"Squid Scramble"

[Kansas_Jones 0]

12.11.07

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

“Squid Scramble”

Note: this log takes place within the twenty minute TBS.

 

The current mission parameters had been forwarded to the personal Padd that JoNs carried, heralded by a notification ‘blip’. The lieutenant commander, already en route to the security armory along with Lieutenant Black-Knight, quickly read over the information involving the joint marine and security mission. Actually no, scratch that – these rough and tumble insertion ops were the purview of the marines; security was the department providing the backup.

 

The quick rundown of the working mission plan provided by Lt. Colonel Day glowed on the Padd screen, and read something like this: "Hair" Rieve from the marines, "Will" - apparently, at some point, the feline had inherited a new call sign from their executive officer; she would have to be sure to question Day regarding the origin of the new name. Maybe it was something cool like a ‘will of iron’. Yeah! - JoNs and "Elvis" Black-Knight from security, and their respective teams would be coming in from one direction, while "Paradox" Day and "Buddha" Matthews, also of the Marines, and their respective assault teams planned on coming in from the other direction. These insertion teams would most likely be searching out the needed Soltan warp vector technology, and most likely doing some running and gunning in the process. It wasn’t so much a question of no casualties; it was a question of how many casualties would be encountered with the assault on the planetary industrial repair facility.

 

Meanwhile, it looked as if marines "Troll" Merrill and "M&M" Marshall were both slated to do the decoy thing with the shuttles, attempting to keep any base defenses occupied and away from the insertion teams.

 

Her mind was going ballistic with tactical options, and with a grunt, Kansas made a mental decision, and her paw flew up to tap at the comm badge affixed to her uniform jacket. She and Elvis cleared the corridor into the main security armory as she started to bark out her orders. “Akib, this is Kansas. I need you and the Jackals to scramble ASAP for the mission op to the planet. We’re suiting up as well.”

 

“Aye sir – I’ll roust my team and be down there right away. Saunders out.”

 

“Good. JoNs out.” She tapped at her comm badge again. “Brandon, this is Kansas.”

 

Her comm badge crackled with a short burst of interference, and then Greyhawks strong, melodic voice came drifting back on the signal to answer the summons, “Aye sir?”

 

“I need you and Omega Armory to scramble. You and your team scored the highest during that last round of sniper training, so you get to show your stuff now. I’m forwarding the current mission op to your Padd device; I want two of you to take the outer perimeter on the marine insertion area, and the other two members of your team to cover the section that security is assigned to and guard our sixes. If it’s not wearing marine black or security silver, take it out.”

 

“Aye sir.”

 

“Thanks Hawk. Happy hunting. JoNs out.” ”

 

JoNs deftly entered the code to open her assigned locker and began to extract the seldom used riot gear stored within. The silver toned visored helmet, armored vest, gloves, knee and elbow pads and such were intended for use in crowd control, and while offering solid protection, the armor quality of the security equipment was akin to a scout level protection rather then the heavy duty protection of the marine equipment. However, with the past few days of tinkering and testing of the armor that Chief Armory Officer Esteban and “Dee Jay” Nimetti had done, the security equipment had been modified with a bit more protection.

 

The Caitian snapped the final strap locks of her vest and helmet into place as Saunders and Team Jackal filed into the room, and they too began to suit up; Keltex and his Dingo squad had arrived a few seconds prior, and were also prepping for the insertion op. Weapons were checked and rechecked. The Omega Armory squad was the last to arrive, and they too quietly went about their prep work, the long silver and red scoped out sniper rifles that they withdrew from the lockers managing to look both sleek and deadly at the same time.

 

Placing two paw digits in her mouth, she let loose with a shrill whistle that blasted through the area. The assembled security squads quieted down, and the feline second officer hopped on top of a nearby blue storage crate, ignoring the tightening of her stomach. After all these years, and she still got nervous with public speaking. For a moment, her thoughts turned darker, wondering if she would be writing any condolence letters after this was over – or if someone would be doing one for her. With an effort, she viciously pushed aside such thoughts so that she could continue functioning in her duty.

 

She was silent, her gaze going over each of the Dingo, Jackal and Omega squad members in turn, making sure to make eye contact with each and every being. The last one she made eye contact with was the Master Chief, and the big silver haired Klingon merely smiled and nodded his head to her. With a flick of her tail, the feline began to speak, careful to keep her own lingering fear about the upcoming operation out of her voice.

 

“Look, you Squids all know me, and have served with me long enough that I really don’t care for any hoo rah rah pep talk. I’ve always thought that it was a load of targ s*** to get all happy and talk about how much of a privilege it is to go running head long into danger. I also refuse to go soft and get all huggy or sappy - any one here that has ever had a feline for a pet knows that once you reach our hug limit, it isn’t pretty.”

 

A chuckle rolled through the assembled group of security officers, and Kansas let it play out before she continued her little speech.

 

“I’ve forwarded the mission parameters to the personal Padds of your team leads. We are about to leap head first into a hot zone, and we will be taking down a Soltan repair facility in order to steal the technology that they possess. You know the Soltan can be dangerous, especially with that added biological ‘death touch’ that they have. If we are successful, the stolen tech will hopefully get us home through one of those weird vortex things. We will be engaging the enemy, and there will be hard contact. Paradox Day, Buddha Matthews and their marine squads will be coming from one direction, with myself and Elvis incoming with Dingo Squad from the other direction along with Hair Rieve and her people. I plan on having the Jackal team as backup and clean up detail, so they can shoot at whatever we do not. In addition, marines Troll Merrill and M&M Marshall will be running shuttle interference while our Omega team runs interference of the sniper variety for both the marine and security ground teams. You all go in, hit hard with extreme prejudice, and watch your backs.”

 

JoNs jumped down from the crate as her people let loose with a ‘hoo rah’ of the adrenaline induced variety, which oddly enough comforted her on some level.

 

“Let’s go – all squads to the deployment transporter room so we can link up with our Sharks.”