Is this your holodeck or mine?

Posted on Mon Jul 4th, 2022 @ 4:41pm by Staff Warrant Officer Reo'thanra Sandtail & Captain Samuel Woolheater

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: USS Elysium - Deck Twenty-Six - Holodeck Eight
Timeline: MD01 - Morning
2720 words - 5.4 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]


=== USS ELYSIUM – NCC 89000 – DECK TWENTY-SIX – HOLODECK EIGHT ===


First Lieutenant Samuel Woolheater stood at the LCARS interface and wore a puzzled expression on his face. He was sure that he had reserved time on the holodeck. On this holodeck in fact. He didn’t want to be on the marine holodeck, he didn’t want the medical holodeck, nor did he want the counseling holodeck. He wanted holodeck eight. So why wasn’t the computer letting him login?

“Computer?” he said rather annoyed, “Why can’t I access my Squam holodeck program?”

=A= That program is unavailable at this time =A=

Woolheater said, “Explain? I made a reservation already.”

The machine beeped negatively back at him, =A= There is no reservation for Woolheater, Samuel R. on holodeck eight at this time. =A=

Sam accessed the reservation log and, ~well whaddaya know, computer is right~. There is no reservation for him. He was dressed in running shorts and a t-shirt. He was hoping to get in a morning jog. Well, that wasn’t going to happen today. “Damn” he said quietly to himself. Another crewman Staff Warrant Officer Reo'thanra Sandtail had this time slot. Sam tapped the console and thought, ~ah well!~. He turned around to see another person approaching. This person wasn’t Catitian, but he looked somewhat feline with the ears and the tail? No…more like a fox? What species was this person?

Reo stretched his arms over his head as he approached the Holodeck, his long tail swaying slowly as he walked, his Armored uniform clacking lightly with each step. "Good morning," he said Politely as he Eyed the Human, the Stock of a long, oddly blocky weapon just barely visible from a magnetic hard point on his armors chest piece. As he neared the door he'd glance down at wrist mounted computer integrated into his left arms plating. "ah..did I...forget to schedule a time slot, again?" he asked quickly a flicker of anxiety flashing through his face, his large ears folding back.

Sam watched the crew member approach and he overheard the man's query. "Hi, uh, good morning? No, I think I must have messed up? I thought I had reserved an hour? But, it turns out no, I didn't. I guess I forgot to save it." Sam was out of uniform and so he was indistinguishable from any other person. Sometimes, it was good to go unrecognizable.

"Well if you don't mind some tactical Training...I don't mind if you tag along with me," the Small Vulpinoid said with a fanged grin.

"Tactical training in running shorts and a t-shirt? Sounds good to me" Sam replied. "I was out for a jog but hell's yeah; tactical sounds good."

Sam asked, "I hope you don't mind a question? I can't place your species? I don't wish to be rude but, I don't think I've seen anyone ever like you before?"

Reo couldn't help but laugh, his ears perking up. "I'm not surprised to be honest, We're not actually part of the federation yet, I'm an Arten, Specifically a Dunepaw Arten, but..eh...semantics of that aren't really worth getting into unless you like Lectures on Genetic Engineering." He paused and offered his hand out, A fur covered, padded appendage. "Names Reo'thanra Sandtail," he added.

Taking the offered hand and giving it a firm shake, "Sam Woolheater. Pleased to meet my first Arten, Reo'thanra Sandtail. Where's home Reo'thanra?"

"Little eve'trcha World Called Artania, In the 23 Vuplacal system," he shrugged as he gently shook the others hand, the Universal translator churning over the word. "About the only world the Confederacy has that I can comfortably live on anyway," he added with a chuckle as his other hand came up knock on the armors chest piece. "what about yourself?"

Sam asked "Confederacy?" as they walked through the holodeck doors and onto the holodeck. "You're not part of the Federation then huh? You must be a part of the exchange program that Starfleet offers to planets and peoples that are considering Federation membership?"

"Got it in one," Reo said with a nod as he followed in after the human.

Sam could tell that the universal translator was having a hard time with a few words. But he didn't draw any attention to it and just listened. The colorations on Reo'thnra's fur was a pleasing shade of brown and white and dark balck. Sam took note that Reo'thanra was walking on his toes effortlessly with that big swooshy tail of his. He was so friendly though and Woolheater wanted to meet new people. You don't get much "newer" than a species that isn't in the Federation. "That's some serious armor there. Are you a part of th Security or Close Protection detail? No - I know" Sam said snapping his fingers, "You're a member of Blackwatch huh?"

"Not even close," the Short alien chuckled. "I'm a Diplomatic Envoy...Not quite an ambassador, but ...same pay group," he said as the Holodeck Kicked on, An intensely bright, out door target range flicker into existence around them, bone white sands coating the ground. "I was an engineer..till the Council decided that since I was already here, and my Secondary Training is in Linguistics that I'd be a decent candidate for the diplomatic Corp."

He glanced down at his armor with a smirk. "And this...well it keeps me comfortable...My world is...well...its lethally hot for humans, so with out the heating units in the armor I'd be suffering Hypothermia just by being in the same room as the rest of the crew."

Samuel could immediately feel the heat. Like a very hot summer's day on Pacifica. Now it seemed like being in shorts and a t-shirt was going to be A-OK. "A member of the diplomatic corps ay?" he said as he surveyed the raget range. It was bright here too. Sam guessed that this must be a nice day on whatever that planet name that didn't translate out too well was. He squinted, his blue eyes narrowing down the pupils. Well, I don't think you'll be suffering hypothermia today? Is this what it's like on your home Reo'thanra?"

Reo Nodded. "its actually a fair bit cooler in here due to the safety Req'tatr the computer puts on environmental conditions," he added as he pulled his rifle off his back, its power cell whining to life. "You'd Heatstroke out fairly quickly."

Sam nodded in understanding, "Great place if you want to sell sun screen lotion though?" Noticing the rifle that Reo'thanra pulled off his back he asked, "Now that looks interesting. What's that you have there?" he indicated to the rifle in Reo's hands.

"this? its a Mass Driver Carbine," he said as he carried the Weapon to a Prepared stand, with several Small Magazines that looked like they'd fit snugly into a space Just in front of the Trigger well. "Standard issue for any Combat MOS within the Confederacy defense fleet."

Woolheater commented, "Looks pretty mean. Standard issue huh? What's the effective range?" Sam asked as he checked the weapon over while Reo mounted it.

"Eighty Meters, though that numbers a bit misleading," The shorter creature chuckled. "This particular model is designed for Star ship defense, so while its not Limited to that range...its designed for inter corridor fighting."

Sam nodded and was impressed. "Looks smart. Effective combination of close quarters with some decent range. Sorry - I know this is your holodeck time. Go ahead, let me see it in action huh?" He said as he wiped his forehead and nose. He stepped back just a bit but close enough to see how Reo used the weapon.

In one fluid motion Reo Shouldered the weapon, and squeezed off a shot, sending a shard of metal screeching through the air leaving a thin vapor trail behind as it screamed with multiple pop snaps of the sound barrier breaking.

Sam was looking for how much recoil there was and there didn't seem to be much. He whistled, "Wheeeew! Looks pretty powerful there Reo'thanra Sandtail. I can imagine that you get a company of Arten coming at you with those weapons, you're not going to have a good day. I have a million questions. What's the recoil like? And is this the weapon you use on your ships? Or when deployed in an assault?"

"Recoil's fairly light," The arten Grinned his fanged smile. "Only a small solid propellant charge, the rest of the power comes from the Electromagnetic coils." he added as he hefted the Carbine up. "yes, this is our Ship board weapon for non-combatants, Ground assault Troops Carry one with a longer barrel and a Heavier charge..Or the just send in the combat drones."

Sam listened and then asked, "Sorry about the questions; I'm only curious. The velocity of the projectile must be....hundreds of meters per second with the way it just sounded. How do you make sure that if you have a firefight onboard one of your ships that you don't put a hole through the hull and decompress a section?" Sam asked and then he elaborated, "Take Starfleet protocols for example; one cannot discharge a phased energy weapon without an alarm sounding. And while one has much bigger problems if your have a phaser being discharged on board your ship - these things happen. So...I'm only curious...what do you guys do differently so you don't blow a hole in the hull?" Sam wiped his face and neck with the slack of the t-shirt. He was perspiring now and he could feel himself getting a suntan here.

"Well for starters, our ships don't have windows on the exterior hulls," Reo chuckled. "And even if they did, the ship board variants of the Weapon fire A frangible Electroconductive Ceramic round, which all but Disintegrates on impact, So Even if the shot misses its intended target, the Round will at worst Deform an interior bulkhead." he paused for a moment to tap a command into his wrist computer. "Computer Bring Temperature down to Twenty Seven C," he called. "No need for you to be sweating like a Uln'trak." he said with a cheerful grin. "Wanna give it a shot?" he asked as he offered the Boxy weapon up.

"Owww...that's gotta hurt. So, if a boarding party gets into a tangle with the Artens, one would see a lot of torn up bodies but not a lot of projectiles. I bet the medical department just loves treating Arten combat wounded. Hence the body armor. I get it now, I see, I see, says the blind man." When Reo called for the temperature to come down, Sam was very grateful. "Thank you. I think it's got to be the reflective sand and the lack of a breeze? Is this target range like your homeworld in your home system? You mentioned an arid desert planet or moon?"

"Artania is an L Class Planet, Its surface temperature average Hovers around 57C," Reo chuckled. "And...in my case the body armor is more to regulate my body temperature, my sub species was engineered to be able to tolerate the extreme heat of our adoptive home world," He explained. "Telacha itself, the true arten homeworld, is An M-class planet, very similar to earth,"

"Telacha? I haven't heard of it. But I will look it up. Thank you for turning down the heat." Sam said, "I would love to try it out" he said. Sam dried his hands on the now damp t-shirt. And he tried to air dry them by shaking them. He didn't want to get the weapon oily or sweaty and he apologized. Holding the mass driver carbine in his hands he was surprised at the weight. It was heavier at the rear and obviously designed for an Arten user. In his hands, the weapon kept wanting to pull up. But, after a moment, Sam got it and now he knew how to hold it. He touched the frame of the weapon from the trigger area to the barrel just to see how it was machined and how it felt. He remarked, "The metal? It's cool to the touch? I don't see any heat dissaption? How does it manage heat?" he asked as he looked it over.

"Heat is funneled into the Plasma cell, to help keep it charged, So that the Weapon never fully loses power," Reo explained. "something you'll learn about Arten Engineering philosophy is that everything needs to be as practical as possible," he added. "if we can recycle anything...we do,"

"Sounds like a wise policy. Mind if I squeeze off a few rounds?" Sam asked.

"Not at all," Reo chuckled. "Scopes self adjusting, so Feel free to use that if you'd like as well," he added quickly.

"I just want to see what the recoil is like?" he said as nr brought the weapon up to his sightline. He aimed it downrange on the holodeck and slowly squeezed the trigger. It had a distinct sound as the mass driver carbine spent a round. The kickback from the weapon was very minimal and yet the multiple sounds the projectile made down range would have one thinking that more than a single round was fired. "Whoa! Nice!. It handles well. I'm going to try successive rounds of fire." 'POP-POP-POP' he fired three rounds but it sounded like he fired nine. He felt the barrel and the case and it wasn't warm at all. He checked the loaded rounds casing and everything was smooth. Next, he would try the scope. It automatically adjusted and focused for him. Which for this weapon's application was fine. This was close quarters and then some range. He found a setting on the handle and saw that it was also doing ranging for him. He held the weapon steady, steady, aimed right down the line to the target and slowly squeezed off another round. 'POP!' it rang out. Sam hit the downrange target and the computer chirped the range and score. "Sweet!" He handed the weapon back to Reo'thanra after wiping off any sweaty prints that he might have left. "Thanks! It's a good gun. More powerful than I'd like for close quarters but perfect for dealing with armored attackers. Seems like it'd be just perfect for field deployment. How is it to clean?" he asked as he handed it back to Reo carefully.

"The whole system field strips into ten parts, all of which are safe to expose to ultrasonic cleaning, save for the power cell, which doesn't need to be cleaned at all," Reo said as he carefully accepted the weapon back. He then grinned. "for our ground assault teams though we usually make use of Gun drones."

Sam grinned back, "Gun drones? Now where's the fun in that? Gun drones...get outta here!" he teased with a big smile. "Maybe sometime we can do a little target practice or close quarters combat training huh? I bet we could learn some things from you and your Arten techniques? And maybe you can learn a few things from us? That's what it's all about yeah? Trading info and knowledge, getting to know one another and all that?" he asked.

"Well if all goes well the plan is to have Arten Marines joining your forces once we officially join the federation." the short alien shrugged.

Sam opened his arms wide, "Ah! Well. There it is. I'm a marine. Totally works for me brotha man! Reo'thanra, may I just call you Reo? I'm terrible with names?"

"Reo is more then acceptable, Reo'thanra is my formal name." He said with a cheerful nod

Sam thanked him and said, "I'm sorry to have taken so much of your holodeck time. Thank you for showing me your weapon and the little tutorial there. I'll get out of your fur now and you can crank this program back on up to broil. I'll see you around Reo."

"I look forward to Teaching boarding actions," the little alien called as he turned his attention back to the Range, and pausing just long enough to call out. "Computer, set environmental levels back to Artania Substitution 1."



[OFF:]

1st Lt. Samuel Woolheater

&

Staff Warrant Officer Reo'thanra Sandtail.