Lost and Found
Posted on 19 Dec 2020 @ 1:35pm by Lieutenant Theodore Winslow & Major Declan Finn
Mission:
M1 - Emergence
Location: Cargo Bay - Marine Temporary Housing
Timeline: MD05 - 1900HRS
1143 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure
Declan was grinning like a schoolboy. Things hadn't exactly been going well, but this certainly made it a little bit better. With a chuckle he clapped Gunnery Sergeant Hamerwann on the back of his shoulder, which made a dull thud against his EVA suit. "Damn fine work, son," he grinned, "About time we had something good to report back to our Fleet friends," he added, clapping him one more time and walking past. In front of them, four more Marines were carrying crates of Starfleet branded supply crates and stacking them up. In the distance, half a dozen more pairs were bringing others forward while other Marines went back for another load. Finn walked up to one of them and unlatched it, opening it up to reveal a neatly arranged stack of Phase Rifles. He grinned even more and went to the next one, packed tightly with phase pistols on the inside and palm phasers on the outside. Finn just stood back and smiled. Considering how limited the resources were for Starfleet at the moment, this amounted to the holy grail, and it had been just there for the finding. Tucked away snug as a bug on a lower cargo hold that currently didn't have atmosphere and found by sheer dumb luck when his MP's were making their patrols.
Theodore had been hearing rumours for an hour of a big find from the marines but no one would tell him what it was other than he needed to go check it out for himself. It was how he found himself standing frustrated in the doorway of the temporary marine camp that had been build in the cargo bay. Did he just walk in? Did he announce himself? It was a Starfleet space but he respected that it was the marines space at the moment until they had barracks again. It was a cautious relationship between fleeters and marines and he did not want to blow it and ruin a professional relationship.
“Can I come in?” He finally decided to yell as he saw a group standing around cargo containers.
Declan turned to the sound of the voice and then smiled, waving him in, "Party's over here, L-T," Finn called out, now gesturing to the next stack of crates being brought over. "Christmas came early," he grinned as Winslow joined them.
Winslow moved into the Cargo bay and raised an eyebrow at the sight that greeted him. He had been prepared for most things but not the grin that spread across his face at what he was in fact seeing. "Christmas has indeed come early as well as my birthday."
"I don't know about you mate, but I could use some good news right now. Feels like everything's stacked against us. It's not much, but it's better than nothing," Declan laughed, walking to one of the crates and opening it up to reveal a neatly stacked row of plasma charges.
"And quite possibly Federation Day," Theo added to his list of days he got presents for. It was an impressive find. "How many do you think we have now?" It was very good news and meant that the armoury outside of the breaches could be fully stocked just incase.
“We’ve got about nine crates here, Hamerwann said there’s about twelve to fifteen more. Might not all be weapons, but at this rate, even if this is all we get, it's a bloody haul, mate!”
“Captain,” a strained voice called out, hauling one side of a massive crate with three other marines, two on either side of it. “Have a look at this,” he called out, grunting with the effort of carrying his 1/4th of it. With a thud, they dropped the box on the ground and he gestured to the stenciling on the outside that read: ‘Starfleet - Mk.VII - Repeating Phase Weapon’.
Declan’s ears perked up as he read that, but Hammerwann was shaking his head, “That’s what I thought when I saw it,” he said, “But I carried a Mk-seven in the field, it’s nowhere near this heavy,” he said, gesturing to the crate and then unlatching it with the help of his Marines. He tossed the lid up so Declan and Winslow could look inside to see.
All he could see was a jumble of disassembled parts and other random equipment, at least random to him, but as he stared at it a bit longer he started to sort of put it together in his mind. “It almost looks like a… power node… or something.”
“It’s a fusion core,” Hammerwann grinned, “Brand new, but for some dumb-ass reason tossed in this box. Probably the engineering crew threw it in here for some off-hand reason and then whoever did that left the station and no one was the wiser. Until now,” he grinned, looking back to Finn, “How bad is ole Poindexter in Engineering going to wet his pants when he sees this?”
“… he may not be able to walk…” Declan looked on in awe.
Theodore might have commented about the disrespect the Marines had for the engineering in general but decided to stay quiet as he just took in the haul that had been found. It was definitely startling to look at. "Do not know about you Captain but I am feeling a bit warm and fuzzy myself over this find. Definitely has made my day better." Theodore had, had many thoughts about how they were going to defend themselves but this elevated a lot of that stress.
"Too right, that," Finn nodded, waving for Hammerwann to close it up. "Send this up to engineering with some of the non-eva lot. Make sure they deliver it straight to Commander Quinn with my compliments," he grinned, glancing over at Winslow.
"Right away, sir," Hammerwann beamed through his EVA helmet.
"Right, well, Lieutenant. Outstanding as that was, that wasn't why I asked you down here," he said, waving for him to follow. "I was taking a look at some of the security protocols and wanted to run a few things by you. I've got that over her in my HQ. Come have a look," he smiled, heading that way. There wasn't anything specifically wrong with Winslows, he'd just had a few ideas to incorporate his Marines into the situation a little better and wanted to run them by the guy before he just made it happen. MacTaryn had said to support them every step of the way. So that's what he was doing. Putting his pride to the side and trying to work side by side with the Starfleet guys. He wasn't sure yet if it was going to work, but he wasn't going back hat in hand to MacTaryn unless he had a paper trail a mile long that showed he'd at least tried.