Lt. Robin Hopper: Best Training Simulation Ever
Robin Hopper
((“Bridge, USS Independence-B” - Holodeck 1, Level 5, Copernicus Center))
The doors to the turbolift opened, with some ‘assistance’ from Bec, who stepped lively out of the lift and onto the bridge. A young Cardassian girl appeared from behind Iko. She seemed understandably shaken by the situation they had found themselves in and appeared to be using Bec to shield herself from the others. Robin brushed her hair behind her ears and tried to appear non-threatening.
Iko: Captain, this is Rasha.
Robin, still seated on the floor by her malfunctioning console, held back as Barberra stepped towards the girl and got down on one knee.
Barberra: Hey. You can call me Annamae. Which is pretty lucky, because right now no-one else can. They have to call me “Captain” or “El Capitano” or “Sir” or “Your Majesty”.
Rasha: ::Quiet, nervous tone:: Hello, your ma-uhh, majestic.
Barberra: “Majesty”. ::Small smile:: And call me Annamae.
Hopper: ::Gently:: Hi, Rasha. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe with us.
Robin continued working on her terminal. The work was slow, but she felt as though she was making progress. oO Nathan would be proud. I haven’t even gotten shocked yet. Oo
Iko: …where'd Iovianus and S'Raga go?
Barberra: ::Looking at Iko:: The hot tub on level 4. They’re running a diagnostic on it.
Hopper: In fact, we should be hearing from them any–
S'Raga: =/\= S'Raga to the bridge. We're ready to deplo. =/\=
Robin raised her hands in amused defeat and shook her head. A small fizzling laugh escaped her lips as she turned herself back to adjusting the last few components needed to get her terminal working once more.
Barberra: =/\= Okay then Ensign. You can, you know, deploy. When you’re ready. =/\=
Rasha: What’s a hot tub?
Iko: Response
S'Raga: =/\= S'Raga to Independence, we're clear of the ship. =/\=
Barberra: =/\= ::Faux smile, faux happy tone:: We hope you enjoy your journey and thank you for choosing Starfleet cruises. =/\=
Iovianus: =/\= Is there any report from the others? =/\=
Barberra: =/\= They’re reporting no damage. It’s strange. They’re investigating. =/\=
Iovianus: =/\= Noted, is there any more information? =/\=
Barberra: =/\= Nothing at the moment commander. Keep us apprised. =/\=
At the same moment, Robin’s terminal hummed back to life. She poked her head out from underneath and smiled at the sight of her science console bright and accessible once more.
Hopper: Ha-hah! ::Replacing the access panel:: There we go. Now, let me take a look at those tetryon clusters. See if someone’s been leaving false crumbs for us to follow…
Barberra: Yes, please do. ::Turning to Rasha:: Do you know how you got here? Was it a transporter?
Robin lifted herself back up to standing, giving her left leg a test with a few gentle kicking motions. Any time she had to hold it in an unusual position she was wary of it ‘locking up’. Now would not be the ideal time to have to perform self-maintenance on the prosthetic. Fortunately, it appeared that her brief stint on the floor had not rendered it inoperable and she was able to sit at her station once more and peer into the Science Scope.
Iko: Response
Hopper: Good Hunch, Cap’n Crunch – ::turning dramatically over her shoulder to look at Barberra:: These tetryon emissions lack the kind of pattern degradation we could expect from a real faulty cloaking device. ::Tapping her combadge:: =/\= Commander, Ensign – heads up. Nereid could be a trap. =/\=
S’Raga: =/\= Thanks, Lieutenant. We'll be extra vigilant. =/\=
Barberra: =/\= Who would be stupid enough to use faulty cloaking devices and attempt to attack a Starfleet ship in the Sol system- ::Clicking fingers, eyes open wide:: Pakleds?! They’re stupid and weird, and deranged enough to try something like this. =/\=
Following Barberra’s hunch, Robin began looking for any sign that their attackers might be Pakled. They might be, as El Capitano had put it, ‘weird’ and ‘deranged’ – but they had a tendency to attack en masse, overwhelming their foes with sheer numbers. The fact that they had thus far seen so little of their enemy led Robin to suspect that they were more clever than that.
Iko: Response
Rasha: ::Quietly:: I don’t know.
Rasha: ::Quietly:: I need to go to the toilet.
Robin shook her head and smiled in amusement. oO Why is this what Commander Ukinix cooked up for us? Maybe Wong was right. This entire training simulation does feel a bit like a prank… Oo
Barberra: =/\= Independence-B to Iovianus. Is some sort of energy field being projected? Possibly from a hidden ship? =/\=
Iovianus: =/\= To me the distortion field is not right size wise to show us what we should be seeing or experiencing. =/\=
S’Raga: =/\= I can't make heads or tails of it either, Captain. =/\=
Suddenly the comms fizzled then went dead, terminating their communication. Robin furrowed her brow and let out a slight groan of annoyance. If systems kept malfunctioning, they would never get anywhere with this – especially with Scotty and Nathan playing with flying boogers down in Engineering.
Barberra: =/\= Barberra to Iovianus. Commander Older Brother, report. =/\=
There was nothing.
Barberra: =/\= Independence to Ensing S’Raga or Commander Iovianus, do you copy? =/\= ::To Bec:: Lieutenant Iko, what’s happening to their shuttle?
Iko: Response
Barberra: ::Grabbing lobster claws on headband:: Ugh.
Robin turned in her chair, facing towards Barberra and Iko. She crossed her arms and tilted her head, trying to figure out what exactly was happening between so many seemingly-disparate challenges.
Hopper: Now, how do all these elements make sense together? Cardassian refugees on our ship? Flying parasites? Computer malfunctions? Some sort of cloaked vessel… ::To Barberra:: Is any of this making some sort of sense to you, Captain?
Barberra: Absolutely not. And there was no damage reported in engineering.
Rasha: What’s a Pakled?
Iko: Response
Rasha: You all wear different uniforms to the Starfleet officers I’ve seen before.
Hopper and Barberra turned, in sync, to look at Rasha. Robin’s brows raised in intrigue, while Her Majesty went to the girl and knelt once more. oO Now what could that mean? Oo
Barberra: Really? What do the Starfleet uniforms you’ve seen look like.
Rasha: ::Pointing at chest:: They have a triangle down the middle, which shows the different colors, and the shoulders are gray.
There was palpable moment of silence as they all pondered the meaning of that. Barberra’s jaw dropped. As it began to click for Robin, her Commanding Officer turned to face her.
Barberra: Lieutenant Hopper, scan for any traces of tachyon or chroniton particles, no matter how small. Even if it’s trace levels.
Robin nodded in growing understanding, pointing a finger of agreement at Barberra.
Hopper: You got it, El Capitano… ::Turning back to her station, looking into the Science Scope:: …Adjusting parameters… There’s evidence of subspace tearing – all over the place! What we took for phaser fire may not have been phasers at all. The ship may be experiencing gravimetric distortions as we pass through various asynchronous chroniton fields… Which would mean–
Barberra: Then that means that Deck 1 is out of temporal phase with Deck 2, and possibly the other decks. And maybe the shuttle. Bec- ::slight blush:: I mean Lieutenant Iko, scan for any vessels or non-natural anomalies that may being projecting some sort of energy field, or beam, or you know… ::rolling hand:: stuff, into this area of space.
Hopper: I think this is starting to make sense. The reason we’re finding so many mis-matched things here, is that this area of spacetime has been scarred.
Iko: Responses
Robin hardly noticed as Barberra crossed the room to the replicator and produced a bowl of frozen dessert for their young Cardassian visitor.
Barberra: ::Showing icecream to Rasha:: Here you go. It’s caramel popcorn flavored. ::Gesturing to nearby chair:: You sit there.
Rasha: Yes, Hanna Bay majestic.
Barberra: ::To Rasha:: It’s extremely unhealthy and delicious. Enjoy!
Barberra returned to the center of the bridge and looked to her crewmates for a report.
Barberra: What have you found?
Hopper: ::Turning to face the Captain:: In short, someone’s made a mess of things out there and we were unfortunate enough to stumble into it.
Iko: Response
Hopper: It’s like a… ::searching for an analogy:: …a patchwork blanket of spacetime. Someone – or something – is ripping holes all around us and spacetime is trying to sew itself back together... ::Pondering:: But why?
Iko: Response
Barberra: By the way, we sent a distress signal earlier… where’s Starfleet?
Iko: Response
Suddenly, their comms came back to life with a harsh buzzing sound that made the hairs on the back of Robin’s neck stand on end. There was a moment’s pause, while everyone turned to look at the viewscreen. A dark figure emerged into the light and Robin let out another audible gasp as a cruel and wicked face – S’Raga’s face – appeared.
oO Barberra was right from the very beginning! S’Raga is a traitor! Oo
Mirror-S'Raga: =/\= This is Captain S'Raga of the Imperial Starfleet Ship Independence. We have destroyed the Cardassian ship which you've sent to inflict our universe with those wretched parasites, at the unfortunate expense of being pulled into the anomaly you used to infiltrate us. Now you will tell us why you've initiated this act of war against us and how to dispose of these parasites, or we will unleash the might of the Terran Empire upon you! =/\=
Hopper turned to look at Barberra and Iko, wide-eyed.
Hopper: Oh my God… How cool is this?!
Barberra/Iko: Response
Hopper: Are you kidding? It’s the mirror universe! I know I ought to be excited as a physicist, but I’m actually just loving this dark and twisted version of S’Raga! He’s so… ::eyes wide with enthusiasm:: …menacing!
All thoughts of Ukinix being an incorrigible menace flew from Robin’s mind. This was the best training simulation she’d ever experienced. During her initial command training exercises, nothing like this had ever happened. Spacetime being rent asunder… Their dark and evil alternate universe ‘twins’ emerging to take them on… oO Oooh, I wonder if Mirror me is smoldering? Oo
Barberra/Iko: Responses?
Mirror-S'Raga/Barberra: =/\= Responses =/\=
As the communications closed between the Independence and their evil counterparts, Robin crossed her arms and chuckled with delight.
Hopper: If I may, Your Majesty, I think we may have come across the hot antagonists we were looking for! ::Anticipating questions:: I mean… Have you read the reports about the Mirror Universe? Those miniskirts put the scant to shame. ::Smirking:: I bet Mirror Barberra has a cool scar.
Barberra/Iko: Responses
Hopper: Well, we have some answers now. Space is being torn about by some force and a bunch of random junk is falling through the holes around us – and inside the ship, seemingly. Maybe it’s as simple as putting everything back in its right place.
Barberra/Iko: Responses
Hopper: ::Explaining her thought process:: The Cardassians go into the Cardassian-shaped hole, the Parasites go back where they came from, and the Mirror Indy-B gets sent on its way. ::Slapping her hands together, as if the job were done:: Though, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind finding out what Ukinix programmed the rest of our counterparts to look like!
Barberra/Iko: Responses
TBC
