Meeting the CAG

Posted on Thu Jul 21st, 2016 @ 4:06pm by Major General Thomas Jackson

1,618 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 92 - More Questions than Answers
Location: Division CO's Office
Timeline: MD2, 1000 hrs

Jax just completed compiling and filing his two After Action Reports with Marine Command. He took a few moments to relax before filing a request for replacements.

Denara was getting use to the size and scope of Starbase 400. Even for a Starbase, she could have sworn it was bigger than the one at Earth. Falling under the Marines was something she was still getting used to as well. Where as before, Marines maintained a minor presence, or no presence on a ship, here they were in full force.

Now she was on her way to meet with Brigadier General Jackson. He had been out on assignment when she arrived, but now that he was here, they should meet.

At the entrance to his office, she stopped, straightened her uniform and buzzed the chime.

"Come!", Jackson said. He welcomed any relief from staring at his terminal.

Denara entered the Generals Office and approached the desk. She stood at attention.

"Captain Denara Itris, Wing Commander, reporting in, sir." She stated the traditional greeting of the Marines that had been drilled into her. As she approached the General she had scanned the room quickly to get a feel for the General... decorations and momentos placed around the room typically gave someone who was paying attention to their surroundings an idea of the person that they were about to meet.

Jax noticed her observing the photos on the wall of his old Platoon during the Dominion War. There were also a few antique weapons that adorned his office wall as well, and none off them were strictly display models.

Jax offered a handshake, "It is good to meet you. Please have a seat Captain."

"Thank you General", said Denara. She reached out and shook the General's hand then took a seat. "I see that you were at Tyra. That was some heavy fighting and a devastating loss of manpower and ships."

Jackson remembered his first battle, "Tyra 4 was my first battle. I was an enlisted Marine, fresh out of Infantry School. We spent half that battle either evacuating civilians, or fighting delaying actions against the Jem'Hadar. The other half of the battle was spent trying to get evacuated ourselves as our fleet above us was mostly dying. My unit got it as bad as our air support. Unfortunately, that was not my worst battle."

*Well if that wasn't your worst battle, then I'm not really sure I want to hear about it*, thought Denara. Tyra, by all accounts was a slaughter with less than 20 ships out of 113 returning. The sacrifices of fleet and marines alike were remembered and used to rally the troops and remind them of the responsibilities and duties that they signed on for.

"The Second Battle of AR558," was all Jackson managed to say, and not smoothly.

Denara took out a PADD and handed it over to the General. "I've given this report to the Exo of the station when I met her, but I also want you to have it. It is the performance evals of our squadrons here on the 400. I hope that you will find them satisfactory. They are well trained in patrol and air cover, but a few of the squad leads don't show a lot of "out of the box" thinking. I'm hoping that a few non standard training missions will help them with that. Also, I would like to take my squadron and give them commando training, with your permission, that is."

Jax skimmed through the report. He would find time to read it in dept later in the day. "I am sure I can scrape up a MARSOC Operator or two to help you out with your training. We have a training facility on Kaleb III with very big holo domes. I would also like to bring something up with you. I few months ago, we had a brigade sized ground engagement against the Borg. While we prevailed, I lost a few hundred Marines in the process. And we did it all without Air Support. "

He paused a minute, to let his last statement sink in.

Denara grimaced a bit at the numbers of loss. She knew from experience that many missions were assigned a "justified loss margin"... the amount of resources, including lives that determined if a mission was successful. She had even participated in a few of those discussions in her last posting... it wasn't something that she was terribly comfortable with.

Jackson, to be fair to Denara, did not mention that his Brigade entered the Grenarisa III airspace with a full squadron of fighters aboard their star ships. Nor was he about to mention that none of the fighters responded to calls for immediate close air support. This was a new CAG, not the old one.

"This star base just commissioned four Marine Transport ships, and two fighter transport ships that can operate one fighter group each. On my end, I am forming two Marine Expeditionary Units, or MEUs, consisting of one Marine star ship, and two transports. I would be very grateful if you would attach one fighter transport to each battle group IF I had to order a deployment. The fighters would serve as CAP for our area of operations, as well as close air support for the troops. "

"That sounds like a very wise use of our starfighters. I will begin drilling my crew on rapid launch and recovery operations from the transports as soon as I have the specs in place." Even now, with all the focus on starships, "boots on the ground" as the term went was just as important in a military operation. 20 Starships in orbit could do very little to hold a colony or planet if they could only provide piecemeal security forces. Marines were the heavy hitters when it came to taking and hold fortifications... and air superiority gave those marines not only an advantage in conducting warfare, but a far better chance of living through the engagement. While her ships might be small, her contributions were significant. Denara was almost beaming from the thought of participating in front line operations. She would have to get all her squads up to snuff though.

Jackson really liked her attitude. This CAG was a team player, not a glory hound. "Excellent Captain. Now if you need anything from me, feel free to ask. New sidearms perhaps? We got crates of them earlier this month, a Marine specific model."

Denara's smile broadened. She may not look it with her hair always in an elaborate braid, but she was... what did they call them? Oh yeah Gun Bunnies. For some reason she loved weapons. "I will definitely take a look and see if anything catches my fancy. They are probably a little more potent than the standard phaser carried by the Security Staff."

"More powerful, yes. More ergonomic, hell yes. More durable, yup. It is called the Phaser 2c Mark IV. Both nostalgic, yet very modern." Jackson said with some pride. "I helped design them."

As for anything I need, I've made a request up to Admiral T'Lar for a squadron of Peregrine Trainers. I found them useful to have around even though most pilots complain that they are slow. We had a debilitating disease break out among the pilots once and flight control officers were pressed into service in them performing patrols. I guess that tactic had always stuck with me."

"I will help you follow up on that request. If worse comes to worse, we could make them on base." Jackson said. That is where the transport ships came from.

Denara was truly impressed. "Can you construct me a Guardian Class Starship in Marine Green with our emblem on the nose running from deck 1 to deck 10 and fill it with 12 squads of Valkyries, all of the in Marine Green?" she said jokingly. "Forgive me, I'm just not used to being stationed at a post with this many resources."

Jackson laughed. "Humor is good, and to be honest, resources where lacking for sometime, so I had to call in a few favors to replace and update all of our Dominion War Era equipment. "

"I do have one other question, General. How is the mood of having the Marines on the Station? Are we welcomed, or are we tolerated?" That was one question that Denara had where ever she went. She had been on stations and ships where auxiliary units, like the marines and pilots were a welcome sight but she had also been at the other end of the spectrum, where they felt like the red headed step child of a foster kid. It wouldn't have any bearing on her performance, but the atmosphere she was to be in was very important to her.

Jax stood up, and walked up to her. "Believe me when I say this, but this is one of the few places the Marine and Star Fleet get along really well, work together really well, and fight together really well. Instead of step cousins, these Fleeters are as much brothers and sisters to us as any other Marine unit. Admiral Bremer will never use us as expendable cannon fodder, ever."

Jackson paused again for a few seconds," And whatever animosity between my grunts and your pilots that came up after our battle with the Borg, has slowly diminished. "

"Excellent to hear, sir" responded Denara. She was happy to hear that time and effort went into building and maintaining that relationship. "You know better that I that situations like that are distracting and that can be deadly in the heat of battle. I'm proud to be apart of the 181st, the 1st Marine Division and Starbase 400."

"Proud to have you aboard."

RSS Feed