On a Red Horse Riding

Posted on Mon Jun 13th, 2011 @ 7:42am by Lieutenant Commander Carter Rotrov & Commander Krang Darkmoon & Colonel Wilhelm Baron von Hackleberg

603 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: A Fresh Start
Location: Bridge - USS Runnymede
Timeline: Current

::ON::

Carter walked onto the bridge of the Runnymede, PADD in hand. "Commander Darkmoon, I've prepared a ship-wide status report."

Krang was sitting on the edge of the Captain's chair like he was afraid someone was going to yell at him to get up. He looked at Carter and said, "What was that?"

Smiling as pleasantly as possible, Carter repeated himself. "I have prepared a ship-wide status report Commander." He again tried to hand the officer the PADD.

"Excellent. Any major issues I need to be aware of?" Krang asked, noticing the frustration. This man was used to dealing with Hawkins and was now being forced to answer to someone who doubted his role.

"No Sir. The Runnymede is in full operating condition." Carter paused. "I have taken the liberty of including a briefing about the capabilities of the Prometheus Class ship Sir. You have a complete weapon of war at your hands."

Krang took the PADD and began to sift through the huge amounts of data. Krang lowered his voice so that only the XO could hear him. "Is the Colonel still giving you grief?"

Carter simply smiled. "I assure you Commander, after working with Captain Hawkins for two years I don't think a Marine Colonel has sufficient gravitas to give me grief."

"Speaking of Hawkins..Does he ever calm down?" Krang looked genuinely concerned to hear the answer.

"Captain Hawkins is... Efficient." Carter began. "Once he is comfortable with a new crew or a new ship he tends to calm down significantly. One merely has to get to that point to fully understand him."

"Well, that gives a small amount of hope." Krang said with a sigh. "What's our ETA?"

Carter was caught off guard by the question and turned to the Marine Colonel for the answer...

Wilhelm looked over from the tactical station, brushing up on his cross training and said "At our current warp 5, we should be pulling into Exeter orbit in about 20 hours or so." Wilhelm said then went back to looking at the quantum torpedo interface.

"I'm sure that Captain Hawkins was dead serious when he said 48 hours. So we've got approximately an eight hour window to get this accomplished at our current rate. I recommend we have the Colonel prepare his forces for extraction..." Carter knew that Krang was under the microscope. He too had been under that same level of scrutiny. It wasn't the most pleasant experience. Perhaps Commander Krang valued the advice. Perhaps he didn't. Carter, for his part, took his role as acting XO seriously and that included advising the CO about mission goals and completion rates.

"Helm, increase to maximum warp." Krang ordered, then he turned to the Colonel. "I recommend you inform you men to be ready for immediate withdraw. I expect to be back to Typhon with time to spare." He took a few steps toward the ready room. "Pass as much tactical data as you can to tactical to allow for efficient completion of the orbital bombardment." He turned to Carter, "You have the bridge Number One." he said, suppressing a chuckle.

Carter nodded smiling. "Understood Commander." Gently Carter sat in the CO's chair for the first time.

Wilhelm went over to the COMM Station, "Patch me through to the 21st Marines HQ, Firebase Zulu. The EDF Ground Command." Wilhelm said then thought "Well it'll be a tactical victory but so much left for the EDF to do..."

::OFF::

Commander Krang Darkmoon
Officer In Charge
U.S.S. Runnymede

Lieutenant Commander Carter Rotrov
Executive Officer
U.S.S. Runnymede

Colonel Wilhelm Baron von Hackleburg
CO, 21st Marines
SB Typhon

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