Field Day - Pt 1

Posted on 24 Feb 2013 @ 6:49pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Captain Rebecca Post & Lieutenant JG Teresa Wendsar & Staff Sergeant Philip Kasmierski & Sergeant Dawn Brianna
Edited on on 24 Feb 2013 @ 6:51pm

1,490 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: M9: Rest, Recovery, and Reflection
Location: Planet Nesh - Below SB 80
Timeline: MD 36 0700

Jason had finished the inspection of his team as the stood in formation, waitng for the hump to begin. There had been grumbling about having to do a march while the the ships crew was still technically on leave. Nothing had been said by any of his team but he had come down on the Marine, as any good NCO should. He grinned as he recalled:

[Ealier]

"Man can you believe this crap. We have to do a fuck'n hump while the rest of the crew is off laying around on some beach!" Slamming the equipment locker he saw the Recon Staff Sergeant standing there.

"There a problem here?"

"No Staff Sergeant."

"You sure? I could have sworn I heard someone bitching about being a Marine?" Stepping within inches, "That wasn't you Corporal...Pyle, was it?"

"NO STAFF SERGEANT!"

Stepping back a bit he took in his buddies, all of whom quickly looked away and buried their noses in their lockers or packs as if they were getting ready instead of watching their buddy get chewed out. "The new CO wants to see what we are made of. You guys are ready; right?"

"Yes Staff Sergeant!"

"Good - cause will you guys get a nice trail to follow while Recon gets to go off trail and has to circle the formation unseen twice before beating you all to the top. I'm not going to see any of you falling out of formation now will I? I'd hate to have to mark one of you as a kill shot during the march."

They all knew that stragglers were fair game when Recon accompanied them on a hump and had a fairly free hand in the punishments they could dish out if someone was 'captured'. And as the Staff Sergeant left they looked at each other...two of them and fallen out the last march too.

[Present]

With a devilish grin on his face from the memory, Jason approach Velez and the CO. There was another Marine there...pack was standard Recon. ~Must be the new team lead.~ he thought as he rounded the group to report.

Snapping a salute to the Captain. "Alpha team is ready to go. Permission vanish ma`am?"

Rebecca had been watching her people get ready to set out. There had been some grumbling of course, after all everyone else was on shore leave whilst the Marines got the joyful task of hiking through the foothills, but then they were Marines, they had known when they joined the Corps that they would be held to a different standard than those in the fleet, a higher standard as far as Rebecca and many marines were concerned. In either case, they would feel much better about it when they got to the end. She noted a marine approaching her, a staff sergeant by his rank insignia, and sporting a Recon patch. She felt a tinge of regret and sadness at the sight, had it not been for Kavalis...

She shook it off and returned the salute, crisp and professional

"Permission granted, Staff Sergeant," Rebecca nodded then added with a slight smile. "Have fun with the stragglers, just try not to hurt them 'too' much, I don't want anyone in sickbay for too long because of your ministrations."

As his hand cut to his side he grinned. "Roger that ma`am. Shouldn't be much more than bruised egos...Well maybe a little more."


[earlier]

Kaz looked at his little band busily performing checks on their gear, some of which still carried the Villalobos insignia. Mentally he cursed whoever it was who'd decided this was going to be the way they were introduced to the Marines - but it could have been full on combat, and at the end of the day, well, they were Marines.

"All right people, listen up." The four glanced up, then returned to gear checks. He knew they were listening, so he continued. "Seems our welcome wagon is going to be a little tiny hump out to the woods for some fun. Now, we're breaking trail for the rest of the Marines, which ain't no big deal because I know you all can keep up, even you and your midget legs, Tenaka. Let's show these Achilles guys what we've got." He smiled at the tiny radio woman, whose pack seemed almost as big as she was.

"Well, Sergeant, as long as your big ego is in front of me to break the trail, I guess I'll be fine." Nearby they heard the other recon team shouting "Yes Staff Sergeant."

"Tenaka, five thousand pushups when we get to the Achilles." He smiled wryly. Then he dropped the smile. "All right people. There might only be five of us, but we can top that. My four hundred year old Grandma could do better than that. We ready?"

"Yes sergeant!" four voices shouted.

"Oh yeah. Corporal Sarnek, straggler duty. Feel free to go to town, within reason." He smiled, knowing the Vulcan sniper enjoyed that sort of thing...as much as a Vulcan could be said to enjoy anything.

"Of course, sergeant."

[Present]

Kaz walked over to where the CO stood talking with the Sergeant Major. Quickly he snapped to attention and saluted the Captain.

"Ma'am, Omega team's ready. Permission to start?"

Rebecca turned to the new Omega Team leader and returned the salute.

"Permission granted," Rebecca nodded. "Play nice with the rest of the detachment, if you please."

His Alpha Team counterpart walked up just then. The Staff Sergeant looked over to him "Kasmierski, isn't it?"

"That'd be me, staff sergeant. Staff Sergeant Frey, am I right? First hump I've done in a while, but at least it's nice to see you folks are giving us a nice welcome." He smiled.

Jason grinned. "Wanna tag team any stragglers?"

Kaz grinned right back. "Yeah. I was looking at the route last night. There’s a couple of points that we could snag people on. I'm thinking two of my guys are going on ahead to lie in wait." He glared at a private who appeared to be listening a little too closely.

Sarnek and Whelan were as much a team as he and Tenaka - even more so, there had been two missions where the sole objective was to drop the Vulcan sniper and the young spotter off for their mission, then rendezvous with the pair at another point hours or even days later. Kaz never spoke of those missions.

The two Recon Marines headed off with their teams and vanished into the surrounding brush.

Predictably, the younger Jason arrived a bit after most of the others, but well before the time set by the message from the Captain. His gear was already on and setup for the hike, still having the new look to it that screamed right of training. The only persons he recognized right off hand were the Captain, Sergeant Major, and his bunkmate, though one of the Recon Staff Sergeants looked vaguely familiar.

The comments about tag teaming stragglers lead him to a conclusion he didn’t like, but also increased his determination to make it through. Seeing the group that didn’t have Recon patches on, Jason quickly moved over to the outer edges of it, and did a second check while waiting for instructions. ~ Only good thing about being a PFC, we're able to vanish unless we do something stupid to draw attention.~ he thought to himself absently.

Harry beamed down to the starting point of the hike. His ship had been late in arriving, and by the time he had checked in, his fellow marines were staging for the hike. Upon arriving at the staging area, he checked in with his commanding officer. "Corporal Harry Wendsar reporting for duty, Sir." He stood at attention, and snapped off a salute. The team was falling into ranks and he fell in line with the rest of the men and women.


Velez, knowing what awaited the detachment, grinned inwardly and called the detachment to attention. "DETACHMENT! AAATTEN...TION! As the assembled Marines all snapped to Velez did an about face. "Captain all members present and or accounted for."

"Excellent," Rebecca nodded, sparring a glance over the detachment from underneath her Beret. "Begin the March if you please, Sergeant Major, nice and smartly, we've got an audience."

Knowing that she was referring to the growing crowd of civilians and vacationers, "Roger that." Snapping another salute and cutting it sharply he again faced the formation and waited for their CO to take her place at the head of the formation. Once in place he again barked his orders. "Riiight Face. FORwward March."

As they march through the populated areas Velez called a smart and clean cadence; calling the appropriate column movements as needed. Once they had left the outskirt of the settlement behind he relaxed the formations march as they headed into the foothills. "Round-step March!"


TBC

 

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