Ready Room, he doesn't speak right away. Instead, he takes a seat in the front row, a couple seats to the Captain's left. He watched the footage alone, to draw some conclussions and now, he is here for the second screening, this time, along with Khloe. The man sits back in silence and looks at the different gun cameras that were put together to create the overall footage. Taking a deep breath, he narrows his eyes and looks at the image with noticeable intensity.
Several text markers have been placed in the combined film, usually time indices or a Viper designation followed by a pilot's name and callsign. She pauses the playback when a clear shot of Lucky can be seen, likely a minute or two before her final moments. "Lieutenant," she finally says, face lit eerily from the black & white film. Her jaw is set with a certain determination and angry energy that the Knights have to come to understand is a cue that Poppy is generally displeased. "I was just going over the footage again while waiting for you. I'm eager to hear your thoughts."
"Captain" returns Wade with a nod of his head. He clears his throat at this and looks at the screens one more time before saying anything else. The image of Lucky's Viper is payed special attention to; and then, he looks at Khloe again, standing up. "If I may, I took the liberty to draw up a map demo, with the information in the footage, perhaps it can help us get a more, clear view of the events?" With that said, he stands up and makes his way to the podium. Looking over his shoulders now, he turns on one of the LCD's that was not being used and gets a small disk from his front pocket. -He is wearing his blue uniform today- "Shall we?"
Khloe clicks something on the remote, likely switching displays to whatever data Wade was going to use. "Proceed," she says, setting the remote down on the seat next to her. She crosses her legs, although it's that usual less-feminine way she does, resting her ankle on her knee as opposed to the full cross-over.
Wade nods his head again and puts the small disk into the reader. In the new LCD that has been activated, a map appears on view, or at least four different maps that have been defined to give an overall view of how things went down. One side contains camera footage from Wade and Malone's Vipers, the other from Lucky and Grunt's, the other from Poppy and Decoy and the final one, is camera footage from Cerberus itself into open space. To give a broader view of things. Now, while the images on the last are not /as/ good as what the gun footage shows, it fits the purpose.
"Alright…" starts Wade, clearing his throat one more time. "At the moment of the attack, we had Grunt and Lucky acting as escrorts for Cameo and Bootstrap's Raptor. They were, here" When Wade says that, he points up at a specific point in the map. "The Cylons appeared here" points to another spot, only a few clicks away from the actual CAP. "At this point, the alert Vipers were launched…." he starts the camera footage from Khloe and his wing. "And the initial scamble landed us here….and here" he points at two different points in the inital map.
Khloe lifts a hand to tuck beneath her chin, watching Wade's presentation without comment or otherwise indication that she's impressed or not.
Wade makes those spaces to see if the Captain has comments or questions, but since she doesn't at this particular time, he continues. "The Raptor, Lucky and Grunt were the closest targets for the Cylons, and they took the stance of eliminating the fire power, before going for the raptor." He changes the view to Lucky and Grunt's footage and shows how the Cylons were first deployed. "Right from the bat, they concentrated fire on Lucky, I'm assuming that she was recognized as the leader of that particular wing." He points to the Heavy Raider and a couple Raiders "With that said, both the Raptor and Grunt became targets. And, with the rest of the wing moving in to assist, the Cylons redeployed your efforts and targeted your Viper as well." Now he puts Khloe's gun camera on the view" He shakes his head at this "Splash and I moved in and took out the Heavy Raider, which was Lucky's main threat at the moment." He clears his throat and shakes his head "But the way the battlefield was setup, Lucky was directly in their course of actions and they concentrated even more fire on her after that." And now, he shows Lucky's gun camera again, signaling to the group of Raiders.
"Are you suggesting that our tactical deployment, our flight pattern, was somehow incorrect?" Khloe asks, remaining still other than lifting her head up a bit so she can speak clearly. But then she goes back to resting her chin on her hand, facial expression stony.
Wade shakes his head at that "Not at all Captain, at this moment, what I'm seeing was done correctly." He moves back a couple slides and shows the point in which the alert Vipers were launched "After we scrambled, we all moved in to attack…this was done correctly." Now he moves a couple slides forward, back to Lucky's gun camera before she died. "The Cylons had their target, and Lucky was protecting that target, she was closing the path in front of them." Now, he lets the tape roll, showing how the Cylons were acting and how was the entire wing acting right before she died. The tape moves forward, and when it abruptly cuts off, it means that Lucky is no longer there at the moment. He remains in silence for a moment, clearly not liking to see that "One more Raider was eliminated during this run, and some of us took damage." He pauses the tape here and looks at Khloe "Sir, I have to say that I don't see anything wrong in our tactical deployment, from the point it started, to…well…here" He takes a deep breath "Lucky was doing her job, but the Cylons were…better, this time"
It's almost as if Khloe would much rather hear someone challenge the CIC's deployment orders, or her tactics as squadron leader, than hear that Lucky died simply because she was in the right place at the right time. She begins to slowly shake her head, scowl deepening. "I don't like that, Lieutenant. I don't like it one frakking bit," she says, voice low. "They're machines. Machines are programs. Programs don't get better - that's the province of someone with flesh and heart and mind." Then, she gets quiet, lifting a hand to cover her face for a moment. Taking a steadying, centering breath, she says, less angrily: "Is there anything else? Splash, Decoy?"
Wade looks at the Captain and presses his lips together, nodding at this. He takes a deep breath and then rubs his fingers over his cheek. "I don't like it either Captain, but sometimes there are no better ways to explain something. By no means I'm saying this was Lucky's fault, not at all, she was a very good Viper Pilot." He clears his throat again and nods "This is a dangerous job, we all knew the risks when we signed up and all of us went through the brainwashing done during Flight School. Telling us to think that we were already dead, before going out, to remove our fears and gives us the change for faster reaction times." He nods to this and shakes his head. "As for the programs getting better? Well, I'm certainly no expert in Cylon technology, but…assuming they follow similiar patterns to what we know on Artificial Intelligence. They /can/ get better, by learning and adapting. It's…a scary thought"
Now, as for the rest "Yes, a couple comments. Let me start by saying that I am most impressed by Decoy's performance out there, this was his first actual combat experience and he handled himself rather well, to be honest." He nods to this and adds "Grunt, made something that I consider a mistake. That something was to, not form up with an existing wing, to avoid being alone there. That is why I went to form up with him, and Splash" Now he stops for a moment and adds "Splash, well, after Lucky went down, he allowed his emotions and rage control him, and while it worked, because he got some pretty damn good hits out there…" clears his throat again "While it worked, he needs to control himself, or he'll end up dead and endanger his wingmate"
"A deathwish is a terrible thing, and it's dangerous for a Viper jock to carry with him through a battle. You're quite right," Khloe says in agreement. She doesn't mention anything about Devlin though. "Did you have anything else, Lieutenant? Those sound like most of the salient points of the footage."
Wade looks at the map one more time to check specific points and he opens his mouth to say something but remains in silence for a couple seconds "Here, after I ordered Splash and Grunt to form up together, after I left to cover the Raptor…" He points to his gun camera footage and then at the footage from Khloe, Grunt and Malone. "I would say that what I did, to just leave without wingmate to cover the Raptor, while it was not…something that is done 'per regulations' I feel that having assambled a new wing between Grunt and Malone, I was able to afford doing that." Because he makes mistakes as well. "I had two Raiders on my tail but Decoy, our freshest pilot had one and…perhaps we could have avoided him, having to eject if all of our fire was focused on his attacker."
Khloe straightens up in her seat, pulling her uniform jacket flat. "I think you did the best you could, Drips, considering the circumstances. You're not even remotely on my shitlist right now." Maybe that's supposed to be comforting, according to Khloe. "And I think that, for whatever reason, the Cylons had a serious hankering for Decoy, towards the end. With so much focused firepower, it's a wonder he didn't end up like Lucky. But, fortunately for him, he had the window of opportunity to eject." At that point, the Knights SL moves to stand.
Wade looks at Khloe as she stands and then, he steps from behind the podium, taking the disk he brought. He walks towards the Captain and offers the disk to her "Here's the data I collected for this" As for her comment of not being in the shitlist, he just nods and says nothing about that. "That they did, yes. And yes, thankfully, he was able to eject. Still, I am impressed with his performance."
Taking the disk from Wade's hand, she tucks it into her trousers pocket. "I find I agree with your analysis, Lieutenant," she says, although vague on whether or not it's the overall analysis, or what the man repeatedly has offered about Devlin. "I'll submit my final report to the CAG, and I'll make mention your assistance was invaluable." She still has a look on her face as if she ate something odd during lunch, that stony, permanent frown like she bit into her favorite food and it ended up tasting awful… which is not entirely unrealistic for a military galley. Still, she's looking pretty displeased, but it's probably not aimed at Wade. "Thank you. You're dismissed."
Wade listens to what the Khloe says, nodding here and there "Thank you, Captain" is offered to her after she mentions the final report. He can understand why she has that expression, or at least he thinks he does, maybe he's completely off. Losing a pilot can never be easy, Wade knows it was never easy to see people die. When she dismisses him, Wade stands straight and offers Khloe a salute "Captain." He lowers his hand and nods to her "Be well." He looks around and offers one last "I have CAP in thirty minutes, have to get ready" With that, he nods, turns around and walks outside the room.
Khloe returns the salute when offered, meeting Wade's gaze with a certain determination. Then, as he's leaving the room, she sits back down in her seat, switches back over to the raw footage reel, and begins clicking through it again. Just like how he found her.