I Hear the Drums Calling

Posted on 30 Jul 2011 @ 4:26pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal

870 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: M8: The Kzinti War!!!!
Location: Shuttlebay
Timeline: After leaving the Ready Room (during Long Wait Pt 2)

The sound of boots hitting the deck was like the sound of a heavy rain against a tin room....cluttered and constant. The rattle of battle gear and the high frequency whine of power cells being loading into weapons filled the Main Hangar area with a constant buzz of activity unique and exciting to those veterans who were calmly helping the younger less experience soldiers get thier gear situated.

The bellow of Sergeants filled the bay as they herded the Marines and other volunteers as they moved toward the hoppers and other auxilliary craft to pack themselves in with tonnes of additional equipment and supplies that had been stuffed into every space inch of the shuttle's interior. Some of the engineers had gone so far as to fabricate cargo pods for the exterior of some of the shuttles. Stone looked at this shuttles skeptically thinking that they may very well only be good for the drop and then they will have to be stripped for parts by the artificers because of thier being so overloaded on the way down. Atmospheric flight was notoriously hard on spacecraft.

Stone stood in the bay, relatively central next to 1Sgt. Velez as the flood of deck crew and soldiers flowed around him. He was already in his armor, with his rifle slung over his shoulder and his helmet tucked under his arm. His uniform bore no rank insignia, nor his armor, but the men had come to know thier new commander quickly enough that rank was no longer really needed.

"How are we looking top?" as he nudged Velez to drag his attention away from a couple of soldiers who had fumbled with a crate of rations as they were loading onto a shuttle and who were not getting a full dose of the new First Sergeants displeasure.

"GET THAT GEAR LOADED NOW OR YOU TWO WILL BE THE FIRST 'NOT' TO EAT!!"

Velez turned to the Major and sot a thumb over his shoulder at the two Marines scrambling to finish their work. "These two apes were supposed to have had that trasport loaded yesterday. I will keep them under my 'special' attention from here on out. Everything else is a go. Everyone should be loaded up and ready to drop with in 5 to 10 minutes. Those assigned to the transport attached to the ships hull have been beam aboard. Once the troops here iN the shuttle bay are secured you and I can beam to our ships. Your gear has already been beamed to the Venture, and they are standing by to take you aboard and the Zepher is waiting for me."

Arcenio noticed the Major didn't react and seemed irritated. "Something wrong sir?"

Stone was clentching his jaw thinking about the conversation he has just had with the ship's CO. He snapped out of he and looked at Valez. "Always top....always. No plan survives contact with the enemy. Let's just contentrate on our little part of this and get these grunts loaded. Stay loose, things could change quickly in the next few hours and not for the better. I want everything stowed and preflight in 30 minutes."

Stone's normal light bearing had totally changed. He was cold and fixated on the mission ahead, gripped by the anxiety every soldier feels who is being helplessly crammed into a hopper or boarding pod, unable to defend themselves and totally at the mercy of theIr enemy's marsmanship.

Velez had seen his change in demenor immediately and could only speculate as to the cause. He was sure that whatever it was it was no small issue. "Roger that sir."

Velez nodded to the Major and out onto the deck to pass the word. "ALRIGHT YOU APES! GET ON WITH IT...ALL TRANSPORT NEED TO HAVE PREFLIGHTED IN 20 MINUTES!" There wasn't anyone that escaped his gaze. "YOU! Pass the word to the remaining teams I want them ready to board in 15."

[Wyvern Transports - Attached to the bottom of the Achilles]

Gideon was crammed into one of the three transports that had been attached to the Achilles' landing strut hatches. He had chosen to beam in instead of worming his way through access tubes and maintanence hatches. Men and women lined the bulkheads and case after case of supplies and weapons ran down the center. He had hoped to get in the Naga variant in the shuttlebay but the Major took that one for himself. ~The privilge of command....personally I would have take one of the Talon class escorts but..."

His thought was intrupted buy the announcement of a redeployment of the task force ang a silent grubbled sounded. From the far end of the transport, "Typical hurry up and wait..."

[Achilles Shuttlebay]

Stone took one last deep breath and stepped out towards his hopper. Climbing aboard, he turned and looked at the now empty bay that had previously housed tonnes of supplies and Marines. He nodded to himself thining that this was about as ready as they'd be. Pulling himself back into the hopper, the hatch shut behind him and the sound of engines powering up filled the hangar bay.


Major Stone

1stSgt Arcenio Velez
NPC

Ens Gideon Exeter
(played by Da`nal w/ permission)

 

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