Movements in the key of Life - 9.298

[Q. Samus Dage]

Aboard the Alliance cruiser Dauntless



So much had changed over the years, yet so many of the constants remained the same. It was a comforting fact in the face of such shifts in the day-to-norm.

From their years in the beginning to where they all found themselves now had been a journey that was full of memories both good and bad. And through it all, Colonel Quentin Samos Dage had maintained his ever-present sense of self-assured bravado. He'd landed on his feet just as many times as he'd landed on his backside, yet each time had been with a smile. It was one of those things that helped a man through the times they experienced in the past as well as the times they lived in now.

Kori had grudgingly taken a post on Bothawui while Dage himself had stayed with Dan when the General had been given command of the Dauntless. While it had never been quite the same without their dark-haired friend, moods still tended to stay as easy as they had been before he'd left. At least there was that.

Of course now, whispered words and wild rumors had filtered down the pipeline, and Dage couldn't help but feel a small bit of hope at what he'd heard.

The end of his normal shift found the blonde sitting easily in Dauntless' mess hall, his still-rangy body tucked easily into a side booth away from the normal crowd of officers that filtered in and out. A glass sat in front of him on the table; some sort of Ithorian Baffor Tree lager that held full bodied notes and a crisp finish. It was his own form of celebration, and Dage couldn't help the old grin from returning as he took another sip.

There was one person in particular that he was waiting for; the only person that could either confirm or dash to pieces the rumor that'd been floating about for the last day and a half. He'd wait for as long as he needed to, but old habits never suddenly stopped in the span of twenty-four hours, and with conviction Dage knew he'd not have to wait too much longer.

[General Dan]

"Since when did we get beer in the commissary?"

A familiar face sat across from Dage, one that had put a lot of years on since they'd first met. Unlike his subordinate, Dan was nursing a commissary-staple caf.

"Did I miss a birthday or something?"

[Q. Samus Dage]

"I make sure to keep a small amount reserved for special occasions."

The laugh-lines at the edges of Dage's eyes deepened as his lips spread into a knowing grin.

He picked up his drink, gave a sniff to its' contents, then saluted Dan with the glass before taking a healthy swallow.

"Small-time quality perhaps, compared to what I've seen you stock in your quarters."

A knowing glint shone in his eye.

"And it ain't no bottom-shelf caf."

[General Dan]

"Yeah, well..."

A half smile as he sipped his admittedly bottom-shelf caf.

"...that's half why I haven't drummed you out of here by now, Dage. You're resourceful.

So what's the occasion?"

Of course he was playing coy. You could feel moods change on a starship, even without a word being said. And they all knew exactly how long they'd been on this most recent cruise.

[Q. Samus Dage]

At that, Dage gave a laugh.

"Oh come on, that's not the only reason I'm still around."

Though it'd been an odd transition from those first years, the blonde had made the best of his changing environments and excelled in his duties. Hanging up his blasters for official duties hadn't been easy, but he'd worked with what was given to him and served with distinction.

Settling himself in his seat, he looked across the table to Dan.

"There's word coming down that we're shifting posts."

[General Dan]

"Like I said, half the reason."

Dage explained the mood switch, which came at no surprise. The General raised his mug to his lips, sipped, and held it in front of him to slightly obfuscate his expression.

"Amazing how word comes down out of nowhere. Always has and always will. At any rate, don't go confirming it. Last thing I need is a ship full of slackasses with visions of shore leave dancing in their heads.

That being said, we're coming off the Sullust line in a week, for recall to Bothawui. You didn't hear that."

[Q. Samus Dage]

To his credit, Dage's face remained impassive. At least he'd had his confirmation, and truth be told that was all he'd asked for. It did make the lager that much more warranted at the very least.

He drummed his fingers over the tabletop in thought.

"It'll be nice to see Kori again."

[General Dan]

"Probably doesn't even remember us, with all that soft Bothan living scrambling his head."

He understood Dage all too well though. They'd seen it through from the shaky beginnings. They were the survivors.

Dan took another sip of caf, setting it aside.

"It could be a long furlough, Samus. I think some changes are coming down."

[Q. Samus Dage]

Dage gave a shrug in answer. It wasn't anything that particularly bothered him; they'd been with the Rebellion from the beginning, and would likely still be there until the end of their natural lives.

He smiled at that, however.

The notion of the four; Dan, s'Il, Kori, and himself. It was as if they'd grown up together, and in their own way they had.

"How long doesn't matter; we'll be here till we die."

He took another sip.

"I guess it was too much to hope for though, that you could pull whatever strings you know how to pull, and get us stationed somewhere with white beaches and tropical islands with half-naked women serving me drinks?"

[General Dan]

"Pretty sure there are white sand beaches somewhere on Bothawui, though you might find the half naked island girls a little too unshaven for your preference."

After that macabre mental image was digested, he half shrugged.

"Who knows? We may be close to ending this whole mess. Might be a lot closer to more free time than either of us know what to do with."

[Q. Samus Dage]

At that, Dage gave his superior a rather skeptical look.

"You don't honestly believe that now, do you?"

With a hmph, he took another level off of his drink before going on.

"We've been in the same outfit for too long now and done too much together. Hells, I was your wife's maid of honor," there was a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"... I think I know a line of ronto droppings when I see it. Sir."

[General Dan]

"Well, it's quickly becoming a thing outside our control. Maybe that's a good thing."

As the Alliance won victory after victory, they had to be prepared to win the most important war of all - the war of peace. That war was fought by others - not these battle hardened men of the old ways.

"You don't think of what comes next? Plotting a course into the proverbial sunset is probably a good deal better than having the war outlive us."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"I think of a lot of things," the blonde half-grumped. "... 'What comes next' is a close second to 'what's for dinner'."

Which, strangely enough, was the truth. So many years of living hand-to-mouth had ingrained very difficult to overcome habits.

"Besides, I think you're a bit closer to the pasture than I am."

While it was a passing jab at the General's age, it was also an unspoken acknowledgement that Dage - in all of his resourcefulness - had come into the knowledge that his old friend was once more expecting the arrival of another child.

The blonde knew that Dan and s'Il had kept that particular bit of information quiet for the time being, but it didn't stop him from making sure that Dan was aware of Dage's all-seeing eye.

[General Dan]

"You've got a point there. Maybe I'm just looking forward to the finish line."

Another sip of caf, and Dan explored what was left unsaid.

"So I take it you're in it for the long haul, then. Thinking about command?"

He wouldn't have to ask hard. He'd put in his time and Dan had long expected Dage to further himself.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"I've thought about the notion."

Once again it was yet another change that he knew inevitably came about. At the same time he was leery of such a prospect. That Dan brought it up now was also not unexpected. The older man had dropped enough hints over the years.

"I'm not going to go clamoring for a position like that, but if I am asked I would more than likely accept. We don't always get what we want, but we get what we need and all of that nonsense."

A wry smile accompanied a shrug.

"If it must be done, then that's that. I'll be here for as long as they need me I reckon."

[General Dan]

"Cut the false modesty crap. I've been waiting for you to get this far along for years. Dage, you've logged enough miles under me. I've already got the forms set aside. Hell, I did that a long time ago. With the fleet expanding and normalizing, you could throw a rock and hit six postings to skipper a capital ship."

He shook his head, and laughed.

"You're no baby bird. You've got wings and you know how to fly. You need to start thinking about making that decision."

[Q. Samus Dage]

And still he made a show of pushing to the side what Dan spoke of.

"I like it here."

There was a glint of the old conniving look in his eye as he took another drink.

"I could always see about finding a way to get you permanently put planetside so's I can have your baby."

Which was an unsurprising fact that Dage had come to the conclusion of many... many years ago - that there were not many things his superior showed significant emotion over. Dage could count only three things that would choke the General up; his wife, his little girl, and his ship.

If ever the Alliance had a career officer, Dan was their poster child.

[General Dan]

Dan's expression turned reticent, and he set his now-cool caf aside.

"A star cruiser's a shade more of a thing than a frigate. Think you got what it takes?"

He didn't like entertaining the exact details of his inevitable departure from command, but this was as safe a place as any to do so.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"A frigate ain't my speed," was the only answer he gave as he set his glass back down.

Despite the look on his face, there was a way in which the general moved; in the way he slid his caf to the side that spoke volumes of Dan's thoughts on stepping down, whether by choice or otherwise.

"But yes, I 'have what it takes' to do the job that I need to do."

A shade of uncommon seriousness passed over his features then, as Dage turned his glass in a tight circle.

"Truth of it is I like where I am. Kori chose to accept a transfer, but I didn't want it."

It was a long-held secret that he'd kept.

"High Command asked me to move as well, but that wasn't what I wanted. Still don't really want, to be honest.

"I'm comfortable here."

At that he gave a knowing look from over the tops of his eyes to Dan.

"Ain't ever had a chance to be comfortable anywhere."

[General Dan]

It was a frustrating impasse, and the General shifted in his seat a little.

"There's only so far I can throw my weight. When my time comes - and it's coming sooner than later - to leave Dauntless, it's on Admiral Reshmar's head to fill that seat. Dauntless is a star cruiser, a ship of the line. He's going to want someone with command chops."

Dan leaned forward again, lacing his fingers together in clasped hands adjacent to his coffee. He didn't plead, but it was close to it.

"I want you in that seat when that happens. Like I said, if it were up to me I'd make it happen. But the price of our success is a military bureaucracy that, to be frank, will screw you if you don't start thinking about your career. Do you want to be someone else's XO here? Keep that seat warm as a perpetual second? It won't be my ship when it happens. It'll be someone else's."

The thought bothered Dan, possibly moreso than it bothered his protege.

"I can pad your resume with conn time. We've likely got a few blue milk runs ahead of us. That's about all I can do. The rest is something you need to think about."

[Q. Samus Dage]

He knew that tone in the General's voice, and while he participated in the gravity of the conversation, Dage had a harder time of showing it than the man across the table from him.

"Aw hell, man," he spoke out the side of his mouth.

"You know I ain't gonna say no to you."

His own drink was shifted from side to side as he leaned back in his seat.

"I'll take whatever time in that chair that you give me; ain't no need for you to ask."

At that he took the glass up, finishing the last remaining dregs of the lager while dismissively waving a hand at Dan. As he set his empty glass back down, a teasing look cast itself across the table.

"Just stop begging. Makes you look desperate... like when you took them four showers in a row after getting swallowed by Urga."

[General Dan]

He got skewered by a dark look at that one.

"I can just as easily bust your ass down to cleaning the head for inspection, so watch it."

It was Dage's way, and neither of them meant anything by it. Still, he got as much as he could out of his veteran officer, and intended to make good.

"Zero Eight Hundred tomorrow, consider yourself under supervised command. Give the patrol order, attend to action items. I may throw you a curve ball.

Just don't scratch the paint."

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Feh."

The command was taken in with his own usual acceptance, and with the mock salute Dage threw at Dan, it was more than obvious that the blonde had accepted the invitation. After all, for as joined at the hip as the General was to his wife, the times that Loklorien had been given command were few and far between. In a way, it was the highest of honors.

Of course now it left their discussion in a slight lull, until the other bantha in the room was finally brought to attention.

"You know," Dage began innocently, "it's amazing what sort of information little girls give you when they're exposed to as much ice cream and sweets as they want."

[General Dan]

Dan paused as he was standing from his seat, glaring at Dage a bit as he pivoted his caf mug in his hand. With anyone else, that kind of duplicity would be seriously out of bounds. As it stood with Dage, it barely was.

"Zero Eight Hundred. Don't be late, Commander."

And with that, he left the table. For both their sakes, he hoped Dage was serious about this.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Oh come on," Dage only half-called, at least sparing his commanding officer too much of a ruckus.

"A simple yes or no to soothe my nerves will be fine."

[General Dan]

The next day passed the way they usually did on board a starship - exactly according to schedule. At least so far.

It was 07:50, and with the morning caf dispensed, Dan glossed over the night watch reports. Of course it was dry as toast, no combat operations, no sensor anomalies, and not even a disciplinary reprimand in the mess. Boring. Young stud ensigns hated boring. Old as dirt Generals loved it.

The General looked at his seat that he stood over, and glanced back to the datapad. Should he bother sitting down? After a moment of deliberation, he decided to take his seat, at least for a few minutes. Dage could spell him, but he was gonna have to ask real nice.

[Q. Samus Dage]

At 07:57, Dage sauntered his way onto the bridge with little to no fanfare, waving away one of the deck officers with a quiet hand. He didn't care if he had 'pads that needed signing at just this moment.

Moving to stand beside Dan, the Colonel let his arms fall to the small of his back in a casual at-ready stance.

"I believe the General requested my presence."

The underlying 'you're in my seat' was tangible.

[General Dan]

A half-smile was there and gone, and Dan carefully rose from his seat, giving the bottom hem of his jacket a tug as he stood. On time and ready to go.

"Yeoman, amend the ship's log. Mr. Dage has the conn."

"Aye Aye, General."

With that, he stood away from the command chair, taking instead the smaller XO chair to the right.

"She's all yours, Commander. Take her out."

[Q. Samus Dage]

It wasn't wwith any amount of flamboyance that Dage slowly turned to lower himself into the seat that Dan occupied, but there was certainly something almost flippant in his movements. Not enough to cause any second thoughts in his superior, but enough to convey that he'd secretly been looking forward to just this very moment.

Settling himself, the blonde turned an almost lazy eye to the General before he swept his gaze over the rest of the bridge. This ship had been their home for long enough that Dage knew each and every part of it almost as well as Dan did. The truth of the matter was that for as much as Dauntless was Dan's baby, it was Dage's just the same. He smiled just a small bit.

"Lieutenant Kastus," he started.

The stocky helmsman partially turned to regard him.

"Take us to bearing eight five mark two two five."

And as an afterthought, "... comfortable pace."

Kastus had been one of Dauntless' helmsmans long enough to know what 'comfortable' meant, and with a nod he turned back to his station.

[General Dan]

Well, if he couldn't call a course, he'd be busted down to finger painting. Dan relaxed slightly, easing his back into an unfamiliar seat, which was situated in an unfamiliar spot to him. The slight strangeness of it made him look around the bridge differently. Funny how something so slight could change your perceptions. He could feel the hum in the ship change almost inaudibly as the sublights picked up, carrying the mass of the cruiser through the ether.

Busying himself, the General brought up the procedures log on his terminal, and immediately shut it down after a glance. Just something to do to appear busy. Dage knew that log probably better than he did, and knew how to delegate its functions. Sensor sweeps would flare out in order of spectrum intensity, followed by sortie orders. The waypoints were essentially fixed - that is - unless they discovered something worth investigating.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Even as Dan shut down his terminal, Dage was running his fingers over the touchscreen of his own terminal. He filed each section of the log with quick succession and expedient motions. He'd done so much of this from his own station that doing it here was no difficult task. One only needed to understand the level changes and apply them correctly. He'd used the General's own terminals before, though never this one. It was that one bit of possession that he respected; this seat was Dan's, and Dage would not violate his superior's space so entirely.

Of course now - now that he'd been invited to do so - it was a secret honor that only he and Dan knew the gravity of.

Not entirely engrossed in his minute tasks, the blonde raised a single eyebrow as a small indicator flashed on the small screen he looked down upon.

He knew that command code, and also knew that it was a private one. While Dan, s'Il, Kori, and himself were a family of four, there were at least some things that were still sacred.

Looking up, he cast a gaze to the starfield as it shifted in the viewscreen. His voice was low enough so that only Dan could hear.

"Your old lady seems to be up early."

With swift keystrokes he sent the message to Dan's terminal.

[General Dan]

It wasn't uncommon for Lok to page him while on duty, it was just a little more awkward than normal for that sort of thing this morning. Looking a little sheepish, Dan gestured ahead.

"Don't mind me, carry on."

He opened the terminal at the XO station, browsing the message momentarily. Plans for the day, and so forth. She wanted to make time for lunch. Depending on how this dry run went, that might suddenly be a lot easier than expected. Dan replied to her, and set aside an hour for repast.

Dan brought his attention up from the message.

"Hell, if you're better at this than I figure you to be, I may just take half the day off."

[Q. Samus Dage]

At that, Dage turned to give the General a strange look.

"You? Half the day? Are you sure that your bizarre Verpine work ethic would allow that?"

It was one of those unmentioned truths aboard the ship; that General Dan never missed a shift unless planned well in advance. It'd become a bit of a running joke that he wouldn't miss his assigned hours even if he'd managed to lose an arm. The crew's speculation was that he'd argue that he still at least had one functioning arm, and would only not be present if both had mysteriously been torn from their sockets.

[General Dan]

"Yeah, well..."

Dan groused, settling into his seat.

"You're gonna have to earn that one. Why don't you set course for the nearest system to detour? Take the scenic route, and have a look around. Going A to B just tells me you can hold a course."

[Q. Samus Dage]

So the General wanted to see more than just the ho-hum fixed point patrol? Dage grinned to himself as he once more returned his attentions to his terminal, and keying in a handful of numbers, he sent a series of course coordinates to Kastus' helm station.

Dage kept his eyes forward as he leaned back in his chair.

"You're putting an awful lot of faith in someone who hasn't found anything better to do with his life but be your tagalong."

[General Dan]

"Don't worry, I'm still close enough to court martial you. Enjoy your training wheels."

The Sundhar system was nearest to their vector. Nothing to write home about in terms of strategic value or major habitations. But even galactic backwaters like this sometimes shook something interesting loose when you examined them. They might find wildcat ore prospectors, or maybe a smuggler or pirate. The latter were doubtful though. While they were fairly close to a space lane, it still didn't register as a major front line sector.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Wounding words," he half-chuckled under his breath.

With their course laid out for the Sundhar System, Dage let himself relax only a small bit as the pinprick starpoints in the viewscreen grew, transforming into brilliant kaleidoscope of lines, and Dauntless thundered into hyperspace.

It was only a short jump thankfully, and after a few short minutes they were back in realspace.

Dan's seasoned crew already knew the routine to follow, and it was bare moments after reversion that long and short range sensor reports filtered to the Dage's terminal. He scanned each one with practiced ease, his thoughts quickly skimming of relevant details and notations from the sensor crews.

"And if we happen upon some shapely princess in need of a daring rescue," he began idly, still combing over the reports coming in, "... am I to expect your intervention? Or do you plan on allowing me the chance to pluck her from the claws of danger like the hero we all know I am."

The Colonel smirked at the thought.

[General Dan]

"Well, that's part of the job, so you'd better get the experience while you can."

Dan enjoyed the quipping, as he watched the outer planet of the Sundhar system grow in their viewer.

"Of course, I'm here to offer the occasional pointer on that too. Just don't go besmirching their honor, those princesses. Don't think a slugthrower wedding warrants a demotion, but a sticky situation nonetheless."

They were at the Lagrange point of the outer planet. According to the book, a skipper ought to launch sorties here. There was only so much that Dauntless's sensors would tell them on this side of a half dozen mass shadows.

[Q. Samus Dage]

"Mr. Kastus, send the word to the Far-Eyes."

Kastus nodded, sending the single inner ship transmission to Dauntless' hangar bay, and directly to the cockpit of the Commander of her A-wing squadron, the Far-Eyes. Lt. Commander Siril Vykov, like most of Dan's senior staff, had been around for a long enough amount of time. He knew the procedure.

A minute later and Far-Eyes were out in space, the compact, sleek forms of their A-Wings lancing outward from Dauntless like rays from the sun.

Dage watched, ever mindful of their tactical and sensor readouts that were being transmitted back to the much larger cruiser.

"Shotgun wedding, eh?" he never took his eye from his terminal. "Hell, it worked for you, didn't it?"

[General Dan]

The General winced a bit.

"Well, that's a little different. Lengthy courtships tend to spread out the besmirching of honor. And wedding or not, the shotgun was always on the table."

The A-Wings continued to fan out from their vector, scanning actively as they cruised in their reconnaissance pattern. The fourth planet of the system lit up on the combined sensor reading with telemetry indicating a breathable atmosphere and signs of habitation, although it was inconclusive if the planet was currently inhabited.

[Q. Samus Dage]

Dage smirked at that.

Vykov and his pilots were as thorough as they were relentless in their scanning, leaving nothing to chance as they wove through the projected flight paths. Each bit of information that was relayed back to Dauntless was amended into Dage's own terminal, and each few moments he refreshed his screen to go over their findings.

So far it was uneventful. More often than not, uneventful was good.

"It was on the table only because it was issued to you."

Dage refreshed his screen once more.

"Truth be told I'm surprised you're still alive; I figured she'd've sent you to an early grave," the blonde gave a sideways look to his superior.

"She certainly turned your hair grey enough, at the very least."

[General Dan]

Dan made a face.

"My hair's always been gray, Dage. I think you're losing your memory in your relative young age."

The banter would continue, if not for a chime at the sensor terminal. Dan was monitoring it all just like Dage, and he sat up a bit in his seat. Something on the surface of the planet was transmitting a signal. At first, he opened his mouth to issue an order, but at the last moment he held back. It wasn't his place to do so.