<div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=124657.msg6017894#msg6017894">Quote from: Cal1496 on 19-03-2012, 16:55:23</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Warren put his pen down and looked at the list of names.  Many were posthumously, but Warren always liked to think it gave families some comfort that there loved ones were being honoured for the sacrifice.  All in the name of the Emperor, may he reign for a thousand years.<br/><br/>Warren poured himself more scotch and left the bottle in easy reach for Paige should she want any more.  Leaning back in his chair he took a deep swill and then looked at his Sergeant.  "Did good Paige.  We keep this up and this Op might not be so fucking terrible after all."  He raised the glass and took another drink, smiling as the warmth spread throughout his body, the effects of the alcohol becoming pleasantly clear.<br/><br/>They sat in silence for a time, which Warren didn't really mind.  There weren't much words to describe what they were actually feeling, and both were long enough vets to realize that.  It was just nice to shut the fuck up and drink with someone after a day like they had today.  Not that he wouldn't talk to her, but at the moment he just liked reflecting on how easy the silence was between them. </blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Kerry nodded mutely and helped herself to a glass. "You did good too, sir". That was probably the highest compliment she would ever give an officer. Paige had known officers who, in that situation, would have panicked and saved their own necks at the expense of their men. She had known gung-ho "heroes" who would have insisted on retaking the ship regardless. Warren had done neither. He had fought hard and held his ground, even won some back, but he knew when it was time to get the fuck out of there, and had done so with as few casualties as he could. Which was still a huge number, but a lot better than it might have been.<br/><br/>The sergeant sat back in the companionable silence, and raised her glass. "Absent friends", she toasted, the old, old salute to the fallen.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Radio waves can be jammed. Wires can't. Radio waves pass through anything, wires can't. Radio wave don't require someone to physically go between points, wires do. Radio waves can't be cut, wires can. Paddy was on the verge of giving up, but he didn't because he knew that just out of reach there was an idea floating around. He just needed the right inspiration to grab at it. He watched, unseeing, as the medic wandered off for some sex with the bastard who insisted on calling him "Irish"and one of the women. Something she did.... she called the ships doctor. Doctors used gravity waves to heal broken bones and re-grow limbs. Gravity waves could not be blocked. "FUCKING EUREKA!" He yelled, bounding to his feet and attracting stares from all around him.<br/><br/>He dived for the nearest console and began pulling up data. "Fuck, why is this classified?" O'Graugh tapped into the ships comms. "Engineering? Yeah hi, look this is Comms specialist O'Graugh, I need to speak to an officer. Yes, it's important. Well that really depends on how quickly you want to start saving lives. Yes, it could be. Thank you....  Yes sir, I do. I have just had an idea that could not only save lives but could shorten the war by years. Yes sir. YES SIR! I'll be right there. Thank you sir."<br/><br/>Paddy gathered up his meagre equipment and made his way as quickly as he could to the engineering section. He found the office of Lieutenant Commander George Peachy, the Engineering Officer, and tapped on the door. "Come..." Pat all but burst in and only just remembered not to salute. "So, Specialist O'Graugh, what is this amazing idea?" The Engineer was seated behind a desk and waved the Irishman to a chair facing it. Peachy was a short, round, balding man with a blonde goatee beard and thin blonde fuzz on top of his head that he kept deliberately short. He regarded the visitor to his domain with some skepticism. He had examined the communications devices that O'Graugh had put together and was moderately impressed. He was having several made for this ship's internal communications, refining the design slightly.<br/><br/>O'Graugh took a deep breath and launched into his explanation, how if it were possible to use gravity waves to enable them to sit where they were right now, and if it were possible to control them so accurately that they could be used to heal bones, then surely it must be possible to modulate a signal into them?<br/><br/>The Lieutenant Commander listened with interest and growing concern. As the Irishman finished speaking, he stood up and demanded "How do you know about this?" The gun in his hand was unwavering and pointed directly at Paddy's forehead.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>"Your request for transfer is approved, report to Lt. Warren forthwith as fleet liaison." Gullins read the note that had been passed to her. She sighed. It was that easy. Well, she was supernumerary on this ship, her own ship was gone along with many of her comrades, and she was unlikely to be needed to replace anyone in any of the other fleet ships.<br/><br/>She squared her borrowed marine combat fatigues, hitched up her pants and pulled the belt another notch tighter, and tapped on the door of Warren's borrowed office.