===== Outside of the holodeck - USS Chimera ===== At seven in the morning a new shift came to the lab and so Terek was after two shifts free to go. He was tired and hungry, but sleep was what he needed most so he decided to skip food and went to his quarters to take at least one hour of nap. He knew that this would only make him feel more tired, but he had to supply his body at least with this little substitution of rest. So he just took a quick sonic shower and lied down for a while. It seemed as if a blink of an eye has passed when the computer was waking him up, because the hour he devoted to sleep was over. And it was almost a quarter to nine, so he just dressed up, ordered a strong sweet, cold black coffee from the replicator, took it in one long gulp and went to the turbolift to the holodeck. He arrived in front of the holodeck door about two minutes before nine. He hasn't seen anyone except so he just stepped to the wall and waited for Richard to come. Suddenly from the around the bend emerged general Bretam. He approached the holodeck, so Terek was ready to say hello and expected that he would continue on his way. But surprisingly, the general stopped in front of the holodeck as well. "Good morning sir..." Said Terek with a little bow and smile. Keylor walked down the corridor towards the holodeck. He had hoped to find some of the ODA training in one of the holodecks so he could observe their actions. When he turned the corner and saw Ensign Terek waiting in front of one of the doors his hopes dropped. As he walked up to Terek he smiled and glanced at the holodek console to see what, if anything was running. Seeing nothing he looked at Terek when he greeted him . "Morning Ensign." he responded politely. "So what brings you here today? hoping to get a few minutes of holodck time before the ODA throw you out and continue their training?" he asked with a smile. Terek saw that general is somehow disappointed with something, probably he expected that ODA will be training and he would be able to see them in action. "Actually sir, I've got to meet here corporal Cortez. We've been trying to find out some new ways how to get rid as much of the X'Chi as possible with as little casualties as possible. And he told me to be here at 0900 hours to test it, so I'm here..." Cortez was running a bit late. He had spent most of the morning with Specialist Lynch designing and putting together a flamethrower type weapon. They had finished at around 08:00 and Cortez retired to his room to take a shower before heading back to the holodeck for the testing. He had informed Major Walsh and Commander Guzman of his intentions earlier in the morning and expected to see at least one of them at the holodeck to witness the testing. As cortez strode up to the holodeck carrying the flamethrower he was surprised to see General Bretam. Giving a nod to Terek he then faced the general, "Good Morning Sir, I presume you are here to view the testing?". Keylor looked at the lance corporal in an odd manner. In his arms was a strange looking device, much like a rifle but heavily modified. "No corporal. I did not realize there was any testing today. " he said hesitantly. He inspected the device in the lance corporals arms intently finally asking, "By the Prophets corporal, what is that thing?" Without hesitation Richard answered, "Sir this is a portable incendiary weapon designed to project an ignited stream of pressurized gas. We are going to test it out on the bugs." He said excitedly, holding the weapon in both hands so that he wouldn't drop it. Keylor looked back to Richard with a puzzled look. "Where you one of those children who ran about the yard with a magnifying glass on a sunny day trying to burn up the local insect population?" he wondered aloud. Richard was unsure of how to respond. He had never joked around with a general before. He remembered back at Quantico when he made the mistake of asking the base commander "how's it goin man". He was given latrine detail for 2 months. So Cortez just shifted his eyes and continued explaining the test, "Ensign Weranis came up with the idea that fire might be one of the Xchi's natural weaknesses", he said, looking over at Terek. When corporal Cortez arrived, Terek saw, that he managed to assemble some kind of flamethrower, which he held in his hands. The weapon looked really impressive. Heavily modified rifle with all necessary equipment required to spit flames on everything in range. A wident of the gun provided with igniter of the pressurized gas. Terek only wondered where the gas is stored, as for he haven't seen any portable tank or something similar. General looked surprised and it was understandable. When he asked Richard about the bugs and the magnifying glass, Terek struggled to keep his expression as serious as possible. Then Cortez looked at him with note that this was his idea. "Corporal, I'm impressed how quickly you've managed to create on of these. I'm looking forward to see the effect on those bugs." then he turned to the general. "Well sir, actually it was Richard who brought my attention to the idea. He was complaining that the exoskeleton of those creatures is almost impenetrable so I suddenly remembered that their crust will be probably from the same material as exoskeleton of other bugs...." then he realized, that it wasn't as important as to see if it'll work so he abrupted in talking. "Well shortly the material basics is similar to the wood so it should be flammable shouldn't it? But perhaps we should better test it..." Added looking at both of them, waiting.... Keylor looked on in sheer amazement, he really did not know what to say. In all of the days he had been on the combat front lines, this was the first time any one ever though of fashioning one of these throwers. {now in the open field on a planet surface, I can see how something barbaric as this might be used as a last resort. But in a starship, in confined areas with unknown gasses in side? This cant be good.} he thought. Jack had been in his office doing various things, nothing of any importance but that's just the way he liked it really, nothing to special or taxing this early on in a mission. His guys had been running training simulations for days now and he'd just read a report from Lance Corporal Cortez in which he said he was going to be testing out a new weapon. Intrigued Jack had made his way down to the holodeck to check things out. As he walked through the door he saw General Bretam, Lance Corporal Cortez and teal collared Ensign who he had yet to meet. "Gentlemen" Jack nodded tapping the PADD on his forehead and tipping it off slightly in a mock salute fashion. "I hear we've got a flame thrower to view?" "Yes Sir", Cortez said whipping around to see Major Walsh. Keylor looked over when he heard Jack arrive. He said nothing but just looked to see his reaction. As Jack mocked his salute, Keylor nodded back, remaining silent. After a brief moment next ODA member arrived. Terek assumed it would probably be major Walsh, so when he came, he only said: "Good morning sir." Cortez then stepped inside the holodeck and over to the nearby console and pressed in a few keys. After everyone had entered and the doors were closed he pressed the start button. Suddenly a bug trapped inside of a cage appeared. "Originally I was worried that using a flame weapon would produce too much smoke to use on a starship", Cortez began, "But Specialist Lynch came up with the idea to use a form of pressurized gas", as he said this he pulled out a small sealed canister from is leg pocket. He then loaded the canister into the weapon and continued talking, "the gas itself emits no smoke, and is very very easy to manipulate", he paused for a second then continued talking "Each canister gets one use or about 20 seconds of continuous fire before its expended", he said as he clicked the canister in place. Richard then pointed the weapon towards the bug, "Alright everyone stand back", he said then pulled the trigger. Immediately a steady flame about 5 feet long poured out from the nozzle of the weapon. As Richard walked closer to the bug it immediately began jumping back and forth trying to escape the flame but was eventually caught. Within a second the bug was engulfed in fire and Richard let go of the trigger and watched as the bug continued burning. Jack stepped forward, his arms folded and the PADD resting below his bottom lip. "Interesting Weapon Corporal, effective." He walked around the burning corpse. "It'll have to be utilised effectively though, I suggest the pointman be equipped with it to clear the path for the rest of the team, once the bulk of the X'Chi are...well burnt the rest can mop up the mess" Jack turned to the General. "What do you think?" The Commanding Officers tactical knowledge would obviously be well received. Keylor looked from afar at the demonstration. He was skeptical at the theory but was willing to let them convince him otherwise. He leaned up against the wall and looked at the interface console on the inside of the holodeck. {Hrm. fire protocols are disabled.} he thought. He reached over and tapped on the console and pulled up the air mixture in the room . {Hrm federation standard mixture, 60 percent oxygen, 30 percent nitrogen and 10 percent argon,} he thought to himself as he read the display. "Ok that is fine but they are not going to stand still on you. Also what if the air mixture on the ship has been compromised." He looked back at the men standing there. "How about you show me in a more realistic demonstration?" he asked ==/-\== End Log ==/-\== Ensign Terek Weranis ASO USS Chimera + BGeneral Bretam Keylor Captain USS Chimera + Major Walsh ODA CO USS Chimera + Lance Corporal Richard Cortez ODA WS USS Chimera