O'Club reunion / Gone in a Flash
WHO: Jilleen Simmons & Jake McKenzie WHERE: Officer’s Club, Fort Iwo, Sagittaron. WHEN: Evening local time, Y03 Jan 06 (begins at 2340hrs CST)
Jilleen wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin, and then placed the napkin beside the plate. “I absolutely cannot eat another bite,” she said looking at the Major. The officer’s club chef was very generous with the portions tonight. She left half of the seasoned shrimp and sirloin on the plate. One of the perks of being an aide to an Admiral, people sometimes went the extra mile to keep her pleased. “How is your sirloin, Jake?”
It was the first time she had seen her old friend since he arrived a couple of days ago to Sagittaron to begin some inspection tour of the air resources. They had caught up on recent business during dinner, and spoke of some of the good times they had as cadets. The topic of Bridget was not mentioned, they both loved her and her passing was still painful after all these years.
“Not bad,” he responded after washing down a bite with a sip from the glass of wine he’d ordered with the meal. The Officer’s Club here had a good selection, probably because the officer in charge happened to be a wine snob. “You can always count on the Officer’s Clubs to cook the meat just right. Not quite as good as you’d get back on Aerilon of course, but pretty good.”
“Nothing like organic prime beef from home,” she agreed. Always a proud Aerilonian, Jill’s eyes sparkled when speaking of her home colony. “You remember how horrid those steaks were from Canceron, when we were there for the bowl game our senior year. Dionysus must have crapped in the stockyard after a night of drinking. Diss’gusting.” She made a face. “And the smell.”
“Well it didn’t help that the local board of health closed the place down a few weeks later.” Jake agreed. “It was pretty bad. That place is one of the reasons I typically eat at the local O Club if I’m on assignment on Canceron.”
“The colony is really in a sad state with the population explosion,” she was referring to Canceron. “The cities are so overcrowded, if it wasn’t for Aerilon’s farms the people would starve. Very sad when you think the planet used to have the best farmlands for centuries.”
“Things change, and the war did a number on Canceron.” Jake shrugged, honestly unconcerned with that particular Colony and its problems. “They’ll figure it out eventually.”
“Eventually,” she repeated before raising her hand to get the waiter’s attention. When the waiter came to the table she asked for the check. Her flight was due to leave in an hour. “So tell me. How are you getting along these days?” She referred to how he was getting along without Bridget, even after she promised herself not to bring up the subject. She still missed her so much and wish her friend was still alive. Jilleen could really use her advice. It was then after second thoughts, she quickly decided this was a bad idea and it would ruin the mood. So she clarified to avoid her original intent. “You know with your new job?”
“It’s just as paperwork intensive as being a CAG was, but without the benefits of getting to fly regularly.” Jake groused. “It’s a good career move, long term, but I’ll be happy when I can get back to fleet duty.”
“I sometimes wish I was back flying Vipers again. I hate having to beg a raptor pilot for some time behind the controls to maintain my flight reserve status.” She picked up her wine glass, “I’m still jealous you made CAG and I never did.”
“You could always have transitioned back into active status once James was back on his feet Jill,” Jake had only limited sympathy for his old friend on this issue. “The Lords know there were plenty of people willing to pull strings to get you back in. Sure you’d have taken a little while to get back into the swing of things, but your career wouldn’t be any worse off than it is now.”
She sighed after he mentioned her husband’s name. She sacrificed her flying career for him and she ended up sabotaging her own marriage. Her eyes locked on to her wedding band she still wore for appearance’s sake. “It took him a while ..” Her cheeks flushed with shame for what she done. Jake reminded her of Bridget, and she could tell her anything. When her friend died she felt set adrift. Jill realized how much she depended on Bridget’s advice. She wondered if she should tell Jake.
Jake cocked an eyebrow at the odd response. He remembered hearing about James’ rehab progress, and the statement from Jill didn’t quite add up. “You were there and I wasn’t,” he said at last after a lingering pause. “So I guess you would be in a better position to know than I would, obviously.”
Her mind was on the first day when she first saw James in his hospital bed unconscious after surgery. Jilleen rushed to his bedside after arriving to the hospital after a long flight from the Batlestar Pegasus. All she can remember from that point was holding his hand was relieved to find it still warm, and then begging him to not leave her while he laid there unresponsive.
She sighed. “Those were very difficult days.” Her eyes settled on Jake again. “I wonder sometimes if the Gods exacted a price for James’ recovery later on in exchange for ..” She left Bridget’s name unsaid when the waiter came with the check in a black server pad. Jilleen immediately grabbed it and signed her name, rank, and unit on the bill so the dinner would be charged on her account before Jake could demand to pay for it. This was her base, her O’Club, and she invited him to dinner.
Jake sat up straighter and narrowed his eyes at Jill’s trailing remark. He had a pretty good idea where she had been going with the query and didn’t like it one bit, but restrained himself from saying anything. The worlds don’t revolve around you Jill. The Gods don’t care about one mortal.
“You should have let me get the bill.” Was all he said.
“No one is going to accuse you of taking advantage of an officer junior your rank,” she smirked. The switch in topic was welcomed no matter the significance. She was tired of thinking about her troubles with James. It was already bad enough Elihu brought it up earlier in the day but he did save the day. She smiled to herself.
“But if you insist on paying, I’ll gladly let you next time when I get back from Aerilon.” she said
“All right. I guess I’ll have to do just that.” Jake replied, getting up from the table.
She got up as well to join him, and then reached for his hand. “Then we have a deal. You buy next …” FLASH.
Inside a brilliant light filled the room. In an instant the night sky outside the Officer’s Club turned into day. In the city center of Tawa, the capital of Sagittaron, some twenty miles away is evaporated in the heart of a rapidly growing nuclear chain reaction. The thermonuclear bubble enveloped the immediate area of the city, and then the fire ball began to climb up into the sky. The pressure wave at the speed of sound raced to the hilly ridge. The distance and that ridge will protect the base from the full force of the blast.
After the flash, the lights inside the restaurant went out with the power. Only the light of the raising fire ball illuminated the room through the hill facing windows. Jilleen froze as she looked wide-eyed at Jake.
Jake blinked away the spots in his eyes, thankful he hadn’t been looking outside when the flash occurred. The flash, fireball, and loss of power could only mean one thing: Tawa had been nuked. How, why, who, those questions were still to be determined, but the what was crystal clear.
He looked over at Jilleen, equally surprised, but training kicked in a heartbeat later. “Everybody find cover! The windows will shatter when the blast wave hits!” He called out, and started moving toward the kitchen, pulling Jilleen behind him. With Tawa twenty miles away they had a minute between the explosion and the blast wave, and they’d already wasted several seconds standing there slack jawed. He had no idea how powerful the blast wave would be, but the more walls he could put between himself and the outdoors in the next minute or so, the happier he’d be.
Jilleen was jolted by Jake tugging at her hand as he pulled her toward safety away from the windows. She followed and finally shouted, “Hurry get to cover,” along with everyone else shouting similar commands. At this point she was pushing Jake as well through the threshold of the kitchen. Inside there was a large stainless steel table with room underneath for a couple of people. “Down, get down here,” she insisted.
“I’ve got a better idea,” Jake told her, pointing toward the large walk-in refrigerator. “Everybody get inside, now!” He called to the staff. “Tawa’s been nuked, we need to take cover right now!” He jerked the door open and ushered Jilleen inside, and gesturing for the kitchen staff and others who’d followed them in to hurry up.
Jilleen rushed toward the back where large frozen boxes of goods where stored to allow room for others. When she turned around to look who else was inside, she felt the pressure on her ears change and in an instant an incredible crack of sound. “Jake!” she screamed through the sound. With the boom, the windows of the dinning room where they had been moments before shattered with the pressure wave.
Jake’s timing could have been better, but at least he’d had presence of mind to stand in such a way that he only had to take a step back before he was inside the room, the door slamming shut in front of his face. The sound hurt his ears, and there were much closer, sharper, noises of things flying about and hitting the walls.
Seconds later though the blast wave had passed and Jake figured the coast was clear. “Ok let’s go.”
Her heart was pounding in her chest after the worst had passed. The seconds gave her enough time to get control of herself. She stood next to one of the kitchen staff who was beginning to weep. “What happened?” He asked.
“Didn’t you hear him? We were nuked,” she said leaving him as she walked to join Jake. Those words were just too unreal, but somehow her training was starting to kick in that prepared for this very day. “We have to get to the command center,” she told Jake. “Are you okay?”
“I think so.” Jake looked himself over. “Nothing a halfway decent night’s sleep can’t fix anyway.”
Somehow Jilleen did not think anyone was getting any sleep tonight. She tried her best to put on a brave face, but the possibility that someone denoted a nuke in the city was too much. It was not her first thought this was the prelude to a Cylon attack, but an act of terrorism.
He looked around, and realized he was still the senior officer in the location, which meant he was in charge. “We need to get these people squared away, then we’ll head to the command center. Right now we’d just be in the way while they try to figure out what the frak is going on.” Was this an isolated incident? Some terrorist act? Or had the nightmare scenario the Colonies had dreaded for the last forty years come to pass?
“Ok people, listen up!” He told the occupants of the refrigerator, a mix of civilian and military personnel. “The first thing we need to do when we get out of here is to check the building for wounded. I know some of you aren’t trained for this and I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to argue or get you someplace else. People could be badly hurt out there, maybe dying. I want every civilian to pair up with someone from the fleet and we’re going to check this building room by room. Everybody copy?”
After every ones’ acknowledgement, people started to do exactly what he said. Except for Jilleen who was trying to get a signal on her cell phone as she walked around the mess inside. She was not purposely ignoring Jake’s command, she had a duty to find where the Admiral was located tonight.
A single status bar finally appeared from a cell tower which was not out of commission. She pressed dial and placed the phone next to her ear and heard a busy signal. It was expected, everyone must be doing the same as her calling in or reporting. Jilleen got close to one of the shattered window and looked out side to see the rising mushroom cloud. This must be a nightmare, wake up Jill. she thought to herself. Then the sirens began to sound on the base to alert everyone to their action stations.
It didn’t take long to check the building, and the few wounded that were found were patched up as best as was possible with what they had. A runner was dispatched to the base hospital to let them know about the wounded here and it was time for the uninjured military personnel to report to their stations.
He turned to Jilleen. “We need to get you to your Admiral, and I ought to head to the transient BOQ, find the rest of the inspection team.”
“This is not good. We need to find out who did this because I can’t believe one of the factions used a nuke. ” Pieces of glass broke under her feet as she walked toward Jake, then a soft roar from outside rapidly grew louder until a single Mark VII Viper flew overhead, followed a couple of seconds later by another. “The alert fighters.”
Jake nodded, briefly remembering the days when he’d been on that sort of duty before putting it out of his mind. “We’ll know soon enough, but that isn’t our job to find out Captain.” He needed her to put her mind back on her responsibilities as a fleet officer rather than idle speculation. “Where would your Admiral be? Everyone needs to get to their duty stations now, and yours is by the Admiral.”
He was right. Many questions were filling her head at this point. The whole thing was surreal with a mushroom cloud rising in the background and now vipers being scrambled. “Eli?” She mouthed. What about Eli? Was he okay? He would have been preparing his raptor for this evening’s flight.
Jilleen shook her head to drive the questions out of her mind and to focus. “The Command Center, that’s the S.O.P.” She started walking in the direction of the center. “They would start executing one of the emergency plans, probably search and rescue operations.” she said looking back at Jake.
“Right. I’ll walk you there and then head over to check with the rest of the audit team.”