Fall in!

Posted on Tue Jul 20th, 2021 @ 9:40pm by Lieutenant Commander Marcus Decius 'Gladius' & Lieutenant Sturek 'Rook' & Lieutenant JG Nozomi Kusuda 'Gemini' & Lieutenant Iowa Riverside 'Grey Ghost'

1,619 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Operation Romulus Return
Location: Flight Deck
Timeline: Present

ON:

Marcus tapped his comm badge. "Squadron D, report to the flight deck for formation. Squadron D to the flight deck."

In his quarters, Sturek looked up from his Tri-D chessboard. Tapping his comm badge, he said, "Acknowledged." and checked his duty uniform to make sure it was inspection-ready, then he headed for the flight deck.

In her bunk, Iowa sat up and stopped her antique record player before tapping her combadge.

"Acknowledged." She said as she hefted the record player into the storage drawer underneath her bunk.

Standing back up and straightening out her uniform, Iowa checked herself in the mirror before leaving her bunk and heading to to flight deck.

Nozomi was already on her way down to the flight deck when the call came in. She'd spent the evening prior reading up on kleptomania and carefully determining what would be the ideal way to approach Mika about it. Granted, it probably wasn't any of her business to be meddling in another pilot's affairs, but she'd always been fascinated in unraveling the psychology behind why certain individuals did certain things; it was kind of like a puzzle, in some aspects. The good news was that this formation would at least give her a good excuse to be down there, rather than having to come up with one should Mika ask (and she likely would).

=A=Acknowledged,=A= she responded, tapping lightly on her comm badge and lightly easing out the creases in her uniform. =A=I'll be down there in about 10 minutes.=

Marcus arrived first, and took up a position in front of his squadron's fighters. Pulling up the roster on his PADD, he noticed He did not yet have a full compliment of pilots. He waited until the three pilots he did have arrived. One was new to the squadron like himself, a Vulcan. The other looked like she had been here before. He rehearsed in his mind how he would introduce himself, and what he would say to his squadron. After several minutes, he tapped his comm badge again. "Lieutenant Decius to Squadron D: Report to the flight line. Form up in front of your fighters. On the double!"

He had hardly finished speaking when Iowa arrived, as her assigned bunk was in a central location between both the flight deck and the pilot's lounge, meaning the trip to either location from her bunk didn't take long. She followed her new squadron leader's instructions and made her way in front of her fighter, now reduced to stock specs, before turning and facing the man and snapping to attention.

"Lieutenant Iowa Riverside, callsign 'Grey Ghost', reporting in as ordered, sir!" She said with a salute.

Marcus returned the salute just as Sturek fell in beside her, standing at attention and saluting.

"Lieutenant Sturek, callsign 'Rook" reporting as ordered."

Marcus returned Rook's salute as well.

The fourth pilot of their measly squadron arrived just a few seconds later; she looked a little surprised to see Iowa there, but anything that was on her mind went unspoken as she fell in beside the other two.

"Ensign Nozomi Kusuda, callsign 'Gemini,' reporting as ordered, sir!" she addressed, awkwardly saluting her squad leader. There was a little something off about her posture compared to Iowa and Sturek, as if she weren't entirely up to speed on things, but she was putting in a good effort to follow their example.

The Squadron Leader gave Gemini the once-over, and decided not to pursue correcting her position of attention. The young ensign was trying, and that was enough for now.

Uniform neatly pressed, Sturek stood rigidly at attention, eyes forward, standing by for Marcus's next words.

"At ease," he said. "My name is Lieutenant Marcus Decius, callsign 'Gladius'. I have been assigned as your new squadron commander. It may take me a little time to get up to speed with operations, so feel free to offer any feedback or insight you may have. I maintain an open door policy when it comes to my crewmates and squadron, so if you have any questions or concerns, please inform me. I will be calling each of you into my office to get to know you better. I believe that the cohesive nature of a unit is what gives it strength. Both the Starfleet Marines and the Legionnaires on my home planet have something that makes them a formidable fighting force. The Marines call it, 'Esprit de Corps'. They feel they are able to trust their lives the their fellow marines, and would gladly defend them to the death in return. That kind of trust and respect is earned, not given for free. It is forged in the furnace of adversity, and cemented with shared experience."

He paused for a moment, then continued. "I'm new to this ship, so I have a lot to get used to. I am trusting that you will be patient while I get my bearings, and will assist me in making this squadron a stellar example of combat readiness, Esprit de Corps, and deadly accuracy in space combat. As a squadron leader, you will find me firm but fair. A military unit is run with precision. Tradition, discipline, and rules are the framework we use to build the house of a top grade fighter squadron, and we will use all of those tools. We work hard, and we will play hard."

Marcus looked at his two pilots. "Any questions so far?"

Sturek spoke up. "Will there be any holodeck training or drills, Lietuenant?"

"Good question. I will need to evaluate our current level of tactical readiness. However, I prefer real flight hours to simulations. We'll add some holodeck time to the schedule, but we'll be spending time in the cockpit flying together on CAP as well. I will coordinate our schedule with Sorceress, and mix in a little of both. Any other questions?" He looked at Grey Ghost.

"To what extent shall modifications to our fighters be allowed, sir?" Iowa asked.

She felt it was a fair question to ask, as she had been required to revert her fighter's specs back to stock, which was humiliating to her, as she had always flown something with unique specs, making it unlike anything else in the air.

Marcus leveled his gaze at her. "That is also a good question, Lieutenant. I took the opportunity to go over the specs of our fighters, as issued to us by Starfleet. The Valkyrie Mark 1a class starfighter is one of the most advanced starfighters ever built. Its impressive array of offensive and defensive capabilities make it perfect for the missions we will be expected to carry out. I am disinclined to second-guess Starfleet R&D when it comes to any modifications other than mission-specific loadout. If you have ideas for hot-rodding your ships to "improve" them, you can submit all such suggestions to me, and if they have tactical merit, I will forward them up the chain of command. If the higher-ups agree with these suggestions, we can test them out. However," He paused for emphasis, "ANY unauthorized modifications to these pieces of Starfleet equipment will be addressed on a case-by-case basis, and may be met with disciplinary action. Is that clear?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Iowa responded.

Sturek also responded in unison with Iowa.

Marcus nodded. "Very well. Are there any more questions?"

Nozomi's hand shot up. "Pardon my asking, Lieutenant, but will we be furnished with a list of the latest firmware updates that come with the 1a? I've been grounded for a while, so I'm a generation behind on the Valkyrie program."

Marcus regarded the young pilot with mild curiosity. He would have to ask about the grounding later, during his one-on-one with her. He'd read the official report, of course, but he wanted her take on the whole thing. "I'll send a copy to your quarters so you can study it off-duty," he said. "Anything else?"

Sturek remained silent. His question had been answered. He would evaluate this new Squadron Commander logically, based on both his performance in the cockpit, and how he handled his subordinates.

Iowa also remained silent, as her question had also been answered. She would be compiling a list of the smaller modifications she had made previously and submit them to Marcus for review. The key to getting her fighter back to her specs would be baby steps.

"No further questions, Lieutenant," Nozomi nodded.

Marcus continued, nodding. "Very well, Suit up. I know we are in SpaceDock, but that's no reason we can't start training. I have made arrangements to use the Starfleet Academy's pilot training ground for a few formation exercises so I can get to know how well our squadron cooperates and performs in formation. The Deputy CAG has given me the green light, as have the Air Boss and the three flight control towers involved. Your birds will be prepped and ready to fly. We launch in 15. Dismissed."

Iowa nodded with the dismissal and went to go retrieve her flight suit. It appeared the list would have to wait until later. For now, all that mattered were impressions, and she hoped a stock fighter wouldn't at all hamper those impressions.

Well, it looked as if speaking with Mika would have to wait; if Nozomi was lucky, she might catch her when they got back, but she wasn't entirely banking on the fact this would be a quick ordeal. That being said, she could really use some in-field experience to break in the new firmware; the sooner she was familiarized with the setup, the better-prepared she would be for live combat.


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