Disgraced
Copyright© 2025 by Ogreface
Chapter 11: Imperial Navy Cruiser Electra
The Electra arrived three weeks later, during the night. The arrival was not a complete surprise to the marines, they were informed when the Electra and a freighter transited the jump gate a week earlier. During their morning run, Dane also heard a few marines commenting about the Electra docking to the space station.
“Galan, report to the major a.s.a.p,” Lt. McCord said while Dane was in the shower.
When Dane got to the major’s pod, a bunch of marines was waiting already. He thought they were mostly the walking wounded, but then he found Nick there as well.
“Looks like all the walking wounded,” Dane commented. “Why are we here?”
“Not only the walking wounded,” Nick said as he nudged a corporal standing with his back to them. The corporal turned around and frowned at Nick, but then he smiled at Dane. “All the battlefield promotions as well.”
“Everybody here?” the major asked as he came out of his office and counted heads. “Good. What is going to happen, as far as you are concerned, is that the battalion commander of the Third Battalion is going to replenish the Windvane’s marines with fresh troops. All the seriously wounded marines and the body bags have already been moved to the Electra. You lot now need to go pack your bags and be ready. As soon as the new marines are sent over, you move out and onto the Electra. Galan, you are the only sergeant in this group. Let me give you the name list so you can pass it on to the XO on the Electra.”
“Damn, we might not have time to say goodbye to the girls,” Nick muttered as they packed their kit. Dane was going to really miss Katy, and Dina, the mother-hen of the group of women. A few of the younger girls started opening up to the few marines who followed Dane’s example by not doing anything other than offering non-touch friendship with them. Nick seemed to have gotten quite friendly with two girls, although Dane never saw him touch them while they seemed to like hanging onto his arms as they strolled around the space station.
When they finally got the message to move out, they made their way out of the Windvane and along the gravity-free central shaft of the station to the far side where the Electra was docked. Dane was in front and was stopped by a sergeant just short of the Electra’s hatch. Then a long line of mildly excited marines came out of the Electra, led by a few sergeants. The new marines gave Dane and his group some curious looks. Last out of the Electra was a major who identified himself to Dane as the XO of the Third Battalion.
“You have a name list, Sergeant?” he asked. Dane held up his tablet to initiate a data transfer. “The Electra is docked tail first against the station so lead your people in and to the nearest hub, Hub Ten, pods Four and Five. Let them wait outside the pods. I will be there in a moment.”
The XO took a while to finally arrive. Both the pods already had some marines in them, including sergeants and corporals. Dane knew that each pod on a cruiser housed two squads, a total of forty marines which included two sergeants and four corporals. Dane’s concerns became real when the XO told him and the three acting corporals to stay behind as he divided the rest of the Windvane marines between the two pods. Then he waved at the four of them to follow him back up and to Hub Three on the other end of the cruiser. From the spaciousness of the pods, Dane suspected that it was the officer’s country hub as well as the marine mess shall.
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