11:20 GMT
"Sir? Is everything alright?"
I didn't really startle, but the voice did catch me by surprise. You know, there may be something to people not liking me popping out of the woodwork on them when they least expect it. N was apparently very good at that as well.
And she had a habit of formalizing otherwise simple things, which was likely some sort of defense mechanist, but that was rather beside the point in the here and now.
"Yeah, everything's okay. How does our space look, by the by?"
"It suits the needs we have of it. Construction of the main hull and the mockup is proceeding on schedule," she informed me.
I nodded. "I'll go give it a look-over, then. You're still on a free until the targeting gets put together, you know."
"I know."
Right, of course you do. Well, there really was no helping it if N wanted to go above and beyond the call of duty ... and boy, was that a strange turn of phrase to twist itself through my mind without even a hint of mocking.
In any case, as I walked towards the dry-dock, my mind wandered back ...
'Never, ever leave when they think you're about to. You never know what you might overhear.'
Yes, I think we've stated my paranoia somewhere before. It's not a problem, it's a survival trait.
And maybe I was overreacting badly, but Swansen's ending comment had been like a huge red warning light given the context.
Hell, even taken out of context.
Call me cynical, but even mentioning 'the greater good' was enough to get me on edge. Always had been, always would be.
I stepped past a bulkhead, and into a spacious bay with a half-finished hull hanging in the middle of it, all the while wondering who and when to bribe to get my hands on the Good Doctor's psychological profile.
***
March 2nd, 2013
18:23 GMT
"I wanted to get your take on this, is all," Noah said thought the screen of the commo, which in this case consisted of an old PDA, a cooling fan, and scotch tape. "On what the point is."
I considered it for not long at all.
"Well, with OGJ it _is_ a war you've been fighting, so I don't really know how to help you there. Not exactly my area of expertise."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked after a moment. "You got in on the groud floor, same as I did, if I recall correctly."
"Did I? Mm ... I suppose that'd have been what it looked like at the time," I shrugged. "But, consider ... in war you always fight against a larger force, not individuals. Against a concept, a phenomenon. In this case, call them boskonians, reavers, whatever. At some point, it's always impersonal, and I don't do impersonal. I don't do war."
"Then what _do_ you do?"
"Vendetta."
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm