ILLUMINARRPG: (4- 1630)- Chief of Security Lt jr Keung Lee

[John Tsang]

Mission: A Cure Delayed

Day: 4

Stardate: 2445.10.28

(Illuminar  - Deck 5  Holodeck Suite 1   Chief of Security Lt jg Keung Lee- 1630)

The phaser blast seared the air beside the left ear of Cadet Eish Cuish, team leader, as he flinched. He dived down to his left, throwing himself to the outpost deck behind a dense of wrecked equipment. On the far side of the room, the phaser shot exploded against the wall, leaving behind a scorched smoking scar in the metal wall.

Next to EIsh was cadet Winston SoarGal, their backs against a broken console that had crashed onto its side. Eish calmly studied the guage on his phaser. “Almost drained.”

They had been engaged in this firefight for more than an hour. When it had had become apparent that the team faced a force at least three times their number,Cadet Janel had made it clear that the odds of their getting out of the complex alive would increase dramatically if they could permanently disable enemy fighters, rather than just rendering them unconscious for a short time.

Jane  looked at her own phaser and examined the power indicator. “Mine’s down to 20%”

“What do we do now?” shouted cadet Ray Wong across the room, who was hiding behind a pillar.

Eish  looked  across to Ray “I’m not sure what we can do. How many of them did you count?”

“There must have been at least twenty,” replied Jane. “Then again, we did kill just as many!”

“We’re going to have to run for it,” said Elsh , who was beginning to show signs of nerves. She reloaded her phaser compression rfile. "This is my last charge."

“To where?” exclaimed Winston .. He knew if the team attempted to reach the shuttle’s in the complex’s hangar, they would find a group of aliens waiting for them. “Even we managed to get ot the shuttlecraft and were to able to launch, they must have a ship somewhere nearby. The Illuminar can’t get a transporter fix us either, because of the interference from the lab’s shields.”

Jane looked up. "Do you smell something burning,?"

The  team of four had been assigned to retrieve top secret files from a Starfleet research lab on the New Brighton  colony, which had been occupied by a force of Kzinti. Elsh peered out from under the twisted metal wreck at the hole in the wall again. Rusted reinforcing rods poked out of the shattered duracrete walls like an exposed skeleton. Getting in had been easy, but retrieving the files had set off the alarm.

"Nope," he finallly said, sliding back under cover. "Your twitchy nose is just making you paranoid."

Jane  glanced over his shoulder again. "We should make a break for it, sir. Before we run out of energy."

Elsh  produced a plasma grenade, thinking along the same lines. "My last one."

Ray did not need to hesitate, "Let's do it." But Elsh had already set the trigger and with an easy lob, tossed the grenade toward the hole in the wall.

The explosion echoed in the confined space with an almighty roar. ;Elsh  was already moving, headed for the gaping hole through the licking flames and acrid smoke. "Last one back buys the brews!"

The smoking carcasses of three Kzinti lay in the corridor beyond the wall, still smouldering. The smell was overwhelming and  the four cadets  all gagged hard as they headed down the corridor toward the launch bay.

They raced around the corner... and that was when fifteen red beams lanced through the smoke and centred themselves on the cadet;s chest..
...fifteen red spots lanced through the smoke and centered themselves on Keung's chest.

Facing them was an entire platoon of Kzinti troopers, everyone with his weapon trained on the cadetss. Even with the ablative harness over their regular tacsuits, they were not optimistic that the harness's energy dispersement web would be sufficient to absorb fifteen direct disruptor blasts.

The figures of Lt Keung Lee,  Counselor Jenny Holmes and instructor Ensign Kolr Loceu  shimmered into view between them as their thermo-optical camouflage fields were disengaged.

“Computer, freeze program” said Ensign Koir, sharply.  He growled  “Everyone stay where you are. What do you think you’re doing?”

"I think," replied Lt Lee casually, "this exercise is over but the wholesale massacre." He kept a neutral expression as He added, "We've been observing this session."

"Jenny acknowledged Lee   "Hello, cadets" she gave a little wave to the three men and one women A few muttered hellos and were met by a stern look from ensign Kori.

Kori dismissed the cadets. "All right then, we'll conclude this session here. Get changed, and I'll see you in Security for debriefing in fifteen."

Jenny watched the three Security officers exit the holodeck, before she continued, "Your little exercise here is not working, ensign Kori . Those cadets boys are terrified - and they know this is a simulation! I have no idea what kind of preparation you gave them before you threw them into it, but they are tense and nervous and likely to get themselves killed if they were on the field..."

Kori  was listening to her, but Jenny  wasn't sure she was convincing him.  She did have a point she wanted to make.  She knew that crew training, even combat and tactics, nominally came under the Chief of Security's area of responsibility but he had delegated some of that responsibility to his instructors.

"Look at them! Right now, they're shooting without purpose, just hoping they hit something. You and ensgn Kori I both know they can do the job, but their minds aren't in it just now. Better to let them blow off some steam and get back in their game by allowing them at least a moment to adapt aboard first."

For a moment Jenny lost her train of thought as the Klingon  grunted loudly, obviously getting annoyed.

Lee seeing Kori getting angry intervened  "Nobody's doubting your methods, ensign" said Lee , gently, "but you need to take the time to condition and build the capabilities of your new arrivals up to this level of intensity. Otherwise they won't benefit as effectively from this training?"

The Klingon instructor  had to grudgingly admit that the Chief did have a point.

Captain Lem and the two department heads began walking toward the holodeck exit. "I thought they did much better than expected, under the circumstances," she said. "Cela va sans dire, it was a clever trick you did with the thermo-optical screen which allowed you to get in as far as you did."

"There's no such thing as a failed exercise as long as you learn from it," agreed Jenny “Let’s go talk to the team”

(reply none)

(posted by John)


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