| While You Was Sleepin' |
| Summary: | Burke stops by the brig to fill Shiner in on recent events. |
| Date: | 22 April 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | Divided We Fall and From Hell's Heart |
| Players: |
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| Main Brig - 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: #420 |
Shiner is awake, at least, sitting on his bunk and idly swinging his legs. Somebody's kindly snuck him a book, which he's long since abandoned for being far too technical, so he's amused himself by ripping out a page to make a paper aeroplane instead.
As Burke passes through the checkpoint into the brig, he pauses a moment just out of view to look inside one of the other cells. Apparently whatever he was looking at causes him to smile faintly but not say anything, turning to walk away and passing Shiner's cell. He glances sidelong to spot his fellow pilot, reaching up to tip the brim of his ever-present cap as though one of them wasn't in the brig, "Oh, hey Shinuh."
Shiner glances up, touching his forehead in response. "Yo, what's up," comes the amiable response. Brig? What brig. "Come to bust me out of here, huh?"
“Don’t reckon so, Shinuh,” Burke answers, sitting down cross-legged on the floor just outside the cell, “But Ah figure Ah can sit a spell. You look powerful bored, makin’ planes outta that there book like y’are.”
"Yeah, well, could be worse," Shiner admits. "There's loads of folks come in to visit Scoops," a nod towards the sleeping Sawyer in the next cell along, "so there's plenty of company. But she totally needs more hot women friends to stop by. You know if they're going to let me out of here, pal?"
“Heck, Ah don’t rightly know why y’all are locked up t’ begin with.” Burke answers, his tone apologetic as he removes his cap only long enough to scratch the top of his head, “Ah was kinda wonderin’ about that. Ah was over on the Areion mosta th’ time. Ain’t heard much ‘bout what happened over here.”
Shiner clears his throat quietly. "Ah. Um. Well. All just some kind of big misunderstanding, y'know? This hot chick turned round and said to make sure nobody came by while she was fixing shit on one of the Raptors, right? And dude, she was /fit as/. And then it turns out she's sabotaging shit and… eh. Here I am."
“That ain’t seem right,” Burke answers, frowning a little and apparently completely missing the fact that the woman was attractive was the point of the story, “How y’all meant t’know what she was doin’? So what happened t’her? They lock her some’ere’s?”
"I dunno," Shiner admits, wrinkling his nose and leaning back on his bunk, idly tossing the paper plane up into the air. "But there's got to be some pretty harsh punishment for trying to blow up a Raptor, right? And then they tried to shoot some guys, too. I kind of… got caught up with it all. I never shot anyone, though, okay! I was just watching out for them, because she was hot. Any guy would have done the same."
“Y’all helped her?” Burke quirks an eyebrow at that, shaking his head mournfully in response to that particular revelation, “That ain’t a good thing. Ah reckon they ain’t gonna look to nicely on that af’er everythin’ that done happened with that Areion. Reckon they might know you was thinkin’ with … “ He trails off, apparently too bashful to use the word, “Anyways, Ah hope they can see that.”
"/And/ she was an officer, right?" Shiner points out in his defence. "And you have to do what officers tell you. They'll let me out, I'm sure. It's totally just a misunderstanding." He shrugs, pausing, then asks, "Dude, why were you on the Areion anyway?"
“Y’ain’t heard ‘bout that?” Burke asks, tilting his head to one side, “Well, when they was startin’ that mutiny Ah jus’ happened to be out on patrol. They blowed up my dang ol’ Vipuh before I even knew what was what. Said Cap’n Bootstrap and them ain’t allowed t’take me back to Cerberus, so they took me hostage. Ended up getting’ boosted ‘long with all them Dee-partment Heads.”
Shiner raises an eyebrow. "What'd they want /you/ for? I mean, no offence, but were they, like, short one man for a banjo quartet for the colonial finals or something?"
“Reckon they jus’ didn’t want me goin’ back here,” Burke answers, and if he’s offended by the remark he doesn’t show it, “Looks a heck of a lot more legit if they take me prisoner rather than jus’ space me straight away.”
"Dude," Shiner replies, shaking his head. "That's frakked up. So what happened? Did you tear them a new one or what? I'm totally missing all the banter in here. What went down?"
"Well, Boz Pewter," Burke says the name with the reverence some people might reserve for the Lords of Kobol, "Came and rescued us, long with that Marduk feller. Done blew a feller's head clean off with his scattergun. Fought our ways through the halls down to the deck and that dang ol' cootuh Kepner had a Raptor-bird all kitted out with those guns that go real fast. Marines called it a dang ol' meat grinder."
Shiner rubs at his forehead. "All right, you're going to have to translate for me, dude. I'm from Picon. I don't speak hick."
Burke lets out a slightly exasperated sigh and mimes a grenade clasped in his hands. He then points away from himself, looks back towards Shiner, “Kepner. In a Raptor.” He then mimes throwing the grenade, and makes an explosion sound, “Kepner blowed up.” He trails his hand through the air, like someone flying away from the explosion and landing on the ground, “Boz Pewter.” He puffs his cheeks out a little bit and then mimes shooting someone on the ground with a shotgun.
Shiner looks impressed. "The old man grenaded… wait, Kepner's dead? Shit, so who's in charge /now/? And are we still going to kick some cylon ass or what? I kinda liked the guy's balls. Enough of this running away crap, y'know? We /should/ go and take it to the toasters."
Burke frowns at the mention of Shiner liking Kepner, but lets it pass, “Nah, we all ‘naded that Cootuh in his Raptor. But Boz Pewter s’one who done him in. He’s still in charge now, an’ rightly so. Kepner was mad as a cut snake and ornery t’ boot. You ain’t seen him sendin’ his marines into the mincer to buy hisself time. He ain’t nobody t’ go bein’ impressed by, Shinuh.”
"Okay, so maybe he was a bit, y'know, volatile, and all that, but you can't deny he had some pretty good points to make," Shiner points out. "We can't just run away forever."
"Rather a year in a hole than a minute in the stewpot," Burke opines, shaking his head, "Ah don't reckon they plan t' run forever. But, Ah reckon it's all 'bout findin' th' right ol' time an' place to fight back. Y'know ain't no way to win usin' a human wave if'n y'ain't got 'nuff people fer a human raindrop. Gotta fight smart, not jus' fierce."
"Rather die fighting than die tired," Shiner counters, shrugging. "And they've got that gun thing, right? The one that totally knocks the toasters out?"
“They ain’t got a thing now,” Burke says, shaking his head, “That ol’ Gun got blowed up ‘afore that lady Colonel – Riederey? ‘Afore she jumped away with the Areion. Ain’t no gun an’ ain’t no Areion now. Reckon you keep sayin’ he was right, though, an’ they ain’t lettin’ you oughta here til frogs do fractions.”
"Aww, shit," Shiner replies, face falling. "Now we're all frakked. No superweapon, and half the pilots in the fleet gone? Great. Shit, maybe they'll let me out just through sheer desperation. I'm getting better at flying. I am."
“Not if yer gonna join up with them crazy people,” Burke leans back on the palms of his hands, squinting up at the fluorescent ceiling, “Don’t reckon they gonna take a chance after that mutiny, even if they’s desperate. You best cool off in here, Shinuh. You ain’t seem like a bad guy, but try n’ stay positive. Las’ thing we need’s another feller preachin’ dang ol doom n’ gloom every chance he gets. Ah always found s’lot easier to swim with the current than ‘gainst it.”
Shiner chuckles, moving to fetch his paper plane and straighten out the nose where it crumpled on landing. "I don't think I've got a lot of choice. But if you can get me busted out, I'd totally owe you. Seriously, I just want to fly and kick some toaster ass. Is that really so much to ask? Is the CAG okay?"
“She took a fair ol’ beatin’ from them Areion fellers,” Burke explains, reaching up to rub the chest of his off-duty fatigues which seem to be puffed out slightly to indicate bandages beneath them, “But last Ah heard she was fine.”
Shiner nods slowly to that, frowning. "She's cool. If you see her, tell her I was asking after her, okay?"
“Ah’ll do that,” the Ensign replies, climbing to his feat and stretching his arms out to either side of him with a yawn, “She ain’t been in t’see you then, Ah take?”
"Not yet," Shiner admits, "But then, I figure she's probably been real busy and everything. And, yeah, if she got beaten up, she's probably not in the mood for visits, y'know? But look, right, tell her I never blew up anything, and I never sabotaged anything, right? All I did was keep a watch out like the fit LT told me."
“Ah’ll do that,” Burke reiterates, reaching up to rub his eyes and yawning widely, “Heck, Ah’m dead on my feet. Reckon Ah better get me some rack time ‘afore patrol. ‘Specially if Ah wanna look in on Ellie Sue after.”
"Who?" Shiner queries, raising an eyebrow. "Do I know her?"
“Nope,” Burke shakes his head, a wistful smile crossing his features, “Ah brought her back wit’ me from the Areion. They weren’t treatin’ her proper. She’s with us now.”
"Is she hot?" Shiner asks, leaning forward on his elbows. "Dude, come on, what's the skinny? Who's this chick?"
“Oh, she is powerful hot,” Burke says, a knowing grin emerging on his face, “The hottest. You’ll meet her ‘afore too long, Shinuh, Ah ain’t want to spoil the surprise for you. Ah’ll send her yer best wishes, though, when Ah go see her.”
Shiner beams at that. "Neat," he decides. "Stripped down, if possible, okay?"
"Cool like ice, man, cool like ice," Shiner assures him, giving a vague wave. "Cheers for stopping by, dude. Take care of yourself out there."