#232 Catching up
Posted on Sun Mar 2nd, 2025 @ 8:08pm by Captain Joel Haines & Sergeant Major Jenna Haines & Major Charlotte Thrace & Sergeant Major Okan & Staff Sergeant Amy Bell
1,637 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission: Secrets
The holodeck would normally have been viewed as an unusual place for a meeting, but to those that knew Charlotte this was her style and the circumstances honestly leaned more towards being a little more casual with things at the moment, try to take some of the stress off of peoples shoulders. So here she was, large blanket beneath her, sat on a picturesque country hillside near a lake with a homemade picnic in a basket and a couple of PADD's next to it. She knew she had a lot of work to do and that started with the marines, the Delta Quadrant wasn't like the Alpha Quadrant it was far more unpredictable, far more like the wild west, so she needed everyone's heads in the game first.
Joel walked onto the turbolift and smiled when he saw Jenna already on it. “They let anyone serve here don’t they?” He said with a laugh.
“They must.” Jenna replied with a grin. “You serve here after all.” She loved the easy relationship she had with her brothers. “You headed to the holodeck?”
“Majors orders.” Joel said with a nod. They walked off the turbolift to the holodeck. They walked in, seeing Major Thrace sitting in the countryside. They headed over.
"Sit yourselves down." Charlotte said as the Haines's approached "Plenty of food in the basket, help yourselves." it was at this point that Okan walked in accompanied by Amy. Okan made his way over and sat down on a nearby tree stump while Amy plopped herself down on the blanket. Once they were all sat down Charlotte smiled "First things first." she glanced at Jenna before giving her a hug "Where the heck have you been?"
Jenna smiled. “It’s a funny thing.” She Said as she returned the hug warmly. “We all split up and I kept trying to find a place I belonged and here I am, home again.”
"About time too." Amy said
"Hear hear." Okan said
Charlotte looked around and smiled "All right." she said "We're not in a good position tactically, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. So the call is that we're running, we're taking the base, the ships, any other survivors and going into the Delta Quadrant via the Bajoran wormhole, that means we'll be going deep into the Delta Quadrant most likely into territory Voyager travelled through. You don't need me to tell you how much more volatile the Delta Quadrant is compared to what we're used to."
“And?” Joel spoke up. “What then?” He knew this was more than just running. They were too driven to win for that.
"We rebuild." Charlotte said "This is existential, this is the future of the Federation, we're going to need friends, we're going to need recruits to get our strength back. But make no mistake about it, we're not done dealing with what's about to happen in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. It won't be quick, it won't be easy, resistance movements never are but we're going to keep our eyes and ears on what happens in the space we leave behind and when the Romulans, the Cardassians, the Tholians, the Tzenkethi, the Breen, the Gorn and maybe even the Klingons start getting comfortable with it you can bet we'll be striking back. It's still a war, it's still what we're trained to do but this time we're fighting from the shadows."
“We may have to reach outside our existing Starfleet members and recruit civilians.” Jenna said quietly. “We’re down in numbers, we will need to reach out to anyone who might be able to bring help.”
"One step at a time." Charlotte said "We do this right and we'll be ok."
“Agreed.” Joel nodded quietly. His mind was already turning. “There are survivors I know some of them are our own.”
"And with Lieutenant Quinn's help we may be able to get more assistance." Okan said, he'd served with Charlotte the longest out of those present and he knew how to read her to some extent.
"We're not forgetting about the Alpha Quadrant but I want to shift the training focus weight to orient around Delta Quadrant threats a little more. Defensively this is now a Delta Quadrant ballgame." Charlotte said "That said be ready for operations in the Alpha Quadrant, because there will be some, maybe not immediately but there will be some."
“Extra training I believe.” Joel suggested. “We may want to focus a little more on this type of threat.”
"That's the plan." Charlotte said "At some point there's also going to have to be some sort of training program, probably an academy. So start looking over the Delta Quadrant species we know of, everyone's going to be doing it for different reasons our job is to look at it from the tactical point of view, if we have to fight them how do we fight them? That's the question we work on."
“It may not end up being conventional tactics.” Jenna said as she took a bite if food. “But we’ve been through something of this nature before and we all know sometimes the rules don’t work.”
"Since when have we ever been conventional?" Amy asked
“Never.” Jenna said with a grin. “Forgive me I have been serving with stick in the mud by the book marines, like I said earlier I am home now.”
"Good." Amy said
Charlotte smiled and glanced around it had taken a good few years but this was her team and she liked it, maybe it was because it was a bunch of misfits but they just worked well together. "Once we get to wherever in the Delta Quadrant we're going we're going to need to turn our attention to building defences." she said "That's going to take all of us to manage as well as our friends over in security."
“You can count on us.” Joel said seriously. He thought about his nephew. “Jude and his crew will work well with us.” What Charlotte had said was true. Security was their friends.
"You know the drill, you know what to do, you don't need me to tell you." Charlotte said "If you come up with any questions about the Delta Quadrant talk to Hannah, she's the anthropologist it's her area." she smiled "And no one try to contact me tonight unless it is a life or death emergency. Jordan's finally making good on that dinner he owes me." she noticed the looks from Joel and Jenna "Go on get it out of your systems."
“If he’s cooking you better make an appointment with the doctor.” Jenna said with a giggle. “He is the world’s worst cook.” Jordan smiled at the memories of his attempts to make certain she ate. “He makes a wicked peanut butter, banana and jelly sandwich though.”
“A date.” Joel said, a grin on his face. “You and Jordan, I would love to be a fly on the wall.”
"Stupid thing is I've charged into battles without breaking a sweat over it and here I am nervous about this." Charlotte said with a slight smile "I do remember back on Ghost I cooked for the crew once and he thought I was going to poison him, I have way too much pride in my cooking for that. Though as I recall..."
"He danced around topless that night." Okan said.
“He did.” Joel laughed softly. “He really has grown a lot but there are parts of the old Jordan I miss. He lived free of rules and had a way of making us laugh.”
Charlotte giggled "But you wouldn't have him any other way would you? He's family." she said
“I wouldn’t change a thing.” Jenna said with a nod. “He is the most loyal person I know and though he acts tough he cares about all of us.” She paused. “He saved me many times growing up.”
“Sooo.” Joel grinned at Charlotte. “Are you going to get him to dance bare chested tonight?” He liked the comaraderie he had with Charlotte.
"And are you wearing a dress, doing your hair and all the rest?" Amy asked, Charlotte was going a very distinct shade of pink with embarrassment at this point, but she was still giggling away.
"Yes I'm wearing a dress and yes I'm doing my hair." Charlotte said "As for dancing well we'll see what happens."
“We know Jordan will be dressed up.” Joel smiled. “He takes dates very seriously.” His eyes met Charlotte’s. “And he really likes you.”
"And I really like him." Charlotte said, the words out of her mouth on instinct and impulse and they were true, which considering where she and Jordan had been back in the day was probably astounding to say the least. "And on that note I had better go and get ready for it." she stood up "One last thing between now and arriving at wherever we're going I want one of us on Ops at all times, let Okan do the night shift because Jem'Hadar don't need sleep but sort out a rota and split it up however you like." she smiled "Dismissed."
Joel stood up and waited for Jenna. “How about dinner with me and Celine tonight?” He asked his sister. They hadn’t seen a lot of each other since she came on the station.”
“Yes.” Jenna nodded, her eyes filled with humor as they started walking away. “You better wear a shirt.”
“You are no fun!” His words trailed off as they walked out the door.
***********
1st Lieutenant Joel Haines
Marine Executive Officer
Starbase Obsidian
Sergeant Major Jenna Haines
Marine
Starbase Obsidian
Major Charlotte Thrace
Marine CO
Starbase Obsidian
Sergeant Major Okan
First Sergeant
Starbase Obsidian
Staff Sergeant Amy Bell
Marine
Starbase Obsidian
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