"Self-Examination"

[Sam_SemaJ 0]

"Self Examination"

Character Log -- S.K. Sema'J

SD 10908.04

 

<<this log takes place somewhere between plots but not really too long ago, essentially in a time frame where Arcadia was maintaining normal operations and not in a position of "glorious strife">>

 

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"There is an unstable plasma anomoly off of the starbord bow", warned the computer. Sam Sema'J leaned into the shuttle's manual helm interface and the sleek Type 9 veered around the obstruction continuing into space. A planet approached and the computer spoke its mind once again. "Please establish orbit around the upcoming planet." As Sam neared the upper edge of the planet's gravitational field and began to nose the shuttle upwards, the computer had something else to say about the situation. "This planet's gravitational field is in a state of flux, a standard orbit is not recomended". Sam smiled to himself, it couldn't be that easy. He leaned over to the sensors and got a graphic representation of what the shifted grav field looked like, he then quickly wrote a subroutine to alter the orbit with thrusters in real time according to the readings. Once the subroutine was entered in, he went back to bringing up the shuttle's nose and at the last minute he decided to have a little more fun. He pulled the shuttle's nose all the way up till its aft end was gliding toward the planet. As the shuttle's rear was pulled into the gravity of the planet, the shuttle slid upside down, and without letting it lose its momentum, Sam gave the ventral bow thrusters a most careful bump, causing the nose to flip around under the aft end and right the shuttle. Though the inertial dampeners compensated, this florid maneuver gave Sam more than a slight spike in blood pressure. The threat of dizziness surfaced but Sam shook it off and focused on his flying. The nose went forward now from the original impulse momentum and the shuttle was now righted in orbit. "Please take the shuttle through the atmosphere, maintain all safety parameters while passing through it, then land the shuttle on the southernmost continent. Complete the landing sequence in the shortest time possible while maintaining safe parameters."

Sam smiled at the computer's last instruction...he edged the shuttle downward feeling more of the planet's gravitational pull. Knowing that the shields were strongest under the shuttle's small warp core at the ventral aft of the ship, he moved the manual controls forward swiftly, cutting the aft thrusters, the back of the shuttle dropped into the pulling gravity and the strong shields began being buffeted by atmospheric friction. In seconds the shuttle had passed through the upper atmosphere and was free-falling toward the surface. Sam quickly switched the control interface so that the left stick controlled stern impulse engine and the right controlled the bow. He gunned them both, the rear far more than the front, leveling the shuttle from it's quick, stern-first drop. As the horizon flashed into view Sam again felt himself tense and his visual focus begin to waver, but again he forced this physical reaction to pass. Immediately after leveling the shuttle, Sam glanced at the safety screen insuring that the shields and IDS had not been excessively taxed; they hadn't. He switched back to thrusters and nudged them intermittently as a nearly imperceptible bump announced touchdown on the planet's surface. Glancing at the time readout, Sam observed that it had been just under 10 seconds since he was in upper atmosphere. He grabbed a checklist padd off the console and began shutting down systems on the shuttle. When finished, he walked to the back of the shuttle, opened the hatch and disembarked. As he did this he spoke aloud. "Well that was more fun than the test with the computerized console interface. Computer, transmit test data and end program". The planet and shuttle fizzled into a holomatrix and Sam walked into the corridor and headed for his office. He was a little worried about his momentary lapses in concentration, but assured himself that he had passed the physical stress examinations under Dr. Tynte's supervision and this would be factored into his test results.

 

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It had been a few days since Sam had completed his exam simulations. He awoke at his normal early time, despite this being his off duty day. He could never seem to sleep in when he had a regular schedule. As usual he had set up his coffee machine to prepare the drink right before he awoke, he hated when busy events on the ship forced him to replicate coffee. He grabbed his cup and neglected to shave; as long as his superiors didn't have an opinion on the matter, he didn't mind a day or so shadow on his face. He and his cup of coffee sat down at the small desk in the quarters main living space...not that the small quarters had any more than one room and a sleeping alcove...but he was happy to have offered up his larger family quarters to a crew member who needed it when his daughter, Rosie, returned to live on earth. He clicked on the console on the desk and raised a brow to see two messages awaiting his attention. The first was no surprise: Rosie and her caretaker, Sam's sister Jadyn, had written to recount the weeks events, as was their usual custom. Sam skimmed over the details of their week, smiling broadly to hear from his family. The second message also elicited a smile, one of surprise. The message was from LtCmdr Steskovsky, Sam's academy advisor and the assistant chair of the academy's piloting division. This was a pleasant surprise and Sam got onto reading the message.

 

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From: LtCmdr Igor Steskovsy, Starfleet Academy

To: Lt(sg) Samuel K. Sema'J, USS Arcadia NCC-1742-E

Subject: Your Flight Clearance Exam

 

Sam,

 

First off let me say that I apologize that we have not been in contact since you were released from medical leave and returned to join the Arcadia Crew. When I heard your physical therapy had reached a point where you had decided to attempt to renew your flight clearance, I asked the flight office at Starfleet Headquarters if I could personally review your test results, they were happy to oblige. Before I get into the technicalities of the test itself, let me say that not only did you perform with excellent proficiency, you did so with the creativity and finesse that I try to instill in all my students, and that I've come to expect from you personally. I was somewhat surprised, though, by your flashy orbital summersault...I would have marked you down for it had I not taught it to you. Now onto the results themselves.

 

Stage 1. Your written examination was flawless. Your understanding of Starfleet flight protocol, as well as your problem solving and adaptive strategies are completely on par with what we expect of Starfleet pilots. For this stage you received 100%.

 

Stage 2. Your physical stress examination did not produce such a perfect result. It's obvious that the medical conditions you've dealt with have produced difficulty in the physical stresses that pilots encounter as part of their duties. However, your extensive recovery period and the physical therapy you've undergone have helped you to deal with these issues. Dr. Tynte assures us that you performed within satisfactory safe parameters for this section of the test and that your performance in this area will only increase with time. For this stage you received 85%.

 

Stage 3. Your simulated fight test with computerized controls was satisfactory. You followed the computer's instructions, avoided obstacles and completed the objective. However, there did not seem to be as much of the care and attention to detail I've come to expect from you, and this is reflected in your time, which was a hair blow average. I can only hypothesize that your personal preference against the computerized interface tainted your performance. For this stage you received 92%.

 

Stage 4. As discussed in my personal note above, your simulated flight test with manual controls was not only sufficient for the test parameters, it was inspiring in its finesse, creativity and it's time, which was impressively short. Your extremely creative use of the warp shielding to facilitate a quick free-fall and your subsequent break of said fall into a controlled landing not only gave you an impressive test time, it impressed the entire staff, myself and Cmdr Daren included. The bio-sensors did record at least two instances where your either the concentration required for the exercise, or simply your flashy piloting style aggravated the neural difficulties that resulted in your original flight grounding following your accident. However, you endured through these near-lapses and as discussed above, you did pass your physical examination. Taking all of this into consideration, and show-off maneuvers notwithstanding, your excellent performance earned you a 100% for this stage.

 

These four stages contribute to a composite score of 94.25% for your Flight Clearance Exam.

 

This score is well within the accepted boundary for Starfleet Regulations, and I'm proud and pleased to personally inform you that you have once again been cleared for all forms of atmospheric, stellar, and interstellar flight for all Starfleet craft, a "Full Certification". Congratulations on successfully removing your flight grounding. This change will be added to your personnel file and forwarded to your commanding officer. I hope this letter finds you well, and again, my personal congratulations to you.

 

Regards,

Igor Steskovsky

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Sam finished the letter with a broad smile, partly from the test results and mostly from the personal touch from his old friend and mentor. It felt good to be flight certified again. The natural first thought that came to his mind was his posting...the feeling that he could now take over his original Arcadia position of Helm officer. Taking the wheel of the big ship for alpha shifts, being first on call for shuttle missions, he did miss it. Though this was the knee-jerk reaction, he wasn't certain it was the right way for him to go. For starters, he had had a bit of bouncing around recently anyway. When he came back to Arcacia, he was one of the engineering staff, soon he had been shuffled into the Chief spot, a position he had to admit he was not comfortable with. He had requested his transfer to Ship's Counselor and had been settling in quite nicely he thought. He felt he was doing his job effectively and efficiently, he was helping out with sickbay shift rotations and paperwork, and ultimately he felt like he was making a difference. The opportunity to monitor situations from the bridge without another posted duty to distract him offered both insight and the ability to offer suggestions and advice to the bridge and command crew. He also usually took this opportunity to observe behavior and situational responses among the crew. All in all, Ship's Counselor was proving to be a great autonomous position, much like helm officer, with abundantly more academic content and interest. He felt the crew was becoming comfortable with him, even crew members he had been closely aquatinted with in other positions were becoming more at ease talking to him as their counselor. Sam felt like he hadn't really broken the ice with the Captain though. When he studied Starship Social Dynamics as part of his psych certification, there were a lot of references that seemed to suggest that many starship captains came to rely upon their ship's counselor as a confidant and moral and ethical sounding board, in addition to the reliance they had on their first officer. While Sam felt he had a good working relationship with Captain Lo'Ami, he wasn't sure they had reached a completely fluent exchange of feelings and reactions to given situations and as of yet the captain had not approached Sam outside the boundaries of his initial psych interview and meetings pertaining to ship's business. Sam theorized that with the memories of his symbiote's previous hosts, Lo'Ami had all of the counsel he might need. Though Sam had certainly done all of the required study on Trill psychology, he had no practical experience in the subject. Aside from some strides still to be made gaining a completely comfortable professional relationship with members of the crew and the captain, Sam had to say he was more than comfortable in his position as Ship's Counselor. While his re-certification as a pilot was certainly a satisfying accomplishment, the time for change was most definitely not now.

 

Sam blinked at the starfield he'd been staring at during his rumination. Strange, usually in the morning he chose to look at something brightly lit and colored, the dark of space made him feel like it was night time. He looked down at his cup of coffee and realized he had filled it and had a second cup without even noticing. He shook off his zoned-out feeling from sitting and thinking and walked over to the replicator. He replicated a framed copy of his Starfleet Full Certification pilot's license and picked it up. He walked out the door and took the turbolift to his office...it was time for some decorating.

 

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