Commands and Raiders

Posted on Fri Dec 15th, 2017 @ 8:05am by Captain Michelle Bartlett & Major Hailey Weston

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Where Else? Ready Room!

Hailey closed the file and sighed. Yes, it was definitely not what she'd anticipated, but it wasn't surprising. Not after what had happened and all the fallout. Lieutenant General Giovanni Weston, her adoptive father and Commanding General of the Third Marine Division, had just gone over what fallout the Major and half of his unit had caused. She reached for and slipped on her uniform jacket and sealed it before inspecting herself in the mirror before striding out on her way to the bridge, this had to be brought to the attention of Captain Bartlett. Her eyes flicked across the bridge before she noted the absence of the CO and made the requisite assumption and smiled slightly at anyone who glanced over before hitting the chime to the ready room.

"Come." Michelle said.

Hailey smiled at Michelle as she entered the room and made straight for the desk and came to a brief, very brief attention before gesturing at a chair, "May I sit, ma'am?"

"Of course." Michelle replied. "Is everything all right?" she asked, noting that Weston seemed rather uncomfortable.

The Marine doctor sat down and leaned back in the chair, obviously at ease with the commanding officer, "Well, ma'am, I was talking with General Weston of the Third MarDiv and he's got ears back at HQ. The brass are intending to hang the Wellington's Marines out to dry up. We're not going to get reinforced with fresh troops, not after what Lo'Mah and his 'hand-picked Organization thugs' did while they were assigned here. But... Despite that, I've got an idea, ma'am."

"That would explain why the Marine generals haven't gotten back to me." she said, a little irritated. None of what happened was the corps' fault aboard. They followed orders and when they caught what was going on, most complied and kept their obligations to Starfleet. She had noted this in her reports. "What's your idea?" she asked.

"I started off my career as a combat medic and a couple years in turned into a Raider medic before the Corps shipped me off to med school." Hailey pointed out, "We're not going to get reinforced, but I'm sure we can swap out personnel and I know a couple Raiders who would more than likely come over here. Lieutenant Valentine, I believe, could be turned into a good Raider officer and since we're also not getting any more officers, that'll be good. We can turn our unit into an off-the-books Raider team."

"Off the books?" Michelle said. "Not sure how I feel about that..." she added. "What would this team be doing?"

"The things a normal Marine contingent would do, ma'am." Hailey waved it away, "Just with a higher competency level than your average unit. It would still be the what? Sixth Company of the Third Battalion of the Second Regiment Sixth Marine Division?" She shrugged, "But with fewer troops, having a higher ability level could make the difference in an assault."

"I see." Michelle said. "They would remain as Marines then? In what way would they have higher competency?"

Hailey chuckled, "Ma'am, Raider teams are the special operations units of the Federation. They go where angels fear to tread and have to be the best to survive behind enemy lines, sometimes take out high value targrlets and get back out. Speed and accuracy and a tactical sense in the midst of combat. On the ground, they can be swallowed without a burp, but that's the e case with even our unit at full strength. When storming a ship or even just defending, the sort of training involved with a Raider team, room to room and corridors, becomes a critical advantage."

"Certainly some uptraining would be good for morale, but I do have to of course discuss this idea with Commodore Myers and Admiral Marquette, who I'm not all that optimistic is going to be prepared to fully train every Marine" Michelle said. "Not entirely because of competence but the last thing we need is a bunch of special forces trained marines coming back for Round 2 on this ship." she paused for a moment before standing up to pace. "That doesn't mean I have zero faith in what's left of the current detachment... But they will want to be sure that everyone can be trusted first."

"We would have about a seventy percent turnover, filled out by as I said, two or three actual Raiders I know personally and a couple of picked troops from people I know and trust." Hailey smiled lightly, "Overall, we would probably reduce our number of personnel to twelve or so, a third of them very experienced troops that can be counted on, the other half would be holdovers from the current company. The troops voming in would be able to keep eyes on the holdovers and would report unreliabiliry. And I'm sure that with some guidance, Lieutenant Valentine could command it. She has potential, but I think she should still be a shavetail, but they bumped her bars up probably for political reasons."

"Who knows." Michelle said. "She certainly is a very competent Marine... But most of the corps outranks her." Michelle said. "I was actually considering asking you if you would take on the role of detachment commander."

Hailey chuckled at that, "I'm a doctor, ma'am, not a Company commander." She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then went all serious, "If we go with this idea, at the least she would need some specific training. Could she eventually do it? Certainly, but I think she is more lone-wolf than a team like this would require."

Michelle looked somewhat pleadingly at Hailey. "So that's a no to taking command of the Marines, then?" she asked. "In fairness, she also didn't have much of a chance to really settle in yet. She was on board this ship for less than a day when Colonel Blanchard was killed."

The Marine winced. She hadn't known that and given what she DID know about the Tialan, "And she graduated the Academy about a month before that." She closed her eyes and thought for a few moments, "Ma'am, if you think it's a good idea, then I'll do it. To be honest, I think it's probably a good idea. I used to be a Sergeant before I went to Med school, I do know how to bring up young officers, why not do it as one, right?"

"I think for now, it's the best idea." Michelle said. "I know what Marines can be like. They're a compliant lot. an obedient one too... But enough to respect a CO that is still newly out of the Academy? I have my skepticism on that." she added. "As for the other idea, so long as it's not being used excessively to take away from the rest of the unit, from Security, or from Intel then it wouldn't hurt to draw up a list of names for submission. Commander Tang and I will review them."

"Ma'am, a Raider team is completely different than Security. It's role is primarily offensive in nature, Security is defensive, and we can support them rasily enough, then once they're atopped, go on the attack. And as for Intelligence? We complement them and outside of operatives, which typically work alone or maybe in two-person teams, Raiders are rarely found outside of four or eight-person teams. I think a Team will fit in much better than you might think." Hailey gave a fully genuine smile, "And it will keep the Marines from sitting in barracks doing God knows what waiting to be used, which doesn't happen much."

"You've convinced me. Set up some names and we'll go from there." Michelle said.

"Yes, ma'am." Hailey nodded and stood, "I will get a message out to the right people tobget them ready to move and I will have a list on your desk within the hour of definite names , but the remainder may take a couple more, then I'll review the files of who we have I want to keep to train up."

"Sounds good." Michelle said. "We'll ramp it up slowly... Meanwhile, I'll be having a conversation with some of the Generals about refusing to replenish our corps compliment."

"I think the Commanding General out here is Major General Kevin O'Malley, ma'am, and he's a bit ornery, to put it lightly. He was MarInt's Exec back about a decade ago before that fiasco abiut the Tal Shiar team discovered in the New York area, where the President was. He got shipped out here once they set it up, dropping a rank." She shook her head slowly, "Not a good sign."

"He did all that and they sent him out here? Who the hell was he sleeping with?" Michelle asked aloud. "At any rate, if he refuses to talk to me, I'm sure Admiral Marquette will be delighted to have a word with him."

"Well, ma'am, if we can get filled out, all the better. But I'm not too hopeful. Expect success, plan for failure." Hailey shrugged, "If we do get filled out though... There are things we can do. But that's not important now." She stood up, "Permission to be dismissed, ma'am? I think I need to have a chat with Lieutenant Valentine."

"By all means." Michelle said. "Thank you for your time, Captain." she added.

Hailey came to another brief attention, "Thank you, ma'am." And left.

OFF:

Captain Hailey Weston
Marine CO
USS Wellington

Captain Michelle Bartlett
Commanding Officer
USS Wellington