Apparently, when it comes to me and the military, my big mistake was telling the Admiral that I was up for just about anything. Now, it seems that as far as the
Galactica command staff is concerned, there's no vacant job in the fleet that they can't think, "well, we'll just let Helo do it".
I'm not really complaining, though. Not too much, at least. The last year or so has been pretty insane when it comes to me and my duty with the Fleet. It does sort of feel as if I've filled about every position possible on the ship, and even one they had to make up for me.
I started out as a Raptor ECO. Not as glamorous as a Viper jock, I know, or even actually
driving the Raptor, but I was in the air, and that was the point. It worked just fine for me. Then, the Colonies fell, and I spent months on Caprica, first playing rabbit, then rebel alongside Anders and his people. Sharon and I got back, and I got to get back in my flight suit and ECO again, but now sometimes I got to pilot, too. And for the most part, it was just the way it was before.
After that came New Caprica, and all of a sudden, there were giant gaping holes in the command structure. At the Admiral's request, I left the flight rotation and started bouncing around higher-up roles in the CIC until finally, Admiral Adama let the Colonel muster out and settle down on the planet. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought the Old Man was having some fun with me when he made the offer, but it was one hundred percent serious. I got a promotion to Captain, and for about five months, I was the Executive Officer of the battlestar
Galactica, second in command.
Then we rescued the survivors, and I stayed at XO until Col. Tigh was fit for duty again. Sufficiently fit, at least. Unfortunately, with the fleet a little thinner than it had been a year before, we were forced to billet hundreds of civilians in the mostly unused starboard flight pod. Originally, the refugees called it "Camp Oilslick". Then, once the cots and tarp walls had gone up, someone dubbed it "Dogsville". The civvies needed an officer to act as liaison and generally keep the peace.
"Let's have Helo do it" went into effect again.
It wasn't my favorite job ever. Nothing but paperwork and a constant stream of people begging me for help that I couldn't give, didn't
have to give. But like everything, I did it as well as I could. Turned out I wasn't too bad at it. After a while, I was happier than I can say to get back into a Raptor. Of course, right after that, Col. Tigh needed some recovery time again, and it was XO Helo once more.
Maybe it'll stick for a while. Probably not.
Capt. Karl "Helo" Agathon
Battlestar Galactica
498 WordsTags: tm response
Current Location: Galactica, CIC
Current Mood: 
confused
Previous 
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
satisfied
nostalgic
frustrated