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[[Personal log, Lt. Eric Aramond, TSN Raven, 2nd Fleet 4th LD
Stardate 16416-2237]]If there’s one bit of advice I would give to new cadets it would be “don’t have a hangover during duty shift.” It’s not fun. It’s even worse if you’re like me and refuse to let anyone know that there’s something wrong. Long story short, I drank way too much last night.
While I can’t speak for everyone else, the vibe seemed different this time around. The first part of that was obvious. Xavier was still in lockup, and Gebbens was nowhere to be found. The other part was our current acting Fleet Captain. Normally this role would fall to Captain Evans, but he was MIA as well. Leaving us with no idea who was in charge.
Our answer came right after roll call. Commander Brenner, a member of the 4th LD Old Guard™ had been transferred back, and assumed the duties of Fleet Captain. Two things immediately bothered me about this. One, while he’s not a newcomer, he’s been away for a good long while. So giving him command of the entire division after that didn’t seem like the best idea. But whatever, the chain of command exists for a reason. I’m not going to be vocal about it.
The second is that it seems that rather than officers getting promoted to new/higher command roles, we just keep getting transfers. It happened with del Pino (may his soul burn in a star), van Leigh, and now Brenner. I don’t have anything against the last two, but it just seems odd.
On the Raven, we had Wade, Garion, and I in our normal places on Weapons, Helm, and SciComms, while Cadet Tomlinson joined us from down in Engineering. Last on the bridge was Commander Brenner, who was quick to assign me as XO. Was that because I’m louder than Wade, or that I’m higher on the roster alphabetically? The better question is “how do I ask this without sounding like an ass?”
We were assigned a pretty standard patrol mission. This plan was thrown out the airlock, however, when a singularity formed outside of Promethean Command defenses. More Caltrons. Right on our front door. Fantastic.
Immediately after I made this announcement, Brenner asked what exactly what we were dealing with. While Wade filled him in with the little we actually knew, I hid my look of utter confusion. If the Commander stays in a role of this much authority, I may need to get Leonard to whip up a briefing packet. This can’t happen again. After the impromptu briefing, I was given tactical command of the Raven.
I probably should have expected something like this, since this kind of [EXPLETIVE DELETED] happens when Xavier isn’t here. Oh stars around, this might not ever stop! My main concern was making sure we didn’t get blown up, and landing hits whenever we could. While I was doing that, Wade was keeping an eye on the bigger picture as our unofficial XO. I joked with him about this later, but it bears repeating. If we have to keep suddenly taking command, where are our promotions? This is starting to feel thankless. And, give one to Gebbens, too! He’s got a good command style. Don’t tell him I said that…
There didn’t seem to be much coordination between ships during the fight. Hell, I think the only ship we worked with was the Lancer. Somehow, though, we kept Promethean Command from getting destroyed. I was able to catch my breath during debrief, where I then discovered that the Commander had given the nicknames of Sport and Sport Jr. to Garion and Tomlinson. I had no words. I still don’t. They seemed to find it hilarious, though.
A short chance to recover was given before we had to rush back to the ships. Stations only a sector away were being attacked by more Caltrons, and we were their only hope. The Commander took full control back and we rushed over.
The results can only be described as disastrous. We ended up not only losing every station in the sector, but the Lancer and Eagle went down in flames as well. There was even talk of retreating back to command. Seeing that we were having trouble, a group of destroyers was sent to bolster both our forces and our courage. Giving us what we needed to take out the remaining Caltrons.
Defeat. It’s been a long time since we’ve had to deal with that ugly beast. I’ve seen us take on much higher risk missions and come out not having lost a ship. No one is letting it show, but this hit us hard. Even command could tell, as they kept us in sims for the rest of the shift.
Before that got underway, Wade asked if he could take over as XO. I was done barking orders at that point, so I gave it to him. However, there was still one bit of work left to be done.
Since the Dauntless was being taken out, crews were shifted around. We weren’t affected on the Raven much, aside from getting another crewmember. This is when I got a private comms from Matsiyan asking if we needed an engineer. You see, he had been shoved into a fighter, and was not loving it. Now, I’m glad that I’m not the only one who sees those cursed things as “lifepods with wings”, and it was simple enough to convince the Commander and Wade to take on one more person.
The challenge was convincing the Dauntless to give up one of their “pilots.” Upon entering the bridge, I opened up with my best line. That we “needed a real engineer.” This got the whole bridge chuckling. Looking back on it, I’m glad Tardov was only around to observe this time, as that comment might have hurt some feelings. Allard was amenable, but needed a replacement. Comming back to the Raven, I was somehow able to convince Commander Brenner to climb into a cockpit. On our way back to the Raven, I was cackling at the thought. Which didn’t stop once I was on bridge again.
This just meant that Wade and I had command of the ship again. Is there an art kit anywhere on station? I think it’s time we made some fake pins for the two unofficial captains of the TSN Raven.
[[End log]]
// Remember the immortal words of the Hero of Canton: “You know what the chain of command is? It’s the chain I go get and beat you with ’til ya understand who’s in ruttin’ command here.”
//Excalibur was destroyed, as well. Though I heard it might get fixed.
//If we keep going at this pace, we’ll run out of bird names to name the ships.
//We’re RP-ing fighters as being remotely controlled, not really flying in them. Otherwise, we would lose more officers than we can afford.
//And the Dauntless was a mess… I hope we abandon the thing in the dry dock, at least until we get enough people that actually want to be in the fighters.
// When ships are rendered unusable for continued occupancy, there is a spectrum of outcomes, from “oh systems and transponders reset. There she is again.”, to crew forced to abandon ship but the hull recoverable and refittabble, to “oh dear the wreck fell in a black hole and is irrecoverable”.
I appreciate the sentiment of going through bird names but we still have lots of raptors to get through; Peregrine, Kestrel, Merlin, Owl, Sparrowhawk, Gyrfalcon, Kite, Harrier, Buzzard, Vulture, Condor, Osprey, and one could make a case for using Raptor, Accipiter or Strix. 🙂
There is dfinitely a learning curve for fighters and carriers. I don’t mind others enjoying the challenge but it does not greatly appeal to me.
//@mundy I’m waiting for the day I can use that line during a shift. Unfortunately for me, everyone has the annoying tendency to follow orders. 😛 Until then, I believe that series is deserving of a rewatch.
//@blaze The Exaclibur was destroyed too? Noooooooo! I love that ship! As for the Dauntless, I thought the entire reason we got a Carrier was because there was a lot of interest on it…
//@matsiyan The TSN Merlin sounds badass. I wonder what class of ship that would be. In terms of the fighters, I’m right there with you. I’m happy being bridge crew on a carrier, but for the fighter experience, I’d rather just boot up Elite: Dangerous. Single-manned fighters aren’t what I really play Artemis for, anyway.
//I missed Excalibur being destroyed, too! We’re not taking care of these ships, you know. One might say, To lose one ship, Mr Aramond, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose three looks like carelessness.
//@Aramond: What will _you_ be doing on Unification day?
We actually own an extra copy of the series just so we can lend it to people who have never watched it 🙂//As for fighters, not for me either. They’re not what Artemis is about, as far as I’m concerned.
//@mundy All the way in September? Sheesh, I don’t even know where I’ll be living at that point. But I’ve still got my DVDs from before they put the whole thing on Netflix.
//@blaze Nah, Leonard will just throw a fleet of Torgoth command ships at us.
//It seems I’m alone in my enjoyment of the fighters. It’s a shame because they can be a great damage dealer as long as the pilots are up to snuff.
//@feil I don’t think you’re alone in that case. I could have sworn that there plenty of others (like Wade and Allard) that enjoy the fighters. But their just not my cup of tea.
I’m one of those people that loves co-op when it comes to multiplayer, and Artemis is just such a unique video game. When I first found out about it, I was intrigued. A video game where everyone controls a ship together? Sign me up! And this was a year before I discovered all the lovely folks of the TSN. Nevermind the fact that I’m one of the few heretics around here that doesn’t care about Star Trek.
When it comes down to it, the TSN makes this game even more unique. Where else can you play a game where you can 4+ entirely player controlled ships, each with their own crew, working together against forces controlled by yet another player(GM)? And we do this every week!
…I have a feeling that I may have gotten a bit off topic here. Carriers have the potential to be great, I just don’t like controlling a fighter.
//What Aramond said, except for the Star Trek bit. Despite all its faults, it was groundbreaking.
I’m happy to leave the fighters to the bright young things, and sit on the bridge with the old people, knitting 🙂
//What Aramond and Mundy said. You are not alone. And maybe a group of pilots operating together can be effective and cooperative.
van Leigh: mostly because ship names for combat vessels should be inspiring and ennobling and impressive. Actually I would vote for TSN Penguin for a scout, they are agile, plucky little so-and-so’s. And surviving Antarctic winter is the closest thing to outer space on Earth 🙂
@Aramond, when I alluded to September, I was just wondering if you were planning to happen to find yourself in an Alliance-friendly bar, come U-day, lookin’ for a quiet drink.
But apparently Capt. Evans aimed to misbehave, so now we can all get our brown coats out of our lockers.
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