The Landings, Part 2
Posted on Thu Jun 27th, 2024 @ 9:05pm by Colonel Josiah McEntyre & Commander Saul Whitford & Sub-Commander T'shir & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Coleman & Captain Gaagii & Lieutenant JG Elspeth McArthur & Captain Johnathan Reece & Captain Mark DeRosa
1,199 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
The Landings
Location: Coridan System
Timeline: MD - 1
"The last of the fleet is in position, ma'am" Hunter's aide, a plucky yeoman with a gleam in his eye whispered to her as she looked to Josiah, "Colonel, are your MACOs ready?"
Josiah nods confidently, "Alpha is ready for tasking once we hit the ground."
"Excellent," She turns the chair towards T'shir and Elspeth. "Sub-Commander T'shir, scramble code Alpha-Six, inform Endeavor Actual that he may drop the hammer"
Josiah takes this as his queue. "Mr. Whitford, sound General Quarters!"
"Aye, Colonel, sending Message over encoded comm, Alpha-Six," T'shir responded.
'All hands, this is Commander Whitford. Report to battle stations,' Whitford called as he toggled internal coms. He nodded towards Magnusson, 'you ready, Commander? This is gonna be rough.'
“As ready as one can be,” said Gunnar with his trademark bravado. Even though his stomach was in knots, as a senior officer it was his duty to set an example for the remainder of the crew. Many of these youngsters had never seen battle; he owed it to them to project strength and confidence. Remembering a poem from school, Gunnar recited a few lines softly, but still loud enough that his crew mates could hear:
“Take up your quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders’ Fields”
T'shir watched the officer recite the lines of something with moderate curiousity. There appeared to be many unnecessary rituals taking place that were costing the officers precious time. Once they were detected by the Romulans, they would quickly be at a disadvantage.
Moving over to the Helm, Whitford leaned over, and flashed a grin, 'Lieutenant, just remember the battle at Earth, more like that and we'll be a-OK.'
Josiah heads to the turbolift, opening the door and stepping in before turning on his heels. "Admiral, I leave the ship to you and Mr. Whitford. Mr. Whitford, try to get us over the DZ in one piece."
Whitford looked up and whipped out a quick salute. 'We'll get her there Colonel - no scratches, I promise!'
"I hope so, Commander. New ship and all. Don't scratch the paint," Josiah smiles as the doors close.
Peters heard the order to go to General Quarters, which meant that the marines were about to land. which also meant that sickbay would be overrun with wounded.
Dr. Coleman was putting in some last commands into one of the Sickbay terminals to make sure that they were ready for the incoming when he heard the General Quarters sound. He looked over at Peters before saying a silent prayer.
When the general quarters alarm sounded, Johnathan stood up and shouted to the assembled enlisted MACOs. "Alright, you Devil Dogs! Load up in your assigned dropships! Move your asses!" He moved over to his dropship, and waited by the opened loading ramp, as the rest of his chalk hurried inside and stowed their gear for the flight down to the surface.
The ramp opened to the other MACO drop ships, looking like a much larger version of the Starfleet Shuttlepods.
"Load them in, Master Sergeant!" Josiah called out as he entered the hanger deck.
"Already on it, Sir!" Reece then shouted out loud to the rest of the unit. "YOU HEARD THE COLONEL!! MOVE YOUR ASSES, MACOS!!" Reece then entered his dropship, closing the loading ramp as he did so.
The communications officer followed the Colonel's group on, joining them just as the door closed. She snagged a seat.
As the ramp to his dropship started to close, Josiah shouted, "Good Hunting, Master Sergeant!" He then made his way to his own dropship, the last to enter as the ramp closed behind him. He moved his way up to the cockpit door. "We set, Diablo?" He asked the dropship pilot, Captain Mark "Diablo" DeRosa who was sitting in the pilot seat of his dropship.
Mark nodded back to him. "We are, sir," she responded.
Josiah nods and turns back to the MACOs in his dropship. He then activated the comms between the dropships and called out, "All Stations, Overlord, Report Ready, How copy?"
From Johnathan's dropshop, the big Texan activated his comm unit and replied. "Reaper here, all hands accounted for and ready to drop, over.
"Delta and Echo, you up?" The Colonel asked.
'Echo team's good to go,' Bassett responded, his deep voice emphasising his Centauri accent. Sat in his seat, he gripped the collar of his tactical armour with one hand, and held his rifle across his knees with the other. Dark eyes searched around their dropship for any sign of dissent within Echo team. They were well-drilled, and had worked closely together for years. There were no issues indicated.
“Pax, you on comms?” Bassett asked,
“Solid Copy, Overlord, Five by Five. Good hunting my friend,” Haise replied over comms, aboard the Endeavor, where he was leading the 12th.
“Same to you, out,” Josiah replied and closed the comms, before he reached back and banged on the bulkhead to let Mark know that they were go for launch.
"Got it, sir," Mark said, before pressing a button, and bringing the shuttle to life. A moment later, they were moving. He raised them into the airless void of the dropbay with the precision of a surgeon doing open-heart surgery. "We're go for drop, stand by," He shouted and smiled wickedly. This was the best part of his job.
Joshiah and Nimitz (Delta Team)
———————-
Calhoun heard the General Quarters sound and had his team move into action.
“Did you hear that, folks? GQ! Ronnie, you and Babcock monitor the EPS feeds. Make adjustments as you need. I don’t want to blow a conduit while we’re at warp. Everyone else, do your jobs, stay on your toes. So far, so good. Intake manifolds are clean, core matrix running smooth. Let’s move!”
Peter's was getting anxious waiting. So he went and checked the emergency med kits again, looked at the surgical trays again, made sure that there was an adequate supply of synthetic blood standing by for transfusing, and started mediating to calm himself before the madness began.
Coleman walked over and checked the various biobeds that they had in sickbay, to make sure that each of them worked. As he walked around, he saw Peters doing something similar. Coleman couldn't help but chuckle as he said, "How are we doing Peters?"
"Sir. Just doing a final check before the chaos starts." Peters paused. "From what I can see, we appear to be ready."
* * *
Colonel Josiah McEntyre
Commanding Officer/MACO Commanding Officer
Unicorn NX-151
MACO Special Operational Detachment - Alpha
Commander Saul Whitford
Chief Armoury and First Officer
Unicorn NX-151
MSGT Johnathan Reece
MACO Raider / CoB
Unicorn NX-151
MACO Special Operational Detachment - Alpha
Sub-Commander T'shir
Second Officer/Chief Communications Officer
Unicorn NX-151
Vulcan Argosy
Lt. Jack Peters
Medical Officer
Unicorn NX-151
Lieutenant Commander Alexander Coleman, MD
Chief Medical Officer
SS Unicorn, NX-151
Captain Gaagii
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
Unicorn NX-151
LT JG Elspeth McArthur
Communications Officer
Unicorn NX-151
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