Keeping with tradition
Posted on 29 Apr 2018 @ 8:27pm by Captain Ricardo (Rico) Montoya & Lieutenant Commander Cevel Th'raran & Lieutenant Voric Miller & Lieutenant Jason Mitchell & Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Larsen
2,544 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
M-14 New Beginings
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 3 - 0615
Rico had been up for some time as was usual. After a good workout, a good breakfast he strolled into his ready room raring to go. Setting his water on his desk he pulled up the PADD for the meeting ahead of him. He was expecting push back from both security and the MCO but that was a given. Regardless of the issues either of them raised, he knew what he wanted to established and they were just going to have to deal with it. Hopefully any objections were minor, but he was prepared for the worse if to came to it.
Larsen walked in, still fresh from his overnight shift, looking at the CO. "I'm supposed to be here?" he questioned, wondering what this was going to be about. He hadn't heard anything about troubles between the two staffs as of yet, everyone was still pretty new. He was wearing the Senior Chief Petty Officer ranking on his normal Marine uniform. He was going to fight to wear what he had earned, no matter the consequences.
As no one else had arrived yet he motioned his new COB to a seat on the couch to his right. "Chief...let’s talk."
"Lay it on me Cap," Larsen said standing there, going to "at ease". "What seems to be the issue?"
Pointing to the seat again; "You're not in trouble so no need to brace for a dressing down."
"Understood, but enlisted don't sit in the presence of high ranking Officers. Not the way it's done." Looking at the couch, he looked back at the Captain. "No disrespect Cap, but I don't sit for much."
"Now, I did a little digging and while there was that incident on Vulcan; I didn't see any disciplinary action resulting in you getting discharged, court marshaled, or anything of that nature; which would have kept you from Fleet service anyway. Nor did I see any kind of transfer requests on your part.
“A transfer between departments or duty stations is one thing; between branches is something else entirely. For a Major to have pulled of what she did would have required the assistance of a flag officer; that or she falsified records and then somehow deleted those records. Either way things were done, not to comply with the regulation, but to accommodate someone’s personal agenda."
"Now yesterday's formal request was only verbal so that gives you some options. I can personally go to the Major and order her to produce the documentation to support her actions or I can initial actions, behind the scenes and get what we need to expose those involved. One would most likely restore your original orders and place you under her command. The other could fry herself important ass and allow for charges...maybe even conduct unbecoming."
Thomas slightly fidgeted, his hand brushing the PADD he kept on his hip. He had gotten there early to hand in the formal, written, articles he had done through his shift to get his old rank back. Fleet itched; something about the rank just didn't feel right. "That would be your choice Cap, but I've already written the formal complaint and planned on handing it over before the meeting started. I have not sent it in to be examined just yet. The Major, for all I care, can sit and rotate. She's never been a combat Marine; she's always hidden behind a desk. This isn’t the first time I've had to deal with her."
Rico shook his head. "The ball is still in your court. You can turn in that formal complaint, but consider this. One, according to record, you are no longer in the Corps and if she has backing, how far do you think your complaint will go?
"This major was able to accomplish something that she shouldn't have been able to and is most likely expecting a fight. Personally, I hate officers that toy with others and circumvent or manipulate regs for their own agenda...had to deal with that myself lately. That said my recommendation is to wait, let us see what we can find, keep your nose clean here so there is nothing to support her position."
Pausing he leaned forward, "Don't give her what she is expecting and no doubt ready for. Remember your Sun Tzu...'pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance', but better still, 'be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of your opponent's fate.'"
He leaned back, “The choice is yours."
"I'll hold off on sending this in then," Thomas said with a slight growl. "Just wish she would give me ten in the ring, see what she could really do." Stepping back he shook his head. "Apologies, I'll go with your course of action Cap. But when it comes back, I want my ring time with her."
Smiling he nodded, I understand your frustration...believe me...delayed gratification can be a difficult pill to swallow. Along those lines, I will need you in proper uniform." Knowing the old Marine was going to object he raised a hand to cut him off. "I already know what you are going to say, but as a matter of record you are not in the Corps anymore so there are regulations to be followed. How do you plan on enforcing the rules on the rest of the crew if you aren't following them yourself? Beside we have a Green Lieutenant...I believe butter bar is the term...for our MCO. The last thing we need is him causing problems."
"I'll work on the uniform," Thomas said. He'd earned the right to wear the uniform with pride, he was the Corps, and he was the culmination of what he had worked so hard for.
Rico thought for a moment. "Correct me if I'm wrong but the label used for senior enlisted of your rank is 'Top', is it not?"
"Top, Chief, anything except dickhead," Thomas said with a laugh. "That's one thing that I will not answer to."
Rico huffed a laugh. "Well Chief is more of a Fleet term than Marine. I’ll pass word that you are to go by Top; as a way to acknowledge what you've evened."
Thomas had been thinking deeply and looked up as the Captain said his new title was going to be 'Top' much like it had been in the Marines. "I have a single condition on the uniform. When I'm on away missions in your stead, it's done in fatigues. The entire unit." He was going to wait for the response, when suddenly the chime sounded.
Lieutenant Miller rang the chime and was ready for whatever came up. He had a PADD and he believed he was ready for anything.
The time being almost 645. Before answering the chime, he motioned to the door to his private room. "Top you can use my room there to change over."
Nodding Thomas ordered a new uniform before stepping inside the room, and hearing the door slide behind him. It took roughly two and a half minutes for him to change to the new uniform, place the old one in the reclaimed and attach his rank to his collar.
Ordering a coffee he acknowledged the chime. "Enter."
Stepping out of the Captains room Larsen seemed even more uncomfortable, and even more angry than he had in his fatigues. Tugging at the tight command collar he stood to the left of the Captain, hands behind his back, facing the door.
Even though, unlike the majority of his race, he had embraced emotion he still hid both his eagerness to get underway and his curiosity as to what was to come from this early morning meeting. Stepping into the ready room he greeted those already present. "Good morning Captain, Chief."
Almost literally a step behind Miller, Jason had taken time to go over his uniform and ensure it was inspection-professional standard. His curiosity had been piqued by the appearance of what seemed to be a Marine First Sergeant, acting as the Chief of the Boat, and this seemed a likely time to find out why or if something had changed. A few 'Murphy' scenarios had already run through his head, and some of them were less than comfortable. Stepping fully into the room, he took a moment to look around before acknowledging both a polite nod of the head while keeping his expression unreadable. Spotting the table, he went and stood behind one of the chairs, again as far from Rico as he could manage, and waited until they were told to be seated.
Cevel stepped into the Ready Room and looked at the Captain, "Sir."
He moved steadily to the chair closer to the Captain and glanced once again at the Captain before taking a seat.
Rico was at his desk looking across to the other officers that sat around the coffee tables. "Gentlemen, before we depart, in little over an hour, I wanted to get all of you together concerning the duties of the Marines aboard ship." Looking to his new COB, "Top, you are the only one I haven't at least mention the subject to."
"Lt. Mitchell and Mr. Larson already know there is a longstanding Naval tradition of Marines providing Security duties and I want to restore at least some of that. This is something I picked up from my former CO and it worked so well that I planned to implement it on my own command. Another reason is that Marines have a warriors ethos...and it is unwise to have warriors sitting on there hands. Classes, PT, weapons training, and preventative maintenance can only last so long before routine turns to boredom and boredom leads to negligence or apathy. It's like over sharpening a blade...eventually use make the blade worthless.
"To prevent that I want to include the Marines in any security patrols. These patrols, no need for battle dress or side arms, a simple Type 1 phaser kept out of sight & out of mind will be fine. No need to have the crew thinking they are under martial law. Of course weapon grades can be increased based on alert statuses or as ordered. Additionally, I wanna see joint training, like weapons or hand to hand techniques, rescue ops, and as monotonous as the duty would be; rotational Brig duty.
"Naturally each department would retain their core responsibilities. Ships tactical, investigational, and protective duties will remain with Security. Just as troop based offensive/defensive combat, boarding operations, and recon duties remain with the Marines."
Jason sat when indicated, and paid strict attention to Rico's wording. Pulling out the ever present PADD, he quickly began typing what was being said in a cryptic shorthand, without looking at the thing. The listing of the duties caused him a few moment of intense thought, as the numbers would make it more squad-based training than unit based. Something he'd have to work on. For the moment, he'd let the Security Officer speak first to fully get a battle plan going.
"I think that we should integrated training to help build team spirit and I have a holodeck simulation to see the strength and weakness of each team member. Once those are done to then get to some sparring! I feel that these will best build morale and camaraderie, and get everyone familiar with each other.”
"Question," Larsen said looking between the two Senior Officers. "I want to know what your definition of the other is."
"The 'other'?"
"What does Security think of the Marines and Vice Versa. What do the two of you feel is the best use of your sister department?" Larsen had a sneaking suspicion but didn't want to lead the two department heads down that path.
Jason decided to tackle this one. Already knowing Rico disliked either him or the fact of what the Marines had done to his ship and crew complements, better to find out now what was expected. "Security are Fleet. Different training, different methods, different objectives. More ship oriented, not as much for direct face-to-face combat." He decided to leave out the usual negative comments and hoped no one asked.
Assuming Miller's silence was related to his newness to the field Rico interjected. "That is true; for the most part. However, traditionally, Marines provided security aboard naval ships. Now this...intergration for lack of a better term...will not have the Marines replacing security, but augmenting it. As stated earlier, I will not have Marines just sitting on their thumps, getting over trained into complacency, or simply working one shit detail after another.
"Mr. Mitchell, your training concerns can be easily addressed with some cross training. Mr. Miller can educate the Marines on any Fleet Security policy and procedures while you put security personnel through a little MCT (Marine Combat Trainning)."
Looking over to his new COB, knowing a return to familiar surroundings would no doubt be welcome. "Chief, how would you like to take charge of that training? No need to add additional duties to the Lieutenant's plate."
"Sounds like a plan," Larsen said with a smile. "From everything I've read, there isn't much to do as COB. Mister Miller, whens a good time to start showing your boys a better way to combat a nuisence?"
Rico intergected to clear up the Chief’s misconception. “Chief, a COB is really no different than a Sergeant Major or Command Sergeant Major…essentially a co-XO. You work with all the other department heads, Chiefs, supervisors, and crewmen to insure discipline is maintained, and the welfare, morale, and health needs of the enlisted personnel are met. While the post is administrative in nature you are able to be as interactive as you deem necessary…so long as there is no objections from the other department heads. Remember no one likes a micro-manager but people will bend over backwards when they feel their leadership will be there for them and get their hands duty with them when needs be.
Still relatively new to the security field Miller had remained silent and simply planned to accommodate the Captain’s wishes. It was his ship after all and he definitely seemed to know what he wanted. "I have no objections Captain though, to answer the Chiefs question, it will take time to integrate the two organizations to the degree you are requesting. Coordinate duty rosters, establish training schedules, etc."
Rico nodded. "I'm not expecting this to be implemented within the hour, but..." Looking at the two Lieutenants then over to the COB, "...between the three of you it should take too long. When you get everything ready to implement, bring you plan to the XO for approval.
“Now, we have a ship to put to the test. That will be all.”
The group rose as the departed to either assume their stations or to finish preparing for the day to come. The Captain remained contemplating just to what extremes he wanted to put the ship and crew through today.
Captain Ricardo E Montoya
CO
Lieutenant Voric Miller
CSEC
Lt. Commander Cevel Th'raran
XO
2nd Lieutenant Jason Mitchell
MCO
Senior Chief PO Thomas Larson
COB
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