Boring Introductions

"This has got to be the most boring assignment we've had in months...."

"True dat." *sluuuurp*

"Do you really have to slurp your drink like that?"

*slluurrrrrppppp*

"Fine....." Jake looked out the cockpit window, "Nothing." He looked down at the radar and gave it a little tap just to make sure it wasn't broken. Still nothing. "How are we supposed to keep up our head count with missions like this?"

"You're not. Forgetting the Commander's speech already?" *slluuuurp*

"I'm never taking us to Space Burger ever again, you got that?"

*sllluuurrrrppp*

"ARRHGHH! Look I know what the Commander said in his speech but he doesn't mean all that, that's just the official line."

"So you are in contention with the fact that wars are not won by killing soldiers?" *slurp*

"You're missing the point."

Suddenly the cockpit emitted a serene female voice "Waypoint reached." Ice sat up and took his feet off the console, replacing them with his drink. He began entering flight information to reach the next waypoint in their recon, interfacing with the small craft at a rather alarming and inhuman rate.

"You ever think about taking up ping pong?" Jake jested, constantly amazed that such a large creature could move at such a rate. "How many stops on our route anyway?"

"You didn't read the briefing did you?"

"Oh yea cause I'm going to get suuuch valuable information reading the stupid briefing. I bet I can sum it up.... fly around x y z, report or destroy any bogeys, report back to the mothership. Try not to let my clairvoyance amaze you too much" He quipped.

"Actually we're just checking in advance that our intended flight path is free of activity. We're transporting a civilian." Jake's unpreparedness didn't bother Ice one bit. He was used to it and remained cool and composed as ever. It was well known that Ice was the brains of the duo who kept Jake grounded and generally out of trouble. Jake's abilities shone in the heat of the moment. He was remarkably adept under even the most intense pressure and preferred to fly by the seat of his pants rather then carry out a well thought out plan. Jake felt plans were too limiting. If your enemies had intercepted a radio transmission and knew your plans, carrying them out would lead to certain doom. Jake felt his survival chances were greatly increased by being unpredictable.

"Transport! A civilian! Jesus fucking Christ they send the best pilots on the whole goddamn ship to be fucking delivery boys!?"

"Well you're not going to appreciate this, but I understand the Commander's reasoning."

"Autopilot Engaged" The ship piped up. Ice grabbed his drink, leaned back and put his feet back up on the console. *slluuurp*

Ice continued, "He thinks your ego is becoming a problem, and it's only reinforced by the unofficial headcount everyone has been keeping. Theres been reports of mission critical objectives being ignored because pilots were chasing kills. This kind of competition within our own forces could cause serious problems. For example, say Gaia was attacked and a pilot had a choice between destroying a missile frigate for a kill or intercepting and destroying the cluster of missles flying at Gaia. A bodycount just confuses the issue for pilots, especially the younger ones. Most of these pilots look up to you, and the Commander wants to make it clear that you're the best because you get the job done, not because of your body count. He doesn't think the younger pilots are making that distinction. Thus, we get stuck on a routine patrol and transport. From what I read of Chopsticks' briefing, he'll be on top of the body count by the time we get back to Gaia. We intercepted some radio transmissions containing Molin flight paths. He's going to be intercepting small vulnerable transport convoy's with very meager escorts. Like shooting fish in a barrel really."

"That son of a bitch! Chopsticks has an even bigger ego problem then I do!"

"Indeed."