War Games (Blowed Up Sir!)

[Crash Calestorm 0]

The following log takes place 24 Hours following the 12.09.13 Sim "war games"...

 

Shalin ->:: Sighs, turns:: Captain - we just got Jabberwok'd...we got our head taken off. – 12.09.13 Comanche Creek Chat

 

Hornet 20 zipped along in the black of space, the Fast Mover’s* plates catching the flare off the Sheep Barns running lights.

 

The war game simulation had gone relatively - sort of? - well and the participants would receive feedback from Scooter and Crash; the latter was out and about logging some flight time as she surveyed the area of “battle”. Jigging the fighter to the left and cutting back on the maneuvering thrusters she settled into position alongside the USS Comanche Creek. A practiced eye over looked the outer hull, employing Mark One Eyeball rather than the real-time programs the cockpit computers were running on a loop. Sometimes your own senses were still the best option.

 

The simulation had been handled well by personnel on both defense and offense but there was always room for improvement. The Captain couldn’t pull information out of thin air or anything, but knew from service as a combat pilot that a general knowledge of history could be counted on as a teaching tool.

 

The vessels of the Royal Navy and other world powers that had vied for the seas during the Age of Sail had no visible bridge area, at least as the modern Starfleet understood a modern command bridge. A few hundred years later, Earth’s Second World War saw tech advancements and the command bridge came about, typically located above the deck amidships or towards the aft section as in the case of aircraft carriers. This design would eventually transition into the saucer/hull-based control centers of the modern Starfleet ships.

 

Unlike the USS Enterprise, ‘Creek’s design specs were based off the USS Kelvin with a saucer section, primary and secondary hull sections, and single warp nacelle embedded in the secondary area. The USS Saladin was a forebear of both the Kelvin and the ‘Creek with a single warp nacelle as opposed to the warp nacelles, plural, design. While a single nacelle vessel had its own defensive concerns, the double warp nacelles could be targeted if their support struts or hull pylon extensions were taken out. All ships had weaknesses and anyone that told you anything different was selling something and sometimes you had to roll with the torpedoes, literally.

 

Back to the current tactical situation: the main bridge of the Comanche Creek had been taken out by a kamikaze flyby. Why was the main bridge obliterated? Because pirates and mercenaries employed their own version of tactics and not every organization was the Federation Starfleet.

 

If the “brain” was in fact taken out then amy surviving bridge crew and command staff would fall back to the Auxiliary Bridge on Deck 7. With LT TAral calling the shots as the war games commanding officer, LT Shalin providing Helm and back-up systems and LT Kvar on Comms, Commander Wesley and Captain Calestorm had opted not to extend the simulation to the secondary bridge.

 

I mean, thanks to the Creek’s Black Sheep Squadron they were all Dead Jim, right?

 

The Squid* veteran did a quick flip-in-tandem maneuver, mindful of the patrol cruising speed of the ship so as not to smack into the hull.

 

The kamikaze flyby performed by Mission Specialist Byblos via Tomcat 13 had been an off the cuff method, points for ingenuity and his aggressive instincts. Crash was definitely aggressive when it came to flight maneuvers and the simple fact was it was a part of the job. Minus points for blowing up her bridge but in the case of the simulation the objective had been achieved: take out the Federation starship. Done and done.

 

Cale zipped around again and positioned the Hornet alongside the main dorsal neck. She eyed the area, the size, and the visual possibility superimposed with the mental idea she was cooking up.

 

As the naval seas had given away to the naval stars, the concept of the submarine had become one of the few obsoletes and with it the launch of depth charges to subdue enemy subs...a depth charge launcher, modified into a remote web-like pattern for space and enemy starfighters that ventured past the defenses and shield grid; both Starfleet and mercenary fighters were certainly fast enough. Indeed...

 

A mischievous grin split the older woman’s features behind her faceplate and that was never a good sign. Crash gunned her ride flourish of thrusters and low engine power to gently buzz the bridge with a wing tipped greeting, as per her usual method of depart or arrival.

 

 

* Squid: slang term for Starfleet Navy personnel

* Fast Mover: slang term for a fighter/space fighter jet

* USS Saladin: class of starship introduced in the Franz Joseph Technical Manuel (copyright 1980’s) and images used in Star Trek ll: The Wrath of Khan (1982)