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Personal Log, Lt.Jr. Adele Mundy, TSN Hawk, 2nd Flt. 4th LD
9116-2237It is a truth universally acknowledged, that if the senior officers are having emergency security talks about any topic, that topic will be the subject of the wildest rumours and speculation in the mess hall. Currently, the topic is the Unukalhai – and though I damn well ought to know better, I am still tempted to visualise them large, fanged Orcs, thanks to Prof. Tolkien and his books (see 20th century English literature for full reference). I’m sure he’d be greatly amused. The Unukalhai themselves might not be, given their human supremacist beliefs.
Just before the training exercises we had a few promotions announced: Cadet Remmick to Acting Ensign, Ens. Quinn to Lieutenant Junior, and Lt.Jr. Greybeard to full Lieutenant. Excellent news, and congrats to all three. Also, any excuse for a toast in the officers’ mess is a good excuse, even when it leads to jokes about toasters, which were in abundance. (Refer to late 20th century audiovisual entertainment archives for full context).
Since Hawk was still in dry dock (I love the persistence of planetary navy terms even when they make no sense in space) for repairs, Hawk‘s crew reported to Valiant, which is all shiny and new and doesn’t smell of smoke and burnt cable insulation at all. Preparing for some training simulations, we had the usual bridge complement: Capt. Fish Evans, Lt. Cmdr. Allard, Lt.Jr. Hall, Lt.Jr. Chuck Finley, and Act.Ens. Lewis Remmick. We were just settling into our new, un-singed chairs, when Matsiyan came aboard looking for personnel to move to one of the other ships that was short on bridge crew. I don’t know what possessed me to volunteer. Especially when I realised the shuttle we were on was heading for Hydra.
Great. I miss out on a shiny new ship, and I get to talk to the crew who blew us up.
I told myself to be diplomatic and polite and not bring up the mine episode… and I think it was about the second sentence I uttered. Maybe the third. I’m sure I asked permission to come aboard as the first thing, and saluted the captain as the second thing. Yes, must have been the third. We were reviewing the orders for the training simulation, and I suggested it would be a fine thing if we didn’t drop mines in front of other ships this time. I think I could have phrased that better… There were hasty excuses about miscommunication, and I conceded that there was a great deal going on at the time, with orders and counter-orders following in quick succession. Still, Hail Hydra (refer, again, to 20th century popular graphic literature and to 21st century audiovisual entertainment library for the full context.)
The second exercise was supposed to be in preparation for full-scale wargames, and was supposed to set us in two opposing teams, pairing Hydra with Lancer – and at that point I was reassigned to Phoenix (Zelreich in command, Greybeard in engineering, Deverin on weapons, Aramond on helm) I confess feeling some relief at not having to take part in an attack on Hawk, even a simulated one. And in the end a technical problem meant that the wargames exercise was scrapped for a more traditional deep strike sim, so all qualms were banished.
Matsiyan seemed to have no qualms, however: he was on Hydra as their engineer on the exercise, and he seemed so pleased about the new energy settings, saying she handles well – which is a far cry from his earlier opinion. The Hydra crew almost apologised for dodging the missiles from the enemy bases that nearly picked up Lancer… but apparently they deemed an actual apology unnecessary. I was amused when I noticed that Matsiyan felt rather flustered as Hydra‘s weapons officer couldn’t fire her beams – because Matsiyan had cut power to the beams – he forgot that Hydra had any, he was thinking of the first generation missile cruiser.
Our mission (we don’t get the choice about accepting it or not, and our orders do not self-destruct in five seconds – see 20th century audiovisual entertainment archives for full reference) was to patrol with N’tani ships, and escort civilian vessels from Promethean Sector V through Sector XI. Flying formation with N’tani is an exercise in patience, as they seem to cluster, before and after they jump, in crowded little huddles that tend to make our helmsmen edgy. Naturally there were pirates wanting to interfere, and one of the N’tani cargo ships turned out to have contraband aboard (as long as there are interdicted goods there will be somebody out there trying to make money off them), so they had to be escorted to a station for a full search, and the appropriate legal steps to follow.
More disturbing than the pirates are the Unukalhai, who keep turning up with increasing frequency. We actually picked up a life pod from one of the Unukalhai ships – I wish I had been able to see the survivor, I keep hoping and fearing who it might be, but the security team was sticking close to the medics, and they went straight to med bay, keeping all non-medical crew well away. A black box was also recovered, so the intelligence officers will have someone to interrogate, some tech to play with, and the intelligence they gather could take us anywhere.
There was rather a long interval before the final debrief conference, because Lancer‘s crew, which had been sent on a separate, high security mission, took longer to return than was expected. Perhaps in order to keep speculation to a minimum, the assembled crews were reassigned and sent on a final exercise. Probably a good idea, from a security point of view, too: I’ve noticed that during moments when activity is intense, like in the middle of battle, I need to concentrate on running the two bridge stations, and Matsiyan’s thoughts fade into the background. However, if we are docked and waiting, with little to do, I can hear him much more clearly. So I had a sense of their ship – not Lancer, a different ship, though she seemed to handle in a similar way – flying stealthily through nebulas to keep out of sensor range; and a clear image of an object that looked like a 20-sided die; and a discussion about what to do about it, whether to destroy it or bring it back to examine; and an impression of where it is now; and a sense of puzzlement about the unusual clustering of anomalies around it. And of course, none of that is anything I can talk about with anyone.
For the final exercise I was assigned to Hydra again, (Cmdr. Verok in command, Lt Hall as XO, Lt. Fulvus on weapons, Lt.Jr. Quinn on helm, Ens. Cessna in engineering). I had the most infuriating time – not a good admission to make, and something I shall have to watch out for in future, as I’m sure it affected my performance. The positive side is that the cause and target of my fury was nobody on Hydra herself: in the course of the sim, as part of my Comms role, I needed to direct several civilian ships away from minefields. I sent them orders to change course away from the mines, received acknowledgement… and the ships continued towards certain death. I am sure I was distracted from my duties at the Science console by the fact that I felt obliged to repeat my orders to try to avert the collisions that I could see were about to happen on my screen. And repeat them. And repeat them… I suspect Matsiyan may have heard some of the less than professional language I was mentally directing to the idiot pilots of the civilian ships. I can only say I am profoundly glad it was a simulation. I would feel responsible for those disasters even though I had done everything I could to avert them.
The debrief was the usual summary of events, with the vaguest mention that Lancer‘s crew had brought back interesting material to investigate. But I sense a little unease in the announcement that the position of Security Manager is open, and even mentioning that there is an increased risk of spies among us is unsettling. A form is available to apply for the job, and I have heard several people say they are considering applying. Elections are going to be held next duty shift. And, just to make the need for increased security more obvious, two instances, possibly minor, possibly concealing something more serious: a reminder to officers about official channels, because someone, so far unidentified, has been looking through the diplomatic database; and a warning to medical officers to be more attentive of inventory in the future, as the base appears to be low on medical supplies for burn treatment. So let’s hope we don’t run into any more mines, then.
[end log]
Mundy – had I known you were Hydra bound I would have gotten you a low power flash-bang to make a SPECTACULAR entrance! {And, since it was to be your duty station, not one w/ the extra hydrogen sulfide load….}
There is a line from the Book Of Murphy, the military chapter – “Friendly Fire Isn’t.” I’ll buy in that it was miscommunications, not intentional. Not happy about it, but….
Probably best to avoid a spectacular entrance on that scale, I suspect the Captain would not have been pleased. I do enjoy the mental image, however.
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