Having only been on the station for about an hour or more, Richard hadn’t even seen his office or quarters yet. He’d been rushed to the conference room upon his arrival, and then sent to another conference room to attend the “Operation Magna” mission briefing. He had orders to relay to his staff… whomever they were… since he hadn’t actually met them either.
After the briefing, Richard was escorted to his office, on the newly established marine section of the starbase. The starbase was essentially two big rings sandwiched together holding up the docking pylons. In the centre was a large column, and on the lower decks was the marine section. Here was housed the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment. The MEF command section however, was located on the Task Force area of the station, so that Richard and his staff could be on hand to be at any meetings that the TFCO called.
There was a corridor of offices which had been turned over to the MEF, plus two conference rooms and a briefing theatre. It had been affectionately dubbed “The Green Zone” since everyone down this corridor was a marine of some sort. Making his way into this zone, Richard quickly located his office, since it was one at the very far end of the corridor, where it dead-ended, suggesting a rather large room. This however, was an understatement.
The main door opened up into a small enough office, where there was a soft seating area to the left hand side, and a desk on the other side, and a replicator by the door. This however, was his aide’s office, whom he was introduced to as Lieutenant Sophie Daniels. She was a bubbly blonde 23 year old woman, with a certain cheery demeanour that he had no doubt would grate on him eventually. He suspected Harper’d had his hand in her appointment.
“Welcome General!” She said, cheerfully enough. “Your office is ready, and your personal effects that were designated for your office that weren’t confiscated are waiting for you inside. I’ve taken the liberty of filing a request with Captain Rodgers to have your other effects returned to you, and as soon as Commander Olmsford is released, he’ll be liasing with you regarding the special room you requested for your quarters.”
Richard actually smiled. She was by far and a way a very pretty girl, but she was extremely well organised and on top of things. “Thank you Lieutenant.” Richard said.
“Please sir, call me Sophie.” She said.
“Very well.” Richard said smiling. “I’m Richard.”
She positively beamed at being permitted to call him by his first name. Richard’s attention however was drawn towards the double doors at the end of the room. Unlike normal Starfleet offices, these were not the sliding hissy doors, but rather two rather large wood effect doors, with frosted glass in them. On the crosspiece of the left hand side door was a brass plaque with “Brigadier General Richard Sharpe” written on it, and above that was “Marine Expeditionary Force Commander”. Very nice, he thought. Sophie, obviously very adept at reading people, grabbed the brass door handle, and opened the door inwards for the General.
Richard stepped into what he could only describe as luxury on a scale he’d never seen before. The room was quite big, with a large ornate wooden desk in the middle, with a high back black leather looking chair behind it, with two similar colour and textured arm chairs in front of the desk. In the right hand corner were two large black sofa’s and a glass coffee table. Off to one side was a bathroom and at the far end of the room, was a small room with a cot in it for napping, and a small closet space for uniforms and so forth. He noted with some approval that most of his personal decorations were already up in suitable places. Before he could ask, Sophie spoke.
“Sergeant Major Harper said he’d sort the room out for you.” She said. “He picked the furniture from the replicator, and I had operations make it up for you, including the special doors.”
“He’s done a bang up job.” Richard said. “Typical Irish efficiency.”
“Oh yes, he says you owe him a few pints for this.” Sophie said, smiling.
“Oh, I do, do I?” Richard said, raising an eyebrow. “Perhaps I should remind him that liquor displeases the lord.”
“Yes sir.” Sophie said, and then carried on. “I’ve arranged for your staff, plus the regimental and air group commander’s to meet you in the main briefing theatre. I anticipated you might need to brief them, after I was informed of your briefing with Captain Chisulo.”
“Well done Sophie. I’ll go over there now.” Richard said, and leaving his office, made his way down the corridor to the room Sophie indicated. She followed him in, and he entered what he could only describe as a pilots briefing room. There were six tiers of seats, facing towards a raised podium and a large black screen behind that podium. On the floor beside the podium was a large black floor plate, which was presumably a holo-display. As Richard walked in, Harper spotted him and shouted “AtteenHut!” Everyone in the room stood to attention with a snap of their boots.
“As you were.” Richard said, and taking the padd that Sophie was handing to him, he made his way down the aisle to the podium. He placed the padd on the lecturn and turned to face the assembled officers.
“Well, I’d like to start by saying that its good to see you all. As you are all aware, I’ll be taking over command of the 1st MEU from Brigadier Stirling, on his own request. He’ll be staying on as my Executive Officer at my request, so that things will continue to run smoothly as they have done.” Richard said. “You’ve all met my Sergeant Major, Patrick Harper. He’s been with me for 35 years, and as such, he takes orders from me, and me alone. He’ll be the MEF Sergeant Major, in charge of enlisted affairs.”
The assembled officers nodded.
“Now then, I want to skip the rest of the pleasantries and get down to the gritty details.” He said, and activated the holo-display, showing Passada Station. “This monstrosity is Passada Station, originally a Romulan starbase, but has recently come under new management thanks in no small part to Commodore Guzman and the combined Klingon and Erassian taskforce. However, they’ve asked for our help in securing Passada, as the Klingon’s who are in residence there, have not got the manpower to occupy it safely, and there is obvious reason to believe that the Romulan’s might take an exception to them being there, and might want to take the damn thing back.”
Richard changed the display to that of the Stellar Nursery. “This Stellar Nursery is believed to be a Romulan staging area for incursions into Federation territory. Now, unfortunately, Starfleet cannot verify it because of the intense activity around the phenomenon, blocking long range sensors and will also disrupt cloaking devices. This would make an assault here very very tricky. However, Captain Chisulo has put together a lovely plan called “Operation Magna” which we will be participating in. This operation, ladies and gentlemen, is to take on the impossible and make it a reality.”
“Our involvement is very limited, and since we have commitments elsewhere, I’m somewhat glad of it.” Richard said. “However, I will be taking the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment with me to Passada, where we will reinforce the Klingon and Erassian defenders. I have been asked to act as a bit of a liaison officer, so that’s why I’m going.”
“We also need to send a special operations company with the assault force on the nursery. Colonel Westman, I’ll need to take the Roughnecks if you don’t mind, for that task.” Richard said.
Westman nodded. “Of course General.”
“They’ve also asked for an assault force spotter.” Richard asked. “Someone dumb enough to sit in a runabout and co-ordinate the fighter assault. Colonel Langhorn, I’d like you to do that for me. Pick a good officer to support you.”
Alexia Langhorn nodded. “My pleasure sir.”
“Alright, everyone else, its business as usual.” Richard said. “Carry on.”
=/\= End Log =/\=
Brigadier General Richard Sharpe
Officer Commanding
1st MEF
