Gaeta's mouth twists, apologetic and a little rueful. Tayrey quickly moves the subject along, though, and he's just as quick to follow.
"Sounds like you had a good captain," he says, a little quieter. "Fleet Academy is... it was a lot more like a traditional college than that. Four years of academics and physical training to prep you for serving on a battlestar, maybe about half of that on assignment to a ship for the hands-on practicum -- which mostly meant doing all the grunt work none of the officers wanted to do," he adds with a brief chuckle. "Not exactly part of the crew, like your apprenticeship; just some extra hands on deck.
"We sorted ourselves out pretty fast into who wanted to be in a Viper and who wanted to stay in the CIC, so our education got tailored to match. Everybody still had to get flight-certified to graduate, though, which was miserable, gods. I would've let my certification lapse forever if the attacks hadn't happened -- "
He says it so casually that he's not even aware he said it at first. The attacks. Like he's forgotten, for a moment, that Tayrey isn't from the Colonies.
" -- I knew I wanted to stay on the bridge about ten seconds into my first flight sim. Anyway." He shrugs, essaying a crooked smile. "At four years you graduate, you get your permanent assignment, it's on an actual battlestar if you've done well enough, and that's that."
no subject
"Sounds like you had a good captain," he says, a little quieter. "Fleet Academy is... it was a lot more like a traditional college than that. Four years of academics and physical training to prep you for serving on a battlestar, maybe about half of that on assignment to a ship for the hands-on practicum -- which mostly meant doing all the grunt work none of the officers wanted to do," he adds with a brief chuckle. "Not exactly part of the crew, like your apprenticeship; just some extra hands on deck.
"We sorted ourselves out pretty fast into who wanted to be in a Viper and who wanted to stay in the CIC, so our education got tailored to match. Everybody still had to get flight-certified to graduate, though, which was miserable, gods. I would've let my certification lapse forever if the attacks hadn't happened -- "
He says it so casually that he's not even aware he said it at first. The attacks. Like he's forgotten, for a moment, that Tayrey isn't from the Colonies.
" -- I knew I wanted to stay on the bridge about ten seconds into my first flight sim. Anyway." He shrugs, essaying a crooked smile. "At four years you graduate, you get your permanent assignment, it's on an actual battlestar if you've done well enough, and that's that."