CAG Morning Meetings - CTSO time

Posted on Monday 21 November 2016 @ 05:46 by Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix & Major David Scarlet

Mission: Old, New Ship
Location: CAG Office - Deck 39, Drop Bay Upper Level, USS Merlin
Timeline: MD9 Early Morning
4041 words - 8.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

==== USS Merlin, Deck 39, CAG Office ====

Sav had come directly to her office from Breakfast. While the crewmen had looked at her strange, she had eaten a bowl of soup with sea salt and a bowl of oatmeal with honey and walnuts. That was the typical breakfast she would give to hungover charges, and so she followed that herself. She was feeling tired, but the typical 'hangover' stuff of vomiting, headaches, and body aches was not present with her. She had followed Brenda, and her own, advice on drinking water as well as some chamomile tea and reading to let the alcohol effects fade before going to bed.

The only interruption was her changed nightmare and Wolf being in her quarters when she woke up out of it. Still, after he left, she had managed to get some uninterrupted sleep, maybe because of the extra alcohol.

Sav entered and grinned to find Crewman Wyn Rhoderick already in the office, the smell of fresh brewed coffee filling the space. "Hey, Wyn, thank you. I really, really need that this morning."

Wyn, a Boda (Humanoid Ratling from Rigel IV), smiled and said, "That sounds like a typical Officer. You guys always need coffee in the morning." She grabbed the thermos to pour a cup for Sav.

Sav churred out, "Yeah, but this time even more so. I celebrated my promotion yesterday with Brenda, a new friend, and, well, got totally snockered."

Wyn chuckled, bringing the cup over. "And, here you go. Now, one second." Wyn leaned into Sav's muzzle to take a sniff.

Sav, for her part, slowly breathed out, letting Wyn gauge her health through that breath. She would do the same for others, and now it was her turn.

Wyn drew back, slight confusion on her face, "Well, your doing fine, only a hint of alcohol left in you. But, I smell something else, not quite right."

Sav snorted out in light humor, "Yeah, probably from past surgeries." Sav sat down and took a sip of her coffee, "Ohhhh, this is soooo good. Thank's, Wyn." Sav grabbed her padd, "Anything on the docket?"

Wyn shook her head, "Nothing hard scheduled. Right now, your doors are on 'open for whomever' and the records for the pilots need reviewed for training and possible exercises."

Sav churred out, "Oh, great, the typical red tape for being the head of a department. Well, I saw my superiors doing this on my Cadet Cruise, so, now, my turn." Sav buried herself into the documents on her desk, knowing that there would be holes in everyone's training as that training would be contingent upon where the Merlin was and what was allowed for any ops dealing with training. She saw multiple training missions not checked and said out loud to no one in particular, "This is going to be fun."

Wyn called out, "Welcome to the nut house known as the Dragon's, Sir."

Lieutenant David Scarlet had always found a way to avoid people he didn't like or at least make them avoid him. The unfortunate thing was that now as CTSO, he no longer had the luxury of not dealing with those he wasn't fond of. It was that which had led him to the door of the CAG. With his padd in hand he pressed the chime to announce his presence. He then stood firmly at attention until he was bid to enter.

Sav and Wyn looked at each other, then Sav smiled, "A Visitor. Cool." She hit the annunicator at her desk, "Come on in, Door's open."

When David came into the office, Sav stood up as well as Wyn. Sav hoped he was in a better mood after yesterday evening. She pleasantly smiled as she greeted him, "Greetings Lieutenant Scarlet. What brings you this way?"

"Lieutenant Tillatix, I would like to discuss the flight patterns and battle formations of your squadrons and how it pertains to the weaponry of the Merlin." Scarlet said firmly, very formally while still making only the most fleeting of eye contact.

'Oh great, he is either still ticked at last night, or just still getting used to being an officer after having been a crewman. I'll go with the second one and hope' Sav thought to herself. Her tail flicked once as her ears shifted slightly to the side and back to the fore for Wyn's benefit even as she nodded to David and motioned to the planning desk, "Sure thing, Lieutenant Scarlet. Please, have a seat. We can use the holographic imager for anything needing 3d modeled."

Scarlet took a seat without saying a word. He laid the padd on the table and cued up the standard starfleet maneuvers for vessels similar to the Merlin.

Wyn, having seen the signal for coffee, brought over the coffee set. The Boda (Humanoid Rat) put a cup before David, the whiskers on her muzzle full out while her tail shifted behind her in courtesy. She now stated, "Crewman Rhoderick, CAG personal Assistant, at your service, Sir. How would you like your Coffee? The CAG's personal service set also has Various Teas and Cocoa if you don't want coffee."

"I'm good." Scarlet said without looking up. "Thank you." He added as an afterthought.

Wyn's whiskers and tail flicked as she said, "You're Welcome, Sir." She turned with the service and topped off Sav's coffee.

Sav smiled warmly to Wyn as her cup was refilled. "Thanks, Wyn." She turned to David while bringing up weapons and maneuver data on the three types of fighters attached to the Merlin. She churred gently, smiling, as she asked, "So, what would you like to discuss first?"

"Let's go over some of the basic maneuvers, then compare them to some scenarios. We can discuss capabilities as we go and if we come up with something worth looking into, we can authorize training exercises." Scarlet looked down at his padd and then back up at the holographic imager as the Merlin took shape.

Sav noticed that David was intense into what was going on in front of him. She did not sense any directed hostility from him, and so she chalked it up his current demeanor as due to catching up to being the new CTSO and running on a very tight schedule. She now fully focused on the display as well. Her fingers danced across the desk and the 18 fighters materialized in a corner of the display in three groups of six. Sav did not put them into their typical configuration of one bomber with two fighter supports as that was for ground and running small ship battles, where as this was for Merlin fighter support when warranted.

She churred out, "Okay, Ready at my end. As this is for Merlin support, the Broadswords are configured for assault fighters, while the Valkyries and Raptors are standard outfitted for max speed and maneuverability. What do you want to cover first? Escort Duties, Planetary Support, Space Hazard Infiltrations, Blockade Runner Harrying, pinpoint sensor focus, or other?"

"Escort duties." Scarlet replied without looking up from the padd. He uploaded the details from his scenario. "Traveling through possibly hostile space. Merlyn is at yellow alert, shields up but weapons not primed. Please display the fighter formations."

Sav nodded, "Understood. And, next assumption is no line ships involved and escort is for show of force for pirates, area of race still using fighters, diplomatic show, etc. With the progress of current technology, Fighters are not used for engaging Line ships unless buying time for a wounded Fed line ship. So, the fighters would be setup as typical three by formation in six squads, one Broadsword with an escort of one Valkyrie and one Raptor. Their would be one top, one bottom, and the other four low slung at 45, 135, 225, and 315 degrees, all at 20 kklicks out. That should provide main areas clear with full protection."

"The phaser banks are in these areas." Scarlet commented. "The formations are keeping the fighters clear of them which is good. But how fast can they get in and out of the firing radius if required?"

"While Broadswords are slower fighters, all fighters are very quick with acceleration and minute turning radius's. As long as the ship is going at or below Warp 2, the fighters can burst into and out of any of the forward, port, aft, and starboard zones of fire. To stay out of fire is also way low slung. The fighters can harry any ship upthrusting while keeping line of sight clear for weaponry. Of course, the top fighters will move over to engage from upwards, while the bottom fighters will move up to fill the outward gap left by the engaging low slung fighters. That way, two squads of fighters are engaged while the Merlin still has its circle of protection, just not a full sphere once engaged."

Scarlet simply grunted and input the information into his padd. He used it to tweek his own simulations. He studied the simulations he was seeing and looked up. "Max speeds?"

Sav sighed, "The cruise of the Valkyrie and Broadsword Fighters is Warp 2. The Raptor is the only one at Warp 4.3 right now. So, if the Merlin is going Warp 4, the only fighters to escort are the Raptors. The normal escort duties of the fighters is NOT the Merlin, but the Captain's Yacht, Shuttles with Brass and Dips on them, Surface to Ship freight runs, and hazardous space escort where slow speeds are the norm and not the exception. Hence why the protection duty for the find on the asteroid in the asteroid field. The fighters are quick with armament for engaging small ships, well, small ones that aren't going snails pace with cloak. I still don't know how they managed to fit a cloak on a vessel so small, unless they removed all weapons and took out some passenger space for an exra fusion plant." Sav shook her head, snorting out in light humor, "Sorry, I diverted there. Next question?"

Scarlet put his padd down and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "Lieutenant, I am trying to figure out what role, if any, the fighters can safely fill when the Merlin is under attack. I need to know how much notice they need to get out of the firing arcs so that in an emergency they can provide cover fire and deter enemy vessels from getting a lock or destroying the Merlins own armaments." He blinked and looked at Tillatix. "I'm familiar with some of the tactical maneuvers of ships this size, but I don't know about the fighters. The last thing either of us wants is a friendly fire accident or fighters getting left behind in a retreat. So when I ask what to you might be a stupid question... indulge me."

Sav churred gently, feeling really badly that she had caused angst to David. She took in a cleansing breath, let it out, then said, "Sorry, I did not mean to make it sound like that. Umm, Pilot reaction times. All fighters can go from Warp to sublight nearly instantly, taking them out of the firing arc. So, two seconds or less. However, with training in responding to a specific signal to do so, we can get the reaction time to less than half a second."

He looked back at the holographic simulation and tapped his padd a few times. The scene shifted to now show a massive Romulan ship, small blips starting to appear as it launched it owns scorpion fighters. "Considering our last encounter, let's start with what we know about the Romulans and how to repel them and then how to keep them from simply destroying the ship."

Sav looked over the display. "As per SOP, when going against a ship known to carry fighters, the pilots and fighters will be at launch ready T-minus 10, meaning suited up, in their ships, and in the launch pods. The fighters would drop out with the Raptors and Valkyries engaging the Scorpions. The Broadswords would hang back to the sides and behind the Merlin, leaving the two main line ships to engage one-on-one."

"Good, let's forward through to the point when the fighters are deployed." Scarlet tapped the padd in front of him. The hologram flashed to life and seemed to speed up as the two large ships approached and exchanged fire all in a couple of seconds. By the time it slowed down again to show the fighters leaving the Merlin and getting into their formations, both ships were already showing some damage.

Sav motioned to the Scorpions, "Fighters stay out of Main Line fights. That Warbird can take a fighter out in one shot, same with the Merlin. What the Scorpions are for is to take out any fighters the Merlin has, and also try to get near to the Warbird with a fighter on its tail. That way the Warbird takes out the enemy fighter. Meanwhile, as long as the main line ships are not battling yet, our fighters would be doing the same. Lure the Scorpion near the Merlin so the Merlin can take it out with one phaser shot. If the main battle is going, stay away."

"Right, so both sides will attempt to lure and force the other fighters near the carriers. Could we possibly use this assumed strategy to get a strafing run on the Warbird? Or is going in that close just going to get everyone shot out of the sky? I mean, if they're just going to let our fighters go near the Warbird, is there a way we can use this to have our fighters actually cause some damage?"

"The Broadswords are there for several reasons. One, they are more heavier shielded and carry more weapons, so show of force. Second, if a Scorpion wanders near, engage and take it out as it will be busy with other fighters. Third, as the two mainline ships wear themselves down with shields and damage, now the fighters come into play. The Broadswords will engage to divert resources of the Warbird away from the Merlin as well as now do damage where shielding is light or non-existent. While fighters are useless against fully functional Main Line ships in direct combat with them, wounded ones are another matter entirely. The fighters can now become a key strategy."

Scarlet sat back in his chair and examined the data. "So against a mainline ship, the fighters are just targets and nothing more. But once we get it to a point where it's weakened..." He was silent for a long period before he spoke again. "In this kind of fight, how long do you think the Merlin could last on it's own, no fighters at all, without suffering major damage and casualties?"

Sav looked over the Warbird Capabilities and then the Merlin's. She brought up some quick maneuverability and weapon ranged data. "If the Merlin remains on the move, maximizing it's own capabilities and exploiting the Warbirds, about seven minutes of combat before being vulnerable to the Scorpions. Why?"

"Because if we can weaken the Warbird with some very directed hits, and then launch fresh fighters we could minimize the losses to our own fighters and give them an easier time right out of the gate." Scarlet punched in a few things into his padd. "And with the Merlin still firing on the Warbird and the Scorpions, that should provide the necessary cover fire correct?"

Sav smiled, already liking where David was coming on this. "And if its done during an attack run, where the Merlin comes in, then moves away, that would put Merlin aft weapons to bear while bringing the Warbird and Scorpions following. That would allow the fighters to drop out and have direct impact onto the enemy with cover fire by the Merlin while allowing the Merlin time to charge and bring main weapons back to bear while the enemies focus is now on the fresh fighters harrying them. I like it, and plays to the strength of the Merlin and the fighters."

Sav brought up the speeds of the fighters, "Which fighters could come to bear would be determined by combat speeds. Fortunately, most ships are traveling warp 3 or less generally during fighting, and many times, at high impulse only." She smiled to David, "I really like where you're taking this. Several strategies could be created around using fresh dropped fighters as a deployed weapon rather than just fighters waiting for a chance. Think the Captain will like this as well?"

"The Captain will obviously have final say on any tactics we devise." He replied quickly.

Sav took a drink of her coffee. She looked over the displays, "How's your schedule? Still have time to discuss another fighter use, and what did you have in mind?"

"I do want to run this by you." Scarlet looked back down at his padd and punched in some variables. The hologram shimmered and changed.

The Merlin took center stage, no fighters or enemy ships. lines and tags appeared around the glowing vessel. Several wide arcs showed the turning radius at different speeds.

"In a broadside assault, generally only one set of phasers are being used at once. if they are damaged, the normal thing to do is bring the vessel around or adjust the heading to bring the remaining phaser banks to bear." As he spoke, the holographic Merlin began to rotate or circle in a large arc around an imaginary target. "The issue, is that it's slow. If we're against a more agile ship, we'll never get into position."

Sav nodded, "And it doesn't help if the Merlin is moving at any speed as the faster she moves, the slower the turn due to stresses on the ship."

"However..." He tapped the padd and the hologram changed again. Instead of the Merlin circling or rotating port or starboard, now it appeared to be doing a barrel roll. "Smaller turn radius, quicker, and we can use the impulse engines, maneuvering thrusters, or even emergency boosters to do it." He looked across the table at Lieutenant Tillatix. "I want your opinion as a fighter pilot. How does this look?"

Sav churred, "Well, I can give you an opinion as a fighter pilot, and Helmsman. Yes, barrel rolls are quicker, and experienced pilots will do them, along with pirouettes, but those type of maneuvers introduce new stresses on the ship NOT designed for. Fighters are designed for shift maneuvers all day long, and hence why their speeds are limited in warp. Main Line ships are designed for high forward warp speeds with correlative structural support. Barrel rolls put lateral and shear stresses on joints and long structures not built to handle it." Sav pointed to the Merlin on the display, "That said, if a pilot knows what to look for in the strain gauges, it is doable. However, ship computers and orientation are against you."

Scarlet nodded. "I've thought about that, the issue isn't so much the spin. The simulations say that part is fine. It's the slowing back down and stopping quickly that's going to be rough. A trained helmsman will be key."

Sav brought the ship around to be 180 degrees out, or upside down. "First, everyone's orientation is upside down. All external objects are wrong in that left is on right, right is on left, down is up, and up is down. If a helmsman doesn't train for this, they can shift course wrongly and I have seen training videos where friendlies have hit other friendlies do to the momentary vertigo that is brought on. Second, targeting systems are designed to stay on the target selected with those weapons brought to bear, which means the original weapons will complain about needing intervention to stay on target while the other weapons are 'off' and keeping in mind friendly or no targets about. So, there needs to an experienced person at tactical as well who can, in a split second, overcome the spatial orientation, shift weapons to proper targets, fire, then as the barrel roll continues, shift weapons back to continue to have weapons to bear."

Scarlet just grinned. "That is where I would have to disagree." He tapped the pad and the entire hologram rotated around to that the Merlin was right side up, but the obstacles shown were now flipped. "On the ship, as far as everyone will be concerned, it's going to be duty as normal. We ran through rotating drills like this on the Kingston as part of the final exams, just not in a battle situation. Inertial dampeners and artificial gravity means for the most part, you're not going to feel a thing. That's the difference between a line ship and a fighter. Port and Starboard still stand, up is still up, just that everything outside the ship will have moved, as long as ship sensors are online, that shouldn't be a problem. As for tactical..." Scarlet shrugged. "I can easily add that training and drills to the practice sessions."

Sav raised an eyebrow, but let it be. Internal dampeners and artificial gravity were designed for one and two axis shifts, a barrel role making a three axis quick shift that would always overcome and be felt, unless done slow enough, which would not allow for what the maneuver was designed for. Next, while everyone was still 'upright', the shifting seen of everything spinning around them is what caused the disorientation, unless trained for. However, even though not as easy as David thought, one thing stood out, It could all be overcome with training, and a barrel roll was easier on a ship than a HET, high energy turn to go 180. After one or two of those, the ship had to go to a shipyard to get checked out and some supports replaced.

So, Sav went with the flow and smiled to David, saying, "It's doable, just add training. On helm, right now, you have two pilots who can handle such a maneuver. One - Lt. Jones. She did a barrel roll during the Romulan encounter for fighter advantages. Two - myself. I am a Bridge Command Specialist, and have on record multiple intricate maneuvers performed in rescuing a Fleet Repair Tug from an asteroid belt with a Starfleet Research Vessel. On tactical, that would be your area. I don't know as I was out in a fighter during the encounter, and really putting my Valkyrie through her paces."

"In that case, we may have to discuss with Lt. Jones about having the pair of you start training the other helmsmen in some advanced tactical maneuvers." He studied Tillatix as he mentioned her and Jones working together. Whatever her personal issues, he had to expect her to be able to function professionally.

Sav smiled and churred gently as David mentioned Melody and her working together. "Let's definitely discuss with Lt. Jones. She and I are friends, besides being great pilots and knowing each others strengths." She shook her head slowly, "Hence why it's kind of a downer that she is on drills and we just can't hang out and talk." She brightened, "On the bright side, this will let us have a chance to say Hi while discussing training." Her head tilted to the right, "So, when would you want to schedule this? It is dependent more upon Lt. Jones' and your Schedules than mine."

Scarlet just nodded as he packed up his padd. "I will discuss with Lieutenant Jones and get back to you with a tentative schedule." He stood up and turned to walk away before he stopped and looked back at Lieutenant Tillatix.

"Thank you for your time and opinions. This has been very informative and gives me a fair bit to think about going forward." After a bit of an awkward pause, Scarlet did turn and walk back out of the CAG office.

Sav smiled to David and called after him, "You're Welcome, and thank you." She turned to Wyn, "That was interesting. So, who's next?"

OFF:

Lieutenant Save'ena A. Tillatix
CAG / Uroboros Squadron Leader
Bridge Command Specialist
USS Merlin

Crewman Wyn Rhoderick
CAG Personal Assistant
Fighter Maintenance Tech
USS Merlin

Lieutenant JG Scarlet
CSTO
USS Merlin