Lt. Robin Hopper: A Closer Look
Robin Hopper
((“Bridge, USS Independence-B” - Holodeck 1, Level 5, Copernicus Center))
Hopper recalled her own bridge officer training being just as chaotic as this one. As times had changed, new threats had emerged, and new training methods were developed – the testing parameters thrown at cadets – or, in this case, crewmen – had needed to adapt as well. This test felt like an adaptive program – one which would continue to try and throw curveballs at them.
At the moment, they had established that an unidentifiable object had ‘attacked’ them, knocked them out of impulse, disabled their warp core, and entities had invaded the ship. The entities may or may not be Cardassians, may or may not be armed, and most importantly – may or may not be ‘hot’.
Hopper did her best to focus on the most pressing matter for her position: figuring out who, or what, was out there in space that wanted them to stand still.
Barberra: Very well. S’Raga, Begin an attack run, Hopper scan for any signs of the location of a cloaked vessel.
Wong: ::Mutterning:: This isn't right…
Hopper: ::To Wong, beside her:: It’s never going to quite add up the same as a ‘real scenario’... ::To Barberra, squinting at her readout:: I’m reading a higher-than-normal concentration of tetryon particles... oO Great. Love those. Oo …if there is a cloaked vessel, it could be damaged.
Reade: We are being pinged again.
Robin gripped her station as the ship rocked again. Considering they were no longer traveling at Impulse speeds, the shaking was considerably less severe.
S’Raga: The ship’s really fighting me. It’s almost like there’s a low-intensity tractor beam on us.
Iovianus: ::turning in his seat to check on Annamae:: Captain.
Richards: From where though? If we can pinpoint the origin of the beam we might be able to send a feedback pulse to the attacking ship and disrupt the beam and their cloak.
S’Raga: I'm not sure if there actually is a tractor beam on us. I think that's just how the ship wants to behave right now.
Hopper: How the ship wants to behave? ::Bemused snort, eyebrows raised:: How many things is this simulation throwing at us at once?
Reade: Response
Iko: Or we can go, see what’s happening in the rest of the ship, and use new information to gather an advantage.
Richards: We can’t just sit here and do nothing. We have two directions we can take. It’s up to you Barberra.
Barberra: ::Drumming fingers on armrest of chair:: Yes it *is* up to me, my pretties. ::mock evil witch laugh:: If we send a feedback pulse, we may cause further damage to our shields and leave ourselves exposed.
Iovianus: ::calmly:: Captain. If we examine the situation there is one common denominator going on with the information we have.
Barberra: Ship damage?
Wong: ::Looking up from his PADD:: Hm? What's going on?
Hopper: ::To Wong:: Shh… The Captain’s thinking.
Iko: Break-throughs.
Reade: Response
The ship lurched again, and Hopper glanced at their Helm Officer, who seemed to have his work cut out for him.
S'Raga: ::To his console:: C'mon, work with me here! Can't we be friends?
Iovianus: The computer told Iko we have borders and the core is damaged. The computer told Wong there are injuries on the bridge. ::He indicated around at the group of them:: This is a Defiant class ship, we are the bridge. The computer is fighting S’Raga at the controls, therefore….
Barberra: therefore… ::Turning to S’Raga:: it’s… S’Raga! He’s a traitor!
Robin gasped. That was an unexpected turn of events! She looked at S’Raga with wide accusatory eyes. Was this all because his promotion to Lieutenant had been a sham?
Barberra: No wait. It’s the computer.
oO Oh. Oo
Barberra: We may have been hacked, or sabotaged. ::To Wong:: Lieutenant Wong, take Lieutenant Reade, Ensign Richards and Ensign Iko and beam directly to Engineering and check the status of the computer core. Find out what’s going on, then ::pointing finger in a circle around combadge on her chest, whispering, screwed up nose:: comms me ::wink::.
Wong: ::Motioning to the transporters:: Come on, you three. Let's have a look into this.
Reade/Richards: Responses
Iko: We got this.
The four of them stood from their consoles and group up together. Robin looked over to S’Raga and silently mouthed “Sorry” to him.
Barberra: ::Calling out to Iko, raised voice:: Go kick some intruder butt, Bec!
Captain-for-the-Day Barberra switched her focus back to the remaining bridge crew.
Barberra: Lieutenant Hopper, run a full spectral analysis, and see if we are in fact fighting a cloaked vessel or a deliberate computer glitch.
Hopper: Will do. I’ll do it ‘old school’ and bypass the computer…
With that, she turned back to her station and pressed the button to deploy the rarely-used ‘Science Scope’ – something she had always wanted to do on the bridge of a starship. It emerged from its storage compartment. They had remained in frequent use through the late 2260s before falling out of favour in lieu of more concise computer-assisted displays. However, in rare circumstances – such as this one – they offered a Science Officer the chance to examine their surroundings without computer interference. She stood and leaned forward, peering into it and adjusting the settings.
Barberra: Commander Iovianus, can we emit a plasma stream, or something similar, to make it look like we are more damaged than we are?
Iovianus: Response
Barberra: If there *is* someone out there, let’s flush them out. ::To S’Raga:: Reduce our speed, make it look like we are having trouble with propulsion and navigation.
S'Raga: Aye, sir!
Barberra: Soooo… ::casually playing with earlobe:: anything?
S'Raga: All quiet here.
Iovianus: Response
Hopper: I’m following the ‘breadcrumbs’ a bit here. Tetryon deposits, sort of like a ‘trail’ leading towards Nereid. They could be trying to hide–
The ship rocked from phaser fire. Sparks momentarily flew from a few places on the bridge. Robin felt the scope press against her face, leaving a red ring around her eyes.
Hopper: Uhh, which does not mean they aren’t hostile… ::Turning to face Iovianus and Barberra:: They might just be scared and trying to protect themselves.
Another hit rocked the ship. Robin grabbed her chair and sat down.
Barberra: Hmm, it’s as if the holoprogram is listening to us, by the way, EVASIVE MANOUVERS S’RAGA!
S'Raga: Aye, Captain! Initiating evasive patter Gamma-Six!
Hopper: We could try hailing them? Maybe they were attacked as well and think we’re their attackers?
Iovianus: Response
Barberra: Response
She watched as their HCO tapped at his console before it suddenly dimmed. Turning to look at her own console, she found it was similarly affected. The consoles had been locked out.
S'Raga: I've lost all helm control. ::Turning to face Barberra:: We're adrift, Captain.
Barberra: Response
Hopper: Science isn’t responding either… ::Pursing her lips in thought:: …If the program is adapting to our analyses, maybe it’s trying to push us in a particular direction. Internal sensors weren’t giving us a clear picture of what was happening in Engineering, so you sent a team.
Iovianus/Barberra/S’Raga: Response
Hopper: ::Hesitantly:: Maybe someone needs to take a shuttle and investigate the moon? See what’s out there… ‘up close and personal’?
Iovianus/Barberra/S’Raga: Response
Hopper: Yeah, or, of course the shuttle could just be blasted to smithereens.
Iovianus/Barberra/S’Raga: Response
Hopper: Oh, I don’t really like this idea – but we could transport someone out there in an EV suit. The other ship might not even detect them, given the interference from their own tetryon emissions…
Iovianus/Barberra/S’Raga: Response
TBC
