| Phantom Swallows |
| Summary: | Plans for Swallows to spoof Colonial ship signatures are discussed. |
| Date: | 24 Feb 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Red Head Surprise |
| Players: |
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[ Repair Bay ]-----[ Hangar Deck - Battlestar Cerberus ]—
When engines need to be rebuilt or other heavy but short-term work needs to be done, this is where it happens. Large, red hand-mobile cranes are situated along the wall beside stacks of toolchests. Carts with various computers and electronics are dispersed around the area for quick access. A very conspicuous yellow locker at the rear holds a sizable amount of firefighting gear, as well. Sturdy metal stands are available to hold all sorts of parts from gun systems to the FTL drives of a Raptor. Big enough to accommodate quite a few Vipers and Raptors at once, this area see's extensive use and is usually attended by at least one crew at all hours of the day and night.
((Scene continued from Red Head Surprise))
Atreus nods, listening. He lifts a salute-wave thing to Quinn as she heads off. It turns into a bit of a salute for the Major, though his attention is on the man next to him, "Yeah, I want the details, please, sir." And that is when a light flashes from green to red in the viper he was working on earlier. As he has been more or less wathcing the bird on and off, he notices, "Frak." He half turns to Trask, then nods toward Damon and Hellicon, "Tell you what. Damon there? He's the AE lead. Give him a rundown and I'll get with you both shortly. Yeah?" Then he nods again to Cidra, "Major." It is brief, for he is turning to climb back up to the viper in question. Soon enough, all other sounds are muffled to him as he sticks his head into the belly of the beast.
Getting onto a creeper and underneath the Viper, Damon gets to work with his wrench and pries open the paneling. It's evident that he's spent a fair amount of time working on them, because his motions are practiced and precise. He knows exactly when the bolts will come loose - he knows the precise amount of force to crack that panel open. Not a single beat is skipped as he starts pulling down wiring and cables, half-exposed in the front of the craft where the others can see him - even if he can't hear what they're saying. "Frak, who was the last one to touch this?" he shouts in frustration, his voice carrying well over the sounds of work being done nearby. "What the frak is this, did they wire it with their /teeth/?" He grunts in exasperation. "No wonder she went wonky."
"Major." A quick, scout-style salute is cast her way. "I was just about to brief the Chief." Naturally, that's when Atreus needs to take his leave. With a 'no worries, do what you gotta do' wave of his hand, Trask tells the DC, "Damon. Gotcha." Back to Cidra, "Emphasis on was. Looks like we get to meet the AE lead," he smiles somewhat impishly. "You want the spiel now, while we're walkin', or do ya wanna share the moment?"
Hellicon perks up a bit as the Swallows are mentioned. "Ummmm… Sorry to butt in, but did those Swallows come from our supply," he asks, already performing his new responsibilities despite no one really knowing yet about it. "I'm sorry to just butt in on that, but I'm trying to get things sorted out with the new job, and one of the aspects of it is Air Wing Supply…"
"Now is quite fine, Lieutenant. I…" And Cidra is cut off mid-sentence but Hellicon's perking. She turns. Regarding him. "Captain." She clears her throat. "I am well aware of where baby Swallows come from, Captain Hellicon. Lieutenant Trask is in the finishing stages of an ongoing project having to do with the wargames. It involves both Swallow implementation and FTL shielding, though I believe much of the latter is being done by Engineering. I have approved all the requisitions for this endeavor personally."
Hellicon nods and chuckles a bit. "My apologies, sir. I'm just trying to get ahead on the workload with the new job," he says as he nods. "Loads of paperwork, lots of questions to get into the swing of things, obviously." He then lowers the clipboard and remains at a respectful distance. "In that case, I'll go on and have the updated ordinance stores manifest readied for your signature before my shift is up."
Grumble. Damon gets up off the creeper and taps the wrench twice against the nose of the Viper, narrowing his eyes at it. "You are a bucket of trouble, girl," he mutters. Moving over to where he set down his clipboard and tea, he takes a pen from his belt and starts writing notes on the file, documenting what he's found so far. "Frakkin'… no standard of work at all…" Scribble, scribble, scrawl. A couple sips of tea seem to calm him down some, at least, as he moves back to the front of the craft and looks it over with a sigh. He's vaguely aware of the goings-on around him, but being half-deaf in this environment, has no idea what they're talking about. Actually, he looks more annoyed by their presence than anything else - and that's rare, since the man's just about always wearing a friendly smile.
Ooh. Checked by the CAG. To his credit, Trask manages to not smirk, although there is a gleam in his brown eyes.
Cidra inclines her head to Hellicon. "Your initiative is encouraged, Captain, always. Most of the work orders and requisitions for the war games modules have been slated. If we are short, consult with Logistics."
It does not take long for Atreus to deduce the problem. He releases a valve, then reaches for one of his tools. Pulling it from its place in his toolbelt, he uses it to readjust the tension. The light shifts back to green and he draws his head out once more. Although he begins to move back down the ladder he scampered up earlier, he keeps an eye on the board. Reaching the floor, he replaces the tool and moves around to where Damon stands, "This one's a bit of a pisser, eh?" Turning a glance behind him, he adds, "CAG and an LT need our ears, Damon. Leave this one a while. If she keeps acting up on tests, you and I can tear her apart and put her to rights later. Yeah?" The altercation behind him? He does hear most of it, but stays clear for now.
Hellicon smiles and gives the Major a textbook salute as he diverts to another duty; QA Inspector for the wing. "Wouldn't be the Air Boss if I didn't show that, sir," he says with a smile and walks back to the bird that Damon is working on… Letting their go work go uninterrupted, he finds the Work Order for the bent bird and begins to read over it.
"She's right frakked, Chief," Damon replies. "One of the avionics guys might be able to make sense of this, but regardless, it's a frakkin' mess. If it were up to me, I'd have the wiring re-done, hey?" He points at the tangled mess with his wrench. It looks like someone tossed a whimsically painted tumbleweed into the Viper system - not that things look all neat and tidy even in optimal conditions, but this is a serious hackjob. "Anyway. Anyway, yeah," he says, belatedly responding to what Atreus says about the others needing their ears. "My ears ain't none too good, but I'd rather be talked at right now than have to deal with this thing."
With the departure of Hellicon, Kal quips to the Major, "That window of opportunity just closed, unless you wanna make a run for it, have a clandestine pow-wow, and then dash back here to inform the others. That might be a bit rude, seeing that they're already here." A small finger wave is sent to Atreus and Damon.
Atreus takes a moment to really look at the wiring Damon indicates. He shakes his head, "Right then. This one is down for the count. At least until we can get the wiring redone. Then we'll see." Turning, he puts a hand out expecting to find the clipboard with the work order on it. Fingers grasp at nothing, then the hand begins 'looking' for it. He frowns and turns to see that Hellicon is looking it over. "Huh." Turning, he points at Hellicon, "You and I need to talk, Captain." Then, he moves toward Trask and Cidra, "Come on, Damon. Let's talk to the Major and LT." There is an edge to the man's voice that was not there before. When he reaches the two, he nods and an honest smile eases his tone, "What can we do for you?"
Cidra nods shortly to Hellicon, leaving it at that without comment. Most of her attention remains on the Deckies and Trask. "A project my ECO has been working on in connection to our war games. I shall let him explain."
Hellicon looks to the Chief and lets a slight smile appear on his face. "Looking forward to it, Chief," he simply says as he looks back to the work order and reads…
"Right. Truncated version 'cuz, as I said, I know you're hella busy, we're gonna be reprogramming a slew of swallows to (1) make 'em look like we have more birds than we actually do, an' (2) create a doppelganger of this beautiful three-headed bitch we currently call home. The latter is gonna require more work and coordination to make sure it all pings correctly. That's the gist." With that relayed, Trask hands over the clipped-corner folder he's been holding. "All the details you need are in here." Lucky Atreus, the Lt(JG) was once a Knuckle Dragger, too, anything and everything the Chief needs to know is all there. "Also, I slipped in a copy of my qualifications, as far as pokin' 'round. Don't intend to do the work of your people. If I did, I'd be DC on another ship, right now. All the same, I wanted you t'know that there's someone in Air Wing who really gets where you're comin' from." With business more or less out of the way, he then adds, "Lieutenant junior grade Kal Trask, aka Bootstrap. I take it that you're PO Damon, the AE lead." A hand is extended.
"Aye, el-tee," Damon says, returning the wrench to his belt to take the man's hand. His handshake is firm and brief - just one solid shake, and he disengages. "You're talkin' about programming them to mirage DRADIS signatures?" he asks hesitantly, not quite sure if he understood what was just proposed. "I've seen a mirage sent out from a Raptor before - part of an EW thing - but I haven't heard of a bunch of individual ships being done up like that." He glances over at the file - not that it does him any good since it's closed. "What's the timeframe for this project, el-tee?"
Cidra is silent as Trask talks, nodding along in places, that faint smile still curving at the corners of her lips. The CAG likes her tricks. "Perhaps we can even use the soup that is to fly in Uram in our favor in this instance. If the system plays nasty with the DRADIS under normal circumstances, it may make our illusion harder to see through. For a moment, at least. But a moment is all it takes to keep an enemy off-balance." She inclines her head to Trask. "That is the gist, and he has all the specs you need."
Atreus listens as Trask outlines the idea. By the time the man has finished, the DC's mood has improved considerably. A chuckle escapes to dance along the frayed edges of his mood, chasing short temper away. Looking over the specs, he nods, "Mmmhmmm. Don't see why not though it'll be a neat trick anyway." A brow lifts and he hmms under his breath a moment before nodding to Cidra, "Good point, Major. I'd like a reading of what that soup is made of." Looking over at Damon, he inclines his head, "Or. I'll bet we have one, yeah?" Looking back, he adds, "It might be useful as a…" His gaze abstracts a moment, then refocuses on both Cidra and Trask, "A projectionist's screen. Kind of. We might be able to use it to give the illusion depth." Apparently, this is the kind of puzzle the man truly enjoys. Closing the folder, he offers it to Damon, "Take a look. Its genius."
"The general information on the system should be available for your review, Chief," Cidra says to Atreus. "Also, the Raptors and Vipers have been doing several exercises in this soup already, and have footage and data from it. It may prove more interesting, and I'm sure there's plenty you can pull from any of the birds that've been in action." The genius comment draws a smirk. But not /real/ disagreement. "Lieutenant Trask has his uses. This is why we keep him around. Anyhow, it seems you have things well in hand. I look forward to seeing the results of all this."
Damon's shake is returned in kind, Trask's hand decidedly callused. Letting go, he chuckles, "Lemme guess. You're primarily Mechanical. In this case, it's Avionics, for the win. But, yeah. That's pretty much it. An' like the Major said, the answers to all your questions are in there." A point at the file. To Atreus, the ECO nods, "I'm sure we can use it to our advantage. Lieutenant Oberlin's been workin' on an assessment. The guy seems really sharp, which is just what'cha want for an Intel officer. Engineering also has stuff brewin' an' I'm collaboratin' with the ChEng." Whenever Atreus gets around to viewing the el-tee's credentials, he'll see that said el-tee actually got his start in the Engineering department. The genius is no fluke. "Well, I /am/ more than delicious eye candy, sir," is quipped to Cidra. "Anyway, it's been a pleasure, gentlemen. I'll see you on the morrow. Same with you, Major. Right now, though, I have more people to brief." With a salute, his business is concluded.
Damon accepts the file from Atreus and starts to leaf through it, giving each page a quick glance. "Thorough…" he murmurs aloud, reading enough to get a basic idea of how it's been laid out moreso than to glean any real information out of it. "Aye, mechanical," he echoes Trask's words, his mind elsewhere as he continues flipping through. He closes it up to return the salute as the man heads out. Regular maintenance plus the side project plus the engineering investigation team plus this as well… He's gonna need a lot of tea in days upcoming.
Atreus can't stop the grin as he nods to Cidra, "It's nice to have useful folk in your crew." That is accompanied by a companionable, albeit conspiratorial wink that is almost not there at all. Turning a bit, he nods to Trask and Cidra, "A'right. We'll get with the Lieutenant and see what he can tell us. Maybe we can all get together and knock out the details in the morning…" His comment is cut off by that 'delicious eye candy' comment and he covers laughter with a snort that tends toward a cough. "Uh. Scuse me." Fading back a bit, he salutes the LT and the Major. Tea, yes. And coffee. Whoo boy. Fun times.
"Chief. PO. Lieutenant." The last said in something of a deadpan. That is all Cidra remarks before striding off, back to wherever she lurks between flights.
Hellicon pulls his head back from the work orders and looks around… "Wow, where did everyone go?"