The main briefing room had seating for seven people around the odd-shaped, four-sided table. The captain sat facing the door, and the science officer sat beside him to his left, with the computer console in front of her. To the captain's right was the first officer and chief engineer, and on the longest side of the table, the security chief and the chief medical officer.
Chan entered the room, with Clemsen staying outside. Now as a nervous time, she thought, as she was actually meeting the command personnel that she would be working with for as long as her assignment ran, or until she did something that would get her kicked off of the ship. She used the moment's hesitation to quickly scan the gathering of senior officers, her Odonan eyes and brain taking in a lot and processing the information quickly. She knew the positions that the people sat in, and so she knew that the science officer and the first officer was not the same person. It was typical for the first officer to have some other clear role as well, such as the helmsman or the science officer. Instead, the science officer was an olive-skinned, older human woman with loose, curly black hair. The medical officer was a Vulcan, quite young looking, but as with Odonans, the age of a Vulcan was not easily determined by mere appearance.
Captain Parouge stood up. Formally, he said, "Welcome on board the U.S.S. Alexandria, Lieutenant Commander Chan Chi Lee. These people are my command crew, science officer Ismala al-Calihad, chief of security Nattin Tashur, chief medical officer Solok, first officer Ortese Allende, whom you've already met, and chief engineer Lionel Etcheberry."
"Thank you," Chan answered, wondering if that remark was the appropriate one for this situation. On the other hand, maybe they would forgive her for now for any social transgressions, knowing that she was dealing with alien, unfamiliar customs. "I'm glad to be on board."
"Would you please be seated."
Without further word, Chan sat down on the final available seat around the richly-worked wooden table.
Parouge, still standing, was the one who made the speech. He faced Chan as he spoke. "Lieutenant Commander, you are now a ranked officer of Starfleet, of the United Federation of Planets, and in that position, you are expected to fulfill the terms of your oath, to obey your superior officers and to treat those under you with dignity and respect. As a fleet officer, you are expected to not engage in activities that are damaging to the Federation, its people or its properties. Of course, these activities are to be concurrent and consistent with your vow of loyalty to the Odonan Space Service."
"I understand that fully, captain," Chan replied, "and you have my loyalty."
"Thank you," the captain said, as he sat down. "Lets get to business, then."
After a few seconds of shuffling, while gathering his thoughts, the first officer took over speaking. "I hope, Lieutenant Commander Chan, these questions we might ask are not embarrassing, or even insulting. These exchange programs are meant to be learning experiences for both your people and ours. We have not had an Odonan serve on one of our vessels before, so we do have some questions, basically for our information."
"Okay," Chan answered. "I won't be bothered by any of the questions-as long as they don't get too personal."
"Fair enough," Allende replied. "The first question is about your name. Odonans have a wide variety of naming practices, so we don't know what yours is. We know you have three names, so could you explain them to us, so we won't use the wrong name in the wrong situation."
Smiling a bit, Chan said, "That's okay. My usual name, given as humans would say it, is Chi Chan. Chan is the surname, my family name, and Chi is my given name. The last form, Lee, actually Le'e-two syllables-is the clan name, after the region that is my family's ancestral home. It's not important and can be forgotten. However, the clan name should never be used alone as a human first or last name would be used."
"Thank you. That could prevent further embarrassment in the future. There is also the question of the forcefield belt."
"I was told I could wear it," Chan said immediately, her voice sounding defensive.
"I understand, but what is it capable of? Can it be used offensively?"
That was a slightly sticky point, since Starfleet prevented crewmembers from wearing anything that could be used as an offensive weapon. On the other hand, Chan had to tell the truth. "It could be so used," she explained, "basically by increasing the momentum that whatever is on the receiving end would feel. However, doing that would be extremely taxing on me, so I do not use the feature in normal activities. If I do, it will only be to carry out duties to protect members of the crew, the ship, and so on, in the same way any other offensive weapons issued to me would be used."
"Is it bioelectric?" Etcheberry asked.
"Yes," Chan replied.
"Amazing. I've never had the opportunity to examine such a remarkable piece of technology."
That was another uncomfortable point, since her vow to the Odonan Space Service prevented her from letting aliens examine that particular item. However, she was sure Etcheberry was aware of that restriction, and did not pursue the matter.
"What other capabilities does it have?" asked Allende.
"Basically, its main function is to stop the transmission of matter andor energy in whatever forms I choose in either direction."
"And it's controlled mentally?" asked al-Calihad, who spoke with a high-pitched voice and a noticeable accent.
"Not in the strictest sense of mental abilities. Instead, it operates as an extension of my nervous system. This particular forcefield belt has been developed with cultured samples of my own nerve tissue, and so only I can wear it and operate it."
"It is physically connected to your nervous system?" The science officer seemed a little put off by the mere thought of such a linking of man and machine.
"Not directly, but there is an interface point at which information from my nervous system is carried over, and information is brought back. It is how I can control it with thought, and receive feedback on how the belt is functioning."
"Is it on now?" asked the engineer.
"Yes."
"What is it programmed to stop?"
"Everything but the normal constituents of the atmosphere, water vapour, usual dust and so on, as well as all high-end radiation."
"Doesn't it tire you to have it operating in that fashion all the time?"
"It only draws power when it has to stop an object it is not programmed to accept. Otherwise, the power drain is so minimal I do not feel it. It is also programmed to convert kinetic energy passing through to infrared."
"So it cools the air before it touches you?"
"Yes. However, I do not have that function on now. I'm trying to acclimatize myself to the warmer conditions of a human-crewed ship."
"There is one further aspect," Allende continued, looking down at the table and not at Chan. "Odonans can generate static electric charges in various degrees. How are you?"
Shyly, Chan admitted, "I have tested quite high in that area."
Solok, in his level, emotionless voice, spoke up, "Lieutenant Commander," he started, not looking at the Odonan, "would the electricity generation in any way interfere with surgical procedures that might be performed on you?"
"Well, I assume that you no longer cut into tissue with metal instruments. That could be dangerous. There is a grounding procedure that would draw off-"
Chan was interrupted by a beeping sound from the intercom unit in front of the captain. The man hit the receive button and said, "Parouge here."
"Captain," came the smooth, level voice of the communications officer. "Starfleet has informed us of an accident on board the passenger ship Colonial Explorer. They have had to abandon ship in the Cestus sector, and Starfleet has notified us and other ships in this sector to rescue the survivors and return them to Starbase Fourty-Four."
"I understand," Parouge said quickly. "I'm on my way to the bridge." As the meeting started to break up, with the seven standing and assembling towards the doorway, the captain added, "Commander Chan, you will accompany us to the bridge. I understand that you've received training on the helm controls."
"Yes."
"Lets find out if you know what you've learned."
The turbolift was not far away, and it was large enough to accommodate the crowd that gathered in it. Chan felt a bit nervous at being among so many aliens, and was even more so once she thought again that these aliens were watching her and studying her every move.
Allende asked her, "What kind of helm and navigation training have you had?"
"Well," Chan answered, thankful that her mind could be put on something else. "That was my original training back home, and I have had extensive training in all forms of Odonan spacecraft. I do have a class-O rating, the highest available. I spent months on Earth learning Federation terminology and systems."
"Good," Parouge answered. "This deep in Federation territory, on a well-understood run, this should cause you no problems."
The turbolift arrived at the main bridge. Unlike on Odonan ships, the turbolifts opened right onto the bridge, so Chan saw it as the doors parted. The large, circular bridge was not too occupied since the ship was scheduled to be in orbit around Starbase Fourty-Four for another day. The helm station in particular was vacant. Other than Nattin Manaburi, the communications officer, those at the stations were the second shift bridge crew, and not the first. Parouge decided that would do for now.
Chan, quite aware that all eyes were looking her over, sat down behind the helm console, and quickly familiarized herself with the layout. The Alexandria had been recently updated, and now supported the familiar Odonan black glass-emasuyr-panels with their pressure-sensitive points. The humans had another term for them, "touchpads." Mixed in with the configurable, mission-sensitive controls, were other, fixed and solid controls. No navigator was on duty as well, so Chan was able to call up that set of controls and began plotting the course. Now, she readied the impulse engines to take the ship out of orbit.
"Ready to break orbit," Chan reported, remembering in mid-phrase not to use the Odonan terminology, even in loan translation.
"Take us out of orbit."
"Out of orbit, sir," Chan acknowledged, her supple fingers reaching across the glass plates smoothly and expertly. No motion could be felt as the Alexandria pulled out of orbit, as indicated by the rapidly-shrinking planet visible on the viewscreen-and Chan thought again how deprived the crews on human ships must have felt without the large viewscreens Odonans like to put on their ships. "Ahead at thirty psol."
"What?"
"Oh, point three of light. Sorry about that."
"That's okay, Chan," Parouge said, as he settled down in the comfortable captain's chair. "Is that Odonan terminology?"
"Yes." When the captain had nothing further to say, she added, "Standing by for warp engage."
Chan glanced across the top of the panel, where the warp status gauges were. It was the responsibility of the engineer on the bridge station to ready the warp engines for the jump to hyperlight speeds, and Chan was glad he was doing his job without being told. The gauges were rapidly aligning themselves in the proper format.
"Now point three eight of light," Chan said, remembering to use the right expression this time. "Given the current status of he warp engines and the gravity fields around us, I believe we can make the jump to warp speed."
"Engage warp drives," Parouge ordered.
Chan hit a switch, and watched as the velocity display instantly went over the speed of light. The star patterns changed, and then rearranged themselves as a real-time image was replaced by a computer-generated one using the familiar infinite speed of light approximation that made the stars understandable for beings who evolved at low speeds. "Warp drives engaged," the woman reported. "Speed warp two. Course setting?"
"Manaburi?"
The communications officer gave the co-ordinates that the passenger ship had reported, so Chan entered those numbers into the helm control and steered the ship in that direction. She checked long and short range sensors as she did, for objects that might be in the way. Once the adjustments in the course were made, which took about five seconds, Chan asked, "Speed?"
"Warp factor twelve."
At the far left end of the console was a lever with a bar across the top for gripping. Chan firmly took hold of that, and eased it towards the top of the slot it was located in. On the board, the velocity display graphic showed the speed of the ship raising rapidly, and then levelling off as warp twelve was reached. It took about four minutes to get the Alexandria to top speed. Inside, Chan smiled, since only in a Federation ship would warp twelve be considered fast. An Odonan commander would be embarrassed to recommend travelling at warp twelve on what would be considered an emergency run. However, warp twelve was all the Federation could do given its resources. To them, warp twelve was an accomplishment of the highest levels of their engineering science, but to the Odonans, it was still a sign of a culture that was primitive and not yet fully versed on the art of starship engineering. It was the difference, as well, between warp converter assemblies made of dilithium crystals and ones made of disks of shimmering tam-ulk-yr. Being able to go no faster than warp twelve would take some-no, a lot of-getting used to.
"Arrival time, helmsman?" Parouge asked, as he sat at the conn.
The information was displayed on the helm panel, and Chan read it off smoothly, "Seventeen hours, fourty-one minutes at this speed."
"Very well, carry on."
Allende slipped into the vacant navigation console to the right of the helm controls, and looked over at the Odonan. "What is your impression of the ship so far, lieutenant commander?"
"Very smooth," she answered truthfully. "The helm controls are very well designed, and the rate of acceleration is very impressive."
Allende looked at her for the longest time with his deep, dark eyes, before saying, "No remarks about a maximum velocity of warp twelve?"
"It is not my position to comment on the level of Federation engineering. The fact that Odonan ships can go considerably faster is irrelevant now, as far as the Alexandria is concerned. If warp twelve is the limit, we shall make due with that."
"By the way, what is the upper limit of the speed of Odonan ships?"
"For all intents and purposes, the upper limit cannot be reached..."
Chan Chi knew that it was going to take time for her to get used to the new ship, and all of the new people on it. The first problem she had to get over was that she was on a ship full of aliens. Humans did not look too much different from Odonans, but there were cultural differences. Chan could see one when she looked down at her hands. The top of her hands, including the fingers to the second joint, were covered in clearly-visible, long and sometimes thick black hairs. Some were upto three centimetres long. Not a single human culture existed that did not consider such body hair to be revolting. The hands were one thing. On her face were narrow, stiff hairs that some derisively called whiskers. They were on the sides of her face, around the mouth and chin and on the sides of the face near the eyes. Some of the phyyza were upto eight centimetres long, and most were five. They were plainly visible for all to see. More hair came in unnatural locations, such as on the neck, where a line of hairs upto six centimetres long were extremely sensitive to air motions. Other hairs, on prime locations like the back, upper arms and the shoulders, were from five to seven centimetres long, and they too were extremely sensitive to motions and air currents. With sufficient skin exposed, an Odonan could walk around comfortably with his eyes closed, with the body hair, the san, reacting to air motions to alert the walker of obstacles to avoid. Humans would not be familiar with the knowledge that Odonans evolved on a planet where on average the days and nights were three Earth days long each. The Odonans had to evolve a way to move around in total darkness. When she walked through the corridors of the Alexandria, Chan could see some of the women and many of the men look unpleasantly at her hands and her neck. It almost made her wonder how they would react if she wore garments that revealed more skin. Humans were for the most part a tolerant lot, and could easily accept features on aliens that were different, and had no counterpart in their own bodies. Vulcan ears or Andorian antennae or the peculiar nose of the Tellarites did not disturb them. It was just that in their own culture, extensive hairiness was regarded as primitive and unsanitary. Among humans, of course, body hair ultimately was there to insulate the body, and unlike with Odonans, the hairs did not contain extensions of the nervous system.
During the time between setting the course to the Cetus sector to retrieve people from the damaged passenger ship and the arrival there, Chan had time to go over the personnel reports of many of the people who would be going on the landing parties. If she was to rise to the position of security chief, one of her responsibilities would be to form landing parties according to the instructions of the captain so she would have to know each person's capabilities, duty schedules and so on. It was not that difficult, since Chan had done similar work on Alfe Kree, although with a lot larger roster of people to choose from.
Clemsen also took her on a tour of the ship, and informed her of another principal duty of the security chief, to patrol the ship, and look for anything dangerous, like leaks, damages to pipes and conduits and wiring, and so on. She had to learn what the ship looked like, and to be able to instantly spot something that was not right, even if she could not say right away why it was not right.
During this tour, Chan noticed that Clemsen was taking every chance he could to walk close beside her, and to lean towards her and even brush across her and touch her whenever he could make it look like he was actually showing or demonstrating something. He apparently was one of the few humans not to be offended by the san, and in many ways he seemed to be attracted to her. It was something she had been instructed on while on Earth. "It's not that difficult, actually," he explained, as they strolled along some of the lower decks in the secondary hull. "After you get the hang of it, you can spot abnormalities right away." Chan could detect a little nervousness and even a hint of excitement on his voice.
"But it will take time," the woman replied, trying to keep the conversation on the level. "I've hardly learned my way around the ship."
After walking further along, and returning to the saucer section, the two headed along a corridor on deck G. Clemsen asked, "Thirsty, or whatever?" He noticed that Chan was sweating a bit, again because she was not using the forcefield device to counter what to her were high temperatures.
"Yeah, sort of," she answered.
"The rec deck is up ahead. The one on this ship is one of the newer ones. Do Odonan ships have such things?"
"Sure," Chan answered. "If you spend years on a ship, you need places like that. We're not Klingons, you know."
"Of course," Clemsen said with a forced laugh. "It's just a general opinion that Odonans do not have fun."
"Hardly," the woman retorted.
The rec deck was large, and kind of deserted. Around the room were a number of raised daises with electronic games platforms, a large viewing screen at the front of the room and several smaller ones scattered about, a lot of seating and some rooms off to the side. One of those was a snack bar. Clemsen led Chan to the snack bar, saying, "The food processors here should work for anything Odonan."
"Thanks," Chan replied. She had in her pocket a couple of computer cards, which she could use in the food processor to select common Odonan snack items. The human with her was right; she was somewhat thirsty from walking throughout the ship, with its temperature and humidity higher than what she was comfortable with.
Clemsen watched as the woman slipped a green card into the machine, and quickly touched a few buttons. Each touch produced a different beeping sound. "What are you having?" he asked.
"It's called osij," Chan replied. "It's hard to describe the taste."
"Is it safe for us?"
"I'd think so. This osij is made with human food molecules."
"Could I try it?"
"Sure," Chan replied, touching one more button to increase the quantity from one to two. Within a couple of seconds, a green light flashed and a small door lifted, revealing two glasses of a dark red, bubbly liquid.
Clemsen guided the Odonan woman to one of the vacant tables, and sat down across from her. He watched as Chan drank from her glass, but when he did, he did so tentatively. This was the first Odonan-derived food product he had ever tried, so he was simply not sure what effect it could have on him. He knew that there was a strong trade between the Odonan Empire and the Federation in foodstuffs, so he had to believe that in general Odonan food was safe, and that Odonan taste buds were not wired all that differently from human ones. A lot of Odonan food was considered to be delicacies in parts of the Federation, so somewhere, some non-Odonan was drinking authentic osij and enjoying it, he thought. Despite that, Clemsen wanted to make sure before committing himself to the drink. He let a little seep between his lips, and noticed that the taste was... different. It had the bubbly sweetness of Coca-Cola, a drink all the range in Odonan space, mixed with a taste that most closely corresponded to strawberries. It was a combination that seemed to work just fine, as he found the liquid refreshingly cool and tasty.
"This is pretty good," the young man replied, drinking more willingly now.
"It's a favourite on Odona."
Two other men showed up at the snack bar. Clemsen recognized them, and they recognized him in turn and also had a pretty good idea who the woman was. One guy, a stocky man of Scandinavian build, was the first to approach, and said, "Hey, Terry, chatting up the newcomers on board, are we?"
Chan just smiled, but Clemsen said, "Not so fast, John. She's going to be your superior officer soon, too."
"Hey, I heard about that," retorted the other one.
Clemsen thought it was time to make proper introductions, so he said to Chan, "These guys are friends of mine. John Sticklesen is in security, and this big goof here is Bruce Nogan, from engineering."
"'Allo," retorted the taller and stockier of the two men, a bronzed-skin Australian.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Chan Chi, from..." Hesitating a bit, the man asked Chan while leaning closer to her, "From what planet exactly?"
"Oh, I was born right at home, on the big one, Odona."
"Yes."
"Pleased to meet ya," replied Nogan. He momentarily offered his hand, and then retracted it, remembering something about how Odonans are capable of generating electric current in their bodies and how it can be released involuntarily-causing quite a jolt. He also had to respect the fingertip claws that Odonans had. Chan did not really notice the social slip that Nogan caused as a result.
Sticklesen sat down, while the taller man went over to the processor for some refreshments. Looking at Chan, the man said, "So you're taking over from Tashur?"
"If the captain decides it that way."
"Well, an Odonan is probably better than an Andorian. I don't mean to be prejudiced or anything, but Andorians are given to easy belligerence. Tashur's answer to everything is to phaser it."
Chan knew that sometimes her answer to a problem was to phaser it, but she did not say that in this situation. "Yeah," she replied in agreement. "I've heard of that before. Sometimes, that's every security chief's answer to any kind of problem."
Nogan returned with a couple of mugs of dark, steamy liquid, handing one to his friend across the table and drinking from the other. "Say," he said, in his booming voice, "if our new friend here really is in security and is going to become the new chief, then she'll have to play the game."
"What game?"
"Phaser Duel," Nogal replied, somehow savouring how an Odonan woman would do. Instinctively, he thought not very well. "Everybody in security has played it."
"Hey," Clemsen intruded. "We're on duty here."
"This is only a milk run. Nothing's going to happen until we get there, and we're not going to get there for awhile yet." Turning to the Odonan, he asked, "Do you think you can handle it?"
"What exactly is Phaser Duel?"
"Oh, it's a kind of a shuttle simulator, adapted from that. The idea is that it gives you the kind of control you would have of a combat shuttle, in a dogfight with similar craft used by the Klingons."
Chan seemed surprised, and said, "To the best of my knowledge, the Klingons do not use such tactics."
"No, but it's a kind of game that tests reflexes, and your sense of anticipation, and your ability to take in data and interpret it."
Sticklesen added, "But didn't the Odonans have small combat ships like that?"
"Yeah, but they're not used that much," Chan remarked. The combat shuttles, or fighter ships, had been developed for use against the Ksassans, since when they entered space, they did not want to risk their large ships-and the high-status Ksassans on board-in direct combat, so the Ksassans developed use of large numbers of small ships. The Odonans responded with fighter shuttles of their own, although that approach to space warfare did not last too long. The small ships were too easy to destroy by the larger ones.
Nogan added, "The aim is to blast away as many Klingons as possible before they get you, and they will get you. Nobody's gone beyond the first minute in this game."
"I see."
Clemsen continued, "Bruce, I don't think this is a good idea."
"The captain's not going to do anything. When was the last time Parouge was even on the rec deck?"
"Even so."
Chan cut in, saying, "Okay, I'll give it a try." She did not add that if the others in the security department had played this game, then she had to play as well, if only to fit in. Normally, this was not something that she would actually do on her own.
The Phaser Duel game was on the balcony overlooking the main rec deck. It was in its own little lounge just off of a sitting area where a card game was going on. Phaser Duel was basically an enclosed platform with a conventional shuttle pilot's seat, including four-point harness, and a control layout similar to that of an alleged "combat shuttle." Control was through a joystick, and speed through foot controls. Buttons on the joystick column controlled various things, such as the weapons, settings and the tactical sensor display. The viewscreen in front was the same kind of multilayered display with holographic emitters that were the used in the windows of the ship and the shuttles. It could display space with complete realism. As the doors were closed, the side screens also came on. Last but not least, Chan knew, the platform was mounted on struts that would allow her to feel like she was actually in space, piloting her ship and avoiding-and taking-hits. It seemed pretty realistic.
She spent several seconds familiarizing herself with the layout of the controls and the locations of the key displays. She even tried the pop-up tactical display, which overlaid the starscape background with a three-dimensional graphic showing the ship and the possible hostile ships and astronomical artifacts within the sensor range. It was not all that difficult to figure out, but then Chan knew that this was generally true of combat shuttles. They had to be simple to operate in the heat of battle.
"Pretty realistic setup," Chan commented.
"We did some work on this, you know."
"Yeah," the Odonan woman continued, "but I doubt that it has an emergency beam-out feature when the fighter has been badly damaged."
"No," Nogan continued. "Here, you suffer the consequences of failure."
"Lets start, then," Chan said.
"You start at your discretion. You start inside a launch bay, and when you take off, you also start the game. Good luck."
"Whatever that expression means," Chan mumbled to herself. She had figured out the controls in short order, and at her discretion, she started the game. The screens came on, giving a pretty realistic three-dimensional view of the imaginary hanger she was lifting off from. She lifted the shuttle off of the deck and flew quickly through the already-open doors and into free space. The sensor screen did not show any of the Klingon attack shuttles yet, so Chan simply accelerated her shuttle to a higher speed and assumed a patrolling course. After about a minute, a Klingon shuttle appeared on the sensor screen.
"Warning," came the voice, and Chan was not sure if that was the computer speaking or taking the role of another pilot. "We have a Klingon intruding on our space. Respond."
Chan turned the imaginary shuttle in that direction and accelerated some more. She soon had visual contact with the enemy ship, and it too had spotted her and was moving on an intercept course. Within a few seconds, she had caught up with the Klingon, and turned faster than he did. Now she was on his tail, and as he tried to accelerate and evade the approach, Chan was just a little too fast. The game did not give her the option for computer-controlled weapons lock-or else she had not yet found those controls-but she was able to take out the Klingon with a few rounds of phaser fire. The simulated ships, she noted, did not have shields either. Their weapons were somewhat limited in the choices and had limited power, and nothing fired from the rear either. Clearly, Chan realized, the Federation had never actually built and used space fighters. If they did, they most certainly would have had the ability to fire from the rear.
"You've got three more enemy craft on your tail," came the announcement. The sensor display confirmed that. In Chan's mind, that just evened up the odds a little more. She let the Klingon ships come to her. They came together, attempting to concentrate their fire, but Chan was anticipating their moves and dodging them. When she was close enough, she cut the speed on her combat shuttle and turned sharply left. Just as expected, the closest Klingon shuttle turned with her, but was slower to cut speed. Once that vessel loomed large in the windows of the mock-up shuttle, Chan fired away. She was greeted by the brilliant blast of the exploding ship. Immediately, she turned, glancing at the sensor display to pick up the other two ships, which were turning and accelerating. She knew that the glare of the explosion would give her a momentary hiding place, which she used to direct her towards the next sensor target. Suddenly, a Klingon ship was looming towards her, ready to pass overhead. With one well-placed, visually-tracked shot, Chan put that Klingon away. She quickly dodged the fire from the third ship, and then turned sharply towards it. It too turned, but not fast enough. The phaser bolts blew apart the third of the small, ugly, dark green ships.
"Warning," came the voice from the controls. "Five more Klingon vessels on an intercept course."
"Five? Don't I have any support here?" The computer-or the imaginary comrade-did not answer. Chan saw them coming, and so she simply worked the accelerator controls and pulled away. In all likelihood, the simulation gave her ship and the enemy ships equal fuel and weapons power, which meant that the Klingons should have sent two ships in, using up their weapons and fuel, while forcing Chan to do likewise. However, all five of the ships turned to pursue her. At the speeds that the ships were reaching, the effect of the weapons was no longer instantaneous. Chan could see them fire and had time to react. If only she had rear-firing weapons, she thought.
The constant evasive manoeuvres, the constant use by the Klingons of their weapons was getting to Chan. She was starting to sweat, and get a little over-anxious. A Klingon-sounding voice came over the speakers. "Why do you run? Are you nothing but ptak? Stand and fight!"
"Better ptak than a dead fool," Chan replied.
She noticed that two of the fighters peeled off, and the remainder of the group slowed down. She tracked the two combat shuttles on the sensor display, and could not immediately fathom what they were doing. She started to slow down too-conserving fuel-while watching the Klingon wing ships go through some complex turn. At that moment, Chan realized that she was lost at this game. In effect, there was no way to win, since if she defeated these five Klingon ships, the game would likely send seven combat shuttles against her own ship. The trick seemed to be to see how far she could survive in this scenario. Chan decided to try something. She banked her combat shuttle through a quick turn, and suddenly faced the three bunched Klingon ships head on. At the same time, she understood what the two sweeping fighters were attempting to do. She could counter that just one way, by flying towards the other three ships. They attempted to open fire, but Chan was concentrating on simply avoiding taking any hits. Not every ship was firing at the same time. The ones that were not likely had run out of power for the weapons. As the sweeping ships closed in, Chan hit the accelerator control on the game. To the surprised Klingon pilots, she simply streaked past the three slower ships, but she had timed the manoeuvre perfectly. The attackers, intent on simply attacking, were tracking the target and not the environment. At the right moment, they filled the air with the green bolts of disruptor fire. Behind her, space filled with explosive effects and surging debris as the three Klingon combat shuttles, grouped closely together, had become the unintended target of the attackers.
"You can always trust a Klingon to do the stupid thing," Chan retorted.
"I heard that, you insignificant thing."
Suddenly, it was personal. Chan spun around the shuttle, and met the turning Klingon vessel. It opened fire first, and more than once, the bright bolts came dangerously close. However, Chan swept inward, and got off a round of weapons fire. The first Klingon ship exploded into many parts. The second one was coming from the rear, so she turned and met that one too, and in the exchange of fire that followed, Chan's reflexes were just a little faster. All around her, space was alive with tumbling debris and the aftereffects of explosions.
"You now have seven enemy combat shuttles approaching."
Outside, a display was showing the progress of the shuttle Chan was piloting. Nogan was impressed by what he saw. "Look at her. She's lasted longer than I ever had, and I've played that game a lot."
"It's uncanny," replied Sticklesen. "Looks at the way she avoids the Klingons. It's almost as if she knows how to do it."
"She's fast."
Clemsen added, "I think that she might have had some dealings with the Klingons before. It shows."
Another of the spectators commented, "She's got fast reflexes."
Chan was concentrating on the game above all else, and was not aware of the conversations going on around her. With seven Klingons coming at her from all directions, and no support from friendly craft, she knew that it was physically impossible to outwit that many and avoid being destroyed. At this level, she knew, she would have to be satisfied with taking out as many as possible before the inevitable happened. The first strategy was to run away, which might convince the Klingons to bunch up and pursue, although not all would come at once. With just the right evasive manoeuvres, she could get the Klingons to bunch up. The problem here was that her combat shuttle lacked rear-firing weapons. She would have to turn and do it quickly enough that the Klingons could not react. When she had four of the pursuers close enough together, she made a turn that was as tight and controlled as possible. The four Klingon attackers started to split up, while the remaining three were closing in from various directions. Chan dodged some disruptor blasts, and concentrated her fire on two of the Klingon ships. The reflexes of the pilots of those two ships were not as good as hers, and they went out in flames and explosions. She could feel her combat shuttle shake as it took hits, but the shields were holding-for now. The power gauge was showing a steep decline. Chan came around again, and went after one of the Klingons, while watching her sensor display and dodging the approaches of the other attack ships. When one got close, Chan suddenly altered her course and hit the accelerators. The rear of that Klingon ship loomed large-and she let go with a barrage of phaser fire. Even simulated, the explosion was bright and vivid. When the simulator shook again, Chan worked the controls to plunge towards. One Klingon followed, and two more approached from opposite directions. She set the plane to those two approaching craft, and matched her orientation to that. At the right moment, she made a slight adjustment-and had the two Klingons fire right into each other. Their weapons were tuned to their shields and went straight through. Five were down. She slowed down again as the sixth one closed in, while the seventh was approaching from another direction. Again, she took hits. Alarms were sounding, and damage reports were scrolling across her screens. Chan turned into the direction that the seventh attacker was approaching, and matched his approach, which was enough to convince the one behind her from firing. The two remaining ships were communicating, as the seventh one backed off, leaving the sixth one to Chan. She tried to evade the one, but kept on drifting into his weapons' range. Several times, the enemy fired, a few bolts missing and the other striking.
"Warning," sounded the computer. "Rear shield failure is imminent. Fuel supply is reaching critical lows."
"Well, damnit," the Odonan cursed. "If I had rear weapons, I'd take out this bastard." Once more the Klingon ships fired. Chan was starting to feel a little fatigued, from the concentration to the gripping of the control stick to the bouncing around in the cockpit of the attack shuttle.After one particularly rough stretch, all the lights went out. The computer said solemnly, "The last impact was a fatal one. The combat shuttle was destroyed."
"Like I said, if I had rear weapons."
The rear of the simulator opened, and Chan could feel some cooler air flow in. She found that she was still breathing hard and sweat had beaded on her forehead. As she climbed out, she could hear Clemsen say, "Wow, you have survived at the seven-fighter level longer than anybody I knew. I mean, I can barely stay alive during the five-attacker level, but to take out five of seven at that level, wow."
"Let me guess, if I had succeeded, the next level would have nine Klingons?"
"Yeah," Nogan remarked. "The intelligence of the pilots would've increased too. Even so, to take out five of seven, that's incredible."
"Must be Odonan reflexes... and experience."
"You've actually battled Klingon attack ships like that in space?"
"Not Klingons exactly, but I have dealt with a number of Korpeian ships in that situation."
Nogan shrugged, and said, "Nah, they're primitive."
"Hardly," Chan remarked. "Their ships are surprisingly advanced."
Clemsen got behind the controls of the simulator to try his luck. As soon as three Klingon attack ships were on the sensor display, the young man was overwhelmed. Two of the enemy converged on him as he gunned for the third, as he forgot the important rule of keeping an eye out for everybody and not just the one that he was pursuing. Although he felt a momentarily jolt of satisfaction at taking out the Klingon he was pursuing, the simulation suddenly died with the computer's death chant. "Damn," he muttered, as he climbed out. "I didn't do as good as you did, Chi. "I should've been watching the other ones."
"You got to fire and dip," Chan explained. "Never stay on the same plane. You've got three dimensions to work in, and you should use them all."
"Having Odonan reflexes would also help."
(End of Part 2)
