Lt JG Imril - Let's Just Start Counting Down Masts, Shall We?
Chris Taylor
(( Cockpit - USS Perseus ))
K’Wara disabled the spectator mode currently enabled for their console, taking a proper position as co-pilot.
K’Wara: Collision in 20 - loading up evasive patterns.
Multiple options sprang to life on one side of Imril’s consoles. At a loss for tactical acumen, Imril picked one at random, and enacted it. Angling the shuttlepods nose into a turn, they flew a sharp bank to starboard along a slight upwards vector that just barely did the job of preventing a collision. The merest slip of a pinky finger across the control console, though, over-charged a maneuvering thruster, sending the Perseus spinning into a near-barrel roll. The starfield head spun a clockwise jig, and Imril had to focus on the sight of the planet’s first moon -- smoke-white and bright -- to have something to center the ship on.
By the time the Perseus steadied once more, Tamio’s knuckles were white.
Imril: Skipping the apology and turning about!
They worked to turn the ship back towards the yacht, which had moved well behind them. It had changed direction again, pulling ‘downwards’ relative to the 2D plane defined by the traffic lanes.
K’Wara: No damage to any systems, but the Utaalagarro’s masts won’t take much more of that kind of movement.
Imril: Time to do what Starfleet is best at.
If helping these teens meant ending or failing the test, so be it. Unfortunately, Imril didn’t know enough about solar sailors to talk the other pilot through getting out of that eddy over comms. They drove towards the ship, the main hull of which was larger than a runabout. Two decks tall most likely, with a wide forward viewfield that hinted of a decadently large cockpit.
Female Voice: =/\= Sorry! Is there any way you can get us out of this without telling anyone? =/\=
K’Wara: Sounded like a call for help to me. ::verifies systems:: So, tell me, Lieutenant, what are our options?
Less than they’d be if they were in the runabout or one of the larger shuttles, unfortunately. The Perseus was much smaller than the other ship, which meant less inertial mass to work with, a pittance of other systems to bring to bear and no warp engine to drive extra power into them. But in this case, a low-power solution might be the best one.
Imril: We can't take the wind out of the sails, so let's take the sails away from the wind. Low-power phaser blasts should tear them apart without damaging the hull.
K’Wara: response.
Imril: ::Trying to keep behind the yacht:: Yes, it’ll turn them into a missile. But one we can lock onto with our tractor beam and then try to slow down. Until they stop whipping around like that, we’d just be a fish on a line.
If the good Operations Officer had a better idea, Imril was all ears.
Imril: Acknowledged. Moving into position.
K’Wara: response.
The ship snapped upwards and sideways. One of the side masts obliged K’Wara’s earlier comment, and buckled into its neighbor.
Female Voice: =/\= Oh, flept! I don't even know what that one was called! =/\=
K’Wara: response.
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Imril
Engineering Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240110I12