Chapter 2- A Thorough Beasting
As soon as the door of his Raptor opened, Lt. Teddy "Bear" Roebuck knew he and his ECO were Public Enemy #1 on the Solaria. Stares from the ground crew followed him as he jumped out of the ship. Roebuck knew he was at least partly at fault for the loss of his wingmen, one of whom was the ship's CAG. However, he could not portray this to the ground crew, who were made up of NCOs.
"Attention on deck!" hollered Roebuck.
No one moved.
"I SAID ATTENTION ON DECK!"
The ground crew sluggishly shuffled their feet together. Roebuck turned around and held onto 8-Ball's hand and helped her jump off of the Raptor. As Roebuck removed his helmet, one of the ground crew, approached him, saluted, and said that Commander Willis needed to see him in the CIC.
"Looks like we're up, 8-Ball. Let's get going."
The two of them exited the hangar. Roebuck wanted to bolt for the door at the end of the hangar to avoid the accusatory stares, but he needed to carry himself like a leader. The two pilots reached the door and it slid open. Despite the fact that no one could see him walking through the hallways, the stares of the crew haunted him all the way to the CIC. As soon as they got there, they were haunted by the stares of 20 or so more people, including the stare of the man that mattered the most; Commander Eric Willis. Willis was a veteran of the First Cylon War, which is probably what made him so paranoid. He was a tall, brooding man; as black as the consoles behind him. He was old, but it appeared he was ready to hold onto his ship until the day he died. Roebuck knew he was going to get the beasting of his lifetime, but Roebuck also knew Willis was not the one to do it publicly. The two were brought to the CIC to ensure that whenever you frak-up, you are made to feel like the biggest piece of shite alive. The booming voice of Willis broke the awful silence.
"Bear. 8-Ball. My quarters. NOW."
The two pilots stomped, saluted and did an about turn. They followed Willis to his quarters, and he promptly shut the door.
"Do you know why I switch up flight leaders on training exercise, Lt. Roebuck?"
"Yes sir. It is to ensure…"
"Shut up, Lieutenant. You've shown to me today that you don't know the first thing about anything, so let me explain this to you. When I was in the Cylon War, one of the major faults of my commanders was that they didn't train you well enough in leadership. So, I figured, when I became a Commander, I would ensure that all my pilots could take charge in pressure situations. Now, apparently, I frakked up along the line, because from what I've seen today, the only thing you can lead is my frakking CAG, right into the side of a frakking mountain!"
"I can explain, sir."
Willis shot out of his chair and slammed his fist on his desk. Out of his periphery, Bear could see 8-Ball flinch.
"I don't want to hear your frakking explanations, pilot! You killed 5 of my best pilots, and there is nothing –absolutely nothing- that you could say that could possibly answer the question as to what the frak was going on in you head when you murdered 5 of my pilots!"
Wills regained his composure and sat back down in his chair. 8-Ball recovered as well, but remained on her heels.
"This ship has been dangerously low on crew lately. The CAG was in the middle of training a batch of nuggets when you flew him into a mountain, so now we're essentially without a defence force. We won't reach Caprica for another two days, and seeing as you're the most qualified pilot on board, I have no choice but to make you CAG and train them in weapons drill. When we return to Caprica, we'll get a fresh batch of nuggets, a new CAG, and you two will be stripped of your rank and face a court martial for your actions."
The two pilots were shocked, but not surprised. Criminal charges were a serious possibility.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
Bear and 8-Ball looked at each other. 8-Ball then replied.
"No sir."
"Good. Bear, you are to report to the briefing room in 30 minutes. Your nuggets will be practicing dogfighting in transports, so they'll get a contingent of Raptors and dummy warheads. 8-Ball, make sure your Raptor is up and running for the training session. You are dismissed."
The two pilots saluted, did an about face and left the room. As soon as they exited, 8-Ball slumped over.
"A court martial? Are you kidding me? Oh my gods, Teddy! We're going to prison!"
"That's not a certainty yet, Francine. I'm sure evidence in our favour will show up."
Bear gently stroked 8-Ball's hair and brushed it out of her face. They looked each other in the eyes, but the moment quickly ended when the two noticed people walking through the hallway.
"Let's go to the locker room."
Bear nodded his head. The two headed toward the change rooms, and as soon as they entered, they sealed the doors and 8-Ball began sobbing again.
"Oh Christ, Teddy? What are we going to do?"
Bear didn't answer that question immediately. He kept staring at her face. Bear and 8-Ball had hit it off as soon as they had been paired as pilot/ECO, and a physical relationship began soon after that. Bear wasn't sure what Francine saw in him; Bear had the sex appeal of a football hooligan, while 8-Ball was young, pretty, petite, with striking features and firm breasts. Bear didn't take notice; he was lucky and wasn't going to think twice about it. As soon as Francine made eye contact with Teddy, Teddy began to passionately kiss her. She didn't resist. Their hands began to slowly remove parts of clothing from each other's flight suits. Teddy unconsciously felt his hands remove 8-Ball's belt kit while 8-Ball did the same. Eventually the two had each other's tops off, and Teddy began to slide his right hand down Francine's trousers. Suddenly, a PA announcement shuddered throughout the ship.
"All trainees, report to the briefing room for training assignments."
Teddy's hands stopped moving and slowly retracted from inside her pants. The passionate kissing gave way again to the more depressing emotions.
"That's me, baby. Listen, everything's going to be fine, I'm sure of it. Just make sure everything's all right with our Raptor for this assignment."
"Ok, Teddy. I'll see you soon."
Roebuck stood up and put on his flight gear again. As he left, Francine spoke up.
"I love you Teddy."
Roebuck turned around and replied.
"I love you too baby. Everything's going to be fine."
As soon as he left the room, he realized everything he had just said was a lie.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When he reached the briefing room, Bear already knew he would have a tough time getting respect out of the nuggets. As he stepped into the room, he made himself heard… and feared.
"ATTENTION ON DECK!"
The crowd gingerly stood up; they feared him and respected authority, so they were complied to, but they also knew exactly who he was. When Teddy reached the podium, he instructed the class to sit down.
"Alright everyone, my name is Lt. Roebuck, and I'll be your instructor today. I'm very sorry about your previous instructor. As you all know, he and four other brave pilots were tragically killed on a training op today. Services for the pilots will be held later this evening, but for now we must focus on our drills for today. Today's exercise will test your manoeuvreing in a Raptor aircraft. You will be equipped with dummy warheads. Normally, the Raptor is not designed for combat, but it can be equipped with warheads in the case of high-risk recon and/or SAR. You will each be given an ECO with you on your Raptor today, and I will be your target."
This comment was met with snickers from across the room.
"IS SOMETHING FUNNY, NUGGETS?"
One nugget, a rather old-looking one at that, spoke up.
"Well, sir, it's just that you seem an appropriate target and all, considering the circumstances."
Bear knew he didn't like this one already. It was likely in his late 30s or early 40s. Because he was still an Ensign, it was likely he managed to just barely squeak past the age limit. Bear kept him in mind so he could give him a tough time in training.
"What's your name, nugget?"
"Ensign Leoben Connoy, sir."
