USS PATRIOT: Holodeck -> Corridor (“Drills”)

From: V. Rahul Chandra (vrccan_at_gmail.com)
Date: Wed Jun 04 2008 - 12:01:31 PDT


 

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“Drills”

Continued from Bethany’s Untitled Post

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Location: USS PATRIOT

Stardate: 2422 [2.8] 0604.1439

Scene: Holodeck -> Corridor

 

A conduit exploded to the left of a group of marines, spewing out noxious
chemicals into the nearby area.  Two marines were able to quickly reach for
their gas masks, but the others in the group didn’t move fast enough and
were tagged out by their assault rifles being drained of power.  This was
one of the many methods used in drilling to signify people that had either
been wounded, knocked out or killed in combat, as those marines would now
have to leave the holodeck and go over what went wrong, watching the rest of
the simulation from a monitor on marine deck.

 

The two marines were Daniel Clarkson and Josh Morris, both of whom had been
assigned to the second team of marines according to the lists that had been
made about by Colonel Maverick.  They rounded one of the corridors, dodging
an energy beam from a Jem’Hadar weapon.  As they crouched around behind the
corner, they noticed that they were in a dead end.

 

“What the hell?” Morris asked.  “This wasn’t a dead end in the last
simulation.”

 

Daniel fired a few rounds of his rifle at the Jem’Hadar at the other end of
the corridor, effectively keeping them at bay, before ducking back behind
the partition the two men were using to shield themselves.  He looked at the
dead end they’d found their way into before shrugging his shoulders.

 

“I examined the program beforehand,” Clarkson said.  “It’s set to randomize
the corridors.”

 

Morris fired a few times, before quickly ducking out of a way of a rifle
blast that almost knocked him out of the drill.  “Why would they do that?”
he demanded.  “This damn assignment’s hard enough without adding
randomization factors into it.”

 

Clarkson waited for the blast to go past him before quickly spinning and
firing, taking one of the Jem’Hadar soldiers at the other end down.  “If I
had to guess,” he half-shouted.  “It’s because the powers that be have no
idea what the insides of these buildings we’re going to penetrate look
like.”

 

Morris’ answer was cut off by the appearance of two Jem’Hadar behind them,
as if out of nowhere.  Before either marine could react, the soldiers had
placed their weapons against their backs and fired.  As soon as the shots
went off, the layout of the installation disappeared, replaced by the
familiar holodeck that they’d come to know over the course of their careers.

 

“And that’s that,” Daniel said grimly, getting up off the crouching position
he’d been in when they were blindsided.  “We were the last two in the
simulation.”

 

“They’re firing at us from in front, beaming in behind,” Morris said.  “This
simulation’s starting to get a little bit frustrating.”

 

Daniel smiled sympathetically, but said nothing to Morris.  “Computer,” he
said.  “Transfer the results of this simulation to my terminal.”  As soon as
the computer beeped its acknowledgement, Daniel nodded to Morris and the two
men headed out of the holodeck, walking down the corridor outside.

 

“So what now?” Josh asked.

 

“We debrief,” Daniel replied.  “See if anyone can find anything good and
then cover everything else that went bad.”  He shook his head.  “And then we
drill again…and again if we have to.  Whatever it takes to give ourselves a
fighting chance of accomplishing something when we get down to the surface.”

 

“We need more information,” Morris said.  “We don’t even know for sure that
it’s a building we’re penetrating.”

 

Daniel nodded.  “It could be a building, a ship, an orbital platform or
simply a starbase of some kind,” he said.  “I don’t really care what it is,
but having to infiltrate a place covered with automated defences and
Jem’Hadar soldiers while at the same time not knowing anything about what it
looks like inside is not something I’m looking forward to.”

 

Morris nodded his understanding.  “Does this mean you’re going to lobby
Colonel Maverick for more information?”

 

“No,” Daniel answered.  “If he thought we needed to know something else he’d
have told us by now.”

 

============

NRPG: Just moving things along!

============

Rahul Chandra <vrccan_at_gmail.com>

 

Playing…

 

Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gorman, MD

Executive Officer

USS PATRIOT

 

&

 

Major Daniel Clarkson, MD

Marine Executive Officer

USS PATRIOT

 


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