Crewman Barberra and Lt Cmdr Ukinix - Universe
Wil Ukinix
((“Bridge, USS Independence-B” - Holodeck 1, Level 5, Copernicus Center))
On the view screen there was a large detonation, which made the whole screen go white. It made Annamae shield her eyes for a moment. As the display faded, it showed the USS Northumberland had lost part of its hull and spiralling towards a large part of the surface of Nereid that was spinning away from the epicentre of the warp core’s blast, and the now former moon.
The Borg cube was missing a large chunk like someone had taken a bite out of it. But it was still operational, and that was punctuated by the fact that the ISS Independence-B from the mirror universe was slowly but surely starting to emit green light from different parts of the ship.
Multiple klaxon tones started to sound from multiple consoles, indicating that the Borg were now starting to send dozens of drones to their USS Independence-B.
Barberra: Report!
Iko: We have currently got 63 Borg on board… and that number is rising…
Wong: I don’t think I have it in me to smack 63 Borg! We have to come up with something else that’s a lot more clever than brute force and I’m all for suggestions! I really hate this, guys!
Annamae grabbed on to the armrest of her chair as the shockwave from the blast buffeted the ship.
Richards: We’ve been rocked by the shockwave from the detonations. Electrical systems are going down one by one.
Hopper: ::Confused:: I don’t understand. ::To Barberra:: It went perfectly. That should have worked.
Annamae turned to Robin, then meekly pursed her lips as she slowly shrugged.
Reade: Shields down to 50%, 49%, shields are dropping
Barberra: ::Slight shrug:: Oh, well. ::Pressing button on armrest console:: =/\= Bridge to all hands. Abandon ship. I repeat, abandon ship. =/\=
She turned to look at the others.
Barberra: ::Twirling finger:: Escape pods, let’s go.
The crewman followed the others into the nearest escape pod. She fastened herself in, as the door closed behind them. She felt a rush of force though her body…
Just as everything surrounding them fizzled away into nothingness, depositing everyone back in Holodeck 1. A dozen metres away stood Commander Iovianus and Ensign S’Raga. Her eyes scanned the room to make sure the program was truly finished, before picking up the end of part of her hair and subconsciously inspecting it with her fingers.
Barberra: Well, that went well.
Iovianus: It..was a mission.
S’Raga: Or something like that!
Hopper: ::To Barberra, honestly but diplomatically:: You handled it well, given the chaos.
Barberra: Thank you. I wouldn’t have lasted more than 5 seconds if it wasn’t for all of you.
Iko: That was a lot…
Richards: I need a drink…I’ll see you guys later.
Annamae smirked, given that it was only just past 1000 hours.
Barberra: ::Clicking fingers:: I like it. It’s 1700 somewhere in the galaxy, right?
Iovianus: ::stepping up to Barberra:: Congratulations on surviving the test. I think you did well, and you did your crew proud.
Annamae smiled as she rolled her eyes a little, embarrassed by the praise from Commander Older Brother.
Barberra: Thank you, sir. ::Slight sigh:: Now I just have to find out how my assessment went…
Wong: I think I had enough of well…. Whatever that scenario was. But we did the best we could with it and I think we should be proud of that fact.
Barberra put her hands on her hips, and half nodded. oO You all did… I’m not so sure about me. Oo
Hopper: Hmm…
Annamae looked to Robin, who didn’t seem so sure at Wong’s claim.
Reade: That was an interesting mission for sure.
The crewman nodded in agreement with Scotty.
S'Raga: Well, your methods are... unorthodox... to say the least. But I sincerely hope Commander Ukinix grants you your full commission. Which is, I'm assuming, what the test was for. ::To the others that remained:: I'm heading over for some lunch at Wet Goods, if anyone would like to join me.
Annamae shook her head. It was an evaluation for her to see if she was up to the task of being a Starfleet Officer, and one day being a leader. Her path ahead was uncertain, and partly up to her.
Hopper: I think I’m going to stick around here in Ops for a little longer… I have some troubleshooting to do.
Annamae raised a hand to say “thanks” once again to the officers that were filing out. But her face showed her look of how uncertain she was of how she went.
Iko: ::waving casually:: See you all!
Robin approached her however, and spoke with a softer tone.
Hopper: ::To Barberra:: It’s not really my place to say, but I get the feeling that test wasn’t designed to make us feel like successes. But you handled that barrage really well… Just my personal opinion.
Barberra: Thanks, Lieutenant. I guess it was a no-win situation.
Hopper: I take it you’re going up to the Situation Room to discuss your results with Commander Ukinix now?
Barberra: Yeah… ::sigh::: I guess I should.
Hopper: ::Nodding:: I have a few things to discuss with him as well… But you go ahead. I’ll catch up with him later.
Barberra: Okay. Thank you again, Lieutenant. Maybe we should… you know… hang out sometime, lunch or something.
Maybe Robin could also be on the list of people that Annamae didn’t not like, and they could even be people that hung out sometimes.
Speaking of people that Barberra didn’t not unlike hanging out with, as Barberra turned to leave the holodeck, she noticed Bec was still in the holodeck, waiting to speak to her.
Barberra: ::slight smile:: Hey.
Iko: So… How do you reckon you went?
Annamae stopped, and subconsciously played with the end of some stray hairs again.
Barberra: I don’t know… we abandoned ship. Maybe not so well.
She felt a small wave of regret wash over her, as she turned up the corner of her mouth in disappointment. But what was done was done.
Iko: Wanna go out for a drink tonight?
Annamae eye’s shifted left to look at Bec. She did look nice in uniform… and she did not dislike Bec’s company.
Barberra: Sure. Come to my apartment tonight. ::Tapping Bec on her shoulder:: In the meantime, I better go and see Commander Ukinix. See you later, Lieutenant Iko.
After a nervous sigh, she made her way out of the holodeck.
((Situation Room – Level 6, Copernicus Center))
After being invited in, Annamae took a seat near Wil, and swivelled it around so that she was facing him.
Barberra: So… how did I do… bad, right? Abandoning ship?
Wil smiled, before crossing his arms and observing Annamae.
Ukinix(H): It was a deliberate no-win situation, an adaptive Kobayashi Maru. And it was all random. I just fed in parameters into the program, including the profiles and Starfleet records of the crew, and the computer spat out a scenario that didn’t let you breathe. ::pursed lips, looking down:: I wasn’t happy about the whole British Commonwealth of Planets thing, though, I’m going to feed that back to San Francisco.
Barberra: Okay… ::eyes up, left:: so… there was no way to win… and vessels from three parallel universes were under attack by the Borg. And I failed, right?
Wil looked at Annamae again, as a smile slowly formed across his face. He then leaned forward and reach for a nearby PADD.
Ukinix(H): Well, I took the liberty of asking the computer to continue the simulation and report the results. ::Tapping PADD, before reading:: I’ll summarise this, let’s see… despite the shockwave, Iovianus and S’Raga’s shuttle managed to get away and raise the alarm to Starfleet command, who had already dispatched ships to investigate what was going on. Once the alarm was raised, they sent a whole armada… the Indy from the Terran Empire Universe managed to get partial control of their ship back, they beamed aboard many of the Northumberland crew who had also, like you, abandoned ship. They worked together to steer their Indy into the Borg Cube with self-destruct activated, but not before *they* abandoned ship and were rescued by Starfleet… once Starfleet got there, they finished off the Borg cube, and finished the job to seal the rift with further warp core detonations-
Barberra: So Lieutenant Hopper’s plan worked?
Ukinix(H): Yeah, the rift was… ::scrolling through PADD::… here it is, “had a far larger subspace footprint than first detected by the multiple crews”. ::looking up:: The initial warp core detonations made a sizable dent. And, the best part, most of your crew was rescued and treated by Starfleet, and a Borg transwarp conduit was destroyed. ::Putting PADD back:: So, all in all, not a bad outcome. Casualties of course, and several damaged or destroyed Starfleet vessels, plus Neptune’s now missing half a moon, but given what happened - ::shrug:: it sucks, but in the grand scheme of things could have been much worse.
Barberra: ::Blinking eyes in surprise:: Oh.
Wil sat forward in his chair.
Ukinix(H): But it wasn’t about the outcome. It was about your performance. And your performance, along with your crew, led to that outcome. You didn’t give up, even when you knew when you were defeated. ::Shrug:: Can’t ask for much more than that.
Annamae’s eyes shifted up and left.
Barberra: Okay.
Ukinix(H): So, I’ll run these results past Ambassador Vataix and Captain Rahman. And if they agree you did well, you’ve got a decision to make. Either back to the Academy, if they let you back in, or stay enlisted and qualify for Officer Candidate School. Either way, if you truly want to be an Ensign one day, here’s your chance.
Barberra: ::Nodding:: Understood, Commander.
Wil stood up, and gestured for Annamae to do the same.
Ukinix(H): ::Smiling:: You did well, Crewman Barberra. Take the rest of the day off, and put your feet up. Dismissed.
Annamae awkwardly smiled a little, before giving Wil a quick nod, and then heading out of the room.
Once gone, Wil repeatedly tapped the PADD in his hand against his other palm, before sitting down again.
Ukinix(H): Computer. Begin recording, Lieutenant Commander Wil Ukinix observations and assessment of Crewman Annamae Barberra command exercise.
Computer: ::confirmation tone:: Evaluation Recording. Begin dictation when ready.
((Later that day, Outside Ops, Level 1, Copernicus Center))
(OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T67U8_0KIYQ)
Wil had just finished up a quick catch up with several of the Operations crewman in Ops, when he walked out into the elevator foyer – to discover Robin Hopper waiting for him.
Hopper: Commander. Do you have a minute?
When she held a cup of something up to him, he smiled.
Hopper: I ran to the Brew Continuum. I wasn’t sure what you drank, but since your cousin, Keehani seems to enjoy Sencha… Well, I got you a cup.
Ukinix(H): Thanks Hops! Actually I love sencha, I introduced Keehani to it.
Hopper: ::Passing him the cup:: I wonder if I could pick your brain, just for a minute, about that holodeck training exercise. There’s, um, a few questions that have been… rattling around in my head.
He took a sip of the tea that was just handed to him.
Ukinix(H): Mmm. ::Lifting cup:: It’s good. Just what I needed. Thanks, Lieutenant.
Wil gestured for Robin to follow him into the shuttlebay. They walked side by side, slowly out of the foyer.
Ukinix(H): Let’s fix that brain rattle of yours. What questions have you got for me.
Hopper: First – and I understand you may not be able to share this particular answer with me - but… Was that task meant to be impossible? I know that we all tried our hardest to support Crewman Barberra, but I have to admit… It felt a bit like we had the kitchen sink thrown at us in there.
Ukinix(H): ::Smile, nod:: All of the above. An adaptive Kobayashi Maru.
Hopper: ::Nodding:: I understand… Another thing. The solution with the warp cores. It should have worked. It would have worked, in the real world… Right? Or am I missing something?
Ukinix(H): You did miss something, that you couldn’t possibly have detected. The rift was much larger than anyone first thought. But you started the process of sealing it. I have the extended simulation outcome report from the computer that I will happily forward on to you. And everyone involved in the scenario.
When Robin paused as they walked out into the shuttlebay, Wil pivoted to face her and give her his full attention.
Hopper: ::Smirking:: Finally… and definitely most importantly… ::One hand on her hip:: You made S’Raga the captain of the Mirror Independence and I didn’t even get a cameo? I mean… That was a wasted opportunity.
Wil laughed, remembering the scar faced, cheek braided S’Raga from the program.
Ukinix(H): That was the computer. I fed all your profiles into the program. I guess it just decided with its algorithms that S’Raga was a good captain for a Terran Imperial society. Maybe it saw something in his personality. ::Rubbing hand on chin, staring over Robin’s shoulder:: Should I be worried?
They began walking again away from ops.
Hopper: I could be a very menacing villain. Just picture it… instead of hair, I could have a cybernetic brain or something… Maybe an eye patch! My leg could have a built-in phaser…
Wil chuckled, before turning to Robin as they walked.
Ukinix: Or maybe the computer’s algorithms thought that you couldn’t possibly be evil. Maybe you’re a great Starfleet officer. From what I’ve seen so far Lieutenant, I agree with that assessment. We‘re very lucky to have you on Amity.
He smiled as they walked towards the Daintree, ready to speak to some engineers who were doing minor upgrades on the vessel.
[End Scene for Wil and Annamae!]
==========================================
Crewman Second Class Annamae Barberra
Liaison Officer for the Starfleet Attaché
Amity Outpost
And
Lieutenant Commander Wil Ukinix
Starfleet attaché and First Officer
Amity Outpost
V239511WU0