TM 165 - Night
Feb. 12th, 2007 02:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arrow_of_apollo165 - Night
The thing about being one of Galactica's pilots is that you're constantly on call. And I don't mean when you're on Alert duty or when there's a combat situation-- that part's understood. But duty rotations have an annoying tendency to feel about as completely random as a good shuffle of Pyramid cards or a roll of dice. Even when you're CAG and you actually make the duty rotations, according to the Fleet regs, it still feels like pulling names out of a hat at random.
That's why some nights, you find yourself sleeping in the same rack as your wife, which is pretty much the way you figure it's supposed to be, and sometimes she's the one getting her downtime and you're the one in the cockpit, flying CAP.
Funny part is that I think I kind of like night duty. It wasn't long after the original escape from the Colonies that every ship on the fleet adopted the Galactica's daily schedule, if only to give everyone a common frame of reference. So when it's ship's night on the battlestar, it's ship's night on Colonial One and Geminon Traveler and each and every one of the civvie boats.
Walking the corridors is quiet, and on a working (okay, over-working) battlestar, that's a rare enough occasion that it should be enjoyed by someone. There's always crewmen and staff, going about their business, sure, but it seems like half or even a third of what it'll be like five or six hours later, ship's morning. I always seem to take just a little longer to get down to the flight deck.
Out on CAP, you can tell that it's night. I know, I know, it's always dark and quiet in space. But you can tell. When my Viper slips by Colonial One, I might see two or three lights burning, besides the cockpit, instead of dozens. And I've been aboard and around that ship enough times to know the light that means President Roslin is burning the midnight oil over something.
I remember doing nightshift flybys of Cloud Nine. You could see right through the geodome at the hills and grass and trees and open water, and it would always be a reminder of the things we all missed and how we'd managed to take just a little of it with us. If I spotted a couple of techs fixing the sunlight lamps or the holograph projectors, I'd give 'em a couple of barrel rolls, and always got a wave back.
There's less wireless chatter, even between pilots, and the whole fleet just seems still and resting. And I definitely can't blame them at all. Considering all the excitement we tend to get, we wouldn't be human if we didn't do what we could to take a break and recover.
At the end of the CAP flight, even the deck gang is quieter and the after-mission back-slapping is subdued. It isn't usually until I'm leaving the debrief and walking back up to my quarters that I notice the ship starting to wake up. There are more crew walking around, eyes a little brighter and talking a little more animated. Me, I'm just looking to grab a shower and hope I get to crawl into bed before Dee's up and off to CIC for the day shift.
All in all, it's nice when it's quiet. It's a nice change.
(564)
The thing about being one of Galactica's pilots is that you're constantly on call. And I don't mean when you're on Alert duty or when there's a combat situation-- that part's understood. But duty rotations have an annoying tendency to feel about as completely random as a good shuffle of Pyramid cards or a roll of dice. Even when you're CAG and you actually make the duty rotations, according to the Fleet regs, it still feels like pulling names out of a hat at random.
That's why some nights, you find yourself sleeping in the same rack as your wife, which is pretty much the way you figure it's supposed to be, and sometimes she's the one getting her downtime and you're the one in the cockpit, flying CAP.
Funny part is that I think I kind of like night duty. It wasn't long after the original escape from the Colonies that every ship on the fleet adopted the Galactica's daily schedule, if only to give everyone a common frame of reference. So when it's ship's night on the battlestar, it's ship's night on Colonial One and Geminon Traveler and each and every one of the civvie boats.
Walking the corridors is quiet, and on a working (okay, over-working) battlestar, that's a rare enough occasion that it should be enjoyed by someone. There's always crewmen and staff, going about their business, sure, but it seems like half or even a third of what it'll be like five or six hours later, ship's morning. I always seem to take just a little longer to get down to the flight deck.
Out on CAP, you can tell that it's night. I know, I know, it's always dark and quiet in space. But you can tell. When my Viper slips by Colonial One, I might see two or three lights burning, besides the cockpit, instead of dozens. And I've been aboard and around that ship enough times to know the light that means President Roslin is burning the midnight oil over something.
I remember doing nightshift flybys of Cloud Nine. You could see right through the geodome at the hills and grass and trees and open water, and it would always be a reminder of the things we all missed and how we'd managed to take just a little of it with us. If I spotted a couple of techs fixing the sunlight lamps or the holograph projectors, I'd give 'em a couple of barrel rolls, and always got a wave back.
There's less wireless chatter, even between pilots, and the whole fleet just seems still and resting. And I definitely can't blame them at all. Considering all the excitement we tend to get, we wouldn't be human if we didn't do what we could to take a break and recover.
At the end of the CAP flight, even the deck gang is quieter and the after-mission back-slapping is subdued. It isn't usually until I'm leaving the debrief and walking back up to my quarters that I notice the ship starting to wake up. There are more crew walking around, eyes a little brighter and talking a little more animated. Me, I'm just looking to grab a shower and hope I get to crawl into bed before Dee's up and off to CIC for the day shift.
All in all, it's nice when it's quiet. It's a nice change.
(564)
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-12 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 05:53 pm (UTC)True, I'd like it more if you were there all night, but I know what you mean about the quiet.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 07:18 pm (UTC)And you know, I am CAG. I could shuffle the rotations. *smirks*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 07:56 pm (UTC)Being CAG means you have more responsibilities. *soft smile* Being the CAG's wife means that I'll wait.
What would the guys say if you shuffled rotation for extra rack time with your wife?
no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 09:25 pm (UTC)Most of 'em would probably grumble. Helo would probably try to barter me for some of the same shuffling for him.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 06:26 am (UTC)Too bad for Helo. *winks*
no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 06:50 am (UTC)And I don't know. Might be he'll find something sparkly for you.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 06:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 10:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-14 07:25 am (UTC)