RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 4.4] Debriefing

Henry was mostly despondent throughout the entire dressing down and laying bare of the Marines and their respective shortcomings. It almost didn't matter to him, of course, almost. He did get the Sympathy card played in his favour when a video highlight of Alrik smashing into his armour was played on the screens.

He heard his previous threat to Alrik loud and clear, and chuckled a little, "Numbnuts," He whispered whilst shaking his head at Alexandra, "Glad he's gone." He purposely avoided talking about the way he felt about the way things were going at the moment. He though it'd be off colour to bring it up somewhere so public.

"Mid-Corporal Ran Rui, reportin' for duty as ordered!"

Oh, fuck me sideways. Henry's face turned into a frown, The Chief is no longer a Chief.

The debriefing was going about as well as expected; somehow, Samuel knew that it was going to be ugly, seeing as they had failed, but it wasn't his fault, so he figured that he'd enjoy it somehow. It seemed like he wouldn't at first; he had cringed his way through Cedric's helmet cam video, catching glimpses of himself doing something stupid in the background.

And then that Simmons chick got up to speak. She ranted. And raved and ranted. And then cussed out the guy in charge, for good measure. Samuel just leaned back and watched the fireworks. He'd been in the military long enough to know that you didn't do that to the head cheese, especially since they could dish it right back to you. Which the guy did, magnificently, before turning his laser on the Sarge. That he didn't like as much; sure, they had failed their mission, she made some questionable decisions, and they had disregarded orders, but at least all the members of her squad had made it out intact, which is more than they could say for the other squads in the mission. Still, he certainly didn't envy Volkov...

Just as he was finishing that thought, though, someone stumbled in the briefing room, shouted out his name and rank - a middie, someone he didn't recognize. But the way he had entered, Samuel knew things were going to get a lot more interesting. He leaned over to Sawyer and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, who's that guy?" Samuel said, grinning as he gestured to the newcomer.

"Not a clue who he is, maybe one of these older guys would know him," Sawyer replied with a shrug.

"Mid-Corporal Ran Rui, reportin' for duty as ordered!"

Phaedra glanced towards the newcomer and was dumbfounded.

"What is the 'Chief' doing here? And why is he now a Mid-Corporal?" the thought.

Chief Santiago cocked an eyebrow. Interesting. "Have a seat, Corporal. Welcome to 4th Fleet," he heard Admiral Valken say.

"Nothing else to say, Simmons? Then I return the floor to the Admiral." Santiago stepped back and let Valken return to center stage.

"In light of your recent actions at Tange, I was going to give you all a week of leave with permission to leave the base. Now, however, after hearing your ... thoughts," Valken spoke carefully and deliberately, like a cat toying with its mouse, "I have reduced it to 48 hours, restricted to this base. After that, all Marines will spend the rest of the month in training with the Chief to work on their skills. While the Marines are in training, 4th Fleet's Naval elements will continue operations.

"We have received a squadron of Hray gunships from Admiral Coast's 3rd Fleet. They will be monitoring System 87I to see what intelligence we can salvage from the debacle. If the NMX start reinforcing it, we should know. Other reconnaissance elements will be monitoring other high-profile targets. As you may or may not know, the recent Battle of Yamatai has hurt the NMX badly. For a short period of time, the enemy's defenses will be weak somewhere. When we find the crack, that's where we'll be sending you. Dismissed except for Chief Santiago, squad leaders and Corporal Rui. Meet me down here."

It was not that Lisa did not have more to say. It was more then she did not get to it. All the time sometimes else was talking and Santiago actually managed to stun her. What he said had some truth in it, but she still though she was actually defending Sarge Volkov. Apparently she made a clown out of herself. Lisa won't probably get marines. She spend too many years in the navy when she was in pilot academy and it seemed she won't ever get that off her.

One marine says that they have to thinkg for himself and that he has to look out for other marines befoer anything else, then some other marine says that marine has to take orders and do them, practically even if they are bad orders and that he has to shut up and take any word beating from superiors. That was bloody confusing.

Lisa just sat down and stayed quiet. She could say that she did not called admiral shithead. She called guy handling intelligence shithead, which cleary is not admiral. She was pretty sure that admiral did not know much more then they did, but it seemed she said it badly so admiral know thinks she called him shithead. Lisa scowled. Midnight watches forever. If I am lucky. She thought.

While all the Marines were filing out of the room, Phaedra caught Lisa by the shoulder before she could leave.

Phaedra whispered into her ear so quietly that no one else could hear.

"I do appreciate what you said, Lisa; I really do. However, a Marine does not mouth off to her superiors. Consider yourself lucky that the Admiral is lenient and has left it to my discretion. I will discuss your punishment at a later time."

And then Phaedra walked away, continuing towards the front of the room to meet with the Admiral and the Chief.

"Well that fucking sucks," Rui muttered under his breath, crossing a leg over another while leaning back in his chair. He was now confined to base for 48 hours, so there was no real opportunity for him to chase tail that didn't smell like sweet sweat and gunpowder.

Indifferent to whatever the Admiral had to say about the NMX's capabilities being broken, the Mid Corporal simply got up and sauntered over to the Admiral, but not before kicking the leg of Lisa Simmon's chair.

"Hey," he looked down on her, wishing he had a cigarette or shot of alcohol to deal with this moment, "try not to call officers out on their bullshit. Especially if it's exactly that."

At that, Rui continued down to the Admiral.

When all the NCOs had gathered before him, Valken looked them all in the eye before speaking. "I realize things are different between the Navy and Marines. I am even willing to allow the enlisted Marines to respond and provide feedback. I am not going to tolerate these outbursts of disrespect! Control your Marines, all of you. My patience with insubordination is wearing thin and I dare say I've been more patient than other Fleet Admirals.

"I've given you all the best bloody equipment in the Imperium so I expect returns on the investment. Chief Santiago is here to make sure that happens and that we'll never see a debacle like the last mission. If your Marines think there's anything worth boasting about from that last mission, remind them of the casualty ratio. 80% dead or wounded, 48 Marines killed or injured to the point that they could not continue the mission.

"Corporal Rui, Vanderhuge wanted to send you to Corcyra's fleet where you would be at his mercy. His idea of a gift. I re-routed you to 4th Fleet so that you could round out the experience in Sergeant Volkov's squad as her XO. Anything you want to ask or comment on?"

The Admiral's reprimands were stern but hardly of the same biting nature that Chief Santiago's were. In the Chief's mind, the Admiral was simply expressing his extreme displeasure in a very mild way.

Rita had sat quietly the entire time, with one leg crossed over the other and her arms over her chest. She thought that this Leon Santiago character was a real jackass, and the idea that he could teach her anything about combat seemed ridiculous! Without a word, she stood up with the other marines and filed out of the room. Better to keep her head down and not stand out from the crowd unless she really needed to. Once out, she headed to her bunk and laid down with her head resting on her arms, lost in thought.