Chapter 5

The Advanced Course ended on a Friday afternoon with our graduation. The others in my class had places to return to, even the Major, but our Team had only been on Ainalhai III for a few days before our classes started, and we had been staying in temporary quarters during that time with our Partners.

I was to report to our new unit’s location on the Monday following graduation, but I had nowhere to stay during that time. My orders had only indicated where to report and when. Foreseeing this problem during the course, I had checked out the location of our new unit. It was in a large three-story building a couple of miles from the location of the Advanced Course.

I had decided that I would report to the new location as soon as graduation was over, and had ordered a robot vehicle to pick up me and my gear shortly following our Graduation. Consequently, I was the last one to leave, the others having already departed with their friends and families.

Arriving in the parking lot outside the new location, I had the vehicle wait, while I went to see if the building was open, and if anyone was in the building. On mounting the steps to the front door, I found the door open and entered.

“Hello! Is anyone here?” I called. It required several minutes, but shortly a young Corporal arrived. My enhanced hearing had picked up the sounds of people moving and doing something while waiting.

“Good afternoon, sir,” he said on saluting. I returned his salute.

“Good afternoon, Corporal. This is the headquarters building of the First Mobile Headquarters Team, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yes sir, it is, but they aren’t here yet. It’s just me and a couple of other guys. None of the officers or NCOs have arrived yet,” he told me.

“That’s not quite correct, corporal ... Corporal... ?” I asked.

“Corporal Dohla, sir,” he answered.

“I’m Captain Jensen, and I’m reporting in early. I just graduated from the Advanced Course this afternoon, and didn’t have anywhere to stay, so I’m reporting in early,” I told him.

“Yes sir, yours was one of the names we were given, and I’m sure glad to see you. We’ve been here for the past three days, and I’ve had to sign for all of the things that have been delivered. I don’t even know what some of them are,” he told me in a relieved voice.

“Just how many are ‘we’?” I asked.

“There are three of us here currently, sir. There is Specialist Doyel. He’s personnel. Specialist Senf is an assistant cook, and I’m a radio operator. We’ve set up the computers for personnel and commo. Senf has only set up part of the kitchen, as there was only the three of us to feed,” Dohla told me.

“Very good, Corporal. Specialist Doyel can sign me in on Monday. The others from my Team will arrive when they are released from their present duties. I’m not sure when Colonel Ferguson’s class finishes, but we’ll set up her room shortly. May I presume that there are beds and bedding available?” I asked.

“Yes sir, they were in the supplies that were delivered along with a lot of other things,” Dohla told me. “We have set up a number of the regular bunks, and there are plenty of sheets and blankets as well as pillows. We really need a supply person to start issuing some of this stuff,” he concluded.

“I’m sure that someone will be along shortly,” I assured him, but wasn’t sure of it even in my own mind.

“I’ll move my equipment inside and dismiss the vehicle. When will the mess be serving dinner?” I asked.

“At about 1800, sir. Senf will need to make more with you here. It won’t be a problem though, as there is plenty of food, at least for the present. Do you know how many people will eventually be assigned here?” he asked.

“The briefing that I received at the Advanced Officer Course was very big and glowing on the concept of Integrated Special Operations Teams, but was a bit sketchy on how many people would be assigned to any of the Mobile Headquarters Teams. The number will vary depending on the mission and the number of Teams assigned,” I told him, giving him as much as I knew from the briefing at school. “That’s not a very good answer, but I would guess at between a dozen and twenty people,” I told him.

“This sure is a big building for so few people,” he said looking around at the building.

“There will also be our Partners. My Team has four Partners. I’m not sure how many of those assigned will also have Partners,” I told him.

Outside, I unloaded my gear and dismissed the vehicle. Dohla came out and helped me get everything inside. He also accompanied me upstairs to where the sleeping quarters were. They had set up beds in a number of rooms. I chose the room across the hall from what would obviously be the Colonel’s room. They each had a bed set up in them and were larger than the other rooms that I could see. There were sheets, blankets, and pillows sitting on the beds.

“I’ll get set up in here before chow, and after chow, I’ll work on setting up the Colonel’s room. She shouldn’t be too long in arriving,” I told Dohla, who had helped me bring my gear up to the room.

“Yes sir, I’ll alert you when chow is ready,” he promised before leaving. It didn’t require long to get set up as it was a familiar task, as much as we had moved. Chow was ready a bit before 1800, and I met the other men then. The kitchen and dining area were quite large, but we sat at just two of the tables. Only a portion of the kitchen was in use also.

“Is the unit’s main computer set up yet?” I asked them during dinner.

“Only a couple of the individual units have been set up, sir. The main computer and the one for supply are still boxed up. None of us have the expertise to set up the server that everything is connected to,” Doyel told me.

“I’ll need to see about getting someone in here on Monday to get all of that set up, so we will be functional, and can check on when the others will be arriving. There will be a lot to do to get this unit operational,” I told all of them.

Later, I went back upstairs and made up the bed in the Colonel’s room. She would be bringing her own clothing and gear. Following that, I started work on the last chapter of the story that I was writing. It was the same one I had been working on when we arrived on Addison III. It turned out to be longer than I had initially planned on.

Saturday morning, I was up early and dressed for PT before waking the other men and having them dress for PT also and that included the cook. They were less than happy to be roused out of bed early on a Saturday morning to go to PT, but they needed to get in shape for when we were operational and for when we deployed. There was no telling at this point what exercises the Operations people at S.O. Headquarters had planned for us, so everyone would need to be physically fit to do not only their job, but to help out in other areas as well. These people proved to be in surprising good shape, even the cook.

Breakfast followed PT after everyone had cleaned up. We had only just finished squaring away the kitchen when the Colonel arrived shortly before 0900. I heard Dohla call attention and hurried toward the front entrance. Trish was standing there speaking to Corporal Dohla when I arrived and saluted.

“Good morning, sir,” I said cheerfully in greeting.

“It is now that I’m away from those other people. They all party as much as those at the university did. Every weekend they would party, and yesterday, they started right after we graduated at about 1400. It went on until at least sunrise this morning. I managed to sneak out at about 0300 and get some sleep. I’ll need some help bringing my gear in, as we needed to buy a number of dress uniforms during the course. Is there anywhere to get something to eat?” she finished.

“Yes sir, we’ll help you with your clothes and gear, and the cook will fix you something to eat,” I told her. The other two men assigned here had arrived while she was speaking and three of us went out to retrieve her gear and clothes, while the cook went to prepare a meal for her. We carried everything up to her room and she followed. Once in the room, she spoke again.

“Thank you, gentlemen. You may return to your duties. Cleve, would you remain for a time. We need to talk, and then I will go to eat,” she told us. The other two left, and I closed the door.

“How bad is it, Cleve?” she asked after the door was closed, and this was followed by, “How long have you been here?”

“I arrived here yesterday afternoon. So far there are three personnel assigned here. Dohla, the Corporal, is in communications. Doyel is in personnel, and Senf is an assistant cook. The computer for personnel is set up and so is some of the communication equipment. Part of the kitchen has been activated. There is plenty of food for now, and a lot of equipment has been delivered but hasn’t been unpacked yet. I’ll try to contact the others on our Team today and see what they know about arriving here and our Partners,” I finished.

“Yes, it will be good to be reunited with Sara again. Her outlook on life is so straightforward,” Trish said with a smile but in a tired voice.

“Come on and eat. Senf is a pretty fair cook,” I told her before adding, “Then you can get some sleep while I check on things.”

“I hate dumping things on you that I should be doing, but you’re right, I’m worn out. Those bastards in my class were a real bunch of cock-hounds. I made it very clear at the start of the course, that I wasn’t interested in any of them, but they all kept trying, every single day. I had to deck one of them before the others lightened up,” she told me in a tired voice.

“How many of them were there?” I asked in a concerned voice, as she had told us that the classes were small.

“There were three classes going through the program at the same time. Ours was the most recent to start. There was a total of 15 students and 8 instructors, and they were all interested in me and a female Major, who was in the class just ahead of mine. She was actually glad to see me, as it gave her a bit of rest initially,” Trish told me with another smile.

I finally got her down to breakfast after a bit of hugging and kissing after we stopped talking, or it may have been that we stopped talking because she came into my arms, and we were too busy to talk.

Down in the mess area, Senf had a really fine breakfast prepared. There was a lot of it, and Trish polished off a good bit of it. Of course, she is a large woman, and Senf had met her when she arrived and had prepared a meal for someone her size. What she didn’t eat, I did, so that everything on the table disappeared but the plates and utensils.

“Thank you, Senf. That was an excellent meal. At the Senior Officers Course they had excellent cooks, but they prepared a lot of fancy dishes, but not many stick-to-your ribs meals,” she told him. Senf just smiled.

“I’m off to bed now, Cleve. See what you can find out about the others and their schedules. We need to get this organization up and running before Operations gives us any exercises,” she told me before heading upstairs for some sleep. Senf had moved over to where I was standing and watched as the Colonel left.

“The Colonel, she’s a pretty big woman. Most of the women here are smaller than she is. Does she have a Partner like the regular Team members do?” he asked in curiosity.

“Yes, the Colonel is qualified as a Field Team member, and has a Partner named Sara. Sara is an enhanced Bald Eagle. She and Sergeant Luther’s Partner, Samson, had chicks on Addison III. They are all over on Continent 2 presently at the Partner Training School. I need to get a hold of Luther and Miranda to find out when they will be arriving here,” I told him before leaving to do just that. I went to find Corporal Dohla so I could contact those on Continent 2.