01-06-2014, 09:43 PM
USS Majesty
Bridge
1600 Hours
One of the strangest pieces of advice Will had received at Command School was that upon first taking the centre seat a line officer should spend a moment examining the captain's readout displayed on the arm of the command chair. This, aside from providing whatever information the officer needed to see, also gave the officer the chance to calm any nerves connected with the implications of sitting there.
Will had imagined this moment for some time; certainly many of his classmates displayed jitters even when they carried out simulations in the holodeck. He'd thought he wouldn't and, although he'd fared better than most, he was forced to concede he was wrong.
Now it was the real thing. Granted it wasn't the heat of battle, with the captain and executive officer hors de combat, but it was the first time he'd taken command of a vessel in his own right. And he was nervous.
He stared at the blank screen for several moments, pretending to absorb the information he pretended was there while he gathered his faculties and remembered what he'd been taught. Don't imagine being a department head will prepare you for starship command, he'd been told. Up until now, you've commanded men and women who are the same as you, identical in every way except for rank and experience. From now, you are commanding the entire crew in all its diversity.
Will looked up. Nobody was staring at him. Nobody was waiting to see what he'd do next.
If this was the security department, we'd all be in the holodeck on exercise right now, he thought, then smiled. He pulled up the command console again and tapped in his command code to programme in a simulation.
"Alright, people, let's have some fun," he announced, standing as a yellow alert signalled on the bridge. "We have a Ferengi trade ship in trouble in orbit around Oberon. Respond, people."
"Sir, course laid in to Oberon, but I've had to compensate for a gravitic anomoly between Miranda and Ariel," ch'Amok reported.
"Sensors indicate irregular plasma flux, sir," the young science officer called out from behind him.
"Sir, Ferengi vessels have manual overrides on flux capacitors," the engineering ensign beside her said. "They can shut it off from the bridge, if that's accessible."
"They're not responding to hails, sir," said the Ops officer. "But they can hear us. Unclear if they can respond."
"Suggest a security team beams over before anyone else, sir, in case it's a trap," the security ensign ventured.
"And don't forget," ch'Amok said, "if we see anything they deem confidential, they'll try and charge us for it. They might have triggered the accident themselves to make some easy latinum."
Will sat back in the centre seat and smiled as the crew dealt with the simulation. If he had to lead them for real, he knew he could depend on them.
TAG: All
Bridge
1600 Hours
One of the strangest pieces of advice Will had received at Command School was that upon first taking the centre seat a line officer should spend a moment examining the captain's readout displayed on the arm of the command chair. This, aside from providing whatever information the officer needed to see, also gave the officer the chance to calm any nerves connected with the implications of sitting there.
Will had imagined this moment for some time; certainly many of his classmates displayed jitters even when they carried out simulations in the holodeck. He'd thought he wouldn't and, although he'd fared better than most, he was forced to concede he was wrong.
Now it was the real thing. Granted it wasn't the heat of battle, with the captain and executive officer hors de combat, but it was the first time he'd taken command of a vessel in his own right. And he was nervous.
He stared at the blank screen for several moments, pretending to absorb the information he pretended was there while he gathered his faculties and remembered what he'd been taught. Don't imagine being a department head will prepare you for starship command, he'd been told. Up until now, you've commanded men and women who are the same as you, identical in every way except for rank and experience. From now, you are commanding the entire crew in all its diversity.
Will looked up. Nobody was staring at him. Nobody was waiting to see what he'd do next.
If this was the security department, we'd all be in the holodeck on exercise right now, he thought, then smiled. He pulled up the command console again and tapped in his command code to programme in a simulation.
"Alright, people, let's have some fun," he announced, standing as a yellow alert signalled on the bridge. "We have a Ferengi trade ship in trouble in orbit around Oberon. Respond, people."
"Sir, course laid in to Oberon, but I've had to compensate for a gravitic anomoly between Miranda and Ariel," ch'Amok reported.
"Sensors indicate irregular plasma flux, sir," the young science officer called out from behind him.
"Sir, Ferengi vessels have manual overrides on flux capacitors," the engineering ensign beside her said. "They can shut it off from the bridge, if that's accessible."
"They're not responding to hails, sir," said the Ops officer. "But they can hear us. Unclear if they can respond."
"Suggest a security team beams over before anyone else, sir, in case it's a trap," the security ensign ventured.
"And don't forget," ch'Amok said, "if we see anything they deem confidential, they'll try and charge us for it. They might have triggered the accident themselves to make some easy latinum."
Will sat back in the centre seat and smiled as the crew dealt with the simulation. If he had to lead them for real, he knew he could depend on them.
TAG: All