How To Operate A Phaser

Posted on Sat Nov 14th, 2015 @ 8:38pm by Lieutenant Daln Hadren & Lieutenant JG Karina Sha’ha’zen

Mission: Where Angels Fear to Tread
Location: Holodeck 2

Daln had just bid a farewell to LtJG Saxa, and he was ready for the next one. This ship had a lot of weirdos, he thought to himself. He tapped his combadge. =A= Hadren to Sha'ha'zen, please report to holodeck 2 for your phaser certification test. =A=

The Hiigaran/Human hybrid looked up from a small myriad of PaDDs and sighed before tapping her comm-badge. This wasn't the time. Not with everything coming in. Part of her wanted to open her mouth and say something equivalent to that sentiment , but she held off at the last possible second. No point in making enemies just yet. Chewing out a few other responses, Karina finally relented and decided in her own mind that completing the phaser qualification would take less time than arguing about it. "I'm on my way," she said, sounding a bit snippy in her retort.

Minutes later, she manifested on the holodeck, finding Lieutenant Hadren there waiting for her. A roll of her shoulders -- and her eyes -- made her point without having to say anything. "I'm here," she said, finally.

Hadren smiled. "Don't worry, it'll be quick." When she was close enough, Hadren started the program, causing targets to move around the room. "First, I want you to put together the type II phaser and fire it at one of the targets. The first target, it doesn't matter if you hit it. Then we'll do the target practice. You have 60 seconds...go!"

Karina was mid-way through grumbling when Hadren ordered the simulation to begin. She wasted a couple more seconds debating on whether to flip him off or hit him before grudgingly moving to the table. The phaser, Type II as Hadren said it was, had been disassembled as far as an armorer would risk. The beam emitter, pre-fire chamber... everything had been broken down.

Grabbing the hand grip in one hand and the upper assembly in the other, she wrenched the two together clumsily, but effectively. Aligning the beam emitter took longer, as she had to fidget with the emitter crystal to ensure two things: 1) it wasn't reversed -- that would explode the unit, and 2) that the focus of the beam would be within Starfleet accepted standards. With seconds left to go -- and Karina counting downward in her mind -- she hit the access plate together, heard an audible whine of the power cell charging the weapon, aimed, and fired... hitting two targets before the klaxon indicated the end of the simulation.

Two... Karina thought out of frustration. One, was a bare minimum passing grade. Two was average. She'd hoped to hit at least a third target, but debating on how she'd retort to Hadren's little joke had cost her.

Slapping the phaser back down on the table, the Hiigaran sneered. "That was low... and not a good way to make new friends," she said, still having half the mind to swing at him.

Daln, easily picking up on her thoughts since they were screaming at him, shook his head. "You only needed to hit one target. The target practice hasn't begun. In fact, I thought you did very well. Maybe I should have explained better. You only needed to put it together and make sure it wouldn't overload by firing it. Hitting two targets was good. In fact, I'm hoping my personnel can do as well. I wasn't trying to make fun of you," he assured her. He tried giving her a tentative smile. "I'm sorry if you were upset."

The Hiigaran's mood boiled underneath her skin. Of course he'd said only one target. She'd just been too eager to get this finished in order to get back her duties to hear him. Calm down, Karina mentally chided herself. But between Sinek's surprise inspection and Hadren's surprise weapons qualification, she was feeling as though people were deliberately trying to find ways to fail her. Closing her eyes and heaving an inaudible sigh, Karina counted slowly to three. "No, I'm sorry. It's been a long week," she said sardonically.

Daln was feeling intense emotions of anger and annoyance coming from the young woman, and it was starting to affect his mood. "Right, now you have 60 seconds to hit as many of the dots as you can. There are 45 of them. Go."

Again, Karina pointed the phaser up to the series of targets, firing at them judiciously. Her own mood was disrupted as well. Hell, her entire life since boarding the Hera had been made into one big giant disruption. Not just with that surprise inspection, but also by Seras's memory incapacitation due to Karina's pheromones. Taking a brief glance towards Daln, the Hiigaran wondered just how long it would take for him to forget that most of this ever happened. Facing her targets again, Karina knew that... in the end... his only recollection would be in a report.

After sixty seconds, Karina heard the chime and lowered her phaser.

Daln could easily see that she was upset. He didn't need his telepathy know she was disgruntled about something. She had had at least one bad experience recently. "You got 85 percent. Well done." He stopped and looked at her. "Are you okay? You seem...upset."

"In the last 72 hours, I've been surprised by a surprise inspection, and now this," Karina said flatly, although her voice was hardly as brusque as it had been. "I get it. I'm the boot. But I'm also Chief of Operations, with a mountain of responsibilities that I have to put aside every time I get a call like this," she finished with a wave of her hand across the range.

Daln nodded. "And I made things worse. From now on, I'll try to notify you if you or any of your staff have certification coming up. As a matter of fact, some of your staff does indeed have them coming now. I will send you the names and times so you can have more notice." He really did feel bad, but if he waited every time for someone's schedule, he'd never get anything done. "How about I buy you a drink later to make up for my blockheadedness? And we're almost done, so if you can just stand being in a room with my stupid self for a few more minutes, you'll be fine for another year."

Taking the 'if I look as pathetic as possible, maybe she'll forgive me route, eh? Karina thought while she considered his offer. Having some advanced warning would be nice. Having a drink after the week she'd been having would be even nicer. Eventually, she smirked, although even it looked a little tired. "I think I can manage that," she said, finally.

Daln decided not to comment on the thought, even though it was screamed at him. "You know, not everyone here is a dick. Just give it time." He gave her one more smile before gesturing to the next pile of parts. "Here are the parts of a phaser rifle. You have 90 seconds to put it together and fire at the target. You only have to hit it once to pass. We'll get to the shooting in a minute. On my mark. One...two...mark!"

END

Lt Daln Hadren
Chief Sec/Tac Officer
USS Hera

LtJG Karina Sha'ha'zen
Chief of Ops
USS Hera