Taking Stock

[GSgt Mike Hefner 0]

"Colonel? Got a minute?" Major Akio Haruto paused in the doorway to Lt Colonel JoNs' office, left open as usual. Well aware of her open door policy, he still wasn't the kind to walk in without asking.

 

Kansas 'Will' JoNs glanced up from the computer console flat screen mounted on her desktop, and waved a paw at Haruto. "Come on in Major. What can I do you for?" After thirteen plus years serving in the Starfleet, the Caitian feline had picked up certain Human phrases and jokes. The Lieutenant Colonel had shucked her gray toned uniform jacket, and it lay neatly slung over the back of her office chair. With the black short sleeved uniform undershirt and matching trousers, the dark color was a contrast against her golden fur.

 

"It's the Gunny, Colonel," he said hesitantly, as though he might be interrupting. "He's on a roll and I said I'd bring it to your attention. He has a point. Might be worth while looking into."

 

"You're speaking of the proposed weapons training memo? Aye, just as the three day staggered leave and shift rotations started, the Gunny had sent myself and the Cee Oh a brief heads up regarding the plans that were percolating among the enlisted guys. The Colonel gave the go ahead during our AM business meeting, so the Marine Department as a whole will be moving forward with projectile weapons and hand to hand combat readiness and training as applied to the Blue Bellies. Once the Marines -- and Security -- work the bugs out of the system, all Departments will be incorporated into the routine. I'm drawing up the 'heads up' memos now along with general ships business directives." Kansas indicated her console with a wave of a paw, and then the felinoid leaned back in her office chair and regarded the male human of Earth Asian descent. "You have the particulars you want to discuss?"

 

The Major's expression sobered as he advanced in the slow, measured gait of the Samurai, which spoke of his family's ancient traditions. Upon reaching the proper distance he gave a respectful bow. "It seems, Chuusa, that you have everything well in hand." After this the brief display he relaxed to his former posture and gave a smile for good measure, as though waiting for the Lt Colonel's expected head tic at the formality of his greeting.

 

Haruto was a good sort, an excellent combat marine, and JoNs had been benefiting from his example these last few months...even when that guidance was a bit more forthcoming due to certain events. At a second wave of her paw to grab a seat, he reversed a chair to straddle it in front of her desk.

 

"Particulars? I know the Gunny's idea of a projectile weapon is somewhere between a standard double ought shotgun and a KC 95. I was thinking we might want to broaden the category to include, say, Private Karo's bow as well as more culture-specific weapons - Klingon, Bajoran, Ferengi? Maybe... Xenexian?" He cocked his head to one side, inviting comment.

 

"We have options to choose from, that's for sure Major. Even if we concentrate -- as an example -- on only three or four combat weapon offerings from certain cultures, we'll be able to prep for all possible contingency plans. It's best to keep options open and pick and choose from the cultures. The Great Hunter knows that we have enough species to choose viable close quarters combat weapons from."

 

Will sighed inwardly, but not from annoyance at the conversation. This was the sort of conversation that she could handle; talking shop with one of the commissioned officers about weapons readiness, or in this case, thinking outside the normal comfort zone with regard to alternative personal defenses in case conventional weapons were to be taken out by the Soltan. It would also be a welcome change of place talking alternatives with the major as opposed to dealing with a triage snafu that had wrangled about half the medical staff.

 

She cocked an expressive ear to one side, breaking the stride of the convo to touch on another topic no less important, but still very much on the radar of the crew at large. Her green eyes showed curiosity as she asked the question of the major.

 

"I'm guessing that word has spread about the incident down in the medical quarantine zone? How's the battalion and squad reaction overall?" Her tail swished lazily behind her, occasionally popping up above the level of the desk top before swooshing back down.

 

In her opinion -- everyone has one, eh? -- JoNs had been doing her job as the XO to check out any possible hostile environment and shouldn't have to apologize to anyone for performing her duty. The CMO (another Cait, gods save them from clash of the felines) maintained that the senior medical officer on site held the automatic authority position with any sort of medical lockdown, and JoNs shouldn't have entered the quarantine triage area in the first place without asking for clearance. In theory, the CMO in charge of a quarantine lockdown worked from an administrative standpoint. Tensions on all sides had been running high, which had not helped the situation cluster frag as it played out.

 

Haruto eyed her a minute before responding, checking her feline body language, weighing what he should say and what was better left unsaid. Mentioning Cait fight put too light a tone on it - or too derogatory a tone, depending on her mood. Either way, the term didn't fit well in the present discussion, despite the number of times he'd heard it in passing. And it was definitely more than a Cait fight, more than posturing for position, and more than squid vs jarhead - something else he'd heard tossed around.

 

"Truth be told, Colonel?" he began with a slight shift of his position, carefully choosing his tone to get the point across without crossing the lecture line. "Tension ran high for a while, expecting to find you mired in medical quarantine - and that's something no marine aboard wants to see. Doctor Trenral has that option, Colonel. As much as we don't want to admit it, and Caitian aside, she's top dog aboard ship and has the power to remove anyone from duty, regardless of rank. And if she even suspects you've been infected?" He leaned back, splaying his hands in resignation then dropping them to his thighs in a loud slap. "So... how's the battalion reaction? Deep sigh of relief that you're still in position. Otherwise..." he raised a surly brow as he bent forward to cross his arms over the back of the chair, "..they'd have to deal with me."

 

The light colonel had made the decision to pay a visit to the medical bay in order to smooth things over with CMO Trenral and her lead shift doctor, Vaughn; JoNs recognized that an apology was due with regard to common sense and to smooth over working -- and personal -- relationships among the senior ship's line officers.

 

...Marines were sooooo much easier.

 

At the finish of the explanation, Kansas glanced away from the human Asian man for a couple seconds, her sharp gaze looking out through the clear picture window of her office and at the expanse of the NNC beyond. Soldiers and specialists moved across the area, either going about their duties or enjoying some brief time off in the lounge. The battalion as a whole would still support their light colonel even if she had gone all ramrod during a touchy medical situation.

 

...Marines were also loyal. Even if their junior commanding officer did run off at the muzzle and get her ire up for certain situations.

 

JoNs turned her attention back to Haruto, gave a quick nod of understanding that also effectively dismissed the sideline topic of conversation, and went back on the primary topic.

 

"I know that Private Karo was taking an, ah, informal verbal poll regarding who has what training among the marines. That needs to be expanded to include all departments. So, where does the crew stand right now? Who has what projectile training or hand to hand combat training with blunt weapons? Any one Department we should be aware of, either they need the training or have a few officers that can handle themselves in archaic combat practices?"

 

Only years of practice with young senior officers allowed the major to let the word archaic pass without a grimace. Archaic or not, ancient martial arts were just as effective now as they were several thousand years ago. Modern hand-to-hand tactics were rooted in them. But in the grand scheme, the word didn't matter so he let it slide.

 

"The list will be on your desk as soon as we have it finalized, Colonel. We're digging out all the weaponry we can find, including some that's been hidden since deploy. You know how that is - bordering on illegal? At this point we're not worried about legal or illegal, we're only concerned about defensive capability. But you know how hard it is to convince some aboard that we're on the up and up."

 

"Major, I really don't care if someone has a air powered nail gun. If it works, and a situation calls for it, we can use it."

 

The young Caitian's tail continued to twitch, now low, now flitting above the desk. In Akio's brief time aboard Agincourt, the Major had learned to read the Light's moods pretty well, and this one wasn't good. Whether it was the entire situation or something she wasn't able to tell him, if that agitation rose any more he'd start to worry. A certain amount of agitation made a better Marine. It raised adrenaline to acceptable levels, aiding reflexes and concentration. Too much agitation led to mistakes and a dead Marine.

 

The Lieutenant Colonel purred a bit, the trilling sound carrying within the confines of the office. "You can just as easily eyeball this info by pulling my service jacket Major, but let me save you the effort; I've been trained in a variety of small arms projectiles, mostly pistols, sub-machine guns and the sniper rifle. The training -- and practice -- was with energy, projectile energy, and honest to goodness hard ammo. As with the weapons, I'm a little rusty, but I can also hold my own with the bo staff in close quarters combat. I'll get some time in on the practice range and be good to go, so you can add me to the defensive training roster right along with everyone else."

 

He gave a smart nod while standing to reverse the chair. He'd seen her in action; no problem there. But her command confidence seemed to have wavered since the last blue episode. She was young - by both Human and Caitian standards - but she'd surprised him more than once in the past few months. When push came to shove, he hoped she'd be ready.

 

Will JoNs stood as well, out of respect and upbringing. She offered a big golden paw to the male Human. "Thanks for the confab Major Haruto. Pleasure doin' business with you." She grinned, exposing her fangs, and gave a smart nod in his direction.

 

"Always a pleasure, Colonel," he said with a grin. He gave as firm a shake as he could, hand to paw, then steeled his expression. Slapping his right fist into his left palm he gave a sharp formal bow, then spun on one heel to exit. The fangs said it all. She'd be ready.