"Frost"

[LeftEar JoNs 0]

11.23.07

Mika Four Colony Outpost

“Frost”

 

Note: this log is set two months into the four month reassignment time frame

 

**********

“Left Ear, you ready to go and ding up the target squad a bit?” Jinx’s voice cracked over her internal helmet comm

 

Jinx Brennan and Left Ear JoNs were functioning as “the bad guys” for the upcoming training exercise, intending to blitz the ever loving bejeezus out of the four trainee recruits that were currently cleared for the training exercise. Blair, T’Sar, Maevan, and Tragg were all junior lieutenants assigned to the outpost for some extra piloting as well as officer candidate training before moving on to the senior officer command track.

 

The Caitian spared a glance out of the tempered plasti-seal covering the cockpit over to the fighter craft flanking her, and smiled fiercely behind the orange tinted visor of her flight helmet, visually tracking her wingman. As much as she was willing to work in security, she truly did enjoy piloting and it would always be her first love so to speak. Checking the position of the target squad on the panel monitor inset one last time, she responded to Jinx. “Aye Jinx – let’s go rattle the cage.”

 

Within seconds, the two women were bearing down on the squad, peppering them with holo tracer rounds. Several hits were recorded, but none were fatal; they could hear Blair issuing orders over their comm lines to his squad, and they all scattered.

 

“Take care of the secondary targets, I have the leaders.”

 

“Aye! They should have stayed stayed together! Blair knows better.” Left Ear took off after T’Sar and Tragg while Jinx dealt with the other two.

 

“Watch Blair in case he works his way back around! They don’t call that man ‘Frost’ for nothing. Don’t get frostbitten, Jinx out.”

 

**********

An hour later, both Left Ear and Jinx had touched down on the landing port at Mika, mission and training session accomplished. It had turned out rather well, and both of the senior officer instructors were pleased with the overall results.

 

The officers entered the locker room area, and quietly set about stowing their gear amidst the excited retelling of the mock battle by Blair’s squad to their fellow pilots.

 

“Hey sirs! Great training session, really got the blood flowing!” Tragg, an affable human, called out over across the expanse of the locker room to Lt. Commander JoNs and Commander Brennan.

 

“It was not an acceptable training session.” A lone voice cut through the din, and Blair emerged from behind the lockers. His rich baritone voice seemed to linger on the air even after he finished the statement.

 

“Explain Lieutenant.” Brennan’s clipped tone was all business.

 

His gaze flew from Brennan and latched onto JoNs as he continued. “The Lieutenant Commander ignored the rules of engagement. Her manner was aggressive, and she followed me and fired off two extra shots that impacted with my fighter even after I had signaled that I had been knocked out of the skirmish and had gone out of range of the flight op.”

 

At that point, Jinx’s gaze went to Left Ear, her gaze stern. “Is this true Commander?”

 

“Aye. I followed Mister Blair out of the perimeter established for the flight training op and peppered his tail with a few parting shots.”

 

“Not very sportsman-like and very unlike you JoNs.” The Caitian could tell that Brennan was not pleased with her off the cuff actions.

 

“Yes sir.”

 

When no further explanation was forthcoming, Jinx leaned in at that point and whispered in JoNs’s ear. “What the hell is the matter with you? I need to write you up and demerit you for this, its only fair – I’d do it to anyone that pulled that during an op.”

 

“I understand, and once we clear the room, I can explain the reasoning behind the actions.” The Caitian pulled away and dutifully stood at a relaxed parade rest.

 

Brennan pulled away as well, her expression vacillating between anger and curiosity. The commanding officer of the post then turned to address the small group gathered. “You all know as well as I do that aggression has its place during a fire fight, but we need to channel that into a productive force, not merely for the benefit of some twitchy fingered – or in this case pawed – fun. We all have our good and bad moments, and then we answer for any infractions, as the commander will. Good job out there today, all of you. Now, please clear the room.”

 

The various squad members finished up and filed out of the squad room, most of them shooting mildly sympathetic or curious looks toward the Caitian, leaving Brennan and JoNs alone to square off.

 

“Again I ask what the hell that was all about.”

 

“Now, please just hang onto your Irish temper, thank you sir. I did intentionally fire at Blair for a reason – I wanted to gauge his response. What he just pulled now confirmed a few suspicions I had.”

 

“Continue.”

 

“He’s a good, solid squad leader. Gets the job done, and brings his people back. But, he’ll never make it past the lieutenant grade…and I don’t think he’s a very good candidate for senior OCS.”

 

Brennan relaxed a bit and leaned a hip against the lockers. “How so?”

 

“He’s manipulative. I’ve heard a few grumblings regarding it, nothing major, just along the lines of ‘that guy is a total ass’, you know that type of complaint. If he was so concerned with my performance, then why not come to you, or even question me about it directly? He did it in front of an audience, and he likes that.”

 

Jinx nodded and motioned for her to continue.

 

“I know that all officers use manipulation in some form or another, but usually it’s to motivate your people. Blair comes in from the other angle, the hard charging angle, and the one we don’t need or want. If he flies enough missions, it’s only a matter of time before he starts making mistakes with a squad, meaning setting himself up as’ unapproachable’ or something. You and I have run into that type before.”

 

“Options?”

 

“We keep an eye on him, and be completely honest when we grade him and such with regard to his interactions as a squad leader. I’m all for the two of us sitting down with him for a nice little two on one session actually. You and I joke with one another about us both being by the book? Well, in this case he needs to read that book and work on his people skills.”

 

“Noted. I’m still going to demerit you though, per our by the book procedures, and don’t ever pull that crap again.” Brennan eyed the feline with a critical eye. “And you just had to launch this plan during a training op…you couldn’t have come to me regarding this?”

 

“No sir.” A sly grin lit the felines' features. “I just really wanted to fire at Blair…”

 

At which point a padd, a towel, and whatever else Jinx could get her hands on were flung at Left Ear in short order.

 

Irish temper. Indeed.