Serene Marines?

[Matt Morris SFM 0]

Serene Marines?

1SG Matt Morris

 

Sitting at the dual occupancy console in the Marine HQ lobby, 1SG Morris was compiling the necessary data they had received from sci-ops on the planet below. To his right was a stack of PADDs that he'd already uploaded the data onto, and to his left were the remaining blanks. While he hadn't yet received any orders from Makisu, the SNCO sincerely doubted that they'd be twiddling their thumbs on the Excalibur while the rest of the crew was searching the planet below. For something.

 

Since coming aboard the ship the Company had done very little except train, train, train. Matt was involved with that, of course, but he'd spent most of his time either conferring with the training NCO or doing paperwork. It was actually quite ridiculous how much of the tedium was required for their twenty-five person group. Personnel reviews, constant inventory of their equipment and weapons, training reports, infrastructure evaluations... Matt sincerely hoped that when the Starfleet Marines became more standardized, Marine Command would require a little less prose.

 

There had been a few minor glitches with some of the sonic showers in the locker room, but the engineering crew had responded relatively quickly; the conference room door was still hitching though, and he'd sent a maintenance order in for that. Otherwise, their HQ seemed to be in working order, and everything was going pretty smoothly. Matt sincerely doubted that would last much longer, especially with Makisu lurking in the shadows to pounce on the first signs of a wobble.

 

As he finished uploading the data onto the remaining PADDs, he pondered ringing up the XO to see what was in the works. Unlike the Major, that one understood that, NCO or not, Matt needed to be kept in the loop. Before he could, however, the Beta Squad Leader entered the lobby and approached him.

 

"Sergeant," the Trill woman said by way of greeting. "Here's my latest report on the squad's progress." She handed over a PADD.

 

"Thank you, Sergeant," Matt responded, taking it. "Give me a summary."

 

"Aye," she said, nodding. "As far as weapons training goes, I'm quite confident that we could shoot a tribble resting on a dog at a hundred meters without the dog even noticing. The hand to hand, though... At this point I think the tribble would win."

 

"That would be quite embarrassing," Matt said, raising an eyebrow. "What's the problem?"

 

"Balance," she said. "I talked to the AL," she said, speaking of the Alpha Squad Leader. "It seems that his squad is the exact opposite. Better at hand to hand than with weapons."

 

"Right," Matt said, pulling up the Alpha Squad's latest reports. Skimming it, he judged the grades. Their hand to hand numbers were better, though the weapons numbers weren't nearly as bad in ratio to Beta's. "Hmm. I'll discuss this with the XO, see if we can't juggle something to achieve more balance. However," he said, putting on his stern face. "Your Squad's numbers are pathetic," he said, looking at the PADD he just received. "Beta's evening rest hours will be halved, and you will spend them working on hand to hand. Understood?"

 

"Yes, Sergeant!"

 

"Dismissed," he told her. She stood at attention before marching out of the lobby. Shaking his head, he sighed. "This is really going to rile up Makisu," he muttered. Assembling the PADDs with the planetary data and putting them in a tote, he then secured his console and headed back to the XO's office. Seems he had more to worry about than their upcoming assignment, whatever it would be.