Sunday Snippet: Nugget Training

AHHHHH! Season finale for The Walking Dead tonight and I'm excited and actually a little frightened. Last week's ending kind of hurt, right?

Let's see… what else from this fairly big week of TV? The Flash messing with the timeline proved kind of interesting. I have to wonder if maybe Wells didn't get split, or possibly has an evil twin wandering around. Not sure how I feel about the idea, but I could probably get behind it. Arrow blew my mind again. So in love with this show. I won't get into too much detail, but every actor is pretty much spot on and giving their all. I LOVE it.

Bitten also brought the goods. Watching Greyston Holt go really creepy as Sean Rogerson's Alestair proved to be great. Nice bit of acting there. I have one small quibble. For all the times the witches have claimed to know everything, they sure get shit wrong an awful lot. Frankly, I expect more from Ruth, but I also like the huge changes in storyline deviating from the books, so… yeah, there's that. I'm just not sure I like how they come across as so uninformed, yet give off the vibe they know it all. But hey, I love Paige and Nick, so hopefully the witches can stick around. :D

And, that's it for TV this week.

Tonight's post is from Nugget Training, a working title until the real one prangs me over the head.

Here's the tagline:

Bonnie Bash has issues with remembering boundaries and it gets her in trouble with Taggart Allen, her immediate superior—especially when she sometimes forgets she has to respect the rank. She quickly learns why she frustrates Tag so much when she's thrust into training a group of fifteen newbie pilots, nuggets, and not one has a clue or even cares about how the chain of command works.

And a sneaky peek…

Bonnie did a slow count to fifty. Nugget training. If the commander wanted her to die an agonizing and painful death, he couldn't have given her a better way.

Her gaze strayed to the clock on the wall. Ten freaking minutes and not a single newb even spared her a glance in the last five. They'd heard her come in, heads turned when she entered the room. Narrowing her eyes, she made a quick decision. If her group didn't think they needed instruction, she'd show them otherwise.

Raising her voice, she shouted. "You know, I'm blessed to have such an outstanding class of nuggets." The group quieted a little and most looked her way. "Wanna know why?" The last stragglers stopped talking and turned to pay attention.

Good. She'd let them sweat a little.

One brave soul, Marti Beasley, call sign Moonbeam, responded. "Why?"

The class finally settled and the others nodded, wanting to hear the answer, little mini-conversations starting back up again.

Bonnie shrugged. "Because you guys know it all already." Stalked to the front of the room. "So come on. Let's go." She clapped her hands together. "Time to jump inside the cockpit and head out there." Her arm swept wide, indicating the darkness of space, visible through the observation deck's huge windows.

No one moved and everyone finally shut the hell up.

Bonnie tilted her head to the side. "What? No snappy comebacks?" She pinned a wet behind the ears ensign with a hard gaze. "Chalk Dust? You've got nothing to say?"

His cheeks went red and he jerked his head back and forth. He'd been one of the last to finally zip his lips.

Bonnie snorted. "I find that hard to believe. Your mouth hasn't stopped flapping since I walked in the door." She threw her arms up. "Come on!!" Her voice rose higher. "Patchwork, Bobbo, Bird Dog. Let's hear from you." She leveled her gaze on the trio, their heads hanging down.

Not a sound or whisper of response.

She whirled around. "No one? Really? I walked in here ten minutes ago and it finally gets quiet now?" She turned and faced the group again. "Basic training, what did you all learn? When an officer enters a room, you give them your attention." She swept her gaze over the entire group, shaking her head. "At the very least you shut the hell up. It's called respect people. You don't have to like me. Hell, you don't have to respect me…Bonnie Bash. But you damned well better respect the rank, which is lieutenant, two grades higher than ensign." She paused a moment, then continued. "It's all we have out here between us and the enemy. The chain of command. And until you nuggets actually learn how to fly combat, the chain starts here. With me." She pointed to herself, please to see she had every single eyeball in the class on her.

Tag stepped into the room and Bonnie snapped to attention.

She barked. "CAG on deck." Face set, eyes straight, she stood with perfect stance.

The nuggets all scrambled out of their seats and made a horrific attempt to mimic her. Notebooks and pencils went flying and the group jostled and bumped into each other trying to get turned around to face the front of the space. Bonnie fought the urge to roll her eyes.

Tag nodded in her direction. "At ease. Lieutenant."

Bonnie relaxed. "Sir." She stepped to the side, making room for Tag to address the class.

He strode further into the area and his eyes met hers when he got close. "Nice speech." He swept his gaze around the room. "I think they get it now." He moved to stand in front of the class. "How about it, nuggets? Everyone got a clear picture of how things will move on from here?" He lifted a brow, waiting on a response.

Bonnie couldn't have been more shocked when the entire group responded in unison. "Yes, Sir."

Tag inclined his head. "At ease, then." He shot Bonnie a quick flash of a smile. "Lieutenant, I leave our new nuggets in your capable hands." Walking back the way he came, Tag kept his pace measured and steady until he reached the exit. "I can't wait to see you guys do gyro training." His laughter lingered after he strolled through the doorway.

The group groaned and settled into their seats.

Bonnie smirked. "You might not want to eat before class that day." She took a spot behind the podium and glanced over her class of newbie pilots. "Let's get through combat and tactics first though, okay?" She adjusted the switch to dim the lights and flipped on her overhead projector. "To begin…"

Bonnie getting a dose of her own medicine is so much fun to write. And Tag has a strong appreciation for it, too.

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flip.

ML Skye