Log Mundy 291016-2237

[Adele Mundy]

Personal Log, Lt.Sr. Adele Mundy, TSN Lancer, 2nd Flt. 4th Lt.Div.
291016-2237

With both the Fleet Captain and Capt. Evans busy in meetings with senior officers, Capt. Jemel was in charge of the fleet this shift. Since he is also in charge of Officer Training, he announced that Cdt. Beaumont had passed his exam, and therefore was promoted to Acting Ensign, while Donovan is now a full Ensign. Oh, and I forgot to mention last shift, (because Dammit!) that Blaze has been promoted to full Lieutenant.

A higher crew turnout than recently led to five ships being used in the training sims, and full bridge crews on most of them, too. On Lancer, Jemel took command, of course, while also in command of the fleet; Aposine was on Helm, Morlock on Tactical, Xiph on Engineering, Matsiyan on Science and I was on Comms.

Horizon, piloted by Allard, engaged in, shall we say, mine clearing, from the start. Both sims were straightforward and went reasonably well; I was able to demand lots of surrenders, which is always a soothing boost to the ego, even when it’s only the simulation AI surrendering – yes, Computer, I did mean to say “only”.

Our mission was to explore the nebula in Sector XII, because there had been problems with the automated sensors, and the data we had received from them was, so far, inadequate. The barrion radiation detected in and around the nebula meant that sensor range would be limited, and that we needed to monitor how much time we spent there, as it would start to degrade ship systems; we would also be limited to Warp 1 – which, for Lancer, is not too much of a problem, but could have noticeable effects on the heavier vessels; and we were ordered to keep to close formation, and stay in our assigned battle groups (there had been some instances of ships, shall we say, being a little too free in their movements during the sim, much to Capt. Jemel’s irritation) so that we could respond appropriately to any enemy threats.

There was, indeed, plenty of scanning to do to keep things interesting: we detected heavy gravimetric distortion, with black holes appearing and disappearing in a way that made quite a few veterans of the last campaign suspect the presence of Caltrons; we also detected a severe radiation source, and monitors were deployed and activated. The sensor relays were put in place by Horizon and Phoenix, and after more scouting, and finding what might be an unstable region in space, we formed up on Raven and returned to base.

Things I would never say in a formal log, and which you, Computer, are under strict instructions not to divulge without my permission and password: something odd seemed to be happening with Horizon. When one of our bridge crew enquired what the problem might be, someone else, who shall remain nameless, replied: “A combination of Tuor and Allard…” Meanwhile, poor [all right, I’ll be charitable and not mention her name] ended up temporarily nicknamed TSN Sloth, because it was so slow implementing orders.

During the fleet debrief, we acknowledged that while we encountered no large threats, there were plenty of unanswered questions. While it seems probable that the radiation from the black hole anomaly was probably what wiped out our probes and caused the loss of signal, we still don’t know whether it’s a gravitational anomaly, or it’s somehow creating a jump point to somewhere else; and if so, where. A black box was recovered, and still needs analysis. We found the debris of a space station that was not build by the TSN, and we need to analyse the debris to establish who placed it there. It might have been a pirate base, but we don’t know yet. There were questions about stabilising the position of the black hole, possibly by sending a jump point tech team to tether it and lock it down with a gate. But we still need to know where it goes.

Meanwhile, the objective to find a new home world to resettle the ‘Ntani remains. Since this sector seems too dangerous, it is to be flagged as such, and the fleet is to continue scouting.

While the rest of the fleet continued with training on simulations, Aramond, Matsiyan and I joined in a little exercise in Comms, taking charge of simulated allied ships and maneuvering them through assorted obstacles, as preparation for the possibility of some of our ships leading small battle groups of allies into action. I enjoyed the challenge, and would find it interesting, as a Comms officer, to coordinate some allies as well as insulting enemies.

At this point Matsiyan’s console threw a little electronic fit, and mutinied. So, while I went to join the rest of the fleet on the final simulation, Matsiyan found himself being interviewed for prospective training for a command position. I didn’t hear the questions (I know Cmdr. van Leigh was asking them), but Matsiyan sounded terribly calm and collected as he answered. He always did well in that sort of situation in the Academy. And I noticed, as the destroyer Excalibur has been taken out of mothballs, that Matsiyan has been placed, however temporarily, in command, with Hall as XO. Of course, Matsiyan is now feeling terribly frustrated at having to miss the next two shifts, but I’ll never hear the end of it once he finally takes charge.

Which is fine, because he was all jealous and pouting (yes, Computer, there is such a thing as a psychic pout) when he found out that while he was being interviewed, I was taking part in the final sim, and since I was taking the Science console on Raven, I was told I had to be in command. Since I wasn’t just stepping off the Helm console, my brain and nervous system were actually functioning coherently, so the exercise went more smoothly than last shift. Admittedly, I did have one of the best crews in the fleet, what with the Fleet Captain in Engineering and Aramond flying… I love it when a plan comes together.

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