The Old Armory

Posted on Mon Jan 24th, 2011 @ 2:07am by Colonel Wilhelm Baron von Hackleberg

1,123 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Liberation Of A World
Location: First Battalion Front Lines
Timeline: current

::ON::

Wilhelm looked over the breastworks into the besieged city center. "What a waste..." Wilhelm thought as he seen more artillery hit the ground in the besieged sector. Looking at the devastion Wilhelm heard someone walking up behind him. Turning, Wilhelm seen one of his newer Lieutenants coming up to him along with a weathered-looking old gentleman with a well maintained, ancient, MACO plasma rifle.

The Lieutenant looked at Wilhelm with a very worried look and said, "Sir. I'm sorry sir, but this gentleman kept insisting that he needed to talk to you..." The older gentleman piped "Yes I do you young, butterbar, pup." The man said then looked at Wilhelm, "Colonel I have some interesting information for you sir."

Wilhelm glanced at the Lieutenant with an angry glance then to the old man. "You made this far sir. Proceed." The old man replied, "Well sir I am Gunnery Sergeant Terrell Watkins formerly of MACO, 80 years ago, and the Exeter Home Guard, way back when we had one." Watkins said bringing himself to attention briefly then continued. "Have you read anything about Exeter's history?" Wilhelm thought briefly, "A little bit Watkins. This planet had a rough early history. Fighting off raids and pirates and such stuff until Starfleet moved swept most of them away about 40 years ago." Terrell replied "Yes sir. The good old days..." Terrel said with a chuckle, "...some good brawls. Then we were ordered to demilitarize. What do you think happened to all our equipment?" Wilhelm thought about it for a second then said, "Doubtlessly it was all melted for scrap..." Then Terrell responded with a sly smile. "Most of it was...."

An hour later Wilhelm along with a platoon and the old veteran were going through a forest towards a base of a mountain 30 kilometers from the city. "You know, I haven't had this much fun in years..." Terrell said to no one in particular. Within ten more minutes the group came to the base of the mountain that was covered in foilage. Wilhelm took out his tricorder and did a quick scan. The tricorder started beeping rapidly. "Glens, Tupal, Brea. Clean up that flora a little bit." Wilhelm ordered pointing at a very large growth of plants. The marines aimed their phaser rifles and fired and within moments a very large, rust duranium door emerged. "I told you Colonel right here" Terrell said. Wilhelm walked up the the door and started looking for the access panel. Terrell walked off to one side of the door and turned a large lugnut on a hinge. Hearing a click a very small panel popped open. "Now what was the code..."Terrell said and started hitting buttons.

After a couple of tries a large clang filled the air. Wilhelm looked staight at the old veteran as he shrugged back. "Either I got it or I engaged the fail-safe..." Wilhelm got a brief look of surprise in his eyes and said, "Fail-safe!?!?" With a hiss the door's magnetic seal cracked open and the doors began to swing. Wilhelm and the Marines started to walk into the opening but Terrell held out his hand, "Hold on a few seconds Colonel. Nitrogen atmoshpere in there to preserve the equipment. It should clear in a few minutes."

After waiting ten minutes Wilhelm stepped into the bunker and heard a whirr of air circulation fans. With palm lights out the Marines walked down a very large corridor passing several other large doors. Terrell said "The control center should be right down here up a set of stairs looking over one of the bays." Terrell said pointing towards an intersection up ahead. Taking a right they went up a rickety set of stairs hidden away in a niche off the main hallway. At the top of the stairs they passed through a very wide rusted door into a room with several low lit consoles and a very large glass window looking out into a big dark void.

The marines spread out to the different consoles to assess their condition and function. The console Wilhelm went to looked very much like a power distribution panel. Wilhelm found out the bunker was powered by a large fusion reactor running on minimum power. Wilhelm started a self diagnostic program and seen green lights start clicking on for the different power distribution nodes. Getting the all clear signal Wilhelm raised the reactor power levels to their marked, normal operating levels. The lights overhead began clicking on and in the bay window, row upon row of lights clicked on revealing the contents below. Seeing everything was good Wilhelm walked to the bay window and looked down with Terrell looking on with a large smile on his face. Below Wilhelm seen row upon row of nearly 50 year old heavy military equipment: Panther tanks, the forerunner to the modern Grizzly, Infantry fighting vehicles, what looked like a battery of multiple launch rocket launchers way in the back, and anti-aircraft artillery. Wilhelm looked over to Terrell with a almost dumbfounded look and received a smile.

An hour later Wilhelm was looking at a PADD with an inventory list of everything from vehicles to ammunition and small arms. Most of the search teams reported that most of the equipment was a loss due to age and corrosion from a loss of the nitrogen atmosphere. However, they reported at least an armored battalion could be fitted out along with some of the artillery and most of the small arms were still good. Wilhelm went to his COMM tech, "Get some supply trucks over here pronto to start distributing the small arms to the more trustworthy militias that need them. Get Major Reynolds on the horn and tell him once he secures Sitko have him gather up every gearhead and armory tech he can and make those vehicles ready for war. Cannabalize the wrecks for spare parts." Wilhelm then turned to Terrell "You were a Gunnery Sergeant in MACO correct?" Terrell responded, "Yes sir. I was also a maintenance technician for most of this equipment." Wilhelm thought about it for a second, "Under the War Emergency Reactivation Clause I am hereby restoring your commision in the Starfleet Marine Corps. Effective immediately. You will be our technical advisor with this equipment and render whatever aid you deem necessary. Our Armory techs will begin arriving within the hour I suggest you get them organized. Carry on Gunny." Wilhelm said and Terrel brought himself to a very rigid attention, "YES SIR!" Terrell said with a very large smile and left the command center looking ten feet tall. Wilhelm mumbled "Its hard to stop being a Marine...."

::OFF::

Colonel Wilhelm Baron von Hackleberg
CO, 21st Marines

Gunnery Sergeant Terrell Watkins
Exeter Home Guard

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