TM #175 - Who's your best friend, and why?
OOC: Set immediately after "Rapture".
Let me give you kind of an idea of just what my day is like.
My alarm goes off at 0500 sharp, and I'd better be shutting that thing off before the second buzz or else it'll wake up Hera. Waking up Hera also means waking up Sharon, who's got a later duty shift than I do, so she's the one who'd have to quiet our daughter back down. I grab my uniform and set out for the head as quietly as I can manage. That's the point at which I usually run into my first buddy. On the day I'm thinking of, it's one of my fellow pilots, asking me for a favor.
"Helo," they say, "I've told Chief a hundred times that Viper's landing skids aren't balanced right, and just yesterday, I frakkin' swear I almost pitched out of my cockpit after landing. Can you talk to him? He'll listen to you."
Of course I will. Right after I get him to check the DRADIS screen in my own Raptor, which has been acting up for a week and hasn't been fixed because of higher-priority repairs like Vipers.
Shower, shave, dress. This day, I'm happy to let it take a few extra minutes because instead of my blues or the fatigues as UoD, I'm shrugging into my flight suit. Ever since my stint as XO, I don't get to do nearly as much flying as I'd like, so any chance to get into a Raptor, I'm there.
Of course, once I get to the briefing room and Apollo goes through the first duty shift's assignments, somebody taps me on the shoulder on the way out. "Helo, could you do me a favor? Let me know the next time you're heading down to the gym. I have to drop a stone or Cottle's going to ground me. I could use a good routine."
I get that one a lot ever since I helped the Major out. So sure, I'll see them there that night.
Raptors don't fly CAP, so my mission's a cakewalk: flyovers of the tylium refinery ships, letting my ECO and the ship's sensors figure out if there're any leaks to be found. All I really have to do is fly up, guide her through the same search pattern I've flown a hundred times, then head back to the barn. After which, naturally, someone comes on wireless and asks if we wouldn't mind taking a peek at the outside of one of the food processor ships, since someone reported seeing something "strange" out there.
After that, I finally get to get back to Galactica. I talk to Chief on the way across the flight deck about that Viper's skids, and he asks me to do him a favor in turn and give another pilot a hard time for reporting some complete BS malfunctions. That one I do in the pilots' locker, where I also pick up my new "client" for training. An hour or so in the gym, and I get my workout and they're on their way.
Another shower, and I'm finally off duty. I swing by day care to pick up Hera, where at her insistence, I spend half an hour flying her around the room.
Sharon finally gets back, the family has dinner and Hera goes to bed. My wife and I grab a little time to just sit and rest and quietly talk about our day, even if I'm exhausted, and then it's lights out for Captain Agathon.
That's the day for everybody's friend Helo. My best friend? The pillow.
Capt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
Battlestar Galactica
597 Words