Posted by Jeremy DeSpain in Promenade People Watching

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Aaron Foley (Executive Officer) in Promenade People Watching

Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Kelly Pippin (Marine) in Promenade People Watching

Posted by Lieutenant Gabriel “Gabe” McMichael (Strategic Operations Officer) in Promenade People Watching
<Snip>

“That’s an interesting reason. I would have thought ‘boredom’ to be the more dangerous because everyone’s boredom level and reactions are different. If you are doing it for profit, those involved would be easier to connect and track.” His reasoning made her seriously think. It was one of the reasons she made sure the soldiers under her command were never bored. Because with their training, the things they did for ‘entertainment’ couldn’t be predicted. And were often not on the funny side, but on the ‘uncalled for’ list. The fact that Gabe thought just the opposite made her turn sideways to face him completely. “Would love to know how you come to conclusion.” The interest on her face was almost comical. She had just had something cross her mind she hadn’t considered and now she was a sponge wanting to know why he thought that way. It opened a new line of reasoning for her she hadn’t contemplated before and the intrigue was evident on her face.

2nd Lt Kelly Pippin
Marine

Gabe shrugged, “Profiling people is what I do best. So I have lists of the major, and medium players in the game out there. As well I have all the obtainable facts on them. That allows me to build a profile, with said profile, I can fairly accurately predict what they will do with a given stimulus, and how long it will take before lack of stimuli will drive them to create an event or stimulus to work with. That makes them easier to predict. Those for profit have nothing but money to gain or lose. That means that this stimulus may not draw them, or may have been created by them. They are not ideological so predicting it ahead of time is impractical and generally unfeasible unless I know they are trying to generate a profit in an area at the moment. Inherently it is easier to track and prove the ones done for profit. But they are harder to predict and stop. It comes down to what you know. You have Knowns and Unknowns. You have known knowns, things you know you know, known unknowns, things you know you don’t know, I worry over the Unknown Unknowns, the things I don’t know, that I don’t know. Since the known knowns, I already know, and the Known Unknowns, I am working to change, it is what I don’t know I am missing that bothers me.” Gabe explained, it went deeper than that but that was a good summarization in his opinion.

“I could explain it further, but that will take a bit of time, a white board, and coffee” Gabe said as he leaned against the rail looking at her.

Lieutenant Gabriel McMicheals, SOO

While the smile on Kelly’s face broadened, surprisingly what he said made sense. “Then that’s what Marines are for, I suppose. Handling those unknown unknowns when they occur. Right?” She laughed at his white board and coffee comment. “Careful, Gabe. One day I may show up with some colored markers and a couple coffees.” She turned back to lean on the railing and look down at the strangers, friends, colleagues and other passerbys scurrying around below them. “We’ll known knowns are fairly easy to remove the equation, at least for me. If I know it, no need to worry about it. Known unknowns can be deduced, to a fairly reasonable degree, based on location, players and other variables. Escape routes are limited on a space station, less so on a planet, cargo hiding places are the same. It’s another reason I prefer a ship or station.”

She glanced sideways at him. “This station is contained. There are a finite number of ways on or off. A finite number of hiding places. And depending on the dimensions of said hidden object, even more limitations. Information is the same way. Wihin a set populous like the Maggie, we can limit the unknown unknowns to, usually, a more reasonable set of parameters. Don’t you think?”

It crossed her mind briefly that if Gabe were her trainer, Intel might be something she’d consider revisiting. On the downside, if Gabe were to become her supervisor, it would limit the places and times they could meet. And at this point, she want sure it was a good trade off. Shaking the known unknown (whether he was interested in her or not, beyond their current banter) aside, she waited for his response.

Kelly

Gabe shrugged, inherently she was correct, but she was also incorrect at the same time. “Intrinsically yes, that is what the Marines are for. They are the hammer we hope not to need to swing, at the anvil we hope we never use, to create the peace we think that we want. And you would be surprised how many ways there are off this station, while yes they are finite, they are not always all covered and watched. Everything has Variables, it is controlling as many of them as possible that makes the deduction possible. And yes I think, many would say often I think too much” Gabe Smiled again, and there was a hint that he almost stuck out his tongue in a cheeky response. It had not been done, but that was all that had been missing from the momentary expression.

Though he was not empathic or telepathic, he could read body language. Her response to his statements was positive, and trending to flirtatious. Gabe was in a quandary with how to proceed, he had promised the Captain no messes. He had promised himself no entanglements. Definitely wanted to avoid leading the woman on, that was not his style, in his personal life. Though at the moment, until they crossed a specific threshold, they were just friends. Well as close as Gabe had to friends, he was in a business were friends were targets, and sometimes hindrances.

Lieutenant Gabriel McMicheals, Strategic Operations Officer

While flirting wasn’t on Kelly’s mind, being able to just be herself and not one of the ‘tough guys’ had allowed her to relax in Gabe’s presence and enjoy his company. Her smile broke into a small giggle as he made the comment. She could almost imagine his tongue sticking out. ‘Almost’ because she honestly couldn’t picture the stoic man ever doing something like that.

Kelly watched Gabe as something came to mind. “Have you ever given courses on the things you do or do you enjoy being the ‘one in the know’, so to speak? Because if you ever need another pair of eyes, I’m willing.” She turned to look him straight on to see what his reaction would be. She was serious. As a Marine, unless the world was tipping into chaos, there was little for her to do except rounds with security when needed. If there was something active on Gabe’s plate she could dig a proverbial fork into, she may just have found the reason she ended up here.

Her head tilted slightly as she watched for his reaction. His reaction would be one tell… his words another. He wasn’t the ‘only’ one with skills. A sly smile upturned the corner of her lips as she watched and waited.

2nd Lt Kelly Pippin
Marine
(hammer and anvil heheheehe)