Fresh Meat - Part 1

Posted on 01 Jan 2013 @ 12:21am by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Captain Rebecca Post

1,538 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M9: Rest, Recovery, and Reflection
Location: SB 80
Timeline: MD -35

Stepping out of the final transport he'd boarded, the sudden abundance of people was almost a shock. For the last couple of weeks, it had been one small crew after another, with limited noise or interaction as Jason had wended his way through the multiple-step trip. The only thing that had kept him busy throughout was the PT he did in the quarters assigned to him and he severely missed going on a good run. Not even caring that he stood out with all people walking around him somewhat politely, all he wanted to do was take in the sights and sounds for a bit before heading to a terminal and finding out where to check in.

Velez was sitting in a lounge across from one of the main docking areas on the starbase. Like everyone else from the Achilles, he was on shore leave. Leaning back in the chair he read from his padd, drink a cold beer. He enjoyed watching the flow of people in and out of the docking area and on several occasions a passerby would catch his attention more than others. Usually either he found them suspicious or that she had a shape of that long red hair that he had a weakness for.

The waiter brought him a fresh frosted beer and his lifted it to his lips a flash of green caught his eye. A young Marine stepped out of the crowd with that fresh...lost expression that was typical of a young Marine, probably on his first assignment. Taking a long pull from his beer he bet himself if the Marine would still be there when the mug came down. Sure enough he was.

He set the mug down and yelled out in a command voice that ANY Marine would lock up to. "Marine!" Waving him over.

Upon hearing that voice and tone, the reverie was broken. A quick and precise turn faced Jason to the person that called, and the manner of a senior Marine was evident about him. Mentally reviewing the list of possible transgressions he could have committed so far as he walked over, and placed the PADD with his orders in the left hand. Arriving at the table, reflex instantly took over and moved him to the at ease position. While this would scream to anyone that Jason was right out of training, for the moment, he had no other way to react until he could establish the identity of the Marine in front of him.

A few years ago Velez would have smirked at seeing the boot assuming the rest position but now he kept his reactions, though still finding it humorous, internally. "New to the Star Base?"

The lack of a yell or correction led Jason to believe he either had a senior enlisted or a very tolerant officer, either of which could still be trouble. ~Best to play it safe than lose my head for disrespect.~ He thought to himself. "Yes I am, Sir." While his father's constant advice of 'Speak only to answer, don't over-inform' was uppermost in mind right now.

"Thought so, you just had that look. And you can drop the sir...Sergeant Major or Top will do. Lucky I saw you first before some Ferengi tried to sell you half the station. You being assigned to the station, one of the ships docked, or do you need to find a connecting transport?"

~Oh great, a Sergeant Major. Talk about going from the frying pan into the plasma storm.~ Jason thought to himself as he listened to the comment and the question. "According to my orders it's a ship that is docked for repairs, specifically the USS Achilles, Sergeant Major." Addressing him as "Top" was out of the question for now, as that went against training for being too informal. Extending the PADD out, he would leave it open if it was to be checked or not.

This time Velez let the grin show as he took the padd and leaned back in his seat. Glancing at the padd to get the Marines name he then set it aside. "Well, the Achilles huh...what are the odds?" Picking up his drink he took a long draw, down half the contents, then sat the mug down and stood. "Let me be the first to welcome you aboard. I'll take you to the Captain."

Now by nature, the almost last thing Jason would ask of anyone was to leave a half-empty drink to do escort duty. A brief flash of apprehension would cross his face as he saw the grin, before he could control it and resume the proper neutral expression. The very last thing he would ever think of doing, is countering an instruction from a superior, and most definitely not one from within his own chain of command, barring safety concerns. At least, he thought the Sergeant Major was on the Achilles by that comment. Moving out of the way, Jason would wait until he was passed, and fall in line on his left and adjust his pace to keep in step. "Understood, Sergeant Major." ~Well, that's one check on the list done, time to face the music. ~ He thought grimly to himself.

Given the hour it was a safe bet that Captain Post was in her office of the station. It hadn't taken long and they rode the turbo lift in silence. When the lift finally opened Velez stepped out smartly knowing that the PFC would follow.

Which is exactly what happened. Jason waited a few moments to give the Sergeant Major enough space, then resumed the trek to the office at his left and behind a pace. Oddly, he found the silence more comforting than a conversation would have been, given the ranks involved.

As they neared their destination SSgt Frey came in from another corridor. "Frey, I thought you would be with that pretty doctor of yours?"

His eyes darted momentarily to the young Marine his boss had in tow. "Hey Top. Well I have to give her SOME time to rest." Jason's grin was wide and he hefted a padd. "Got good news though."

"Oh?"

"Even though the lower section of the ship is still having power issues the renovations to the Marine sections have been completed. That means we can begin to resupply." Handing the padd the Velez he continued. "I also planned to get with Harper and let him know about the transfer to my team and get him started with a preliminary training schedule to get him ready for his recon training."

"Good. I will let the Captain know. After you meet with Harper get me your teams’ equipment request."

"Roger that." Jason glanced at the fresh faced Marine with evil grin, slapping his shoulder as he left. "About time we got some Fresh meat."

Since the conversation did not concern him in the least, Jason appeared to tune it out totally. Not like listening would help much since he didn't understand what or who they were discussing other than supply requests. That evil grin had a familiar feel to it, like one of the instructors right before an infraction occurred. While it caused him some worry, not one of bit of it showed in his expression or tone. The slap on the shoulder startled him a bit for a moment as he waited for the Sergeant Major to resume the walk.

"That was Staff Sergeant Frey, he leads one of the Recon teams."

"Understood, explains a lot actually, Sergeant Major." Jason replied calmly. ~Recon; that actually does explain a lot more than they might realize. I'm going to have to be extra careful here for a bit.~ he thought to himself as they continued on.

Entering what had become the hub for the Achilles Marine Velez saw their CO in her office and knocked on the door frame. "Excuse me ma`am do you have a moment."

Somewhere in the back of his head, a comment about bearding the lion in its den was going through Jason's head. Offset by the Sergeant Major, he couldn't see into the space, and decided to fall back on the training habit of "Privates should rarely be seen, and never heard unless spoken to." by assuming the attention stance and shutting totally up.

Rebecca was really getting to the point where she despised Starfleet Command. Given her short, four-day long assignment to the USS Ticonderoga before whatever SNAFU had resulted in her being sent there in the first place could be solved. In that four day period she had had just enough time to go through all the paperwork typical when taking up a new post like that, just in time for her to be reassigned to a new ship where she could do the exact same paperwork again, and then some given that with the recent casualties had resulted in new marines being sent her way, along with various commendations and the like, as well as equipment requisitions. Suffice it to say that she had arguably done more damned paperwork in the last two weeks than she had in a long time.

'God I hate being an Officer, sometimes,' Rebecca thought to herself glumly.

 

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