n.o.s.l.e.e.p.f.o.r.t.h.e.w.i.c.k.e.d {open}

["Colonel" Unity Axel]

A sigh passed her lips as she stepped from the bathroom, steam billowing out into her bedroom as she held the towel close to her body, walking over to the vanity and sitting down to look at herself in the mirror. A carefree fun-loving girl used to look back at her but not anymore. All she saw nowadays was a cold hearted bitch that talked big but really didn't know what she was doing. Well it wasn't quite like she didn't know how to run a ship or give orders... she just didn't know if she was leading them in the right direction. Her father had a vision for her and she was trying to live up to his high expectations.. that is if.. she could.

Letting out another sigh, she ran a brush through her curly red hair, staring at herself, eyes hard and empty of any specific emotions. She pulled her hair up into a tight bun at the top of her head and stood, moving to her closet to pull out her uniform. It probably wouldn't be long before someone came knocking on her door. They were always needing something from her. Wasn't she ever allowed some peace and quiet? To have her own relationship? Family? Home? It just didn't seem to be in the cards. She pulled out her military jacket, covered in badges that showed just how great she was. She pulled out her skirt and a white button up blouse and set them all on her bed.

Her room on the ship was the biggest and most elegant. She had worked hard for it but that still didn't make her feel deserving. Dropping the towel to the floor she shuffled in her drawers and pulled out some lacy undergarments. Sure she seemed really uncaring and a bitch on the outside but she was still a woman with her own needs and feelings. But her position required her not to show those feelings. To anyone. She got dressed slowly, enjoying the alone time she had, since she didn't usually get a lot of time to herself.

Fully dressed, she stood in front of the floor length mirror adjusting herself and making sure she looked the part. Commanding officer Colonel Unity Axel. Her heels clicked on the floor as she turned around to check herself out. Perhaps if she could force a smile she might actually look cute in her uniform...

count : count x3;; tags : open
noted : rawr rawr rawr
credited : KBIRD of caution 2.0

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[jacksoncliche]

Jackson Cliché stood at the door to Colonel Axel's door a slight frown developing on his face. He'd been on board a few hours himself, checking in with the various departments and making sure everything was running smooth. Sometimes it seemed the life of the First Officer never ended, especially on a ship this size. But that was the price that came with promotion. Not that he'd wanted the promotion but that was neither here nor there.

His uniform was freshly pressed and in order. Out of pure habit more then anything he'd left his jacket unbuttoned and open, something he'd picked up from his days as a Staff Sergeant that he'd never quite let go of. Regulation stipulated that he now report to the Ships commanding officer and make himself known. This was certainly going to be an interesting event to say the least, as he knew next to nothing about his c/o except for her name, the fact that she was a woman no less, and that she was a good seven or so years younger then he was. What fun.

With a deep breath Jackson turned his expression as neutral as possible in an effort to hide his usual mixture of annoyance and frustration, along with the fact that he hadn't much sleep in the last couple of days as he studied up on his new assignment. Knocking on the door he assumed the 'at attention' pose and waited for a response.

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["Colonel" Unity Axel]

Unity's ears perked as she heard movement outside her door. She waited to see if it was someone passing by or someone who actually required her attention before she moved from the mirror. Satisfied that she looked the part, she moved away from her cold reflection and to the door. Opening it, she kind of assumed who would be standing there and she was pretty much right on target. "Major Jackson, am I correct?" She raised an eyebrow and gave him a tilt of the head. "Welcome aboard." She stepped from her doorway and shut the door behind herself. She gave him a respectful salute and nodded that he should follow her down the hallway.

"I trust things are running smoothly?" She hoped there was no trouble just yet, they had only just taken to the skies, the last thing she wanted was trouble before she could get her bearings. "I'm fairly new to this position Major and I respect the years and experience you have over me. I'm going to be honest with you for a moment. I do not trust many and I certainly haven't come to trust anyone on this ship as of yet. I hope that will change and I can count on you as my right hand man that you are. I will look to you on occasion for help but I ask you not think of this as a weakness but a strength." It was true, she needed allies to get by.

There would come a time when she would need these men and women to fight under her command, she had to make sure she befriended those in power, make sure no one wormed their way out of her grasp. Plus... it would keep her sane, to have someone to trust. "Without further ado I would like to know the status of the troops. How is everything coming together so far? And yourself? Have you settled in well?" She seemed almost genuinely concerned about his well being.

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[jacksoncliche]

Jackson was pleasantly surprised by the Colonels appearance. He had been expecting someone... less attractive to say the least. "That would be me, ma'am." Staying at attention for the time being he hoped he was making a good impression. He returned the salute with the precision of a man with a few to many years practice.

"Apart from the usual grunts and groans, everything is running smoothly." stated Jackson as he fell in line with his commander. The problems were relatively minor and were pretty routine for a ship this size, and seemed to fall under his jurisdiction anyway. "Certainly ma'am. I'll certainly do my best to help you in any way that I can, though I'm sure you'll be fine." Not one to waste words in formal situations like this, Jackson began to garner a modicum of respect for the Colonel. There weren't many officers these days that were willing to admit they were fallible. This was certainly going to be an interesting partnership.

Hell he might actually come to like serving under this officer, unlike many of the many he'd had the displeasure of serve with over the course of his career. He might not even have to attempt to mould this one much at all. "By the looks of things we are running on schedule. The troops and supplies will be loaded up on schedule and the final checks on the new systems are being run as we speak. Everyone seems excited to get underway." If the rest of the trip ended up being like this, Jackson was going to go bald from tearing his hair out in frustration. As the First Officer he seemed to be getting all the pedantic and unnecessary questions. Hopefully it got better. "I'm doing okay so far. Just need a little time to adjust and get used to it all." Normally he would've asked how his commander was doing, but that seemed slightly inappropriate at this juncture. Maybe in a day or two when he'd adjusted to his new superior.

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["Colonel" Unity Axel]

She allowed a brief smile to grace her lips momentarily as she paused at the end of the hall, mulling over what he had told her of the ship's current activities. "Unfortunately Major doing fine is not quite an option for me. I can't promise to be perfect nor do I expect to but I do expect to live up to the expectations of my men. I want them to trust that I won't lead them to disaster. I know my size, age, gender and looks doesn't exactly demand respect from anyone..." She paused and had to bite back a sigh, perhaps this wasn't going to be as big of a hassle as she originally thought it might.

She glanced up at him, "If you need anything or need a break from your work schedule please let me know. I can't have my second in command breaking under stress. I daresay if you break I'll soon join you in the mental ward. If there's anything I can take off your plate let me know, I would like to be of use to this ship." She nodded and continued on down the hallway, passing other officer dorms as she walked. All the most important people on the ship were housed in similar locations. The Major, she assumed, was probably only a few doors down from her own and probably had the second biggest living quarters.

She had many questions for him but figured they were best left till another time. It was perhaps inappropriate for her to ask such questions anyway. Their relationship was suppose to be based solely on work and not anything more. How did someone expect her to fight for another though, if she felt nothing for him? You were suppose to feel nothing for the enemy. But lately she was having a difficult time with that as well.

"We should be taking off shortly if everything is going according to plan. I haven't quite decided if I want to show my face on the bridge first or the cafeteria." It was kind of an attempt at humor, to lighten the mood a bit. Already the stress was rolling in...

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[jacksoncliche]

Jackson smiled a little himself as he thought for a few moments. "I'll see what I can do, Colonel. My busting grunts asses quota probably needs to be filled anyway." But then again, his busting grunts asses quota always needed to be filled. It seemed to be a Sergeant thing and he enjoyed immensely. Hopefully the Colonel had some sort of sense of humour or this was going to be a long trip. "And I'm sure you'll get their respect eventually. You just have to know which buttons to push..."

"Don't worry, Colonel. I've just recently learned about the power of delegating, and it makes for a rather refreshing change in pace. It's also somewhat invigorating if I say so myself." Cliché eyed the officers as they passed, but kept from staring for to long. He may have been the second in command, but the Sergeant in him refused to die. One of these days he was going to have to learn to picture them all as NCO's and hope for the best. One or two raised an eyebrow as his relaxed uniform but said nothing. "But you'll be the first to know if I start to lose the plot." And hopefully he would soon be able to return to his quarters and close his eyes for an hour or so before things got any more hectic.

Figuring they were getting on so far, Cliché hoped he could keep it up. He really wanted to find a commanding officer that wasn't a complete prick and that he could actually get on with. Yeah there'd be fights and arguments down the road, but that was inevitable. And so long as they were kept out of the public eye it'd probably work out okay. He had his own questions, but they'd be answered in time, and he was a patient man.

"That reminds me, the idiots in navigation asked me if you had anywhere in particular you wanted to get started? Or are just going to be 'twiddling our thumbs until some of the bucktoothed yokels cause a ruckus', in their words?" Shaking his head slightly, Jackson's smile grew a little. "And as to where you want to start, the question is would you much rather start this shift off on a full stomach or a shitty mood?"

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["Colonel" Unity Axel]

Unity couldn't help but smile softly. This man was rather odd but as far as she could tell, would be a good second in command. Hopefully nothing would happen to her and have to put him as Commanding Officer, she had a feeling with anymore stress he'd tear all his hair out. "Well bust away Major. I don't want any slackers on my boat. Everyone should do their best otherwise we're just gonna float around in the black."

She nodded to the officers as they passed, not really sure what to say to them. She knew she wouldn't be able to learn all their names. There was just too many. Plus she was pretty positive that half of them she wouldn't even come face to face with. "Well if you find delegating so invigorating I suppose I can leave anything like that up to you? Takes some off my plate." She was obviously teasing, she would never shirk her duties off on someone else.

She sighed, knowing that this was all going to be difficult and it seemed all the drama was already starting. "I guess if they're going to be so difficult on the bridge than I'll just get myself something to eat and then go visit them. If they're not going to at least respect my rank I'm just going to make them wait." She nodded down a hallway and turned to look at him. "Would you like to join me for something to eat? I have to tell you about some news I received from my superior. I swear afterwards I'll let you get some rest."

[jacksoncliche]

A small smile appeared on Cliché's face, but for a different reason. It had been a while since he'd been able to have some grunt related fun and to have permission to act near enough to his old self would be fun. "I'll make sure of that no problem."

How the hell were there so many officers on this ship? Cliché knew that it was a big ship, but he figured most of the work would be done by low paid grunts and military contractors. Hopefully there wasn't to many leaders and not enough followers as the old saying went. "I guess it'll depend on how exciting the work is ma'am." Joked the Major right back, hoping that the amount of seriousness in the statement was lower then he thought.

"One of the many benefits of command, is in making everybody wait. At least that's what I've been told."Pausing for a few moments Jackson considered the request. "I guess I could do with something to eat and a bit of news from those up on high. And don't worry about my lack of rest, I've certainly had a lot worse out in the field."

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["Colonel" Unity Axel]

Unity couldn't help but grin slightly. It really wasn't professional to be joking around with him as much as she was (and it really wasn't a whole lot) but she couldn't help it, it was a nice stress reliever and it really made her almost look forward to the voyage and give her a bit of hope that perhaps it wasn't going to be a total drag.

She came to the end of the hall and turned to go down a flight of stairs down to the lower level wear the kitchen and cafeteria was located. Her stomach was definitely requesting to be fed before going about her duties. Plus if she waited till much later to eat she was sure to be biting everyone's head off before they even left port. "Come on, lunch is my treat." She offered, chuckling softly, "You can scare all the little soldiers in there."

She paused as she walked down the staircase and waited for him to join her. "If you want that is. I hear the food only gets worse each day we're floating in the 'verse."