Star Trek: Starfleet Cadets 1x03

Episode 1x03 - Holosuite Experience

Alex paced in front of the bathroom nervously.

‘Will you please hurry up?’ she called out for the dozenth time.

‘Did you say somethin’? Steve’s head popped out of the shower, ‘it’s called a sonic shower for a reason,’ he smiled innocently, waited for a moment longer just to see the desperate look on his friend’s face, then got out.

‘Finally,’ Alex muttered to herself, then added in a much louder voice, ‘we’re going to be late, you know.’

Steve gave her a curious look, ‘Ok, ok, keep your shirt on, it’s only Matt after all…’

‘And he’s invited us into the holosuite for the first time,’ she added.

‘So?’ Steve tried to discern the look on Alex’s face.

‘So,’ Alex said slowly, as if speaking to an unknowing child, ‘we’ll finally find out what he’s doing in there all the time.’

‘Why are you so obsessed about that? Besides, I doubt that we’re going to see his usual program. I’ll clean the circuits on the laundry machine for a month if it’s not some sort of grand Starfleet event or a cruise on a famous ship.’

‘You’ve got no imagination at all,’ Alex frowned.

‘Is that right?’

‘You guys are so clueless,’ she added in a barely audible whisper.

At this Steven smiled. ‘Are you sure you’re talking about my imagination here?’

Alex looked confused. ‘What would I be talking about?’ she added quickly.

‘Alex, I know,’ Steve said simply.

But Alex didn’t reply, she just gave Steve a long meaningful look and left the room in the direction of the turbolift.

*****************************************

Matthew tapped a few commands into the main console at lightning speed and then braced himself as the computer executed the complex attack pattern he had designed himself. The wild maneuvers fooled not only the pursuing fighter, but also the gravity generator of his own ship. Had he not been strapped in, he would have probably bounced around the fighter’s interior like a tennis ball. He made a mental note to thank Captain Picard for finally suggesting adding seatbelts to all federation starships if he ever met him.

With a few quick swipes of his left hand, he brought his pulse phasers online. As the pulled up behind the Dominion fighter he issued the command to ‘fire’ A quick phaser burst later, Matthew was flying through the debris of his attacker.

‘Good work Mr. Meyers, new move?’ came from beside Matt. He looked to his right and noticed his flight instructor was standing just outside the fighter, knocking on the starboard window and giving him a big ‘thumbs-up’.

‘Having a little spacewalk, sir?’ Matthew smiled.

The instructor smiled right back. ‘There’s someone here to see you.’

‘End program,’ Matthew said and the virtual environment around him vanished. He realized only too late that he was still sitting down and fell onto the holosuite floor as the seat beneath him vanished. His instructor laughed.

‘It’s hard to believe that this,’ he pointed down at Matthew, ‘is my best fighter pilot.’

‘If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were making fun of me,’ Matthew got to his feet, still grinning.

‘So who’s here to see me? Is it Alex or Steve? I’ve got a holosuite booked with them after training.’

The instructor laughed again.

‘What? What’s so funny?’

‘Son, training ended half an hour ago…’

‘Shoot,’ Matthew made for the door.

‘Wait just a moment,’ the instructor stopped him, ‘I have a feeling that your friends won’t mind waiting for you just a moment longer,’ he paused for dramatic effect. ‘I’m not so sure about the Cadets from Nova Squadron though.’

Matthew stared at him in shock.

‘I’m proud of you Matt.’

*****************************************

Matthew beamed as he made his way to the holosuite. Nova Squadron, the elite group of Starfleet Academy fighter pilots had picked him out to replace one of the Cadets in their ranks. She was in her fourth and final year and they’d need a replacement after she graduated. Starting from next year, he would be flying with the best of the best. And not only that, he’d actually get to do it for real. No more holosuites, no more simulations, ‘real’ flying.

He finally reached the holosuite almost an hour late. It was a testament to their friendship that Alex and Steve hadn’t given up and waited for him the whole time. Or maybe they just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to finally get in on one of his holosuite experiences.

‘Sorry I’m late,’ he apologized and even though Steve didn’t make it easy for him by pretending to be asleep and then acting very surprised that he was in the corridor and not on his bunk, they quickly forgot the whole ‘late issue’ and Matthew inputted his ID into the console by the door.

*****************************************

Starfleet academy, the largest non-commercial complex on Earth and only the second man-made object that can be seen from orbit, is considered by many to be the greatest achievement of mankind. It produces countless talents each year to join the best of the best in the United Federation of Planets: Starfleet.

With the recent threats of the Borg and Dominion, and the weakened state of the Federation, that need for excellence has become ever more dire. It will be up to the next generation to protect Earth, to protect the paradise that humanity has had over five millennia to perfect.

*****************************************

There was a loud murmur of voices as Ryan entered his last class of the day. He looked around to see the source of the commotion, but when he heard a very famous Dublin accent coming from the holo-board, he knew what all the fuss was about. There was no mistaking Miles O’Brien, the most famous Irishman in Starfleet. Introduction to Advanced Engineering and Warp Field Theory was one of the hardest courses available to second years, but it was still just that: a second year course. Ryan never expected to see the ‘man’ himself standing before him so soon.

The two hours that followed would be the best Ryan ever spent inside a classroom. O’Brien didn’t only have vast knowledge of warp engines, but he had the experience to back it. Having fought in the Cardassian and Dominion Wars, spent many years on the Enterprise and advanced Starfleet technology in countless ways by his work on the USS Defiant, he was an encyclopedia of knowledge.

*****************************************

As Matthew, Steven and Alex entered the holosuite, it immediately took the shape Matt had planned. He smiled as he saw the faces of his friends light up as they looked around in awe. They were standing on the bridge of the legendary USS Enterprise, the Constitution Class vessel that played such a pivotal part in the events of the twenty-third century.

‘That’s not even half of it,’ Matthew’s smile deepened as he walked to the center of the bridge and sat down in the captain’s seat. ‘Computer. Execute program Enterprise One.’

Suddenly, the bridge filled up with people. Some stood or sat by their stations, others walked to and fro as they brought the vessel’s systems online. The main viewscreen lit up and magnificent image of Starbase 001 appeared ahead.

‘You may have noticed that the Tactical and Helm officers are missing,’ Matthew said in a matter-of-fact-ly tone as his friends took their usual posts.

‘Where did you get this?’ Alex said breathlessly.

‘I take it you won’t have trouble adjusting from Conn to Helm?’ Matthew avoided her question.

‘Helm is just Conn without all the boring navigation stuff. But I guess it doesn’t make sense to have two separate stations anymore,’ Alex frowned. ‘Hey, don’t change the subject!’

‘Ok ok, I found it in one of the training databases and took the liberty of touching it up a bit. I mean, do you really want to pilot this baby through navi-cones or take her out for a spin through the Crab nebula?’

‘Definitely the latter,’ Steven gave Matthew a thumbs-up.

‘Alright, Miss Hudson, take her out. Straight and steady.’

*****************************************

When the lesson was over, Ryan was disappointed that it couldn’t have gone on further. It wasn’t the noblest of thoughts, but Ryan hoped their regular professor would be out sick at least a week longer, though he seriously doubted O’Brien would cover another second year class two weeks in a row. Just as he was wondering if he’d even have another class with him before his fourth year, one of his classmates stopped him.

‘Man,’ he was obviously sizing Ryan up. ‘The professor is asking to see you in his office.’

Shocked didn’t quite cover it. Ryan stared at the cadet for a few seconds, waiting for him to say something like ‘got ya’ or ‘can’t believe you fell for that, but the cadet just stared back at him.

‘Well?’ he asked. ‘You goin’ or not?’

He didn’t know what to think as he made his way to the Engineering staff section. What could Miles O’Brien possibly want with him? Or did he just screw something up and was going to have to listen to his idol reprimanding him?

*****************************************

They decided to take a short cruise of the Sol system at impulse, before they’d warp to the Crab Nebula, but just as they passed the fiery orb of Mars, alarms started going off all over the bridge.

‘Three ships decloaking, aft,’ Steven said with a laugh. ‘Another of you little tweaks, Matt?’ but Matthew’s face wasn’t amused.

‘No,’ he muttered. ‘This isn’t part of the program.’

‘An unknown ship of Romulan design with two escort vessels,’ one of the holographic officers called out.



‘That’s a D’Deridex Warbird,’ Matthew said, thoroughly confused. ‘Those things are twice as large as a Galaxy Class Starship.’

‘They’re going to red alert,’ the officer added.

‘Shields up!’ Matthew commanded, but Steven didn’t respond in time. The bridge shook and Alex screamed as the terminal in front of her exploded.

Matthew and Steven stared in shock as Alex looked over her hand which was clearly severely burned. She staggered, but Matthew was there to catch her.

‘Computer. End program.’ Matthew and Steve said in unison. Nothing.

Another blast jerked the Enterprise sideways.

‘Shields at twenty percent,’ Steven called urgently from the Tactical Station. ‘Another blast like that and we’re gone.’

Matthew shuddered. None of them had said it, but all three of them knew that if the simulation could burn Alex’s hand, it could just as well burn them all alive, holosuite or not.

‘They’re arming plasma torpedoes,’ Steven said even more desperately. ‘Those things will blast a hole the size of a building into our hull if they hit.’

‘This old ship is no match for a twenty-fourth century Dreadnaught,’ Alex said in a weak voice.

‘Alex, I’ll take the helm,’ Matthew started barking out orders. ‘Steven, give me cover fire while I take us into the asteroid belt. If we can’t beat them, we’re going to have to outrun them.’

The maneuver seemed to work. The giant Romulan starship stopped just at the edge of the asteroid belt, unable to pursue the smaller and more nimble Enterprise.

‘The Warbird is breaking off pursuit,’ Steven said triumphantly. ‘But the escort craft are still on our tail.’

‘Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea after all,’ Matthew said worriedly. ‘We’re flying a kilometer long heavy cruiser through an asteroid belt.’

Matthew prayed that the data the antiquated navigation system was supplying him would be enough, but as they flew deeper and deeper into the belt, the information started coming in too fast for Matthew to keep up. Suddenly a chain of contradictory data came pouring in and a giant asteroid filled the viewscreen.



Even with thrusters at maximum, Matthew instinctively knew that it wouldn’t be enough.

‘Cut the engines,’ Alex said from beside him.

There was no time to question. He immediately complied and as the ship slowed down, its turning radius increased dramatically, allowing them to pass the asteroid with a few hundred meters to spare.

‘You’re used to flying with a fighter Matt,’ Alex gave him an encouraging smile. ‘Starships aren’t nearly as nimble. You’ve got to take subspace momentum and therefore giant turning arcs into account.’

‘They’re still on our tail,’ Steven said from behind. ‘Brace for impact.’

Two disruptors hit the Enterprise somewhere on the port side. The next blast threw Matthew forward and out of the captain’s seat.

‘Shields down,’ Steven called out, ‘plasma leaks on decks two, three, seven and thirteen.’

‘They stopped firing,’ said a holographic officer.

‘Prepare to be boarded,’ Matthew responded automatically.

‘Security teams to the bridge,’ Steven added, but before he could finish there was a green flash of light as the Romulans transported directly to the bridge.

Steven and Matthew immediately drew their phasers and shot the two boarders nearest to them, but Alex wasn’t as fast. She let out a small yelp as a disruptor blast caught her in the shoulder and she collapsed onto the bridge floor.

Matthew dived behind the console next to her and pulled her out of direct fire while Steven and the security team that had arrived fended off the rest of the Romulans.

After quickly checking that Alex was alright, Matthew joined the fight and together with Steve and the last surviving officer, took down the last of the Romulans.

‘Status… report,’ Matthew said in between breaths.

‘We’re dead in space, sir,’ the officer said in a weak voice.

The bridge shook again and Matthew was thrown against the viewscreen.

*****************************************

Ryan sat in a comfortable chair and looked around. Professor O’Brien made him wait in his office, said he ‘had some important business to see to’, so Ryan would do just that. But as he looked around, his sight fell on a screen to the right of O’Brien’s desk. There was a video message looping over and over. He tried to ignore it at first, but then his curiosity took over. He looked around and walked over to the screen.

‘Hello Miles, everything alright with Keiko and Molly?’ Ryan suddenly felt bad for intruding on the man’s privacy and was about to turn back when he heard something that froze him in place. ‘You know the…’ he paused. ‘unnamed rogue group that we talked about last time... I think they are planning something in Starfleet Academy soon. Perhaps very soon. They’ve been monitoring one particular student very carefully, a Matthew Meyers. I believe they will attempt something during one of his holosuite visits. This might be our chance to expose them… Good luck. Julien out.’

Ryan stared at the message in shock as it looped and started again from the beginning.

‘Matt?’ Ryan thought. ‘Did O’Brien deliberately leave this on? Did he want him to see this and warn his friend?’

*****************************************

‘Alex…’ Matthew called out into the darkness desperately. ‘Steve…’

The emergency lighting came on and Matthew looked around. The entire ship was shaking, the unstable warp core ready to rip it into pieces. Pain was shooting through is body, but he slowly got to his feet.

‘Matt,’ he heard a barely audible whisper ahead. Steven was helping Alex stand up, a trail of blood running across his forehead.

‘I’ll take care of her,’ Matthew said quickly and overcoming his pain, scooped Alex up in his arm. She mumbled something and gave him a very weak smile, then her head fell back and she passed out.

‘We have to get to the shuttle bay,’ he told Steven quickly. ‘Can you make it?’

*****************************************

Ryan had sprinted across the entire campus back to his dormitory. As soon as the stitch in his side eased a little, he started hacking into the Starfleet Academy main computer. He brought up the schematics and data coming from holosuite ten. Matthew had invited him to join Steven and Alex for what he called ‘an adventure like no other’, but Ryan had to decline because of his afternoon Advanced Engineering class. Everything seemed perfectly fine at first. Yes, there had been slight modifications done to the original programming, but that could be expected.

Then he noticed a loop in a very minor section of the programming. Somebody was looping a small sub-routine to mask whatever it was they were doing to the holosuite. O’Brien’s source was right, the ‘group’ had infiltrated the holosuite and had reprogrammed some of its components. They were definitely in a hurry, because Ryan was almost sure that had he enough time he could make such intrusion undetectable.

He didn’t hesitate for a moment. ‘Cadet Ryan Moore to Miles O’Brien.’

*****************************************

They hoisted Alex into the shuttle and carefully sat her down in one of the spare seats.

‘Hold on tight,’ Matthew said as he strapped himself in and fired the thrusters.

The shuttle shot out of the cargo bay just moments before the warp core finally gave way. The Enterprise gave one last cry of pain as the antimatter cascade tore its hull apart.

Matthew’s hands flew over the controls as he dodged disruptor blast after disruptor blast. He was flying like he had never flown before. He programmed another complex set of evasive maneuvers into the computer and stole a quick glance to the back of the shuttle to check on Steve and Alex. They looked alright. Alex had come to and Steven’s head wound mustn’t have been that serious. This sudden turn of luck inspired Matthew to do something unthinkable.

The moment he saw what he was looking for ahead of him, he slowed the shuttle down so that the two Romulan frigates were just a few hundred meters behind him and waited a fraction of a second to give them a clear shot. Allowing his intuition to take over, he responded even before the computer could tell him that their pursuers had locked onto them, killed the engines and fired the forward thrusters.

The two Falcon starships fired their disruptors at the target in front of them, but the delay between the command and the discharge caused them to fly right over Matthew’s shuttle and fire their disruptors blindly ahead. The blasts hit the giant asteroid ahead and instead of tearing it to pieces, rebounded back. They collided with one of the Romulan ships, passed straight through the shields, and ripped through its hull.

*****************************************

‘Sir, I can’t isolate the phantom readings in the holosuite. I’m afraid we can’t tell where the signal is coming from.’

‘Good work Ryan,’ O’Brien said over the comm system. ‘I’m in the adjacent holosuite. I’ll try to contain them, but our best bet is to get in ourselves. Can you try to use the same technique the impostors have?’

‘I think I can manage a few small modifications, why?’

‘We’re going to change the rules just as they have. I’m transmitting the modifications to your dormitory console as we speak. As soon as you’re done, meet me in holosuite eleven.’

Ryan looked at the instructions. It seemed doable, but: ‘Sir, you want me to patch the holosuite through to holosuite thirty one as well, why?’

‘We’re going to need the best pilots at hand…’

*****************************************

‘They’re hailing us,’ Steven said, ‘sound only.’

‘Well done,’ a vaguely familiar voice echoed through the intercom. It was one of the Cadets from Nova Squadron.

Matthew scowled as he saw the viewscreen fill with the image of the nine Nova Squadron members.

‘You’ve got what it takes to become one of us,’ the one in the middle continued, but Matthew cut across him.

‘Screw you!’ he shouted at them. ‘What the HELL is wrong with you? Somebody could have got killed today!’

‘But thanks to you, that didn’t happen. We need people like…’

‘Shut up and end the program,’ Matthew couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

‘I’m afraid I can’t do that,’ he replied calmly.

‘Ever since I joined Starfleet, I dreamed of getting into Nova Squadron. But this is insane. Haven’t you learned from the mistakes of Red Squad?’

‘How did you know the blast was going to rebound like that?’ one of them asked, completely nonplussed by Matthew’s outburst.

‘Disruptors bounce right off concentrated Antiprotons like those on the deflector dish used by the Sovereign Class Starship. Incidentally, antiprotons are left over after extensive Dilithium mining…’

‘And that was a Dilithium asteroid,’ the leader commented, ‘interesting.’

‘Interesting!?’ Steven exclaimed for the first time. ‘Is that all you’re going to say?’

‘We had to test you, Mr. Meyers, you must understand that.’

‘I can’t believe anybody in the Academy would be capable of that,’ Alex said in a tone that didn’t quite hide her anger.

‘And what makes you think we’re from the Academy?’ the leader said again.

‘You’re Nova…’ but several alerts going off made it impossible for Matthew to finish his sentence.

‘Seven Saber Class starships approaching at high warp,’ Alex said confusedly.

‘What’s going on?’ the man commanded. ‘What is this?’

‘We’re being hailed,’ Steve said from the Communications console.

‘On screen.’

The viewscreen spilt itself up to make way for the seven new images coming in, each showing an empty deck. Empty of crew, all but for the Captains seat, where each of the Nova Squadron Cadets sat.

Matthew glanced back and forth from the pairs of identical faces. ‘Who,’ he began.

‘No time,’ a couple of the cadets said almost simultaneously. Suddenly another ship appeared, the Enterprise… E.

While the cadets on the Romulan ship started muttering and taking out strange devices, a ninth screen appeared. It was Ryan and a very familiar looking officer.

‘You’re not the only ones that can hack into a holosuite,’ Ryan said from the First Officer’s seat.

‘You’ll find that a myotronic inhibitor has been set up around the holosuite,’ added the officer. ‘I’d strongly recommend against trying getting out.’

‘Matt, get out of here,’ the Nova Squadron leader on one of the Saber ships said in an anxious voice. ‘They’re not from Nova Squadron. Ryan and Chief O’Brien patched us through from one of our training progams.’

Matthew sat in his seat dumbfounded. They didn’t exactly have the best of luck and he still wasn’t sure what he should believe.

‘This is a one in a lifetime opportunity Mr. Meyers,’ the impostor said calmly. ‘We need a good pilot, you should be honored that we chose you.’

‘And who exactly is “we”?’ Matthew scowled, but the man just laughed.

‘Very well,’ and with a blinding flash of light, the seven impostors vanished.

‘Cadet?’ O’Brian said immediately.

‘They got past the inhibitor somehow,’ Ryan said dejectedly.

*****************************************

‘Sure you can’t tell us who they were?’ Matthew asked O’Brien. Steven, Alex, Ryan and he were having lunch with the famous engineer the next day. ‘I’ve been through six hours of debriefings that felt a lot more like interrogations,’ he added hopefully.

‘I’m afraid not,’ O’Brien grinned.

‘So you did leave that message on in your office on purpose?’ Ryan asked in a weak voice, he still couldn’t believe he was now on speaking terms with his idol.

‘I knew there was a rogue organization,’ the four students sighed in disappointment, ‘you won’t get anything out of me!’ he said with a laugh. ‘Well, there was a rogue organization working in Starfleet Academy. Julien told me that something would be going down today, but I knew I couldn’t do it myself. Somebody had to find out what they were trying to do and what would be better than a student working on the inside? It was a stroke of luck that Cadet Moore here is a close friend of the student they were after.’

‘Why did they pretend they were from Nova squadron?’ Matthew asked.

‘I’d have thought you would have figured that out after answering all those questions,’ O’Brien smiled. ‘They thought you would trust them, thought your dream of joining Nova Squadron would cloud your judgment.’

‘I still don’t understand,’ Steven said after remaining silent for the whole time. ‘If they’re willing to bend, or even break the rules, why not just kidnap Matt in his sleep?’

‘Well, THAT won’t keep me up at night,’ Matthew joked.

‘Sorry,’ Steven gave him a lopsided grin. ‘I think they wanted you to join willingly.’

‘You’re right,’ O’Brien nodded appraisingly. ‘They believe what they are doing is right, but enough of that, or my tongue might just slip.’

He got up and everybody immediately responded.

‘At ease,’ he frowned. ‘I still can’t believe they made me an officer. Now I have to listen to everyone call me ‘sir’.’

The four cadets laughed as O’Brien left the mess hall.


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