Boots and Beret
Posted on Wed Jul 3rd, 2019 @ 8:15pm by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Wed Jul 3rd, 2019 @ 9:24pm
716 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
Oops I Did It Again
Location: Deep Space Nine
Timeline: 2380
Colonel Flag stared at Sergeant Tremble with a disapproving look on his face. “You, Sergeant are not nearly as funny as you seem to think you are,” the Colonel stated heatedly, his face red.
“No sir,” Neil said, standing rigidly at attention, the prescribed forty-six centimeters from the Colonel’s desk, his eyes staring fifteen centimeters above the brown haired, thin faced Regimental CO.
“And yet,” Flag said rigidly. You could hear the ice in his voice, “I have a complaint here from Dr. Tucker, Commanding Officer of the Star Fleet medical here that you, and I quote, “Showed up for an appointment in the Nude? Is this right?”
“No sir,” Neil stated
“So you were in full uniform,” Flag said, dropping the flimsy, his eyes boring into Neil’s face.
“No sir,” Neil stated again.
“What exactly were you wearing, Sergeant. And I use that rank loosely,” Flag ground out.
“Sir, I was wearing Beret with unit flash and insignia. And boots,” Neil stated.
A grunt hiding a snicker sounded from Neil’s left, the Colonel’s right, and Colonel Flag shifted his laser like glare from Tremble’s face to that of Sgt. Major Wilks, who’s lips were twisted into grin. The senior NCO’s face immediately sobered and Flag’s eyes shifted back to Sergeant Trembles.
“What in the blazes made you think that was the proper way to show up for a counseling appointment. I have yet to hear of any uniform of the day including only that, unless you’re in sick bay. And even then, you travel to and fro clothed, Sergeant.”
“Sir,” Tremble replied, “The Doctor had told me, that I needed to show up willing to bare all. To lay my feelings naked before her and be able to embrace them, to except my short comings before she’d sign off on my return to duty. I did the best that I could, sir.”
Colonel Flag nearly lost his composure at that, his own lips twisting into humor even as the Sgt. Major had a brief coughing fit. After a moment Flag was able to snap out, glaring at Neil, “Alright. At ease.”
Neil slipped into something more akin to parade rest than at ease, but it was close enough and he met the Colonel’s eyes.
“Well, Tremble. You’re little stunt has floated up and down the chain of command here and you damn near lost your stripes over this,” Flag said. “Sgt. Major Wilks convinced them that your war record and everything you’ve been through, plus six months of therapy, capped by your appearance likely means you’re ready by Marine standards, even if the Fleet thinks you’re nuts. I’m docking you four months of seniority and you’re shipping out early.”
Flag let that settle in for a moment, then said, “”Unfortunately, your school has been pushed back thee months. In the interim, you will be acting as leave and location liaison, attached to support element, headquarters company 485th Training Command.
“No leave authorized. You’re transport leaves in a little less than three hours. Make sure you’re on it, Sergeant. Dismissed,” Flag told him, then looked down to his desk and started working on something.
Sgt. Tremble saluted, turned precisely on heel and marched from the colonel’s office.
Once the door had slid shut, the Sgt. Major guffawed and Flag looked up at him quizzically. “Now what’s funny?”
Going through the good Sergeant’s file, I found his last disciplinary action.
At that, one of Flag’s eyebrow’s went up and he leaned back in his chair and made a ‘give it to me’ gesture with both hands.
“I take it it wasn’t something that needed to be included in this before I talked to him,” the Colonel asked while Wilkes grinned and handed him a flimsy.
Reading quickly, Flag snickered then and looked up, “Really. Eat at Noruk’s?”
They both laughed then and Flag touched a corner of the flimsy and dropped it into a slot on his desk, where it disappeared. The hardcopy destroyed, but not forgotten.
First Lieutenant Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
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