A Different Kind of Training

Posted on 13 Aug 2015 @ 8:18pm by Petty Officer 1st Class Taliesin Cynwrig & Chief Warrant Officer 2 S'rivas
Edited on on 13 Aug 2015 @ 8:24pm

3,177 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 5, Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD3, 1445 hours

ON:

This appointment was something Wintrow had both been looking forward to, but also had been dreading very much. Though he'd served a little while as Captain's yeoman when he was seventeen, he really knew nothing about ship's operations. And what was worse, he knew even less about combat. He knew how to fire a phaser, and he knew how to use a shuttle's weapons systems. But how to defend himself in combat? No.... and that's what he was afraid of. That he'd fail miserably at both.

Getting more nervous by the second as he entered the holodeck, Wintrow tried to ease his fears and put on a smile as he approached the waiting NCO's. But....how was he to address them now? He vaguely recalled something about NCO's not fancying being addressed as 'sir' so he just stared uncomfortably at them, letting a very awkward silence fall as he pondered on how to offer a greeting.

S'rivas raised an eyebrow slightly as the cadet approached them and stood there silently. Was this what the Academy was putting out these days? "It is proper to address us by rank without our names when reporting for your duties, Cadet Paragon," despite the fact the Vulcan's tone was perfectly flat and neutral, somehow it conveyed stern disappointment that the cadet was already making mistakes. He and his colleague Taliesin Cynwrig were here to train this boy in their respective fields, to give him the education he was missing while away from the Academy. It was now apparent that Cadet Paragon had much to learn.

Taliesin was far less calm about it. "Who do you think you are, Cadet, to walk in here like you own the damn place, and think you can stand there before us like some hoolagaren fool with his head in the clouds?" The security man almost barked the words, his tone harsh, his voice very loud. Taliesin's face was screwed up in anger as well. "I got news for you, mister, you ain't an officer yet. You are a cadet, and that means you are nothing. You will address us as 'Warrant Officer' and 'Petty Officer' from now on or I'll fill your file with demerits so fast that Starfleet will cashier you out faster than warp nine. You got it, Cadet?" Taliesin had fond memories of his drill sergeants in boot camp, and he used those memories now to give the young man the evil eye, the shouting voice, and the face filled with such anger that it looked like he was about to smash Paragon into pulp on the dec. He knew this had been a bad idea, putting this kid through drills that were meant for actual ship's crew who knew enough about living in space to be good at it.


Wintrow paled visibly and took a step back at the berating. "I didn't mean to be rude sir," he whispered, his voice shaking. "I was trying to remember proper NCO address forms....sir." He drew in a shaky breath as he looked away. "I know cadets are nothing in a chain of command sir..."

The boy drew in a deep breath. "Cadet Paragon reporting for training sir," he finished nervously.

"Cadet Paragon, did you not understand the instruction?" S'rivas asked, raising an eyebrow. "You are not to call us 'sir'. You must listen, Cadet, and follow orders exactly."

"That's Warrant Officer and Petty Officer to you!" Taliesin had gotten into Wintrow's face, and his voice was so loud it likely made the cadet's head ring, his face filled with so much rage that if it had seemed like he was going to smash the cadet earlier, now it looked like he was going to tear him limb from limb and then smash him. "How many times do I have to say it?"

Wintrow recoiled and took another step back, obviously not responding well to being yelled at. "None s- Petty Officer," he whispered, bowing his head in submission. "I'm sorry..."

"You will speak in a normal volume, Cadet Paragon, so that we may all hear you. At times, when serving on a vessel, one must be clear with one's words, or repeat back orders to a superior, or be heard over alarms or other loud noises. Whispering is unacceptable, and you will not do it again during your training today." S'rivas walked over to the control arch, but the Vulcan met the cadet's eyes and it would seem like he was so beyond disappointed now and didn't believe the cadet would pass the exercise today.

Taliesin had thrown up his hands in disgust, "Ni allaf gredu ei fod! Os yw hyn yn fath o bobl sy'n mynd i fod yn y llwyth mwyaf newydd o swyddogion, rydym yn tynghedu." The Universal Translator in his badge made a desperate beeping sound as he talked too fast and too angrily for it to keep up but whatever he'd said didn't sound good. He got in the cadet's face one more, stuck one finger out and pointed it right at the other's face, hovering in the air between his eyes. "You stand your god-damned ground, you hear me?" he shouted. "A Starfleet Officer is brave and doesn't back down because someone yells at him. Argh, I'm disgusted." Taliesin too stalked away.

"Are you ready, Cadet Paragon?" S'rivas asked, staring at the boy with eyes that judged him and found him lacking. Taliesin didn't even turn around to look at him.

Close to tears now, Wintrow lifted his face up. "Yes Warrant Officer," he replied, "I am." But he felt like shrinking away. There was no way he'd be able to do anything right now, he had ruined every chance at impress his instructors.

S'rivas nodded, then turned his attention to the arch, "Computer, begin 'Training Program S'rivas, Sigma-1.'"

"Acknowledged," came the computer's voice, and then everything changed. Wintrow would find himself in the corridor of an unknown vessel. Yellow Alert lights were flashing, and some crewmen were walking quickly to their duty stations. "The Yellow Alert has been sounded," the computer continued, "and you must make your way to your duty station in Life Support Control. Demonstrate your knowledge of ship systems by finding your way there, logging into your station, and initiating a Level 5 Diagnostic. You have twelve minutes to complete your task, mark."

S'rivas and Taliesin stood outside the hologram's effects, able to look within and watch the cadet's progress. "Do you believe he will be able to do it, Warrant Officer?" Taliesin asked, eyeing his superior.

The Vulcan unwrapped a lollipop he'd pulled out of a pocket, and replied before placing it in his mouth, "The diagnostic itself will take seven minutes alone. Given his lack of ability and knowledge so far, I estimate the chances he'll pass the first test are low." The two of them turned to watch, each keeping a close eye on the cadet, though Taliesin divided his attention between the young man and the first Vulcan he'd ever seen eat a piece of candy.

Wintrow sprinted to the nearest wall control panel to call up a map of the ship and have the computer calculate the fastest route there. He felt lucky that he was reasonably fast on his feet. Following the arrows, he sprinted through the corridor, dodging crew here and there though he stopped briefly to help a young man who'd been run over by other crew back onto his feet and suggest he go to sickbay.

Panting for breath, Wintrow didn't know how much time he'd wasted getting to his station. But then he hesitated. He knew how to run diagnostics on his shuttle or fighter but would this work the same? Attempting what he knew from his tinkering with shuttlecrafts, he hoped he initated the diagnostic.

Seven minutes later, the diagnostic finished and the voice of the computer could be heard once again, "Stage One complete. Beginning Stage Two." The Yellow Alert lights went out, but the scene stayed the same. "Proceed to the Bridge, reroute power to the sensory array, initiate a short range scan then hail the vessel, in that order. You have twenty minutes to complete this task, mark."

"Well, surprise, surprise," Taliesin said, sounding unimpressed despite his words from outside the simulation. "But I don't think he will complete this one. We'll probably not even make it to my tests."

"Indeed," S'rivas said, around the lollipop he was still busy on. "As the difficulty increases with each level, the odds decrease each time."

Twenty minutes wasn't a whole lot of time, so he directed the computer to tell him the shortest route to the bridge and he sprinted away, yanking a phaser from a fallen officer's body along the way. He crawled through tubes and climbed ladders with the turbolit system apparently offline and he was feeling lightheaded by the time he got to the bridge. "Reroute power," he whispered as he rolled onto the bridge from an access hatch. "OPS...I need OPS...." He stared around at the unfamiliar layout and at random selected a console. "I don't know," he whispered to himself as he browsed through systems. "I don't know how to rerout something this major...." He raised his voice. "Computer, reroute power to sensor array from any available source, including life support. Then hail the vessel that's stationary across the bow."

He was shaking, chest heaving with every breath he drew in, blackness dancing at the edge of his vision as he battled dizziness.

"Why didn't he take the turbolifts?" Taliesin asked.

"It would appear that he believes they are offline for some reason," S'rivas responded, pulling the candy from his mouth. "However, the Computer did not state it and I did not program it. With the Yellow Alert cancelled, there is no longer any emergency. And, he has wasted almost his entire allotment of time with the long detour."

"And if they had been damaged from some attack or other force, that would have been a Red Alert," Taliesin finished, shaking his head.

"Unable to comply, this task must be completed by using manual controls," the Computer replied to Wintrow on the Bridge. "Automatic functions are offline."

"Manual?" He shook his head. "Computer, I require instruction on how to do this, Give me a step by step run down." His hands trembled as he started to work, putting a hailing frequency to the waiting vessel on stand by, ready to initiate it as soon as the sensor was restored. He knew he was going to fail, because he lacked the knowledge. And time was running out. He listened to the computer while he worked, as fast as he could manage under the circumstances, despite the knowledge he was going to fail.

The Computer responded by bringing up an instruction manual on how to operate sensors and communications. It was heavy, technical stuff, on how to target or use a broad scan, and how one could not put a direct hail to an unscanned ship but could only put out a general hail to all ships in the area. There was only two minutes left now for Wintrow to pull off his remaining tasks.

"Computer put out a general hail, but continue on identification of vessel," the teenager ordered, aready feeling the beginnings of a bad headache with all the new information that was dumped on him. As he issued his orders, he continued to work on getting the sensor array back online. He just knew he'd be too late, and he wondered how he could save time on a next chance. He sighed and shook his head, ignoring the countdown; he was determined to do as much as he could, within the time remaining.

Taliesin shook his head and threw his hands up in the air. Even S'rivas looked like he was about to sigh, but contented himself by popping a chocolate covered cherry into his mouth since he was done with the lollipop.

"General hail initiated," the Computer reported. A flashing light on the panel indicated that they were getting a response to the hail. Then a minute later, Wintrow had figured out how to reroute the power needed and the sensors sprang to life. All sorts of data began scrolling over a number of screens, including the results of a scan on this mysterious vessel. The Computer, however, did not announce the beginning of part three of the training. Instead, it counted down, "Ten...Nine...Eight...Seven...Six...Five...Four...Three...Two...One..."

Wintrow had only those ten seconds to realise his mistake and try to fix it.

Unable to look everywhere at once, Wintrow wondered what the countdown was for, missing the fact that it was the countdown on the time he had been allotted for his assignment. He saw the scan results and acknowledged them but thought it better to answer the hail first. "Unknown vessel, identify yourself," he announced as he tried to manage the power outpout.

There wasn't enough time left for the simulation to even register before it ended. The bridge of the ship was replaced by the grid-work lattice of the holodeck as everything around Wintrow vanished. Taliesin was glaring at him, apparently too angry to speak - they hadn't even gotten to his part of the test! S'rivas approached however, as the Computer spoke once more.

"Simulation failure. Completion status one of eight tasks finished. Final score, 12.5%."

"That is an unacceptable score, Cadet," S'rivas said. "Do you know where your error was?"

Truth be told, Wintrow hadn't a clue at all, beyond his lack of operations knowledge. "No s-chief warrant," he murmured, not even sure how to keep himself. He'd known he had failed, even before the simulation had ended, but that it was this bad... "I don't know...I got the sensors operational, but I don't know what went wrong after that."

"You did not follow directions, Cadet," S'rivas replied. "The computer tasked you to reroute power to the sensors, to locate the vessel, and then initiate a hail. In that order, it said. Instead, you initiated a broad-band hail before completing the other tasks."

"Right bloody mess this was," Taliesin said from where he stood, trembling with his anger and glaring daggers. "I told you he wasn't ready. And what do they even teach this hot-shot officers anymore? Isn't he supposed to be in his second year too? Ugre'et'malard!"

"Indeed," S'rivas agreed with Taliesin, though whether it was for the expletive or for his assessment of the cadet's performance was unknown. The Vulcan turned his stern gaze back on Wintrow, and though he looked as neutral and as passive-faced as ever, he still radiated disappointment, "When in Starfleet, whether you are stationed on board a ship, a ground based instillation, or a starbase, it is imperative that you follow orders to the letter." He stared down at Wintrow a moment longer, his glare likely making the shy cadet shiver in his boots. As he glared, the Vulcan pulled out a bit of taffy. "Dismissed, cadet," he said, before taking a bite.

The teenager shrank back at the anger he was sensing from them, not sure why they were so angry when this was supposed to be training. Wasn't he supposed to learn from doing training sessions. "I have a question chief," he dared, although he was dismissed. His voice was shaking as he spoke but he had to ask. "If I hadn't initiated the hail, what would've happened then?"

"You still would have failed! The orders were to re-route power, initiate a scan, and then hail the ship. How dense are you?!" Taliesin roared, and started to stalk towards the young man. With his hands up and the evil look in his eye, it seemed like he was about to grab Wintrow. It looked like Cadet 'Paragon' hadn't learned a thing. "Didn't we tell you to call him Warrant Officer? And now you call him 'Chief'?! You are still disobeying orders, ynizk'vart. You verbally acknowledge a damn order when it's given to you, then you do it. Didn't you hear Warrant Officer S'rivas? He ordered that you are dismissed but I still see you. By all the gods that everyone in the Federation worships, so help me..."

"A hair cut might be in order as well, Cadet," S'rivas observed stoically as Taliesin was making his frightening approach like some sort of steamroller. Wintrow's hair was getting rather long looking curling down over his years like that in a non-regulation way. The Vulcan wondered which would happen first, Taliesin grabbing the cadet and shaking him like a ragdoll, or Wintrow fleeing from the holodeck while he gnawed on the taffy.

Wintrow went white as Taliesin entered his personal space, standing utterly frozen in place and breathing fast. He closed his eyes, willing himself not to run off. "Yes Warrant Officer," he whispered in answer to S'rivas, "I'll see to it." He was shaking all over, really wanting to leave now and wondering why he was being yelled at for asking a question. How was he to learn, if he didn't ask questions for clarification? But was he still dismissed? What if he turned his back on this madman?

Taking a chance, thereby assuming he was still to leave, Wintrow turned on his heels and started to walk away.

"Double time it, Cadet!" Taliesin shouted again. Damn, but the boy had to be told over and over. And that way he'd cringed when Taliesin had done nothing but get close and yell at him. Why, the human hadn't even touched him.

S'rivas, perhaps reading his counterpart's thoughts, shook his head slightly and spoke softly enough that Wintrow wouldn't head as he ran away, "Today's lesson has been a disappointment. Perhaps the next he will do better, though I wonder now if he'll ever make it through the Academy."

As soon as Wintrow was out of the holodeck, the two men turned to each other. Taliesin wore a big grin and even started to chuckle. S'rivas, though his face remained as neutral and passive as ever, managed to exude a sense of amusement somehow.

"Think we were too hard on him?" S'rivas questioned.

"Nah," Taliesin shook his head. "I bet the kid'll stick up for himself next time, and he won't make so many wiw'jid mistakes."

"Petty Officer, we need to work on your more...colourful language."

"Aye, Warrant Officer." Not fucking likely.

I heard that. S'rivas raised an eyebrow at the human while he chewed on his taffy.

[OFF]

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
pnpc T'Vanna

Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class S'rivas
Boatswain
USS Galileo
PNPC Cyrin Xanth

Petty Officer 1st Class Taliesin Cynwrig
Master-At-Arms
USS Galileo
PNPC Cyrin Xanth

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