003 | Video

[halfbloodhatchling]

Who: Kai Gracen and Open
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Caprine
When: Now

Look, I think it’s great that we all survived, and that there was some coordination was obviously fundamental to that. So was rescue.

Still, this whole experience brings up a rather pressing question. Do we have a basic battle plan?

[ A pause, and then Kai’s voice dips sardonic, sarcastic. ]

Or at least an entertaining one? Maybe that’s where we failed. Being rescued was more amusing than anything we’d managed to come up with on our own.

We’ll have to do better. Ideas welcome.

[ For anyone that would be looking for him, Kai's in the kitchen with a glass of some kind of liquor he'd gotten on Corona, and the bottle is about half-empty. He really didn't like how close they'd come to losing the Caprine. ]

Comments

[onlyvengeance]

[ Catelyn is not even remotely amused. Having recently been cured of death as she is, she is no hurry to go back to the dark, or the gods, or wherever she had been. Her tone is calm and even. ]

Are the weapons I saw all we have to speak of?

[halfbloodhatchling]

On this ship? Yes. I don't know if they're all we can have though. Probably not.

[onlyvengeance]

And does everyone practice with them frequently?

[halfbloodhatchling]

Not as much as we should be. There's a clear need for fleetwide drills.

[onlyvengeance]

Perhaps a better idea would be to work on a system on our own ship, and only share it with the rest when we have everything in place?

[halfbloodhatchling]

We don't know why our rescuers chose to help, or how long our attackers will lick their wounds.

I'm not ready to assume we can wait to have everything in place.

[onlyvengeance]

Were none of the attackers captured on any other ships?

[halfbloodhatchling]

I don't know if they got anything useful out of them.

[onlyvengeance]

A pity, that.

[halfbloodhatchling]

Our next attackers may be someone else, regardless.

[onlyvengeance]

That is true. Do these sort of attacks happen often?

[halfbloodhatchling]

This is the first time since I've been here. But that's not that long.

[onlyvengeance]

That is, by turns, both reassuring and not.

[halfbloodhatchling]

Yeah, well. Neither you nor I knew to expect it this time.

We'll do better when they try this shit again.

[onlyvengeance]

Hopefully there will be no next time.
Still...it is a good idea to be prepared.

[halfbloodhatchling]

There'll be a next time. At least I intend to be alive long enough to see it.

[onlyvengeance]

I hope that you are granted your wish.

[halfbloodhatchling]

I'm Elfin. I'm durable.

[ If she hadn't seen the injury he'd taken, she might not know how true that way. Either way, there was no sign of it on him now. ]

[onlyvengeance]

I'm afraid that I am unfamiliar with the term, but enduring is a good trait to possess.

[halfbloodhatchling]

It's my species.

[ Kai taps the tip of one pointy ear. ]

What about you, planning to stick around to help us with the next one?

action

[notanoptimist]

[When he comes in, he leans against the bulkhead, arms crossed and looking... well. Looking like he's the captain who nearly lost his ship.]

Don't ask me. I'm just the one supposedly in charge. [And taking a seat. With a glass in hand that he liberated from the cabinet on the way by. He very pointedly puts in next to the bottle. Share, would you?] We were working on getting all us medical types together before this. I think that helped in the immediate aftermath some, but doesn't do much during the attack.

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[halfbloodhatchling]

[ Kai would share easily enough even if it weren't his captain. After all, it saves him from having to drink alone. Although it might already be too late for that. Still, Kai tips a generous portion into McCoy's glass. ]

It was hard enough anyway to think through how to react. I'm sure drills would have helped, but more coordination in the moment just...wasn't possible, not with what we had.

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[notanoptimist]

[McCoy nods and slowly spins the full glass in his hands.] This many ships, we have a lot of resources. Only trouble is, the more people you have, the harder it is to coordinate. Blessing and a curse. We can't draw up a sort-of buddy system; there's no guarantee sister ships won't all be damaged. Not all the ships have pilots, or engineers, or security. Hell, I think the best we could do is assign those ships with pilots to quadrants within the Fleet and try to get each position covered within a quadrant, but...

[He shrugs.] There's a few things we could try, but plannin' means almost nothing when the shit hits the fan.

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[halfbloodhatchling]

[ Kai drains his glass and pours himself another. He's going to show some signs of slowing down at this point, at least, looking at the alcohol instead of emptying his glass again. ]

Sometimes I think we'd be better off just stopping at a planet. I trust myself more than I trust the hull of the spaceship to hold out.

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[notanoptimist]

[He makes a note of the alcohol consumption slowing a bit. He doesn't comment - he's not one to talk when it comes to the desire to get as drunk as possible.]

You'd never get anywhere stuck on a planet. This may be a tin can, but at least it's goin' somewhere.

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[halfbloodhatchling]

But going where?

I lived my whole life on a single planet.

[ More or less. Having that world combine with another isn't quite the same as leaving it, if pieces had gone missing to who knew where. Kai had been on the part that survived. ]

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[notanoptimist]

Goin' somewhere, at least. I can't stand the thought of not tryin' to get home.

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[halfbloodhatchling]

You think we'll find where we're from by traveling to it?

[ Kai sips at his cup again, checks if his captain needs a refill. ]

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[notanoptimist]

[His captain's cup is still fair.]

I know where I'm from and it's not here. [Implied: which means he's not staying here.] It wasn't so long ago that I lost my ship -- back home, the Enterprise. Crew was scattered, tryin' to find their way back together after escaping. [And that's the shortest of short stories.] That's what I mean. Not lookin' for a place to land. It's trying to make certain all the people involved find their way.

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[halfbloodhatchling]

Where I come from we don't have ships, not like this. It's hard for me to imagine getting back with one.

Then again, as long as we don't take that kind of damage again, I'd not be so put off by the idea of staying.

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[notanoptimist]

Yeah, that wasn't great. I'm hoping the Fleet can figure out how to defend against attacks like that.

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[halfbloodhatchling]

I'll work on it. I promise.

[ Not one made lightly, or something he knows how to figure out, but Kai can't give his captain less than this. ]

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[notanoptimist]

So will I. [Also a promise not made lightly.]

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[halfbloodhatchling]

Good.

[ That's taken care of, then. Kai tops off both their glasses and settles back into drinking quietly, unless Leonard has more to say. ]