Marine Training, Sir!
Posted on Sun Jul 21st, 2019 @ 12:05pm by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Tue Jul 23rd, 2019 @ 4:41am
1,909 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Episode 7 - Home Again
Location: Cargo Bay 12 - Docking Ring Deck 18 - Empok Nor
Timeline: MD008 0800 hrs
Neil was tired.
Again.
Yesterday had been taxing. There wasn’t much of a way to get around that. He’d tried to sleep after his meeting with Tallida and those dreams, even aided by a cold shower, hadn’t been restful.
After a couple of hours, he’d dug into his kit and resorted to a sleep aid he generally kept for combat conditions.
Though, technically, you could pretty much classify yesterday as a combat action, as stressful as it had been.
He’d been up early, shaved quickly after the sonic shower had beaten him up, then broke his fasted on coffee before heading getting to training at 05:00.
Now slouched in a dark corner of the cargo bay they were staging the training out of, they'd covered familiarization and general use of the MARVEL-EAS; Mark IV. This afternoon and all day tomorrow was was slated for maintenance and tailoring. The three day were to consist of donning the suits andtraining in the cargo bay and outside the station in various levels of gravity and atmosphere.
He read through the syllabus again, then turned to the PADD containing the field manual and worked at it. They had fifteen minutes, or a working lunch on the accelerated time table and every minute was going to be eaten up.
Which reminded him. They’d given him that contact. It was time to try it out. He shut his left eye and blinked four times with his right. Suddenly a heads up display popped into his vision and he had to lean back agains the support rib he was propped against and the vertigo he felt crept back.
Though it certainly didn’t like meeting the there bites of rationed macaroni and cheese with chili that he'd decided to try before setting it aside. His stomach did a near handstand and he had to apply water from a squeeze bag to back it down.
The vision in his right eye solidified and he looked about. The HUD followed his eye movements and he found he could squint and it would magnify slightly. Closing his eyes and opening reset that and he looked down at the PADD and was able to link into the files contained there and soon he was flipping through schematics.
“Now that’s going to be really handy,” he thought to himself as a blinking dot got his attention and he noted there was ten minutes until class resumed. Swearing, he got to his feet, gathering the remnants of a half eaten lunch from around himself and the PADD and went in search of a trash bin.
He closed his left eye and moved his eye to look at his nose while he said, “Lt. Tremble to Counselor Ovaa.”
The comms feature kicked in, repeating off his communicator and linked them through
Tallida had been in a daze seemingly since the Marine CO has exited her quarters. If his shirt hadn't been draped across her couch she would have chalked all of it up to an extremely vivid dream. She was going through the motions of her day, resisting the urge to look up Neil in the ships computer when like an apparition his voice came across the comms. "This is Lieutenant Ovaa." She replied.
"Just confirming our date later tonight, Tallida," Neil said, slightly distracted as his contact flashed and tried to activate a video link as well. "That is if you're still willing to cook for me after reflection and all due considerations," he grinned.
Tallida paused. If he was calling her now than last night was definitely not a dream. She sat for a moment longer until she heard him say her name again. "I am here," She started. "I am shocked you still want to have dinner with me." She admitted. "I would love to still cook for you." She smiled to herself.
"Roger that. I wouldn't miss it. What time? My training doesn't get done to something like 18:00," he asked.
"Feel free to come by whenever." Tallida replied as a devious idea came into her head. "I will be waiting. Ovaa out."
Neil smiled, cut the link and headed for class.
Six hours later, he was even more tired. His date with Tallida had been pushing at the back of his head all day and he was really looking forward to it. As they finished up, putting suits back into their coffins and racked tools he caught movement from the cargo bay’s hatchway and turned to see a a Marine Captain walking his way.
He didn’t recognize the dark skinned man, but as he approached one of the trainers announced, “Attention on Deck!”
The Captain immediately called out, “As you were, all off you. I’m only here to interrupt Lt. Tremble’s day, if you’re done with him Gunny?”
The Gunnery sgt. that had been leading the training, gave Neil a charry eye, then grinned. “We got enough out of the Lieutenant, sir. No use breaking him outright the first day. Have to leave a little hope. It’s more fun that way.”
There was general laughter and the gunny waived Neil away, “I’ll even finish that bit you’re mucking around with Sir. Try and remember it the right way tomorrow?”
Neil grunted at him and stated, “Well, you know the student is only as good as the trainer, gunny. Always have been.”
The Flavian laughed then, slapping Neil hard on the shoulder and Neil shook his head as he walked over to the Captain. The dark skinned man said, “Captain Robert Rhodes, Lieutenant. We need to speak.”
“Aye sir,” Neil said, mentally gritting his teeth, wondering what this was about.
Minutes later he’d followed Rhodes, who was the battalions s3 in charge of training and operations, to the man’s office and taken the directed seat. Rhodes then pulled out a PADD and said, “Lieutenant, we have a problem.”
“Sir?” Neil asked.
“You have been a 2nd Lieutenant, and now a 1st Lieutenant and you haven’t, as of yet, taken been through OCS,” Rhodes said bluntly, getting right to the point.
“I. No, I haven’t sir,” Neil said wincing inwardly.
“So, Lieutenant, you have a problem,” Rhodes reiterated. “Now the Cure is getting Mark IV’s, which upgrades them to a Mobile status. Which is, technically a Captain’s billet.”
“Sir,” Neil asked hesitantly, “Are you trying to say I’m being transferred?” He felt some anger rising. It would be just like the Corp to put him through the ringer with the Mark IV training, and then shove him out because he didn’t have the rank for his position.
He also had known something like this was coming. Then he thought of Tallida and had to bite his tongue.
Rhodes watched him for a long moment, then said. “That’s not a bad idea. Honestly. You’ve been on the Pioneer for almost three years? Have you given that any thought?”
“Honestly,” Neil answered, “No sir. I’ve been a bit busy to give that any thought.”
Rhodes nodded. “And a shame too, Lieutenant. There must have been time, you just didn’t think you needed to. That’s an enlisted frame of mind and you need to move past that. You’re a good Marine. And a pretty good junior officer, from your record. But, at your age you should be at least a captain and probably, with your war record even a Lt. Colonel. If you had went through the Academy.”
Rhodes let that sink in and Neil could only sit there and wait. There was no use making excuses or anything else. He hadn’t been asked a question.
After a minute, Rhodes got up and asked. “Coffee or something?” Neil nodded and said, “Aye sir. Though the conversation might call for something heavier,…” he tried to add with a smile.
“That’s for later,” Rhodes said. “This is a sober type of conversation we’re having, Lieutenant.” The solid built man returned in a moment with two steaming cups, placed one in front of Neil and sat behind his desk.
“Lieutenant, I do get it’s not all your fault. And the Fleet promoted you and dumped you into your rank without much thought.” Rhodes shook his head in what Neil guessed was distaste.
And he didn’t think it was the coffee.
“The Fleet, in general, and seemingly the Pioneer believe they are laws unto themselves. And to an extent, they are, but they don’t always look after a Marines career like they should. In your case, you should have either been given OCS on board or been TDY’d away for the short months it would have taken.”
“But, that’s not where we’re at. Captain Ir’dama asked me to look into it. Apparently the General was raising questions after your interview.”
Again, Neil didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything.
“So, now we’re looking at how to get you through the eight week class in an expedited manor,” Rhodes gave him a look and Neil finally understood the Captain’s ire. He’d been tasked with something he believed he shouldn’t have to.
“I’ll say it straight out, Tremble,” Rhodes said, as if reading his mind. “There shouldn’t be a special case made for you. However, the Fleet has asked and apparently the Commandant believes your Captain Malbrooke and his XO…this O’Flannaghain? Are special enough snowflakes that we take care of this…”
Rhodes brooded a moment, drinking more coffee and Neil tasted his, but didn’t as he waited for the boot to drop.
“While you finish your accelerated Mark IV familiarity and Train the Trainer, afterward you will report to me here and we will begin an accelerated, accelerated OCS in the Brigades dedicated Holo-pods.”
Then the boot hit.
“Starting today,” Rhodes finished.
Neil winced and said, “Aye aye sir.”
“What’s wrong, Marine.” Rhodes asked, “Is the corp, so unlike itself, interrupting your plans?”
“No sir, I’m good to go,” Neil said, shaking his head, but feeling disappointment in his gut.
Rhodes stared at him for a moment, then asked. “A being of your preferred gender and generally attractive notions?”
Neil cracked a grin at that, and said. “When you put it that way, “yes sir.”
Rhodes mumbled something, then gave him a smile. “Your shore leave record sucks even worse than your interest in your career, Neil. But I think we can postpone the grinder for one day. After that though, plan for eighteen hour days. The Brigade doctors have approved stims and sleep capsules for the duration of your training here.”
“Aye aye, sir.” Neil said, wincing. The suck was going to be bad this time…
“Right.” Rhodes said, “Now, get out of here and go see this special being…”
Neil stood, saluted and once Rhodes returned the salute, turned on his heel and headed for the door. Checking the chrono in his contact, he knew he was running a bit late.
But, better late than never.
A joint post by;
First Lieutenant Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Tallida Ovaa
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
RSS Feed