| Secrets, Civilians and Vipers |
| Summary: | Vandenberg and Wade meet, different topics are discussed. |
| Date: | 12 Jan 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | Bust a Cap |
| Players: |
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| Observation Deck |
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| With a quiet view to the stars, this tends to be one of the more popular 'quiet areas' of the Cerberus. Up front is a small-unseated area for ceremonies or other activities while the seating rises up behind it. Each level rises up behind the one before it, comfortable chairs and couches set up for crewmembers to relax, get some work done or even take a nap. A large armored plate is lowered during Condition One to protect the interior against a breach in the glass. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #320 |
Later in the afternoon? Early in the evening? Its tough to judge. Its mid-shift for most people but the pilots and Marines who tend to run on different schedules dependent on their duties. One of those Marines is the Dog Platoon CO. Resting in her tanktops and sweatpants, the woman has curled herself onto a couch with a notepad and a bottle of water. She's looking to the ground absently - perhaps just daydreaming on a quiet Observation Deck.
Having just finished CAP, Wade went back to the Berths, took his shower things and went to the Head. The result? Clean Wade! Showers are indeed, amazing. The man has been working on a couple projects on his downtime and he is doing exactly that right now. In search for a quiet place to work, he finds himself reaching the Obs Deck. He silently peers inside and then walks down the steps, towards the front row. The man is carrying a notebook and a pencil, nothing more. He is wearing his regular, off-duty greens at the time being. He spots Vandenberg there and stops in his tracks, starting to consider if it would be a good idea to leave. However, he decides to stay because he keeps walking towards that general area. He takes a seat on a nearby sofa and offers "El-Tee" and that's it, after that, he opens his notebook and starts working.
Natalie lifts her eyes as someone addresses a Lieutenant. She glances off to the side before looking up to Wade and a small smile finds her lips. "Mister Duncan." She taps the pen gently to her pad once, a single beat between statements. "How're things with you? Keeping up with your shooting, I hope?"
"As much as other duties allow me" offers the man with a soft yet small-ish smile. "But I do believe I'm getting better." Now, he clears his throat and looks at his notebook before looking back at her "Getting some time to rest? Clear up the mind? I am not one to visit this place much, but I'll admit that it's a nice spot to get some nice and quiet…most of the time"
"Good-good." She nods once to that. "Keep it up. You'll get better without my nosing in." The rest of his questions get an inhale that ends on an aborted laugh, her head tilting to the side as she looks down to the pad of paper. "Something like that." Another tap of the pen. "I don't get here much myself because the armored glass sorta freaks me out. But it takes my mind off whatever is bugging me. Last night's shitfest is lingering and I'm just putting some thoughts down on other topics. Kicking around theories. You? Come here for some study?" A nod towards his own notebook.
"At least I won't be shooting any cubits while indoors" says the man, smiling a little bit more at this fact. His attention goes to the armored glass after she makes a mention of it and he shrugs casually "It's pretty strong, designed to withstand a lot of pressure. Don't worry about it" Now, he presses his lips together for a moment and then, after taking a deep breath, he says "If that's the case, I shouldn't ask about this shitfest you are talking about." To avoid bringing those memories back of course. "Me?" asks now the man, looking down at his notebook afterwards. "I'm just crunching numbers, on Vipers, Areion's Vipers to be precise, I'm studying them, in depth. Or at least as much as I can"
Natalie just snerks at the mention of shooting cubits. "Yeah, I know it'll take a lot of gunfire. Doesn't make it any less strange that glass polymers are the only thing between us and death." She shrugs, tucking her feet under her with a hand. "The aforementioned 'shitfest' was involving the detainment for questioning of a certain individual. I think this guy orchestrated the whole thing to make a political statement. Overall I don't care about political statements. Until someone breaks the law or they endanger lives - especially children. This man did both. I wanted to beat him senseless." The woman sighs, the subtle frustration lingering on the edge of her words. "Whats wrong with Areion's Vipers?"
Wade listens while she talks and then he nods, snorting afterwards "Ah, that kind of people. You gotta love those…" He clears his throat and adds "If kids were hurt, I would have beaten him senseless, just for being a royal asshole. So what's the deal, you guys locked him up?" Now, he looks back at his notes and says "No, nothing wrong with them, but they have modifications that I'm studying…" Beat " …mainly just adding a couple comments here and there" To this, he shrugs casually and says "The problem I see with most civilians is that they are easily led…so if someone is looking to cause an impact, it's not something hard to do"
"If the kids had been hurt, that might have pushed me over the edge. I wanted to slam him against a wall and…" Just when she looks like she might descend into anger, Natalie stops herself. Eyes close briefly during a breath and a tap of her pen. "I did not order his arrest, no. There was a huge pack of civilians getting very agitated. That, with four Marines and children present?" Vandenberg shakes her head. "He wanted to cause and incident. Maybe violence. Some kind of huge backlack against the military. Jerks like him are the reason I tend to hotly dislike Virgans and Capricans. The belief that they know best, getting led around by what they read in a book and failing to apply it to proper context. The best part?" The Marine chuckles, looking back to him. "What this guy did was no different than how civilian police would have reacted - though they might have arrested him on the spot. I'm letting Marine S2 and Command deal with him."
Wade leans back against the sofa, listening to what she says. He closes his notebook and nods in silence during some key points of the conversation. "Well, it does sound like that. You know, that it was something done to leave the Military with a bad image." Now, he smiles with a little amusements and says "I don't mind people from other colonies, tho I know Caprica and Virgon are full of assholes, errr… /was/ full of assholes, now, I don't know" Now, he considers a few things and rubs his fingers over his chin "You know, I would have arrested him, I mean, if you suspect he is pulling strings to create a negative environment, something should be done, right?"
"I'd rather not have a negative view of the military but that's secondary. I've dealt with politically motivated violence before. Mostly when I did my four years on Sag. Tauron would be inappropriate to describe as simply political. But this guy was a real piece of work." Vandenberg shakes her head, turning a loose strand of hair over an ear. "Arresting him, in my mind, would have been a bad idea. At the time and the condition of the crowd's mood? It'd be much better to do it quietly rather than when only four Marines are surrounded in a small hallway. If the crowd had gotten violent it would have been anarchy. My team and I would not have fared well. Nor would a bunch of unarmed civilians. Plus the fallout?" Vandenberg sighs. "Its just not something I'm prepared to risk. Especially when we can get him later. Its not like he can run anywhere."
Wade considers for a moment and finally nods in acceptance to her words "Well, right you are, actually" There is a faint smile there and then he adds "But you guys /are/ planning on bringing that guy in at some point, right?" Van is right, there are ways and ways to deal with a problem, but it has to be deal with nevertheless; and this guy? It seems he is trouble." He shrugs casually at this and then shakes his head "But enough of things that might make your head explode in anger…" he smiles at this and adds "Are you convinced to do some Viper training? Maybe you can even fly one CAP with us and everything…if you are really interested in learning and if the CAG allows of course"
Natalie shrugs. She's committed to not letting it get to her right now. Relaxing Marine is Relaxing. "Like I said, I recommended that Marine S2 and Command do something, but I'm leaving it up to them. Shipboard Security and politics is not the realm of S3. Nooooor would I like it to be, thank you very much." She smiles at the end. "Viper training? Oh, heh, no no. I'm sorry that was misunderstood. The CAG gave me permission to come by the simulators and see how things are done on your end. Get an idea for what its like in the cockpit. I cannot construe that to mean she's going to let me learn to fly Vipers. Or anything else. I, ah-" She looks a little shy with that smile. "I'd *like* to see what its like sometime. I used to play those Viper sims on my computer at home but I'm not niave enough to think that makes me close to a pilot."
Wade shakes his head and smiles "No no, I understood what you meant.." Smiles doesn't fade and he nods. Now, about her last words, he says "See, that's exactly what I meant. You want to know what it's like, there's an interest for Vipers there, I can tell." He shakes his head "I'm not saying that you should give up on the Marines or anything like that, not at all. But what I'm saying is that, should you find that the Vipers are calling for your attention more than normal, after trying the sims…perhaps, you can consider the idea of asking the CAG for permission to get a little bit more training in that area. You know? I don't know what she'll say to that but hey, we go for what we want, right?"
Natalie chuckles, shaking her head. "Nah. I can't. Anything I did down there would have to be purely for giggles. There's real pilots who need those things. Real applicants who want to fly. I'm already involved in combat ops. Besides, I love my Marines. I couldn't even -think- about leaving them. Never. I've been in the Corps almost half as long as I've been alive. Its so ingrained into me that I don't even think I'd mesh well with the Wing. I wouldn't even be able to lead much with my rank, either." She shrugs. "You all are the pro's. My understanding of what you all do stopped when I shut off my computer."
Wade shrugs casually and shows a smile "Just saying" Now he nods and adds "Well, the CAG already allowed you in the Sims, so that's always a plus. Khloe is head instructor for Vipers, I'm just assisting while I train myself as an instructor. Any of us can give you a hand or even other pilots, there's always someone there…from either the Black Knights or any other squadron really"
"As I said, the interest is there but its more or less for entertainment value. I think Captain Vakos would like me to give it a shot just as a nice reality check," she laughs. "She offered to let me have a run at it last week. Alllmost took her up on it. I might get down there eventually but there's a lot going on at the moment that we need to prep for. The Silent Mastiff thing is sucking up a lot of my time. So are a few other investigations - one of which Vakos wants me to talk to the CAG about."
"Well, then for entertainment value, go play with it. When you can of course." says the man now, showing an amused smile "Oh, does she? Reality checks…how annoying those can be." Pshe, stupid instructors back in Picon did a lot reality check with him. Screw them. Now, he tilts his head and asks "Poppy wants you to talk with the CAG about, an investigation? I guess that's classified?" Heck, he is curious after all.
"We'll see. I'm hesitant to go down there because I *really* don't want to occupy it when someone else walks in. Like, they see its in use and decide to try another time. That's just not okay with me. It would be like having pilots come down to the MOUT room and run around with guns and play Marine because they have a giggle-worthy interest. Same deal - its not okay." Natalie probably wouldn't explode at it but its not something she would be okay with. As for the project: "Actually, yeah. It is. I'm not sure who I am supposed to be chasing down about it but apparently the CAG is a logical stop on the road. Hopefully she can point me down the right path. Just has to do with Cylons and their motivations behind the hostages."
Wade just shakes his head and lifts both hands "Alright, have it your way then" He still smiles amusedly after saying that. As for the other topic, he just nods with a little more serious expression and he says "Worry not, confidential needs to stay that way" Now, he looks back at his notebook and then at her "Well, I don't think I'll be doing numbers right at this moment, I think I'm going to hit the gym or something like that" Now, he runs his fingers over his hair "So you gotta setup a meeting with the CAG then?"
"Yeah I need to get back to the barracks and get changed. I've gotta meet with one of my squad leaders in a little bit to go over some planning." Natalie unfolds herself and rises from the couch slowly. Streeeeetch. "Yeah. Gotta hunt her down or she needs to hunt me down. Not sure if Vakos ever did send a note to her. We'll see." She extends the notebook to tap the man on the top of the head gently. "Be good, Lieutenant and I'll see you later."