Maiden Voyage

Eleven

Pike pressed the intercom button on Gunny Cole's hatch. It was an older door to his office that the Enterprise Corps of Engineers had built for him, although he maintained his quarters on deck five, but spent most of his time with the troops on the lower decks. For that, gunny needed his own office space.

The lower decks were older. Upgrades weren't typically a priority down there during retrofits. In fact, they used mostly the lower decks for storage. Gunny Cole asked Captain April if he could convert some of the space into a multi-tiered training facility for his Marines. The facility contained a track, stun setting only laser weapon range, basketball court, weight training area and obstacle course. They practiced zero gravity drills in the shuttle bay. After the first year, many of the Marines converted the observation deck of the facility into a squadbay in order to spend more time together building unit integrity. Here, besides sleeping in their bunks, they could play cards, watch movies and hang out. There was also their own briefing room for mission assignments. It was their turf.

The intercom whistled in Cole's Office.

"Enter!" he shouted.

The captain walked through the hatchway. Gunny snapped to attention.

"At ease, gunny," Pike said.

"Sorry, sir, figured it was one of my knuckleheads."

"Not a problem."

Pike was a little uneasy about what he was about to ask. Although he was the captain of the ship, he didn't enjoy usurping his section chief's authority, especially Cole's. They had been together for a long time. The captain considered him more than a security chief, but also a trusted friend.

"I have a favor to ask," Pike said.

"Sam?" Cole had already expected the request.

"Yes. There's a situation on M-114. She's our best shot at getting to the core," Pike spoke with purpose.

"You're the captain," Gunny Cole said. His response was more of a snap.

"You know I don't pull rank, it's not my style. I also know you're usually not this rigid when one of your troops makes a mistake. Which my exec doesn't believe was one. I agree. I know you stress discipline, but she made a judgement call. That judgement call opened up a doorway to possibilities that may be one of our best solutions to the mess going on down there," Pike retorted.

Cole stood up and examined a map of the United Federation of Planets he had hanging prominently on the wall. On his desk, he had a bronzed double boot trophy that his platoon had been awarded for a final drill competition years earlier.

Cole picked up the trophy. "I remember this like it was yesterday. My last tour on the drill field. Those kids. All of them. Bright eyed and bushy tailed. Snapped to when you called their names. Total respect and discipline. Then I headed out to Starfleet. Things changed. I adapted. That's part of the Federation Marines credo, to change, overcome and adapt. Sometimes, it's that adapt part that hangs me up. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this shit. Who knows?"

Pike was surprised by Cole's sudden drift into negativity. This was definitely not the man he knew. "What's really eating at you, Idris? I mean, really at the core of this?"

Gunny Cole put the trophy back on his desk, resuming his seat. "I don't know, Chris. It was that whole red shirt scuttlebutt from command. I know I'm secure here, but when the orders come down, you'll have to comply just like every other starship captain. Just can't shake that.

"It's not so much about me, but those kids out there. I'm not so sure how much you know about Corporal Samira's background. Sam was in and out of orphanages in her younger days. She finally landed on a flight deck crew fueling shuttles, just a kid. One day, she climbs into a cockpit. Flight deck warrant officer by the name of Hank Winston let her take it out for a spin. Sam was a natural. Next thing you know, she's more knowledgeable in her early teens than the much older senior mechanics. Unfortunately, no officer designation in her future, as she wasn't academy material. But Winston wanted to see her succeed, fast tracked her through the enlisted ranks, putting her in for the enlisted commissioning program."