Log Mundy, 4217-2237

[Adele Mundy]

Personal Log, Lt.Sr. Adele Mundy, TSN Raven, 2nd Flt., 4th Lt.Div.
Stardate: 4217-2237

No need for the dress uniforms after all, as whichever Admiral was going to come and bring coloured ribbons and news of whatever our new posting will be, was unavoidably detained. Computer, that’s diplomatic jargon for… actually, for all sorts of things, from the too profane to be told to the underlings, to the too top secret to be told to the underlings. At least, that’s what Great Aunt Adelaide used to tell us. She demonstrated in practice, too: I remember one time when one of the Mayor’s so-called experts on the Rikti threat was coming to Chatsworth to talk to Great Aunt Adelaide, and she was having too much fun with us on the shooting range – she was a damn good shot, Great Aunt Adelaide –

*pause, and a sigh is audible*

anyway, one of the staff came to let her know Councillor Whatsisname had arrived, and she said, “He’ll have to wait. Tell him I’ve been unavoidably detained.” She turned back to us and gave us this wide, gleeful grin…

*another pause*

Dammit.

So, no Admiral. Roshin Das and Adam Parra returned to the Division, though, after long absence. Neither went into detail about their post while they were away, and though I am curious to know, I didn’t ask. There was also something of a shortage of senior officers present, and we were told the shift would involve simulations, simulations and more simulations. I can’t help thinking that this must be the result of events last shift. I expect the diplomatic corps is out in force, and negotiations are going on between Terrans and Kraliens, so it stands to reason that we are keeping a low profile: if anything is going to develop out of that temporary ceasefire, it’s definitely best if we don’t go flying around destroying Kralien vessels.

As for the absence of Intel officers, that’s explained by the fact that they have all the data about the Caltrons we got from the Kraliens to examine. I would love to have a look at that…

Our first sim involved more tests of an alternative structure for the division: we ran Raven as a missile cruiser commanded by the Fleet Captain (with Matsiyan on Engineering, Quinn on Helm, Nhaima on Weapons, me on SciComms), Viper as an Apollo class under Cmdr. Tuor, Hunter as a battle cruiser under Lt.Cmdr. Aramond, Phoenix as an Artemis class under Cmdr. Van Leigh, and Lancer – oh dammit, I need to look in the official logs for Lancer’s class – under Capt. Jemel.

After last shift, where we were all pretty unfamiliar with the ways of a battlecruiser, the first sim this shift went much better: we made better use of missiles, EMPs and nukes, Helm gained familiarity with how the ship handled, Engineering with her demands for energy, and I stopped looking at the enemies’ beam frequencies, having got used to the fact that we had no beams to speak of. The debrief discussion went into much detail about which attacks to call in succession, given the four tubes: for example, and Omega 3 immediately followed by an Echo 2 worked devastatingly well; and having two pairs of tubes to assign and cue up meant increased efficiency.

I had my own small gripe with the Artificial Stupidity (Computer, no complaints from you!) that had an ally ship completely ignore my order to head to 180 to defend DS4, and instead headed 035ish straight into a minefield, with the predictable consequence of its utter destruction.

The second sim involved large fleet engagements, which gave us the chance to continue trying out the multiple weapon strikes: Omega 3 – Echo 2 worked well against heavy targets, as did Omega 3 and two torpedoes; there was a discussion in debrief about trying EMP and three nukes against targets like Torgoth Command ships.

The third sim was a variation of the same thing, with enemy bases and large fleets with Command ships. We went through all our ordnance and made the most of surrenders. At some point, Viper was destroyed, but I was too busy with Comms to recall the details.

The final sim, run by Fleet Capt. Xavier, build on the events from last shift, as it posited that a Terran ship that had been sent to negotiate a treaty with the Hegemony was transmitting a distress call from Sierra System sector 8, and our ships were sent to support and, if necessary, defend it.

With Flt.Capt. Xavier in CIC, Matsiyan took command of Raven, and Draeco joined us aboard to take the Engineering console. Van Leigh, on Phoenix, was in overall command, and Tuor, on Viper, was in command of the Viper–Phoenix battle group.

While the diplomatic ship continued its negotiations, large engagements with Hegemony forces took place – basically, we kept her in one piece while fending off waves of Hegemony ships that were trying to put an explosively terminal stop to the diplomatic efforts. Eventually, even USF ships turned up – I’m getting better at not freaking out at the sight of them, at least, not the simulated ones. And in the end, the negotiations ship fled through the Volantis Gate, and we followed as fleets too large for us to handle closed in on the gate.

Not how we really want the negotiations to go, but we have little option but to be ready for whatever comes.

The sim finished off with incursions in Volantis System sector 3. Just for fun, you know, Computer. Manoeuvres went well, ordnance coordination was good… the readiness is all. And that’s the watchword for us, this shift and the next and, well, all of them really.

[end log]

[Blaze Strife]

//I like to count other’s absences as them being in the night shift, rather than them being away and coming to deep space. Though it can happen both ways.

[Adele Mundy]

//good point.

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