[USS Tempest] Telling It to the Marines
- From: JT Swiftwind <Notaxe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: usstempest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 04 May 2006 07:19:06 -0400
_Telling It to the Marines
_by Lieutenants Zelphox & Soliel; Captains Swiftwind, Harak, and
Cammick; and General Barker
Lord, bid war's trumpet cease;
Fold the whole earth in peace.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes
Still feeling stiff, Zelphox had assured the hologram he would not
overdo things but he must return to the Company. The Gnalish had given
him a strange look and just relayed the message that he should report
to General Barker first.
Soliel finished making breakfast and set two large omelets made with
things from her stash of Betazed foods; hen eggs, sharp cheese, and
several vegetables; in front of the General and her Imzadi. "Eat, you two."
JT walked into the Marine briefing room and raised one brow. "Well now,
isn't that cozy. Y'all have coffee on, too?" he asked.
Soliel huffed. "Of course. There's also muffins."
"No food: just coffee," JT said as he dropped into a chair. "I'm
getting way too partial to my wife's cooking to eat anywhere else."
The dark haired empath blinked. Wife? When had that happened? /~~Did he
just say wife, Imzadi?~~ /"Well the coffee's fresh, real beans from
Betazed."
~~Yes, wife~~ Vevay sipped the juice carefully as she leaned back in
her chair.
Sauntering in, Ash gave the assembled crowd a smirk. "Aren't we the
domesticated bunch?" he laughed as he plonked himself into a seat near
the General. "So, who got me out of my nice warm bed this morning?
Thought we weren't having the briefing til we got back to the AQ."
"Suck it up, Marine," JT said with a genial smirk. "At least the
coffee's fresh. I think the ball's in the general's court."
Cautiously entering the briefing room, Zelphox was mildly surprised to
find the entire Marine officer complement with one notable exception.
Nodding slightly at them, he winced slightly with the pain. "General,
Captains. Oh hello, Lieutenant."
JT nodded a greeting then added, "Grab yourself a cup, Lieutenant. It's
fresh."
The Denobulan managed a small smile, "No thank you sir, I think my
system is not quite up to Marine-made coffee yet. Juice will be
sufficient and some toast if that's possible."
"I think I've been insulted," Soliel teased as she got the man juice and
toast. "Once your up to it, Lieutenant, you'll find that I hardly make
Marine coffee. Sends me bouncing off the walls and there's nothing worse
then a perky, caffeine buzzed Betazoid."
"Try a caffeine buzzed Denobulan?" He grinned back, lilac eyes twinkling
gently.
Leaning back in his chair, Ash dropped his feet on the table but fixed
his eyes on the Lieutenant. "What is it we can do for you, Lieutenant?
You're not meant to be out of bed, let alone back in Marine territory."
"Would you want to spend that much time with the Fleeters?" Soliel asked
with a smirk as she sat next to Vivie and across from Ash.
"Don't give a damn what he wants, he's a Marine, he does what he's
told," Ash said simply. "Just like the rest of us."
"Funny," Soliel said with a smirk, "that's the same thing my father use
to say about husbands and lovers."
Vevay fixed her eyes on the other Marines in the room and snorted softly
into her coffee. "Indeed."
Barker laughed brightly as he leaned back in his chair. "Sounds about
right for them, too. So, Lieutenant, what is it you're looking for?"
"I think he just likes lookin' at my wife," JT said with a smile.
Ash shrugged and grinned. "Very pretty wife too, though no where near
as beautiful as mine."
Soliel simply smiled while the men pounded their chests. No one compared
to her Imazdi.
"Any man who doesn't say that about his wife is an idiot," JT opined.
""Why not just agree that we're the lucky saps to have them?"
"You got the joy of kids, too," Ash chuckled as he pulled a wallet out
of his pocket and flopped two pictures out, showing two grinning, toothy
children, one boy and one girl. "Beautiful, ain't they?"
"Gorgeous," JT said softly, that funny warm feeling welling up in his
chest again, just as it did every time he thought of his twins to be.
"I'm reporting for duty," Zelphox said, taking a sip of juice. "I am
able to recall being the only Beta Company officer surviving." Marcus'
severed head flashed into his mind again. "Despite my condition I feel
it right that I should be with the men at this time. The Doctor
protested but relented provided I saw the General first."
"So you're seeing him," Barker said. "and he says go back to your bed.
How are you going to help them if you exhaust yourself? More to the
point, there was another with you, correct?"
"I believe so sir, no-one has informed me of number of survivors,
prisoners etc. So I must admit to being at a disadvantage."
"One other, sir," Ash said softly. "Sergeant Reynam."
"And how exactly do you think she will feel when her superior officer
plays the martyr to go back on duty when she is still on sick leave?"
Barker asked almost conversationally even with a glint in his eyes. "Or
are you telling me that we are back in the dark ages of the Corps when
even the sickest of people were thrown back into duty just to die of
fatigue or suicide?"
The alien looked at Captain Cammick, "Survivor or prisoner, Sir?"
"Sergeant Aisling Reynam of my company," Ash confirmed. "Like you, she
was tortured. Unlike you, she couldn't put herself into a deep
meditative state so she felt everything." He didn't feel like being
very charitable today, not about his favourite Sergeant. He'd just
about managed to get past her bulldog of a physician come boyfriend, and
she'd been so pale that it'd hurt something deep inside Ash.
"And she's still off duty, even if she was moved home to her quad," JT
added in. "FRix has been keeping her tail in the mill so to speak."
Zelphox nodded. "And the rest of Beta?"
"Most of 'em are dead," Ash said flatly. "They didn't survive the
initial onslaught."
The Denobulan sagged in his seat. "All of them?"
"No," the General said as softly as he could. "There are six men left.
And they're all on leave. So, will you return to your leave or are you
forcing them off of theirs? I will follow your instructions on this.
Including Sergeant Reynam. If you go back on duty, so does she."
"And then the doc would probably kill you, if I read him right," JT opined.
Raising an eye-ridge, trying not to think of the pain it caused him, "In
that case it seems I'm left with no choice then."
"We all have choices," Raymond corrected. "It's just whether we choose
the right one or not."
Looking at the man Zelphox tried to smile fully, but pain stopped him.
"I will remain officially off duty, but if I decide to use my spare time
to help you......"
Barker shrugged. "That's your prerogative. Captain Cammick will be
acting chief of Beta company until we dock and I can arrange someone
new. If he decides you need to rest, you rest."
"And you should know Lieutenant that there is no arguing with him," the
dark haired Lieutenant said deadpanned. "He's the second most stubborn
captain I've ever met."
"Which makes me a downright angel, eh, Lieutenant?" JT asked
innocently. "Of course I bet my sergeants might disagree with that upon
occasion."
Soliel smirked. "Wouldn't know, Sir. I've never seen you before first
coffee like I have the other two."
"Morning prayers, morning run, and morning coffee--ain't no time for
breakfast in there, Lieutenant," JT told her, "unless Kawee's cooking."
"Skipping breakfast must come with the rank then," she huffed and dared
a glance at her lover.
All Vevay did was smirk and roll her eyes.
"Wait til you're where we are," Ash chuckled. "Then you'll be just
coffee and exercises in the mornings. Gotta preserve the image of being
faster and smarter'n the younger ones."
Soliel smiled brightly. "But I am the younger one."
The Denobulan sat there revelling in the light banter. "Where do I sit
in that equation then, sir? I believe I've even got a few years on the
General."
If he'd been in his office and not in front of the general, JT would
have had his feet up. As it was, his tone reflected that mood. "Maybe
so," he said slowly, "but it's relative to species. My grandfather's
most likely older'n the general and younger than half the recruits at
the Island."
"Aaaah! But then your grandfather would be a special case. He is human?"
JT stared at the man as if to make sure his head was screwed on
straight."Rather," he said, shaking his head in amusement. He cast a
look at Ash. "Cammick, you tell 'im how the Tsitsistaestse elders are.
Beautiful, eh?"
Zelphox took another mouthful of juice and waited.
"Stunning," Ash laughed. "Really stunning. There's this one who's
older than a lot of Vulcans and he's still as pretty as the day he was
born."
"That one is one of my long lost relations, Cammick," JT said with a
grin. He looked at Zelphox and added, "The point being, Lieutenant, is
that you might be older than the general there but age doesn't always
confer wisdom til you get as old as Nightwalker."
"Never professed to have wisdom sir, just to have lived longer than
everyone in the room," the Denobulan smiled.
--
When you lose the rhythm of the drumbeat of the Creator, you are lost from the peace and rhythm of life.
-- Cheyenne Proverb
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