[USS Chimera] [ALPHA] SD240910.02 | "On the Road Again" | 2LT R. Winters

=/-\= Begin Log =/-\=

 

[Location: Marine AC-808 Dropship SV-196-13]

[Timeline: 36 hours after the mission briefing]

 

So here we were again. Not three days after the assault on Norris Eight Easy Company was once again on the move towards the next combat zone. The men were uneasy about their rapid redeployment, but for the most part they dealt with it well. They were trained for combat. They knew to expect it.

 

Lieutenant T'Shal seemed to settle into the role of Company Commander fairly easily. It may have just been her Vulcan training, but if she was uneasy about command she didn't show it. And that really helped the men adjust to her. They knew her, and trusted her, but having a new CO could always throw a wrench into the machinery.

 

"Bull, have 'em start their final checks. We'll be in drop position in just over an hour," Lieutenant Dick Winters ordered as he moved down through the center of the troop carrier, having just left the small craft's cockpit.

 

The rather large man nodded and stood up from his seat and moved towards the rear of the chamber in order to start the equipment checklists, "You got it, Lieutenant." Denver 'Bull' Randleman had been Dick's Platoon Sergeant for just over a week at this point, but already Dick knew that he could trust the Gunny with anything.

 

The assault on the snow-covered moon of Norris VIII had been Dick's first combat action as a commissioned officer in the Starfleet Marine Corps. And that assault, despite being an overall victory, had ended up costing the entire company dearly. Nearly a third had been incapacitated due to injuries, with nearly fifteen percent killed-in-action. Anyone with a common ability with figures could tell this left Easy Company in a very bad spot. First Platoon, through luck more than circumstance, had managed to make it through with only minimal losses.

 

As always Command had seen fit to replenish the losses with freshly minted soldiers, looking like they all had just come from the same cookie-cutter mold. This is what unsettled the veterans of Easy Company the most. It was difficult to trust a stranger with your lift, no matter what the propaganda of the Corps advertised. An unknown was always an unknown, and these men who had never once been in combat were definitely an unknown.

 

Dick had wanted to meet up with Lieutenant th'Laxonth before the battalion had left Padassa Station, but apparently Nix had been assigned as part of the forward deployment trying to get as much last-minute intelligence as they could before the assault. Unfortunately not much had come from the intelligence group, which left Easy and the rest of the companies in a nice tight bind.

 

"Sixty minutes, Lieutenant!" called a voice from the control deck behind him. The compartment fell eerily silent at that announcement, as the men began to look between themselves. They knew this was the calm before the storm, and if the expectations were anywhere near accurate, this was going to be one hellacious storm.

 

"If you've got any gods," Dick shouted out and he slowly made his way down among the men of First Platoon, "Now would be the time to start praying…"

 

=/-\= To Be Continued =/-\=

--
Second Lieutenant Richard Winters
Platoon Leader, First Platoon, E "Easy" Company
2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st MEF

Gunnery Sergeant Denver "Bull" Randleman [NPC apb DK]
Platoon Sergeant, First Platoon, E "Easy" Company
2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st MEF