LtJG Jovenan – Fire knows no mercy
Jovenan
((Holodeck 4, Deck 3, USS Artemis))
Ral: Questions?
Jovenan raised her hand rapidly in the air. She had some concerns about the use of holodeck safeties in the exercise, and it was rarely negative to ask and verify instructions.
Jovenan: As a safety precaution: Do we have means to pause or terminate the exercise for oneself in case of actual emergency… or serious pain?
The Bajoran NCO was about to respond, but she was cut by Ensign Chevalier, who had placed his hand on her shoulder.
Chevalier: If you will be seriously wounded, or be in the situation where you would lose your consciousness, you will be automatically disconnected from the simulation and you will return here to the gathering point. The purpose of this exercise is to teach you how to control a fire if it occurs and the fire suppression system will not be able to deal with it automatically for any reason. I hope this answered your question, lieutenant.
Jovenan frowned a little under her protective suit. The precautions were better than nothing, sure, but she wasn’t sure if the risk of feeling pain was truly necessary for the learning experience. She hoped they were exaggerating to better motivate the crew.
Jovenan: Understood.
Z'Vahme/Any: Response
Since there were apparently no further questions, the exercise lead team broke down to their respective tasks. Ensign Chevalier moved further out, presumedly to initiate the holoprogramme, while the two petty officers circled around the crew to inspect their PPEs. Jovenan could hear the Bajoran NCOs voice, berating someone in another team, while the Bre’ella chief seemed to be satisfied with their work. Jovenan breathed out after he had passed her. It had been a while since she had worn one.
Once that phase was complete, the trainers gathered once more.
Ral: Are they all ready?
Kaz'Orah: All are good.
The Bajoran pointed one of the crewmembers, one who Jovenan didn’t know in advance.
Ral: Ensign Z'Vahme, you and your team are now Rescue Two. Line up with the first group.
Rescue Two. Since Jovenan was assigned to Assault Four, her squad would be protecting them during the evacuation. She kept Ensign Z’Vahme’s name in mind.
Z'Vahme: Response
Chevalier: Group one. Now you will step into the elevator behind you, and will face a challenge that will test your limits. Remember, what awaits you is something you have already trained for. For some of you it will be your daily bread, for others it will be a useful experience. My last advice is simple – feel no worry, keep your cool and believe in yourself and people in your team. Group one, your exercise has started.
Jovenan wasn’t certain if they should use turbolifts during a real emergency, in case the car and everyone on it got caught and fried alive. That being said, she was pleased they wouldn’t be using Jefferies tubes either; if she was going to be caught within flames, she preferred to do it in a spacious lift instead of claustrophobia inducing maintenance chutes. And if they died in this exercise before even reaching the training area, it was hardly their fault.
Jovenan: Acknowledged. ::to squad:: Assault Four, let’s move!
Z'Vahme/Any: Response?
Jovenan and the trainees entered the turbolift. After the doors closed, the only indicators of the unusual situation were the atypical number of passengers on a single lift, and the PPE everyone was wearing. The red alert klaxon rang in the lift as well, but it was largely muffled by their helmets. The calm in the lift was treacherous, for Jovenan knew what was ahead; her heart was racing, she had to fight to keep her thoughts in the simulated mission ahead.
The turbolift stopped, and the door swooshed open. A fireball entered the turbolift.
3-Actual: Down, down, down!
Jovenan crouched rapidly to avoid the flames that dispersed quickly after reaching the turbolift ceiling. This was nothing like in the Suliban attack after all.
3-Actual: Three, follow me, one, support us!
Assault Three moved out, and Jovenan sprung straight. Her instincts, her training as a science officer, they both told her to stop and analyse, but she also knew that was not the correct course of action here. She would have also wanted to wait for a senior officer to come and give her direct orders, but in this situation, she had to accept that she was the one.
Jovenan: Four, put out immediate fire and clear way to the right corridor!
Z'Vahme: Response
Jovenan pulled the trigger on her suit fire extinguisher, causing a cloud of chemicals propel from the nozzle to the hole in the ceiling just outside the lift. The four squads parted their ways, with Four and Two heading to the right.
The long, bending corridor was the central passageway around these sectors of the ship. Jovenan didn’t need a map, she knew these corridors well by now. They weren’t going to the computer core today, so when she noticed that their path forwards was cut by a major fire, she gave an order to open a better evacuation route. They didn’t have time to put out all fires until all personnel were evacuated. Still, the fire seemed to be feeding from a burst EPS junction.
Jovenan: Four Actual to Four! One and Two, secure that junction and contain corridor ahead, then join the rest. Three, Four and myself to the green corridor.
Silence. Jovenan began to doubt herself, had she been mistaken about the validity of her orders? Did these guys know better than her? Maybe, but disobeying an order was insubordination, and insubordination was a crime, which she had very little tolerance for.
Jovenan: Verbal acknowledgements! Do you read me!?
Four One: Four One, on it!
Four Two: Four Two, copy.
Four Three: Four Three, received.
Four Four: Four Four, copy.
That was much better.
The select squad members moved to their respective task. Jovenan, with the squad members she had chosen, turned to another circular corridor around the sector. They would clear the route for the Rescue squad and open up the access to exits and vital systems. It looked much harder than she had expected. For a moment, she hesitated.
Jovenan: Four Actual to Four One, status!
Four One: Four One, we have, uh, stopped the fire from the EPS thingie, but we have trouble with the barriers.
Jovenan: That’s okay, you and Two can rejoin the squad.
Four One: Copy that.
She stopped for a moment to look and make sure that the two squad members found the rest. She made handsigns to direct them where to go.
Chevalier: =/\= SITCOM to Four Actual. Report.
Uh-oh.
Jovenan: =/\= Four Actual! We’ve secured an EPS junction and are now clearing way for evacuation and to vital resources! =/\=
Chevalier: =/\= Understood, Four Actual. Good work.
Jovenan smiled a little but focused on the exercise quickly again. Actually, she began to see the things in a different light right there. It hadn’t yet registered how horrifying the scene before her was. Her home was aflame. In this scenario, she couldn’t begin to think what had happened to her friends aboard. Before she would allow the desperation and depression sink in, she shook her head and moved on to secure access to a turbolift that could be used to evacuate people. They needed more ways to get people out so they didn’t need to find a way to the turbolift the firefighters had used.
Chevalier: =/\= SITCOM to Four and Two Actual. Sensors show us the floor environmental control hub for quarters is compromised by fire. Two, expedite the rescue. Four, the next distribution node is sector 5, right wall about 40 metres from your actual position against 05-24.
Floor environmental control hub for quarters? She had a vague memory of accessing the subprocessor for that through the Jefferies tubes during the Suliban attack. She tried to remember where in the sector 5 the distribution node was. She clearly didn’t spend enough time memorizing all the technical stuff on each deck. She had to rely on Ensign Chevalier’s instructions.
Jovenan: =/\= Four Actual, understood. We’ll go that way! =/\=
Z'Vahme: =/\= Response =/\=
She looked at the situation around her. They can do it. Right? It was so hot in here, and without the thermal vision, she wouldn’t have seen anything at all.
Jovenan: Four Actual to Four! New objective, distribution node in sector 5, 40 metres against 05-24.
Each squad member acknowledged the order and disengaged from whatever they were doing, taking a new heading as instructed. As they approached the distribution node, Jovenan wondered what would happen next. There was just too much to do to safe the ship and the crew. They hadn’t yet been given an order to take escape pods, so at least someone believed the ship was salvageable. She had to remind herself that their primary objective was to take control of the fire and prevent it from spreading. They could come back to put out less significant spots later.
3-Actual: =/\= Three Actual to all! Retreat! Retreat! SITCOM! May Day! May...
It was a chilling cry. Jovenan turned instinctively to see what happened, despite the fact that it happened probably on the other side of the ship, and she couldn’t possibly see anything. And despite that, she could hear with her own ears as bulkheads gave in and the hull was ruptured. It was too late.
The deck disappeared around them. They were once again in Holodeck 4.
Ral: Group one, line up in front of me.
Jovenan, together with her squad and the rest of the trainees, made a row in front of the training team. She only now realised how much she was shaking.
Kaz'Orah: Group One. There is little to say about what you experienced, except the fact you all succeeded in this exercise. No parameter was measured in it that would divide you between those who win and those who lose. As in the real situation, you can do everything right, everything to succeed, and still lose. You saved sixteen of twenty three people on that deck. You did not lose anyone from your teams in the process. And I know, Assault Three and Rescue One, they both perished all. But not by their fault, not by mistake or something that could have been done by Assault Four or Rescue Two. They just were in the wrong place, at the wrong time. This happens. There was nothing to be done better...
Ral: But that doesn't mean there were no mistakes. You all receive the analysis of this exercise in the next days. Do not take this analysis as criticism of your actions. Because yes - you were there, at that place, at that moment. We were here, in safety and comfort, where we could afford to think about alternatives and procedures. You did what you did. There was no one else to make a decision instead of you. And there will be no one with the right to criticize you when you are in the similar situation of life and death next time, remember that. You made us proud today. Remember that too and take that analysis as something to think about. To enrich your experience, to give you a voice to discuss with...
Chevalier: Group One, dismiss and take off your suits. For you, the exercise ended successfully.
Jovenan tried smiling a little as the row dispersed and they went to take off their suits. Releasing the helmet and smelling some relatively fresh ship air was a great pleasure.
They had failed, in a real situation, half of the firefighting group would have died, not to mention what would have happened after that. But it didn’t hurt her as much as the previous emergency response drill had. She had grown.
She was just proud she hadn’t burst into tears.
((OOC: LtJG deliberate, scene takes place before promotions. Sorry for the length.))
TAG/End scene for Jovenan
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Lieutenant JG Jovenan
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11