[sb118-khitomer] Lieutenant (JG) Ezra Zerva - The Resulting Reports
BC Cooper
((Deck 3, USS Khitomer Simulation; Holodeck One – enroute to the Lagoon Nebula))
Charles: Tricorder is set.
Zerva: ::checking the console next to the doors, he whispered:: It’s going to take minute to override. Watch my back. ::checks the time left and cruses under his breath:: Just over a minute left.
Charles: ::whispers:: Ezra? ::whispers a little louder:: Lieutenant?
Ezra was trying to concentrate on the doors into the shuttle hangar. It was causing him to sweat. There was only so much time left before they either got a call from one of the security teams or the tricorder went off. The last thing he needed was a distraction.
Zerva: ::grunting in frustration as he worked, responding in a loud whisper:: What?! ::lowering his voice:: I’m trying to get these doors open.
Charles: ::whispers:: I think I saw something.
Ezra paused and took a brief glance over his shoulder.
Zerva: I don’t see anything. Are you sure you don’t need glasses?
Not surprising he couldn’t see given that they were in mostly pitch dark. Even so, Ezra trusted the tactical officer. He turned back to his work, letting the Lieutenant deal with whatever might come next. If there was in fact something or someone there.
Charles: ::whispers:: My latest eye test was perfect, Lieutenant. How much longer will you be with that door?
His fingers fumbled over the wall mounted console. He had opened up the panel about thrityish seconds ago and was rerouting some chips. It might as well been an eternity at this point. This wasn’t the first time Ezra had hacked into a door console. Back at the academy, he learned how to do it like it was second nature. It should be easy enough to do. Was the Holodeck being difficult? Or something else? His heart was pounding and the sweat on his brow begin to drip into his eyes.
Zerva: ::whispering:: Forever, if you keep distracting me. ::removing an isolinear chip and switching it with another:: It’s being particularly difficult.
Charles: ::sighs, whispers:: We have… what? Thirty seconds or so? ::pause:: You know what else is a great distraction? If we just blow the door open and rush in with rifles blasting…
Zerva: ::sighing, whispering:: A moment ago you said we didn’t have that many options. Now you want to go in guns blasting? Is that what you want to tell the Captain and XO? That we figured out the best tactical way to defeat the Lattice Alliance was going out in a blaze of glory?
Charles: ::whispers:: I didn't say it was a well thought out Tactical plan. I just said it would be one hell of a distraction. One way or another, we might be about to be discovered. If I use the tricorder from this distance, I can see what is going on in the shuttlebay, even on a lower power setting, then, if it is the Alliance, we take the fight to them. You go to deck two, use the Jeffries Tubes above Shuttlebay Control. We blow the door, I rush in firing, while they're distracted by me, you can see what is what. It's Tactical chaos.
Actually that was a sound tactical move, but there was just one unfortunate problem. They were out of time. Maybe if they had thought of it before it might have worked.
Zerva: ::whispering:: No time left. We’ll try that on the next round.
::loud whispering:: I think I got it. ::grinning as the console bleeped and the doors opened:: ::speaking in a normal volume:: Yes! Let’s go.
The tricorder began to make its whirling noises. If there was something there, it would definitely know, if it didn’t already.
Ezra got to his feet and grabbed his phaser rifle as the loud scanning sounds of tricorder increased. At that moment he thought he heard something in the corridor behind them. Was Lieutenant Matthews right? Did he see something after all?
oO Run. Oo
Charles: Response
His left hand began to twitch. His mind raced.
oO Run. Oo
Something was out there and it was coming for them!
oO Come on Ezra! Run! Oo
His feet were not moving. The dimly lit shadows began to creep closer
oO Frack! Oo
Zerva: ::gesturing inside the hangar to Charles:: Forget the tricorder! Hurry! No time to be sneaky. ::frustrated looking down:: Move it feet! Let’s go!
Ezra’s feet unfroze itself and he quickly raced next to the panel on the inside of the hangar. He gave it a hard push. When nothing happened he pushed it again and thankfully this time the doors began to close.
Charles: Response
Ezra could hear the photon grenade go off as the doors came very close to trapping Lieutenant Matthews on the other side as it closed shut.
Zerva: ::breathing heavy against the wall as his hand stopped twitching:: Are you sure this isn’t Ghostship IV? I hear that one’s the best of the Ghostship thriller programs.
Charles: Response
Catching his breath, Ezra used the light on his phaser rifle to scan the room. It was just as dark as the corridor. They had given out their position. No need to be sneaky now that the enemy knew where they were. His light scanned over two of the shuttles in the bay before his combadge went off.
oO Was it ten minutes already? Oo
Zerva: Looks like we’ll have to wait for shore leave to try that one.
One by one the three security shifts sounded off as planned. Ten minutes exactly. Unfortunately their reports were not good.
Wynters: Gamma Shift here! ::shots firing in the background:: There’s no medical personal in sick bay. We ran into some Sheilak instead, who have us pinned down here. Kelana was stunned during the initial attack and Betchal was taken prisoner. They caught by surprised as we entered sickbay. I’m going to try and—
PO2 Kelana was stunned? Betchal had been captured? Now the call went dead? Ezra glanced over to Lieutenant Matthews.
Pearl: Beta shift here. We’re under fire sir! Tholians. They killed the only two engineering crew members that we found in engineering. I don’t know where the rest of my shift went, sir. We got separated. I sent Bakr to scout out on the deck below and then we were attacked. I didn’t know if he’s okay.
What was going on? Where was the rest of the Holodeck crew? Was Bakr alright?
Maryu: Alpha Shift here. We’ve got a combine Tholian and Sheilak offense against the bridge! It’s not going well sir. We just lost the two person Skeleton bridge crew we found. They were killed during the initial fire fight on the bridge. We’re trying to hold on as best as we can, but S’Vent was nearly injured on a console panel explosion. The safety protocols were online, right sir?
Indeed the safety protocols were in place. But that didn’t undermine what was happening. It had only been ten minutes since he gave the orders. And yet the Alliance was already over taking the ship. Ezra wasn’t there on DS-33 on Frontier Day when the attack against the station happened. He’d read the reports but this was different. He was on board the Khitomer on Frontier Day. He could recall the ship tactics that the Lattice Alliance had used, but that wasn’t the same thing as a one on one confrontation.
Charles: Response
Zerva: ::frustrated as the three shifts reported the bad news:: You’re right, this isn’t good at all. ::looking at his phaser rifle before sighing:: Computer. ::bleep:: Freeze program. ::sighing a second time:: What do you say we try again? The tactical team should be back soon and we can swap out with security so they can get their jabs next.
Should he have frozen the simulation? Was that the right call? Should they have continued the simulation as it was? If this was a real ship wide invasion, it wouldn’t be a Holodeck program. He would have to find a way to get out of that predicament. He waited for the tactical officers suggestion.
Charles: Response
Nodding, Ezra called all the security teams to standby as the program ended. Luckily nobody was really hurt as the Holodeck insured the safety’s were working properly. He then spoke to the nine of them, asking for their thoughts and taking suggestions and ideas how to best proceed in future simulations. He kept notes on his PADD.
One thing did bug him though. What was that in the corridor on Deck 3 that was sneaking up on him and Charles? What was it that caused the photon grenade to go off? Was it a member of the Lattice Alliance? Or something else? Ezra raised a brow and decided whatever it was, it clearly must have been a hologram as there wasn’t anyone here except for the eleven of them.
((OOC: Moving things forward after talking it over with Yellow Matthews as we just arrived at the nebula))
((Brief Timeskip. Deck 3, USS Khitomer Simulation; Holodeck One – enroute to the Lagoon Nebula))
They had spent the better half of several hours on the Holodeck. The tactical team had returned and swapped out with the security shifts so they could get their butt jabs. There were some complaints among the security shifts about sore butts. Apparently they’d rather face off against Tholians than another round of Othin’s implants on their backsides.
The tactical team got to run through the same program as security did, facing off with the Alliance one on one. This time with Charles taking the lead and Ezra assisting as his backup.
Once both teams had their shots a combined simulation was next. Each time it got increasingly harder and frustrated Ezra even more. The results were not good. The final test of the day, included Alliance ships added in for an extra challenge. One that was even harder than the rest of the simulations thus far.
Realizing they would be arriving soon to the nebula, Ezra suggested they call it for the day.
Ezra looked at the reports, sharing them with the ones that Charles had on their PADD and shook his head. These were not good. They would need to schedule more drills in the future. He just hopped the Captain would understand.
Zerva: ::grabs his PADD:: I’ll take these reports up to the bridge once I get my jab in sickbay. I just hope it’s not Othin ::shutters::
Charles: Response
Unfortunately for them both, it was indeed Othin who was waiting with a smile upon her face in sickbay.
TAGS/END
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Lieutenant (JG) Ezra Zerva
Security Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A240101EZ2