Command and Control

The hour she spent sorting medical supplies helped calm her, or at least recenter her from the fluster earlier in the morning. At this point Friedrich's jab doesn't catch her as off guard. From her spot behind and between Findy and von Braun Sarah perhaps overly straightly, "Or the grumpy old men who refuse to accept culture," she looks back over her shoulder at the linguist with a playful twinkle in her eye.

"Now, if you want to head up north and look for those precious beans of yours, you had best talk with Captain Wantanabe. He's the one assigning the team." She is deliberate in emphasizing the rank of her fellow officer, knowing it would rankle the man. Of course in her mind Friedrich was already on the team - he was a valuable asset all around - but after earlier in the morning, she was feeling a touch vindictive for causing her discomfort. Besides, it seemed to be the way he rolled.

She then turns her attention to Findy and says more in tones of a private conversation, "We should sit down for at least an attempt at a proper cup of tea sometime. Coffee is vile and what we're now calling coffee is barely drinkable." With a glance towards von Braun she adds, "My Great grandmother always said it was better with a touch of Scotch, though."

Then she queries von Braun, "So, what are we looking at, other than man-eating venus fly traps?"

Lt James Lockley

"No problem, we haven't started yet." Lockley replied to the sergeant in a neutral tone. After a quick at ease command he contiues "From what I understand, you and me are going and you will be the NCOIC for the rifle squad. I need you to go into the QRF tent and start getting things started. Me and the captain will come in and give you and the squad a briefing when we are done looking at what is going on."

Findy MacLean

"Can't help with the scotch," Findy says in reply to Sarah, "although I've been making something close to peatreek in my spare time; there're a few canteens of it knocking about. I'd certainly be willing to share a proper cuppa with you when we've got some time, though." She more or less ignored Friedrich's counter-jibe although she also offered to let him have a share of the moonshine since there wasn't beer available.

In response to the offer of moonshine, Friedrich says, "You brew it, I'll drink it. What else is there to do on this rock to loosen up a bit?" He looks around, and then says, "And God knows you all could stand to loosen up a mite."

[Major Thorsson]

"I'm sure you'll manage to continue to survive amongst our wild tribe of uncultured barbarians," Eileen observes dryly to Findy's comment about tea, before stepping out after Captain Watanabe, and taking a deep breath in the bracing cold.

"...this is somewhat awkward, I guess but...I've been trying to do too much," she starts, after a moment. "I need to devolve command some, I think - there's too much going on and I finally realised that trying to do everything means I haven't been doing anything well. That and the fact it keeps nagging in my mind that so far two out of the three ships I've flown on have been shot out from under me. Basically, I'm issuing orders that if things aren't extremely urgent in the 'oh my god oh my god we're all gonna die' kind of urgency, you and the other Captains have the authority to take action without consulting me beforehand, I guess."

Captain Micheal Wantanabe

"Are you sure you want to do this mam?" The captain asks her, "I know it can be a lot. That is why I have been trying to take as much off of you as I can with out disregarding military protocol."

Friedrich has a poorly concealed incredulous look on his face at the exchange going on between the officers.

Sarah closes her eyes, hangs her head and mutters, "did we seriously just start sniping at each other over coffee versus tea? We need to get out of here before someone kills someone over the proper way to say aluminum."

Sarah opens her eyes and sighs, then returns her attention to the monitors, watching the MALP trundle along through the verdant green of the jungle to the far north. Anxiously and impatiently she watches, only realizing as she starts to get wobbly that she had been holding her breath. She exhales forcefully as she forces herself to breath.

Suddenly she jumps back from the monitors exclaiming, "Whoa... What was that that just darted through the field of view?"

Friedrich jumps like he's been shot, and in two long strides is next to Sarah looking over the monitors. "What did you see?"

"I don't know, it was mostly a blur. Looked something like a giant salamander. Klaus, please tell me you are recording this and can bring up that footage of the other monitor..." she says, her voice excited but quavering with a touch of... fear.