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Telepresence Training

Posted on Thu Jun 14th, 2018 @ 6:34pm by Captain Enalia Telvan & Commander Rita Paris

Mission: Curing the Black Blood
Location: USS Hera Classroom C
Timeline: After the USS Hera leaves Granweh

It wasn't often that the class of SF221J was able to link up with the USS Hera since it was assigned to Intel Command after the last refit, but the students were excited today because not only was it parent visit day, but the Captain of the USS Hera had an amazing guest speaker lined up for them. As the kids showed off their projects to their parents, the Captains of the two ships whose children comprised this class walked with Rita and the teacher as she explained what they've been doing since the last time they've been able to do this.

Captain Becker of the USS Speranza was assigned to medical command and since his ship was a Hope class hospital ship, there was little room for families - especially with the missions Command had tasked his group with in the Corridor. The Hera, being a Nebula class ship that no parent in their right mind would take anyone under the age of consent aboard, was in a similar situation. Neither had enough for a full class, but together they could form a full multi-grade level class so they became one of several of the classes at the new Dynametrix Array's Starfleet Elementary. It was designed and built for full holodeck telepresence of entire classrooms across the quadrant so that from any suitably outfitted ship parents and Captains can visit the classrooms of the ship's children as if they were there.

"The children have been working hard the past few weeks on an upcoming project involving First Contact day and what it means to them. As you both know, pretty much every race in the Federation holds the day they made first contact with another being outside their own race with special significance and The Federation holds a celebration of this in a few days time." As the Trill-Vulcan teacher Misses V'Stol explained, she motioned to the various projects and children as they showed them off to their parents. "I have been quite impressed with the creativity of the entire class. They've been more emotional than most educators would like, but I've found that expression of one's self at these ages helps children to discover who they are and promotes forward thinking in future endeavors. Thus you may find a few... Complaints... Filed against our class by the other classes for noise and impassioned outbursts. I support the class in every one of those complaints."

Enalia couldn't help but grin a bit wryly as Captain Becker scowled a bit. "That's not exactly going to help them in Starfleet Academy..." Then he sighed heavily, his eyes closing as he thought it over. "But it is a good leadership trait if they have good judgement."

"I agree. If they follow their hearts and know the regulations inside and out..." Enalia paused to wave one hand around in a circle a bit. "And know the loopholes... It sounds to me like we have a class of students full of creatives that will take the initiative in any endeavors they pursue." Enalia knew full well what would happen if they didn't know the material well enough when they made some noise about it.

Captain Becker scoffed at Enalia's comment and couldn't help but grin himself. "This coming from the infamous second Captain in history to cheat at the Kobayashi Maru test and get away with it scott free? I still want to know how you did it, by the way."

"Family secret," Enalia replied, looking for a way to change the subject and dragging Rita in front of her. "Have you met Lieutenant Rita Paris? She's the guest speaker I brought. She's from over a hundred years ago and another dimension. Did you bring a guest speaker? Are they in that sample container I spied earlier? Fascinating..."

"I... No... I..." Captain Becker was at a slight loss for words, and tugged down on his uniform top as Enalia grinned. "It's full of an ambiplasma gel we found on a demon class planet. I'm the guest speaker."

"Ah well. I'm sure that'll be very fascinating. Children do love slimy things, after all." Enalia was just glad she finally had someone/something she could actually share with the class. Every mission lately had been so classified none of it could be shared and finally, she'd been able to wipe that smug look off of Captain Becker's face and it gave her goosebumps. "I owe you," She whispered into Rita's ear As the teacher, Missus V'Stol called the room's attention to the head of the room for the trio.

"My pleasure, Captain," Paris strode into the center of the Dynametrix Array, pausing to look around and silently confirm that she was in the right spot. Then looking out over the students, she draped her hands lightly on her hips and smiled that million-watt smile that made her look like a vintage Starfleet recruitment poster from 130 years ago.

"Hello students! My name is Lieutenant Rita Paris. I was born in the year 2233. You use a stardate in this dimension I really can't seem to grasp as yet- so be a better student than me!" Paris mugged, and got a few chuckles. "I tell you this because the relevance comes into play from when I entered Starfleet Academy. You see, the year was 2251. Who can tell me the significance of that year?"

While several hands went up, a few brave souls called out some answers. "Captain Garth of Izar won the Battle of Axanar!" "Captain Christopher Pike started his first five year deep space mission on the Enterprise!" "The Dramian plague wiped out all but one colonist!" "Ambassador Spock graduated Starfleet Academy!" The varying responses really showed the priorities of the crews of the two ships. One looked up to role models in combat and exploration, and the other through peace and medical research. They could not have been paired better for their studies and the debates the children of the two crews would have in the future would certainly be epic.

"All correct, and excellent answers!" Paris herself had planned to bone up for this so that as the resident expert and storyteller she wouldn't get anything incorrect. But the best of intentions had collided with time in the simulator and duty rosters and meetings and life aboard a starship where she was looking things up half the time. "In the case of this particular tale, we turn to a footnote in an illustrious life. Because you see, someone else was born the same year as myself. And that illustrious personage entered Starfleet Academy that same year- the start of a career that would change the shape of the galaxy. We called him Cadet James T. Kirk."

The ancient astronaut paused to see if Jim Kirk was as popular amongst the young people these days as she figured he'd be.

Everyone seemed to recognize the name, but the older students looked a bit nervous and a couple glanced at each other and mumbled the year "2252."

"If you haven't worked out a reference point for my calendar, it is reasonable to assume that the cross-dimensional variances should align themselves." Paris snapped her fingers and shook her head, chagrined at herself. "Right, I forgot to mention that part. I'm not only a time displacement victim, I'm also a trans-dimensional accident as well. So similar unfolding of events, but histories are not necessarily completely accurate. So what I tell you may be thoroughly factual from my perspective. And a Rita Paris was born on the same date as myself here as well. So the story that I am about to tell you is historical fact to me. But in your universe it might just be a tall tale. Fair enough?"

While she wasn't exactly great with kids, Rita was hoping that being honest with them would help.

The kids looked happy enough with that. They enjoyed a good story and were curious about everything and with a cross-dimensional AND time traveling sentient in front of them, they were as good as hooked.

Enalia couldn't help but interject a little as the excitement and curiosity built in the children's eyes. "Everyone, Rita, from what we've been able to extrapolate, is from a parallel dimension where in our time, Romulus was destroyed so a rogue captain went back to her time, destroyed Vulcan and wreaked havoc on the Federation, and because of this there are quite a few differences from her timeline and ours. A year difference for James Kirk entering the Academy is not entirely out of the question. I'm sure he was still the great and adventurous explorer we know and love in her universe as he was in ours. The stories might just be a little different." With that, she conceded the floor again to Rita, glancing back to Captain Becker. He was maintaining his professionalism, but she knew she'd finally beat him at Captain's Day and he knew it.

One of the student's hands shot up. "Did Kirk still beat Kahn and the Kobayashi Maru in your universe?" These were two of his best known achievements, so of course they would have asked about them at some point. The rest of the class waited attentively for Rita's answer.

Pointing to the inquisitive mind who couldn't wait to ask the question, Rita answered his question cheerfully. "Ohhh yes he did, in both cases. Youngest starship captain in Starfleet history- until that point- he beat the Gorn captain on Cestus III at the direction of the Metrons, and beat Khan when he tried to take over the Enterprise. His accomplishments included the saving of the Phylosians from extinction, despite it being a violation of the Prime Directive, along with his saving of the Baezians and Chenari, and a record-setting number of first contacts. In his day, James T. Kirk served United Federation of Planets through Starfleet as an explorer, soldier, time-traveler, and diplomat. "

As the kids cross-referenced the factual accuracy of what she was saying, Paris hoped history had played out similarly here, but she had covered her bases pointing out that she was from another dimension, after all, so things might have unfolded differently here.

"But today we're going to focus on the portion of the great captain's career-"

"Admiral," One of the students piped up.

"Oh, did he make admiral? That's not surprising," Rita took the correction in stride- what she didn't know could and did fill volumes, and she was getting used to being corrected constantly. "But for the purposes of this class, we'll be focusing on his early days, and his first great accomplishment- the Kobayashi Maru. Because I wasn't there for all of those other accomplishments- but Jim Kirk and I were classmates at the Academy, and I was there in the simulator the day he beat the Kobayashi Maru."

Once again, Paris paused to let that settle in and build some excitement for her tale. Usually, this was one that she told junior officers when they needed a little bonding common ground, but teaching children whose parents weren't born when Kirk had crossed the galaxy seemed like an appropriate substitute.

That little tidbit caught not only the children's attention but the full attention of both Captains and the teacher as well. Especially as how he had done it was one of the best kept secrets of the Academy. Even though Enalia had done it as well, she used a far different method to do it and it wasn't technically cheating on her part, which is how she had gotten away with it.

"Now, in our first year at the Academy, it was pretty standard- a little hazing from the upperclassmen like misdirection to classes and sending cadets hunting for nonexistent items, tons of classwork and a lot of PT and self-defense courses. Does Starfleet still teach judo?" Paris glanced over her shoulder to Captain Telvan, and once she got the nod of confirmation she proceeded. "While I'm sure it has changed in the past hundred and thirty-odd years, back then the principles were the same. Learn basic astrogation so that no matter where you ended up, you could locate the center of the galaxy and navigate from that fixed point. Duotronic relay use, repair and theory so that you could work on any modern ship in the fleet to effect repairs when things went wrong. Survival courses in all sorts of weather conditions from the Gobi Desert to the glaciers of the south pole."

"I know- it's probably all very different now, and feel free to look up those differences. But the similarities were the camaraderie and the espirit de corps that existed. We all got to get to know one another, we helped and supported one another, and we carried, dragged and motivated one another to get through. We heard lectures from the famed historian John Gill, and even Dr. Korby was teaching at the Academy when we attended. Whose names you probably don't know, but again, feel free to look them up. But let's get to the good part, right?" Paris winked at the class, as she knew she'd lose them if she diverted too far from her subject.

"I met Jim Kirk at the end of the first week of the semester. He was handsome- that, history gets right, and he was very charming when he wanted to be. And he was quite the ladies man, always with that smile and those beautiful eyes of his and that wavy hair." Rita paused to cough into her hand as she blushed a bit. "But he was noble, as I found out. You see, there was an upperclassman named Cadet Sean Finnegan, and he took an interest in me that was not mutual. He was a crass boor, who thought he was very funny, loved to play mean practical jokes and really, he was just a bully. I'm guessing those still exist in the modern day even with as far as we've come?" Paris' expression was one of chagrined regret as she looked out over the collective virtual classroom.

Most of the kids looked a bit confused at a few of the words as they didn't really know what they meant, but having grown up in a different environment Enalia did, so she translated for them. "He was mean, violent, and likely laughed at the misfortunes of others rather than coming together to help each other. This goes well beyond saying someone has a funny looking nose ridge or weird spots." That got the point across at least, and realization dawned on a few of them just how much had changed over the past hundred years or so in the Federation to where they couldn't imagine what kind of man this was she was talking about if it was far worse than that.

A pleasantly surprised expression registered on the face of the throwback dimension-hopper. "Well I'll be darned... kids today don't know what a bully is. Look at the bright future of the Federation.. good for all of you." Paris shook her head and inhaled deeply. "That's a very good thing. So, there was such a personage, and he was a bit unkind. And one day he decided to single out Cadet Sylvia Pike, as she was walking across the quad from Astronavigation 101 to Scanning 101. This one involved how many jokes he could make about her weight before she could cross the quad. Classy act, our Cadet Finnegan."

The children looked generally displeased with the way this story was going - likely because Cadet Finegan wasn't taking other people's feelings into account for his actions or apologizing when it was obviously hurtful. They continued listening to the story, though it pained them. Enalia, having grown up with pirates knew this sort of story all too well, however, and had an idea of where it was going. A hint of a lopsided grin crept onto her face.

"Now, Finnegan was very loud and boisterous because he wanted attention for his antics. So Jim Kirk caught on to what was happening, and he got in Sean Finnegan's way. He didn't take an offensive action, he just interposed himself between Finnegan and Pike and refused to budge or let Finnegan by. When he started insulting Kirk, Jim Kirk gave as good as he got, which just frustrated the upperclassman that much more. And when the first punch flew, it wasn't Kirk who threw it. Jim took quite a beating until security broke it up." Paris paused for effect to look around at her audience. "But Cadet Pike got to class and did well on her navigational scanner test. And just like he figured, Cadet Finnegan focused his efforts for the rest of the year on the one cadet who had defied him and gotten him in trouble- Cadet Kirk."

"You see, Kirk knew that would happen, and he did it anyway. To protect others by bringing the danger to bear upon himself. That was who he was, at his core. And I could forgive all of the lame come-ons and incessant hounding that Kirk hit me with because I knew deep down he had a good heart, and he was a good guy." The blonde bombshell paused to look down at her feet fr a few seconds before looking back up. "Plus he had dated half of our class by the time we made it to the final exams of our Freshman year, so that made him a lot easier to turn down." Raising a finger in the air, Paris addressed the teacher.

"Is this appropriately censored for the age group?"

"Everyone here has already had sexuallity awareness training," Replied Misses V'Stol, the Vulcan-Trill teacher for the joint class. "You may proceed."

"Well, we'll work on keeping it kid-friendly for my sake then," Paris muttered, then she sighed and drooped her head a bit. "Now comes the part where I have to admit- last semester, headed out to the fleet upon graduation, I had just taken on way too much. I had intramurals with cross-country, I was secretary of the student government, I had doubled up Engineering 2 with Xenochemistry because I was ambitious, and I believed in myself. And sleeping three hours a night."

"Not that it excuses my behavior, but I was not alone. There were five of us who had stretched ourselves too thin that semester, and the closer commencement loomed, the higher the odds rose that we weren't going to be able to pull off the grades. We were going to flunk our senior year at Starfleet Academy because we had gotten too ambitious. And that night in the quad, we were all taking a moment to commiserate upon that fact. Over pizza and root beer we analyzed our actions to see where we had gone wrong, unaware that someone was eavesdropping." Rita paused for dramatic effect, looking around to insure that she had the student's attention. "At least, until he stood up and spoke."

"It was Kirk, and he pointed out there was a way out that we hadn't considered, because no one had ever done it. If you passed the Kobayashi Maru, then you passed your courses, no matter what your other grades may have been. It was written into the rules, you see, because it's the unwinnable scenario- but they still wanted you to try. Get it?" Paris looked around to make sure the rails she was setting this story on were getting train cars on them.

Several of the kids nodded, accepting this as how it was. It made sense and lined up with what they knew, after all. Even the two Captains were being drawn into the story.

"So Cadet James T. Kirk suggests to us that we beat the unbeatable scenario. That we find a way to cheat the death of our careers by doing the impossible, which seemed like he was making a joke at our expense, and we heard no more of it. We went back to the grind of desperately trying to pull our grades up while we watched commencement day loom closer and closer." Tension built, Rita reintroduced the hero.

"What we weren't paying attention to was Cadet James T. Kirk. He took the test the first time, and failed like everyone else. But he was studying- working the comms panel he got a feel for the system and the linkages, learned the script and saw the timing of it all." The gold-clad commander paced a bit, wagging her finger as she spoke. "The first time was a scouting run, and Kirk applied what he'd learned. There were rumors that he conned some pretty technician or that he found someone clever enough to reprogram the simulation. But neither of those are true. After working that comm panel the first time, he came back a second time to insert his own little trojan worm, a simulation reprogramming that couldn't be triggered until the simulation program had rebooted. Which would happen as soon as the signal was sent that would start that reboot sequence... which he would send on his third try."

"None of us were paying attention to all that, of course. Nobody even understood why Kirk wasn't grandstanding in the center seat, taking a comms position for an important test. You wanted to sit in the command chair, you sat center stage at the Kobayashi Maru. But the night before his third try, he gathered us up in the quad again, because he was buying the pizza and root beer. Then he explained to all of us that he was going to beat the test tomorrow. All of us had taken it once, failed and been done with it, but he pointed out that we were allowed three tries. So we were all still eligible to try again. If he beat it and we were taking the test with him, we would all pass and graduate."

Enalia had surmised that that was how he had done it but wasn't sure. Thankfully her gamble had paid off and had NOT done it that way. Instead she had linked the simulation to external sensor feeds and gotten her family's pirate fleet involved. It had taken her three tries as well and she had to hack in through the simulation's waste reclamation system... But on the third try, she had initiated a warp shutdown, which triggered a cascade failure and resync in the simulator, and that had given her the means to call in backup from her family's pirate fleet based on probe data linked to the simulator's sensors. She then had them wipe out not only the initial Klingon attackers, but the reinforcement wave after that as well as the dreadnaught that they had thrown in for good measure. Grinning, Enalia knew just how hard that test was, even in Kirk's day. The Artans were not a family to give up easily though.

Captain Becker was the first to speak up. "So I assume that you and the others all decided to join him in the simulator for that third time? Even though you knew that failing it a third time would hurt your grades and that there was no way to win it. On top of that, getting caught cheating..."

A soft murmur went through the classroom at Captain Becker's words. The class was definitely hooked.

"Hey now!" Rita Paris pointed a finger at the starship captain, her brows knitted. "Nobody said anything about cheating. Jim never told us how he was going to beat it, just that he was positive he could win the no-win scenario. We had nothing to lose, and if by some miracle Kirk actually managed to beat it, then our careers and our grades would be saved."

"So there we were, the morning of the test. There were always lots of spots open for bridge crew, because a lot of cadets wanted to see it without the pressure of being in the hot seat. If cadets didn't fill those positions, Starfleet personnel or instructors had to sit in, so they were always happy to see a cadet take a turn. All five of us took our seats, though not at comms- Cadet Nyota Uhura had claimed that position. Cadet McCoy claimed navigation, so all that were left were auxiliary positions, and we took them around the outer edge of the bridge. Jim Kirk swaggered in like he was the admiral himself, dropped himself casually into the command chair, then the simulator sealed."

The kids were practically on the edge of their seats by this point, and even the teacher was listening intently.

"Of course it started with the distress call, which Uhura reported to Kirk, who corrected her, pointing out that she should address him as 'captain'. When McCoy reported that two Klingon vessels had entered the neutral zone and were locking weapons, James T. Kirk said, 'that's okay'. When McCoy pressed him on it he said 'yeah, don't worry about it'. So at this point," Paris broke the tension, "we figured we had been pranked and Jim Kirk had fed us this whole line about beating the test to jerk our... to tease us."

"Then three more birds of prey decloaked and targeted our ship. They started firing, and Kirk, out of the blue, orders Uhura to alert the medical bay to prepare to receive all crew members from the damaged ship. Now Uhura, she really did not love Kirk's smug attitude, and the ladies man bit didn't thrill her either. In the middle of the simulation, as if this were the bridge, mind you, she says to him, 'and how do you expect us to rescue them when we're surrounded by Klingons. Captain'." You could hear the air quotes around the word 'captain' as Paris relayed the tale."

"Jim Kirk swivels in the command chair, gives her this patient little smile and repeats, 'alert medical' Uhura turns in a huff, that long ponytail of her just swishing behind her like the tail of a very angry pony. So Kirk," Rita paced a bit in the small space marked off for her telepresence to be beamed out, speaking a bit with her hands. "He isn't firing back. He didn't even raise the shields. He just, and I kid you not, pulls an apple out from behind him and starts eating it. Not a care in the world, our Cadet Kirk as the Kobayashi Maru Klingons rain destruction down upon us."

"Then the screens all flickered and everything went offline," Paris stopped pacing, looking out at her rapt audience. "It took about three seconds... just enough time for that trojan program to reboot the simulation and bring Jim Kirk's program online instead. That order to alert medical was the key to triggering the entire scenario, you see- that's why he did it and that's why he insisted Uhura follow his order. Suddenly the Klingon's shields were down, and with three carefully and casually placed photon torpedoes, the Klingon threat was over, the simulation unlocked, and we'd just been witness to the winning of the unwinnable scenario."

Even if it hadn't been exactly the same in this universe, it was close enough to have entertained the class to no end. Even Captain Becker was awestruck.

"Now, there was the whole ethics board convened to determine if Kirk had cheated by reprogramming the simulator. But Starfleet saw the potential, and instead of kicking him out, and subsequently flunking out myself and four others, they gave him a commendation for original thinking. So he went on to become James T. Kirk, captain of the starship Enterprise, and go down in history." Paris smiled at the assemblage, because apparently whatever universe you were in, everybody loved Jim Kirk. "But the part the history books don't tell you is that he beat that test for a few reasons. He beat it because it wasn't fair, and that didn't sit well with Kirk. He beat it because he didn't like to lose. But he also beat it to save five of his shipmates from flunking out. I know, because I was there that day when he made history... and that was the day James T. Kirk saved me."

The class actually applauded, and at that, Paris took a bow. It probably wasn't appropriate classroom conduct, but it definitely signaled the end of the story. Rising, she waved. "If you kids want, I'll come back sometime and tell you what it was like working with duotronic relays and piloting a starship with rocker switches. Meanwhile, for homework write a thousand word essay on your favorite Captain Kirk mission and why!"

Waggling her fingers gaily as she departed, Paris murmured to the projection of Captain Becker, "They're all yours, Captain."

Misses V'Stol even had a hint of a smile. "Thank you Miss Paris for that amazing rendition. We look forward to seeing you again, though once Starfleet Academy gets wind of you, you may be chairing seminars for them for a time. Captain Becker, if you please."

"Ah, yes," Grabbing the bio-containment canister, he headed to the head of the class and began his presentation. A thrilling tale of the USS Speranza discovering a new demon class planet with an ambiplasma gel that had certain healing properties to it that could advance medical science several years.

Poking Rita in the ribs, Enalia whispered to her. "Let's leave them and let them have their time together. There's nothing after this but more personal time between the kids and their parents anyway. Unless... you want to learn about the goo?"

"I dunno Captain... I've traveled in time, space and dimension. I'm kind of hard to impress, so that would have to be some pretty amazing goo."




 

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