LtCmdr Sasch Kreshkova - Cold Calculations
Karen Morris
(( Simulated Bridge of the Thor in the Simulated Badlands, Holosuite 1, Deck 5, USS Thor ))
The odds were not in their favor. They hadn't been since they started this simulation. Three of what had been a full spread of torpedoes had turned to chase them like children playing tag on the playground. Meris was doing his best to dodge them, and fortunately for them, he was doing it handily.
Sasch sat at a console adjacent to the Captain's chair. While Meris piloted the Thor, she piloted a shuttle containing dangerous radioactive and other materials out of the shuttlebay, so that Promontory could grab it with the tractor beam. She had an idea. oO Brilliant if I do say so myself. Oo
Kreshkova: As soon as it’s out of zhe ship far enough to tractor it, Mr. Promontory, you’re in charge of keeping it vizh us.
Meris: With us?
Promontory: On it!
Promontory: Establishing tractor lock.
Meris: Captain, if I might suggest, we can use the shuttle to intercept these last three torpedoes.
Kreshkova: Da, but if you can, Meris, I’d like to do it as close to vone of zhe plasma ribbons as possible.
Promontory: Steady as you can keep her Mr. Meris, this is not as easy as it looks!
Meris: If we use the tractor beam to launch it into the path of the torpedoes and time it precisely, we may be able to both eliminate the radiological threat and the threat posed by the torpedoes.
Kreshkova: And if ve do it correctly, it should blind zheir sensors enough zhat if you can find a qvick vay zhrough zhe storm, ve might be able to sneak avay. Vhen we’re in range of vone of zhe plasma ribbons, Mr. Promontory, let her loose.
Sasch signed out of the console and crept over to the center of the bridge, her eyes never leaving the viewscreen. She stood with her weight on the balls of her feet, too keyed up to sit.
Promontory: Yes, ma’am, with pleasure!
Breath rushed into Sasch’s lungs, and she held it….watching….waiting.
Promontory: Severing link… now!
With timed precision, they let go of the Mjolnir which continued on its previous course as the Thor continued its curve away right toward the nearest plasma ribbon.
Trajectories, angles, speeds, vectors, everything had to be precise. But it wouldn’t be luck if they pulled this off, it would be teamwork and precision. She didn’t need a computer, her eyes did the math, the further along they went the more certain she was that this was going to work - not that it just had to - but that it was going to.
Kreshkova: ::under her breath:: Come on…take zhe bait.
Meris: Response
Promontory: It looks like you were right. The torpedoes are going for it!
Where last time her words were barley audible, this time, her single word rang clear, and she pumped her fist into the air.
Kreshkova: Yes!!
But the sun of realization dawned at that moment. Never, in her entire life, had she seen a Captain do something so … juvenile. She pressed her eyes closed for a two-count before walking composedly back to her seat, slipping silently into it.
Meris: Response
A chorus of pyrotechnics sang out as the torpedoes hit the shuttle. The fireworks display was one of rare magnificence and intensity - to the point that it apparently overloaded their own sensors.
Promontory: Brace; we’ve got incoming!
Kreshkova: Lieutenant, if you can use vhat is coming to cover a get-avay do.
The viewscreen flashed a dazzling white - not the soft white of a cotton shirt, but a white so brilliant that you had to shield your eyes.
(( Simulated Andorian Ice Plains, Holosuite 1, Deck 5, USS Thor ))
And when they could see again, the deck plates were gone beneath her boots, replaced by hard-packed ice. They were standing along the foot of a sheer ice cliff. The Andorian summer wind whipped them in the face with small shards of ice, leaving several small dots of blood on each of their faces.
The computer had been gracious enough to provide each of them with a furlined, hooded parka, snow pants, gloves, heavy boots, and a backpack, though no one knew what was in their packs.
Meris: Response
Sasch’s eyes blinked rapidly as the cold wind hit her like a physical blow, forcing her to turn her back to it. Even then, she felt her eyelashes grow heavy with a coat of ice, and her face felt as though her Aunt Natalia had just grabbed her cheeks between her thumb and forefinger.
Either the holodeck had glitched… or the test had just become much more interesting.
With a shake to her head, bringing herself back to their simulated reality, her eyes searched for the real Captain. Finding him, she yelled loudly to be heard over the screech of the wind.
Kreshkova: Vas zhis … supposed to happen?
Meris/Promontory: Response
Exaggerating her words in order to be understood, she nearly yelled the obvious.
Kreshkova: Zhat didn’t vork.
Meris/Promontory: Response
Once again, Sasch raised her voice.
Kreshkova: Okay… Vell, let’s not stand here exposed. Before ve try to figure out vhat happened, let’s see if ve can find a cave or cleft vhere ve can get out of zhe vind and hear each ozher better.
She gestured away from the direction from which the wind blew.
Even in Russia, it never got zhis cold.
Meris/Promontory: Response
Putting her head down, she trudged along. Her eyes alternated between blinking against the abnormally low temperatures and searching for some crevice. Spotting a dark grey shadow ahead, she gestured.
Kreshkova: I zhink I see somezhing up zhere a vays.
Meris/Promontory: Response
~*~
Tags/TBC
~*~
LtCmdr Sasch Kreshkova
Mission Specialist
USS Thor
O240103SK2
“She made broken look beautiful and strong look invincible. She walked with the universe on her shoulders and made it look like a pair of wings.”
- Ariana Dancu
