Terran Stellar Navy › Forums › Personal Logs › Log Aramond 20216-2237
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25/02/2016 at 04:53 #5433AramondParticipant
[[Personal log, Lt. Eric Aramond, TSN Raven, 2nd Fleet 4th LD
Stardate 20216-2237]]There’s really only one way to describe this shift: a “flurry of activity.” Along with my DO responsibilities, the lieutenants bars on my jacket continue to attract more tasks like a small shiny magnet. I wonder if I’m just now noticing this, or if things have legitimately picked up recently. I can’t ask Leonard. He’s in ONI, so his opinion won’t count. And Greybeard had to take command of a ship not too long ago, so he’d be biased as well. What other lieutenants are around? Kennon? We don’t talk much.
Again, Quinn and I were running around with data pads. Okay fine, I was the one running around. Quinn had parked himself in the lobby to help out newcomers, while I dashed about making sure everything was going smoothly. We had another update to take care of. This time, though, all of the returning officers knew what to do. No stress, right?
Getting unassigned officiers to ships was a bit more complicated this time. There were so many cadets. If my roster is to be believed, they actually outnumbered our ensigns. I was torn between making sure all ships were balanced on roles, and making sure I didn’t put four cadets on a single ship. It helped that I was able to assign a few higher ranks, so placement was satisfactory at least.
Back on the Raven, Gebbens, Wade and I were joined by Lt. Jr. Daniel, Ensign Parra, and Cadets Dalla and Mikkelsen. Because of later events, I can’t remember what everyone’s role was. I do know that Gebbens was again acting Captain, and that I was XO. Since we were fully staffed for once, I actually didn’t even take a station. I believe that one of the cadets took SciComms. I was instead pacing around on the bridge. Not having a seat is weird. It threw me off so much that I was focusing more on what was happening on the bridge than outside.
What was happening on the bridge, you ask? Well, we had two cadets and one excited ensign. That’s what was happening. The more experienced officers were doing our best to make the newer ones feel at home. Parra, however, was shouting things left and right, confusing Dalla who was unfortunate enough to be on helm. He had yet to place our voices, and was assuming everything was an order. Even with my shouting, we still had to talk to the ensign about it during the debrief.
For the next sim it was decided that us lieutenants would get command training. Since Wade had been promoted earlier in the shift, the Raven didn’t need both of us. I was given the extra challenge and moved to the Hawk as acting captain. Once there, I joined Captain Evans and Lt. Commander Allard, the normal COs, on the bridge. Also there was Lt. Jr. Fulvus, and Cadets Power and Slate.
“Eventful” and “hectic” are the two words that best describe the sim from my eyes. Pretty quickly, we had to race over to swat fighters that were doing heavy damage to the Raven. As they left to get repaired, the next group swarmed us with drones. I don’t think I’ve seen that many drones is a good while. The fact that we got out of that engagement in one piece is certainly a testament to something. Probably me listening to Allard’s never ending “advice.”
I actually feel lucky that this didn’t happen on the Raven, so no one was aware of my hypocrisy. Where we had to be stern and give Parra a dressing down, for the same actions I made Allard my XO in the middle of the sim. If asked, I’ll be saying that it was to keep up formality for the two cadets with us. In reality, it was desperate act to save face in front of Captain Evans. I could feel his gaze from Comms.
Debrief had the captain saying that my biggest flaw was hesitation. He lessened the blow by saying that more experience would grind that away. I hope that this is the truth. It was mentioned after the Schroedinger Incident that most of us get used to following orders. I’ll admit, there were instances that I had to remind myself that I was actually in charge of the ship. At least my comms worked fine this time around. After I remembered which ship I was on. And which ship I was trying to talk to. And their names.
Changes continued to come, Captain Evans left the ship to perform other duties, leaving the chair to Allard and myself as XO. Commander Expree also assumed command of the fleet. Our mission was to jump into a particularly dangerous part of the Aretis system. I’ll certainly second that danger. Since I wound up on Helm, I ended up driving our nose into an asteroid during a sector transition. There’s no paint on that part of the ship, right?
Along with a metric ton of asteroids to maneuver around, the system was plagued by strong gravitational waves. This made sitting still or traveling in a straight line impossible. Bad enough when everything is working at 100%, but it seems fate wanted to challenge us a bit more.
Deep in the system, we came across something that has only been an astrophysics theory until now. A dimensional rift, just sitting there next to a asteroid field. Before we could even stop to get readings on it, a group of Caltrons made their presence known. They seemed to find the Hawk the shinest, because they immediately started pummeling us with their overcharged beams. The only thing that saved us was a bit of brilliance from our acting captain. Making sure they stayed just behind us, the Caltrons were allowed to have their way with the back of the ship. There were casualties, to say the least. But by the time the division were able to destroy the Caltrons, we were still alive.
From what I understood, our rear wasn’t much more than a pitted wreck. The damcom teams were able to get everything fully operational, though. It just took a while. So, while the other ships were scouting around, we got to be on scanning duty and gave the rift a once over. With any luck, I’ll be able to get access to those readings later. The whole thing is fascinating. That feeling was tempered by trepidation, however, when Allard gave the closer to get closer.
I was right to be worried, but not for the obvious reason. More than once, a singularity opened on top of the rift, spitting out more Caltrons. It was a good thing that I had been white-knuckling the throttle, because we were in no shape for that fight.
Two other things of note in the sector. One was a massive purple egg-shaped object floating neat the rift. Couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Mostly because I was worrying about two other singularities. There were permanent, so there was no concern of more Caltrons. No, it was the fact that they were moving. I’ve read about occurrences like these. Hell, I had to write a paper about the effects of grav waves back at the Academy. None of that prepared me for the sight of moving black holes. It’s just not right.
On the way back to Atlantis Command, we ran into a heavy fleet of USF ships. After what we had just dealt with, Unakalhi were welcome. We again showed the traitorous bastards why you don’t mess with the Fourth Light Division. I even had some fun during the fight. Imagine that.
Once back, you can probably guess what happened. One more sim. Who gets to rest? Not us.
Back on the Raven, they ended up losing some crewmembers to the station, leaving the ship understaffed. When I muttered this to myself, Allard overheard and came up with an idea. We ended up bringing them over to the Hawk so we could all run a carrier. Allard, Wade, and I stayed to crew the ship while the more junior officers left to jump on fighter controls.
Once our acting fleet captain found out about this, he was less than amused. Officially, it was because it wasn’t cleared with him. Well, let me correct that. It was because we didn’t clear it with him. Allard was quick to point out that the Duty Officer (me) had assisted him with the idea. Thanks Allard.
Anyway, the last sim was a border war. I continue to be surprised by the AI upgrades. We had enemies jump over to our side before the simulated war had even been announced. I hope that wasn’t actually a glitch. Then I’ll start worrying about the systems on the station. The sim did crash though. At least our endstate was with us in one piece, and not having lost all out fighters. Hurray for the little victories.
[[End log]]
26/02/2016 at 18:38 #5449MatsiyanParticipantThanks for the lighthearted tale telling. It reads as if we were talking about it in the bar afterwards. I’m sorry I missed the exciting topography! And I will miss the next shift too. After dragging us into the sims (and it was nice to realize just how much one has learned on active duty) they now want us to participate in a major cultural celebration since they found out we had some experience back before the Academy. There are a bunch of new offworld cadets and they are keen to demonstrate the diversity of Terran heritage and how shared experiences can develop stronger teams. I wish now I had worked more with Solari!
- This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Matsiyan. Reason: Typing mistakes
29/02/2016 at 19:48 #5516Blaze StrifeParticipant//What’s ONI? I’ve seen it around a few times, but forgot what’s it about.
//Also, great read, as always.
29/02/2016 at 20:39 #5520John van LeighParticipant//Office of Naval Intelligence, Fish’s department.
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