Coridan Campaign - The November Counteroffensive - Scouting Ahead, Part 1

Posted on Sat Mar 29th, 2025 @ 3:47pm by Lance Corporal Jeremy Kerr & Colonel Josiah McEntyre & Captain Johnathan Reece & Captain Gaagii & Captain Samuel Hunt & Gunnery Sergeant Kurt Hansen & Sergeant Sonny Holt & Staff Sergeant Jordon Basset
Edited on on Sat Mar 29th, 2025 @ 6:21pm

1,786 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Campaign for Coridan
Location: Jorinal Canyon
Timeline: November 30th, 2156

::ON::

Meanwhile, in preparation for the counteroffensive, General Te Wiata dispatched orders to Colonel Josiah McEntyre's SOD-Alpha to reconnoiter the canyon, and map out enemy FOPs and AA positions in preparation for the planned counteroffensive.

Pulling back from breaking the Capital had come to some surprise to Colonel McEntyre. He had expected to lead the assaults to break the shields so that the Romulans could be pushed out. However when General Te Wiata ordered a immediate redeployment of his section, he couldn't refuse the order.

Barely any time to recover from the relay attack, Josiah had called up his officers and their chalks, the entire detachment of Alpha, and got them all in the air on the dropship.

"I'm sorry to not get y'all some turn around time, but this came in down to the wire. Field Marshal th’Groffe is on world to take charge and bring much needed reinforcements from the Coalition and he feels the time to counterstrike is at hand. Therefore, Alpha has been given the honor to be the vanguard, and slip behind enemy lines to scout for air strikes and take out the Romulans entrenched in the Jorinal Canyon Valley."

He held tight to the handgrip hanging from the dropship ceiling as he briefed the men.

Gaagii sat on the bench and listened to the Colonel speak. He did not look in the Colonel's direction, as he was preparing his weapons for the next fight. His preparations were ritualistic and included a silent prayer to his ancestors, and to the spirits of those he would fight. This was something that dated back to time immemorial for his people. At the moment he sharpened one of his tomahawks, and that was the moment when the Colonel spoke of slipping behind enemy lines. This prompted Gaagii to look up with a Vulcanesque raising of his eyebrow. "Sir, recon with this many people is going to be a tall order. This would be better accomplished with snipers and pathfinders. Perhaps four in all."

Captain Hunt looked over to Gaagii as he took in the man's suggestion. Most people would assume the more the merrier. But in this case, he was right. The fewer people involved the better. "Sir I have to cosign what the Captain here is saying."

“The Detachment will be split into four sections of 5. 20 men total. We’ll be dropped into different sections of the canyon and converge on a Mutual RV point where a retrieval boat will be waiting for us.” The Colonel elaborated for the rest of the group.

Josiah looked down the row. “I also want to introduce our new First Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Hansen, who’s joining us from the Outer Colonies Defense Command.” The Colonel gestured to where the newly appointed Sergeant Major was seated.

Kurt nodded to Colonel McEntyre and looked around at the MACOs assembled in the dropship. He was impressed by the amount of expertise and confidence he saw in these troops. For now, he figured the best course of action was to keep his mouth shut and his eyes open.

Johnathan spoke up. "Where do you want heavy weaps, Sir?" He was concerned about them going into a canyon. The Romulans could have their own snipers up on the ridges, aiming down at them.

“I’m afraid you’re goin' have to leave the big toys at home this trip, Captain Reece. Recon and Scout Loads only. 96 hour bags. OO-Rah?” The colonel replied.

The big man seemed a bit hurt, playfully though, by the Colonel's words. He turned and gently rubbed the barrels of his phaser gatling, cooing softly to the weapon. "It's okay, sweetheart, the big, bad Colonel knows that you are hungry. We will just have to wait till next time, okay?"

This was the kind of mission that Gaagii excelled at. He loved RECON missions. He smiled as he holstered his tomahawk. "Lucky for me my toys are not big." Gaagii referred to his tomahawks of course. He then punched up a map of the canyon on his wrist holo. Gaagii wanted to learn all he could about the land before they arrived.

As Gaagii finished speaking, Johnathan turned back to face his commanding officer. "Just remember, Sir, you now owe her a few dozen companies of those Romulan pricks. She does have to maintain her girlish figure, afterall." He grinned a lop-sided grin as he finished speaking

Kurt pulled a simple, beaded chain from the front of his uniform top as the Colonel continued his briefing. It held a pair of discreet devices, both stained with blood: a cross and a Saint Michael’s medal. The pair had belonged to his brother Uwe—the only possession of his Kurt had claimed. Uwe, also a MACO, had been wearing the devices when he died during the Xindi attack on Earth. Kurt had replaced the more ornate silver chain his brother had favored with a more utilitarian version and now wore it as a symbol of his faith and in remembrance of his brother. In his native German, Kurt quietly recited the Lord’s Prayer and prayed for the protection of the other MACOs. Once finished, he tucked the chain back into his uniform top.

Samuel looked over and simply smirked at Johnathan. This was definitely someone that he just knew was going to get along with.

"Long War, Captain. They'll be plenty of time to feed her"

“Rigs and Ammo, we’ll be landing…” The Colonel started to say before the dropship lurched violently. Grabbing on to one of the hand holds at the ship banked and lurched. Something slammed into the hull.

“Taking Triple A fire!” The pilot called from the cockpit as the dropship lurched again and they lost altitude. They were going down.

——————

Josiah groaned, eyes bolting open as he looked around. He was hanging upside down, having fallen somewhere from the dropship and away from the rest of the unit. The tree groaned and snapped causing him to fall to the ground with a pained grunt.

It took him several moments before he was able to get himself up. His gear had survived which was good. He dusted himself off as he clicked his communications.

“All Callsigns, check in."

There was static on the line for a few seconds, then a voice came over. "Reaper here. I'm....apped in...bird. Pinned....pinned under damaged...hull plate." It was clear, over the interference in the comms, the big heavy weapons officer was in pain.

"Solid Copy! I'm moving to you." Josiah snapped into action quickly, picking up his rifle where it had fallen, checking it over before slipping it back over his chest, racking back the action and setting off on a run towards the crash site.

-------

Gaagii's eyes fluttered open and the surroundings came into focus. His brain began to take stock of where he was and what had happened. In a moment he realized that they had crashed, he then moved into his own personal checklist. He first checked to make sure he could move. Hands check, arms check, feet and legs check. During that time he noticed his weapons not that far from him so he crawled to it and made sure it worked. Thankfully it did, and he still had his tomahawks. Finally he surveyed that area without getting up. He had to see if any of his team was nearby and what their status was.

Samuel shook off the cobwebs as he patted himself down. Feeling a little bruised up, there was nothing broken or bleeding. Slinging his rifle to the front of him, Hunt scanned around for enemy combatants.

Kurt blinked once and then a second time. He was still strapped into the harness that had secured him to the dropship’s seat. His rifle lay own the deck before him, and he saw a series of curious blue and green flashes at the corner of his vision. Even more curiously, everything sounded like it was underwater…

Kurt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes again and identified the flashes of light: Captain Reece was holding back Romulan ground forces. Kurt nodded to himself and tapped the emergency release on his harness. It should have sprung open, but the buckle didn’t move. Kurt slapped the device harder, but nothing happened. He gave up and reached for one of the leg pockets on his uniform. He extracted a belt cutter from it and began freeing himself from the webbing.

Once free, Kurt picked up his rifle, checked its function, and moved to support the Captain. He snapped off a few quick shots at moving shadows and then positioned himself in cover, covering the Captain’s flank and rear.

Hunt moved in next to the man as he laid down fire as well. It seemed that the attack was coming from all around as he turned and fired off a few more shots.

Jeremy Kerr had reached for anything to try to break his fall when he was thrown from the crash. He'd managed to grab a hold of a branch, which did have the benefit of slowing his descent to the ground, but the unfortunate angle at which he grabbed the branch meant his shoulder was definitely dislocated. His communicator had broken his fall and was busted, so he had no way to contact the others, but he wasn't far from the shuttle, so he'd make his way there and try to pick up any equipment he could sling across his back with on the way.

Kerr took a deep breath and looked down at his lame arm. Then he took another deep breath and found a tree with a stable enough trunk and braced his back against it. With his good arm he reached around and grabbed the wrist of the arm with the dislocated shoulder to guide his arm to get his shoulder properly aligned. Cursing to himself he shut his eyes and counted to two and pulled on his arm, popping the shoulder back into place with a loud crack.

He let out a loud audible sigh of relief when it was over. "It's so much easier to do that to someone else," he muttered to himself as he started the short hike.

[To be Continued ...]

::OFF::

Colonel Josiah McEntyre
Commanding Officer
Unicorn NX-151
MACO SOD-Alpha

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Captain Johnathan Reece
MACO-SOD-ALPHA
MACO Executive Officer
Unicorn NX-151

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Staff Sergeant Jordon Bassett
Platoon Sergeant
Unicorn NX-151
[NPC Commander Whitford]

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Captain Gaagii
Chief Strategic Intelligence Officer
Unicorn NX-151

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Lance Corporal Jeremy Kerr
Medic
Unicorn NX-151

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Gunnery Sergeant Kurt Hansen
First Sergeant
Unicorn NX-151

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Captain Samuel Hunt
MACO Officer
Unicorn NX-151

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