SD241912.06 || Joint Log || "This is Your Life"

Posted on 06 Dec 2019 @ 10:17pm by Captain Mallory Thorne & Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Raynor

940 words; about a 5 minute read

=/\= Begin Log =/\=

Mallory just stared at the report on her desk, unsure if she should believe it.

Things were just going from bad to worse to crazy-ass-how-is-this-my-life in leaps and bounds. Lifting her hands, she rubbed her face and wondered what else was going to happen...

When Lieutenant Colonel Raynor proceeded into the ready room at the Captain’s distracted ’Enter’. He was crisply uniformed, tightly packed duffel slung over one shoulder, and came to a smart attention in front of his new CO’s desk.” Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Raynor, reporting for duty, Captain,” he saluted.

To which the Captain of the USS Odin just stared at him dumbly. “And who are you supposed to be?” she asked, showing off her truly impressive intellect and in-the-know-ness.

Despite breaking what was ultimately a rigorous amount of protocol that had been drilled into him for years in the Terran Union Aerospace Command, Marcus took the Captain’s frank demeanor as leave to put himself at ease. “Frankly, Captain, I’m your new CAG. General Stanton ordered me over to evaluate and integrate your air wing into…‘our’ way of life.”

Mallory took in a slow breath as she felt a terrible headache draw in behind her left eye. “I see,” she said. That b— The general had mentioned something about this, but she certainly hadn’t thought she’d have such a high level replaced. “It was my understanding that your lot would just be on board to make sure we didn’t destroy anything on our way through the universe.”¬

Marcus would have to have been made of duranium to not hear the ire in the Captain’s voice. He allowed himself the briefest of pauses before responding. She didn’t have to like him, she just had to accept his experience.

“My ‘lot’,” he began calmly, “is here for quite the opposite; we’re here to make sure nothing in the universe destroys you. Fleet Command provided me with the highpoint differences between our records and yours. It would be a benefit to allow me to help keep a jarring transition from costing the valuable lives of you and your crew.”

Her left eye twitched slightly, but this time, it wasn’t the angry side of the upset spectrum but the pained side. I’ve already lost over a hundred people… The words flashed through her mind and for a moment, she felt ill. But she got herself back under control quickly enough, because she could not afford to otherwise. “Fair enough,” she said blankly. “Yet for that, I’m about to hand a huge portion of my ship’s security to someone from an organization I know nothing about except that they threatened to shoot my ship out of the sky. You’ll understand if I’m a little dubious of your intentions all the same.”

“I’d counter that our defensive and quick reaction time to an unknown arrival that could have constituted a threat demonstrates our capabilities at their most effective,” he replied diplomatically. “Captain, I’m not here to destroy your ship. I’m here to protect it, and make sure that you and your crew are ready and capable of protecting itself, as well as the Union you’re allowed to serve in. We’re at each other’s mercy, I’ll grant.” He knew his plain-spoken manner and genuine expression would do little to dissuade her, but he preferred to come at things on the straight.

And frankly, that was the only way Mal wanted to come at anything or have anything come at her right then. She’d been blindsided enough… “I suppose time will tell then,” she said with a hint of weariness. She wanted to dispute that she or the Odin would be “serving in” their union, but now…just didn’t feel like the time. “The people on this ship have already been through a lot, including my pilots. Those who are left. I don’t want to see the wheel reinvented any more than it absolutely has to be.”

“My job is to train them to stay alive, and I do that by flying at the front. I’m not here to whip everyone into a completely new martial standard in the blink of an eye. With your permission, I’ll begin by evaluating flight and simulation data against our own metrics and see where to go from there. I’ll need clearance and access to your complete craft specifications, and can liaise with your ground crew on any technology improvements that can be made either by our Union technicians, or that your technicians can teach our side.”

She was disturbed by how…equitable he sounded. It felt nothing like her meeting with General Stanton had gone, and it was throwing her. Still, it perhaps boded well for how all of this mess was going to go in the interim. She and the Odin had only a broken leg to stand on, didn’t they? “You’ll have the necessary clearances,” she said with resignation. “Our former CAG is…unavailable. Lieutenant Romanov is the senior-most pilot at the moment. I’d recommend speaking with him.”

“I’ll make my introductions once I’ve bunked and unpacked. With your leave, Captain?” he asked, saluting.

“Dismissed, Colonel,” Mal said with a wave. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, thinking that life just kept getting more and more…interesting. She was less certain than ever what the future of her ship looked like, but somehow, they’d keep moving forward.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Captain Mallory Thorne & Lieutenant Colonel Marcus 'Wraith' Raynor

RSS Feed