Plattner Plans
Posted on Mon May 11th, 2026 @ 10:57am by Lieutenant Junior Grade Jack Hunter & Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble & Major Edmund Merrick & Staff Warrant Officer Rommie
Edited on on Tue May 12th, 2026 @ 6:56am
2,711 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Episode 17 - Going Home
Location: The Morgue - Deck 9 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD025 1400 hrs
“Rommie” Neil said as he made his way carefully down the corridor toward the lift, his intended destination was the Morgue. “Would you let Ed and JG Hunter that I’d like to have them join me in the morgue.”
Neil nearly had his one of the crutches catch on the carpet runner again and he wobbled slightly as he balanced on his good leg and pushed himself into the wall to negate the unsteadiness.
Then he began again.
“Yes sir,” the AI’s voice sounded in his ear and Neil could almost hear her frustration. His definition of Light Duty and the Medical staffs differed wildly. Once he was inside the tube and set the destination, he eyed the crutches and tried to shift them out of the way of the others in the lift.
“JG Hunter,” Rommie’s voice sounded in the comm. "Colonel Tremble would like you to join him in the morgue in Marine country, sir."
Hunter was working on paperwork in his office. He was rubbing his chin - he cut himself while shaving that morning and it bothered him. Even now. 3 hours later. Then suddenly, he received the chime and heard the request from the AI.
Marine country? What?, he asked himself but didn’t really bother to ask. Hunter slowly got up and grabbed a ready-to-go repair bag off the shelf by the door. It had everything needed for fairly small jobs. Something told him he might need it.
“Major,” Rommies voice sounded over the comm. “The Colonel would like you to join him in the morgue sir. JG Hunter is being summoned as well to discuss the cross training with engineering.”
"Acknowledged" Edmund responded, rising up from his desk and heading for the morgue.
Stumping his way into the morgue, Neil took stock as he remembered Rowena…no that was the Maleficent entity ambushing him here not so many months ago. The lights in the morgue were set to ready levels, since no none was working on their suits or gear just yet. The dim light was a bit eerie as the suits in their charging and fitting racks resembled bodies which watched him make his way toward the work table nearest his own gear. In his mind, they also judged him and he felt that weight with every tap-tap...tap that marked his steps as he limped in.
Rommie had taken form as the Colonel had entered marine country, meeting him near the gift shop. Even though she had the run of the ship, she still followed the Colonel’s protocol and minimized her corporeal presence unless she was requested to physically be present by others. She was mindful of how far the Commodore had bent, allowing her plenty of rope to run amok. “No offense, sir” she said to Neil as she watched him and monitored his leg and bio-readings in real time. “But would the Colonel kindly put his butt in a chair before he falls on it. Again. Sir.”
Scowling, Neil fixed a glower at his aide that should have melted ferrocrete, but the lousy AI didn’t seem to be affected. Then his leg twitched and he pulled out one of the built in stools from a work table and propped himself onto it, the seat automatically adjusting under him. “You’re getting kinda uppity for a Warrant” he remarked, glancing around to make sure they were still alone before removing his artificial leg and rubbing at the stump.
“I am a reflection of my commander, Colonel sir,” Rommie said primly as she watched him from the position she’d assumed near his (new) racked armor.
“You saying I’m a pain in the ass,” Neil asked as the morgues hatch cycled.
The travel wasn't long, Edmund had arrived just as Neil made his comment.
"Having a spat?" he queried as he entered.
He noted the new suit that was waiting for Neil, "Nice new shiny suit of armor there. Good to see there is one for you once more. There was too much of a empty spot there, just didn't seem right."
He paused and nodded to Rommie. "Rommie, good to see you."
Turning, the AI saluted crisply, then returned to her normal easy stance and said, "Good to see you as well, Major. And the Colonel is just being difficult, which is expected and actually part of his chart so Medical has been warned."
Neil muttered something about betrayal and sellouts before he picked up his leg and set it on the workbench. "Happy?" he asked Rommie.
"Ecstatic," the AI answered through the banter coding her author had installed. "Now, sirs....Major Merrick, he is in your charge. Or in the spirit of his mood today...Tag. You're it."
At that point the AI disappeared into her data stream until needed.
"As I said, she's kinda uppity for an AI. Going to need to talk to Jon about that. How goes things, Ed?"
"Its a going." Edmund replied, rubbing his chin a little bit.
"Went to see the folks, saw my in laws, went to do some soul searching. Still looking for my soul. I am hoping to find it sometime. Though perhaps it ran away with my heart leaving me a heartless, person?"
Ed saying this with a straight face.
Neil eyed Ed as he shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position and doubting he'd be able to for a while. After a few beats, he said, "Ed. Do I really have to get Rommie to send us some hats, horns and a cake for that pity party? You were on the right track to finding your heart and soul when Shy drug you into that den of iniquity. Did seeing your out-laws change anything?" Neil thought Ed might be trying to use humor but he'd been crutching around with the dead-wife thing too long and it was affecting his performance.
The doors opened. The hiss echoed in the immediate vicinity as Lieutenant Hunter arrived at the Morgue. In hand was his repair gear in the event he needed it.
Checking his HUD's chrono, Neil grunted and slid his stump into the prosthetic's sleeve and pushed himself back up onto his feet. "Right. We'll get back to that. The chief engineer has graced us with their appearance."
His irritation only slightly flaring, Neil said, "So good of you to join us Mr. Hunter. Don't get distracted please join the major and I. I wanted to get this briefing in, since Ed and I are due on Mars in a couple of hours."
Hunter was a little confused but didn’t say anything. He still held his gear bag but knew it was a matter of time before things were explained to him.
“Engineering is at your service.”
A quick nod and he waited until he was briefed on what they needed.
Holding back a sigh, Neil got into it. "We've been given the go ahead by Fleet, General Sobel and Admiral Rice have given us the green light to cross train two members of Pioneer's Engineering cadre in the use of specialized version of the MARVEL-EAS suits." Rommie brought up the lights around Neil's suit where it hung in a maintenance/charging rack. " This is Marine Verticle Envelopment, Enhanced Armored Suit, Mark Four," Neil recited from memory. "Rated for all environments, including zero-g. It can be tailored for use and mission."
Pausing to let that sink in, Neil continued. "Those engineers you select and can get through the training, their suits will be built in house with the Major and our armorers helping fit and equip the kit. The Commodore and I thought they might be useful in hazardous environments. Obviously, you'll likely not need backpack grenade launching systems or the heavier tactical packages." Turning to the Major, Neil said, "Ed, we'll incorporate the selected engineers into the Cure's training. If we get a mission that will require more engineering knowledge or a finer touch, they'll be going in with us."
Jack listened without interrupting, but after a moment, his eyes shifted to the suit. He took a slow step closer, still clutching his bag as if he had entered a room to do his job, yet had been transported into a foreign place.
The MARVEL-EAS Mark Four hung in its rack, staring at him. It had layered plating, reinforced joints, and integrated systems that went far beyond standard gear, especially engineering gear.
Jack didn’t touch it, but his gaze traced along the seams, the connection points, the architecture.
He finally set his repair bag down.
“Cross-training engineers to operate in these…” Jack said quietly, more thinking out loud than questioning.
He exhaled quietly.
“Sir,” Jack started. “I understand the utility.” He nodded once toward the suit. “Hazard environments, zero-g, structural instability. I get it. And having engineering support in the field, I can see the advantage.”
Another pause.
“But my people aren’t Marines,” Jack said, and there was no defiance in it. Just the truth.
Neil eyed the engineer and gave himself a count of ten in his head. Then he said slightly slower, "We're not asking you to be marines, Mr. Hunter. The Pioneer is part of a pilot program where marines, such as myself, are taking on roles traditionally fleet held. But also with them working more close with the Fleet crew. Marines have always served in damage control roles aboard ships they've served and now we're going to bring Corp capabilities across the line so to speak and train a couple of engineers in the suits. Reasoning goes beyond cross integration though."
He was starting to get a headache behind his left eye and his toes itched.
The fact that Neil didn't have toes, foot or leg on the offending limb was a curiosity medical still couldn't explain.
"Recent field exercises have shown that the Cure can run into situations where individual marines and embedded armorers have their hands full. Having a couple of engineers who know how to use the suits and have clearance to enter the morgue un-escorted will benefit everyone. I'm not asking you or your designates to lead a charge. But if an specialist is needed on one of our missions, their survivability goes up a lot if you're in a suit. Same goes if there's a really hazardous environment engineers need to go into."
Then he smiled slightly, "And General Sobel and Admiral Rice think it's a good idea and have signed off. In one aspect, maybe you and your engineers are kinda like marines. A suggestion from on high, cleared by the Commodore and spelled out by me pretty much means it's an order. I just was trying smooth the delivery."
"I understand, sir," Jack replied. "And I'm not trying to challenge the order. My people already crawl through plasma fires and radiation leaks when everybody else is running in the opposite direction. They know risk, and they accept it."
Jack said with a measured tone. His gaze moved back to the MARVEL-EAS again, this time less wary and now more analytical.
"That said, if engineers are going into environments alongside Marines," he said carefully, "then I'd rather they have every advantage possible."
"Splendid," Neil said dryly. They'd already spent too much time in this, but that was what it was. "Get the Major a couple of names and we'll start running them through the training and include them in exercises once proficiency is up to par. Reaching over he picked up his new helmet and looked inside. "Incidentally, your engineers will have the designator Plattner added to their files. Plattner is old earth Germanic for armorer."
His mind was also going back to when the entity had cracked his last suit like an egg. Only the Suit had saved his life. After a few beats, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing and put the helmet back down and gathered himself to his feet.
"Right. Ed, you have anything to add?" Neil asked as he straightened his uniform and got his crutches.
Edmund as what he most did, kept quiet, letting Tremble do the talking on where the suits were concerned. That was Neil's project and knew more about it that he did. As to the other subject Neil had spoken about before Hunter arrived, that will be tabled until a good time presented itself.
"You've got some good engineers in your department." Edmund responded, "Choose wisely, Lieutenant Hunter."
“Thank you.” Jack said with a nod as he continued to stare at the suit.”
A flashback in Jack’s mind suddenly came into mental view:
=Flashback: Two years ago. USS Aquarius=
Main Engineering erupted in a nightmare of fire and damaged hull.
Jack, the remaining senior engineer, hit the deck as an explosion detonated somewhere behind him. The shockwave rolled through engineering like a sandworm on Tyree.
Sparks and debris were everywhere.
Three seconds later, another explosion nearby. Someone began to scream as they covered their face to stop the bleeding. Cause: shattered glass from the exploded panel in front of them.
“Core breach in progress,” the computer echoed throughout the room.
Jack turned and saw the red alarm lights blink, then looked at the wall-mounted computer panel, which displayed a graphic of the core being ejected. He turned to face the core. Blood and sweat dripped from his forehead.
The ejector arms opened as the core fell into a trap door at the bottom of the deck and disappeared.
“Core ejected.”
“Core ejected.”
It repeated as Jack heard something from behind him:
THUD
THUD
THUD
Like magnetic plates connecting and disconnecting.
He turned to face the sound as he saw something move through the lights, smoke, and fire just beyond the main engineering door.
An armored silhouette emerged slowly from the smoke. It was massive.
Marine armor. Similar to that Marvel version.
The suit’s plating glowed from the fires as if Death himself walked through fireworks.
The marine grabbed for him and….
=Flashback Ended=
Jack was still in the room in front of the MARVEL-EAS suit as he remembered his past.
He also realized he was now the only one left in the room.
His eyes returned fixed on the suit until he grabbed his repair bag and walked out.
Rommie appeared, activating herself at Hunter's exit and carefully checked over the morgue before sealing the chamber and activating the security daemon the Colonel had ordered her to construct after the Maleficent problem. The construct was a meaner portion of her. A stand alone guardian that was wired directly into the morgue through a core that was powered, present and only could be accessed from within the Morgue itself.
Even Rommie (primary) herself had to have the Colonel's in-person permission to access it. The Colonel and Major Merrick were the only members of the Pioneer itself that had command authorization to shelve the daemon. The morgue might have been on the Commodore's ship, but this chamber belonged to the Corp and the suits could do too much damage in the wrong hands. Even the Cure's armory didn't have this added security.
Rommie was pretty sure the Colonel hadn't bothered to tell the Commodore about it either. The daemon's physical image emerged from it's own data-stream and paced around the Morgue in the shape of a shimmering Doberman Pincher. Once secure, Rommie was pushed out and the daemon lay down on the deck, jaw on it's paws as it stared at the Morgue's hatch.
On guard.
A joint post by:
Major Edmund Merrick
Company Commanding Officer Officer, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Colonel Cornelius Tremble
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Battalion Commander, The Cure
Lieutenant Junior Grade Jack Hunter
Chief Engineering Officer, USS Pioneer
Staff Warrant Officer Rommie
Artificial Intelligence, The Cure
USS Pioneer
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