Back In the Saddle

[Ethan Talon]

"Okay, but let's not play us being related to mom. They'll likely respect us more by going in on our own merits, and they already know our relation anyway. Oh, and Trin. I need the regimental readiness reports from the supply officers. Dougal said he's still missing weapons for one of his companies."

[Peter Matau]

"General! Colonel!" A tall man with a deep tan complexion said as he jogged toward him and came to a stop, snapped a crisp salute to them. "Captain Peter Matau, TAS Kitea Marines. Wanted to thank you both for letting use your facilities for training my men and Admiral Ryder told me to tell you that the weapons you've been missing are on their way. Five cases of rifles and hand phasers had to be sent back. Had the same problem on the Kitea. The Quartermaster switched the real ones for the simulator mocks. They look identical except for the emitter shrouds. Like one or two in every ten were the sim mocks." he shook his head. "We're all getting an extra case of rifles to 'make up for it'. Which is good my boys like to use the butts of theirs to beat up enemies."

[Ethan Talon]

"There's 15,000 acres here. I trust you are putting it to good use. I hear the beach landing course is quite popular if not mostly an out of date tactic. The swamp course is particularly hated. We had it modeled after Vietnam."

[Peter Matau]

"Oh tell me about man... it reminds me of home too. Parts of New Zealand are right mucky too." Peter said with a smirk. "After all, if we need to liberate a village, never know where it'll be or what the conditions will be like. I spent ten rain blasted weeks in a jungle tryin' to root out some Imperium savages from a village in the Ketar System. Little spec of a place, not much to see or do, but there is a bloody jungle planet that has rain like every blasted day." he shook his head. "Imperium stoopas thought they could hide out there. No such luck mate. Eeenyway... I'll leave y'two to get to business. Just wanted to say 'ello and let you know about the weapons. I can certainly tell the Ryder touch 'ere. The Colonel must get it from her mum. Love that woman. Best CO I've ever served with. Actually encourages my boys to be Maori, doesn't raise a stink when we're half naked, covered in oil, barefoot and doing a Haka." he nudged Trinity. "The boys wanted to do one at your wedding but we got called on wargames at the time. Some other time. It's quite movin'."

[Becky Sandoval]

"You are not the only one on the Kitea working over time," Becky said as she approached. She had a tired look on her face. She handed her PADD to Trinity, "Sorry, we had to get that shipment from Talaria. There was a production interruption there that caused the hiccup."

[Trinity Talon]

"And there it is." Trinity said with a smile and handed the padd to Ethan. "You look tired Commander." she said as she put her arm across Becky's shoulders. "Let me guess, you're doing more work than usual because mom and dad are holed up in their quarters hmm? Mom will make it up to you. That was one of the few times I used to see her happy was when she'd pretty much lock themselves in their quarters for a few days. Then she'd give her XO about the same amount of time off, maybe even a day or two more." she whispered in Becky's ear. "Especially if said XO took that time off with her daughter..."

[Becky Sandoval]

"No, that will not be necessary. We have a lot of green crew. I've been running battle drills at all hours. We got security personnel who barely know which end of a phaser rifle to hold let alone procedures on repelling a boarding party. Typical new ship, and early war growing pains."

Ethan grunted in agreement, "Hasn't been a cakewalk for us either. Thank God for the 69th. The unit fought through the Imperium war before peace time budget cutbacks saw them on the chopping block, and the Colonel saved them by pushing them into militia. They have trained almost all of them including Colonel MacDonald," Ethan said indicating the kilt clad officer shouting orders to over 600 marines.

[Trinity Talon]

"I'm impressed by what he's done so far." Trinity said with a sigh. "We needed people like him. And this is good, all of us were raw rookies at some point. I think once we get a little more flash on our uniforms, we kind of forget that. I didn't come out of the womb capable."

"Ey, I beg ta differ." Peter said. "Little Trinity tyke, nippin' at her mum's heels. Your first word was probably 'requisition'."

"It was 'communique'." Trinity said with a slight blush. "Both versions of us, the little one and me. Different circumstances but... yeah... "

"Nothin' to be ashamed of and Commander Sandoval... your probably the first XO I've served with I didn't want to frag. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. Seriously." Peter said with a wink.

"Oh, speaking of frag... " Trinity snapped her fingers. "Those new torpedo war heads, the splinter heads, did you get your shipment from AlphaTek Weapons Depot? Quatermaster's gonna get fired."

[Ethan Talon]

"We did," Becky said. "A terrifying new way to kill people. The only constant in humanity is the quest for better killing machines. It was first a rock, then the spear and sword, and now quantum torpedoes, and fragmentation ordnance."

"The other constant is there are always baddies out there to deprive us of our lives and liberty. Thomas Jefferson wrote, 'We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.' That was why we walked away from Earth and formed this Alliance. An alliance based on the principle that all beings are created equal. Like it or not everyone here has made that pledge if not in so many words. We have literally bled to protect others. It's not a question of better killing machines. It's a question of machines that are more efficient and better in protecting that which we love. A protection we all swore an oath to."

[Peter Matau]

"And those Frag heads are a beauty when you see them in action, small enough to weaken shields in a particular point to the point where we can eventually punch a hole through and unshielded they chew through phaser banks, disruptors and torpedo launchers. Stop 'em firin' at us, so we can actually either take 'em into custody or end their threat." Peter said as he slipped his sunglasses off and wiped a smudge from the corner. "Goal is and has always been to end the threat."