Ground Forces After Action

Posted on Sat Sep 19th, 2026 @ 1:46pm by Sergeant Jace Morven & Commodore Elias McEntyre & Lieutenant Colonel Jesse Moriarty & Major Blez Dralis & Corporal R'Mes & Sergeant Major Bellona Juventus & Corporal Ra-Gari
Edited on on Sat Sep 19th, 2026 @ 1:46pm

1,957 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Pilot - "The Gate"
Location: Holodeck 2, USS Guinevere
Timeline: Couple days after the boarding

Holodeck Two was empty when Jace Morven arrived. No programme had been loaded yet, leaving only the black walls, the faint amber geometry of the grid and the low, inactive hum of a room waiting to become something else. There were no chairs, no table, no tactical overlay suspended in the air. Nothing had been shaped for them yet. It was just space, clean and hollow, too large without context and too quiet without orders. The computer had informed him of the meeting ten minutes before it was due to begin, and Jace had not checked the time after that. Notification meant movement. Movement meant arrival. So he had come.

He stood near the centre of the grid in Federation blue fatigues, boots planted evenly, hands loose at his sides, eyes unfocused on a point somewhere past the far wall. He was not thinking about the boarding, not properly. Not yet. Thought would come when there was something to assess, footage to watch, angles to measure, decisions to pull apart until they either held or broke. For now there was only his breathing, slow and even, the quiet pull of air into his ribs and the answering ache where bruises still darkened beneath his shirt. One scrape along his forearm had scabbed over badly where the sleeve had rubbed it raw again. His knuckles were split in two places, healing clean enough...nothing that worried him or he noticed unless he stopped. He could still perform, still do his duty...So he had not gone to sickbay. The thought of it passed through him without weight, then vanished again into the rhythm of his own pulse and the silence of the empty room.

Moriarty looked much like his usual self as he entered. His black curls of hair had been tamed back from his face and he wore the uniform vest rather than the full jacket. But for those who knew him well, the circles under his eyes were a little darker than usual, and the devil horns at his brow a little deeper. "Morven," he nodded to the sergeant as he moved in next to him. "Good job on getting that report in so fast."

Jace blinked, turning his head to look at him. "I..." he paused, considering this options. "I think Ensign Wells did it. It suddenly was...just finished, Sir." He gave a small shrug, because he wasn't certain...well, he was mostly certain it had been her. His eyes took in his CO and he gave a small nod of recognition... he was seeing the strain.

"Don't sell yourself short, Sergeant. You performed quite admirably." The deep texan of the Commodore carried as he entered the holodeck.

"I was very impressed with everyone's performance during our recent action."

Jace came into attention the moment he heard the Caitian Commodore, clocking the words. His face stayed still, his jaw set. "Commodore, Sir," he said, acknowledging his presence. The praise was more difficult, but he knew he had meant the combat. The actual report, Jace had said some bullet points, the PADD recorded them to text...he had left it and when he had come back there had been words. A report. He had gotten the computer to read it to him before he submitted it.

Jesse also straightened up at his entrance, but he was nodding to the praise. Despite the casualties...it could have been a hell of a lot worse if they hadn't stepped up to the plate. "Couldn't agree more, Sir."

Blez entered and while his purple hair looked a little disheveled his uniform was crisp. “Apologies, sirs,” he nodded to the Commodore first then his superior the Lieutenant Colonel. “Sergeant.” He greeted Jace.

He stood facing them but at least a couple of steps away. “Am I the last to arrive?” Blez inquired.

"I guess not. I'm here." R'Mes said

"Did I miss anything said before I arrived?" Blez asked the group.

"nothing of note" Elias replied.

"Sergeant Morven." Bellona looked terrible, honestly, when she stepped through the door - but the Magna Roman's gaze was stony and her gait was steady, even if the rest of her wasn't really. She'd pushed herself over the past many days, straightening out the rest of the unit. She nodded to the officers in the room, once, before continuing to speak.

"Don't you pretend that you're alright. I can see the wounds from here." Her tone hardened. "As soon as this meeting is over, you will go to sickbay. You will be seen by the doctors there. You will not leave till they say you can leave. If you do, I will drag you back there myself."

"That being said." She allowed her shoulders to relax, just a fraction. "Good job. I am pleased to have a soldier like you under me. When we return to the Alpha Quadrant, I will see to it that you are recognised."

Morven had tensed up to attention when the Sergeant Major had arrived and directed words at him. He looked at her without really looking. "Sergeant Major," he said, neither an acceptance or an admittance. He wanted to argue it was healing fine and wasn't slowing him down. The praise landed the way these things did...he was good at violence. But so was she.

Moriarty glanced around to check attendance before giving a sharp nod and bringing up a holographic display listing stats, timelines, and damage and casualty reports. "Enough time has passed for us to recover and regroup. Now, we need to get to grips with what happened and how we can tighten up our response to any further combat. They're different to the hostile forces we've become used to. They board via pods, not transporter. Most importantly, they use meson weapons, which result in devastating destruction."

"Meson weapons haven't been seen in the Milky Way since the end of the Kzinti War in 2128." Elias elaborated. "Starfleet has not seen fit to develop any kind of countermeasure due to the terms of the Treaty of Sirius. The Kzinti for their parts have also abided by the treaty. Basically we're starting from square one on this."

Sergeant Morven considered the words before his jaw tightened for a moment. "They moved in formation," he finally said as he looked over at the Commodore and Moriarty. His voice was calm, almost detached, but there was a hint of something there. Maybe admiration. Or the grudging respect for the enemy. "They don't seem to fear anything either. So. They're the controlling force here. Apex predator."

"Well, too bad. I say we do what we must do to survive." Bellona grumbled, arms crossed. "This is not the Alpha Quadrant. The enemy is not going to stop shooting just because we have no defenses and we saw this already. So I say the Treaty can take a back seat to life. The lives of us and the ship around us."

Elias suppressed a glare. “Our objective now is to get word back to Starfleet and that’ll include breaking through the blockade that our enemy has no doubtlessly set up at the gate. We don’t have enough Transphasic Torpedoes to even make a dent in a large blockade so I am in search of alternative solutions”

"Then we need to be prepared for more attacks," Moriarty pointed out, folding his arms across his chest as he looked to the data. "We're stuck here, alone, until we can either send for help, leave or communicate with them to call a truce."

Morven looked at them for a moment, considering it before he frowned. "Colonel's right," he said, but his mind was already considering it. "We didn't get much warning before the breaching pods arrived. They'd already spread to vital areas by the time we mobilised. Site to site transport next time would cut down some time. Not viable if ship is engaged in combat." He let out a breath, visualising it for a moment. "Troopers already stationed at vital areas of the ship could work better. Not good for morale though." It was added as an afterthought, and he didn't clarify whose morale.

"Agreed," Moriarty nodded to the last. He wasn't keen on the idea of his troops already being tired and fed up before a fight had even started because they'd been patrolling a ship for a week. "Muster points then? Squads are assigned to pre-determined muster points that we establish throughout the ship. As soon as the red alert goes, each trooper gets to their muster point rather than HQ. Would save some time at least. And we can decide on the muster points based on where their pods hit last time and key areas of the ship."

Morven nodded and looked at him, considering it for a moment. "Get Tactical involved," he finally said before he seemed to remember that it wasn't just the two of them. His eyes went to the Commodore. "They'll have better readings of where the pods landed, Sir. And might be able to predict other potential weak points we should reinforce."

"Agreed, get with the Master Chief, he's taking over tactical while Mr. Drevas is in sickbay." Elias nodded in agreement.

"I have had a thought in mind that we board their flagship for intelligence gathering and disabling it to allow Guin to make the transit through the gate for reinforcements."

Morven glanced over at Moriarty at the Commodore's idea. His jaw tightened for a moment. It was dangerous and most likely a one way ticket, but when he weighed that against the lives of everyone else aboard the Guinevere, there was not much to consider. His eyes moved back to the Commodore, but he said nothing. There was not a plan yet, no orders issued. Just an idea.

Moriarty took in a slow, sharp breath at the suggestion, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought it over. In theory, it was an option. They had the training, experience. In reality, with no back up it could turn into a disaster if something went wrong. "If we did infiltrate their ship, I'd recommend picking one objective or the other...our odds for success would be better if we went with either intel gathering or sabotage rather than both."

"Pragmatically, yes, you are correct. However, I would still like plans drawn up for both and how we would split to cover both objectives." Elias would say as he turned to Blez.

"Regarding those muster points, sirs, we probably should consider establishing wall lockers at them so weapons can be easily collected by squads," Blez added. "Were we able to scan their ships effectively to get a layout of their interior?" He asked, any intel is better than none.

"Sensor data is being analyzed by Science and Tactical. I should have reports for y'all in a few hours."

"I think I've taken enough of everyones time. We all have our jobs. Grab showers, chow, maybe a bit of shut eye if you can and then get to work." Elias nods to everyone.

Jace straightened at the dismissal, coming back to attention almost without thought. His shoulders squared, boots planted evenly beneath him and his hands settled still at his sides. He said nothing, simply holding the position with his eyes forward as he waited for the Commodore to leave.

"Aye sir," Blez replied with a nod.

"Thank you all" Elias said before he left the holodeck.

-------
Commodore Elias McEntyre
Commanding Officer
USS Guinevere

Sergeant Jace Morven
Platoon Sergeant, Alpha Squad
Federation Ground Forces Detachment
USS Guinevere

Major Blez Dralis
Provost Marshal
Federation Ground Forces Detachment
USS Guinevere

Lt. Colonel Jesse Moriarty
CO Federation Ground Forces
USS Guinevere

 

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