MARDET Meeting

Posted on Wed Jul 13th, 2011 @ 12:59pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Major Jake Harper

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: Commodore's Ready Room, Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: Following 'Old Friends Meet Again'

Commodore Nathan Cowell, fresh from his check-in with Sickbay in regards to his Operations Officer, found himself back on the Bridge, and more to the point, back in his office. He had yet to put his service pistol away, it sat rather prominently in the center of his desk as he reviewed reports that had been generated while he was away. One thing that had popped up was the new MARDET, which Nathan had mixed feelings about. Since their transfer had come at the heels of Major Harper's arrival, they hadn't received any leadership for them, which meant he had a boat load of Marines and no one to keep them sane. Nathan decided that was his first order of business as he called the Major to his office.

Jake exited the Head at the rear of the Bridge. Having been summoned from the depths of the ship where he was participating in some minor repair work, he had decided it might be best to freshen up and wash the grit from his hands before meeting with the ship's Brass. He strode across the abnormally quiet Bridge towards the Commodore's Ready Room, where he tapped the chime left of the door. He gave a glace around, and found a snooty nosed Non-Commissioned Officer, most likely the ship's Yeoman, staring at him in a most perplexed way.

"What...? I washed my hands." He said with a wink, before entering the already parted doors before him.

Nathan watched the Marine walk in, which prompted him to sit right where he'd been sitting the whole time. He did, however, summon the bother to point to the chair in front of his desk, which was incidentally right in front of the service pistol on his desk that Nathan had forgotten about.

"Sit," the Commodore ordered.

"Sitting." Jake had had a lot of Commanding Officers in his career. Each had their own distinctive mannerisms and styles, however Jake hadn't had the chance to peg exactly what made the Commodore tick yet. He knew mostly of what he had heard from reputation and service records. Harper was also privy to some of the idle chit chat he had heard from his late friend, who had served briefly under the newly promoted Commodore. Still, Jake decided to play deaf and dumb, after all it was more fun that way.

"Need to talk to you about those Marines you brought with you. According to what I have here, it's all a bunch of grunts and no upper echelon to speak of aside from a platoon sergeant. I'll tell you right now, I know what you grunts do when you're not gainfully employed, and I don't much care to make the enemy's life easier. I need someone down there with those jarheads, keeping them square and out of my eyesight. I know you came to us with other orders, but I think maybe that job needs to fall on you, since they are your boys and they already know what you're all about. Any problems with that?" Nathan said after a slight pause.

While Jake didn't precisely predict this conversation, he had assumed it would be one of the few possible paths he would be pursing while on board the Arizona. He wasn't surprised, nor was he disappointed. He followed orders. End of story.

"Not a problem at all Commodore. I do have one request Sir, if you wouldn't mind hearing it."

"Speak your peace," Nathan said bluntly.

"Being a man of the military, I am sure you can agree that there needs to be a degree on consistency and discipline, especially on a starship. While I played that send a man to his death thing far too many times in my career, I don't make a habit of asking my people to do something I wouldn't do myself. I think if you wear a green uniform, you should be subject to the same expectations from the top to the bottom of the food chain. I am asking for dominion over the Marines attached to service in departments across the ship, with the exception of the Colonel of course. Of course I am not asking for the folks in Intelligence to come to me with their every questions, superseding their respective department's chain of command. I am however asking that these folks participate in mandatory PT at 0500 and such as long as it doesn't interfere with their normal duties... Sir..."

Jake didn't make it a habit to ask for anything, especially from a superior. However, he couldn't help but be an advocate for the people beneath him. While life in the military was never fair, building a team required some degree of fairness. If a Corporal could wake up and run the decks throughout the ship, a 2nd Lieutenant assigned to the Engineering or Intelligence Department could be expected to do the same.

"Fine... do what you want with the department and with the Marines. We only have a few of them scattered around, but I suppose it would make sense that you should at least keep them in standard. Make it happen," the Commodore said finally.

With the satisfaction of getting what he wanted, Harper stood and waited a moment before moving for the door. Typically, the expression make it happen meant 'Get the hell out..' in the Commodore's own language - that much he knew. Still he waited to see if there was anything on the agenda before leaving.