| Special Projects, Part 1 |
| Summary: | Radcliffe is given charge of the Cylon technology project. |
| Date: | 20 Nov 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | All the logs concerning the Heavy Raider work, the Sagittaron Raiders, and reverse-engineering Cylon technology in general. |
| Players: |
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| Chief's Office - Hangar Deck - Battlestar Cerberus |
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| Post-Holocaust Day: #267 |
| The room is fairly small, to maximize the area of the deck itself. It contains a smallish metal desk with locking drawers, a computer terminal, a file cabinet against one wall and metal shelves filled with tools, spare parts, and manuals. There are two chairs facing the desk, clearly scavenged from somewhere else. One area of the shelving, nearest the desk, has been cleared and is clean. This holds a coffee maker that constantly seems to have some brew or other in it. Above the chair behind the desk, in a position of prominence, a framed picture has been hung. It is an embroidered image depicting Hephaestus with his two metal helpers. The work is beautiful and almost lovingly detailed. The god is laughing, one eye bright where a patch covers the other. He is held aloft by his helpers, one done in glittering gold, the other in silver. |
| Condition Level: 3 - All Clear |
The office is in disarray - even moreso than usual. Since Damon officially took over the post of Chief and the accompanying office, he's been going through everything trying to make sense of Atreus' things. There are boxes and bags off to the side, presumably for stuff to be filed or thrown away. The desk has been completely cleared off except for the computer terminal, and there are stacks of memos and folders all over the floor. As for Damon himself, he's sitting in a rolly-chair that he stole from somewhere looking like he just wants to ignore everything around him for the moment.
The office is entered after a quick knock is given, Brina stepping in without so much as waiting for permission to come in. "You wanted to see me," she asks before, as an afterthought, she turns to look at the hatch. "Sh..should I close this?" A vague hand motion is made as she asks that as if she believes Damon won't get what she is asking unless she does so. The general chaos has been noticed but left uncommented upon, the younger deckhand getting the impression that it just might be for the best to leave that alone.
The knock jerks Damon out of whatever daydream he was lost in, and he looks up to Radcliffe with a look of surprise. "Oh - yeah, come on in," he says, scooting his chair closer to his desk. "Sure, close the door. Come take a seat." He uses his foot to knock over a stack of folders and lay them out so he can see what's written on them; one marked CLASSIFIED and EYES ONLY is picked up and laid on the bare table. "Congratulations on your promotion," he says with a grin. And pushes the folder toward her. "How do you feel about taking on a special project?"
The hatch is closed slowly behind her so there should be little in the way of the metallic *thunk* to be heard, that being a sound she has always hated. "Thanks. You too, Damon." There's no 'Chief' from her but there's no doubt that she respect the man as well as his new found rank just by the tone of her voice and the smile when she speaks. Sitting, she looks at the folder and then back up, her expression oddly…serious suddenly. "I'm all for taking that kind of thing on," she responds swiftly, her head nodded a bit. The folder is taken and opened but not looked at yet, almost as if she's afraid doing so might be like opening Pandora's box.
"Thanks. And good. Because, Petty Officer Second Class Radcliffe, you're taking charge of this one." Damon puts a slight emphases on 'second' class, and the whole thing's said with a crooked grin. He's not using her rank to assert his own, but to give respect to her new one. "This folder contains the reports that have been compiled so far on the Cylon technology we've been working on reverse-engineering. Bannik's been doing the brunt of that work, and PO Timon's been a help too - they'll be part of your team. It's got everything from the Heavy Raider we got our hands on long ago to the Raiders we got from Sagittaron. As it stands right now, it looks like you'll have to interface with Engineering and Medical before you can start making any significant headway, but I think we're on the brink of finally translating all this work into some advantage for us."
Radcliffe blinks and then nods slowly as she looks down, her brow about meeting the top of the bridge of her nose for how deeply it furrows. "Uhm…okay." Pausing, she looks intently into his eyes, her own holding a bit of conern to them. "I appreciate the chance to prove myself, Chief." Taking a deep breath, she skims the information, her head bowed so that the majority of her expressions go without being seen. "What exactly are you seeking to do with this?" Smiling again, she peers up from around her bangs which have fallen into her face, that wry smile back in full force.
Damon takes a deep breath when that last question's asked - it's a pretty wide-open one. "Well," he drawls, drumming his fingers against the desk. "The primary focus right now is FTL and fuel efficiency - that's where we've made the most headway. The end goal is to try to adapt some of their technology to our own birds to improve them. The CAG wants us to try to reverse-engineer jump, weapons, and stealth capabilities, but…" He shrugs. "A lot of this stuff is just way beyond us right now." Clearing his throat, he sits back in his chair, his eyes staying on Brina. "This is one of those do-as-much-as-you-can things. Not all goals will be achievable here, and it's gonna take a lot of inter-departmental dialogue. I'd have Bannik catch you up on what he's done so far, and then talk to people in Engineering - like the new Deck-Engineering Liaison - and Medical. Maybe Intel might have some light they can shed on this as well."
Nodding, Brina tries to take as much of that in as she possibly can before she gives up and fishes for a pen on her person, giving herself a quick patdown as she does. One's eventually found and she scribbles something down on a pad of paper she also keeps on her, the page bearing some manner of grease stains along its edges. "Okay. We can make this happen. I'll get in touch with the appropiate people once I figure out who they are and we'll go from there." 'Jump' and 'fuel' are two words in her notes which are underlined several times. "I'll get with you for those later…the names, I mean." She tucks her lower lip between her teeth as she watches Damon again. "What kind of timeframe are we looking at?"
"Again, that's one of those questions I can't really give a definite answer for," Damon says, scrunching his face. "Sooner is better. You'll go down to half-shifts on the Deck, and spend the other half on this. If you need more time than that, let me know and we'll work something out. Same thing for Bannik and Timon, who'll officially be under you now. I'd like to see some return on this within three weeks' time, even if it's just conceptual schematics, but I know you'll need time to get caught up and all that, yeah?" The smile he gives her is almost apologetic. "I know this is a lot to put on your plate. But this needs not just technical ability but also lateral thinking and creative problem solving. So you've got a lot of freedom with this in terms of guidelines, timelines, and whatever other kinds of lines you can think of. All I ask is that you keep me informed about what you're working on and what kind of progress you're making for when higher starts grilling me on it."
"I understand. We'll get it done, Chief." Heaving a bit of a sigh which is then swiftly followed by a slight chuckle, Brina finishes writing down what she thinks is important for her notes while her free hand is raised to try and brush her hair from her face. "I'll get with the guys and see what we can come up with for a timeline and then go from there as well as try to pick apart Bannik's brain." Wagging her pen against her chin, now, Brina eyes the folder before offering it back to him. "Considering the nature of the project, I think keeping this with you might be a good idea. I can get it from you later."
Damon nods when she slides back the folder and picks it up. "Whenever you wanna come read over it or reference it, I'll have it in the office for you. Oh, and if you want to pull people in on the project, just give me a heads-up and I'll just make sure we can cover off the rotations if need be, yeah?" He stands up from his chair and puts the file away again. "And, uh, if you don't mind, I might try to get my hands into some of this Cylon stuff once in a while. But I don't want to make you feel like I'm looking over your shoulder or nothing. I'm just really frakking curious about 'em. So tell me to frak off if I get in your way, 'cause this is your project, yeah?"
Radcliffe nods. "I can't think of anyone off hand but if I do think of someone I'll let you know and get them approved before saying anything to them." There is a slow rise to her feet and then Brina offers Damon her hand, her expression warm. "I'll let you get back to work, Damon. I should go and see who all is around and try to wrangle them somewhere private to talk with them. Thanks for…for trusting me."
Damon gives Radcliffe's hand a solid, firm shake. "No need to thank me for that," he says, giving her a serious nod. "You've put in a lot of hard work on the Deck. Not to say that others haven't, but you're usually crawling out the ass end of some frakked-up bird or another covered in grease and grime whenever I'm taking a look around. I can't say that more work is really a reward or anything, only that you deserve your promotion and that I trust you to take control of this project. So! I look forward to reading your reports." And as she leaves, there's a heavy sigh as Damon looks over the mess that is his inherited office… and the loud whumph of him sinking back into his chair.