Training Fun

Posted on 09 Apr 2020 @ 3:54pm by Lieutenant Commander Gemma Alexander & Commander Terry Walsh & Ensign Aurilia Moretti

1,251 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Sentience
Location: Flight Deck
Timeline: MD 2 0800

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Gemma almost wished they still used paper, mostly so she could ball it up and throw it at the ceiling, maybe score points in a trash basket. She sat in the CAG's office in the small admin wing of the Squadron, still empty as she'd not yet bothered to make it suitable yet mostly because it seemed she spent all her time in meetings or trainings. Though the all important tea set did sit in one corner, however. A girl had to have priorities, which right now seemed to include a rather huge variety of paperwork.

And why did they call it paperwork still? She looked at the pile of PADDs unwilling to throw the complicated pieces of equipment against the wall just for a change of pace. At least the planning the trainings had been fun, she'd discovered a mischievous streak when it came to plotting trainings. Though she never lost sight of why they were doing all this so she shouldered through the meetings and trainings hoping it would pay off in future. Just as she picked up another PADD to complete another piece of routine, her alarm chime went off warning her of the upcoming pilot briefing for the next bunch of training missions.

"No rest for the wicked." She muttered good naturedly then picked up a PADD and a cup of semi warm tea, heading out. Fortunately she was the first to arrive, how embarrassing to late to ones own meeting after all. She leaned against the table at the front of the room, sipping tea as she reviewed her PADD one more time.

Aurilia came in at the appointed time and gave a nod to Gemma. "Congrats, Archer," she said with a smile. She looked tired, but she had dedicated herself to helping Lucas and nothing would force her to choose between Flight and the man she loved.

Archer smiled, "Thanks, wish I could delegate the paperwork to a wingman." She joked, putting down the half drunk tea on the table as a few more pilots wandered in. There was a bit until the briefing start and she walked over closer to Tango so she could communicate at a quieter level, "You 5 by?" She asked. Pilot speak for, 'are you ok?' as she'd caught the tired look.

"Yeah," Aurilia said with a nod. "Just been busy."

Always one to make an entrance, Dhred stepped into the room and pressed his hands up in the air. "Lovecraft is in the house!"

"That explains the smell" called Galahad good naturedly.

Lovecraft twisted his face in a grinning smirk. "That is not dead which can eternal lie," he intoned, "and with strange aeons even death may die.” Waving a hand in front of his face, he scrunched his nose, "Death always smells terrible, but imagine if it died! Whewee!"

Aurilia looked at the apparently insane Andorian and shook her head, then looked back to Archer to see what the briefing would be.

Gemma shook her head, "Alright you lot take your seats." She said as more pilots arrived. It looked like everyone, "Settle in, grab drinks if you're going to. It's story time." She waited a few more moments as pilots still making the occasional smart alec comment finished fidgeting and settled into their seats. This was an all hands briefing and even pilots not normally on duty were there.

Aurilia took her seat and PADD and waited to see what the new CAG had to put on the table.


She leaned against the table calling up a hologram of the basic plan they were permitted to know for the first scenario.

"As you know we've been getting used to all this new fancy equipment and personnel but since we've not managed to break anything too badly yet the brass have worked out some challenges." She was one of the brass now she supposed, "In this first one we'll giving Tactical some targets to practice on while hopefully giving the simulated damage control teams fits. I want less target and more DC fits, I know it's just training but full burn effort always. We're not going to benefit anyone if we pull punches." She looked around making sure they knew she was serious before moving on, "Here's what we know..." She said as she began her first full briefing.

Calling up on the holographic imagery, She gave the essential points tapping a few keys so each pilot could see the plan on their briefing console. "This first scenario one is a Wave style, using all 21 fighters. We'll be hitting them with six fighters at a time, in two packs of three with each group of 6 going for two runs. Any questions or comments?" She paused, giving them a few moments to review the data.

"Who is going to start the assault?" Aurilia asked.

Gemma glanced at Aurilia, "Good question. You will command one set of three and I will go for the other in the first wave. Lovecraft and Galahad will command wave two with their respective wingmen..." She tapped a key and another image appeared in a smaller screen on their consoles listing the assignments as she went over them.

"Understood," Aurilia said with a nod.

Dhred gave a silent nod and waited for Gemma to continue.

Seeing no more at the moment she moved on. "As you can see we'll have three main staging areas. The Wavers, on deck, and in the wings." Active runners, ready to run, and back of the line. "Starting here." She tapped the screen. "Alternate locations in the training zone after the initial run will be up to the pilots depending on operational realities." A nice way of saying, 'once the other guy screws up our plans'.

"It's well known that a plan only lasts until first contact with the enemy," Aurilia said.

Gemma leaned against the table and crossed her arms with a smile, "Just so. That's why we're going to start off with a basic, modable plan. There will be a Flight Boss in the Flight Command Center who will be helping crews adjust as needed." The new Command Center was amazing with its bells and whistles. Gemma looked forward to making use of it. "That being those who are on the run, focus on the attack everyone else is on defense. The rest is situational dressing. Any final questions for this training mission?" She asked

Not having any she finished the briefing going into more optional plan details then went into housekeeping details, ending with. "And also included in your PADDs is information about the new computer interface you may see the senior staff using from time to time. Please note it will change form depending on the user, is not a standard hologram but merely a computer interface. It's use will be restricted so you shouldn't have to worry about it but if you have any questions or concerns you can always come to me." She paused again for questions.

"New computer interface?" Dhred asked. "Sounds spoopy."

"Spoopy?" It took Gemma a moment to remember the use of the word, "Right, it'll be different but certainly no weirder than holographic crew and that's been around a long while. They won't have additional programming either so purely an optional interface I'm told. Anything you should need to know will be on your PADDs but feel free to come to me if you have any questions later." She grinned, "Time to be about it." She said, "Dismissed."

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