GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE; RUSS AND JOHN


Taal: attention.

Russ: oh, oh, oh, oh. (I stand up and salute.) hello Taal, indeed greetings. Taal is one of the pilot leaders if I remember right.

Taal: correct.

Russ: ahh yes.

Taal: officer.

Russ: officer. My former officer and……

Taal: commanding.

Russ: still commanding officer when I get back into a ship here once in a while.

Taal: yes.

Russ: well, how’s life been treating you Taal, any good excitement lately?

Taal: yes.

Russ: damn.

Taal: I have another confirmed victory to my belt.

Russ: hey, congratulations.

Taal: thank you.

Russ: good deal. What was the circumstances surrounding this? You’re not talking about Mark and your guy’s….

(Mark and Taal have holographic flight simulations against each other on the base.)

Taal: no, no, although I have challenged him.

Russ: oh good.

Taal: but he did not accept or decline.

Russ: ahh.

Taal: no, this was a vessel that would not yield for inspection.

Russ: oh, okay.

Taal: it would not stop for inspection. I fired a warning shot across its bow, it carried on going. I fired a shot at its engines to disable, it returned fire.

Russ: bad call on his part.

Taal: so I scanned, took down its shield, scanned again. It continued returning fire so I destroyed.

Russ: you gave it plenty of chances.

Taal: we are meant to.

Russ: yeah. Now that reminds me of something Taal, I was reading about an incident that happened back in 1954 where a ship crashed in the deserts of……

John: New Mexico.

Russ: of New Mexico and apparently what had been shown is that apparently it came out of the atmosphere and burned up and the bodies inside burned up but knowing the shielding the capabilities of it, it seems like it was disabled first before it made its headlong plunge into our atmosphere.

Taal: that was not me.

Russ: oh I know that wasn’t you but that sounds like something that would happen.

Taal: yes, an engagement would……the primary function of an engagement is to take out shielding first.

Russ: uh-huh, okay.

Taal: by disabling the shielding, it makes the target easier to board or destroy, preferably board for inspection.

Russ: right. Now, wouldn’t it be a necessary standard operating procedure to make sure that the craft disintegrates before it hits the ground?

Taal: if the crew is alive this would be not……sorry, I do not know the word……practical…..

Russ: practical right.

Taal: thank you Kiri. (Speaking to Kiri.)

Russ: okay so those crafts that were found where the crew had died but the ship survived intact, was that just maybe pilot error?

Taal: possibly yes.

Russ: oh okay. Some of these guys probably flying around here aren’t that great of pilots probably, from some of the other places.

Taal: no, there is no such thing as bad pilot, bad pilot dead.

Russ: that’s true. So when's your next mission?

Taal: I will be escorting on Wednesday a group of two vessels….

Russ: uh-huh.

Talk: to Sirius. I will be returning with said group a week later.

Russ: a ski team I believe.

Taal: yes.

Russ: on route to the skiing.

Taal: we are part of honor guard.

Russ: excellent, so you get to go to the races.

Taal: yes, I am not competing.

Russ: too bad. How’s Katrina doing?

Taal: she is going also…..we are having......

Russ: excellent.

Taal: you would say second honeymoon?

Russ: ahh, I take it she’s one of the shuttle pilots?

Taal: yes.

Russ: ahh, lucky guess.

Taal: yes, it is the only chance that she has had to fly in over a year.

Russ: yes but she’s…..the child’s growing well.

Taal: yes.

Russ: she doesn’t have to be running inventories in the hangers anymore, she should be able to fly isn't she?

Taal: she is still ground crew, she is…..

Russ: still?

Taal: will be for another 6 to 12 months.

Russ: that must just tear her up.

Taal: yes, she is requesting to be shuttle pilot though.

Russ: that’s good, are you taking the little one with you?

Taal: yes.

Russ: excellent, good.

Taal: he will be flying with me.

Russ: ahh, his first trip to Sirius I take it?

Taal: yes.

Russ: good, good, that will be nice. What a nice vacation, second honeymoon with the child and everything.

Taal: yes.

Russ: oh fantastic. Okay, well I look forward to seeing you whenever I can, you’ll be on the base for at least until Sunday then?

Taal: until Wednesday.

Russ: Wednesday, that’s right.

Taal: we stop on Sirius to rendezvous with other ski team so we go there for big arrival display.

Russ: umm, formation flying then?

Taal: yes.

Russ: oh neat.

Taal: have always wanted to go to surface of Centauri Base.

Russ: hmm, I’ve been to Centauri Base, nice place.

Taal: looking forward.

Russ: yeah, you’ll have a good time, lots of nice things to do out there. And are you doing any recreational skiing once you get there?

Taal: yes, probably, Katrina wants to ski. She said name of mountain and she had wistful look in her eyes.

Russ: well excellent, that will be fun for you guys then. By the way, I understand my former copilot had a bit of a experience a while back.

Taal: Frisling?

Russ: yes.

Taal: yes, again. He has accident prone. His vessel still being sent for repair, has new one.

Russ: oh he has a new one?

Taal: yes.

Russ: okay, I was going to say, poor guy got jumped and everything.

Taal: glad he made it back.

Russ: well that’s good.

Taal: as I said, no such thing as bad pilot.

Russ: bad pilot.

Taal: thank you, dismissed.

Russ: farewell Taal.

John: thank you.