From bullseye@earthlink.net Sun Jun 7 11:13:10 1998 Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 23:18:10 -0700 From: Patrick Schumacher To: "Berg, Kristine" , "Chappelle, Les" , "Denniston, Vicke" , "Fianges, Karen" , Gateway , "Hamilton, George" , "Hill, Janis" , "Jenkins, Jeffrey J." , "Littleton, Jimmy" , "Reich, Alton 1" , "Reich, Alton 2" , "Schumacher, Patrick J." , "Thompson, Alexs" , "Trock, Jeffrey" , "Young, Josh" Subject: USS YAMATO: "Will You Join in Our Crusade?" FMD: 1.1824 SD: 100309.2313 Scene: Holodeck 2 Morgan had finished part one of the Exam about three minutes ago, and was just starting to shut down the program. He was still taking a moment to study the results on the display, showing his near-flawless marks. His admiration was interrupted by a chime at the Holodeck door. "Come." Wolfe called. The doors opened and Alex Connor strode in. He looked like a man with a purpose. He also looked like a man with about five hundred different things on his mind. "Commander." Morgan greeted, a bit surprised to see the XO so quickly. "Lieutenant." Alex greeted. He was distracted for a moment at the display screen, before a wry grin filled his face at Morgan's score. "Beat me by twenty-nine points." Alex said warmly. "Thank you, sir." Morgan smiled proudly. "But I'm a bit confused, Commander. COB had said that I should contact you when I had completed part one...or is that supposed to be a condition of part 2, that it should be unexpected?" "Hmm? Oh, no. No, not at all." Connor was momentarily thrown before realizing what Morgan was implying. "I'm not here to spring the test on you just yet. But I was already on Deck 9, and figured I'd give these two you to save us all some time." Alex reached out and offered a PADD in Wolfe's direction." "Part two is ready for you to load, but I've provided you with some practice scenarios first. Although time *is* of the essance for us all right now, I suggest that you try some of the samples first. I've programed in twenty different sessions as "samples," you can run through them at random--as many or as few as you like--before you begin part Two. I think I've included a pretty wide range of practice sessions: A borg cube, several dozen Romulan warbirds, a sudden power failure, sick crew members, security alrets, a lost pet gnarith sed, touchy diplomats, even a particular boring two hour session where abolutely nothing happens." Morgan had been scrolling through the listed menu. Each was rather generically labled as Practice 1 thru 20. Even the size of the files was identical, so there was not clean way to judge the programs' content from the outside. At the mention of the "nothing" scenario, he cracked a small grin. It disn't sound like the rest of the programs would be very boring. "With a little help from our Mr. Kierian, these programs should turn the holodeck into a pretty accurate simulator of the YAMATO bridge and crew. You may also find new, unknown crew members, or difrent characters that may or may not be part of the scenario. The programs are interactive, so your decisions early in the scenario can play an impact on later events. "Again, you can try them all, or even just a few. The PADD also contains the actual test scenario, programmed in and ready to run. When you feel that you are up for it, go ahead and load it." Alex looked at the Chief Engineer. "Any questions?" (Non-RPG: Les?) "Best of luck to you, Morgan." Connor said, backing away to leave. "I'm due in the Ready Room to update the Captain." Then, Alex stopped. "I'm sure you'll do your best, lieutenant, and I won't add any pressure on you implying that you *must* pass right now. But remember, regardless of the outcome of the test, in the absence of the Captain and I, you *are* the bridge, and it will *not* be a *test*. And given our situation right now, we need to prepare for that possibility." Morgan looked at him, then asked. "I thought you said you weren't going to add any pressure, Commander?" Alex thought about it a moment, cocking his head. "Yeah, I did. Looks like I lied." he replied with a sarcastic note. Connor straightened his head. "Just do your best. Don't expect perfuection. We all make mistakes, just recognize them and learn from them. I'd rather have you tank a few in the holodeck, then start experimenting in a real bridge scenario." Finally, Connor turned and left. FMD: 1.1901 Scene: Ready Room. Connor walked into the ready room with an armload of PADDS. Issac looked up from his coffee to see him enter. Alex walked over to the desk and dropped/set the datapadds down to join the already heaping pile growin on the desktop. A few PADDS slid off and fell to the floor. "Something to drink?" Stern asked, his eyes had gone down to the PADD in his hand again, and they did not lift up. His hand made a brief gesture towards the replicator. "Thanks." ALex replied, stretching over, keeping one hand in the area in case another wayward PADD started to slip and brought the rest of the pile crashing down with it. The replicator hummed and beeped, and Alex returned to his seat a moment later with a cold glass of orange juice. "Weapons specs, tactical analysis--mostly speculated, strategic analysis, copies of the LEXINGTON's sensor logs, latest Fleet updates, ship movements and much, much more." Alex stated evenly. "Where do you want to begin?" Issac paused and set down the PADD he'd been reading. He looked at Alex evenly. "Bottom line it for me XO. What do you see?" He held the cup of coffee in both hands, elbows on his desk, sitting up in his chair. Connor set his glass onthe only free corner of desk remaining. He leaned back in his chair and started to speak, closing his eyes and rubbing them with the palms of his hands as he went. "Our opponent is big, strong, fast, and is a serious tactical threat. They are similar in technology, though most specifics, hows and whys, are completel unknowns. They range from mildly to wildly superior to us in technology. They're hot-blooded and trigger happy right now, and we're in a remote sector of space with no immediate back-up when we run into one of them." "When?" Stern asked. Alex leaned forward. "Foregone conclusion at this point, boss. It's only a matter of time as to when and then how they'll play it." Stern showed no adverse reaction of any sort. That had been his answer too. So many unknowns right now. So many questions. Issac took another sip of his drink, picked up the padd, and handed it to his Executive Officer. "Let's start with this one." Respectfully Submitted Pat Schumacher-aka Alexander Bonn Connor First officer USS Yamato Alton: Wasn't sure if you want to play out more of Stern/Connor in the informal session. They can either trade ideas, info, or settle issues in RP for the senior staff briefing. And did you want an "intermietate" ship briefing? (Short anouncment about the LEX & where the YAMATO is goingin and why? Yes? No? Skip it until the staff meeting?) Les: I didn't want to start you up with a training scenario in RP, just in case you decide to get straight into it. The part 2 scenario will be a sim bridge session you can RPG out. (You may want to start it in your next post, then I'll throw your "problem" at you. But give me a day or two. I haven't agreed on one with Alton yet. ) Josh: Two real good posts. (Shows how long it's been since I've written, huh?) I'm a bit unsure about your last Mission date, but I'll stick with it. I'm going to call our arrival time in sector 237 at FMD 2:0438. Which is a bit late for a supposed seven hour travel time, but accorning to the powers that be, no big whoop one way or the other. All: Remember that we get to basically poke around in the system and find not a lot of *anything* for the next two days in mission time. (We may find some wreckage, or some residue, but not likely any ships. If there are ships, the odds are high they *won't* be Dalriadan. FMD 5 will bring some changes and will be lead in by CINCINDIGO. Meanwhile, keep tensions high, muscles tense, and stay firmly on the edge of your collective seats.