Day 1

Spay decides to go visit the shuttle and talk to the engineers to check on updates to the systems and any other enhancements built into the current design. As he regularly does between missions and training, he had been keeping up on developments remotely before being summoned to the mission briefing. But nothing substitutes seeing it in person.

Dierdre goes over each man's file, and much to her consternation it's mostly redacted. How can she be expected to do anything approximating her job when most of the men's medical details are hidden. As if that wasn't enough, she had been pressured to medically clear both men. She was either going to lose her job and demand the details she needed to do her job properly, or she was going to go on this mission and the men's health be damned. Seeing as the powers that be clearly didn't care, she decided that she wouldn't either.

Snapping the files closed she conducts her examinations. Only her arched eyebrows tell the tale of her concerns.

Hamlet walked beside Belton on their way to the locker room. "Can you believe this shit? Only the government would be dumb enough to send an ultra-classified satellite up there and not bother thinking of the inevitable eventually of maintenance. If this is their idea of advanced planning I'd hate to see who's looking over my Social Security accounts." Hamlet allows a chuckle. The next 48 hours were going to be taxing, on him, and on Belton, the least he could do was enjoy a brief moment of levity before they had to belly up to the shit sandwich buffet.

"You have a preference? I figure it will go faster if we each focus on one of the pair. Book one of the training rooms to go over the fundamentals before we bother the SCUBA support team and get 'em in the pool. Hopefully they'll both survive take-off and we can pick the least bad of the two when the time comes. Maybe tons of fun is a video gamer, that'll help with the MMU controls, but my bet is on old timer being more capable of not losing his shit when we're floating out there in the great sea of black without a tether."

"Shit brother, have I got some bad news about social security," Belton replies with a laugh. As talk turns to the plan, Belton literally glances behind them, then all around as if looking for spies. Or cameras. Probably cameras.

"Been thinkin' about it. Yes, we get those two as ready as we can in two whole days. But I want a Plan C in place for when shit goes sideways -- and we both know it will. You think they can talk us through the repairs if they can't actually do the job themselves?

I know there's a metric ass-ton of OPSEC in place, but at the end of the day the mission is what matters. We're already experienced with manipulating our environment in the damned suits. Those two are gonna fumblefuck their way through everything.

I dunno man. I'm just trying to figure out what our options are. That notwithstanding, I'll take whichever one you pass on. On the bright side, we only have to condense it down to nine months of training per day. What could go wrong?"

Biting her lower lip, Dierdre find herself in a pickle. She decides to play it safe with her questions while keeping them relevant.

To each one she asks, "How do you feel about claustrophobic situations and the opposite of being a little body in the vastness of space?"

Both patients give answers that amount to "We don't like it, but we will do it because it's our mission." Weintraub definitely seems more worried than O'Neil.

Hamlet fixes Belton with a discerning look running through scenarios, trying to keep his face a non-committal blank mask.

"If it comes to it, we improvise. Whatever it takes to make this mission a success. I'm going to drill these fuckers hard because the last thing I want is to come home with a couple body bags and a busted satellite. It's bad enough that almost nobody is going to know about our work here, it will be even worse if the mission is a failure. All of us will get pushed off to some back office riding out a desk for the rest of our careers and I've got no interest in that."

Hamlet looks around before continuing.

"Cozy up to Weintraub, I'll take O'Neil. See what you can learn, we'll confab tonight. If these are the only possible people who can fix this thing there must be something truly bizarre about what we're dealing with, or something entirely antiquated. I've turned a few wrenches and tinkered with electronics but this has got to be on a whole different level. Talk about the gear they'll need, it might give us some clue as to what they're planning on working with inside the sat."

Not interested in going home to wait out in his solitary apartment during this prep time. Spay makes a visit to some old friends at the facility. He hopes to find out some information about the background on the civilians chosen for this mission and if there is any declassified precedent (or otherwise) for including civilians on a mission such as this...if there ever has been a mission such as this.

Deirdre Turner MD is about to write in her notes that Weintraub seems more concerned about claustrophobia but decides against it. These guys were in such sorry shape that their upcoming training would likely weed them out quickly. The thought did cross her mind that O'Neill could even die, but then it wouldn't be her directly that resulted in either or both of them getting kicked off the mission. The mission needed them though.

Turner lets out an audible sigh as she goes over the thoughts in her head. This was not an ideal corner to be backed into and no doubt revealing that she was told to medically pass both men, should there be issues later, would be categorically denied. She decides to take her chances and wonders when she turned into such a horrible human being. She had been an advocate of Do No Harm.

Weintraub and O'Neil feel both relieved and disappointed at the same time. Turner gets the feeling that they know this mission could be dangerous and that they need to do it, but both also maybe secretly wished they would have a medical excuse to be rejected.

As O'Neil is leaving he says, "Thanks, doc. I appreciate a doctor who doesn't pry too much and just follows orders." You can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not. "Keep an extra eye on Weintraub, I worry about his health."

Weintraub had a kind of bubbly energy, like he wants to talk, but also scared of what he wants to say. As Turner doesn't ask him any probing questions, he doesn't have an excuse to say what he wants and so keeps it bottled up inside. His departing words are, "Al's a good guy. Don't let anything happen to him while we're up there."

Dirk heads into the Sim Bay and asks the controllers to power it on so he can run through the standard set of emergency scenarios that he's already practiced thousands of times. He's always been a good stick and kept a calm head under the worst circumstances, and even two days before launch he's not feeling any pressure.

One thing that is on his mind is the secret nature of the mission and Dirk absolutely loves juicy gossip. He'll ask the sim team everything he can to find out more about the two new mysterious crew members.

"Wait. Weintraub."

Dierdre thought it odd the way both men seemed so concerned about the other.

"Are you and O'Neil best buds? Your concern for each other is admirable. I hope you know you can come to me for anything. I have psych experience and am a good listener and my door is always open should you wish to talk about anything that's on your mind. This must be stressful for you as it is for all of us, so know that you are not alone."