That's Where It's At

Posted on Fri Jul 7th, 2023 @ 9:22am by 1st Lieutenant Joseph Bracknell

1,028 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 116 - "A Bounty of Trust"
Location: Observation Lounge 428
Timeline: MD3

"So is it 'Marine County' or 'Marine Country'?" The inquisitive Ensign asked, leaning on the bar with his elbows, careful for the stool beneath him not to kick out and send him flying.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure." Bracknell replied while trying to feign interest, sipping his drink and running his hand through his short, brown hair.

Having only been on Starbase 400 for a couple of days, 1st Lieutenant Joseph Bracknell was still finding his way around. He'd only been a marine for just over 18 months, if you didn't count training, and had so far only served on one ship.

It had been a reasonably uneventful deployment on a deep space patrol, aside from a few skirmishes with pirates and disgruntled locals not taking too kindly to Starfleet's overtly friendly demeanour on away missions.

That being said, the detachment executive officer, a perfectly nice and innocuous man by marine standards, had unfortunately fallen victim to a pirate disruptor just a little before halfway through the tour. With Joseph being the only other marine officer beyond the detachment's CO on the ship, this put him in the unenviable position of a prominent leadership position before what he felt was his time.

Never historically one that you would pin the description of 'responsible character' on, Bracknell had to learn quickly the role of leader, even if that is what he'd been specifically trained to do during officer training.

He earned a promotion for his actions in a series of frontier colony disputes, dismantling a local militia that had been leaning on colonists, but that too felt undeserved. More a promotion of convenience due to the situation than a reflection of bravery or gallantry.

Being the stand-in XO for a detachment of 65 marines on an Akira-class ship is a far cry from being just a regular platoon leader on a starbase with thousands of other solders though. Here he was just back to being a regular marine, albeit an officer, but that suited him fine.

"Surely you must know though, what is it you guys call it?" The officer at the bar continued to ramble on.

Whilst still getting his bearings on the station, Bracknell had spent the previous two evenings wandering around, to start becoming acclimatised. The drawback is that on a starbase 13 kilometres long, it can take quite a while to become familiar with the place.

Having found his way into a lounge, Joseph had perched up and ordered a drink, when a polite enough Ensign wearing operations colours had struck up a conversation.

A sociable character by nature, Joe had been nodding along with small talk, but the encounter was very much of the type where you're stuck talking to an in-law at a family gathering and hoping for anything to come up, even something bad, to save you.

"I just call it 'the office' to be honest." The 1st Lieutenant replied politely.

"Well that just makes complete sense!" The Ensign laughed, perhaps too enthusiastically. "You're marines, so you'd think that it would be all be bear crawls and throwing grenades, but you still need to do the administrative work too, just like an office!"

"Just absolutely amazing insight.." Bracknell said with a wry smile through his companion's laughter.

"Sorry? I didn't hear you, I just laugh too loudly!."

Joe quickly saw the opportunity to hide his sarcastic comment for fear it would have hurt his new imposing companion. "Oh no, I just said that you're really tall for your height!" Trying to cover his rude remark with something that rhymed, to sell it.

The Ensign, none the wiser, stood up and looked himself up and down. A dark haired man with a frame that could easily be described as portly, height was not an attribute he was blessed with in ample amounts.

"You know, my mother used to say that." The Starfleet officer smiled with an endearing happiness, as though it was the first time someone had said something nice to him, giving Joseph a sharp prang of guilt, seeing as it hadn’t been even been a genuine comment. “Well, I should be off, but it was great meeting you Lieutenant..?”

“Bracknell.” The marine replied, with an outstretched hand.

The Starfleet officer took it with a beaming smile, starting an odd double-handed handshake, clasping Joseph’s one hand with both of his. “Ensign Francis Alexander Royston Tindle.” He gleefully introduced. “You have a good night, Lieutenant Bracknell!”

Joe watched the happy man scuttle away, leaving him to his thoughts. Having initially grown up on starships, and then his first assignment being on a starship, he was used to a certain relationship between crewmates.

On a ship you didn't have to know absolutely everyone, but no one was really a stranger. You knew that if you were too exuberant or too strange, made a faux pas or a very public mistake, you couldn't hide and get lost in the crowd. That would follow you.

Here though, there were easily 100,000 people that lived on the station on a permanent basis, plus then the option for hundreds of personnel passing through. There was a very real chance you could meet someone once and then not see them again for weeks or even months, so the newcomer in him guessed the licence to be a little more out there was more readily available here. Not that he had any plans to do so.

The station hadn't seemed that hectic, apparently a task force of ships had been deployed on assignment in the Delta Quadrant and there was also a training exercise for a number of marines on the Kearsage, so with so much going on away from the station itself, it made it ideal for someone just starting out.

Not to say that made the station in any way quiet, there was still a squadron of ships around large enough to take a well prepared star system and still tens of thousands of crew scurrying about their days, but the 1st Lieutenant had timed his arrival well. Better to ease himself into life on a new posting than skip the frying pan and jump straight into the fire.

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