Ensign Ysatch Tori - Smile

[Patrick Hogan]

((Showdown at the Asteroid Corral,  Outside the Temurian Outpost.))

Foster: Do what you need to do. Quickly.

Ysatch: mmmph!

Tori wiggled out of the safety harness and out the bridge door towards the fresher, slamming the lock button and getting to the sink just in time. He braced his hands on the sides and rested his head on the edge as the water clicked on automatically and began rinsing the sink clean. He could feel the vibration through his skull.

He had come so close to getting them all killed. That wasn't good enough. He needed to do better. He needed to do a lot better.

He splashed some water on his face to make sure it was fully clean and then grabbed a towel to dry it off. Tossing the towel in the recycler, he made eye contact with himself in the mirror.

Tori's reflection looked disturbed. Haunted. That was no good.

Ysatch: Smile.

Tori put his head down then looked back up. His reflection was smiling, but the smile looked strained. Like he had just stepped on something sharp and was trying to hide it. That was no good.

Ysatch: Smile.

Tori put his head down then looked back up. His reflection was smiling, but the smile was manic and over-the top. Performative. That was no good.

Ysatch: Smile!

Ensign Ysatch put his head down then looked back up. His reflection was smiling and the smile radiated warmth and confidence. A smile you could trust and rely on. He could work with that.

He unlocked the door and walked purposefully back to the bridge, catching the end of a conversation the Foster was having over the commlink with a woman Tori had never heard before. They must have hailed the Orions, or vice versa. He got back to his station and slipped back into the safety harness.

sh’Sonora: Feeling better, Ensign?

Ysatch: Much, thanks!

sh’Sonora: ::Out of lighthearted brevity.:: Blurk?

Smile!

Ysatch: ::smiling:: Gonna make that the title of my memoirs.

He saw Foster gesture for them to be quiet. The transmission was still ongoing, apparently

Foster: =/\= You could stand down, and keep your hull intact. =/\=

... or was it? Tori quickly pulled the straps on the harness tight.

Foster: Ready evasive maneuvers…

Ysatch: ::holds up a thumbs up to Mi'shune:: Ready when you are.

Nysari: =/\= Your offer is most gracious, Captain... :: she paused. :: however... I do believe I must decline... =/\=

The ship sprang back into motion as the lieutenant took the Orions on a chase. Tori looked back down at the sensor readings. The ship had appeared to be venting plasma before, but now that it was back in motion, there was no sign of it. They must have been pretending to be more damaged than they were.

Foster: =/\= And here I thought we were going to be friends. =/\=

Nysari: =/\= Foolish, Captain... to believe you could disable this ship so easily. That will be your end... =/\=

Foster: =/\= I had hoped, but not believed.  You made your bed, you and lay in it. =/\=.

Foster cut the communications line.

Foster: Mi’sh, get some space between us and those disruptors. Tori, do you still have connection to the probes?

sh’Sonora: Aye Sir! They keep shooting like this. I can dance all night. The problem is they’re not gonna keep shooting like this.

Ysatch: Probes all still standing by.

Foster: Good, we’re gonna need them.  That disruptor trick won’t work twice.  Mi’sh keep that ship away from us for as long as you can. Tori – see if you can use the probe to activate those mines.

Ysatch: Activate the mines? On purpose?

sh’Sonora: Just like Wing Chun, Sir. Be like water!

Despite Mi'shune's best efforts, they were suddenly rocked by a disruptor bolt.

sh’Sonora: Spoke too soon! Shields down, 30 percent!

Don't question the order, just do it. And smile.

Ysatch: Aye sir, plotting probe trajectories now.

Foster: If you can get those mines moving all the better.  Let’s bring another hazard into play.

He drew up the controls for the probe they had been planning to test the mines with early and just drew a straight line flight path right across the thickest part of the danger donut. Its impulse engines flared shortly afterwards, five red dots began to peel off after it as the mines locked on in pursuit.

And in order to do that, they had to leave the sensor blind spots that had been hiding them so well. Meaning the Maxthrust's sensors could finally get a good look at them.

sh’Sonora: I hope you’re as brilliant at cracking military grade ordinance encryption as I am at flying this tub, Ensign! Let’s gather some mines!

Ysatch: We're just starting to get acquainted.

It took seconds for the ship's computer to get a profile match. They were a Tzenkethi design. Normally Tori would find it very odd for technology from a famously isolationist polity to show up so far from home. But there seemed to be tech from a lot of unexpected places showing up in the Drakos Cluster.

sh’Sonora: Please say we can flip the IFF on those mines, ‘cause I don’t know how long I can keep this up!

Ysatch: I'm not sure I can do that. The mines are Tzenkethi-made and they have beef with everyone. The Foe list is very long and the Friend list is very short.

Activating that first string of mines, which were still in pursuit after the probe, had given him a lot of valuable information. He now knew the exact range at which the mines activated and their top speed. They were fast and steadily gaining on the probe, but not so fast as to catch it right away. In fact the first mine was just closing the distance now. It smashed into the probe in a small explosion, which now also gave Tori their yield -- about a photon torpedo, give or take.

But then something very interesting happened.

The remaining four mines broke off pursuit. They must be programmed not to pile on a target that had been destroyed. Certainly was efficient if you didn't want to use up too many mines. The interesting part was the way they broke off; coming to a stop, maneuvering around 180 degrees and reversing course along their prior trajectory to their starting position.

This immediately put two of the mines in danger of colliding with each other. They came really close, but then stopped, found new trajectories, and took off again. But this put one of them on a collision course with a different mine. Tori watched the negotiation happen a second time as the mines stopped, found new courses and fired up their engines once more.

Ysatch: ::shouting in realization:: They're not networked! They can see each other, but they can't talk to each other. One mine doesn't know what any other mine is gonna do! They're just relying on sensors and collision detection to avoid setting each other off!

Foster/sh'Sonora: ?

He was already writing out an algorithm for the probes to implement the idea he had.

Ysatch: We now know their collision subroutine logic. We have multiple remaining probes and our probes CAN talk to each other, and to us. This means we can set up a bait-and-switch protocol on the probes that leads the mines into collisions with each other. And since we know how they'll seek to avoid a collision, we can basically manipulate them to go anywhere we want.

Foster/sh'Sonora: ?

Ysatch: The mines probably do have the Orion ship on their collision list to avoid. It would be pretty dumb if they didn't. But the Orion ship isn't being piloted autonomously. If we flood the space around them with their own mines, it's gonna become very tough for them to maneuver. They might even blunder into a hit or two.

He completed the algorithm. The probes were now networked and set with the information about the mines' speed and collision protocols. They'd fly in a pattern to lead the danger donut anywhere he wanted. And as long as the probes kept moving and following the algorithm, the mines would never catch them.  

He looked back at Foster. He was smiling.

Ysatch: Where do you want the mines?

Foster/sh'Sonora: ?

~*~
tags/tbc
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Ensign Ysatch Tori
Com/Ops Officer
StarBase 118 Ops
O240303TY1