=/\= Starbase Padassa =/\=
Richard looked down at the pile of padds that were awaiting his reading. God he hated paperwork, why he ever took promotion past Lieutenant, he never knew. Vanity thy name is Richard Sharpe.
It was 0700, time to start the working day, and Richard was as ready as he was going to be, wearing his duty threads and full of breakfast and coffee. He had arrived at his office five minutes earlier than he was expected to sign in, so he’d have time to grab a fresh mug of hot tea, before resuming his gruelling duties for another sixteen hour day.
One of the most annoying aspects of his morning routine was Lieutenant Colonel Francine Smith, his attaché for this assignment. Her job was to keep on top of things, and make sure that the wheels remained in motion. She was reputed to be one of the best attaché’s in the service, due to her uncanny ability to get the impossible done. The downside to her fantastic attention to detail and dedication to duty, was her annoying upbeat attitude in the dawn hours, when Richard wanted everyone to be as sullen as he was.
Sure enough, she turned up bang on time, wearing a standard marine uniform. She wasn’t one of the ‘elite’ marines, so was wearing the silver oak leaf on her chest, rather than the elite insignia that he was becoming used to seeing on his staff. “Good Morning General!” She said, in her irritatingly chipper and bouncy mood.
Richard grumbled and muttered “Morning.”
Francine was not the blonde bimbo that everyone thought she was. In fact, she was extremely intelligent, but hid it from her colleagues by pretending to be ditsy and bouncy. In fact, she was very much aware that General Sharpe preferred to wait half an hour after arriving to work before starting, but was resolute in her desire to change that hindrance, as it would slow down operations dramatically that were relying on Sharpe’s quick decision’s. Waiting half an hour in some cases, could cost lives. She knew Sharpe was a field commander, not an armchair general, so this sort of environment was extremely alien to him, and he had no idea that his demands often made things worse. She knew that if he knew, he’d be in at 0400 when the reports came in, ready to make decisions, which was not what was good for the man.
“I have the morning digest, sir.” She said.
Richard growled, resenting her continuing desire to make him work as early as possible, but it made for a peaceful life. “Very well.” He said, sipping his tea from a large mug.
“We received confirmation that Easy Company has begun their assault on the communications relay earlier this morning.” She said. “Naturally, we will know more when the AWACs are able to do a fly-by, but that won’t be for another three hours from now, due to the heightened alert status of the Romulan defences.”
“Order them to do a fly-by now.” Richard said. “Have
“Yes sir.” Francine said, noting this down, wondering when Richard would get around to repealing that order. Not that it was a bad order, just that it tied the hands of on the spot commander’s too much.
“Operation NightHawk is still being stonewalled by the Klingon’s.” Francine reported, looking at the padd. “But I’ll deal with that for you sir.”
“Appreciated, Francine.” Richard said, smiling.
“Its my job, sir.” She said, not revelling in the thoughts of what she might be called to do to secure Klingon support.
“How is Operation Valkrye coming along?” He asked.
“Well sir, 1st Battalion are en-route to take over station-keeping from 2nd, so as to free them up for the actual mission. Colonel Strayer says that logistically, everything is ready to go.” Francine said. “Brigadier
“Good.” Richard said, flipping through the PADDs. Stirling was far more at home in a command centre than Richard was, and would be ten times better at co-ordinating the station, relations with their allies as well as the battle group. This could free Richard up to head up Operation Valkrye, a high risk operation that called for the entire resources of 2nd Battalion. Once Easy was done on Norris 8, they would be replaced by men from the 1st Battalion, freeing them up to spearhead Valkrye. “Have the senior officers meet me in the conference room for a full briefing on Valkrye in an hour.”
“Yes sir.” Francine said. She would be staying on Padassa to assist
“Oh, and drag Harper out of whatever hole he’s dug for himself, and tell him to turn up as well.” Richard said, speaking ill of his command sergeant major, yet once more. He knew that Harper tended to let himself go a bit when not on duty, and since he was on a week furlow right now, chances are he would be in a bar or the brig.
=/\= End Log =/\=
MGen. Richard Sharpe
CO
1st MEF
