Comrades and Arms

Posted on Fri Jul 14th, 2023 @ 9:26am by Lieutenant Commander Natalya Chornovil & Lieutenant Commander Damien Maillet

1,433 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Season 1, Episode 1: Wanted: A Few Brave Men
Timeline: Before "Balancing Act"

Damien’s Day of Tests and Certifications continued and he found his way to the main security branch on Deck 21. He had been away from duty long enough that he needed to check in properly before he was allowed to carry a sidearm. Whether this Lieutenant Commander Chornovil would simply check the boxes on her computer screen or would make him actually re-certify was…unclear.

Still, it needed doing, so here he was, standing in front of a security officer. “Bonjour, Crewman,” he said. “I am looking to see Madame Chornovil. Can you point me to her please?”

Suddenly, a blonde woman appeared behind Damien. She had been observing him enter security and proceed to chat up her subordinate without a second glance in her direction.

"You see, comrade, first rule of meeting gopnitsa is never chat up her friends first." The woman said. "Anyhow, what bring you to security, comrade? Is Commander Vincent raving about my potato salad and you wish to try some yourself?"

“Gah!” yelped Damien as he spun around to catch the eyes of the security chief. Tall, blonde, and based on her accent, from Eastern Europe. Russian? Maybe something else. Gopnitsa was used in a few languages, usually referring to a beautiful woman who could kick your ass (and he believed it!) He’d need to hear her speak more.

“Noted, Commander. I need to update my sidearm certifications. Damien Maillet.” He smiled, trying not to feel intimidated.

"Natalya Chornovil, comrade." The blonde woman introduced herself. "So, you're here for sidearm certification, huh? Well, I'd be remiss to simply sign off paperwork and send you on your merry way while expecting my own subordinates to prove their worth. As such, I shall require you to take little exam I call 'CS:GO tutorial'. You pass CS:GO tutorial, you get certification, sound good, comrade Maillet?"

"Ya ponimayu, (I understand)" Damien replied in Russian, with a Ukrainian accent given his instructor was from Lviv.

The Russian phrase, with a Ukrainian accent, was not lost on Natalya, who perked a curious brow. Evidently, that would be how the native Ukrainian speaker sounded when speaking her second language, but her curious brow did well to hide that she was bothered by the assumption that Russian was her native language.

"Well, then, follow me down to the firing range." Natalya said, beckoning for Damien to follow.

As the two officers walked, Natalya decided to make small talk based on the previous comment in Russian.

"So, tell me, comrade; you ever been to Ukraine?" She asked.

There, confirmation, Damien thought as he followed Natalya to the range. Ukrainian. He replied in Russian, if only to continue to practice the language. “I spent four days there when I was sixteen, as part of a two-week-long trip through Eastern Europe with my history teacher, the person who also taught me Russian. She was a Ukrainian woman named Lina Kyrylivna Petrenko. We spent time in Kyiv, Lviv, and Odessa. Places of incredible historical importance. But truthfully I may have been less focus on the history and more on her daughter, Sofiya,” he added with a laugh.

"Kyiv is beautiful city, which I am lucky to call home." Natalya responded in Ukrainian to see if Damien would catch the difference. "You said your history teacher was Ukrainian, yes? I assume she taught you the differences between Russian and Ukrainian languages as well?"

"She did," Damien replied, trying to use Ukrainian rather than Russian. "It isn't something I'm fluent in, but I heard it spoken quite a bit, and know the difference. Maybe you can help me practice?"

"Certainly, comrade." Natalya nodded. "This is it." She indicated that they had reached the firing range.

“Thank you,” he said. “What next?”

"Training phasers are in here." Natalya said in Federation standard as she unlocked the small weapons locker at the firing range before she began to prepare the first targets on the range, zipping four in total down wires to various distances.

"Okay, so for this first one, picture if you will, four angry gopniks charging you." Natalya instructed. "For what? That doesn't matter. Maybe you drank last sip of vodka without consulting the group first. Regardless, you have four hostiles charging at you. Let's see what you do."

Damien nodded. He examined the Type-2 phaser, marked as a training model, and set it to stun before taking position.

It took six shots to hit all four, and one definitely only clipped the shoulder rather than the torso. “What do you think, comrade Natalya?”

Natalya brought the targets back in to inspect closer. She had observed how it had taken Damien six shots in total to hit four targets, and upon closer inspection, it was obvious that only the shoulder had been nicked.

"Could use some improvement." Natalya commented. "If these were real angry gopniks, you'd better hope it doesn't take you two shots to hit one, because they may not give you opportunity for shot number 2."

Damien nodded. “Shall we try again?”

"Try again?" Natalya asked. "You think life is just some simulation where you can just reset and try again? That is not how life works. We'll do one more exercise, and I'll tally your worthiness to carry a sidearm based on your overall performance."

Natalya then proceeded to pull out her communicator and flip it open.

"Security team six, report to firing range." She called out. "Team six to firing range."

Within a few minutes, several security officers began filing into the firing range and suiting up, grabbing the training phasers from the locker.

"Static targets are one thing, but I want to see how you do against live combatants." Natalya said. "Team six here will take up positions on the firing range and try to stun you. If you can take them out without getting stunned, I'll be willing to overlook your less-than-optimal performance with the static targets."

Damien gulped, but nodded. He checked his phaser and took a position crouching behind a chest high wall. "Ready."

Nodding, Natalya turned to the security teams, whom had taken up positions on the firing range, some behind some cover which had risen up from the floor of the range.

"You may fire when ready." She ordered.

Not wasting any time, the security officers immediately proceeded to open fire on Damien.

The security team, as a whole and its members individually, was obviously better than Damien would ever be. And they were trying their best (Damien suspected that the chief would have their hides if they didn’t). Damien was given an essentially impossible challenge. But he wasn’t useless. He knew remembered his training.

He may have been out of practice, but he knew the theory. Like, for example, how many shots a phaser had in it before it needed to cool and let its capacitor recharge. He stunned two of them while their weapons couldn’t fire, helped by the fact that their cover was worse than his.

He also knew that they expected it to be an easy win. They weren’t expecting him to toss his commbadge against a side wall. Three looked at the source of the noise, letting him get in clean shots.

The last one was too well protected. He wasn’t leaving the cover enough for Damien to get off a good shot. He would need another new tac.

He used covering fire to let himself get closer to the target, going cover to cover while firing in the target’s general direction. Doing this enough let him get into a flanking position.

He took one light hit to the arm, but it didn’t stun him. He met Natalya’s criteria.

"Impressive." Natalya remarked, stroking her chin. "I believe someone of your resourcefulness could be trusted to carry a sidearm. I'll send Medical down here to clean up this mess. Shall we formalize this in my office?"

Damien worked his shoulder and elbow. His arm ached but it wasn’t burned and the joints all worked. He deactivated the training phaser and put it back in the locker. “Of course. After you, Comrade Natalya.”

Natalya once again grabbed her communicator and flipped it open.

"Medical teams to firing range." She ordered before slipping the communicator back into her pocket and motioning for Damien to follow her out of the firing range.

**

Posting by (In order of appearance):

Lieutenant Commander Damien Maillet
Chief Communications Officer, Deep Space Station K-9

Lieutenant Commander Natalya Chornovil
Chief Security Officer, Deep Space Station K-9

 

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