You remember how to fly, right?
Posted on Thu Oct 8th, 2020 @ 3:24pm by Lieutenant Paul Michael
Edited on on Thu Oct 8th, 2020 @ 3:26pm
1,023 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Episode 10 - New Home, Same Pioneers
Location: Holodeck One
Timeline: MD007 1100 hrs
Quinn had walked Paul over to holodeck one, on the USS Pioneer. As they waited outside the holodeck doors, Quinn looked over to him. "Before we can let you on the bridge, you have to pass the bridge test." Quinn said, as he looked over to Paul Michael, their new Chief Helmsman. He wondered to himself, how long has it been since Paul flew a ship?
Michael nodded at the commander. "I'm ready, sir."
"Computer load, training scenario Vega System 4." Quinn called out, as the holodeck showed an interior of the intrepid class bridge layout. "Please take your seat, Lieutenant." Quinn ordered, eagerly awaiting to see what Paul could do, behind the helm.
Paul sat at the helm position, adjusted the chair to his liking, and looked over the panel. When he was ready, he turned to the commander. "Ready sir."
Quinn walked over to his command chair, and took a seat. As Quinn sat down, he leaned over to his center console and started the program. "Helm drop us out of warp and prepare to put us in geo-synchronize orbit." Quinn called out, as he started to review the perimeters of the program. He was eager to see how Paul reacts to stress.
Paul pressed the controls and the ship dropped out of warp. "We are at impulse, sir, preparing to enter geo-synchronize orbit as ordered." His hands moved smoothly and swiftly across the console. "Ready to enter orbit, sir."
"Engage." Quinn said, as he then went on. "Call out your moves, I will be monitoring from here." Quinn ordered, as he looked to his main display screen.
"Approaching planet. Sensors indicate a ring of asteroids in our desired path. Altering heading to compensate." Paul smoothly move the ship into a path that cleared the asteroids.
Seconds past. "Sir, there appears to be a ship heading towards us on our current heading."
"Alter your course to avoid collision. Heading 215." Quinn called out, purposely giving a wrong course. He needed to see if his new chief helmsman would catch the error, and suggest another course of action.
Paul checked the new course. "Sir, that would put us in the path very close to the outer layer of the planet's atmosphere. I suggest a heading of 185, sir."
Quinn smiled on the inside. He caught the mistake, and was not afraid to confront his superior. "Alter course to heading 185." Quinn called out. He was waiting for Paul to change course, as soon as he did, the left nacelle was programmed to cut back to 75%. Another minor alterations of power distrubition would solve the problem.
Quinn noticed some helmsman's would aboard the orbit, and play it safe and restore the engines. There was a rare bunch, that would continue to the orbit, and make the adjusts on the fly. He was curious to see which one Paul was.
Paul noticed the drop in the port nacelle. He quickly checked to see if they still had the needed power to make orbit, or if he had to abort. Having 25% power from the nacelle would be critical in any other maneuver, but by bringing emergency online to compensate, Paul was able to settle the ship in the proper orbit. "Orbit achieved, sir."
Quinn was impressed by the call he made, and how well he preformed the maneuver. He thought to himself, 'Nicely done!' "Thank you Mister Michael." Quinn called out. Now that he got them in orbit, he waited to see if Michael followed up with engineering.
Paul tapped his combadge. "Lt Michael to engineering. I registered a power drop in the port nacelle. Can you confirm?"
"Confirmed." The holographic engineer called out. "The nacelle is being drained, unable to determine its source. But its focalised to this stationary orbit. My guess a cloaked mine, probe or satellite."
Paul turned to the commander. "Sir. Engineering reports that the nacelle is bring drained by what may be a cloaked vessel of some kind. Request permission to sweep the area with a tachyon pulse."
"Tactical scan the area, for cloaked vessels." Quinn called out, from the his chair.
"Initiating scans now sir." The holographic tactical officer called out. After a few seconds he responds. "Captain detcting a small vessel, about the size of the runabout. They are altering course to avoid detection."
"Helm prepare to break orbit. Were going to attempt to to track the the source of the drain, by adjusting our sensors to detect the wake shift from the cloaked vessel." Quinn called out, seeing how he was going to respond to this course of action.
Paul punched in the command to break orbit. "Ready to leave orbit, commander." The tactical officer would be running the scans.....all he had to do was put in the course corrections given to him.
"Tactical as soon as we detect the shift, I want you to fire a low yield phaser shot at the spot. Just enough to scratch the paint." Quinn had ordered, as he looked over to Paul.
"Punch it, Helm." Quinn said, with a big grin. Waiting to see the plan unfold, as anticipated.
Paul touched the console and the Pioneer left orbit. "We have left orbit, sir. Further orders, sir?"
The USS Pioneer altered its course, which allowed the tactical officer to gain a target lock. The simulation paused. Quinn looked over to Paul. "Nicely done Lieutenant. Your piloting skills are superb." Quinn said, with a big grin on his face.
Paul stood and faced the commander. "Thank you for saying that, sir."
"Well that completes the testing. Congratulations you passed with flying colors." Quinn said, as he reached out to shake his hand.
Paul gripped the hand. "Thank you commander."
Quinn reached out to shake his hand, as they both left the holodeck together. Quinn felt good about his ability to fly the ship. After watching that performance.
A joint post by;
Commander Quinn Ó Flannagáin
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Paul Michael
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Pioneer
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