Triumphant Exile

Posted on Thu Oct 15th, 2015 @ 11:57am by 2nd Lieutenant Scooter Porkinsky
Edited on on Thu Oct 15th, 2015 @ 12:02pm

Mission: Blooming Friendships
Location: Starbase Alpha-3
Timeline: When the Bell Tolls

[ON]

By the intense mood of the confrontation, one would have thought this was a court martial with the highest yardarm fully prepared for naval executions. A formation of cadets stood in frozen attention. Marine pilots stood along side. Nobody moved, except for one slightly shaking jelly-belly of a pilot who couldn't fully suppress his laughter.

Admiral Rainer fumed at the group. He expected the war games panel to completely fail the cadets in their scores. He wanted them to soundly reprimand the marine pilots who should have known better. Their conspiratorial crime? During the war games, the veteran admiral's flagship had projected a holo-decoy image of a starship in order to bait cadet phaser bolts and torpedoes. The cadets and marines severely embarrassed the admiral by firing holographic torpedoes at the holographic ship.

Fortunately, there was a mercilessly honest Vulcan on that panel. "Admiral, I must veto your negative evaluation. The cadets succeeded in deceiving you into thinking that they had fired their training torpedo bursts. You mistakenly concluded that they were vulnerable during a reloading interval. Your flagship charged in only to be hit by full spreads of torpedoes. Whether you can accept it or not, Admiral, the cadets defeated you."

Marine pilots are brave. They are fearless. Second Lieutenant Scooter Hootkins Porkinsky and his handful of training leaders proceeded to offer a respectful golf clap to the cadets.

Beet red with rage, Admiral Rainer fell silent, accepting the burn of circumstances in order to get the review meeting over with.

Afterwards, the marine squadron commander met alone with his fellow doghouse pilots. "The admiral wants you chained to an outer asteroid and left for the Borg. He wants you imprisoned in a Cardassian camp." His tone was sympathetic, but only partially so, "If you're wondering why I'm not sitting down right now, it's because at the moment I don't have much left to sit on."

Porkinsky quietly asked, "But, what do you say, Cap'n?"

The man couldn't help but smile, "Well done, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, Sir."

The CO sighed, "Admiral Rainer is formally disbanding our squadron and exiling us to the far winds. My next squadron command will be a fleet of shuttles for a nursing home complex."

"We're very sorry, Sir. Helluva waste."

He shrugged it off, "Nah. I'll be fine. I've already received some under the table job offers from others on the panel. All of us will be back out on the playground as soon as things cool down." He stood in front of Porkinsky, "You... are being assigned to Starbase 332 at Archa."

The stout pilot grimaced almost the point of tears, "What backwater airport is that, Sir?"

The CO smiled, "It's a Stardock Class, and war is about to break out in that sector."

One would have thought that a shaft of light from heaven now glowed upon the marine pilot. He smiled as a tear of joy trickled down his cheek, "Thank you, Sir! OOH RAH!"

[OFF]

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Marine LT2 Scooter Porkinsky
Starbase 332
Pegasus Fleet