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Posted on 17 Jul 2014 @ 12:51pm by Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Luke Wyatt

1,070 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 5, Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD 01: 14:00

ON:

The 'ship' rocked under another hit, making the crew stumble and sway under the force at their stations. The holographic crew mimicked the real crew of the Galileo well, or close enough at least. The only difference was that the centre seat was occupied by Luke Wyatt rather than the captain.

Scarlet sat in the First Officer's seat as was her usual position these days, but in truth she was there as more of a teacher and assessor of Luke's officer training than an active part of the simulation. The ship was under attack, reports of damage and injuries were coming in from all over the ship, and it was Luke's job in the training scenario to try and figure out the best outcome.

Luke observed the bridge carefully as it rocked to the motion of weapons fire hitting the ships shield, knowing that it was a simulation didn't make it any easier. Tapping his com badge he called for medical emergency on the bridge knowing by the reports coming in from ops that they were probably overwhelmed already "helm head on bearing 239 mark 423 full impulse get us under their belly their weapons arc should be weaker there" he commanded knowing that the galileos weapons couldn't match that of a Klingon ship.

Scarlet nodded, more to herself though, thinking through the scenarios even as Luke must have done, her features set with focus.

"Sir, we've lost power power across half of deck 3, including Sickbay!" the voice called across the bridge, alarmed by the news he was having to give. "And the phaser arrays are damaged..."

"Re-route power form the phaser arrays to sickbay and start setting up an emergency triage centre in the mess hall" He commanded holding to his seat as the ship once again took another hit "Tactical can we hit them anywhere that will disrupt their scanner and targeting systems? Were hard enough to hit as it is but lets make it harder just to buy us enough time to get out of here"

"Possibly, Sir, but it'll be a difficult shot to pull off and we've only got limited firepower with no power to the phasers and just the torpedoes left," he warned.

Luke knew that taking phaser offline would take out most of their fire power but the Galileo wasn't built to withstand a long fire fight "Do What you can, Helm bring us around evasive manoeuvres." He commanded looking around the bridge which showed signs of battle.

The Galileo started to turn and put enough distance between them to fire, and in a valiant effort sent a volley of torpedoes toward the enemy vessel. The explosions showed on screen, a brief sense of relief and victory washing through the bridge at the seeming success, but it was short lived, the enemy vessel managing to send their own fire straight back at them. After a few moments, the holographic bridge shimmered and died, leaving Scarlet and Luke sitting on a reset, empty bridge.

Luke's leant back and rubbed his forehead before opening his mouth he allowed a long and enduring sigh escape "This is ridicules if we retreat we die if we fight we die why would any of this help me in any given situations there's always a way to win or at least survive"He sighed again before turning to look at Blake.

"Because you don't always have a win situation in real life," Blake looked to him, holding his eyes with a frown, shaking her head. "Sometimes you have to just find the best way to lose."

"I don't like that one bit at all" He disagreed "You know as a Marine your taught that the only outcome is a good outcome" He thought over the training "Run it again?" He said leaning forward in his seat, it was already late and they had gone through it a handful of times already but he was determined to find a way to save the ship and the crew.

Scarlet considered for a long moment, searching his face and watching how he sat. "No," she shook her head gently. "Not now. Go away, think about it a while, let it sink in and we can come back to it another time."

Luke grunted "I'm never going to get it you know what it likes I have a winner mentality it has been my bread and butter for over a decade and to be frank my entire like this exercise of finding the best way to loose is ridicules! Its like starfleet are preparing you for failure and if you prepare to fail you will fail." He crossed his arms and sighed.

"I'll work on it" He eventually said.

"But that's the point, Luke, that's the difference," Scarlet leant to him with a weak smile, shaking her head. "When you're an officer, especially a bridge officer, you have to be prepared to make a decision that could cost someone or a number of people their lives in order to protect others. It's about the ability to sacrifice others...not yourself, I think both of us would have our heads screwed on to that, but to sacrifice others when the tide is turned that badly against us and it will save the rest of the ship, or civilians who need help. That's what being a senior officer is. If you can't do that, you might want to rethink this," she said quietly, but with a gentle voice and understanding in her eyes. Personally, she knew he was up to it. But he had to change the way he was thinking himself, she couldn't do that for him, no matter how long they trained for.

"I understand that, its just going to take a bit of time and I know I can do this" He smiled "Thanks for the help I know that it cant be any fun sat here watching me blow up over and over again"

Scarlet laughed at that, shaking her head as she reached to squeeze his hand. "Oh I don't know, some people might say it's therapeutic," she teased. "You'll get it, Luke. You're going to make a good officer."

Luke shrugged "For everyone else's sake and mine I hope you're right."

OFF:

Chief Petty Officer Luke Wyatt
Acting Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo

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