No Man Left Behind Part 3

Posted on 01 Jun 2011 @ 7:47pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal

1,781 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: M8: The Kzinti War!!!!
Location: SB 517 / USS Achilles
Timeline: 1800 to 1900

The trio stepped off the lift and Da`nal had noticed the the umbilical area ports had been opaqed, and in the docking bay the slip the Achilles was docked at was isolated for mission security. What had been a lounge area was now a staging area for men and equipment. No sooner did one cargo contain disappear than another took its place.

One of the Achilles security approached handing him a padd. "Excellent. Ensign, secure the area and clear the portals."

"Aye sir."

As she hurried off he took the to Marines in tow. They made their way to the massive windows. "Its seems we are ahead of schedule." Walking up to the window the opaqued portal cleared revealing the Achilles. On her lower hull two of the Wyvrens were already attached and the third was being moved into place. On the fantail a docking port was being finalized on both the ship and the Guardian Platform to be attached there.

Stone whistled. "Da'nal, I bet you built some great sandcastles when you were young."

~Sandcastles...Ah~ "I'm afraid my youth was spent in training at an Academy. However I did forge several unique blades in my time."

Nodding and cracking a full on smile, "Fair enough, so let's find a place to put my gear down and let me meet my men." Stone adjusts his duffle on his shoulder and heads off down the umbilical linking the ship to the station's docking level. Looking back over his should he smirks..."Try to keep up."

Da`nal was sure he was referring to the Lieutenant and paid to mind to the barb. "Lieutenant, take the Major aboard and find Gunnery Sergeant Velez; he will get you two squared away. I have to see to other matters." With that Da`nal nodded to the security officer to return the windows conditions to their previous state and headed off to make sure things were prepared for the the offloading of the Achilles' civilians.

"Aye sir." Jack replied as he looked over at the Major, "This way sir, try to keep up."
Jack smiled as he lead the two of them through the hallways of the Achilles and then to the Marine Barracks.

Stone couldn't help but crack a smile as the Lt. dished it back out to him. He fought to wipe the smile from his face before they walked into the barracks.

[USS Achilles]

When they entered the Barracks a young Sergeant snapped to attention, "Attention on deck!" And the rest of the marines in the barracks snapped to attention.
"As you were, we're looking for Gunney Velez." Jack said.

Stone dropped his duffle back and rubbed his wrist a little to work out the tension built up there from holding the bag. He looked around, watching the Marines as relaxed and went back to what they were doing. Some were playing cards. Gambleing was against regulations, but commanding officers frequently looked the other way as it was much easier to count the stars then to tell a soldier he couldn't do something fun and expect him to listen.

Other soldiers slipped back into thier bunks, using sleep to take the edge off of the anxiety that preceedings any mission as full of unknowns as this one. Still others were doing push-ups, or spotting each other on resistance equipment in the bay. Friendly and not-so-friendly jibes could be heard as soldiers elbowed each other and guestured at the two new Marine officers.

Gunny Velez was an old school Marine and ready to yank any Marine back inline is needed...officers included. The makeshift barracks that had once been a cargo was lined with 4 rows of double stacked racks and gear with little room for privacy. Upon hearing his name he raised his hand and shouted out, not bothering to turn from the ships 2nd Officer "Over here!" Once he was sure they were close he continued. "Find yourself a empty rack and report back here for assignment."

Jack stepped over to the Gunny, "Gunny, this is Major Stone and I'm Lieutenant Riegar. When you have a moment, we would like to speak to you."

Stone did all he could to choke back a snicker and keep a stern look on his face. His eyes met Lt. Riegar's as a small smirk broke. "If yer busy though Gunney, we'll just find an empty rack anywhere and report back here."

Velez turned around to face the officers. He wasn't phased in the slightest but there was a certain respect that had to be accorded an officer in the Corps, at least until they proved otherwise. "No need Major, Captain Longwinter's quarterss are still vacant. We didn't want to pack his gear until their was a body to go with it."

Stone noded and lookd around, sometimes a guesture went further than any words could. "No Gunney that's fine, I'll just take that rack over in the corner there. The Captain can have his quarters back unmolested when he gets back. Now who's my RTO?"

Velez nodded slightly, the respect he showed to their MIA CO and the fact he choose to bunk with his troops knocked his opinion of the Major up a couple a notches. "We were told that this was you OP sir so none of your key posts have been assigned." Handing the Major an updated roster containing the file for over 200 Marines and other volunteers, mainly fleet security types and a few medical and engineers personnel. Reaching behind him he also grabbed a padd containing the operational resource and supply list.

Stone took the PADDs and glanced quickly at the supply list. "Gunny, see if we can't double the bulk demolition explosive and detonators before we leave...otherwise it looks good. I'll look over the manning roster and let you know. Give me a heads up if anything else comes up." Stone turns to walk away and looks back over his shoulder as he throws his duffle up on his shoulder, "Oh yeah...you'll be acting First Sergeant Velez, alot has changed for the men in the last few weeks, and something needs to stay the same, give them something to steer by." Stone makes his way over to the corner and slaps a soldier on the back smiling and shaking his hand. Gesturing to the bed, the soldier shakes his head and the Major has a seat, kicking his feet up on his duffle and starting to pour over the manning roster.

Now he definately like this guy...turning his attention back to the Lieutenant. "LT, we still need a platoon leader for 3rd platoon of E company. They are in cargo bay 3, although until the Captain returns you are the senior officer of the Achilles Marine detachment. Captain Da`nal has all of us slated to head down to the surface...not that we all didn't plan on volunteering anyway.

"Speaking of volunteers; there is an intel type...an infiltration specialist that had requested to join us." Velez look down a row, he's around here somewhere unless he is still getting his gear."

Stone craned his neck around and leaned back to look past the bunks and try to locate the intel type.

Velez's gaze turned to the cargo bay doors as they opened. He couldn't help but chuckle at the site of the fleeter trying to carry....drag really all his personal as well as his newly issue Marine equipment.

Gideon seeing he had an audience and not wanting to give Star Fleet a bad name, did the only thing that he could do. He bent down taking the two duffel bags and with great effort picked them up and managed to make it into the nearest empty bunk without dropping them.

Gideon walked over to where Major Stone and Sergent Velez were standing. He realized that his spiked hair and ear ring were not even within Star Fleet regs, much less the Marines, but since he hadn't been given an order to correct either at the time, he had not bothered to make any changes.

Velez huffed slighly. "You Bajoran Ensign?"

Gideon kept his expression neutral as hed replied, "Not that I know of Gunny, but I'm not really sure who my father was, so anything is possible."

Stone looked up from his PADD and shifted his feet slightly to the right so he could look past them in his reclined position. He looked at the Bajoran Intel Officer then caught Valez's eye and smirked. His chest shook a little with a chuckle and he took a last look at the Bajoran before going back to his PADD.

"Well I don't see any ridges on your nose and that a standard Bajoran earpiece so lose it. I don't care if you are an officer, the regs are regs and you should know better..."

The Gunny's rant was cut short as a ship wide whistle sounded to get everyones attention, followed by the captain's voice. =^=Attention crew of the Achilles. All departments and Marines make final arrangements for departure. Departure set for 2200 hours, all family members still aboard need to depart at this time. Captain Da`nal out.=^=

Dropping his feet and rocking his weight forward, the Major brought himself out of his bunk. Walking over to Valez while his scowel was fresh, he handed him the PADD. "Here are the duty assignments, no serious changes. Those that can continue in their current positions, I'd like to keep them there. Meanwhile, have the men start to strip down everything, take the rations out of the boxes and pack them in their field gear. Starfleet likes to put everything in its own pretty box...which just takes up space and is just one more thing we need to find a way to dispose of in the field AND hide from the enemy. That will keep the men busy and keep their mind off what is coming. As for that Demo material, everyone carries at least 2 kilos and 4 detonators.............I would prefer if they carried them separately." He added the last part with his usual smirk.

Glancing over at Gideon, "First Sgt. Valez might freeze dry you for rations, so I would heed his advice." Stone extended his hand, "Major Stone, I have operational command of this relief effort. Get yerself settled we will be briefing as soon as we unhook and get movie. I'd like to do it sooner, but OpSec is key and we can't really secure the ship while it is connected to the station."

"Velez, please pass the word, briefing 2230"

-----------------------------------------

Capt Da`nal
CO

1st Lt. Jack Riegar
Marine

Ens. Giegeon Exeter
IO

 

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