[The point is that he, blackmailed as he was, still knew exactly what he was getting into. The CDC hadn't lied to him about their purpose, just the fact that the corporation itself is a backwards, disorganized, incompetent mess.]
Centuries of cannon fodder, even.
[That still boggles him a little, but mostly the part where the CDC could be around for hundreds and hundreds of years and still run things backward.]
[If Crichton's theories and the doublemint twins Parker and Parker were anything to go by. It's not really heartening to think about, but there's no sense in putting it aside either. Roll with the punches. Or something.]
It could just be this crew. I'm assuming you know all the crap about the Neheda being bottom of the barrel.
[For all she knows the rest of the CDC's fleet and officers were reasonably more straightforward, reasonably less arbitrary and ridiculous.]
[That gets his attention, as it's sort of news to him. He doesn't exactly like not being up on the gossip, but then again, he tries to stay away from the instructors unless he has an important question. Falcon leans in, suddenly interested.]
What, us or the officers?
[Here he is, thinking that the entire operation is stupid and incompetent. Maybe it is--it wouldn't surprise him, but if the instructors are bottom of the barrel, it might explain a few things.
Might explain a few things about some of the recruits, too.]
Us. Both. Supposedly we're doing a statistically crappy job, but everyone's just been following mission parameters laid out by the officers.
[And for someone fundamentally used to success on some degree, who in general thinks they've done well given the odds - ninety percent of the crew is untrained period or completely unfamiliar with the kind of weaponry and tactics necessary on the ground -, there's something grating and sour about that assessment. Not that she should really be giving much of a shit about job performance, right? Not in this context and not when she's earned herself a ticket to easy street on Grey. Still, it's a bur in her side; what the hell do they expect? Might go a whole lot better if there was a little more clarity there.]
But our Captain's got some enemies and less than savory associates by HQ's standards apparently. Scuttlebutt is she's been assigned to a bunch of vessels since she earned rank and I get the sense this one's a demotion. --And our new friend on security doesn't think much of the post.
[But that could just be Honey being a bratty kid. She still isn't sure what to make of Crichton's suspicions regarding the girl's presence on the crew.]
Could be why nobody's interested in feedback. Probably hope the dead weight'll just die and they'll get a better trained group next time around.
[Said, of course, with the sentiment that he is not among those that are dead weight. He knows that he's expendable, as far as the instructors and the CDC are concerned, but he also knows that he can keep himself around just by doing what he does best--succeeding. Maybe that's the best way to stick it to these assholes, in the end. Refusing to die.
He levels Shepard with a bit of an exasperated look.]
Our friend on security is twelve years old.
[Okay, maybe not twelve, but she's obviously a child, obviously here thanks to nepotism, and obviously incompetent, at least as far as leadership is concerned. He knows she can listen to this, but he doesn't exactly care, because she's twelve, and what's she going to do, talk him to death?]
Talent is not a substitute for experience.
[Not that he thinks Gliese is someone to defend, or even competent--if what Shepard says is true, then the Captain is the common denominator in all the reassignments, which means there's something sketchy about her performance, at the very least. Anyone who talks and acts like like Honey does, however, clearly has no practical know-how. It's only a matter of time before she's in over her head.]
Twelve years old and that much more likely to be saying something she's heard her agent parents or someone else say.
[Because children don't have their own opinions, obviously - just ones other people have impressed on them. If Honey's opinion of the Neheda is so low, Shepard can't imagine there isn't some basis for that idea - some generalized sentiment floating around the Fleet, anyway, and Honey was just loud mouthed enough to say it out loud where everyone could hear her being a snot nosed brat about it.
Which, strictly, isn't a defense of much of anyone on the officer or security roster. As far as she's concerned, they're all pretty damn culpable whatever the reasoning. If playing the cards close was a strategy instead of just incompetence, it felt like cutting off the nose to spite their own faces.]
That first part wouldn't surprise me though. Gliese's last ship had a high casualty rating. [And she clearly wants something.]
[And if they'll end up the same way as the last crew. Falcon isn't under the illusion that the instructors care about them--and along those lines, he isn't sure Gliese cares about the instructors. You do something like this for centuries, he imagines one might become entirely self-motivated. It's stupid to pretend otherwise.]
[Has jumped up conspiracy theories, but little to no basis for any of it. Whatever Gliese is after and how close it falls in line with her higher ups's desires (demands), she can't even begin to guess. But everyone's here for something.
For a moment, there's something on the tip of her tongue - the itch to say something about the kind of things Parker and Steve had been talking about. Carefully worded, preciously traded information that she hadn't felt quite attuned to but might be valuable taken with a cruiser load of salt. But then she swallows it down; it doesn't feel like hers to give, for one, but more to the point it puts slightly too much faith in the Neheda's officers - something she isn't willing to give, which makes the grains of data not worth passing on. Not yet anyway.]
[Falcon leans back in his chair and runs a hand across the visible part of his face. What else can they do, really, besides throw out theories? He frowns. This is not the position he wants to be in, but all he can do is wait, learn what he can, try to survive in the meantime. It's only going to get tougher from here.]
[She snorts, a low growled out noise. If there's one thing she's determined to make sure happens, it's that. And so far? Her odds aren't bad. She likes to think she doesn't die easy, has a track record that says as much. Now she just has to stay lucky and keep the proverbial ball rolling, right?
It's definitely the kind of thing that warrants recalling the mostly forgotten glass at her elbow, fetching it up and raising it in - a crappy toast proposal if there ever was one, but screw it. Fits the situation anyway.]
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Centuries of cannon fodder, even.
[That still boggles him a little, but mostly the part where the CDC could be around for hundreds and hundreds of years and still run things backward.]
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[If Crichton's theories and the doublemint twins Parker and Parker were anything to go by. It's not really heartening to think about, but there's no sense in putting it aside either. Roll with the punches. Or something.]
It could just be this crew. I'm assuming you know all the crap about the Neheda being bottom of the barrel.
[For all she knows the rest of the CDC's fleet and officers were reasonably more straightforward, reasonably less arbitrary and ridiculous.]
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What, us or the officers?
[Here he is, thinking that the entire operation is stupid and incompetent. Maybe it is--it wouldn't surprise him, but if the instructors are bottom of the barrel, it might explain a few things.
Might explain a few things about some of the recruits, too.]
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[And for someone fundamentally used to success on some degree, who in general thinks they've done well given the odds - ninety percent of the crew is untrained period or completely unfamiliar with the kind of weaponry and tactics necessary on the ground -, there's something grating and sour about that assessment. Not that she should really be giving much of a shit about job performance, right? Not in this context and not when she's earned herself a ticket to easy street on Grey. Still, it's a bur in her side; what the hell do they expect? Might go a whole lot better if there was a little more clarity there.]
But our Captain's got some enemies and less than savory associates by HQ's standards apparently. Scuttlebutt is she's been assigned to a bunch of vessels since she earned rank and I get the sense this one's a demotion. --And our new friend on security doesn't think much of the post.
[But that could just be Honey being a bratty kid. She still isn't sure what to make of Crichton's suspicions regarding the girl's presence on the crew.]
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[Said, of course, with the sentiment that he is not among those that are dead weight. He knows that he's expendable, as far as the instructors and the CDC are concerned, but he also knows that he can keep himself around just by doing what he does best--succeeding. Maybe that's the best way to stick it to these assholes, in the end. Refusing to die.
He levels Shepard with a bit of an exasperated look.]
Our friend on security is twelve years old.
[Okay, maybe not twelve, but she's obviously a child, obviously here thanks to nepotism, and obviously incompetent, at least as far as leadership is concerned. He knows she can listen to this, but he doesn't exactly care, because she's twelve, and what's she going to do, talk him to death?]
Talent is not a substitute for experience.
[Not that he thinks Gliese is someone to defend, or even competent--if what Shepard says is true, then the Captain is the common denominator in all the reassignments, which means there's something sketchy about her performance, at the very least. Anyone who talks and acts like like Honey does, however, clearly has no practical know-how. It's only a matter of time before she's in over her head.]
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[Because children don't have their own opinions, obviously - just ones other people have impressed on them. If Honey's opinion of the Neheda is so low, Shepard can't imagine there isn't some basis for that idea - some generalized sentiment floating around the Fleet, anyway, and Honey was just loud mouthed enough to say it out loud where everyone could hear her being a snot nosed brat about it.
Which, strictly, isn't a defense of much of anyone on the officer or security roster. As far as she's concerned, they're all pretty damn culpable whatever the reasoning. If playing the cards close was a strategy instead of just incompetence, it felt like cutting off the nose to spite their own faces.]
That first part wouldn't surprise me though. Gliese's last ship had a high casualty rating. [And she clearly wants something.]
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[And if they'll end up the same way as the last crew. Falcon isn't under the illusion that the instructors care about them--and along those lines, he isn't sure Gliese cares about the instructors. You do something like this for centuries, he imagines one might become entirely self-motivated. It's stupid to pretend otherwise.]
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[Has jumped up conspiracy theories, but little to no basis for any of it. Whatever Gliese is after and how close it falls in line with her higher ups's desires (demands), she can't even begin to guess. But everyone's here for something.
For a moment, there's something on the tip of her tongue - the itch to say something about the kind of things Parker and Steve had been talking about. Carefully worded, preciously traded information that she hadn't felt quite attuned to but might be valuable taken with a cruiser load of salt. But then she swallows it down; it doesn't feel like hers to give, for one, but more to the point it puts slightly too much faith in the Neheda's officers - something she isn't willing to give, which makes the grains of data not worth passing on. Not yet anyway.]
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Hopefully we'll live long enough to find out.
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It's definitely the kind of thing that warrants recalling the mostly forgotten glass at her elbow, fetching it up and raising it in - a crappy toast proposal if there ever was one, but screw it. Fits the situation anyway.]
I can drink to that.