Battlestar Avalon

Mila walked out of her quarters into the Spartan passageway. She had been on the Avalon for a few days, and like Lieutenant Selwyn had assured her she was starting to figure her way around. Moving passed a couple of pilots she overheard something about one of the viper jocks coming back aboard covered from head to toe in mud after getting in a bar fight, and then being chewed out by a squadron commander. Shaking her head she had to laugh for a moment. She knew from her time with Tra that pilots were crazy, but this one sounded like he wanted to piss off everyone in the fleet from top to bottom.

"Pilots" She said to herself as she turned the corner, heading for the Intel section.

As Mila rounded the corner she was stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes flew open wide as she saw Tra Mitchel walking out of his quarters . Her hand flew up to her mouth, stifling a small cry as she watched her Ex-fiancee walk quickly down the corridor and out of sight. Her heart raced as emotions and memories bombarded her mind.

"Oh my gods" She whispered to herself as she struggled to regain her composer.

Mila raced to her work station and sat down. The room was empty except for her and a civilian working the kinks out on new station that had been installed the week before. Watching him closely, Mila pulled one of the pills she kept hidden in her pocket. Crushing the pain killer between her teeth she waited for the rush to flow over her, allowing her to think clearly.

"What the frak am I going to do" She said to herself as her heartbeat started to slow to normal

WHO: Callie Morgan & Tra Mitchel
WHERE: Avalon
WHEN: After "Working things out"

Battlestar Avalon hung in dock like a fortress, a beacon of strength as Callgirl gently eased her Raptor into one of the landing pods. Her port leave had been sadly cut short thanks to one of her pilots going AWOL and getting into trouble with the authorities. It had been ages since she had left her mystery girl in the hotel room and more importantly ages since she had reached the lock-up where Achilles was being held only to find out he had been released. Pain in the ass! It meant the upper brass would now be on her case about lack of discipline involving one of her pilots.

The raptor smoothly touched down on the landing pad and after a moment or two was lowered down into the hanger deck were a whole heap of bodies were swarming around like mad. Several personnel in orange overalls came running forward and started to bring her raptor down of the pad and into the hanger. Callie removed her helmet and placed the flight controls into proper condition before climbing up to get out.

It took mere seconds for the rear hatch to open and the Avalon hanger deck noise to be reintroduced into her head. She wanted to get away from all this for a few days and instead here she was, back early because of one frakker. Callie tossed her helmet at some random deckhand and proceeded to remove her gloves, “Where the hell is Achilles?”

Several faces looked at each other as if attempting to form a common story but nothing was forthcoming. Callie jumped down of the raptor wing and stormed off towards the pilot recreation room and bunks with a mind to give a right hook to Achilles. She’d find him, sooner or later and when she did he was dead weight. He’d spend the next two weeks cleaning flight suits.

WHO: Milena Wallace
WHERE: Battlestar Avalon, Hanger Deck
WHEN: Afternoon

Mila waited as the Raptor slowly opened it's door. Once open, the first thing she noticed was the smell of the flight-bay. Fuel, sweat and grease all seemed to mix together giving the Battlestar a feeling of activity, even if it was empty. She walked down the ramp and looked around. The place was almost deserted. The few people present were working on different types of equipment and spacecraft. She guessed this was to be expected. Most of Avalon's crew would still be on leave she thought as she walked onto the deck.

"You gotta be frakkin kiddin me. I thought there was a height requirement to serve on Battlestars" A familiar voice shouted from behind her.

"Fish!" She shouted as she turned with a smile.

WHO: Darcy Selwyn
WHERE: Battlestar Avalon, Hanger Deck
WHEN: Evening after "Leaving Caprica"

The hanger deck was normally the busiest place on a Battlestar but thanks to port leave, it was scarcely populated. All the birds, raptor and viper alike were tied down to the deck in a metaphorical sense. The Avalon wasn’t moving but to cut down expenditure in replacement parts and maintenance crew, it was standard requirement for all birds to be safely secured on deck before deckhands could sleep. A hard job but had to be done.

Darcy stood on the above walkway watching the comings and goings on her deck, well what was temporary her deck. With Burk and Randall due back any day, she had to make sure this ship was ready for strict inspection. The skeleton crew she had knew this and was working around the clock to achieve it. It was something she would note in her report to Burk. DRADIS upgrades were apparently running along smoothly so she could afford a few moments like this to observe the deck. She missed it.

It had been several months since she had piloted any form of craft since being giving the duty of tactical officer of Avalon. Darcy was led to believe that Burk specifically requested her for the position but she didn’t put much stock in that assumption. He was a hard man but fair.

She was brought back to the present with some clanging coming from the deck. The one thing the deck was all the time and that was an echo chamber. Darcy stood back up straight and straightened her tunic, starting to move off to resume her duties as caretaker commander during port leave. It was slowly but surely coming to an end. All she had to do was see out the remaining time and ensure the upgrades and repairs were done right.

WHO: Darcy Selwyn
WHERE: Battlestar Avalon, CIC
WHEN: Mid-Day

Lieutenant Darcy Selwyn stood in the hub of the ship, CIC which was normally the command post for either Admiral Burk or his XO Colonel Randall. Neither were in attendance today. Both had taken it upon themselves to enjoy a little leave during this port visit, in fact most of the ship personnel had done the same. Darcy was handed a slim white piece of paper and after thanking the junior officer with a courteous nod, she proceeded to read. It was a memo which she took a moment to read through and through before she forced a little chuckle. The Admiral took the time to write up a memo just to thank her attention to duty.

The DRADIS was scheduled for upgrades during this port visit and so despite the opportunity to take leave, she decided to stay behind and oversea the upgrades. So CIC was littered with devices, men and women working on the DRADIS console and all she could do was watch on. There were no real command decisions to be made – not unless ordering several friends from her watch to take the chance and go on leave counted. She didn’t need the guilt for making them stay just because she was.

Darcy crossed her arms and slowly patrolled around the engineers which were conducting these upgrades. She was curious about these upgrades which promised to enhance the performance of the DRADIS. The DRADIS was a vital piece of machinery, a device which was essential to the successful working of a military ship not that Avalon was expecting action or anything. Darcy supported Burk’s decision to allow the upgrade if just to keep the Avalon a head of the competition. That was why she was here. All she could do now was monitor the upgrades, the repairs and general ship life during this port leave. She had nothing more to do than that which meant she still had some spare time. For what?