Meeting the Captain

Posted on Sat May 9th, 2020 @ 7:13pm by Level 5 Nicholas "Nick" Medhurst & Captain Ash Shultz

Mission: It's... A Bus Station
Location: MCAS Cherry Point
Timeline: Five Days Prior to Present Day

ON:

Lieutenant Nicholas 'Nick' Medhurst, US Navy stood in a modified Weaver stance with an M18 pistol in hand and waited for the green light above his head to illuminate. Suddenly a husky male voice in his headset spoke.

"Shooters, Load and Lock!"

In one fluid motion, Nick removed a magazine from the pouch on his belt and slid it into pistol, feeling the satisfying click of the magazine locking into place.

"Ready on the right!"


"Ready on the left!"


"Ready on the firing line!"

Nick raised the thumb of his left hand to signify readiness.


"Unlock weapons!"

Nicholas flicked the safety switch on his weapons.

"Fire when ready!"

Suddenly a cardboard silhouette target dropped from the ceiling. Without even thinking, Nicholas fired 7 rounds into the target, the smell of gunpowder and cordite filling the air as he fired each one and watched the brass fly out of the ejector port and hit the deck before they slid into a small gutter.

The male voice in his headset spoke again. "Cease Fire"

Following the standard commands, Nick cleared and locked the slide of the tan painted pistol and placed them on the table in front of him. Removing his headset, he placed it on the hook and waited for his target to slide back to him. As it stopped, he unclipped it from its housing and checked the placement of his rounds. Six of the seven landed in center mass, with the exception of one that landed at the left ear of the 'head' of the target.

"You shoot well for a pilot," Ash spoke with an impressed tone. "Maybe a little too much." She referred, of course to his flight status being revoked. More time to shoot and sit a desk.

A visitor pass was clipped to her navy-blue company polo shirt, but the way she stood and kept herself told anyone here that she was prior service.

Nicholas didn't even turn around as he took a pen and circled his hits and tabulated his score on the target. "You are aware that we use guns as a part of our job, right? A pilot who can't shoot isn't worth much in this day and age- I think it just shows that we can be on target when needed." he said, the sarcastic creeping through in his voice before he turned around and leaned against the wall. "Now tell me- who are you and why are you here?" he asked as he checked his cover.

"Can I borrow your sidearm this next round, Captain?" Ash asked the Marine officer in BDUs who had accompanied her. He smiled as if he knew exactly what she was up to. Maybe because he knew her service record as well as Nicholas's record. "Not at all, Lieutenant Shultz."

Ash took the slot beside Nick and began to load the borrowed firearm as she explained. "Ash Shultz, USN retired. I used to be Naval Security Forces, CO of the MWD program for the Pentagon and Capitol Hill before I retired... Now, I'm in charge of a Ghostbusters International station in Raleigh, North Carolina. So yeah... it's a bit weird for a former cop like me to see a pilot can shoot as good as me."

Ash sat the firearm down on the table and tapped the protective ear wear, while she waited for the ready signal.

Nick stepped back and put on a spare headset from an adjoining station. Giving a thumbs up, he stood back and listened to the Range Officer give the same commands again.

Ash signaled with her thumb-up. When the gun master gave the order to unlock weapons, she pulled the safety. Then took aim. While she could very well take the chest shots like he did, handlers of MWD didn't get where they were without scoring slightly higher. So her aim was dead-center of the head.

"Fire when ready!"

Ash shot three times rapidly toward her intended spot. Three more around the heart. The two separate groupings could have been better, but she used close-ranged weapons these days. So not as much time on a gun range as she would have liked. Thus her final shot was closer to the center of the chest rather than the heart.

"Cease fire."

Ash placed hers down on the table in front of her and nodded her thanks to the Marine captain. And as the sheet came to her, she frowned a bit. Nick's groups were bit better but she was not trying to beat him. The stray shot, however, irked her.

"Meh... I shoot better with shotguns these days," Ash shrugged off. Then she looked to Nick while she took her mufflers off her ears. "So... Have I earned enough respect to granting me five minutes so I can propose a side-career for you, Lieutenant?"

Nicholas looked at her intently. "What sort of job are we talking about here, Lieutenant?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he began walking towards the exit and out into the daylight. Turning left, he found a conveniently placed picnic table and took a seat.

"Call me Ash," she smiled and stood to the observer line with Nick. "This job I offer will be fun for folks like you and me. It also has perks and toys to play with that not even the military uses," Ash added with excitement.

"My friends call me Nick.” he said offhandedly. You've got your five minutes. Now what is this job?" he asked. "If you're familiar with me, you know the Navy clipped my wings so I can't be of too much use to you," he said ruefully.

"All right Nick... We need someone good at analyzing live data feeds, retrieving historical data, and sometimes tabloid information. As the dispatcher for our station, you'd also be mobilizing teams out in the field when we get cases. You and I would very often be working together to pick which people are best-suited for the paranormal cases we handle," Ash informed. Then she added, just in case she lost him - "...Did I mention those cases involve taking down ghosts with the type of firepower often used to power a carrier? And you would get to be part of that front-line when shit hits the fan?"

Nick raised his hands "Are you crazy? Because if you are dead serious about what you just spewed to me, the headshrinker is right over there-" he pointed behind Ash. "Trust me, we've gotten to know each other pretty well over the last couple of months. Specifically talking about how ghosts don't exist. Especially the ones of my dead friends." he said, his jaw now clenched. "Also, how are you planning on getting miniaturized nuclear reactors small enough to strap to people? The EPA locked up all that research years ago." he said.

"There is a ghost that haunts a motel next door to us," Ash stated factually. "My offer is this: You join my crew, for a few weeks. You don't see it, I'll let you go with a glowing civilian sector job reference. You can still have the signing bonus of five-thousand that a member in that senior role would be offered." She was dead sure at this point, all he needed was to see a ghost one more time and then he was sold.

Then she made a shrug, "...As to the nukes? They're unofficially sanctioned for what we do. Some high-ranking members of the Pentagon and ATF are aware we have them, and the EPA does on occasion inspect the storage and condition of the proton reactors. Because our OG ghostbusters made them. They passed on that knowledge to others who now make them for various Ghostbuster stations."

Nicholas stopped and thought for a moment. "Since you're so adamant on bringing me on, let's get down to brass tacks. If I was to come on permanent, what would the salary be? Bear in mind the Navy pays quite a bit and it'd take a lot for me to go permanently into the Reserves." he said.

"Even I don't make 6-figures," Ash admitted. "At least... not yet. I can offer a person of your skillset and position, forty-thousand a year. Plus the signing bonus. You get housing on-campus and food. Though if you want your own room, you and everyone else on-staff will have to clear the ghost next door and fix the old motel up. And it's North Carolina. Living expenses are a lot less than places like California, New York, and Florida. So good pay for where you live."

Nick shook his head incredulously. "I hate to say it but my skillset is worth more than that, with multiple Bachelor’s degrees and a pilot's license I could go work a cushy job as a contractor. Talk to your bosses and ask them to make it closer to fifty and you've got yourself a deal. It might allow you to get a little bit more money for yourself as well. I'm assuming since you knew where and how to find me, you've got my contact information. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work. Good day, Captain" he said, standing up from the table and striding away towards his office.

"I don't need corporate approval to meet your demand," Ash interrupted as she cut him off at the door. "Fifty-thousand, on the condition you don't utter it to anyone else on staff... I do not need a riot. But I do need you."

Nick stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face Ash. His eyes deadly serious. "Then you've got me for whatever you need." he said, extending his hand.

Ash hoped at that moment that this would end up a solid deal.

"Now, if you'd walk with me back to my office and we can talk more about what I can do for you," he said.

Ash nodded and followed him to his office. She now understood why Bishop worked his magic so hard to get her to join GI. Experienced military people had abilities that, infused into the organization, made Ghostbuster better at their job. Nick... She smiled. There was a lot of expectation she had with him.


Two minutes later, they walked into the sparsely appointed office that had shadow boxes and certificates from his career adorning the walls. His glass topped desk had rows of challenge coins from various commands and deployments below the first pane. Walking over to the small refrigerator in the corner, he pulled out two cans of Coke, launching one towards Ash with an underhanded toss.

Ash deftly caught it. However, inside, she wished it were a can of beer. Still, it was something to patch the throat.

As he walked back to his desk, he took a seat and tossed his cover onto a hook close by. "So tell me, when did the Ghostbusters come back? I heard some news stories about it in 2016 but those people just turned out to be tossing out massive quantities of hallucinogenic gasses and calling them ghosts." he said, cracking the top of the soda and taking a small sip.

"We never really left," Ash said. "About the mid 90's, the government declared paranormal activity ceased and suppressed New York's ads for busting. But the New York offices were still getting calls. Founders kept the stations running another four years until they realized they needed another station close to the D.C. area. So Taskforce Moonlight was formed to cover most New England and north-eastern states. The office in Philly was brought online not long after, and the members there dealt with a lot of the political minutia in D.C. to try and get more funding - which sometimes worked."

Ash pulled her phone from her cargo pocket near her left knee and pulled up her inter-company records before she passed her phone to Nick. Showing him the history of Taskforce Moonlight.

"About twenty-pages to read, to get to where we are now. So I'll give a very abridged version," Ash continued. "Government gradually hushed up all hauntings. It's mostly been minor things here and there for the past decade and a half. Mediums, however, have been cropping up, talking to ghosts. And we don't know if that's a cause to the sudden rise in paranormal activity along fresh paranormal leylines or not. But the hauntings are becoming more frequent and more public. So eventually, someone will take video and upload it to social media or a news station and the governments can't suppress it then."

Nicholas sat the can down and scrolled quickly through the text. "That explains a lot. People here like to say the old General's quarters are haunted." Continuing to scroll, he stopped. "This mentions an office in Raleigh. I'm assuming this is where we'll be based out of?" he asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

"Raleigh is part of Taskforce Spectre, which was approved four months ago. Most stations are in the process of being updated and staffed," Ash confirmed. "When fully operational, we will be the larger of the two taskforces. Raleigh, Miami, Savanah, Memphis, and Birmingham will complete Taskforce Spectre. Columbus, Ohio is also opening in a few months, as part of Taskforce Moonlight. And we have a station in Ontario, Canada, with about 10 more stations planned throughout the British Commonwealth within the next 10 years... So we're mobilizing for something big."

Nicholas handed back the phone. "I can imagine. I'm not an expert on the paranormal but I can connect the dots. So when do you need me?" he asked, finishing off the soda and tossing the can into a bright blue plastic bin on the side of his desk.

"Soon as your duties here are over," Ash offered. "I assume you work here a weekend a month."

Nick nodded. "Let me make some calls and see what I can do. There's still a personnel officer that owes me a few favors. As long as you can guarantee me my Reserve duty, I'll be there anytime you need me." he said, picking up his phone and punching in a couple of numbers. After a rapid and terse exchange with the personnel officer on the other line, Nick hung up. "My deputy can take over for me here in a week. I'll officially be on leave until then. Got the particulars of when and where I need to be?"

Ash handed him the station's business card. "For your GPS. Orientation starts end of the week."

"I'll be there. See you in a week... Captain." he said slyly, placing the business card into his jacket pocket.

"See you then," Ash smiled as she stood up, took a sip of her cola, and began to exit his office. "Nice ta get ta know you."

With that, she left his office and followed a security escort toward the visitor parking.

:OFF