Also known as: Jesus we've got a lot of Crap
The sun rose early on Friday...or so they tell me. Here in Kansas City, KS, we had overcast skies, constant winds with gusts up to 40 mph and temps in the low 50s (F). I arose early, well, for me at 6 am. Showered, dressed and roused the wife from bed. Once I got her into the shower, I stripped the bed, tossing the sheets and all the towels, including hers into the washer so that the final load of laundry would be done before we left the apartment. My dad was supposed to be at my place at 7:30 to pick me up and go get the moving truck at 8. About 7:10, he called me, asked if I could go pick him up instead. So I did, we went, got the truck and headed back to the apartment.
Wife had already left for work. Dad and I got the truck backed into the cul-de-sac we lived in, as close to our apartment as possible. First thing we moved, the couch...only because it was right in front of the sliding glass door and thus would be in the way of moving everything else. Hoist it up, carry it out the door...and my foot slips on the wet grass. Twisted ankle, nice. Get that back in place, and continue moving stuff.
The morning flies by, Mom arrives and helps pack those last min things that you need until the very end. By noon, the three of us have our apartment in the truck. Cleaning will wait till Sat. We drive up the block to our new apartment and three of my friends show up to help unload. We're done in little more than an hour.
Fun fact: A sleeper sofa will not make the turn from the front door, down the small hallway into our new living room. Only option...hoist it over the railing onto our patio and in through the sliding glass door.
One of the guys has to leave for work, so we bid him adieu and the rest of us head to my mother-in-laws. She's about 85% packed...despite me ragging on her for, oh, the last freaking two months about needing to be ready. Oh well, it is what it is. We pack up the stuff she's taking, toss the rest. Get over to the new apartment and unload. Oh, I should mention that while we're loading her apartment, the temp dropped about 10 degrees and the wind began to hit constant 30 mph. I will also mention that QuickTrip hot chocolate in the back of a moving truck is a treat.
So, around 3:30ish, we had back to the new apartment, unload her crap...of which she has a lot of. Order pizza...there are advantages for working for a pizza place...like, 50% discounts.
Everyone chows down, and the family/friends head home. Wife, mother-in-law and I begin the fun of now unpacking.
Saturday, dawns early...sunny this time but still cool. Wife and I return the truck and she begins cleaning our old place. Mom-in-law has friends come over and help her clean so we don't even worry about it.
By 5, I've moved everything, even the little stuff, both apartments have been cleaned and keys have been turned in. We're moved.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 22, 2008
Blame Game
I interrupt this blog for a real life rant. I posted this originally as a response on a message board that I occasionally post on and frankly, I'm dang proud of it so I decided to re-work it a bit and turn it into a column-like...thingie. And that is a technical term I believe.
So, the market's in crisis and there's blame a plenty to go around. But let's face facts here. The majority of it goes straight into the laps of liberal Democrats.
It began in 1977, when Democrat Jimmy Carter was President when the Community Reinvestment Act(CRA) was passed. Simple, noble-minded bill. The law mandated that each banking institution be evaluated to determine if it has met the credit needs of it's entire community", in other words, it outlawed "redlining" which is basically a form of profiling, only loaning to areas where there was no risk of the loan not being paid back.
Then in 1995, Democrat President Bill Clinton, with the idea of extending the American Dream of home-owner ship to all income ranges, including the ones who couldn't afford it, revised the bill to now require that banks make loans to people with little, no or bad credit. Not only require it, but also increase the number of CRA loans to low-income aka, the people who probably wouldn't be able to pay it back. It allowed companies to now securitize these CRA loans aka "sub-prime mortgages"
The first company to do so was Bear Stearns.
And they were so happy about it back then, quoting the article: "CRA loans are loans targeted to low and moderate income borrowers and neighborhoods under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.
'The securitization of these affordable mortgages allows us to redeploy capital back into our communities and to expand our ability to provide credit to low and moderate income individuals,' said Jane Henderson, managing director of First Union's Community Reinvestment and Fair Lending Programs. 'First Union is committed to promoting home ownership in traditionally underserved markets through a comprehensive line of competitive and flexible affordable mortgage products. This transaction enables us to continue to aggressively serve those markets.'"
From the beginning this was opposed by many and in 2003, Republican President George W. Bush proposed a complete overhaul, called by the New York Times as "...the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.", of the CRA requiring the two largest sub-prime mortage holders, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (boy all these names sure sound familiar) submit to greater oversight and begin to take action on securing this debt.
Quoting from the article: "The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates."
Guess what happened? The legislation was blocked by a party line vote, opposed by Democrats. Why? Quoting the NYT again: "Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said."
In fact, a few weeks later, Barney Frank, Democrat, told the AP: "I don't think we face a crisis. I don't think we have an impending disaster." In a way he was right, the disaster wasn't impending...it took about 5 years.
Two years later, in 2005, Republicans tried again, one of those I might add was Arizona Senator John McCain. And again it was blocked by Democrats, quoting Minority (now Majority) Leader Harry Reid: "The legislation from the Senate Banking Committee passed today on a party-line vote by the Republican majority, includes measures that could cripple the ability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out their mission of expanding home ownership...While I favor approving oversight by our federal housing regulators, to ensure safety and soundness, we cannot pass legislation that could limit Americans from owning homes and potentially harm our economy in the process"
It was opposed by Democrat Senator Chris Dodd, ranking member of the Banking Committee and I might add, highest receiver of donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. #2? Senator Barack Obama, Democrat, Illinois who didn't lift a FINGER to head off the crisis that now confronts us today.
Bush and the Republicans tried to fix this looming Democrat-created problem two times in the last 5 years and were blocked at each and every turn by Democrats in Congress.
You wanna lay blame? Lay it where it belongs.
So, the market's in crisis and there's blame a plenty to go around. But let's face facts here. The majority of it goes straight into the laps of liberal Democrats.
It began in 1977, when Democrat Jimmy Carter was President when the Community Reinvestment Act(CRA) was passed. Simple, noble-minded bill. The law mandated that each banking institution be evaluated to determine if it has met the credit needs of it's entire community", in other words, it outlawed "redlining" which is basically a form of profiling, only loaning to areas where there was no risk of the loan not being paid back.
Then in 1995, Democrat President Bill Clinton, with the idea of extending the American Dream of home-owner ship to all income ranges, including the ones who couldn't afford it, revised the bill to now require that banks make loans to people with little, no or bad credit. Not only require it, but also increase the number of CRA loans to low-income aka, the people who probably wouldn't be able to pay it back. It allowed companies to now securitize these CRA loans aka "sub-prime mortgages"
The first company to do so was Bear Stearns.
And they were so happy about it back then, quoting the article: "CRA loans are loans targeted to low and moderate income borrowers and neighborhoods under the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.
'The securitization of these affordable mortgages allows us to redeploy capital back into our communities and to expand our ability to provide credit to low and moderate income individuals,' said Jane Henderson, managing director of First Union's Community Reinvestment and Fair Lending Programs. 'First Union is committed to promoting home ownership in traditionally underserved markets through a comprehensive line of competitive and flexible affordable mortgage products. This transaction enables us to continue to aggressively serve those markets.'"
From the beginning this was opposed by many and in 2003, Republican President George W. Bush proposed a complete overhaul, called by the New York Times as "...the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.", of the CRA requiring the two largest sub-prime mortage holders, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (boy all these names sure sound familiar) submit to greater oversight and begin to take action on securing this debt.
Quoting from the article: "The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt -- is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates."
Guess what happened? The legislation was blocked by a party line vote, opposed by Democrats. Why? Quoting the NYT again: "Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. "The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said."
In fact, a few weeks later, Barney Frank, Democrat, told the AP: "I don't think we face a crisis. I don't think we have an impending disaster." In a way he was right, the disaster wasn't impending...it took about 5 years.
Two years later, in 2005, Republicans tried again, one of those I might add was Arizona Senator John McCain. And again it was blocked by Democrats, quoting Minority (now Majority) Leader Harry Reid: "The legislation from the Senate Banking Committee passed today on a party-line vote by the Republican majority, includes measures that could cripple the ability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out their mission of expanding home ownership...While I favor approving oversight by our federal housing regulators, to ensure safety and soundness, we cannot pass legislation that could limit Americans from owning homes and potentially harm our economy in the process"
It was opposed by Democrat Senator Chris Dodd, ranking member of the Banking Committee and I might add, highest receiver of donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. #2? Senator Barack Obama, Democrat, Illinois who didn't lift a FINGER to head off the crisis that now confronts us today.
Bush and the Republicans tried to fix this looming Democrat-created problem two times in the last 5 years and were blocked at each and every turn by Democrats in Congress.
You wanna lay blame? Lay it where it belongs.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Arneb --- Part III
continued from here. A thousand apologies for taking so many months to finish this.
Second Regiment was scattered across their staging room, cleaning their weapons and chatting about the upcoming mission. Rogue made a minute adjustment to the scope on his sniper rifle, inserted a sighting laser into the barrel and checked it through the scope. Satisfied, he removed the laser, took a rag out and began wiping the rifle down. To no one in particular he called out, “I’m telling you, it is going to get nasty.” The room instantly went silent. Redding, in the middle of breaking an assault rifle down, paused and looked around the room.
A soldier that Redding hadn’t met yet said, “Why do you say that sir?”
“Simple, Corporal, Intelligence has planned this mission. Intelligence—egghead, deskbound analysts, who hear a tidbit here, a scrap here and then claim to have a complete picture of what the Dominion is doing everywhere. Now I realize it’s all we’ve got, but, seriously people, has Intelligence ever been completely correct?” He went back to wiping down the rifle.
A grim silence hung over the room. Before anyone could say anything else, the intercom paged, “All regiment commanders report to the Briefing Room; all regiment commanders report to the Briefing Room.” Rogue frowned, handed the rifle over to Dara, then left the room.
Redding said, “Wonder what that’s about.”
Dara responded, “I’m sure we’ll be the last to know, Private. We always are.”
Rogue strolled through the corridors of the Liberty, nodding at passing crewers. When he arrived at the Briefing Room, he walked in and immediately noticed that Athos and the other division commanders were already present. As he sat down he saw two other individuals, Liberty’s master, Captain Lolz and Major Es’s’em, the Liberty’s shadowy Intelligence liaison, in deep discussion at the front of the room.
“Perfect,” Rogue snorted to himself, “Just perfect.”
The conversation broke up and Captain Lolz motioned for silence. Without preamble, he said, “While the offensive is still underway, the Arneb operation is postponed until further notice. The Liberty has been ordered to assault a Dominion planetary supply depot recently located by Intelligence. Major?” He deferred to Es’s’em.
“Thank you, Captain. This depot was discovered due to a recent communication intercept. With this new information, we reevaluated previous comms and verified the depot's location. We believe that it is responsible for around thirty percent of the Dominion’s forces in the surrounding sectors. Now while that may not seem like much, it may be enough to blunt the damage caused by our other operations in the upcoming offensive. Hence it has been deemed a high priority target. This facility appears to be of standard layout, but intercepts indicate that it is operating with a near skeleton crew. The defenses are therefore well within what our forces can handle. Captain.”
Lolz resumed the podium. “The Liberty has been ordered to engage immediately. We will be in orbit in two hours. Orbital and air support will smash any kind of orbital or air defense the depot has, landings will commence immediately after that. As soon as the facility is secured, freighters will jump in to remove any salvageable supplies while we provide escort. Once that is complete, we will raze the facility from orbit, denying it to the Dominion and all forces will withdraw to Coalition space. At that point, I believe we will once again begin preparations for the assault on Arneb.”
From beside Lolz, Es’s’em spoke up, “If the opportunity presents itself, your secondary objective will be to secure the facilities main operations center for Intelligence analysis. We expect no surprises for your troops.”
"Meaning that defenses will be two or three times what he tells us to expect," Rogue muttered sarcastically. The commander sitting next to him snorted.
"Is there a problem, Major Garcia?" Major Es's'em asked, looking directly at Rogue.
Rogue looked up, "No, sir. Simply wondering how you can be sure of that." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Athos give a subtle head shake.
Es’s’em’s eyes narrowed, “Our analysis is based of the best intelligence available Major. I personally reviewed this material.”
Rogue ignored Athos and met Es’s’em’s glare unflinchingly, “I realize that, Major, but you’ve been wrong before. In fact,” he paused, glancing around the room and noting that everyone was paying close attention to the exchange, “I can’t think of an operation where your vaunted Intelligence Analysis has been remotely correct. I don’t like the idea of putting either my men or myself into a situation where we’ve been told it’ll be easy and we run into a wall.” Around the room, several heads nodded in agreement. The tension between the two men became palpable.
Before the situation could escalate further, Captain Lolz interrupted, “We all wish we could have perfect intelligence, Major. But we have to operate with what we have; incorrect or incomplete as it maybe.”
Rogue sat back in his seat, “Yes sir.”
“If there are no further concerns,” Lolz looked around the room, “Dismissed!” He left the room. Rogue stood up and waited; it didn’t take long.
“That was dumb, Major.”
“Sorry, sir,” Rogue turned to face Athos. “It isn’t his skin on the line.”
“I realize you two have a history, Rogue, but you’re my Executive Officer. It’s unbecoming for you to get into a shouting match during a mission briefing. Keep in mind he’s only doing his job.”
“I would prefer he do his job with the goal of keeping our people alive rather than the objective of his next promotion Colonel.”
Athos smiled, “As do I, Rogue, but, like the Captain said, we fight with what we have, not what we want.”
“If anything goes wrong, I’m nailing his hide to the bulkhead, sir.”
“Only if you beat me to him, Major. Come on; let’s go give the good news to the division.” Rogue nodded and the two left the room.
Two hours later, the Liberty jumped into the system. Inside the launch bay, troopers ran to their landing craft. Rogue stood at the base of the ramp, shouting orders at his men. As the last trooper boarded, Rogue keyed his helmet’s comlink. “2nd Regiment, all accounted for, sir, ready to launch.” He saw Athos, two transports over, look over at him and nod in acknowledgment. Rogue then boarded and raised the ramp. He addressed the troopers as they secured themselves for combat landing. “We are going in with the first wave. Expect heavier defenses than Intelligence calls for. I don’t want anyone under my command underestimating the Dominion. Remember your training, watch out for each other, and no stunts!” Dara smiled at him. Rogue smiled back before moving into his alcove nearest the ramp and securing himself.
Jay’em checked his restraints, then checked the trooper’s on either side of him, as they all did. Redding, on Jay’em’s left, was breathing deeply. “Relax, Junior, one way or the other, it’ll all be over soon.”
“That’s funny, Lieutenant.”
Jay’em chuckled, “I thought so.”
The voice of the pilot came over everyone’s comm, “Launch in one minute.” The troops silently waited until the deck lurched beneath them. The engines roared, and then they were in space. Silence, the roar of the engines was now a muted hum transmitted through the hull. After a few minutes, a slight hissing noise started, indicating that the ship was encountering atmosphere. Rogue called out, “When we hit ground, clear the ramp, find cover, and await orders.” A massive detonation came from outside the hull. Fear crept across a couple of faces as the turbulence buffeted the craft. Rogue continued unfazed, “Respond to any resistance with maximum force.”
Despite the dampening fields, the troops were still tossed against their restraints by the evasive course the pilot was taking. Several more explosions rocked the ship, but none as close as that first one had been. “Touchdown in thirty seconds, landing zone is hot.”
Redding began counting down in his head. At ten seconds, he saw Rogue move to the limits of his restraints and reach over to the ramp release. Then the pilot announced, “Touchdown…NOW!” The floor bounced under them, and Rogue keyed the ramp.
Everyone slapped their quick releases and ran for the door. “Go! Go! Go!” Rogue shouted. Redding ran toward the hatch, hesitated at the top of the ramp as he saw what lay before them. Ahead, he could see a cluster of large buildings, surrounded by open paved fields and even larger warehouses. Several Coalition drop ships had touched down closer to the facility and were disgorging men. Small figures could be seen running toward them, Dominion troopers, already firing on the attackers. Someone shoved him from behind, and he started running again. He focused on the back of the troopers ahead of him. His boots felt dirt beneath them and he saw a rocky outcropping to his left. Seeing others already diving to the ground, he dove toward it, scooting up with his back against it.
He watched as the last member of the regiment cleared the hatch, Rogue yelled something back into the ship before jumping down to the ground and seeking his own cover. The landing craft fired a burst from its jets, lifted off the ground, spun on its axis, and burned for altitude.
Redding took several deep breaths. Training for this was one thing; actual combat was a completely different animal. He looked over at Rogue, who was talking to Dara and the other squad leaders. He pointed in several different directions, received nods from each of them, then motioned for everyone to get on their feet. “Listen up! As long as the rest of the division has the defenders tied up, we’re going to secure the command center. Squad Leaders, move your men out.”
Acknowledgements were given, and 2nd Regiment moved out. Skirting the main battle by a healthy margin, they made it to the outer warehouses unopposed. Rogue motioned everyone down as he surveyed the area. “Dara, take Second squad over to the right of that warehouse,” he indicated a building ahead of them, one deeper into the facility. “I’ll take First to the left. Bahms, you and Fourth support Captain Mcejo; Faro, you and Third are with me.” Heads nodded. Dara, Jay’em, and the eighteen others of Second and Third squad split off. Rogue held everyone still until Dara and Bahms reached the other side of the building before motioning everyone forward. They moved closer to their target.
The soldier on point suddenly flattened himself against the wall. The rest followed suit. A platoon of Dominion troopers ran past the front of the warehouse, only a few hundred yards away from them. Rogue quietly unhooked a grenade from his harness. Fortunately, rushing to the aid of the initial defenders, none of the Dominion saw the enemy troopers in the shadows between buildings. Giving the Dominion forces another minute to be out of sight, Rogue returned the grenade to his harness and ordered everyone to advance. They finally reached the end of the warehouse area. He scanned the area, noted Dara’s team moving into position to his right a few warehouses over. Ahead of them lay a few smaller administrative buildings and the control center. From seemingly far away, the roar of battle continued. Rogue keyed his comlink, “I don’t like this, Captain.”
Dara responded, “I agree, sir, far too easy. This area should be crawling with troopers.”
“Yep, or it could be worse.”
“Worse?”
“Yes, Captain, worse.” His glanced at Redding with a sardonic grin, “Intelligence could be right. Ok, our objective is to secure that building, move in.” He raised his rifle; sprinted forward. He made it to the next building, dropped to one knee and scanned the area with his rifle. Seeing nothing, he waved the rest of the team forward. To their right, Dara’s group was doing the same thing. He glanced over First squad; pointed, “Redding, take point.”
Redding nodded, sprinted forward. Stopping every so often, he checked for Dominion as he’d been taught. Behind him, he could hear the rest of the group following him. Minutes later, all of 2nd Regiment was pressed against the outside wall of the control center on either side of an access door. Rogue waved Jay’em to his side, “What’s beyond that door, Lieutenant?”
Jay’em glanced at it, then at either side of the building to get his bearings. “Security foyer, sir, standard complement is between three and five guards, beyond that, corridors and storage rooms. Another security foyer, more guards, and then the control room itself. Unless it’s completely unguarded or we take every single guard instantly, they’re gonna have some kind of warning.”
“Right, blow the door on my mark. Point men, soon as that door’s gone, toss grenades and go in shooting. We’ll sort it out later.” Acknowledgements came and Jay’em moved to the door, inspected it for a second before reaching back and selecting some charges from his pack. After placing the charges around the edges of the door, Jay’em moved to the side and gestured everyone back several steps.
Rogue signaled Redding and the other point man. Both nodded, unhooked grenades and raised their rifles. After they were ready, he tapped Jay’em’s helmet. Jay’em raised three fingers, began counting down. The charges exploded inward, hurling the door inside. Redding tossed his grenade, heard the explosion from it and stepped into the doorway firing his rifle. Advancing further, he saw a Dominion trooper who had been thrown against a console by the blast reach for his sidearm. His training took over and Redding shot him. Fire erupted in front of him from a trooper he couldn’t see. He hit the deck while returning fire. Behind him, he heard the other soldier grunt as he too dove to the deck and the sound of his rifle joined Redding’s.
A grenade thrown from behind them arced over their heads, landing near the spot where the Dominion soldier was hiding. Both men ducked their heads as it exploded. The enemy fire ceased. Cautiously, Redding rose to his knees, then to his feet. He moved deeper into the foyer, noting the corpses of two other guards, killed during the initial assault. Kicking aside the mangled door from where it had landed, he saw the body of the defender who’d been firing at him. “Major, I’ve got four dead bad guys. Area is secure.”
“Acknowledged, everyone move in.”
The rest of 2nd Regiment entered the room and began to spread out throughout the room. Rogue tapped two troopers on the shoulder and pointed at the door to the corridor. They nodded, ran to the door, opened it, and began to advance.
Redding held his position. A hand landed on his right shoulder. Redding’s head snapped toward it. What he could see of Dara’s face was lit up by her grin, “Well done, Private. Keep it up.” He smiled back. She squeezed his shoulder again before walking off.
Jay’em had been standing behind Dara, heard the exchange, and snorted, “Don’t expect a medal for managing not to get yourself killed, Junior.”
Rogue had reached the corridor. “Third and Fourth Squads, secure anything off this corridor, First and Second, our objective is the final security foyer before the control center. We cannot get tied down in that foyer. Hit it fast and move on. No grenades and watch your fire from here on out. Anyone tossing a boomer in the control room will answer to me.”
At a run, Rogue led the group to the final door. He and Dara lined up along the walls, Jay’em and one other kneeled in the middle of the corridor with their rifles in firing position. Rogue met Dara’s eyes, nodded, and hit the door release. The hatch slid open, and the four saturated the room. After sustaining fire for only a couple of seconds, they ran in.
Two guards who had been kneeling behind the hatch lay dead on the floor; another lay bleeding from multiple wounds. Rogue aimed his rifle but held his fire. The trooper struggled to raise his weapon then went limp, dead.
“Secure. Forward!” As a group, they ran to the hatch and opened it. “Nobody move!” he shouted. The technicians scrambling around the room completely ignored him. One dove for his sidearm. “Take ‘em out!” he yelled to his men.
Gunfire again sounded. When all the techs were down, Rogue detailed his men to various defensive positions around the room. “Dara, contact Command and advise them we have secured primary objective. Redding, get over here and start hacking. Let’s see if there’s anything here to make this little jaunt worth our time.”
“Aye aye, Major.” Redding slid his rifle and pack to the ground beside him and sat down at the main terminal. He cracked his knuckles and examined the screens in front of him. Seemingly satisfied, he reached into his pack, retrieved some equipment and started plugging them into the terminal. “Someone please keep an eye out for me?”
“I got your back, Private,” Dara said as she quickly reloaded her rifle and assumed a guard stance over him.
“Thanks, Captain.”
Rogue’s commline beeped, “Garcia here.”
“Bahms here, Major. Corridor secure. We’re heading for your position.”
“Negative on that, Captain, enlarge your perimeter. We need this entire facility secure. I’m sending Lieutenant Noe and First Squad to assist you.” He motioned to Jay’em, who nodded and headed for the door, First squad right behind him.
“Copy that, Major. Bahms out.”
“How’s it going, Private?”
“Trying not to trigger any auto-wipes, sir,” Redding responded without looking up from the terminal.
“How much longer do you need?
Redding paused and met Rogue’s gaze, “How much data do you want saved?”
Rogue blinked, Dara snickered. Redding took a deep breath, “Sir, with all due respect, this can’t be rushed. If you want a quick and dirty hack, you risk losing stuff but I can be in within five minutes. If you don’t want to risk that data, it’ll take time. I don’t know how much.”
Rogue’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Redding. “Understood, Private. Do what you have to do, but be ready to grab what you can at a moment’s notice.”
“Aye, sir.” Redding went back to his work. Rogue met Dara’s eyes; saw them twinkling and the smirk just barely hidden from her face. With a glance at Redding to making sure that he wasn’t looking, Rogue gave her a rueful grin and walked out the door of the control room.
Jay’em glanced around the corner and immediately pulled his head back as a blaster bolt slammed into the wall right next to it. The trooper beside him glanced around Jay’em toward the corner, then up at him. Jay’em shrugged and said, “Touchy.”
“Grenades?”
“Yeah, explosions are good. Let’s try a flash bang with a frag chaser.”
“Yes, sir.” He yanked a grenade off his harness, waited until Jay’em had a flash grenade in his hand. Jay’em silently counted down with his hands, tossed his grenade around the corner. Both men braced for the blast, which came mere moments later. Before the Dominion could even begin to recover, the trooper tossed his grenade. Rather than ducking, both readied their rifles and raced around the corner firing moments after the explosion. The little return fire they faced was sporadic at best, and they reached cover further along the corridor with no further trouble. Corridor by corridor, room by room, 2nd Regiment secured the entire facility. By the time they learned that the rest of the Liberty’s forces had crushed the defenders, they had the few remaining Dominion forces inside the command center cornered.
Once again, Jay’em found himself pinned down by Dominion fire. “Why am I always the one who’s getting his head shot at?” he complained to another trooper.
“I’m here too, Lieutenant.”
Jay’em chuckled. “You’re line slime, Corporal.”
“How about, ‘We signed up for this,’ sir?”
“Don’t remind me.” He put his hand up to his helmet as a voice came over his comm.
“Lieutenant Noe, this is Rogue. I’m coming up on your position with Second squad. Captain Bahms and his people are approaching from the far side. We’ve got all entrances to this facility secured. Looks like we’ve got the Dominion cornered.”
“Yes sir,” he signed off. He smiled at the corporal, “Help’s on the way.” He glanced around the corner then opened fire again toward the Dominion positions.
Later that afternoon Rogue, with Dara and Redding at his side, walked up the ramp of the landing craft. “I hate to say it, Captain, but Intelligence was right on the money with this one.”
“Yes sir,” she said grimly.
“More right than you know, sir,” Redding said. “From the stuff I saw during the data dump, the Dominion is operating this entire sector with barely skeleton defenses. That includes the Arneb system, sir.”
“I still don’t like this,” Rogue replied.
“Where’s Lieutenant Noe?” Redding asked.
Dara snickered, “On his way to the Liberty’s infirmary. Dominion trooper winged him.” Rogue shook his head with a rueful smile on his face.
“I told him to hold back until we could get him some more cover fire, but he ran right on in. He’s lucky the trooper was too stunned by Jay’em charging him to shoot straight.”
“I’ll be sure to remind him of that, sir,” Dara said with a twinkle in her eye.
“I know you will, Captain.” He turned to face Redding, “Private, your performance today was outstanding. I’m going to be recommending a commendation for you to Colonel Athos. Keep it up, Private, and we won’t try and boot you out of the regiment.”
Redding saluted, “Yes, sir.”
Dara motioned him inside the craft. As the two moved off toward their seats, Rogue turned and scanned the horizon. Transports were loading the Dominion’s supplies for the fleet’s use. The ship’s hatch closed and they lifted off toward their rendezvous with the Liberty. Next target, the Arneb system.
Second Regiment was scattered across their staging room, cleaning their weapons and chatting about the upcoming mission. Rogue made a minute adjustment to the scope on his sniper rifle, inserted a sighting laser into the barrel and checked it through the scope. Satisfied, he removed the laser, took a rag out and began wiping the rifle down. To no one in particular he called out, “I’m telling you, it is going to get nasty.” The room instantly went silent. Redding, in the middle of breaking an assault rifle down, paused and looked around the room.
A soldier that Redding hadn’t met yet said, “Why do you say that sir?”
“Simple, Corporal, Intelligence has planned this mission. Intelligence—egghead, deskbound analysts, who hear a tidbit here, a scrap here and then claim to have a complete picture of what the Dominion is doing everywhere. Now I realize it’s all we’ve got, but, seriously people, has Intelligence ever been completely correct?” He went back to wiping down the rifle.
A grim silence hung over the room. Before anyone could say anything else, the intercom paged, “All regiment commanders report to the Briefing Room; all regiment commanders report to the Briefing Room.” Rogue frowned, handed the rifle over to Dara, then left the room.
Redding said, “Wonder what that’s about.”
Dara responded, “I’m sure we’ll be the last to know, Private. We always are.”
Rogue strolled through the corridors of the Liberty, nodding at passing crewers. When he arrived at the Briefing Room, he walked in and immediately noticed that Athos and the other division commanders were already present. As he sat down he saw two other individuals, Liberty’s master, Captain Lolz and Major Es’s’em, the Liberty’s shadowy Intelligence liaison, in deep discussion at the front of the room.
“Perfect,” Rogue snorted to himself, “Just perfect.”
The conversation broke up and Captain Lolz motioned for silence. Without preamble, he said, “While the offensive is still underway, the Arneb operation is postponed until further notice. The Liberty has been ordered to assault a Dominion planetary supply depot recently located by Intelligence. Major?” He deferred to Es’s’em.
“Thank you, Captain. This depot was discovered due to a recent communication intercept. With this new information, we reevaluated previous comms and verified the depot's location. We believe that it is responsible for around thirty percent of the Dominion’s forces in the surrounding sectors. Now while that may not seem like much, it may be enough to blunt the damage caused by our other operations in the upcoming offensive. Hence it has been deemed a high priority target. This facility appears to be of standard layout, but intercepts indicate that it is operating with a near skeleton crew. The defenses are therefore well within what our forces can handle. Captain.”
Lolz resumed the podium. “The Liberty has been ordered to engage immediately. We will be in orbit in two hours. Orbital and air support will smash any kind of orbital or air defense the depot has, landings will commence immediately after that. As soon as the facility is secured, freighters will jump in to remove any salvageable supplies while we provide escort. Once that is complete, we will raze the facility from orbit, denying it to the Dominion and all forces will withdraw to Coalition space. At that point, I believe we will once again begin preparations for the assault on Arneb.”
From beside Lolz, Es’s’em spoke up, “If the opportunity presents itself, your secondary objective will be to secure the facilities main operations center for Intelligence analysis. We expect no surprises for your troops.”
"Meaning that defenses will be two or three times what he tells us to expect," Rogue muttered sarcastically. The commander sitting next to him snorted.
"Is there a problem, Major Garcia?" Major Es's'em asked, looking directly at Rogue.
Rogue looked up, "No, sir. Simply wondering how you can be sure of that." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Athos give a subtle head shake.
Es’s’em’s eyes narrowed, “Our analysis is based of the best intelligence available Major. I personally reviewed this material.”
Rogue ignored Athos and met Es’s’em’s glare unflinchingly, “I realize that, Major, but you’ve been wrong before. In fact,” he paused, glancing around the room and noting that everyone was paying close attention to the exchange, “I can’t think of an operation where your vaunted Intelligence Analysis has been remotely correct. I don’t like the idea of putting either my men or myself into a situation where we’ve been told it’ll be easy and we run into a wall.” Around the room, several heads nodded in agreement. The tension between the two men became palpable.
Before the situation could escalate further, Captain Lolz interrupted, “We all wish we could have perfect intelligence, Major. But we have to operate with what we have; incorrect or incomplete as it maybe.”
Rogue sat back in his seat, “Yes sir.”
“If there are no further concerns,” Lolz looked around the room, “Dismissed!” He left the room. Rogue stood up and waited; it didn’t take long.
“That was dumb, Major.”
“Sorry, sir,” Rogue turned to face Athos. “It isn’t his skin on the line.”
“I realize you two have a history, Rogue, but you’re my Executive Officer. It’s unbecoming for you to get into a shouting match during a mission briefing. Keep in mind he’s only doing his job.”
“I would prefer he do his job with the goal of keeping our people alive rather than the objective of his next promotion Colonel.”
Athos smiled, “As do I, Rogue, but, like the Captain said, we fight with what we have, not what we want.”
“If anything goes wrong, I’m nailing his hide to the bulkhead, sir.”
“Only if you beat me to him, Major. Come on; let’s go give the good news to the division.” Rogue nodded and the two left the room.
Two hours later, the Liberty jumped into the system. Inside the launch bay, troopers ran to their landing craft. Rogue stood at the base of the ramp, shouting orders at his men. As the last trooper boarded, Rogue keyed his helmet’s comlink. “2nd Regiment, all accounted for, sir, ready to launch.” He saw Athos, two transports over, look over at him and nod in acknowledgment. Rogue then boarded and raised the ramp. He addressed the troopers as they secured themselves for combat landing. “We are going in with the first wave. Expect heavier defenses than Intelligence calls for. I don’t want anyone under my command underestimating the Dominion. Remember your training, watch out for each other, and no stunts!” Dara smiled at him. Rogue smiled back before moving into his alcove nearest the ramp and securing himself.
Jay’em checked his restraints, then checked the trooper’s on either side of him, as they all did. Redding, on Jay’em’s left, was breathing deeply. “Relax, Junior, one way or the other, it’ll all be over soon.”
“That’s funny, Lieutenant.”
Jay’em chuckled, “I thought so.”
The voice of the pilot came over everyone’s comm, “Launch in one minute.” The troops silently waited until the deck lurched beneath them. The engines roared, and then they were in space. Silence, the roar of the engines was now a muted hum transmitted through the hull. After a few minutes, a slight hissing noise started, indicating that the ship was encountering atmosphere. Rogue called out, “When we hit ground, clear the ramp, find cover, and await orders.” A massive detonation came from outside the hull. Fear crept across a couple of faces as the turbulence buffeted the craft. Rogue continued unfazed, “Respond to any resistance with maximum force.”
Despite the dampening fields, the troops were still tossed against their restraints by the evasive course the pilot was taking. Several more explosions rocked the ship, but none as close as that first one had been. “Touchdown in thirty seconds, landing zone is hot.”
Redding began counting down in his head. At ten seconds, he saw Rogue move to the limits of his restraints and reach over to the ramp release. Then the pilot announced, “Touchdown…NOW!” The floor bounced under them, and Rogue keyed the ramp.
Everyone slapped their quick releases and ran for the door. “Go! Go! Go!” Rogue shouted. Redding ran toward the hatch, hesitated at the top of the ramp as he saw what lay before them. Ahead, he could see a cluster of large buildings, surrounded by open paved fields and even larger warehouses. Several Coalition drop ships had touched down closer to the facility and were disgorging men. Small figures could be seen running toward them, Dominion troopers, already firing on the attackers. Someone shoved him from behind, and he started running again. He focused on the back of the troopers ahead of him. His boots felt dirt beneath them and he saw a rocky outcropping to his left. Seeing others already diving to the ground, he dove toward it, scooting up with his back against it.
He watched as the last member of the regiment cleared the hatch, Rogue yelled something back into the ship before jumping down to the ground and seeking his own cover. The landing craft fired a burst from its jets, lifted off the ground, spun on its axis, and burned for altitude.
Redding took several deep breaths. Training for this was one thing; actual combat was a completely different animal. He looked over at Rogue, who was talking to Dara and the other squad leaders. He pointed in several different directions, received nods from each of them, then motioned for everyone to get on their feet. “Listen up! As long as the rest of the division has the defenders tied up, we’re going to secure the command center. Squad Leaders, move your men out.”
Acknowledgements were given, and 2nd Regiment moved out. Skirting the main battle by a healthy margin, they made it to the outer warehouses unopposed. Rogue motioned everyone down as he surveyed the area. “Dara, take Second squad over to the right of that warehouse,” he indicated a building ahead of them, one deeper into the facility. “I’ll take First to the left. Bahms, you and Fourth support Captain Mcejo; Faro, you and Third are with me.” Heads nodded. Dara, Jay’em, and the eighteen others of Second and Third squad split off. Rogue held everyone still until Dara and Bahms reached the other side of the building before motioning everyone forward. They moved closer to their target.
The soldier on point suddenly flattened himself against the wall. The rest followed suit. A platoon of Dominion troopers ran past the front of the warehouse, only a few hundred yards away from them. Rogue quietly unhooked a grenade from his harness. Fortunately, rushing to the aid of the initial defenders, none of the Dominion saw the enemy troopers in the shadows between buildings. Giving the Dominion forces another minute to be out of sight, Rogue returned the grenade to his harness and ordered everyone to advance. They finally reached the end of the warehouse area. He scanned the area, noted Dara’s team moving into position to his right a few warehouses over. Ahead of them lay a few smaller administrative buildings and the control center. From seemingly far away, the roar of battle continued. Rogue keyed his comlink, “I don’t like this, Captain.”
Dara responded, “I agree, sir, far too easy. This area should be crawling with troopers.”
“Yep, or it could be worse.”
“Worse?”
“Yes, Captain, worse.” His glanced at Redding with a sardonic grin, “Intelligence could be right. Ok, our objective is to secure that building, move in.” He raised his rifle; sprinted forward. He made it to the next building, dropped to one knee and scanned the area with his rifle. Seeing nothing, he waved the rest of the team forward. To their right, Dara’s group was doing the same thing. He glanced over First squad; pointed, “Redding, take point.”
Redding nodded, sprinted forward. Stopping every so often, he checked for Dominion as he’d been taught. Behind him, he could hear the rest of the group following him. Minutes later, all of 2nd Regiment was pressed against the outside wall of the control center on either side of an access door. Rogue waved Jay’em to his side, “What’s beyond that door, Lieutenant?”
Jay’em glanced at it, then at either side of the building to get his bearings. “Security foyer, sir, standard complement is between three and five guards, beyond that, corridors and storage rooms. Another security foyer, more guards, and then the control room itself. Unless it’s completely unguarded or we take every single guard instantly, they’re gonna have some kind of warning.”
“Right, blow the door on my mark. Point men, soon as that door’s gone, toss grenades and go in shooting. We’ll sort it out later.” Acknowledgements came and Jay’em moved to the door, inspected it for a second before reaching back and selecting some charges from his pack. After placing the charges around the edges of the door, Jay’em moved to the side and gestured everyone back several steps.
Rogue signaled Redding and the other point man. Both nodded, unhooked grenades and raised their rifles. After they were ready, he tapped Jay’em’s helmet. Jay’em raised three fingers, began counting down. The charges exploded inward, hurling the door inside. Redding tossed his grenade, heard the explosion from it and stepped into the doorway firing his rifle. Advancing further, he saw a Dominion trooper who had been thrown against a console by the blast reach for his sidearm. His training took over and Redding shot him. Fire erupted in front of him from a trooper he couldn’t see. He hit the deck while returning fire. Behind him, he heard the other soldier grunt as he too dove to the deck and the sound of his rifle joined Redding’s.
A grenade thrown from behind them arced over their heads, landing near the spot where the Dominion soldier was hiding. Both men ducked their heads as it exploded. The enemy fire ceased. Cautiously, Redding rose to his knees, then to his feet. He moved deeper into the foyer, noting the corpses of two other guards, killed during the initial assault. Kicking aside the mangled door from where it had landed, he saw the body of the defender who’d been firing at him. “Major, I’ve got four dead bad guys. Area is secure.”
“Acknowledged, everyone move in.”
The rest of 2nd Regiment entered the room and began to spread out throughout the room. Rogue tapped two troopers on the shoulder and pointed at the door to the corridor. They nodded, ran to the door, opened it, and began to advance.
Redding held his position. A hand landed on his right shoulder. Redding’s head snapped toward it. What he could see of Dara’s face was lit up by her grin, “Well done, Private. Keep it up.” He smiled back. She squeezed his shoulder again before walking off.
Jay’em had been standing behind Dara, heard the exchange, and snorted, “Don’t expect a medal for managing not to get yourself killed, Junior.”
Rogue had reached the corridor. “Third and Fourth Squads, secure anything off this corridor, First and Second, our objective is the final security foyer before the control center. We cannot get tied down in that foyer. Hit it fast and move on. No grenades and watch your fire from here on out. Anyone tossing a boomer in the control room will answer to me.”
At a run, Rogue led the group to the final door. He and Dara lined up along the walls, Jay’em and one other kneeled in the middle of the corridor with their rifles in firing position. Rogue met Dara’s eyes, nodded, and hit the door release. The hatch slid open, and the four saturated the room. After sustaining fire for only a couple of seconds, they ran in.
Two guards who had been kneeling behind the hatch lay dead on the floor; another lay bleeding from multiple wounds. Rogue aimed his rifle but held his fire. The trooper struggled to raise his weapon then went limp, dead.
“Secure. Forward!” As a group, they ran to the hatch and opened it. “Nobody move!” he shouted. The technicians scrambling around the room completely ignored him. One dove for his sidearm. “Take ‘em out!” he yelled to his men.
Gunfire again sounded. When all the techs were down, Rogue detailed his men to various defensive positions around the room. “Dara, contact Command and advise them we have secured primary objective. Redding, get over here and start hacking. Let’s see if there’s anything here to make this little jaunt worth our time.”
“Aye aye, Major.” Redding slid his rifle and pack to the ground beside him and sat down at the main terminal. He cracked his knuckles and examined the screens in front of him. Seemingly satisfied, he reached into his pack, retrieved some equipment and started plugging them into the terminal. “Someone please keep an eye out for me?”
“I got your back, Private,” Dara said as she quickly reloaded her rifle and assumed a guard stance over him.
“Thanks, Captain.”
Rogue’s commline beeped, “Garcia here.”
“Bahms here, Major. Corridor secure. We’re heading for your position.”
“Negative on that, Captain, enlarge your perimeter. We need this entire facility secure. I’m sending Lieutenant Noe and First Squad to assist you.” He motioned to Jay’em, who nodded and headed for the door, First squad right behind him.
“Copy that, Major. Bahms out.”
“How’s it going, Private?”
“Trying not to trigger any auto-wipes, sir,” Redding responded without looking up from the terminal.
“How much longer do you need?
Redding paused and met Rogue’s gaze, “How much data do you want saved?”
Rogue blinked, Dara snickered. Redding took a deep breath, “Sir, with all due respect, this can’t be rushed. If you want a quick and dirty hack, you risk losing stuff but I can be in within five minutes. If you don’t want to risk that data, it’ll take time. I don’t know how much.”
Rogue’s eyes narrowed and he glared at Redding. “Understood, Private. Do what you have to do, but be ready to grab what you can at a moment’s notice.”
“Aye, sir.” Redding went back to his work. Rogue met Dara’s eyes; saw them twinkling and the smirk just barely hidden from her face. With a glance at Redding to making sure that he wasn’t looking, Rogue gave her a rueful grin and walked out the door of the control room.
Jay’em glanced around the corner and immediately pulled his head back as a blaster bolt slammed into the wall right next to it. The trooper beside him glanced around Jay’em toward the corner, then up at him. Jay’em shrugged and said, “Touchy.”
“Grenades?”
“Yeah, explosions are good. Let’s try a flash bang with a frag chaser.”
“Yes, sir.” He yanked a grenade off his harness, waited until Jay’em had a flash grenade in his hand. Jay’em silently counted down with his hands, tossed his grenade around the corner. Both men braced for the blast, which came mere moments later. Before the Dominion could even begin to recover, the trooper tossed his grenade. Rather than ducking, both readied their rifles and raced around the corner firing moments after the explosion. The little return fire they faced was sporadic at best, and they reached cover further along the corridor with no further trouble. Corridor by corridor, room by room, 2nd Regiment secured the entire facility. By the time they learned that the rest of the Liberty’s forces had crushed the defenders, they had the few remaining Dominion forces inside the command center cornered.
Once again, Jay’em found himself pinned down by Dominion fire. “Why am I always the one who’s getting his head shot at?” he complained to another trooper.
“I’m here too, Lieutenant.”
Jay’em chuckled. “You’re line slime, Corporal.”
“How about, ‘We signed up for this,’ sir?”
“Don’t remind me.” He put his hand up to his helmet as a voice came over his comm.
“Lieutenant Noe, this is Rogue. I’m coming up on your position with Second squad. Captain Bahms and his people are approaching from the far side. We’ve got all entrances to this facility secured. Looks like we’ve got the Dominion cornered.”
“Yes sir,” he signed off. He smiled at the corporal, “Help’s on the way.” He glanced around the corner then opened fire again toward the Dominion positions.
Later that afternoon Rogue, with Dara and Redding at his side, walked up the ramp of the landing craft. “I hate to say it, Captain, but Intelligence was right on the money with this one.”
“Yes sir,” she said grimly.
“More right than you know, sir,” Redding said. “From the stuff I saw during the data dump, the Dominion is operating this entire sector with barely skeleton defenses. That includes the Arneb system, sir.”
“I still don’t like this,” Rogue replied.
“Where’s Lieutenant Noe?” Redding asked.
Dara snickered, “On his way to the Liberty’s infirmary. Dominion trooper winged him.” Rogue shook his head with a rueful smile on his face.
“I told him to hold back until we could get him some more cover fire, but he ran right on in. He’s lucky the trooper was too stunned by Jay’em charging him to shoot straight.”
“I’ll be sure to remind him of that, sir,” Dara said with a twinkle in her eye.
“I know you will, Captain.” He turned to face Redding, “Private, your performance today was outstanding. I’m going to be recommending a commendation for you to Colonel Athos. Keep it up, Private, and we won’t try and boot you out of the regiment.”
Redding saluted, “Yes, sir.”
Dara motioned him inside the craft. As the two moved off toward their seats, Rogue turned and scanned the horizon. Transports were loading the Dominion’s supplies for the fleet’s use. The ship’s hatch closed and they lifted off toward their rendezvous with the Liberty. Next target, the Arneb system.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Where were you?
I realize I haven't posted anything new in a long time...sorry. Combination of writer's block, life and other complications certainly intrude on one's writing. I have nearly completed the next installment of Arneb and hope to have it up soon. However, I have decided to interrupt that with my recollections of that terrible morning 7 years ago.
I worked nights at the time, and I lived at home. I had gone to bed around 7:30 am central and was just dozing off when my father threw my door open and told me an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Being half asleep I was like, "Whaaa?" He repeated himself and I realized he was serious. I got up, went downstairs to the living room and was watching the coverage on TV. My Dad and I had been discussing how a plane could have hit the towers when the second plane struck.
We were both shocked into silence and just watched until the reports of the Pentagon being hit started filtering in and then the first tower collapsed. We watched as it fell. Frankly I was only kinda shocked. I had studied Architectural and Structural Engineering in college and given where the planes had hit, I had expected somekind of collapse above the impact zone, but I didn't expect the entire building to go down. After it collapsed, I knew it was just a matter of time until the second tower collapsed. I wasn't watching when that happened because I was on the phone with my boss. I worked at a hotel right outside a military base and we were full of officers and senior non-coms staying at the base for training. The majority of them were checking out early to get back to their duty stations asap and I needed to know if she wanted wanted me back in to help the morning desk clerks.
After she said that she thought they could handle it, I learned the second tower had gone down. My father and I both headed to our cars and rushed to the nearest gas station cause we didn't know how bad it was going to get.
While I was filling my tank, the guy on the same pump but on the other side of the island looked at me and asked, "Do you think we're at war?" I replied, "We're at war with someone, the question is who."
I worked nights at the time, and I lived at home. I had gone to bed around 7:30 am central and was just dozing off when my father threw my door open and told me an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Being half asleep I was like, "Whaaa?" He repeated himself and I realized he was serious. I got up, went downstairs to the living room and was watching the coverage on TV. My Dad and I had been discussing how a plane could have hit the towers when the second plane struck.
We were both shocked into silence and just watched until the reports of the Pentagon being hit started filtering in and then the first tower collapsed. We watched as it fell. Frankly I was only kinda shocked. I had studied Architectural and Structural Engineering in college and given where the planes had hit, I had expected somekind of collapse above the impact zone, but I didn't expect the entire building to go down. After it collapsed, I knew it was just a matter of time until the second tower collapsed. I wasn't watching when that happened because I was on the phone with my boss. I worked at a hotel right outside a military base and we were full of officers and senior non-coms staying at the base for training. The majority of them were checking out early to get back to their duty stations asap and I needed to know if she wanted wanted me back in to help the morning desk clerks.
After she said that she thought they could handle it, I learned the second tower had gone down. My father and I both headed to our cars and rushed to the nearest gas station cause we didn't know how bad it was going to get.
While I was filling my tank, the guy on the same pump but on the other side of the island looked at me and asked, "Do you think we're at war?" I replied, "We're at war with someone, the question is who."
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Arneb --- Part II
Continued from here
Dara retreated to her quarters. Too much social interaction, particularly large quantities confined to a small room, tended to give her a headache. She was curled up on a corner of her bunk, indulging in a rare treat in this day and age, a real paper-and-ink book. She ran her hands through the pages; over the binding. She loved the feel of an actual book and had been saving it for a special occasion; such as tonight.
Even as involved with the story as she was, Dara always kept part of her attention on her surroundings. That awareness heard the footsteps in the corridor, recognized that it was the fifth time in ten minutes that someone had walked past her door, and flagged it as unusual, given the time of night and the fact that her room was situated in a low-traffic portion of the ship. Slowly, Dara turned her concentration from the book and, with a wistful sigh, she got up and switched on her console, calling up the feed from the sensor outside her door.
Redding, the new Private, was pacing.
Unbidden, memories sprang to her mind from her first days in the squad. Everyone had been friendly enough, but never before had she felt so utterly alone. It had taken her nearly a month to get accustomed to the new people, a new ship, new jargon, and new routines that inevitably accompanied a transfer; and that had been with over a year’s experience in the military, experience that Redding, a fresh recruit, would not have.
The decision was not hard to make. Dara stood, tucked her precious book into its case and placed that in a duffel bag under bed, then pulled on her boots and a jacket. She waited until she heard the faint echo of footsteps approaching before opening the door, and feigned mild surprise when she saw Redding.
“Captain!” Redding snapped to rigid attention the minute his mind registered her rank. He was so stiff that Dara supposed if she pushed his shoulder slightly, he might just topple over. She resisted the temptation to try.
“Redding. At ease. And, please, when we’re not on duty, feel free to call me Dara.” She smiled warmly, and he relaxed. “A bit late for you to be up, isn’t it?”
He shifted his weight, as if uneasy under her scrutiny. “I didn’t think I could sleep yet, so I decided to take a look around. Is there a problem?” A trace of nervousness crept into his tone.
“Of course not, I was going to get something to drink from the mess. Care to keep me company?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She held up a hand. “Try that again, but say something more like, ‘That’d be great, Dara.’”
Redding grinned, and the slight change in his stance told her that he felt more comfortable. “That’d be great, Dara.”
She nodded, still smiling, and led the way to the mess hall. On the way, she kept up a steady stream of conversation, pointing out shortcuts and supplying bits of trivia about their squadmates.
The mess had a small corner devoted to keeping the very late and very early shifts awake in the form of a continuous supply of hot drinks. Dara poured two mugs of steaming liquid, handed one to Redding, and they both sat at a table.
“Considering that it is very late and neither of us have duty to stay awake for, I poured us some decaf tea. Ok with you?”
Redding nodded and lifted the cup to drink.
“So how was your first day?”
He hesitated before replying. “It was a bit… overwhelming.”
That prompted a sympathetic chuckle from Dara, “Completely understandable. Your first time on a ship?”
“No, but it is my first time stationed off-world, and my first time on a ship of this size. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be so big.”
Dara chose not to tell him that the Liberty was only a mid-sized cruiser. “A new environment can be daunting. What do you think of your new squadmates?”
Redding shrugged. “I haven’t really had the chance to talk to anyone yet besides you, Lieutenant Noe and Major Rogue. But I do have a question, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
“What’s Colonel Athos like?”
Dara sat back in her chair, knowing that her response could set the tone for Redding’s expectations of the colonel. She didn’t want to give him the wrong impression, but she also didn’t want to make him think that life onboard an active ship would be completely lacking in military discipline.
“Commander Athos is unique. He encourages open communication among his squads, but will not tolerate grumbling or mutinous talk. He is a brilliant leader and is not afraid to lead in front. His strategies have saved all of our lives more times than we can count, and he has put his own life on the line more than once to save individual members of his command. He broke cover to pick off two snipers aiming for Major Rogue once, and, during a particularly nasty battle, he pulled me off the front line after I took a direct hit.” She paused, swirled her tea, then continued, “His ideas of leadership are more… flexible than other officers, but he still runs a tight ship. Athos encourages his squad leaders to take initiative and be creative. It’s his openness to suggestions and fierce commitment to his soldiers that inspires the loyalty he enjoys.”
Redding nodded, absorbing her words. “What of Major Rogue?”
“He won’t be a Major for long,” Dara said.
Redding looked startled. “What do you mean?”
She laughed. “I don’t mean he’s going to be demoted or court-martialed. I mean that he’s got a natural tendency towards command. He’s up for another promotion this next year, but you didn’t hear that from me. He’ll make Colonel someday, and he won’t stop there.”
“What about Jay’em?”
“Jay’em is the youngest demolitions expert we’ve ever heard of, and he knows it. He’s cocky, perpetually bored, and incredibly excellent at his job. If you catch him in the right mood, he’s also a lot of fun to be around.”
“And you?”
Dara wrapped her fingers around her cup. “Where Rogue goes, I’ll be at his back.”
Redding learned more about Rogue’s leadership qualities from that simple statement than anything Dara had said or could have said. It was also a glimpse into Dara’s own personality. He took another sip and glanced at the time. “It’s late, and I should probably try to get some sleep.”
Dara nodded agreement and stood. She shook Redding’s hand. “Goodnight, then.”
Redding watched her go, then drained his cup and stood. He set his empty cup on the table and glanced down, noting that her cup was still full. He looked back up and caught a glimpse of her as she walked out the door, realizing that she had not wanted a hot drink at all. Redding recognized that the first genuine gesture of friendship had just been made, and he suddenly felt much better about his assignment on the Liberty. He smiled and headed back to his quarters.
The next morning, Rogue sat at a table by himself in the same hall. A steaming cup of tea rested by his elbow and his attention was focused on the datapad in his hand. A rating brought a tray over and deposited it before him. He thanked the man, surveyed his breakfast order; pancakes with two slices of fried ham on the side.
Dara’s voice came from over his shoulder, “Always looks and smells so good doesn’t it sir?”
He chucked and picked up his fork. “You’d think that after all these years they’d have that lousy synthetic taste out of meats.”
Dara headed over to the counter, placed some fruit and bread on a tray, also got a mug of tea and returned to the table. Before she could say more, Jay’em stumbled in, his face dark. Both immediately turned their attention to their breakfasts, studiously ignoring him. He scanned the room through narrowed eyes; then made a beeline to the counter; filled a mug with coffee.
He came back to the table, started drinking. Dara glanced at him, “Is it safe to talk to you yet?”
“No. Need more caffeine.” She nodded and went back to her breakfast.
Redding entered. Rogue waved him over, directed him to the food counter. Then he sat down with his own coffee, “Good morning everyone.” Dara smiled at him and Rogue nodded. Jay’em said nothing. “You alright Lieutenant?” Redding asked. Jay’em's glare was so harsh Redding recoiled.
Dara leaned over and whispered, “Jay’em’s not a morning person Redding.”
Rogue chuckled. “That’s why I always try and send the unit into action as early as possible.”
“Buzz off. Sir,” Jay’em growled before finishing the cup and heading for a refill.
Redding turned to Rogue. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you last night sir, but what kind of strength does the Liberty’s Army detachment have?”
Without looking up from his datapad, Rogue responded, “The Liberty is home to one company of the Coalition Armed Forces. Ten divisions per company, five regiments per division, forty men per regiment, plus support staff.”
“Are we at full strength?”
“The Musketeers are. I honestly have no idea about the rest of the company. But,” he paused, leaned in and motioned the rest to as well, “after we talked last night I started doing a little digging around. Stuff is classified all over. So I tried the more round about approach. Nothing that someone of my security clearance couldn’t access normally mind you; and I did get a few clues.”
Dara asked, “Like what?”
“Well, I checked with Yofin, had her check the latest inventory of supplies for the Liberty as a whole and that was classified. Not that unexpected, so I asked her what she thought she could get and she sent me our inventory. Now as XO, that’s something I have access to anyway, I just normally leave it to her to let me know if we’re running short on anything so I can start ripping strips of skin off people. In the last month the Musketeers have received several large shipments and are currently supplied at three hundred percent recommended levels for a forward combat division. Yofin’s already checked with Quartermaster-Supply to make sure there hasn’t been a mix up, which there hasn’t. It stands to reason if we’re that overstocked by design, then so are the other regiments.” The others nodded. “In my mind, that leaves only one conclusion. Fleet Command expects this ship to be either out of range of regular resupply for some time, or involved in extremely heavy fighting.”
Jay’em whistled, “This is gonna be a big op.”
Rogue nodded, “Dara, do you remember Operation Tiger Claw? About three years back?”
She thought for second. “I remember hearing about it, I think. I was cooling my heels with an embassy guard at the time. Wasn’t that some big push where we took three whole sectors from the Dominion?”
“Five actually, though we ended up losing two of them to their counter offensive. I was a squad leader at the time with another division. Saw a lot of action; heavy, nasty stuff. Anyway, I checked the division’s records. Fortunately for us, the Musketeers were also part of Op TC. Just before it began, the records show they were stocked at four hundred percent recommended levels.”
Redding blinked. Dara and Jay’em both sat back with dazed looks on their faces. Rogue looked at each in turn. “We, folks, are about to be dumped into the biggest Coalition offensive since Tiger Claw.” He went back to his breakfast; the rest of the meal past in silence.
Several hours later, Dara, Jay’em and Redding entered the division’s briefing room. Rogue was at the front of the room in discussion with Athos and the seats were filling as other members of the division came in. Dara indicated three seats near the front and they walked over and sat down. At precisely ten hundred hours, Athos motioned for silence.
The room quieted and the lights darkened before a holo of the galaxy appeared in the air over Athos’ head. Coalition territory was shaded in blue; red for the Dominion. Contested areas were a light grey. The blue shade covered just over half the galaxy with the grey beginning just beyond the galactic core.
“For the past year, the war has been in a stalemate. Neither side has been able to make much headway into the other’s territory. Coalition High Command has decided that must change.” Athos paused for a moment. “As some of you may have already guessed,” he cast a quick glare at Rogue who gave a tight smile in return, “the Liberty will be taking part in our offensive. Right now the majority of the fighting has been along the central lines here,” he pressed a toggle on his podium and the grey area nearest the core began flashing. “High Command has decided to attempt a flanking assault here.” Another section began flashing, “The plan is to take as many sectors as we can successfully hold, advancing the lines while at the same time throwing the Dominion’s central lines off balance and open the door for our forces to advance there as well.”
A low buzz of chatter filled the room while everyone digested that. Athos let it continue for a few minutes before motioning for silence again. He pressed another toggle and the holo zoomed into, expanding the flashing section of grey. More detail appeared. Stars, rough estimates of the border lines and icons representing Coalition forces and suspected Dominion locations.
“The Liberty will be taking part in a sweep of this sector here. We drew the plum assignment. Our Company, as well as nine others, has been ordered to assault this planet,” he indicated it with a laser pointer; then zoomed the holo in. The planet looked quite similar to Earth. White cloud swaths, blue oceans, green and brown land masses though none appeared to be extremely large. “Arneb IV, before the war started, this planet was well within the Dominion borders. Its climate and vast island chains made it a choice vacation spot of the Dominion elite. It remains so, though many of its former clientele aren’t very keen on being this close to the front lines. Intelligence says it’ll be a cakewalk. Sparsely populated, largest settlement is less than two hundred thousand, and minimally garrisoned.”
A wave of muttered conversations swept the room. He allowed it to continue for a few minutes. “It gets better folks; we’re not even in the first wave. The Musketeers will be going in with orders to support the main line and clean out some of the more outlying outposts. Any questions?”
Rogue spoke up, “What kind of Fleet support can we count on?”
Athos replied, “During the landings and initial assault, we’ll have full support, both orbital and air. Intelligence suspects the Dominion will respond somewhat forcefully as Arneb is the playground of the rich and powerful. If/When that appears our orbital support will be reduced in response. We expect air support for the entire operation.” Another hand went up. “Yes Captain Mcejo?”
“What do you think about the battle plan sir?”
Though he smiled tightly, his voice was grim, “If Intelligence is correct; then we can do this in our sleep. But if they’re wrong on any part however, then we are in for a world of hurt. And when was the last time Intel Section was completely correct?”
The room quieted instantly. Athos glanced around again, “Ok. As you might have guessed, the Liberty is on complete comm blackout as of 2 hours ago. Landings commence in twenty-four hours. Once we have the planet secured, occupation and pacification forces will be moved in and we rejoin the main offensive. I want all equipment checks completed in four hours.” He reached over and toggled the hologram off. “I’ve always been upfront with you all and I am not about to begin sugarcoating it now. This could get nasty, if you have any letters or things you want to care of prior to zero hour, I suggest you do so. Make sure you get plenty of rest. We’ll need everyone at top efficiency for this. If at any time between now and when we leave that rock, if you have any ideas or suggestions, make them known to your superiors. Major Rogue dismiss the assembly.”
“Yes sir!” Rogue stood and bellowed, “Musketeers, dismissed!” The room emptied. They were all soldiers; they had a job to do.
Dara retreated to her quarters. Too much social interaction, particularly large quantities confined to a small room, tended to give her a headache. She was curled up on a corner of her bunk, indulging in a rare treat in this day and age, a real paper-and-ink book. She ran her hands through the pages; over the binding. She loved the feel of an actual book and had been saving it for a special occasion; such as tonight.
Even as involved with the story as she was, Dara always kept part of her attention on her surroundings. That awareness heard the footsteps in the corridor, recognized that it was the fifth time in ten minutes that someone had walked past her door, and flagged it as unusual, given the time of night and the fact that her room was situated in a low-traffic portion of the ship. Slowly, Dara turned her concentration from the book and, with a wistful sigh, she got up and switched on her console, calling up the feed from the sensor outside her door.
Redding, the new Private, was pacing.
Unbidden, memories sprang to her mind from her first days in the squad. Everyone had been friendly enough, but never before had she felt so utterly alone. It had taken her nearly a month to get accustomed to the new people, a new ship, new jargon, and new routines that inevitably accompanied a transfer; and that had been with over a year’s experience in the military, experience that Redding, a fresh recruit, would not have.
The decision was not hard to make. Dara stood, tucked her precious book into its case and placed that in a duffel bag under bed, then pulled on her boots and a jacket. She waited until she heard the faint echo of footsteps approaching before opening the door, and feigned mild surprise when she saw Redding.
“Captain!” Redding snapped to rigid attention the minute his mind registered her rank. He was so stiff that Dara supposed if she pushed his shoulder slightly, he might just topple over. She resisted the temptation to try.
“Redding. At ease. And, please, when we’re not on duty, feel free to call me Dara.” She smiled warmly, and he relaxed. “A bit late for you to be up, isn’t it?”
He shifted his weight, as if uneasy under her scrutiny. “I didn’t think I could sleep yet, so I decided to take a look around. Is there a problem?” A trace of nervousness crept into his tone.
“Of course not, I was going to get something to drink from the mess. Care to keep me company?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She held up a hand. “Try that again, but say something more like, ‘That’d be great, Dara.’”
Redding grinned, and the slight change in his stance told her that he felt more comfortable. “That’d be great, Dara.”
She nodded, still smiling, and led the way to the mess hall. On the way, she kept up a steady stream of conversation, pointing out shortcuts and supplying bits of trivia about their squadmates.
The mess had a small corner devoted to keeping the very late and very early shifts awake in the form of a continuous supply of hot drinks. Dara poured two mugs of steaming liquid, handed one to Redding, and they both sat at a table.
“Considering that it is very late and neither of us have duty to stay awake for, I poured us some decaf tea. Ok with you?”
Redding nodded and lifted the cup to drink.
“So how was your first day?”
He hesitated before replying. “It was a bit… overwhelming.”
That prompted a sympathetic chuckle from Dara, “Completely understandable. Your first time on a ship?”
“No, but it is my first time stationed off-world, and my first time on a ship of this size. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be so big.”
Dara chose not to tell him that the Liberty was only a mid-sized cruiser. “A new environment can be daunting. What do you think of your new squadmates?”
Redding shrugged. “I haven’t really had the chance to talk to anyone yet besides you, Lieutenant Noe and Major Rogue. But I do have a question, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all.”
“What’s Colonel Athos like?”
Dara sat back in her chair, knowing that her response could set the tone for Redding’s expectations of the colonel. She didn’t want to give him the wrong impression, but she also didn’t want to make him think that life onboard an active ship would be completely lacking in military discipline.
“Commander Athos is unique. He encourages open communication among his squads, but will not tolerate grumbling or mutinous talk. He is a brilliant leader and is not afraid to lead in front. His strategies have saved all of our lives more times than we can count, and he has put his own life on the line more than once to save individual members of his command. He broke cover to pick off two snipers aiming for Major Rogue once, and, during a particularly nasty battle, he pulled me off the front line after I took a direct hit.” She paused, swirled her tea, then continued, “His ideas of leadership are more… flexible than other officers, but he still runs a tight ship. Athos encourages his squad leaders to take initiative and be creative. It’s his openness to suggestions and fierce commitment to his soldiers that inspires the loyalty he enjoys.”
Redding nodded, absorbing her words. “What of Major Rogue?”
“He won’t be a Major for long,” Dara said.
Redding looked startled. “What do you mean?”
She laughed. “I don’t mean he’s going to be demoted or court-martialed. I mean that he’s got a natural tendency towards command. He’s up for another promotion this next year, but you didn’t hear that from me. He’ll make Colonel someday, and he won’t stop there.”
“What about Jay’em?”
“Jay’em is the youngest demolitions expert we’ve ever heard of, and he knows it. He’s cocky, perpetually bored, and incredibly excellent at his job. If you catch him in the right mood, he’s also a lot of fun to be around.”
“And you?”
Dara wrapped her fingers around her cup. “Where Rogue goes, I’ll be at his back.”
Redding learned more about Rogue’s leadership qualities from that simple statement than anything Dara had said or could have said. It was also a glimpse into Dara’s own personality. He took another sip and glanced at the time. “It’s late, and I should probably try to get some sleep.”
Dara nodded agreement and stood. She shook Redding’s hand. “Goodnight, then.”
Redding watched her go, then drained his cup and stood. He set his empty cup on the table and glanced down, noting that her cup was still full. He looked back up and caught a glimpse of her as she walked out the door, realizing that she had not wanted a hot drink at all. Redding recognized that the first genuine gesture of friendship had just been made, and he suddenly felt much better about his assignment on the Liberty. He smiled and headed back to his quarters.
The next morning, Rogue sat at a table by himself in the same hall. A steaming cup of tea rested by his elbow and his attention was focused on the datapad in his hand. A rating brought a tray over and deposited it before him. He thanked the man, surveyed his breakfast order; pancakes with two slices of fried ham on the side.
Dara’s voice came from over his shoulder, “Always looks and smells so good doesn’t it sir?”
He chucked and picked up his fork. “You’d think that after all these years they’d have that lousy synthetic taste out of meats.”
Dara headed over to the counter, placed some fruit and bread on a tray, also got a mug of tea and returned to the table. Before she could say more, Jay’em stumbled in, his face dark. Both immediately turned their attention to their breakfasts, studiously ignoring him. He scanned the room through narrowed eyes; then made a beeline to the counter; filled a mug with coffee.
He came back to the table, started drinking. Dara glanced at him, “Is it safe to talk to you yet?”
“No. Need more caffeine.” She nodded and went back to her breakfast.
Redding entered. Rogue waved him over, directed him to the food counter. Then he sat down with his own coffee, “Good morning everyone.” Dara smiled at him and Rogue nodded. Jay’em said nothing. “You alright Lieutenant?” Redding asked. Jay’em's glare was so harsh Redding recoiled.
Dara leaned over and whispered, “Jay’em’s not a morning person Redding.”
Rogue chuckled. “That’s why I always try and send the unit into action as early as possible.”
“Buzz off. Sir,” Jay’em growled before finishing the cup and heading for a refill.
Redding turned to Rogue. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you last night sir, but what kind of strength does the Liberty’s Army detachment have?”
Without looking up from his datapad, Rogue responded, “The Liberty is home to one company of the Coalition Armed Forces. Ten divisions per company, five regiments per division, forty men per regiment, plus support staff.”
“Are we at full strength?”
“The Musketeers are. I honestly have no idea about the rest of the company. But,” he paused, leaned in and motioned the rest to as well, “after we talked last night I started doing a little digging around. Stuff is classified all over. So I tried the more round about approach. Nothing that someone of my security clearance couldn’t access normally mind you; and I did get a few clues.”
Dara asked, “Like what?”
“Well, I checked with Yofin, had her check the latest inventory of supplies for the Liberty as a whole and that was classified. Not that unexpected, so I asked her what she thought she could get and she sent me our inventory. Now as XO, that’s something I have access to anyway, I just normally leave it to her to let me know if we’re running short on anything so I can start ripping strips of skin off people. In the last month the Musketeers have received several large shipments and are currently supplied at three hundred percent recommended levels for a forward combat division. Yofin’s already checked with Quartermaster-Supply to make sure there hasn’t been a mix up, which there hasn’t. It stands to reason if we’re that overstocked by design, then so are the other regiments.” The others nodded. “In my mind, that leaves only one conclusion. Fleet Command expects this ship to be either out of range of regular resupply for some time, or involved in extremely heavy fighting.”
Jay’em whistled, “This is gonna be a big op.”
Rogue nodded, “Dara, do you remember Operation Tiger Claw? About three years back?”
She thought for second. “I remember hearing about it, I think. I was cooling my heels with an embassy guard at the time. Wasn’t that some big push where we took three whole sectors from the Dominion?”
“Five actually, though we ended up losing two of them to their counter offensive. I was a squad leader at the time with another division. Saw a lot of action; heavy, nasty stuff. Anyway, I checked the division’s records. Fortunately for us, the Musketeers were also part of Op TC. Just before it began, the records show they were stocked at four hundred percent recommended levels.”
Redding blinked. Dara and Jay’em both sat back with dazed looks on their faces. Rogue looked at each in turn. “We, folks, are about to be dumped into the biggest Coalition offensive since Tiger Claw.” He went back to his breakfast; the rest of the meal past in silence.
Several hours later, Dara, Jay’em and Redding entered the division’s briefing room. Rogue was at the front of the room in discussion with Athos and the seats were filling as other members of the division came in. Dara indicated three seats near the front and they walked over and sat down. At precisely ten hundred hours, Athos motioned for silence.
The room quieted and the lights darkened before a holo of the galaxy appeared in the air over Athos’ head. Coalition territory was shaded in blue; red for the Dominion. Contested areas were a light grey. The blue shade covered just over half the galaxy with the grey beginning just beyond the galactic core.
“For the past year, the war has been in a stalemate. Neither side has been able to make much headway into the other’s territory. Coalition High Command has decided that must change.” Athos paused for a moment. “As some of you may have already guessed,” he cast a quick glare at Rogue who gave a tight smile in return, “the Liberty will be taking part in our offensive. Right now the majority of the fighting has been along the central lines here,” he pressed a toggle on his podium and the grey area nearest the core began flashing. “High Command has decided to attempt a flanking assault here.” Another section began flashing, “The plan is to take as many sectors as we can successfully hold, advancing the lines while at the same time throwing the Dominion’s central lines off balance and open the door for our forces to advance there as well.”
A low buzz of chatter filled the room while everyone digested that. Athos let it continue for a few minutes before motioning for silence again. He pressed another toggle and the holo zoomed into, expanding the flashing section of grey. More detail appeared. Stars, rough estimates of the border lines and icons representing Coalition forces and suspected Dominion locations.
“The Liberty will be taking part in a sweep of this sector here. We drew the plum assignment. Our Company, as well as nine others, has been ordered to assault this planet,” he indicated it with a laser pointer; then zoomed the holo in. The planet looked quite similar to Earth. White cloud swaths, blue oceans, green and brown land masses though none appeared to be extremely large. “Arneb IV, before the war started, this planet was well within the Dominion borders. Its climate and vast island chains made it a choice vacation spot of the Dominion elite. It remains so, though many of its former clientele aren’t very keen on being this close to the front lines. Intelligence says it’ll be a cakewalk. Sparsely populated, largest settlement is less than two hundred thousand, and minimally garrisoned.”
A wave of muttered conversations swept the room. He allowed it to continue for a few minutes. “It gets better folks; we’re not even in the first wave. The Musketeers will be going in with orders to support the main line and clean out some of the more outlying outposts. Any questions?”
Rogue spoke up, “What kind of Fleet support can we count on?”
Athos replied, “During the landings and initial assault, we’ll have full support, both orbital and air. Intelligence suspects the Dominion will respond somewhat forcefully as Arneb is the playground of the rich and powerful. If/When that appears our orbital support will be reduced in response. We expect air support for the entire operation.” Another hand went up. “Yes Captain Mcejo?”
“What do you think about the battle plan sir?”
Though he smiled tightly, his voice was grim, “If Intelligence is correct; then we can do this in our sleep. But if they’re wrong on any part however, then we are in for a world of hurt. And when was the last time Intel Section was completely correct?”
The room quieted instantly. Athos glanced around again, “Ok. As you might have guessed, the Liberty is on complete comm blackout as of 2 hours ago. Landings commence in twenty-four hours. Once we have the planet secured, occupation and pacification forces will be moved in and we rejoin the main offensive. I want all equipment checks completed in four hours.” He reached over and toggled the hologram off. “I’ve always been upfront with you all and I am not about to begin sugarcoating it now. This could get nasty, if you have any letters or things you want to care of prior to zero hour, I suggest you do so. Make sure you get plenty of rest. We’ll need everyone at top efficiency for this. If at any time between now and when we leave that rock, if you have any ideas or suggestions, make them known to your superiors. Major Rogue dismiss the assembly.”
“Yes sir!” Rogue stood and bellowed, “Musketeers, dismissed!” The room emptied. They were all soldiers; they had a job to do.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Arneb --- Part 1
This is part one of the back story from Comrades in arms. It also takes place in a different universe from both Dara's and Redding's stories.
Despite the intervening months, Dara was still not completely recovered from her ordeal. Thus, she shuffled through the dim corridor, the lights turned down for the night watch. As she neared the lounge, Major Mcejo rested for a moment, leaning against the bulkhead. Finally she got up the strength and walked through the hatch. Lit only by the light of distant stars, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to bring peace to her roiling emotions.
A soft voice pierced the silence, “There’s caf on the counter Major, scotch too if you’re looking for something stronger.” She opened her eyes, turned toward to the voice. Sitting in the corner, hidden by the shadows sat Commander Rogue.
“Should'a figured you’d be here,” she said, sitting in the chair he kicked out for her.
Rogue looked as haggard as she did and was already nursing a steaming cup. “You’d think after all these years…”
“Some memories don’t fade sir,” she said softly.
Rogue sighed. “You couldn't sleep, either?”
“Not a chance. Not to say I didn’t try, though. I wore myself out in the gym, hoping to sleep from exhaustion if nothing else.”
He smiled ruefully. “I tried the same thing. Even tried beating up the fresh meat in the simulators, no luck.”
Dara idly traced a pattern on the tabletop with her finger. “It didn’t seem like such a hard assignment when we got it, did it?”
His laugh was a little bitter. “No. They told us straight up we could do it in our sleep.”
A different voice came from behind them, “Arneb?”
Dara turned and saw Jay’em, hair tousled and expression weary. Redding stood right behind him, not looking much better. They both sat.
Dara murmured, “I don’t have to tell you two it’s the anniversary.”
“Would we be here if it weren’t?” Redding said.
Rogue waved over a droid server who placed three more cups of caf on the table. Rogue raised his mug as the others claimed theirs.
“To the memories of those who fell, and the futures of those who survived. All for one.”
“And one for all,” Dara, Redding, and Jay’em replied in unison. They drank the toast; then sat silently drawing comfort from each other. Rogue glanced at Redding, remembering the first time he’d met the man….
“Reporting for duty sir!”
Major Rogue looked up from his desk at the young saluting soldier. “Ah, the new blood. At ease Private. Have a seat. You have your orders?”
“Aye sir,” he replied as he handed Rogue a datacard and sat down. Rogue inserted it into a slot on his desk and skimmed the page that appeared on his display.
“Have you met Colonel Athos yet Private,” he paused, glanced at name tag on the other’s uniform, “Redding?”
“No sir, I just arrived on board.”
“Well, welcome to the Liberty. First time off world?”
“No sir, well, first time permanently assigned off world sir.”
“Then you already have your space legs, good. Do you know anyone in the division?”
“No sir.”
“Good bunch. We have the lowest casualty level of any unit in the battle group. We depend on each other, and we never leave a man behind. I encourage you to speak to both the Colonel, and to everyone in your regiment. Get to know them, you’ll find that we’re all very close to each other. Athos encourages it, though he says it’s strictly because it raises our combat efficiency.”
“I’ll definitely do that Major.”
“Excellent. See the division quartermaster, Lieutenant Yofin; she’ll get you a billet. You might want to get cleaned up and then head over to the lounge on Deck Six; we have it reserved beginning at eighteen hundred hours. Give you a good chance to meet everyone. Then we have a mission briefing scheduled tomorrow at ten hundred hours.”
“Yes sir.” Redding stood and saluted.
Rogue returned the salute; then offered his hand. Redding hesitated; then took it. Rogue gave him a firm shake and said, “Welcome to the Musketeers, Private. Don’t forget eighteen hundred, duty uniform. You’re dismissed.”
“Thank you sir.” Redding left. Rogue gazed at the door for a few minutes; then struck a key on his desk. A few minutes later the hatch opened and two people entered.
“What’s up sir?” asked the shorter of the two.
“Have a seat guys,” he indicated the chairs. Both did; the taller slouching slightly, the other, a woman, sat straight but relaxed. “The new guy just reported in. I told him to show for tonight. Go easy on him Jay’em. I think we’ll like this one.”
The shorter, Captain Daramis, chuckled. “Lieutenant Noe’s never gone easy on anyone Rogue, you know that.” Jay’em grinned menacingly.
Rogue sighed. “I don’t want to make it an order Jay’em. I didn’t say leave him alone, I just said go easy. Tonight is not for hazing, it’s for an achievement. Call him ‘Junior’ if you must, I would prefer you didn’t. Razz him a bit and let it go, ok?”
Jay’em chuckled, “I think I can live with that Major. It pleases me.”
“Thank you, dismissed.” The two left and Rogue turned his attention back to his work.
Redding straightened his uniform shirt, ran his hand over his hair, took a deep breath and stepped into the lounge. The room was awash in conversation and laughter. He looked around, hoping to see someone familiar. Failing that, he headed for the counter. An impressive selection of drinks and hors d’oeuvres was laid out with a bartender quietly mixing drinks for the crowd.
Redding popped a couple of sweet meats into his mouth and ordered a drink. While waiting for it to be mixed, he again glanced around the crowd. Shy by nature, being in a room of strangers wasn’t the most comfortable situation for Redding. His drink arrived and he took a large gulp. He immediately gasped as real alcohol burned down his throat. He set the drink down as he coughed a couple of times before regaining his breath.
“Are you ok Private?” a female voice asked from behind him. Redding turned toward the questioner; an attractive woman with Captain’s bars accompanied by a taller Lieutenant. She was looking at him with a concerned expression while the other had a smirk on his face.
“You’ve had a drink before, right Private?” he asked.
Redding indicated his drink. “That’s real alcohol Captain.”
“Correct,” she responded.
“I thought that was against regs.”
The Lieutenant chuckled, “Indeed it is Private. However, Colonel Athos has an understanding with the Liberty’s Captain. We can use the real stuff for our functions as long as there is nothing that would require official recognition; altercations, intoxications, etc.”
“What happens if we go on alert?”
The Captain answered. “Then we do our duty.” The serious expression on her face allowed no disagreement.
“Yes Captain,” Redding replied.
Her expression softened. “I’m Captain Daramis Mcejo, my friends call me Dara. This is Lieutenant JG Jay’em Noe and you can call him whatever you want.”
Noe gave Redding a menacing glare. “Yeah, just try that Junior.”
Dara jabbed Jay’em with her elbow, “You couldn’t resist could you?”
Jay’em’s glare broke into a grin, “Of course not, Rogue said I could razz the newb and I’m going to.”
A new voice broke in, “I said to razz him a bit and then let it go Lieutenant.” Rogue walked up with a drink in his hand. “Glad to see you Private. These two haven’t been too hard on you have they?”
“No sir,” Redding answered.
“Excellent.” Rogue set his glass on the bar, ordered a new drink then motioned for the three others to follow him to a table off to the side. After they all sat, Rogue spoke up. “Well, Redding, I’d like to again welcome you to the 325th Infantry Division, informally known as the Musketeers. I command 2nd Regiment; we’re a Combat Support Ops unit. Captain Mcejo here is my squad leader and Jay’em is our demolitions expert. You’ll be joining us as a rifleman initially and we’ll see about moving you into whatever specialty you have an aptitude for.”
Redding replied, “I’m a decent hacker sir.”
Dara’s eyebrow twitched, “Modesty from a comp geek? He’s either really awful or he’s exceptional.”
Jay’em snorted, “Lot of good hacking will do when you’re up against a charging line of Dominion shock troops.”
Rogue waved Jay’em silent, “Good hacking could keep you from facing that line in the first place Lieutenant. That’s good to know Private. You have any questions for us about the unit?”
Before Redding could reply, the sound of a glass being tapped silenced all conversation in the room. Rogue, Dara and Jay’em jumped to their feet and along with the rest of the room faced the sound. Redding quickly followed suit. Standing against a backdrop of stars from the viewport was a medium height, solidly built man with graying temples. His Colonel insignia gleamed under the lights as he raised his glass to ensure he had everyone’s attention.
“Musketeers! We gather tonight to honor our fallen brethren as well as those among us who have demonstrated their dedication and commitment to both the Coalition, and their comrades in arms!”
As one the gathered soldiers shouted, “Huzzah!”
Athos continued, “For special recognition tonight, will Captain Mcejo and Lieutenant Noe please step forward?”
Redding gaped as both winked at him then marched through the crowd and stood before their fellows.
“Two months ago, during our engagement on Ceti Prime the Musketeers as well as two other divisions were under heavy fire by a superior number of Dominion forces. Acting on their own initiative, these two broke off from their regiment, attacked a Dominion heavy gun emplacement and captured it. Before the Dominion could respond Lieutenant Noe, with supporting fire from Captain Mcejo as well as 2nd Regiment’s hasty reinforcement of their position, proceeded to take out two other emplacements and a company of shock troops. This allowed our division to go on the offensive, flank the Dominion’s central line and turn what could have been a rout of our forces into a stunning Coalition victory!”
The crowd shouted again and Athos let it continue for a few seconds before motioning for silence. “For these actions, I am proud to present both with the Coalition Star of Valor.” The room erupted into cheering. He pinned the medals on both and saluted them. “Congratulations you two. The entire division is proud of you.”
“Thank you sir!” both responded.
Rogue’s voice called out, “And if they ever try something like that again I’ll hammer those medals straight into their skulls!” Laughter rang out.
Athos again motioned for silence, “We have one more matter to care for, then I want everyone to head to their quarters. Major Rogue, will please attend to it?”
“Yes sir!” Rogue responded. He motioned to Redding, “Wait here.” Redding nodded. Rogue walked to the front of the room and faced the crowd. “My friends, it has been a great honor to serve with you. We’ve lived, fought and died together and when one of us is honored, we are all honored. Now I take great pleasure in recognizing a fine soldier. Lieutenant Noe, the Coalition Armed Forces has recognized your talents and outstanding conduct. They have seen fit to order the following.” He took a datapad out of his pocket. “Effective immediately, by the authority of Vice Admiral Sean, Commander of the Coalition 7th Fleet, Lieutenant Junior Grade Jay’em Noe is hear by promoted to 1st Lieutenant, with all the rights and privileges in accord with his new rank. Congratulations Jay’em.” Rogue saluted him and the newly minted Lieutenant returned it. The room broke into applause.
Rogue turned to look at Athos, “Colonel, I do have one other item I would like to address.”
“By all means Major,” Athos responded.
“Thank you, sir.” He faced the crowd again. “The ranks of the Musketeers have grown. 2nd Regiment is proud to present our newest addition, Private Redding. Private, if you will please step forward?”
Redding gulped then rushed to the front.
Athos offered his hand and said, “Welcome Private. You’re in the best regiment in the fleet.”
“Thank you sir!” Redding stood at attention so hard it seemed his back would snap.
“Of course,” Rogue said, “We will have to teach you how to drink Private.”
Redding flushed red and the room again exploded in laughter. Athos shouted, “Musketeers, salute!”
In unison, every individual in the room shouted, “One for all, and all for one!”
Athos then dismissed the gathering, “Everyone back to your quarters. We have a briefing tomorrow at ten hundred hours.” The crowd broke up. People came up and congratulated both Dara and Jay’em as well as welcomed Redding. As the room emptied, the three gathered around Rogue.
Jay’em asked, “So what hell hole are we being dropped into now Major?”
Rogue shrugged, “No idea Jay’em.”
Dara snorted, “You’re the XO sir, of course you know, you just can’t tell us.”
“I honestly don’t know this time Captain. No one below the division commanders have been let in on it. Even my contacts in other units haven’t heard anything. Whatever’s up, it’s big.”
“Should be interesting,” Redding said.
All three laughed, “Life in the Musketeers is always interesting Private,” Jay’em said. Thee door closed behind them as they headed out.
Despite the intervening months, Dara was still not completely recovered from her ordeal. Thus, she shuffled through the dim corridor, the lights turned down for the night watch. As she neared the lounge, Major Mcejo rested for a moment, leaning against the bulkhead. Finally she got up the strength and walked through the hatch. Lit only by the light of distant stars, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to bring peace to her roiling emotions.
A soft voice pierced the silence, “There’s caf on the counter Major, scotch too if you’re looking for something stronger.” She opened her eyes, turned toward to the voice. Sitting in the corner, hidden by the shadows sat Commander Rogue.
“Should'a figured you’d be here,” she said, sitting in the chair he kicked out for her.
Rogue looked as haggard as she did and was already nursing a steaming cup. “You’d think after all these years…”
“Some memories don’t fade sir,” she said softly.
Rogue sighed. “You couldn't sleep, either?”
“Not a chance. Not to say I didn’t try, though. I wore myself out in the gym, hoping to sleep from exhaustion if nothing else.”
He smiled ruefully. “I tried the same thing. Even tried beating up the fresh meat in the simulators, no luck.”
Dara idly traced a pattern on the tabletop with her finger. “It didn’t seem like such a hard assignment when we got it, did it?”
His laugh was a little bitter. “No. They told us straight up we could do it in our sleep.”
A different voice came from behind them, “Arneb?”
Dara turned and saw Jay’em, hair tousled and expression weary. Redding stood right behind him, not looking much better. They both sat.
Dara murmured, “I don’t have to tell you two it’s the anniversary.”
“Would we be here if it weren’t?” Redding said.
Rogue waved over a droid server who placed three more cups of caf on the table. Rogue raised his mug as the others claimed theirs.
“To the memories of those who fell, and the futures of those who survived. All for one.”
“And one for all,” Dara, Redding, and Jay’em replied in unison. They drank the toast; then sat silently drawing comfort from each other. Rogue glanced at Redding, remembering the first time he’d met the man….
“Reporting for duty sir!”
Major Rogue looked up from his desk at the young saluting soldier. “Ah, the new blood. At ease Private. Have a seat. You have your orders?”
“Aye sir,” he replied as he handed Rogue a datacard and sat down. Rogue inserted it into a slot on his desk and skimmed the page that appeared on his display.
“Have you met Colonel Athos yet Private,” he paused, glanced at name tag on the other’s uniform, “Redding?”
“No sir, I just arrived on board.”
“Well, welcome to the Liberty. First time off world?”
“No sir, well, first time permanently assigned off world sir.”
“Then you already have your space legs, good. Do you know anyone in the division?”
“No sir.”
“Good bunch. We have the lowest casualty level of any unit in the battle group. We depend on each other, and we never leave a man behind. I encourage you to speak to both the Colonel, and to everyone in your regiment. Get to know them, you’ll find that we’re all very close to each other. Athos encourages it, though he says it’s strictly because it raises our combat efficiency.”
“I’ll definitely do that Major.”
“Excellent. See the division quartermaster, Lieutenant Yofin; she’ll get you a billet. You might want to get cleaned up and then head over to the lounge on Deck Six; we have it reserved beginning at eighteen hundred hours. Give you a good chance to meet everyone. Then we have a mission briefing scheduled tomorrow at ten hundred hours.”
“Yes sir.” Redding stood and saluted.
Rogue returned the salute; then offered his hand. Redding hesitated; then took it. Rogue gave him a firm shake and said, “Welcome to the Musketeers, Private. Don’t forget eighteen hundred, duty uniform. You’re dismissed.”
“Thank you sir.” Redding left. Rogue gazed at the door for a few minutes; then struck a key on his desk. A few minutes later the hatch opened and two people entered.
“What’s up sir?” asked the shorter of the two.
“Have a seat guys,” he indicated the chairs. Both did; the taller slouching slightly, the other, a woman, sat straight but relaxed. “The new guy just reported in. I told him to show for tonight. Go easy on him Jay’em. I think we’ll like this one.”
The shorter, Captain Daramis, chuckled. “Lieutenant Noe’s never gone easy on anyone Rogue, you know that.” Jay’em grinned menacingly.
Rogue sighed. “I don’t want to make it an order Jay’em. I didn’t say leave him alone, I just said go easy. Tonight is not for hazing, it’s for an achievement. Call him ‘Junior’ if you must, I would prefer you didn’t. Razz him a bit and let it go, ok?”
Jay’em chuckled, “I think I can live with that Major. It pleases me.”
“Thank you, dismissed.” The two left and Rogue turned his attention back to his work.
Redding straightened his uniform shirt, ran his hand over his hair, took a deep breath and stepped into the lounge. The room was awash in conversation and laughter. He looked around, hoping to see someone familiar. Failing that, he headed for the counter. An impressive selection of drinks and hors d’oeuvres was laid out with a bartender quietly mixing drinks for the crowd.
Redding popped a couple of sweet meats into his mouth and ordered a drink. While waiting for it to be mixed, he again glanced around the crowd. Shy by nature, being in a room of strangers wasn’t the most comfortable situation for Redding. His drink arrived and he took a large gulp. He immediately gasped as real alcohol burned down his throat. He set the drink down as he coughed a couple of times before regaining his breath.
“Are you ok Private?” a female voice asked from behind him. Redding turned toward the questioner; an attractive woman with Captain’s bars accompanied by a taller Lieutenant. She was looking at him with a concerned expression while the other had a smirk on his face.
“You’ve had a drink before, right Private?” he asked.
Redding indicated his drink. “That’s real alcohol Captain.”
“Correct,” she responded.
“I thought that was against regs.”
The Lieutenant chuckled, “Indeed it is Private. However, Colonel Athos has an understanding with the Liberty’s Captain. We can use the real stuff for our functions as long as there is nothing that would require official recognition; altercations, intoxications, etc.”
“What happens if we go on alert?”
The Captain answered. “Then we do our duty.” The serious expression on her face allowed no disagreement.
“Yes Captain,” Redding replied.
Her expression softened. “I’m Captain Daramis Mcejo, my friends call me Dara. This is Lieutenant JG Jay’em Noe and you can call him whatever you want.”
Noe gave Redding a menacing glare. “Yeah, just try that Junior.”
Dara jabbed Jay’em with her elbow, “You couldn’t resist could you?”
Jay’em’s glare broke into a grin, “Of course not, Rogue said I could razz the newb and I’m going to.”
A new voice broke in, “I said to razz him a bit and then let it go Lieutenant.” Rogue walked up with a drink in his hand. “Glad to see you Private. These two haven’t been too hard on you have they?”
“No sir,” Redding answered.
“Excellent.” Rogue set his glass on the bar, ordered a new drink then motioned for the three others to follow him to a table off to the side. After they all sat, Rogue spoke up. “Well, Redding, I’d like to again welcome you to the 325th Infantry Division, informally known as the Musketeers. I command 2nd Regiment; we’re a Combat Support Ops unit. Captain Mcejo here is my squad leader and Jay’em is our demolitions expert. You’ll be joining us as a rifleman initially and we’ll see about moving you into whatever specialty you have an aptitude for.”
Redding replied, “I’m a decent hacker sir.”
Dara’s eyebrow twitched, “Modesty from a comp geek? He’s either really awful or he’s exceptional.”
Jay’em snorted, “Lot of good hacking will do when you’re up against a charging line of Dominion shock troops.”
Rogue waved Jay’em silent, “Good hacking could keep you from facing that line in the first place Lieutenant. That’s good to know Private. You have any questions for us about the unit?”
Before Redding could reply, the sound of a glass being tapped silenced all conversation in the room. Rogue, Dara and Jay’em jumped to their feet and along with the rest of the room faced the sound. Redding quickly followed suit. Standing against a backdrop of stars from the viewport was a medium height, solidly built man with graying temples. His Colonel insignia gleamed under the lights as he raised his glass to ensure he had everyone’s attention.
“Musketeers! We gather tonight to honor our fallen brethren as well as those among us who have demonstrated their dedication and commitment to both the Coalition, and their comrades in arms!”
As one the gathered soldiers shouted, “Huzzah!”
Athos continued, “For special recognition tonight, will Captain Mcejo and Lieutenant Noe please step forward?”
Redding gaped as both winked at him then marched through the crowd and stood before their fellows.
“Two months ago, during our engagement on Ceti Prime the Musketeers as well as two other divisions were under heavy fire by a superior number of Dominion forces. Acting on their own initiative, these two broke off from their regiment, attacked a Dominion heavy gun emplacement and captured it. Before the Dominion could respond Lieutenant Noe, with supporting fire from Captain Mcejo as well as 2nd Regiment’s hasty reinforcement of their position, proceeded to take out two other emplacements and a company of shock troops. This allowed our division to go on the offensive, flank the Dominion’s central line and turn what could have been a rout of our forces into a stunning Coalition victory!”
The crowd shouted again and Athos let it continue for a few seconds before motioning for silence. “For these actions, I am proud to present both with the Coalition Star of Valor.” The room erupted into cheering. He pinned the medals on both and saluted them. “Congratulations you two. The entire division is proud of you.”
“Thank you sir!” both responded.
Rogue’s voice called out, “And if they ever try something like that again I’ll hammer those medals straight into their skulls!” Laughter rang out.
Athos again motioned for silence, “We have one more matter to care for, then I want everyone to head to their quarters. Major Rogue, will please attend to it?”
“Yes sir!” Rogue responded. He motioned to Redding, “Wait here.” Redding nodded. Rogue walked to the front of the room and faced the crowd. “My friends, it has been a great honor to serve with you. We’ve lived, fought and died together and when one of us is honored, we are all honored. Now I take great pleasure in recognizing a fine soldier. Lieutenant Noe, the Coalition Armed Forces has recognized your talents and outstanding conduct. They have seen fit to order the following.” He took a datapad out of his pocket. “Effective immediately, by the authority of Vice Admiral Sean, Commander of the Coalition 7th Fleet, Lieutenant Junior Grade Jay’em Noe is hear by promoted to 1st Lieutenant, with all the rights and privileges in accord with his new rank. Congratulations Jay’em.” Rogue saluted him and the newly minted Lieutenant returned it. The room broke into applause.
Rogue turned to look at Athos, “Colonel, I do have one other item I would like to address.”
“By all means Major,” Athos responded.
“Thank you, sir.” He faced the crowd again. “The ranks of the Musketeers have grown. 2nd Regiment is proud to present our newest addition, Private Redding. Private, if you will please step forward?”
Redding gulped then rushed to the front.
Athos offered his hand and said, “Welcome Private. You’re in the best regiment in the fleet.”
“Thank you sir!” Redding stood at attention so hard it seemed his back would snap.
“Of course,” Rogue said, “We will have to teach you how to drink Private.”
Redding flushed red and the room again exploded in laughter. Athos shouted, “Musketeers, salute!”
In unison, every individual in the room shouted, “One for all, and all for one!”
Athos then dismissed the gathering, “Everyone back to your quarters. We have a briefing tomorrow at ten hundred hours.” The crowd broke up. People came up and congratulated both Dara and Jay’em as well as welcomed Redding. As the room emptied, the three gathered around Rogue.
Jay’em asked, “So what hell hole are we being dropped into now Major?”
Rogue shrugged, “No idea Jay’em.”
Dara snorted, “You’re the XO sir, of course you know, you just can’t tell us.”
“I honestly don’t know this time Captain. No one below the division commanders have been let in on it. Even my contacts in other units haven’t heard anything. Whatever’s up, it’s big.”
“Should be interesting,” Redding said.
All three laughed, “Life in the Musketeers is always interesting Private,” Jay’em said. Thee door closed behind them as they headed out.
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