AWD #612: The CAG Doesn't Just Eat Paperwork
The CAG Doesn't Just Eat Paperwork
Summary: Wing members chat over dinner.
Date: 23/2/17
Related Logs: None
Pearson Gloria Kris Robin 
Mess Hall - Deck 3 - Battlestar Orion
The Crew Mess on the battlestar is one of the larger rooms meant for occupation. The room is far longer than it is wide with the classic stainless steel tables that can be seen anywhere else on the ship, standard to all navy ships. Most of the chairs match, their padding on the seats worn down after several years. Towards the rear of the room is the food prep area and serving lines. During the time in between meals the Mess will serve midrats, or 'mid-shift rations', such as sandwiches and drinks. Coffee pots are left to run at all hours to keep people going as needed.
AWD #612

Seated at one of the tables in the mess and holding a puzzle cube between both hands, and a tray that looks like it had food upon it one time but the remains are now rubble and crumbs, Pearson is working the cube with one eye squinted shut and a timer ticking away on her wrist watch. Why the timer? Because some skills are performed best under a time crunch. Why the squinted eye shut? Same answer, handicap the field of play!

While no longer technically a nugget, Gloria is still very new to the wing, and spending a lot of her time either in the sims, or on training flights. For now though, she's free of all the nausea inducing cockpits and preparing to enjoy a tray full of mess cuisine. Being a military brat she's not one to complain about the food, just the coffee, so when she grabs a seat opposite Pearson at the airwing table her plate is full. "Hey," she greets simply, not offering more in case she breaks the pilot's concentration, she does watch though. Carefully.

CAP. Sleep. CAP. Sleep. It seems like that is what Kris' life entails, with minor events like showers, PT and meals the only things serving to break up the tedium. Right now it's food that will help with that. She is currently dressed in flight gear she has yet to change out of post-patrol, the heavy garment peeled off to the waist which exposes the tanks worn under it normally, the sleeves tied about her to hold it up. A tray of food is gotten as is a couple bottle of water, those being what she takes with her on her quest for a seat.

Forever in her blues, when she's not in a flightsuit, Robin is waiting for the coffee station to be vacant. Stepping forward, she shifts a folder of papers under her arm while manoeuvring herself some coffee into a cup one handed. Done this countless times, clearly. After a few pinches of sugar, she departs for the tables, and ends up sitting with the other pilots non-ceremoniously…as if she doesn't often work through meals. Leaving her coffee behind, she steals away for a quick few minutes to grab some food and returns.

Without taking her eye (singular!) off the cube, Pearson continues working the puzzle until the timer goes off and she lets out a 'Meh' of annoyance, a few cubes still out of chromatic alignment. "Almost," she declares then glances up and smiles at Gloria, "five more seconds. Hey," is shared as she spots Kris moving through the room and waves her free hand to invite Kris over and turns slightly, a half beat later, to nod at Robin as she takes returns to the table with food, not just coffee or paperwork. "Good to see you're not planning to just mow down on the paperwork, boss, fibre is good but not -that- good."

"How long did you give yourself?" Gloria asks glancing at the timer. "My best time is a little under three minutes, but I know there are people who can do it crazy fast." Everyone needs a hobby right? Kris gets a nod, then the CAG gets a "sir," but her main focus is food for a couple of mouthfuls before something occurs to her and she turns to Robin. "Anyone had a chance to look at the Arpay sensor suits yet boss? I know it wouldn't be a short term project, but I'd love to take a look and see what we could incorporate into our ships if they'd let us."

While many might just claim a seat for their own use without asking for permission Kris stops at a polite distance from the table, her tray held carefully in both hands. "Hey. Mind if I join you guys?" She is mindful of the fact that she's the new kid on the block and is on her best behaviour. For now.

Robin nods back to Gloria and Pearson as she settles down after dropping off her tray and work. "I have to eat at some point Metis." She draws her coffee mug in closer so she can blow on it while she lets her food cool off too. "Helios is out at the Rally Point working with the Arpay on Raptor upgrades right now. So we'll see what comes out of that." She looks up from her coffee over at Kris and says, "Please, no need to even ask." Her accent is one of those posh ones from Virgon.

"I'm down to four minutes but it's just -barely- at four minutes, really four minutes five seconds," Pearson admits as she gives a final manipulation of the cube to align it properly and sets it aside. "I've only ever seen one person do the whole 'solve in two minutes or less' thing, and while it was freaky cool to observe," and she laughs as she admits this, "it wasn't a challenge I wanted to take on the spot. And yes," she waves to Kris again and uses the same motion to wave Kris toward any of the open seats at the table, "You're always welcome to do so, just plunk your tray down and dive on in." This said before she shares another nod, this time aimed at Robin, "I'm sure he's having a brainiac time of his life right now. You'll be hard pressed to get him to come back," said in a tone heavily seasoned with amusement and frank assessment at the same time.

"No need to ask," Gloria notes, gesturing too the several free seats in their vicinity, "just pull up a pew and get stuck in." She flashes Kris a smile, then tilts her head towards Robin to hear her reply. She looks, momentarily, disappointed at the news, but then forces a smile back onto her face and nods in both understanding and acknowledgement. "I look forward to seeing what he come sup with," she answers, although Pearon's reply gives her a chance to change topic quickly. "Four minutes, not bad. I can only get three if I don't frak up, and the cube is nice. Saw a vid of someone do it in under five seconds though once. I mean, how the frak do you do that? It's just insane."

Kris gives her thanks to the others with a tired-and-relieved smile before sitting down. "Thanks." Her fork is grabbed while she listens, her eyes moving from face to face before she glances at that cube… thing. "What is that?" There is an angling of her chin to indicate the item in question. "Looks weird." Is it some kind of weird alien tech or maybe one of those Arpay contraptions? The idea that it might be something like that has Kris leaning slightly in her seat in anticipation of the reply.

"Indeed." Robin takes a brisk sip of her coffee, ignoring the brief initial sting of heat. She flips her folder open and pulls a pencil from behind her ear to hover over the page as she reads. "Well, we definitely need him back, but I don't have to tell you guys that," she glances over and flashes a tight grin. Her eyes slip down to her food as if perusing for something she might want to eat and then reaches for her coffee again.

"Five seconds? That's just," Pearson pauses and tips her head slightly to the side, "wrong," she finally declares. "And utterly un fun. After all, part of the fun is actually solving it. Not just whipping it around like a robot doing an series of exercises to determine the parameters of the mechanical necessity to solve the puzzle," she flicks one fingertip at the cube as she glances over at Kris. "It's just a puzzle cube. Like the yoyo I carry around, or the slinky," which is often worn coiled over one wrist, "they're just puzzle games. Human, not Arpay. Though," and she glances around to Robin, "wonder what kind of games they play, as kids and the like. It might be one of those insights that make us all go 'ahhhhh' in understanding or lean back in fear." She also reaches for her cup of coffee while nodding, "We know. Relative time and all, I'm just saying, he's probably having a blast, too."

Gloria gives Kris another smile as the LT takes a seat, but she lets Pearson answer the questions about the cube. Turning back to Robin she nods slowly then adds, "yeah, I get that, but in the off chance you neeed anyone to tag him out, just let me know will you?" Once the explanation of the cube is done she reaches out to tap it once, "you mind?" she asks, fancying a fidget too apparently.

"Ah. Yoyos we had but not the puzzle cube. We were kind of backwater woody types where I grew up so nothing overly fancy ever got to where I lived." That said, Kris starts to tuck into her meal, wolfing it down as if she has somewhere to go, her eye on that cube the entire time. It's officially an item of curiosity for the pilot and she will probably stare at it until someone plays with it.

"Well if there are any more opportunities, I'll be sure to keep you in mind. I do expect him to share and train others on the modifications though, so if you have any ideas that come out of that, by all means, don't be shy." Robin ticks something off on the paper in front of her that she's dangling a sandwich over. She seems wholly unconcerned with the puzzle cube and the interest it inspires.

"By all means, go for it," Pearson invites with a nod even as she's taking the yoyo that she always carries out of one pocket and gives it a calm toss out and spool back before grinning at Kris. She starts to offer the yoyo to Kris but sees that Kris is tucking into her meal, leaves her to it, and glances back to Robin with another tip of a nod. "Don't you ever get the impulse to just take all of your paperwork out onto the deck and set it on fire? Possibly while dancing around it and shouting the phrase 'I have made fire!'?" she wonders, not just in a rhetorical sense, but genuinely curious.

"Thanks," Gloria replies to the CAG, she almost notes that DRADIS and such is kind of her thing, but then remembers that she's not just a random PO anymore, but an ECO, so the clarification would be a tad redundant. Instead, she asks another question, cos while you've got the boss sit next to you why wouldn't you. "One other thing I was wondering sir," she starts, "quals. I've been looking at the options and want to try for Weasel. Is there anyone in particular I need to talk to about that? Anyone on board who I can bug for hints and tips?" With an affirmative from Pearson she gives a smile of thanks, shovels in a couple of mouthfuls, then 'breaks' the cube as she chews. There's then another couple of mouthfuls to last her while she starts slowly spinning the sides.

"Every day I have a small trash fire in my office," Robin says with a tiny smile tugging at the corners of her mouth before she takes a sip of coffee. "I was going to be a scientist before I became a pilot. I'm not afraid of paperwork. Although I do often feel like digitizing everything in my office and /then/ setting it on fire." She then looks up and over at Gloria, "Well that's something your squad lead will need to know about. There's a certain amount of time that goes into it, training, some bookwork, missions, stuff like that. Just talk to Wescott about it and she can get you hooked up with a Weasel rated pilot to go through it."

Aiming a smile paired with a look of curiosity/assessment at Gloria begins to work the cube, Pearson drains the last of the coffee out of the cup she's holding before she sets the empty cup on the tray and leans back, propping her feet in an empty chair that's angled for this precise purpose. "Small trash fire as defined by the relative size of the bin, the size of the combustible contents or all of the above?" she wonders with a grin. "And if you want help with that, let me know. I love setting redundant paperwork on fire. Hell, I love setting any paperwork on fire, as a general rule. I'm a champion at paperwork processing, don't get me wrong. I just love to watch it burn, too."

Gloria os clearly not going for any sort of record with this solve, instead she just takes it steady, almost reacquainting herself with how the cube moves. "Wescott, got it," she notes to Robin, not looking at the CAG incase she loses where she is in the solve, "thank you sir." Then, as paperwork fires are mentioned she smiles, "you guys should try working with Major Gray. He produces reams of paperwork. Reports in and out, analysis, intel, I swear he gets through about a tree a day sometimes."

"Well… he's Intel, right?" Pearson remarks as she curls both hands a few times to flex her fingers then transfers the yoyo from her right hand to her left. "They're designed to adhere to the premise that nothing is real until it's in writing; and if it isn't in writing, it didn't happen. Intel weenies," and she grins at Gloria, "can be infuriating literal at times. But they're like really good paper pushers everywhere; we wouldn't be here if they didn't dot the I's and cross the T's."

"Intel weenies," Gloria replies with a smirk. Setting the cube down so she can shovel more food in she has to repress a chuckle so she can swallow. "You know I used to do a lot of that work right? I wrote one good report for him and then next thing I know it's project after project. Hard work, lots of thinking involved. ECO is kind of like a holiday in comparison."

The grin on Pearson's face is paired with a nod, "I know, which is why I said it," she admits with a not even remotely apologetic wink. "I respect intel weenies, I just feel the juvenile urge to use the phrase 'weenie' because it amuses me, and stuff that amuses me is still highly prized." She angles the empty coffee cup from side to side before she rises to her feet long enough to trek out, refill her cup, then return to drop easily into her seat again. "Like lots of thinking isn't required of an ECO, eh?" she teases with a laugh.

"Got to think faster in a Raptor," Gloria replies as she start on the next stage of the solve, "but the sums are easier. Jumping a raptor is easy for example, jumping a fleet? Well, I'm amazed I’m not grey already, lets just say that." Her food is mostly gone now, but the odd mouthful is taken here and there where she can. "Still, more needed than that for you guys and your point and click for vipers eh?"

"It's vital to be an adrenaline junky with a basic addiction to lightning fast decision making in real time situations where getting shot to shit is the end result if you get it wrong," Pearson replies with another of those grins. It's no a cocky grin, or even a cheeky grin, but a comfortable-in-her-skin sort of grin. "Jumping one ship at a time is in my skill set. Jumping all of the fleet at once isn't a skill set that I have or aspire too."

"It's," Gloria starts, then pauses as she seeks for the word, ".. an experience. There's a hell of a buzz when you get it right though, like at Twin Rocks. One of my best if I do say so myself." Finishing the solve she sets the completed cube back down and reaches for her coffee. "Maybe we can get the Arpay to help us make more, give the guys on CAP 5 something to keep them busy."

"All we need is the requisite materials and a few guys in the machine shop to humor us, the plastic would be more of the challenge than anything else, as the basic structure is fairly straight forward." Pearson eyes the cube for a moment, both eyes slightly narrowed with a speculative gleam, "Plastic being what plastic is, I'm sure we have enough of it around that can be shunted to something like this, though I don't imagine the priority list would get us a rendering any time soon." She exhales a laugh that's almost a snicker, "I can imagine what the requisition list would look like to our Arpay liaison. Excuse me, but we'd like to build some logic toys to keep the guys and girls flying CAP from going nuts from boredom on their hundredth repetition? Thanks!" again that snicker before she tips back again, the chair angled beneath her. "Plus, I still want to know what kind of toys they have for their kids."

"Ask 'em," Gloria notes as she finishes her coffee and sets the mug back on her tray, "there's an entire fleet of 'em outside, and I hear there’s' one of 'em sat in medical as we speak." The comments about the cubes get a nod though, and a thoughtful, "maybe, once we liberate a few more colonies, we can find a shopping centre or something, go through the stock rooms until we find a stash. I know the marines brought back clothes and sunglasses a few months ago. Hell, if the CAG agrees I'll jump the raptor, just need to find a pilot willing to fly it."

"Count me in," Pearson replies promptly. "I would do just about anything this side of legal and a few things on the other side of not legal to get some new shoes and real clothing. As much a fan as I am of gear that makes green and olive the new fashion forward statement, I want some real clothing of my own instead of the handful of stuff that made it with me this long since the end of the world." She wiggles one hand in a iffy gesture, "Where 'legal' is said, I imply 'loot' as the spoils of war, without actually feeling the compulsive need to pay for stuff." She gives a sigh, "Ultimate survivors shopping spree. Seriously. Count me in."

"So noted," Gloria replies with a slow nod, "but you've got the rank, so better you breach it to the Colonel. There's got to be places on Picon we can hit, we've got the planet back, and there's vast swathes that were largely untouched. Maybe check with Wescott, or one of the other locals, identify a target." That said she pushes her chair back slowly and stands. "I've got to head, reading to do before my next stint in the sims. Apparently some of the Raptor DRADIS settings are different than a Battlestar's… who knew?" Collecting her tray she then heads to dispose of it before exiting towards the library.

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