Bad Missile Discussion
Bad Missile Discussion
Arc: Missile Troubles
Summary: Phillip and James visit Paz in her office as she works on, what else, red tape. After a discussion regarding missiles missing the cats, Paz devises a plan to salvage a Kilrathi fighter from the recent engagement.
Date: 2659.099
Related Logs: Ammuntional Inadequacies
Participants: Paz, Phillip, James

"Jesu Christo…I need a drink." Paz mutters self-pityingly as she peruses the huge stack of paperwork that looms before her in her 'IN' box. "A /big/ drink."

Just then a knock can heard coming from the partially opened door. Phillip pokes his head in, "Mind if I come in?"

"That depends on why you're here." Paz replies, blowing out a sigh as she reaches for the first page on the pile. "If you're bringing me anything else that needs to be signed, stamped, filed or indexed, the answer is most assuredly, 'no'."

Phillip opens the door more and enters saying, "Ah, well no actually. Luckily no kitties on my last patrol." Phillip approaches the desk, "Actually I'm curious to find out if you know anything regarding that TCS Cook's skipper."

Paz gives an eloquent shrug. "No, not at this time, Ice." she replies, looking curious. "Is there something about her I /should/ know?" she asks, cocking her head to peer at the man quizzically.

Phillip shrugs still standing in front of Paz's desk. "Nothing really, I was just curious if you knew what the Colonel might or might not have told her. Apparently, there is a rumor that she had a rather nasty meeting with the higher ups, not once but twice for her…" Phillip pauses and thinks, then says softly, "how can I put it politely…"

James has for some reason known only to fate, or perhaps a deity picked now as the perfect time to drop in to visit Paz. He pauses just outside her office and knocks.

Paz chuckles and rolls her eyes a little. "Iceblade, who do you think you're talking to?" she asks, cocking up an eyebrow. "Spit it out already!" she laughs. "You know how hard I am to offend." she smirks. "Enter." she calls at the sound of the knock.

Phillip finally continues, "recklessness. Not just with us, but that stunt she pulled the other day with that Kamekh is pretty common knowledge amongst everyone in our little whole fleet." Phillip sighs and looks to the door hearing the knock.

James steps in smiling "Hi Paz. I just realized that in all the havoc I hadn't congratulated you on getting promoted yet so I thought I would drop by," he greets before looking over, "Hi Phillip how are you?"

Paz nods. "Haven't heard anything about it /yet/. Just scuttlebutt and you know how much faith I put in scuttlebutt." Paz replies to Phillip, nodding slowly. "Let's discuss this more fully at another time, okay, Ice?" she asks. "I've been too busy with all of the post-promotion paper pushing to get much of anything done outside of this office." she sighs, slumping down into her seat wearily. "Thank you, First Lieutenant Williams." she smiles. "Now, be a lamb and go fetch me my sidearm."

Towards James, Phillip says, "Honestly, still a little pissed off." Phillip decides against elaborating further and turns toward Paz. "Understood, but if you want any evidence against that Lt. Commander, check out the gun camera footage from the Rapiers on CAP during the scramble." Phillip definitely seems a little pissed, but he doesn't let it on too much in tone and face. "I suppose right now we just need to worry about the Cats."

James blinks before pointing out in a confused tone "Ahh I'm not even in your squadron Paz so why would I know where you keep your sidearm, much less have convenient access to it?"

Paz /sighs/. "You know something, Cutlass, you're too damned literal," she grumbles. "I was trying to make a joke." she notes, nodding to Phillip.

"Definitely, a joke," Phillip says before turning toward James, "Besides, the Captain wouldn't use a sidearm, she'd use a fighter and probably take out something big with it." Phillip gives a small smile.

James nods, "Ok it seems like an odd time to ask for that as a joke though. I'm guessing I missed something before I came in?" he asks looking between his fellow pilots.

Paz chuckles darkly and waves at the reams of paperwork on her desk. "Not so odd as you think." she sighs. "Now I know why Queen could get some grump." she notes. "But, seriously, thank you for the words. They're appreciated. So, Ice here's told me his side of the scramble, wanna tell me yours?" she asks, gesturing for them both to take a seat if they so desire.

Phillip looks down at Paz's mountain of work, but let's Paz talk. Upon request, Phillip looks behind him, pulls up a chair and takes a seat before turning to James.

James shrugs, "There isn't that much to tell that you weren't there for. I was catching up on my reading when the alarm sounded then after launch I got put in charge of what was supposed to be the reserve flight. Anyway we got sent after a corvette, some bombers, and their escorts, which had broken through and you caught up with us while we were fighting them."

Paz nods a little, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Yeah, that was a tough one." she muses. "You did good back there, Cutlass. I hope your CO's put something nice in your stocking for how you managed the engagement." she smiles. "I've already sent him my commendations." she adds. "And to you, Ice." she nods. "Well, no need for a letter telling me how well you did, I was kinda there." she says, "Your next couple of pints are on me."

Phillip nods with a smile, "Thanks, but really you and James were the ones carrying things in that second sortie defending the Lancelot." Phillip shakes his head a bit, "I still can't believe I wasted 4 missiles on a bomber, though; honestly I don't really want to know how many missiles we have left after that battle what with almost all fighters up from every ship including the destroyers."

James smiles, "I've barely met my new CO to be honest but thanks Paz." He looks over towards Phillip and nods, "Hopefully they can figure out how to get enemy missiles to work with our launchers and systems so we can try to grab some if nothing else."

"Oh, I could tell you, Ice." Paz replies, making a face. "But I really don't want to depress you." she says simply. "I know and I /really/ wish I didn't." she sighs. "That might turn out to be harder than you think, Cut." she notes. "It depends on how the Fuzzy Wuzzies do math. If it's base ten, like us, okay, but if it's something weird like base-3?" she asks rhetorically, spinning a finger next to her temple in the classic sign for 'crazy'.

Phillip shrugs, but gets thoughtful with the recent turn in the conversation and asks, "Don't Kilrathi have 8 fingers or whatever you might call the digits on their paws?"

James shrugs, "Well logically it would at least be an even number since they have two hands and two feet, and our base ten is based on our number of fingers I think." He glances towards Phillip "I'm not sure I haven't exactly gotten close enough to count, but if so they would probably base things on eights."

Paz nods. "Yeah, that's kind of my point. Then again, math has never been my strong suit." she snerks. "Point is, we've got anything but an infinite supply of missiles." she says flatly. "Which means I am going to have to bend the WinCo's ear about the techs slacking off on correcting the guidance packages."

Phillip nods, "Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I remember reading it being 8." Turning towards Paz, Phillip says, "Guidance packages? What's wrong with them?"

James nods and says "Yeah I don't remember hearing about any problems with the guidance packages, and after the scramble I spent as much time as I could spare helping to fix the fighters up."

"Well, maybe I'm just being paranoid." Paz shrugs. "But there's been more than a few lock-ons that have missed, and not just mine, either."

Phillip nods, "I did have a pretty tough time hitting that bomber with the imrecs. Got a pretty good hit with that dumbfire, though. I could almost smell the burnt fur."

James nods "I just figured either the cats were getting lucky with their ECM or all the cats flying around were confusing the guidance systems."
Paz hrms, pursing her lips thoughtfully for a moment. "You might just have something there, Cut." she says, nodding slowly to herself, then waggling a finger in the man's direction. "Just might have something important indeed." she continues. "Say, how tight are either of you with Voodoo? Might have the time to swing by his office and make a wee proposal?" she inquires. "Like I said, I haven't hardly had time to do much but catch the mandatory briefings and then it's back to all this shit." she sighs, waving at the stacks of paperwork.

Phillip shrugs, "I haven't seen him around much. Probably busy planning our eventual assault on those capships blocking the jumppoint."

James nods "Same here. Hell I haven't seen anyone from that squadron in a while to be honest but I haven't been in the most sociable of moods lately."

Paz hrms. "Well, maybe I've got an excuse to duck out of here and pay him a visit." she smirks, the wheels behind her eyes visibly turning. "If we could get some debris from the combat site, maybe the techs could analyze it, maybe find out if the Fuzzies are using something new?"

Phillip nods, "I can't see Voodoo having a problem lending a Sabre for a little retrieval op."

James nods, "Yeah if Chassidy were here she would have a field day with that though I'm sure the other techs will handle it fine."

"What happened with Chassidy?" Paz asks turning to peer at James. "Don't tell me they transferred her!"

Phillip look towards James, though he is already knows basically what James will say.

James nods glumly, "They yanked her for R&D right before we left for this mess. We were going to write each other but as you can imagine that has run into complications to put it nicely."

Paz nods and sighs. "Yeah, that figures," she grumbles. "Not that I begrudge the girl the transfer and most likely the promotion that came with it." she notes. "She was fucking top notch at her job, she deserves recognition for that. But still…..it's kind of a pain in the ass for the rest of us when we need her." she grumps.

Phillip nods, "Definitely agree, but look on the bright side. She's probably a hell of a lot safer in R&D then we are right now."

James nods, "What's ironic is originally she was planning to ask for a transfer then she changed her mind, and she ends up getting one anyway." his tone making it clear he does not find the irony amusing. He then looks to Phillip and points out, "Unless the cats breakthrough in the area she's assigned to and hit the base."

"Well, that's all one we can file under 'Things We Can't Do Shit About'." Paz says firmly, pushing back from her desk and leaning her desk chair back to rest her boots on its edge. Hey, it's her desk, therefore, ipso factor, her rules. "This, however, is on the order of 'Something We Can Do Shit About'." she muses, pillowing her head in her hands as she stretches out to get comfy. "So, let's see, what do we need? We need a Sabre, obviously." she says, peering thoughtfully at the overhead. "At least two bird-dogs. Preferably three." she adds, voice trailing off……

Phillip thinks thoughtfully about what James said. Everyone thought Gemini was safe from the Cats and now look at it. Phillip then turns to Paz and listens to her mussing. He jokingly chimes in, "Not it for the Sabre."

James says, "I'll be willing to come along if you can talk the new CO into it, and if all else fails on that front I'll give the Sabre a whirl. Hopefully it won't come to that.
Paz chuckles, "No, definitely not you for the Sabre, Ice." Paz says, nodding. "Seriously, Cut, you'd fly it?" she asks, looking at the man quizzically.

Phillip looks toward James, "Yeah, being a light fighter pilot, you don't seem the type to fly one."

James shrugs, "I did pretty well in the heavyfighter sims at the academy I just have a lot more experience with the lights since I was system defense before being posted here."

Paz hrms. "Ice's right, Cuts." Paz says at length. "/I'll/ fly the Sabre, compared to the damn Scimitar, it might as well /be/ a light fighter." she chuckles. "Besides, this was kind of my idea, only fair. Cuts, you think you can get your CO to sign off on a quick hop?"

Phillip looks back at Paz, "You still might want to ask for a Black Cat pilot to join us. Just saying."

James nods "I honestly don't know but there's no harm in the attempt at least."
"Well, I might could sweet talk Voodoo out of a pilot, /maybe/." Paz replies, suddenly hopping to her feet. "Okay, Cuts, go talk to your CO, see if he'll clear you. If so, great, if not, no big deal, I'll kick one of ours outta their rack." she grins. "Remember, he's your CO, not me." she notes. "So if he says no, that's the end of it. Ice, go find yourself the least dented Rapier you can find and start your pre-flight. I'm gonna go bend Cole's ear and plead my case with the WinCo."

Phillip gets up somewhat excitedly. "Yes, sir." He heads toward and out the door.

James nods once then makes for the office door a few steps behind Phillip.