AWD #529: A Common Point of Reference
A Common Point of Reference
Summary: Amos talks to the surviving Piraeans and they find a common frame of reference that none of them expected.
Date: Fri 02/Dec/2016 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: None
Amos Dropkickst 
Battalion HQ - Deck 3 - Battlestar Orion
The headquarters room is the primary command location for all Marines associated with the battlestar or accompanying fleet ships. The walls and desks are covered with maps, photos, and satellite imagery - as well as clocks indicating the current time in each colonial capital city. Secure phones are bolted to each bulkhead, and for added insurance, each desk possesses its own encrypted wireless unit with its own independent wiring. The small room is always manned by a wireless operator and a duty sergeant, at a minimum, though it tends to be a hive of activity during duty hours.
19/Jun/2006 (IC Date)

With rank comes responsibilities, and, apparently, an office. With Fairfax having vacated it Amos has now moved into the OC's office but he's still in the process of sorting to how he wants it. One obvious change though, there's an aerial recce photo of the area around Santos Ridge on the wall, the one Major Gray had passed to him while he was still recovering from his wounds, showing hundreds of destroyed centurions. There's also paperwork, lots of it, but for now, the main concern of Amos' is to finish his cup of coffee in peace, or relative peace anyway, given he's send a corporal out to try and find the two remaining Piraean solders now he's got far enough through his handover list that he actually has five minutes to spare.

Since the death of the two Piraeans on Big Rock, Carrack and Yonas haven't been talking to many. Integration isn't really happening. They keep to themselves and only seem to really talk to each other. even Knox seems to be out of the loop on what’s happening with them. It has probably become apparent to them that they are out of their element and they are most certainly not with any group they knew when they were alive. There's not so much fear or suspicion so much as wariness. But when they arrive in the CO's office Carrack and Yonas are both in some borrow green duty green dungarees and obviously, sans combat gear. Neither of them have rank pins on either. After the knock and entrance, Carrack and Yonas come to attention and both tap fists twice to their hearts before standing tall. Precision movement. "Sir, Sergeant Carrack and Specialist Yonas reporting as ordered, Major." Eyes on the back wall.

"Stand easy Gentlemen," Amos replies, settling his mug down as the pair enter. "I shouldn't keep you long, there's just a couple of things to clear up while we have the chance." If he had enough chairs he'd offer them a seat, but as it is they'll just have to make do. "I know we didn't really get much chance," any, "to speak before we hit Twin Rocks, but thank you for your efforts, and those of your colleagues." Not that that's one of the aforementioned points mind, but it's a good lead in. "Taking the past before the future, your fallen comrades. We have a mass funeral being arranged for the fallen of the fleet, but are there any special requirements needed for Specialist Kamma or Private Noonen. As I'm sure you can appreciate, the this is a bit of an unknown for us, but if there's anything you need we will do our best to provide it."

With the directive to ease, Carrack and Yonas go to parade rest. Their movements are remarkably familiar and almost exact to that of the Colonials. An accident? An odd fate? Carrack and Yonas let their eyes fall on Amos while he speaks but Yonas is just behind Carrack so the Sergeant seems in the lead. "Same enemy, sir. At least we think, anyway. Big stompy robots with guns. I don't think Kammer or Noonen regretted the fight, Major." They got the memo about the promotion. The last question has Yonas glance to Carrack and the Sergeant seems to feel it. The ranking guy turns his head a fraction of an inch and nods to Yonas. Looking back, he speaks directly to Amos. "Sir, we respect whatever beliefs you have. But we would like to put our own to rest in their own way if possible. A, ah, inhabited planet would be best. We can do a burial at sea if necessary, though. Any are welcome to attend, but given what we have overheard, I suspect we should lay them to their lives per our traditions, sir." There is no shortage of respect there, either. And relief.

Amos listens carefully, he has paper and a pen to hand to make notes if the reply turns out to be complicated, but in the end he doesn't reach for them. "I think just about everyone on board knows that we're bound for Leonis imminently. How much time we'll get there I do not know, but I'll see what I can do there. If that proves unworkable then we'll send a raptor to Picon, or somewhere else safer when we can." He takes a sip of his coffee as a follow on question forms. "I'm told that you can not return to Piraeus yourselves, and trust me, there are hundreds of questions I could ask, about that others probably already have, but the pertinent one here is could they? Would that be either feasible or appropriate?" Then, since it gives him a nice follow on he continues, "the other matter is yourselves. Have you given thought as to what you want to do next? You're both more than welcome to stay and fight with the 3/9th of course, but I want to make sure your aware of the other options." He's heard they aren't integrating, and can understand in part at least. "Leonis is crying out for me, and we're engaged heavily on Scorpia. Picon could learn a lot from your past experience and we're generally routing members of the lines who wish to defect there for initial contact which is something else I'm sure you would be invaluable in. In short gentlemen, you have options."

Carrack looks over to Yonas, then back. "Yes, sir. But we have no idea what Leonis is. Space…ship? Moon?" The guy gives a small shrug. They really know nothing. "But I do trust you to see the wishes filled, sir. Hopefully that conveys the respect intended, Major." And it isn't spoken lightly. As he continues, there's a visible drop of their stature. It isn't huge like a sigh, but a reminder of pain. "Captain al Yamoha told as much, sir. We don't know why we cannot go home. But… Yonas has been ordered to refrain from trying." He adjusts his stance, a movement Amos knows well as it is an enlisted trying to find comfortable ground. "I don't know if they could, sir. But we couldn't send them off if we cannot return. We don't just put our soldiers in the ground, sir. Its a little more than that." The rest has Carrack and Yonas looking a little lost. The silence lingers for a moment and Carrack looks down for a moment. How to frame this. "Sir." he finally looks back, voice more quiet. "Sir, we have no idea who you all are, except that you are fighting different machines than we were. We don't know where to go or how to work within the unit. We're recon-trained Army. We can go anywhere, but we don't even know the human terrain." Yonas looks a little nervous, letting his eyes wander the office as if he were about to leave and trying to find something familiar to identify. But Carrack continues to engage, "Sir, forgive me, but where the fuck did you all come from? Did you come for us from Romeo Papa?" Genuine question. "And, sir, if I could be blunt, it makes us nervous we've been transferred command to you all. We trust you all in the larger fight. But, why did Captain al Yamoha transfer us to you? Why is she not here?"

Amos mouths a silent 'ah' at the question about Leonis, then answers in a quickly. "In a nutshell, the human race, as we understand it, was until eighteen months ago spread over twelve colonies, Leonis being one. Then the cylons attacked, nuked a few until they were no longer habitable, and have been destroying the others to varying degrees since. I can let you lose in the ship's library if you want more of a detailed history, but we have more pressing things. Potentially also relevant is an old legend of a thirteenth tribe, or colony, with whom contact was lost untold generations ago, but all thirteen were originally from a planet called Kobol. Although again, we lost contact with that countless generations ago. Where Piraeus fits into that I honestly have no idea. Major Gray might have some theories, but if one or other of those is P, or the Rally Point I honestly have no idea." There's a faintly apologetic shrug, he wishes he could give them a better answer he really does. "I know it likely doesn't seem helpful to you, but we've been asking much the same questions about you and your colleagues, where do you come from. So far our only connecting frame of reference is Piraeus itself, and we've a few thousand years worth of timeline missing there." With nothing more to add there that he can think of as immediately helpful he diverts back to his original query for a moment, "I'll see if we can find a quiet moment while we orbit Leonis though, if you could get me a paragraph or so with roughly how much time you'll need, any equipment and the like," spades, incense, he really has no idea, "and I'll make sure it gets sorted." Their final question though, is perhaps the one he's least able to answer and he doesn’t try to hide the fact from them. "I'll be blunt with you Sergeant, I don't really know, but should I get the chance to ask her I will. I knew nothing of your arrival here before Sergeant Flynn brought you on board, and have had rather a lot to deal with since. If you'd prefer not to come under the wing of the CMC though then equally there are other options, we're just the closest to what I believe you're used to." He leans back in his chair and considers carefully for a moment or two then asks, "I suppose, the first question to ask is, do you want to stay on the front lines in this fight, or do you want to hold back, and see if we can explore where our histories diverge?"

Amos starts talking. They listening. They seem to key in on one word: 'Kobol.' Both of them look dumbfounded at that, but recognize the name. Or location. Thunderstruck, to a word. Its difficult for Carrack to form real words for a few and ends up just letting Amos go on. When he finishes, the two of them just stare at Amos. Stare. Seconds pass and Yonas finally loses his posture and steps back and ends up having to lean against the wall. He slides down slowly and just looks away. Carrack turns to watch it, but doesn't try to tell him otherwise. The Sergeant looks similarly shaken when his eyes go back to Amos. "Major Ommanney, according to legend, Captain Harris Kobol left our original homeworld, Erfrik, with a colony ship when our own people did. A thousand years before we settled our own world. We know you call it Piraus, but we call to Ys'ral." He seems hard of his words, trying to brain what he's just heard. "There were Three, according to legend. Kobol, Eart, and the third was lost to time. Eart was tasked with finding a single location; An evac point if everything went to shit. Someplace the other two could retreat to when the machines found our new worlds." Carrack looks fairly worried. He ignores the point about a paragraph of what he needs and just focuses. This is bigger than Kammer or Noonen. "Major." He is ashen. "What do you mean there's a few thousand years missing here?" The guy steps both feet closer. He doesn't know. "Sir, we both remember Captain al Yamoha dying. What's going on here?"

Amos looks faintly alarmed at Yonas' reaction, but if Carrack isn't going to his aid then he'll leave the Specialist be for now, although he does keep an eye on him, in case of need. As it becomes apparent what is being said he reaches for that paper and takes notes, not copious ones, but enough to get a rough timeline down on paper before he drops his next apparent bombshell. "Sergeant, I suspect you're going to be telling that tale to a lot of people in the near future." Setting the pen down he clasps his arms in front of him, "I mentioned a thirteenth colony? There is a name for it, a name many believe to be no more than a myth, but the name of that Myth, is Earth." He gives them just a second to process that, but then dives straight in again, for he has another question to ask, "who settled Ys'ral Sergeant? Eart?" He guesses it has to be, if not Kobol and the other name is lost. This is bigger than Amos too, and he knows it, but he does what he can to answer the question. "This is largely conjecture on my part, and there are others in the fleet who know more, maybe even understand some of it, but as I understand it, the current thinking is that there has been hundreds of years since you fought the cylons. The cylons that we thought we created a century ago. I'll be frank with you, I don't understand, and I'm not the best person to brief you on it, but I can put you in a room together with those who might be able to help you more."

Carrack is doing his best. Special Forces Sergeant maintaining his bearing. Its a work of art, and something well-trained. Meanwhile Yonas just sits with his head bowed, hands in his short hair. "Your people have a thirteenth colony called 'Earth?'" he asks carefully. "Eart. Earth. So they evac'd to the Romeo Papa. Rally Point. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume they knew the location. What- why did they-" Carrack stops himself. its a heroic move on his part. His emotional investment in this discussion is high. No. The guy takes a step back and goes to parade rest. "Yonas," he whispers.
No response.
Carrack turns and barks loudly at him, "Specialist Yonas you get on your goddamn feet or I will fuck you up!!" he shouts.
Yonas forces himself back and comes back to standing, though still looking shaken.
"Major, we all believed the whole colonization thing was a myth until the machines found us. Then it just dropped like a klen." A term Amos doesn't know. Brick, probably. "Eart did not settle Earth. According to legend, he went as far out as possible. Beyond our place. The Captain who settled Ys'ral was lost to time. She, to legend, afforded a vote to the name and only wanted to make sure her people were safe." He is still staring. "It was a legend. We started to believe it when the machines landed but… how could you know these things?" There's some distraught effects to his expression. "Hundreds, sir? You said thousands." He steps forward purposefully, right to the edge of the desk. "Major Ommanney, where is my commanding officer, Captain al Yamoha?" He stares right at Amos. "Is she dead? …Are we?"

"According to legend, yes, although how many people still believe in it is another matter," Amos replies quietly. He'd offer Yonas the rest of his coffee, but can't shake the feeling it'd be undermining Carrack in some way, so instead makes a mental note to not prolong this more than he has to, but to give them chance to retreat and talk privately. "Three thousand, give or take," he says straight up, "apologies if my phrasing was too loose. To the best of my knowledge, and as I understand it, Captain Al Yamoha is on Piraeus, Ys'ral. Is she dead? Again, this is not something I make any claim to understand, but in all honesty? I don't know. Initially we thought yes, we called your people 'ghosts' for that was the closest word we had to how you appeared. Now? Well, ghosts can't do what your team did at Twin Rocks. You are outside our understanding of the working of the universe and our understanding of the very meaning of the words alive and dead. If I could give you a straight answer I would Sergeant, but I'm a soldier, not a biologist, or a philosopher. I simply do not know if the question you are asking is the same as I am hearing, for we have only started to learn that such things are possible in the last few months, and we do not yet know how to process it all."

Carrack and Yonas stand there, looking at Amos like he's some kind of prophet. But also holding an additional wariness. But three thousand. Thousand. The both look emotionally crippled with it. Its on their faces, but schooled away. The rest just flows over them. Carrack, in the end, finds it in himself to nod. "Copy all, sir. We'll roll. For now, I'll get you the paragraph. Thank you for the information." Yonas looks more rough off, but he's younger. But both of them hold their posture, waiting to be dismissed.

"I'm sorry I can't make it all make sense for you Sergeant," Amos replies, "but I will put you in touch with those who might stand a better chance of answering at least some of your questions." He's already working out just who to inform of this, the Admiral, Major Gray, the Temple? Ohhh boy. "If there's anything else we can do to help you for now, a brief history of the colonies, someplace quiet where you can just be yourselves, take it to Sergeant Knox, he's likely the best person to bridge any gaps in understanding. I meant what I said before though, you're both more than welcome with the 3/8th, officially or unofficially, for as long as you need us." Then, noting their expressions, and knowing Yonas' reactions, he doesn't delay them any longer. "Dismissed."

Carrack leads the way. He seems to understand more than Yonas. Or at least is more cogent about it. "Copy, sir." A slight pause. "Ten-shun," is said quietly. Carrack and Yonas go to attention and doubletap the chest before turning to leave.

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