Past Logs - Academy Days (from the alternate dimension)
Posted on Sat Jul 16th, 2022 @ 6:11am by Lieutenant Commander Rayek trLhoell
Edited on Wed Oct 26th, 2022 @ 5:01am
1,583 words; about a 8 minute read
Terran date: Sept 23, 2394
I personally believe the keeping of a personal log to be a foolhardy practice. Too often they become the holder of not just general recollections of accomplishments and day-to-day moods, but keepers of mistakes and secrets; secrets that can then be retrieved by others. I know this all too well, because I for many years was one tasked with discovering and unearthing such secrets.
I am however complying with Starfleet counselor orders and attempting to keep a personal log. It is the counselor's belief that I need an outlet for my underlying frustrations.
This is the start of my 2nd year at the Starfleet Technical Services Academy and I still am of the belief that I could easily instruct many of these classes but I 'bite my tongue' and follow orders. In that respect, Starfleet is similar to the Empire.
(written by: Recruit tr'Lhoell / location: Starfleet Technical Services Academy, Mars)
Terran date: Oct 9, 2394
I received the oddest video comm call this evening from Dr. Mountain-Kahn. She called from Earth to wish me a "Happy Thanksgiving". She said it was an old North American celebration that has fallen into obscurity, but that her family still followed the tradition. So I did a bit of research on the subject.
"In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies." Given Lt Mountain-Kahn's ancestry, it is not unreasonable that her family continued to observe the celebratory date.
It is encouraging for me that she continues to keep in contact despite the time apart. She is what motivates me.
(written by: Recruit tr'Lhoell / location: Starfleet Technical Services Academy, Mars)
Terran date: Oct 27, 2394
Okay so maybe there is one class that has caught my interest. The Fundamentals of Strategy and Tactics. By it's very name, I am way beyond it's intended target student audience. As stated previously, I could easily teach the class. What is being taught here is not for officers... but for the enlisted personnel who carry out the tactics as ordered. The course I believe is probably intended to give us grunts a sense of trust in the decisions our 'betters' are making. This isn't why the course has caught my interest.
No, it's that one tactic that we have been instructed on has proved an interesting challenge for me to overcome - as in my boredom I tend to look for ways that I myself might have dealt with the tactic. The Picard Maneuver, as it is known, is described as a brief acceleration into high warp towards an opponent, dropping out in close proximity and immediately firing. The instructor has stated that this tactic is successful because of the sensors are tricked into 'seeing' two ships.
To me, this high warp-close proximity tactic is only effective because of the poor intuitiveness and slow reaction time of the opponent ships tactical officer. They are merely unable to correctly 'read' the intentions of the 'Picard ship', nor anticipate and act swiftly enough to avoid the maneuver. However if the attacking ship were to fire just ahead of the closest Picard ship first sweeping back along its assumed trajectory. The logic and physics seemed simple enough, being the closest, its readings should be those most accurate - requiring the least amount of time to reach the sensors, and by aiming slightly ahead it accounted for the inertia following the warp jump. A tactical officers reactions would have to be precision swift, and they would have to take initiative not wait for the command to fire, but countering the maneuver should be possible.
I plan to prove this to my instructor, however at present my own reaction time is not yet sufficient enough. I intend to practice the scenario nightly until I am able to beat it.
(written by: Recruit tr'Lhoell / location: Starfleet Technical Services Academy, Mars)
EARTH date: November 9th 2394
So today I learned from a professor, privately, that my use of the term 'Terran' to identify Humans from Earth. - or Terra as I prefer to call it since I find that their naming their home planet for one of the four Elements is nigh on sacrilegious and that is from one who is not a devote follower of the Elemental religion (which I am not despite my occasional emphatic calling on the Elements in stressful times) - has been unintentionally insulting. It seems that Humans used the term 'Terran' as the name for their mirror universe selves as that is what their Empire is called on the otherside. The mirror-verse from what little I've been able to to piece together is an alternate dimension where the Humans - there called Terrans - were indeed the conqueroring force my people always were suspicious of.
I'm very curious to learn more about this 'Terran Empire' but the professor has already stated that information about the mirror-verse is classified and not something that he will discuss with me beyond reprimanding me for the inappropriate usage of the term 'Terran'... thus in order to prove myself trustworthy I will need to curb my natural curiosity and not delve into research of it. However, that may prove more difficult than I or my professor anticipate.
(written by: Recruit tr'Lhoell / location: Starfleet Technical Services Academy, Mars)
Earth date: November 15, 2394
So once more the instructors at the Starfleet Technical Services Academy are testing the veracity of my stated loyalty to Starfleet by editing every possible SEC/TAC holodeck battle scenario to involve Romulans as the focus enemy. I cannot believe that in a galaxy with such warring species as the Klingons, Cardassians or the Gorn that my own xenophobic species - who tend to manipulate from afar rather than dirty their hands - is at the top of Starfleet's battle training all the time.
No. They are testing me to see if I will hesitate to fire on one of my own. I find that amusing given my past amid the Tal Shiar - while not common knowledge among my peers I would have assumed Starfleet Command would have informed my instructors of my unique history. I am probably responsible for more Romulan deaths than any single Federation officer currently in Starfleet. It's not something I am proud of - but it is a fact that I've been trained to use lethal fire on my own people by my own people; whereas in Starfleet, I'm handed a phaser and told to keep the setting no higher than heavy stun. Why they believe I might hesitate is beyond me? - but it assures me an easy pass for that course.
(written by: Recruit tr'Lhoell / location: Starfleet Technical Services Academy, Mars)
Earth date: November 22, 2394.
Ugh. It's happened again! I despise the Operations 101 class! It's bad enough having had to take the course once under the instruction of that man but being forced to do so again and have to deal with the same thing repeatedly again because I failed an entirely different course and thus need to redo ALL the courses again is almost more than I'm willing to bear. Almost. I refuse to be deterred by something so trivial as this but ... ugh it is so disgusting!
For those that are reading this, let me explain my disgust. (Yes, I have no illusions that my personal log is actually not being read by Starfleet Intelligence.) As part of the Technical Services training, we enlisted are given brief instruction on the basic of each department before focusing on our main. This week in the Operations services 101 class we have been learning about Transporter technology. Given my past experience, it's not a difficult thing to learn or apply and I've already proven this to the instructor once - having passed his course.
Yet still the man calls on me first, same as he did last semester, to demonstrate the practical skills. While this seems like a reasonable thing to request, what you don't understand is that the class is always scheduled immediately after lunch and the instructor has the absolute worst hand hygiene I have ever seen. As such, the class invariably follows this predictable pattern: a verbal lesson is given during which I note which meal the instructor has eaten at lunch by the color, apparent thickness and smell of the sauce left on the man's digits. Then the instructor demonstrates the proper procedure on the transporter console, leaving behind evidence of his lunch - today it was Mexican, a burrito by sauce I suspect. After leaving his mark, the instructor then 'favors' me with being the first to show just how well I've been paying attention in class.
Last year, when this happened, my grade suffered after I spoke to the instructor in private and suggested to him that he learn to wash his hands after his meals. That didn't go over well.
This time is only marginally better. Instead of near failing yet another class, I'm becoming rather adept at palming a sanitary wipe and cleaning off the contaminated console with no one the wiser as I 'play' at trying to figure out what controls to use. My classmates have no clue of how much they owe me! Though from their eye-rolling expressions they do tend to mock my seemingly less than confidence usage of the console.
I can only hope tomorrow the instructor selects another to demonstrate their transporter operation skills first.
(written by: Recruit tr'Lhoell / location: Starfleet Technical Services Academy, Mars)
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