AWD #010: ...Without Breaking A Few Eggs
…Without Breaking a Few Eggs
Summary: Kelsey tries to quit training. Zachary has other ideas.
Date: 15/01/2013 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: Give a Farmer's Daughter a Gun...
Zachary Kelsey Jess 
Flight Simulators - Deck 2 - Battlestar Orion
The Air Wing has access to flight simulators to train pilots off the ground in combat maneuvers and situations that are hard to replicate with regular dogfight practicing and this is their home. A rectangular room, the hatch opens up beside the bank of computers that control the simulations and what is seen by the individuals when training sessions are in progress. The sims are actual cockpits cut out of old frames and installed here to function exactly as the real thing, right down to oxygen plugs for suits. In front of each cockpit, complete with armored glass, are LCD screens that cover most of the front view to the front and above. There are two Vipers, two Predators, and one full-cabin Raptor available.
15 January 2005

Despite the party last night and the evening spent on Piraeus with Eden, Zachary's already back at work in the morning with the piggies at the Ag Center all safe and sound. Zach's currently at the main simulator station, scrolling through the different scenarios, a frown pulling at his features. "There's only a few of these that fit the current scenario." he mutters with a frown, and reaches into a pocket on his cargo pants to pull out a disk labelled 'CSAR Advance Training'.

He inserts the disk into the drive, boots the program and settles back in his seat to wait for it to load while reaching for his morning cup of coffee. Because he has to have his guilty pleasures when Eden is always on him for his caffine consumption.

Yep, its morning, and Kelsey looks like she's already been up for a bit. Dressed in her orange jumpsuit, she probably has duty in not too long. Its dirty as hell, but at least it looks like its been washed. Her hair is still wet in the ponytail and she smells like peaches and soap. She comes through the hatch and closes it behind her and a nods towards the Major. "Sir." She'll wait to be acknowledged to say more than that.

The timid voice catches his attention, Zachary sitting up in his chair to sip at his mug before setting it aside. "Wescott." he offers congenially. There's no malice in his tone, just a quiet study of the young woman that apparently was in such a hurry to see him she rushed up from the showers. "How're you?" he asks.

Kelsey finally steps forward and over towards the controls that he is sitting at. She swallows and folds her hands behind her back as she comes to a stop. "I'm a lot of things right now, sir," she says quietly. Wetting her lips, Kels continues. "I wanted to apologize for last night. You gave me an opportunity and I failed it like a champ. I'm not making excuses, but I thought it would be pertinent: I've never even sat in a Raptor sim, sir, and I haven't even been able to pick up my books in two weeks. I haven't even finished the Colonial Flight Regulations." Probably the singularly most-hated book by any pilot, ever. Its like reading the phone book. She heaves a breath. "I'm sorry I let you and Milkshake down. If you don't think I've got it, I'll accept that. Major Duke, I already asked, doesn't want his books back. I feel like they should go to an instructor. Who should I give them to?"

Zachary listens to the woman talk as she goes on with her apologies and excuses. He lifts his mug to his lips and sips to it. "So, you had a poor performance, and because of it you are simply giving up, am I reading you five by five there, Wescott?" he asks. The look he wears is neutral, but the disappointment is clearly in his tone.

"If everyone quit after their first mistake, we would all be dead." he points out. "And you missed the point of what I did yesterday. In another time, I would say I threw you under the bus. That I gave you a nigh high impossible situation. A new recruit, forced to listen to combat chatter from Picon while trying to do her duties. Bumper may have let it slide and told you to try again. I'm not. If you're going to apologize and quit just like that? Donate the books to the library. I don't have the time to coddle and try to convince you can do this. You have to believe you can. And if you don't think you can hack it and everyone else that has placed faith in you was mistaken? Well, I suppose you should apologize to them. Not me." His blue eyes watch her reaction to that.

For Jess, Zachary is sitting at the simulator command console, loading in a program while a wet braided and orange jumpsuited Kelsey Wescott talks to him.

Whatever Kelsey was expecting to hear, that was apparently not it. She's more than a little scared and its visible in her eyes and the sudden tension in her body. "I- uh, but you said I- Milkshake said I couldn't hack it. I'd get people killed. Didn't you agree, sir?" Yep, she's confused. This, apparently, is not going as hoped for her.

Jess isn't hungover enough to be wearing sunglasses indoors, but from the slight, constant narrowedness of her eyes and the way she flicks a glare at the fluorescents overhead, she might be regretting that. Still, here she is, wet hair tied up in a knot, water bottle dangling from two fingers, heading for the console to cue up one of the Viper sims. "Morning, Major," she says, a hint of a rasp in still-under-used-so-far-this-morning voice, when she recognizes Zachary or at least Zachary's voice in there.

"Nags, it's going to be a few minutes, I'm updating the simulators with the Cee-Sar simulations I had from Leonis." Zachary comments as he glances at the screen. Twenty percent. Sigh. Sipping from his coffee, he returns his attention to Kelsey. "Let's change the situation. Let's say we're over Picon. And we're on a combat drop. You have to ECO because you're pressed in through an accelerated program. What will convince me that you won't freeze up again when you hear that first desperate voice calling for help in the darkness?" It's a level-headed question, and probably one that should be expected that spent his entire career in rescue ops.

"Noone told you you were out. You're choosing to put yourself out. It's disappointing to know that. I was told you had fight. That you were made of sterner stuff. I read your docket. A single mom. We have a lot of those. You need to find what makes it work for you. I don't need Peaches or Cherry. I need Scrappy. I need to see that fight. And if you're just going to run away the first time you get punched in the gut, then I can't have you. The Cylons won't offer you a second chance. And I'm not going to either. You decide here and now if this is what you want to do. If you do, fine. I'll forget what you just said a few minutes ago and we'll call a mistake a mistake. If you don't, then turn in your books, go back to Deck, and wonder what the stars are like outside of Orion." And with that, he waits on her decision.

"I have no idea, sir," Kelsey says in reply to the question about landing on Picon. She glances to Jess and back. Its a jerky motion. The Petty Officer is at the wrong end of a boresight. She has to remember to breathe as the realization dawns that she did /not/ hear the pilots correct, apparently. The frustration builds on her face and she twitches. "I didn't get banned from Charlies because I apologized, sir," she blurts. Her hands come around from her back and she shows him her knuckles. "I didn't go into the fit center last night and play paddy-cake, Major." She's getting angry. "I came in here to thank you for letting me hear that. To tell you that it was helping me out, but I'm trying! I may not be recovering as fast as these stone cold cats, but I'm getting there! I have no idea who you are, who she is," she gestures to Jess, "or what you're doing, but I have done nothing but work my butt off until I heard /my daughter might be dead/ which is the entire reason I'm /here/ and not attenting Cap U and nailing a three point eight again in CompSci." She pauses to huff a breath to catch it. There's no answer, though. She just stares at him, defiant. "/Sir/." Two beats. She forces herself to swallow and folds her hands behind her back again.

Jess makes a noise in the back of her throat at the news that she must wait. Blerg. "Got it, sir," is what she actually intelligibly says. She leans against a Viper sim and closes her eyes, arms crossing against her chest. When Kelsey is finished, she says, unhelpfully-helpful, "I'm Nags. Lieutenant Karlsson." So… there. Yeah. "He's Major Sepherd. DCAG."

"Do you seriously think that you are the only one that has experienced loss in the last three days?" Zachary asks levely. "Are you that very selfish? Go ask Major St. Clair about her son. Go ask Lieutenant Aios about his son. You can't. He's dead." Reaching into his back pocket, he pulls out a picture and forces it into her hands. It's a picture of three women. "Those are my sisters. They were on Leonis. That one." his finger points to Zelda. "Was going to marry Ygraine's brother. We don't know what they are or where they are. We have far more questions than answers. But now is the time to get off of your knees and fight back. You don't know for sure your daughter's dead. Maybe you'll find out when you get to Picon that she's still alive. My wife, gods bless her, has decided that she wants to start a family in this time of hardship. Do you realize how scared it makes me to think that I may be a new father at the end of the world? At humanity's last stand. It scares me senseless."

He takes another draw off of his coffee. "It's not about being ice cold, Wescott. Eden's Aquilian, and I know that's not true. It's about having the mental fortitude to push your way through it and fight to get to the other side. Get mad. Get angry. Find a way to focus your energies to your duties. I'm glad the recording help. But sitting up here and boohooing about your situation will not do anything for your daughter. For your pilot. For you. You can't run back to Caprica University. It's gone. We're all we have left for each other, and if that's not enough to give you drive? Then gods damn you, Kelsey Wescott."

Kelsey stares at him and her mood drops like a bomb, her whole face darkening. For everything he says, though, she doesn't explode at him. Kels just stares, hurt and pissed. When he finishes, she looks like she might actually hit him, and not an open-palm slap kind of hit. She just clenches her jaw, turns, and walks away without being dismissed or anything else. Silence.

Jess unscrews the cap on her water bottle for a couple long gulps before climbing into the Viper and leaning her head against the side. "It is too frakking early for this."

"Nags, stow it until I'm done." Zachary snaps, for as much of an inflection in his voice as he can offer. "Petty Officer, atten-tion." It's that command voice. That presence. The nice gentle CAG that bakes cakes and muffins is set aside for a moment as the pararescue operator gets to his feet. "Are you going to just run away again? If you are, then don't darken this doorway again. Are we clear?" he asks her. "You will ask to be dismissed, and I will give you a month to get your act straight and decide whether or not you can hack it or if you just feel like letting your family down."

Kelsey slows to a stop at the demand for attention and she turns back to face him, but there's no respect in her eyes. She just stands at rough attention. Just the same combination as when she walked away a few seconds before. "Clear, sir." Dead, flat, calm, and with no small amount of malice in her eyes.

He doesn't say anything. He lets that dead silence hang there. Zachary is waiting for her answer. She walks, or she asks to run. His arms settle over his chest to await her decision.

Jess sits in the Viper cockpit and says nothing, drumming the side of her thumb against the stick as she waits for the sim software to finish updating, for this dressing-down to end, to fall back asleep, whatever.

Seconds tick by. "Sir, I need to report to the Deck for my first day back and I'd rather not be late. May I be dismissed, sir?" The same malice, same hurt, same anger.

And he lets her words hang there for a moment. There's a ping from the station as the system finishes it's update and the simulators come back on line. "Dismissed, Petty Officer. Send me your decision by 15 February." With that, Zachary turns back to the station and finishes the files. "Should be good, Nags. Most of the new stuff is for rescue ops, but there's a few fire support overwatch missions for a Viper stick."

"I'll give them a look," Jess replies to Zachary, wondering (fishing), "That a thing we're looking to be doing sometime soon?"

Kelsey salutes as fast as she can and turns to walk out of the room without another word. She disappears into a crowd passing by outside without a shout, kick, or anything else.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License