Shadows Gather

Posted on Sat Nov 26th, 2022 @ 1:23pm by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Private 1st Class Cedrik Feng & Chief Petty Officer Julius Law & Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Alexander & Sergeant Bryana "Bri" Locke
Edited on on Sat Nov 26th, 2022 @ 10:35pm

Mission: S1 Episode 4: The Cloud
Location: Shadow Squad Common Area
Timeline: Mission Day 2 at 0545
4674 words - 9.3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Lyra sat quietly at one of the two square tables in what was about to be the Shadow Squad's new common area, a place for them to relax, talk, read, whatever their little hearts desired all together as one. There were four chairs around each of the tables, and there were a few single more comfortable chairs and even a sectional couch. It was a bit pieced together, nothing fancy, but they didn't really need anything fancy to function. She was sipping tea out of her thermos and reading a PADD while she waited. She wasn't used to being up as early as she had been, but her mind wouldn't really allow her to rest. She was consumed by the possibilities and power of what they could create with the decalithium they were attempting to harvest - and not just the possibilities and power here in the delta quadrant. She took another sip of her drink and had just flipped to the next page of what she was reading when the door opened. She glanced up, then back down, and sipped again.

"Good morning, Chief."

"It's morning, yeah," Julius said, a silver mug of black coffee in his hands. He was wearing his new uniform jacket, emblazoned at the shoulder with the emblem patch of the Shadow Squad. It was fresh and made him look quite official, yet the sober look on his face didn't reflect any mood related to it. He pulled out a chair across from her and sat down, his large frame landing and leaning back as he brought the mug to his lips again. He looked at her expectantly, not speaking but waiting.

"Here I thought you'd be much more enthusiastic for such an auspicious day." Her tone was dry and her attention remained on what she was doing for a moment longer. Finally, she deactivated the PADD and put it down on the table in front of her. "Any other questions or concerns before your new family comes filing in here to meet their new daddy?"

"I'm shaking in my boots," he said simply, his face still like stone. "This is my eager face."

He paused for a moment and took another sip of the hot brew before swallowing and speaking again. "Since we're a team and all enlisted, I'd like to keep things first name down here, if that works for you. If not, Last names will do it, or call signs. Keeping rank out builds rapport, and I'll make sure people know the chain anyway."

"That's fine as long as they don't go feral when they are out wandering the rest of the ship from time to time." Lyra waved a hand slightly. "When you talk shit about me you can use my last name; I'd suggest sticking to Captain and Commander for the Petrovs."

“We’ll keep the casual tone inside.” He agreed. His eyes studied her movements for a while, taking in the general feeling she was giving off. “When do you think we’ll be able to first put this group to the test?”

Lyra gave most of her attention to the moment, but it was obvious during any lapses in conversation that her mind was drifting elsewhere. Things were going well on her end with creating the potential new weapon for the red matter, but that did not make her overconfident or pull her attention away. When Julius spoke, she looked back at him and smirked just slightly. “Soon I’m sure. Hopefully, the right kind of test too, and not because someone has been captured.”

"Hopefully," he responded, taking another sip of his steaming drink. He didn't think much of the comment, of course, but did consider the likelihood his team would be called upon to fly to the rescue. "Wouldn't be the first time in the last few months. People get snatched up pretty often around here."

"They do, so you'll need to keep on top of being prepared for that." Lyra shrugged and leaned back in her chair, taking another sip of her tea. As she did so, she looked across to Julius to try and get an actual read on how he was feeling. She didn't look at his face but instead focused on his body and how he was holding himself to suss out any nervousness or excitement.

This man had stared down Gladiators; he had trained some of the most dangerous fighters in the Empire, and he no longer flinched. The only indicator he gave off, was a slightly raised brow. Other than that, he was cool as a cucumber.

"I have my plan for how I'm going to get this party started once you're done, but is there anything you need from me as we gather people and brief them?"

"No, just make sure they understand the rules I gave you. Otherwise, this is your show, I'm just here to drive home the point and answer any questions that come up."

Just as Lyra spoke, the door opened and in walked Cedrik Feng who stopped immediately and had a bit of a deer-in-headlights look when he saw both Lyra and Julius sitting there. "Ah... good... morning?" He asked slowly and shifted uncomfortably; he then seemed to remember himself and snapped to attention. "Sirs."

"No need for that shit here, son," Julius answered curtly, his eyes locking on the young man as he shifted his coffee to the table. He stood, towering, and walked over to the man, extending his giant hand and taking Cedrik's without waiting for his approval. He shook firmly. "I'm Jules, Squad Leader. You can keep the 'sir' with her though. Welcome to the team."

A dark-haired petty officer was the next to enter right behind Cedri. He did his best to hide his sneer. Brandon Alexander was his name. Unlike the man ahead of him, he wasn't the least bit intimidated or afraid. Healthy respect, of course, he wasn't an idiot, but fear and weakness were not something he was ever going to show, at least in the way Cedrik was doing.

He folded his hands across his chest stepping into a corner of the room so he could observe the other members of the team.

Cedrik gave a slightly awkward nod to Julius and moved off to the side to be unobtrusive.

Lyra meanwhile simply smirked just slightly and activated her PADD again to read it while Julius did his thing.

At that moment, Patrick stepped into the compartment. He had a small satchel on his back and he was busy tinkering with a small device in his hands. He didn't look up at anyone. As he moved deeper into the room, he took a spot by one of the tables and sat down. He finally finished the device he was building and placed it on the center of the table. He then looked up and saw that everyone was staring at him. "What?" He asked.

"Is that a fucking explosive device?" Julius asked, his eyes widening as he looked at the table. The marine, trained as he was, had even failed to address his superiors as he entered the room. Yet still, the consequences of that were secondary to the question Julius had asked.

"This, Chief?" Patrick indicated to the small device on the table. "Naw..this is just a little something I cooked up while I was walking down here. Fire in the hole!" He closed his eyes and lifted what looked like a detonator. Before anyone could stop him, he pressed the button.

The device started to click, then popped up a few inches off the table. It then detonated downward, burning the table in a flash of light as Patrick stayed right where he was, actually smiling.

When the flash faded, the newly created symbol of the Shadow Squad was burned cleanly into the table surface. There was no bleed-over scorching; it looked like it had been made this way initially.

Patrick stood up and saluted. "Glory to the Empire!"

Cedrik just stared wide-eyed at the display, completely and utterly horrified. He looked to Julius first but then looked over to Lyra, who had orchestrated this whole thing. When he realized she had absolutely not reacted to the display at all and just continued to sip her tea and read her PADD, he looked back to Julius with a steadily growing amount of concern.

While everyone was focused on Patrick's antics, the doors parted as Bryana stepped through, wearing her new uniform with the Shadow Squad patch. The moment she stepped in, though, her expression screwed up into one of concern as the scent of burnt metal hit her nose. 'We are already deciding to say fuck the trip and burn a hole through the hull?" Her eyes went to the table where the man likely responsible for it stood saluting.

She narrowed her eyes a little since she'd be keeping an eye on that one before turning to look at the rest of the team before it came to rest on Julius and Lieutenant Cassiel. If she had been a poet, the Marine was confident there were a few sonnets that could be composed about the imperious beauty of the woman sitting at the table. She stepped over to the replicator and ordered a double strong cup of coffee with three creams.

A moment later she took a seat at the table with Julius and Lyra, politely raising her cup to them both. "Good morning Lieutenant,"

Lyra lifted the thermos she was drinking her tea out of in acknowledgment to Bryana's greeting but didn't look up otherwise.

"Jules." She greeted the other NCO before taking a sip from her cup, all business, and no hint of their awkward encounter the night before evident in her tone or expression.

Once the demonstration was over and no one returned his salute, Patrick suddenly started to feel very nervous and unsure as to what he did wrong. Lowering his raised fist, he stuttered as he spoke, the earlier calm and confidence gone, replaced with uncertainty and discomfort. "N-n-n-neverm-m-m-mind." He retreated to the far corner of the room, placing his back to it so that no one could sneak up on him. Sliding down to the deck, he hugged his knees and kept his eyes downcast. Clearly, he had made a mistake.

Bryana's attention was drawn to Patrick as he retreated, seeming to make certain he was in a secure place and couldn't be ambushed, something she'd seen in Marines that had seen too much action or difficult deployments. Sipping her coffee the Sergeant stood and moved over to where he'd settled himself, passing the table and taking in the design burned into it. Without a tricorder, it appeared to have been etched into the surface, not an easy feat to accomplish so it seemed he had skill.

She eased herself down next to Patrick, sipping her coffee before glancing over at him, offering the man a gentle smile. "That's some good work you did on the table; there are a few EOD grunts I know would be jealous, Corporal." She had the benefit of reading the orders that Julius had been given the night before and knowing that ranks, salute, or the regular rules didn't apply to them.

"I'm Sergeant Bryana Locke. You can call me Bri if you want."

Patrick looked over at her and smiled softly. "Y-you really liked it?" He asked, some energy coming back into his voice. "I-I was j-just trying to d-d-do something cool f-for the team."

Lyra had finally glanced up from what she was reading and she looked over toward Patrick and Bryana. Her expression was unreadable, but she watched them for a long moment in silence. Finally, she looked back to her work. Julius would have his work cut out for him for sure.

"Definitely impressive, and you helped make it our Common Area with that mark, no where else on the ship will anyone have a table marked like that." The dark-hair woman smiled at her fellow Marine, he definitely seemed fidgety and likely to be on edge, but if he was chosen for the team then there was a reason for him to be here.

That meant it was part of her job to ensure he was ready to complete his assigned tasks. She wouldn't coddle or babysit him but she'd give him encouragement. "You make this place Shadow Squad's and left your mark already."

Hearing Bri's praise for what he did, Patrick finally grinned, his eyes showing a growing light in them. "That was just a little toy," he said, his stutter gone for the moment. "You should see what I can really do! My EOD instructors were all amazed back when I was in training." There was no smugness to his words, only open honesty.

Fiona came in next. She was already in the modified uniform and she was carrying a bag with all her things. She came to attention when she saw Lyra. "Sir."

"Winters." Lyra greeted with mild disinterest.

"Chief, Sarge," she said, addressing the two seniormost NCOs in the unit. She might not yet have been told to call them by their first names but she had yet to meet an NCO at any level who appreciated being called sir. The gruff chief who had taken her under his wing when she was a freshly minted crewman, not all that long ago, had told her firmly that he worked for a living when she'd tried it.

"No need for ranks, Fiona. We're on first-name here." Julius stated, his mind still distracted by the damned idiot marine who'd just burned something into their table. Besides almost causing a general panic, it was completely annoying.

"Everyone," Fiona said with a small wave, raising a hand. She looked around for a spot at one of the tables.

"Fiona, hey." Cedrik greeted, still sounding a bit nervous when speaking to her, but he did at least have a bit more confidence than their first meeting. "You can sit here if you'd like."

"Sure," she said as she walked over to take her seat. She looked back to the front. Attentive. Curious.

"Alright, everyone, come to the table, damnit!" Julius stated, calling everyone from the distracted entrance. "That means sit your asses down together and shut the fuck up."

Julius himself walked over to the table and resumed his seat from before, picking up his mug of coffee again and taking another drink.

Hearing the tone in Julius's voice, Patrick quickly stood and moved over to one of the empty seats.

Bryana resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the unnecessarily macho tone and orders Julius barked at them, but everyone had their own way of doing things. She preferred more of a flies-with-honey approach rather than being so hard-nosed that things started to crack. That could have been why she was chosen in the first place, to be the more levelheaded voice of reason to Julius' hard-assed approach.

She slid into a seat near Lyra, glancing over at the Lieutenant for a moment to take in her profile before she focused her attention on Julius and sipped her coffee.

As Bryana moved into the seat nearby, Lyra gave no acknowledgment. However, when she felt the other woman's eyes fall on her, her dark, intense gaze slid with eerie slowness over toward Bryana. She didn't enjoy being watched.

Realizing that she'd been staring, the Marine gave an apologetic smile to the other woman before turning her attention elsewhere. She cleared her throat while taking a sip from her mug to focus on the flavor and the jolt of caffeine the drink would give her though she did intend to ask the Lieutenant to have a drink at some point, and see what happened from there.

When the table was packed with Lyra and the six-member team, Julius spoke again.

"The Lieutenant and I have a general briefing for you to inform you of the daily schedule and the rules that await you. I just want to say, before we get started, that I fully intend to make this team a well-oiled fighting machine, honing all of our talents into one cohesive unit. That means two things: 1. Bring your A game - if you half-ass, I'll be on your ass. 2. Leave your weird shit at the door. No burning designs into tables, and when I tell you to do something, fucking do it."

The large and mean man's eyes fell on Patrick, who had given offense to his rules. He was tough, and despite what Bri had said, he had the proven ability to best just about any monster of a man in battle. He held himself like a man on top.

"Now, I'm going to hand it over to Lieutenant Cassiel."

Brandon breathed a brief sigh of relief. He, up until this point anyway hadn't broken any rules, so he was glad.

Lyra watched Julius, her face not betraying any of her amusement that she was feeling. The man had been gifted a barrel of monkeys and she was quite curious to see if he would be able to chain them together and make them work. When he passed it off to her, she stood and moved to stand next to him. If he was going to play daddy, he wasn't going to saddle her with laying down the rules for his new group of children - including the no fucking one. Turning, she looked at the group and folded her arms together.

"I'm not going to assume that anyone actually read the brief. Welcome to Shadow Squad. You have been selected for your respective talents to provide them to this elite team. Chief Law will be overseeing your training for specialized missions including but not limited to reconnaissance, stealth combat, and target extraction - maybe a little Black Ops now and then as a treat. Your adherence to orders given is not only expected it is demanded as is your dedication to this squad and your duties."

She paused, her eyes slid over toward Patrick first. "If you prove too unstable..."

She then let her eyes roam around slowly, "Uncooperative..."

She took her focus off the specifics and spoke more in general, "Or are simply inept in any manner professional or personal, you will be removed from the squad and return to your normal duties with your records reflecting why you were removed. You are not here to have your hands held. Chief Law is your direct superior, Sergeant Locke is second. You no longer fall into the normal chain of command. The triad of officers you report to are now Captain Petrov, Commander Petrov, and myself - you are not required to follow the orders of any other officer unless one of the three of us order you to do so. That said, don't be stupid with it. This was done to protect the team from any dick-measuring contests junior officers might want to try, so don't test that protection by starting any yourselves. Mine is bigger, I assure you."

Brandon started to let out a chuckle amused as he was by the lieutenant's comments, but he stopped himself, hopefully, just in the nick of time, and managed to cough once more.

Lyra looked to Julius then and gave him a nod to take over. "Chief Law will go over your schedule and the details of your day-to-day rules."

“Gladly.” He said, no hint of gladness on his expression. “Our daily schedule is the same and it does not change unless it has to. We start a corridor run at 0600 sharp. Get your ass out of bed and line up in the corridor by that time, or you get your first lesson about how hard I can sling a sleepy soldier across a room. We run hard, we take Jeffries tubes, we crawl across gangways, and we keep pace. Bri will take the front and I’ll be at the back. If you can’t keep up, you get my fist to the kidney to encourage you.”

“At 0700, we get back and hit the showers. Yes, there is one mass shower area; yes we shower together. If you want to hide your goodies and worry about bullshit like that, then hand your resignation in and go back to your personal quarters and your normal life. I will let you sneak a peak at my big booty, but I warn you not to stare. I might start to feel threatened.”

“At 0730, we have breakfast together on a set diet. We’ll sit right here and talk about our feelings. From the point when you're done eating until we gather at 0930 for melee weapons training, we have unscheduled time; sometimes you’ll have something to do from me, and sometimes you will be free. Any questions so far?”

As Patrick listened, it started to seem to him like they'd be living in near constant training. Of course, that wasn't anything that he minded. He always felt focused when he was given a strict schedule to live by.

"When you say something to do from you, what types of things do you have in mind? More training or?" Cedrik asked and looked up at Julius. The young man looked apprehensive to be sure, but not completely overwhelmed by this drastic change in life.

"At this point, some of it will be paperwork and reporting, but most of it will be specific training or practice in your particular field of expertise. For you, that might mean a triage scenario on the holodeck. It will depend on what day it is and what's next on the agenda." the huge man answered, his eyes holding steady on Cedrik.

Cedrik met Julius’ gaze and held it. The young man obviously wasn’t overly confident, but he did at least know how to maintain eye contact even if he wasn’t comfortable. “Alright. Thank you.”

Brandon stood up a little straighter, even though he had just been a parade rest. "Do you have any projects you're looking for volunteers for?"

“Not at this point, no.” Julius answered. “We’re going to start getting everyone into shape and fighting condition. All other priorities are secondary. No projects, just an uphill climb.”

When the questions seemed to be concluded, Julius continued, his huge brown arms crossed over his chest, accentuating the impressive cut of his physique.

“1045 is Phaser and Ranged Weapon Training, led by Bri. She is going to make impressive marksmen of all of us and she isn’t going to go easy on us. We need to be the best of the best.”

Knowing this was coming, Bryana had been waiting for the invitation to take the floor. She stood to look at the assembled squad and gave them all a warm smile, worlds apart from the relatively bullish demeanor Julius had already shown. "Thanks, Jules," She worked to reinforce the idea of the relaxed attitudes towards ranks they would be working with. "I'm Bryana Locke, Bri, if you prefer a bit of brevity."

"Whatever experiences, whatever qualifications you had, don't mean a lick after walking through that door." She continued and let her gaze continue around the team. "I will turn you into expert marksmen with rifles and hand phasers; you'll qualify on iron sights before moving to any optics."

"You'll learn to be ambidextrous and fire a weapon accurately with either hand or eye." The dark-haired Marine explained as she laid out the plane to make them the best. "Even if your job on this team doesn't seem like it'll entail combat, you'll still be just as deadly a shot as the rest of us."

With that, Bryana nodded and turned the floor back over to Julius as she retook her seat.

Fiona listened curiously as Bryana described the training. She seemed thoughtful but she didn't ask anything.

“At 1200, we eat lunch right here again followed by a group sparring session at 1300. I will train you, coach you, make you laugh, and make you cry. Then, at 1430, you’ll go into pre-assigned pairs to practice sparring in your own rooms. At 1600, we hit the gym for strength training. In a few weeks, you will be stronger than you’ve ever been in your life.” Julius said, absolutely confident about that. 1730 is dinner, followed by an 1815 holodeck simulation training. This schedule will challenge you, push you, and exhaust you. You are going to get fucking tired of me and I’m going to get fucking tired of you, and by the start of free time at 1930, you are going to want to be anywhere else but here. Go have fun, go get drinks, and go chase tail with the rest of the crew because the people in here are off-limits. Lastly, we go to sleep at 0000. If you aren’t here at 0000, I will be very very unhappy with you, and I promise you won’t do it again. We sleep in our own beds, and we sleep soundly. No cuddling cause we know where that leads. If you cuddle with me, you’ll find out what I mean.”

He said, finishing his joke in a way that provided no air of comedy, which, for many, made it much funnier. Not that he cared.

“Anything else you have to add, Lieutenant?”

Lyra had continued to stand quiet and calm at Julius' side. Her face continued to betray nothing, show nothing. Just cold. When she spoke, her voice was calm but commanding. "Obey the rules and schedule set out before you, do not fuck each other - you are brothers and sisters as far as you are concerned now. If you disobey or slack off, the Chief will handle you. If you continue to do so, I will handle you, and I assure you it will be far less pleasant. Whether you realize it or not, you have all been given a gift by being included in this squad. Do not squander it."

Bryana had primarily paid attention to Julius as he laid everything out for the squad. While he spoke, her gaze occasionally drifted to the imperious beauty of Lyra as she stood icy and impassive. It sent an oddly pleasant shiver down her spine, causing the seated woman to shift slightly, taking a drink from her coffee to keep from fidgeting. As the Lieutenant spoke of the gift they'd been given, the dark-haired Marine's mind focused on being handled by Lyra caused an odd weight of excitement to settle in her stomach. Assuredly, the consequences of fucking up weren't something she was keen to have firsthand knowledge of, nor did she intend to do so. She couldn't help but let her imagination wander a little, gently rubbing the mug as her thoughts danced merrily through her head. They were undoubtedly far from professional about the Lieutenant. She crossed her legs to keep them still but felt the excitement in her stomach becoming tingling in her core.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Julius said with his eyes to her, and then he looked around the room again. “Alright, people, it’s day one. You have ten minutes to change into running clothes and then we’re going to start our schedule. Dismissed."

Patrick moved with a purpose to get changed. He liked running actually. He found it helped calm and focus his mind.

Though Brandon was no telepath, he had similar thoughts about Lyra as Bryana did, though, in his mind, he would be the hander. He knew the likelihood of that happening was close to impossible and he valued his freedom too much and wanted to hang onto all his body parts, so there was no way he'd reveal his fantasies to anyone.

Besides all of that, he truly did want to serve the Empire and Lyra would be too much of a distraction to that. He needed to run now for a good many reasons.

END