Meeting of the Minds
Posted on Tue Mar 9, 2021 @ 1:59am by Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Means III & Major Mot Rixx
1,936 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Marine Country Deck 73
Timeline: Day 3 09:15 hrs
Annora had briefly met the new Marine CO at the staff briefing, but had yet to take the opportunity to speak with the Colonel in person. Having cleared some time from her schedule, she headed down to the Marine decks. At the entrance, she made her mission known to the Sergeant the front desk.
"I'd like to speak with Colonel Means if he's available."
The Bajoran nodded.
"Of course Ma'am. I'll let him know you're here."
Means placed the Kzinti ceremonial war staff on the wall among his other service plaques, awards and mementos as he put the finishing touches on his office's decor as the door opened behind him.
"Excuse me sir but Lt. Tessaro is here to see you."
Stepping back he turned to the the Marine serving as his aid. He had planned to go see her but with her here that really simplified things, he just hoped she would be in favor of his proposal. He had a lot of Marines to put to work. "Show her in Gunny."
With a nod of thanks to the Marine, Annora headed towards the CO's office. She could tell he was still finishing putting together his offices, but unsurprisingly his awards and decorations were already placed in prominent positions within the room. While she didn't recognize all the ribbons and medals, it was clear her counterpart had an impressive service record.
"Morning Sir. I wanted to talk to you one on one about our two departments working together."
He was pouring himself some coffee from a carafe into a late 20th century style canteen cup; one of the gifts he had been given during his time at the training depot. "I was actually planning to contact you about that very thing." Lifting the carafe, "Would you like some coffee?"
They were already on the same page about the meeting which would streamline the conversation. She already had coffee that morning, but wasn't opposed to another cup.
"Sure thank you."
Accepting the offered drink, she motioned to the decorations.
"That's quite the service record. A grunt, instructor, and now Division commander on a space station. If I may ask, what brought you all the way out here?"
"Don't forget liaison and inspector," taking his seat with a grin. "Yeah, I have collected a few mementos for the 'I love me wall' over the years. Some more permanent than others," referring to his eyepatch.
"As to what brings me out here? Well the same thing for everyone else in uniform...orders." With that he raised his cup slightly to his guest take a drink of his coffee.
She listened as he rattled off other hats he had worn during his time in service. "Sounds like you've held as many or more positions than I have. I've not heard it called a 'I love me wall' before, but that's a fitting description."
Taking a sip of her own coffee, Annora responded to his other comment.
"Orders do have a way of sending you places. I've spent most my career on the frontier, so Starfleet sending me here wasn't much of a surprise."
He had glanced up at his trinkets and back to her. "Some think such displays are self-glorification but when your fellows put together tokens of appreciation or whatever the source you do them a dishonor by sticking them in a closet somewhere. At any-rate which posting have you preferred, those out here on the edge or more...stable locales?"
"Aside from the time I spent on Earth, it's pretty much all been on the edge. My original plan upon entering West Point was to do embassy security, but the war changed those plans. Honestly at this point I think I'd be bored if stationed on a core world. I wouldn't say DS5 is unstable, although it does present it's set of challenges. As for the awards, I have my own shadowbox in the office so you'll get no judgement from me."
Annora was glad the Marines were in charge of planet-side security, it took some of the pressure off of her department and allowed them to focus on DS5 proper.
Setting his canteen cup on his desk and he leaned back in his chair a bit. "Well I'm sure we could discuss trinkets all day but I doubt that's why you are are. In fact, I think I...hope we are both thinking the same thing.
"Traditionally, Marines have had an active roll in ship and installation security. I was hoping to implement something here, but not just because of tradition. I'm sure you'd agree that there comes a point where repetitive training begins to dull effectiveness.
"I have 7 companies of Marines, 4 of which are ground pounders, that need to kept busy and sharp. The Captain also mentioned that things were a little under manned around here. It's a given that my Marines have their posts in an emergency on the station, but would you be interested in a detachment of Marines assigned to security, on a rotational basis, to augment your forces?"
She had yet to review her counterpart's file, but Annora was already liking working with him.
"I'd be foolish to turn down an offer of help. We were able to get 26 newcomers last personnel rotation, and we haven't sacred any away yet. While our manning levels aren't critical, there's still plenty to do around here. Your Marines are more than welcome to work alongside standard security teams, and maybe even the Strategic Response Teams. I've tried to incorporate some of my West Point training, but I'm sure both sides can learn something from a joint operation. Standard patrols are two or four person teams, with each team usually covering a designated part of the station, although the exact route isn't always the same. Especially when dealing with the civilian population, I find a familiar face to be helpful."
"West Point huh? Well I won't hold that against you", he jabbed grinning. " Well later this afternoon I will be kicking off a deployment drill to the surface got a week of exercises and equipment orientation. When we get back we can work out the details on the augmenting of your staff with my Marines but I don't anticipate any difficulties...do you?"
"That's right. Graduate of the class of '56. We received our commission and then shipped off to the Front Lines. Along with Starfleet and the Vulcans, we joined the Andorian Imperial Guard and Tellarite Defense Forces in pushing back the Romulans and their mercs. As for the joint operation, I don't foresee any issues. The two groups have worked together before during emergency situations, this is just an extension of that."
While there was a long history of good nurtured rivalry between the two departments, it rarely stood in the way of them cooperating.
He listened to her story and was puzzled to a moment but then he recalled that they had something in common. "That's right you a fellow time jumper like myself. When I get back from our train op we need to get together a swap stories."
"Of course. I rarely turn down the chance to swap stories about the past, even if they're a hundred years apart. I'm sure we've both brought some, shall we say, vintage ideas on how to run things. If you want to send over some names before hand on who might team up with security, fell free to, otherwise we'll sort it out after your training."
She wondered if Starfleet knew they were placing two time travelers in leadership positions on DS5, or if it was just a coincidence.
He was surprised that things were going so smoothly. "Sounds like plan to me. Besides, as they say, there's no school like old school. I think we can start with the folks coming in from Camp Falkirk...give them a little break and allow them to get familiar with the station. Once we get back we can setup a duty rotation, would a full company be enough for you?"
She did some quick number crunching on the personnel manning. Even at the lower end, a full company should bring the total number of personnel about to the desired level. "That should be plenty Colonel. Thank you. I'll let Chief Petersen know to expect some Marine reinforcements."
"Perfect. I will have my XO set up a duty assignment and get that to you. It probably won't happen till after our deployment drill, but if he gets it out earlier...so much the better."
"Works for me. While we're undermanned, we're not critically manned so this doesn't need to happen immediately. You need anything else from me?"
Annora was glad the new Marine CO was willing to continue the good working relationship built by his successors.
There was a knock on the open doorway. A Bolian with a gentle smile poked his head inside. "Colonel, do you..oh! Sorry, Sir. Didn’t know you had a meeting going."
"No harm, we were just wrapping up. What is it?"
Rixx stepped inside, nodding to the Station's Security Chief. He then walked over to Means and handed over a PADD. "Final roster of equipment, both going planet-side with you and remaining here with me, Sir. Just need your final approval so the Quartermaster can start the issuing."
Taking the PADD, he glanced over it and applied his thumb to place his final authorization. Handing the device back to his XO, he gestured to his guest. "Major Rixx, this is Lt. Annora, the station's Chief of Security. While I'm on the surface put together a quarterly rotational duty assignment to detail a company to station's security."
Rixx took the device, then moved towards Annora, extending his scarred right hand to her in greeting. "Pleasure to officially meet you, Lieutenant. We didn't really have a chance to speak back at the Box of Delights incident."
She stood up to properly greet the Marine XO.
"Nice to meet you Major. The Colonel and I were discussing having the Marines work with station security to supplement our numbers."
Mot was pleasantly surprised by the strength in the woman's handshake. "That sounds like a very prudent idea. If you'd like, once your meeting with the Colonel is finished, we could discuss this further in my office?"
While she hadn't planned on meeting with the XO as well, there was no reason not to turn it down. "Might as well, since I'm here, instead of trying to track you down later."
Mot gave a friendly nod of his head. Then turning slightly to address Means, he simply nodded and said, "Colonel." He then left the office and headed towards his own, where he started to prepare for his next meeting.
Mean returned the nod from his XO and returned his gaze to his guest. "Well Lieutenant, if there is nothing else I do have a training op for this afternoon to finalize. But when I get back I'd definitely like to hear some of your MACO stories."
"I'll be here somewhere Colonel. I look forward to sharing drinks and stories about days gone by, and of course finalizing the joint operation. I'll leave you to your planning. Stay safe down there."
Security was finally starting to get a handle on things on the station and the new Marine leadership was in agreement with the plan to augment security forces as well as protect the planet below. Perhaps things were finally looking up for DS5.
Lt. Colonel Nickolas Means
CO 21st MEU
Major Mot Rixx
MXO 21st MEU
Lt Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
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