| PHD #371: Promises |
| Summary: | Damon takes Rose on a tour of the Ark. Promises are made. |
| Date: | 04 Feb 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | ...And She Has A Plan |
| Players: |
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| Ancient Ship - Midship - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| Stored in the Starboard Hangar deck is a transport vessel - smaller than a craft like the Elpis but clearly designed for long-term travel. It takes up a good portion of the hangar by itself, and its entry is under guard 24/7 by Marine personnel. It's oddly shaped - seemingly built along more curves and gentle lines than standard ship design, and has a decidedly 'alien' quality to it. Neither much like any comparable human ship, or anything the Cylons traffic in. It's shape calls to mind a whale more than anything else, a curved 'tail' at one end and round 'head' at the other, elongated body with a fat 'belly' of a mid-section. There's an entrance of sorts in the 'tail' section with a walk-way rigged to make going in easy enough. From its size, it was originally made for small ships such as shuttles - not people - to walk through. |
| The room one enters into is more a 'foyer,' or some other communal gathering place, than a traditional hangar. The ceiling is domed and rounded over head. The curve of the 'whale's' 'tail.' A large entry foyer, or common area. The 'floor' is bare, though there are openings in the walls. Alcoves. Thirteen of them. While there is an arched doorway at the opposite end of the room, this one made for people, but it's likewise guarded and those without clearance aren't allowed to pass. |
| The walls are covered in thirteen large mural-like paintings. Almost more akin to cave paintings than anything else. Each positioned over the thirteen small alcoves with benches where one could sit. Twelve of those might be familiar to those learned in Colonial scripture, or just the lore of their own colony. A thirteenth, however, would not be a thing any of them have encountered before in any recognizable way. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #371 |
It doesn't take a lot of convincing for Damon to get Rose past the Marine guards and into the ancient transport ship. He is, after all, the Deck Chief; she is, after all, a well-known and highly respected scientist. He guides her inside and gestures widely to the interior. "Ta-daa. Weird, isn't it?" Grinning, he walks through it slowly, letting her take her time to look around. "They say it dates back to the Exodus. Me, I don't know about that - but when we were working to get her powered up, her guts were all weird. Nonstandard stuff, everything a mess."
Still wrapped in her wool overcoat, Rose peers about with wide-eyed fascination. "This is amazing," she breathes, eyes drawn along every odd curve, and ever strange shape. "Has there been any attempt to do a metallurgical analysis? Identifying the alloys used may also give you a bench mark as to measure metal fatigue," she murmurs, running a hand over an archway's frame.
Assuming they are strolling towards the thirteen alcoves, that's when Rose stops short. "Thirteen… well, I recognize some of these. That's -" She points at the symbol of Aquarius. "That's like Aquaria, but with a sort of ancient Poseidon-esque bend to it…" She quite literally bends her neck and spine to the side, peering at the mural at an odd angle. "So are these the original emblems of the Twelve Colonies, then? What's that one?" Pointing, of course, at the Tribe of Kobol - unrecognizable by most.
"I'm pretty sure Engineering's run all that stuff," Damon answers, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't remember the results off the top of my head, but I know they were running a bunch of tests." He peers at the symbol she points to and nods. "Yeah, they definitely bear some resemblance to the emblems. But… yeah, there's an odd one out. So I don't know if that's really what it was, or if it's just coincidence, y'know?"
Rose shakes her head, determined to get a closer look. She takes a few more brave steps forward, daring to reach out a hand - she's not touching anything, but merely her fingertips in proximity to the murals makes it somehow more real to her. "Nothing happens by coincidence, Andreas, you should know that," she says with a hint of a wry grin. "The gods have laid this out specifically for us to find. There's providence in this machine. What, exactly, I don't know… but I'm sure we'll find out."
Damon shoots back a muted grin. "Well, I think the Gods still allow for some coincidences," he says with a joking tone of voice. "There's some grumbling that this is a cursed ship, have you heard any of that over on the Elpis? That this ship is the whole reason the Cylons keep hammering us time and time again regularly. Like it's maybe a beacon or something." Crossing his arms, he leans over to look closer at the thirteenth symbol. "Maybe that thirteenth symbol is the key."
"Andreas, I'm curious," comes Rose's 'I am being scientific voice and not really paying attention to what you just said' voice. "Has this ship been checked for any biological remnants of… whatever or whoever lived here? Any traces of DNA. Anything that might give us a hint as to where it comes from?" She asks, turning away from the mural to face him. "Sheesh, I wish I was an engineer. I have, like, a billion questions that I could be proposing. And likely solving!" She rests her hands on her hips, giving him a coy smile. "Are you sure you don't want me enlisting? I could be doing a lot of good, here."
Damon shakes his head. "Don't you even start with that again," he mutters. "You do a lot more good as a civilian. And no, I don't know about the DNA thing - we've really only been looking into the mechanical side of the thing. Well, I should say I, not we." He pulls her in close. "Don't you go joining the Fleet. I know you're joking, but I think I'd lose my mind if you enlisted. You can ask all these important, smart-people questions in your lab coat instead of a uniform."
Rose reaches up and drapes her arms around Damon's neck, peering up at him. "It really bothers you that I could be in the line of fire, doesn't it?" She asks quietly. She knows the answer; most of her 'plan' lately has just beem reaffirming that Damon means it. And, hopefully, he's not been too irritated by it. "I mean, there isn't much of a difference if I'm here, or if I'm on the Elpis. We're all in the same danger. We're always being chased, shot at, jumping into gods-know what kind of radiation fields…" She stops rambling, blinking her eyes twice.
"Of course it really bothers me," Damon says like he can't even believe she's asking that question, his arms wrapping around her waist. "And it's not just that you'd be in the line of fire, I don't know how to explain it. It's that you'd be… one of the herd. In the chain of command." He hasn't been bothered at all by her attempts to get his true feelings; he's just been happy to be able to spend time with her at last. "I think it'd change you, change us, you know? You wouldn't be Rose anymore. You'd be… a Private. Or an Ensign. Does that make sense?"
"No," she admits timidly. "Do you regard your staff as just names attached to titles, which are in turn attached to skills?" Her fingers begin to toy with the ends of Damon's hair, barely managing to curl some around fingertips. "You need a hair cut," she observes with a growing smile.
Damon bites his lip. "Well, I mean… no, but - I got to know them over time. And I know what you're going to say, I already know you. But they're not just, you know, Bannik. He's also a Specialist. So if he goes screwing around, I'm not just Damon, I'm also the Chief." With a laugh, he rakes his fingers back through his hair. "Yeah, I keep meaning to get that done. I gotta get back to hitting the gym regularly, too. I've just been defaulting to work for everything whenever I have time to kill."
"I think you look just fine," Rose murmurs, resting her hands on his shoulders. "I was just teasing about your hair." Biting her lower lip in brief uncertainty, she pushes up on tip-toes and plants a kiss on his cheek. "I promise I won't enlist," she says. "I promise."