Posted by Lieutenant Commander Gravel Mardusk (Chief of Security) in Angelina’s Exam

Posted by Lieutenant Auleraine Brison (Engineering Officer) in Angelina’s Exam

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Gravel Mardusk (Chief of Security) in Angelina’s Exam
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Angelina had spent a better part of two off shifts learning about the feel of the weapons in the armory.

A couple had needed servicing, which didn’t surprise her. Several of the phase rifles hadn’t been used in some time and needed seeing to as well. But she had done as promised and a few weeks after her arrival, she was ready for both her physical and weapon exams.

Fifteen minutes before she was due to meet Mardusk, she was on the holodeck, in a gym setting, sitting on the floor doing stretches to get ready. She was wearing black sweat pants and a light blue tshirt. It set off her light green skin nicely. Her long black hair was pulled back to a ponytail.

Lt JG Angelina Markeson
Security

The doors slid open and the Security Chief walked in ten-minute early. “On your feet. Hope you are ready.” he said in a low rumble. He then said =^= Computer, run program skills assessment Market on, phase 1.=^= There was a chirp and suddenly they were standing in a tge middle of a tall grass prairie. The only cover was the thigh high grass waving gently in the breeze. Mardusk looked at Markeson. “Scenario. Evade and eliminate your pursuers. Hamd to hand combat. Four enemies. Scenario runs in ten seconds from… now.” and a timer began counting down.

Mardusk put his hands behind his back and stood motionless, watching with a critical eye.

Mardusk, CoS

She wasn’t sure what to expect, but this hadn’t been it. She remained silent, both from being stunned as well as a realization that this wasn’t a time for small talk.

As the tern second warning was given, she didn’t think twice. The workout tank top came off and landed on the grass just beside and behind Mar’s boot heels. The black bra and pants hid her slightly better in the grass than the blue top would have. She then went to ground and slowly began to move forward enough to some distance between her and the Chief.

She kept her eyes roving and was ready to catch her attackers from whichever side they came from.

Angelina
Security

As the countdown ended, four figures appeared in random spots around the scene. Two of them, Naussicans, were armed with disruptor rifles and were about fifty feet from the prone security officer. One was even further away, but this was a Breen with a wicked looking sniper rifle. But less than ten feet from her was a large Orion male with a wicked looking hammer in his hands. All of them immediatly began looking around for their prey.

Mardusk, CoS

“Hand to hand…” she whispered to herself as the fighters appeared. The Orion was going to be the hardest, she thought, and started to turn to get the others. Then she realized she’d lose her element of surprise the moment she attacked. If she let him get his feet, she’d never defeat him.

Sliding slowly towards the Orion, Angelina kept an eye on her target as well as the ground. Within a few feet she’d managed to find a suitable rock. From the position she was at, she sent the rock flying away from her and of to the right of the Orion

If it went well, the moment the big, green, meanie glanced away, Angie would spin on her back and kick him hard with both feet aimed at the side of his knee to take him down.

Angelina
Security

The kick landed true and the big Orion came down with a yelp of pain as the knee gave way and he crashed into the dirt beside her. At the cry, the other three turned to look for their companion.

Mardusk

As the man fell, she gave another two footed kick. This time to the Orion’s skull.

If he remained still, she would begin slowly moving away from the prone body. Every couple lengths, she would toss a stone back the other direction in hopes they would think she was moving that way.

Angelina
Security

As she kicked, the man cursed and sought to deflect the blows. The other three followed the sound and soon surrounded her and the fallen Orion.

=^= Computer pause simulation. =^= came the Security Chief’s voice. He walked slowly over to Angelina and looked down at her, hands on hips and a scowl on his face. “So? What did you do wrong?”

Mardusk, CoS

Angelina, to her credit, hadn’t curled up as the others approached. Even realizing it was three weapons trained on her, she had been rolling to a crouch to leap at the first one to her when he halted the simulation. A growl from her throat made her realize she was dead, regardless, and turned to face him as she came to an upright position once more. “Apparently didn’t consider how quick they would be to come to me with weapons. I had wanted to get the biggest out of the way. Hand to hand, he was the one I knew I stood nearly no chance with.” She made no excuses and didn’t simper. Her logic, in her mind anyway, was sound. But she knew it was flawed.

Then again, isn’t that why she was here? Because he close combat skills were flawed. She realized that despite all her practice at hand to hand, she hadn’t taken ‘fists into a firefight’ into account. “Should have gone for a weapon.” She nodded and accepted that there was her first mistake.

Angelina
Security

Mardusk took a deep breath and said “You will never be in a fair fight. You will either be outnumbered, out gunned, or out classed… and any combination thereof. You need to prioritize your targets based on threat. Here?” and he swept an arm around the scene. “Here you went for the biggest one, but he qasnt the most important threat. He had to get in close to get to you. The others could pick you off from anywhere. See that?”

Mardusk, CoS

The head nod she gave was sincere. “Yes, Chief,” she replied turning back to the scenario.

He would be able to tell from her glansing from one to the other that she was thinking. After a moment she relied, “Should have taken the Breen first. Even if first attack wasn’t killing blow, tearing or damaging the suit would have compromised them. I’d have had a weapon, then and could have had a better chance with the other two.”

She looked down, then, at the one in the ground. “He should have been last as the least threat, not the greatest, once I was armed. Because moving could have kept distance threat till I could fire on him.” She turned her look back up to the Chief to see if her assessment was correct.

Angelina
Security

Mardusk nodded once. “Biggest doesn’t always mean best. Trust me on that.” he said flatly. He then said “You have to be able to think on your feet. Assess and prioritize on the fly. And keep doing that all the time. Threats change in a fight. It won’t do you any good to go toe to toe with a Klingon if the Ferengi betting against you shoots you in the back while you do it. So now that you have that lesson under your belt…” and he grinned evilly.

=^= Computer, run program Mardusk Threat Assessment Test Five. =^= The scene disappeared, replaced by a dark room with a table in front of Markeson. On the table was a phaser with a low power cell warning indicator flashing. In front of the table was darkness.

“You have 3 seconds on each stage, and one shot. Your job is to assess and prioritize the various targets and and shoot the highest threat first. Five stages. You get one mistake in order to pass. Ready?”

The lights faded and the first stage appeared. It was a static depiction of a street outside the Academy. Cars were overturned and on fire and buildings were burning. Smoke filled the air and armored figures could be seen pointing weapons at fleeing civilians a nd emergency responders. Above, a transport of SF Marines was inbound. On the ground, targets were as follows:

• Four armed assailants aiming weapons at civilians
• One armored figure with the President of the Federation in a headlock, dragging them into a transport.
• One figure with a portable surface-to-air missile launcher aimed at the Marine transport.
• Two figures preparing to execute a Bajoran child.

Mardusk, CoS

Angelina glanced around swiftly, picked up the weapon and shot at the man assailing the President. Letting the weapon drop slightly to the ready position, she waited the next scenario. Her breathing was steady and stance was sure.

Angelina
Security

A loud BUZZZZZZZ accompanied her shot and the scene went blank. “You need to be perfect from here on out or you fail.” Mardusk said flatly.

The second static scene appeared:

A single room, Angelina looking through the doorway. In the room were three targets behind a table on which sat a large and complex looking device with series of wires going into blocks of some gray putty like substance: a Vulcan with with a phaser rifle pointed at the door, a human picking up an oblong object with a red button from the table, and a Klingon charging the door with a raised bat’leth.

Mardusk, CoS

This time she hesitated.

Obvious…

She had chosen to save the President thinking it was obvious. But she had been wrong. Here, the man with the red button seemed the obvious choice.

She shot the Klingon coming at the door.

Angelina
Security

Another loud BZZZZZZZZZZZ sounded and the program ended. Mardusk looked her with a blank expression and said “What did you do wrong in these two?”

Mardusk, CoS

Angelina frowned and set the phaser on the bench before her. “Honestly, I don’t know. In the first one, the President seemed to be the one to save. He’s high profile and could be used as a pawn to further someone’s agenda thru blackmail and such. And in the second one, I shot the Klingon cause he was closest threat. Next would have been the Vulcan with the weapon. After getting the first one wrong, I figured the guy with the explosive wouldn’t blow himself up so he wasn’t the prime threat in the room.” She realized she had made errors in what her mind perceived. As she turned to Mardusk, she shook her head. “So how my thinking in error?” Her question was one of sincere desire to learn.

Angelina
Securtity

Mardusk had a two chairs made up and he sat down, motioning her to the other.

“We are Security, right? Our job is to minimize risk, mitigate conflict, and try for the best possible solution for all parties involved, right? So let’s look at the first scene.” and he brought it up. “Look around… situational awareness and analysis, right? Those two abilities should lead to one conclusion. Look at the destruction, the fires, the multiple hostiles… this is an attack. Full scale, no stops. And you chose to protect the one… not the many. Lieutenant, no one person is more important than everyone else. We can get a new president. But right here? You are alone against a superior force that has already proven hostile intent. That -” and he pointed at the incoming transport, ” - is your most needed asset. So you protect that before anything else. So you take down that missle launcher.

Angelina nodded in agreement as Mardusk spoke of their role as security officers. As the first scene appeared again, she shifted in her chair to look around. Deep inside, her gut clenched because she had second guessed herself and chosen the President. Her initial reaction had been the transport for reinforcements. But she feared the President could be used to harm far more than the mere crowd before her.

Next stage..” and the scene shifted to the room.

“Again… our duty is mitigation of risk. That device is an unknown factor, but it is obviously important enough to this group to try and activate it before you can intervene. So? Your priority is to not let that happen. You take the human first, deal with the rest as you can.” and he leaned back and looked at her.

She didn’t realize her bottom lip had slid between her teeth as once more, her gut had been overridden by her head. She hadn’t wanted to blow up, but had thought that because they were in a room, the man with the bomb wasn’t as big a threat because he certainly wouldn’t blow himself up.

“Your threat prioritization is for crap, Lieutenant. You only look at a scenario with a narrow scope. You have to look at the big picture… all the time. You have to be cognizant of how your choices are going to ripple out in the short and long term. And you have to be able to do that on fly. That’s how you become more than a securirty officer and you become an actual asset to the teams and duty stations you are assigned to.”

Mardusk, CoS

“I can’t guarantee I’ll get them right, but may I ask what the other two scenarios were, Chief? I understand I where I went wrong. Reinforcements were definitely needed in the first scenario. And in the second, I shouldn’t have wondered what building we were in. I was there to dissolve a threat and should have done it instead of guessing whether the man would blow himself up or not.” Again, the was no simpering or blaming. For that, she was personally grateful for to herself. She needed to remember that out here in deep space, missions and assignments were not always gonna be the walk in the park she was used to. And trainings here didn’t include long, involved Q&A sessions where what if and suppose were party of the discussions.

It pained her to realize how much of her actual security training was lacking. She also realized that whatever special assignment he had thought to offer her after this training was also gone. But if she wasn’t ready, she wasn’t ready. She’d learn. Of THAT she was certain. She learn and be ready the next time opportunity came around. “So how do I learn to stop over thinking the situation?”

Angelina
Security
(Hopefully not assigned mess hall duty lol)