Jarheads and Playgrounds

Posted on Mon Oct 16th, 2023 @ 5:40pm by Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Bradley

858 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Roll With It
Location: Marine Base "Camp Vimy Ridge"

The initial chaos of Protocol Six had started to subside as the "hurry up and wait" portion of things came to pass, and now there was a general calm around the facility. The forcefield was in place, the walls raised to provide additional shielding should someone decide to take a pot shot at the gathered Marines. The hum of its towers filled the space, a dull noise in the back of everyone's minds as it all took on. The CAESAR system was set up and planted, its crew seated around it, eyes scanning the sky. Occasionally the sound of the Valkyries overhead would cause some eyes to look up, but all in all, the area was quiet.

Or it would have been quiet.

The sounds of giggles filled the air, and towards the garages a small group of school children were climbing all over something. From where she stood, Ms Evora looked on helplessly, haven given up begging the kids not the climb the battle tank that had trundled its way out in front of them. A pack of crayons had been given out to a few students, which only added to the chaos as wax met warm metal to satisfactorily colour in whatever the kids desired. Near by the tank crew watched on, a combination of resigned defeat, and mild concern plastered on their faces. The crew chief Lieutenant leaned over towards the nearby Warrant Officer, and asked "Warrant, we aren't going to tell Colonel Sadler or General MacTaryn... right?" Jurzess laughed and shook his head.

"I think as punishment, we'll get one of the security officers out here with their tooth brush to clean it, a real apology for all this hulla baloo," the Trill responded, and the pair shared a laugh. "No no, the kids are happy, keeps them, and her-" he nodded towards the teacher, "from thinking about the Skipper being missing. I don't envy Spectre though, stuck in an office, talking to Fleeters and Civs alike, wishing he was here. His message sounded pretty annoyed, more than anything else." It had only been a half hour since the Lieutenant Colonel had acknowledged the missing Commanding Officer of Haumea Colony publicly, backed by some public officials.

"Think they'll want us to step in?" Asked the Sergeant, who snuck a sip from her canteen as she did. Jurzess shrugged.

"I'd bet not," the Lieutenant responded first. "Bradley seems unwilling to use force, wants to have the civs think we are here to build bridges and be a tool to help. Us going in guns drawn and on a war footing undoes all that super quick. Ya know, I was at the saloon the other day," he started into a tangent, "and one of the people there had to come ask about us and the boys and girls who dropped into that cave. Whole lot of happy parents about that," he finished, giving a nod.

Jurzess reached into his pocket, pulling out a pack of ration pack cookies as a pair of the kids ran up to him. "WARRANT WARRANT WARRANT," the leader of the pair, a Bajoran girl, screamed, flailing her arms about. "Gurpreet says that his sister wants to be a Marine! She says she saw you guys during the caves and wants to do that!" The boy behind her nodded eagerly. The three gathered Marines looked around at one another, as the Sergeant reached into her pocket and pulled out a patch, one of the spare 2nd Division patches she had kicking around. Many of the Marines had agreed to carry a few extras, if the kids asked about having one. She pulled her own worn one off, and replaced it with the fresh one, handed it over.

"You tell your sister she's a smart cookie, that we don't need more fleeters, but more good honest Marines," she said, "and make sure she gets this." She handed the patch over the the pair of children's eyes went wide. Jurzess held out the cookies, which the girl eagerly snatched, and the two ran back towards their classmates. "Well, I think he's doing a good job Lieutenant. Dunno about you, but if I had to pick between being seen as a gun swinging meat head, or the softy these kids seem to think we are, maybe letting the facade fall away a little ain't so bad."

The Lieutenant offered a shrug. "Then we just got to home it all holds up this way, and the Fleeter Captain comes meandering out of the woods, lost and confused. Long as the civs are calm and the local law enforcement can keep it even, then we got nothing to worry about. Though Sergeant, maybe we find a Private who looks a little too bored, and give the Chief a bath, eh?" The three exchanged a laugh, and the Warrant waved as he walked away, headed towards the gathered children to make sure they were able to get questions answer. There was sure to be some panic from their parents when they got home, but for the moment, he was going to make sure they got to be kids.

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