Episode 16 - R&R [4th]

[ScornMandark]

"Um, I hate to totally screw your attempts for testing, but, uh...You do know that we only have Rick Dias on this ship right? No Nemos. If you want to get one of those for testing, you'll have to go deal with the guys on the other ships," one of the pilots who was lounging in the room said.

"Hmm...that would make it a little harder to get a test going. We do have a Dias program we've been working on, although there are definitely a few bugs left in it." He turned to Clute. "If you are willing to, we can try it out to see if there are any system interactions asides from the known bugs. The bugs left aren't showstoppers, just glitches that'll set off some warning lights." He paused, thinking. "If you don't want to head out in a test run with known bugs, I totally understand. Nor would I blame you, honestly. We can work with the other ships to obtain a Nemo in the meantime, regardless." He turned back to Eddie. "Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't even realized."

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Amman -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

After Wong Lee’s image left the main screen, the room remained silent for a profound moment. Abbey could only imagine the things going through the bridge crew’s heads. He still wasn’t sure that he understood Wong’s reasoning completely, but that could just be his personal feelings trying to get in the way of orders. He was a leader though, and leaders set examples for their subordinates. After looking around to judge the looks he was getting from the men and women present, he cleared his throat and confidently ordered, “Ms. Alman, convey our orders to the other ships. Mr. Hayes, please begin organizing a recall of all personnel who are not currently aboard their ships,”. Whether he agreed with the collaboration with Haman Karn or not didn’t matter.

- Celeine’s Quarters -

“Oh, Fritz said, did he,” Celeine hissed, “Is this the same Fritz who told me my dead-sister's fiancé would be brought back? The same Fritz who decided to probe into my past when I made it clear that the intrusion was not welcome? The same Fritz who placed an ENTIRE company of men into danger and got many of them KILLED to pursue a pilot over a personal grudge with that pilot's father? The same Fritz who is every bit as responsible as I am for the condition Celeste came out of that...that...big...black...hell-hole that you, the AEUG, the colonists, the Earth and the Titans all think is worth the spit in your mouth, let alone fighting for?! …Pardon me if I take anything he says with any bit of seriousness.”

Michiko quickly went from hurt to angry as she allowed Celeine to finish talking. Her tiny hands balled into fists and moved rigidly to her sides, and she responded, “He’s also the same Fritz that put his own life on the line to make sure your sister’s stupid, stubborn fiancé survived that ‘hellhole’ by tying up Wolf Ritter, and the same Fritz that went back out on his own to find Celeste and bring her back to the ship alive. He’s the same Fritz that let you stay on the ship with unrestricted access and your own non-surveilled quarters to sulk in like a child,”. Michiko was so agitated she was almost trembling. “And he’s also the same Fritz that I--”

“All personnel, be advised. All shore leave is cancelled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours.”

Michiko was interrupted by Filmore’s voice on the global intercom and didn’t get to finish her last sentence; “…the same Fritz that I respect more than any other person on this ship,”. She had left Celeine’s quarters because of the call back to active schedules without considering what the interruption made her unfinished statement sound like. She slapped the control to shut Celeine’s door and caught a gripper that would take her in the direction of the hangar.

- Outside Ready Room 2 -

“…is cancelled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours. …Please return to active duty schedules. Repeat, please return to active duty schedules.”

“Ah, hell,” Clute said, snapping halfheartedly in disappointment. “You heard the man. Turns out that means I’m back on the clock,” he explained to the men from Anaheim. “Sorry about your experiments. Tell ya what,” he said as he started backing down the hallway, “keep my name at the top a your list, doc,”. As he turned a corner, he added with a waving salute and a smile, “See you around, Rich,”.

- Amman -
- Gemini Apartments, Ashlyn Residence -

Fritz had managed to roll over and grab the phone fast enough to keep the ringing from waking Elizabeth, and he sat on the edge of their bed in the dark to take the call. “Sorry to wake you, lieutenant commander,” Jane’s apologized, “Please return to the Dervish as soon as possible. We’ve been contacted with our new assignment,”. He looked over at his peacefully sleeping wife and sighed. “I’ll be there in 30 minutes,” he answered reluctantly in a hushed whisper.

[wonton bob]

OOC: OK, I'll hang for a little assuming Jeriden is still there.



-Hamburg-
-MS Deck-

After getting lost in his work, Bernard was unaware if Jeriden was still outside the Nemo. He didn't hear a word since he made that last bad joke.

hopefully I didn't scare the kid..

Popping out for a look-see, revealed another visitor:
"Excuse me, um, I'm Adam Trask, I've been assigned as a back-up pilot on this ship, and guessing from your normal suits, your pilots. So, hi, I guess we'll be working together from now on."

back-up pilot? sheez, I guess there's some truth to the high mortality rate joke I made

"Well, I'm--" Before Bernard can introduce himself he is cut off mid sentence.

“All personnel, be advised. All shore leave is canceled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours. …Please return to active duty schedules. Repeat, please return to active duty schedules.”

"active duty schedules? That's what I've been doing..." With a long sigh Bernard turns to Trask.

"Well, it looks like you might be in a mobile suit sooner than you'd expected...if things go the same way. Our CO, I assume went to the bridge...but since that announcement he's probably on his way back to dish out some orders so if I were you I'd get to know these Nemos inside and out."

Bernard kicks off from the Nemo toward a group of mechanics but looks back at Trask.

"Have a look if you want but don't mess with the controls too much..there's a glitch with the monitor."

[Lans]

- Hamburg -

All quiet in Randy's room. He was dozing off for a mere half an hour before the announcement thundered his sleep. He opened his eyes but still laying on the bed unmoved, listening to the announcement.

“All personnel, be advised. All shore leave is canceled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours. …Please return to active duty schedules. Repeat, please return to active duty schedules.”

He woke up, his eyes rather red although hidden perfectly behind the brown sunglasses. He still wearing his shoes, he also didn't bothered to unpack his bag. That could wait he thought about his bag and wondering about, "A sudden change of pace, must be really urgent or bad if they canceled scheduled leave. Not to mention to try to get space in 15 hours. What could that be?" He let his mind comeback to full alert and cursed slightly to no one in particular that he didn't bring any drinking water.

He go to the bathroom, drinking tap water and cleans up his face. He waste no time and hit the intercom to the bridge, "Yeah, this is Ltjg. Emington, the flight leader. Did the captain leave any order for me? If he didn't, I'll assume order as I see fit and prepare the pilots and their MS. I'll be in the hangar in 20 minutes, you could call me there. Thank you."

[hellbore]

--Hamburg--

MS Deck

“All personnel, be advised. All shore leave is canceled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours. …Please return to active duty schedules. Repeat, please return to active duty schedules.”

Already, I've been here less than an hour, Adam thought.

The pilot he spoke to first turned to him after the announcement and said, "Well, it looks like you might be in a mobile suit sooner than you'd expected...if things go the same way. Our CO, I assume went to the bridge...but since that announcement he's probably on his way back to dish out some orders so if I were you I'd get to know these Nemos inside and out. Have a look if you want but don't mess with the controls too much..there's a glitch with the monitor."

Adam wondered at the truth of that statement, and sat down inside the Nemo. It had been some time since he had been in a cockpit and he set to familiarising himself with the controls.

Flipping through the manual, he hoped he wasn't as rusty as he felt.[/i]

[Cybaster]

"All personnel, be advised. All shore leave is canceled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours. …Please return to active duty schedules. Repeat, please return to active duty schedules."

Julian rolled his eyes, standing not too far into the Dervish's inner halls; he had arrived at the Dervish after a couple more twists, a few turns, some deliberate time-wasting, and a few actual errands he wanted to run --- shopping for foodstuffs, mainly, all to throw off any possible counterintelligence agents that might be lurking in Amman. And after arriving back at port, Julian was quite sure he had either thrown them all off, or at least bored them away.

It seemed he was right on time. Being on the Dervish meant that he wasn't too far away from the rest of the fleet to arouse suspicion and could get back to the Chuikov in a timely manner. The Chuikov...Julian sneered, throwing his head to his left angrily. He just got here, and as everyone who was anyone had decided to hang around the flagship of the fleet to socialize, Julian was there to do that as well, to try to at least get to know some of the other people in the other rosters. That, and it would minimize the chances of him having to deal with Caroline Tucker until he absolutely had to; Julian was sure that he'd be sick to his stomach if he had to deal with her whining again on shore leave.

But mainly, there were two other reasons he wanted to spend time on the Dervish. The first was never accomplished; After all the gossip flying around before and during this shore leave, Julian was curious as to where all the 4th's animosity against a certain James MacAlpin came from. Something about him lying about being a Zeon ace and then lashing out at people laughing at him for it, or something like that. That alone piqued Julian's interest. So what if he decided to embellish being an ace? MacAlpin was still a spacenoid, wasn't he? Then again, most of the AEUG war machine, contrary to popular belief, virtually belonged to the Feddies --- only a select few veterans really came from the old Principality, and Anaheim consisted mainly of old Zimmad and Zeonic technicians. Julian supposed it wasn't beyond those former Federals to pound on a hapless Zeon rookie every single chance they got --- Basically, Julian shrugged to himself before and did so again now, the AEUG was simply the Federal Forces' own scheming, drawn-out way of saying that the Titans were embarassing them.

And the point being that maybe MacAlpin wasn't as bad as everyone said he was, and Julian wanted to see for himself. And the second thing? That was resolved; Julian didn't even need to be on the Dervish for that, for that matter, and it was probably a good idea not to be...

With that thought, and resigned to never find out if MacAlpin would be as Julian thought he was, Julian Meighan turned around, headed back towards the exits, and sauntered towards his ship. His pace slowed as he did, Julian's form taking a casual air; It was deliberate, and if he was going to be herded back to the Chuikov, Jonas, Dombrowski and Caroline, Julian was going to make it a point to take his sweet time doing so.

[Psyden]

--December 20, 0079--
--Luna II--

“Celeste. You are aware of the risks involved in the mission, are you not?”

“Yes, sir.”

“The chance for success for your primary mission is about 75 or 80%, the projected survival rate is current at 40%, and the chances of completing your secondary is even lower.”

“I know, sir. I have confidence in my team that we can pull it off.”

“Most of our ships are dedicated to Operation: Cembalo. There won’t be any reinforcements after you leave.”

“I am aware of that, sir.”

“And I regret to say that Rhea is being pulled for Tianem, and all I could get was the Madrid.

“A Salamis for a Magellan, sir? That doesn’t seem like a fair trade.”

“Are you still sure you want to go through with the mission?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well, Lieutenant Commander, then all the preparations will be made. You’ll leave port at 0830 tomorrow and make for the Shoal Zone of Side 1. From there, you will proceed to Solomon, which will hopefully be under our control. And remember, this mission is top secret. Not even your own team is permitted to know the true objective of this operation, is that clear?”

“Perfectly clear, sir.”

“And one more thing. If you are successful, I will see to it that you will be a full Commander for our assault on A Baoa Qu or the invasion of the Zeon Homeland at the latest.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

[ScornMandark]

- The Dervish -
- Outside Ready Room 2 -

“…is cancelled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours. …Please return to active duty schedules. Repeat, please return to active duty schedules.”

“Ah, hell,” Clute said, snapping halfheartedly in disappointment. “You heard the man. Turns out that means I’m back on the clock. Sorry about your experiments. Tell ya what,” he said as he started backing down the hallway, “keep my name at the top a your list, doc,”. As he turned a corner, he added with a waving salute and a smile, “See you around, Rich."

Rem sighed in disappointment and waved as the man ran off. He had been looking forwards to seeing some test results. He was also annoyed with himself for forgetting that the Dervish only had Rick Dias suits on it now. Had he remembered, he would have spent more time on the Dias program, and worked on requisitioning a Nemo suit later. Ah well, maybe there would be some time during the patrol.

He turned to Barrique. "Thanks for your help so far, I guess we'll get ready for departure. We are still very interested in pursuing the testing for MS improvements, please let us know if there will be time to run some tests later." He turned back to Merkwurdiglibe. "Anything we need to do before we leave?"

[The Big Zabowski]

Rich snapped out of his flustered state with the alert to go to ready status just to hear Clute's departing remark.

"See ya around, Rich"

"Uh yeah..take care Clute."

As he looked up around the room, his attention came back to Rem as he too piped up.

"Thanks for your help so far, I guess we'll get ready for departure. We are still very interested in pursuing the testing for MS improvements, please let us know if there will be time to run some tests later."

Rich scratched his head and looked off to his side.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that.. You and M should head back now. If we garner any adverse attention, I'd hate to have you guys caught in the middle of it."

Richard couldn't believe he had said that, that he actually felt some compassion for that pompous book eating fool of an engineer and his lackey, but somehow..the AEUG was beginning to overtake his former adverse concerns for all things Principality..and now the liberation of earth from the Titans themselves..and not the Federals was his pressing matter in life.

It really didn't matter any more about Anaheim and her Zeonic backgrounds..or Side 3. Or Ian, or any of the other former Zeons in the universe. What mattered was taking out those Titans bastards. And if it meant manning up and if need be join some Zeon remnants..then so be it.

The ironic thing would be that he'd have to face such a scenario even earlier than he could ever expect. And with a pat to Rem's shoulder, Richard made his way back to his post on the bridge, still unsure as to what the whole commotion was about. He soon arrived at his destination and waved a salute to Abbey as he stood near the bridge command chairs.

"So what's all the fuss about now? Thought we had a few more days of leave; I mean the Titan's starting something again, are they?"

[ScornMandark]

Rem watched Barrique head away down the hall, and then began to walk alongside Dr. Merkwerdiglibe. "Doctor," he began quietly, "I was under the impression we were to be on this ship for some time, even when they launch. Did I miss a memo? Or did Mr. Barrique?"

He appreciated that Rich had been quite cordial, even sounding concerned over them. He didn't know the history between the Dr. and Rich, but it evidently wasn't altogether pleasant.

[Cardi Doorl]

- Salamis Kai-class Chuikov -
- Mobile Suit Bay -

Jonas, now in his green AEUG uniform, looked about the MS bay. From what he gathered, none of the other pilots had yet reported in. Fifteen hours, however, should have been enough for them to get in, unless they were mired in downtown Amman.

Jonas figured he wouldn't worry about it, though. He was on standby, but there were no pressing needs except waiting for his subordinates. Thus, he drifted to the ready room until he saw need.

* * *

- Amman Harbor -
- Chuikov Dock -

Caroline Tucker tugged at the sleeve of her uniform as she made her way to the Chuikov. She marched at a decently steady pace...

...until she noticed Julian Meighan up ahead, walking in a direction almost perpendicular to her own. Preferring not to deal with that particular pilot, Caroline slowed her pace considerably to allow the JG to move on, trying not to draw attention to herself.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Amman -

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

Abbey had just ended a short conversation with Capt. Loweno (who was of course ready and fired up to leave port immediately) when Barrique returned to his normal spot on the bridge. "So what's all the fuss about now? Thought we had a few more days of leave; I mean the Titan's starting something again, are they?" Richard asked as he waved a salute to the captain. With a chuckle, Abbey removed his hat and slicked his graying hair back. “No, lieutenant, we’re the ones starting something for a change,” he smiled.

“Carl. Carl! What is the BS I’m hearing about cooperating with Axis?”

Nathan Dombrowski’s voice abruptly filled the bridge and Jane jumped back from her station in surprise at the noise. “Sorry! He demanded to be patched through and I hit the wrong button!” she apologized loudly over the other captain’s amplified voice as she plucked her floating headphones out of the air. Abbey shook his head in understanding and unconsciously sat up straighter in his seat before responding to the captain of the Chuikov even though they couldn’t see one another.

“Nathan? Calm down,” Abbey began, “You probably know as much as I do. Wong Lee didn’t get dreadfully specific. All I know at the moment is that we’re leaving Luna to meet up with the Argama at a predetermined point so we can--”

“So we can genuflect before the damn Zabis, Carl. I heard. We’re going there so Bright Noah and Quattro Bajeena can beg on our behalf,” Dombrowski grunted. He snorted in derision and persisted, “How am I supposed to face my men and expect them to follow my orders when we’re collaborating with… those people,”.

Abbey frowned slightly and remarked, “That’s an interesting point of view coming from a terrorist,”. He could perfectly envision Dombrowski writhing in his command chair from the noises coming across the comm. It sounded like that last observation knocked the wind right out of the Chuikov’s skipper.

Capt. Dombrowski cleared his throat after a few seconds of near-silence (Abbey swore he could hear faint laughter in the background on the other end of the connection). “Yes. You know I’m not one to disobey orders. But don’t expect me to be enthusiastic about this,” he grumbled. Abbey nodded and responded with a sigh, “That’s fine, captain. I don’t expect a whole lot of our men and women to go ‘above and beyond’ for this one. Who knows, Axis may end up being a blessing in disguise for the AEUG,”.

- Hallway -

In one of his normal stupors, Dr. M walked along with Rem merrily managing to not notice the outside world until Banner quietly asked, "Doctor, I was under the impression we were to be on this ship for some time, even when they launch. Did I miss a memo? Or did Mr. Barrique?". Merkwürdigliebe straightened his glasses and answered with a smile, “Richard seems to be mistaken, Rem. We’re here until Sir Gates’ money runs out,”. He folded the papers he had been carrying and slid them into a pocket inside his suit jacket. “Once I’m settled in to my quarters, I’ll be heading back to the hangar to talk to Mr. Polk. I’ve come up with a maintenance plan for the Rick Doms that fits Anaheim’s newest revisions to policy,”. The doctor seemed to be coming back to one of his more ‘lucid’ phases.

- Dock Area -

When Fritz walked past the guard station on his way back into the docks in his older Federal tans, the sympathetic EFSF soldiers standing guard at the shack were courteously trying to explain to a confused commander why he was being denied entry to the facilities. Fritz briefly hoped he wasn’t making their job any harder than it already was. Feeding a cover story to an officer couldn’t be easy right after he watched a lower ranking man waltz right past the hut without being stopped.

He turned a corner further inside the docks, and as the Dervish came into view ahead of him he heard the officer’s jeep turn around and leave the premises. As he walked through an open area, he briefly locked eyes with Julian Meighan as they passed each other. Fritz gave the younger man a friendly nod as he continued toward his own ship.

[ScornMandark]

- The Dervish -
- Hallway -

Merkwürdigliebe straightened his glasses and answered with a smile, “Richard seems to be mistaken, Rem. We’re here until Sir Gates’ money runs out,”. He folded the papers he had been carrying and slid them into a pocket inside his suit jacket. “Once I’m settled in to my quarters, I’ll be heading back to the hangar to talk to Mr. Polk. I’ve come up with a maintenance plan for the Rick Doms that fits Anaheim’s newest revisions to policy."

Rem was relieved that the doctor was "with" them at the moment. "Ok, shall I join you in the discussion with Mr. Polk? Or should I keep working on the Nemo plan? We've still got to get some actual pilot data for the other tests, and they're only going to get less inclined to support testing during combat operations."

[The Big Zabowski]

“No, lieutenant, we’re the ones starting something for a change,”

Richard could only chuckle at the comment.

"Wow, either this means that we found out that Basque and Jamitov are sleeping together..or we have a new Gundam. And I'm banking on the former because it makes sense..and the Dervie isn't suited for Gundams apparently-"

Just as he was about to finish, Old Lowbrowski decided to raise his pompous arse on the comm line.

“Carl. Carl! What is the BS I’m hearing about cooperating with Axis?”

Richard froze.. he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew Axis was planning to come back to the Sphere, but now of all times? Something was up. His eyes went wide slightly at the mentioning of the possiblity of them cooperating with the only real Zeon threat that still existed to his knowledge. This could be something quite bad for the former Zeon pilot..bad indeed.

“So we can genuflect before the damn Zabis, Carl. I heard. We’re going there so Bright Noah and Quattro Bajeena can beg on our behalf. How am I supposed to face my men and expect them to follow my orders when we’re collaborating with… those people”.

Richard visibly tenses at those words, his jaw setting and arms crossing to hide balled fists. He didn't care if he was a mere Lieutenant, but if he so much as ran into Lowbrowski in a hallway...mark his words..

“That’s an interesting point of view coming from a terrorist,”.

“Yes. You know I’m not one to disobey orders. But don’t expect me to be enthusiastic about this,”

“That’s fine, captain. I don’t expect a whole lot of our men and women to go ‘above and beyond’ for this one. Who knows, Axis may end up being a blessing in disguise for the AEUG,”.

Richard was visibly fuming as the conversation entered a lull, at which Richard spoke up by clearing his throat.

"I'm glad even people in the AEUG still think of the Side Three colonists as...'Those people..' Even when you fight alongside them."

Richard snorted and trudged off the bridge, slamming the "door open" button and leaving the bridge. After the door closed he walked over to the wall across the hall and gave it a hearty punch, the padding giving way with a squeak as the XO vented his anger.

[mcred23]

-The Dervish-
-Ready Room 2-

Eckardy hadn't even noticed that Rem had thanked him for pointing out that the tests he'd wanted to run had been pretty much shot down, Eddie was already back to reading his book. Still, the other group didn't even notice, they walked out of the ready room and continued to talk to Clute outside.

Ian, nursing some coffee in one of the tubes intended for zero-G situations, snorted a laugh as soon as they were gone, "I'm not sure which of them was weirder...".

Eddie's eyes barely left his book, "I'm sure we'll end up finding out, even if we don't want to." At that point, the album Eddie had playing came to and end, prompting him to pick up the remote and switch to another. A few seconds later, the found of a guitar began to fade in.

Things went back to the way they were for a few minutes before the music cut out as the ship's intercomm kicked in. “All personnel, be advised. All shore leave is cancelled. The fleet will be leaving port in 15 hours. Please return to active duty schedules. Repeat, please return to active duty schedules.” As soon as the intercomm clicked off, the music came back.

Eddie was unmoved, but Ian had slumped slightly, and had a slightly interested look on his face, "How'd the music go down?".

Eddie gave a weak grin. "Our old Captain was always worried I'd miss something, so he had some of the tech guys work a cut out into all the rec stuff on the ship; when the PA comes on, everything takes on a pause. Makes watching movies a b****."

Ian nodded in understanding, as it did make sense, given the way Eckardy listened to his music and the way some movies could be. Greydon stood, "Well, we may be back on duty, but I'm gonna catch a quick nap where there is less noise..." He trailed off as Eckardy waved without diverting from his reading. Ian gave another shrug, mianly to himself, and strolled out of the ready room.

[Wedge14]

Pan crack a moderate smile as he heard the news on the P.A.

"Hot damn" He exclaimed in the hallway. He pulled a 180 and made a took off in run towards the team 1 ready room aka Ready room 1.


Heyden spotted Greydon on his way ready rooms 1 and 2 obviously being closeby but Heyden outright ignored him.

He entered the empty room to find noone was there, but he figured this would be the place where Jim,Ko' and Fritz would eventually make their way there.

Taking a seat on the bench he lit a cigarette and took a strong drag before examining the lockers, thinking to himself as a tiny bit of music leaked in through the wall.

[Ascension]

-Chuikov, Bridge

Nathan Dombrowski rose heavily from his captain's chair.

"Sometimes I wonder if this world is changing too quickly for old men like us, Carl," he muttered under his breath, addressing the now-blank screen.

"I leave the bridge to you, Johnson."

-Chuikov, Pilots' Quarters

Caroline set her bag down in the corner of her cabin (forgetting to secure it against the impending lack of gravity) and sat down heavily on the edge of her bunk. After a moment of contemplation she reached underneath it and pulled out a beaten shoe box.

She opened it and briefly rummaged through its contents, soon finding her quarry. It was an old photograph, taken with a very old camera. The camera was lost to the ravages of time, and the bulk of its offspring had met their fate back at Texas. Only this one picture remained, and even it had not been so lucky as to survive the war unscathed.

Caroline slowly rubbed the rough edge of the photograph's torn upper left corner wtih her finger as she stared at the happy family smiling up at her from the dusty film.

It was a long time before the tears stopped rolling down her cheeks.

-Dervish, Pilots' Quarters

Jim sighed. He was alone again... as usual.

As he laid back in his bunk his nostrils were primarily filled with the acrid scent of the chemical concoctions which had proved necessary to return his appearance to normal (or at least a reasonable facsimile therof), but if he inhaled deeply he could still make out just a trace of her scent on the pillow. The memory brought just a trace of a melancholy smile to his lips.

"Another port," he said aloud to the uncaring walls, "Another lie. Another woman. Another fleeting glimpse of happiness."

He paused for a long moment, then continued.

"Sometimes I wonder if it's too late for vengeance. It's been over seven years... getting close to eight. I'm fighting on the same side as my father's killer now, and when I had my one chance to confront him, his girlfriend slapped me in the face. What the hell am I doing here? It's too late to change this godforsaken planet and its broken colonies. I shoulda jumped ship here, rustled up some fake docs and gotten myself aboard one of those H-3 freighters. Maybe a nice trip to Jupiter and back woulda cleared my head. Coulda taken the chance to get away from things for a while."

Another pause.

"Too late now, though. Too late now. I'm in for the long run."

[Lans]

- Hamburg -

Randy confirmed that the Captain hasn't give him any assignment, meaning he'll do on his own to preparing his boys. He change clothes and preparing to leave his room when the bell suddenly rang. A female sound voiced over the room intercom, "Ltjg Emington, sir. I'm here to deliver the pilot roster and information paper." Randy opened the door, talk for a brief minutes to the female crew and leave for the hangar. From the conversation it seems that nobody knows what is the current situation, he just hoped that the boys and crew are ready for whatever the Titans would bring to them.

Halfway through Randy already checked the pilot roster and several most important record. What bothered him is the MS that are entirely new and probably untested, with 15 hours to go he'll have to talk to the mechanic to make sure everything is in order. He found his way to the chief of mechanic 'control room', place of the hangar boss. He's lucky that the boss himself is present along with some other people, "Chief, I'm the new CO, nice to meet you all. I won't burden you with my rant, I just pray that you'll lend me some men to answer some question regarding the MS." The boss nodded, take some clipboard and read it before answering, "Nice to meet you as well sir. You might want some of this." He's offering Randy another clipboard with notes in it, "It's the current status of the MS and their equipments and parts." The boss chuckled a bit and add, "We, don't expect you to understand it technically, but it would give you a rough idea of our stock of butter and salt aboard."

Emington, now deeply in conversation with two other mechanics the boss could spare him - is closing toward the hangar. Several people saw toward their direction, awareness is building up. With canceled shore leave and 15 hours to go, the crew are anxious to hear any news but Randy isn't the one with the news. From the conversation, the two mechanics make sure that most of the major check are already done and all the Nemos are in ready condition. They promised to do other checking ASAP but they couldn't do all the tests they usually had on newly arrived MS with 15 hours time constraint. Together they devised a priority checking list and once it's done, the two mechanics took their leave.

The hangar is much more lively now, Randy entered the hangar area and walk his way toward the center. There he called several hangar crew around, asking about the MS current load-out. As a CO he gave his permission to load live ammunitions for now and a full load of propellant one hour before leaving the port. He thought of staying there for a moment since there are things to be handled, and he was right every now and then one or two people pop out and asking for his approval regarding MS issues from launch sequence to fix & repair schedule. He also ask several people to look for other pilots for him and tell them to meet him here for briefing.

(( Pilots gather up, united we stand and shake the heaven ))

[hellbore]

Trask had gone through most of the basics of the Nemos controls when a crew member floated up and told him that the CO of the pilots was calling a meeting. Closing and replacing the manual, Trask exited the cockpit and made his way to the side where he was indicated.

He landed in front of an Asian-looking man wearing dark brown pilots shades, with Lieutenant JG insignias. Giving a technically perfect, yet somehow casual salute.
"Lieutenant Junior-Grade Adam Trask reporting. Since you're CO I'll ignore any issues of seniority. I guess I'm your spare," he said with a wry grin.

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- Amman -

- The Dervish -
- Hallway -

Dr. Merkwürdigliebe considered Rem’s question and then shook his head. “No, I think it would fit our current situation better if you continued verking on the, eh, Nemo problem. We are more or less confined to the ship until we’re well underway, and your only access to a Nemo is through the Dervish’s computer simulations, yes?” he answered, frowning slightly. He pulled his notes back out and started back in the direction of the hangar before adding, “Our role here above all is to observe. You’ll get plenty of data when things begin to, eh, escalate,”.

- Bridge -

Abbey blew out an exasperated breath after Barrique quietly stormed off the bridge. He was already dealing with the beginnings of the potential backlash from the news about Axis, and now his XO was angry right when the fleet needed to mobilize. From his station on Abbey’s right, Filmore quietly encouraged, “Don’t worry about it, sir. Some of us are still touchy,”. The captain tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair for a moment before gruffly responding, “Understandable. But I can’t have an ‘Us and Them’ mentality develop within the fleet about our own people. As long as this… attitude remains focused outward I don’t have much of a choice but to tolerate it,”.

Filmore nodded with a small shrug and went back to his work. Abbey shook his head to clear his thoughts and picked up the handset mounted on his chair. He punched in the channel for sick bay and Dr. Lekarz picked up after a short wait.

- Ready Room 1 -

Patting his uniform’s front pockets as he entered the room, Fritz was surprised to see that Pan Heyden was the only other pilot present. “Got any more of those?” Fritz asked, gesturing at Pan’s cigarette. He took a seat across from the bench Pan was on and rubbed sleep out of his eyes.

- Sick Bay -

“…Well, if you think it’s worth it. …Yes, sir. …No. …I can do it immediately if you’d like. …I’ll call you back.”

Dr. Lekarz hung up the wall receiver and crossed his arms to think. He looked over at Celeste, who still lay silently in her bed, and sighed. “Well, lieutenant, let’s see what we can do for you…” he said aloud as he walked over to the bay’s drug closet. He rummaged for a bit before crouching down and finding the last of the medications he was looking for. After preparing the cocktail of drugs, he wheeled over to Celeste’s IV and picked up the first dose, a small amount of zolpidem. “The captain wants you to improve to ‘walking wounded’ instead of ‘comatose’. Sounds like we’re hard up for good pilots,” he muttered as he began to administer the medicine.

When he was done, he backed up a bit and folded his arms again. All he could do now was wait. He wasn’t exactly thrilled about being asked to shoot a soldier full of drugs in an attempt to force her to full consciousness, but he couldn’t just do so and then walk away. She was going to need someone to be there when she came around.