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[[Personal log, Lt. Eric Aramond, TSN Raven, 2nd Fleet 4th LD
Stardate 5316-2237]]Fourth verse, same as the first. At least, it starts the same as the others. Can you say “security updates”? No? Well, neither can anyone else.
As is my luck, no one informs me about this until I step in the galley. Lt Commander Allard decided to take time out of his busy busy day to throw the update to me with the message “Get to it!” But I was ready this time. Into the galley I pulled my cart full of blank data pads. Turns out that the Duty Officer role comes with some perks. Thanks to some late night reading (caffeine is my new god), it was simple enough to get the data transferred over and thrust a pad into the hands of every officer that walked in. If this doesn’t count as a successful end of tenure, then I don’t know what does.
Xavier was back from his leave of absence, meaning the fleet was running more or less normally. On the Raven, Gebbens took his normal role as XO, with myself on SciComms. On my way over, I dragged with me Ensign Parra for Helm, Lt. Greybeard for Engineering, and Acting Ensign Blaze for Weapons.
After powering through multiple system crashes that are inevitable when new updates are installed, simulations were pretty standard. Had to talk to Parra about keeping chatter down on the bridge during combat. That was when the captain was away, so I hope that lessened the blow. The new AI continues to be impressive and challenging. Also, it’s nice to be able to focus on my birds-eye view back at SciComms. Forgot how much I missed my station.
Of course, I wasn’t given much time to get comfortable. Other ships lost a few officers for various reasons, and since we had crew to spare, Parra transferred over, leaving me to take up Helm. Gebbens moved to SciComms. I’m not going to lie, I threw a few jealous glances at him afterwards.
Our mission this time around was to escort a civilian supply convoy through the Aretis system. I’m probably spoiled from being on military ships for so long, but I forgot how slow haulers move. They have no warp or jump capability, and their impulse is slower than ours. I had to keep zig-zagging on their side so we wouldn’t get too far ahead. There was some token trouble on our route, but nothing that the division couldn’t handle, as usual.
Turns out we weren’t the only ones bitching about the convoy’s speed. Wait, I can use that swear? Who sets these things?! But yes, occasionally snippets of conversation would come over the comms. Everyone was annoyed by our escort duty. It got so bad that Xavier even asked C&C if there was anything that could be done. After a few moments, a response came that the convoy would be activating their “turbo.” That made some confused looks appear on the bridge.
Turbo, as it turns out, is nowhere near impressive enough for its name. I’m sure the mechanics behind it are something to be applauded, but my specialty is in astrophysics, not engineering. Its speed puts it in between our standard impulse, and warp 1. Greybeard and I tried to make a game out of getting our engines to match theirs. To put it simply, the game got boring fast.
There were times when we had to go though some pretty heavy asteroid fields. Seeing as I wasn’t about to slow down and let the other ships get ahead, I powered through and managed to avoid any impacts. It seems that there some white knuckles on the bridge, as I received multiple warnings to be careful. “I see them” was the politest way I could think of to tell them to shut the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] up.
Fortunately, this task came to an end. All that’s really left to say about it is that no one appears to have any faith in my piloting ability. Plenty of remarks were made about getting fresh paint ready as we came into dock. Did I scrape the sides? I think not. The flight ended with a picture-perfect docking job, thank you very much.
What happened next, I still can’t believe. As we all cooled off back in the galley, del Pino came in briefly saying that he was sorry for what was going to happen. it sparked a good amount of confusion among the others, but I was too busy getting annoyed. Announcements like that tended to precede more work for the DO (me). The fact that he left before any questions were asked certainly didn’t help my mood.
We then got news that del Pino and Ensign Cessna were on board the Hydra. Quinn and I were asked if we would report this. I pointed across the room, grumbling that Lt Jr Finley was our Security Chief. If he wasn’t going to report this, then I certainly didn’t have a reason to. Unsatisfied with my answer, Quinn decided to go investigate. It didn’t take long for him let me know that the Hydra had been locked from the inside.
Seconds afterwards, alarms were blaring. This is where confusion overtook my annoyance, but I didn’t let that stop me from immediately ordering everyone to their ships. Being unable to access their normal assignments, Quinn and Matsyian were pulled to the Phoenix by Commander Expree.
Being the last one on board the Raven, I jumped to the helm controls while Xavier was explaining that the Hydra had been hijacked by Cessna and del Pino. Eyes were wide as we pulled out of dock. And then suddenly shut again as a massive explosion rocked our ship.
More sirens blared, strange sounds were coming from below decks, and the voices on the deck all melded into one. Once order had been reestablished, it was easy to discover what happened. The Hydra had hit us with a nuke to the rear, and had taken out our engines. We were dead in the water. At least we were the only ones damaged by the blast, and the Phoenix, Lancer, and Hawk were able to give chase.
If it weren’t for the fact that the detonation had caused us to drift another station, then I would be wrapping this log up a lot earlier. Reading the sensor data afterwards reveals that we never would have gotten closer than 599km to the station. Just close enough for them to tractor us in. Agonizing minutes passed by as the ship became operational again. Once we were, the captain barely had a chance to speak before I cranked us up to warp 4 so that we could rejoin the fight.
Sorry, not fight. This was a chase in every sense of the word. By the time we had caught up with the others, the Hydra had already opened a jump gate and passed through. I’m not sure which one, I was more focused on getting us there. Looking back, though, plowing through a gate at the speeds we were pulling is not a good idea, and not something a sane man does. That should say something about my mindstate here.
Its been pointed put to me multiple times that I’m not exactly a friend to Xenos. I can explain. I don’t trust the N’tani. In fact, I fully expect them to turn on us at some point in the future. Krailens are a bunch of sissies. Skaarans are cowards. The Torgoth need learn their place. And don’t even get me started on Arvonians.
I mention this because I’ve been compared to the Unukalhi before. A group that won’t be happy until humans are the only species left in the universe. Without bringing up that every one of these bastards is a traitor to the USFP, this is still offensive. Add to the fact that the moment we’re through the gate, the first thing we hear is del Pino and Cessna, two of our own, spewing out their propaganda? I would have fired myself out of a torpedo tube if I thought it would have helped put a stop to them.
But why do that when I had a ship? Specifically a fully stocked battlecruiser that I was helming? With a weapons officer that was chomping at the bit as much as I was? We would have had to be physically restrained to stop.
We weren’t, to say the least. Whether this was a good or bad thing, I’ll let someone else judge.
We gave chase. Any order directed at me was given nothing but a growl in response. Being behind a enemy missile cruiser is risky, and this time was no exception. It took all my focus to dodge the multitude of ordinance they were throwing at us. Once, my concentration lapsed, and one of those pinged off our hull. Fortunately, it was a mine that hadn’t armed itself yet, so we didn’t have to worry about damage.
Due to those same risks, we couldn’t just close up behind them and start shooting. That would make us easy to hit. Instead, I had to get us to their side, just within our beam arcs. Seeing as I couldn’t look away from the controls, the only way I knew that was working were the whoops from Blaze whenever we made a successful hit.
Finally, the Hydra was brought to a stop, with the other ships moving in for the kill. The last thing I remember while at my station is coming in to join them. Then deafening noise. Black.
When I came to, I was crushed against Crewman Tairn in an overstufed lifepod. Turns out that in a last ditch effort to deal damage, the Hydra had launched a volley of nukes at us, taking out both the Raven and itself. He had pulled my ass out of the seat and to the pod. I’m going to need to buy him a drink.
I hate being stick in a lifepod. Nothing but a thin piece of metal keeping you safe from the black. And since they have no engines, you just sit there. Completely at the mercy of events that you have no control over. No one wants to go into one of these things. Hell, I’d say part of the reason that we all work to become good at our jobs is so we don’t have to.
With the Hydra wrecked and the traitors dead (good riddance), we were picked up quickly enough. There was still trouble around. Turns out that the USF had been hailed by their buddies and were converging on our sector.
I’m not sure how it was accomplished, but Atlantis Command was somehow able to speed the Excalibur over to us as a temporary replacement for the Raven. If I weren’t so attached to the Raven, I would be switching my primary and requesting transfer to this beauty. The speed, the maneuvering, that big cannon. Is it possible to have a crush on a spaceship? If it is, then I do. Its only downside is that fact that it can’t stock mines or nukes, which limits its options. Not that I care, I want to fly it more.
Even with its limitations, we were still able to last the battle and take out the USF fleet. That’s one more victory for the USN, and another loss for traitorous bastards.
Word is that the Raven is being recovered and transported back for heavy repairs. The Hydra had basically blown itself up, and thus, there’s barely anything left to recover, much less rebuild. Probably better to spend the money and manpower building a brand new ship. Can you poor a drink for a lost ship? I’m doing it anyway.
Oh yes, all this is also serving as the ending to Quinn and I’s tenure as ADO & DO. While the fireworks are appreciated, I do wish that we hadn’t lost a ship because of it. I wonder if all the stress of the job was enhanced by the fact that I became a lieutenant at the same time. Something I’ll need to look into in the future. Even with all my complaining, I’d do this job again. This isn’t the last the division has seen of Duty Officer Aramond. It’ll come my turn again.
[[End log]]
//USN? You mean the TSN? Or the USPF?
//Love the log.
//Since these are “Personal Logs”, we cannot read each other’s logs, correct? If that’s so, I think we could use a place for RP talks. An RP mess hall, of sorts.
//Craaaaaaaap. It’s supposed to be TSN. How did I miss that!
//We’ve replied to logs In Character in the past. There’s really not much protocol around here.
//@blaze you are completely correct. Personal logs are private records dictated by people to a computer and accessible only by the author, legal overides presumably for security or medical reasons and by hackers.
It would be sad however not to discuss sometimes and it is almost impossible not to inject one’s own character viewpoint, though I guess we could make an effort to refer to our own characters in the third person more often. It my head, I rationalize it as the kind of discussion that might emerge in the bar.
Speaking of which, the Wardroom forum is the place for in character RP discussions. The wardroom is the lounge/living room/common room for officers below the rank of Captain (note that the officer in charge of a ship is for all intents and purposes a captain, even if he holds a lower rank).
It tends to be used for very formal topics which is actually incorrect. The wardroom should be for off-duty conversation.
Shall we try to get some RP threads going there?
//
Shall we try to get some RP threads going there?
I’d love to. As a former Hydra officer, I think you have the best starting point. 😉
Also, we can see if we’ll have just one topic titled “The Bar” or something like that, or if we’ll have a topic per topic.
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