Surface Reflections
Posted on Wed Apr 18th, 2018 @ 7:14pm by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Thu May 31st, 2018 @ 9:29pm
816 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Enemy Within
Location: Marine Country
Timeline: MD004 1830 hrs
Tags: SD 71378.1830
After three hours, he’d had enough. Pushing back from his desk, Cornelius considered the after action report from the days exercise and decided it was good enough. His portion had only taken half an hour, but he’d opted to review the entire mission from prep to evac and that had taken time.
But, he had a pretty good idea of how the detachment worked together, and how it’s separate parts worked individually. When it came time to sit down with the LT, he’d be prepared and hopefully have answers for everything.
He took his battle harness from the sterilizer and racked it in his locker, hanging the system from the track and pushing it into the enclosure. Cornelius was tired and hungry, but he did a last look around the Marine ready area, then powered down the lights and headed for his quarters.
He tossed his fatigues in the recycler, left his boots were he kicked them off at and stepped into the shower stall, dialing up the sauna feature and letting the steam billow over him for nearly twenty minutes before he pulled on goggles and turned the sonic feature on, letting vibrations run over him in steady waves until he felt peeled.
Out of the shower, he dialed up blues on the sound system and got dinner from the replicator. The computer kicked Marine Supplement 44, which turned out to be sashimi taco’s with a seaweed salad. He retrieved a decanter of ice water and sat at the small table, eating slowly as he took in the music.
Eating didn’t take long and neither did cleaning up. After squaring away the replicator nook, he made a pass around his quarters. He stopped at one of the few pictures on the wall, then took it down half snickering as he looked at his Boot graduation picture.
Space, he’d been young. Shaven head and all ears, lean as a crow and painfully gawky he’d been grateful to actually make it through at. He took the picture with him as he sat in an easy chair. The DI’s had known his father of course: and the expectation’s they’d had for him had gotten him drug through muck and mire at Camp Neshua.
When he hadn’t met those expectations, those same DI’s had decided to ‘hone’ him into a suitable Marine. He’d graduated, but the sense of never quite being good enough had followed him for longer than he’d ever admit. His father hadn’t really cared, as long as he passed boot.
His eyes floated, as they normally did, to PFC, now Captain Adel Parsons. By the time he’d been old enough to understand things, he realized they’d gotten each other through boot and likely had formed feelings for each other. Too late though, as was the way things went. And now, twenty years later, everything seemed pretty clear.
His mind’s eye opened up that last night before the graduation ceremony and review. They knew they were going to make it then and they’d climbed onto the roof of the barracks after nightfall to talk. They’d stayed up all night: rehashing boot, talking about growing up and their hopes and dreams for the future.
Dee had been the only Marine he’d told about being afraid. He’d been afraid of his father growing up; afraid of disappointing the man he saw so little and so desperately wanted approval from. Reflecting on that he shook his head ruefully and decided to shelve thoughts on his father for another time.
Thoughts of Dee on that balmy night, and what might have been if he hadn’t been blind occupied him for awhile and he felt himself sliding down thoughts, inconveniently surfaced in his mothers voice wondering at his hermit like life and where her grandchildren were.
When he sat back and looked at his family, it was quite the view. His father was naturally closed off, while his mother was opinionated and vocal about how she thought life should be and everyone else’s shortcomings.
Abruptly he stood and finished tidying up, then hit the rack, willing himself to push away more of those thoughts all together, which wasn’t easy. But it was better than thinking about things he really didn’t have any control over or wondering what might have been. Instead he ordered the computer to nix the music and start playing an audio version of the Fleet Marines Code of Conduct manuel.
It was guaranteed to force him into sleep and shush away the thoughts of his family until such a time as he had answers to how to deal with any of it.
Gunnery Sergeant Cornelius Tremble
First Sergeant, USS Pioneer
RSS Feed