From: "Nora Rivkis" <nrivkis@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 1997 14:57:54 -0400
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Marines at Work
MD 8.2030
Holodeck -- A Rocky Plain
"Ninety-six. Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight --" and David
turned around abruptly, though he'd promised his troops
the traditional children's hundred-count.
They weren't children. They needed to learn.
He looked as he'd been trained, keeping the sides of his
eyes open for movement while his focus addressed the
different areas of the dull landscape in a quick but careful
order, sorting for color. He could see where four of the
sixty-two soldiers were right off. But even three seconds
early, none of them were moving.
David kept scanning till he found more than forty of them,
then gave up. He noted which he hadn't found; he'd be
sure to commend them. He clapped his hands together
sharply, and called, "Company out; fall into ranks."
Tired, sweaty and grinning shyly at each other -- they could
hear the approval in his voice -- the marines drifted out of
their hiding places. David watched for the ones he hadn't
seen before. He could never learn too much about breaking
the enemy's camoflauge.
He squatted on the floor of the holodeck, presently an
unpalatable planetside jungle of rocks and dirt and dull,
scraggly shrubs. Forming up ranks quickly, the company
sat around him for the postmortem. A couple of the less
hardened among them looked faintly peaked; they had
been at work since 0600. It was now 2030 and they had
not broken for food.
"Chazak." The first platoon was T'sharet's; David had shifted
them around, finding he needed the Vulcan's cool head and
quick thinking in his executive officer. No more numbers now;
the platoon called "Strength" looked at him with pride and no
fear. They knew how well they had done.
"Don't have too much to say. All of you did well enough;
some of you did superlatively. Privates Achlier, Adamson,
Fairchild, Gheun, Llewellyn, Logan, Ss'rill, Stevens, very
nice work, considering that I couldn't find you when I went
looking." He grinned, and little Private Ss'rill blushed blue
with pleasure.
"Ruakh." Galia's platoon was still and wary. He'd made
little progress with them. There was a decent chance he
never would -- not in terms of morale, anyhow. Did he need
to care? He wasn't certain. Their morale, so far, had been
good enough to keep the platoon called "Spirit," or "Wind"
working tirelessly. But they still tended to crack under strain.
"Keegan, keep your eyes open. You didn't give away your
position, but you damn near gave away Asgali's by going
too near. Clusters are *always* harder to hide than indi-
viduals. All of you -- unless there's something concrete to
be gained by staying together, *spread* *out*." The big
private nodded slowly. He didn't look as if he much cared,
but David knew he'd see the advice in practice the next time,
guaranteed. Keegan had a thick sponge of a mind; it began
with many empty places but absorbed everything.
"Daviford, you move around too much. You were okay that
time at the start, but you can't keep your hands from twitching
half long enough for a full alert. Soral, there's no such thing as
cover that's better under fire than that which you are already in.
*Don't* go turning your head to find someplace else; even if you
succeeded you'd have no safe way to get there. When you've
picked your spot, stay right there and don't second-guess your-
self.
"Ghrald, Karl, odi'Vandes, applause. Didn't spot you either,
although Karl, you *have* to stop anticipating call. You were
right that time. You won't be right every time. And if you move
half a second faster than an area is safe in practice, you could
compromise your entire unit." Karl flinched openly, so that David
felt compelled to add once again, "But very nice place you found.
My compliments." The private didn't look much like he noticed
the praise, weighed against the criticism. David left him to deal
with it himself and moved on.
"Shemirah." David had named the young German lieutenant's
platoon "Guardians" because of their unbreakable tendency to
aid and protect the other platoons. He suspected they felt guilty
about having never noticed Ruakh's troubles with Andersen. Not
that anyone had noticed, but that didn't stop Shemirah from falling
all over themselves trying to help Ruakh and Chazak now, even
when they had been assigned another objective.
This no longer bothered David. After two days of futility, he'd
turned around and gone with the flow. Now Shemirah's inevitable
assignment *was* to cover for their fellows. There were no more
discipline problems from the platoon.
"Krauss, you need to be careful about radio silence. I could hear
you more than ten seconds into the exercise. Checking up is by
eyes alone in a quick-cover situation. Hear me?"
Krauss nodded calmly.
"All right. Good job, and all of you, that was a *very* nice
diversion for Lt. Halivni's positioning. An officer sometimes
has to 'hide' in plain sight if it's where she can see the battle;
she shouldn't have to do it alone. Lieutenant, I recommend
you and I stand Lt. Krauss' platoon a drink; I'll ante up if you
will." Galia laughed and nodded easily.
"Good. The rest of you will have to cover your own damn
drinks but you're welcome to join. I think we're finished here;
it's not like it's been the easiest day. Go get showered and
changed; I'll meet anyone who wants to go drinking with us
back here in twenty minutes. Dismissed."
NRPG:
Well, not the world's most plot-advancing or extensive post,
but at least I'm here. Anyone who wanna be at Ten Forward
when the marines all show up, feel free. (Yes, I am aware
Ten Forward is officer's country. David doesn't play by the
rules. Feel free to fool around with that too.)
I'm disappearing in two weeks -- the 21st, to be precise --
and gone till the middle of August. Feel free to play my
characters in my absence, just do so with discretion.
Meanwhile, I'll try to be a little more of a presence for the
next couple of weeks.
Respectfully Submitted,
Naomi Rivkis
1Lt. David Shachor
MCO USS Chesapeake
--
Naomi Rivkis nrivkis@worldnet.att.net
"Always distrust the man who looks you straight in the eyes.
He wants to prevent you from seeing something. Look for it."
Dorothy L. Sayers
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