"Everything Goes To Hell In Five"

[Kansas_Jones 0]

“Everything Goes to Hell In Five”

 

" ... you should be co-ordinating with the Damage Control Teams and the Marines, not comming me constantly, Matthews."

 

Commander Kansas “Will” JoNs was trying to be patient with Marine Captain Owen "Buddha" Matthews, but the feline’s moody temper was rapidly coming to the forefront. The man had been comming her incessantly for the past few minutes with this comment or that comment about what should be done or what the on site teams should be doing. It was true that as the XO one of the responsibilities that the feline commander had was to co-ordinate with the various Damage Control Teams, Engineering, and support personnel such as Matthews who had rallied to assist with any evacuation and repairs to the compromised Deck 2. So to be fair, there were quite a bit of comm line reports coming into the bridge and her personal comm badge frequency as the crew did just that - report in, just like Matthews.

 

Owen's tone betrayed him though; there was no longer any coolness under pressure there, only a hot temper threatening to overtake his cautionary drives.

 

"The deck circulators need to vent the smoke and atmosphere before any rescue personnel can move in Captain, and the venting program hasn't completed the cycle yet. Hold your position." JoNs had managed to keep the growl out of her voice.

 

Owen couldn't believe JoNs was telling him what he should be doing. He had a hard time keeping his temper under control. "I am co-ordinating with Damage Control teams and the rest. The problem is that we can't get in!" He slammed a fist into the bulkhead. Buddha hated not being able to do anything and even more so now...after all that had happened.

 

Leaning a head against the bulkhead Owen took a few deep, calming breaths. During his training he had learned to keep his emotions in check and concentrate on the problem at hand and above all to do what he was told. Usually he didn't question orders. You didn't get far in the corps if you did. But things had changed. The Gideon blowing up was one thing. Everyone aboard the ship had known the risk though it still wasn't easy to lose most of your friends.

 

What had happened on Earth, however, had had a far greater impact on Owen than he cared to admit. All those dead people, civilians, many of them children, his sister, his nephew. It seemed that finally life had dealt Matthews a blow that almost knocked him down. The worst was that, despite all his training, there had been nothing he could have done to protect his family.

 

Now this, he was standing mere feet from people who had been injured in an explosion. The cause was unknown but that wasn't what mattered right now. What did matter was the fact that there was a stupid emergency bulkhead between the rescue teams and the injured crewmen. Owen's patience was wearing thin.

 

"Let me know if I should come back later, Commander." Owen wasn't quite as successful to keep his anger and frustration out of his voice and he was almost sure he had just gotten himself into some real trouble.

 

And this sure-ness would be highly accurate. It had taken less then a minute - along with an executive grade transporter override command code, a call to the transporter technician on duty, and a quick "I will be right back. Business. Must not claw crew, yes. Explain later." explanation to Colonel Harper up on the bridge - until the familiar chimes of the transporter beam were heard on the air of the auxiliary corridor where Matthews was now located. JoNs appeared about halfway along the corridor after authorizing the site to site transport from the main bridge to the corridor. With a good portion of the shipboard systems compromised as the result of the explosion, the only way the stunt had worked was because the payload had been for one individuals transport bio signature. anything more would have been way too risky.

 

"Make a hole and clear the corridor."

 

The Damage Control personnel who had been on standby and also shared the small corridor area with Captain Matthews quickly dispersed off to a side auxiliary section, leaving the marine alone and in the golden furred feline commanders direct line of and pissed off sight.

 

Owen looked up as he heard JoNs' voice. It didn't take a telepath to tell that she was not happy. Good, Owen thought. He wasn't happy either. What surprised him a little was the prompt reaction. This should have been warning enough of just how much trouble he was in. Unfortunately Buddha didn't care.

 

Straightening up, Buddha met JoNs' gaze head on. Not being one to run or give in he was getting ready for confrontation. "If you've come to give me hell for my attitude, I guess this is not the time." He jabbed a thumb at the wall. "The bulkheads are still in place and we can't get in!"

 

The Caitian commander started toward the bigger human, and every muscle was wire tight on her athletic furred body frame. Her tail was lashing, and while her ears hadn’t gone completely flat, they were pretty well swept back. Her muzzle was covered by the re-breather mouthpiece and small conversion pods set to either side of the apparatus, but her mouth was stretched in a silent snarl and visible through the clear plastic breather unit. She knew she should keep her temper. She knew this. Officer protocol must be maintained. But, her instincts were nagging, telling her to go the other way. Is this right? How can I tell…am I wrong? Is a firm paw too much for a crisis? What if I don’t be firm and he gets himself killed …

 

“No sh*t the bulkheads are down Buddha. Again, as I mentioned, we need to wait for the venting programs to finish clearing most of the sealed deck plan. The cycle will now be done in another four minutes. You would have spent this same amount of time anyway strapping on an EV suit. We hope that anyone still alive after the initial blasts and atmo breach managed to get a re-breather unit on and hunkered down under some cover. Four minutes. Then, the emergency protocols kick off and the control teams can go in."

 

She jabbed a paw in the air toward the senior marine officer. “If you want to go in with guns blazing, breathe in superheated gases and chemicals or whatever was stored in those labs or be exposed to the coolant that was stored in the sensor array wire junctions or whatever, then by all means do so Captain Matthews. Then, we can admit you to medical for fried lungs and lack of oxygen to the brain. Then, you can rotate out of the marines on a medical pension and drink your dinner out of a straw for the rest of your natural life.”

 

Owen ignored the last bit JoNs said. He was aware of the risks and he certainly didn't need her to remind him. "Yeah, right the emergency teams go in and then what? I've seen enough friggin' charred bodies back on Earth to last me a lifetime and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Four minutes may be too long for some of them." Buddha's temper was flaring and he glared at the Commander. It was the first time he had lost control like this.

 

Kansas glared right back and a low growl filled the corridor air. “Four minutes has already been too long Captain … I’m repeating myself here, but if someone wasn’t caught in the flash fire then they got exposed to the vacuum before the shielding kicked in. Our priority is any blast and vacuum survivors who managed to grab a re-breather. If you don’t want to see anymore casualties like the injured and dead from the attack on Earth then why are you standing by for Deck 2 search and rescue deployment?” The glare softened a bit, but a stern gaze remained. “If you don’t have your head in the game then we need to know that now so we can get a competent point man down here to assist with the evacuation. We now have three minutes to make a decision.”

 

Now she's gone too far, Owen thought. He walked up to the Caitian, his face mere inches from hers. "If you think I should be relieved of duty then please feel free to do so otherwise all I'm asking is for you to let me do my job. And it's not my job to wait here while people are dying in there." The word insubordination briefly crossed Owen's mind but he didn't care. He knew he was way out of line questioning the XO's orders.

 

Don’t crowd me bud. The feline commander’s tail was really lashing back and forth now, and her fur had finally flared out to show her level of displeasure with the marine officer. She looked right in the taller humans eyes, which seemed to be filled with a dark edge that made her a bit concerned. Burn out case? The security training teaches an officer to look for the outward signs. But, burn out? Matthews?

 

“Captain, this has gone way beyond you needing to do your job. I don’t know what set you off, or why, but you are blatantly taking me on for whatever reason. You may have started this, but you’ve also served with me long enough to know that I’ll finish this and boot your skinny ass. Buddha, you really need to back away right now, both literally and figuratively … you understand me, right?”

 

The executive officer managed to keep her stern tone level as she tried to infuse basic “talk the jumper down” security procedures. Will hoped that Buddha would take the opportunity she gave him to get a handle on himself and the situation and back away from this general cluster frag with some grace; if not she’d have to make some real hard decisions.

 

Owen took a deep breath and backed off a few steps but he kept glaring at JoNs. "Yes, ma'am," was all he managed to say. He respected the XO. She'd made it through Marine basic and during their sparring fights he had learned not to underestimate her. Now he had no reason whatsoever to doubt she would stay true to her word and boot his ass so badly he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

 

Suddenly Buddha started to wonder what exactly he was doing. Whether or not he liked his orders he had always followed them and now he was standing in a corridor, having a shouting match with a superior officer. He took a deep breath, averted his eyes and leaned back against the bulkhead. "Damn!"

 

A tense silence settled over the corridor area, hanging in the air almost as thick as the wisps of smoke that circulated at intervals between Matthews and JoNs.

 

The female monotone voice of the ships computer spoke into the silence, the calm digital tone at odds with the tense conversation that had just taken place. The computer announcements kept playing in a muted tone over and over in the background. “The air filtration cycle will be complete in one minute. The compromised section of Deck 2 will be clear for entry in one minute. Emergency shielding is holding. Vacuum levels are non-existent. The emergency cycle will be complete in one minute, oxygen levels have returned to normal … “

 

With a clarity that only came with either years of service experience, experience gained in the mainstream command track, or the benefit of observing and working in close quarters with competent marine officers who tended to rely on a no nonsense efficiency when it came down to the wire, Will JoNs knew that she still had to make a couple of hard decisions. The Caitian Fleet officer had always liked Marine officer Matthews; sure, Matthews had been a complete hard case just like all the other leathernecks during her reprimanded marine basic training, but like Troll and Hair, Buddha had also been efficient and open with the training sessions and the feline had picked up a few new things in the process.

 

The feline executive officer also relaxed her own wire tight posture and leaned against the opposite bulkhead so she could face the man across the corridor. Her posture may have relaxed, and her fur had smoothed down, but her ears were still swept back and she crossed her arms over her chest. Her face still held an edge of tense displeasure, causing her feline features to be sharper then normal. She really wasn’t happy at all with this situation that had rapidly gotten out of hand.

 

“Okay Buddha, here’s the deal and here’s what we are going to do. I’m really not thrilled with your going bat sh*t act right now. Not the time and the place. You realize this right? Would you let one of your men continue after something like this? Not with your attitude set at where it is right now. I know you look tired, and I also don’t like that look in your eyes … battle fatigue or burnout is my clinical security assessment right now.”

 

With that blunt statement hanging, the feline shifted her posture and got closer to Matthews’ personal space; her manner was still non-threatening, but the positioning change was an obvious tactical maneuver intended to brook no argument. “Marine Captain Owen Matthews. You are on probation, removed from the duty rotation, barred from the Deck 2 search and rescue operations, and are to report to the medical bay for a full physical and psychological evaluation.”

 

“If you choose to further frag with me on this decision, then I will take this to the next level, and then have you forcibly escorted there.”

 

”Fifty seconds to clearance … fifty seconds to clearance …please standby …,” the computer continued its litany in the background.

 

Owen had already given up. He didn't have the heart to fight back anymore. Somehow he was glad he was relieved of duty. Shaking his head he replied, "It's alright, no need to have me escorted anywhere." He straightened up and looked at JoNs. "While we're at it, I request a leave of absence to be able to attend my sister's and nephew's funerals as well as...take care of some personal stuff, ma'am"

 

Kansas mentally sighed and relaxed her tense shoulders. She silently thanked the gods that this all hadn’t gone down during a joint ground engagement in the middle of a firefight. Her expressive ears flipped forward again, showing that the golden cat’s aggressive nature had also been backed off in every sense of the word and her facial expression was now torn somewhere between stern and concern, wishing that the situation hadn’t played itself out at all.

 

She ran a paw – the only outward sign of the tense feelings that she still felt – through her short copper colored mane and kept her sharp green eyes on Matthews. “Leave granted. And don’t worry about any paperwork … I can handle all of that …. I’ll speak to the Chief Shark and the Acting Chief Shark as well if you’d like me too. I think paying your respects as well as taking care of your personal concerns is exactly where you need to be right now Buddha. Now let’s make a hole before we get trampled by the rescue teams … “

 

Written by: Marine Capt. Owen “Buddha” Matthews and Commander Kansas “Will” JoNs