The Exeter was now 3 Days into its first Summer Training Cruise of the season. This particular cadet cruise had 3 main training regimes in progress during the course of its planned 2 week cruise; Leadership/bridge officer training for 3rd and 4th year cadets, specialty and basic shipboard operations for 2nd and 3rd year specialist cadets, and flight training for aspiring cadet pilots of the 4 Sparrow class trainers, and 2 type 8 shuttles they had embarked in the shuttlebay. This particular cruise had the typical cadet crew compliment for a training mission minus about half the enlisted trainees so they would have room for the additional personnel of the flight group, the ship was by no means cramped  due to the additional automation the ship had been upgraded with qver the years as a training vessel.

This voyage had been routine so far, the 16 cadet pilots, 6 pilot instructors and 24 members of the flight operations team(4 trainees and one enlisted maintenance chief for each sparrow) had been busy running flight ops daily since they had left SBB. The rest of the cadet crew and the Instructors, Observers, and Graders were busy going about their business attending to their duties.

Traan, having been recently been granted a reprieve by Lt JG McDoofus, was seated behind the main ops console on the bridge of the Exeter. He had been assigned as an Operations Safety Observer for the cadet cruise, as some crew of SBB often were asked to supplement the training Staff aboard Exeter in certain positions , and to serve as Observers and Graders. He was one of the 20 training staff board, along with 2 other chiefs, 8 commissioned officer from SBB and 9 Academy Instructors.

For the past 4 days Traan had been sharing the duties of Ops Observer with another officer from SBB. They would each performed 8 hour shift on the the bridge and then perform a 2 hour ‘dog watch’ each during the Cappa shift overnight. It certainly wasn’t the most exiting work in the fleet, but it sure beat crawling through jefferies tubes and fixing water sprinklers in the the Arboretum.

Though the abundance of cadets he had encountered back on SBB had had him a bit annoyed during his first few days aboard, the past several days on the Exeter had seen that stance soften. Many of the cadets who had been manning the ops station during this cruise were 2nd and 3rd year cadets were eager, and professional enough. He enjoyed how each of them diligently addressed him as ‘Chief’ ever since the first day when one unlucky second had made the mistake of responding to his correction with an ‘Aye Aye sir’ and the Cadet XO had nearly ripped a strip off of the poor kid. ‘She won’t make that mistake again’, Traan recalled thinking to himself at the time.

Traan: *sends a text message to the middle aged Vulcan LCdr seated in the Captains chair a mere 4 feet to his right, so as to not embarass the Cadet seated at the Ops station in front of them. It read ‘corrected 4 mistakes in the past hour, and dealt with 3 Ops requests from around the ship that she left unacknowledged on her console. If this pattern continues for much longer, I may have to log a safety report about her, Sir.’ *

((Exeter, Shuttlebay))

In the Exeter’s shuttle bay, the cadets have gathered for a briefing with Training Instructor, Anacee Mezze, who sits them all down and goes through the day’s exercises. “today, we’ll be focusing on the fighter craft and some fighter manoeuvres. You will have had some experience with the Sparrow-class fighter, it is small and nimble, and perfect for today’s training class.”

The cadets all look around with some excitement, as most had only been in the flight simulator, and little-to-no actual flight time. Cadet’s Thomas Hunter and Sally Tang, were two of the better pilots, but they had practically lived around shuttles – now was their first chance to get a hold of a fighter – suffice to say Sally was very excited to test the Sparrow’s upper limits.

“… we will be starting in groups of two on a simple patrol assignment. You have all done this in the simulator, but I will be on the comms in the shuttle control centre to guide you – let’s start with Hunter and Tang first. You can show everyone else how it’s done. Everyone: dismissed, to get your gear together and assemble in the shuttle bay in five minutes. 

The cadets all check their equipment and flight plans – and double-check their procedures, just in case. Hunter and Tang and the rest of the flight school cadets meet in the shuttle bay, for a quick practical review. “Before any of you are boarding your Sparrow’s, what is the first thing that you should do, when you get to the bay?” The cadets all take a second to think – Thomas raises his hand, with a slightly hesitant look on his face, “Chief, the first thing I would do is check the maintenance log to see when the craft was last checked, and who by. If it was less than a week, read the report, anything more than a week, I’d either ask for a new shuttle or run a level 3 diagnostic and then schedule a check with the shuttle chief.”

Chief Mezze was actually impressed. Most students would usually just board the shuttle and begin their pre-flight checks, “While it is not your direct responsibility to make sure that your auxiliary craft have gone through maintenance checks, it is very much within your purview and a responsible thing to do – this fighter will be your protection from the outside universe, so make sure it is working properly and doesn’t have a giant hole in it.”

Thomas has a little smugness to him, but nothing that would suggest an arrogance, he was just a little pleased with himself. 

“The reports have been sent to your PADD’s for you to look at. Once you have boarded your fighter, you will familiarise yourself with the controls, then begin your checks with a level 1 diagnostic and confirm your flight path with the shuttle control centre.”

Cadets Hunter and Tang board their Sparrows and run their diagnostics, “Mic check, one-two” that’s one way to check the comms are working, Sally responds “I read you, Hunter, do I have confirmation with shuttle control?”

A familiar voice comes over the comms. It is the third member of their little team, Cadet Victor Murphy, who was assigned to mechanical and flight control duties. “This is Cadet Murphy, I will be your man-in-the-chair for this ride, I am seeing greens across the board, your flight plan is confirmed, just need confirmation from upstairs.”

Victor sends a message to the bridge, requesting permission to launch and begin the cadet training mission, “erm… Chief… the bridge isn’t responding to my request, what do I do?”

The Chief drops their gruff procedural tone, switching from an instructor, to a teacher, “In the real world, there could be several problems and several solutions, so lets try some out – is there a problem with the comms… are the bridge crew alive… or is your OPS cadet too busy being excited to be on the bridge of a starship that they’ve missed your messages?”

Victor tries again with the request, but there is still no answer, so he runs a level one comms diagnostic, and uses the internal sensors to check on the bridge’s life signs, “Chief, I can confirm my comms are fine and we have [a number of] life-signs on the bridge”

Mezze gives a little chuckle at the diligence of the cadet, though is very unimpressed by the lack of response from the bridge, so quietly sends a message to one of the instructors, telling him to check his cadet’s panel.

((Back on the bridge))

Traan: *Noted the cadet who was currently manning the Ops console had neglected to confirm the launch request from the pair of Sparrows that were waiting to begin their training patrol in the shuttlebay. And as he began to speak, he noted a message flash onto his screen from Chief Mezze in the shuttlebay which read ‘please check your cadets panel and confirm that the launch request from us has been recieved’. * Ahem, the shuttlebays request for launch clearances has not been acknowledged or or approved yet Cadet.

Ops CadetNPC: Yes chief. Acknowledging request now. *Begins to address the ships CO now.* Captain, shuttlebay requesting launch clearances for 2 Sparrows, I am granting the request now sir.

Traan: *He glanced to the right and raised an eyebrow when he noticed LCdr Aloran was taking a direct interest in the situation, given the text message had Traan previous sent him.*

Aloran’s eyes briefly flicked from the cadet at operations and back down at the screen on his chair, glancing at the earlier message from Chief Traan. His brow furrowed not in frustration, but in consideration. He glanced up, watching the young cadet at the operations console struggling to stay ahead of her tasks, fingers flitting from one control to another with an urgency that betrayed her nerves.

Without a comment, Aloran stood and moved to stand quietly behind her. His presence, unobtrusive but undeniably felt, caused the cadet’s posture to straighten involuntarily. She risked a glance back.

“Cadet,” Aloran said, voice calm and almost soothing, “When was your last break?”

“Two hours ago, sir,” she replied quickly.

Aloran gave a small nod, “You are aware of the standard cognitive fatigue guidelines for operations personnel?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You are approaching the limits of optimal performance. I will take over. Step aside, please”

The cadet hesitated, clearly embarrassed, but obeyed.

As she relinquished the station, Aloran took her place and with methodical precision cleared the backlog of unacknowledged requests.

Without looking up from the console, in an effort to make the interaction less pointed, Aloran motioned to the cadet, “Being able to operate a starship is the first step, knowing how one’s mind and body are impacting that ability is another step”, he looked up kindly at the cadet, “there is an expectation – especially outside of emergencies – that bridge officers will self-regulate, requesting relief from their peers as a normal pattern of duty. The only mistake is in seeing these requests as anything other than professional conduct”

Only then did Aloran glance toward Traan, with just the barest hint of amusement playing at the corners of his mouth, “Chief Traan is here for your safety, cadet, and yet he is also a member of this crew. There is no shame in asking for help”

Aloran stood and returned to the captain’s chair.

Traan cocked his head and gave a curt nod toward Aloran. “You took the words right out of my mouth sir. This is the main reason we have relief watchstanders for all primary bridge stations Cadet. Asking for relief is never a sign of weakness.

The bridge hummed along with nearly incessant activities of cadets, instructors and Observers going about their duties and tasking. For nearly an hour, the cadet infront of Traan had more competently been performing her duties, then he noticed for the past 20 seconds, the cadet had not performed any actions on her console, save for calibration and refocusing of the sensors. “Is there a problem Cadet?” He said as he pulled up the sensor controls on his console and immediately saw what had captured her attention.

“Possible contact on long range range sensors sir. I think it is travelling towards the heart of the system. Chief.” The young cadet said.

Traan furrowed his brow. The sensors on the Exeter were not as antequeated as the ship itself, but they were also not state of the art. There certain was a object out there on sensors. “Tactical, can you confirm what we are seeing on our sensor. Bearings 159, 189 mark 4. Its small, and moving at sub warp velocity on our screens. The Chief knew that the Exeters Targetting sensors had a much better resolution then the long range passive sensors operated by the ops station.

Tactical NPC:  Confirmed, chief, I have the target on my scopes Commander Aloran.

Aloran: Onscreen Cadet.

The view of a standard Danube class Runabout with a sensor mission pod attached to the top of it appeared. The ship appeared to be travelling on a ballistic trajectory as it attitude oriention did not match its course, and its nose was facing far down and the left of the direction is was heading. It also appeared to be unpowered.

Or was it? Traan spoke with a calm but urgent tone. He had been fiddling with the long range sensors and had picked up a feint energy signature coming from the runabout “Cadet transfer control to my station please. Sir, the ship is maintaining life support at minimal levels, this could be one of vessels effected by the Blackout, our training Sparrows are closer then us currently. I reccomend we divert them to investigate. That runabout appears to be in distress in my opinion sir.”

((Shuttlebay))

In the shuttle control centre, Cadet Murphy finally receives a reply from the bridge, “Chief, I have confirmation, we are good to go from the Captain – we’re back in character, guys!” Victor presses a few buttons on the console in front of him and explains what each of them meant, “Activating force-field and opening shuttle bay doors, you should be able to see space out there”

“Can confirm, flight coordinator, I do indeed see space” – Hunter chimes in as he is just finishing up his checks, “Activating mag-repulsors, but I’ll let the lady go first.”

Cadet Tang’s Sparrow fighter steadily lifts from the ground and balances itself out, before slowly increasing speed and leaving the shuttle bay, “Exeter, this is Sparrow 1, I am free of the ship and flying under my own power – beginning my flight test now.”

Sally and Thomas rock their fighters in order to test the pitch, yaw and roll, then their navigational sensors, in order to check their relative orientation. “Sparrow 2, here – our checks are complete and we are ready to fly. Setting the first nav-point now and then plotting a course to approach.”

The Sparrows turn and proceed to follow their flight path to an area along the edge of the Mellstoxx System, where they begin sensor sweeps and environmental scans of the area, but don’t detect anything out of the normal range.

Onboard the Exeter, Victor confirms, the telemetry and sends the Sparrows the next nav-point, where they discover some training rings, “Sparrows, this is Exeter, for your next test, you will be flying through the holo-rings and seeing how well you can manoeuvre at speeds – just to let you know, whoever wins gets a lovely bottle of synthale from the Captain.”

The sparrows go full thrust, as Sally and Hunter twist and turn their fighters through the rings, Hunter having some trouble keeping up with Sally’s superior piloting skills, – at one point he could even swear that she drifted the fighter through a few of the rings, just to show off – – she in fact very much did that.

Sally makes it through all the rings and then bursts the ship at full speed through the finish line, with Thomas crossing a few seconds later, “You’re good, Hunter, real good, but as long as I’m around, you’ll always be second best.”

Hunter takes a moment to get his bearings and the two sparrows make their way to the third nav-point, Hunter reads the co-ordinates and is somewhat confused – “Exeter, this is Sparrow 2, this new nav-beacon takes us mighty close to Mellstoxx VI, is that correct?”

Victor looks up the mission briefing and double-checks the co-ordinates of the navigational beacon, “Confirm, Sparrow 2, your next objective is going to be a weapons test inside the planet’s rings, so get your targeting sensors calibrated and let’s go shoot some very big and or tiny rocks.”

The two Sparrows head for the planet at full impulse and set their deflectors to maximum. The voice of Chief Meeze comes over the comms, “for the vast majority of your flight activities, you can just contact your coordinator, but if you are using weapons, then you must contact an officer for permission, unless you are under fire, then you may defend yourself”

Sally and Thomas activate their targeting sensors and begin charging their phaser banks, “Sparrow 1 and 2 acknowledge, Chief – requesting permission to open fire on the enemy asteroids”

The Chief, having kept track of the mission and watched over the proceedings jumps back onto the comms,

“Sparrows, this is Meeze – in this exercise, you will be seeing how many asteroids you can destroy in ninety seconds. You will be phasers only

“Sparrows, this is Meeze – in this exercise, your targeting sensors have been programmed to show the asteroids as randomised friendly and enemy craft. It will be up to you to fire on, and destroy the enemy asteroids and cycle past the friendly ones – you will have ninety seconds to kill or save as many targets as possible, just remember that this is about accuracy, as much as it is about timing, so good luck to you both. You are now weapons free.”

Cadet Tang begins flying around, targeting, firing and cycling through targets – Cadet Hunter, on the other hand, told the fighter’s computer to fire on the enemy targets automatically, allowing him to win the challenge.

With the ninety seconds up, the two Sparrows power down their weapons and level out nose-to-nose, when Thomas’ sensor alarm begins blaring, “Exeter, this is Sparrow 2. I have a sensor alarm, is this part of the exercise?”

Bewildered, Chief Mezze pulls up the Sparrow fighter’s sensor logs to try and get a glimpse of the unknown sensor ping, “Sparrow 2, this is not part of the exercise – repeat not a part of the exercise. I will patch us in with the bridge, but I need you to try and get a visual on whatever you’ve found, but do not engage!”

The Sparrows move carefully through the asteroid ring, trying to locate the unidentified object. until finally they spot something, a Romulan Bird of Prey, heavily damaged and under low power, drifting amongst the debris.

Then just as quickly as they had spotted it, the Bird of Prey disappeared behind an asteroid and also disappeared from the sensors on both of the Sparrows.

((Bridge, USS Exeter))

Traan spoke to Aloran again, as the bridge was fully alive and everyone was moving with a purpose now. “So now we have a Romulan Bird of Prey spotted by the Sparrows, and a Runabout approaching the edge of the system. I reccomend launching our own Runabout to investigate the one approaching the system sir. A Romulan Bird of Prey, announced in the heart of the headquarters of the 4th fleet should take priority, sir.”

TBC