Sink or Swim
Posted on Thu Jul 11th, 2024 @ 6:34pm by Lieutenant Scott Jones & Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Bradley
1,260 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Crossed Wires
Location: Marine Outpost
Having landed a few hours ago, allowing himself to get settled in his quarters and taking a moment to breathe, Scott finally began to look up who would best be to report in with, who he would be working closely with. According to that list and looking at a map of the area, Scott figured the XO would be best in the Marine Outpost. Hoping having a bit of a shared background would give them some common ground to talk about.
Grabbing his PaDD he headed out the door, using the map he pulled on screen to find his way. Along the way, doing his best to make mental notes of faces, smile, and be polite, he continued to make mental and then physical notes of who else to reach out to after these initial meetings. As he approached the marine outpost, at least according to his map and asking around he would find his way to the XO's door, taking a moment to adjust his uniform, brining his transfer orders up on his PaDD along with this service record attached, not that it wouldn't already be known anyway, Scott pressed the chime and waited for a response.
The doors opened, but there was no beckoning to enter, more an implication. From the inside of the room, which was darkened through the polarized windows, the office had slowly taken on more of a war room look than the Marine had ever really intended. A holotable sat in the middle of the space, flanked by chairs, with a desk in the back corner of the room. Standing at the table, watching a holographic representation of the ship currently approaching the planet, was the illuminated form of Lieutenant Colonel Bradley. For a moment the man's eyes shifted towards the Lieutenant standing there, and gave a brief nod, allowing the man to step inside.
Not giving a chance for introductions, he pushed a button on the table and the view shifted out. "It's about the size of a Galaxy class, all said and done," he nodded towards the ship with a highlighted trajectory towards the planet itself. "If its course isn't adjusted it'll aero brake on the first pass, and enter an unstable orbit before lithobraking in roughly three days. Suggestions?"
Scott's brow furrowed as he entered the room, putting the PaDD he was holding on the nearest flat surface as he headed towards the display, looking at all the details and information, taking it in and giving himself a few moments to process.
"I'm guessing there has been no communication? Any signs of life or hostility?" he began asking before continuing, "I can get a call out to ships in the area to intercept, going off locations the USS Clark isn't too far away and could investigate relatively quickly. Another option, depending on availability of ships, shuttles, fighters, whatever we can get a hold of that's got access to a tractor beam, get it to that ship and pull it out of its course enough to either bypass us, or depending on scans, help it into a more stable orbit after aerobraking." He paused to look at the Colonel, "It isn't out the realm of possibilities, I've managed to pull off something similar all be it on a much smaller scale."
"No direct aggression, but this morning a member of the senior staff was kidnapped by an unknown alien pair. It leads us to believe it was likely them that performed the kidnapping, though we are still pulling data to corroborate that. Currently the USS Atala who is assigned to the colony is trying to make contact with them." Another quick key into his controls and an inventory of the colony's auxiliary craft compliment was pulled up for review. "Two squadrons of Marine Valkyrie II fighters, a dozen or so shuttles, half a dozen runabouts, and a trio of Marine Albatross transports. If you got all of them together you could maybe tug it out of the way, but it if it puts up any resistance you're going to come short."
"So, hitting the ground running," Scott admitted openly, "If I can get details on the pair and whatever ship they are using I can get a sector wide bulletin put out for them." His face continued to furrow as he looked more at the situation at hand. "The Valkyrie fighters put out more power than most think, speaking from experience and if there is resistance, well, we will have a good amount of fire power to deal with it. I can still put a message into the Clark and get them into the area. They are out on patrol duties and their XO owes me a favour," he smirked slightly thinking of the events that lead up to that favour.
"No ship," Shaun said, passing data regarding the transporter signal. "MAROPS tags and tracks all traffic in and out of the system. The only additional ship was the one currently on a trajectory for us. As for the flighters," he waved a hand and one of the Marine fighters highlighted, "if they were Starfleet variants you'd be correct. And the Marine variant still packs a lot of power, the trade off being the sacrifice of secondary systems for uprated phaser, shield, and power management systems with additional fuel for extended long range travel. We never travel without secondary ships near by, so the SAR systems like tractor beams are reduced to make them more effective. They can provide screening, but they won't be much use as tugs." He turned to his desk, picking up a few PaDDs, regarding them for a moment, and pushing data from one to the other.
"The USS Gwydion and USS Passchendaele are also near by, their routes take them within range of the colony within a few hour response. Make use of them as you see fit." The Marine stopped to look at the man across from him, and offered a quick smile. "Welcome to Haumea, we very much are a Sink or swim posting."
"I'll get all ships coordinated then," Scott grinned back. This was the challenge he had been looking for, the feeling that the change in career path, the work he put in finally proving it was the right thing filled him with a brief sense of euphoria before settling back in to the seriousness at hand. "You wouldn't mind a former fighter pilot taking out of those ships himself to help coordinate then? See if any of the suggested upgrades I worked on and tested ever made their way down the chain."
The Lieutenant Colonel fixed the man with a stare, his eyes narrowing slightly. "No to the fighter," he said plainly. "Marine hardware is off limits to Starfleet personnel." He glanced back at his PaDD, pulling some other data up, quickly skimming it as his eyebrow raised. "Though I might make an exception so one of the boys can give you a real callsign." His switched the data back to what he had originally been looking at, and passed it over. "There is all the data you need. Captain Seong is busy with other matters at the moment, feel free to bring anything else to me."
"Appreciated Colonel," Scott replied firmly but warmly, "I'll get all the preparations made and update you when everything is ready to go. It shouldn't take long." And Scott turned to walk out, his first day really was going to be an eventful one.
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