from the crew previously slated for the Theseus . The rest I shamelessly pilfered from the other five ships.”
“Well, it’s very rare that you get that kind of opportunity, so I guess it’s fine. I might need to smooth out some ruffled tail feathers, though, so please send me the list of personnel you looted, as well as who you looted them from, so that I can start buying back some goodwill with favors of some sort. Any word on the Marine spec-ops unit?”
“They’re coming straight from a big training exercise at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tomorrow. Get this, they are specialists in boarding actions and tactics. I obviously knew that all TFC Marines were well-trained in EVA ops, but I had no idea that they still considered boarding and ‘cutting out’ actions to be likely scenarios for space-based units.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen some footage from one of their demonstrations. It could end up being a pretty handy skill set under the right circumstances. I believe they still refer to those missions as VBSS, for visit, board, search, and seizure. A few months ago, I would have argued that we’d never run into a situation where that would come into play, but I guess I’ve already been proven wrong there. Master Sergeant Rios and his troops have had that training as well. On that subject, I asked Admiral Patterson that Rios and his assault section be integrated with our new platoon of Marines, but he couldn’t make any promises. Did you see anything about him being reassigned?”
“No sir, he’ll be staying on as the platoon sergeant. That’s usually only a staff sergeant billet, by the way, which is probably one of the reasons they are sending us a first lieutenant as a platoon commander. I believe we will have a total of forty-three Marines, including the lieutenant and Rios.”
“Outstanding. I’m really glad to hear that.”
“I was too, sir, but you haven’t even heard the best part yet. They’re also bringing along four of their brand new Gurkha assault shuttles.”
Prescott rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That is good news. Those should provide our smallish Marine platoon something like the punch of a larger heavy weapons unit. I don’t think we’d be getting this particular unit equipped with those new Gurkhas unless Admiral Patterson had something specific in mind, though. Please make sure their first lieutenant finds me as soon as he arrives. Hopefully, he’ll be able to provide some additional insight.”
“Aye, sir.”
“You’re just full of all kinds of good news. I keep waiting for you to get to the part where you start telling me everything that has gone wrong already.”
“I’ll get to that, just let me finish the positive stuff first,” she smiled. “The Gurkhas , as well as all twenty-four of our Hunters, are C-Drive equipped. I can promise you that Captain Oshiro must have stripped those from other vessels. Those other destroyers down there, for example,” she said, nodding towards the five additional Theseus -class destroyers in Berths Twelve through Sixteen, “are all scheduled to launch within the next week or so. They are getting no Marines, no Gurkhas , and only four C-Drive-equipped RPSVs each.”
“Jeez, Sally, I’m afraid we’re going to have a lot of senior captains with their noses out of joint.”
“They’ll get over it, sir. Besides, we’re ‘first and best,’ remember?” Reynolds had come up with the “first and best” motto during Ingenuity’s shakedown cruise. Although it seemed to have a different meaning at the time, the phrase now seemed destined to follow Captain Prescott and his crew, regardless of which ship they served aboard.
“Uh huh. I doubt they’ll see things in quite the same way we do.”
“By the way, why are you still here?” she asked with a suspicious, sideways look.
“Oh, right, I guess I didn’t mentioned that yet, did I? The main reason is that I asked to be excused. The families of the crewmen we lost will be
“Well, it’s very rare that you get that kind of opportunity, so I guess it’s fine. I might need to smooth out some ruffled tail feathers, though, so please send me the list of personnel you looted, as well as who you looted them from, so that I can start buying back some goodwill with favors of some sort. Any word on the Marine spec-ops unit?”
“They’re coming straight from a big training exercise at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tomorrow. Get this, they are specialists in boarding actions and tactics. I obviously knew that all TFC Marines were well-trained in EVA ops, but I had no idea that they still considered boarding and ‘cutting out’ actions to be likely scenarios for space-based units.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen some footage from one of their demonstrations. It could end up being a pretty handy skill set under the right circumstances. I believe they still refer to those missions as VBSS, for visit, board, search, and seizure. A few months ago, I would have argued that we’d never run into a situation where that would come into play, but I guess I’ve already been proven wrong there. Master Sergeant Rios and his troops have had that training as well. On that subject, I asked Admiral Patterson that Rios and his assault section be integrated with our new platoon of Marines, but he couldn’t make any promises. Did you see anything about him being reassigned?”
“No sir, he’ll be staying on as the platoon sergeant. That’s usually only a staff sergeant billet, by the way, which is probably one of the reasons they are sending us a first lieutenant as a platoon commander. I believe we will have a total of forty-three Marines, including the lieutenant and Rios.”
“Outstanding. I’m really glad to hear that.”
“I was too, sir, but you haven’t even heard the best part yet. They’re also bringing along four of their brand new Gurkha assault shuttles.”
Prescott rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That is good news. Those should provide our smallish Marine platoon something like the punch of a larger heavy weapons unit. I don’t think we’d be getting this particular unit equipped with those new Gurkhas unless Admiral Patterson had something specific in mind, though. Please make sure their first lieutenant finds me as soon as he arrives. Hopefully, he’ll be able to provide some additional insight.”
“Aye, sir.”
“You’re just full of all kinds of good news. I keep waiting for you to get to the part where you start telling me everything that has gone wrong already.”
“I’ll get to that, just let me finish the positive stuff first,” she smiled. “The Gurkhas , as well as all twenty-four of our Hunters, are C-Drive equipped. I can promise you that Captain Oshiro must have stripped those from other vessels. Those other destroyers down there, for example,” she said, nodding towards the five additional Theseus -class destroyers in Berths Twelve through Sixteen, “are all scheduled to launch within the next week or so. They are getting no Marines, no Gurkhas , and only four C-Drive-equipped RPSVs each.”
“Jeez, Sally, I’m afraid we’re going to have a lot of senior captains with their noses out of joint.”
“They’ll get over it, sir. Besides, we’re ‘first and best,’ remember?” Reynolds had come up with the “first and best” motto during Ingenuity’s shakedown cruise. Although it seemed to have a different meaning at the time, the phrase now seemed destined to follow Captain Prescott and his crew, regardless of which ship they served aboard.
“Uh huh. I doubt they’ll see things in quite the same way we do.”
“By the way, why are you still here?” she asked with a suspicious, sideways look.
“Oh, right, I guess I didn’t mentioned that yet, did I? The main reason is that I asked to be excused. The families of the crewmen we lost will be
Similar Books
