Chapter 7

The following new characters appear in this chapter and others:

SSG Martha Rust

Staff Sergeant, Mess Supervisor, 5’-10’’ tall, 166 lb, 36C-25-37, 38 years old, short auburn hair, gray eyes

Sgt Hershel Preetorius

Sergeant, Senior Cook, 5’-11’’ tall, 195 lb, 37 years old, black hair, dark eyes

Spec Barenardo (Bar)

Specialist 5, Cook, 5’-10’’ tall, 165 lb, 30 years old, brown hair, blue eyes

SSG Luna Two Bears

Staff Sergeant, Supply Sergeant, Cherokee, 5’-11’ tall, 170 lb, 36D-25-36, 35 years old, long black hair, brown eyes

Sgt Rivers (Mississippi)

Sergeant, Supply, 5’-10’’ tall, 155 lb, 37 years old, blond hair, blue eyes

Sgt Paco

Sergeant, Communication, 5’-9’’ tall, 155 lb, 28 years old, black hair, brown eyes

Spec Franks

Specialist 5, Communication,, 5’-10’’ tall, 160 lb, 27 years old, brown hair, hazel eyes

Capt Laura Mellifont

Captain, Veterinarian, 5’-11’’ tall, 168 lb, 36C-24-36, 32 years old, auburn hair, gray eyes

When the Colonel and I reached the mess area, Senf had breakfast under way. There was ham frying along with eggs. There was a covered plate with toast on it as well as butter and strawberry preserves on the counter. There was also coffee and hot water for tea at the end of the counter. Dohla and Doyel had just sat down to eat. The Colonel and I quickly grabbed trays and plates before getting in line to receive our food. Luther and Miranda soon joined us, and we all enjoyed our breakfast, even Senf. Those on Team A-23 hadn’t joined us by the time we had all finished.

“Where are the members of our Operational Team?” the Colonel wondered, looking around at the rest of us. No one from Team A-23 had appeared yet for breakfast. Senf also had a question.

“Sir, should I keep the line open for the others?” he asked. On hearing his question, the Colonel checked the time before turning to Senf.

“NO, prepare enough food for those on Team A-23 and put it away. Whenever they manage to get up, they can reheat it in the microwave. Close down the breakfast line when you finish their food and proceed with your usual work for the remainder of the day,” she told him before turning back to the rest of us.

“We shall proceed as we normally would. After feeding the Partners, both ours and theirs, we will begin to set up the normal sections of this organization. Captain Jensen will be the S-3, and Sergeant Luther will be the S-2. Sergeant Miranda will be the S-1 temporarily, until we receive a Personnel Officer at which time she will assume the duties of Magic Coordinator. Let us hope for the speedy arrival of a Supply Sergeant and another cook also. While all of you are busy, I will be contacting those at Special Operations Headquarters to try to hurry the assignment of more personnel,” she told us.

We all headed for the warehouse area following that, even Dohla and Doyel. The Partners were all awake by the time we arrived, and they were all hungry. Luther immediately noticed that the Eagles were not there, and I could feel him contacting them. He quickly raised the roll-up door, and both Eagles swooped in to land on their perches. They, and all of the other Partners were letting us know that they were hungry.

Luther and I quickly dialed up food from the locker at the back of Bob and Susie’s cage to feed our Partners. The Colonel and Miranda tried to obtain food from the cages of Team A-23 but found that they needed an access code.

“When did they start using access codes on the food dispensers?” Miranda asked in frustration.

“Access codes!?” Luther demanded in shock. “Why would anyone need access codes on their food dispensers?”

“Perhaps to prevent others on their Team from feeding the Partners more than they thought was necessary,” the Colonel suggested.

“Or more than he wanted to pay for,” I added, seeing where money could be channeled to other things, from my experience at my own financial review.

“Know code, and hungry,” a little voice said in my mind just then before sending me the code. It was ‘Mindy’.

“Try ‘MINDY’,” I told Miranda, and a minute or so later she appeared with meat in her hand for the female Cougar.

“The Colonel said to feed them twice what we saw them given yesterday,” she told me, as she opened the gate to the female Cougar’s side of the cage and tossed her the meat. She quickly grabbed it and began devouring it hungrily. At the same time, the Colonel was feeding the male Cougar.

Luther had moved to the Falcon’s cage and used the same access code to obtain food for them. I could feel him talking to them as he got ready to feed them. Again, it was more than they had received yesterday afternoon. It was well after 0730 by the time we finished, and the Colonel had instructions for us.

“Try to find the equipment for your sections in this mess, and move enough of it to the office area designated for your sections to get us at least minimally functional. I’ll get a hold of those at the Operations Section at Headquarters, and see what I can beg, borrow, or blackmail out of them,” she told us before heading for what would be her office, taking with her a chair to sit on. The remainder of us moved toward the stacks of supplies to try to make sense of them and find what we needed.

It turned out that things weren’t stacked quite as haphazardly, as they at first appeared. We soon found that there was a method to the apparent madness. Luther and I soon managed to locate the equipment for our assigned sections stacked close together. We each retrieved a desk, a chair, a table, a computer, and printer for us to use from the material available to make the sections operational, but with additional personnel. We only took enough to get operational for now. Fortunately, there were furniture rollers available to move the heavy and cumbersome items. There were already rooms designated for each section. We also moved a desk and computer to the Commander’s office.

We had already moved the desks when Sergeant Haddrell appeared in the warehouse area. He was steaming mad already and became more so on checking the food lockers behind his Partners’ cages.

“Who the hell broke into our food lockers?” he demanded in an angry voice on discovering it.

“Colonel Ferguson told us to feed the Partners, all of the Partners. We had no trouble finding the access code to your food lockers,” I informed him.

Haddrell was really upset and looked like he wanted to hit something or someone, like me. In a flash, Bob appeared beside me and smiled up at Haddrell, showing all of his teeth.

“You really wouldn’t want to upset Bob,” I told him, before he turned away and stomped off. We didn’t see him again for the remainder of the day. Shortly after that, the rest of Team A-23 appeared in the warehouse and gave us a hand moving the remainder of the items to set up the staff sections. Doyel and Dohla had helped Miranda move her desk, chair, and computer plus a printer to the Personnel Section. We had also found plenty of office supplies in a separate location.

The Colonel appeared in the S-2 / 3 section some time later. I was working on the training schedule after getting the computer and other things set up. She appeared to be truly aggravated on arriving.

“I can see why Colonel Royal wants to get more people out into the field. It’s to give them a sense of urgency. There are too many people at Headquarters with lackadaisical attitudes.

“They had forgotten to send us a copy of our Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) until I reminded them. They are sending us a copy on the computer. You should be able to print it out shortly,” she added.

“After browbeating and hurrahing them for a time, they agreed to find people to fill out our organization. It may take several weeks according to them, but I suspect that it will require longer than that. I can only hope that they send us the right people and not those we can’t use,” she told me and Luther who had been listening.

“That won’t help a lot with this training schedule,” I told her. “After daily PT and meals, all I have is ‘continue to set up organization’ listed for the next week,” I told her.

“Did you learn anything about the Eagles’ nest and when we will be able to get it put up on the roof?” Luther asked.

“That was the one good thing that I accomplished,” the Colonel told him. “After finishing with Personnel, I talked to those in the S-3 about the Eagles’ nest. Someone will be here tomorrow to start work on the enclosure to receive the nest and the box it is in,” she told Luther, who smiled broadly.

“There was one other small item that I learned, but we can discuss it later,” she finished.

“I’ll have this training schedule finished in a bit for you to look at. Since there is a prospect of getting additional people, no matter how slim, we should go ahead and set up each section completely once we have a look at the TO&E,” I told her and Luther.

“Yes, after we get a look at it, we’ll decide how much to set up. I want priority given to setting up the S-4’s office and the kitchen. Follow that with the Communication Section as much as possible,” the Colonel told us before leaving.

I went back to finishing the training schedule and then printed it out plus the TO&E, which I found on my computer. All of the computers had already been set up, so we were able to contact Special Operations Headquarters. One look at the TO&E as it printed out did not encourage me. I took a copy of it and the training schedule with me, as I headed for the Colonel’s office.

On arriving at her office, she only glanced at the training schedule before dismissing it.

“This will do until we receive more people. At that point, we’ll need to start cross-training selected people,” she told me, dismissing the training schedule for now.

“We have a more important problem to worry about,” she added after a few seconds.

“The TO&E?” I asked.

“Yes, but later. We have a more pressing problem. While I was talking to my contact in S-3, I learned why we were assigned Team A-23,” she told me and paused for a short time.

“How well do you know MSG Haddrell?” she asked.

“Not that well. I’ve run into him several times here between assignments. We’ve had a couple of drinks in the club together, but I’ve never been assigned with him or any of those on his Team. Why?” I asked.

“Haddrell is under investigation for embezzling Team funds. Specifically, transferring money from the Partners food account to his own personal use. The investigation is still on going, and that is the reason that they were assigned to us. It is just to keep them on planet and available until the investigation is completed. It is expected that it will be completed in two weeks or so. We will have them until that time. After that, there are no definite plans of where they will be assigned. We could wind up keeping them. Because of that, they will need to begin cross-training with our Partners. If they remain with us, we will need to cross-train with their Partners also,” she told me.

“And if they find that Haddrell is guilty?” I asked.

“That is a whole different bucket of worms,” she said but went no further for a short time.

“Do you know anything about Sergeant Moran?” she asked after the pause.

“I never met her before. Is it important?” I asked.

“Possibly. We need to see if she can handle two Partners at the same time. S-3 is looking at her to take over the Team if they need to remove Haddrell. From that, I have to presume that she has all of the other qualifications,” she told me.

“It’s probably best to start her with Susie then. She would be easier to gain experience with than Bob. If she works well with Susie, then we could try adding Bob and see how she does,” I recommended.

“That sounds reasonable. Can you handle both of those Cougars?” she asked.

“I would think so, but I wouldn’t want to keep them separated, the way they are now,” I told her.

“We can try that after we see how Moran does with Susie,” the Colonel agreed, before changing the subject.

“Now, about the TO&E,” she said, and I handed her the printed-out copy. We spent a lot of time following that going over the TO&E in detail. There were many places where the manning was woefully inadequate for 24 hours a day operations. We made numerous notes on these short falls.

“The manning levels in this document are just inadequate for the operation of more than one attached Team and even for that it would surely hamper the accomplishment of the mission,” the Colonel told me after reviewing the document. “Also, for start-up of the unit, we would need some additional temporary help in the S-4 section. I’m calling the Manning Section at the S-3 to see about getting this thing revised,” she said, reaching for her communicator. She was on the line for some time following that. At times, the discussion became rather heated.

“What do I find inadequate?” I finally heard her say to the party on the other end of the conversation. “Let’s start in the kitchen. Two cooks are not adequate for 24-hour operation of the unit. Not for more than a day or so. A third cook in addition to a Mess Supervisor is needed. The same is true of the Communications Section. They need at least three qualified operators, plus a Section Chief who is knowledgeable of maintenance and repair of the equipment.