Bridge Training: A Brief Briefing (Part III)

Posted on Tue Jan 16th, 2024 @ 7:48am by Cadet Senior Grade Meghan Stefani & Cadet Senior Grade Daniel Weaver & Cadet Senior Grade K’tarra Smythe & Cadet Junior Grade Emma Mendez & Cadet Junior Grade Shafin Todenhöfer
Edited on on Tue Jan 16th, 2024 @ 9:42am

1,460 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Cadet Cruise

[PREVIOUSLY]

"Then... let's hold a meeting right here and now unless, you and I, have something further to discuss?" Daniel replied with a smile as he picked up the juice box from the best and walked over to the replicator. "And... for future reference... I hate fruit cocktail." He placed it in the replicator and recycled it before asking for a Deka Tea. "If you're going to get me a juice box... Kava Juice flavor is my preferred choice." He walked back to the desk and sat back down as he took another sip. "Call for the senior staff, Shafin. We have a ship to save."

[CONTINUED]


"So do I," Shafin replied. "But I could find a tall glass of suck it up and deal with your daddy issues on the list of beverages" added Shafin pointedly. "I would recommend using the Briefing Room on deck two. It would get very cramped in here unless you are only looking to have a select few of the senior staff."


"Shafin... If I wanted them in the Briefing Room I would have asked you to send them to the Briefing Room. All we need is Science, Medical, Engineering, Helm, and Tactical here. I'm sure we have the room... Or are you going to debate your Captain on his order?" He gave a slight smirk.

"I'm not fond of crowded spaces," Shafin confessed. "Though I can manage with those few. I don't plan on debating your orders, but I will be sure find any faults in them."

"I'm glad this wonderful dynamic we share of you telling me when I am doing wrong and me calling you a pain is still intact." Daniel said as he let out a smile before taking another sip. "This is my ordering you a second time to call for these people to discuss our situation. Will there need to be a third?"

Shafin looked at Daniel. "Once you work out your issues with your father and lack of confidence, we can work on your patience. I'll summon your senior staff, Captain Weaver."

"Let's not leave out your bedside manner." Daniel replied softly before drinking his Deka Tea.

Shafin opened a community actions channel and took a deep breath before exhaling. So be it he thought about the venue. "Senior Staff to the Captain's Ready Room" Shafin said requesting their presence.

Meghan walked in and looked carefully at the two men, not sure what to expect. Daniel had been far too volatile after being put in command by his father and it concerned her. At least she knew Shafin would be reasonable. She hoped.

K'tarra arrived soon afterwards. Her engineering work had kept her fairly isolated on the bridge. She began to realize that must be part of an engineer's life. There would be things she worked on which kept her away from others.

The Klingon hybrid entered and walked over to the group. "I must say, I have been making great progress re-aligning the dilithium chamber. It is what some call... Therapeutic." She flashed a toothy smile and looked amongst the group.

Emma entered next; this was her first time in the ready room.

Daniel finished his Deka Tea and stood up from his chair, behind the Captain's desk. "First..." He said, looking over to Shafin for a moment, before looking back to the gathered group. "I owe you all an apology. The Commodore, for those of you who did not know, is my father. I didn't choose the Command Chair. He chose it for me. I allowed my frustration with him affect my ability to do the job, which make me a bad leader during this scenario. These exercises are meant to teach us how to work together in certain situations. We're Starfleet Cadets and we're expected, despite whatever problems we face, to work together. I failed to do that... and I am sorry. I need to focus on the problem and not concern myself with whoever is watching from the sidelines."

Meghan nodded in agreement.

K'tarra started to speak, but Daniel began speaking again. She wanted to tell him how supportive she was. K'tarra could tell many of the others were as well.

"Now... let’s focus on the here and now." Daniel said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest, looking around at everyone else. "We have a Bajoran Science Vessel trapped in a nebula we know little about. Meghan is scanning, but what she finds will only give us a part of the solution so, in the meantime, lets brainstorm some ideas that we can implement." He opened his arms slightly. "Open floor."

"First we need to be sure it is a Bajoran ship. We can't go in assuming this is a simple rescue. We have to be prepared in case it's a trap," Meghan began. "I'm hopeful that science can find a way to clear up some of the interference so we can get some clear scans. that may involve a daisy chain of probes. That may also help with communications and transporter capabilities, but again, we lack sufficient data right now."

After several moments of what looked like deep, pained thinking, K'tarra scratched her ridges and spoke. "I might have some ideas. We should polarize our sensor arrays. This will help clean up some of the interference. It might have less of an effect on a dense nebula like this though. "

K'tarra grabbed her chin and looked upwards in thought. She was trying to extrapolate solutions based on lectures and class exercises. "Tachyons interact with nebulae particles, as do gravitons. Perhaps we could set that chain of probes to emit a field mixed with both. This would create an immersion field."

The engineer felt comfortable adjusting probes. She would have to consult the computer and manuals for help, but she knew she could bring this into reality. K'tarra also knew how to polarize the sensor arrays. It wasn't guaranteed to work, but was worth a shot.

"What adjustments need to be made will depend on the type of radiation in the nebula," Meghan said, knowing K'tarra probably hadn't been taught about spatial anomalies. "I'm running an analysis now. Once we get that figured out, we'll know how to compensate for it and then we'll need your expertise to get in there safely."

K'tarra hadn't taken many classes on spatial anomalies, but her classes did include a lot of advanced Thermodynamics and Quantum Physics. She found herself grateful that her professors had been so strict on her during class. Now she felt like she had a practical understanding of how probes operate.

"Yes, the makeup of the nebula will affect how I set the sensors and program the probes", K'tarra said pensively, trying to remember specifics she'd studied last semester. "Once I have the figures from your readout, I can get started."

"What if we could change it" Daniel asked as he looked to Shafin briefly before focusing back to the others. "Shafin had an interesting idea before we called you all in here. He suggested firing a torpedo, maybe a volley, with a chemical compound that would alter the nebula. Maybe not permanently, but even temporarily, to give us enough time to get better readings of the ship or just to open up a window to transport the out once we confirm they need help and it’s not a trap." He looked to Meghan as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you think that's possible with the information that we have managed to get so far?"

"With the size of the nebula, it would depend on the data. We might be able to affect a part of it, but it's too large to change all of it," Meghan said. "But it is definitely worth looking into."

Emma cleared her throat. "If I can just interject..." she said. "Daniel, this is all good and well but we have only a finite amount of probes and torpedoes aboard." She told him. "This was meant to be a cadet cruise; we were only supplied for training. We are supposed to have close to 200 torpedoes on board, and we do. But most of them are blanks for target and maintenance practice. The actual number of properly armed torpedoes is thirty five."

She looked into Daniel's eyes. "I thought you might not want to waste them. I don't know how long until we get more or somehow build warheads for them..."

(To be continued...)

Cadet Senior Grade Daniel Weaver
Acting Commanding Officer

Cadet Junior Grade Shafin Todenhöfer
Acting XO & Counselor

Cadet Senior Grade Meghan Stefani
Acting Chief Science Officer

Cadet Senior Grade K'tarra Smyth
Acting Chief Engineer

Cadet Junior Grade Emma Mendez
Acting Chief Security Officer

 

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