Editing Leonal Drizzt

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Leonal joined the Combat Engineering squad ‘Backbreakers’ and, after one minor mission which had nothing to do with using his given skills, was accepted whole-heartedly into the Unit. Because he hadn’t been a bloodied Marine from the time he joined, he had been watched closely to make sure all the psychological tests he had taken hadn’t been mistaken, and the Squad CO and CCE of the Drestier had made very sure to run him (and the squad) through multiple exorcizes to make sure his technical skills weren’t lacking.  

This ability served him well in what would be his first major action. Several Starfleet ships were captured during a [[Xenolithe]] invasion and, if left alone, the Xenolithe would have stripped them down for parts to build their own awesome war machines. This could not be allowed to happen, so the Drestier was sent ahead of the battle-group in order to land Marines and destroy the Galaxy Class Vessel USS Pinochet, as no striking force large enough to take her back could be in place before she was long out of range. The Backbreakers managed to get on board the ship and set the charges, but not before loosing half their strength to the Xenolithe in the resulting attack. It was Drizzt’s first taste of the horror that was war, and the danger that was Combat Engineering.

 

He continued to serve with distinction during the Xenolithe conflict, though the Backbreakers were under-strength. They spent their remaining days in conflict doing what could be considered the very basics of the CE’s job, clearing landing zones and repairing necessary equipment while under heavy fire. Spider quickly proved that he was able to keep a cool head under fire and that he was tactically brilliant. These distinctions would serve him well, for not long after the end of the Xenolithe conflict, he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to another Roger-Young class ‘Gator Freighter’ to be the XCE (Squad XO) of a Combat Engineering squad, the Fallen Angels.

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<tr><td>''The Fallen Angels, Unit Patch''</td></tr>

Spider’s time on the USS Plutonian was marked by constant strife on the frontier, though nothing as horrible brutal as the Xenolithe war. He spent years first as the Squad XO, then as the Squad CO, and finally as the Chief Combat Engineer of the Ship. It was a learning experience, lots of small battles on nameless planets.

 

During the last year of his service on the Plutonian, he took Command Training and became the Company Second Officer; the Marine Commanding Officer took him under his wing and taught him all the ins and outs of commanding a ship full of grunts who tended to think with their emotions rather then their heads. That training served him well and his own squad-level command improved as his grasp of the greater politics of the Corps grew and strengthened.

 

 

He was eventually tapped by the War College and Parris Island for rotation back to Earth as a part-time instructor of Combat Engineering. He accepted this move gracefully, but only because he would maintain command of the Fallen Angels. The entire squad was transferred to Mars, and Spider was given the position of CCE over all Combat Engineers tasked with defending the Utopia Planitia Fleet Shipyards.

 

 

Spider and his squad caught a ride back to Earth on a Gryphon Class Transport (A Sod Hopper) with the rest of the usual crew rotation and quickly found themselves stationed on Mars.

Spider’s time back in Sol System was not the peaceful time he thought it would be. Between his duties overseeing all the Combat Engineering squads tasked to Utopia (and there were many) and his professors duties which had been split between Parris Island and San Francisco, he rarely had more then a few free moments to himself. He caught most of the little sleep he did manage on inner-system transports for his thrice-weekly trips back and forth from Mars to Earth.

 

There was a full Regiment of Marines stationed at Utopia Planitia, along with a nearly unheard of 7 Combat Engineering Squads, due to the highly important nature of the Center as a Shipyard, a backup Strategic Operations Center, and the command base for the Mars Defense Perimeter. His greatest achievement as the Chief Combat Engineer was to reorganize the command structure of the Combat Engineers and improve their reaction times. He had little time to do else, though he had many more plans which he would have implemented had he been stationed there for more then the year he had.

 

The rest of his time he spent teaching. He taught squad and mid-sized battle-group tactics at the War College, and served as a guest speaker for several other instructors over a myriad of practical subjects. He taught hand-to-hand combat, tactics under fire and explosive ordinance disposal to CE presumptives at Parris Island.

 

Though busy, it was a satisfying time for Spider, and he would have stayed for longer had an emergency not popped up. He, his squad and 4 other squads were ordered to join the USS Spectre with Spider as the temporary Marine Commanding Officer with only 12 hours notice. The Spectre, part of the 52nd Exploratory Fleet, had just finished repairs and upgrades at Utopia Planitia and was available for immediate embarkation.

Spider quickly found out why he had been so quickly assigned to the Spectre after they had departed. An advance unit of the Xenolithe had been found deep within Federation Space along a subspace corridor, and it was the Spectre’s job to clean them out. Spider was one of the few officers in Sol who had experience in dealing with the dreaded enemy and who was available for immediate reassignment, hence his first impromptu command.

 

The Xenolithe had taken root near the Federation/Romulan border, prompting Starfleet to request scouting aid by the Romulan Empire. They, in turn, send the [[IRV Red Claw]] as their forces. Both ships dropped their Tactical Forces on the Xenolithe-claimed planet and fought a battle with several Xenolithe ships while Spider and their forces fought against a vastly superior foe on the ground, far more Xenolithe then had been reported had found their way to that target planet.

 

 

The Spectre, for reasons unknown to Spider at the time, was immediately ordered deep into Fringe space without a chance to drop the remaining Marines back on Earth or Mars. He found out after they had arrived at Starbase Geneva, Admiral LoDona had pulled his fleet back after accusing another Admiral of multiple charges, including Treason.

 

Spider was then ordered by forces loyal to LoDona to stay on Geneva until he could be reassigned. The Marine toiled with that order for nearly two weeks until reports of Admiral Doenitz’s wrong-doings began filtering through the ‘crewman grapevine’. He confirmed enough through unofficial channels to set his mind at ease. And when the first casualties from border clashes filtered into Geneva for long-term medical care, he began preparing himself and his Marines for what would become a war against their own.

Spider was assigned to the USS Boudicca, a ship which he’d watched out a port-hole since his arrival, after a particularly long and grueling patrol mission on a Marine Stallion. He found out later that he had been assigned as Marine Executive Officer and Chief Combat Engineering of ‘Wolfpack’, the 1st Boudicca Company, on the word of his former friend and superior Major Eva Straton.