In Brief
Posted on Tue Mar 25th, 2025 @ 5:45am by Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Captain Edmund Merrick & 1st Lieutenant Jeksyne Vale & Sergeant Major Lachlan Barr & 1st Lieutenant Edward O'Rourke
Edited on on Tue Mar 25th, 2025 @ 10:01pm
1,372 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: The Office of Edmund Merrick - The Snakepit - Deck 9 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD006 0900 hrs
Neil walked into his old office, missing the place. It was slightly larger than his current one and he missed it. Shrugging only slightly to himself, he looked at the assembled faces and he stopped halfway to Ed’s desk. Behind him, Rommie took her customary place near the hatch.
Without preamble, Neil said. “Gents. I’ll get right to it, since we’re already prepping for the operation against Species 626D on the Silence Homeward, I’ll keep this short. However, after this we’ll be heading back to Earth. It’s supposed to be a port of call for Pioneer. Routine. But the Cure isn’t going to get much of a break. As of now, the detachment will be going to Camp Kilgor on Mars for force on force games. Those will include playing around in and out of the suits. There will be training for everyone in their specialities, including anti-grav and vacuum. We will also, as a detachment, complete a 161 klick march over four days through the wonderful scenery of the Hellas crater military zone. All of this will take place over ten days. Four of those days will be the march. After that, we actually get some leave. At least a couple of days back on earth, the Moon or the Mars if you so choose.
Looking at his officers, he smiled, “All that being said, this is a heads up to get things in order. Obviously, this is side trip is going to through a kink in preparing for Mars, but that’s the glorious life the recruiters promised us.”
Meeting each set of eyes, he raised his arms and made a give me gesture, asking, “Ok. Questions? Comments. Concerns.”
"Will I get to blow anything up on this training mission?" Edward 'Sapper' O'Rourke asked.
Neil eyed the Lieutenant O'Rourke and said, "Things are shaping up like that. Once we have a better idea of what's going on, you can count on not getting much sleep Mr. O'Rourke since we only have about 500 kilo's of T-220 aboard, and I'm planning on taking at least ten times that much down to the surface in various configurations. We'll be suited up as far as I know, so you and Lieutenant Vale had best be up to speed in those." Glancing between the two Ed's, Neil said "Mr. O'Rourke. When I went through AIT and EOD, Sapper was a job description, though the more formal was of course Combat Engineer. How did you come by that as a nickname.?"
Ed realized something, and he leaped to his feet, he's been so slack on things that he messed up again. He looked at those there, "Attention!" then looked to Neil, "Sir, sorry to have interrupted you." respect, that is what he had been taught and adhered to.
Blinking, Neil looked at Edmund and tried to keep the amusement from his voice. "As you were." Meeting Merrick's eyes, he asked, "Better late then never Ed? You nearly scared me out of my boots there." Then he glanced back to the lieutenants and gestured at the chairs. "Everyone grab a pew while Mr. O'Rourke fills us in."
"Its nothing special, a fellow officer candidates caught me reading a romance novel, he called me 'Sappy', then because of my MOS, it became 'Sapper'."
Neil considered that for a moment, looking between the two Ed's and said, "Hrm. Love seems to be a dangerous business lately, full of land mines. Well, well keep that for now and see if you earn a new one with the Cure. Glancing toward Vale he asked. "Well Mr. Vale. I saw a note about old Earth literature being a hobby in your jacket. Ever venture down the classic romance novel genre?"
“Sparsely. Only Jane Eyre and Withering Heights. My main focus was mostly Westerns, Fantasy and Science Fiction works.” Vale explained to the gathered group.
“Mostly about how people perceived the past and envisioned the future.”
Nodding, Neil said "For me it was always history. Trying to learn from what others did. Then trying to find out true accounts versus what was in the official histories, but that's a rabbit hole." After a few beats he said, "We've an op coming up and there's bound to be a lot of uncertainty. Keep them and yourselves busy and focused on being familiar with the gear and mindful of our training. We don't have enough intel yet to button down what's expected of the Cure yet, but as soon as we know: you will."
"I don't have much in the way of answers, but I can try," Neil said. "Anyone have anything?"
"When we put our people through the training scenarios in the holodeck will you be participating in some of them? I do realize that with being the XO of the ship you may not always have the time to participate." Edmund wanting to get that information. He did realize that Neil will be there for the maneuvers of which he stated, previously.
Lachlan had listened to the short and sweet briefing. He had no questions, not really. Neil had addressed most of what he would have asked in his opening to the room. He would need to divide his time between The Cure and his CoB duties. In this he was in the same boat as Neil with dual duties between marine and fleet. He wondered what time, if any, they'd have on the holodeck at all. He was always into real time training... the holodeck took the fun, and danger, out of it.
Neil's eyebrow shot up and he was starting to wonder if he'd need to start speaking slower around Merrick. "Yes. Duties allowing, I'll be in on the planning and training as much as possible. Specifically I'll be focusing on OP-FOR then once we have as much intel as we can get. I will be incorporating the training armor and gear as much as possible into the holo-tanks. I want squad, team and entire detachment scenarios with this group taking part in all of them. Get used to even less sleep gentlemen. Start issuing combat cocktails as we'll be spinning up to eighteen to twenty hour days over the next handful. Tell the medics to keep a sharp eye on the kids. We'll move to combat conditions. Living with the Fleet has made us, or at least some of us, soft."
Edmund inwardly winced, part of the last comment Neil had said had an echo in his soul. He felt he had gotten soft, in some fashion, and he had to work on that. It was adding to the inner anger that had been building up as of late. His shoreleave hadn't been restful at all, it instead upped the stress. Outwardly, Edmund gave a nod towards Neil, "Will get that rolling;" he managed to say calmly.
Edward knew he resembled that remark. "Its the pillows and the mattresses, they're too soft." He said. "We should replace them with bunks like we had back in basic." Paused a moment. "Also, all this rich food, can't be doing us much good. I suggest we change to food that is nutritionally balanced, but tastes bland."
"My favorite is Marine Suppliment two-twenty-two. DNA chop with tubers and gravy," Neil commented as he moved to the exit. "Alright marines. Lets get back to it."
A Joint Post By
Captain Edmund Merrick
Company Commanding Officer Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
First Lieutenant Edward O'Rourke
Combat Engineer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Battalion Commander, The Cure
First Lieutenant Jeksyne Vale
Company Executive Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Sergeant Major Lachlan Barr
Chief of The Boat, USS Pioneer
First Sergeant, The Cure
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