| Of Tea and Snipes |
| Summary: | Damon and Shiner have a short discussion on the Deck. |
| Date: | 31 Dec 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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| Hangar Deck - Port / Midship - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| Post-Holocaust Day: #308 |
| 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: 2 - Danger Close |
It's been a long day on the Deck, and this shift is still four hours away from rotation. Damon, who has been coming on early in the morning with the first shift and not leaving until partway through the second shift, looks like hell. He always does when the Cerberus is under pressure. Wandering about the Deck, he stops in here and there to get updates from the teams and to help out a bit if he can. But it's readily apparent that he doesn't do well with 'helping' and takes charge too quickly every time he gets involved in something. So he backs away and lets his crew do their job, leaving him somewhat on the outside looking in. He takes a moment off in the corner just to rest and watch from a distance.
Shiner doesn't look a whole lot more awake than Damon does, one of the few AHs actually on the deck rather than tasked with repairs to decks 10 and 11. He yawns widely as he works, greasing the crane mechanism that brings the aircraft down from the landing deck to the hangar.
Spotting the yawn from across the floor, Damon makes his way over to Shiner. "Grab some coffee if you're feeling tired," he suggests. "I can do that if you need someone to cover off for a few minutes, yeah?" He nods to the crane mechanism.
Shiner wrinkles his nose at that. "I'm good, Chief," he insists. "Besides, you look like worse shit than the rest of us. You go have a coffee."
"You know I don't drink that stuff," Damon says with a chuckle, shaking his head. "Well, sometimes. Maybe I should start chugging it at this rate. I haven't been able to sleep much lately anyway." He rubs at his face with a sigh. "Any word yet on you getting in to be an ace pilot? I haven't seen any paperwork come back across my desk yet, but it might be lost somewhere in that mountain that got dropped off after the attack."
"Been put on hold these last couple of weeks, Chief," Shiner admits. "Barely had time to sleep and shit, let alone study. Hopefully they don't mind that too much. They've not let me into the simulators yet, though, so I haven't had a chance to show them my amazing skills. Or lack of them." He flashes a tired smile. "You want to go get some rack time, Chief. I'm serious. Go hook up with that chick of yours and take a day off, huh?"
Damon shakes his head emphatically. "Can't do that," he says. "Can't ask you guys to be working long hours nonstop and taking time off myself. That's shitty leadership, is what that is, and abusing privileges. I gotta be here working at least as much as you are, so that I'm not asking anything of you that I'm not doing myself." He gives Shiner a weak smile. "Besides, I'm too frakking obsessive to be elsewhere right now - well, except the repair sites. I need to know what's happening on the Deck, how you guys are holding up, what birds are cleared for flight, what projects need more manpower… I lose track of that stuff, I go crazy."
"Don't trust us, huh?" Shiner replies, grinning wryly as he gives the mechanism a pat and steps away from it. He whistles up to a fellow deckhand, giving the thumbs up. "Try that now, yeah?"
Damon gets immediately defensive. "No, it's not that I don't trust you," he says, holding up his hands. "It's just that I, well, I guess I - wait, you're poking fun at me." That took a second. "Although, let's be honest, I think I'm a bit of a control freak sometimes," he admits. "Every time I step in to try to help with something, I end up kinda… taking over. People get pissed, so I just kinda leave well alone now for the most part. They're already pissed at me to start with for jacking up the rotations and all."
"Shit happens," Shiner points out. "Sure, we call you a dick behind your back and all, but it's work that needs doing and I reckon all the guys know that really. It's what they pay us for, Chief."
Damon snorts. "Thanks. Just what I wanted to hear. I guess you could be calling me much worse than that, yeah?" With a rueful smile, he shrugs and leans back against a supply crate. "Just wish Atreus were still here sometimes when shit hits the fan like this. It's amazing how inadequate I feel when the word 'Acting' is removed from my job description." He sighs, then snaps his head up and shoots Shiner an apologetic look. "Sorry, didn't mean to get all down and pathetic. You're all doing great work, I don't think I say that enough."
"Yeah, I know," Shiner agrees amiably. "I'm pretty awesome. You want a cup of tea, Chief? I've still got a bit of the good stuff stashed."
"Oh, frak yes," Damon says, perking right up. "Whoever's been in charge of tea here's been doing a frakking brutal job of it lately. I gotta set up a kettle in my office or something."
"Right, cover for me for a few minutes with the Ch… uh. Never mind," Shiner trails off, shaking his head. "I just need to run up to my locker and get it. Hey, you know what kind of shifts the snipes are working this week?" he adds casually.
Damon stops and raises an eyebrow at Shiner. "Depends," he answers, voice neutral. "Which snipe in particular were you wondering about?"
Shiner clears his throat. "Oh, y'know. Just with it being my day off tomorrow, I figured I'd knock off the vid watching early and maybe catch some rack time. Y'know." A knowing nod. "Maybe with a friend. Y'know?"
Damon gives Shiner a highly suspicious look. "Rack time with a friend from Engineering, huh?" he inquires innocently. "Does her name start with an 'S' and end in 'ofia Wolfe'?"
"Oh, come on, dude, don't look at me like that!" Shiner groans, rolling his eyes. "I've barely seen her these past couple of weeks. Give a guy a break, huh? Yeah, I mean Sof. You know what shifts she's working?"
"Barely seen her, but you wanna take her back to your bunk!" Damon says in an admonishing tone. "No, I don't know what shift she's working. I don't actually know what rotations Engineering's working off of right now, but I imagine it's pretty similar to ours. You'll be able to catch her sometime during the day."
"I'm hardly forcing her," Shiner defends himself, nose wrinkling. "A bit of R&R's good for everyone."
That stops Damon dead in his tracks, half with shock and half with confusion. "Wait, you two are… you and Sofia are…?" he asks. "Why am I always the last to hear about this stuff?"
Shiner waves the man off. "We're just friends, Chief. Sort of. Look, I'll go get that tea, huh?"
Damon suppresses a smile - poorly - and motions to Shiner with his hand. "Yeah, go grab the tea. Then hurry up and finish off this shift so you can have your day off tomorrow. Hmm, maybe I'll go see if Engineering can lend us a few extra hands on the Deck tomorrow…"
Shiner holds up a finger in warning. "Not one of them, all right, Chief? Promise me that."
Damon just grins in response to that.