<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">Garner spotted Greenwood approaching with Dr Shepherd and...one of the other science officers: Christ, how was he expected to know the names of all the Weyland-Yutani eggheads when they lived and operated like a whole separate community most of the time and seemed to delight in undermining his authority?<br/><br/></span></span><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"We have dive-rated personnel, but not salvage divers, so far as I know."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">"Speak of the devils," Garner said, extending his arm towards the three new arrivals. "This is Dr Shepherd, of the Weyland-Yutani science team. She's entirely familiar with the area that's been wrecked, and if there's anyone who can help you gain access to the crash site, it's her. And Dr..." Garner squinted, trying to read the other science officer's name printed on her overcoat, but it was folded and he could only make the first few letters, so he guessed at the rest. "...Dr Beaufort are the candidates I've picked out to assist your for that."<br/><br/>Shvedova acknowledge the two science officers and the civilian with a nod. "Good. That's good. Doctors, I'm going to ask you to go with Sergeant Brekke and Captain Dressler. I'll be in contact from the command center on the dropship. If we get this right, the investigation of the crash site won't slow down the evacuation of the colonial personel."<br/><br/>While the lieutenant was instructing the science officers, Garners turned to Dressler, who was looking at him with thunder in her eyes.</span></span><br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"If any member of Staff is still active, then the station is active and the contract is in force, Administrator."</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">Garner closed his eyes for a moment, not so much doing the maths as trying to work out if this was even his problem. Yes, he had to answer for the colony payroll, but if anyone was contractually due for a salary uplift now, then by the time it got signed off the colony would be scuttled and it would hardly be his problem. The company was gonna lose a hell of a lot more money from this than Shepherd and her pals were going to make in hazard pay.<br/><br/>"Fine," he said to Dressler. "Whatever. I'll sign off on whatever needs to be signed off. Just make sure the marines get what they need and that nobody tries to get clever with them, like those shitheads in the crawler bay morning.<br/><br/>Brekke looked like he was ready to liaise with Dressler, so Garner took a step back and tilted his heard towards the sergeant, dismissing his security captain without a word. He took another couple of steps back until he was stood alongside Lieutenant Shvedova. He took yet another glace at the Asian medic, and smiled warmer, but it fell when it became apparent that she was about to head into the facility along with the rest of the squad.</span></span><br/><br/><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">Winter was already flushed and bristling at Sophie's retort...though in all truth and honesty, he couldn't entirely say he didn't deserve it. What what should he apologise for? Sophie was nice to look at and Winter had a thing for chicks with accents. True, to an outsider it might have <em>looked</em> like he'd shifted his interest to another woman when Sophie took too long to warm to his advances. But hell, she was a science officer: one of the ivory-tower Weyland-Yutani crew. Clearly it wouldn't have worked out. Tahira, on the other hand, was a security officer, which at least meant that when she was off-duty she ate in the same mess hall as the rest of the colonists.<br/><br/>He sucked in a breath and blew it out hard, ejecting those thoughts along with it. None of all that mattered now. It would be easy to suppose that karma had misfired, and that Tahira had paid the price for his behaviour...but even if he allowed himself to believe that, there was no question that the price was both disproportionate and misdirected. Maybe when he got back to earth, Winter would rethink his approach to women. <br/><br/>But there was shit to shovel before that happened. And hell, the marines wanted to check out the sunken area. Perhaps Karma was lining up a second shot.<br/><br/>He stood next to Abby and Sophie as they were introduced to the Lieutenant by Garner, and tried not to feel crestfallen that the administrator did not so much as mention him, even though he was one of the few colonial civilians qualified to deep-dive the submersible swamp crawlers. But neither did Garner instruct him <em>not</em> to accompany the scientists when they were handed over to the care of Dressler and Brekke, so Winter decided to stay close. Whether or not his help would be required, he figured that this might at least be interesting. </span></span><br/><br/><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: georgia;">Shvedova glanced at Garner curiously when he positioned himself next to her, surreptitiously placing himself as though he was in some way the second-in-command of this situation. She decided to let it go and turned to head back into the dropship. Zabinska was still in the cockpit as per procedure. Shvedova made her way to the command center and put on the headset. The monitor screens were all receiving strong signals from the other marines' cameras.<br/><br/>"Comms testing. Sergeant Brekke, you reading me OK? I need you to accompany Captain Dressler to a suitable ops center, and then form a plan to access the Doramin. I'd prefer you to oversee the evacuation and sent MacCartan with Dr Shepherd, but you're at liberty to adapt the plan as you see fit. Just make sure the evacuation is running smoothly at all times. Once all colonists are in one place and accounted for, we'll start shuttling."<br/><br/>A movement behind her had her whirling around in her seat, and she was surprised to see the administrator, Garner, standing there looking at her array of monitors.<br/><br/>"Can I help you, administrator?" she asked, making eye contact with Zabinska in case this was going to become a problem.<br/><br/>"No, carry on," Garner said with an uncomprehending smile. "I just figured that if this is where things are being run from, this is where I should be."<br/><br/>Shvedova swallowed a disapproving remark. She wasn't happy about a civilian being on the upper deck of the dropship, but at the very least this meant that he would be easy to contact. He seemed like the sort of guy who might otherwise wallow in a corner somewhere while everyone else did all the work.<br/><br/>"Take a seat over there," she said, nodding to the navigation array. As long as they were grounded, he couldn't do any harm over there.<br/><br/></span></span>