Irreplaceable

The pleasure's mine

It was a cold Tuesday morning, the kind of cold where your breath casts a Misty fog into the air, the kind of cold where your mouth freezes after chewing gum for a while, the sweater weather kind of cold, but that was standard for the windy city's tough winters. That didn't stop the military police from doing their jobs however, that's where Olivia Rae Harper comes in, she's the first lieutenant of her squad and they have been working this one case in particular for 6 months now, its brutal, but they were determined to get it closed and serve justice for the families who were stuck in the stages of denial.

"Lieutenant Harper, there's someone on line 1 for you ma'am" corporal jackson walked up to Lexi and saluted. Since Olivia was encumbered, meaning she couldn't salute back since her hands were full, she simply smiled, "thank you" she nodded and dismissed him. She sat back down at her desk and picked up the phone after putting a box down, "lieutenant Harper speaking" she announced her office. She instantly engaged into the conversation when the topic changed from small talk to important business, "thank you Sargent, I'll detail my platoon and myself as soon as we can, I'll see you soon" she hung up the phone, well that was great news...

She stood up and brushed off her ACU (army combat uniform) then clutched her patrol cap under her arm and left her office. As she made her way down to the larger work space for the soldiers and private's she received and delivered salutes when required. As she finally approached her platoon of military police soldiers they all paid attention and stood up straight, the commanding soldiers at the front saluted so Olivia saluted back, as a sign of respect and common courtesy. "Listen up, Sargent Hank Voight over at the 21st district informed me that his intelligence unit are currently working a case that involves Walker, so as soon as we get the go ahead from the commissioner we're being detailed. Does everyone understand?" She put her hand behind her back.

"Yes ma'am" they all replied in unison. Olivia nodded, "good, keep working guys" she smiled then left. She walked down the hall and into a circular room where some higher ranking officers and the commissioner talking, so she stood up straight to the right of the door and held her salute until they had finished their conversation and had left. It took a minute or two and her arm was getting tired but in the army, tired means nothing, but the higher ranking officers finally walked past her and out of the door as they saluted back, since there was a lot of them they didn't give a verbal greeting, just a friendly nod. The commissioner finally waved Olivia over, since she was the superintendent in this situation she didn't need to salute back to the lieutenant.

"What can I do for you lieutenant?" She smiled and sat down. Olivia nodded, "Sargent hank Voight from the intelligence unit over at district 21 called to let me know they're currently working a similar case involving Walker. Can I ask you a question ma'am?" She stood up straight, they had to talk in a certain way to their superiors as a sign of respect. Commissioner brennen nodded for her to carry on, "can I detail my platoon so we can assist on the investigation ma'am?" Olivia smiled weakly. The commissioner nodded without a second thought, "of course lieutenant, do what you have to do to get this son of a bitch off the streets. You can either detail later this evening or you can take the early morning slot for tomorrow, the choice is yours" she stood up.

Olivia nodded, "we'll take today's slot, thank you ma'am" she saluted as the commissioner nodded back and dismissed her. Most people would be shocked to hear that they do indeed swear, but they're still human and cases can annoy and anger them just as much as anyone else. Walkers case was hitting them all hard, they had put blood sweat and tears into this case for 6 gruelling months and they still had nothing, he's a sneaky criminal and a darn good one too. She left the room and walked back out to her soldiers, "alright, we're good to go. We're detailing later this evening so during your lunch breaks I want you all to go back to your barracks and pack up, I can't tell you how long we're gonna be there so pack heavy but be smart about it, nothing stupid" she saluted to the commanding officer.

Once she was secure and sure that her soldiers were raring to go, she walked back to her office to call Sargent Voight back, she'd heard a lot of good and bad things about him but that's what makes him and his unit so interesting. Her unit works very similar to his and she was sure they'd all get along very well. She dialled the number back and a man picked up straight away.
Hank: "Voight"
Olivia: "this is lieutenant Harper, the commissioners given us the go ahead so we're detailing tonight and we should be ready to work tomorrow morning"
Hank: "that's great news, we can't wait to have you"
Olivia: "The pleasures mine Sargent, see you then"
Hank: "you too lieutenant, safe journey"

And with that she hung up the phone, it was final, they were going to meet the not so infamous hank Voight and his unit for the first time. Both units were located in Illinois but there were in two different parts, Olivia and her branch were based in Jacksonville but Hanks unit were located in Chicago so its a good 3 and a half hour drive, give or take, just to get there. She knew she would have the impossible job of getting her soldiers to gear up themselves so she made her way to her accommodation block and began packing her own bags now so she could get on track with the weapons before the soldiers started flooding into the main hall.

Once she had packed a mix of military clothes and a few natural clothes, she brought her bags out to the front door ready for shipping. They would be taking the military vans since there was around 25 of them, just so they wouldn't take up too much space when they set up camp in Chicago, once she was sorted herself she made her way down to the bunker rooms where the guns and weapons were, there were already two other officers waiting to help her. There was no need to salute each other since they were busy and encumbered, "I don't think we'll need any snipers but I want 3 packed up anyways, we'll need the set of PAC-5's, the set of DAR-701 Targets, and the M16's. Leave the M60's out we shouldn't need them" Olivia spat out orders, she sounded like a badass when talking about guns but she never really listened to herself, it was natural in her eyes.

The officers made note and nodded, "what about the handguns?" Officer Miller opposed, Olivia nodded, "the private's can roll them out, they know where they are" she smiled. The two officers nodded and helped her put the guns into secure cases, there were 5 boxes of guns all packed up and at the front door with her bags by the end of the lunch break, they like to move quick. Next was packing up all the case files, so she walked back into the soldiers barracks and walked into their dorm quarters, "Jackson, Watson, come give me a hand" she saluted them as they saluted her back. The two private's walked out and followed their lieutenant into the larger bullpen.

"We need everything packed up, nice and simple" she smiled at them. The two nodded and began putting sheets back into files as Olivia stacked up boxes of evidence, they made their way out to where the guns were and placed them down. By now it was 4:45pm and they had worked all day, the vans had already rolled up out front and the army personnel were loading the weight into the equipment van. Soon they would be on the road and heading to the hotel they had been granted access too, which just so happened to be around the corner of Pilsen, the home of the 21st district.