Under Surveillance

[Owen Matthews 0]

Owen stood in front of his second company, briefing them. He was aware of Commander JoNs watching him from the building where she had decided to set up headquarters. But he had decided to try and ignore her as much as possible. It was more important to tell his people what to do than to worry about the XO.

 

“So your platoon will stay here to help set up the triage tents. Talk to Doctor Socom and Lieutenant Caine. They’ll let you know what they need you to do,” he said to Private Guenther who stood beside him. Then he raised his voice to address the entire company of marines. “You know what to do. We need to act quickly. Expect the first survivors to come in here in 30 minutes. I expect enough tents and equipment to be set up by then to treat them properly. Questions?”

 

No one stirred so Owen took that as a no. He still found it a little strange that he should be in command of the marine contingent in such a large scale operation. He was used to receiving orders and following them, not giving them. It would still take him a while to get used to this new situation especially since it had come so suddenly.

 

It was not because of his excellent service record that he had gotten there either. There was simply no one else left. Hair, Troll and Paradox had left, so had M&M. That had left him in command of the second company of the 130th Marine Battalion. And all this within a matter of a few months.

 

“Dismissed!” Since nobody had any questions it was time to get them to work. He would be in charge of gamma platoon and leave Private Guenther and alpha platoon to help set up triage and headquarters. Beta and delta were going to head out with him. Before joining the other he quickly turned and shot a glance at Kansas who was still watching him. A tall Klingon was standing beside her, obviously trying to get her attention.

 

Buddha decided not to care about the XO’s increased interest in his doings. He was sure she had her reasons and he already had a hunch what those might be. Not long ago he had come close to disobeying her orders. To say he had been emotionally unstable back then was a bit of an understatement. That day he had received confirmation that his sister, nephew and brother in law had not survived the Soltan attack. He had lost his entire family. It had been the Gideon disaster all over again…only worse.

 

Feeling helpless and guilty for not having been there to protect them he had jumped at the opportunity to rush to the rescue of those trapped in the science labs. Needless to say that the Commander had not appreciated his urge to run into a possibly contaminated environment with only minimal protection. Even he had understood why she had relieved him of duty and required him to get a psych evaluation before allowing him back.

 

Now was a little different. He was sure she didn’t appreciate his questioning her decision to set up headquarters in a building when the planet was ravaged by earthquakes. But he was following her orders now. There were no further indications he wouldn’t do so. This wasn’t the time to argue about the wisdom of decisions once they had been made. There would be ample time in a debriefing or maybe even over a glass of synthehol in the lounge.

 

Buddha sighed. Did she really question his willingness or ability to follow her orders? Granted, he would have preferred to receive orders from Harper. She was a marine. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t obey the Commander. He had even refrained from voicing his doubts about her decision to any of his subordinates. It would only cause trouble if the marines knew he wasn’t happy with JoNs decision.

 

It didn’t matter now. He might have to talk to JoNs about this one day but right now was definitely not the time. They had to get their rescue operation underway. Owen turned around and found himself face to face with Lieutenant C.T. Caine.