Dusty Trails
Dusty Trails
Summary: Reed and Fotilas discuss packing-up TER-745.
Date: 3 ACH
Related Logs: None.
Players:
Reed..Fotilas..Pepper..

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Ward Room Genesis - Deck 11
3 ACH 3735 Souls


The Ward room is used for meetings. Carpeting covers the floor in a muted gray/blue color. Colonial flags line along one wall, representing all the colonies. A sideboard for refreshments is along one wall and a large conference table sits in the center with a dozen, comfortable chairs around it.
-----< Condition Two - Duty Area >----——
Contents: Fotilas Reed Wireless 1249

Exits: [O] Corridor
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Fotilas is already there in the Ward Room with a steaming cup of coffee. He's standing off to the side with Ensign Peters, going over a stellar navigation chart. They're talking quietly as he gestures to a few points.

Reed is admitted into the Ward Room by the Marines outside the door, he's carrying a metal briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. He moves in and looks between the Genesis officers.

At Reed's entrance, Fotilas looks up and glances to Peters. "Get that out to the Section heads," he says quietly and rolls the map before handing it to her. She takes it with a simple 'Aye, sir' and moves quietly out of the room, nodding a 'Sir' to the entering PAS Commander. The XO moves to him and shuts the hatch. "Major Carter, please.." He gestures to the table. "Let's see what you have in that briefcase."

Reed nods to Peters as she passes, "Ensign." He replies in greeting and parting. As the hatch closes, he moves to a table, pulling keys from his pocket and uncuffing himself before opening the case. "Plotting Jump trajectories?" He asks as he works on unsealing the case.

"Sort of. I'm a Tactical Officer at heart. And in the business, we have a saying: 'Amateurs talk tactics. Professionals talk logistics.' If we're cut-off and alone?" He tilts his head, clicking his teeth. "We've got long term concerns. We were looking at possible locations for finding resources or places to hide if need-be." Fotilas moves to the table as well.

Reed nods, "Good. then you'll appreciate this." He opens the case and pulls out a folder. this he slaps on the table. The Folder reads 'Contingency plan 235-A Codename: Dust Off' On the front. "Colonel Regas and I both need to officially agree upon enacting this plan, but I'm fairly confident what his answer is going to be. In any case, I'll lay it out to you and you can make your assessment."

The XO's gaze lifts to Reed as the man indicates that there should be some interest. His brow rises and then he turns his attention back to the folder. He doesn't move to open it, though. If he were meant to, he'd probably have already seen it. "Fair enough, Major Carter. Let's see what you've got." Yep, his interest is a little more than pegged.

Reed nods, "As you know on TER-745 there are two pressurized habitation domes. They are a first step. These domes are designed to be durable, semi permanent bases of operation in hostile environments. They contain Personnel, Technologies, Supplies, and raw Material. Dust Off is the contingency plan for the full evacuation, stripping, dismantling and removal of those domes from TER-745." He stops swallowing, "StarSeed.. WAS important. I'm going to propose we strike the domes, put them in storage on the PAS, and bolster our resources with them. Once we're off the planet, we're truly mobile. The Colonel and I both need to agree upon this because it officially constitutes abandonment of the Project." He swallows again at that, and looks around, "You have any water?"

The XO listens closely, crossing his arms. There's a lot going on in that mind. At Reed's request, he blinks. Huh? "Oh. Yes, of course." He turns and heads to a counter built into the wall with a carafe of coffee and another one. He lifts the other and pours a large glass of water. He returns with it, extended towards Carter. "Interesting proposition. Though it does pose some interesting possibilities." Yes, he probably has quite a few ideas.

Reed takes the water. "I've spoken to the CMO and construction of additional medical facilities can take a backseat to Dust Off. With my Structural Engineers they can dismantle the domes in a little over a Station Day. As soon as we can get the domes cleared out, they can start." He takes a long drink, draining half the glass.

Fotilas watches the man drain the glass and turns. He grabs the carafe off the counter and sets it on the table by Reed. "Help yourself, if you need more." The man looks back to the folder for a moment, considering. "While its a good idea, it also means that if Gods-forbid we lose the station, those supplies go too. We have an alternative.. and I'm not necessarily advocating it, but putting it out there. What if we leave the domes intact and move our base of operations elsewhere? That way if we are discovered, we can use TER-745 as a fallback position. See what I'm saying?"

Reed nods, "I understand. Even if we do that, we'll need to modify the domes, pull some things we'll need and we couldn't leave there." He scratches his cheek. "Though TER-745 makes a terrible fallback position. Limited space inside the domes, completely hostile environment outside the domes, no real protection from Cylon attack except for the Systems asteroid belt which is more of a Jump challenge than a hazard."

"Well what I mean is not so much a shelter as this little system here just remaining hidden. If we stay here and the Cylons show up, we're found. Our hiding place is bunk. But if we leave the domes in place and maybe camouflage them somehow, even if the Cylons to blunder in here? They may not find our stash and our fallback position." He pauses, looking back to Reed. "See, if they knew we had this place? We'd already be hit. If we're not here, they'll never know we had it or even have it reserved. See what I'm getting at?"

Reed nods, "What supplies do you propose leaving in the domes, Major? Exactly, I mean. And where would you propose we relocate to in order to keep it hidden here." He lifts a finger, "Bare in mind, We can pull the domes, place them on the PAS, and redeploy them elsewhere." He shrugs, "some later date we can use the domes as a cache if we find somewhere better."

"I wouldn't have a clue as to what supplies are currently in them. It all depends. A buried or hidden emergency reserve of Tyllium would be more valuable than hidden crates of ammunition, though." Fotilas' brow rises with the last. "They're redeployable? Oh really?" He blinks a few times and lifts his mug of coffee from the table, finally sipping at it. "Okay." He wets his lips a moment, looking to the file. "Project StarSeed. Is it worth abandoning?"

Reed swallows, looking away, then back. "StarSeed required Development of Terraforming Technologies that at present we don't have. To turn a planet that's hostile to human life into a habitable world. That means years of research, stuck to one planet. I planned to dedicate the rest of my career to TER-745 and pass it on to some young hotshot who reminded me of me now. StarSeed is worth maintaining in the long run, but it'd not feasible. If the Cylons came right now, those domes would be a complete loss."

Fotilas nods a few times before looking back to Reed, the coffee mug held in steepled fingers by his side. "Okay. Makes sense. Damned shame." He chews on it for a moment further. Though a brow perks. "What if the planet is already terraformed but can't sustain life due to something like a toxin in the air? Would PAS be able to make or build something to make the planet habitable?"

Reed takes a breath, then lets it out, "That's like asking could we fight off an attack from Cylons?" He points to Fotilas, "Without knowing enemy disposition, placement, objectives, or our strength and deployment. There's too many variables to answer that. The PAS has equipment, but the biggest thing PAS lacks as a research station is 4500 people. From scientists to specialists to cooks. We just got into final construction, and were at 500 people. One -tenth- the nominal crew capacity, Major."

"Point taken." He takes a long sigh, looking across the wall of flags. "I wanna kick these motherfrakkers out of our homes, Carter." Fotilas looks back to the man. "In about a weeks time radiation will kill almost every creature on those planets. I know its too late for that.. But if we can fight our way /back/-" he taps (nearly jams) his fingers into the table. But just when he seems like he might go on, he stops. "But yeah, that's a lot of if's, a long way down the road, and wishful thinking without a full staff for you." He shakes his head. "Frak."

Reed nods, "We need more information on Cylons. We need a lot of things." He drains the glass, setting it down on the table, "Look, here's how I see it. We're not going to be able to hide here forever. Yeah, if they knew about us, they'd be here already. They'd be in for a shock PAS blipping away, but they'd be here. Sooner or later, they'll come. I'm working on that assumption, and I want to be ready. Have the tent pegs pulled up. I have ideas for long run, but I think that's theorizing over my head until we get the Colonel in on this."

"No, I'm with you. Completely. Machines are methodical. At Naval War College we used to run under the lessons from the first war.." The XO pauses. "Gods.. the /first/ war, now isn't it? Anyway.." He looks back around the room. "The Cylons were methodical and fairly predictable with their activities. Tactical machines. Which was their biggest advantage and biggest weakness. But yes, no place was safe forever.. which reminds me." He sips at his coffee. "I still need to brief my Tactical Officer. But I'm behind you on this. Just wanted to get some alternatives floated. Competing hypothesis, if you will. I'm all in. You know this project better than I do."

Reed nods, "Okay, then let's back up a minute. List the assets of the PAS out for you, clearly." He shrugs as if asking 'Okay?'

Fotilas nods his head, appearing as though he's flipping open a mental notepad. "Let's have it."

Reed turns, walking toward the flags, hands up, gesturing, "One, Power consumption. When the PAs rings are deployed out to the opposite ends of the station, they set up the FTL field, but when they're in normal mode in the center and rotating they generate power through Magnetocentric Conduction stored in massive capacitors. Raw, pure energy." He turns, "Pas uses less Tyllium than Genesis does, despite being five times her size. That's one."

Fotilas sits down on the edge of the table and sips at the coffee. "Something that size uses less power? Whoa.. Hey. Without the rings deployed in typical configuration.. is the FTL field large enough to drag ships with it? I mean, could we attach a squadron of Vipers inside the FTL field and fly them off someplace?" Could be nice considering Vipers don't /have/ an FTL.

Reed snorts, "That's Two. Size. My girl is one big bitch. And most of the space inside is completely unused. Even moreso now that the rest of the crew is never going to come. If Genesis finds a resource we can store it in the PAS and jump away, laughing. If we can get it onto the PAS. This makes her a great anchorage point for the Genesis, which no matter what, is going to be the relationship between the PAS and Genesis. And we have enough room on the hull to attach every frakking viper Genny has, Every Raptor, That Phantasm thing, every shuttle, your collection of miniatures in the situation room and refrigerator magnet, and the kitchen sink and jump away with it all."

Already, more and more things are going on in the mind of Major Fotilas. Planning. Scheming. Trickery. All leading to killing a 'few' toasters. "Very nice. Very nice, indeed. What else have you got? Other than the nice and unlikely advantage of being armed." The XO's smile is a bit on the twisted and evil side.

Reed nods, "Three. High tech research equipment. We do have the cutting edge stuff. A lot of it still with the metaphorical plastic on it. We have computers of the highest quality that are protected behind -three feet- of electronic shielding. which is why we could test the FTL drives constantly and no one on Genny, or the Raptors, or anyone could tell that we were testing an FTL drive. Normally you can detect an FTL spinup on sensors. Not us. Our computer core and FTL is shielded. Massively. I'm already looking into plugging the holes in that shielding due to Cylons reappearing, but I'm pretty sure we can do that if we can get more information, which is still being brought in."

"Oh Hades! No kidding!" The surprise on his face is genuine. "So you guys are completely hardened against an EMP attack, too. Ohhhh wow. Yeah, that's one helluvan advantage." The XO chews on it a bit before sipping at his coffee. "No way to detect it.." Those eyes shift to the floor.

Reed pffts, "EMP attacks." He waves it off. "We have an advanced ECM suite that can jam better than a Raptor. And finally, we can FTL. with the same range and accuracy as Genesis herself." He then moves to a table and sits. "Now, Disadvantages. She's a Station. Her Sublight movement is mostly attitude correction and rotating in place. Her weapons are all over the station and she can fire in all directions at once, but the guns are utter crap in comparison to even Genny firing one bank. If we concentrate firepower on one target we can only concentrate thirty percent of THAT. Might pop a raider or two, but otherwise we're a sitting duck. Our Hangar facilities encompasses four ship berths and one ship repair bay. Your Deck chief thinks he can modify it to two, but, that's still just two. We have nothing like Gennys launch and Aerospace facilities."

"Hmm. What's the range on the ECM suite? Long, Medium, or Short Range?" The part about the FTL gets a slow nod. He saw the jump from the viewport on the Observation Deck. Still, worth keeping in mind. As Reed goes over the disadvantages, he listens just as carefully. The coffee gets a careful sip. "Get with the Chief on that, then? We'll need all the hanger facilities we can get. I'm not exactly sure how combat-capable the Pandora is with such a skeleton crew for it. But the Aerospace facilities might be worth mentioning to Regas. Logistics, Major Carter. Eventually, we'll need to replenish our Vipers. We might have to fabricate things and with your brains on board, we might be able to come up with something."

Reed nods, "The ECM, ha, full range. Intended for defense. But wait it gets better. We have crews to construct the station, and they're good at doubling for repair, but otherwise, we're critically understaffed. Our Hangar crews are able to handle shuttle traffic within our little group here, and that's it. Our repair people can work on the guns, but as far as someone to shoot them that-that's ME, and I'm only fair at it, I'm a fair shot. That's all. And our ECM suite? We don't have an ECO to operate the damn thing." He sighs, "And we're pretty well screwed when it comes to a boots on deck fighting force, All we have is what you send us."

The XO nods, a little smirk at the mention of the range on the ECM. "Too right," he whispers before finally draining the mug. "Okay, we're at war. We're going to have to cannibalize in order to survive. Which means we'll pull crew to where they are needed, but the Genesis is still our priority. Without it, you're in a heap of trouble." He rises from the table. "I've already directed Captain Gaelan, our Marine CO, to talk to you about the Marine rotations. As for the big guns, speak with Captain Rose. She should be able to work something out for you and get you a gunner or two. Granted, we may not be able to do permanent transfers on any of them, but we will do what we can." He sets his mug down on the table. "But I need to get back to CIC. Is there anything else, Major?"

Reed nods listening, and rises, taking the folder, and putting it back into the case, closing it, "No, that's it for now. Thank you for your time, I think this meeting was really beneficial."

"You have no idea, Major Carter. Thank you for the information." The XO nods to the man. "Keep in touch. If you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know."

Reed nods, recuffing himself to the case, "I won't believe me."

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