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Personal Log, Lieutenant Conrad Matsiyan, TSN Lancer, 4th L.D.
Stardate: 25616-2237At last back aboard. I spent all last shift chasing gremlins left over from securing the systems after the Arvonian device intrusion. Especially as I was placed on light duty after the suspected minor concussion from the tumble I took in the previous shift’s actions.
But there was good news even before I set boot on decksole. The first order of business in the shift briefing was the promotion of our very own skipper, Jemel Ehain, from lowly Master and Commander to the lofty post-rank of full Captain. You should have seen his face! The senior officers had just come from their own pre-shift briefing and it was quite clear that they had not said a word about it to him, we were all included in his surprise which was a nice touch.
Lancer is now commanded by the third ranked senior officer in the division and the other two are not infrequently busy with administration, meaning that Captain Jemel is often in command of the division and even more often in command of a battle group.
This was also my first look at our new light-cruiser variants issued to replace our slower heavy hitters being reassigned to battle fleets rather than light divisions. The first is a Valkyrie class designated Horizon. I wish they had given her a true Valkyrie name but Horizon is a fine optimistic name and indicative of her tactical station. She is equipped for standoff engagements. By sacrificing some shield and mine capacity they have fitted longer range beam emitters and additional ordnance capacity for nukes and homing torpedoes. Tactically she fills the role of a missile cruiser and I think that is why Eagle’s crew transferred to her. I sense Mundy is pleased with her.
Our temporary friend, the aging dreadnought Montgomery, has been replaced by Viper a light cruiser with heavier shields and faster cycling beams with a wider area of overlapping arcs at the expense of some ordnance capacity, especially for nukes. Viper can close in and punch hard.
I am sad to see Monty leave us, but very glad and proud that she will be joining a frontline combat group. She was considered obsolete a few years ago, though that may have been a false evaluation as the Unukalhai were trying to steal ships that were derated and sent for breaking up. The 4th light had rescued her but failed to mention that in despatches and left her in mothballs. She was recommissioned when the division was in exile and short of hulls. She had been successfully retrofitted in wild haste with the latest efficiency upgrades. These had made her much more sprightly and considerably improved her endurance. I have spent the last several shifts using every spare moment I could find in tidying up the retrofits and bringing them up to standards that a yard dog would approve, rather than hand over some unreliable field upgrades. By the time she left us I was proud for her new engineer to see who had last had care of her and to seal the deal I left a precious bottle of Lagavulin in the usual Jefferies tube. If something with a tradition of three hundred years can be that good, there is no reason to disrespect Monty. Give ‘em hell old girl!
Fleet captain Xavier’s briefing covered the need for a training simulation, a live fire exercise to sharpen our focus, especially with the new ships, and our true mission, the advance to and through the Volantis gate and the retaking of Volantis command.
Aboard Lancer there was a good deal of cheering and high-spirited banter before we got under way and a lot of heavy emphasis on “sir”, much to the Old Man’s discomfort. We are damned proud of our captain and pleased to have him recognized.
Lt. Hall was called away to helm Raven: quite an honour to serve aboard the flagship. That left me an opportunity to work SciComms in the XO’s place and for flexible Chuck Finley to have a crack at his primary expertise in engineering instead of being kind enough to let me shine in my beloved engine room. Aposine was driving and Cadet Wolfkin had his chance to operate the biggest guns in the division, with the possible exception of Raven’s main armament.
The sim and exercise went well, I was busy getting used to Science. It was great to have a wider view of the engagement and have a completely different set of vital combat information flowing through my hands. I know the captain was a bit quicker on having headings ready sometimes, but I persevered with calling them anyway so he knew how close I was. In close combat I still found it easy to get lost in the close details of shield frequencies, and target status. Beforehand while the division is positioning it is easy to get lost in evaluating the situation rather than relentlessly driving the sensor sweeps when the rest of the division is working through it so rapidly. And I do not yet have the mental bandwidth to handle Comms at the same time, zooming, grabbing Intel and find the right taunt is slow for me and likewise acting on the target damage status to get surrender demands off at the right moment requires enormous focus. This was brought home particularly as we were frequently in company with Horizon and many of our targets would surrender anyway because Lt. Adele Mundy actually is a Bene Gesserit witch who uses the Voice to break the will of our opponents.
Our mission was pre-empted as Hegemony forces invaded Promethean system to seize control of Volantis gate and we were scrambled to defend it. We were able to fully repulse the incursion, though a friendly vessel went down and we had to pick up her lifepods and transport them to DS-42.
Then we proceeded through the gate to recapture Volantis command. The division coordinated well as usual even in the face of command wide technical glitches. Lancer’s role was to take point and deal with Skaraan pickets before slipping inside the defensive ring of mines and then decoying away the station close-in forces so that our sister ships could deploy marines to retake the station. Aposine pulled a very nice manoeuvre to lure a succession of them into the minefield, even correctly predicting which way they would break off when they gave up the pursuit.
Now that all the Volantis command stations are regained, we will be stationed here to begin retaking the rest of the system. The station is in some disarray as might be expected after an occupation, but seems to have suffered no significant damage. The senior officers were rapidly swamped in the administration of the station and ordered van Leigh to lead a simulation with junior commanders.
We had Lt.Jr. Adam Parra come aboard for a lively turn at helm. Aposine was a bit too verbose over Comms chatter, but the ship ran very smoothly without Jemel and van Leigh’s frantic pace had us completing a level ten seige sim in 16 minutes flat. He was just a trifle smug about that during a very generous debrief aboard his temporary flagship, Viper.
We feel pretty ready for anything at this point. I am looking forward to greeting the first EC freighter to resume trade. In the meantime a celebratory espresso is called for.
[End log]
//It’s nice to be reminded about something that happened a few shifts ago.
//Hmm… Just got an idea. Perhaps one of you lot who constantly write personal logs would like to role-play having one or more of their logs leaked out to the division? That could make for some interesting talks. 😀
//Adele being a Bene Gesserit wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.
//Adele has never been seen to stick anyone’s hand inside a box of unimaginable pain… Though I do admit to keeping an eye on the damage status of all ships in the vicinity of our battle group.
//Also, if Slate is around, there is at least an even chance the surrenders are going to Slate’s ship.
//@slate, we may have to start an unofficial count of surrenders, along the lines of Legolas and Gimli.
// competition, yes! Made slightly harder by having to match the request with the surrenders. Legolas always outclasses Gimli…
//Oh dear, what have I started? 🙂
// What do you mean by matching the request surrenders? Keeping track of the ships’ codes?//By the way, this:
“//Hmm… Just got an idea. Perhaps one of you lot who constantly write personal logs would like to role-play having one or more of their logs leaked out to the division? That could make for some interesting talks. 😀”
//This, this is precisely the reason why when things became personal, or involved the safety of the Division, Mundy switched to using the Memory Palace. If it isn’t written down anywhere, it can’t be leaked.
// I know there’s that unwritten RPG rule, “if your character has a Secret That Would Be Doom Or Disgrace If It Became Known ™, make sure to tell at least three people about it in the first hour of the game”… But dammit, that would be far too easy for you. Besides, Mundy actually has told her secret to the people who were in the bar a couple of sessions ago! So, if you want some of Mundy’s logs leaked, work for it: tell me how it happens, and who is involved, and why.
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