Marine S.E.R.E Training part 2

Posted on Fri Nov 10th, 2017 @ 6:46pm by Major Alexandria Somers & Ensign Jenna Steel & Lieutenant Brennan Lyr & Lieutenant JG Erica De'Havean & Lieutenant JG Allison Price

Mission: A Day in the Life
Location: Beam Down Site/Planet
Timeline: After Beam Down

[ON]

"Hold your places," Tanner announced. They stood on the edge of the cleared site. But it wasn't clear, it was chaos. Trees had been burnt, trees had been knocked down, some totally and some partially. Scattered throughout the site were items that would normally be found on any shuttle. Mostly smaller items, items that had been riveted to the walls and floor of the shuttle. Seats, ration packets, most of which were crushed, ripped, burnt, some of the items inside were still in top condition, but most weren't. Water canisters, and water purification tablets, lay scattered throughout the site, most of the water canisters were crushed or ripped, their contents puddling where the canisters lay, but some had survived, the tablets, on the other hand, had been crushed and most had found their way into the water puddles from the crushed water canisters. Some survival gear, but most of it was torn, crushed, burnt.

Three shelter tents lay twisted around trees, and obviously not of any use. First Aid kits lay ripped, crushed and torn open, most of the contents were open and unable to be used, a few items remained sterile and in their containers. The section of the shuttle which contained the armoury was gone. There were three sections of the shuttle laying amongst the cleared area, the engines, crushed, burnt and partly exploded, it was obvious that they had impacted with something, but it wasn't clear what. A side panel of the shuttle, bent in, blackened on the outside, and the pilot's seat and side of the cockpit, but the viewing window and the console were gone, there were a first aid kit and fire extinguisher still anchored to the wall behind the pilot's seat. from what was left, it was obvious they had been ripped off. Whatever had happened had been major and those who stood gathered were lucky to be alive.

The sky was gathering in dark clouds, and the evening was closing in. "Before this session starts, I want to make sure you understand what's going to happen. Every one of you will make it back to 332, even if I have to apply my boots to your butts. There will be no quitters. You make the decisions, I'm here to guide you, to stop you from making stupid options. One of you at a time will be selected to be the leader, and everyone will follow their decisions. Should Somers deem their decisions dangerous to the rest of the survivors, she can make soft suggestions, but she can't take over, unless there is an outright danger, and there are marines with adequate firepower to put paid to any real threat. The clouds are closing in, the wind is shortly going to pick up, and night is closing, and the temperate is about to drop. There are a few useful items scattered about, do you spend time trying to find them, or do you spend the time finding shelter to avoid the weather and night. That's the decision of Jenna Steel, you've been volunteered as the first leader. The first twenty-four hours is under your command.”

“You have six choices of direction should you decided to accept my advice. The first, beyond the, what is left of the cockpit is a large sand dune, which you'll have to slide down, will take you to a large beach and there are caves, which remain out of the nightly tide. Second is behind you. A closely packed forest area. Third to your right is a collection of cement-like sand dunes that you may be able to turn into caves. Fourth to your left is a dead section of forest, of fallen trees and bushes. Fifth left to the Fourth choice is a natural set of caved in caves, but with work, you can make shelter and six is beyond the choice two, another shuttle that crashed. You have ten minutes before the rain starts and seventeen minutes before night falls. Make your call Steel.”

What she didn't say, was all six had their bad points, factors they would have to overcome. The slide down the dunes was extremely steep, it was quite a walk to the caves, and they weren't visible, so they could be in either direction. Once they found them, they offered them the best choice, driftwood to burn, seafood in shells on the walls of the cave which they could cook and eat, warm water from a natural underwater heat source. Number two, they had to bring down the greenery and make it into their shelter and it was all Greenwood and wouldn't burn.

Three the sand dunes were more than cement like, and they'd need phasers to cut into the dunes to make shelters. There was nothing to burn and nothing to eat or drink unless they scavenged first. Fourth, the dead forest, plenty of wood and bush to burn, but it wouldn't hold up to build shelters, and there was a large collection of bats which lived in the dead trees. Five, a set of natural caves, which had given away as the edge of the cliff gave way, plenty of room if they stayed away from the edge. Slip or get too close to the edge and they'll roll down the sand dune, find the caves below, but end up in a warm bath, as the warm water spread outwards along the beach out for fifteen and a half meters. Sixth, the second shuttle was in enough of good shape for them to make shelter, gather goods from inside, except for the hole where the armoury would be, but they had to deal with the fact everyone died, and were still inside the shuttle.

Choice one was the correct choice, but only her and her choice of guardians knew that the beach would lead them straight to their pickup point, it would mean quite a number of trials and tribulations, they would get soaked, not all the water would be warm as they neared their end zone. There would be a constant supply of food if they could stomach it, or catch some fish, crabs or another prawn like crustaceans. They'd have to stomach crawl through some of the caves, and others would fill up as the tide changed, and then they would have the mud which held you tight at the end, gripping your body with a cement-like grip which they would have to somehow get across, before they had a steep sand dune to climb to reach their endpoint. But it was Steel's choice to make. She could have chosen Von or Somers, but that would be far too easy and benefit the others to no point.

Looking at the lot of them, she waited.

Arriving at the site Somers began looking about the wreckage of the shuttle while listening to what options there were, this was not the first exercise type mission she had been on and she had been under the Command of a junior officer before, but that was years back and all exercises were different. Now Alex located a carry pack and began putting in what few intact ration packs there were, she found two lamps, but both had only one power pack and that would not last. There were no weapons as they had all been destroyed, after finding what she could she put the pack on her back and looked at Tanner.

Knowing that Steele was in command first, Allie started picking through the wreckage. The engineer in her thought to first scrounge for any used equipment, but she had no luck.

"You know El-tee, I think I am ready, what about you Ms Steele," Somers said looking around, she had not yet met the woman so she did not know what she looked like.

"Ensign Steele?" Tanner asked. "Everyone needs to make their decision while Steele contemplates. "Steele?"

“Let’s move on, head for the beach, we should be able to find fish or something to eat and hopefully caves to shelter in,” Jenna said, only half sure of herself.

Erica scrounged through the wreckage to see what she could find. There wasn't much and took notice that the Marine Major had made some good scores on items. She preferred to head inland where the there would be fresh water.

Alex figured the direction Steel had chosen was just as good as any, still she knew that any route would be made difficult, Tanner would see to that, this was one of those times that watching another officer work and make choices allowed one to pick up tips and insights, they may not have thought of, she looked around as she followed Steel down to the beach "we few, we happy few!" Somers said to herself.

Erica, as she walked, tore strips of cloths and braided them tightly into a 4-foot strip. Then from one of the seat covers she formed a pocket of stones to sit on in the improvised sling. She paused to pick up several small rocks about an inch diameter and put them in one of her pockets. She kept one out and tested out her sling.

-Snap- Erica watched the rock go sailing and bounce off the ground several yards away, kicking up spurts of dust. She practised several more times, getting the feel of using such an archaic weapon. She began to lag behind the group as she hunted up more rock to replace those she had used.

As Alex followed Steele, she checked the equipment she had managed to save, it was not much, but it was something, then she checked her hand Phaser, it was one of the few that made it through and sadly it was at half power, so all that left her with for attack or defence in the longterm was her hidden quarterstaff and her Commando knife that all marines normally carried, while she seemed distracted Alex was anything but, such hiking skills were still there even today "I guess it is true what they say, it is like riding a bike, you never forget" Somers said to herself.

Sliding down the steep dune and onto her feet on the beach, Tanner stood on the think cement-like sand, whether you looked right or left, there was nothing but sand, and the thick steep dunes they came down, there was no way to climb back up them, not here either. Should anyone touch the water, it would burn bare skin, too hot to laze in, but it had plenty of cooked seafood if you could manage to get it out. If they walked right, they would find no caves and spend the night in the open, but well fed and could keep warm in the warm water. If they walked left, the water would slowly cool but remain warm and after walking for four hours would find the caves. They could gather food in the water all the way to the caves, and if someone tried the water realise it was fresh, not salty.

Waiting for everyone to make their way down to the beach, she watched Steele, Somers and the rest. "Right or left Steele. Somers, you have four attachments. Captain Arctic Goobarragandra, RO of F Company, with only one of her company Sergeant Major Alison Campbell Marine Sniper, Communications Officer from HQ and Service Company Gunnery Sergeant Aileen Campbell and Warrant Officer Abbey Campbell M-705 Maintenance Technician from H Company, why we have a mishmash will be worked out at the end, until then they are yours. Steele, you'll find that Goobarragandra has several blades, Campbell from F Company has her sniper rifle which she sleeps with and is permanently attached, Campbell from Communications carries nothing, and Campbell from H Company wears her tool belt and like Campbell Sniper, sleeps with it, though she didn't bring a tank."

Walking up to the side of Steele Alex looked at the Ensign "so Ensign, you are the team leader, which way do we go?" Somers asked taking note of the directions Tanner had said.

Steele said nothing, just pointed in the direction she wanted her team to go.

Sgt Major Alison Campbell took interest in the water which seemed to be steaming, wafts of hot water wafting upwards. "Yo Steele, you checked out the water, it's hot and is full of dead sea life, boiled, which means we could gather it up and eat it."

Tanner refused to let anyone gets seriously burnt. "Stop. The water temperature will at this location cause serious burns, especially since it's fresh water, not salt water. You're going to have to come up with some way to recover the seafood which is eatable and scoop the water, waiting for it to cool down before you drink it. While we're on a survival course I refuse to allow anyone to get seriously injured."

Alex was having an idea she pulled out her Combat knife and some utility wire she had found in the wreckage, then she from some hidden place pulled out her quarterstaff, which looked like a six-inch tube with a button on it. She held it out and pressed the button *shtiikk, snikkt* was the sound of the staff expanding, she hoped Tanner was watching, she then proceeded to secure her Combat knife to the end of her staff and secure it with the utility wire, then she took off her scarf that she had on her head to help with the heat and wrapped it around the end she was going to hold.

She broke away from the group with a crude but functioning spear "mama is going to have me some seafood tonight!" she said as she stood on the edge and waited for a dead fish to get close then she skewered it and brought it in. She did not miss the fact that the seafood was steaming, which meant the water was very hot, she placed the fish by her feet and the proceeded to repeat the motion.

Captain Arctic Goobarragandra, didn't have anything long enough, then she stopped, and started to wiggle.
"Take off your bra." Warrant Officer Abbey Campbell told her sisters. "If we take off our bras, and tie them together, we can weigh down one end and use it to force the sealife closer."

"I'm not taking off my bra! I have bigger boobs then you do, they'll jiggle." Gunnery Sgt Aileen Campbell was most affronted.

"Do you want to eat?" Abbey yanked her sister around and slipped her hand up under her shirt and unclipped her bra.

"I haven't needed help taking my bra off since we were first shown how to put it on."

Abbey groaned. "Come on ladies hand them over." She stepped up. "I want all bra's and I want them now." Abbey looked at Tanner.

"Sorry Campbell my boobies came off some time ago, they were nothing but a pain in the arse. They just didn't sit that well under my armour." Tanner answered, as four bras came out of part of the sand dune. "We're going to discuss this ladies," Tanner commented.

Abbey snatched the four different coloured bra's before Tanner did. "Surely you aren't going to make us starve Blackwidow?"

"It seems if you get enough bras, Campbell, you'll be eating seafood, while they eat ration packs," Tanner answered. "Warning people, I am not having you all running naked to the pickup point. Steele, you're still in command, at daybreak command changes to Lyr. Make sure that alarm is set Dr, or you might just find yourself dealing with an evil El-Tee."

Speaking up from her location "I have us some fish and getting more, C'mon people grab you a fish and start eating" she looked at Abby "good idea, but not needed, I am getting plenty of fish for us all" Somers added looking at the stack of fish piling up to her right, she thrust her make-shift spear into the water and pulled out another fish and again repeated the motion.

Erica slid down the embankment and stood up. She growled at how the sand had gotten under her clothes and made her itch. She trotted with ease over the packed sand to the group. By the time she had arrived, the Major had a nice pile of fish from the sea. "Thanks," Softly as she snagged one of the fish and moved on. Eating delicately as she made room for others to grab their fish.

Brennan tried not to smirk, at the ladies wandering about without their bras, and the steaming undergarments that were pulling up boiled fish from the ocean. Clever tactics though for them to feed themselves.

Nodding in response to Erica Somers now looking around, especially after hearing about the removal of bras, Somers sighed and spoke louder "geeze everyone come take a fish I have plenty here that I am pulling out of the water" Somers said as she stabbed another fish and placed it on the pile to her right, the crude spear worked on dead fish, it would have been harder if they had been live "C'mon people grab you a fish and eat up" Somers added, making sure to keep on for herself.

After all the trainees had some fish to eat, Somers looked around "where the hell has Tanner got to!" she said to herself, as she was now the ranking officer, she whistled loudly "okay people time to go home, get to the shuttle, consider yourselves on stand down until further notice" she moved her hand in a circular motion above her head signalling that the training was over. With that, she followed the rest of those coerced into this training program to the waiting shuttles, as she made her way back the rest of G Company fell in with her and within the hour of returning to the shuttles all those on the S.E.R.E training exercise were leaving the planet and heading for the Starbase.

[OFF]