Post #323: Ripping up the Textbook and Writing our Own

Posted on Wed Jul 22nd, 2026 @ 2:41am by Major Charlotte Thrace & Commander Jordan Haines & Captain Joel Haines

1,895 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: A Leap of Faith
Location: Charlotte's office
Timeline: current

The crew busily working on changes to the starbase did little to dampen the amused grin tugging at the corners of Jordan Haines’ mouth. He was on his way to the marine deck for a strategic briefing with Charlotte and Joel, though "strategic" was always a flexible term when dealing with the base's ground forces. As the heavy blast doors of the marine sector loomed ahead, Jordan couldn't help but chuckle softly to himself, mentally bracing for whatever wild, unorthodox scheme his girlfriend had cooked up this time. In his experience, a meeting called to "discuss the focus of the corps" usually meant he was about to be talked into something brilliant, highly dangerous, or more than likely, both.

"Good morning, big brother " Joel, his twin, said as he wmt him in the corridor. He smiled at the look Jordan gave him. They were less than five minutes a part in age but Joel loved to remind him of that because for some reason it irritated Jordan.

"Morning." Jordan ignored his comment. "Any clue what she has in mind?"

"No." Joel shook his head, a grin spread across his face. "You know the Major won't share a word until she is ready."

Jordan rang her office buzzer, wanting to just walk in but he was working on following at least some of the protocol.

Charlotte was, at might be expected, not sat at her desk, she was standing in the middle of the office looking through the various holo displays of crew profiles, surface reports from the fledgling defences, current inventory of supplies aboard base and the latest analysis of ideas from the intelligence people about potential operations. For months she'd had one priority and that was the defence of the base, she'd been told to build a castle and that was the blueprint she'd kept to, granted it helped when you had people who could pick up the ball and run with it. For months she'd expected something to come crashing down on them and it hadn't come which had surprised her but that had given them the advantage of being able to build their foundation without issue. And now she could turn her attention back to her main challenge. She looked up when the buzzer sounded, unlike the normal chime, Hannah had rather sneakily reprogrammed it to sound like a piano scale.

"Come in." Charlotte said, she smiled when Jordan and Joel walked in.

Jordan smiled.in return. "Good morning...again." It had not been that long since they had shared breakfast.

"Looks like you've been busy." Joel said looking around.

"When have you ever known me not be busy Joel?" Charlotte asked somewhat rhetorically but no sooner had she said than she could see the response forming in Jordan's mind "And good morning again." she pressed a button on her desk and a new feature of her office went into motion, a circular table with all the computer integration features came up out of the floor "Apparently someone thought the need to be flashy mattered rather than simply giving me a standard table." she sighed "Ok where do you want to start?"

"I like flashy." Jordan grinned. "Only the best for my marine commander." He took a deep breath. "Lets start with where you want to begin."

"Ok." Charlotte said "I'll try to make this simple. When Starfleet re-established the Marine Corps after the Dominion War the thinking was to have a military component that could fight a war if one happened, people who could take and hold territory on planets, who were there to fight pitched battles on the ground and take the pressure away from the security officers who had been spread thin doing everything during the Dominion War. The tactics I was trained on, the tactics Joel was trained on all assume things that are no longer realities, we don't have the heavy equipment to provide support to our operations, we don't have the numbers to take and hold." she looked at Jordan and Joel "I want to tear up the playbook and write a new one that works for our current circumstances."

Joel sat for a moment. "I agree." He said as Jordan looked at him for his response.

"You know how I feel about regulations and rules." Jordan began. "I am on board but I want to hear exactly what you are replacing it with."

"I want to put a greater focus on speed. We haven't got the numbers to play area control so we need to be able to hit hard, hit fast and move fast, forget being the sledgehammer we need to be the scalpel, we need to be surgical." Charlotte said "If we can get the job done in thirty seconds then it needs to be thirty seconds, not thirty one. Next I want to incorporate new tactics and new techniques, let's look at using different technologies as well. Then we need to change the mindset, we need to be problem solvers not just soldiers. We need creativity in our ranks, the ability to think outside the box. Let's tweak the training both on the daily basis and for the cadets. We focus on training every aspect of body and mind, change the mentality and change the approach."

Joel looked at Jordan who stood with a blank look on his face. It was as if he was off somewhere else and not even listening but Joel knew him better than that. Jordan always listened, he was one of those people who picked up on the most minute little detail.

"I like your plan." Jordan said finally. "Lets implement it immediately and I will fill the captain in." Marius was going to agree with this, he knew it.

Charlotte was by this point very well versed in Jordan's facial expressions, she knew that he'd given it very serious consideration, and she'd expect nothing less. "Joel" she said sliding a PADD across the table "That's the proposed cadet training regime, take a look at it and toughen it up, this is the Delta Quadrant, I want a focus not just on combat tactics and fitness but put a heavy emphasis on the counter intelligence stuff, there are more than enough examples of the crew of Voyager getting captured and all that so let's make sure people know what to do if that happens."

Joel glanced at it and nodded in approval. "I will work on it as soon as we are done here. We definitely want our people to have every advantage out there."

"When Jenna gets back I want her going through the holodeck training program's I want them overhauling." Charlotte said "Make them more unpredictable, more realistic as to what would happen in the field. Basically put the Haines signature on it and tell her she has my full backing to go as wild as she likes." she half smiled at the look in Jordan's eyes, it was fairly certain that no recruit was going to be ready for that "I don't want simulations that are just applications of the Starfleet training, I want simulations that incorporate improvisation, creativity, outside the box thinking and problem solving approaches as well, I want them challenging enough to make the recruits sweat a bit." she sighed "And one last thing on the training - being the marines may make us a specialist department by virtue of us being the soldiers but I don't want anyone acting like they're better than anyone else. Yes as marines we are trained to a higher standard in terms of combat than anyone else but we also know, because they're routinely checked and tested, the skill sets of everyone else, we know who's authorised to carry what type of phaser, we know what their high score is on the phaser range, and we know based on their service records the experiences they have. We maintain a list of the crew, as long as people keep the relevant qualifications current then they are in the mix when it comes to selection for away missions that need those qualities. As long as we know that the people we're taking into a potentially dangerous situation can handle themselves then that is good enough. Jordan I would suggest that access to the list be kept to yourself, the Captain, the department heads and the Admirals."

"Excellent idea." Jordan nodded after a moment. "I will implement that list be made immediately. It is good on many levels to have that at our fingertips."

"Jenna is the best choice for wild training programs and she will embrace it." Joel spoke up. "In a lot of ways she has always felt that the rules and regulations held back on some good training."

"That doesn't surprise me and to be fair she's right in most respects." Charlotte said with a slight smile "I'll get Amy to look at the new tech stuff and we'll get this going as quickly as possible. We're going to have more than a few fights out here so let's make sure we're ready for them."

"I am always up for a good fight." Jordan said with a grin. "I think we have a solid plan and we are on the right track." He paused then. "We may want to find some new blood to add to the mix." His eyes met Charlotte's. "Some times we are going to have to fight down and dirty, the way I grew up. It might be good to have a couple people who have lived that life to teach our soldiers some of those ways."

Charlotte kept a straight face for just the shortest of moments before glancing at Joel and then back to Jordan "Joel build some time into the schedule for the Commander here to start teaching that." she said "I do believe I just heard him volunteer."

Jordan groaned. "I walked right into that didn't I?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I actually think it's a great idea. I could use some time to throw some crew around."

Charlotte couldn't contain the giggle, working up a sweat in the gym or sparring was as far as she knew Jordan's stress relief so putting that to good use was definitely something worth considering and him walking right into it was even better. "I'd tell you not to hold back but you already know to go full force." she said before taking a breath "Is there anything else you want to discuss?"

"I am good." Joel said with a smile. It still was a bit startling that Jordan had a woman in his life and that he had given her his trust. That was something his brother did not part with easily.

"I think we have accomplished a lot." Jordan said with a nod. "The captain will be please to hear what we have come up with." He grinned as he thought of telling Marius he got volunteered to wrestle with the crew.

"Just make sure there's a medic in close proximity when you tell him." Charlotte said "He's likely to think we've gone a little bit crazy...again." she giggled "Though he's probably used to that by now, this is about the twentieth time."

*************
Commander Jordan Haines
First Officer
Starbase Obsidian

Major Charlotte Thrace
Marine CO
Starbase Obsidian

Captain Joel Haines
Marine Executive Officer
Starbase Obsidian

 

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