The Briefing Before

Posted on Tue Aug 26th, 2025 @ 8:19pm by Lieutenant JG Christian Rogers
Edited on on Tue Aug 26th, 2025 @ 8:20pm

2,565 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Sole Survivor
Location: Security Conference Room
Timeline: Prior to Departure

Rogers stopped just outside the security offices and stood up straight and shook hies left leg in preparation to force himself the 'normal use of it. He'd spent the last two hours following Hannah's instructions to rest it. Well, mostly following Hannah's instructions. He'd rested on the bed after eating the dinner Hannah replicated for him. He'd rested it as he sat at his desk taking care of general orders, transfer paperwork and other administrative functions that he wanted to complete and get out of the way before the official first day. He'd rested in between unpacking his few belongings and putting up the few items that he used as decor – which consisted mainly of the crossed baseball bats and the autographed balls of the Terrans team.

In short, he made it a good faith effort to follow Hannah's instructions. And still he felt his knee was still slightly swollen and there was still a slight twinge of pain on the odd step. But this was going to be his first time with this security detail and he did not want them to see him as weak, injured or an invalid. Also, he needed to make sure he remained the strong, infallible commander of his team.

He let out a breath, steeled himself and stepped forward, allowing the door to open fully before he entered into the outer rooms. He'd spent some time going over the layout, so knew where he was headed. Which was good. His arrival seemed to only cause a slight cessation of activity in the few that were there. He didn't need to check his chrono to realize this was the late shift, which meant, naturally, less personnel.

He made his way across to the conference room. He again waited for the door to open and saw a much different sight. As he approached the door he heard the laughter and jocularity of the various members of his team, but as soon as the door opened and they saw him, it became quiet except for the few seconds it took for the team to stop what they were doing and stand in place.

“As you were,” he muttered as he entered the room. The settling of the squad covered the sound of the closing door. Rogers deliberately avoided the appraising look Hannah was giving him as he dodged around the chairs and personnel to get to the head of the table.

“Everybody checked in? Got your quarters without problems? Fed?” He smiled at the last part. Food was always the more important consideration.

“This assignment is awesome,” Warren said.

“That's twenty,” Brownie instructed, his light brown eyes turning to the corporal.

“What? Why?” Warren asked even as he stood and moved to give himself room to drop into a push up position.

“You know the rules, no speaking out of turn,” Brownie said as he turned back to the Lieutenant to return control of the meeting to him.

Rogers nodded as he removed the baseball from his pocket. He tossed it to Cort who had his hand up ready to catch it. “Warren is right though, Lieutenant,” he said as he gripped the ball – the object that gave him the floor and allowed him to speak. “It's nice to have private quarters.”

Rogers scowled as he caught the ball again. “Private?” He tossed the ball to Chakton.

“Well, only two to a room, sir,” the young Marine made Fleeter said. “So, it's a lot more private than what we're used to.”

He started to toss it back to the lieutenant but instead turned and gave it a lazy toss over his shoulder to where Kawolski was sitting. The large sergeant caught it. “I've been assigned to my Security mirror since someone - “ here he gave an exaggerated look of annoyance to Baldwin “would rather sleep with his wife then bunk out with his partner. He seems okay but I think there's going to need to be work done on all our parts.”

Rogers caught the ball. “I'm sure of that Just don't forget we've still got a lot to learn from them as well. I'm not going to be hearing complaints about you guys giving attitudes of superiority. Clear?”

He got a round of “oorah” from the room, including Warren as he was reclaiming his seat.

Rogers nodded as he put the PaDD on the desk in front of him. “Brownie and I have already worked u the duty rotation, to include specialties. Not all of you have been assigned your mirrors yet, just Kawolski and Baldwin since they're mirroring with the NCO leads of the department. I still have to get final approval from the SecChief. I'll also be meeting with him tomorrow regarding training so keep checking your messages because we'll be sending out those orders as soon as we can”

He looked around the room then decided it would be okay to take a seat. Be casual. Get off his knee. He continued to ignore Hannah. Deliberately looking away from the young medic sitting at the other end of the table Outside himself and Staff Sergeant Brownie – he gave a brief scowl as he corrected himself on the proper Fleeter rank for his senior NCO – Hannah was the one the squad looked to. It had been something of a challenge for the young man to accept when he was first assigned to the squad but in the intervening months he seemed to have settled into the “big brother” or “favored uncle” role of the medic among enlisted.

Rogers didn't need his presumed Betazoid heritage to know what Hannah was thinking. It was writ all over his face. “Second, Petty Officer Hannah will be conducting the on boarding physicals for all of you tomorrow. Don't make him have to chase you down or issue official orders to get it done.”

He hesitated as he saw Hannah's hand come up, requesting the ball. He wished he had a reason to deny him the chance to speak but in the few microseconds between him seeing the hand raised and realizing he didn't have a reason to move past him. He tossed the ball. To him the sound of the leather smacking into the medic's hand seemed far too loud and exaggerated.

“Just to make it clear,” he said, making it seem as if he were talking to everyone, but his gaze said he was only speaking to Rogers. “On boarding physicals are for every member of the squad and ship. Nobody,” again his tone was light and jocular but nobody was fooled into thinking he referenced anyone other than Rogers, “has an excused absence from it. This is a totally new assignment to all of us in a new sector. Everybody will report and will be subjected to a full physical, as regulations require.” He held Rogers's gaze for a moment before he tossed the ball back.

“Thank you, Petty Officer,” Rogers said. “I'm sure you're not going to have a problem with people showing up as required.” He saw the medic's hand rise again. Again he reluctantly tossed the ball back to him.

“I'm sure all these knuckleheads will understand the importance and follow your lead, Lieutenant,” the young man said. “I've scheduled your appoint for first thing. Oh eight hundred hours, so you're able to get chow after.”

He tossed the ball back almost immediately, not giving Rogers time to stew on the information.

“Thank you, Petty Officer Hannah.” The assembled men looked at each other with knowing smirks. In their ongoing scoring, Hannah had just won a point. There wasn't a single one of the squad that didn't know Rogers well enough to understand the use of rank with the name, in that tone, meant Hannah had irritated the lieutenant. They may not know how or why, but they knew Hannah had.

“Anybody else feel the need to skip chow tomorrow and bring popcorn?” Kawolski jokes.

“Twenty,” Brownie said without looking at the other man.

“Worth it,” Kawolski joked as he moved to give himself room to do the prescribed amount of pushups.

“And twenty more,” Brownie said.

“I'll just shut up now, won't I?” Kawolski said.

“Good idea,” Rogers said, but he had felt the shift in the room after Kawolski spoke. Whatever tension the team thought was there between Hannah and Rogers was dispelled.

“Alright,” Rogers said, “I'm just going to remind you that we're a victim of our own success. We're here and considered Starfleet Services because you guys did such an awesome job rising to this occasion in this program. Which means more pressure on us to make sure we continue that success. I don't know how this security department is going to greet us and our 'invasion' into their bailiwick but we're going to take on those challenges and prove we weren't flukes or just the result of favorable circumstances. Part of your mandate, from me,” here he gave them all a 'scowling look' “is to show that we deserved every bit of praise and accolades we got that landed us here. We've all seen how well we can work with Security and Security can work with us. That's going to continue. We'll be the better men if we need to.” He looked around for a moment. “I really do need to transfer in some female troops.”

“Nah,” Kawolski muttered in between counting, “That'd mean Cort will just have to shower more than once a fortnight.”

He automatically went past the forty to do another twenty.

“Look who's talking about needing to bathe!” Trill Cort, the young Bajoran explosives expert blurted out. “There's only one tub per hemisphere of your colony planet!”

Brownie was chuckling and Cort moved into position.

“We're moving into forty burpees now,” Rogers said, casually. The squad got the point though. He liked that they were close enough to give each other crap all the time, but he'd seen far too many briefings and meetings get dragged out from all the asides, jokes, back and forth that ate up time and productivity. That's why he'd instituted the 'talking ball' shortly after being assigned to the team. Once the meeting was over and it was their time, they could cut each other all they wanted.

“Anything else?” Rogers asked, looking around. At least he didn't have to worry about Kawolski trying to ask to clarify something or bring up anything too irrelevant. Though, that did remind him he wanted to check in on his squad leader regarding his...Rogers admitted he still didn't understand the relationship Kawolski had with Weaver. It was a complicated betrothal ritual leading up to their arranged marriage but...it almost seemed as if they would be considered already married in most other cultures. But, apparently there were still some rituals to be completed before they could be officially wed.

As the squad remained quiet he took that to mean he could end the briefing and return to his quarters. He only had a few things left to prepare for their first official day on the ship but he also wanted to get to bed and rest his leg as much as he could. “Alright, briefing over. You're all dismissed and I suggest you find somewhere else to gather. I don't know what use the security shift might have for this room but let's not let our first night look like we're conquering territory.”

“Anybody wanna check out the lounge?” Warren said quickly, as if the need to speak were a bubble bursting. “I hear it's pretty okay.”

“It looks like a good place,” Baldwin said, “I stopped by there earlier with Malinda. She wanted to see where she'd be working,” he explained without he need to do so. “But Jeremy's been fussy today so I can't stay out too late.”

“Bring him with,” Steinman, another of the squad corporal's said. “He's practically one of us already anyway. And, I swear, I saw him chewing on crayons for flavor, not just for teething earlier.”

“Well, he's certainly got the qualifications for Corporal,” Baldwin shot back. “Except, he doesn't need to be told which shoe to put on which foot.”

“Oh, you sergeants think you're just so smart and sophisticated by having finally learned which boot is right and which boot is left,” Steinman shot back. With silent agreement to move their group to the lounge having been made, they were all standing and grabbing their things to leave.

Except Hannah. He remained where he was, his constant rucksack at his feet.

Rogers wasn't surprised. He waited, as did Hannah, until the door closed on the last of the squad.

“If I see any swelling tomorrow because you're pushing yourself too hard...” Hannah said. The threat was idle, but also serious.

“I rested like you said,” Rogers said, looking directly at the medic.

“I said for two hours, not two minutes after I left,” Hannah countered. “Don't try to dodge and weave with semantics either.”

Rogers remained quiet, his dark brown eyes fixed on the medic. “As if I'd lie,” he finally said.

“No, you wouldn't,” Hannah said, grabbing his pack and standing. “Not directly at least. You haven't quite learned that some of us understand the lie of omission and just not saying certain things is still dishonesty.”

Rogers gave a half-hearted shrug. “I work with Marines, nuance is not something I'm used to.”

Hannah chuckled. “Go back to your quarters Lieutenant. Get rest.” He tossed over a hypospray. “It's a mild analgesic, don't stress on me about pain medications. One hit once you get back to quarters and you have two more doses which should last you the rest of the night.”

Rogers caught the cylinder with ease and the realization that this must have been set up prior to the meeting. Which, per usual, Hannah knew Rogers wasn't just going to lie down for two hours.

I work with Marines,” Hannah said, answering the unspoken accusation hanging between them, “nuance is not something I'm used to.” He headed for the door.

Rogers watched him leave and sat in the room alone. He let out a sigh as he looked around and realized this was it. Once again it was on them to prove the program nobody wanted in the beginning but would be fighting tooth and nail to keep going now. No matter how much they might have grumbled about being made into 'Security'.

“Dammit,” he growled as he stood and picked up his PaDD. There was one item on the bottom, write in bold red letters to make sure it wasn't missed. Yet, somehow he had missed it.

By order of your CO, it read No dancing and/or singing on top of tables will be permitted. Until further notice. And still, somehow, Kawolski had managed to distract from giving that order. Rogers steeled himself before leaving the conference room and making his way out of the Security office and toward his own quarters.

As much as he may not have wanted to go to the Lounge and mingle with people there, he did have to talk with Kawolski. No matter the liberties the medic in his squad took, Rogers appreciated his abilities, compassion and foresight. He hit his upper left arm with the hypospray then slipped it into the same pocket where he'd placed the ball.

 

RSS Feed