Last Man On

Posted on Wed May 3rd, 2023 @ 9:57pm by Lieutenant Commander Ferrand Beaulieu & Colonel Jason "Jack" Frost & Major Samantha Snyder

1,393 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Ethics, Morals & The Prime Directive.
Location: Marine Barracks Then Main Hanger.

Jack and Sam we talking to each other about the orders that Captian's De Havilland had given, they were routine in nature but considering the amount of marines on board it was hardly a simple task. Every marine had to be accounted for, gear allocated, billited and squad commanders reported into. With 800 marines to be dealt with it was no surprise that even if things flowed smoothly, a hiccup would delay everything.

"Has everyone reported on board yet?" Jack asked leaning against the handrail that overlooked the large training floor.

"9 are outstanding but 4 of them are on a delayed transport. They should be arriving in 2 hours." The blonde-haired Sam replied looking over her notes. "The remainder have yet to check in at designated departure points. I have security looking for them."

Jack sighed, it was not what he wanted to hear. "Unless those 5 have verifiable reasons, they need to be dealt with."

"Understood." Sam spoke making notes. "We got our orders to report to the ship early, and most of us have, so I'm not sure why others didn't do so."

"Marine Command was quick on the hop with it. Fleet didn't get the orders till later." Jack replied as he saw two marines sparring with coloured blades, each would leave a coloured mark on their opponent to visibly mark a strike.

"I have been sent requests from some of our squad and fireteam leaders to meet with us. We have not worked with most and I think it would be a good idea to meet and greet. At least get a preliminary feel of them." Sam spoke up once she was sure Jack had finished talking.

"How many?" He asked.

"11 so far, plus two officers." Sam replied.

"Fine, make a time and we can drag in all the command elements, might as well get it all out of the way in one go." Jack didn't fancy having to repeat himself time and time again if anyone was missed.

"Do we have any pilots?" Jack had not looked into every single marines service record. Not that he was intending to either but he had to ask.

Sam ran a quick check for certifications across all marines assigned to the Dreadnought. "91 are qualified."

"I'd like them to start working with the CAG, Commander..." Jack stalled, failing to remember the name.

"Lt.Commander Ferrand Beaulieu." Sam chipped in.

"That's him. I'd like them to work with the CAG, if we need ground transport I don't want him wasting trained combat pilots on ferry duties." Jack wanted to get a task done without compromising another department. Knowing that he had plenty of marines he didn't want to take a combat fighter pilot out of the mix to play taxi duties.

"I'll go see him after we are done here, he will have the ultimate say though given his position." Sam countered.

"Yeah I know, but at least if we can spare a pilot for him, its one he can put in a fighter instead." Jack returned. Another sigh as Jack accepted that some things didn't change, finding himself back on the Dreadnought and a familiar setting. There were many marines that were new to the Dreadnought and it would take him time to get to know them and see what they could do. Time he had though.

"Unless there is anything else, I'll make my way down to the hanger?" Sam asked, keen to get going, one less thing to be done, one more step taken towards a goal.

"No." Jack spoke.

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Ferrand was in his office looking over some of the new squad leaders that had been assigned to him. Many of them were seasoned veterans, and a few of them had seen combat in some of the most fierce fighting. Knowing that he was fortunate to have such experience in leadership positions he would make as much use of these people out of the cockpit as in it. He was not sure what to expect with this assignment because it was hardly a routine one, the ship itself was hardly routine.

Though confident they could rise to any challenge the vague factors of the mission meant a lot of unknowns and that was dangerous.

The mood changed when he saw someone unexpected walk in, unexpected in that the individual wore green, vibrant blonde hair and turned more than a few heads with each stride. Exiting his office he stood at its doorway. "Alright, eyes front, act like professionals." The French-accented man spoke.

"Apologies Major, what can I do for you?"

Sam had ignored the looks, they wouldn't be the first and sure wouldn't be the last but being looked at was not part of her agenda. "Have I come at a bad time Commander?" Sam asked, considering all departments had orders to get ready she didn't want to be too much of a disruption to the Commander's plans.

"Not at all, please." Ferrand side stepped allowing the Major to step inside his office. "I do not believe we have met, Lieutenant Commander Ferrand Beaulieu, CAG."

"Major Sam Snyder, MXO. A pleasure." Now that pleasantries were concluded, Sam got on with the task at hand. "I wanted to talk to you about a number of marines that have clearances for shuttles and transports. Colonel Frost was hoping that you would be agreeable to working with those marines pilots and in doing so freeing up your pilots from transport duties and focus on combat craft."

"May I ask how many pilots we are talking about?" Ferrand asked as he took a seat, his hand out offering the Major one of the two in front of his desk.

"91." Sam replied as she shifted into a seat facing the CAG.

"Well, I understand this ship has a variety of support craft and transports aimed more towards marine use, I've no objections to your marines flying them, shuttles and runabouts also. Understandably, they won't be flying any of our Gryphon or Viper craft."

"Our hope is that by piloting the transports and such craft ourselves, it would permit your pilots to focus on the Gryphon and Viper types. That said, however, naturally marines are not combat pilots but in a potentially hostile situation it might be expected our pilots work together. With that in mind, the Colonel is hoping that we could schedule some training, formation flying, combat flight tactics."

Ferrand thought this might be a perfect opportunity to use those more experienced fliers in his command. "I do have some very experienced combat pilots that I think would be ideal for assisting you. I'm not sure exactly when we would be able to intermingle our efforts at this stage because we are still in the process of getting ready for launch, but once we have, I'm happy to help where able."

"The Colonel doesn't wish to step on your toes, he understands the limits of departments and scopes of operations, his thinking is that if marines were to pilot transports, shuttles and so on it would leave your more qualified pilots to fly the craft they are expertly trained in." Sam spoke, trying to make it clear that this was a request and by no means a demand from the Colonel.

"I understand, and I have no objection, but as it stands I am unable to give any assured time frame as to when." Ferrand answered he was keen to help, but the timing was against him in this instance.

"Understood. I'll inform the Colonel to touch base with you once we have departed. I'll have a list of marine pilots sent to you so you are aware with the skill sets the marines have to them." Sam spoke.

"That would be helpful, at least for a training aspect." Ferrand answered, wondering what kind of pilots he'd be reading up about.

"Excellent. I won't take up any more of your time Commander, we both have plenty to do and the Colonel will no doubt be in touch to coordinate." Sam concluded, happy with the turn of events.

"Not at all, and please, forgive what happened outside earlier. I'll talk to them about conducting themselves appropriately."

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