LtCmdr Jovenan – Enemies you encounter at higher levels are harder to beat
Jovenan
((Sensor pod, USS Artemis))
K’Wara: Me? Never.
A portion of the Lieutenant’s smirk was visible under the helmet’s visor. Jovenan could have insisted to a level of seriousness – if a junior officer had joked about never doing anything stupid, she might have stopped the exercise to make sure they understood the safety parameters in full. However, in Lt K’Wara’s case, she was fairly certain it was merely a personality trait rather than an expression of recklessness… which in fairness could have also been a trait of theirs. Satisfied for now, she nodded to herself and walked back to her terminal. There, with a few final clicks, she transferred the control over the drone to the Beholder.
Jovenan: Okay, it’s all yours now. Subtle movements. When you’re ready, try to move the drone above the pod at 150 metres, and then adjust the drone so that you can see the ship straight ahead. Never drop below 100 metres. Got it?
K’Wara: Yes Sir.
After a moment of adjusting to the controls, the Lieutenant began to move the drone. Jovenan didn’t let her attention slip for a second at this stage. If the Lieutenant were to break something, it would probably happen during these first minutes. It was entirely possible they would over-adjust the drone’s heading and, at the same time, speed up so much that they panicked and allowed the drone to spurt towards the hull. Although the automatic safety system would surely prevent that, she was ready to stop that herself. They however proved to be a helm officer worth their status, and the drone move with reasonably steadiness to the right position.
Jovenan: Okay, slow down, a bit more and there! Well done. Now, let’s start with something easy. You should see a bright spot at your bearing 015 mark 340. It’s one of the five targets, each emitting at different forms of electromagnetic radiation. You’ll need to find them all for me and identify the frequency. Questions?
K’Wara: No Sir. ::smiles:: Let’s get the show started.
The drone pushed forwards. To Jovenan, its movements appeared only as a series of new data points and a dot changing place on a screen, but she knew that the Lieutenant is going through an interesting experience. At least, so she interpreted the brief moment when they didn’t seem to try and find the target dummies but just looked around – the space, the ship, the planet below. She couldn’t blame them, certainly not after the hours she must have spent stargazing in the Astrometrics. However, the Lieutenant focused momentarily and scanned for the targets.
Jovenan: How’s the controls? Are you getting used to the drone?
K’Wara: It’s very sensitive, but I’m getting used to it. ::brief pause:: All right, let’s see here... Thermal Infrared band, 712 THz? ::brief pause:: No, wait, 712,409.
Jovenan read the exact figure from the screen as the Lieutenant read it out. No surprises there. They clearly had figured how to set up the basic scanners and find their readings on the go. Maybe a few more of this kind, and they were confident enough to move to the next phase.
Jovenan: Good, good. First down, onto the next one.
The dot on the screen flew under the ship and looked around. The flight of the drone was growing smoother every moment Lt K’Wara spent with the Beholder. The controls were, in Jovenan’s experience, the most complicated part of the system to teach to a prospective operator. Perhaps instead of teaching piloting to scientists, she should have been teaching science to helms officers.
K’Wara: Heading 248 mark 090. Frequency is... ::brief pause as they get closer to the target, examining it:: Ultraviolet, 32,4 PHz.
Again, correct. Jovenan switched off the target’s emitters to give the Lieutenant a clear view of the next targets.
K’Wara: How often is the TOV suit utilized for projects? It sounded to me that it's rare enough that on the occasion it does happen, it's a big deal.
Well, this is interesting. Not a lot of trainees had started talking about something else this soon into the training. She carried on, looking at the dot moving on the screen, trying to figure out if the Lieutenant was confident, bored or cocky.
Jovenan: You would be right. It could be used whenever decisions need to be made in quick order after receiving data, such as when combing for interesting spots for closer study in a larger area. Or entering a subterranean cavern of a planetary body, although I’ve never seen that done in practise. Do you see the next target?
K’Wara: Response
Jovenan: Correct. ::pause:: Should I take your willingness to chat as an indication that you find the exercise too easy?
She smirked and turned to look at the Lieutenant under the helmet. They wouldn’t see her, of course, but she shot the expression at them anyway. There was something curious at being in the presence of someone who was there but also far away.
K’Wara: Response
Jovenan: I think we’re ready to move to the second stage.
K’Wara: Response
She turned to the terminal and switched the information each target emitted. Now, they sent out a signal that, if read with correct scanners, would be interpreted by the computer as something more interesting before it reached the Beholder. The two closest targets to the drone’s current location were sending out data similar to small asteroids, but further out, they got something Jovenan didn’t expect the Lieutenant to get right the first try: one target left behind a trail of low-level of tetryon particles that would turn out to be a cloaked ship if the Lieutenant went too close; another target emitted energy and chemical readings of a pre-warp vessel of a civilisation sufficiently advanced to recognise if they were scanned with non-subspace active scanners; and the last or first target would have appeared as a subspace anomaly unless they figured out the antichroniton field around it. She also had one more trick to keep them busy.
Jovenan: All types of scanners are go, you can choose which to use. Just note that some of them are obviously wrong choices. ::pause:: Which one do you prefer, sports or music?
K’Wara: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11