STF

Memory: End of First Year Training Mission

Posted Aug. 25, 2022, 9:04 p.m. by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) (Jennifer Ward)

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in Memory: End of First Year Training Mission

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Memory: End of First Year Training Mission

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in Memory: End of First Year Training Mission
Posted by… suppressed (11) by the Post Ghost! 👻
April arrived and with it, squad assignments. For the size of their class that meant 13 people to a squad. Helena and Marceau had been put on a team together. She knew the other pilot as well. They were a mix of every department, at least two, security science, medical, linguists, pilots, engineers. They all had specialties. They had about two weeks of classes before their first training mission and there was a lot of speculation. They were given packs and told what they needed. Between classes they had to figure out where to get most of the supplies and who had access to get it. It was a puzzle that they had to solve. Everyone’s pack would be checked for the required equipment. Points would be taken for poorly organized or incomplete packs. Helena was excited to get off the Academy grounds and breathe after the turmoil of returning to campus. Not everyone was so eager…

Helena

Marceau was on the ‘not so eager’ side. Since he was medical, he’d been able to avoid confronting the Flying Problem. First year medical was about studying and learning what is typically in different kinds of med kits, what is typically in a sickbay, and then more typical first year medical student stuff. He’d had no need to go up yet. He was glad he’d been placed with Helena. It was at least a little comforting to know that maybe she could be his pilot. But he was still very worried about it.

He’d mentioned it to Lucy, and she had been surprisingly unhelpful (surprisingly to him, anyway). She’d said maybe he should just stay home, tell them he can’t do it. He couldn’t do that.

He was working with the other medical cadet to prepare their medkits so he didn’t have to think about flying up. Then, when those were finished, and what Marceau thought was well organized, he checked the list and with the other cadets in the squad for anything else medical had to get or anything else he could help prepare.

~ Marceau

Helena looked over the equipment list with the other pilot. They started out by going to the hanger bay and trying to requisition a transport plane. The Senior cadet shook her head and laughed. “Sorry, you can’t have that.” Helena and Billy knew it was a long shot, but they tried. But what could they get? The engineers would get tool kits…but the transports some times required special tools that weren’t in a basic tool kit, so they got that. Then on a whim, “Can we get a PaDD with the schematics for the different transports available to first year cadets?” Helena was the only first year that had tested out into higher level classes so she figured that nothing would be ranked for higher level flight training. The senior grinned, “Yes, you can.” It took her a few minutes but then passed the PaDD over.

It occurred to Helena the next day during their security class there was something else she could probably get. She went and talked to one of the science officer, Yvette, in the squad. They went to the quarter master to get navigational equipment. Compass, star charts, binoculars, etc. Helena also asked for star charts, a sextant (because why not) and maps. They were given a basic map of the area, without a lot of detail. Remembering the day before, Helena changed her request to specifics: Planimetric Maps, Topographic Maps, Thematic, Navigation Charts, and Cadastral Maps and Plans. The quartermaster nodded with slight twinkle to his eye. “Very good cadet.”

They all met in Kenneth’s room. It was pretty packed with all 13 of them in there. But they went over their packs to make sure everyone had the basics that were required. Then Helena and Billy learned when they had gone to ask for a plane. “The more specific we are, the more ‘out of the box’ the more things we can get. I don’t think we should go over board. We don’t want our packs so heavy we can’t carry them, but it might get us an edge. Like these maps.” She spread the topographical map out, “Now we know where we’re going. There’s no place names here, but we could do an inquiry with the computer and see if we can get more detail? It’s all about being prepared right?”

Helena

Marceau and one of the science cadets in their crew and the science cadet said, “If we can figure out where it is, we’ll know what kind of natural resources we might have around us. Both good and bad.” Marceau opened his medical kit, “We have basic medical kits with different bandages, a medical tricorder, some weak meds, and a few other things.” He glanced at the other med cadet, “There isn’t many ‘out of the box’ things we are cleared to use as year one medical cadets but eh…” Marceau chuckled nervously, “Hopefully we won’t need it anyway.”

~ Marceau

The other medical cadet tapped his chin, “What about after bite sticks, calamine lotion. If Kenson can figure out where this is we can ask for specific anti-venoms for what we might come across?”

Marceau nodded, “We will ask tomorrow.”

Kenneth was one of their engineers, “Billy, let me see that tool kit they gave you for the shuttles. We only need the specialized pieces. It will lighten the weight.” Emilio the other engineer snapped his fingers. “We can exchange some of our tools too. Instead of a whole set of ratchets we could ask for adjustable ones.”

Kenson shook his head, “I think I can do it, pin point the location, but I need the lab computers. Yvette, you want to help me?” She nodded and stood up. “Let’s go now. It should be quiet and if we go tonight maybe we won’t tip off the other teams.”

Helena

By the next day, the medical kit had calamine lotion, after bug bite things, and some other typical remedies that might come in handy. The engineers had been able to swap some of their gear and overall they were feeling pretty prepared. When they next met the first question was, “Do we have the location?”

~ Marceau

Kenson grinned, “It took awhile. The topography helped and we…” He went on for several minutes about the technical stuff he had to do and across referencing, until most of the group was glass eyed. Not that they weren’t eager to know how he did it, but he was starting to speed up and lost about half the group in the jargon.

Yvette slapped his arm. “Yes you’re a genius. Tell them already.”

Kenson grinned, “Sorry. The Black Hills. Yes as in Mount Rushmore, but the Northside and spreading west toward Idaho. We won’t be near the monument. Plenty of shade and water there. But plenty of natural dangers too.” Yvette passed out a list, animals, plants to watch out for, weather and temp conditions, as well as potential natural hazards like rock slides.” Days are warm, nights are chilly. Do we have fire starters? And pack layers for clothing. We’ll have our uniforms which are pretty good, but it won’t hurt to have extra.” He looked at Marceau “Any advice from medical?”

Helena

“Bring water. That area is dry… Not as dry during this part of the year but dehydration is not something to mess around with. We will also add sun lotion to the medical kit. Dry and hot means sun burns which also don’t help dehydration.” Marceau said. “There are, if I am right, some poisonous snakes in the area. I’m not sure about wildlife…” He looked to science, and then to the other medical cadet in case he forgot anything.

~ Marceau

Akela, the other medical cadet, added, “Shoes, good broken in shoes, but not old. You can get new ones from the quartermaster, but it will tear your feet up. But you don’t want ones that the soles are so worn they don’t grip. We’ll be near mountains and might have to hike. Gloves for those of you with delicate hands. Not winter gloves, but work or climbing gloves. Quartermaster should have those as well.” She tapped her chin. “OH. Socks. You do not want loose socks that move around in your boots, you’ll get blisters. Not only painful but if they break could get infected.”

Jones who was an avid outdoorsman, “Hats. Get a hat to shade your face. If bright sunlight bothers you, sunglasses. Also on top of poisonous snakes, there are spiders, also ticks. Ticks are awful and are in the woods. You need to check yourself every day.”

“Marceau we need to check and make sure we have tweezers at least incase we need to remove one. Sample cases too because we’ll have to have the tick checked if anyone gets bit. Also if you have known allergies or take medication regularly you need to let Marceau and I know. What about an emergency epinephrine pen, Marceau? In case anyone has an allergic reaction to something we aren’t aware of?”

Marceau nodded. “Epinephrine pens are standard in med kits. We have two in there.”

Helena in the mean time was talking to Jones. Then looked at Yvette, “Do we have water testing kits and purification tabs? Wait did anyone ask about ration packs? Or are going to attempt to forge and hunt?”

Helena

“We’ll starve if I’m doing the hunting. Better pack ration packs.” Someone said and Marceau agreed. Staking eating on their ability to forge and hunt in a dryer environment would not be a good idea.

~ Marceau

Gerard their comms and second linguist laughed, “Does anyone know how to hunt anymore? And how many rations. We’re going to be gone for 2 months. We can’t carry that much food with us? OH and look what I got!” He opened a bag and started tossing small palm sized boxes at everyone. “We are given one emergency comm unit and flares, BUT these are short ranged personal comms. The mountains might mess with the distance. But if we need to separate into groups.”

Marceau and the others caught the boxes tossed to them. “That will help us prevent anyone getting lost. These are a good thing to remember.”

Alvida the other linguist looked around, “Could our medical folks find out about that. Like how many rations should we carry, are we getting a sled or ground transports or what? We have to consider nutritional intake, right?”

Helena

Marceau nodded to answer the question. “We can spread the rations out in everyone’s packs. We can’t live without food so those are more important than any other gear. Akela and I will find out how many we need and…” Marceau considered. “I think rations come in packs that have everything you need nutritionally but we can ask. And how many everyone needs to last two months, both ideally and minimum necessary, just in case.”

~ Marceau

Helena looked around, “Okay so I’m sure we all need to reevaluate our packs and what’s in them. And we need to make sure we distribute shared items for access and weight. And leave room for ration packs.” She stood up and grabbed her pack. “Alright I have a fundamentals of language exam in the morning. I’m not going to pass but I’ve gotta study anyway.” It had only been two weeks, but everyone already knew Helena was to never be allowed to speak to an alien race, ever, without a translator. They all kind of laughed. She hefted her pack. Alvida sat up a little straighter, “I can help you study, Helena.” Emilo snorted, “Sure you would, but you have an exam on warp drive theory tomorrow. And YOU need to study.” That got a round of laughs as well. If Helena was aware of Alvida’s interest she didn’t show it.

“You are not going to fail,” Marceau said, shaking his head. “Remember the trick I taught you for the conjugations? You’ll do fine. If you think you’ll do fine you are more likely to do fine.”

When Marceau and Akela inquired about the rations they were given a weeks worth, they needed help carrying it. But they were told that along the way there would be opportunities to ‘find more’ and that’s all the senior cadets would say. The squad met in basement of Marceau and Helena’s dormitory that night with their packs and were busy organizing and checking each and every pack. They didn’t want to lose points on this part.

Helena

They were in the basement of the dormitory building sorting their packs. “The senior cadets said we’d be able to “find more” but leaving without enough still makes me worry.” Marceau commented as he organized his rations into his bag. There were footsteps down the stairs and then the sound to the basement door and in walked Lucy, wearing a short yellow sun dress with thin shoulder straps. She wore inch and a half tall white sandal heels. Hands on her hips, displaying spring colored, polka dot nail polish, foot tapping, she gave Marceau a very disappointed look and a “Marcyyyy I thought you’d be done with this by now. We had a dinner date planned!”

Helena recognized the heavy clicking staccato of heeled does, all the girls did, but Helena recognized the foot steps and sighed. They had work to do. The entire squad winced as Lucy’s fake and overly sweet voice almost squealed “Marcyyy.” Helena was really glad her back was to the door because she practically gagged. Half the squad looked wide eyed and Helena had to turn and she felt suddenly very mad. The other half of the squad along with Helena understood that Lucy had dressed that way to ‘convince’ Marceau of whatever it was she wanted. Helena also had to wonder how Lucy got on campus and into the dorm without an escort.

Marceau looked up and immediately stood from his spot with the squad, his bag plopping on the floor in front of him. “Lucy… I warned you I might not make it home in time for that,” Marceau replied, “We’re leaving tomorrow. We need to be prepared.” He headed over toward Lucy, lowering his voice as he came up to her, smiling, some stress behind the look. “We’ve talked about this.”

Kenson grabbed Marceau’s pack where it half folded in on itself and tried to help pack it. Yvette came over handling the medical equipment. Several eyebrows went up when Marceau said they had talked about this. Helena knew that Lucy hadn’t forgotten they were leaving the next day. She was good with details.

Lucy frowned, dropping her hands from her hips and instead crossed her arms. “So you’re going. To some middle of nowhere. For two months?

Lucy was using not only her dress and her figure, but now she was pouting and trying to cause a scene in front of their squad. If Marceau fell for it, Helena was going to lose a lot of respect for him. She caught Kenneth’s eye and shook her head and shrugged. She wasn’t going to step in, even if she might want to. Lucy had met Marceau after he had already joined Star Fleet. She lived in San Francisco she had knew what that meant and it wasn’t a surprise. Or at least it shouldn’t be. If she couldn’t handle that he had responsibilities to duty and his squad and Star Fleet, she shouldn’t have gotten involved with him. And Marceau chose to date her, so he needed to handle it.

Marceau put his hands on her shoulder and steered her up the stairs. The squad could hear them walking on the ground floor above and, to Marceau’s embarrassment if ever he found out, the squad could still hear the couple’s squabble: “This is what academy is, Lucy, I thought you understood that. To prepare us to go away into space.” Marceau said, voice tense, but not at all raised. “I just didn’t think you’d go. I mean, two months, Marcy, that’s a long time. What if something happens?” Lucy sounded genuinely worried, but also, she seemed upset. She really didn’t want him to go.

They all kept working until they could hear the couple on the stairs and then Gerard and Alvida rushed over to the door. They both had an ear for picking up subtleties in speech and Marceau and Lucy’s voices carried to them easily in the old building. Alvida also knew French and was able to tell them what Marceau was saying. The rest of them paused in their work, a few still slowly packing in an effort to hear what was going on. Helena could tell Lucy was worried, but honestly this was their first training mission. Nothing was going to happen, nothing major. They were even staying on Earth. What was she going to do when they went to Luna or Titan? Seriously? Billy shook his head, “What does she think Star Fleet is? Band camp?”

C’est tellement frustrant,” Marceau muttered in french. (this is so frustrating). Then “I can’t not go. That isn’t a choice. I have to, Lucille. This is what I want to do.”

Two weeks had flown, but everyone knew Helena and Marceau were best friends. And they all had gotten close very quickly. No one was happy with Lucy trying to manipulate Marceau. Helena let out a hissed, “Yess!” and pumped her fist. Good for him! She knew he was really upset with the little drama queen when he used her full name. There were several grins and couple soft claps as Marceau finally had enough.

There was a light thump, the sound of Lucy stomping her foot softly. Helena would have seen her do it before when she was frustrated. The heel amplified the sound a little. “What about me? All alone, wondering how you’re doing and where you are… What will I do?” Lucy made it all sound very dramatic.

Helena rolled her eyes so hard she almost knocked herself over, “With any luck find a new boy toy and leave us alone.” The snickers and out right laughter raced through the room. Yvette waving them all to be quiet so they could hear the rest of it. They were all hard pressed to hold back their laughter. Emilio threw a rolled pair of socks at Helena and hit her in the chest. She mouthed a silent “What?” and held up her hands as if to say she was innocent.

Marceau let out a long sigh. “We have emergency flairs. They pull us out if we are in any real danger. Two months, in the…” Marceau had to think to remember the English saying, “in the scheme of things, is not a long time.” The boards creaked under their feet as Marceau hugged her. “I’ll be back before you know it. Okay?”

Lucy reluctantly hugged him back, still unhappy with the outcome. “We’ll talk about this when you get back, Marcy.” She sighed against him and then there was a short silence (they kissed).

Helena gagged again not only at the nickname but the veiled threat that Marceau had done something wrong that she needed to correct. It was the first time Helena did not like Lucy and felt the urge to slap her.

“Will I see you before you go?” Lucy asked him, and Marceau replied in his thick French accent, “I will make sure that you do.” Then another, slightly longer silence, and then her footsteps could be heard, and then the door to the building opened and closed.

Jones and Gerard grinned, “That was smooth.” “Yes it was.” Akela chocked on her soda. “Smooth? That was magnificent. I don’t care what happens out there. I know we don’t vote till we get back, but I’m voting Renault for squad CO.” Alvida shook her head, “Same here. That girl was on the war path and ready to make a scene and embarrass him in front of everyone. Not only was there no yelling, he kissed her twice and she left without a fuss. THAT is who I want in charge when I meet hostile aliens.” They all laughed but it was true, and they all agreed. Helena knew Marceau would be completely embarrassed if he knew they all heard that and that that scene was why they wanted him squad commander.

Marceau returned to his seat in the basement, covering a look of stress and discontent. Not what he needed before this mission, not at all.

~ Marceau

Kenson passed him back his pack when he sat. Helena met his gaze when he came in, silently wondering if he was okay. He’d tell her later if he wanted, but he wasn’t the kind to ‘kiss and tell.’ But she’d be around if he needed to talk. She had no idea how he was going to manage to see her before they left. They had to muster at 0800 and then their equipment checked and on the transports by 1000.

Helena


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