The first several hours after the strike group had jumped to safety passed in a blur for Jake Mackenzie. There had been casualty reports to take in, updates on damage to the ships involved in the battle, and a million other tasks that it seemed only the Admiral's Chief of Staff could deal with. By the time everything immediate had been dealt with he had a fairly up to date mental picture of the fleet's status and just how bad things were.
He needed a drink, and he needed to go over some personnel issues with Colonel Masterson. There were several vacancies that had been created as a result of casualties sustained in the attack and they would need to be filled, even if just on an acting basis until they could take time to evaluate how the replacements handled their new responsibilities.
A check of the watch confirmed that Masterson should be at his stateroom this time of day unless something had come up, and it wasn't long before Jake was knocking on the hatch and poking his head through. "Cobra, got a minute?"
Josiah sat at his desk pouring over the piles of reports that contained the BDA's or Battle Damage Assessments for the ship. As was his usual habit he also was reading the personnel action reports that were taken shortly after the battle, while everything was still fresh in the Division Officers and Department Heads minds.
Breaking the BDA's and the action reports up into timelines allowed him to build a very clear picture of his mind as to what took place throughout the ship. This also provided a clear picture as to the strengths and weaknesses of the crew in dealing with the various ships casualties that took place.
Deck Div, seemingly were the slowest to react. It had taken far too long in his opinion to prepare and load the Vipers for launch. Also, the aft damage control teams were slow to secure the supply valves on burst hydraulic systems and steam systems, as well as actuating the cross connect system from port to starboard supply lines.
Looking up at the person who knocked on the hatch door he saw Jake. "Hey Jake..." He said as he pushed himself back in his chair away from the desk. "Yeah, I have some time. Come on in, shut the hatch behind you."
Rising from the chair he walked around the desk to meet the man whom was one of a few of his close friends. "Need a drink?"
"After a day like today? Frak yes." Jake didn't normally drink when he was on duty, but a glass or two wouldn't do anything but take the edge off anyway. He shook Josiah's hand after pushing the button to shut the hatch behind him, briefing folder tucked under one arm. "We have too many more like that and we won't be doing much of anything."
The younger man had come to regard Josiah as a close friend, the two having developed a good working relationship over the past three years that had developed into a personal friendship as well. There were few people in the military each man could be himself around, either everyone was a subordinate in some way (or in three cases their superiors in the chain of command) which made it hard to completely let down one's guard.
"How are things looking on your end?"
Josiah shrugged somewhat as he walked over to the small, locked cabinet behind his desk. Withdrawing two glasses and a bottle of ambrosia, he poured for both, then handed one to Jake. "Put it this way Jake...." He held his glass up to toast. "Cheers, Mate."
Taking a sip, he savored the taste of the whiskey. Looking from his glass back to Jake, he continued. "There won't be anymore like that. I'm going over the BDA's and PPR's. Needless to say I'm not impressed."
"They could have been better," Jake admitted swirling the contents of the glass around slightly before taking a sip. "Though at the same time it's been over a year since we had this large a tangle with the toasters. Six Basestars along with their fighter complements? Even with the firepower we had I think we got off light. If we'd stayed much longer it wouldn't have been pretty."
He sat down in a chair across from the other man's desk. "They were able to put more ships on scene in less time than I would have imagined this far out from home, it surprised me."
Josiah nodded in agreement. "I have a theory on that...." Placing the glass on the table before him he leaned back into the couch. "We have multitudes of ships and civilians in this fleet, yes?" Sitting forward to more make his point he looked at Jake. "What if there were more that survived? Yes, finding them would be next to impossible and if there were more.... It would be pure happenstance that we did run across each other. But... Where the Cylons are concerned. And you bring a very good point to the table...." Josiah drew in a slight breath.
"What if we were merely a single sector, or a scant few sectors away from some type of Cylon rally point? Where they happened to be re-supplying, and re-fueling? What would be the odds that a majority of the Cylon fleet were tasked not only to find us, but others as well. That could be a real possibility as to why so many showed up nearly simultaneously."
"If we survived I suppose its possible others did," Jake replied doubtfully. "But you raise a good point about the possible resupply area. To pull off what they did today they would have to have something within two or three jumps of our last position."
He took another sip and leaned back in the chair. "I'll bring it up with Kobe, we have devote more forces to recon missions both for that and to try and find someplace to anchor down and do some refits. Things were getting serious even before this, now its critical. Unless we find some mineral rich asteroids we're going to have to start cannibalizing the civilian fleet for parts."
Josiah was wide eyed as he looked at Jake. "Who has put that plan into place? Cannibalizing the fleet?" Taking a deep breath while in thought, he sat back into the couch. "Frak me, Jake. That's... Not so bad of an idea from a military standpoint, but still. It's only a short term solution."
He took another sip from his glass. Looking at the table his voice was more quiet than usual. "What of the civilians themselves? As I said, Jake. This is extending the inevitable for how long? Days? Weeks? A few months? With increasing the civilian population aboard each ship, you introduce a host of new complexities and problems. Increased UNREPS, due to the demand on the water supply. Increased chances of the spread of disease..." He let go a frustrated breath.
Locking eyes with Jake, he brought up one of the more hazardous points of the idea. "With people more confined, more crowded. The chance for riots and social unrest becomes exponential. Less compartmentalized. Meaning far more difficult to control." Shaking his head he looked at the folder that Jake had set on the table.
Trading major problems for problems that could be far worse... Seems like a very bad gamble to me."
Josiah then looked at Jake with a grave seriousness. "We'd better hope and pray for those asteroids that you spoke about."
Finishing his drink he checked his watch. Plenty of time for another shot of the fine drink allowing long enough for it to leave his system. "More? Taking Jake's glass without an answer he already knew that Jake needed it. Pouring two more fingers worth in each glass, he walked back to the chair handing Jake his. "As for the rally point? I'd rather strip Cylon ships of necessary materials than our own."
"We've already got increasing populations on the civilian ships," Jake replied, taking a healthy sip of his drink. "Who do you think gets the vast majority of the contraceptives in the fleet? The strike group. And we still get personnel falling pregnant every now and again as I'm sure you're aware." He shook his head and chuckled humorlessly.
"Cannibalizing the civilian fleet isn't something I want to do, and I'm hoping we won't have to do it. But if we don't find those asteroids or take the resources from the Cylons we aren't going to have a choice."
Josiah was absolutely right about the difficulties cannibalizing civilian ships could cause further down the road, but they were running out of options.
Josiah had known Jake long enough, he could always get a good read on his friend. "This... This idea of cannibalizing the civ fleet. This wasn't hatched by Jake. It sounds more like an idea coming from the Admiral."
Josiah's actions were very animated as he lifted the glass high, sat forward and ever so gently placed it on the table. Pulling himself away from the grasp of the comfort of the couch, he stood, looking across the table and down at Jake. "On that note, I'm going to treat this as the confidential subject that i'm assuming it is."
Glancing at his glass, and easily fighting the temptation to quickly down the contents, he instead began to slowly walk the stateroom. "You know the Admiral is quite the diplomat. I've often wondered in watching her in recent times past if she could actually get away with selling sand to Virgonese beach combers." He chuckled quietly. "Which is why I'll never see the rank of Admiral. I'm not a diplomat nor am I a politician. I'm a military man."
"There's all kinds of military men Josiah, considering my pedigree I think I should know." Jake took a sip of his drink, amused at the description of the Admiral. Claudia had the gift to charm politicians into doing what she wanted, a handy skill for any flag officer in peacetime and a critical one for an Admiral in their current situation. Jake could only hope to be as lucky if his turn at the top job were to ever come.
"And yes, it's the Admiral's idea but it's a contingency we've had in place for a long time now. With luck we won't have to implement it, but we've got to keep the fleet up to fighting strength."
He set down his glass and picked up the folder he'd set down on the table. "Speaking of fighting strength, we've got some positions to fill. Master Chief Troy's death leaves us down a deck chief, which is probably the most critical opening. Since the deck crew is a shared responsibility I thought I'd touch base with you on the potential replacements."
The folder was opened and the contents spread out on the table.
Slowly, Josiah nodded. He could only imagine the impact on the deck gang Troy's death had. He was a very well liked, hard working Chief. The man had possessed a natural gift of quiet, authoritative, leadership. Finding a suitable replacement to fill the vacuum, was going to be no simple task.
Sitting back down on the couch, he pulled the folder closer to him. "What choices do we have?"
"Three," Jake gestured to the personnel jackets on the table. "Petty Officers Gaither, Tullius and Clay. Tullius was injured during the attack," he leafed through the jacket in question, "he's still in sickbay for the next three days, but his performance reviews are strong. Clay is similar in his reviews but there's an issue with his personality, he tends to grate on people. That's fine in a PO, but can be an issue with a Chief. And Gaither..." he exhaled and looked up at Josiah, frustrated.
Gaither was an excellent noncom, the strongest in the bunch really, except for one large problem. The man was involved in a relationship with an officer, Lt. Kypros from the Air Group, and gotten her pregnant. It wasn't as big a sin as it would have been prior to the attacks, but it was still a black mark on his record. Was it a large enough mark to stop him from being promoted? That was the question Jake struggled with.
Josiah slowly leaned forward picking up Gaither's file. Finishing Jake's sentence for him he proceeded to read. "Gaither is in a relationship with an Officer, which should technically bring up enough charges against both of them to have them thrown right out of the fleet."
"Right," Jake sighed and leaned back in his seat. "If this were four years ago they'd both have been discharged as soon as the relationship was discovered. The Admiral's relaxed the regs, obviously, or Kypros and Gaither wouldn't have been able to move into family quarters the other day. But...it still doesn't speak well to maintaining order and chain of command. The rest of the deck crews still seem to respect his authority, but it's the precedent we'd be setting that I'm worried about."
"Of course it isn't all Gaither's fault but he's the one up for the promotion. I don't know why the fleet bothered to accept Virgonese officers before the war, they seem to get themselves in trouble more than those from other Colonies."
Josiah laughed at Jake's comment. In most cases, this was a true statement of fact. "However, in our current situation...." He closed the folder then looked over at Jake. "How many awards, commendations, and accolades have you and I together, given to this man? I can name four from myself."
Sitting forward he took the glass and emptied the contents in one swig. "I think he would be a good fit. In all respects. A husband, Father, and the lead in his position." He couldn't help but smile, as he continued. "Besides, right now, I would trade a thousand Virgonese Officers and enlisted for one Sagitaron. We need to populate, at the same time we're stripping ships for parts."
"True enough," Jake picked up his glass and swirled the contents about as he thought it over. After a moment he nodded and took a sip. "We'll give him the rank on an acting basis, pending review before the promotion board. Let's see how he does in the position for a month or so before giving him the stripes permanently."
In a way he was slightly jealous of Gaither and his luck. Kypros was a beautiful woman, and a kind hearted one as well. She reminded him a great deal of Bridget, three years dead now. Would they have been parents by now if the attacks hadn't happened?
He sighed and shook his head, it was no good thinking of what might have been. Gaither and Kypros were lucky to have found each other. With that thought in mind, Jake smirked and raised his glass in a toast. "To Chief Gaither and Lt. Kypros: may their tribe increase."
Josiah raised his empty glass in turn. "To Chief Gaither and his new position. May he stay alive long enough to see his tribe increase." Klinking the glasses together, Josiah downed the remnant drop of ambrosia.