Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in side - sim: Out of the Frying Pan

Posted by Civilian Sair Songz (Counselor) in side - sim: Out of the Frying Pan

Posted by Fleet Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in side - sim: Out of the Frying Pan
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“You’re right on time. I think I agree with him. I don’t like having to get up early if I don’t have to. I’m sure it was confusing for him.” Shedda moved over to the control panel and seeing the program running she stepped up to the door and triggered it to open.

The door slid open to reveal Cochrane standing inside. He looked at the Counselor, blinked twice, and then suddenly said “Excellent! Counselor, welcome.” and looked at Mal’athar and nodded. “Thinking outside the box,Commander… I like it. Well, come on in.” and he turned and waved the forward.

The simulation was paused, and seemed like the previous ones Mal’athar had been in. The setting was the Bridge of the Manhattan and all of the bridge crew was present and motionless.

“Now then… Commander, take the center chair. Counselor, how familiar are you with the *Manhattan’s tactical systems? Shields, weapons, and such?”

Cochrane, CO

Shedda moved toward the center of the bridge glancing at consoles, the view screen, the crew, and the control panels on the center seat as she sat. An attempt to see gather information before things got started. If there was something to see she knew Alex had planned it very carefully.

Mal’athar, XO

All the displays were blank and all the crew sat perfectly still, hands to their sides.

Sair stepped onto the bridge, immensely curious and turned to Cochrane. “Umm, well, a tiny bit? Mostly from my own studying. I’m a physician and counsellor after all, not a tactical officer. I know how the controls work but not sure I can say much more than that.” Would that make things better or worse for this scenario? She had no idea.

~Sair Songz, CNS

Cochrane shook his head. “No no no… you a member of the USS Manhattan crew, and one of the leaders of that crew. Like it or not, Counselor, if things go very bad for us, you will be looked to lead and direct. Tactical officers are specialists, but all of the bridge team cross-trains so they can fill in in a pinch. You are one of the bridge team, so this is a good thing you are here. ” and he gave her a wink and added “And don’t worry. You will fail at this… a lot. And you will get scared and nervous. And that is okay. But better to fail here that up there where its real… right?” He walked her over to the tactical station. “Okay, pay close attention. This-” and he indicated a single readout on the broad display, “- is your power level indicator. It shows how much power you have and where it is distributed amongst critical systems: shields, weapons, and life support. Power levels are key to everything. If you don’t have the fruit, you can’t make the juice… as my Academy instructor always said. If your available power drops as you take damage, you have to coordinate with Engineering-” and he pointed at the Engineering station, “- to try and get more. But you can’t wait. You have to continuously distribute power as the engagement lasts. Power is primary, ok?”

It was similar to what Shedda had said to Sair to convince her to do this with her. She was glad Cochrane approved if her choice. She had considered Darach, but he was very experienced and if she made a mistake or was unclear he could compensate and correct. That was excellent on the bridge but…well maybe she was challenging herself too much.

“We have nothing without power, got it,” Sair said, her mind rapidly trying to convert the information into something useful. At least she was well accustomed to working fast with no all the information. But medicine was something she had trained at intensively so she could improvise as necessary.

“Next you have weapons controls.” he continued. “This line is the power to your phaser arrays on each bank and their current status, represented by a colored number. Green numbers mean everything is operating within specifications. Yellow and red is they are failing or off line. Don’t forget to keep Mal’athar updated constantly on what your readouts tell you. Simple words and keep it short. ‘Captain, phasers at 87% and falling. Shields at 60.’ and so on and so forth. To fire phasers, you press on the bank you want to fire and slide your finger up. Release the line, the phasers fire. The sliding action lets you control power. The higher the line goes up, the more powerful the shot. The more powerful the shot, the more power you draw. You can also overcharge the phasers for a massively powerful shot, but that will burn out your phaser array. Last stand stuff, that. You can also set the phasers to fire automatically when a target is in it’s firing arc. That is the standard set up, because it allows you to focus on power distribution. So for now, the phasers will fire automatically at fifty percent power when a target is presented. You just have to keep power flowing through the system, alright? And this is your torpedo system. Torpedoes fire on a designated spread pattern. Input the desired spread here-” and he indicated a single row of numbers and letters, “- and press fire here. The CO will give you a spread pattern. If they do not but they order torpedoes, it falls to you to determine the spread or you just hit ‘FIRE’ and the warheads will go out at a zero degree angle from the ship and detonate at a standard distance of 500,00 kilometers. Think you got all of that, Counselor?” Cochrane asked with a smile.

Cochrane, CO

Songz laughed loudly but there was little humour to it. “Sure. I mean it all makes logical sense when you say it now, but doing something with it all is another thing. I’m just stating for the record that you’re right, I’m going to fail at this and probably get us killed. But, you’re right also… better here than on the real bridge.”

Shedda 100% agreed with that. Better to mess up and learn here than out there.

Sair shook out her body a little and assumed the tactical station, looking still rather incredulous. “Tactical ready, Commander,” the CNS said with confidence she did not feel.

~Sair Songz, CNS

Shedda turned and looked up from her seat and gave Sair a reassuring nod. Facing forward again, “Computer, begin simulation.”

Mal’athar, XO

All the displays came to life and the ship was at warp 6. On the command console, everything showed normal. On the tactical screen, there was nothing out of the norm. Everything was just as it should be.

“Captain, I’m picking up a distress signal. Broadcasting on all frequencies, but is very faint.” the comms officer said.

Cochrane CO