Meetings and Greetings, part 2

Posted on Sat May 8th, 2010 @ 8:19am by Colonel Damon Raine & Major Leroy Mangalia
Edited on on Sat May 8th, 2010 @ 8:25am

1,582 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Marine Hall
Timeline: Current

ON

[OLD]

"Yes Sir. Were I in your shoes, I wouldn't want it any other way. Also, I plan on training harder, and being better than any of the men under your Command. If the CO and XO are on par, then the bar is set low. Should they excel in even one thing, then the bar is set that much higher for every man to get to." Smiling lightly, he shook his head. "I don't envy this of you Sir, having to pretty much order your XO to be retrained. I wouldn't know how to do it."

[NEW]

Damon allowed a smile, breaking the mood. "I would have had you transferred off the ship already if I didn't think you would exceed my standards. The real quality of a Marine is only known when he is tested. Your file shows that you have resilience about you, something I think this unit could use."

"How so Sir? I haven't exactly looked at my file you know." Chuckling again he leaned back in the chair a little. "I was wondering, who are the men in the unit that I have to watch out for?"

"All of them." He said with a sardonic smile. "If you mean the Marines likely to get in trouble, there are relatively few. We have two Bajoran brothers attached to the Third who have a tendency to act on the aggressive side. If there is a fight, it's likely they are involved. At best I would see their aggression focused, not sapped. Their entire platoon rallies around them, it seems to be their galvanizing point. Private Kushner from the First has a lot to say, but everyone seems to put up with it because he has a horseshoe firmly wedged up his ass. It borders on superstitious."

"I'll take it as extremely lucky, and tends to make sure that everyone comes home alive. I doubt he'll go very far, unfortunate as it is. Superstition or not, men like that have a nasty tendency of falling." Standing for a moment, he moved to the replicator and grabbed a tall glass of water. Heading back to the seat, he sipped from the glass. "Who were the two that I was yelling at a few minutes ago?"

"Private Vicarro and Private Ayette, both from the Second. I'm not sure what it might be about. I heard something about them getting particularly aggressive with one another during a 'friendly' game of football in the Marine holodeck, it might be related."

"You guys actually play football?" Leroy was a little astonished by this. "Not something that's usually done. What's the training tomorrow morning?"

Damon nodded "I used to play football a lot as a kid, many of the same principals apply to Marine combat, also happens to be good for morale." Damon pointed to a large whiteboard hanging on the side of his office wall. "All of the weeks training routines are displayed here. Tomorrow the Second platoon is on active duty, so they are restricted to PT. The First is involved in a tactical insertion scenario aboard an enemy cruiser in holodeck 3 and, finally, the Third and Fourth are doing a skirmish in the Marine holodeck."

Leroy looked at the board and frowned. "With the power going out?" Looking again, he shook his head. "May I make a suggestion?"

"By all means."

"Leave the Second to Physical Training, but the First, Third and Fourth could help with the infestation aboard the ship. Sweep out the rest of whatever vermin is crawling around the ship. Keep a firing squad of the three on call, and let them rest a little. Four shifts, letting everyone get the rest they need. That allows six hours of work, eighteen for rest and relaxation. Mandatory R&R."

"It would be a good idea except I've been told that the infestation has been taken care of. Besides, that work would have been handled by the ships security staff; we don't have the jurisdiction to do that sort of thing unless we have been requested by the Orion's chief of security."

Leroy nodded, muttering to himself "Different ship, different rules." Looking back at the board, he squinted a little. An old habit from Basic. "Then I'm out of idea's Sir. When I'm done my piloting exercises, where do you want me?"

"I have a feeling it will be more than one lesson, Kaj tends to be thorough. You can schedule lessons for when you are off duty. Right now, I want you to start familiarizing yourself with the Marines in the Fouth platoon. They are our least combat effective unit right now. I want them to be ready in short order for active duty."

Damon spun his chair around and opened up a filing cabinet located behind the desk. After a second or two, he pulled out a PADD and spun his chair back around. "Look over this as well. It outlines the experimental program the SFMC is running with us." He handed Leroy the PADD.

Taking the padd he looked at it, squinting again. "This is gibberish to me Sir. The last unit I was n, I was just the Platoon Leader, not an XO. So I'm used to getting my orders easier. But the Fourth looks like nothing but Demo and Space Engineers. You want me to combat ready an entire platoon of men and women that don't hold a weapon for daily use?"

Damon nodded "They have come a long way since we first got them, but they have a lot further to go. It took some time to teach them to work as a platoon. At least you have a start. While you are at it, I want to get your opinion of the 2nd Lieutenant in command, I've heard he has a tendency to be...indecisive."

"Aren't they all," Leroy said looking at the roster. "I know I was at first. Then I had to take command. That's usually what takes hold. I'll see if maybe I can force it out of him. Permission to... get underhanded if need be Sir." He had an idea, and wondered if it would work.

"I'll sign off on whatever it takes to make that platoon work, shy of a court martial of course. Just be careful that the platoon can still respect their Lieutenant afterwards. Nothing poisons a unit like a lack of confidence in their command structure."

"No sir, nothing that desperate. I was going to improvise a war game. 1st versus the 4th. I'd personally shoot the Command Sergeant to take him out, it's what got me to stand. The NCO got hit, and I had no one to look to for the right answer. I'll be truthful, I made some stupid mistakes that day. I got about a quarter of my men home, and never got the slain from the field." Leroy shuddered as he remembered what had happened. "It'll make a man of the Lieutenant. He'll make mistakes, but he'll learn soon enough."

"So long as his mistakes don't kill my Marine's, I can live with that. I should warn you, the First is one of the finest platoons I've had the pleasure of serving with and they tend to get pretty competitive. That engagement looks decidedly one sided. Then again," He said thinking about it "When is war always a battle of equals?"

"The engagement I was in was one sided. They had more men and better firepower. I want the man to learn to think on his feet. And that's why I'm using a simulation. If I do it any other way then he'll learn to rely on someone else. I want him to lose men, I want him to think that he's only got one chance." Smiling lightly, he looked back at the Captain. "You're not going to lose any of your men. High stun at the max of the fire power. Maybe a little something extra if I can figure out how to simulate it. The First should work perfectly for what I want. I just need to explain to them that this is a training exercise, and not them just spanking the hell out of the Fourth."

"Hence the warning about their competitive streak." Damon said with a smile. "You have my approval to go ahead with the program."

"Thank you sir. I'm going to draw the Fourth together as soon as I get out of here, and try and make them respectable Marines. If you want, stop by every now and again and see how it's going. They may not like me very much, but they'll learn what it means. Anything else Sir?"

"Yes actually." He said with a grin. "When you go to talk to Kaj, tell him he owes me a new firefly."

"Of course Sir. Now with your permission, I'm going to go whip these men into shape." Standing, Leroy saluted the man, rigid as a rod.

"Dismissed, Lieutenant." Damon said with a nod. His eyes quickly fell back down to the work he had at hand.

Leroy dropped the salute, spun on his heel and walked from the office. He smiled evilly as he looked at his Chrono. Timing himself, he ran down to the second Marine Holodeck. It took him less than two and a half minutes. Now it was time for the games to begin.

OFF

First Lieutenant Leroy Mangalia
Marine XO
USS Orion

Marine Captain Damon Raine
Marine CO
USS Orion

 

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