Red Alert!…At Spacedock?

Posted on Sun Apr 10th, 2022 @ 2:11am by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen

Mission: Pirates! (Or Yo Ho Ho And A Bottle Of Yum)
Location: Ship's Bridge... Or is it?

The red alert klaxon blared loud enough to wake Lieutenant Commander Alexander Espersen from his slumber. He rolled out of bed and onto his feet, groggy but alert.

“Computer, time.”

“The time is oh-six-hundred-and-five hours.”

“Status report?” he asked.

“Alert status red. No further information available.”

The First Officer quickly threw on his pants, boots, and shirt, and carried his jacket out of his quarters toward the turbolift. Moments later he was on the bridge, putting the finishing touches on the uniform.

The bridge was manned mostly by Ensigns and Cadets; it was the night shift, after all, and they were still docked outside Starbase 614. The only person he recognized was Ensign Jade, who was at the engineering station. The ensign in red looked like he was panicking.

“Report,” Alexander demanded.

“Umbilicals are free, suh.” Jenna informed the Ensign that was standing in the center of the room, who was beginning to sag in relief as Alex walked on the bridge, “Reaction thrusters are engaged and we’re departin’ now.” Her voice trembled as she said it, but she was focused on her duties.

“Good, good.” The Ensign snapped, “Commander, sir, the station has come under attack!” He blurted out, “Thank God you’re here, sir, it’s Pirates, sir, three ships are on course to intercept some freighters In the outer system and we’ve been ordered to intercept them before they can do so. Enemy fighters have made a couple of sweeps past the station, three have been shot down but…” he swallowed hard and shook his head, “You’re in command, sir.”

“Where’s Captain Skyie?” Alexander demanded.

"Suh, the Captain was on a fly-around of the ship when the pirates came in." She said quietly.

The Ensign took over, "She's a floating cloud of debris, sir."

The First Officer sighed and stood in front of the command seat. “Alright then. We'll find time to mourn later. How far are we to our targets?”

The red-uniformed Ensign relieved the Cadet that had been on the helm and reviewed the course that had been plugged in, "About forty million kilometers, sir, we can intercept at full impulse in... just under nine minutes. The pirates will be in range of the freighters in twelve minutes."

"Let's see about cutting that time down," Alexander said. "Prepare to jump to warp one. That should cut the time down by a factor of four. We'll drop out just ahead of the pirate fighters." He turned to Jenna. "Ensign, keep an eye on power levels. We'll be coaxing a lot out of the warp core and I don't want to see a breach. Tactical, arm phasers and be ready to strike the fighters once we drop out of warp."

"We've got plenty of power, suh." Jenna responded, checking the data feed, "Eighty-nine percent of maximum power, shields are operable, weapons are operable." She stole a glance at Espersen, nervous smile flickering.

"Weapons are hot, sir." The Ensign at Tactical stated, "I don't know if we can really hit the fighters that well, they're going to be moving really fast."

"What about tractor beams?" Alexander asked. "Wider nets to catch and slow the fighters, just enough to make them easier to hit." He turned to helm. Engage warp drive. Drop out of warp two thousand kilometres ahead of them."

"Engaging warp, sir."

"Captain, we can do that with the tractor beams, but with that wide a net, we'll probably burn out one of the emitters to do it." Jenna said softly, "What if we swept a tight beam across their path, it might throw them off course?"

“Good thinking,” Alexander said. “Get it ready. Throwing them off course at least buys time for the freighters to get clear. Tactical, just do your best. Ms. Jade will try to slow them and drive them into your line of fire.”

After a couple of minutes at warp, the helm officer alerted the acting Captain that they were approaching the position he had ordered them to.

“Drop out of warp now. Engineering, tactical, tractors and phasers at will.”

"Tractors up!" Jenna called, twitching the tightly focused beams around at seeming random, trying to intercept the fighters that began to maneuver and dance around. The phasers fired sporadically, nailing one of the fighters that had been slowed suddenly, but the rest zipped through the improvised defense.

One of the pirate starships was closer than it had been before, looming up closer to the freighters, having done just what Chimera had done, gone to warp as soon as the Luna-class ship had done.

"Damn!" Alexander tightened his fists. He'd already lost his Captain, on his first real day of duty no less, and now he was about to lose civilians. "Get back to warp! Close the distance to the freighters!"

"We can't, suh!" Jenna stated, distracted by something on her screen, "We've got an instability in the reaction, the computer estimates we'll be able to safely go to warp in... Thirty-three seconds, suh."

The Tactical officer looked at his own screen, "Sir, the pirates will be targeting range of the freighters in forty-eight seconds. They're launching torpedoes at them, estimated to miss at this range."

Jenna’s brow furrowed and she made the decision on her own, fingers flashing, “Divertin’ power from phasers to engines, suh, warp capability in three seconds.”

Alexander tensed, not knowing what to do but thinking Jade's suggestion seemed logical. "Jump to between us and the freighters the instant you can, helm. Tactical, you'll have a few moments with torpedoes only. Use as many as you need until we get power back to phasers."

"Going to warp." The helmsman obeyed the order and the next twenty seconds went by as if each was a minute of time. "Dropping out in two, one..."

"Warp drive is offline. Computer says ten minutes until warp capability, divertin' power back to phasers, ten seconds." Jenna read off the information given to her by the computers.

"Sir, there's no sign of the pirates." The Tactical officer blurted out in surprise, I've got the freighters and... Two pirate fighters are breaking for the outer system, but none of the three starships are in the area."

Alexander was dumbfounded. He'd been tricked, but he wasn't sure how. Were they still on the way to the freighters, but undetectable? Had they broken off? If so, why?

"Stay on alert," he ordered. "We'll stay with the freighters for now, in case any come back for another pass."

"I'm getting warp trail decay..." Jenna blurted out from her console, "Three signatures, don't know what their heading was."

Speaking at the same time, the helmsman stated, "I'm getting a hail from the lead freighter."

Additionally, simultaneously, the tactical officer spoke, "We're receiving a message from the Starbase, sir."

“On screen,” Alexander ordered.

The Helm and Tactical officers glanced at each other to determine which one was being referred to. "Putting on the freighter captain, sir."

An older face, relieved in appearance, appeared on the main screen, "This is Captain Marsh of the Temperance. Thank you, Chimera, they saw you coming in and just took off!"

"No problem, Temperance," Alexander replied. "Put up the message from the Starbase, Tactical."

The screen changed just as the Captain of the Temperance opened his mouth to say something else, the view of a Commander in red looking into the camera, “This is Starbase CIC, be advised that two of the pirates are no longer heading for the freighters,” His eyes flickered to the screen again, Correction, all three pirate starships have altered their course. When you drop out of warp, return immediately to defend the base.” The message went blank.

Almost immediately, another incoming message flashed to light on the console and the helmsman opened the new communications link, a harried Lieutenant in gold desperately looking at at the feed, “All starships in the area, Starbase 614 is under attack, our shields are at 20 percent, pirates are att-“ The screen fuzzed ohh for a few seconds, “-vy damage to our docking arms, not trying to board. All ships, we are requesting immediate assistance.”

"Get back there, now!" Alexander commanded, practically bellowing the order. "Full speed, whatever it takes." They'd been had. He'd been had. And hundreds, maybe thousands, would die for it. "Get us back there," he repeated, more softly.

"Suh, Ah can't bring up the warp drive, it's unstable for another... Seven minutes and fourteen seconds." Jenna's voice was frantic, "There is nothin' Ah can do!"

Without any additional notice, the lights stopped in mid-blink, the repeated call for help was cut off in mid-syllable and the ready room door slid open to reveal someone in civilian clothes. Well, not quite civilian clothes, someone dressed like... A pirate. Complete with a tricorn hat and a sly smile on her face, a familiar face.

"Well, that didn't go quite as you planned, did it, Commander?" The smooth voice of Calypso Skyie asked him before waving him to the center seat, "Ensign Summers, Ensign Jade, let's go over the simulation real quick." She flashed a smile at the pair of Ensigns, "That was some nice plotting, Leo, intercepting the fighters, but what was it you were doing, Jenna?"

"Ah was tryin' to keep all the tractor beams up and functional, to nudge them out of control to make them better targets, ma'am." Jenna responded even as the helmsman beamed at the compliment.

"While your idea, Alex, was the use them to slow the fighters down?" Cally asked him with a raised eyebrow, "Why didn't you override the Ensign's idea? Speaking as a former fighter pilot, I can state that being slowed down would definitely be worse for me than temporarily losing control of my flight path."

Alexander took a deep breath and realized his hands were shaking. It was just a simulation, he thought to himself. No one died. No one is hurt.

But what about next time? He clenched his fists to stop the shaking, keeping his eyes forward.

He stayed quiet as he tried to control the various feelings that were going through his head and his heart. Rage at being duped. Relief that no one was hurt. Fear of what might happen if he had to do it again.

"Chimera to Commander Esperson?" Cally waved a hand as she took a couple steps towards him, "Come back to the real world?"

"I thought it was a good suggestion," Alexander said, finally breaking his silence and releasing his clenched fists, but keeping his eyes forward on the frozen viewscreen and not on the Captain. "Pushing them into a phaser blast seemed smart. But lesson learned." He tried not to let any emotion show in his voice. In part out of fear that the wrong feeling would dominate.

"Learning from one's mistakes is always the best way to stay alive." Calypso agreed, directing the comment to the two Ensigns, "I did like how you took the initiative to convert phaser energy to get the engines up and going again, Jenna, so positive marks for that." She considered the three officers for a moment, "All right, grades for the three of you on the simulation... Summers, not really much for you because you were just following the directions given to you... Good flying, but no initiative taken to question why you should rush the intercept. Still, B Plus."

Cally turned to Jenna, "Jade, straight up B. You did shortcut the warp drive reset, but when it comes down to it, slowing down the fighters would have been worth burning out a tractor beam for. Likewise, when the instability in the drive popped up, you should have been a bit more assertive in pointing it out." The Ensign grimaced at that, but nodded grudgingly.

For a moment, Calypso almost did something she thought would be in the Ensigns best interests, but changed her mind quickly, "Thank you both, you're dismissed. Get some chow, then report for your normal duties." She watched them leave the holodeck before returning to the task at hand.

"Commander..." Cally turned her gaze onto Alex and pursed her lips for a moment, "Why did you use the warp drive to close in on me and my pirate group? Without going into warp myself, it would have taken me twelve minutes to get into range, while it would have taken you nine minutes to intercept me without losing your active sensor watch." She had to ask the question, in part because she was truly wondering, in part because she knew that it was probably because of his inexperience.

“I was thinking,” he said, finally matching her gaze, “that it would be better to have the fight further away from the freighters. It would reduce the chances of the freighters being destroyed, whether in crossfire or if I just couldn’t control all of the fighters. I’d have more time to deal with them without the freighters being at risk.”

"It was the wrong decision. After you went to warp, I didn't know where you were going to drop out, but I knew I could get the jump by making a hop as well. I went to Warp Four and held it as long as I dared so I could be out before you were. Just used a single ship so I could outflank you if it came down to it. When you popped back into warp to close the distance to the freighters, I knew I had you, but I also knew I could take the Starbase instead." She sat on the edge of the Exec's chair on the simulated bridge gingerly, "The computer threw you a curveball with a ten minute delay on the drive, didn't know it was going to do that, but you were out of position and for long enough that I'd have done serious damage even if you could have gone directly into warp to come after me. But the moment you went back into warp, I pivoted and went to high warp straight at the base. It was a lose-lose scenario for you, either risk the starbase or lose the freighters. The sad truth of the matter is that with only about ten crew each, it would have been better to sacrifice them. Of course, you could have kept the warp drive in reserve to pull the trick I did if I'd chosen to close quicker. But, hindsight is 20-20. C-Plus for moral courage, but a lack of tactical acumen." Cally shrugged at the pronouncement.

Alexander let the lesson sink in. It had been the wrong decision, and he was starting to understand why. He had much to learn, and now it was blindingly obvious.

“It was the wrong decision,” he repeated, nodding. “What would you have done? Beyond racing to meet the pirates at full impulse,” he asked. It wouldn’t do to ask what the ‘right answer’ was, if such a thing truly existed in starship tactical combat, but if he got the sense of what a more experienced officer would do, perhaps he could think more like one. A lot of his feelings were beginning to calm, save one, that would need to be dealt with momentarily.

It was a teaching moment and Cally nodded, "If the roles had been reversed, that's precisely what I would have done. Gone at full impulse to intercept. Three on one, we'd have taken our lumps, sure, but we should win that sort of fight. But the tactical initiative would have been mine as well." She waved at the screen, "Too many people say that reacting to someone else's actions means you're at the disadvantage, but they don't realize that it's only true in a TACTICAL setting. Maneuvering for advantage is a STRATEGIC setting, where reacting to your opponent's actions can put into the tactical advantage. If the pirates went to warp, I'd have the time to be sure of their vector, predict where they may exit from warp, intercept them there. If they change their course, time to make the decision of who to save. And it's a decision that has to be made on the spot, sometimes you'll have seconds, sometimes minutes, but no one can know hours or days ahead of time what's going to happen."

He listened carefully and nodded. “I limited my options by chasing them too quickly. I tried to force the fight to go my way but instead I took away all of my advantages.” He took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. “Permission to speak freely?”

"Of course. Always, Alex." Cally confirmed, eyeing him carefully.

“I appreciate the lesson,” Alexander said. “I really, truly do. And I hope to keep learning from you. But please…don’t trick me.” He was struggling now to contain his anger. “I’ve been a teacher for a number of years. I’ve yelled. I’ve berated. I’ve been a nasty piece of work. And I’ve students react like this.” He gestured to himself and his own reaction. “But I’ve never tricked someone into thinking what they were doing wasn’t real, or that someone had died.” He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. “I’ll have your back, Captain. And I’ll take every lesson you have with good grace. But I don’t need to be fooled.” Brief pause. “I thought you’d been killed.”

"And that was my intent, to put you in a position where I wouldn't have any doubts that you were acting like you would." Calypso said carefully, "Jade and Summers knew it was a simulation the entire time, but I had to know how you would react if it were real. No matter how people think, they act differently in a simulation, because there's nothing at risk. Would Jenna have made the decisions she made if it were real? I'd hope so, but she would have been dancing to be in Engineering if it had been" She shook her head, "I'm no different. I'm not going to apologize for what I did, Alex, but I won't do it again. I know you think I'm a cold-hearted bitch right now, but I'm really not."

Part of him did think that, though the more rational part understood what she was saying. It was a test, and one that she'd needed to administer. In his own experience, such testing under 'real' conditions wasn't necessary. Sure, people worked differently when life was on the line, but in the Academy that sort of stress could be simulated. But not for command training. She needed to know if he'd freeze up. If he'd give foolish orders. Mistakes could be forgiven, but if a real situation simply broke him, then she couldn't afford to have him as her First Officer.

Little could she know that to one who lost everything dear to him, the intense and conflicting feelings brought their baggage.

"I think I understand," he said. "And I'll take you at your word that this was a necessary but one-off test." He took deep breaths, slowly reasserting control over himself. He wasn't too proud or too stubborn to hide wiping a tear from his eye.

She reached out and patted him on his knee, offering a slight smile, "I'll be putting you through the cheese grater with constant messages asking you to decide what to do in a situation, literally presenting a basic scenario, with a question of what you'd do. We'll run a few simulations like this, other sandbox-type tactical and strategic scenarios as well. I'll ease off once you're getting at least two-thirds of the answers to an acceptable level in my opinion. But you've never been a tactical person, you've been an engineer and turnabout is fair play." She quirked a smile, "Don't ever expect me to understand how the warp engines work, nor how to repair a plasma conduit, but if there are things you think I must know as a Cee-Oh, I'm your student."

The turnabout made him smile. "I'll let you know if something comes to mind," he said. "And I accept the challenges you'll throw my way. But until then, I think I need to shower." He had gotten into his uniform straight from bed, and the sweat of the intense experience only made his situation worse.

"Go grab a shower, grab some breakfast, then we'll get really started on your education as an Executive Officer." Cally brightened a bit, "Which is more important: Tactics; Ship Functions; or Paperwork?"

"Which is more important, or which will I be spending more time on?" Alexander asked jokingly. "Let's actually start with ship functions. I obviously need more work on tactics, but I'm confident we can cover functions quickly enough, and I already had some experience with that back in the day."

"And you're wrong again." Calypso laughed, "We'll get you started on learning the paperwork, which really is what makes the ship run. I'll see you in my ready room in an hour or so? Take your time, it isn't going to go anywhere, just pile up some more."

That made him laugh, the feelings of resentment from the deception now virtually evaporated. "Yes, ma'am."