Dynamic Duo
Posted on Tue Oct 26th, 2021 @ 10:03pm by Lieutenant Myne Redal & Lieutenant Vira Vemre [Whavi]
Edited on on Thu Dec 23rd, 2021 @ 2:34pm
Mission:
MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Deck 14 - Holodecks 3,4 & 5
Timeline: Current
2202 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure
//ON//
Lieutenant JG Myne Redal felt quite a bit anxious as she came out of the turbo-lift. Ensign Vira Vemre was with her and they were heading out to the simulation deck to check on why it seems to recently be using a bit too much power than normal. She was nervous, very nervous since she had to teach and be like, a boss or something. Overall being Assistant to the Chief of Operations has been so far an exciting new experience, full of anxiety and worry, for no reason mostly. Sure, she had been in positions of power before, a long time ago, in other bodies, but now it felt different.
"So, Ensign Vemre, like I know that Engineering handles like the super important repairs and stuff. But what I think our most important job is... erm, that is to optimize and get an overall big picture on how the systems work, how power is distributed as efficiently as possible. We have to constantly try to keep every system working as close as possible to the official specs as we can, or better. Now from what I have learned in the past several decades is that holodecks, in general, tend to consume a lot of power. Honestly, I think holosuits are much better because they are smaller and take up less space and power. And we know that Starfleet people like their overly complicated programs, which let's be honest, are a power sink!"
Vira followed, listening intently to every word Myne said. She understood the importance of saving power, and administering it properly but the other half of her couldn't help but feel very much protective over the holodecks and all that they offered. "I see what your saying, from an ops perspective. But I also know how important the holodecks are, especially to our mental health." Vira gave a chuckle.
"Mental health? That is sooo over rated! Ask the Vulcans!" Myne chuckled as they walked. "Holodeck are extremely complex in what they can do, and with such an increase in complexity comes the increase in bugs and errors! And with an increase in those, well you know, comes big problems! I once used a faulty holodeck program to sabotage a commercial ship. Trust me on this, better safe than sorry. Ah, here we are!" She stopped as they reached holodeck 3.
"Now, I would suggest we run a diagnostic on all the programs people have saved in this one, and see which ones are the highest power gulpers. Then, we won't be running them per say. We will be doing something more fun! Diving into the code and see what's going on! Oh this will be fun!!" She said excitedly, clapping her hands and pulling her custom PADD from her belt. "Are you ready?"
Vira couldn't help but laugh and shake her head at the lieutenant's excitement. This wasn't exactly what the risian would consider 'fun'. But who was she to judge. "We won't be deleting anyone's saved program will we?" She arched a brow but now was very curious to see what kind of holoprograms people were partaking in.
"Oh? No no no. Not delete. If we find bad programs or poorly optimized ones, we will put a lock on them, barring them from the holodeck, and add a note to request them to rework their programs. Rather simple, but entertaining. Also, I can teach you a few tricks with the holodeck software, the thing is exploitable as heck!" Myne explained with excitement as she approached Holodeck 3 and passed through the door. It was empty at this hour, she checked.
Vira followed behind Myne like her own personal little shadow, close enough that she would be able to observe when the time came but far enough that she wasn't crowded the lieutenant. "I actually don't spend much time in the holodecks. I can never get fully submerged in them. " She looked around at the empty room and had difficulty picturing it as anything else.
"Really? How so?" Myne asked looking at Vira curiously. "Holodecks and Holosuits are really fun. Here, let me show you. Computer, run program Nyra Redal, version 87.2.3." Myne called out for the computer and... nothing happened, nothing changed. "Good! Now that my program is on, time to have some fun? Let's pick a program at random." Clicking on her tab she called for what appeared to be a park on an Earth-like planet. It seemed like a jogging and exercise program. What was strange was that besides every item and element, including the sky, there were now lines of code. "See? Interactive programming! Coding from inside the program! Fun!!"
Vira's eyes grew wide as she watched the code scroll across the sky. "I just can't get my head around the fact its not real." She took a few steps forward with her nose to the sky. "So what's first boss?"
"So, right. Damn, okay give me a moment, need to think. Not used to working people. Let's see this as training for you for now. So... have a look around, and see if you find any element that drains more power than it should. Then we can look over the code for it together." Then Myne stopped to stare at Vira with wide eyes. "By the 87th Rule of Acquisiton. You think that holoprograms are real?! Is this like, what all your people think?" She asked looking more intently at Vira with rapt fascination.
"No of course not, ha." Vira spoke to Myne as she examined the scrolling code for a uptick in power drainage. "There are plenty of holosuites on Risa, but they aren't used as often for fun, more for educational experiences. Growing up I got my first taste of what it was like as a Starfleet officer in one. When I expressed my interest a CO who frequented our world returned with a program for me to try." Vira stopped and pointed to the sun, "There is a significant amount of power used to keep the sun bright, can't that be fixed?"
"Awww." Myne pouted. "I always wanted to meet a species that believed holograms were real. Oh well, I still got a few good centuries in me." She sighed and chuckled. "That CO sounds like a good person, I am glad that happened. It got you here and you seem like a good person to me. So win win!" Turning to look at the sun Myne tapped her PaDD and the code came within reach of her. "Wow, nice catch. Yeah, this is it. This is why this program was flagged, the user did not set a cap for the sun. Basically, you get diminishing returns the more power it goes into it, so no reason to put a high cap. With lighting available from all around the holo deck does a nice job without needing super-bright suns. Wanna try to fix the code yourself?"
Vira gave Myne an incredulous look. "Um... no." The corner of her lips perked up. "You have too much faith in me if you think I would even know where to start."
"Oh come on Vira!! It's easy!! Here, look at this." Myne tapped on her PaDD and stood next to Vira so she can watch. Ok, two things are clear. Myne is not exactly engaged in what one might call normal coding, her PaDD is showing things rather weirdly. And second, Myne is a terrible, terrible, horrible, inexperienced teacher. "Aaaand done!" She exclaimed happily as she managed to set proper parameters to the sun in the program, cutting off the power drain effectively while only diminishing the light slightly, imperceptively almost. "See? Easy!"
"Easy?! You call what you just did ...easy?" Her hazel eyes flickered from the PaDD she was sure was displaying a language she had never seen before to Myne. "I....nope. Just nope." She laughed at her own short coming but knew that she wasn't a match for the trill in the least. It did nothing to upset her, it rather intrigued her. "Did you forget who your working with? Small simple Risian brain here" She held her hand up and waved at Myne.
Looking at Vira confused, Myne tiled her head to the side. "Well... yeah. It's really basic stuff actually. Just several hundred lines of code to compensate for the user's incompetency at proper power consumption and memory management. And a little subroutine to crash his program from now on whenever the user doesn't actually check his program for power sinks." Myne tried to explain, though in her defense, the Trill was going on basing her skills on several lives of honing it. "Oh crap, yeah. Sorry Vira, I sometimes forget not everyone has lived as many times as I have." She reached to scratch the back of her head and smile nervously.
"How many have you? Live times that is." Vira tilted her head in curiosity.
Falling in thought for a second she began to count on her left hand fingers. When she ran out of those she went with the fingers from her right hand. "I am the tenth? Yes, ten lives so far." Myne nodded convinced of her count.
"We're they all Starfleet officers? Can you hear them in your head? Like is it a giant party in your brain all the time?!" Vira inquired eagerly. "I can barely handle myself, let alone nine others!"
"Haha, no no no no. Just my previous host joined Starfleet after... something bad happened. And I am the second one. The rest were... not exactly good people." Myne explained initially laughing only to look away ashamed towards the end.
Vira caught the discomfort in Myne at the mention of her previous hosts. "Well I think your pretty great." She nudged the trill with her arm playfully before changing the subject, "What's next on the list boss lady?"
"Really? You think so? Does this mean we're friends?" Myne asked with wide open, almost childing eagerness before catching herself. "Hehe, sorry, got ahead of myself. Well this simulation is done. Want to pick another one from the list yourself?"
"Yes I think so, maybe when our shift is over we can do something fun." She quickly held up a finger before Myne could speak, "Not this kind of fun." She gestured to the room with a chuckle.
The Trill went from super excited to less excited, but still excited. "Fine... but you don't know what fun you will be missing!! We could do a code battle!! Or the best virus wins!!" She tried one last attempt at her kind of fun, but its clear she's excited to really just do anything with Vira.
Vira scrolled the list of programs and decided to pick on that seemed to be one of the biggest power drains. "How about this one." Vira selected the program and the room seemed the shimmer as a different view came to light before them. They were standing in an open field filled with mass chaos. Men were running from both ends with giant steel swords that clanged loudly when met by another. There was a sprinkle of rain that turned to ground to mud under there feet. "What in the...." Vira shouted as she ducked pulling Myne down with her as an arrow wizzed past them.
"Gya!" She yelped as Vire pulled her down, quickly pulling her PaDD in a panic and starting to type on it. "Crap! Model overload model overload!! Gaah, what was the code to turn them into ghost or something. Vira, ideas? Immaterial models or trying to pause this chaos?" She asked her new friend as she looked her in the eyes, ready to finish the commands she was typing.
Before Vira could respond to Myne, a large burly bearded man with a sword started towards them with howl. Vira's eyes went wide as she slipped in the mud covering herself and her new friend. The man was getting closer by the second, "COMPUTER FREEZE PROGRAM!! LIKE NOW!!"
The entire scene froze before them. The risian let out a breath and relaxed her shoulders a bit before standing and helping up her friend. "We can still fix the program while its not in play right?"
"Oh right! I forgot about that command. Starfleet holodeck are really cool!" Myne expressed her admiration at Vira as she accepted Vira's offer to help her get up from the mud. Trying to clean herself she chuckled. "That was a close one! Holodecks are real death traps, aren't they? And yeah, sure we can. Power consumption has its own variable after all." She chuckled and activated her program to reveal data on models and environment around them.
"Mmm, they are but they aren't. Starfleet has protocols set to ensure death is not possible, I'm sure some programs are faulty, and injuries' are sure to happen but... ha" She smiled sheepishly realizing she wasn't doing a very good job of reassuring her partner they were 'safe'. Vira turned her attention to the data scroll. "That can't be right, doesn't that say horses? There aren't any...."
//OFF//
Lieutenant JG Myne Redal
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Elysium
Lieutenant JG Vira Vemre
Transporter Specialist
USS Elysium