A Little Chat (Back Post)

Posted on Wed May 24th, 2017 @ 9:39pm by Brigadier General David Hurd Sr & Major Edward Maxwell

1,161 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 94 - Return to Rashanar
Location: Marine Executive Officers Office
Timeline: Current (Back Post from Mission 93)

Colonel Hurd, after and indeed before getting back, had decided to have a talk with the Fighter CO regarding the, in his opinion, poor air coverage that had been provided both the Tirpitz, and his men on the ground during the previous combat they had returned from. Tapping his combadge, he said, "Major Maxwell, please report to my office, and bring with you all data regarding the air coverage regarding the previous space and surface engagement we just returned from, Colonel Hurd out."

Ed shook his head. He'd been expecting this call. The data was already loaded onto two Padd's, each containing a copy of the information. He knew someone, somewhere in this fracas was going to want to bitch and whine and try to lay the blame on the fighter wing about what damage had been incurred.

"Aye Colonel." He said as he rolled his eyes and left his office. It wasn't his fault only two bomber squadrons had been deployed. The birds were almost done being loaded before he even set foot on 400's decks. He'd reported in to the CAG himself and been ordered to command the deployment. There should have been at least three bomber squadrons deployed, with one detailed only to CAS, not that there'd been any requests made from the surface that he'd heard while he tried to keep the Task Force from being turned into a debris field.

Arriving at the office he pressed the chime and waited for the shoes to fall.

"Enter!!!", Hurd bellowed from the other side.

Ed rolled his eyes again and fixing a professional look on his face, stepped into the office. If that was the tone the Colonel wanted for this little meeting that was what he was going to get.

"Major Maxwell reporting as requested Colonel, and I'd appreciate it if next time you wanted to request a meeting with a department head, you followed proper procedure instead of trying to give orders to someone outside of your chain of command." Ed said coldly as he set one of the Padd's on the desk. "There's a copy of all data from the deployed elements of the Wing."


Standing, Hurd said, "I would advise you to to show respect, Major, i outrank you. And even though you are a department head, you still wear the same green uniform i do. Now i want an explanation of the bullshit you call air coverage during our last mission, it cost my men on the ground greatly, and my ship more, and sit down please."

"Let me add in a few details Colonel." Ed said as he sat down. "I set foot on 400's deck maybe an hour before the task group deployed, I reported in to the CAG and got ordered to lead the detached elements of the wing. So I had no input into what squadrons were deployed. We launched with two bomber squadrons, and a mixture of fighters and heavy fighters. Of the four types of birds we have, only two are atmospheric capable, in other words that can give you air support on the ground. The Redemption bombers and Valkyrie heavy fighters." He said as he scrolled through his Padd.

"The mission commander my men and I reported to, in this case Commander Roebuck, had us engaging the enemy ships in orbit. Which as you will recall had our ships heavily outnumbered. Both my bomber squadrons were engaged, one with the Negh'Var and the other with the Vorcha. I had to detail two fighter squadrons as escorts for the bombers. Then I detailed two squadrons the sole job of defending the Tirpitz, that's 25% of my available birds defending just your ship and 50% either attacking the ships beating the hell out of your ship or escorting the bombers doing the attacking. In other words Colonel, three quarters of my deployed fighters were either directly or indirectly protecting the Tirpitz. The remaining two squadrons were trying to keep the Birds of Prey off the rest of the Task Group, per my orders from Commander Roebuck. So I don't see how I could have given YOUR ship any more cover than I did. As it is, that put the majority of the Task Group with next to no cover. You got no air support on the ground because my orders had the entirety of my birds trying to support our outnumbered ships, largely due to the fact they were trying to save the Tirpitz."

Ed paused and sighed, taking a deep breath before continuing somberly. "Colone,l we're fighters. We carry micro torpedo launchers." He said stressing the word micro. "Our warheads have a fraction of the firepower in one photon torpedo fired from a ship. You can't expect us to dramatically turn the tide of battle in favor of our side. That's only in the holovids. In a straight out knock down fight like Archanus, the best we can hope to do is even the odds a little. I know you lost a great number of men. but so did I. The One Eight One is down two complete squadrons, either from casualties or battle damage. That's a sixth of the birds assigned to 400. I'm sorry you lost so many men, but with the birds I had available and my orders, I did the best I could."

Rubbing his head, Hurd replied, "Then i rescind my criticism of your air coverage." "And im sorry you you lost men, its ashamed in this day and age things like this still happen, aint it?"

"We both lost men Colonel. Unfortunately, that's part of the game. As long as there's people out there ready to fight, we have to be ready to fight as well."

Picking up a pPADD off the far side of his desk, Colonel Hurd said, "I have been reading your service record. and must say i am very, very impressed, which is no small feat considering nothing hardly impresses me anymore."

"It's just a service record Colonel." Ed shrugged. "I was just where I needed to be."

"In light of the facts you have presented, my review of the afteraction reports, and first hand accounts, i am going to recommend both a Unit Commendation, and recommend you for the DFC."


"Another one?" Ed rolled his eyes. "The General already put me in for one from Archanus."

"Well, i will be recommending you for one as well, and be looking for any other awards you have earned during that action", Hurd said.

"Just the Purple Heart that I know of and Medical already handled that paperwork." Ed shrugged. "Anything else Colonel?"

"No, thats all, do have any questions for me?"

"Nothing comes to mind."

Looking the man up and down, Hurd stood, extended his hand and said, "Again, my apologies and welcome aboard."

"It was a rough mission Colonel, we all lost our heads a bit." Ed said as he shook the man's hand. "I'll be seeing you around."

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