AWD #143: Highlight Reel
Highlight Reel
Summary: Agrippa and Phin go over their tapes from their side of the Saber mission. Maia and Bennett help them spot.
Date: 29/05/2013 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: Dancing with Sabers Vipers and mention of Raptor.
Agrippa Bennett Maia Phin 
Ready Room — Deck 2 — Battlestar Orion
Capable of seating every member of the wing with space to spare in its stadium organization, the Ready Room has more than two hundred seats and is the largest room on the ship dedicated to single briefings. Sections of desks were manufactured specifically for this and wrap the width of each level of seating, rolling leather seats positioned at even points through each row. The walls have the tenant squadrons' patches painted on individual panels as well as a Kill Board up to the left side of the dais and podium, the Training Board on the other side to log progress. At the rear hatch, on a barren section of wall, is the framed and cased photo of 'Bad Dog' Ruegger.
AWD #143

As promised, Agrippa had invited Maia to review the flight tapes with him of the mission that he and Dolly had flown on Picon, the one that was to draw attention for Kelsey and Ygraine. Leading her to the Ready Room, he tries to downplay what they did, "It wasn't insane or anything, just some fancy flying on both our parts. You know, typical awesome Viper pilot shenanigans." He had also dropped a note on Phin's bunk about reviewing the flight tapes at this time if the other Viper pilot hadn't already done so.

Since she's learning to fly a Viper, Maia definitely was interested in seeing the video of some fancy flight shenanigans so she's decided she could pick up a few pointers along the way while watching first hand what she had only heard about. "Yeah.. but.." she doesn't really finish it but she does tag along and have a seat, wearing her fatigues since her CAP wasn't too long ago.

Given the back-to-back days of missions, Phin is technically at liberty today. He's eager enough to head to the Ready Room when he finds Agrippa's note, though. He could use a shave - just a day's five o'clock shadow, but he usually makes such an effort to be clean-cut that it's semi-notable - but he's put on his blues for the occasion. Even if the jacket is unbuttoned. He's also armed with an octagonal notepad and pen. "But what?" he asks, coming in just in time to catch Maia trailing off. "Hey, guys."

Agrippa was also on liberty as well, well deserved on the parts of both pilots, and he is also wearing the duty blues, no flight suit or anything casual. It feels better watching the flight vids in duty blues for Punchdrunk for some reason. After stepping into the room, he sees that it is empty but not for long, hearing Dolly joining them from the corridor as well, "Hey Dolly, glad you got my note. Gonna watch a nice action flick in here, you game?" He asks with a grin before moving to the main terminal, eager to select the flight tape and have it play on the main screen.

Having taken her seat, Maia isn't so formal as to be in her blues, but her attention seems drawn to where the vid will be shown anyway. When Dolly walks in, she finally manages to crack a smile. "But I still think it's crazy to intentionally draw fire from a saber. Especially after what happened to Holtz. And now Kels and Ygraine." For a moment, she leans her elbows on her knees, waiting for Grippa to sit beside her. "You guys are either brave or crazy. I'll know more after live at five."

Phin returns Agrippa's grin with a slight one of his own. "Should've brought popcorn." He takes a seat, gulping from the thermos of coffee he did manage to bring him after he's settled himself. "It was kind of a rush, actually," he mutters. Sort of under his breath, but it functions as a reply to Maia. Which he might not have actually meant to say outloud. He clears his throat, turning to her and shrugging. "I mean, compared to what Yggs and Squire were doing, it was the…less suicidal part. Maybe we should've done another pass, to keep that thing busy longer."

Going through the different recordings of his file, Agrippa is able to locate one of the latest missions and selects that file. He then calls it up on the main screen, also hitting the controls to slightly dim the ready room as well so that nothing is missed. Then he goes to join the others by taking a seat next to Maia, shooting her a grin, "You need a mix of both to be a top notch Viper pilot, Centerfold." Especially with the story of Bad Dog Ruegger and Strike Wing Eleven. There is also a solemn nod at Phin, "Yeah, I was thinking about that last night as well… if we had drew the attention fo the SABER for another salvo or two, they wouldn't have come back in such bad shape."

The recording doesn't start at the very beginning of the flight, but they are flying past the buttes with the canyonlands further to the north. They are at the part where they are given a list of options from ANVIL Actual and discussing which one to pick. Then with the decision made, it's an easy flight towards the highway with flat lands all around. But that is when the first bit of fun begins, involving the small mobile gun platform.

Giving him a scolding look, Maia shakes her head. "A rush? A rush, Dolly?" She frowns. "No." Playing mother hen now to her Viper pilots. "Yeah another one and likely all four of you would have been in sickbay." That doesn't help Grippa's case any either as she gives him a punch on his arm. "Not cool, Grippa. But I'm really, really glad Kels and Shake did come home. Gods… I saw Yggy last night. She looked like shit."

<FS3> Agrippa rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Phin rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Maia rolls Alertness: Great Success.

"I just meant…" But Phin does not elaborate to Maia about what he meant. It would probably just earn him more frowning. He settles into his chair to watch the picture, picking up his pen. Like he's going to take notes, though he doesn't write much down.

On the vidscreen, there is a sudden call to break by Agrippa that is followed by an immediate reaction by Phin in a perfectly executed evasive maneuver. Then Punchdrunk can be seen making his attack run, blasting the gun platform to pieces. What follows is the pair of Vipers following the road until there is a glint in the distance, one that the two eagerly heads for. That leads to the flashy strafing run being made by both Phin and Agrippa, the former's last salvo ending with a brilliant result.

When Maia becomes concerned and scowlish again, Agrippa can't help but wince and chooses to remain quiet, smartly. It seems like Phin had the same idea as well, just taking the lashing as they come. "I was thinking about visiting them when they get better and more rested." He then grows quiet and focuses on the vidscreen when it comes to the strafing run, wanting to see what the gun cameras picked up that he wasn't able to while focusing on turning the toasters into scrap metal.

"Wait.." Reaching for the control, Maia takes it, if it's relinquished and immediately hits the rewind, pausing it on a particular frame she'd noticed. "What's that?" Looking closer, she stands and points it out on the screen, playing it in slow motion now. When the two break and engage the anti-air gun, she points to the DRADIS. "What the frak is this?" There are a pair of Raiders at the very, very edge of DRADIS range heading northbound at high speed in the direction of where the Saber Raptor was supposed to be approaching the SAM from. "Isn't this where Kels and Shake were? See how fast they were going? Frak…" Pausing it there now. "Is that what happened to them?" Yeah the frown is definitely back.. "Raiders and Saber.. You're all damn lucky to be alive, especially them."

"They were up yesterday," Phin says to Agrippa. "Yggs was doped, but she seemed coherent enough, relatively speaking. Squire was just out of surgery. Docs seem to think they'll mend OK, thank gods. Bet they'd like the company. Probably gets dead boring in there with nothing to do but wait for the medics to cut you loose. I should swing back later tonight, while I'm still off…frak…" That last part murmured as Maia takes the control. "Frak. They must not've pinged our instruments, with the Saber chirp echoing. Dammit…"

Agrippa is definitely not going to contest over the controls right now, since it isn't a Pyramid game that is being shown. When Maia rewinds back to the destruction of the mobile gun platform and points something out on the very edge of DRADIS, Punchdrunk leans in and studies it, seeing the blips clearly now, "Frak me… I can't believe I frakking missed that!" Now the blonde Raptorette isn't the only one that is frowning, Agrippa is definitely nonplussed as well, "Could those two be the same ones that engaged us after we took out part of the Convoy, Dolly? I know we got jumped from behind after the strafing run… did Squire and Shake run into Raiders too?"

And there, just as Phin mentions it in the next seconds of video, is that echo of the Saber once more. As the Vipers turn up the road, buried behind the next chirp about ten seconds later, is the sound of Raider's DRADIS sweeping them. Then moments later is another, underneath the radio chatter. Its so faint its no wonder nobody heard it.

Bennett arrives from the Air Wing Corridors.

While watching the tape of the Saber mission, Maia is standing near the screen, pointing something out, the two Raiders at the edge of the DRADIS, just two small blips in the whole grand scheme of things, but it was enough to shatter the Raptor the two in Sickbay had been in. "Were they already hit when you left the area with them chasing you then?" Offering the control back to Agrippa in case he wanted to see it again. She retakes her seat beside the Vipers, offering them both a somewhat weak but encouraging smile. "Hey, you guys did great…" Could have happened to anyone. Yet she doesn't say that.. figuring they wouldn't listen anyway.

Phin frowns, brow getting furrow-y. "Didn't see any Raiders on their tapes," he says to Agrippa, about the Raptor and Raiders. "Those might've been the ones that jumped us. We shall see." He's sitting in a chair down front, drinking from a thermos of coffee. And holding a pen in his non-thermos hand, which is theoretically equipped to take notes from the pad in front of him. Not that he's doing much of that. Agrippa and Maia are working the vid controls. The screen is currently playing flight footage of Vipers zipping about on a desert landscape that looks like part of Picon.

Agrippa is also seated at the front with an empty seat between hismelf and Phin, most likely Maia's seat before she got up. When Phin confirms that he had reviewed their logs and that the Raptor team was not fighting two Raiders, there is a brief sigh of relief. Of course, if a lone Raptor went up against a pair of Raiders, it would be dead unless it jumped out. "Yeah, let's see how the tape plays out now. You're right though, Dolly, the damn SABER pings threw us off."

Light briefly floods the entryway of the ready room as someone enters through the hatch, and clicks it shut behind them. She's humming something soft and barely audible; some old showtune or another. The ditty fades away when she spots the image stilled on the projection screen. Pivoting, she heads over to the small group of pilots conversing at the front.

Relieved when she hears that the two weren't jumped by the Raiders, Maia ponders aloud. "Then I wonder if it was the Saber or what it is that hit them. Whatever it is hurt them really bad." When the door opens, the Raptorette looks over and offers a quick grin. "Welcome to the show." That leaves the other seat beside Phin empty if she's going for front row.

Phin misses Bennett's humming over the sound of the vid. He's in his blues, though the jacket's unbuttoned. He's off the duty roster for the day, so he's moderately casual. His head turns when Maia greets the newcomer, and he sits up a little straighter when he spots Bennett. Idly reaching up to finger his jaw, like he sort of regrets not shaving. "Oh. Hey, Captain. We were just going over the tapes of the Saber run to Picon. Punch and my side of it, at least, but the Raptor tapes have been pulled, too."

Whent he hatch opens up and a brighter light shoots in, Agrippa turns his head to look at the new arrival, raising a hand in a wave as greeting, also wearing duty blues at the moment. "Evening Captain." When Phin shares what they are watching, Punchdrunk nods his head before looking back to Maia, waiting for the blonde to rejoin them at the seats and start up the tape again. "Let's get to the strafing run on the convoy to see what we missed, and make sure that the pair of Raider blips did swing around and jump us."

Bennett elects to stand, for the time being at least. Arms folding across her midsection, she looms somewhere off to Maia's right— and 'looms' is approximately right, given she's got a good few inches in height on the blonde pilot. "Gentlemen," she greets with a small smile, evidently including Maia in that classification. "What are your thoughts so far?" she enquires next, eyes trained on the screen with just the slightest crease in her brow.

<FS3> Maia rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Phin rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Agrippa rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Bennett rolls Alertness: Great Success.

Maia gently nudges Agrippa, getting his attention that had shifted when Bennett walked inside. "Here's the control, Grippa." Giving him an amused look. Men.. When Phin rubs his shadow at the same time, she can't help but laugh. Sobering soon after, she relinquishes control to Agrippa if he finally takes it. At the question, she lifts her shoulders. "Looks pretty bad from where I'm sitting."

"The SABER signals took up most of our DRADIS attention. We missed a couple of Raiders on the edge of our instrument range," Phin replies to Bennett. "My thought is, I'm more comfortable flying with Raptor sensors not too far off, sir." He focuses back on the screen, to watch the convoy bit.

With the remote offered back to him, Agrippa takes it and hits play so that it is no longer paused on the Viper jocks' failure of not noticing the twin Raider blips on the DRADIS. His assessment is apparently the same as his wingman's, nodding his head after Dolly speaks up, "And to not let the SABER pings be that distracting that it causes us to lose focus on our immediate surroundings, both visually and on our sensors. Sir."

With the flight tape playing again, the destruction of the small mobile gun platform shifts to the pair of Vipers roaring over the flat terrain, following the highway at high speeds. Soon there is a glint in the distance and the two Vipers proceed quickly towards that target, setting up the strafing run, which was quite successful with Agrippa's shots shredding a portion of the Cylon convoy and Phin's doing the same, except his last salvo ending in a brilliant manner, causing a chain explosion. But it is also in this section, at the start of the strafing run that Agrippa has the tape going in slow-mo, so they can see what they actually blew up with the gun camera.

"Mm," is the Captain's semi-distracted reply, either to Maia's observation, or Phin's. Both, possibly. Her attention seems elsewhere— namely, on the grainy image she's watching for the second time in one night. A step closer, her boot heel contacting the deck plating with a soft 'tick' as she tries to get a better look at… something. "Situational awareness," she offers quietly, absently. "Perhaps I should suggest it to the CAG, as something to incorporate into our drills." Then, somewhat abruptly, "Wait. Wait, pause it there. What's that at five o'clock?" What's that, indeed. It's easy to miss in the general chaos of vipers blowing shit up, but it looks like body parts tumbling out of one of the flatbed trailers and into the bullet-spattered dirt.

When Grippa slows it down Maia leans forward again, elbows resting on her knees. The ensuing explosion takes over the entire screen almost and she'd been watching how high the fireball went instead of the body parts tumbling out of the trailer. "Oh whoa.." Only when pointed out does the Raptor pilot notice it. "Frak… Skinjobs, hopefully.." Yeah, trying to make them feel better.

Phin drops his thermos when Bennett pauses on that bit. It clatters to the Ready Room floor, spilling some coffee out of the drinking slit in the lid. Not that he notices. He stands, steadying himself against his chair, before striding up closer to the screen. Like looking at it more and closer will put that in better perspective. He's gone quite pale.

When Bennett calls for a pause, Agrippa has pretty quick reflexes on the remote control, courtesy of being a Viper pilot. At the pause, he now sees what is being pointed out and goes very silent and very still. He is just looking at the body parts, perhaps the two of the one-two punch of things going wrong on this mission. Maia certainly sounds optimistic but it looks like Punchdrunk isn't thinking the same.

"Nothing quite so gruesome as that, I think," Bennett opines, tilting her head slightly as if to gain some insight from viewing the scene at a different angle. "Centurions. Well, pieces of them, anyway." She takes a few more steps closer, and indicates with a slim finger which casts a long shadow on the projected image, "They were likely dismantled, I'd wager, before y'all ever took a shot." Her normally diffuse Virgan accent dips momentarily into something closer to Leonisian.

"There.. skinjobs minus the skin." Maia smirks, watching Bennett point out the parts. She stands and then squats down, scooping up the thermos and walk over for some towels to clean up the mess off the floor. She drops the paper towels and uses her boot to wipe up the fragrant mess, offering the thermos back to Phin at the same time.

"Oh thank gods…" Phin exhales the words really fast as he stares at the screen, following Bennett's finger. To the Captain he explains, "ANVIL reported this as a Cylon convoy. It was among a list of targets they had that we could go scope, as a distraction while the Milkshake and Squire's Raptor was getting intel on the Saber. I was the ranking Viper pilot, and this was the target I picked." He's plainly relieved this did not result in mass flesh body parts, though the thought plainly crossed his mind in those seconds. He murmurs a "Thanks" to Maia as he retrieves his thermos. "I can get that, Centerfold. You don't have to…thanks."

There is also a loud release of a long held breath by Agrippa as well, a sigh of relief and apparently this pilot is at a loss of words. When Phin speaks of how he was the ranking pilot as if to set up for the falling on the sword type of deal, he cuts in, "I was the one that narrowed it down to this target or the fuel depot, Dolly. Who knows, they could've had slave conscription at the other site and if we had blown it sky high, it might've killed some innocent Colonials." Agrippa does sound rather relieved that it was Centurion parts, not human parts.

Quickly, Agrippa starts the video again, the rest of the strafing run completing and Phin's spectacular finish coming at the end with a very well placed shot, causing a chain reaction of explosion. When the two Vipers pull up and bank around to put some distance between themselves and the partially shredded convoy, the pair was suddenly jumped by a pair of Raiders, ones that either look to be rather well programmed or 'vetted', if a Cylon can actually gain experience. The second 'craziness' is that the pair of Viper jocks had chosen to dog fight at rather low altitudes, maneuvers bringing them close to the deck instead of risking getting locked onto by the SABER system at higher altitudes.

Bennett smiles faintly at the 'skinjobs minus the skin' comment, but says nothing of it. Phin's explanation draws a long glance toward the pilot, though. "You know, Doll, I remember when you were a fresh-faced young ensign, right out of fleet academy." Blue eyes flick back to the projector screen as Agrippa un-pauses the footage. "You made a good call. We might never have discovered this, otherwise. Would you please file a separate report on this to Storm and the CAG?" She lets out a soft whistle as the 'camera' suddenly banks sharply to the right, and explosions light up soundlessly, one after the next, some distance below. "Nice shooting."

Watching, Maia seems impressed with the maneuvers of the Vipers, at times scooting towards the edge of her seat and waiting with breathless anticipation. Slapping a hand over her mouth at the move from Phin, she looks over at him with renewed admiration in her eyes. "Damn.." her voice is soft and she just shakes her head, looking back at the screen.

Phin ticks his blue eyes up at Bennett, and gives her a slight smile. "I neglected my grooming this morning, sir. So, maybe not as fresh as usual. But, right. Will do. I'll address it to ANVIL command as well, in case they can get any useful intel off that site." He sinks back into his chair, shrugging. "Always feels…I don't know. Not easier but, I like flying in atmosphere." It does seem to improve his handling, and aim. Not that he's a poor pilot usually. He shows a high degree of competence, particularly for someone who did come aboard as a Rook. But he's far from the flashiest of the ship's Viper jocks. Here, he's got a feel for shifting into air currents, and timing his aim with the momentum the gravity gives him. "First thing I ever flew was a paraglider when I was ten. And I got a civvie license on those little two-engine taxis when I was on Leonis, soon as I had the cubits saved for courses. That's why I did better on Viper tests than Raptors, I think, when they did testing for the pipelines. The frame's still small enough where you can really feel when the littler stuff knocks it around."

"Yeah, Dolly made things very easy on me. After I took that hit on my tail, he grabbed their attention. Without the Raiders breathing down my back, it was almost like a turkey shoot." Phin does indeed dance with the pair of Cylons in atmosphere before the lead Raider is shot down, followed by its wingman. With the two hostiles clear and the surrounding area free of bandits, now comes the /crazy/ part. The pair of Viper pilots decides to purposefully attract the SABER's attention, their reasoning? That means it won't be shooting at the Raptor. So both of them gain altitude and holds it, even after the beeps of the SABER finding them is audible, only kicking in the afterburners and diving towards the canyonlands after missiles are in the air.

Diving into the canyons, the pair of Vipers are able to evade the first pair of missiles fired from the SABER, flying over the canyon formation and exploding. However, the locked tone doesn't subside and when they come to a north-south canyon line, a pair of missiles drop in after them, one after each Viper. Their fancy flying shakes them off though, causing them to explode against the canyon wall and floor.

"Please do," replies St. Clair to the ANVIL suggestion, stepping back from the projector screen finally. She pauses at something else the pilot says, and laughs a little. "I.. I used to fly those, too. ORKAs? I think they were called ORKAs." And with a breath that sounds a little bit weary, "I'll leave you to it, then. I am glad you all came home safe and sound." With one last glance at the grainy image of the canyon streaking past, the Captain turns and heads for the hatch from whence she came.

When the paper towels have done the job of soaking up the coffee, Maia scoops them up and tosses them, this time remaining standing to watch the rest of the video. When it comes to the exciting conclusion, or what she assumes is the end, the blonde Raptor pilot looks towards Bennett and smiles. "See you later." Then of course back on the Vipers. "So.. good job fellas. Still, I don't know if you're both crazy or have the biggest set of…" Grinning, she doesn't finish.

"Balls?" comes from the doorway, then, "Probably," just as Bennett ducks out.

Bennett leaves, heading toward the Air Wing Corridors [Out].

Phin cracks a grin at Agrippa. "You knocked 'em down, man. I just set them up. And it was your idea to go into the canyons. Use to the terrain so we could duck and dodge the missiles. That was quick thinking. Might be good practice going forward when we tangle with those things, depending on where we're flying." He offers a "Later, sir" to Bennett. Maia's comment just gets a chuckle, and a shrug. "Squire's and Milkshake's are bigger, if you measure that way, since they got up closer to the thing. But thanks."

Giving Bennett a wave again, this time a departing one, Agrippa then turns to Maia when she doesn't finish her sentence, laughing when the Captain finishes for the blonde. "Yeah, I agree with Dolly. Squire and Shake, bigger than hours. They went up to that thing, we just frakked with it from afar."

"Then we should go and tell them exactly what we think of their uh… genitalia." Maia doubles over laughing at her own joke, rolling her eyes at herself. "I think I may pop in over there briefly before I kick off to bed for the night. It's been a helluva long day and I've got Alert 5 in the morning, unfortunately. No nap for me!"

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