The Bar 9416-2237

[Blaze Strife]

*grunts*

Wouldn’t know much about all that. The view from the lifepod in the Lancer’s small cargo wasn’t that great. Or informative.

We only knew we were picked up because gravity squished us into each other.

Bur I trust Xavier, as I do to you all. Even though that can sometimes be misplaced…

*silently* As we’ve seen with del Pino and Cessna.

[Matsiyan]

Blaze, if it ever happens that Lancer picks you up again, you would be welcome to crack the pod open and come up to the bridge. We even had openings on the boards.

Allard, that sounds a bit paranoid. Unless this whole farce was orchestrated by Unukalhai moles, I do not see the TSN deliberately putting us at risk or looking to wipe us out. And frankly, I suspect Unuk spies would have tried to steal it or set it off in a populated area.

[Aramond]

Have lifepods been found at all? That’d change a few things.

And Blaze, don’t talk about the Fleet Captain so close to those traitors.

[Matsiyan]

// Aramond, note Blaze *silently*

[Aramond]

//Blarg, disregard it, then. Eric is drunk, I want a reason for him to be mad.

[John van Leigh]

T’be honest, I think he screwed up. Y’see, he had an entire division and was the senior officer on t’spot, so he could have gott’n the R&D ship t’surrender. But nah, he had t’go and kill all the bloody research and crew. Even though it could have help’d us understand how those fuckin’ Caltrons come at us.

But murder? Ain’t sure. Need data. Haven’t check’d the logs yet.

[Adele Mundy]

//I don’t _think_ Mundy and Matsiyan’s psilink is malfunctioning due to alcohol, leading Aramond to hear what Blaze is thinking… Surely not!//

There’s too much we don’t know. Aramond, you’ve known the Captain much longer than I have, you know the way he thinks…
*sighs*
I didn’t hear a response from the ship, but it may have been on a private channel to the Captain. I didn’t see the life pods, but they may have switched off the transponders. I don’t know what the R&D researchers’ orders were. I don’t know if they had any clue about what they were about to unleash. And I sure as hell don’t know what precisely brings the Caltrons swarming like hornets when you knock the nest down.
*sighs again*
I can’t make sense of it, too many pieces missing.

[Blaze Strife]

Matsyian, we couldn’t open the damn pod door! I have no idea if they were stuck or what, but we also didn’t hear anything from those who picked us up, so we weren’t sure where we were.

Mundy, you’re right about there being too much we don’t know. That’s why I do not want to label our leader a murderer just like that. Innocent until proven guilty, right?

[Aramond]

//Hmmm…alcohol-triggered psionics. Could be worth be worth looking into. 😛

I hate this need-to-know horse$#!%. Xav-

*Blinks. Downs the rest of his drink*

The Fleet Captain’s by th’ books. Always has been since I was a cadet. He must’ve seen somethin’ we didn’t. Somethin’ to make ‘im break protocol.

Thing’s Blaze, whether we killed anyone or not, $#!% I hope we didn’t, that was still destru-…military property got blown up! Valuable property, from what it was able to do. Would they let ‘im off the hook for that?

Commander Leigh, have you heard anything?

[Matsiyan]

Sorry, Blaze, I didn’t mean to be glib. Usually the pods on any ship are configured for comms between themselves, so bridge officers can usually communicate. If the pods won’t open, one or more of the bridge officers are likely to have the codes to reach CIC or their battle-group. They should be able to contact the bridge of the ship you are on. I spent most of a shift in a pod on an unknown ship the first time I wound up in a pod.

Innocent til proven guilty certainly. We just need a trial to present all the evidence. We only have bits and pieces.

Lancer’s crew would like to know what happened to Commander Jemel too.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 10 months ago by Matsiyan. Reason: Typos

[Blaze Strife]

*confused* Jemel? What happened?

[Matsiyan]

We don’t know. He had been having a tough shift. As one of the senior engineering officers he is usually involved in resolving any simulator issues or command net problems and we had both in the eatlier part of the shift.

Then in the first mission, Lancer had an unusual degree of er… assistance, and umm… Guidance from division command in the sequence and selection of targets, rather than being given autonomy to handle a certain class of threat, which is the way she normally operates. Given that the Commander affords his crew a significant amount of leeway and responsibility for their own tactical duties, that left him very little to do. So he was about fit to blow a gasket.

Then, umm… we may have made matters worse. For the escort mission he asked us all to stay on our primary stations. Aposine was dog tired. He had arrived late for the shift after being stuck for hours in a disabled shuttle. He was hopped up on caffeine and stimtabs that were beginning to wear off. He expressed some concern that he might not be fit for helm duty. He hinted that a less directly lethal post might be appropriate. The commander ignored the hint fairly bluntly, but the rest of us fell over ourselves offering different choices of who could sit what station, despite the fact that the skipper had not requested our input. Truth is, none of us could fly as well as Aposine if he was asleep after a three-day bender, with one hand tied behind his back.

Eventually the skipper abruptly said something like “Sort yourselves out”. Then he left the bridge. I don’t know if he had been called away, reported sick, went on a temporary errand from which he could not return or what. Our XO Lt. Hall was busy with his ONI duties. So command fell on Lt. Das with Jr.Lts. Aposine, Finley and myself under his command. With help from Finley and with Aposine and I accustomed to working smoothly with them aboard Lancer, we were able to operate fairly well. Kudos to Roshin for being a calm and clear skipper. Chuck was probably a bit pushy with advicce but we all needed help from each other.

[Blaze Strife]

Hmmm…

*takes a sip*

Thanks for the answer, Mats.

*takes another sip*

Maybe the commanders and captains did have some orders or better understanding of the situation with the weapon..

*looks at Matsyian and raises an eyebrow*

[Matsiyan]

*Matsiyan follows suit and is engrossed in savouring the last mouthful of an exceptionally refined, full bodied red wine while Blaze muses.*

You may have an exceptionally cogent thought there. There was obviously something going on over and above our apparently simple escort task.

My god that Barolo was magnificent. My grandmother would have approved – well, except for the fact she died the year before this vintage.

[Blaze Strife]

I hope your grandmother died peacefully, like my grandpa. He died in his sleep. His passangers in the bus, however, died screaming.

*laughs*

That’s a joke, of course.

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