Well, at least he wasn't making her learn from one of the Ishivi. Although that attitude wasn't really fair to Dax, since she actually didn't mind his company. She kind of enjoyed it, in fact, since she always knew what she could expect from him.
The captain chose not to eat with them, instead telling Ali to bring his food to their quarters before briskly leaving the galley. The adult companion left not long afterwards, carrying a tray with an artfully prepared plate and a bottle of something that didn't look like water.
That left Lana alone with Dax again, feeling slightly awkward after the scene with Aiden. She wasn't sure if the young man also felt uncomfortable; if so he didn't act like it, going back to eating efficiently but without any real haste.
“Thanks for being willing to train me,” she said to fill the silence. “I hope I won't be taking too much of your time.”
“You won't,” he replied. “I'm afforded less downtime than the rest of the human crew. And while I'm also given more responsibilities for maintaining and operating the ship, I have not discovered nearly as many tasks that need doing as allotted time in my duty shift. Leaving me with extended periods of inactivity where I'm required to be alert to emergencies, but not allowed any distractions.”
Lana glanced at the young man out of the corner of her eye. Had he just spent a long time to say he was bored? “Well, even so, I appreciate it.”
“You're welcome.” Dax efficiently disposed of his trash and cleaned and put away the utensil, then returned to sit next to her, waiting patiently. “If it sounds acceptable to you, during the times I have other duties while you're on shift you may accompany me and observe, and I'll instruct you. Then when time allows I can take you around the ship and give you more in-depth instruction on specific systems.”
That sounded just fine to her. She hastily gulped down the rest of her food and stood, throwing away her trash. “Ready.”
Lana wasn't sure why she was surprised when the weapons officer led her to the bridge. It was practically his home, albeit one where he just sat in one chair with his back ramrod straight for hours on end. Which he did now, having her pull up one of the movable terminals so she could sit next to him.
“I suppose we might as well start with weapons,” he said, helpfully navigating the ship's database on her terminal to what looked like thousands of logs. “I've spent a bit of time on writing informational material on the subject.”
A bit of . . . Lana opened up a log, confirming it had Dax's tag as the officer who'd posted it. It was also maybe twenty pages long, from what she could understand an in-depth comparison between biological agents dispersed via mini rift as opposed to numerous types of warheads with various dispersal systems. The other logs she flipped through all seemed the same.
How long had it taken for him to do all this? “I thought you weren't allowed distractions,” she murmured, browsing a treatise on beam focus vs power usage in laser burst arrays.
Dax straightened slightly in his seat, and she could've sworn he flushed slightly. “According to ship's operations regulations as Captain Aiden follows them, crew are encouraged to document events during the duration of their shift with detailed logs. I have been rigorous in doing so.”
To Lana, it looked more like he was using the logs as an excuse to talk about his favorite subject to alleviate boredom. It reminded her a bit of Aiden's extensive logs on the history and methods of the Deeks.
Then again, when they weren't getting shot at, there probably wasn't much to do on this ship besides study things they found interesting, then write about them in logs nobody would ever read. Aside from her, apparently.
It was actually kind of sad to think about.
She scrolled through the endless series of logs, which seemed to date back to about five years ago, when he must've come aboard. “You talk about a lot of different weapons. Have you studied them all?”
“Studied is not an accurate term, but yes, I'm an expert with just about all of them,” he admitted, pulling up his logs on his own display and clicking on what looked to be a beginner's tutorial as he continued. “Although there's an unbelievable number of weapons out there. By which I mean, in the fifty thousand years that mankind has been in space, as well as during our technological boom leading up to it, we've found a way to turn just about anything into a weapon. I could spend hours just listing and briefly describing the most common ones we're likely to encounter in battle, some of which might give you nightmares.”
He glanced at her and paused, continuing in the same neutral tone but seeming a bit apologetic. “To make a long story short, though, the two types of weapons that have stood the test of time, proving themselves more versatile and effective than all contenders, are lasers and atomics.
“Atomics are much older, from centuries before we ever left Homeworld's system, but it's hard to argue with the raw power of uncontrolled fusion or fission chain reactions. They'll overload anything but the shields of a capital ship, and a direct hit when the shields are down will destroy or seriously damage even those. The downside of atomics is the missile payload is one of the slowest moving weapons, although still much faster than any ship. But even the fact that they're effective within ten kilometers of the detonation barely makes up for that drawback.
“As for laser bursts, they're able to travel at the speed of light, making them easier to aim than other weapons, and they punch through shield layers and hull plating alike.
