Thus far, USS Jemison’s trip through the proving grounds near Starbase 86 had gone rather well.  The trip itself – only a couple of hours at warp 5, a veritable leisurely stroll for the fast-running heavy cruiser – was uneventful, and even revealed a previously-hidden issue with one of the ship’s aft warp field generators.  The generator was sporadically a few milliseconds slow on the uptake, and simply hadn’t misbehaved as Jemison was accelerating on her departure from Starbase Bravo.  The issue was manageable for the moment, but the generator was going to require recalibration when the ship returned to Starbase 86.  After all, sometimes in active service a few milliseconds might be the difference between making it home and being disabled or destroyed.

Over the last few days, she continued to steadily work her way through her testing schedule.  The sublight engine and maneuverability tests she passed with near-flying colors, the only issue of note being that at one point the thruster test became a little more practical than theoretical when one oxidizer inlet valve failed to close at the conclusion of the fault-to-active portion of the exercise.  Fortunately, the valve had simply frozen due to a microcrack in its insulation, a problem that was quite easily and quickly repaired, restoring the thruster quad to full and reliable functionality once more.

Following the sublight tests, she spent a day working up her extensive suite of scientific sensors, tracking various simulated anomalies and ‘unmapped’ celestial bodies or nebulae.  In this regard, the proverbial bread-and-butter of her class, Jemison truly excelled.  Her sensors locked on quickly, proving their quality by their rapid ability to discern between relevant data and background noise at impressive detail, allowing the science staff – led by Commander El Hanif in her secondary role aboard as chief science officer – to rapidly identify and catalogue sensor targets for more detailed analysis, and to conduct those more detailed surveys as well.  In parallel, Lieutenant Commander ch’Ryren had run the laboratory staff through their own exercises in sample analysis, quarantine and containment, and equipment maintenance, and based on the report he had filed they had performed admirably.

The final major exercise on the docket – technically Jemison still needed to drill in small craft operations, but that realistically could be done later – was a battle drill.  This, really, was the one exercise in the testing schedule for which Commander El Hanif found herself anxious as she stepped out onto the bridge.  This was not the first time she had been through combat, or even through a combat exercise, but it was the first time she had commanded a vessel during a battle drill.  Anxiety aside, though, she was also confident; based on the final pre-exercise briefing, Jemison was ready.

She crossed to the captain’s chair, sitting down and turning to face the viewscreen as the conversation that had been going on – a discussion of what officers hoped the ship’s first mission would be – petered out with her arrival, though a proximity alert from Ops that sounded almost immediately after certainly would have also achieved that effect.  “Picking up two vessels on long range sensors, commander,” Lieutenant Commander Yaini reported.  “Transponder codes identify them as USS Sizemore and USS Bath.”

El Hanif nodded, watching on the viewscreen as twin flashes of light resolved into the compact, muscular form of a Steamrunner-class starship and the flatter, wider profile of a newer Edison-class vessel.  The two starships moved in on Jemison at impulse power, moving casually.  This was not bravado, though, the confidence of two captains who felt their ships more than a match for the larger heavy cruiser; no, this was amicability, three vessels from the same command – or two active-duty and one soon to be – who all expected each other.  A notification sounded from Lieutenant Atrid’s station.  “Incoming message from Captain Ssismar on the Bath,” she reported.  “Both she and Sizemore are configured for the drill, and await our word to begin.”

“Weapons are locked on safe, and we are configured for simulated firing only,” Lieutenant Ayali said, a hint of eagerness in her voice at the chance to see how the new-built cruiser would perform.

“Very well.  Lieutenant Atrid, please give Captain Ssismar and Commander Kayto our compliments, and inform them we are ready when they are.”  El Hanif then activated an intercom channel.  “All hands, bridge.  Prepare for tactical exercises,” she announced, before closing the channel.  “Lieutenant Ayali, take us to red alert, all weapons in exercise mode.”

The bridge’s overhead lighting,and indeed overhead lighting all throughout the ship, shifted darker as red alert panels began to flash from bulkheads.  As a precaution, Jemison’s shields – the latest metaphasic systems, now Starfleet standard-issue for all new construction – came online, wrapping her hull in their protective field; after all, if a weapon accidentally came off safe and fired during the drill, a strike on an unshielded hull could turn the exercise into a legitimate emergency.  “Shields raised, commander,” Ayali informed, “weapons remain configured for simulated firing.”

Almost on cue, both Sizemore and Bath began moving.  The two smaller vessels split up, intending to take the larger vessel between them and force Jemison to split her fire between them.  “Target the Bath first.” El Hanif ordered.  “Offensive pattern Beta-Four.”

It was a cautious opening move, and a prudent choice to target the larger and more capable Edison-class vessel.  In response to her orders, Ensign Trằn’s fingers began tapping across the helm console.  The young officer, technically in his first-ever combat action, accidentally began a port turn before quickly correcting himself; he caught it quickly enough, but Jemison’s form still pivoted more slowly than her two nimbler opponents, both of which were less than half of her 750-meter length.  As a result, she was turning just behind Bath as the ranges closed, unable to bring her forward torpedo armaments to bear as both vessels – all three, with Sizemore closing from the other side – began to open up with simulated weapons-fire.

Jemison’s shields were strong, and under the opening fusillade of computer-modeled phaser array and cannon fire they held up well.  Her return fire, primarily from her phaser arrays (though as Sizemore passed astern of her she opened herself up to the larger vessel’s four aft torpedo launchers, an opportunity that Ayali did not let pass her by) splattered across the two ships’ shields, damaging both but not severely.  The simulated torpedoes, though – two of which would have borne the reddish aura of photon torpedoes and the other two the silvery-white of the more powerful quantum variety, had they actually been fired – did more damage, severely depleting Sizemore’s shield, disabling her port thrusters and port ventral phaser array, and temporarily knocking out her main power.  To uphold the simulation, Commander Kayto had shut down the affected systems until a ‘repair’ could be completed, a fact which was registered on Yaini’s console.  “Sizemore is falling back to make repairs,” she reported.

El Hanif nodded as Trằn continued to try and put Jemison on line against Bath.  The smaller vessel, though, proved troublesome, her more agile form constantly twisting and turning ahead of the more lumbering heavy cruiser and preventing her from bringing those heavy forward torpedo armaments – the true backbone of Jemison’s tactical suite – to bear.  This, in turn, forced Ayali to fight primarily with the eight phaser arrays available to her, rotating fire based on Bath’s relative position as the two ships turned on each other time and time again.

Glenn-class vessels were designed to be dangerous in quick fights, usually coming in hammering with torpedoes before moving off again on quick passes.  A protracted, turning fight at closer quarters, though, was something for which they were far less fit, and as the simulated combat ran on that began to show.  Bath had taken damage, but remained viable, and after Sizemore was eventually able to repair her own wounds enough to rejoin the fray Jemison was once more taking hits from two directions.  Her shields, strong as they were, began to run low.  A computer-modeled torpedo from Bath knocked out her starboard impulse engine, limiting her speed and maneuverability as El Hanif ordered it shut down until Lieutenant Armu’s propulsion systems team could complete the simulated repair.  A phaser pass from Sizemore stitched up her hull, causing EPS blowouts – simulated by shutting down power to all compartments downstream of the ‘damaged’ relays – across two decks.  Bath’s phaser cannons pummeled Jemison as the frigate climbed up from below, knocking out her forward burst-fire torpedo launchers and ventral phasers.

Nevertheless, the stubborn heavy cruiser soldiered on, lashing out like a punch-drunk boxer with the weapons she had left for the exercise.  Bath’s climbing pass proved decisive, though not for the two OPFOR ships, as Jemison slowed further – Sizemore had just landed a torpedo that damaged her remaining impulse engine – and the Edison-class ship suddenly found herself passing ahead of her opponent instead of remaining in relative safety below her.  “Fire forward torpedoes!” El Hanif called.

The order was unnecessary; Ayali had noticed the opportunity and was practically bouncing in her seat at the chance to finally unleash the ship’s primary weapons.  With a press of a finger, sixteen computer-modeled photon torpedoes spat from Jemison’s saucer-mounted launcher banks, hammering into Bath’s ventral hull and stern as she began to roll away.  Had it been an actual salvo, Bath would have been torn asunder as the heavy volley disemboweled her; instead, she simply received a [DESTROYED] tag on her transponder, and Captain Ssismar ordered her engines stopped until the drill was done.

Now one on one with a vessel both larger and more capable than her, Sizemore still accounted well for herself.  In time, though, the Steamrunner-class ship was marked as [DISABLED], ending the drill.  In this tactical scenario, a fight for which she was perhaps ill-designed, one could not say that Jemison truly won, only that she had endured.  Her own butcher’s bill was very high: nearly half her complement was either killed or wounded, and while she was still technically mobile the ship herself had been functionally disabled.  Had this drill been an actual battle, Jemison would have needed to be towed home, and would probably be at least six months in dock for repairs, if she could be repaired at all.

Ceiling lights came back up as Ayali brought Jemison back down from Red Alert, and across all three vessels systems tagged as [DAMAGED] and [OFFLINE] were brought back up to full power.  A notification chimed on Atrid’s console.  “The Bath is hailing us,” the Betazoid said, a smile on her face.

“Onscreen, please,” El Hanif replied, taking a few deep breaths to compose herself; that exercise had gotten dramatic, and her adrenaline was still flowing.

The viewscreen shifted, splitting between two compartments.  On the left was the slightly older bridge of the Sizemore, camera focused on the young Betazoid commander standing at the front of the command well, and to the right appeared the more modern brushed-metal aesthetic of Bath’s bridge and the reptilian form of her Selay captain.  “Well-fought, Jemison,” Captain Ssismar said, a relaxed smile on his scaled face.  “Congratulations on your victory.”

“Thank you, sir,” El Hanif replied.  “It was… an experience,” she finished with a bit of a relieved sigh, an emotion wholeheartedly shared by the rest of the bridge crew.

“They always are, Commander,” Ssismar agreed.  “Was this your first?” he asked, curious.

“Yes, sir.  Or at least my first time commanding a ship during a tactical exercise.”

The Selay captain nodded.  “You did quite well.  I’ll be sure to make sure your captain is informed, once one is assigned.”

“Thank you, sir,” she said once more.  “And please accept our gratitude, to both you and your crews, for your assistance with the exercise.”

“You’re most welcome,” Commander Kayto said, as Ssismar nodded his agreement.

“Do you have any other exercises left to complete?”  Ssismar asked.

“No, sir,” El Hanif replied.

The Selay nodded.  “Then hopefully we’ll see you out there sometime soon.  Bath out.”

The channel closed, the viewscreen reverting back in time to show Bath and Sizemore come about.  Two pairs of nacelles flared to life as the ships went to warp, swiftly leaving the proving ground behind as they went on about their duties.  El Hanif settled back in the captain’s chair – she had been veritably perched on its edge for the entirety of the drill – and looked towards Ensign Trằn.  “Ensign, set a course back towards Starbase 86, warp 5.  Lieutenant Atrid, please let the Starbase know we’ve completed our shakedown and are coming in for debrief and some maintenance.”

“Yes, Commander,” the two replied, virtually as one.

Jemison’s thrusters fired, pushing the great ship around on a heading back towards the starbase.  The red glow from her impulse engines intensified as she began to move, then her two long nacelles flared to life.  In a blaze of light, Jemison jumped away from the proving ground, beginning her run back to Starbase 86 for some repairs and to await her commissioning.