Re: Destination: Unknown
In reply to Sharik Kaagira (msg # 158):
"Excellent. Oh! Wait! I've been looking for an excuse to try this out..." Vonon turns back to the Sensor Station cum Tactical Board and calls up a program. Opening the program, he makes a few changes, closes it, then makes a melodramatic swipe at his holographic display - as if pushing something over towards Sharik.
On Sharik's board, a big, shiny red button appears off to the side. The button is labelled "Oh Crap!" and it is slowly blinking a dull red.
"That's my version of a program we used in The Patrol, called Overwatch. I just automated it." Vonon explains, as he gets up from his console, "Right now the ventral turret is live and running hot. It's getting realtime feeds from all the sensors we have pointed at the - well, ship, for lack of a better word - we're hovering over. If anything moves down there - anything not carrying one of our drones transponders, that is - the turret will automatically lock onto it, then ask for permission to fire."
Vonon give ones of his silly dog-grins, "That big red button there will flash really fast and really bright. You press that button, when it's flashing fast, and all three ventral lasers will fire full power beams at whatever was moving until it either stops moving or you press the button to order a cease fire or the guns meltdown."
"Please don't melt down my guns." Vonon says, heading out.
But he pauses before fully leaving the Bridge,
"Oh, if you press the button now, while its pulsing slowly, the system will ask you to designate a target. And, yeah, I haven't finished building the interface for that, yet, so you can't designate a target - you just get caught in a logic loop. So, don't press the button unless it's flashing rapidly, 'kay?"