[[Personal log, Lt. Cmdr. Eric Aramond, TSN Raven, 2nd Fleet 4th LD
Stardate 2716-2237]]

This should have have been my second of three shifts serving as van Leigh’s XO on the Viper. What I was told was this would be a part of command training. A vague comment about “testing” was thrown in as well. Being a fan of cake, I agreed; interested to see where it would go. I can’t say I expected this.

Xavier started the shift off with promotions. Aposine, being the skilled madman that he is, was brought up to full Lieutenant. About damn time, and I said so. I followed that comment up with a curse about how he was now ahead of me in the roster. I swear some of the Seniors exchanged knowing looks at that, because there was one more promotion to come. Mine.

To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I still had more “testing” to do, right? Well, I either knocked it out of the park last shift with my performance (yeah, right), or something has come up requiring the division to have more senior officers. The only thing that brought me back to reality was Aposine moaning that they “didn’t even give him a full shift.”

After that, I got to look like a fool dashing between ships. As I said, I was supposed to be XO on the Viper. The moment I arrived on board, van Leigh apologized and told me I was to report to the Raven. Gebbens, and the rest of the assigned crew, were unavailable; and it needed an XO. There was some eye rolling on my part, but deep down I was relieved. The Raven is the closest I have to a home right now. Ill take the annoyance if it means getting familiarity as well.

Despite my late arrival onboard, the bridge’s seats were empty, save for Xavier in his usual spot. As we lamented the crew’s absence, officers trickled in, sent from the station by Mundy on her first shift as DO. I wish I could remember them all, but there are a few that stand out.

Slate was there to work SciComms. She also may or may not carry a flask with her, due to the multiple talks we had about drinking on the bridge. It sounds like a fun idea. In reality, it really isn’t. It just isn’t.

We were also joined by Cadet Brubel, fresh out the academy. I’m starting to doubt the quality of the academy’s education at this point. It felt like the Cadet had never stepped onto a bridge before. I ended up throwing him on Weapons to ensure that the ship flew smoothly. It didn’t, but that was no fault of his own.

Ever since we took Promethean Station back from the Arvonians, malfunctions have shown up all over the place. That includes on our ships. Every console suffered through something. If you were lucky, you only had about ten seconds of lag to suffer through. Those unlucky had systems stop working, or full crashes. It got so bad that our attempt to retake Volantis was ended prematurely. As such, more Sims were called for. I was given command of the Raven. Xavier ended up taking helm for a little while. Normally it’s a pleasure to watch him work. Not this time. He was hit with some of the worst lag I’ve ever seen. I did my best to bite back my frustration. We were well aware of the situation by that point, and snapping at the Fleet Captain is never the best idea.

Eventually, Garion was able to join us on deck. He immediately set about tweaking settings on the helm console to get it to sync properly. As much as I hated to do it, I asked Xavier to let Garion take over. I felt like I had to prove myself, damnit. Hard to do that when half the ship is acting up.

Overall, sims were interesting. At one point, we had bitten off more than we could chew, and lost our warp abilities. The ship was rocked with simulated blasts, and cries of damage came constantly from engineering. My SOS fell on deaf ears, leaving all of us on the bridge shocked and angry. Somehow, warp got fixed, and we raced out of the swarm of enemies.

Attempted to, anyway. A lucky shot knocked out the systems again, and our sitting duck quickly became a roasted duck. No more than digital debris scatted to the solar winds. Since it was a sim, we were able to rejoin the fray. All hands eager to show the other ships that leaving us to die was a mistake. We didn’t blow up again. I call that a plus.

[[Begin Encryption. Password: *************
Permissions: Read: None. Write: None]]

Here we go with the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] encryption again. I hate doing it, but this involves not just my family, but one other as well.

For the next few shifts, I’m being sent to the inner worlds. While there, I’ll be briefing the fleet commanders about the “Caltron Threat” and showing that after our momentary defection, the 4th Light is still to be trusted. Not sure why I’m the one being sent, but whatever. I won’t let this time go to waste.

A little while ago, Mundy mentioned that her brother had gotten mixed in with the Unukalhai. I had to bite down my usual tirade about “traitorous bastards.” Friendship and respect can be tiring at times. After she was done telling the events that led to all this, I immediately thought of Uncle Kylen and his “shipping business.” He smuggles all over the outer worlds, and has contacts in just about every shady organization there. I gave him the information about young Rajeev Chakravarthi, and he’s been sniffing around for information. I’m meeting with my family while away from the division, and he’ll be stopping by to give me any news he’s heard.

This is where I sound like a bastard. I feel for Mundy, I really do. But the effort I’m putting into this is about more than just reuniting family members. Rajeev is with the USF. That means he might have information the TSN could put to fantastic use. Maybe even information that would help us put them down for good. van Leigh is working with Ensign Vaj and myself to find this guy. I’m hoping I can convince them. If not, I’ll need to think of some way to get this guy to spill what he knows. Even if that means handing him over to ONI myself.

I hope it doesn’t come to that.

[[End Encryption]]

Well, I’m about to spend an extended amount of time being shuttled to the inner worlds. Time to drink myself stupid.

[[End log]]