Caged Animals (Hawks)

[Tatiana Wisla]

1320 Hours, 30th September 2003; Shadow Hawks Quarters (#1)

The crew had been playing Triad earlier when Tatiana had come in and joined them late in the game with little luck like usual. She didn't have much of a Triad face and she just got mean when her hand wasn't worth a darn. She needed to keep that fire cracker of a temper under control when she was trying to take their cubits.

The game of course had come to an end squad members were coming and going with their own business. Tatiana was up in her rack, bunk nine, or the ninth paradise as she liked to call it. It was her own little private home to do her own thing in. She almost never had the curtain all the way closed to it so she could see who was out and about in the room. Then again maybe it was to make sure she wasn't alone in the room. She didn't do alone very well.. well actually that is an understatement she doesn't do alone. Period, end of story.

She had been laying there reading over a letter she had hand written to Les. She preferred it to be hand written, it was more personal that way. She felt it gave a better sense of who was writing it, not that Les didn't know her well. It was quiet the contrary actually he was the only person who really knew her. I mean really knew her deep down, her heart, her soul and ever inch of her body down to the last freckle. None the less it seems like you gave someone more in a hand written letter.

Her attention was quickly drawn away when the sound of one of the chairs in the room crashed to the floor from someone bumping it. Tatiana jumped in her rack like a startled cat. "Frak!" She screamed out as she fell back down on the wool blanket covering her bed. He left hand charged to the curtain and drew it back in a haste. "God's can't you tell I am trying to enjoy the peace and quite here guys." Her tone suggested she was angry but for those that did know her they knew she was messing with them.

She sat up and slung her legs over the side of the bed slumping her body forward to keep her head clear of the bunk above. All the while slipping the note under her pillow for later. She had read the note at least a dozen times now before she finally got it ready to be stuck in an envelope and handed to the quarter master to be sent out with the next shipment of hard copy files from the ship. They didn't go out often, likely taking two to three weeks to reach Les. "I swear sometimes it is like living with a bunch of caged animals in this place."

She had only been back from seeing Les about nine days now but that was a week earlier then was planned but after all that had happened she needed to get back to her little hole in the wall where she felt safe. She had left him on Tauron in a rush the morning after he had told her whole story to his squad. He had offered to let her stay with him the rest of the time instead of her having her own room but even with that she had to get back. She just didn't want to be around his squad for a while. Not that they were bad people. She actually looked highly of them all Les more then any of the rest of course. He didn't mean any harm by what had happened, it was just the way he was and she had learned to accept that.

[Viktoriya Gilyov]

Everyone had their quirks. That was an excuse Viktoriya had used in defense of Tatiana Wisla on more than one occasion. The truth was, Vik had some strange investment in Tatiana emotionally – whether the woman even realized it or not. It was obvious that somewhere, her sense of security had been shattered. Vik had been asked to accompany her as simple a distance as the bathroom when no one else was there, as had everyone else over their time together.

There wasn't a soul aboard that knew Exile and wasn't aware of what she was, and Vik had an almost painful amount of empathy for the woman. It was strange; they were like night and day as far as most of the crew would have been concerned... but, Vik was okay with accepting that oddity about herself. She just wanted to believe there was hope for Exile. Somehow, if Exile had hope, it would make it easier for her to believe the same existed for herself. In Vik's mind, some of things Exile displayed... weren't very far off from what she was herself.

Honestly, Fox had lost her confidence some time ago over the ocean of Aerilon, a helpless wingman following a doomed vessel as close to the sea as she dared venture. No one really knew that of her except those with access to her file, and Cronus by virtue of his relation to one of her old squad members... her fiance Atlas. Fox secretly wished she had some guide in the cockpit with her when the heat was on. She was afraid of making a mistake, of being the wrong pilot to save another squad mate... but she flew anyway, and on the inside, she felt like Exile. Please, someone, anyone, watch over me now. Sometimes Vik prayed to Poseidon for just that reason.

She didn't speak of it, but she knew that Cronus knew her story. He was merciful in silence, though. Fox didn't know Exile's life, but she knew the self-doubt. She still walked alone, flew her Viper, played her part, as if it didn't exist at all... but she fervently wanted Exile cured of whatever ailed her. If Exile could be fixed, so could Fox. Somehow, that had become almost a religious belief for Lieutenant Gilyov. Fox had a sort of covert protectiveness that bordered on something almost maternal. In all things, Fox wouldn't accept a slander of Exile's name.

Fox knew what she did, the lengths she'd go to in order to feel security, and she had no idea why Exile subjected herself to being the sexual plaything of others... but it didn't matter. It was bad, it had broken her sense of security and wrecked her perception of her ability to take care of herself. She literally fed sex to some muscle-bound man when she needed to feel safe, just made them her own hedonistic body guards for the night. Fox had never resorted to that, but it would have been nice to just have someone hold her, to make her feel safe and let her feel weak before she got up the next morning and left an officer, willing to hang her life on the line – as Exile did. Vik almost envied the fact that Exile could do it. She couldn't... and as a result, Exile seemed to ease up the most.

Fox had been lying on her bunk basically drifting in space in terms of her attention (and in terms of being aboard a Battlestar in actual space, of course). When she heard Exile, she glanced over, taking note of the letter. Fox wrote home as well... well, Picon. She didn't really call it home.

She wrote Pailyn for her grandmother, and she received letters back penned by her grandmother's caregiver. For Fox, it really didn't even feel like letters to family, but it was nice to know more about her grandmother's condition... even if it wasn't particularly hopeful. Fox wrote letters to Atlas as well... those were more intimate to her. She wondered which letter Exile had written, for family or for love, or something else altogether. It was an idle thought, though. She didn't really ask such things.

[Chris Wilson]

The tirade had ended, in a bust i might add, earlier and Chris set the crew up to do their thing to get it all set up. Ty was set to get the paint for the little operation. Samantha had gone and got Alister (Tatiana) and they had been tasked with making sure the boys from the squad were free and clear from the quarters when they went to do the painting later. Alister had a way with getting the guys attention. It was like they were lost puppy dogs when she was around an surely the White Tigers were man enough to give her the attention she would be after. Cronus was going to play look out when they got started. Even Kosta had his part, being the CAG's wingman he was tasked with getting a roster from him of when the Tigers were to be doing something tonight, a meeting with the CAG in fact later today. It was a perfect chance to make it all happen.

Chris walked back in looking over the roster of White Tiger pilots names and slammed in to a chair knocking it to the floor. Thats when he could hear the racket come from Alister's bunk.

"God's can't you tell I am trying to enjoy the peace and quite here guys. I swear sometimes it is like living with a bunch of caged animals in this place." She barked out at him like she was top dog around the place. Chris of course never really gave her hell on it. She she was on the bottom end of the proverbial totem poll but she was good about not doing anything like that outside of the quarters. Messed up as that girl may have been, when she got outside of the quarters there was no one more professional then she. Chris trusted her with his life when they were out in the black. He trusted them all but she was a lot like him, they both put the rest of the squad before themselves. "What did they just promote you to Major and forget to tell me?" He said giving her hades about her trying to bite his head off.

Chris smiled at her as she put the letter under her pillow and walked over toward her taking a seat on her bed right next to her. "My apologize sir, won't happen again." Chris arms moved up to his head an d he elongated them in to a stretch. When he drew them back down his hand slide under the pillow and grabbed the letter. "Oh what do we have here?" She said as he jumped up from the bunk. Chris of course had no doubt about what it was. She had been one of his pilots for three years and he knew at least a little about her. Her messed up relationship with that Captain on the Night Fight. Now he had no clue how the relationship worked but he did know that she had now qualms sleeping with people here on the Hyperion when she needed someone to keep her company. The girl didn't do alone time even for a few minute. Everyone had their quarks of course.

"Is our little Alister witting love letter again?" He had no real intentions of trying to open it up and ready it, no she would be to upset by that. When she came for it he would turn it back over with out any trouble. "Lets see what we have going on her." He began to fold the paper open expecting the spider monkey assault that he usually got in situations like this.

[Samuel Lion]

After the triad game had ended Samuel took the opportunity to slip out and check out some of the sites on the Hyperion. Samuel walked the corridors and found quick paths from his quarters to the ready room and to the flight deck. (those being the most important paths for him) The ship was starting to fill as people came back from there leave, but it was still almost like a ghost town compared to what it would be.

It had been a few hours and he wanted to get a few things situated in his bunk and then maybe head to the simulators, he noticed there was about an hour free. Samuel needed to get some more flight training if for no other reason then he had been out of his viper for a few weeks, what with leave and all.

After the shadowhawks mission later that night Samuel was going to go back to Aerilion for one last trist before the war games and to say one last good bye to his old squad mates. Samuel had walked in to see striker sitting on Exiles bed and grabbing a note she had written. "Well Striker they say the best way to tell if its a love note is if she has laden it with perfume." Samuel had a few dock floozies write him letters earlier in his career, before he stopped telling them what battlestar he was stationed on. The game was pretty square they knew it was for one night and nothing more but for some reason a few of them didn't want it to end.

Samuel wasn't one for relationships, he had seen what it had done to his grandfather when his grandmother passed. Samuel's grandfather was the strongest man he had ever known and the lose of his one and only love tore him so badly that he allowed himself to get sickly and die. Samuel wasn't going to go down that road. His parents wanted him to settle down and give them grand babies but he wasn't going to give himself up to someone like his grandfather had. This strong man destroyed by the lose of a woman, it just didn't make sense to Samuel.

After his passing Samuel had decided to separate himself from the attachment of woman. Some would say that Samuel still wasn't over his grandfathers death. Samuel would simply say that his grandfather had taught him many things and his death gave him the greatest lesson. That last lesson that Samuel took from his grandfathers death was to never give yourself completely to a person especially the love of a woman.

Samuel's grandfather was a mentor and a friend more then a grandfather. They spent many summer breaks flying and talking about the cylon wars. As far as Samuel was concerned he had learned more from his grandfather then any one else could have taught him. The man survived a horrible war and was tough as nails. Although his grandfather would tell Samuel that the love of a good woman was worth more then all the cubits in all the worlds Samuel would never be able to grasp that, Samuel saw love take the greatest man in his life.

[Tatiana Wisla]

Tatiana smiled at Chris' apology to her playfully like was not uncommon for them. The two of them had a good relationship. They got along and he took care of her, made she that people were always around. Of course more often then not it was Fox who was there with her taking care of her. She didn't mind that she got along with Fox, she was like the only not messed up one of all of them. Sure she had her own issues but deep down she was normal.

Heck Tatiana actually would seek out spending time with Fix when she was not in the simulators or something else. She was one of those people that she felt like she could share more about herself with and not feel judge. There was a lot about Tatiana that could be judged and judged poorly but Fox never seemed like the type to look down on someone. "Frak you Top." She replied to him, as he asked about the letter.

When he came and sat beside her she pushed him with one hand. He always had to frak with everyone, not that she minded at all it was sort of how he gang acted with each other she trusted them all with her life even.

When Chris grabbed the letter he stood up and took off to the other side of the room. Tatiana knew he wouldn't dare read it but that didn't mean someone else wouldn't. She hopped up from her spot and jumped up on the table heading toward Chris when Samuel chimed in. She glared at him and bent down on the table and popped him in the mouth. Nothing hard just playful. Then she jumped to the next table and dropped on the corner of it where Chris was standing behind with the letter. "Come on Cap, I know you want more then the letter." She winked at him trying to be suggestive. Her foot raise up slowly between his legs and as Chris focused in in her she grabbed the letter from his hand and bolted back to her bunk. "Sucker!"

[Samuel Lion]

As striker moved away from Tatiana Samuel's thoughts went back to a woman he used to write to. a few years after Samuel had become a pilot he got leave during Vernal break. He went down just looking for fun the first night he meet an amazing young woman, They spent the whole time together. She was an incredible girl. She was a sophomore in college studying psychology. It made him laugh when she told him. He couldn't help but think of what she would say if she psychoanalyze him. at the end of Vernal break he told her he was stationed on the Gunstar Hephaestus. They wrote back and forth with hand written letters and talked as often as they could. A few months had passed and Samuel started to have feelings for her. Samuel couldn't help but remember what happened to his grandfather. The last letter he wrote to her was hard for him to write but he told her she didn't want to speak to her again. Her name was Athena, she should have been named Aphrodite, Samuel told her that on more then one occasion. The thought of her made him smile even today. Some days he wonders what life would have been had he never wrote that letter.

All of a sudden he was snatched away from the memory of her when Tatiana slapped him. It wasn't hard but Samuel slightly moved his head back not expecting the strike to come from her. As quickly as she slapped him she was gone bouncing around the quarters like some kind of spider monkey."Damn it Tait what was that for." He said he wasn't really up set but he hadn't been there long enough to understand some of the ways they interacted together. "The learning curve in this place is rough Striker." he said with a slight laugh.

Then Tatiana started to mess with Chris she was being very seductive and then she snatched the letter and moved away from him quickly. "A number of great men have fallen victim to a set of beautiful blues."he said to Chris when she had the letter in her hand. Tatiana had a very seductive personality and her beauty was undeniable and she knew it. Maybe she didn't but from where Samuel stood she knew how to get what she wanted and wasn't afraid to use any methods she could.

[Chris Wilson]

Chris watched on as Tatiana jumped on the table and walked passed Samuel slapping him for his comment. Chris couldn't help himself from laughing. As soon as he started laughing he found himself face to face with the little devil trying to draw his attention with her feminine wiles, and of course Chris played right in to her hand. He was distracted long enough for her to snag the letter back from him.

Of course he had no intentions of reading the little love note. Chris had heard a little of her story. She had some guy off on another ship that she had this... thing with. "Why you got to go and toy with my emotions like that Exile." Chris replied to her assault after she took off back for her bunk. "You two have a good time on your leave?"

Chris bent over and picked up the chair he had knocked over on the way in, than took a seat. He tried to keep up on what was going on in the lives of his pilots and Tatiana had one hell of a history, what he knew of it at least. He knew she came from a messed up family and had emotional issues that followed her in her life, no different then himself though hers seems they might have been worse then his. What he did know was that she had this guy that kept her interest all the time and really wasn't the best for her.

[Tatiana Wisla]

Tatiana began to make her way back across the tables when Chris spoke up. His words stopped her in her tracks and she changed directions heading over to Viktoriya's bunk and taking a seat on it beside her. Chris has hit a topic that was a hard one for her. She had written the note at least a dozen time. First it was how she loved him, then how she was leaving him. Eventually it came around to why he treats her the way he does, and finally back to how she loved him.

She had no idea what she wanted, or how to proceed. Chris' question had only brought that out even more. How did it go. "You want all the dirty details Cap more just a general rundown." She winked at him as she tried to keep herself from breaking down in to a puddle of tears. Leaning back on Viktoriya she continued to talk without letting them get another word in.

"Spent most of the week in bed, if you get my hint. Only came back early cause he had to get back to work sooner then expected. How bout you. Get yourself some tail there Cap?" She was vulgar as a way to defect from herself. She didn't want to go in to the truth of it all. THe only one in the room to likely know there was more to it then she was letting on was Viktoriya. Viktoriya and her were close she trusted her and she could cry in front of her when things went wrong, and boy had things gone wrong this time.

Tatiana was beside herself trying to figure out what she needed to do. She knew what Viktoriya would tell her of course. That she could make her own way and didn't need an asshole like Row. Honestly she could have but she loved Row and didn't want to lose him.

[Viktoriya Gilyov]

Exile was a fitting name for Tati... hell, it was a fitting name for the both of them. That's probably why they got along so well. When Tati came to her bunk, it was a sure sign that something was wrong, and that she'd have some story that would leave Viktoriya feeling toward Row that she'd love to meet him in a dark alley somewhere for a no-holds-barred ass-stomping. Vik leaned him on cue as Tati sat beside her, reaching out to touch the woman's back lightly, but dropping her hand. The temptation was to embrace her, but if she did and there were tears to shed, that's exactly the moment when it would become overwhelming to her in front of the gods and everyone.

"None he didn't have to pay for, I'm sure."

Getting in on the vulgarity wasn't something Vik did often, but she hoped it was enough to change gears and turn Captain Striker's attention from something other than Tatiana.

Tatiana never felt safe. It's why she fed sex to the burliest marines she could find. It seemed she went for the Alpha males, the ones who looked like they could do some physical damage. The military had given her access to all the muscle she needed, and given Tatiana's perpetual youth and beauty.. she was taken advantage of aboard. Often. It was obvious she needed something, obvious that she'd endured something that had stripped her of her ability to be alone. If Vik could have made escorting Tatiana a full-time commitment, she'd have done so, if only because she worried incessantly that Tatiana would contract something on leave. Tati didn't ask questions - she woke up, sometimes not even remembering the man's name. It was a good way to find something terminal. Captain Striker did it because his compass needle happened to be in his pants, but Tatiana did it from pain. In short, anything Striker contracted was a battle scar. For Tati... there wasn't really any pleasure in it.

"Glad to have you back, Tati."

She said it more as a whisper, and smiled and touched her back again, but didn't touch the woman any further - just enough to let her know that she wasn't alone.

It was funny. Vik wrote letters to Atlas aboard the Patrolstar Achilles, but not nearly as many as Tati wrote to Row. That's because a large portion of those she trashed before they went out. Vik wondered what it was like to start and stop, to have to shift gears and filter what she wanted to send. She didn't have anything that questionable, and she never had.

[Phaethon Kosta]

Phaethon had done his part for their "operation". He wasn't entirely thrilled with the choice of prank, but he was a team player and did his part. The required elements for the prank were: materials, recon, distraction, and execution.

Phaethon had been tasked with the recon to determine when the majority of the White Tigers would be away. Those few that were left would then be hit by their distraction unit. Frankly, Phaethon probably had the easiest task with just about zero risk or cost to himself. He'd gotten the list and delivered it timely to Chris so the other parts of the plan could go into motion.

As the captain continued to plot, Phaethon had retired back to his bunk and sat himself down as Striker and Exile began to exchange words. This was shortly followed by Chris grabbing a piece of paper from her, presumably a love letter. If Phaethon wasn't convinced that Chris was merely teasing and not going to read it, he might have cut in and defended her. That type of thing was personal, not that Phaethon wrote letters. He wasn't exactly a "man of letters" and he didn't have anyone to write to either. Still it wasn't something that required first hand experience to know, and from what Phaethon had managed to pick up, Tatiana's relationships were already messed up enough without her thoughts being read aloud to the Squadron.

But, as expected, such an event never came to pass. The letter was snatched back quickly and there hadn't been any real attempt to read it. Shortly the conversation then turned to talk of leave but it remained of a teasing and sexual nature. As the questions turned to Striker, Phaethon then added after Viktoriya, "Sounds about right, Vik." It actually wasn't, but he would play along and help the others fire right back at Chris. Sure, Phaethon had been around the whole time, like Chris, and knew Chris had gone out a few times and had even gone out to the yard with him on occasion but none of those women were 'that' kind of women. Well, that was assuming "paying" didn't include buying a few drinks. Otherwise no man would ever get lucky without paying.

[Tyler Tremaine]

Not that having several shots of whiskey first thing in the morning wasn't always a pleasure, but Ty had other plans for his day, as well as some work to do that evening. So after the triad game had ended, Tyler took advantage of the empty bathroom to handle some business left over from the long flight from Caprica. Not that the actual flight was very long, but the standing at the spaceport, the waiting on orders once he'd gotten to Caprica's military space station, then getting clearance to land at the shipyards here over Picon, and finally, walking that unbelievably long walk from the raptor to the hardseal of the Hyperion.

In an unexpected turn of events, not that unexpected as these were the Shadowhawks were talkin about here, drinking had crunk up with a card game at ten in the morning. So, Ty needed to get his head cleared, hence the shower. A few more days, and it would be far more crowded, so Tj tried to enjoy the relative quiet of the morning. Relative to the usual. There were five thousand men and women who served on the Hyperion, which is one third the population of many small towns, someone was always doing everything, and that included the ever living latrines and showers. The odds of not standing in line were entirely dependant on how far from the core of the Battlestar you were in. And the quarters, even the officers quarters showers, were always busy.

As it was, Griffin was able to say hello to several fellow pilots who were enjoying a late start to the morning, and one marine officer as well. He stopped by the mirror only to shave(with his clippers, not his razor mind you) and brush his teeth.

Ty was ready to get back to work, he hadn't sat in 2-6 for a month, and me missed the hot seat. It was certainly time to get out the door, and go find some trouble. Of course, the plan was a training mission, but that had been the plan back in '94 as well, you never knew until you were there. Secretly, Ty kind of hoped for something real to happen. He didn't necessarily want anyone to die.. but if something happened over on Gemenon then that wouldn't be too bad, he thought.

Ty smiled a bit at that one, as he walked into the senior officers quarters again, his gym pants on and worn loosely at his waist, the legs hanging around his feet and over his flip flops. He wore only his grey tank on without his T shirt, he had his towel wrapped around his neck, and his shower bag in his left hand. It was amazing how many soldiers knew him enough to know his rank, but didn't know enough about military protocol to not salute him while he was out of uniform. He didn't need to salute back, but that was an insult of sorts, and Ty tried not to break taboos. When he walked in, all hope of a quiet afternoon vanished completely.

There was a great laughter in the quarters from his squad, whatever the joke was, it must have been funny. As Ty had not been privy to the conversation at hand, his next comment was fairly random. "Shut it down people. No loud and abusive behavior unless you're talking about Striker's sex life." He tossed his towel over his rail, and hung his shower bag on the hook of his locker, then rather than drop onto his nicely groomed bunk, he walked across the quarters, and flopped onto Exiles...

[Chris Wilson]

Chris acted as if he were shocked at what Vik had said about it. He actually was a little shocked, not at what she said but that she was joining in and acting like she, gasp, had a personality. Before he could even respond Kosta had joined in on the unfair accusations of Chris. Of course Kosta actually knew the truth and Vik did as well but that didn't stop them from. "You to Kosta?"[/color]

It was then that Ty popped in and joined the conversation on Chris' sex life. "I know my sex life is a favored topic for everyone here but we got important business to attend to. I got the records on when we should have a clear shot at the White Tigers. I need paint and Tatiana I need you and Samantha to be ready to run interference tonight. As for you Rook. Just get them creative juices flowing you got a mural to paint. In the mean time I will need everyone involved's ident cards so we can have a solid alibi."[/color] All the ident card would be taken to the Sims while they were doing their little exercise in team building.

Chris was changing gears once again when he finished that statement. "We only have a few days to enjoy ourselves and we will be back on duty. We will be taking up the Sims as much as we can between now and when we are cleared to fly again."[/b] Chris may have been all about having fun but he also expected perfection from the crew, every time with out fail. Chris sat back down in his chair and began to look over the report given to him by Kosta, a detailed plan of what the White Tigers were to be doing while they were here for the next few days to get all settled in.

[Samuel Lion]

Samuel Laughed at Ty's comment the man had the best comedic timing he had ever seen/ "In point of fact sir, that is exactly what we are talking about. " He laughed
Samuel may be there "Rook" but it seemed that they where a very welcoming group of people. The Shadowhawks had a wide range of personalities and they all seemed to have there place in the squad. Samuel wasn't too worried about his place in the squad, the only thing he was worrying about was his next "mission".

At Strikers request Samuel pulled out his Ident card and walked it over to him. It seemed Striker had a solid alibi for the squad for there evening festivities. Samuel wasn't the most artsy of people he leaned hard on his engineering degree but he wanted to "welcome" the White tigers in true Shadowhawk fashion. Samuel may not know exactly what that was but he was getting a good picture of it.

when striker mentioned flying in the simulators Samuel's perked up a little. It wasn't the real thing but it would give Samuel a chance to get acquainted with his new squad mates. Samuel had spent some time in the Simulators when there wasn't anyone in there but he didn't get any time with the squad this would be a great exercise for them.