The Widening Gyre
Posted on Tue Dec 19th, 2023 @ 1:56pm by Lance Corporal Evan Griffin
Mission:
MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS KUROCK
Timeline: Three Years Ago
2247 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure
[ON:]
THREE YEARS AGO – USS KUROCK – SABRE CLASS - MARINE PICKET
A Sabre class starship, the USS Kurock is leaving orbit of an unnamed Minshara class planet. Outfitted with the combat rollbar, the Kurock is a battle-hardened ship that has seen more than its fair share of combat and marine deployment missions. Currently, the Kurock is assigned to patrol and picket duties in Cardassian space. It’s been nearly twenty plus years since the Dominion War. Even at this late date, vestiges of the conflict still crop up from time to time.
Inside the ship, in the ship’s Observation Lounge, seated at the table is the Marine Commanding Officer. A man in his later 50’s. His name is Major Edward Claire. Behind him, the glass case that contains various trophies and honors awarded to the ship and her crew. Many of them are Marine victories.
At that moment, a maintenance worker is replacing one of the large display case panes of glass. Just putting the finishing touches on it and wiping it clean.
Sitting across the table from Major Claire is PFC. Evan Griffin. Evan’s appearance is dirty. He still has on his combat uniform. The chest plate is off and is on the tabletop near him. The rest of his uniform is filthy and covered in muck. He is covered in dust and there are a few cuts on him. It looks like hours ago he was submerged in some kind of oil and his skin has a dirty sheen to it. It would be easy to assume that Griffin was a standard, front line, Marine infantry grunt instead of what he really is. With five years’ experience, he is a highly trained Marine that is just as good a rifleman as he is an explosives tech. One of SFMC’s most promising EOD’s at just twenty-three years old. A natural. His chest plate has a badge on it designating that Griffin is a Marine Explosives Ordnance Dispoal technician (EOD).
Major Claire sighs and folds his hands, “Okay. Well. It was a tough assignment I’ll grant you that. It was a thankless job, it was a shitty kind of a job. But we do what we’re told. Those are our orders.”
Griffin just stares back at him, his left leg lightly tapping up and down rapidly.
“Griffin, I have no interest in humiliating you or exacting some kind of a…price. I have no axe to grind. You did what we asked you to do. Now, what is the problem with that?”
Evan stopped his foot and looked up, “Excuse me? What the fuck? Sir?”
The Major looked back at him not surprised at all, “What?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Evan asked.
Major Claire answered, “The Captain will be here in a few minutes. Let’s get this all smoothed out before she arrives. I think she’ll have some tough questions.”
“First Lieutenant Hamilton said that I should report to you, sir, because you were going to apologize to me for the grand and epic fuck up.” Griffin answered.
“What? According to whom? Private?” the tone was unmistakable.
“According to Hamilton. After you fucked us over by pulling out too fuckin’ early. We were left without backup. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to diffuse a Jem’Hadar proximity pressure mine? I’m working as fast as I can while the rest of the platoon is getting shot up by Naussican mercs and guns-for-hire Miridians.”
The Major was having none of it, “You told me to go fuck myself over an open comm with the Captain listening!”
“You’re damn right I did. All you had to do was send reinforcements. Eight more Marines and we would have secured the compound!”
“Private, I’m willing to just write this up on your record and call it ‘battle fatigue’ your colorful commentary. But, you are mistaken if you came here thinking I’m going to apologize to you. Or your team. It’s not even your team. Hamilton was in too deep and we could not extract you. I was not going to send in eight more Marines. Clearly there’s been a miscommunication—”
The maintenance crewman interrupted and said, “Excuse me? Major? Sorry to interrupt?”
“Yes?”
“Does this display case look alright? It was damaged in the attack.” The crewman asked.
Major Claire took a look and said, “It looks fine crewman.”
“Who’s this clown?” Evan asked.
Major Clarie turned and shot him a look. “He’s fixing the display case here because while you were working too slowly neutralizing the proximity mines, the Kurock took heavy weapons fire from the departing Miridian pirates. We would have gone after them but the Captain thought we should first pick you all up from the surface.”
At that moment the Captain walked in. Captain Elsa Walker. She was a dark-haired woman in her early 40’s. She wore her hair up and, in a bun, and she had a determined look on her face. The maintenance crewman saw her first.
“Captain? This looks okay doesn’t it ma’am?”
Captain Walker took one look and said, “It’s fine. Could you leave us for just a minute?”
The crewman nodded, “Yes ma’am” and left the conference room.
She put her hands on her hips at the head of the table, “Clearly…there has been a miscommunication.” She looked first at Griffin, “You tell me to go fuck myself over an open COMM and you insult the Major all in the same sentence and you think that the Major should apologize? You were ordered to neutralize all of the proximity mines left over from the Dominion War in that facility.”
Evan leaned forward, “And. I. Did. It only cost the lives of four Marines.”
Walker took an inward sigh and then levelled her gaze at the Major. “And you misjudged the resistance that your team would take. At the first sign of trouble, you should have sent Hamilton the reinforcements he asked for. I won’t question you in front of the crew, Major. But even I know when the odds are overwhelmingly against you. We let those Marines down.”
“Captain –”
“Don’t.”
“Those Marines are under my command. This was my call.”
“Hamilton is your 1st LT. He was on the ground. He had first hand information about what was going on. I don’t know how to diffuse over forty proximity mines, but I do know that it takes time. And one wrong move or miscalculation and you’re dead.”
“Captain - - I’m the CO of this detachment. It is my judgement that Hamilton was wrong. And I am right.”
Evan said, “Since the LT is dead – I guess you’ve got no opposition.”
Captain Walker sat down finally and said, “Promises were made to these Cardassian colonists. Promises that I intend to keep. I’m just glad that the four of you made it back alive. With this pirate outpost offline, they’ll think twice about attacking the Cardassians again.”
Griffin said, “A hell of a price to pay.”
The Major never had good timing and this situation was no different. He said, “1st Platoon will need a new CO. I was thinking of Greco - -“
Griffin launched into him, “I’ve been a Marine for ten years now. I enlisted when I was sixteen years old because I saw some Marines kick the shit out of the Borg. I’ve studied to be the best Marine I know how to be and the best EOD Sapper that you can get. Nobody is more dedicated to making sure that bombs go off only when they’re supposed to and not when they’re not supposed to. You put us in a situation where it was impossible to win without help. But we’re some god damned Marines and so we just take it like we’re supposed to.”
Major Claire said calmly, “You’re too rough around the edges.”
“Excuse me?”
“So was Lt. Hamilton. This OP should have been handled with finesse and quiet fortitude. Clearly that wasn’t Hamilton or your team.”
Griffin snarled, “Is that right? You son-of-a-bitch. You set us up. You knew all along that the LT this was his first command. You piece of shit!”
“That’s right.”
Griffin was on his feet, “And the eight Marines you weren’t going to send in as reinforcements for our position? Were they too ‘rough-around-the-edges’ too? Did they lack ‘quiet fortitude’ as well?”
Claire was not flustered one bit. He exuded a quiet calm that was both irritating and sickening in its clean bureaucratic pall. Captain Walker was perched on the edge of her chair and she was finding more common ground with PFC Griffin than the Major.
“You’re possibly referring to the sudden reassignment of your Company CO?” Claire calmly asked.
“Eight Marines is what we needed down there Major. AND five more fuckin’ minutes. I didn’t get the five minutes but I still got the damn prox mines done. Eight more Marines Major. Each and every one of them would have had our backs and nobody had to die down there. Did they not have the ‘finesse’ you wanted? Or could it possibly be that you didn’t want to expend them because you knew that if I couldn’t get the prox mines neutralized then the whole OP would have been in the shitter? You knew that we'd go after them and you wanted to have a fresh team as a spare.”
“You can hardly blame me for having doubts about your loyalty. You and your company are mostly from the fringe. There are….there were three of you from Terra Nova. A rather high percentage when you look at the Corps on the whole.”
“I see….I see…this had nothing to do with the OP at all. You didn’t care whether we finished the job or not. You, Major, are a Grade ‘A’ douche bag. A slimy son-of-a-bitch!”
Evan was already walking towards the door. “I haven’t dismissed you yet - - Private.”
Captain Walker stood, “But I am. You’re dismissed Mr. Griffin.”
Griffin appreciated the backup from the Captain, “Yes ma’am.”
Walker levelled her gaze at Claire, “And I want you off my ship when we get to Starbase Obsidian.”
“That’s - - not your decision Captain” the Major said.
“The hell it isn’t!”
Griffin was walking out the door with his combat armor when he almost ran into the crewman maintenance worker who was just on the other side of it. Evan saw his tool cart and picked up the largest hydro spanner he could see.
He said to the crewman, “I’m sorry man. You did a great job on the display case; but you’re going to have to do it again.” And Griffin threw the hydrospanner with such force at the display case and shattered the newly installed glass pane that covered the Marine section of the awards and trophies. The pane of glass shattered most spectacularly and a bit like shattering that calm, calculated demeanor the Major was putting on.
Claire yelled, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? I’m going to bust your ass all the way back to enlisted and you can do your BOOT OVER AGAIN. I’ll have you arrested and put in the brig! This is the end of your career!”
“That’s - - not your decision Major” the Captain said.
Griffin yelled at the Major, “You question my loyalty? You question the loyalty of my brother and sister Marines?” Griffin stepped back into the Observation Lounge.
“For the last 30 days I’ve been on deployment with eight Marines that I care about. Fighting shoulder to shoulder trying to neutralize over forty proximity mines and fight and dodge people who have been trying to kill us, people who know how to kill Marines. You think that’s because …I…am too rough - - not enough finesse - - or do you think that’s because I’m a Starfleet Marine? You can go fuck yourself!”
Captain Walker, while not entirely approving of the display of conduct here between an officer and his subordinate, still had respect for what Griffin was saying.
“Sorry about your trophy case Captain Walker” and he walked out.
After a moment, Walker crossed her arms and looked at Major Claire. He said to her, “Please excuse that Marine. I’ll have him thrown in the brig and drummed out. His career is over.”
“You’ll do no such thing Major. I’m putting everything I’ve learned here in my log, and I will not let you destroy what’s left of the Marine detachment aboard this ship. You do know that the conference room is equipped with visual sensors? They record everything. No, Major. If I were you, I’d transfer myself to another posting. Because you’re the one whose career is over.”
[OFF:]
Lance Corporal Evan Griffin
“I don’t know who needs to hear this: But you’re cranky ‘cause you need to get laid.”
Division VI, MARDET 62nd Company "Spartans", 1st Platoon Sapper Combat Engineer/EOD
=/\= USS ELYSIUM - NCC-89000 =/\=
