Marine to Marine

Posted on Tue Nov 20th, 2018 @ 8:37pm by Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine & Major Hailey Weston

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: USS Wellington

Sabrina held back after the Wellington senior staff meeting, watching as one officer after another left the conference room. Finally, satisfied that the bulk of the unnecessary crew had left, she walked across the room to the other Marine in attendance. "Major Weston, I guess we'd better have a chat," she said quietly.

Hailey stiffened slightly, not nerves or anything of the like, but this was a Colonel, but she relaxed after the brief stiffenenjng of respect, “Of course, ma’sm, may I offer the hospitality of my office? It’s a few decks down. I’ve got nothing but time and progress reports in any case.”

With a nod, Sabrina motioned toward the door. "I'm Sabrina, not Ma'am. Just plain old Sabrina is fine. I don't really buy into all that rank equals respect thing. Lead the way Major, I will try to not take up too much of your time in any case."

“Hailey, please, Sabrina.” Informality was fine with the Major, “I don’t expect anything alarming, the repairs on your Lieutenant Setine were extensive, but I was a combat medic before I turned doctor and went back to my unit, so I’m rather confident.” She shrugged, “But, what can I do for you?”

"I had heard that Renee was on her way to recovery," Sabrina replied quietly. "Thank you, I have no doubt that she's kept us from imminent death many a time." Waiting until they were safely behind the closed doors of Hailey's office before speaking again, Sabrina set herself down on one of the chairs and crossed her legs, leaning back and just watching the other marine for a moment. "I will get right to the point. I need Marines. Good Marines. My team has been decimated and I can't proceed safely on my own. Not that I wouldn't be willing to try, but Charlotte seems to think you are the answer to at least some of our problems."

“I’m going to go out on a lib and say you’re fooling for a Raider Company then. Unfortunately, all I have is an under strength team of experienced and potentials.” Hailey’s smile grew, “I may only have eleven troops on board, but I have confidence in all of them, even my exec who has no actual SpecOps experience yet. And the experienced ones? They’d fit in with Team Eighteen any day.” Team Eighteen was the cream of the crop, at least here on this side.

"Not a company, just a handful of bodies able to go the distance," Sabrina glanced at the door before she started speaking again. "For the past year we have been doing heavy reconnaissance, infiltrating Shalti ships and gathering information, but everything we've learned has come at a heavy price..." she paused for a moment, her thoughts turning to the most recent 'price' she had paid, a momentary darkness in her eyes. "I have what I need now to infiltrate the Shalti hive. I can take them down from the inside."

Interest piqued, Hailey leaned forward, “Assuming the Commodore gives me the green light, or even just the time to volunteer, what’s the mission, ma’am? Raider Team 97 is at your service.”

Sabrina hesitated. It had taken her a few years, but she had perfected her poker skills and she loathed the idea of showing her hand too early, especially if there was a chance that it could be taken and used to turn the tables against her. Finally, she realised she was going to have to take a page out of Charlotte's book and use a little bit of blind faith, something that never sat well with her at all. "Aside from me, there are precisely two other people still alive that know what I am about to tell you Major. If this gets out and our intentions become public knowledge, we may as well just give up now and every life lost to date will have been for nothing."

Hedging, Hailey didn’t like it, didn’t approve of it, but she cut her thoughts off instantly. These people had been under galaxy-wide siege for a decade, more even, and paranoia was something she could understand, “Ma’am, I’m not sure if you have the same clearance levels still, but I’m cleared Ultraviolet.” She referred to a level that included information most two star Admirals weren’t cleared for and even some three stars were excluded from, “I might have to brief certain of my own people on specifics, but it would be limited to their need-to-knows. Otherwise, it stays with me and me alone.”

Sabrina cast a vaguely apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Hailey, paranoia isn't usually my forte." She faltered for a moment. "I've lost a lot of good people to get this far, people I cared about a lot... and I can't even be honest with their families about what happened. I want to be able to write them and say that death was heroic, truly the ultimate sacrifice for all... and I can't because it was deemed a 'need-to-know basis' and they don't need to know. Every time one of my people lost their life, my investment became more personal. Now there's just a few of us left. Even the thought that what we're going to try and do might be compromised before we even begin makes me sick to my very core."

"That's always the way it is. I know I've lost people to bad intelligence and loose lips. But who can't you trust with the information? What's the failure point? I can guarantee we can trust the Gunny with anything. She's got more special operations experience than everyone in my unit combined, several times over." Hailey smiled slightly, "This won't be compromised from my peoples' end, Sabrina, and I know I and a couple others have a knack for helping plan things. 'She who laughs last, thinks fastest' after all."

Sabrina nodded briefly. "The Shalti are probably one of the more unique beings I've ever gone up against in war. In some ways they are like the Borg, at least in that they have a central hive mind that ultimately controls both their beings and their vessels. The outer hull of their vessels is basically biological. They have no shields, they have this kind of super tough biological shielding that regenerates at a ridiculous rate, which is what makes them so damned hard to take down in battle. By the time we focus all of our energy on one ship to take it down, our vessels have been destroyed. Any victory is at best clawing desperately to the little ground we already hold." She paused for a moment, leaning back in the chair and looking across at Hailey, trying to gauge her reactions to this whole situation. "Our Engineer, Lieutenant Setine, has found a way to change their shielding on a biological level. Essentially, we upload a self modulating virus into their hive mind that alters the way their shielding regenerates. As the hive mind feeds regeneration sequences out to the rest of the Shalti our weapons will become more viable in an attack. We just need to get into the Shalti hive undetected first and stay undetected long enough to deliver the virus into their central mind."

"Biological weapons?" Hailey asked. It was anathema to the Federation to use biological weapons, but... It was what would do the job and protect Sabrina's Federation. "Does Captain Averis know about this part of the mission? From what she was saying, it sounded like you were seeking data on a planetary location for their homeworld."

"We have the data," Sabrina replied. "I know where their central hive mind is, I know how to find it, I know the modulations to use to get past their initial shielding systems, I even have the basic ideas on how to avoid detection by their sensors, something which has tripped us up many times in the past. And I will be honest, I am not entirely sure how much Charlie knows..." Sabrina broke off, well aware that her reference to her commanding officer was far from formal. "We have done what we need to do, not always with support or encouragement."

"Is it necessary to take it to the central mind?" Hailey asked, "What about a secondary location? If it's their central spot, it's going to be defended so heavily that whoever goes in isn't coming back out. I know the Commodore would never sign on to a suicide mission, no matter the possible rewards."

Sabrina shook her head slightly. "It has to be the hive mind, it is the one location that controls every other ship and being out there." Sabrina paused for a moment, her hands folding over themselves in her lap. "I will be honest with you, if I said I was confident this was a walk in the park I would be lying, but I have no reason to believe it's a suicide mission yet. I firmly believe we can get in AND out again... if we have the right team."

Sensing her hesitation, Sabrina stood up, brushing off an invisible crease from the front of her clothing. "I'll leave you think about it. I intend to depart in the next 24 hours. We know from experience that it takes the Shalti a good 36 hours to recover and reform after one of these attacks. I want to be in the hive before they do. Let me know what your answer will be."

Without waiting for a response, Sabrina turned on her heel and walked out into the corridor, making her way through the ship toward the transporter room. Given that she was no longer holding out hope of any assistance, she needed to start preparing.

=/\=

Marine Captain Hailey Weston
Marine CO
USS Wellington

Colonel Sabrina Hunter
Acting Executive Officer
USS Icarus