Posted by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Vaughn (XO) in Holodeck - Austria- Operation Lipizzaner Stallions As Gunny prepared to sit a loud boisterous laugh erupted from Davies as he took a large sip of wine. “See ol’ chap,” he pointed to Gunny but addressed Otto. “Those horses will be in the best hands. I think our Canadian friend could take us all out right here without us even having a chance to defend ourselves,” he nodded to Ransom. : : : : : : “With nothing but a toothpick and a paper napkin,” Jessica said encouraging the conversation to focus on Gunny. Picking up her fork she cut into the slab of meat Helga has set before her. “Once....I saw him throw a fork across the room and nail a guy right between his eyes,” she again threw out a fanciful tale. To be honest, Jessica wasn’t sure it was exactly fanciful. Gunny was a man of many talents. Her situtations might be a bit on the fantasy side but so far there was not a situation she knew Gunny wasn’t able to handle. : : : : : : “Vell maybe you,” Otto said eyeing Ransom. “But I have the reflexes of a cat, the vision of a hawk, the speed of a viper, and an above average intellect. We Germans are not so easily defeated,” he boasted. “Tell me Sir where did you hone your skill,” Otto asked. : : : : : : Jessica actually kept her mouth closed for this one. She did have a million questions surrounding Gunny’s skills. Maybe she would get lucky and get a straight answer. : : : : : : Lt. Commander Jessica Vaughn, XO : : : : The laugh caused a momentary stiffening of Gunny, it would have taken a trained eye to see it. The spotlight made him uncomfortable, especially in a barely conceived, let alone vetted learned and prepared cover story. Now they were asking questions. Jess was likely loving this. Gunny knew very little about this era of Terran history, specifically not enough to really cover the tail end of a mule. Gunny grunted as he settled on down into the chair, it was a casual movement meant to buy him a moment or two. Then the food arrived and he used that to buy a few more before speaking. Jess did not help things with the fork comment. While it was theoretically possible, he had never done such a thing. Eyeing Otto for a very long moment with his mismatched gaze, Gunny shrugged, and simply stated, “The skills of a misbegotten youth, too much time travelling the great beyond, and a stint in the Royal Marines training Gurkhas,”, the Gurkhas were a feared group of British Soldiers from Nepal, that never quit, never surrendered, and had yet to fail to achieve an objective. “And the French Foreign Legion, taught me everything I needed to know so far.” Sparing Jessica a glance, “For the record it was a cheese knife, not a fork, and I was aiming for his eye. So technically I missed.” Gunny stated, he did not feel the need to rise to the measurement contest of the German Officer. Though he did add, “I keep a collection of pressed flowers at home, and my prize is an Edelweiss.” It was a German flower that grew high in the Alps that the toughest Germans wore as a prize to prove how tough they were. : : : : Gunny Ransom : : Jessica was indeed having more than a bit of fun right now. As close as she was to Gunny Ransom the man was still an enigma. If he had a specialty sandwich named after him it would be called The Tough Nut To Crack. It would be made on paradox pumpernickel with clandestine cheddar, mystery meat, inscrutable iceberg lettuce, teaser tomato, fly in the ointment mayo and those spicy hot peppers that kicked your arse the second they entered your mouth. Some people were the bag of chips next to his plate but Gunny didn’t need them to be all that. Breaking from her daydream of the Ransom Deli with its markee that read SINCE YOU FOUND US WE MUST KILL YOU AFTER LUNCH, Jessica decided to liven the dinner conversation. : : “And his collection of Edelweiss is absolutely breathtaking. I have seen it. See he was,” Jessica took a half breath and belted out in song. : : Born on a mountain top in Barrie : Greenest state in the land of the free : Raised in the woods so he knew ev’ry tree : Kilt him a be ‘are when he was only three : Gunny, Gunny Ransom, king of the wild frontier : : “Killed ein pear,” Otto said looking at Gunny and then Jessica with an expression bordering on astoundment and disbelief. “vith vat?” : : “With his bear hands old chap,” Davies broke out with a robust bout of laughter. “Those North American chaps are quite resourceful. Quite resource full and full of humor,” he joked as he filled his glass again and then let out a loud hiccup. : : “Ahhck you had me,” Otto then broke out in a smile pointing a finger at Gunny. : : “There is more to the Ballad of Gunny Ransom. Shall I continue,” Jessica asked not daring to look at Gunny for fear or breaking her neutral expression. : : Lt. Commander Jessica Vaughn, XO Gunny rolled his eyes. His expression almost said seriously! when he glanced at Jessica. A song, she hacked up the ballad of Davey Crocket. Which Gunny only knew because of something that Idiot Jubal Early would sing when he was drunk. Now it was stuck in his head, and hummed along as the words echoed in his head. ‘Born on a table top in Joe’s Cafe, biggest brat, everyone does say, Mother was a bear, father was a deer. Poor Ol’ Davey was a bottle of beer.’ Gunny shook his head to clear the song, and looked at the others with a shrug. Gunny had seen bears in a zoo once, they were big powerful creatures, and kinda scary, and Gunny really highly doubted he could take one in hand to hand combat, well that was not true, all kinds of things happened when your life was on the line. He was resourceful, and could have gone after a bear with no weapons but he was also intelligent, and the weapon just made more sense. Gunny Ransom

“Yes, yes a sing a long,” Davies thumped the table. “By God ol’ man you are a hoot as those Yank’s say. My turn, my turn,” Davies said gleffully clearing his throught once.

‘Born in London in a grand manor house,
My Nana made kumpets while my grandad got soused
Joined the royal air corp to see what I could see
Realized why marry a woman when you can have one two or three
Davies, John Peter Davies, Ace of the flying frontier

Jessica choked on her glass of wine hearing what was supposed to be just a play on words becoming a bit of livey fun. Using her napkin to hide the laughter coming out of ther mouth, she leaned towards Gunny. “Make him stop,” she croaked out her words.

Lt. Commander Jessica Vaughn, XO

Gunny glanced at her, with a this is your fault grin and did nothing to stop the other two, they were off his cover of being Canadian. Gunny took a few bites of the food, and it was pretty good, so he took a few more while they were distracted. Then a gulp of the wine. It was time to turn the tables a bit further Gunny thought for a second.

“Born in the middle of Texas,
Her momma was a mean old lady from Mexias,
Her daddy was lost as can be,
Here is Jessica, Jessica V,
Mean, Ornery, and sneaky as can be,
If you want to live to see,
Never get between her and Coffee”

Gunny laughed and finished off his glass of wine before she could toss it on him. He encouraged the others to try the hand with a wave, and a wink. it was good to get them thinking about something other than where the new comers had come from.

Master Gunnery Sargent Hunter J Ransom, StratOps