We All Live in a Holo-Submarine

Posted on Mon Dec 12th, 2011 @ 1:33am by Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd

592 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Unmasked Miners
Location: USS Ranger, Deck 5, Holodeck 2
Timeline: 30 minutes after Reconvene, Part 3

"So that's where we stand," said Shepherd, bringing his briefing into its conclusion. "Commander Michaels is going to work with Science to see if the sensors can be tuned to cut the warp field interference, but if that can't be done, we'll be searching for the cause up close and personal. That means Ranger could be going for a swim. Anybody ever do undersea duty?"

The response was stunned silence. Abrahamson looked wide-eyed at LaFontaine, who looked nonchalantly in turn at Rajeev, who glanced back and over to Fletcher, who brought up two fingers to rub his forehead. Acklin blew out a long breath, and Sternbach seemed startled by the sound, shooting the smaller brig officer a momentary glare. MCPO S'teis arched an eyebrow, but was otherwise inscrutable.

"Um," Acklin ventured, "what?"

Shepherd shook his head in mock disappointment. "You're killing me, people. Killing me. Fortunately, we've got a day to cover some basics. So I've asked Lieutenant Telana here to come up from Engineering," he indicated the Orion standing off to one side, "to give us the fundamentals and help us run some simulations and drills related to water operations. We'll start with tactical exercises, and move from there to emergency drill and damage control modifications. Each of you will be responsible for disseminating this information to your enlisted sections. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," came the unified response.

"Good," Shepherd nodded. "Telana?"

Telana smiled her typical almost achingly perfect smile at the gathered Security officers. "Hello to you all. The single biggest thing we're going to need to remember traveling underwater is fundamental thermodynamics. We're going to be traveling through a medium far denser than atmosphere, much less open space, and we're going to have to adjust speeds and reactions accordingly. We're talking cutting speeds down to thruster levels."

"That's really damn slow," offered LaFontaine.

"True," agreed Telana, "but even at one thousandth impulse power, we're still talking about speeds that'll create compression friction sufficient to start vaporizing the water around us, even if you don't consider the effects of our plasma trail. So it's going to be slow going. And wait 'til you see what happens to our weapons systems. Computer," she changed the subject of her voice to the open room, "run program Undersea Basics Tactical."

The layout of the room shimmered, and a dozen control stations appeared in a ring, facing in on a central raised platform. Each station contained a full tactical display, winking LCARS layouts and all.

"Everybody take a station," said Shepherd, moving to one himself. The group moved more or less in unison to an assortment of stations, while Telana stepped up onto the center platform and keyed on several screens of her own. Limned in blue from her own angled displays, the green of her skin took on an eerie tone, almost as if she were a sort of mermaid queen regarding her subjects.

"Okay," Telana said after cueing up her material, "we'll start with the basics. Your stations are set to reflect underwater conditions. You'll be able to see telemetries and effects on your targeting and how water will mess with what you do. Three things to remember: first, Engineering will be modulating the phasers to work decently through water, but at reduced range. Second, torpedoes are going to show performance radically different from what you're used to. Third, shield modulation is going to make your head hurt. Everybody bring up exercise 1."

A series of beeps and chirps from the different LCARS panels sounded, as the Security officers got to business.

 

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