Log Matsiyan 12316-2237

[Matsiyan]

Personal Log, Lieutenant-Junior Conrad Matsiyan, TSN Hydra, 4th L.D.
Stardate: 12316-2237

I wasn’t sure what to expect starting this shift. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, if anything. Ever since the first time I served aboard CM-008 Hydra, she felt special. Maybe it was because I was a brand new Ensign wet behind the ears and without a permanent posting. I was proud as punch to be managing this huge, new unusual craft. I was very put out, in fact immediately defensive, when other officers slighted her. They complained about her speed and her rate of turn and the lack of excitement because she could not close with beams. The speed and manoeuvreability in fleet formations was easily fixed by an attentive engineer goosing her a little so no one would ever notice. Oh sure she would run low on energy faster, but who else had a store of 45 homing torpedoes to make that up? And not closing with beams? That’s why she did not need a fast turn. Excitement? Always Hydra up for the Echo 4 runs through the biggest, densest enemy fleets. Utility? No one complained when Hydra could break apart a big enemy fleet faster than any other ship freeing the fleet up to intercept other formations faster. There are a lot of station residents who don’t know how grateful they should be to the big girl’s knockout punch.

And much as I love the irreverent crew of the Hunter and Lancer, I could not have been happier when the post-Cerberus crew shuffle came around, that I was posted back to Hydra. That’s why when she went down for the last time, despite getting on very well with Commander Verok’s crew, I really wanted to leave that memory behind for a while and put in for a transfer.

So, homeless, I attended the pre-shift briefing. Hydra’s crew were temporarily assigned to the aging scout, Valiant, until a long term plan is put in place. The shift briefing was straightforward; sims and combat patrols against the USF in the lack of any major strategic initiatives.

It was reassuring to start the first sim with a known and respected set of bridge-mates. Cdr Verok in the big chair, with Lt. Greybeard, Lt.Jr. Quinn and Ensign Blaze filling out the boards. Technical integration problems were rife from the recent rounds of big upgrades. Lots of command net connection problems, but in the end we made a fair if slightly clumsy stab at the unfamiliar scouting role, making a wide pass around our assigned sector, good use of mines, taunting and dragging. Helm was a bit uneven, but that’s to be expected in a new role and especially after not having to manoeuvre for beams for so long.

For the second sim they combined us with some of Hawk’s crew aboard one of the new simulated carriers. Everything was strange about this vessel and doubly so because Mundy was aboard and kept getting strong psychic flashes of her boards overlaid with my own. The fact that they were both referring to the same data for the same ship was really distracting and I did an awful job of engineering. Command also took the opportunity to shuffle posts for wider experience. Mundy wound up at Helm which was possibly her least favourite Academy course. She has started to get slightly more comfortable with it but the carrier handled completely differently. From the outline schematic it is not even at all obvious which is the front of the ship since her launch structure protrudes forward, which is very confusing when compared to the warp nacelles of classic TSN cruisers. So when she ran us over a couple of mines I felt really guilty that I had not been boosting manoeuvreing to improve the turn radius. And The Universe stored that up for me later.

After that stressful sim, we did get a break before the next. It was then I heard that I was temporarily posted to Lancer, and headed over there. Crew were rotating roles for the final sim of the shift. My musical chair was Helm. It felt like Christmas. Are you kidding me? Helm on the fastest and nimblest ship in the fleet? Not only that but to give everyone a chance at what they needed, Commander Jemel rolled up his sleeves and routed Engineering through to his console.

But it is all too easy to get overexcited. All of Lancer’s manouvres are of course precise closures for beam work and her shields are none too powerful. No easy passes for ranged ordnance, or semi-precise through and throughs for mine deployment. Unless the sims recent upgrades have improved hostile turn rates while I wasn’t looking it felt as if I spent all too much time turning and turning to get into the right beam arc positioning while trying to avoid theirs. Aposine makes it look so easy. I need to get familiar with or reconfigure my Helm controls for easier use. I was having real trouble cutting impulse fast enough for coming hard about. Being wound up in that, I probably wasn’t giving enough verbal cues to the rest of the bridge either.

And then the ultimate indignity. We finished an engagement and received a priority interception request for an urgent action across the sector. I lit out at warp three before coming fully about which resulted in a long curving transit through a station defense minefield. It says quite something about Lancer’s turn of speed that she passed the mines so fast their sensors could not register fast enough to detonate.

Everything after that is a blur of shame. I need more practice.

[End log]

[Matsiyan]

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[Blaze Strife]

//You’ve basically written a book with those personal logs! 😀

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