Reeves was awakened by a marine corporal with information that he needed to go to the flight deck. This usually meant that there was a private call from the admiral and that it was being put through a raptor’s communications system. Not only did the aircraft offer a much more secure line but given the nature working conditions aboard the basestar, it gave some needed privacy. The captain thought to himself that it must be truly important if the admiral felt the need to wake him. The old man was normally very respectful of such things and wouldn’t trouble a man during his off-duty hours without absolute urgency.
There were very few people on the flight deck, and no one thought twice about Reeves entering the raptor to take a call from the Argus. It had become common practice and the Captain did so sometimes several times in a day. And since command officers were never really off duty, no one even considered the hour odd.
The call came in from petty officer Richards, “Captain this is a priority message please stand by for Argus actual.” Reeves grunted his acknowledgement; the sleep was still in his eyes. A few seconds passed and the Admiral came on the line. “This is Argus actual are you there Toaster Actual?” Captain Reeves responded that he was present and the line was secured.
“Captain I have a problem and it’s serious. One of our nukes is missing.” There was a long pause on com prompting Hallis to enquire if Reeves was still there, to which he once again acknowledged his presence. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what this means. As such I’m going to put as many people on the planet surface as possible. Most of Toaster One’s FTL is still intact. In a worst-case scenario I want you to get these people home. Those are my orders.”
There wasn’t much else that could be said to the old man except to say that his commands were understood. It was now obvious to both men that Mr. Creepy wasn’t some sort of agent being returned to colonial space, he was at the very least, a cylon sympathizer. He left the raptor and headed back to CIC.
Since sleep was no longer possible for him, he decided to pour himself into his work. The tension in command centre was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Various crewmen were once again reacting harshly and even insubordinately to the presence of lieutenant Ford. Never amused by this behaviour, the Captain, in lieu of the information just given to him, found his tolerance exhausted.
Captain Reeves paced back and forth on the bridge, but his presence did nothing to abate the situation. Raising his voice to reiterate his commands was to no avail. Instead one insubordinate spoke out, “I’m not doing squat with that fraking scum ball. And if you were half the man you made us believe you were, you would execute the filth on the spot!” Slightly shocked, Reeves held his breath and pondered how his superiors would handle this situation. As he considered it, he continued to pace in front of everyone and 2 long silent minutes passed.
Reeves gave an order to one of the marines. “Sergeant, take lieutenant Ford to the airlock. Then put him in it and wait for my command.” Several people smirked and shook their heads in agreement. Ford’s face lost all colour, but he stood up without a sound and presented himself to the guard. The two men then walked down the hall and shortly the sound of the airlock opening and closing was heard. Now Reeves turned his attention to vocal crewman, who with cocky arrogance over his little victory voiced his approval.
Stepping within the personal space of the soldier, the Captain glared at him cold and hard. He then took out his firearm and pointed it at the head of the insubordinate crewman. “Insubordination is not tolerated during a time of war.” The man smirked that the Captain wouldn’t shoot him over issues with major A-Hole. To which captain Reeves responded by firing a bullet through the man’s leg. As he fell to the floor howling in pain, Reeves countered, “OH No, I WILL shoot you over it. I just need a better reason kill you.”
No one spoke or dared breath a word, including the wounded man on the floor. Looking from face to face in a challenge to everyone, the problem was ended once and for all. It was obvious that captain Reeves was no longer the reluctant bridge officer. He had made the transition to war commander, and the Junk Yard Dog had not only just bit a man, he had marked his territory.
Folding his arms across his chest his voice dropped 2 octaves and he issued several orders. “Someone let Ford out of the airlock and see to the wounded crewman. Everyone else, get back to work.”
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The morning command meeting was delayed aboard the Argus. The alarming news from lieutenant Bear that a nuke was missing left the admiral and Colonel scrambling with ways to try and keep this from being known. It had been verified true and the fear was that whoever stole the weapon might panic and detonate it before they could find out whoit was. Both Hallis and Bridgeford grunted under their breaths wishing that Reeves was there to conduct the investigation. In addition to his being methodical, he appeared to have a special knack for being discreet. They even wrestled with the possibility of sending Assuras to take command of Toaster one, but decided a change like that would only arouse questions. Instead Bridgeford was going to investigate the matter and do it under the guise of cleaning up the drug problems.
In a weird twist of luck, the ship’s dealer was controlled but not out of business. Despite the serious consequences, there were a couple of crewman that were exchanging sexual favours for some mild pharmaceuticals. The two men walked into the ready room. Assuras, Lapointe and Lewellyn were already present. Hallis apologized to his officers and then looked at Lewellyn with cold eyes. “I’ve launched a full investigation to find out who stole the narcotics that were in lieutenant Bear’s possession.” He then made it clear that he was low on patience today and demanded lieutenant Lapointe’s re-supply report.
As was his custom, the lieutenant stood up to deliver his information. “As you know haulers can’t enter an atmosphere, so we have them in orbit around Gomorrah. A couple of atmosphere jumpers would have been nice, but the raptors are doing an acceptable job.
This procedure saves on fuel and it’s amazing how much the heavy equipment they can carry. Food supplies will be replenished in no time.” The Admiral interrupted and said he wanted to make a last minute change to the shore leave schedules. “I’m granting the doctor’s request to put Forester and Bear together. The chief keeps my planes in the air and the lieutenant is the closest thing we have to a chaplain. Send them down within the next 6 hours and put them next to that purple lake. I understand chief Forester fishes.”
Attention switched to Lewellyn and the major. The doctor went first saying he had nothing further to add because he had already told the old man everything earlier. Assuras was equally short in her response. “Nothing of note sir. I have raptor 484 fuelled and ready to take me, Gains and Lapointe to the planet in 6 hours. We are going to try and make some marshmallows out of whatever we can find. And then who knows, perhaps run naked through the grass.” The doctor snickered and told her to make sure she doesn’t report back for duty out of uniform. Hallis half-heartedly smirked, stood up, opened the door and ushered everyone out of the room.
However, Bridgeford remained. “So if I’m to get this straight, Bear and Forester are going to be down on the planet surface together on some sort of sacred ritual. And this ceremony will tell them how to handle some sort of problem we don’t know about?” Hallis admitted that it sounded insane but quickly noted that Bear did know about the missing nuke. The Colonel continued. “Well that could be construed that he is the one that stole it and throwing us off the trail.” The Admiral became coldly irate and made it clear that despite the lieutenant’s strangeness he would not steal a warhead and he was not an enemy collaborator.
There was a pause and the old marine relented saying he understood what it meant to know your men so completely that their character was beyond reproach. But still he made it clear that his investigations would include the lieutenant. “There is a warhead missing and it threatens everyone. I’m going to do everything I need too and no one is exempt, including you.” Admiral Hallis nodded and said he wouldn’t have it any other way. He personally didn’t give any credence to this religious babble, but he couldn’t debate facts, so having the Colonel become militant in his investigation wouldn’t hurt.