After Action

Posted on Sat Jul 2nd, 2016 @ 11:23am by Major General Thomas Jackson & Master Warrant Officer Gaius Aquila & Staff Sergeant Sam Hopper & Brigadier General David Hurd Sr & Major Patrick McMichaels & Sergeant Calthier
Edited on on Sat Jul 2nd, 2016 @ 11:37am

1,887 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 92 - More Questions than Answers
Location: Marine Briefing 1
Timeline: The Day after the Pegasus/Hattori battle

Medical Center

Jax made it a point to speak with each individual marine who was staying in Medical due to wounds they received. He was quite surprised not only to encounter the wounded from the Pegasus Raid, but wounded marines from Kaleb III as well. Lieutenant Casion spent a very short time in there, but left AMA according to the Duty Nurse. He finally made it to Patrick's biobed. He could see that the young Captain was awake. "How do you feel Patrick?"

"I feel like I took a photon torpedo to the chest" he said then tried to laugh but it came out like a ragged cough. "Did we neutralize the base? How many men did we lose?" he asked, sitting and saluting Jackson.

"Take it easy Patrick. Settle down." Jackson paused for a few seconds, " I think we lost two on the Base Raid, with many wounded. Hurd will verify the numbers when I see him at the debrief. But your mission was accomplished. We also lost at least eight in an attempted pirate raid of the Kaleb III Depot with dozens wounded. That is why Medical is full of marines."

Patrick breathed a sigh of relief. " I should be up and around soon Sir. Did Sergeant Maal make it as well? He was still going strong when I took that blast. Then everything went black" he said.

"Maal made it. In fact, he saved your hide. You are pretty much stuck in here until the morning. So enjoy while you can. " Jackson responded.

"Thank you, General" Patrick said. He laid back down and closed his eyes. He'd be released tomorrow for the debriefing. It was good they were successful. He owed Maal a big thanks.


Marine Briefing Room 1

Jax sat there, drinking his coffee, as he waited for LTC Hurd, Lieutenant Casion, and Chief Aquila to arrive. He had a blank PADD next to him. Giaus was the first to arrive. He seemed to be better than he has been since Death Valley. "Giaus, did you give your B Team a heads up?"

Giaus nodded, "They should be arriving to the Laffey as we speak Tom." Satisfied with the answer, he let Giaus get a cup of genuine coffee from the pot, and took a seat.

Walking in, Hurd took his usual spot in a dark corner and waited.

Deb walked slowly, she maybe should have stayed longer in sick bay.. But that just wasn't her.. Besides when the Male You wanted Called you somewhere, You went No matter what.. She'd dressed in the day uniform and Amir stayed glued to her shoulder. They were both shaken by the events of their short time on SB 400..

She entered the conference room and was pleased to see the General, he maybe was staying at arms reach, But as long as he was here she had a chance to become his.. She sat slowly her insides still messed up.. Amir staying silent, Not knowing who to trust...

Hopper and Calthier accompanied the Lieutenant, since they were leading marines under her command for the fight.

As for Deb the ONLY reasons she hadn't gone underground was A; the Alpha, whether he would at some point take her as his was Very important and B he commanded the Marines, the only family she had left, If they couldn't help protect and save Amir, She doubted anyone could... She was Afraid for the first time in her life and couldn't hide it, it was so foreign to her senses...

Jackson noticed two things about his Combat Engineer. First, she appeared worn out. Second, she was quiet. Maybe her defense of Kaleb III took a toll on her. "Are you okay Lieutenant?"

She wanted to run to him, bury herself inside him and scream at the universe! It was SO UNFAIR!!!! Her look said it all.. I NEED YOU!! TAKE ME AWAY TO SOMEPLACE SAFE!! "I'll do my job Sir..." She said.. If this was humility, She wanted NOTHING of it...

After everyone's arrival, Jax spoke, "Gentlemen, and Lady, time to start the debrief. You will provide an overview of your combat actions, outcome, and casualties to include the names of the KIA. Since we have had two simultaneous fights, let's start with the unplanned, yet successful one first. Lieutenant Casion, you're up."

Her desire to please him was going to get the better of her, Deb could feel it.. She placed her hands on the table intending to stand.. Seeming weak among this group was a career death sentence.. But she didn't have it in her.. "All I have at this point is first hand thoughts,, I have Not had time to formulate an after action report... She felt defeated and hated herself for it...

Jackson stood up at his seat, "Deborah, take a deep breath. You can do this. To the best of your off hand thoughts, how did the fight start?"

His Motivation was unknown,, but his certainty in her was desperately needed.. She did as he'd asked.. Closed her eyes and took a deep heavy breath, letting it out slowly.. "IN the middle of the night Amir sensed something wrong.." She thought a moment, "It felt like she'd felt the vibration of things moving where they hadn't before.."
When she was fully awake she detected Orions in the catacombs below.." She looked around at everyone.. "We have been together for most of my life and all I can say is she's Never been wrong.." "I awoke the nearest Sargent and prepped for action.."
"I sent Amir ahead to scout,, Her stealth is unmatched in this universe,, I thought.." She paused her heart racing...

Jackson continued to maintain eye contact with her, knowing that she could do this. "So you went down there with a number of Marines, then what happened?"

"Orion's happened, nasty sloppy, they had position, it was their only advantage.." We used combined arms and tech,, drove them into what we didn't know was an old storeroom... There leader wasn't into the battle, No idea why.. We used plasma grenades to drive them into a wedge on the left side of the room.. As we pushed their leader moved to the far corner.. There was an alcove hidden from view.."
"Sgt. Hopper took the scene, Sgt. Calthier joined me in pursuing what I thought was a cowering fool of a pirate leader.. He knew exactly what he was doing and what he wanted from there.." The entire time Amir was over head ready to spring our own little trap.... Her breath came raggedly... like her fear was trying to take her over.....

Calthier was there by Deborah's side. He saw she was having problems. They weren't romantic with each other but he did have 'feelings'. "General Jackson sir. Lieutenant Casion and SSgt Hopper deserve most of the credit. I just helped mop up" he said; saluting the superior officer.

Hopper shook his head, "It was a team effort Sir."

Talk about Conflicted??? Three eligible males in the same room and by default she was the center of attention..??? She felt weak, UNWORTHY,, AFRAID.. She Hated It!! She appreciated Calthier's words,, Felt his attraction.. Her chosen one was keeping things tightly held within, not unexpected and her troubles may well be sinking her dreams,, No way of knowing..
She glanced at the Sgt.. "It was Calthier that rescued us.." She insisted patting Amir whom hadn't moved a muscle yet.." "the device he used had an immediate affect on my little one, and a cascading affect on me.." "We've never known anything like it,, Doc wants me on a desk and in sick bay daily for the next week at least..."
She lowered her head to nuzzle Amir, Maybe coming her was a fatal mistake??

Jackson was sympathetic to Casion, but he needed some information for his reports. "Sergeant, can you tell me the actual outcome of the fight, specifically, disposition of the pirates, and our dead and wounded?"

Calthier took her hand in his. He could sense she needed him. He just wasn't sure if here and now were the proper things. "What can I do for you, Deborah?" he asked her quietly.

After some prying, it looked like there were 8 KIA and 10 WIA on Kaleb III.

Jackson made notes on his PADD, then looked at his XO. David, you're up. Your overview of the Base Raid please."

''Under intense fire, during which we lost two Marines, we took Base Ops, deactivated the Self Destruct sequence, hacked and cracked the base Mainframe, uploaded it, got out of there and blew the whole base to Hell''

"You did a great job out there Colonel." Jackson entered his notes on the Base Raid on his PADD. He then stood up. "I am glad that our wounded are all reported to be recovering from their wounds. I am also saddened that we lost a total of 10 Brothers and Sisters in the past few days. However, I am very proud of your performance."

Despite it being HIM speaking, Deborah only seemed to hear.. 'Do your duty' She felt like she'd been beaten.. She tried to hide it but didn't think she had..

"Just a few things to note, especially for you Colonel, we have MARSOC's Beta Team on security detail for Admiral Bremer on the way to Earth. We also have four new transport ships assigned to us. Two in the station docks, and two on the ground at the Kaleb III Depot. They can carry a battalion each, with armor and engineer support. So as of now, if two transports go out with either the Saratoga, or the Tirpitz, we can now move almost a full regiment at a time with either of those groups. Might come in handy someday."

''Sounds good to me, very sound in fact.''

Then Jackson picked up another PADD, and started typing in orders. "Okay, here is our itinerary for tomorrow. At 0800 hrs, report to Shuttlebay 2 in dress uniform. Our KIAs will be loaded on a transport bound for The Camp Dover Mortuary in the Rigel system. We shall give them a proper send off. Colonel, make sure Captain McMichaels is there too. He should be able to walk by then. Afterwards, all of you, that includes all the marines that fought with you, are to transport down to New Hampton City on Kaleb IV below, and take a few days of Liberty. Before you say something David, you will be called when needed. You all deserve a break."

''With all respect i do not need time off, i need to work, sir''. Jackson was not surprised by the answer. "Okay David. Then take one day off, and after I work out the T,O, and E on the MEU's we can form with the transports, we can work out deployment procedures. I plan to have a meeting with the new Fighter Wing CO. If she has no problem integrating one of her carriers with each task force, we will have air support with our expeditions, unlike the Death Valley fight we had with the Borg."

Deb wasn't sure of anything other than her loneliness, pain and FEAR... She didn't speak, didn't move,, waiting for what she didn't know...

Jackson stood up, "Dismissed, see you in the morning."

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