Another Reject [Blane]

[Michael Harper]

Captains Office, roughly contemporaneous with Reassignment.

Harper looked up from the report on his desk and then at the man in front of him. For the most part he had forewarning about the people they wanted to send to him... and then he'd actually have a chance to screen through them. This one had actually showed up on the dock ahead of his paperwork. It was almost as if someone was in a rush to get rid of him and wasn't taking no for an answer... never seen that before. Pffft.

This Sergeant Stark was some kind of special operations expert, a master at stealth, all types of weapon platforms, and surviving and thriving in numerous conditions. From his file it looked like occasionally he has slight trouble in temperatures in the double digits well below freezing. He seems to have more trouble on capital ships that have captains with attractive young daughters.

So. The Commander finally asked. "Says here you're some kind of -up." He eyed the man for a moment. "You should fit right in on this boat of -ups."

[Blane Stark]

Blane wasn't impressed with the Alliance at the moment. In fact, this was about as annoyed, bordering on furious, as he had been with anyone, in a long time. He looked at Harper, the captain of this ship. "Yes sir." He said, with little emotion, in response to the question. "Thats what they tell me."

He thought back to his last posting, aboard the Dortmunder. There had been a girl, there was always some girl. Blane had allowed her to get close to him, and himself to get close to her. The fact that she was the CO's daughter hadn't seemed like an issue. Until of course her father, who didn't like Stark's moral standing when it came to the exploits of certain officers, had decided it was as good an excuse as any to get rid of the thorn in his paw. And his pecker. Stark had been rushed off the ship without so much as an official order. It hadn't been until after he had arrived here, that the phony reason had been revealed.

They blamed it on the St. Albans affair, which not only having happened years ago, had been a total joke. Even command had agreed with Stark, when he claimed to have been sent out with improper intel, and equipment. Of course, no one cared that he had argued for better gear beforehand. But that was another story. Either way, here he was. And it looked like he wasn't going anywhere soon.

"I suppose this isn't the time to explain what kind of that report is." He said, before adding. "Sir."

[Michael Harper]

Commander Harper put on an obvious expression of mock surprise. "You mean to suggest that your sudden expulsion from the Dortmunder doesn't really have anything to do with a mission that occurred two years ago, back before you were ever stationed on that ship?" It was such an obvious pretense it was actually funny that they were using it. Even after just receiving the report and spotting the issue, a search lasting only a minute had revealed the real reason hidden beneath the smokescreen of some former mission.

"Besides, the after-action report I pulled up says that you completed that mission. The only hiccup came with the extraction which was botched but still never compromised the operation's secrecy." It seemed a little harsh to describe it as "botched" since the extreme elements and the unforeseen element of a thieving gang of thugs caused it, rather than the soldier's own ineptitude, but Michael wasn't here to hold hands and pat shoulders.

"Your record speaks for itself and frankly I'm glad you managed to piss someone off bad enough to get sent here." he added. "We've got a small team of shock marines aboard. You'll be attached to them to do whatever it is you do: sniper support, extended recon, stealth, etc." He'd be outside of the marine chain but on such a small ship they couldn't really use another sergeant thrown in the mix... they also didn't have any other spec ops guys to put under him so it would be a mix match anyway. This was the best solution, and it would actually be nice to have a man with those skills at their disposal.