First Captain Social
WHO: Jilleen Simmons WHERE: Battlestar Pacifica WHEN: Evening 04 Dec
“If you can make it happen, I would consider it a personal favor,” said Jilleen to an assistant military professor from Tauron Military Academy. “And the Admiral doesn’t forget his supporters.”
“Consider it done Jill, from one First Captain to another,” said the Major, who was Cadet Commander during Jilleen’s plebe year. Cadet Commanders were commonly referred to as First Captain by the cadet corps. They shook hands on the deal. “Timí̱ Pró̱ta.”
“Honor first,” she repeated the Old Academy’s motto in Caprican.
“It’s good to see you again, but hey where is your handler?”
“Ha ha very funny,” she was not amused, but played along anyway. After all this time since her early cadet years, she was still teased by the upperclassmen about how someone else had to get her through Plebe’s camp. “Jake is with the Office of the Inspector-General keeping the fleet honest.”
“I thought he was still Avalon’s CAG.”
“He was a few weeks ago. I saw him on Caprica last month during a port call,” she said.
“How was he? I heard he took the death of his wife pretty hard a few years ago,” he said not knowing that Jake’s wife was also Jill’s greatest friend.
For a second, she remembered her friend and felt a dull ache in her heart. “He’s doing quite well, considering.” She looked to the floor. “It was a tragic lost.” Gods I miss her. Life was not the same without her. Bridget always had time for her, and it broke her heart the day she died in the car accident.
“Are you okay,” the major asked.
“We grew up together, Me and Bridget, Jake’s wife.” She tapped his arm. “It’s okay,” she forced smile. “How could you have known? It was long ago and I’d paid coin for passage,” she said referring to the Tauron ritual of letting go of the dead, which a coin is paid for the toll to cross the river to Elysium. The truth was she never had done so. Jill embraced the Tauron culture as a cadet for practical reasons, but in the end she was a proud Aerilonian.
“She’s returned to the soil,” he said sincerely. Soil was important to both Tauran and Aerilonian culture, but for entirely different reasons. Jill always thought it funny.
“Thank you, Alexi e, and may I say my heart filled sorrow for all the Taurans taken on that dark day. My heart sank when I heard the news. I prayed the Gods would show mercy and love to the one left behind.” She meant every word, even if she had repeated similar words all day.
“So very kind of you. Jeffery, lost a cousin in the building.” The terrorist attack seemed to touch everyone on Tauron at one level or other.
“Tell your husband, how very sorry I am,” she told him. Jill’s was known for her memory of people’s names and personal details. Her secret was she went over the guest list before hand and studied what details she had of them. Something she seen her father do often when she was little. “I must go check on some messages. I hope to see you again soon, and we can talk more.”
“Let’s do that soon.”
“Alright, good bye,” she smiled and then walked away. How she hated that abusive dickhead? She not had forgotten how he treated her in her first year as a cadet.
A few minutes later after speaking with Admiral Pierce, Jillleen was on her way down to the starboard hanger bay of the Valkyrie-class battlestar. She was to meet the hero of the day who was arriving from Avalon in a raptor.