RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 4.0] Planning

"Hey Bernhard, Congrats on your awards too man." Sawyer said as he somewhat stiffly started to make his way out. 16 hours of liberty before the next mission was just enough to have some fun before getting back into the fray. Seeing the new ladies who had come into the briefing shortly before it started he decided to head over and introduce himself. "Good day madams, I'm P3C Sawyer Aubrey, how are the two of you doing?" "Thanks for the sentiment Laura, glad we could at least somewhat impress ya." He said with a grin as he passed Laura. Looking at the guy Kurt he thought his name was he gave him the kind of glare normally reserved for the things that are unmentionable and are fit only to be scraped from the bottoms of his boots. "You sah, need to keep your grubby hands to yerself and not be such a lout to the ladies" he said with a drawling tone.

Victor felt himself tense up as a woman walked up and spoke down to him. It would have been difficul to miss the sergeant's rank addorned to her uniform.　As she left he was, however, pleased to find that it was currently only guard duty he had to look forward to as punishment. It helped that he wouldn't have to run around with his head in his ass as pertains to the mission if the information would end up on their Datajockeys. Guard duty wasn't too much of an inconvenience, sure it would make for a rough night. But, it wasn't as if he was standing there innocently to begin with. Scratching the side of his nose calmly, Victor noted he'd have to make sure his second impression wouldn't be quite so...problematic. Of course that did seem like a lot of work, might as well just let the cards fall where they lie. At the very least, he had a nice relaxing throw-down to start the day already. Without having said a word, Victor turned to leave the room. He did have guard duty to look forward to after all.

"Rita, Matteo, Sawyer! Let's go get some drinks while we still have time!" Laura exclaimed, grabbing the three Marines and Bernhard and trying to pull them along. She didn't get very far since Rita weighed far more than she could carry.

"You know, I thought we'd get promoted after our first combat. 50 DA a week sucks," Laura mused as she let go of Rita and started ambling out of the room.

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"What do you need money for, Romero? Not like you have a family who have financial problems," Bernhard commented, following Laura.

He, too, had wanted a promotion a little more than medals. Money for his family was better than the medals. Bernhard had offered many times to send his earnings back and his parents had continually refused by saying, "If you send us money, we'll send you double! Spend it on yourself!" He wondered what they thought he could buy with it besides alcohol.

He looked back to see if Sawyer, Matteo and Rita were following. "Don't leave me alone with her, for God's sake!" he yelled at them.

"A shame to loose my ass you say? Ha, damn straight!" Matteo replied. "Finally, someone who values my ass as much as I do!" the marine joked alongside Lisa. As Laura beckoned, he grinned, snapping off a lighthearted salute towards her. "Unofficial motto of the marine corps; have booze, will travel!" he remarked.

"Aw, c'mon, you know you'd just spend the extra cash on more alcohol!"

Lisa smiled at Matteo. This one will be fun, he did not even snapped at her calling him shorty. "Well I value every nice ass buddy." She said and showed her perfect white teeth as she smiled. "You mind if I join you for the drinks? You could also give me Hacking 101 too. I mean me having computer of a brain does not mean I can hack." Lisa said and looked at others. Mainly Bernard, who was still the most attractive guy of them all to her. She also noticed big guy picking on Kurt in the old gentleman way. How silly.

"Sarg'nt, it's a pleasure to be back. They kept me at the Fine Arts academy for so long that I was afraid they'd never let me see action ever again."

"Ah, so the 'Fine Arts Academy' is what they are calling it now?" said Phaedra with a raised eyebrow. She dropped her arms and pushed off from the wall.

"Again, great to have you back, Cedric. And you do not have to address me as Sergeant if just the two of us are talking and at liberty," she said, placing her hands behind her back.

"I am sure you will find the unit very different than how you left it. Firstly, there is no Harm to deal with. Secondly, there is no Avel to deal with either," she said with a smirk.

"But more seriously, Admiral Valken operates very differently than Admiral Wazu did. I mirrored your concerns for the lack of detailed information on this mission. But as the Admiral said, in order to keep the NMX from guessing our further goals, the less information we know the better.

"We have a large number of new recruits, most of which have not seen actual combat yet. While I do not wish to be unreasonably harsh on them, I do not wish to be easy on them either. We are Nepleslian Marines, and we are called to a higher standard than the average citizen. Things such as excessive tardiness must be dealt with before it becomes an acceptable practice. I would like you to help me with the new recruits, help promote teamwork and cohesiveness. Keep an eye on them, help them when you can. I do not know if you have read the reports, but we faired suprisingly well at Tange; I can only hope for the better," she said. She then put her hands on her hips.

"Also, when the Admiral asks for you to put out your cigarettes, please comply with his wishes. He graciously supplied our allotment of alcoholic beverages in the Crew Lounge; I would not want that source of entertainment for the squad to dry up. Also, getting on the Admiral's bad side is not a good idea."

"I didn't give the demo school that nick-name. The trainees did." Cedric said, smiling, "Also, to be honest I had barely even registered hearing the Admrial's request. It was irresponsible of me, I know. I was too buried in my DataJockey and so I didn't hear him." He shrugged, "It won't happen again, Phaedra. I can assure you." Using his superior's first name in such casual conversation felt odd to him after having spent the last many weeks acting as a drill sergeant and instructor.

At the mention of new soldiers, he glanced over his shoulder in the direction of the briefing room.

"New meat? I couldn't tell by looking at 'em." He chuckled, almost sardonically, "Reminds me of myself, not too long ago. Of course, with people like the green kids around, you can understand my concern at the lack of information. Anybody dies and it's just as much my burden to bear as it is yours. I just don't want to see good kids die because their superiors want to treat 'em like crap and then try buying them new toys to keep them in check. When we head down there, I would like to have more information than "get person A to point Z". At least for us NCOs, so we can coordinate the mission better."

He glanced over his shoulder once more, taking a short drag on his cigarette, "If it'll help get me acquainted with some of the new guys, I'd volunteer to run the midnight guard with 'em just so they aren't alone. I figure that since they don't know me, I should probably spend some time with 'em to get to know each other. Let the greenies know I've got their back as an NCO. That sort of thing." He looked back to Phaedra, "Then maybe later you, me, and some of the other "old-timers" can grab a few drinks and catch up on lost time, 'eh Sarge? Bet I could drink you all under the table." He smiled.

Dominic Valken entered his office and greeted the two officers waiting within. "Afternoon, Captains. All's ready, I presume?" he said, taking his seat. They sat with him.

"Yes sir. All ships are ready for departure and we're stocked and prepared for severe damage to the ships," Captain Valencia Ironside answered quickly.

"The Marines are ready, I saw to their embarkation. Sergeant Volkov's squad is all that's left," Captain Darryl Murdoch added.

"Good. All's set for our next dance with the squids then," Valken smiled slightly.

"The Marines would take it better if you brought them into your confidence, sir," Ironside said, trying to pry out of the Admiral why he was being so secretive. Neither of them had been told more than what Volkov's Cavaliers already knew.

He looked at her seriously for a moment before answering. "If I thought my hair knew what my brain was thinking, I'd shave it all away. I'll be damned if I let enlisted men know what I dare not share with myself. That said, Captain, I don't know what they'll do the enemy but by God, they frighten me."

Murdoch nodded, "That's what Marines do. They'll see you right, sir. Otherwise, they'll bring shame to the Corps and to themselves. They may chafe and they may complain but failure to follow orders makes a man a disgrace."

Rita was going to spend the time she had left before the next mission doing... Nothing. She was lost in thought, and didn't feel like doing much of anything anyway. She sat in her quarters, without orders, and laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. One of these days, she thought, I'll be the one keeping secrets.

"Sure, sure, no problem. No problem at all" Matteo replied to Lisa, a hint of mischievousness in his voice. "But if that's the case, you're going to be paying...with a few drinks of course!" He laughed. "What, did you think I was going to ask for favors or something? Please tell me I had you going there, just for a sec." the shorter of the two marines asked playfully. As he listened to the two NCO's as they all walked however, he couldn't help but speak up.

"Old in the corps at almost forty Ced? C'mon, I thought you'd be smart enough to write some sort of note down for when you'd die or something." he remarked. " I mean, it's not hard to leave behind a voice message that says 'If I die, turn the age knob back about a decade or so, kay thanks.' right?" He asked, mimicking the bigger marine's voice as best he could.

"I mean, Phaedra's gotta do something special to keep her good looks, right?"

Lisa smirked at Matteo. "I admit I expected you might say something along that way. That said I would probably kick your balls smartass." She replied and giggled. "You are lucky you did not. Anyway will you introduce me to others?" She asked then, although while saying others she was looking at Bernard.

Walking at a steady, Artan Stark made his way down the hall. His attention diverting between the hallway and his data-jockey as he seemed to be searching for something or other. As he passes the nearby marines, he would offer those that glanced his way a slight bob of his head. Over his shoulder was slung the standard-issue method of carrying his stand-issue equipment and personal effects.

As he nears the briefing room, he pauses to look at his Data-jockey again, before his gaze rising catches the two Sergeant, and he begins to approach them. He pauses a short distance away, his gaze clearly shifting to identify them through their rank and name if possible.

""Sergeant Volkov," he states, as he lets his bag fall behind him, shifting to stand to attention, as his hand snaps up into a salute. "Private Third Class, Artan Stark reporting for duty, Sergeant."