Log Matsiyan 81016-2237

[Matsiyan]

Personal Log, Lieutenant-Senior Conrad Matsiyan, TSN Lancer, 4th L.D.
Stardate: 81016-2237

Too busy to muse long. When will I ever be allowed to finish a full shift?

Quite a crowd of new cadets and more rumoured to be on the way. It is very cheerful to see them in our makeshift galley nervously tugging new uniforms straight. And rightly so as the division was hauled over the coals for sloppy dress, very mildly to be honest. We need to walk the line between appropriate priorities in a war zone and keeping our standards and our pride.

The Fleet Captain’s briefing was to the point. We remain in the Euphini expanse and our current mission is to fix up comms relays. Lancer and Phoenix deployed a tech crew to relay 01 but lost contact with Ensign Riley since then. After a warm up sim we headed out to recover him.

Cadet Donovan passed his exams with a creditable silver pin and was promoted to Acting Ensign. Braddock wasworthily promoted to Lt-Jr. There were genuine cheers and congratulations for these popular officers.

Admin bullets were given out: Need a DO. Empty slots are available on most ships. Don’t forget awards nominations.

For our sim we deliberately rotated posts to remember just how we depend on each other. Aposine stayed hands off in the command chair. Mundy took Weapons, I took Helm, Xiph took ScCom, Morlock took Engineering. We were definitely not as smooth as when we are on primaries, though Xiph excelled at SciCom. I appreciated the rapid bearings. I continued to appreciate Aposine’s cautions about over boosting Lancer’s agile manoeuvring capabilities and for some reason I was a lot less smooth at the helm than the fairly successful run I had last shift. More practice needed to get the touch down. We took some beatings in close quarters but managed to avoid the ignominy of a virtual respawn. To be fair we did not get the same mix of scouting and elites as usual. We had to take on fleets and a command ship, neither of which are Lancer’s forte but we at least had the sense to ask for help.

Then there was just time to brew the traditional good luck espresso before switching back to primaries and our performance jumped a couple of notches closer to its usual zenith. I think I’m getting psychologically attuned to the scent of coffee meaning serious work in progress. It really helps me focus. Being one officer short, Mundy took Science as well as Comms since it’s fairly second nature for her and I fell back to Engineering, where it felt reassuring to be useful. I’m enjoying the challenge of Science when it’s available, but also Helm in these last few sims.

The Mission: Rescue Riley at Comm relay 01
Sit Rep. Raven holding by Danae gate waiting supply convoy. Phoenix/Lancer checking comms buoy alpha. Deployed Engineering team under Ens Riley. Lost contact. Horizon/Viper holding by CmdPost 27X for security. CP defense offline and sensors limited. Must be protected.

It took some time to re-establish contact with Riley. The relay was emitting focused high energy test transmissions on certain bearings and that meant we could not establish a link until we came in on just the right approach vector. I think we made it on the third try. That gave local Penwrath and Hegemony small forces an opportunity to investigate and the division was kept busy fending them off while ensuring the CP and the relay were closely covered. Lancer distinguished herself by taking out a small Kralien fleet all by herself, which is tedious with beams alone. We also served as fast response part of the time and engaged several rather lacklustre pirate Axe classes. In the middle of one such a group of life pods were ejected. We picked up one and returned it to the CP, but I’ve no more about that since.

Mundy and I had to catch the approved shuttle well before shift end so we missed some excitement about detecting a new planet with an indigenous population being exploited by Penwrath. Just overheard something about it in the locker room. But now I’m going to exploit that shower and get some sleep.

[End log]

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