by Saxon Andrew
“And the red dot?” Ryshana asked curiously.
“It targets one of our ship’s pulse cannons at the designated target.”
Ryshana smiled, “That’s clever.”
Harmony rolled her eyes behind Ryshana as she put her helmet on Ryshana’s head and adjusted it. The helmet automatically read Ryshana’s eyes and adjusted to match her sight. Harmony cooed, “Are you ready?” Ryshana had a huge smile on her face and she nodded. Harmony pressed the start button and blips began moving on the monitor at an increasing speed. Harmony watched the red dot move around the screen designating incoming targets and saw it wasn’t going to take long for this to end. Suddenly the blips on the screen doubled and increased speed. Harmony smiled and watched a row of twenty white blips suddenly designated. Ryshana’s head was moving rapidly in different directions and every incoming white and blue blip was designated and destroyed before they could get close. The numbers of targets multiplied by two; Harmony was standing behind her smiling, but it disappeared after a few more minutes. Then her mouth dropped open.
Gibbs glanced at her and then stopped his simulation. He stood up and went to stand behind Ryshana to see what was going on. He saw the monitor filled with blips and they were all blowing up at an impossible rate. Then the numbers of blips filled the monitor but none of them escaped being designated. The screen flashed brightly with destroyed enemy ships and missiles. Suddenly, without warning, the screen turned dark and white writing appeared on it, Simulation Complete.
Ryshana clapped her hands, “Does this mean I won?!” No one answered and Ryshana turned around. Her smile disappeared instantly as she saw Harmony and Gibb’s expressions. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked softly.
Harmony said in a stunned voice, “This isn’t possible.”
Ryshana looked from one of them to the other and slowly took off the helmet. “Maybe I should go back to my quarters. I can see I’ve upset you.”
Gibbs shook his head, “No! It’s not that Ryshana. It’s just that no one has come close to completing that simulation and you did it the first time. You must possess some incredible hand and eye coordination.”
Ryshana smiled, “No, not really.”
“Then how did you do this!?!” Harmony asked sternly. “What I saw is impossible!”
Ryshana raised a shoulder, “No it isn’t, anyone can do it.”
Gibbs and Harmony looked at each other and Harmony said, “Oh, please!”
Ryshana handed Harmony the helmet and said, “Sit down.” Harmony sat down and Ryshana smiled, “Now, all you need to do differently is to not keep pressing the clicker.”
Harmony’s eyebrows came down and her eyes went to slits, “SAY WHAT?!”
“Just press it and keep it pressed down. Then all you need to do is sweep your eyes across the screen.” Harmony rolled her eyes and Gibbs suggested, “Give it a try.”
Harmony pressed the start button, pressed the clicker, and kept it pressed. She started laughing and was still laughing as the simulation was completed. Harmony turned around and smiled, “I’ve really tried to not like you because you have Jab. But I have to say that I can’t help it, you are one incredible woman!” Ryshana leaned down and hugged Harmony’s neck. Harmony gently returned her hug.
Frank mumbled from across the bridge, “That’s the first hug I’ve ever seen her give that didn’t lead to broken ribs.”
Gibbs and harmony both shouted together, “SHUT UP, FRANK!!”
Frank turned to his console and muttered, “Just saying!”
Harmony’s expression turned serious, “Sir, will this work in actual combat?”
Gibbs tilted his head slightly, “I have been assured that our consoles will work in simulations exactly like they do in real combat. I have to believe they will.”
“What if there are some of our ships in the targeting area?” Harmony asked.
“The targeting system will not designate a vessel with a fleet transponder and during actual combat all ships are ordered to activate their transponders,” Gibbs answered.
Harmony glanced at Ryshana before suggesting to Gibbs, “Sir, we need to get this to fleet…quick?”
Gibbs nodded and returned to his console. Harmony was right. He glanced at Harmony and Ryshana laughing and saw that a friendship had just been forged. That was one incredible woman Jab found. Frank leaned over and asked, “Sir, how was she able to discover that method and no one else in fleet has?”
“Frank, all of our weapon operators have been extensively trained on how to operate their boards. They’d never think to do it differently. Ryshana knows nothing about them so she isn’t bound by too much knowledge. She experimented and found a different way without worrying about any consequences.”
“I’m glad she’s here, Captain.” Gibbs could only agree.
Chapter Twenty-Five
A couple of days passed and Ryshana was bored again. Jab was still working on digitizing the recordings, and though he would stop to spend time with her, she could tell his mind was consumed with getting all the reports done. She left their quarters and headed back to the bridge. She walked around, and everyone greeted her with a smile as they worked intently on their consoles. She watched the missile operators and decided not to bother them, they were tightly focused on their monitors. She moseyed to the front of the ship and stopped behind Frank’s chair. He was pressing a red and green button on his panel and different colors of long lines would appear on his monitors, “What are those?” she blurted out.
Frank flinched and glanced back over his shoulder, saw her focused on his monitor, and smiled, “It’s different courses that the Captain can choose to fly, based on our situation.” Ryshana frowned slightly and Frank saw her in the reflection off his monitor. He smiled again as he reached for the red button, pushed it, and explained, “The red button offers the Captain different routes to attack enemy warships around us. The red track is the optimum track and the safest to take to avoid our ship being hit by enemy weapons. The purple track is the second-best track and will open more enemy ships to attack but also is more dangerous with regard to being hit by the enemy. The blue track is one that will offer the most targets but is also a lot more dangerous. Understand?”
Ryshana nodded and asked, “What does the green button do?”
“It offers routes the Captain can use to escape enemy formations where we are outnumbered. The green track is the best one to escape, but sometimes, a green track won’t initially appear. Frank appreciated her interest as he continued to explain the basics of the system, “The white track is a track to take while the computer is searching for a course that will get the ship out safely. If it finds one, a green track will appear.”
“What about the yellow track?” she asked.
“That’s hopefully a track of short duration and should only be used if the computer can’t find a white or green course. It directs the ship toward smaller concentrations of enemy ships until a better track is found.”
Ryshana nodded slightly, “So green is run; and red is kick their asses.”
Frank chuckled as he looked down at his watch, “I’m taking a break. Would you like to push the buttons for a few minutes?”
Ryshana’s expression quickly turned apprehensive, “I made a mess last time.”
“No, you did not! What you happened upon was something that is going to save a lot of lives, Ryshana.”
“Can I do any damage?”
Frank shook his head, “No, I have the system operating automatically and the only thing on the monitor is simulations. Come on, give it a try.”
Ryshana smiled and sat down in Frank’s chair. He pushed the chair closer to the console and she heard it click, “When you’re ready to leave, just stand up and push on the chair with the back of your knees.” Ryshana eyes were wide as she turned to the monitor before her and pressed the red button. She sat back and watched the monitor show a ship moving into numerous blips firing at them. Frank watched her for a few minutes and then step
ped over to Lena’s chair.
“It’s always a hoot to see someone operating a console for the first time,” Lena commented. Frank agreed. “Was I ever that excited about pushing buttons, Frank?”
“I don’t think any of us were. Jab says she was raised in primitive conditions, so everything here is new and exciting to her.”
Frank talked with Lena for forty-five minutes and by that time, Ryshana had watched enough; it was interesting but was starting to grow old. She stood up to push the chair back but hit the seat of the chair with the back of her thighs instead of her knees. She lost her balance and fell forward into the console but managed to catch herself with her hands. She straightened up and looked at the monitor, “OH-NO!!” Frank heard her and rushed over. She turned to him with fear on her face, “I think I broke it! It was an accident; the chair didn’t move and…and…”
Frank unlocked the chair and moved it back for Ryshana to step away. He sat down, slid the chair forward, and looked at the monitor. What in the hell did she do? “I fell on it and caught myself with my hands! I’m so sorry, Frank!”
Frank held up his hand motioning her to be quiet. He stared at the monitor and started scratching his head; he had never seen what was on the monitor. There was a track that was divided in half with a green line on one side and red on the other. There was another track with a red and purple line running out from the ship. And there was a weird track that was made of green and red flashing dashes. The green dashes in the track were flashing brighter and then dimmer. As he watched the track, the red dashes started flashing and dimming. Frank said over his shoulder, “Lena, get the Captain on the bridge!”
Ryshana put her hand at her throat, “I shouldn’t have done it! I should have said no!”
Frank shook his head and said over his shoulder, “Ryshana, pretend you’re listening.” Ryshana’s head went back and she closed her mouth. Frank stared at his console and said softer, “You’ve not done any harm, so relax.”
Ryshana felt relieved, “Thank the Creator.”
Gibbs came rushing on the bridge and Lena pointed him toward Frank. He rushed up, glanced and the monitor, and his gaze froze on it. “WHAT ARE THOSE?!”
“I’m not exactly sure, Sir.”
“What did you do to bring them up?”
Frank shrugged, “I didn’t. Ryshana was using my monitor and…”
“WHAT WAS SHE DOING ON YOUR CONSOLE?!”
Frank turned around and said harshly, “Drawing pictures of snow bunnies, Sir. I allowed her to press the green and red buttons while a simulation was running. She couldn’t do anything to cause harm doing that!”
Gibbs nodded his head toward the monitor, “Is that so?”
“Well, it looks like I was mistaken!” Frank snapped. “However, tell me what those tracks are!”
Gibbs leaned forward and stared at the tracks. After a few moments he shook his head, “They’re obviously combinations of the attack and escape tracks. That shouldn’t be able to happen.”
Frank glared at the monitor, “Sir, I stopped the simulation as soon as I saw this.” Frank paused, and pointed at the monitor, “I’m really curious about where that flashing track would take us in this simulation.”
Gibbs turned to the monitor and his eyes narrowed. “Would you like to find out?”
“Yes, Sir!”
Gibbs stood up and shouted, “Everyone go to your stations! Frank is going to send a simulation to your consoles that is currently paused, and everyone will take part in it. Get ready to begin.” Gibbs turned to Frank, “Let me know when everyone has signed in?” Frank nodded and Ryshana backed away from Frank’s chair. What had she done?”
Frank watched his panel until everyone was signed in to his console. He put his hand on the resume button and said, “In THREE…TWO…ONE…” Frank pressed the button and Gibbs flew the ship on to the flashing red and green line. Frank watched the track closely and saw it change colors flashing several times; he kept his attention on the course the ship was flying. Frank watched numerous blips moving in on the simulated ship and Harmony would take them out before they could move into their weapon’s range. When she did that, the track was flashing green. When the Captain followed the track toward a large concentration of blips, it was flashing red. He was recording the simulation for playback and was shaking his head by the time it ended. ‘Simulation Complete’ appeared on everyone’s’ monitor and Gibbs turned to Frank, “I really hope you can tell me what just happened!”
“Sir, I recorded it for you to examine but from what I could see, the ship would change course based on the position of the enemy forces around us.”
“Isn’t that what the tracks are supposed to do, Frank?”
“This was different, Sir.”
“How?”
Frank sat back and rubbed his chin as he exhaled a long slow breath before explaining, “When the green color was flashing in the track, the ship was moving to evade the blips, but it took the ship on a course that left blips in range to be attacked. When the red color was flashing, the track would take the ship in on a course that allowed the Lincoln to attack large concentrations of enemy ships but still kept us out of the range of their weapons; even when the Lincoln was moving to evade and escape.”
Gibbs looked at Frank, “So the computer combined the two programs into one.”
Frank nodded, “Yes, Sir, and it appears to have optimized both.”
“I’m not sure what you’re saying, Frank?”
“Gibbs, when the red color was flashing, the ship moved in and attacked numerous enemy blips on the monitor and it took a course that didn’t allow the enemy ships an opportunity to attack us. It must have projected their speeds and courses and plottedd a route that didn’t allow them a good firing solution to hit us.”
Gibbs blinked. “Your scanners and computer does not have that capability!”
“Sir, they probably do, but we make the computer decide between running or attacking.”
“By pressing either the green or red buttons,” Gibbs commented.
“Yes, Sir.”
“So, how did this happen?”
Frank glanced at his panel, “Well, I didn’t see this until I was preparing to start another simulation, Sir. Come take a look.” Gibbs walked over to Frank’s console; he pointed at the green and red buttons; both were depressed into the console. “That’s not supposed to happen!”
“I know, Sir,” Frank replied. “We’ve been told to press one and then the other if we wanted to evade and attack the ships around us. Even then, neither button will stay depressed.” Frank reached forward and pressed the green button; both buttons popped up out of the console.
Gibbs turned around to Ryshana, “Tell me what you did exactly as you remember it.”
Ryshana was nervous but began explaining, “I stood to get up. Frank told me to push the chair back with the back of my knees and it would back up. I pushed my knees back but hit the chair with the back of my thighs. The chair didn’t budge, and I fell forward on his console. I caught myself with my hands.”
Harmony said from her console, “You didn’t lower your chair for her, did you, Frank?!” Frank tilted his head and rolled his eyes.
Ryshana sighed, “When I managed to stand back up, I saw those tracks on the screen.”
Gibbs looked at Frank, “Would you like to do the honors?” Frank leaned forward and pressed the green and red buttons simultaneously. They stayed depressed into his panel and the new colored tracks appeared on his monitor.” Everyone on the bridge turned and looked at Ryshana. She lowered her head into her shoulders and said meekly, “I’m so sorry.”
Gibbs shook his head slightly and said firmly, “Ryshana, you did no damage to his console. You have nothing to be sorry about.”
Ryshana’s smile was instant, “REALLY!”
Gibbs smiled, “Really.”
“I’m leaving the bridge; all I do is cause trouble here.” Ryshana turned and ran through the portal.
Everyone
watched her go and Lena asked, “Do you think she knows what she did, Captain?”
“Probably not; she does come from a primitive culture. She also heard us discussing it in very serious tones and that would make her tend to believe something had gone wrong.”
Frank stared at Gibbs and lowered his eyebrows, “Sir, one accidental discovery giving us a huge upgrade in our weapon systems, I can understand. But two is starting to give me a headache.”
Gibbs blew out a breath and nodded, “This doesn’t make sense! The odds of this are…”
“Too high to calculate, Sir!” Lena interjected. Gibbs nodded. “Captain?”
“What is it, Lt. Daniels?”
“I was wondering if I could let her play with my missile console?”
Gibbs fell back in his chair and shook his head vigorously, “I doubt she’d do it now. But I’m almost considering having her fly the ship in a simulation.”
“You probably need to do just that!” Frank said somberly. Gibbs turned to him. “There’s only one of two things happening here.” Frank paused in thought, and everyone was silent with anaticipation to hear him. “Either she is so far advanced mentally than we are that she did these things intentionally making them look innocent…” Frank paused again...
“Or what?” Harmony asked.
“She is the luckiest person in this universe. She will be picking my next lottery numbers!”
Everyone burst out laughing at the sudden release of tension and Lena added, “Either way, we come out better for having her with us.”
“Why do you say that, Lena?” Gibbs inquired.
Lena lifted her chin towards Frank, “It’s like he said the first day, she hates the Brotherhood! That can only be a good thing.”
Gibbs cocked his head to the side and pursed his lips. Lena was right.
Later that evening, Gibbs turned to Frank and asked softly, “Why do you have to always stir the pot, Frank?”
Frank sighed, “I don’t know, Sir. I guess I say what I’m thinking and don’t take the time to filter it. If I’m causing you more trouble than I’m worth, I’ll request a transfer.”