Back In My Day

Posted on Sun Feb 18th, 2024 @ 4:53pm by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: Character Development
775 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

With his bags packed and equipment checked, Ray decided to just walk around the Marine's staging area. Much of their equipment, at least the items that didn't stay on them personally, had been organized and staged so that they could easily obtain what they might need for their next mission. A few young enlisted members sat around the area, checking out pieces of equipment and performing inventory checks. Truthfully, he was bored and sometimes he enjoyed giving the 'youngins' a bit of a hard time. So, he walked around until he finally acquire a target.

"Lance Corporal Letchers," he walked up behind the young man with a stern expression. "Can I ask what in the hell you're doing with that?" He pointed to the piece of equipment in his hand.

Matthew was rather small, compared to the rest of the team. His dark brown hair gave him a boyish appearance, despite now being in his late 20s. This was his second assignment, with a real team on a real mission, and he was admittedly nervous. It didn't help when a booming voice behind him made him jump, nearly dropping the device in his hand. "S-sir!" He managed, snapping to attention. "I-I was taking inventory of m-my equipment, sir!"

"Inventory? Looked like you were doing more than inventory. Pretty sure I saw a diagnostics menu up on that device. That's not standard procedure for inventory," Ray raised an eyebrow and looked sternly into Letchers eyes.

"Yes, s-sir, I'm aware," Matthew answered, Ray's intimidation making the young man's voice waver slightly. It took all of his willpower to not look away from the menacing eye contact. "I w-was doing inventory, but my equipment wasn't working right, so I-I was just running a diagnostic to find out why."

Ray looked at the young man for a moment, letting the silence linger before he suddenly broke out in a laugh and slapped Letchers on the back. "Come on, kid, you know I'm just messin' with you." He smiled. "You want some help with that?"

The slap to the back forced the nervous breath Matthew was holding out of his lungs, resulting in a breathy chuckle. "I-uh-of course, sir. And yes please, I-I could use another set of eyes."

Ray kneeled down and picked up a tricorder. "You know these things have tracking devices in em? They say it's so the equipment can be located and used as a backup to help find people. What do you think?" He asked Matthew.

"It would make sense, sir," Matthew replied, mostly recovered from the prank now. Unsure if being casual was an option here, the young marine went for a more textbook response. "A lot of things can happen in the field, and we wouldn't want our technology to fall into the wrong hands."

"Maybe," he shrugged. "Or just another way for us to be tracked everywhere we go. Or maybe I'm just a paranoid old man, who knows," he chuckled and tinkered with the tricorder a bit before putting it back in Matthew's stash. "This is one of your first assignments right?"

Wouldn't tracking sometimes be a good thing? The question sat in Matthew's mind as he watched the older teammate. If someone were lost, they could use the equipment to locate them. "This is my second assignment since completing my training, but first on this team, sir."

He nodded. "So why run a diagnostic?" Ray pointed towards the device that Letchers was still holding. "You can just trade them in for a new one you know." It seemed odd to waste time on a piece of equipment when it could be turned in as faulty and a new one received. "Is that one particularly lucky or something?" He chuckled.

A light blush hit Matthew's cheeks as he looked at the equipment. "I consider it lucky, sir. I've had it since my first deployment. It also just feels right."

"How in the hell does a piece of machinery just 'feel right'? That doesn't make any sense. What feels right is whatever works," Ray replied.

"You can't tell me you dont have a preferred weapon?" Matthew countered, nodding his head in the general direction of their weapons locker. "Of all the weapons we can use, you have a preferred one, right? You're comfortable with it, it just feels right to use it. That's how this feels to me."

Ray looked suspicious for a moment, but then nodded. "I suppose that does make sense. Speaking of weapons...what do you say we take a break from this boring inventory?" The glint in his eye and mischievous grin were apparent. "I have an idea."