'Twas the Night Before...
Posted on 01/20/2022 @ 12:10pm by Captain Brina Tracy-Hall & Colonel Jack Patton & Captain Skol Vek & Sergeant Audie Fitch & Master Sergeant Robert Schiano & Staff Sergeant Kaia Li
3,804 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
The Mirror’s Edge
Location: Gimli/ Out in Space
Timeline: December 24th, 2396
While she wasn't sure why she was the one who had received the transmission, but in the long run, Audie knew it didn't matter...she had to get it to Lt. Col. Patton right away, for there was no question that it was urgent..Emergent, for that matter.
The computer told her he was in the Throne-room, so she went straight there, only acknowledging him with a quick nod as she handed him her PADD.
"Sir, I got this, I don't think it's a prank..."
NORAD has lost contact with Sgt. Major Claus and his team in an asteroid belt near your location. He had reported problems with visibility and navigation.
We need you to activate your Emergency Lifesaving Flight squad and initiate a rescue mission. We suggest you find a Private Rudolph to help show you the way...
North Pole Ops
"It must be pretty serious if they want us to activate the ELFs...
Jack listened to Audie read the message and then took a look at the message himself. "This has to be someone's idea of a joke. Nothing here exists... Did we verify the message in any way?"
Brina overheard this as she had noticed Audie's quick entrance. "Okay what is this about?" her curiosity being caught. "What are the details again?"
"Apparently it is someone's idea of a joke. Our orders are to rescue Santa and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Neither of which actually exist." Jack replied with a snide tone.
The conversation had brought the attention of Meatball who came jogging into the room. "Youze know youze shouldn't toy with the jolly fat man."
Skol had been doing some paperwork when he observed the quick pace of Audie entering the area. He didn't acknowledge anything until Meatball entered the room. He stood up and walked over "What is going on? May I see the paper, Sir?"
After a small peruse of the paper he sighed and handed the paper back "Who sent this to us? This has to be the biggest idea of a joke I have ever heard. Are we even going to respond to this?" He said with utter dismay in his voice at the absolute waste of time to the unit this was bringing.
He was new, but he was blunt and better yet he was right, and even better yet Jack agreed with him. Jack was beginning to really like Skol. "Our response is going to be swift and with great prejudice. No one pranks the Kingsmen and gets away with it. We are going to find out who sent this and then we play to win my friend."
Audie shrugged. "We can look for the source info on my PADD," she suggested, "but...maybe we should check first to find out if there really is a Major Claus and Private Rudolph?" After all, while it did sound suspicious, it only specified ranks, so maybe...
"Could it be a code name for someone else? Sometimes people do utilize that as a hopeful surprise?" Brina grinned. " Also could be a code for someone who brings in presents like what is called a Secret Santa. Nothing wrong with just a small flight of fantasy."
The words of his father played in Jack's head. We are Marines and as such we do not play. We are business in and business out and we always complete our missions. But that was then and this is now, and Jack knew it. "I agree with Captain Vek, however, I can also see the merit in investigating this. At the very least we would find out who pranked us and come up with a way to get em back. So in that vein I am willing to pursue this. But, I cannot commit a heavy amount of resources, at least not yet. Not until we know if this is real or not. To that end Songbird, Magic Hands if you think this is real I will give you both 48 hours to show me."
Brina looked at Audie, "It looks like we've got out orders. You me and..." she looked around, "Who shall we bring with us." looking towards Vek. "How about you Captain Vek and you Meatball. Want to come with us on what the Major feels is a fools mission?" giving Patton a bit of a look. She knew that there were those who don't wish to believe, though Santa is just a symbol a belief of good will. "And Marines have hearts as well, Sir." she said pointedly to Jack. "So yes 48 hours."
"Youze know, dat even my muttah said that Santa found a way to get to every apartment in New York. Chiminey or no... So I am always game to prove Black Jack wrong. It is fun to watch him lose. When do we bug out." Schiano replied as he took a few steps toward Brina.
Jack took Brina's message and he understood the need and/or want to believe. However, he just could not bring himself to do it. It was not in his nature. Jack was a tactician, a logician some compared him to a Vulcan with feelings. But, he also knew how to take the pulse of those around him, it was what made him a good leader. It was for that reason that he let Brina take the mission. He smiled in the direction of Brina and Meatball. "Well I can see the battle lines being drawn. Sherlock perhaps you can at least keep them on task." He added with a chuckle.
Vek sighed and nodded "I'll tag along, but I still think this will be a waste of time for all of us. My family didn't believe in Santa so my optimistic mood may not be the best."
Brina looked at both Meatball and Magic Fingers, "Even so, there still might be something that can cast a positive light. Not necessarily you believing in Christmas but something good, just to chase away some of the bad. We're due for something." her bright smile dimming, as she thought about the previous weeks. Boy was she hoping that her husband and boys will come soon. She needed a bit of light herself.
Audie shrugged. "A lot of people don't believe in a lot of things," she mused, then added, under her breath, "Scrouge!" Well, close enough! "Let's do this, then, it isn't as if there's anything else pressing going on at the moment."
Nodding to her companions, she headed toward the shuttles, starting to organize in her head. "We need to find this Rudolph person and fetch him first. Who wants to drive?"
"I can do the piloting."Brina stated. "Unless you want to do so." looking at Meatball. "Or Sherlock. Wait I am wondering if Sergeant Li will be wanting to come along." looking around for her.
Vek shook his head this was absolutely ridiculous, but an order is an order. He sighed “No that’s ok, but if you need a co pilot I will assist.”
"Listen Brina take who ever you need. But remember we can't spend too long on this there are more pressing matters demanding our attention. That said order whoever you need to go." Jack said with a smile.
Robert cut in. "Oy, Songboid youze new here so I will forgive you. But I do da pilotin round deeze parts. Dat is if you want to get back in one piece." A quick moment later he remembered who he was talking to. "I mean with yer permission of course ma'am."
That elicited a raised eyebrow from Brina, and a bit of a spark in her eyes. "You do the piloting? Well until I know more about the area here then it is your go. However, you and me are going to do some flying together later on. I've got a hankering to do some flying as Songbird needs to stretch her wings and fly. I think you understand what I talking about. However you know the lay out so, yeah its a go." cracking a grin. "Lead on then, Meatball."
"Da Gimli is in da Shuttlebay for us." Meatball said with a smirk. He had one job in this unit and she knew it. But Robert could respect a woman who had balls.
Jack watched as they left and headed for the Argo Class Transport Gimli. He knew that at the very least this prank would help his unit bond a little more.
Once those that were going to go on this venture had arrived at the Gimli, Brina said, "Okay Meatball its your show, and Magic Fingers you've got the coordinates let's go see just what this is." giving a grin. Though deep in the back of her mind, Brina was wondering if this maybe a code for something more serious. She didn't know but did want to find out.
"Right oh... Strap in. Just received clearance from station Ops...." Schiano's hands glided over the controls as a conductor in front of some huge orchestra. "...Course laid in and warp drive on your command."
Brina grinned, "All right, believers and non believers, lets go!" Then she said to Meatball, "Engage" and chuckled.
Skol sat in the seat still trying to find an excuse to get out of this venture. This was one time he didn't want to be the 'Sherlock' The whole thought of this would make the officers that trained him laugh. He shook his head and looked at Brina "Let's go for it." He said smiling in the most ridiculous manner.
Audie had been coercing the computer into giving up information on 'Pvt. Rudolph', and had finally gotten a hit. "So, it appears the contact we are looking for is retired...he's at coordinates 900.135..." She shrugged. "Dunno, guess it's a start, right? His first name is 'Alv'."
"AlV? That is really strange. However or whatever this is we need to investigate." Brina having a determined look. "And when we get there definitely have to proceed with caution."
Skol looked at them and nodded “Though I may not be keen on this mission something about it does not feel right. I recommend extreme caution as we proceed.”
Brina nodded, and said. "Carry on!"
As the Gimli moved forward towards the coordinates, Brina was thrilled being out there in a smaller craft in the vast expanse of space. She also noticed the skilled way Meatball was working the controls, the man certainly was exhibiting that he knew his stuff.
Sometime later
The Gimli drew near to the area where the coordinates had sent them. There were two ships there and a distress signal had been sent out. The one craft had the coloration of what would appear red and green coloration and the other ship was normal grey. The red and green one was connected to the other, the grey one looked like it had taken some damage. The grey one was the USS Trakni, a transport ship of some kind and the red and green colored one was named, USS Rudolph.
Brina's eyebrows knitted together when she saw this. "Okay something definitely happened here. Open hailing frequency please. And keep an eye out for would be attackers!"
The view screen would engage and all those that were in the Gimli would see a man wearing a red and white hat and a glorious white beard.
Brina just stared at the image she was looking at. The man look like Santa Claus, her kids would have been delighted in seeing him.
She looked at those that were there with astonishment, were they seeing what she was seeing?
Vek’s eyes widened in disbelief he was seeing something he never thought possible. This was the craziest thing he had ever seen, but it was real.
Meatball had almost wished he brought a book. The piloting on this mission was run of the mill thus far. Nothing special, not even an asteroid to go around. However, when they arrived at Audie's coordinates the image that he saw on the viewscreen changed all of that. The order for hailing frequencies brought him out of his surprised stupor and back to the here and now. "Hailing frequencies opened. The channel is yours." He began to scan the ships for a possible LZ in case the team needed to get out in a hurry. His right hand laid in a course for Poseidon at maximum warp and he held it in a standby mode. One press of the now flashing button would send the Gimli back for home. Robert Schiano was an EVAC specialist, and he was never out of plans to get his team back home again.
There came a sound from both Santa's bridge as well as the Gimli. Brina looked with concern it sounded like the indication of something coming in.
"Blast it..." came from Santa who gave a frustrated growl. "What the devil? They must be coming back..." he looked at those there on the Gimli. "Think you could.. do something about that? It might be the pirates who attacked Trakni earlier, we're uh.. not in any position. To do so."
Schiano did not expect that. Suddenly the impossible mission that should never have been turned into something much much more. He turned his head to the sensor screens... "Anyone got the bogey on scanners?"
Vek looked at the scanners and indeed could confirm a bogey was incoming. "I have one unidentified craft heading this way and they're moving pretty fast. I recommend preparing for an imminent attack." He continued to study the vessel seeing if any indication was shown of what they were planning.
This had sort of snowballed (pun intended!) into a lot more than any of them had anticipated, but there was no time to ponder on that at the moment...there was a threat to be addressed before they could sort out the rest.
"Can't quite get a reading on it," Audie muttered, glancing at the others, "but I swear, if it's called 'Marly's Ghost', we should turn around and go home!" As absurd as this all was, at least it seemed that they were in a position to do some good for someone!
Schiano could not believe his eyes. Both this Santa person and the incoming contact this was too good to be a coincidence. They either walked into something, or this was something planned. He glanced to his right and looked toward Brina. "It's your call Songbird, but I have a bug out course laid in and evasive on standby."
Brina looked towards Santa and then out beyond the two ships. She had a gut feeling on this one, "We need to investigate what's coming and keep these two ships safe, we are the Marines and we take on what will come towards us. Meatball take us out there! Santa we'll be back."
Santa nodded and ended the call.
Schiano set an intercept course and engaged at maximum impulse. "Course laid in, time to intercept two minutes..." About a minute later the console chirped. "...We are being hailed it is the contact."
"On screen." Brina stated, wondering just who they would see on the other side. It would be best to get the idea on what sort of opponent they would be facing.
The small screen in the center of the console resolved to an image of a man wearing leather civilian clothing. Wrapped around his torso and hanging into his hands was a large steel chain. This man appeared to stand at about 5 foot 10 inches, his long salt and pepper hair was pulled back in a disheveled pony tail, and two large bushy mutton chop sideburns were on the sides of his head. When he spoke his voice was deep and seemed to be accented indicating he may have come from England on Earth. "I am Captain Jacob Marley of the New Maquis vessel The Dutchman. You are way out of your league here Starfleet. Turn back, here there be dragons..."
" Jacob Marley?" Brina looked over towards Audie, total surprise at this. "You called, you truly called this." she then turned her attention back to Jacob. "Well Captain Marley, we're here to help those ships out. Don't know why your out here unless you caused this."
Sokol looked at the group in the shuttle as well as paying attention to the new enemy. Something about this felt wrong, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was. It made him uneasy and he did not like that.
"Sometimes it's no fun to be right," Audie muttered, shaking her head. As implausible as this was, it was here!
The gruff voice over the comm came through again. "This ere is a legitimate salvage operation. You come out here and accuse people. You got some balls Starfleet. There is nothing for you out here. I will warn one more time turn back and return to whatever piece of spacerock you crawled out of."
"Sorry no can do, those two ships are here for us to protect, and help them out. We got their distress signal, so not going to let you do any sort of salvage there." Brina looked at Skol and Audie as well as Meatball, "Be ready." she remarked.
Sokol nodded and looked at the information before him. They were going to attack, but when would be hard to know.
"What do you say about sending a warning shot that we mean business?" Brina remarked to her team. "We are not going to let them, get after the two ships behind us."
"What about..." Frowning, Audie shook her head, then voiced her idea. "How about we show them? Bring up some images of missions past, when we were outclassed but prevailed, then any current missions with other Marine contingents that are kicking ass, then show them what will become of them if we..."
She trailed off for a moment, then muttered, "Missions Future...hasn't this been done before?"
Meatball took a quick look at his console and called out the analysis. "It seems that the Duchman is a Maquis Raider. Not much of a ship to stand up to a full starship. However, up against the Gimli she is an even match in weapons, defensive capabilities, and maneuverability. They can even match us on speed. The only edge we have on them is maneuverability..."
Schiano's voice was cut off as Marley spoke through the comm channel. "You know Starfleet one would have thought that you would have learned by now to stay out of things that you do not belong in. But, have it your way." The channel went dead as soon as he finished speaking. Multiple lances of phaser energy sprang forth from the Dutchman and six blue dots began to streak across the space between the two ships."
"We have incoming... Engaging evasive pattern Meatloaf alpha two." Schiano called from his station. Outside of the Gimli the small vessel held its ground and the phaser energy and torpedoes came toward it. In an instant before everything would have struck its target the Gimli rolled to starboard and then rose into a loop. As it finished the loop the ship jumped to warp for a second. These maneuvers allowed for the Dutchman's weapons to miss their mark. "I may have bought us a few moments. We got out of that like a bat out of hell."
"Return fire!" Brina commanded, once the fancy flight maneuvers were done. "And what is that ship on? Its nothing I am familiar with. And great flying Meatball!" her heart beating rapidly. "Sherlock lets hope you can hit that thing!"
Skol immediately focused in his station targeting the vessel that was trying to evade him. He had to thank his Vulcan upbringing he learned there was ways to determine where a ship was going. He set the predetermined path and shot seeing an explosion. "Impulse Engines disabled." He said looked up at Brina.
You didn't last as long as Jacob Marley did in the New Maquis without knowing when to cut losses. They had gotten what they came for, and he would be able to show Starfleet a thing or two anyway. Something the Marley was sure even Malbrooke did not know about. He opened a channel to Gimli. "Remember Starfleet that we all bear the chains that we forge. We bear the fruits of our labors, and the Federation and Starfleet will bear the repercussions of what they have sewn here. I girded my chain with my own free will, and with my own free will I wield it." The line went dead and in a flash of light bright enough to cause a small amount of daze within the Gimli's cockpit the Dutchman disappeared into slipstream.
"What...the...fuck..." Meatball stammered. "Where the hell did they go?"
Brina blinked to clear her vision, even went as far as rubbing her eyes. "I have no idea what that was, or where they went." looking at her small crew. "Okay, let's get back to the USS Rudolph and the ship they were helping, I don't know about you, but I want to get home very soon. Meatball, get us back to the Rudolph. And be wary, don't know if there is anyone else out there."
When they were back where the USS Rudolph was, the Gimli was hailed and when the view screen flickered on, Santa was once more there. "Thank you Gimli, for your assistance. Also, Captain Tracy, I've got a surprise for you." he looked back and motioned behind him, then four rather familiar people appeared in the viewscreen. Her husband, and her three boys.
"Surprise Mummy!" came from her three sons, then Nicholas chimed in as well. "Surprise love!" then he laughed, at the dumbfounded expression on Brina's face.
"We're your Christmas present, Mummy!" the boys shouted excitedly.
Brina wiped away the tears that fell down her cheeks, then she looked towards Skol as well as the readers, breaking the fourth wall and stated, "Yes indeed Poseidon Station, there is a Santa Claus. "
She then looked at Audie, Skol and Meatball. "Okay lets get the precious cargo and ourselves back home!"
Skol looked back at the group with his hands lifted he stated "bah humbug?"
Brina shook her head and just laughed.
END
Master Sergeant Robert "Meatball" Schiano
Frist Sergeant, The Kingsmen
EVAC Specialist
Poseidon Station
Lieutenant Colonel Jack "BlackJack" Patton
Commanding Officer, The Kingsmen
Poseidon Strategic Command
Poseidon Station
Captain Jacob Marley
Commanding Officer, The Dutchmen
New Maquis
Marine Captain Brina Tracy-Hall
XO of the Kingsmen
Poseidon Station
Brina's Family: Nicholas Hall, Sean, Donovan and Lucas
Captain Santa of the USS Rudolph
Cpl. Audie Fitch
Marine Medic, Kingsmen
Honorary Elf
Poseidon Station
Marine Captain Skol "Sherlock" Vek
Marine CID Officer, The Kingsmen
Poseidon Station
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