Lift off of Marines

Posted on Sat Aug 7th, 2010 @ 1:46pm by Commodore Edward Fannin & Commander Dhindara Vrel & Commander Ian Casey

976 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Liberation Of A World
Location: MAS Gladius
Timeline: Lift off prior to Base Red Alert

[Gladius Bridge, Departure occurs several Hours before Station Red Alert]

M'Eow stood on the bridge of the vessel. Yes, the Marine taxi was commanded and run by Starfleet personnel but that didn't mean that the Caitian would not want to be on the bridge for the first part of their flight. There still was the need to gather intelligence, especially up-to-date sensor readings on the planet's defenses. M'Eow was also worried in regards to whether they were given proper escort. For a mission such as this, sending an assault carrier into battle on its own seemed to be not the wisest course of action. She was hoping for a Defiant or two, or at least a few destroyers.

She was looking at sensor reads that the ship was receiving from unmanned probes that had been sent ahead of the rescue team, small objects that were conducting passive scans to stay undetected (so as not to warn off the defending force that they were indeed under surveillance). There were things that had to be done before the Marines could land on the planet, and M'Eow didn't want to leave matters to chance.

"Commander Casey", she said to get the attention of the flyboy. "I hope one of your fighters has been equipped for a scout role, preferably with a cloaking device. We're going to need a more close-up look at things down there. I need to know what defenses we're up against before we're committing our troops. We're likely to be outnumbered, so we'll have to use everything we can to our advantage." Not that M'Eow wouldn't have wanted to do that if the Marines were outnumbering their enemies, but the situation as it was made this even more imperative. But then again, Marines were used to fighting numerically superior forces.

"We brought one scout with a cloak," Ian replied. "It's a prototype but the tests so far have been very promising." He wasn't looking forward to risking the only working model he had but it needed field tests and this was the perfect opportunity.

The ship's speaker chimed, "Commanding Officer 21st Task Force please report to communications."

"Let's go", M'Eow said. "You better come with me." She walked off the bridge and got directions from the computer, since she was unfamiliar with the internal layout of this particular class of vessel. Entering the room that her presence had been requested in, she said. "Lieutenant Colonel Purr. Colonel von Hackleberg has fallen ill, I'm taking command of the unit for the time being." She said this in as neutral a tone as possible, she wanted to hide her relief of not having to try the young career officer's tactics.

Ian looked at her and nodded as he turned to follow her.

The comm room was good sized and capable of handling full scale operations. A Marine Captain assigned to the Vessel came to attention as the Colonel entered the suite. It was obvious who Colonel Purr was. "Colonel, I have received a message from the 21st on Typhon station Ma'am."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" M'Eow asked. "Put it through already."

The screen flickered, the image of a Marine Colonel from the General staff appeared. "Colonel Purr, please coordinate your efforts on the city of Aurora. Enemy strength to be several thousand. The Seventh Marine Division will be a week behind you. Use your forces as you deem fit Colonel. Then recapture and assist the local populace. The 21st Marines is now under your command."

The Caitian nodded. "Understood. Are we going to be getting an escort? I'd rather not meet enemy forces in space in this vessel, we've got hardly any weapons to speak of to defend ourselves with in naval combat. This is just a Marine taxi, after all."

"Your escort task force is on it's way. You will be meeting it very soon. The Seventh Marines will have Four Battalions and heavy armor assigned."

"Very good", M'Eow replied. "Unless there's enemy reinforcements, I'm expecting to have the situation well in hand a few hours after landing. This unit is largely green, but there's nothing like a good battle to give them some learning on the job." She smirked, showing her fangs.

"Very well, good luck Colonel." The transmission blinked out. The communications operator seemed a bit troubled after seeing the Colonel's fangs make their appearance.

M'Eow turned to Ian. "Commander, get your scout ready to depart within three hours. We're going to be in close enough range to the system by then to send it out. There's going to be a camouflaged approach, I want to get the drop on them without them seeing we're coming. With any luck, they won't have hours but only minutes of warning. However, that means we're going to approach the system at low warp from the other side of its star, then float with the solar winds, at their speed, and with most systems powered down. It'll take some time but their sensors should only be able to see us once were three to five minutes out, at which point we go to action stations and speed in the rest of the way at full thrust."

Ian smiled and nodded. "I'll have my team prepare the scout and we'll be ready. If there's nothing else, I'd like to brief my pilots."

"Yes. And good hunting", M'Eow replied. "Now I've got to find the Skipper of this vessel."

TAG Ian

M'Eow then made her way back to the bridge. She approached the Skipper of the Gladius. "We're all set, let's go, Commander."

"The older captain nodded, "Attention all hands, stand by for departure. Helm take us out Port side If you will."

"Aye, aye Captain."


Off

Com. Edward Fannin
Starbase Typhon

Lt.Col Me'ow Purr
21st Marines

Major Jerry Parino
21st Marines

Commander Ian Casey
Air Wing Commander

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