The Churn
Posted on Mon Nov 18th, 2019 @ 3:31am by Colonel Emilio Woods & Captain Jelane 'Firefly' Shiqwue & Staff Sergeant Alexandra Hobard & Brigadier General Francis 'Judge' Sobel & Captain Ir'dama & Captain Denise Reynolds & Staff Sergeant Pani Fumee & Major Shuk Son of Xa'ik & Captain Robert Rhodes & 1st Lieutenant Adam Mu & 1st Lieutenant Leo 'Sundown' Steves & Sergeant Major Shi'rid Mun'na'ik & Master Sergeant Emery Fog & Staff Sergeant Srann Hol & Sergeant Morsaa & Sergeant Lolli Otaid & Corporal D'tar Xo'chi & Corporal Shelly Warren & Lance Corporal Ad'mir Sho'
Edited on on Mon Nov 18th, 2019 @ 3:43am
2,114 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
The Drumhead (Empok Nor Premier)
Location: Various - Empok Nor
Timeline: MD020 1530 hrs
The holo-field rotated around Brigadier Francis N.M.I. Sobel as he contemplated the request in front of him. Vague reports were popping up, like gophers surveying the morning prairie of unknown Cardassian ships being seeing in a remote sector of the BadLands. Trouble was, the Cardassians didn’t have the resources to do a sweep.
And apparently someone, somewhere had decided the Brigade did have the resources. The fact that Firefly’s crews had spent way too much time in their ships and said ships had seen the bare minimum maintenance over the past month.
Sighing, he touched a control and the starfield dropped. Looking over at his S3, Captain Reynolds, and told him. “Dispatch the 2738th on OpPlan PINBALL. Rotate the CAP fighters into the mix, swapping out those that need down time. And send out my bird as well. It’s sitting there with dust on it.”
“Yes, sir,” the black skinned, bald, human told him. Sobel turned to the display behind him, pursing his lips at the spread of his forces, the Cardassian forces, and other assets entangled in this mess and shook his head again. “Too few, doing too much,” he murmured to his empty office. Then he snorted and turned back and picked up his PADD, “What else is new.”
Firefly had literally just climbed out of her fighter as the orders to get back in came down. "You heard the orders we are off to the Badlands. No rest for the weary. Balls to the walls boys..." She shouted as she hopped back into her fighter and began the start up sequence. Delta wing would launch first and then her wing.
She glanced off her port wing and saw the deck crew preparing the Brig's fighter and she smiled. "You can't keep him locked up can you." She said to herself and then opened a comm channel to the rest of the squad. "All rise court is now in session. Here comes The Judge." This was her way of announcing that Sobel would be joining them.
Going through the office, Ir'dama detected a certain sense of tension in the marine staff as they went about their duties. She was grappling with requests from the diplomatic department and a query by the Cardassian government. When the General had come out of his office twenty minutes ago sporting a flight suit. They'd had a brief argument about that and she'd been over ruled by what he referred to as command logic.
She nearly snorted at that. To him, Command Logic meant that he was in command. A pilot and the marines were in short supply of those right now. So, Logic dictated he suit up.
He'd also told her that there was very little generalling to do as he walked away with an almost adolescent smile on his face.
She'd let it go, chalking up the odd behavior as just another quirk of his. She thought she'd be used to it after eighteen months, but the general often did that.
Ir'dama was shuffling through requests and the General's date book when a message updates funneled through, stating that intel was picking updated chatter amidst sources across the Cardassian Union. All of it added to the already unsettled sense and she felt the need to pace.
Perhaps the general's inordinate behavior was starting to rub off on her.
Woods sat at his desk and ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. He was the senior most member of the brigade on the station which meant that he had the command. Something that he never wanted, but the General just had to go out and lead the men into battle or some such. When he took this assignment Emilio knew that Sobel was not the administrative type, he just wished that the General did some of the paperwork.
He heard a rumble echo through the station and knew what was happening before the explosions. The station was being attacked and the Marines were not there. He had to get a message to the Judge. Had to find out what was going on. He grabbed a rifle and ran to Security. Emilio Woods would show them that he was a lot more than an administrator.
Captain Denise Reynolds had a box full of PADDs waiting to be sorted. With news of the new equipment on the station, Marines across the Federation were asking to be transferred here. The box contained the lucky few who'd been approved and now it was up to her to get them sorted out and given proper orders. Tomorrow was her day off and she had a shuttle reserved to go two hours into the middle of nowhere and read. Just her, the shuttle, and a PADD full of books to choose from.
This week was Pani Fumee's rotation on the rifle range. Normally she enjoyed drilling non-coms, but this group seemed more interested in gossiping about recent events than in focusing on the task at hand. "If one more Marine cracks a joke, you'll all be cleaning the parade deck for the next two days, am I understood?"
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am."
"Good. Now, since you all think you know what I'm going to tell you next, we might as well move on to the range itself. Grab your phaser rifles and line up." If they failed, she would have the happy responsibility of passing them off to the next instructor.
Standing at his station, Sergeant Major Shirred Mun'nar'ik sifted through information as he simultaneously handled message traffic that was incoming for the General. Since the General had decided to lark off, most of that was fairly simple to divert to Colonel Woods. The Klingon didn't blame the General. Fact be told, he was irritated himself at being stuck behind a desk most of the time, but such was the luggage that went with being a brigade Master Sergeant.
He stopped several frames on his monitors and stared. Members of the command protection company had been assigned to crowd control and customs duties per the station commanders request.
That left the marines areas rather thinly occupied and they'd taken steps, but it seemed like there had been unauthorized access to a couple of areas that hadn't been looked into.
Those areas were secure munitions storage. Which now only had roving patrols. The fact that the flags had been looped back through their systems was not a good thing. The Klingon's teeth barred and he paused and shut down his station, then went to a wall locker and drew out a phaser and his bat'leth. "I am going to look into something in area 5, section 378." He began striding toward the door as he said, "Tell security to meet me there if they have time. Have two of the security detachment otherwise assigned meet me there in three minutes."
Sergeant Morsaa, Staff Sergeant Srann Hol, Sergeant Lolli Otaid, and Staff Sergeant Alexandra Hobard all sat in the Jury Room, a lounge of sorts for the Marines aboard Empok Nor. They played out their weekly poker game as they had the usual wager among the NCOs. Hobard had her arms wrapped around a large pile of chips that she had just won when the announcement came. "This is Colonel Woods set Condition One throughout the station. Launch Alert Fighters. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta Squads to their posts on the Promenade. This is not a drill repeat this is not a drill. Set Condition One through the station."
Alexandra grabbed her winnings and smirked. "Well boys guess I will see you on the flip. Delta Squad suit up and on me. We have the dirt job we are for the lower decks of the habitat ring. MOVE IT!" The last line was shouted over her shoulder. Morsaa a tall lumbering Orion stood up. "Come on Alex you gotta give us a chance to get it back. How about double or nothing who ever gets the most kills." The Sergeant with a thousand smirks responded with one and a resounding "You're on."
Morsaa laughed and began to strap on his helmet. "Alpha Squad to me we are destined for the upper promenade. Move it out...."
The Bolian Hol sighed his way to his feet. He went through the process of putting his gear on rather quietly. He was a people person and as such had a tendency to watch as everyone went about their business. He laughed at the exchange between his two friends. "Bravo Squad to me... We have the lower promenade. And no lines from you, about being under you. You big green monster." He joked with Morsaa.
Otaid backed away from the table slowly and steadily. This was the part of combat she hated, and the only reason that she sometimes chided herself for joining the Corps. A Betazoid at the time of battle was something that no one really wanted to be. She summoned all of her faculties and blocked out the influx of fear, excitement, blood-thirst, and uncertainty that flooded into her from all sides. This was her way, her method before going to fight, she had to be in the right head space. "Ok Charlie Squad to me! Let's go show em all how it's done. Our job is to guard the top. CIC duty move it..." She smiled and was ready for anything at this point.
One by one the four NCOs led their teams to their stations. They were all certain that they could handle the mission ahead. However, what they did not expect was that their home was about to be invaded and turned into a battlefield. That they would have to leave their home behind. No one could be ready for that.
A Joint Post By
Brigadier General Francis Sobel
Commanding Officer, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Colonel Emilio Woods
Chief of Staff, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Captain Ir'Dama
Aide De Camp, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Sergeant Major Shi'rid Mun'na'ik
Sergeant Major, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Captain Denise Reynolds
Personnel Officer, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Major Cadama Roi
Intelligence & Security Officer, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Captain Robert Rhodes
Training & Operations Officer, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Major Shuk Son of Xa'ik
Supply Officer, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
1st Lieutenant Adam Mu
CO The Jury, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Master Sergeant Emery Fog
First Sergeant The Jury, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Staff Sergeant Pani Fumee
The Jury, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Corporal D'tar Xo'chi
The Jury, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Corporal Shelly Warren
The Jury, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
Lance Corporal Ad'mir Sho'
The Jury, 258th Starfleet Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Empok Nor
1st Lieutenant Leo 'Sundown' Steves
Commanding Officer, 5845th Marine Transport Squadron
Empok Nor
Captain Jelane 'Firefly' Shiqwue
Commander Air Group, 2738th Marine Fighter Squadron
Empok Nor
Sergeant Morsaa
Alpha Squad NCO, Marine Security Detachment 527481
Empok Nor
Staff Sergeant Srann Hol
Bravo Squad NCO, Marine Security Detachment 527481
Empok Nor
Sergeant Lolli Otaid
Charlie Squad NCO, Marine Security Detachment 527481
Empok Nor
Staff Sergeant Alexandra Hobard
Delta Squad NCO, Marine Security Detachment 527481
Empok Nor
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