Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Break's Over, Back to Work! [Fin]

[Forge]

Vinny ran down the trail easily, keeping a ground-eating pace that had him back at the Base entrance very quickly. The guards made to stop him until he came into the light. They gave a half-hearted salute, looks of pity on their faces. A personnel carrier had just started to head into the tunnel, so Vinny hurried up and hitched a ride, holding onto the canvas as it trudged into the mountain.

Fuckin' ass-grabbin sonuvabitch! What the fuck was he thinking! I'm gonna paint the walls with his pussy brain matter!

The thoughts continued much the same as Vinny descended on the elevators, heading to Caine's office.

That tight-ass is gotta be doin' paperwork, prolly jerking off to materials requisitions.

Vinny 'politely' pounded on his office door once before letting himself in. Vinny threw up a salute on auto-pilot that almost could have been a wind-up for a punch. His face was the color of sin just as his mouth was about to spew it.

"Permission to speak freely." Vinny blasted out.

"Lieu-" Caine started.

"What on God's green fucking Earth were you thinking in that ass-tard brain of yours?! I nearly fucking killed them!" Vinny screamed pointing out and up in a direction implying outside.

If this was anyone but Lt. Wright, the danger of a stroke, might come to someone's mind, but this was Vinny.

[Adrian Moss]

Caine and Vinny were cut from the same mold, except that Caine was good looking and personalbe. People liked and respected Caine. They knew Vinny was reliable. Worlds apart, but so much the same person.

Caine's mind took in what he saw but it took him to piece some of what he was seeing and hearing together into some kind of coherent picture.

Click to reveal..

(17:51:09) ChatBot: (Adrian)Rapport Check rolls 8d10 and gets 2,7,2,1,10,2,8,3 = 3 successes

(17:51:21) ChatBot: (Adrian) Awareness Check rolls 8d10 and gets 9,4,7,2,6,1,7,3 = 3 successes

Vinny nearly did blow that blood vessel.

"Okay," he said calmly as he slowly stood up, "what are you talking about? Who did you nearly kill, because if it was one of my people, your ass is seriously in a sling. You are the professional soldier after all."

He could tell that Vinny had done something that had really unsettled him, and that something had focused that rage at him. Since he didn't feel like ruining the Lieutenant's career, he needed to hear out this grievance.

His clothing spoke volumes. He had alcohol on his breath, dust on his fatigues and some spruce springs stuck in his laces. Vinny had been outsid, off the beaten path, so to speak. He wasn't aware of that SGTeam having manuevers this late in the day. Hell, hadn't Olivia been scheduled for some outdoor time?

Olivia?

Caine tensed slightly. He tried to stop himself, but she was a weak point to him. He cared about her and not in a Team-ly fashion. He quieted his nerves and waited for the Lieutenant to explain just what the frak was going on.

[Forge]

If it was possible, Vinny got more red. Caine had the audacity to deny culpability?!

"What the fuck do you think I'm talking about!" Lt. Wright raged, slamming his hand on the desk, the neatly arranged desk thrown into disarray. "SG-8 ring any bells?!"

[Adrian Moss]

SG-8 rang bells alright. He had asked them to be the ambush party on their next time out. What had happened? Had his mission parameters not been clear?

"Calm down Wright, and tell me exactly what happened," he said with a tinge of concern in his voice. He was half-expecting a phone call any minute to tell him Specialist Jenings-Izumi had been hurt, and dragging the truth out of this deranged officer was trying his patience.

[Forge]

Caine had a better chance of telling Niagara Falls to shift into reverse than for Vinny to calm down.

Fuckshitdamnassprickmotherfucker!

"I nearly blew them the fuck up is what happened!....Shit!" Vinny yelled, "Jeezuz Christ Caine..."

Despite the nearly impossible odds against it, Vinny was actually starting to let out steam and had started to pace back and forth in the small office.

[Adrian Moss]

The tactical situation suddenly became clear. It didn't send a chill down his spine and it didn't make him laugh. Someone could have gotten killed over this misunderstanding.

"Okay, you were out with one of my team - Dr. Olivia Jenings-Izumi I'm suspecting. SG-8 ambushed you. They aren't dead because you aren't in custody right now. You are unhurt. Is the Doctor okay?"

After a milisecond he decided to add an explaination,

"I requested that SG-8 ambush my TEAM when we were out on manuevers. They must have seen Dr. Jenings-Izumi out doing independent excercise and decided to get one up on SG-21. They saw you and assumed you were on my team as well."

"Exactly how did you almost 'blow them up' anyway?"

All the while Caine remained cool and controlled without a hint of panic, or remorse. The man was Ice.

[Forge]

I can't belive this fuck!

"Would I be standing here if she wasn't?" ass-tard Vinny retorted. "Do you hate your team that fucking much to have them ambushed at night, alone? Olivia 'bout shit herself."

Vinny was mellowing out, but still clearly angry at the entire situation.

"She's not military man, you'll break her first."

Vinny let out a deep breath.

"One of my 'abilities'," Vinny mocked, miming air quotes, "...sir."

"God this whole thing is fucked up," Vinny said, exasperated as he sat down. "Don't throw me in the brig...please."

[Adrian Moss]

"Oh, the Doctor is tougher than she looks. When I first had my team ambushed she lasted the longest of all of us. Secondly, she likes excercising outside and she's getting better at it. Lastly, I know she's not a civilian."

"Now, what you need to be asking yourself is if you would be as pissed about this if the Doctor had been a man? Because we can't be thinking of her as a woman, but as a Specialist first. We are the professional soldiers here and we owe her that."

"I will talk with SG-8 and make it clear exactly what I'm looking for. I'm not going to chew them out. They learned a valuable lesson tonight as well. After all, did they clump up, or spread out?"

[Forge]

Vinny shakes his head slightly in disbelief, his face scrunching up.

"What? What are you talking about? Major, sometimes I don't think you operate on the same shitty plane of existance I do. Woulda' been pissed if it was the damn Michelin Man."

Obviously trying to make Caine see the error of his ways was impossible, and Vinny just didn't care that much.

Tactics? Fuckin' tactics?

Vinny stood up.

"They're alive aren't they? Am I dismissed?" Vinny said as he reached for the door, clearly already tired of beating his head against the brick wall.

[Adrian Moss]

"Sure, we are done here," Caine said coming around the desk. "If you feel the need to talk about this further, stop on by."

As he was leaving, he could hear Caine request Dr. Olivia Jenings-Izumi report to his office immediately. Caine would have to catch up with SG-8 later. His people came first.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

It took a while, but Olivia showed up at his office. She didn't look as bad as she had in the first ambush, but she still looked upset. Caine could see tree bark clinging to the back of her shirt when she turned to shut the door, as if someone had pinned her against a tree for a time. There was dirt on her pants, so she'd sat or fallen down, and the hint of pine trees and cigar smoke clung to her like a bizarre cologne.

"Yes, Major?" He'd seen her irritated, afraid, blazing hot with anger and more, but he'd never seen her so upset she had gone icy. His Spe- er, the Specialist was a fiery wo- person, and it was odd - and foreboding - to see her like this. "You wanted to see me?"

[Adrian Moss]

He came around the desk and sat down on the edge, his face a mask of concern.

"First off, I apologize for what happened out there tonight. There was an obvious miscommunication between myself and the head of SG-8. The 'Help' I asked for was to be an ambush on the whole Team while we were out on manuevers ... a test for Sgt. Perault primarily. That anyone would be taking on any individual team member was never my intent. That kind of test is unfair and pointless."

He looks her over, unable to wipe the concern from his face.

"Are you hurt? What happened to you? Can you describe the entire situation for me?"

Click to reveal..

(16:06:35) ChatBot: (Adrian) Rapport rolls 8d10 and gets 9,6,5,3,9,5,1,1 = 2 successes

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"I'm fine, thanks to Vinny." The last three words were dragged out of some deep, dank hole in Olivia's soul, to judge by the effort she put into her voice to say them. But she couldn't remain upset, not when he looking at her with those brain-melting blue eyes, so full of concern for her well-being.

But her commanding officer was asking for a debriefing. "They missed with the first zat gun, I screamed and ducked, and Vin- Lt. Wright pulled me behind a tree. I called for help. Then he... erected some kind of shield, and he tossed some kind of explosive at them. After I heard that it was SG8,I stopped us and we went back. They had me call off the MPs and then came back here. V- Lt. Wright went on ahead. I think he wanted to talk to you. I think that they're going to say that Able tripped and hurt himself falling, so that the entire thing goes away."

Stop looking at me like that unless you intend to do something about it.

[Adrian Moss]

"Well, I'm glad that you are okay," he managed to say. "This was never supposed to happen. I don't expect you to be some kind of commando, understand that."

He smiled down at her with those big, soulful blue eyes, clearly wanting to hug her, kiss her, and tell her everything was going to be alright. Instead of the hug and kiss she got a pat on the upper arm and,

"Thanks for the debriefing. This is useful information to have incase we ever work with SG-24, or he gets transfered around. I'll deal with SG-8. I'm glad none of their members were seriously hurt. This could have been a disaster. This will not happen again."

Read: You could have been hurt.

He stood up.

"Thanks for your prompt attention to this matter. You are dismissed."

For once, the military he so much loved and cherished felt like a cloying burden to him.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia was getting madder, if possible. But she choked it back; she had no right to be angry about what she was getting pissed about. "Sir, I would like to add that Lt. Wright was most diligent in protecting me," she said, her voice firm - and cold. "My health is due to his actions. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that. Thank you for the dismissal."

Every word was proper. Her tone was so bland it could have made curry dull. But her eyes flashed with anger. Who or what she was angry at wasn't clear. Without another word, she left, leaving behind only the scent of pine trees and cigar smoke.