Crow Eats Crow

Posted on Sun Mar 3rd, 2019 @ 3:50am by Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus & Major Jacob Asher
Edited on on Sun Mar 3rd, 2019 @ 4:19am

Mission: Aftermath
Location: Asher's Office
Timeline: Current

Jeremy only realized he didn't know where the Major's office was until he went to look for it. He'd never been there, the first meeting was in a small briefing room then everything else was either in the control room, the conference room or the embarkation room. He'd not been to the office. He stopped by, quickly, to ask Arcadia for directions then ignored the question as to why he wasn't in full uniform, mumbling something about medical orders. He figured that was believable enough that he didn't have to reveal the rest of his shame. Truth was, he left off the sidearm to make it easier in case the Major decided he had to spend his time waiting for the disciplinary hearing in a brig cell.

He only got turned around twice, but eventually found his way. Then, he stood before the door for several long moments. His stomach was as knotted, if not worse, than his first trip through the Gate. The first time he stepped foot on an alien planet through a wormhole that was going to spread his atomic signature wide across an artificially created fold in space. Much like that time, this was completely new territory for him.

Finally, he raised his hand and knocked hard on the door, four quick raps, then dropped his hand and waited.

Jake wasn't expecting anyone, so Jeremy's knock on his door startled him. "Advance and be recognized!" he called out. Nobody really said that, but Jake was in a goofy mood, so that's what he said.

Jeremy hesitated for a moment. He was given an old code for confronting someone approaching a sentry line. Though he wasn't quite finished going through all the information he had to read, maybe that was revived here? Taking a deep breath, he entered the office, found a spot that was in line with the middle of the room and the desk, turned to face the Major and, with a salute, announced: "Staff Sergeant Jeremy - Jeremiah - Corvus present to submit for disciplinary action, sir."

Jake looked completely confused. He returned the salute so Corvus wouldn't have to stand there in front of his desk like an idiot. "Crow," Jake said, picking up the nickname the others had chosen for the sort of goofy PJ. "I have have absotively, positutely no earthly idea what the Hell you're talking about, but I'm sure this is going to be good. Have a seat and tell me what you think it is I'm supposed to be disciplining you for."

"Sir," Jeremy said, but blinked. Sit down? Okay, so he's not done this before but he didn't think this was the way it was supposed to go. This was more like when he got in trouble at home and had to speak with his father. Nevertheless, orders were orders. He took the chair. Then took a deep breath. "The first issue came about as we were in the debrief before leaving on the mission, sir. When the alien Shae asked you not to...not..." he took another deep breath. "She asked you not to leave me behind. It was not intentional on my part to lie to her, sir, that is what I heard the solution was for those of us who were dismissed from this command. In order to..." he looked down at his hands. "In order to keep the program's secret safe." He swallowed. "If...I...I will accept that as my punishment if that's what it comes to but..."

He shook his head. "I'd like the opportunity to say goodbye to my family first, sir. I know at that point I'll have lost trust but I promise they won't hear a word from me about Project New Dawn, the Stargate, alien worlds or any of this. I'll...I'll tell them I'm going to prison for what I've done without mentioning that."

Jake laughed. "Oh for fuck's sake, Crow! Yes, what you did was stupid and frankly cruel, but not against the UCMJ. And you don't owe me an apology, you owe Shae an apology, and I damned well expect you to give her one, and I expect you to rein in your God damned paranoia and stop freaking people out. We're going to meet a lot of people who know nothing about us and if you start sharing all of your doubts about yourself and your fears of me with them, you're going to screw a lot of things up for us. So learn some restraint and if you're wracked with guilt or doubt or low self esteem or whatever, go see psych services."

"No, sir!" He said, first of all, he wasn't going to get labelled a basket case and then kicked out as an emotional snowflake. "I know my capabilities and what I'm good at!" Then he stopped and let out a long sigh. "Which brings me to the second part. My insubordination on the planet. Where I," he squeezed his eyes closed, wishing he could take those five minutes back. "Where I, among other things, called you a spoiled brat. In front of everyone. The whole team. I swear, Major, I've never done that before. Never! And I don't know why I did it this time." Except you deserved it because you weren't capable of listening to anybody else while trying to make us all 'respect your authoriTAY!

"Eh," Jake shrugged. "It all turned out well in the end. I'm secure enough in both my self-esteem not to get defensive over something so stupid. You timed that well, because I was definitely, no bullshit here, a second or two later and I would have opened fire on Jessica and not shed a single tear over it, and if you had intervened when I was pulling the trigger, Hassan or Mantelli would have put you down like a rabid dog and we would have called it a day. So, nice timing, Crow. But next time she mouths off, remember this: I'm in command. It doesn't matter who's right. I make the decisions, we do what I say, and we do it when I say to do it, not a moment before or after. Jessica had those rules explained to her, she gave her word that she would follow orders in the field, and then she broke her word. She disobeys me in the field again and thereby compromises the mission or the teams safety, if necessary, I'll put her down. You get in the way, I'll put you down, too. I won't enjoy it, but I'll do it. The mission and the safety of the team come before people's egos, as does the chain of command."

Jake let that sink in. Then, he had what he was pretty sure was a brilliant idea. "Okay, Crow, I have decided on your punishment. You are now our Jessica wrangler. When she starts going off mission, off task, or just off of the deep end, it's your job to rein her in. Do you feel appropriately disciplined?"

Jeremy's jaw dropped upon hearing the pronouncement of punishment. He tried to speak for several moments but could only stammer before he stopped himself and held a breath for several long counts of ten. "Sir!" he finally said. "The UCMJ demands proportionality in punishment for the offense committed. I didn't kill your parents or...or...start a genocide! I even saved that old guy's life! That's unfair, sir! Can't I be banished instead?"

Jake laughed out loud. "Now you know how I feel. No, I think this is perfect. She seems to respond better to you than she does to me when she's on the jazz, so that's your new job! Congratulations, Sergeant, on being given the career of your dreams!"

"Yes, sir," Jeremy said, sounding about as happy as an innocent man on the way to the gallows to be hung. "And if she doesn't listen to me, can I shoot her?"

"Nope," Jake said. "But depending on how much of a pain in the ass she's being, I might do it for you."

Jake shook his head. "Let's get back to Shae. Crow, Shae has had a very, very rough life. She's been taking care of herself since she was little. Everyone she ever loved was taken from her, one in a way I hope none of us ever to experience. She's a very tough, competent adult, who carries inside her the little girl she never got to be, and you frightened that kid. Don't do that again, Crow, I mean it."

"Sir, I didn't mean to scare her with that. I only wanted to let her know how sorry I was for how I reacted to her...changes. I swear I thought I was better than that. It still scares me, a little. Seeing it, knowing it's there. I'm trying hard to get over it though because...she brought me dim sum. Some of the best I ever had and she told you not to leave me behind. She's a good person I just, it scares me."

Jake sighed. "I'll admit, it startled me at first, too. But is she really that different from anyone else you know? Her heart beats, she has lungs to breath with, blood in her veins. She worries about her friends. Focus on that and not what scares you."

"Yes, sir," Jeremy said. "I'm doing my best. And, Major? On the planet and in this command, I do know what my duty is and who my CO is. I hope you never doubt that."

"I have absolute faith in you, Crow," Jake said. "In part because you knew you had to do something, you didn't know what exactly to do, but you put the mission first, cowboyed up, and did something. Even better, what you did worked. Seems to me that Andrews may have a PhD, but you're the one with the smarts. So as far as I'm concerned, we're good, unless you need anything else."

"You rescinding your punishment?" Jeremy said, hopefully. But at the look he got, he stood. "No, didn't think so. I'm sure I'm dismissed sir, with lots of homework still to do. I'll see myself out."

With that he did leave the office and wondered how soon he could forget where it was. Because he hoped to not come back here for a very, very long time. Just imagine if he did something really bad?