LOG #064 - Commander A. Adair - TITAN Contractors
30 Sep 2021Aurora Adair (Radiumio)
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Initiating voice-recording...
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LOG: #064
RECORDING TYPE: Personal Log LOG PUBLICISED
What does Log Publicised mean?
In our squadron lore, these logbooks are not supposed to be publicly viewable by Commanders. However, in some circumstances, a log may be compromised OR publicised, allowing it to be considered publicly viewable - in this case, the information within can be used for story or discussion purposes in-character. Compromised implies the logbook has been leaked, whereas publicised means the logbook has been willingly released for story purposes.
In our squadron lore, these logbooks are not supposed to be publicly viewable by Commanders. However, in some circumstances, a log may be compromised OR publicised, allowing it to be considered publicly viewable - in this case, the information within can be used for story or discussion purposes in-character. Compromised implies the logbook has been leaked, whereas publicised means the logbook has been willingly released for story purposes.
RECORDING LOCATION: T.O.C. Solaris (Drake-class Carrier, Q4V-40N)
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Hey. Uhm... Yeah, so... I definitely do feel like an idiot after sharing the last log I recorded - but I will admit that it made me feel a bit better about things, so I'll just leave it up. Sorry about that.
Right... so things have been busy in preparation for tomorrow... Oh, right, I should mention that... So, the decision was made by Commanders, to hand us both over - Alexis and myself - to AC, or Hivemind... or whatever they call themselves. So - we're going through with it. I'm... I guess I'm glad, but also pretty nervous... I think I've done a good job of keeping that under wraps though. Can't really afford to think about it too much, otherwise it'll just cloud my head. So, okay, anyway... preparation, right.
The operations crew wanted Alexis present in person for the briefing, and they asked me to return to the Solaris as well. They were going to send a CSF team for transport, but I insisted I could just go pick her up myself. They have good intentions... but sending a military team to grab someone would just feel... weird, I guess.
Besides, I was in the bubble anyway, so less resources expended just to get one person to the carrier... And fine, I'll admit, it was a good opportunity to meet her, properly, for once and finally thank her for saving me from that damn settlement. Anyway... She was a little surprised when I contacted her directly, but we arranged to meet at the station she was at, and I picked her up there...
Heh, her... uh... reaction to meeting me was kind of funny. I'm not really the most formal person, so when she walked up to me on the pad with this look of surprise, and said "oh, wow, you're conscious this time", and apologized immediately after hearing how it sounded, I couldn't help but get this... dumb smile, and laugh.
She went on to say how nice it was to meet me, even going as far as to call me "Commander Adair". That was the first time someone called me that, actually... I wasn't sure what to say, so I stood there, letting what she said sink in. Felt kind of... amazing, y'know? That I'm actually a Commander now.
But... as I said, I'm not really one for formalities, so I tried snapping out of it and said she could just call me Aurora, and... we just locked eyes and just stood there awkwardly. I guess she didn't know what to do after the actual meeting - and to be honest, neither did I. So, I... tried to make a quick recovery and thanked her for saving me at Newton's Prospect. Didn't make it any less awkward, but she did smile and I kind of took that opportunity to give her a hug.
So, it all worked out in the end, right? Anyway, after that, we travelled back to the Solaris aboard the Paladin. Didn't take too long, we had some small talk on the way... why we became Commanders, that kind of thing. I knew a little bit about her background, but we did speak about it a bit, and it was different hearing her actually speak about it... She sure has an interesting story to tell. Anyway, we got to the carrier and almost immediately entered the briefing.
I really don't like briefings, or any meetings for that matter... especially when it comes to me making a decision, but this one was way better, for some reason.
Probably because I didn't get asked to make any critical decisions... Anyway, Alexis got greeted by the crew attending the briefing, but when Jaiden greeted her, she apologised for being 'harsh' or something and gave him this... smile. He just kind of shrugged it off and said it was fine, and didn't say anything more than that. I'll admit, usually Jaiden's quite an... extrovert. Seeing that kind of reaction to meeting Alexis was a bit strange, to say the least.
Other than that... the briefing was kind of uneventful. We went over what we'd be doing again, and Captain Griffith, one of the spec-ops guys from CSF, said he would be issuing a short, mandatory training course that both Alexis and I would have to do, to ensure we could pull this off. I was about to say something, but Alexis sighed and rolled her eyes - which got a real serious look from the Captain. Though, at least Avery found it funny. Alexis is already... incredibly well-trained, and she definitely proved that to the Captain later in training.
So... essentially, the training just involved remembering the basics of close-quarters combat, hand-to-hand... that kind of stuff. How to break out of certain restraints... how to overpower a bigger or armed target... And then came the actual demonstrations. Alexis was messing about just a little, twirling the firearm they gave her around in the zero-g, smirking at the Captain when he told her to cut it out. As a sidenote, I'm honestly glad I'm going with her.
She seems to know what she's doing, and... that makes me feel comfortable. Speaking of which... the Captain eventually had enough of her messing around, and challenged her to show off her skills. So, he raised his rifle, and took a big step towards her... and even though I was paying attention, it was kind of hard to see what happened.
She kind of... grabbed the rifle and his dominant hand, and kicked his boots out from under him, disengaging the magnetic contact... and then she threw him over her shoulder at the wall behind her. He hit the wall quite hard, and his rifle just went pinging off the wall. She looked pretty proud of herself while the Captain was cursing profusely... since his suit had no control system, he was just floating around the room hopelessly. I couldn't help but laugh, much to his anger... but needless to say he was fairly impressed, so he decided to call off the training - once we helped him back onto the deck.
And then, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. I didn't really want to sit in my quarters and bore her, so I asked if I could take her out to explore a little. I found a cool planet with a water atmosphere near the Taurus mining site, one that the Paladin was rated to land on, so I wanted to show her the incredible view on it - as a kind of extra thank you, I guess. She seemed pretty happy to come with, but insisted I didn't really have to if I had other stuff to do... but even if I did have something to do, I would've dropped it anyway. So, a little bit of convincing and she finally agreed, and we made a trip to the planet I picked out.
It was... pretty fun, not gonna lie... I had a lot of fun at least, and I think she did as well. We spent most of the time chatting, while we walked around and explored the surface... took a look at the amazing life that somehow survives out here. It was around... 200 degrees on the surface, but amazingly we couldn't feel it for the most part. It was warm... but I didn't feel like I was standing in that kind of environment... but, the suit's battery felt it for sure, so we couldn't stay out for too long. I still enjoyed it a lot, though.
At one point, she asked why I was on Hivemind's bad side... and I kind of paused. I realize I don't really know the actual answer, do I? So... I couldn't say anything... I just sighed and told her I didn't know. Not the answer she probably wanted, but it's the only answer I had... She did change the topic, thankfully... and it soon trailed off into what it's like to be the Squadron Commander... what I used to do... what I do now... hobbies, stuff like that.
... And eventually, it kind of got to Obi Dredgings, and I really thought I could talk about it, but when I got to... what actually happened to me at Obi, my mind just kind of locked up. So... I sighed and asked if we could change the topic.
I ended up swapping the questions around to her, asked her what she used to do, hobbies... stuff like that. She spoke a little about her background... and apparently she's got some genetic engineering, and was a bit surprised when I said I didn't have any... and that would uh... explain her... her hair and eyes... both being 'naturally' green. Anyway, uhm... Her whole... whole story, it just seems a little messed up, to be honest.
Losing her parents so early in her life... being forced into some genetic engineering company... being trained and taught to be nothing more than a literal infiltrator... Just... sounds awful. While we were talking about this, she kind of off-hand mentioned how she was trying to get on AC's good side... and that surprised me. I guess she thought I knew, because she didn't expect me to get a little mad about it...
... but I should've waited for her explanation first, since it wasn't that bad in the end... She did really have good intentions, trying to sabotage them within, but it didn't really work out.
My reaction kind of upset her... I really didn't mean to make her feel like that, so I apologised and... we kind of continued our chat, though I probably really messed up the mood and I don't think we were coming back from that, so we soon wrapped it up just before our suit batteries were running low. It was a good time to return to the carrier anyway, since I was getting a bit tired. So, we went back to the Solaris... got something to eat... and she was about to say goodbye and go find some quarters to sleep in, but I kind of blurted out that she could come stay with me in my quarters. I don't know why exactly...
I just... I guess I don't want her to be alone. I don't want her to... feel like I did when I ran away from my home. She just really seems kind of troubled emotionally, I suppose. At one point, in the conversation, she just kind of casually mentioned how one mission she did ended up with her wiping out the entire agricultural settlement... what they were harvesting was illegal, and she just got sent in to wipe them out for... her client, or whatever...
But still... wiping out an entire settlement? And she just kind of... shrugged it off. Found it funny how she got caught out. She probably realised it wasn't right when she saw how I was staring at her, but I just... how do people get to that point? Just accepting how many people they've killed? Does it just... happen? Do you stop caring eventually?
I myself can barely get over Obi... and I still don't know if killing Captain Palmer was the right thing to do... but... ugh... Life is so complicated, damnit. Anyway, she did hesitantly agree to take me up on my offer... and I said she could take the bed. It's big enough for two... but I don't want to make it awkward for the either of us, so I said I would take the couch. But, of course... she insisted that she couldn't take my bed. We went back and forth constantly, and eventually we kind of both got frustrated in unison, so I told her she was taking the bed and that was the end of it.
I guess she couldn't be bothered to argue anymore, so she agreed. That brings us to now... where I said I was going to go for a short walk just to grab something from my ship, specifically my bag... By the time I got back and stepped into the quarters, I found that she had taken one of my blankets and moved to the couch, and wasn't budging. Ugh... Whatever. I wasn't really going to continue the argument, so anyway... It's late now, actually, so I should head back and get some sleep. I said I wanted to record a log, so I wanted to find a spot to record it in privacy... just because. Now that that's done... it's bed-time.
Thanks for listening, I guess... Hope I didn't go into too much detail... and I hope tomorrow goes well. It really was a lot of fun, today... meeting Alexis, and getting to spend the day with her.. I guess my final verdict is that she's... uhh... really nice, I guess? Though, I just hope the fun we had today doesn't get invalidated by whatever might happen tomorrow...
Okay... Sorry. That's me for now... Going to have to get a quick drink after this, my throat hurts from all the talking. So, in the end, I just hope this isn't my last log... and that I get to talk to you all again.
Thanks a bunch. Fingers crossed this plan works out. See you around, I hope!
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Credit:
This story is only possible thanks to our squadron and community. Join TITAN Contractors, a diverse and talented squadron, and experience our custom lore and events. This logbook as well as associated images and story is property of TITAN Contractors, CMDR Radiumio. A special thank you to CMDR Alexis Bright for allowing me to use their character in the story!
INARA page here.