| Sharing the News of the Future |
| Summary: | Bannik answers questions from Circe and Marko about Gemenon. |
| Date: | 28 April 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | With Friends Like These |
| Players: |
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| Main Brig — Deck Six — Battlestar Cerberus |
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| Tiny and cramped, the Main Brig seems designed to be claustrophobic. The steel bars lining the three cells have been set into the steel bulkheads on each side. Inside each cell is a stainless steel toilet and a bunk that might be too short for some of the taller crewmembers. The dreary conditions don't seem to be helped by the presence of a Marine guard who is there twenty-four hours a day, as long as a prisoner is in custody. The whole room is under surveillance via camera system in the Security Hub and every visitor must sign-in and abide by the rules. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #426 |
Pace. Pace. Pace. Bannik has daydreamed, laid on his back, written some things, and talked with anyone who's come along. Now he's gone to pacing, walking back and forth, waiting for — whatever it is that comes next for him. Back. Forth. Back. Forth.
A clipboard under her arm, the newly dubbed Specialist enters with a pass to the guards at the door. Circe lifts her gaze and watches the cell before stepping towards it. Looking over the deckhand in silence, she finally clears her throat, "Specialist Bannik. I do hope you are doing well?" She queries of him, her hazel eyes giving the cell a once over before returning to him.
"Uh." Bannik's pacing stops. And then he has this pause where he tries to place the name that goes with the face in front of him. He goes for the rank first. "Specialist." Whose name he clearly can't remember. "I'm doing about as all right as a guy who's been brigged can be doing all right." A beat. "How are you doing?"
"Lagana.." She provides and the lowers the clipboard so that she can look at the questions she has for him. Circe nods to him, "Well enough, leg is finally healing after the attack on the Aerion." She pauses, "But you may not be familiar, as you went for a nice little visit to Gemenon, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind answering some questions for me." She shifts, relaxing her shoulders, "I know you have been visited by others and are probably sick of answering questions, but I would appreciate it if you would help me."
"I got the gist of it when I came back. People talk, even when you're in the brig." Bannik has a slightly peevish tone at first, but he pushes it down when Circe asks if she can ask him some questions. "Sure. Of course." He waves his hand towards her and her clipboard. "I'd be happy to. Are you on the team going back?"
Pausing at his last question, Circe looks rather cautious at first and then finally gives a nod of her head, "That I am, Specialist Bannik." Clearing her throat, the medic then looks down her questions, "Can you tell me in regards to those near the Falls, what condition was their health in?" A brow raises, "And also, did there seem to be any radiation in the area from what you could see?"
Bannik takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a moment, as if he's visualizing his time back on Gemenon in his head. "Well," he says. "People were in pretty good health. I mean, they have the usual shortages of medical supplies and other things like we do, but they're not any worse off than we are. So yeah." A beat. "And as for radiation, I didn't have an Geiger counter or anything, but it seemed to be fine."
Finding that interesting, Circe pauses and nods, "What was the general reception to your arrival? Who was leading the humans in this…peaceful cohabitation?" She asks him, jotting down a few things with a quick flourish of her pen, tapping it faintly against the paper before lifting her gaze upon him. Hazel hues hold the Specialist's eyes.
"Oh, we were like — like …" Bannik tries to find a word for it. "Like conquering heroes. People were chanting 'Cerberus, Cerberus.' They know about us, Lagana. I mean, we're legends to them." He smiles at that, a bright, big smile. "And as for the leader of the humans, it's a Brother Solon, the High Priest of Aphrodite."
That has her brows lifting slowly. Circe hmmms and slowly nods, "I see, what did you gather they expect of us?" She questions him. "What of the Cylons there? What was their take on your arrival and prospective return of the Battlestar?" She shifts some, hand lowering to scrawl a few words before looking back up.
Bannik is standing at the bars of his cell talking to Circe who is holding a clipboard and apparently asking him about Gemenon. "They were excited to meet me and Sawyer. They thought we were — good specimens of humanity — they called us and they wanted us to carry the message back here that there's the future of humanity down there in the form of what's inside that Temple of Aphrodite and they need our help decoding what it is." Bannik's voice is very earnest, very sincere. It's that the 'you've got to believe me' tone.
"Good specimens…" Circe says, her lips parting as she takes this into account. The medic looks somewhat put off by that before she mmhmmms, "Did there seem to be relations between humans and cylons?" She asks, hinting at perhaps more than friendship. She shifts again upon her feet, remaining detached for now and asking the questions that lead her on to others.
"I. Uh. I don't think they meant like biology or anything." Bannik seems to just have realized how that sounds. "I think Queenie just meant we were good people to talk to." He then moves onto the question posed: "I — I didn't see anything like that. I couldn't say for certain. But I didn't see anything like that."
Nodding as well to this, the medic than continues, "There seemed to be relative peace then, between them. How many different models were apparent, including …McQueen." She says. A slow breath is released and she lifts her gaze back to him, "And tell me as well..how did you feel about being there? Do you think it safe to return?" She asks, her pen tapping lightly over the clipboard's edge.
"Well, two models. The Twos and the Elevens. They're the ones that have banded together to work with us; to try to find a way to end the War." Bannik, again, has that 'you have to believe me' tone. "And I'd go back in a heartbeat. I want to be there. I want to work with them. I hope the Fleet does, too; it's my most fervent prayer."
Marko steps past the last of the security detail into the brig proper, clearing his throat softly as he does so. "Safe or not, we're going to have to do it if any of this is ever going to come to anything." he comments as he gives Bannik and Circe a polite nod. "Hey there, Specialist. Looks like you and Miss Averies got yourselves in a whole world of trouble." he comments with a slight smirk.
Circe says nothing in regards to returning or how much he believes it himself, the medic is about to say something when the ECO enters. She intones, "Sir." Her gaze sweeps back to Bannik with that statement given by Marko. "Trouble is an understatement." the states and then shakes her head, "Pray all you want, but appearances can be deceiving, Specialist Bannik. There has to be a sense of care and wariness." She offers. "I do have one more question. Who did you speak to while you were there?"
"Sir." Bannik greets Marko as well. He then turns back to Circe. "Lots of people. I talked to adults, kids, the Cylons, Brother Solon at times. I talked to anyone who was there. But we didn't talk all that much about anything in particular. Just what life was like and how things are going there."
"So this Brother Solon character, is he human or Cylon?" Marko asks curiously, frowning a little as he digs his own notepad out of his flight suit and starts flipping through his own list of questions.
Circe lets her gaze flit over to Marko as she does lift her chin to regard this question as well. Interest wanes some. The medic is looking back over her questions. Waiting for Bannik to answer, she then tosses another question to him, "Are most of the survivors of Gemenon at the Falls and have there been recovery attempts to rescue others?" She asks.
Bannik's eyes flick from Marko to Circe, back to Marko. "Brother Solon's a human. That much is clear. The only Cylons there are Twos and Elevens. As for the survivors, they have been bringing people into their community as they find them. Like we did on the other planets. They have a camp and gather up people as they find them. Whether they've done rescue missions, like, actually going out looking for people, I don't know."
Marko nods slowly. "Yeah, I figured that." he sighs. "Gods beneath us, Bannik, what were you and that woman thinking?" he asks a moment or two later, both exasperation and worry in his tone. "Please tell me you didn't tell the Twos and Elevens anything about the Fleet." he adds, a note of real concern in his voice.
Musing over the questions asked, Circe nods her head in agreement with Marko. She takes a step back and to the side, moving in idle thought as she also then adds to Marko's question. "Did anyone of them get some extended access to your Raptor or gear?" She hand coming to rest idly on the clipboard.
Bannik answers the last question first: "You mean besides the Cylon who flew it out to Gemenon and the Cylon that flew it back to the Fleet and the Cylons that had it on their landing pad for all the time in between?" Sure, that was a bit snippy, but, well. He's been in the brig for a bit. And then he addresses Marko: "What did you want us to do, Flasher? We were taken to Gemenon by Cylon who wanted to present us a proposal about the future of humanity. What were we supposed to do? Stage a jail break and fly back to the Fleet, a deckhand and a reporter? What did people expect us to do, exactly? We heard them out. I think that's pretty valuable intelligence, at the very least. I happen to believe in them, but even if you don't, I thought you'd admire the intelligence-gathering we did."
"Okay, okay…you're right, you're right." Marko sighs, holding up a hand to forestall any further annoyance. "I didn't have my facts straight. So Queen _was_ a Cylon, then." he sighs, frowning sharply. "I had really hoped that was just scuttlebutt and the three of you had gotten some kind of wild hair."
"So that would be a no to the fact you even began to think about your own security and ours." She says. Circe narrows her gaze at the snip but her own tone stays neutral. "No, no you have it right, sir. Wanderlust and the scent of ground can really rattle one's brains. I probably would have wandered away to go frolicing, but the fact is that you could very well be dead..or worse, could have endangered the Cerberus." Death of the human race could have very well been in their hands. "I think that is why you are still in here, so please, do not snip at those who are still concerned with the safety of the rest of us."
"If they wanted me dead, they had Centurions on the ground with light machineguns in their hands and skinjobs with superhuman strength that could have wrung my twig of a neck in a second. But they didn't. And they had the coordinates of the Fleet to get back to us. They could have jumped in any battlestars they had and done away with us while we licked our wounds from Areion. But they didn't." Bannik is staring right at Circe now. "I did think about the future of this Fleet and the future of humanity, and I think it lies in working with the Twos and the Elevens. But really, I'd love to hear what you would have done down there."
"Yeah, I'm starting to get a picture now." Marko replies, nodding slowly. "Might be one of the reasons you and Sawyer are in the brig is less about punishing you for what happened, than protecting you." he notes, setting his jaw a bit. "There's some people on this ship who's attitudes towards you two are somewhere between 'unpleasant' and out and out 'murderous." he sighs. "Which is about par for the course these days." he chuckles darkly. "Mention the word 'Cylon' and everybody seems to think that a lot of growling and raising hackles is going to do any good."
Returning the look he gives her, Circe lifts a brow. "Did you? Really?" She doesn't seem to believe it. "Though I think you innocent of conspiring, I do not think you innocent of being thoughtful of the rest of us. Had you, you would not have made such a foolish risk." SHe says to him. "Specialist Bannik, I do not know what I would have done, but I would have started at not landing despite how the fact space scares the living frak out of me would have made me want to." SHe smirks at this and lowers her clipboard. "But then again, I realize you also did not have control of the Raptor." She intones and then taps her pen to her clipboard. "I think that is it for now, thank you for answering my questions."
Bannik nods once to Circe. "No problem, Specialist. Thanks for stopping by. I hope this was all helpful for you, for, you know, your preparing for what you're doing back there." He then smiles tightly and turns back to Marko. "You have anything for me, Flasher?"
"Oh, hell, Specialist, I've got more questions than you probably care to answer." Marko sighs, shrugging a little. "But let's get the big one cleared away, just for fun. What was it, precisely they told you? The Elevens and the Twos. Do you believe it and, if so, why?"
Lingering to hear the answer to Marko's question, Circe is mid-turn and about ready to take her leave. Her hazel eyes level on Bannik and then slide to Marko. Pressing her lips together, the medic is silent for her part.
Bannik takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. "They told me that what lied inside the Temple of Aphrodite was the key to finding a place where humans can settle, apart from Cylons, that if we worked with them, to decipher what lied inside the Temple, they think they can convince the other Models to end the war, to let us settle there, to try to start anew." A pause. "And yes. I believe it. Because if you look at what the Elevens and Twos have done for us, they have always helped us. And if you look at what the Elevens and Two could have done to us, they haven't. They haven't sabotaged our ships and haven't brought the basestars on us, even though they could have."
Having concluded his business, Corrath had been alerted to the people in the brig and as such, the S2 had made his way from the Marine Office, through the hall and into the Main Brig. Hands are clasped loosely behind his back and as he makes his way in, eyes flit to Circe, flashing the medic a quick smile before he's looking towards Marko and the cell in which Bannik occupies.
Marko takes the answer in silence, merely chewing thouhtfully on his bottom lip for a few moments before giving a long sigh and a slow nod. "Damn….I dunno, Specialist. You've got a good point, they could've done just that." he nods slowly. "And they haven't. I'll see what I can do for you." he adds. "I can't make any promises, but I will try and get someone to listen. If that doesn't land me in there with you two." he chuckles softly. "Which, these days, it probably will, but what the hell? Gods know, I could use a few days to catch up on my sleep." Spotting the S2's arrival, Marko turns to give him a polite nod. "Hang tough. I'll let you know what I find out."
A pause and a smile. "Thanks, Flasher. Really. I mean it." If anything in this conversation seems to have lifted Bannik's mood, that has. And when Corrath appears, the Specialist turns towards the Captain. "Sir."
Her own feelings on Cylons are hidden and Circe draws a breath, making a note as well on the paper. As her head lifts, she catches sight of the movement and smiles to Corrath, a nod of her head given to him. "Sir." She intones with respect. Offering a faint smile then to Marko, the medic is stepping aside a little to allow him past. Her hand is scrawling more notes that are part of her afterthoughts.
As Circe steps to the side to let him pass, Corrath's giving a slight nod of his head before offering a quick, "Don't go far, Specialist. I need a moment of your time, after." Then, as Bannik addresses him, he's casting a look towards the detainee, giving another nod, "Specialist." A turn of his head and he's offering a polite nod to Marko, as well.
"Captain." Marko replies, giving the man another polite 'junior officer to senior officer' type nod. "Thanks for your time, Specialist. I think I've got an awful lot of work to do." he adds, starting to make his way towards the exit. "Talk to you soon."
Pausing, Circe gives Corrath a nod and then smile at Marko. She is making some extended notes and circling something before her hand drops and she clicks the the pen closed. SHe looks back to Tyr before she waits for the S2, her arms folding over the clipboard and hugging it to her chest.
To Marko, Corrath is offering a quick, "Lieutenant." Then, he's looking to the Marine Guard, giving the man a slight nod of his head before looking back to Circe. Now, a hand lifts to motion towards the door, "Care to take a walk with me, Specialist?"
A brow lifts to the request, "Of course, Captain. By all means." The medic says and starts to fall in at his side. Her clipboard remains hugged to her chest, keeping the written words hidden as she matches his pace.