The One with the Marine Captain

Posted on Wed Apr 12th, 2023 @ 4:10am by Major Chiyo Shimada & Lieutenant Trennek Zakrin

735 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Sand Sea Fun and Surf
Location: Marine CO's office, Deck 16
Timeline: After Crew Returns From Risa

Lieutenant Zakrin was mildly upset with himself. The Tokyo's captain tasked him with coordinating with the Marine captain and he completely missed talking to her before most of the crew headed to Risa for their vacation.

Now that they'd returned, he sought her out in her office. "Captain Shimada I presume?" he asked with his voice sounding somewhat like two stones being rubbed together.

Chiyo looked up from her work at the reg who had just entered her office without ringing the chime.

"You presume correctly." She said. "And you must be Lieutenant Zakrin. I was told to expect you. Though next time, ring the doorbell. That's what it's there for."

"Apologies." If Trennek's face could red, it would have been flushed with embarrassment. On his previous assignment, the senior staff knew each other well enough to skip that part. It became part of the crew's culture. It was not so on the Tokyo. "I hope your vacation we good," he tried to rescue himself.

"It was." Chiyo responded. "Usually you don't get shore leave after being injured in the line of duty, so it was a nice change of pace. But, I assume you haven't sought me out just to make idle chit-chat about how my shore leave went?"

"It's true," Trennek answered, despite living and working with humans for the last eight years, sometimes idle chit-chat was still a bit of a challenge. He was glad she wanted to get down to business. "Before everyone left for Risa, Captain Aisaka wanted to me to talk to you about coordinating security and marines in case we had to defend the ship. I've spent some time studying various strategies other vessels use. Do you have any preferences?"

"Well, a favorite strategy back on the Marston was to drag the enemy into a slow, brutal, attritional battle." Chiyo said. "Are you familiar with the Battle of Stalingrad?" She asked, unsure if someone of Trennek's species would know Earth history.

Trennek searched his memory for a moment before answering, "I am ashamed to say I am not. Please explain."

"Well, to sum it up, it was a battle from Earth's Second World War where Germany unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad." Chiyo explained. "It was known for its fierce close quarters combat, where the Red Army fought the German Army street-by-street, building-by-building. How does that translate to the strategy I just mentioned? Well, in that strategy, our objective would be to hold every inch of ground against boarders with everything we have. Deck-by-deck, corridor-by-corridor, room-by-room if we have to."

Chiyo smirked. "But, just because I said it's a favorite strategy doesn't mean I'm a one-trick pony. I've seen and utilized other strategies to great success."

Trennek nodded, "I see. I guess I'm a little more conservative. I'd prefer to expend as little as possible by simply beaming the boarders into space... that's not always possible however... I'm sure between the two of us we can come up with something suitable."

"I'm sure we can," Chiyo said. "Because after all, beaming boarders into space only works if transporters are online. So, you will have to be prepared to do battle in the event that transporters get taken out."

"True," Trennek admitted, "but I tend to take the easiest, quickest available solution to the problem first. It's always a good idea to have a plan B and probably a plan C as well."

"But why stop at plan C?" Chiyo asked. "Personally, I think the best prepared one can be is to go all the way down the alphabet to Plan Z, and hope to holy hell we don't have to go that far."

Trennek chuckled, “Agreed, you sound much like my previous commanding officer. He’s one who had contingency plans for contingencies.”

Chiyo laughed at Trennek's remark.

"Well, I'm sure we'll get along just fine." She said. "Well, is there anything else you need me for, Lieutenant?"

Trennek thought a moment, "I believe that's all. I look forward to working with you."

"The feeling is mutual." Chiyo said. "Oh, and if for some reason I'm unavailable, feel free to track down my deputy, 1st Lieutenant Beurling. I consider her my sister in arms, and I trust her to run my department effectively in my absence."

Posting by

Lieutenant Trennek Zakrin
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Captain Chiyo Shimada
Marine Commander

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