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Personal Log, Lt.Sr. Adele Mundy, TSN Raven, 2nd Flt. 4th Lt.Div.
Stardate: 8417-2237The Light Division is preparing to move back to Promethean after our stint in the Euphini Expanse, with the usual disruptions that accompany a redeployment. Since I have little to pack apart from my uniforms, I am left with anticipating the first Hjocoa I’ll be ordering from the bar on Promethean station.
Before we started sims, Capt. Jemel announced that Ensign exams are in the processed of being changed to a more general test, with specialization exams as additional options. Which reminds me, I really ought to get back to studying for the next one.
Memorable moments from sims: on Raven, with Lt. Cmdr. Aramond taking command while the Fleet Captain wrestled with admin in advance of the move, we found we had a remarkably senior bridge crew, because Viper was undergoing maintenance – again, in preparation for the journey back to Prometheus. We had Lt.Sr. Hall, Lt.Cmdr. Allard, and the junior-most officer was Lt. Morlock. There was a moment when it seemed Allard would be assigned to the Helm station, and Aramond remarked, “Allard, take Helm. Don’t make me sad, Allard. Don’t make me dead either, I can’t be sad if I’m dead.” In the end, Allard took Engineering, and Hall took Helm, while Morlock took Weapons.
I found that working with Morlock on Weapons was an excellent exercise in communications: he’d tell me his target, I’d give him the beam frequency, read out the enemy shields as they came down, and tell him when they surrendered; and we’d move on to the next ship. It ought to be the same with any Weapons officer, but it isn’t. This worked particularly smoothly. I love it when a plan comes together.
The second sim was a Border War, and nobody was surprised when one of the Arvonian bases launched fighters and the sim crashed. I occasionally wonder whether our computers are biased in favour of simulated Arvonians because real Arvonians think computers are sentient. Yes, Computer, that includes you.
We started the journey back: the planned route was from Euphini to Danae, to WP60, to Krisenda, to Cerberus, to Prometheus; but we were sent to look for a missing ship in Danae sector 8.
We were given no details about the missing ship, but for it to require the re-routing of the division… well, it leads me to think it must have been important in some way. We didn’t find it, though. Instead, we found a Ximni derelict, and as Hunter and Lancer approached it, both experienced engine failures.
Lt. Cmdr. Aramond instructed us to keep our distance; nevertheless, comms failed, and then we had no warp. Suddenly, a lot of other Ximni ships appeared out of the surrounding nebulas. We attempted to communicate with the Ximni, because, dammit, weren’t they allies? They’d even lent us ships in the past… But comms failed, and though we tried to keep our distance from the Ximni ships, they closed in and initiated hostilities. And we received a frantic call from the weapons crew, that all our ordnance, apart from P-shocks, was gone. Did it go out through the torpedo tubes, or was it just vanishing from the racks? I have no details on that, but the ordnance was gone.
We had an EMP in the tubes, and thanks to Hall’s prompt response, Morlock immediately loaded a mine before it could disappear too. And we were left with those two weapons, and P-shocks (nobody wants P-shocks) and the disturbing thought that the Ximni had found a way to teleport matter from individual ships. We didn’t have time to examine the thought and take it to its logical conclusions, that came later, in debrief.
Despite the fact that the Ximni are supposed to have a strong warrior code, we had lots of surrenders during that engagement. I’m wondering now whether that means the data and the ordnance the ships picked up was more important than victory, for once.
We were diverted to Atlantis system, interrupted by a few attacks by pirates, but they were within the normal scope, and didn’t delay us significantly. So now we’re docked, and we have engineering crews crawling all over our ships to determine exactly how the Ximni were able to take our ordnance and disable our warp drives; currently, the favourite hypothesis is that they used some kind of microdrive jump technology. The thing is, does it only work on inanimate matter, or can they do the same thing with living beings? Or are they working up to that? If they can microjump objects out of a ship, can they also microjump objects onto a ship, or a station? Like, for example, an explosive device, or a number of comms bugs? Why did they take the ordnance, rather than anything else? Are they still testing their limits? Or do they need Terran ordnance specifically for something?
We heard that diplomatic envoys are being sent to Ximni to find out what the situation really is. Were those ships a rogue Ximni faction? Or are we heading for a war with the Ximni now?
And I thought I had lots of questions after last shift, dammit.
We were told that the TSN ship that went missing in Danae sector was supposedly a mining ship from an expedition that set out from DS224 in the Atlantis system; but nobody had any hard data on what had actually happened to it, and talk about the possibility that it might have been captured or destroyed is all speculation.
We concluded with a few more sims: first, an infestation mode, clearing Kralien fleets and Biomechs – we cleared it so fast that I didn’t have the time to herd the friendly ships in any sensible way; then, a deep strike sim, where an Arvonian base launching fighters crashed us again.
Personnel shuffled around a little for the last sim, I was sent to Hunter, where Cmdr. Tuor had Lt. Cr00ve as XO and on SciComms, and Ens. Bubba in Engineering. Lt.Sr. Hall, was assigned to Helm, and I took Weapons.
The sim was an interesting variation on a deep strike, as two ships, Phoenix and Hunter, were supposed to set up interference in Erebus, attacking enemy bases and distracting their ships while a third, Lancer, was supposed to meet a target ship, deploy a shuttle, capture an enemy and bring them back for interrogation; at which point, Phoenix and Hunter were supposed to fall back and escort Lancer safely back.
It didn’t go quite as intended. Some of it may have been a clash of personalities and command styles between van Leigh and Tuor: as we engaged the enemy bases with their clouds of fighters and drones, Hunter, having no ordnance, found itself at a disadvantage; Tuor would request assistance from van Leigh, who would point out that Phoenix was busy dealing with another base, and refuse to assist. It seemed obvious to everyone on Hunter’s bridge that our best option was to work in tandem with Phoenix, but there was no cooperation between the commanders; to the point that Tuor remarked, “I want to show them we can take out a base just with beams, I’m stubborn.”
That focus on destroying enemy bases meant the real purpose of the sim was neglected. Lancer completed her part of the mission, and apparently told us to join her – I know this from Matsiyan who was in CIC, but I didn’t actually hear the comms message from Capt. Jemel. I suppose he might have sent it just to the ships’ commanders. What I do know is that Phoenix called on Hunter to assist in taking down a base, followed by a command ship, and that took a while. Too long.
The enemy fleet massed in pursuit of Lancer as she was trying to escape with her prisoner, and because we did not rejoin her fast enough we would all have died – as the Fleet Captain, who was running one half of the sim, pointed out. Everyone on Hunter did their job well, according to Cmdr. Tuor’s debrief; I’m sure everyone on Phoenix did likewise, though I had no leisure to observe their actions, as I was mostly looking through the Tactical console, and was kept busy. But we weren’t working together, dammit. We weren’t paying attention to the overall mission.
[sound of chair being pushed back]
Dammit. Is there any Hjocoa on this station, Computer?
//Did you learn from Morlock and point out your target to the Science Officer, like we do?
//The cooperation between captains seems to be an ongoing issue.
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