The Way Home

Posted on Sun Nov 13th, 2022 @ 1:11am by Captain Natalya Markova & Gunnery Sergeant Reishi Hijani

Mission: The Interim
Location: Dajenda System, Marine Training Base

Her troops were doing just fine, Reishi Hijani thought to herself as she paused on the obstacle course she and they were running to observe. She was a good thirty seconds ahead of the group of them and not even breathing hard. It helped that she'd assisted the Base techs in setting it up and had designed much of it herself to make it tougher for them. They were, after all, due to meet their new unit CO in the next twelve hours, so running them ragged for a couple hours before giving them some stand-down time to get their gear stowed away and themselves in a better-than-presentable fashion.

She waited for another fifteen seconds, musing on the fact that they were getting an officer, which meant an assignment. Sometimes the grapevine would give the senior NCO a name, a destination, even some history on what was going on, but sometimes not. This was one of the latter times. Rei knew that the officer was a Captain, but that was the only thing that she knew aside from that she herself and her unit were being requested. That last wasn't really too much of a surprise, the Hijani name was VERY well known in the Corps, and the granddaughter of Major General Hiroshi Hijani and the daughter of Major Hiroki Hijani, dead in the Dominion War, would have a reputation to uphold even before they saw her in person.

She smirked at the first troop to come into view, muddied where she barely had a scrap of dirt on her own PT clothes, "I was wondering when you guys would catch up, let's move it, Marines!" And she took off like a jackrabbit daring the fox to chase her, relishing the groans that followed.

******************
Twelve hours later
******************

Rei looked over the troops in their best uniforms and began to go over them with a fine-toothed comb. A bit of lint here, a growled demand to drop and buff something off a boot there. Her own uniform was absolutely spotless, her hair bound up in a simple yet complicated-looking hairstyle to keep it out of the way and under her uniform beret, far more appropriate than the dress uniform set that some had suggested they wear. No, she wanted their new CO to see them as what they were: Duty-prepared. The troops all had their issued rifles, ready for inspection and needing only to be powered up for instant use, except for herself. As detail commander, she had her sidearm only.

A quick glance at her chrono informed her that they still had half an hour before their new officer arrived at the barracks and she would spend that half hour getting everything perfect. Nothing less would do.

The shuttlepod landed about that time and the first officer to step out was a Colonel, used the the hustle of the base and he only took a glance around as the Captain followed him out of the pod, "Well Captain, here we are. I know we're a bit early, but if you'd like, you could take a look around before meeting your new unit. They aren't expecting you for another... twenty-five minutes or so."

Nat stepped out of the shuttle after the Colonel. She was dressed in forest VDUs, rather than a standard Starfleet uniform. The two railroad bars on her collar shone bright and silver, contrasting the greens and browns of the uniform. Her salad bar of ribbons now included an extra tiny star on the Purple Heart, though she still lacked a Good Conduct award. All of the other accoutrements were perfectly in place. Natalya Markova, Infantry Captain of the Starfleet Marine Corps smiled at the question. "Thank you, Colonel, but I think I'll head to the unit now. If I know Hijani, she'll already be spit-shining the place up. Besides, this will be a surprise in more than one way."

"My pleasure Captain." He tossed her a quick salute, "I'll leave you here, and your transport shuttle will be here to take you and your unit back to Chimera in an hour and a half or thereabouts. Keep up the good work."

Nat saluted the Colonel. "Thank you, Sir. Thanks for the lift." She headed off, her pace a flawless counting of time. It was good to be back on a Marine base. Good to be among her own.

Making her way to the enlisted barracks section of the facility, Nat returned the offered salutes from the Lieutenants and enlisted marines she passed, giving a salute first to the more senior officers.

She had to stop a passing buck sergeant to ask for directions once she was amid the warren of barracks buildings. The name of Gunnery Sergeant Reishi Hijani got her what she wanted.

A smirk was dancing across Nat's face when she stepped into the room. The squad was there, already lined up, despite the fact she was a full twenty minutes early.

A raised hand quelled the call to attention. Nat could see Rei bustling about. She was so engrossed in making everything perfect she hadn't heard the door open, or the presence of the officer.

A wicked smile grew. Nat gave a nod to one of the squad, Corporal Ozcanian. No, Sergeant Ozcanian she saw.

"Officer on deck!" The Sergeant called, the Marines bring themselves to full attention as a solid unit.

Ozcanian's words had caught Rei by surprise, given that she'd thought they'd had twenty more minutes to get everyone perfectly spic and span. At least she'd gotten them in line on a prep run, but their rifles were... Crap. Her eyes ran over the troops in one last flash as she spun in her place in front at the center of the formation. Her peripheral vision caught only the form of the officer just entering, catching the female form, but none of the details of the face. Her hand came up in salute and her trained voice barked out, "Second Platoon, Bravo Company, Second Battalion of the Fifth Marines, ready for deployment, Captain, ma'am!"

Nat couldn't resist a little fun. She stepped in front of the Gunny, and stood there for a few seconds, forcing Rei to process, without being able to react. Finally, after a slow count of five in her head, Nat spoke. "Platoon stand at ease."

As Rei looked down at Nat from her height advantage of two inches, standing at attention, a range of emotions ran through her eyes, despite the complete lack of expression in her stance. She remained at attention as the rest of the platoon settled into a ready stance, still compensating for this... Change of events. "Baka." She whispered loud enough for the two of them to hear, then in a single move threw her arms around Nat and gave the officer a bear hug.

Nat held her balance, though the ferocity of the hug threatened to topple them both to the ground. "So much I wish you could have been told, Gunny." Nat said, hugging the woman back. "It's good to see you."

It was several seconds before Rei released Nat and took a step back, "I got your message, but... I couldn't stay on board, not after what I'd heard happened. I.. Told the Captain what she could do with herself, might have gone a bit overboard."

Nat took a breath. She looked at the unit, standing before her. They all had a right to know. "It was a classified assignment. A way to get me onto the pirate ship. Stage something good, kick me out, give me a reason to hate Starfleet, and Cally. It worked. I got my ass on the pirate ship all right. Helped take her down from the inside."

A handful of the Marines pumped their fists and there were cheers, while Rei smirked, which anyone who knew her recognized as her sign that someone had done a damned good job, "You should have taken me with you, then we would have just handed the Captain a ship full of trussed up prisoners instead."

Nat gave the woman a lop-sided grin. "Your record, Gunny? No one would buy you for a wash-out." She almost laughed to herself. The call-sign Cally had given her. "Me? Hell, even you believed the act. It had to be real. Had to be something that couldn't be faked. If they found out I was a spy? I'd have been floating in space... if I was lucky."

"Hmph." Rei grunted, though she knew Nat was right, but she nodded once, "So where are we going, ma'am?"

"Home, Gunny." Nat answered with a warm smile. "We're going home."