Tune

Posted on 06 Jan 2020 @ 11:29am by Lieutenant JG Charles McCullen

1,429 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Epilogue
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: January 3, 2390

Charles McCullen sat on the simulated bridge of a simulated USS Black Hawk, the room was empty and quiet aside from the usual background hum of systems and the constant gentle chimes of the computer doing it's thing. The helm console of a Century class vessel was the same as a Sovereign Class, he'd seen one during training, but he'd never tried one out. The 90-degree wrap around was an interesting design choice, giving him controls not only in front, but to his side as well. The actual helm controls were placed clearly on the front display and all the peripheral stuff, comms and database access and the like, had been moved to the side. He found that he liked the separation, it was easier to focus on the helm when there was less clutter.

Right now, he had the simulated Black Hawk trundling along at half impulse towards a simulated asteroid field, he'd spent the past hour reading the official training documentation for the Century Class and getting to know the console, controls and navigation systems, all building up to what would the 'exciting' part, throwing the ship around some and seeing just what she could do.

On paper, the Black Hawk and other ships of the class were supposed to be more responsive than older ships, due to the advanced systems and high level of automation built into her design, this would help offset her mass and size, markedly larger than a Sovereign Class - but he wasn't sure by how much. The fact was, one could read about the performance envelope of a starship all day long, but it was only by getting one's hands on the controls, simulated or not, and actually throwing it around that one could truly get to know it.

As the simulated ship approached the simulated asteroid field, Charlie made a series of changes to a list of values that he'd be working on throughout the entire process - thruster outputs for all the RCS thrusters, inertial dampener settings, deflector field geometry and strength, impulse engine outputs, balance and geometry, and helm control layout, response time and input variables. This was the tune, a process which would likely take most of the day. he was starting off with the Black Hawk's current settings, as gleaned from the computer, and he'd adjust each accordingly until he was satisfied with the helm performance. He wasn't only looking for percentage increases, but a tune that complimented his piloting style.

Tuning a ship was the first thing a pilot wanted to do, back when he'd been a shuttle pilot fresh out of the academy he'd gotten the chance to 'tune' a couple of shuttles, but this was his first opportunity to tune a whole actual starship and he was excited, and characteristically nervous about the process. Even if it was a simulation, the thrill of piloting a big starship was there, buoyed by the anticipation of doing the real thing very shortly, as he laid his hands on the controls and watched the asteroids close in, he couldn't help but grin.

Automatically, the computer shifted the ship's alert status to yellow as he pushed the speed up towards full impulse. It was a risky move, something he'd never do in normal circumstances but he was in a simulation and wanted to test the limits of the big ship's handling. Pushing it to failure was the best way to do that. He adjusted the RCS thruster output to the maximum theoretical limit, some 180% above normal and dismissed the warning message.

The first asteroid hove into view on the sensors, the computer beeping a warning at him as it detected the threat and he hit the port bow and starboard aft thruster at maximum, slewing the big ship around to the right and then sent maximum power to the port lateral thrusters at full output to arrest the ship's momentum. There was a judder and the holodeck's gravity generators produced the tug of inertia, warnings flashed up on his screen about structural integrity and inertial dampening but he ignored them. The next asteroid, six thousand meters off the starboard bow and moving laterally across his new course, he cut the laterals and jammed the dorsal thrusters to maximum, feeling the seat of his pants lift off the seat. He rolled the ship to port, letting the still burning dorsals slip the ship away.

She was surprisingly agile for a big ship, but capital ships were not meant to be flown in this manner and the warnings about structural integrity were getting more frantic, the alert status switched from yellow to red and he cut the dorsal thrusters, hit the bow ventrals and stood the ship on end, she was still moving though, but now at a near 90 degree angle of attack with the bow pointed fully Z+. Then it was full ventrals and he felt the crush of G force push him down, the simulated inertia dampening generators whined in protest as they struggled to keep up with the sudden change in direction and then there was a flash.

Charlie found himself sitting on a simulated chair in a blank holodeck, and the computer informed him that the ship had suffered a catastrophic inertia dampening generator failure which would have smushed the entire crew into lumps of flesh and broken bone. He grinned, limit found.

"Computer, reset the simulation." He instructed, waiting for the bridge to regenerate, "change the following variables..."

==

Seven hours and fifty three minutes later, with jelly legs, a sore back, a stupid smile and a workout sweat that a gym rat would be proud of, Charlie stepped out of the holodeck with a viable helm tune. He'd have, of course, to run it by operations and engineering, but he knew it was a good one. He'd found the limits of what the Black Hawk was capable of, both in structural strength, which was mighty impressive, and in maneuvering limitations, and then scaled back 20% from both, making sure he'd get the maximum out of the ship without putting her or her crew in any danger. He'd then spent an hour testing and compiling a report for those who needed to see it that included all the data from his tests, the failure points he'd found and the safety margins he'd built in.

What had impressed him the most is how similar the already in-use tune had been to the one he'd come up with, whoever had been helm officer before him had clearly known their stuff. He'd found a few edges here and there allowed by the refit, wear and tear on a ship that had been in space for a while usually necessitated in being more gentle with her and given the damage he'd seen when he came aboard, the Black Hawk had seen it's share of wear and tear.

"Computer, where's the nearest shuttle bay?" He inquired, getting the answer and then setting off in that direction. His stomach was demanding food and home was calling. A shower, dinner, a few glasses of wine and then he'd break the news to Darys that he was shipping out again, in short order. His smile faded a little at that thought, though he knew his fiance would understand and be accepting, they both had known that it was coming sooner or later, it would still be less than fun.

On cue, his comm badge chirped and he tapped it without thinking, "Oh lover mine, I'm not one to complain - but you left to talk with the captain nine hours ago, it's nearly twenty-hundred hours and I'm hungry. When are you coming home?" The voice he had just been thinking about spoke, sounding unusually petulant.

Charlie mused how much he'd lost track of time, a little taken aback by the realization that he'd been in the holodeck working for almost eight hours after meeting the captain. He felt slightly bad that he'd kept his partner waiting and hungry, but also felt a warm glow that he'd waited. The stupid smile came back on full power. "I'm, uh... on my way now, should be there in... computer, locate the nearest transporter room, please?... ten minutes, give or take." He replied, changing plans and deciding to depart the same way he'd come in, to save time. It seemed like the day for running late.

"I'm waiting, hurry up, Leoja out." And the comm cut out, Charlie started grinning.

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