Drinking on Ashes...

Posted on Thu Feb 1st, 2024 @ 3:55am by Captain Johnathan Reece

674 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: First Deployment
Location: SS Unicorn, Senior Enlisted Mess
Timeline: MD 3 / 2234 hours

Sitting in the dark of the Senior Enlisted Mess, which was a room set aside from the Enlisted Mess, and he'd a single table and four chairs. Sitting in one, with his boots up on another as he leaned back in his chair, Master Sergeant Johnathan Reece was quietly nursing a bottle of Jack Daniel's, 2099 vintage.

There was a dangerous air around the Chief of the Boat
For he was silently reliving the last hell he went through, when he encountered the Romulans. He could still hear the weapons fire, and the screams of his crewmates, as they were cut down around him.

Tangos coming in at our seven o'clock, Sir! What are your orders?!"

Johnathan had asked the last surviving officer from the Farragut, First Lieutenant Maria D'Angelo, a Dan fine officer in his opinion. She had kept the remaining crew, of nearly twenty, alive by using the cave system that had been located on the moon, to lure the Romulans into choke points. In the two days that she had been in command, the enemy losses had soared into nearly the triple digits.

Unfortunately, with no more ordinance, and running low of phase pistol power packs, the tide had started to turn again against the remaining Farragut crew.

"Staff Sergeant Reece," D'Angelo began, turning her head to speak to her sole remaining MACO. "Stand ready to..."

A disruptor bolt shot out and caught the Lieutenant in her left side, where her armor had already been damaged. She was thrown to the ground by the force of the blast. While her armor had dispersed most of the distructive energy, it was clear by the pained look on her face that she knew she was drawing her last breaths.

"R...Reece..." she gapsed as the crew returned fire as best they could.

Johnathan quickly moved to her side as a nurse, the only staff from medical that was still alive, busied herself in trying to treat the officer's wounds. She paused to look up at Johnathan, the look on her face telling him there was nothing she could do.

Kneeling next to D'Angelo, Johnathan did what he could to make her comfortable. Blood was already starting to pour from her mouth.

"Reece...Reece..." D'Angelo waved him closer, her strength fading quickly.

Leaning in closer, he put his left ear to her lips. The nurse leaned in as well, bearing witness.

"Keep...keep fighting...." She rasped. "No...no prison....prisoners. Rommies...kill...prisoners. Take...take command.....Master Sergnnnnn...." Then the life left her body and her eyes turned dull and empty.

Pulling his head back to look at her face, Johnathan was speechless.

The nurse checked for a pulse by trying to find D'Angelo's carotid. After a few beats, she looked at Johnathan and shook her head. "She's gone." Taking a beat, she collected herself and asked, "What are your orders...Master Sergeant?"

Until she had said it, Johnathan wasn't sure if he had heard correctly. Shaking himself out of his shock, he wiping his face, not realizing until then that a few tears had fallen from his eyes.

The sounds of the battle behind them brought him back to the present. Growling angrily, he replied. "We kill em all! Every last one of those pointy-eared bastards!"

The next few days went by in a blur. Under Johnathan's leadership, the remaining Starfleet Enlisted crew fought like they were possessed. In the end, it had come down to laying booby traps and snares, gutting each Romulan with their combat knives as they fell prey.

Until one day, they just left.

To this day, Johnathan still wasn't sure why the Romulans didn't just bombard the planet from orbit. It made him hate them even more, that they toyed with him and the crew of the Farragut. He would never forgive them for that. And he would kill as many of them as he was able to, until he drew his last breath.

~OFF~

Master Sergeant Johnathan Reece
MACO Raider/Chief of the Boat
Unicorn NX-151

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