Free Lieutenant Colonel (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 6) by Jonathan P. Brazee Page A

only 15 minutes earlier.
    Ataturk was technically an independent nation, albeit with the mighty IGA really in charge.  It was not in the Federation.  Cennet, on the other hand, was a member of the Federation. For the Marines to land in support of Ataturk was somewhat unprecedented.   Ryck didn’t know if IGA, which was incorporated back on Earth and so was subject to Federation regulations, was just that powerful, or if this was the Federation’s slap on the wrist for Cennet hiring the St. Regis battalion.
    Officially, 2/3 was deploying to ensure that fighting didn’t break out between the two governments, but by them landing in Ataturk, it was clear whose side the battalion was on.  In some convoluted way, the Marines were supporting a foreign government against a member of the Federation.
    Ryck glanced at the mural that graced the wardroom bulkhead.  The image of Lieutenant Pressley O’Bannon raising the United States flag over the fort in Derne was a seminal moment in the history of the US Marines, the first time the flag had raised over foreign soil.  Beyond the two Marines, the USS Argus moved in close to provide support, with Lieutenant Isaac Hull commanding her.  The FS Derne had been named for that battle, where the eight Marines and a ragtag group of Greek and tribal mercenaries, supported by the best and brightest of the Navy, had routed the forces of the Bashaw of Tripoli.  What most people didn’t remember, though, was that after taking the fort, the diplomats took over and gave up all that the Marines had won, and the allies the Marines and “General” William Eaton had gathered had been abandoned and left to their fates.
    This mission, “Operation Thunderclap,” was complicated enough to end up in a similar trap.  If the Marines went in to support Ataturk, and then the Council decided that Cennet had been suitably taken down a notch, things could get messy.
    Ryck hated these kinds of missions.  At least with the cappies, as Ryck still tended to refer to the Trinoculars, it was pretty cut and dry.  With the SOG, things were even more delineated.
    “. . . as we have been trained to do,” Captain K was finishing up his opening remarks. 
    As a full Navy captain, he was in overall command of the operation, but once the Fuzos hit the atmosphere, command shifted to Ryck.  At this point, though, it was still CAPT K’s show, and he wanted Ryck’s input.  Ryck understood that.  Even if the ship was only providing orbital supporting fires, how the battalion did on the ground would reflect on the ship’s CO as well.  Ryck was more than willing to take the captain’s and his staff’s input while he and Sandy fine-tuned their own plans.
    Mr. Karadag stood up next and gave a brief welcome-to-Ataturk speech and a thanks for coming to keep the peace.  As the Ataturk rep spoke, Ryck looked out over the assembled men.  There were no openly hostile looks, but Ryck could tell not too many people were enthused.
    “Gentlemen, we’ve got a mission here,” Ryck said when it was his turn to address the men.  “Mr. Karadag was right in that we are first and foremost here to keep the peace.  We all hope that is how things go.  But don’t forget that we are a combat unit.  We’ll leave the negotiations to the diplomats.  Our job, when you boil it down, is to react to violence in a professional manner and ensure our Marines and sailors make it back home to Tarawa.  And that’s what we are going to do.  So, Major Peltier-Aswad, let’s take our contingency plan and develop an operations order that will let us successfully complete the mission.  Commander Briggs and his staff with be assisting us.  I want a tight, complete ops order by 0800 tomorrow.  Our planned debark and landing will commence at 1300.  So, let’s get cracking!”
    For the next three hours, the two staffs hammered out the operations order.  The order was somewhat unwieldy, which Ryck hated, but most of that consisted of