Recon Reports

Posted on 17 Feb 2014 @ 9:41pm by 2nd Lieutenant Zak Keevon & Captain Rebecca Post

1,106 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M11: Feet to the fire
Location: Marine CO's Office

Zak pressed the console near the door to Captain Post's office and snapped to attention as he waited for a response. He'd sent word ahead that he would report to his new CO as soon as he came aboard, and he wasn't going to disappoint. He hadn't even gone to his quarters yet, simply arranging to get his belongings dropped there and making sure his uniform was in proper shape before going directly to meet the Captain. When the door opened he stepped in and saluted sharply. "Lieutenant Keevon reports, Ma'am."

Rebecca glanced up from the picture of her eldest brother, Major Harmon Rabb, which sat on her desk along with that of her other brother and her parents, all of them wearing Starfleet or Starfleet Marine uniforms. She had found herself looking at Harm’s picture more and more ever since she had received that most terrible of news, knowing that the chances were that she would never see him again, and for someone who had been as important in her life as he had, was difficult.

The chime from the door had pulled her out of her reverie, she briefly reached up and checked her marine green beret was still in good order upon her head, although she was the MCO of a shipboard detachment a part of her was still the very junior officer she had been not too long ago. Once she was satisfied she called out.

“Enter.”

She watched as the Marine Officer entered the room and subtly sized him up. A butter bar, but far too old for that rank, so she pretty quickly pinned him as a mustang officer. He carried himself with a bearing not unusual to a Marine. She stood up as he stood to attention and returned the salute crisply, the name however was a total non-sequiter, no one had told her that they were getting any new officers… but then there was every chance that she could have missed that, her mind was hardly on top-form right now.

“Stand at ease, Lieutenant,” Rebecca said simply as she settled back into her seat. “Your orders?”

He handed over the PADD he'd brought from the Starbase, then stepped back a bit from the desk and stood with his hands behind his back. "I'm assigned here as the new OIC of the Recon element. I'm told it's a new billet, so I assume I'm not replacing anyone." He quickly surveyed the room, making mental notes of the few items that might tell him something about his new commander.

"No, they've been working with their respective senior NCOs up until this point, I requested an officer to consolidate the two independent fireteams into a coherent section, I didn't know that the Corps had put this together so quickly," Rebecca replied thoughtfully. "Have you had much experience with Recon Marines before, Lieutenant?"

"I'm afraid not. I completed Recon training after my first assignment on the Howe, and went to OCS right after. I have field experience, but none specifically with a Recon unit.

Rebecca nodded, she herself had been selected for Recon training, although her ordeal on Kavalis and her subsequent time in hospital had put paid to that idea.

"Well we've got some good experianced Marine NCOs in the recon section," Rebecca commented. "In any event, before we leave Earth I'm going to be running some full-platoon exercises on the planet, both your recon section and the line section, I want to get them working together again, what with all the replacements we're getting."

"That's good to hear. I wouldn't want to go into the field without knowing my Marines." Even as a squad leader that idea would have bothered him, and now he'd have both more people under his command and likely more difficult missions. "I'll take some time to meet them and look over their records. Is there anything I need to know about the exercises now, or shall I wait for a briefing?"

"Just that it'll be a routine patrol, I've arranged for some friends at the Marine Infantry Training School to run some drills for us, we won't know what'll be happening until it happens," Rebecca replied. "Assaults and specific missions are comparativly easy to plan and execute, its the stuff in between that concerns me the most."

"Fair enough. Being prepared for the unexpected is obviously vital in our line of work." He nodded. "Well, Ma'am, what else do you need from me?"

"At the moment, just make sure that your section is in order and that all the paperwork is filled in and on my desk in good order," Rebecca replied. "Unless there is anything else..."

"Nothing for now. I look forward to serving with you, Ma'am." He returned to attention and saluted again.

"Very well," Rebecca nodded, standing up to return the salute. "Carry on."

As the Lieutenant left Rebecca settled back into her chair thoughtfully. Whilst on the one hand it was good to have an officer in charge of the recon section, especially a mustang officer, she couldn't help but feel concerned about his lack of field experiance with the Recon sections. The circumstances of her life, and particularly the Kavalis incident, had precluded her from being able to undergo the Recon training she had been offered, but then during the Occupation of Kavalis before her capture she had more than gained similar if not more challenging experiance fighting the guerilla war that they had been forced to do. She hoped that the Recon marines would accept their new Section Leader, the last thing she needed was for there to be a problem within her detachment. She shook her head and sighed heavily, she glanced back over at Harm for a moment before shaking her head again, it seemed that the Corps was sending her replacements, so she should probably start checking them out, she didn't want to be caught flat footed again.

Zak turned sharply and left the CO's office. He hadn't exactly learned as much as he would have liked from this meeting, but at least he hadn't said anything stupid, so he had to consider it a success. It was clear she wasn't pleased with his lack of experience in a Recon unit, but it wasn't as though he'd never spent time in the field. His time with the resistance on Bajor was more useful than most who hadn't been there could ever understand.

Captain Rebecca Post
Marine Detachment Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Achilles

2nd Lieutenant Keevon Zak
Officer in Charge, Marine Recon Section
U.S.S. Achilles

 

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