Best Laid Plans...
Posted on 27 Oct 2015 @ 5:21pm by Major Richard Sharpe & Lieutenant Xanth
1,575 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
M13-C: Shattered Time
Location: USS Achilles, Deck 31, Marine Offices
Timeline: TBD
This was a lot lower on the ship than Xanth really went. His quarters were on Deck 3, his station Deck 1, the shuttle bays closer to that than they were to the marine centre onboard. But here was, wearing his red collar amidst the squads of green. His presence earned him a few odd looks from the marines walking around, but no one stopped him. There was a slight smile on Xanth's lips, as if he were faintly amused which got him a number of frowns too. Xanth kept walking though until he came upon the right office door. The chime sounded to the Major's ears, announcing his presence and the coming proposal he was going to make.
Sharpe, having learned to intensely dislike it when the door chimed unannounced, looked up from his desk and scowled. Unannounced visitors often, in his experience, brought bad tidings. Usually more work for him to deal with. He could pretend he wasn't there, but he knew he couldn't really get away with that, because the computer would announce this as his current location. This was, as he suspected, how the person on the other side of his door had found him in the first instance. "Come!" He said, loudly.
The red-collared pilot who entered looked completely relaxed as he walked into the office, and his voice was at least as laid back, "Major Sharpe. CFCO Xanth. It is nice to meet you, sir." He helped himself to a chair, sat comfortably, and laced his fingers together over his stomach. The smile he wore had perhaps grown by a centimeter.
"They might do things more relaxed in the naval service, Lieutenant, but on this deck its marine territory, and you ask before you sit your ass on my chair." Richard said, his voice cold and hostile. "But - given that your fat ass is already on my goddamn chair, what can I do for you Mister Xanth? I know you didn't come all the way down here from the lofty heights of the bridge to shoot the shit in my four by five office space."
"May I sit down?" Xanth asked, rhetorically perhaps but also to nettle the marine just a touch. He made himself even more comfortable, his slim frame relaxing. His British accent sounded not at all perturbed by the implied insult and he moved right over it, "I believe shooting the shit with you, Major, would be quite interesting. I would enjoy listening to some of your stories and see what sort of insight into your mind I could get. But you're right, this is business. We can do a social call later. I came to propose some extra training, for your team and mine. How does making both flight teams start to learn the other's job appeal to you, Major?"
Richard leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. It was odd to find another Brit in the service. Most humans seemed to emanate from the Americas for some reason. His own Yorkshire accent would single him out in most rooms, but here, he felt more at ease. "I don't see why not." He said after a pause. "There might come a time when I need more pilots, and I'm sure as hell there will be a time when your lot need them." He paused to consider the man before him. "You're an El-Aurian, or at least part El-Aurian, yet you have a very strong Southern England accent. If I had to guess, I'd say London. Please do feel free to explain that."
Sharpe had many experiences with an El-Aurian, so knew their kind well. They had a... presence... about them, that invited confidence and conversation. Without even trying, an El-Aurian could extract information from you that you never thought you'd reveal. It was quite a gift - but then they were a race of listeners.
The smile on Xanth's face turned a little reserved and his head ducked just a few centimeters; while he and his kind might encourage conversation in others, as a rule they tended to be reserved about discussing themselves much and the pilot was no different in that regard. "My parents were amongst those refugees the Federation welcomed over a century ago, when we trickled into your space in various ships. I suppose I should say 'our' space. I was born and raised on Earth. London, Marylebone." That was enough about himself, and he certainly kept his age from coming up.
"You have a very inquisitive nature, underneath the bark, Major," Xanth gave out one of his observations. An easy one, perhaps, but then he continued. "But it's more than just curiosity. Conversation is another kind of strategy, a way to gather as much information about a situation as possible, so you can make the best plans. Not unlike how you lead your people, keeping them safe with as much intel and skill as you can give them, and that's a part of why you agreed right off about the training. And that's why you were also curious about how much I know about you, isn't it?"
"I like to enter any situation with as much information and preparation as I can." Sharpe replied, calmly, although his hidden demons stirred within him back to a time when failed intelligence had cost him dear. "One learns through experience the value of proper preparation and fore-warning. When you lead as charmed a life as I have, you learn very quickly not to take anything at face value. For example, you could've sent your request for training via a message, but instead, you came all the way down to the bowels of the ship. I didn't appreciate it when you first entered, but you were trying to size me up. Which was why you came in all cock-sure and assuming - because you wanted to see how far you could push me, and if I would try to rip your throat out."
"Jury is still out on that last part, by the way, Lieutenant." He smirked, pronouncing the rank with the British inflection of Leftenant.
"A pretty good guess," Xanth nodded, chuckling a bit at the inflection on the rank. Most people had looked at him odd when he had tried to say it that way, especially people and aliens not from Earth, so he'd learned to do it differently since then. "But maybe I am just cock-sure and assuming all the time. You know what they say about us pilots." That relaxed, laid back demeanour he'd had since striding in through the door and taking a seat like he owned the place hadn't changed at all, but there was a growing understanding between them that made his behaviour less confrontational and more conversational. "But I did want to see who I'd be putting my pilots under the authority of before just handing them over, yes. We wouldn't be good leaders of our teams if we didn't enter a situation with as much information and preparation as we can get. You're full of wise words today."
"Well, it had to be a first for something." Sharpe mused. "Lets get the training sorted, Mister Xanth."
They got down to business then, working it out. Each department had a number of pilots on rotation, each one with their own speciality, temperament, and experience. It was surprising how many details went into their plan to make sure that everyone they would assign to the cross-training program was going to get the most out of it that they could. There would be holodeck simulations, systems and component tours, briefings and classes, all before anyone touched something they didn't know how to fly. Only then would they try out a marine on the bridge to steer the massive vessel, or a red-collared pilot in one of the marine dropships, with supervision and follow up reports to assess successes and areas of improvement. Of course the whole plan would have to go through the XO before it could start up, but by the end of it Xanth was confident the idea would pass.
"You really do get every single detail you can, Major," Xanth said with a laugh as he leaned back in his chair away from the desk he'd been hunched over, cracked his neck a few times to loosen up. "If I'd have known how long this would take I'd have brought a whole jug of raktajino with me."
"You play with Marines... you should come prepared." Sharpe smiled.
"Hmm." Xanth tapped on one of the PADDs he'd been working on, transferred the data to the Flight Control database in his office so he could work out the duty roster from there later, and draw up his report to the XO about the idea. It had been a fruitful conversation, but he'd been expecting that. "So, Major, any other thoughts before we wrap up?"
"Nope, but do keep me in the loop on your discussions with the ExOh." He replied.
The El Aurian stood, stretched to his full tall height, and worked a kink out of his neck, "A pleasure, Major. And if you're ever looking for some more conversation, well, I'm happy to listen." He gave one of his small smiles, nodded his head, and went on his way.
Lieutenant Xanth
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Achilles
Major Richard Sharpe
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Achilles
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