Marine Sweep Alpha / Schoolkids
Posted on Fri Aug 14th, 2026 @ 5:48pm by Civilian Alexandra Winters & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Keel & Josef Forstinger & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD & Lieutenant JG Fulvia & Corporal Eden McKenzie & Civilian Brunel Winters & Civilian Tristan Logan & Civilian Elizabeth Blackstone
Edited on on Fri Aug 14th, 2026 @ 7:13pm
2,760 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Maintenance and Recovery
Location: Various
Timeline: MD 11, 1159 Hours
* * * Marine Sweep * * *
[Lieutenant Menti to Major McEntyre] The security officer's voice came over the major's comm.
[We might need a crew on Deck 11, get these kids back to quarters. The school is getting a little chaotic.]
“Solid Copy, moving to deck 11” Clay replied, throwing up the follow hand signal to his team.
"Noha, we will need a system to find out quickly who has parents in quarters, so that the children can be safely escorted," McEntyre stated gruffly as they began moving. "Most of the children may have parents at stations or locked down in other areas of the ship and may be stuck at the school for a while."
The Vulcan nodded. "The simplest way will be to get the names of the children at the school and cross-reference with internal sensors."
“Agreed, well access the computer complex in corridor 12-delta”
"How many kids even are on the ship ? Id assume too many to escort one by one." Josef spoke up. He didnt know too much about modern schools. But by his memory a School could range from being made up of a dozen children to hundreds.
'Definitely,' Keel replied with a grim cast to his features. There were few things he disliked more than having the kids aboard the starship in danger, and he wasn't going to be in the mood to mess about with anyone putting them in harm's way. 'We have at least a standard class-size.' Realising who he was talking to, he flashed a smile at Josef, 'that's between twenty and thirty kids of various ages.'
He shrugged, gripped his phaser tighter in his hand, 'we might get away with breaking them into small groups if there's enough of us around.'
"Maybe, if they want to listen and not run off." he replied to Keel, then paused for a second. "What if-those transporters, they work inside too, right ? Couldn't we tag them and get them back to their Quarters ?" he asks, pointing to Keels own Com-Badge. "Or at least how many the transporter can take, the rest we can escort. From Personal experience splitting up rarely goes well."
'We could - but we'd need to keep it localised to one transporter pad. We run the risk of the intruders beaming themselves off the ship otherwise,' Keel replied as he though the problem through. 'To be honest, we don't even know how reckless they could be - they might even beam themselves into space to avoid getting caught.'
"Just an idea here," McKenzie piped up and stepped forward, "but generally children are more responsive and will listen to requests if women or female figures are issuing them, so I'd be more than happy to get a head start on making sure they get to where they need to be."
Flashing a smile at the striking Combat Engineer, Keel nodded in assent, 'that might be - we're not going to test out other hypotheses. We get in, get the teachers to group up the kids, and assign a woman to each group?' He wasn't sure about the supposition, but the he was in no mood to argue while kids were in danger.
"Major?" McKenzie looked to Clay for his opinion on Keel's addition to her suggestion
Noha also looked to Clay. "That is a logical approach."
"Let's go, everyone on high alert," Clay ordered in his powerful voice. "Hoo-rah!"
* * * School * * *
Elizabeth was knelt down in front of a couple of the younger children who had begun to freak out and was soothing them. She had here ears peeled for the sounds throughout the school so that she could react to any further panic. She glanced to the light that pulsed rhythmically above the entrance to the school and then looked to the instructor for the day. "It might be an odd suggestion; but do we have a replicator here in the school? Giving the younger children something to focus on aside from the red alert and their fear might help us here."
"That's a good suggestion, Elizabeth," a teacher acknowledged. "Why don't we try playing some music and learning some new songs. We do have a replicator, we could make some simple instruments to play."
Elizabeth nodded; moving to the replicator and programming a variety of instruments. She got herself a Nyckelharpa and was securing it around her neck as she looked around.
Yazar had done what her family had told her to do in this situation. Get behind something solid. Keep her and her sisters' heads down and wait for rescue to come. She wished she had a weapon. Xalanth had taught her how to use a phaser, but had also made she sure understood she should only use one as a last resort.
She gripped her youngest sister closer to her as they hid behind the desk. Someone would be here soon.
When the lights started to pulse, Brunel went to find his sister, who had stepped out of the class to use the restroom a few moments earlier.
Alexandra came running out of the bathroom with two other students. She saw Brunel, and went up to him worried that he would be confused. She forced herself to hide her own anxiety as she calmly asked, "Did the teacher say what is going on?"
Brunel shook his head no, then quickly signed, "She wants us to stay in the class...stay cslm."
Tristan had been working on his homework when the red alert went out and it made him freeze. The last time a red alert had gone out, he'd been on the USS Sentinel with his mom and she'd told him to stay in their quarters while she had to go and be XO of the ship and help out the rest of the crew. She'd said she would be back a little bit later. But she never came back; Danielle had passed away from the airborne virus on the ship.
It made him wonder if the same thing was happening again, and it made him feel scared. And where was Dallas? Was he okay? Tristan didn't know the answers and saw that the older kids were with everyone else so he went and hid underneath one of the desks, shrinking himself into a small ball as he hugged his knees and tried not to cry.
As Brunel finished talking to his sister, he noticed Tristan, huddled under his desk, clearly terrified. Giving his sister a knowing look, he made his way over and sat down on the deck next to Tristan. "It's okay to be scared, Tristan," his translation device spoke as he made various gestures with his hands and fingers. "We are all scared. But, I know that the Captain will keep us safe, just like she kept me safe, back when I was in danger."
Tristan sniffled and wiped the back of his hand across underneath his nose while nodding. "Last time this happened, my mom died," he said in a small voice. "Do you know where Dallas is?" He watched Brunel and his hand actions with a mild fascination as the older boy continued to talk.
"I'm so sorry about your mom," Alex said sadly as she scooted closer to Tristan and put an arm around his shoulder. "We are probably okay though. I've been through hundreds of these," she said. "The ship isn't shaking or anything, so we're probably not even in danger. Sometimes my dad says, these are just more like a warning."
"Where's your dad?" Alexandra asked gently. The question just seemed to temporarily make Tristan more upset and Alex turned to her brother with a helpless look.
Elizabeth wandered through the room; stopping in here and there to check with someone who looked like they needed a kind word or gentle reassurance. She stopped near Brunel and Tristan and knelt down; offering a hand to Tristan with a gentle smile. "What can I do to help you, Tristan?
Tristan sniffled again and looked at her, "I want Dallas, I want to go home. When can we do that?"
Elizabeth pulled him toward her; hugging him gently. "We will be able to go home soon. Where was the last time you saw Dallas?"
"He had to go start his shift in Engineering this morning after he dropped me off here, so I dunno." Tristan shrugged in response, his voice becoming small again. "
Elizabeth produced her PaDD from the bag slung across her body and held it up. "Would you like to hear his voice? I am sure he can spare a moment to offer you some reassurance."
Before Dallas could respond a sound distracted him from Elizabeth's question and he turned to see where it was coming from.
With the hiss of the pneumatics, the door suddenly slid open to the Classroom. In the doorway stood a Man, Phasrifle partially leveled, dressed in Marine Armor-but looking more like a character out of a historic pictureholobook for kids.
It was Josef, who, upon immidiatly being faced with Children, finished the quick lookaround sweep of the room with his weapon lowered. Looking at the Teachers, he turns his head back onto the hallway. Great, of course he was the one to pick this room to sweep out of the school.
"Uh, Major, found the kids !" before turning his head back to look at everyone. Not sure what to exactly do or say. He had been trained how to handle a Machinegun, not children.
"So, everyone doing okay ?"
Elizabeth's eyes swung up to the man in the doorway and she smiled. "Ah; Sergeant Yesteryear. Mom had me look into the military world from the time you are used to."
Josef would look over to the teenager that just adressed him. A brow raising on his face. Not many people called him that Nickname. Tenzi called him that with several variations. How, did this teen...
"Did she now? Alright, Surprise Quiz. What's the RPM of an MG3 ?" he gave her a grin—obviously pulling her leg. "Kidding. Who's your Mom? And where the he-ck did you get that name from?"
"That depends upon whether you are referring to the machine gun or the car. If the gun, then between 1,000 and 1,200 rounds per minute on a standard bolt; less with a heavy bolt." She paused to think for a moment. "If you are referring to the car, its engine performed at peak around 6,000 rpm." She gave him an appraising look and a soft smile. "I'm Elizabeth Blackstone, daughter of Dr. Blackstone; it's a name they used in sickbay before they had an identity for you."
"There's a Car ?" That information seemed to befuddle the man for but a second. Something that was made after he....took a dip in the ice. That quickly was replaced with a grin. "Alright, Nerd, here's your prize," he declared, reaching into one of his pants. "Here, catch."
He proceeded to flick a coin at her, a 10 groschen one from 1963. "Buy yourself a piece of candy," he joked with an almost shiteating grin. "And for your information, my actual name is Josef. It's nice to meet you, Elizabeth. Ready to go back to your Mom ?"
"With the Major's permission, I'd like to help get everyone else back, and then I'll find my way to quarters. Mom ensures I can defend both myself and others, and it looks like you are all a touch shy on manpower; an extra hand can't hurt. Besides, Mom's on duty." Her gaze slid to the door, searching for the large Caitian that headed up the Marines. It slid over Keel and Fulvia both in the process, and she gave them both an inquisitive look when she did not see Clay immediately.
"Listen, K-Elizabeth. I aint doubting that your Moms prepared you for these sorts of things. But I personally don't want to risk getting yourself hurt out there. Because if you did, well, I think I wouldnt survive my next Sickbay visit in one piece, and im rather attached to all my pieces. Though, if you know the other children here, I wouldn't mind some help wrangling them up. I'm not exactly a certified Pedagogue." Josef joked, giving her a pat on the shoulder, but his words were surprisingly non-jokey at the moment.
"I'm nearly of Academy age; I truly think that I could be more use aiding the escort of the youngers back to their respective quarters than I would be confined to my own." She addressed Josef as much as any of the other marines and she took another glance searching for Clay.
Stepping through the door next was Fulvia. She gave a smile to the small group of red lizard hybrids who smiled and chirped at the sight of one of their mothers. " Everyone okay in here," she said calmly.
Taking up a position at the door, Keel kept an eye on the corridor to either side of the school entrance. Kids he was still learning the ropes for, but keeping a wary eye out for danger was something he was well used to. He nodded to Trass who took up a position opposite him covering the curving nature of the ship's corridors.
An older teacher approached Noha with a PADD, as he seemed to be the one running logistics. "Here's a list of the parents we've heard from and where they are located, on the next tab are ones who we know are still at duty stations. The final tab is everyone with parents in quarters and where they are, just waiting to be released from lockdown. Some of the parents, there are close with some other families so we've made a list of who can take on which children while we wait for some of the others to get off work. It doesn't cover everyone, and we can stay hear with the others as long as we need."
Noha accepted the PADD with a nod. "Thank you, sir. We will make sure the children make it home safely." He then read the PADD, memorising the locations of parents in lockdown and which kids could go where.
Brunel watched the activity at the front of the classroom. Without thinking about it he shifted closer to Alexandra, taking her left hand in his right.
Keel started getting itchy, aware that they had been in one place for a long time. He nodded to Trass who understood, taking up a position to cover him. Keel popped his head in the school door. 'Hey, we ready to get the kiddos home or what? Time's getting on,' he said in his best sing-song tone, keeping it light for the kids he could see hanging around.
Alexanda kept a hold of Brunel's hand. "We'll let the littles go first," she whispered as younger kids funnelled in front of them. "Mom will probably be here soon anyway."
Lt. Commander Ryan Keel
Chief of Diplomatic Intelligence
USS Astrea
Lieutenant JG Fulvia, (Yazar)
Intelligence Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Xalanth)
Petty Officer 3rd Class Dallas Reese
Slipstream Specialist
USS Astrea
(NPC of Eirly Andersen)
Josef Forstinger
Civillian
USS Astrea
Elizabeth Blackstone
Family
USS Astrea
(NPC of Alexandra Blackstone)
Lieutenant J.G. Jezra Siv as Noha
Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Alexandra Winters
Family
USS Astrea
(NPC of Remy Johansen)
Brunel Winters
Family
USS Astrea
(NPC of Maxun Spello)
Tristan Logan
Family
USS Astrea
(NPC of Eirly Andersen)
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