Avoiding An Overlap
Posted on Sat Jun 6th, 2015 @ 2:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Alexander Gunning & Captain Melody Windsor
Mission:
Prelude to War
Location: Hangar Bay
Gunning watched the hustle and bustle in the shuttlebay below as the doors slowly rolled open, the new through-deck forcefields were doing their jobs, allowing the deck crew to clear the area while the shuttlebay doors opened. Very clever.
From his position in the monitoring bay, he saw the Danube-class USS Murray make a slow entrance to the hangar. It was due to join the Manoora's permanent roster once it had dropped off the last of the personnel transfers. Not only was there new crew and equipment arriving all the time as the ship prepared for a war footing, there was equipment and personnel leaving- it was hectic.
Gunning himself felt a mix of excitement and nerves. War was always the last option but recently the incursions by the Dominion into Federation space had been infuriating many, including himself, within Starfleet and the chance to give them one in the eye would be cathartic.
The nerves came from the content of the runabout. The Company Commander of their new marine detachment was arriving and in Gunning's experience they never stuck to their staging area and left him to get on with his job. With war now inevitable, he didn't see things getting better any time soon.
"Roll out!" The female voice barked from the Murray as the doors opened. Six Marines marched out of the shuttle, followed by a seventh, sporting a shock of unruly red hair spilling out from beneath her olive drab cap. She scanned the deck, scowling, until she spotted a deck officer and walked over, "Officer, I'm CO of Delta Company. Who are we reporting to?" She asked.
"Ah... Captain Whitlam, ma'am... or or... uh... Commander Drake," The young woman stammered, clearly taken back by Melody's all business attitude.
The deck officer stood staring at Melody after that, as Melody's head slowly cocked to the side and her eyebrows raised, "Aaaand... they would be... where?" She asked, in as patronizing a tone as she could muster.
"They're otherwise engaged at the moment I'm afraid Captain." The yellow tunic of Gunning's uniform flashed as he stepped up behind the flustered ensign and extended a hand toward the marine. "Alec Gunning, Chief of Security."
Great. Security. He was already here to check up on them? That didn't bode well. Melody put on her game face and smiled, taking the man's hand, "Gunning. Captain Melody Richards, Delta Company. Pleasure to meet you," She said, simply.
She dropped the handshake and fell into a practiced parade rest, "I'll need to check in with the CO and XO as soon as possible. Do you know when they won't be 'otherwise engaged', Lt. Commander?" She asked.
"Unfortunately not, no." Gunning replied motioning for the marine to follow him. She seemed pleasant, even reasonable. Not something he had come across in many marines. "They've been called down to San Francisco to join a briefing junket- I'm not sure when they'll be back. In the mean time I'm to tour you around your billet."
Melody sighed a little, but fell in line behind the Lt. Commander, "Not a problem. Thank you for taking the time," She said, trying not to sound annoyed. Her experience with Fleeters hadn't been... outstanding. Having the CO and XO not on board irked her by default, but she was trying to make herself remember that there was a war going on and they had a very good reason to be at a meeting right now. Some of her men behind her started quietly voicing their complaints about the same issue, but an icy glare from their CO shut them up impressively quick.
"How is the ship so far, Commander?" Melody asked, falling into step beside Gunning and clasping her hands behind her back as she walked.
"Everything's fairly hectic with the changeover but in terms of readiness? She's getting there. Ops are preparing to load in your equipment and the module relay's been completed on your billet." Gunning replied, setting the pace as the group of marines passed by a number of concerned faces. There was something about seeing a bunch of marine fatigues which told the fleet personnel that war was coming whether they liked it or not.
"Good, I'm glad to hear that," She said, nodding. The group walked on in silence, occasionally making note of various key areas of the ship, until they finally arrived at the Marine barracks. Melody let her men go on in to settle in, but dropped her duffel in the hallway. They all knew what that meant.
Once it was just her and Gunning in the hallway, she turned and looked up at the man, "I don't want any trouble with you, Commander," She said, bluntly. "I'm not here to get in your way, but I need you to not be in my way either." She offered. "If you need my boys, you let me know and we'll be there. Otherwise, you keep the ship safe, and I'll clean up the ground. I'm not here to cause you trouble, okay?" She said. She hated being blunt, but she and her previous CSecO did not work well together. She wanted to fix this before there was a this to fix.
Gunning let out a small sigh of relief that someone had finally addressed the 'elephant in the room'. "That's how I see it. The less we tread on one-another's toes the better."
"Good deal," Melody said, offering him her hand to shake. "If everyone else on board sees it that way, we should be aces."
"If they don't, it'll be up to us to whip them into shape." The Commander replied with a smile. This had all gone off without too much agony on either side. "I'll leave you to get settled."
"Thank you, Commander. Good hunting!" Melody said with a surprisingly bright smile before turning back and disappearing into the barracks, barking orders.
Capt. Melody Anne Windsor
Marine CO
Lieutenant Commander Alec Gunning
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Manoora
