A charlie foxtrot to end all charlie foxtrots

Posted on Wed Mar 3rd, 2010 @ 5:31pm by Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola

2,939 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: prior to departure

ON

Kaj was trying to keep a level head about things. His meeting with Commander Samantha York had been a good thing to say the least. The CO was informal without loosing that commanding presence, affable, and, if Kaj was being completely transparent, a rather stunning beauty. But aside from that she seemed to know what she was doing due to experience, always a plus.

He was trying to keep all of this in mind as he stared at the main launch bay on deck 4. About the only good thing he could say was that none of them were stacked on top of each other and that they were all righted, although in the case of the former it was just barely. From what he could tell the yardies had just crammed every single larger support craft that they could and a handful of Razor interceptors and smaller shuttlecraft into the bay at all sorts of angles.
He hadn't seen either of the other bays yet but he could very well assume that they were very similar to say the least.

As he stared at a Danube that was hemming in a Razor and a Type 9 to the point that either of the smaller craft would have to scrape the top bulkheads just to get over it, he simply shook his head in disbelief before tapping a comm pannel and keying in to a general broadcast channel. Not only was he going to need every qualified pilot that wasn't doing anything at the moment in addition to his own staff, but considering the potential nature of what was to come a bit of strategic planning was in order.

"Chief Flight Control Officer to Marine CO, Tactical Officer, flight control staff and all marine and fleet starfighter pilots, I am requesting your presence in the primary launch bay on deck 4."

As Kaj waited he picked up a padd that he had collected from a console nearby that detailed the compliment of support craft. If this mess was going to be solved then they had to stage everything right the first time, because in the back of his mind he knew that there was a high probability that they would not get a second chance away from port.

-----Marine Cargo Bay-----

Damon didn't hear the request as his uniform was several feet away on a work bench. Currently he was wearing coveralls, and for good reason, a dark fluid poured from a broken hose underneath the Marine variant Argo which found its way on to Damon's shoulder.

Damon swore as the warm liquid coursed down on to him. "Yeah, Trent. That’s the one right there." He had to yell from under the vehicle to be heard above the loud music playing in the repair bay. Normally he wouldn't allow the obnoxious heavy music to be played at all but, as moral was in need of a boost, he allowed it for today.

"Alright." Trent said from inside the Argo. "I have it now. Clamping." He yelled back just as loud

The liquid slowed to a drip. Damon used a cloth to clean away the remaining liquid from the Argo's frame, ignoring the obvious stain on his shoulder and face. From this angle, he could clearly see the gouge in the blast plate where a chuck of ice from Tiberius X had dug in and ripped away at the reinforced panel. They didn't notice a problem until the last day of the away mission and by that point there wasn't any time to fix the leaking vehicle. Damon could have had one of the other Marines work on it, but he was just as familiar with the Argo's as they would have been. Besides, he didn't mind the work.

As he cleared away loose pieces of the plate with some pliers, he noticed a number of boots making their way to his location. He could hear the muffled sounds of the lead Marine talking to Trent above him. Suddenly a loud clang rang through the Argo's structure, an indication from Trent for him to come out from under the body.

As Damon rolled out on his cart, the music in the bay had turned off at the same time as he was met by the eyes of a number of Marines. He recognized instantly that it was his Marine pilots. Trent tossed him a fresh rag to clean up with.

"Thanks." Damon said to him, as much for the rag as having the good sense to turn down the music. He sat up on the cart and looked up to the other Marines. "You all look confused. What's up?"

They were indeed perplexed. The ranking Marine spoke up. "Captain, we had a request broadcast to us that we were supposed to meet in the main shuttle bay."

"Oh?" Damon said frowning "On whose authority?"

"The Chief Flight Control Officer's." He said shrugging, obviously unsure of why a Fleet officer would be talking to them directly as well. "He also requested your presence."

Damon sighed and looked down to his dirty hands and coveralls. He shook his head. "Alright, we'll go along with it." He stood up and began walking to the bay doors that adjoined the main shuttle bay as he was flanked by the Marine pilots.

It only took a moment for them to reach the doors and pass through them. He started walking towards an already congregated group of the fleet side pilots and a gentleman standing in front of them.

“Can we help you?†Damon said loud enough to announce his presence.

Kaj was looking at his PADD with Warrant Officer Kurt Straub and Lieutenant JG Del'ore when Damon had sauntered in with the rest of the marines. Though he wore coveralls, Kaj could see that Damon was in fact the man to talk to in this case, having learned to differentiate between marine officer and marine NCO body language, similar and as assured as they were.

"An, you must be the devil dog in charge. Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola. I would state my department but given the confused looks all around I think you know that already."

Kaj held up his hand for a handshake, in lieu of trying to salute like a marine since he wasn't one.

Damon smiled and held up his hands, showing that they were still covered in grease. "I'll take that handshake in good faith some other time." He dropped his hands and resumed cleaning them with the rag he held. "So how can the Marines be of assistance?"

Kaj started to motion to the jumbled bay but barely got his hand an inch away from his side before waving it back and forth while semi shouting.
"Hey, guys, let the leathernecks see the problem alright? Look while I explain the situation initiate startup procedures on all the ships here, by the time you're halfway done everybody will be up to speed."

As the crowd scattered he shook his head and turned back to Damon.
"Some things never change even with years upon years of training... anyway back to the issue. If you can't tell by now this shuttlebay just two overturns away from being a complete cluster... well you can complete that phrase.
Normally I would just have my own crew and the fighter pilots redo everything, but there are two mitigating factors.
First we're on a time crunch and due to launch in a few hours, and secondly considering the danger we might be heading to I thought it prudent to stage any support craft in such a way that if we did need to launch in a hurry we could have any number of craft ready to respond from any of the bays in a hurry.

Ive seen tactical staging done before, but since this issue affects a helluva lot more people than the dedicated shuttle and fighter pilots I figured it would be best to bring in everybody that would be directly affected by this sort of thing."

Damon nodded. "Seems fair. My only concern is that the Fireflies and Razors have clear access out of the bay at all times. Hot deployments mean nothing if the pods are buried and we have to cycle the shuttles out."

Kaj smirked and nodded before handing Damon Raine the padd he was holding.
"I had that same thoughts, so I have three basic layouts that might give us all what we're looking for, or at least can give us a starting point.

Layout Alpha pretty much just shuffles things around evenly, meaning each bay has pretty much the same things in it. The only variance among them is that main bay has the Delta Flyer and the Argo, and bay 2 has the Hunley.

Layout Bravo is a bit more regimented. Main shuttlebay gets one of everything including both kinds of runabout, two Razors as well as the Argo, bay 2 is the small craft bay that has a majority of the smaller shuttles and the rest of the fighters, and bay 3 is where all the larger craft are kept including the remaining transports Danube and the Hunley

Layout Charlie is something along the lines of what ive seen aboard dedicated carriers. We keep a smaller contingent of shuttlecraft but the main movers will be the two wyvern/fireflies, the argo, and all six Razors. The other bays act primarily as hangars.

Personally Im in favor of Alpha. We can keep everything ready to go and out of the way and it gives us the same kind of operational flexibility in case something takes out one or two bays, but again its just options, hence why I wanted some other opinions..."

Kaj was cut off by the sudden hum and whine of one of the startup of the nearby Danubes impulse engines, which in turn reminded him about another question.
"Oh yeah there's something else. I had a chat with the Commander, she wants something ready to go in case transporters become a non-option at Tiberius IV and people get stuck dirtside. She mentioned shuttlecraft but considering what sudden disappearances mean around here I'm loathe to send a puny little Type 8 or 9 into some crossifire to get chewed up and spit out.

After looking at the list I'm thinking that the Delta or the Argo sans buggy would be the best options. They've got speed, firepower, strength, and plenty of room to bring in extra marines and extract survivors if we find any.

But again, the most I'd be doing is probably flying the thing. What would work best as far as marine and tactical considerations are concerned?

Damon was looking over the different layouts as he answered. "Fireflies, no question in mind. We should only need one with the platoon pod attached for the trip, if comes to that." He looked back up at the Lieutenant as he handed back the PADD. "All three variations look good on paper except that from my angle the only one that might work is the third option, Charlie. If it comes to a hot drop I will need quick access to my fireflies. With that in mind, I can’t have 100 Marines running though nine decks to get to those vehicles. The two bugs have to stay on this deck. As for the rest," He shrugged "I have no opinion on."

Kaj respected the marines and knew very well but his combat experience was not like theirs, but his own instincts told him different things than Captain Raine.
"I see your point on the layout, so lets do that. However I hate to disagree with a superior officer but I don't think a Firefly would be the best choice for a rapid extract. I know you guys are fast but anything larger than a squad takes time to get in and set up, and if a pick-up is hot I really don't want to sit dirtside for very long, armed marines and tactical transport or no.

Besides isn't the name of the game shoot and scoot when it comes to extract? I say we take the argo, put a squad of marines in the back and open up the side doors for a pair of door gunners."

He shook his head. "I appreciate what you are trying to say, however, an entire section of Marines is going down, not a squad. An Argo transport at full evacuation capacity only loads up 15. We have 16 Marines plus whatever Starfleet personnel on drop. The platoon pod will also act as our command center while planet side. You can drop the pod and burn out afterwords if you don't want to stick around. When it comes time to skip, even in a hot zone, that pod only takes a few seconds to dock with the bug."

Kaj raised his eyebrows. Since he had only gotten the bare bones en route and wasn't in the meeting he had stupidly made an assumption, and since a whole section of marines was scheduled to go down and not a standard away team, that was telling enough.
"Crap, nevermind, you're right, and in that case we ought to keep a pair of Razors on Alert 5 in case things are REALLY bad."

Kaj tapped his commbadge to relay instructions to his staff and the federation pilots.
"All right, Layout Charlie it is pilots, ill relay it to your ships, and please try not to collide in dock, the yardies take a dim view of that. CFCO out."

He turned back to Capt. Raine after ships started to lift off.
"I won't presume to give your marines orders, im just the leader of the helm-monkeys. But, if I may..."
he looked around to make sure nobody was listening in
"... is your company equipped with those TR-116 assault rifles? I dunno about you but when I hear sudden and total disappearance my brain immediately thinks one word: Borg. If you need to id be happy to range-qualify for the marines, give the boys a laugh at the fleet brass trying to shoot straight while I'm at it."

Damon grinned at the thought "I have no problem with it. I'll have a couple Marines work with you on that. The only thing I will ask of you, is that you learn the weapon inside and out. I won't let you take a TR out of the weapons locker until you first learn how to field strip the rifle and proper maintenance of it as well. Every Marine has had to go through the same training, I wont make exception for you."

Kaj grinned widely before responding.
"Wouldn't have it any other way Captain, and please call me Kaj or Natch, I only use rank if there's a pretty woman involved.
Can't be nearly as complex as one of those blasted Ballistic Assault Weapons, damn near ruptured myself with the charging handle at Camp Young during the war."

The Marine nodded "The 116 and 110 models are much more user friendly than the BAW's. Don't expect any of the Orion's Marines to hand you a BAW, 119 or 6a variant any time soon. How you managed to get your hands on an assault weapon at Camp Young in the first place is beyond me."

Kaj cocked his head slightly. Not the most pleasant of memories there but it was a big reason why he came to appreciate Marines the way he did these days.
"Well it was during the last 10 days of that place. I saw the marine manning it on a pintle mount go down, damn cardies managed to shoot straight for once and hit him. Long story short I rushed over and tried to take his post but wouldn't you know it I ran into the same problem he did, heat lockup. By the time I nearly disemboweled myself the hadar were close enough for me to count the scales, so I took the usual fleet route and got the hell out of there.

Only time that worked though, by the 10th day it got down to really up close and personal. You wouldn't know it by looking at it but carbines are really sturdy."

Damon nodded. "Most of the Marines who had a chance to serve in the war will tell you similar stories. The entire reason the SFMC made the carbine was so it could be used in close quarters fighting. It's a shame you had to learn firsthand."

"As many of your drill instructors probably told you, one does not get to pick where and when they fight, just how they react.
Besides, I never would have learned to carry one with me at all times in support craft had I not been stuck there, and I sure as hell wouldn't have the same respect for you leathernecks that I do if the hadar weren't so damn accurate with their mortars."

Kaj looked into the bay. There were plenty of ships moving but he always had the policy of leading by example, and standing and yakking with the Damon wasn't setting a good example at all.
"Well Captain Id like to continue but I have ships to move. Some other time then?"

"Sounds fine. When you are done here you can look up Staff Sergeant Riley, he will walk you through the TR116 training."

Kaj gave Damon a friendly clap on the shoulder before heading towards a Type 9 that was situated at an odd angle.
This was going to be an interesting tour of duty, no question about it.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Kaj "Natch" Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer

Marine Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO

 

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