Joint Log - ColTowers/ColColson(NPC)

Posted on 241405.19 @ 4:47am by Colonel Adam Towers

Mission: Insurrection [Fleet Plot]
Location: MCS Vesuvius

=*= BEGIN LOG =*=

Towers had quickly explained the situation, or what little of it he was aware of, to Colson on the ride down to the barracks.

"I'm assuming you want in on the strike team." Towers said.

"Not really." Colson replied.

"No?" Towers asked, surprised.

"This is a fool's errand, Adam. I understand Sharpe's involvement, being that it's his daughter, but going after her is exactly what they want you to do. They want to use her to get to him, and you as well, knowing that you're Sharpe's secret weapon." Colson said.

Towers nodded. It wasn't anything he didn't already know.

"There's no way you'll convince Sharpe to back down. I know that." Colson continued.

Towers agreed with that too, and nodded again.

"And I get that it's your damned sense of loyalty and honor getting in the way. You think you owe Sharpe, not to mention the whole damsel in distress bit. You're a bloody renaissance knight, Adam." The Scotsman said.

"I do owe him." Towers countered.

"For what? Dragging your corpse out of that bio-weapons lab? Go there a little late, didn't he? And that's the other thing here, Adam." Colson stopped and jabbed a finger at Towers' chest.

"You still have that Cardassian shit in your veins. Doing Christ knows what to you. You could drop at any minute. How's that going to affect this mission if you have an incident in the middle of an extraction effort?"

Towers frowned. The effects had been so minimal, just the odd bout of fatigue or soreness, that he had often forgotten about the Cardassian mutagenic virus flowing through his system. Vesuvius' medical department had been able to give him enough immuno-boosters that his system had been holding the virus at bay, not allowing it to cause serious harm, or so they hoped.

"I know you're not some bloody Cardassian sleeper agent, Adam. Intel playing that card was just a way to take you out of action before this moronic coup. They wanted to stop all the mush brained marines from rallying around their big hero, and they couldn't just shoot you because you'd become a martyr. But you're infected with something, and immuno-booster hyposprays aren't gonna hold it off forever, lad." Colson said.

Towers wrinkled his nose at the label 'hero'. He had always hated that. Colson had a point, and he knew it. But Colson also knew that Towers was far too stubborn to put something as trivial as his own personal safety ahead of his sense of loyalty.

He would go on this mission even if it killed him.

"Someone has to keep Sharpe in line, Zach. I'm probably the only one that can do that at this point. He's seeing red and he's out for blood. He's going to need a leash before this ends."

"Let Tyris do it."

"He can't. And anyway, I don't even know if he's still alive. That's what we need to find out." Towers said as they walked into the CIC section of the barracks.

Colson sighed. "Too bad we can't contact him."

Towers shrugged. "I wouldn't even know where to start looking, even if I knew he was alive. I suspect he'll find us. Despite the secrecy necessary here, Sharpe has all the subtlety of a child banging pots and pans at 4 AM."

"You're not exactly James Bond either, Adam." Colson pointed out.

"Who?"

"Never mind."

Within an hour, Towers had his volunteers. Sergeant Edmunds would be tagging along again... it seemed he had, over the years, taken on a role as Towers' personal bodyguard on missions like this.

Various other marines from the 5th volunteered, despite the secrecy and danger involved in the mission.

Not to mention the lack of planning. Towers knew there was no way to know for sure that Sarah Sharpe had been taken to Earth, but it was a logical place to start.

Colson excused himself, as he wasn't part of the mission and had no need to know about it. Though it wasn't much of a planning session. All Towers could tell them was who the VIP was, and their destination. Sharpe had to fill in the rest of the blanks for them.

A few grumbled at the vagueness, but Towers expected that. It simply couldn't be helped that the mission was this open. They would all have to do some on the fly improvising.

"Go get some rest and check your gear. I'll need to get some details ironed out with the General before we go anywhere. I don't need to tell you all to keep your mouths shut. The more secrecy we have, the higher chance we have at success." Towers said.

Watching the small group file out, he saw Edmunds shoot him a glance and knew what it meant. His last statement was a crock of shit, because the enemy was, as Colson already said, probably expecting them to do exactly this. Richard Sharpe was not a difficult man to predict, especially when he was fueled by rage.

And Towers knew that at some point, the success or failure of this extraction might depend on his own ability to keep Sharpe rational at a critical point.

Leaving the room last, Towers sighed. He wasn't sure which part would be more difficult. Tightroping back onto Earth and finding a General's daughter who would no doubt be heavily guarded by an enemy who expected them to be coming...

Or controlling the legendary temper of one General Richard Sharpe.


=*= END LOG =*=

Colonel Adam Towers
Former CO, 5th MEU

Colonel Zach Colson (NPC)
CO, 5th MEU