AWD #009: Give a Farmer's Daughter a Gun..
Give a Farmer's Daughter a Gun…
Date: 14/01/2013 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: None
Zachary Ygraine Kelsey 
Wilds of Piraeus
14 January 2005

Yep, Yggy changed in the raptor. Right in front of the married man! She went from her flight suit to some camo faster than a by your leave, and wasn't bothered at all about Zachary being present for it. He could have turned his back if it was a big deal.

The Raptor sits on the landing pad, waiting for it to be loaded up. Zachary sits on the lowered back hatch, looking over a map of the area. He's not sure what Ygraine wanted to do on the flight down, but when she went to changing, he went to watching where they're flying. As they touch downed, he waited for her to finish, and then starts to rise. "So we won't be shooting missiles into boars?" he says beningly as he dusts his backside off. "I suppose we need to check the armory and see if there's something you can use."

"I think if we did that, there wouldn't be much boar to barbecue, sir." Yggy points out to him with a grin. "We just gotta hunt one down and put one in its eye. Ain't no big thing."

"Wouldn't the Raptor create a lot of noise and scare it off?" he asks in confusion as Zachary rises up to start across the field towards the checkpoint armory. "I may be from Leonis, but that doesn't mean I went hunting, ever." he chuckles in amusement as they walk.

"Yes, that too. But also a missile being - oh, nevermind." Ygraine just laughs. "My brothers taught me everything I know." she says. "My mom - she was kind of - well, a widow with a farm and three strapping boys, you get the idea. So sometimes they needed to get a way."

"Has Kelsey finished changing yet?" Zachary glances back towards the Raptor and gives a shrug, and looks towards Ygraine again. "What happened to your father?" he asks curiously, making an honest effort to know his command a little better. "And your brothers? Any word on them?"

Kelsey walks out from the fenceline of the town in a Marine combat uniform that looks a size too small on her pants and one too large on her top. Its a bit comical. But she's wearing her bright orange deck helmet and boots, a backpack over her shoulder. At least she isn't so, well, insane anymore. Since the other night she's been slowly getting better. And even look to her, she heads over to the pair and stops short with a salute. "Reporting as ordered, sir."

Ygraine cocks her head. "Hey, Kels." she calls out. "This is supposed to be like, a fun thing, so you should be at ease or whatever." She shrugs, and looks over at Zachary to confirm the call.

"Agreed. Relax, Kelsey, this is just to blow off some steam, and get us a good meal for the party." Zachary offers a smile to Ygraine and then adds, "There's a recording I want you to listen to, anyway, since you asked about Picon." Going to the armory, he offers his pass to offer the women access to the area as he continues the earlier conversation with Ygraine. "Ever been to a place called Another Broken Egg Cafe near the CFA base? My father owns the place and two of my sisters worked there." he comments, reaching for his wallet to dig out a picture.

Kelsey shrugs and flops her arm down, the sleeve waggling in the breeze a bit. "Hey, you got it bossman. Bosspeople. Boss-sirs." She gives a small smirk to Ygraine but tries to keep from letting on too much. Once Zachary turns away to walk, Milkshake gets a partner-in-crime wink. But still, there's that pep missing from her step. The near smile that just isn't where it used to be. Something has fundamentally shifted in her. "Recording? Sure, Major. I'll listen to whatever. If its about Picon, I think I'd rather hear it than not. I tried the denial thing. Didn't pan out."

"Oh hey Kelz, I gotta tell you, when DCAG here's occupied? I have to tell you about some updates to the registry, if you know what I mean." Ygraine mmhmms, because hey. We all have our coping mechanisms. Then to Zach, "Oh, really? Yeah, that was a great pit stop when we had leave and it was 2 am and we needed grease in our systems to suck up the alcohol. They had such good bacon." She sighs. "Whenever my brothers would come to visit, Herry always wanted to eat there."

Fishing the picture he was looking for out of his wallet, Zachary hands it over to Ygraine. "Herry? Zelda was dating a guy by that name, last time I talked to her." he comments absently as he goes about the process of signing off for weapons for the two women. "I came up with the Hangover Special omelete." he says with a small grin of pride.

"Iiiiii may or may not be thoroughly interested in hearing some of this, Sir Milkshake," Kelsey observes with a lofted brow. "I definitely could use some.." A glance to Zachary and back. "" There's a glance to the picture but little else. Eyes settle on the rifles and she glances around, counting one more time. "Am I shooting?" she whispers to them.

"Do you want to shoot? You any good?" Ygraine asks her, and well, when she sees the rifle, her eyes light up. "Come to mama." Perhaps surprisingly (or maybe not) Ygraine handles her gun efficiently and safely. "Herry's what we call Gaheris." she blinks. "Zelda is his fiancee. Oh, that's weird."

"Well, you have a choice." Zachary offers to Kelsey. "You can use the rifle, if you want to join Ygraine in shooting. Or you can sit in the co-pilot's seat and I can let you play with the controls. Or you can sit at the ECO station and while Milkshake is not shooting, she can tell you about it. Your choice." He says, and then blinks slowly at Ygraine. "Since when? I wasn't told they were engaged." He actually looks surprised and shocked at the news. "They've only been dating a few months!" Says the guy who took three years to finally force his wife to propose to him.

Kelsey shrugs. "I haven't shot a gun since basic. I was okay, but not exactly what anyone would call a marksman. One day? It rained. I couldn't hit diddly squat." But with the offer from Zachary, she stares at him. "I can sit at the station? IN FLIGHT??" Abuhhhhh. "Major, if you want me to sing a kids song, dance a jig, or perhaps do something highly embarrassing, I'll do it. Or if you want me to shoot. If I can sit my but at a station in flight, I'll do anything. At the same time." There's an eager nod from her, the movement nearly flopping down her helmet over her eyes.

Ygraine snickers. "Hey, does this mean we're related now? Do I gotta call you cousin or something? Yeah, they were going to wait until my tour was over and get married before my next one." There's a certain tightness to her smile and she says, "Aww, look at her. Happier than a pig in shit. Let her sit co-pilot, I'll manage back here." She contemplates something, and then goes to check on the hooklines near the door. "We ready to go?"

"Are we cousins or siblings in law or what?" Zachary shrugs and smirks at Ygraine, seeming to be amused as only one gun needs to be checked out. "Grab a couple of extra clips just in case, Milkshake." he says to her as he turns to Kelsey. "Pick your station. Anyone assign you a callsign yet?"

"Don't mock me, Milkshake. I'll plant glitter whoopie cushions in your next Raptor," Kelsey threatens with a shaken finger. She's threatening to smile with it, too. Maybe she really is starting to turn around. Back to Zachary, "Sir, I will sit anywhere you want me to sit. I know most about ECO but I wanted to learn how to fly. Whatever you guys think." She swallows. Wait, a callsign? "Sir, I.. uh. Uhm." Nervous glance to Milkshake and back. "I. Don't. Know." She hasn't had anyone call her Jailbait or anything except Wescott in a week or more. Sometimes people change. Or maybe she genuinely is scared of what she might be called.

"Alright, you don't have one. That's fine. They come in time. Maybe my 'sister' and I can think of one while we're seeing how you check out." Handing Kelsey the comm helmet that Ygraine usually uses, he sets his own back on. "That's fine Ygraine, but if you fall out, you get to explain it to Butch." A smile at her as he moves to take his seat and gestures. "Alright, Westcott, give me a go-no-go on the pre-flight checks." he'll point out what she needs to find if she gets lost, but expects her to find most of it.

[TAC1] "Pie" Zachary says, "Orion Actual, this is Orion Romeo Six-Two. Taking PO Westcott and Milkshake on a low-flight reconnaisance of section six of Piraeus air space and utilizing the training for Milkshake to practice her mobile profile sharpshooting, over."

Kelsey looks mortified, terrified, and excited all in one go. She's handed the helmet and stares at Zachary with saucers for eyes. "You people are insane," she breathes. A hard swallow and she pulls the helmet on after securing the earbud. Looking over the console, Kelsey stares at it and suddenly its like being backin that Predator. /She/ has to make things work. "Uhm," she frets before whimpering. "Okay. There's, uh." She coughs. SHIT! Her mind races while she tries to keep from freaking out. "Uhm. Radios work, I think. TACAN.. uh. Uh. I think that's green. It-" she taps it with a finger, "-its got a green light. I, think- we- uh-" Yeah, Kelsey isn't so sure about this. Its been a bad week. There's a glance to Ygraine and a pleading look for help. Kels probably knows about how to work stuff when she isn't freaking out

"S'okay, Kels." Yggy walks over, leaning agaist the chair that she usually sits in. "Remember the trick I taught you?" She points to each system. "Don't. Let. People. Read. The. Atlas. Dradis, Lamps, Perks, Wreckers, Traffics, Active Jamming Pod."

"Calm down, Westcott. Take it by the steps." Zachary instructs gently, working with Ygraine on the check list. A smile is offered to Ygraine as he works and he continues to let Kelsey run things. "When you're ready, you're going to report to CIC that we're lifting off. Their callsign is Orion Actual. We're Orion Romeo Six-Two. Ygraine's Milkshake, I'm Pie. We don't have a callsign for you yet."

Kelsey settles a bit as she starts getting support. Nervous Petty Officer is Scared Shitless. ..but is calming. The reminder from Ygraine gets a slow nod and she starts breathing again. Right. "Sorry, sirs. Duke told me not to touch anything. I've never.. touched.. this stuff when its about to go fly. Don't let me kill us. I'll be embarrassed, yanno?" She swallows and looks towards Zachary and back at the station. "Okay." A steeled breath is taken. "We're not flying anywhere. We're just doing tests. We're not flying. Just doing tests. Yep. Okay. Yeah. That works. Okay, engine start." She reaches up and flips two switches. Annnd both the engines begin humming to life and lights start coming on. Power delivered. A week ago, their lives were different and there is not way she should be doing this stuff for another three years of her life. She's impossibly young for this. A hard swallow and shenearly trembles as she reaches for the comm trigger. "Orion, Romeo Six-Two," she whispers, afraid someone might actually hear her. "Request, uhm-" A glance. "-permission to- to- take off." She hasn't even sat in a Raptor sim yet. This is all going off what she knows about avionics and what she has read in books.

Ygraine lets out a giggle. "Cherry." she says. "Cuz I'm Milkshake and you're Pie. Get it?" She adds, "Make sure you're strapped in good, because I'm gonna have you trigger the door to open while in flight." She kicks back and refrains from cooing to her rifle.

"Cherry." Easily agreed to, Zachary looks amused as the clearance is granted, and he pushes down on the throttle. "Here we go. Milkshake, walk Cherry through the steps of firing up PIRCS and LAMPS. She's going to be your spotter."

"I am not a condiment. Besides, I lost that years ago." She almost smiles, then stops and goes quiet suddenly. She sits in the chair and waits for take-off, staring at the console. There's a glance to Milkshake and back towards the panel. She'll need help, yep.

"Boss, I better get to shoot things today." Yggy reminds the DCAG, but otherwise she's perfectly happy start instructing Kelsey in an informative fashion that appreciates the Battlestar audience's impatience with exposition.

"You will. Once she's up and running, open the door and take position, Milkshake. What about Peaches?" Zachary suggests as he starts to skim the Raptor along the tree line. "Once the door is open, call out any contacts to Milkshake. Milkshake, make sure you let me know when you're firing." With that, he turns and mutes the tac-radio. "Peaches, you tell anyone I played this for you and you'll get my disappointed face." he comments, and then plugs his recorder into the tac and presses play.

The voice on the comm is female and stoic. There is a tired, almost fatalistic determination to the radio calls. The steady 'whumpwhumpwhump' of a heavy machinegun kicks in the background, as do the calls for ammunition and warnings to targets. Desperation. It fades in, "-urgent surgicals, one is unit commander. All are litter. There are active Centurions in the area and request additional air support for hot extraction of patients. Can mark position with smoke. Over." Plodding determination, calm in the face of what sounds like a rough battle. She pauses for exactly eight seconds. "Any aircraft, any aircraft, Picon Four Four Seven One Niner Five, this is Golf Zero Four. We have three urgent surgicals, one is unit commander-" And the call repeats over again.

"I like Cherry better." murmurs Ygraine. She abandons post, heading over to get herself clipped in and test the extension to see how much lean she's got. She keeps her thoughts on what she's heard over the comm to herself.

She stares at the console, going over a few things to get the system started properly. There's a few nods that. Some recognition. Its more familiar now. 'Peaches' doesn't get a reply, though. Apparently wherever her mind went with Cherry was someplace that has her distracted. Its not really until she hears the radio playback that her head jerks up and she's suddenly attentive. A hand reaches out to steady herself as if she might fall forward. "Sir, can you play that again?" she requests in a whisper. "Please?"

Zachary fires up DRADIS to keep an eye on the ground to scan for targets as Kelsey gets another playback. The messages from Picon, Zachary's response, the landing, the background chatter and pop pop pop of small arms and the pinging off the armor of the Raptor, and then the door seals and takes off again. "Keep your eyes open for targets, Wescott." At least until someone figures out a callsign for her. And then a blip on his DRADIS. "Milkshake, ten o'clock, two figures, about the right size. Confirm contact."

There is absolute stone silence from the girl at the ECO station. She stares straight ahead, completely ignoring anything she's told. Eyes open? Check. For targets? lawl. Kelsey has wide eyes focused on a blank spot on the dradis screen while she listens. But a second glance to her will see her lips a pale shade of white, jaw and mouth clenched tight. Somewhere inside that head, resolve is hardening. Anger is bubbling.

"I see 'em. Kelz, I need you to pop the door. Kelz?" Oh, this shit cannot be happening. "KELZ! Wake up!" Ygraine is testing her line, comfortable with its security, and says, "You want to be in Air Wing, you cannot space out!"

Hearing the cries from Milkshake, Zachary jumps in, not yelling, allowing Ygraine to get the girl back to her senses. "Wescott. Tune out the noise. Concentrate on the job. This is what we do, it's what we deal with every day. Know that Picon stands. And they still are fighting. And use that to drive you further so that you can fly with us when we head back there. Understand?"

Oh, right! Kelsey blinks and suddenly turns her head, looking between the two quickly. "SORRY!" she blurts, suddenly trying to focus. Right! Door! The PO3 presses a button on the console and she looks back towards the door and then back towards Zachary. "Sorry. Picon." That seems to be her only explanation. Her gaze drifts back to the ECO station and she stares at the dradis screen. A few deep breaths and she seems to find her focus again.

"'Bout frakkin' time." Ygraine is less generous when someone is denying her the prospect of putting a bullet in a wild piggy or two. Seriously, it's like finding a hot guy, climbing into his lap for some hot and heavy and then him getting a phone call he just has to take. Ygraine leans out the door, feet braced and secured to the raptor itself, lifting the rifle and taking a patient aim. She breathes, in and out rhythmicaly, and doesn't stress about when the moment's right.

<FS3> Ygraine rolls Firearms: Good Success.

"Good now stay with us…" Zachary says when he hears that report from the rifle. "Ygraine, you were supposed to call the target before firing." he corrects her. Not that it matters. That bullet speeds downrange and one of the boars tumbles end over end and slides along the ground. It struggles to get up, but doesn't appear to be able to.

Chasing after the other pig, Zachary turns the Raptor heavily in the atmosphere, bringing it around so that the boar is running towards the ship itself and he lowers down and steadies the craft as he tries to give Ygraine a good platfrom to fire from.

Kelsey hears the rifle and she nearly jumps out of her seat. These people? These people are far more excitement than this woman is used to. Eyes wide again, she stares at Yggy leaning out of a Raptor by a strap, shooting. "Wow." Blink she finally looks back at her console and reaches up to fidget with something as if it were an annoyance.

[TAC1] "Pie" Zachary chuckles mildly, "Good shot, Milkshake. Bringing you around for the other one. We have our meal, now lets see if you can feed the Vipers tonight. Pecan, how's the ECO station looking?"

"Artemis we thank you for this blessing." Yggy mutters under her breath as she realigns the rifle. "Sorry, boss." she calls out, but is pretty unrepentant. "I had the shot. I bet we could collect the piglets and bring 'em to Agro. Taking the shot." Another breath, in and out, and she fires again.

<FS3> Ygraine rolls Firearms: Success.

"Better." Zachary reports. Holding position for the shot, the rifle fires and the boar slides along the ground, but starts to run again. Apparently it wasn't a kill shot, but it's bleeding. "Pecan, check LAMPS, don't let that boar get away!"

<FS3> Kelsey rolls ECM: Success.

Another shot, another flinch. She looks back towards Ygraine quickly, then back to the screen. LAMPS. Right. Uhhmm. Its like watching a new typist hunt and peck. Its sort of meandering way to get there, but she brings up the package and reaches up cautiously to try and move the screen around. "Oh! OH! I see one! Its um! Like!" she turns and waves her arm around wildly, pointing back out the door, slightly behind and down. "Down there! I think!"

"Sighting confirmed. Lining up the shot." A few moments later, KERPOW! Then, satisfied, "Target's down. You guys want to land and try to herd the babies?"

Crack -whumpf!- the boar does go down again, and this time it does not get up, the boar laying there. The little boarlettes start wander around the momma boar, howling and squealing pathetically.

"Well, we have to land to collect our prizes anyway, Milkshake." Zachary says as he moves to land the craft in a nearby opening. "..if you and Pecan there can herd them, go for it." Yes, it sounds like he's playing on the word Picon when he says it to her.

Kelsey hears 'babies' and her mood darkens. "You shot momma?" she frumps and looks back at the console. She swallows and continues fiddling with the system and completely exits out out of the flight systems and goes into diagnostics to look at something. OCD Deckie.

Once again, Ygraine murmurs a short prayer of thanks to Artemis, just like her brothers taught her. "I shot 'em both, and we're gonna collect the piglets for Agro to raise and breed. Or for slaughter. Whatever they decide is best. I didn't let 'em suffer and I'm seeing to the young. I ain't wasting and I ain't cruel, and I'm right with Artemis. So if it's good enough for a Lord of Kobol Kelz, it ought to be good enough for you." Ygraine unreadies the rifle, moving to get herself out of the way of the door.

As the Raptor lands, and settles, one of the baby boars tries to charge the ship and rams into a landing skid, and starts squalling in what should be a menancing fashion, but it's just cute. Obviously the male. The other three remain near the fallen mother boar, just squealing away.

Zachary lets out a breath. "Round them up and put them in a cargo container, Milkshake. We'll take them back to the center, and I'll have Eden bring them over when we're done with the party."

Kelsey watches out the front window as they land, a far away look to her. There's been a lot to cross her mind in the last few minutes and its taking awhile to digest. "Sir," she says. "Thanks, but I think I should probably not sit here right now. I don't think I'm in the right frame of mind. Thank you for the opportunity." She dips her head, not waiting for permission and gets up to move to a passenger seat. Hearing that radio traffic has really put her mind somewhere else.

Ygraine regards Kelsey a moment, and snorts. "Frame of mind? Mood's for cattle and frakking." She then tells Zachary, "She ain't gonna hack it. If she can't learn how to put shit in a box and put it away until it's time to take it out and deal with it, she'll end up getting someone killed." She sounds disapointed, and a little stompy as she heads off to go deal with the carcasses and collect the babies.

"I'm sorry, Kelsey, but she's right. We'll try again in a few weeks. Get your head on straight." Zachary pats the girl's shoulder, as he disembarks, gathering a cargo container to help with the collection. "Good hunting, Milkshake." Apparently the sis comment was a one time thing.

The PO3 turns her gaze down with the admonition from Milkshake. Failure. She sighs and looks towards the floor but says nothing else for the ride.

As he lifts the male boar off the ground, Zachary looks to Ygraine. "What's the naming conventions for these things?" he asks curiously.

"For what things? We don't name carcasses. We could name the piglets, so long as you're mindful they're like to end up on people's plates someday." Yggy considers a moment, seems to make up her mind about something, and sets up helping with gathering up the corpses. Yummy, delicious corpses.

"I don't care, really. Eden will probably try to name them when she sees them, though." Zachary says as he comes over after depositing the boar piglet in the cargo container and starts to help Ygraine move the carcass to the Raptor to tie down to an empty hardpoint.

Once both of the boars are loaded, everyone takes their seats to head home. Good eatin' tonight!
