Kobol's Legacies

[Note: Takes place a few days after Choices]

Jake made his way down to the hanger deck, the box containing a Chief Petty Officer's insignia in his pocket. He'd wanted to do this with Kobe at his side as well, since the other officer actually had direct day to day authority over Avalon's Airgroup, but a good opportunity for the two men to present together hadn't occurred and the task needed doing. Gaither's section had been without a Chief Petty Officer since the Cylon attack the previous week and the next senior man lacked that formal authority that a Chief possessed.

He spotted Gaither standing next to another crewman, looking over an engine that had been pulled from a Viper for repair, and made his way over toward them.

"All right, this shouldn't be too complicated," Rhys said, examining the engine that had been extracted to pinpoint the problem. "Sometimes things jar loose at high speeds, it might just need to be re-calibrated. Hand me that wrench, will ya? And hold that light steady so I can get a good look."

He was just about to set to work when the crewman next to him poked him lightly in the ribs with an elbow, and when he looked up the other man made a 'look there' gesture with his head. Rhys turned, then straightened up when he saw Colonel MacKenzie headed in their direction. The wrench was placed back on the movable workbench so that he could salute, his posture straightening to half-attention.

"Sir," he said politely. Things might be more relaxed as far as regulations went these days, but showing proper respect towards an officer never went by the wayside. "Is there something I can do for you this afternoon?"

( something to do for you )

Jake emerged from the locker room feeling refreshed after a long shower and a change into one of his few sets of civilian clothes.

He'd participated in five different games of pyramid that day, and knew he was going to pay for it in a few hours once his body had a chance to wind down for the night. Even though he kept in excellent physical condition his muscles weren't used to playing pyramid that intensely for so long, having only played in causal pickup games since he'd graduated from Gladius Cross more years ago than he cared to think about at the moment. It had been fun to play in these sorts of conditions again, to feed off the energy of the crowd and to have fresh opponents to play against where you didn't already know their every move.

The Colonel spotted Anika Jereldsen coming out of the opposing team's locker room and he gave a friendly wave. "Hey Anika, you guys put up a hell of a fight in there, good game." He'd greeted her before the start of the game and offered to be on a first name basis with the pretty civilian pilot, figuring 'Colonel Mackenzie' would be a mouthful to try and use on the court. The woman had been a formidable opponent, he'd been surprised at how dangerous someone seven inches shorter and several pounds lighter could be.

Wishing she was going back to her room, or Bethany's and knowing a rubdown from Sephy would be a godsend right then Anika was instead on her way to the hangar. Bethany had agreed to ferrying over some high-rollers from Babylonia for the finals the following day, and a few others from ships lying further out in the fleet. So instead of relaxing she was flying, there not being many civilian shuttles up to carrying this caliber of passenger. Her head jerked up when she heard Jake's voice. Yeah, yeah, get used to it sunshine, he said to call him that! the small voice inside her head told her before she had a chance to ignore it.

"Thanks, weren't too shabby yourselves," she returned, their teams both having made it through to the playoffs the next morning followed by the final in the afternoon.

( worthy opponents? )