A Short Jaunt
Posted on Wed May 24th, 2017 @ 10:55pm by Captain Liarra Von & Major Parker Jacobs
Mission:
Call of the Wild
Location: Archa IV
Parker stood at the top of a small cliff overlooking an inlet. The smell of the salty water was overpowering and invigorating to the marine it gave him energy and a need to run, to be active. A light rain dampened the rest of the ground that the surf did not as it moved in and out at a steady rhythm, the sights and sounds of an ocean and a temperate rain-forest that despite a holodecks best efforts could never be as accurate or inspiring a recreation as the real thing.
Running a hand through his damp hair, Parker turned towards the small camp his marines were setting up at the merging point of the beach and forest in a small clearing. It was basic but suited the needs of his men for now, extended duration survival training in a environment not controlled by a computer something that was truly chaotic and would need his marines to adapt on the fly. In the Majors opinion one could never really training for survival on a holodeck where you knew safety was a few steps and a call away. No, the real thing could never be substituted.
Behind him the shimmering lights of a transporter beam appeared and faded away. In its wake remained Captain Liarra Von, a standard issue rain jacket on over her uniform. She was thankful for the warning from the transporter operator. If she had time to change after this meeting it wouldn't have been a problem, but the life of a starbase commander was a busy one. "Major Parker?" she asked, approaching the man standing near the cliff edge.
"Jacobs. Parker is my first name." Parker said as he turned towards the source of the voice to find the Starbase's captain watching him. "I can understand the confusion though. I dont believe we have met yet Captain Von not all that surprising considering the size of the station."
"Of course, of course. Apologies for the confusion." Von was kicking herself a bit on the inside for not having caught that sooner, but she didn't let it linger. Von shook the Major's hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Major. I've been meaning to make it down here and see how things were going."
"Things are going good. We'll have to thank our hosts for lending us the use of this island. It has a multitude of ecosystems to allow us to get some good survival training, decent distance for hikes." The Major nodded his head as he looked towards the small camp the marines had set up, "Overall we lucked out."
"Well, be thankful. We had to do a lot of convincing for the Archan government to let us build on the surface. If you think combat is rough, try politics." Liarra shivered, though it was hard to tell if it was from the rain or from the thought of dealing with the bureaucracy. "Speaking of survival training, I actually wanted to talk to you about leading some exercises for some of my officers. Colonel S'er'in'e and myself recently had to spend some time in the wilderness of an uninhabited planet, though in our case surviving wasn't just about finding shelter and food. But I don't think we need to have anyone trying to kill the volunteers, just teaching them basic survival techniques. Is that something you or your marines would be willing to help us with?"
Parker snorted in a laugh at two of the statements the Captain had made. Parker knew politics, hell it was all he felt like he did half the time dealing with relations between the fleet and his marines. Then again though, Parker had never had to deal with a unified world, aliens with mysterious wants and needs. He knew the fleet, he knew his marines, he knew that specific game. Diplomacy was a different game. As to helping whip some officers into shape? Oh he could help with that.
A grin on his face Parker turned to the Captain again, "I think we can make that work. This island would be the perfect area to do the survival training actually. Volunteers or Volunteered?"
"I have a couple in mind that I'd like to volunteer, but I'm going to extend the offer to the department heads to pass down to their officers. Hopefully we'll have more volunteers than volunteered. But if they get something out of it, then I'm not going to lose much sleep over the semantics. How much time do you need to make the preparations?"
"Day maybe two. I already have a platoon out there doing survival training but we wouldn't run into them." Parker replied knowing full well the Starfleet group would never catch his Marines already half a day into their training. "Supplies wont be hard to fix up I figure we may even go nice and give them a full survival kit rather than a basic one. Mainly it will be logistics of getting everyone off their scheduled shifts and down here."
Liarra nodded along. "We can work out the logistics. That I'm not worried about at all. Is there anything that you need from me, Major?"
"No just a list of people who will be attending. We've got the island, I've got the marines. Leave the details up to us." Parker said with a nod of his own. "We should be able to go within a few days once we get the list."
"That shouldn't be a problem. I'll talk to my staff and have them pass the information down through their departments. I'll have that list for you soon enough." Liarra shook the marine's hand again. "I'll leave you to your work. If you need anything, don't hesitate to let me know." With her business concluded, Liarra took a step back from the Major to clear some room, and tapped her commbadge. "Von to Three-Three-Two. One to beam up." The shimmering light overtook her, and a moment later Parker found himself once again alone on the cliff.
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332
Major Parker Jacobs
Commanding Officer
14th Battalion, UFPMC
