Marines - After Action Reports

Posted on 15 Jan 2019 @ 7:17pm by Major Terrance West & Captain Edward Bolingbroke (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War) & First Lieutenant Gregor Goss (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War) & First Lieutenant Eleanor Hargreaves (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War)

Mission: Ka Hakaka Maikaʻi - The Good Fight
Location: Medical & Marine Barracks
Timeline: After "Eyes on the Prize"

[ON]

[Medical - Deck 11 ]

After overseeing the handover of the Wyoming survivors to the ship's Security personnel, Bolingbroke had sent his team back to the barracks and stopped by the Medroom to check on his injured Team members. Thise who had been clawed at the Gorn torpedo magazine had been treated and released. Smith would require several minor surgeries to repair the wounds to her face which would come over the next couple of days when they had deal with the more serious cases. One of those was Johanson. He found her in a biobed with a Doctor examining her badly burned legs. He waited until they had finished and covered her up before intruding.

"How's it going Sarah"? He asked with a smile, the young Marine was looking a little sorry for herself.

"Hey, eLTee" Johanson gave him a weak smile "Not too bad, they gave me something for the pain. Can still smell myself though," She swallowed "Kinda like somebody left a steak on the barbeque too long"

"Is that what it is? We just thought you'd stopped showering!" Bolingbroke replied, trying to lighten the mood "What did the Doctor say?"

Johanson's eyes teared up. "Umm well, he said" She sniffed "He said... said it was going to be several weeks of treatment..." She really looked worried now "You're not going to send me to Xavier are you elTee? I don't want to lose my spot on the Team, took me months to get here! Please!"

Bolingbroke smiled, seeing now what the Marine was concerned about "Not a chance. Unless they say you have to go to the station for treatment, which is not my decision but otherwise you've more than eared your slot with Second Team. You concentrate on getting better and back to fully duty."

They exchanged a few more words, then a Nurse came to start dressing Johanson's burns and he left.

He met Hargreaves leaving at the same time he was. "Eleanor" He nodded to her "Well, we got through that better than I expected. Besides Sergeant Miller, we escaped with just a couple of minor injuries and Lance Corporal Johanson who's going to need some time here for her burns. Plus that Engineering Lieutenant, I gather she's still critical. Thanks for getting them all up here. How did Fourth Team fare?"

Hargreaves stopped at the address, the faintest flicker of her expression at the first name familiarity. She made no comment on it. "We lost Corporal Biggs, Bravo Element." Her voice was low, but without a particular amount of inflection. "And Corporal Palacio took some shrapnel to the arm, requiring minor surgery to reconnect everything and a little rest. Hopefully no more than a few days. Other than that it's bumps and scrapes."

"As we're in port, I believe the standard procedure is to transfer the dead to the Station for funeral arrangements" Bolingbroke said somberly "We should arrange an Honor Guard to stay with Miller and Biggs until they move them"

"Agreed. I'll make sure my team has the chance to do so for Biggs." Her expression pinched an iota. "They would have known him longer than I. Even after boarding I saw more of Alpha Element before all of this happened. We should head down, see about organising it."

Bolingbroke nodded and fell in step with Hargreaves.

[Elsewhere....]

Gregor sat quietly on a jumpseat, head in his hands, as he replayed the events of the boarding over and over again. Had he been too cautious? He had been very careful to make sure his team wasn't ambushed, but maybe that had made them too slow, by the time they had engaged the Gorn raiders, they had already sent a retrieval team down to the brig.

Yes, his team and the security forces had managed to keep the battle damage mostly contained to the diplomatic suite, but, damage to the ship seemed to have never been the enemy's aim. The ships most valuable intelligence assent had been taken right out from under them, and he had been powerless to stop it.

He would have to grapple with these events for a long time to come, make sure that he learned as much as he could from this failure. In the mean time, he reminded himself, it would be important to speak to his team. Too strong a sense of failure would be bad for morale, and they had performed admirably in their role as soldiers, this was his failure, he had made the wrong plan.

[Marine Barracks - Deck 21]

When Hargreaves and Bolingbroke stepped off the turbo lift they were met by two Marines in dress uniform, boots and brass gleaming. There was one from Second Team and one from Fourth, the pair must have rushed to clean up and get ready as soon as they got back from the mission. They came to attention and saluted their commanders.

"Sirs, Request permission to stand vigil with our comrades, Sirs"

Bolingbroke came to attention, returned the salute and nodded to his Marine "Carry on"

Hargreaves looked to Sergeant Kapier of 4th MSOT and gave her a brisk nod after likewise returning to the salute.

"Sirs, Thank you. Gunny Kadesh sends his compliments. He's organizing a list, everyone's going to take a turn, Sirs." One replied, then both moved to the turbolift and were gone.

Bolingbroke turned to Hargreaves "I swear Gunnery Sergeants are all mind readers"

"Not sure. I transferred to the Academy at Sergeant." Hargreaves gave a mock-shudder. "If Gunnery Sergeant T'Kalla's a mind-reader, I need another transfer."

Moments later a Headquarters Corporal found them "Sirs, Major West would like you both for an initial After-Action Report. He's in the Ops Room"

[Marine Operations Room - Deck 22]

There was a small conference table at the back of the Operations room. They found West and Goss already there.

"... I am really surprised we didn't lose more," West could be heard saying to Goss.

Gregor only nodded his agreement

"Well, here come the lieutenants of the boarding party," West remarked. "Reports?"

Bolingbroke gave his initial summary of Second Team's actions, describing the initial boarding into a cargo bay; movement through the Gorn transit tubes to the magazine; the enemy contacts in that area, including the bio-weapon exposure of Engineering Lieutenant Kosu. Then securing one of the Gorn torpedoes; returning it through the transit tubes and getting it aboard the Hilo along with their casualties.

He continued with the movement forward through the tubes to link up with Second Team on the detention deck. Including the enemy contact in the tube, where Johanson had distracted the Gorn with the flame-thrower.

Then he described moving back to secure the hanger deck and the death of Sergeant Miller while engaging the Gorn.

"Sir, I wish to submit both Lance Corporal Johanson and Sergeant Miller for recognition. Lance Corporal Johanson's action disrupted the Gorn attack on our position in the transit tubes. Had she not distracted the Gorn they may well have overrun our position. Lance Corporal Johanson received serious burns in the action and will be in sickbay for several weeks."

"Route the packages and I'll conduct a review and forward it on," West granted.

Bolingbroke went on "In the Gorn Cruiser's Shuttle Bay Sergeant Miller charged an armored Gorn Phalanx member. He wrestled with the Gorn long enough for us to get into a defensive position and return fire. The Gorn shot and mortally wounded him. His last act was to deliberately fire his phaser into his rucksack of explosive charges. This killed the Gorn and disabled a second one long enough for us to kill it.

His action saved both boarding teams and the Wyoming survivors by allowing us to secure the shuttle bay in time for the Hilo to extract us. Had he not done so I do not know if we would have got off the saucer in time."

"Sounds like you got a team full of heroes, Bolingbroke," West took a skeptical tone despite being quite proud. "I'm not giving everyone a frakking medal, though."

"No sir, just the badly wounded and the dead would suffice, sir" Bolingbroke replied levelly. Marines didn't need to be hero's, just get the job done and maybe have somebody recognise when it was done well.

"We'll take care of it," West nodded, realizing Bolingbroke was taking the loss of men a bit heavily. The Major turned to the female lieutenant.

At her turn, Hargreaves straightened, hands behind her back, and launched into her clipped summary. Proceeding further through the ship, mostly via the tubes; the encounter with the grenade and then the breach of the control room. The gathering of the enemy data, then the spanner in the works of the information on the Wyoming prisoners and the redeployment under time-sensitive pressure to recover the officers and escape the ship on a collision course.

"Corporal Biggs fell on the assault on a defended position by Gorn in proximity to the detention centre. A direct assault was all we had time for, and we're fortunate losses then weren't heavier," she explained. "The other major injury was Corporal Palacio, who placed himself directly in the line of fire to take out the grenade in zero-g in the tube. He was successful, and injured by shrapnel. It could have been considerably worse, but he performed his duty." Despite the words being less glowing than Bolingbroke's, there was a firmness to Hargreaves' voice which marked her respect for her Marines' work.

Then she hesitated. "I should add that the presence and advice of Commander Tolkath was an asset to the team. His knowledge was quick and he didn't slow us down." Again, the damning with faint praise would have probably been gushing from any other officer.

"Good. If he had slowed you down, I would've decked him myself. I'll be sure to let the Captain know his Vulcan Commander can keep up with us marines," West glanced at Goss for the rest of his report.

Gregor cleared his throat when his time came, and began to relay his version of events with forced calm. He relayed the most important events, and an outline of the rest. Cautiosly advancing toward the breach, flanking the Gorn, losing Dr. Sthilg, and being unable to pursue the fleeing raiders. "Overall sir, I would consider this action a failure. The marines on my team performed admirably, we have only one dead, and four more wounded and in recovery, full details are in my written report. I made a number of tactical errors that allowed the enemy to achieve their objective and escape. In hindsight it is clear I was too concerned with the threats of ambush and sabotage of ship systems, I didn't consider other possibilities. I allowed them to take our prisoner." He finished and stood stiffly, his face set in a mask of grim determination.

"I would not call your team's action a failure," West commented, a rare pseudo-compliment. "Things could have been far worse. Things can always be worse. It is my understanding we took a Gorn prisoner ourselves, so I do not see the loss of a backstabbing Doctor a failure. Hell, he was probably working with them anyways."

West glanced back at the rest, pausing on Bolingbroke before addressing the trio. He felt a bit guilty for being stern before. "I know we all lost people here. We need to make sure their deaths were not in vain. We will meet the Gorn on the battlefield again. Learn from this action and use it for the next," West softened his tone, pausing.

"Everyone gets 48 hour liberty. Make sure your people are aware that if there is even one alcohol related incident, we're going on lockdown and doing PT all weekend," West declared in his usual tone as he pointed a finger at the three lieutenants.

"They'll be aware," Hargreaves agreed, making it sound almost like a threat against her to-be-beleaguered team.

Again Gregor only nodded in silent confirmation, hopefully this would be good fro his marines.

Bolingbroke nodded "They'll drink too much but they'll behave"

"You all did good. Bolingbroke, coordinate with XFY about the funeral arrangements. I saw the honor guard tasking come through earlier and will authorize whoever you want to send. Not that I think this needs to be said, yet I expect us all to be there," West softened his tone. Losing people was always hard.

"Sir, yes Sir" The lieutenant replied "l will advise your staff on the timings."

"One more thing," West said reaching into a drawer and tossing a piece of metal at the Viscount.

"Santiago is going to need time to recover. I need a new Company Commander for the Canterra Campaign. Congratulations, Captain" West smiled.

Bolingbroke caught the Captain's Bars out of the air. He was surprised at the unexpected promotion and a little taken back. He was not sure he'd done anything to earn it, just did his duty as best he could and a horrid thought hit him that Johanson and Miller had brought him the rank with their blood. He quashed that and snapped to attention "Sir, l..... Thank you Sir. I will endeavor to earn them."

"As far as I am concerned, you earned them on that boarding action," West said seriously. "Now don't forget where you came from. Dismissed."

[OFF]

Terrance "Terry" West, Maj, SFMC
3d MRBN/CC

Edward Bolingbroke, Capt, SFMC
BMSOC/CC

Eleanor Hargreaves, 1stLt, SFMC
Team Leader, 4th MSOT, BMSOC, 3d MRBN

Gregor Goss, 1stLt, SFMC
Team Leader, 3d MSOT, DMSOC, 3d MRBN