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Personal Log, Lt. Sr. Adele Mundy, TSN Sabre, 2nd Flt., 4th Lt. Div.
Stardate: 16917-2237We’re rather short of personnel again. I don’t know what the Admiralty is doing with our captains, but I wish they’d send them back. We can only do so much with the new cadets they keep sending us instead, and the strain is beginning to tell: with the recent losses of three ships — three ships, dammit! — out of our normal four, and one retired Commander, the prolonged absences of two more commanding officers are making life uncertain in an area where we are accustomed to order, even routine.
But because we were short of command officers, Lt. Cmdr. Aramond took command of Viper in the first sim, while I was XO and ran Comms on Raven — I mean, Sabre. Lt. Donovan, formerly of Lancer, took Science, which was reassuring, because I trust his expertise and I’ve worked on the bridge with him before. Lt.Jr. Lisa Marcus was aboard after a long posting outside the 4th Lt., and I assigned her to Helm because… well, because Yooey is a capable Tactical officer, Ironclad does fine work in Engineering (though I wish his techs could keep him quiet somehow), and nobody wants to risk their lives, not even their virtual lives, by putting me in the driver’s seat.
The sims went smoothly, and then we had an officer reshuffle after we received our orders for our first mission. I know these things happen, and the Duty Officers do their best to keep our bridge crews consistent, but dammit, Donovan was reassigned to Horizon, and we got Cdt. Maxwell (or is he an ensign now? I must be getting old, Computer) instead. So I had to put Maxwell in Engineering, since that’s his primary, kept Yooey on Weapons, and since Lt.Jr. Marcus’ primary is Comms, I took the Science console and moved Ironclad to Helm. Where clearly he didn’t have enough to do, because as the Fleet Captain was coordinating our movements with Viper and Horizon I actually had to call for silence on the bridge. Have they no sense of how much their chatter interferes with the comms links to CIC and the rest of the Division?
Yes, Computer, I shouldn’t ask stupid questions. Even so, later on, in the second mission, Aramond, who was in command at the time, not only had to order quiet, but actually had to tell Ens. Ironclad (who was on Helm at the time) to keep his suggestions about what ordnance to use to himself until suggestions were actually asked for. Raven — oh, dammit, Computer, I did it again, I meant Sabre of course — used to be a haven of quiet professionalism, why is there this sudden vogue for constant chatter?
We were travelling from Cerberus to Atlantis, to provide security to a number of N’tani ships transiting through on their way from the Euphini expanse, when they were attacked by Unukalhai ships. Clearly, we haven’t cleared enough of them out of the system. I thought, from the history data, that the Unukalhai faction was much smaller than it turned out to be. How many ships do they have? Who supports them? Why can’t we just find their bases?
Though finding their bases could lead to problems too. We’ve seen a lot of human deaths lately. I know they shouldn’t count for more than other sentient deaths, but it’s difficult to understand what non-humans feel, even after years of study. I suppose one might say we’re all slightly sociopathic when it comes to non-human societies.
Mid-way through our engagement, my sensors detected other contacts in the sector: first, a pod of Space Whales, and then some Torgoths hunting them. Sabre left Viper and Horizon to hold off the USF ships, while we went to deal with the Torgoths. That meant that when the Arvonian ships inevitably arrived, and saw us protecting the whales, they did not attack us, but actually stood down from combat status. And that was a brief moment when I felt we had accomplished something constructive.
Don’t get me wrong, Computer, we work damn hard every shift to protect the ships and stations we’re sent to; but somehow seeing the whales swim/fly safely off among the stars, and the Arvonian follow them without hostile actions towards us, gave me a greater sense of achievement.
Then we rejoined the rest of the Division in attacking a Griffzungenschwert, and everything was back to normal. Apart from Station Leon, whose comms systems apparently were incompatible with the N’tani systems, and became unstable and unusable. Jokes were made about having to send cadets outside with semaphore flags. I won’t name those responsible for said jokes.
After a brief stop to refuel and re-equip, we were sent on our next mission to investigate reports of enemies coming through Erebus Gate into Cerberus System. To make life more interesting, in the Chinese proverb sort of sense, we were told that while some ships coming through the gate might be Zolmari, some might be enemies chasing them, or simply testing our defences. For this mission, Lt.Cmdr. Aramond was in command of the Division while the Fleet Captain was in CIC; Lt.Sr. Hall was in command of Horizon, and Lt.Cmdr. Matsiyan was in command of Viper.
It was vital to scan the Kralien ships as fast as possible, to tell refugees from pursuers. I swear I saw one ship’s transponder code identify it as carrying civilian refugees, but Horizon fired on it… Voiddammit, I hope I was wrong. We were busy, and we were running low on ordnance and fuel. I might have misread the signal on my console… I don’t think so, really, but I hope so. Remaining ships fled through the Erebus gate. Then Comms got a scrambled SOS message, and Aramond gave the order to return to Promethean Command.
I was keeping an eye on Comms by this point, as Lt.Jr. Marcus had been injured — nothing major, fortunately, but the med staff insisted she leave the bridge — and I couldn’t see any communications from Promethean Command. They didn’t respond to my hails, though, so we continued on course. The thing that troubles me is that on our way we had to fly close to two more refugee transports who were being attacked by pirates… and we left them. Dammit. We left unarmed ships to be boarded by pirates. But Promethean Command… I know, I know, that was our priority. But one of our ships could have stayed behind, could have taken on the pirates. We should never have left those civilians. I should have objected more strongly.
So, we headed back to Promethean Command, and the moment we were in the sector we detected the radiation signature we’ve all come to associate with the Caltrons. And there they were, swarms of the little ones, and then Senaries, Duodenaries, Superswarms. We thinned out the Primaries first, and worked together with Viper and Horizon to take out the larger constructs. That took a lot of ordnance, and a lot of energy. I also missed having the Fleet Captain’s authority to back me up when I wanted to direct ships from Command to attack Caltron Primaries, because Hall wanted them to defend the Weapons Platforms instead, and we wasted precious time redirecting them backwards and forwards. Aramond decided to put Horizon in charge of our allies, so I let the gunships go — but I disagree with the use they were put to, or, in fact, were not put to, because the Weapons Platforms on the Core side were never under threat. Admittedly, we were short-handed on the bridge, because Marcus was still in MedBay, and working with allied ships is best done by a Comms officer who is not being distracted by the Science console. I’m getting possessive about my consoles… Perhaps I’ve just discovered another side of my fragile ego.
So many of us are still on edge. Aramond has that look of nerves strung too tight. Donovan looks haunted. The crew of Phoenix is restless and displaced, waiting for a permanent assignment. Lancer’s bridge officers are still in shock. Aposine has transferred away from the Division; temporarily, we hope, but one can never tell. Viper is waiting for a permanent commanding officer. I’m chasing Skulls in my dreams.
Would a drink help? Hjocoa, or a drink with alcohol in it? Possibly. I may have to test this hypothesis in the Bar.
[end log]
// Not a deathwish. Just a willingness to sit in a sim tank with you until you’re a better pilot than I am.
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