Evaluating The New Girl

Posted on Tue Aug 27th, 2024 @ 2:13pm by Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis & Crewman Thyra Kevensdotter

2,825 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Prelude to Rebirth
Location: Holodeck, USS Firebird
Timeline: Mid June, 2396

[ON]

"You are late," were the first words the person inside the holodeck said when the newest member of the security department stepped through the double doors into what looked like a cleared space that could have been inside any Federation starship cargo bay. A few metres further in, cargo crates were stacked more than head-high through most of the space, creating narrow corridors that were interrupted occasionally by smaller cargo containers.

It was an unfair accusation, for there was no possibility that the crewman could have been on time. Indeed, no precise timeframe had been provided on Kevensdotter's orders nor in the message that had arrived on her PADD upon her boarding the Firebird. It had simply stated, "Report to the holodeck" and had been sent by the ship's chief of security and tactical.

The same was now standing just two or three metres inside the holodeck with her hands clasped behind her back, looking as composed and under control as a Vulcan, even though her people traditionally claimed that they abhorred denying their emotions.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis asked while she took in the crewman's appearance.

Thyra Kevensdotter had recently graduated from the Star Fleet security school and might have been intimidated by the department head had she not inherited her mother's unflappable nature and experienced first hand her deft handling of pernickety keptains and grouchy Jarls. Be respectful and deferential but hold your ground.

"I'm not sure I understand you, Commander," Thyra said innocently, "I have reported as ordered and did so as soon as I received the message. If there was a time standard, it was not conveyed in the order. If you had some expectation it this case beyond as soon as possible, tell me and I will be happy to comply in the future."

As she recited her speech, she analyzed the holodeck with a critical eye. It looked like the Commander intended to put her through some sort of close quarters combat exercise.

There was a brief silence during which Rhiana looked at Thyra with no discernable change in her expression. "Very well. Your record states that you have some skill with bladed weapons. I have set up this simulation for you to demonstrate that skill." Without a pause with a slight change of tone, she added, "Computer, load weapons rack t'Aegis-o-2."

Behind Rhiana, a large weapons rack appeared, holding a wide variety of blades from different worlds, two of each. The weapons on the left-most side of the rack were all from Alpha Pyxis Five, among them knives, daggers, axes, swords. Following that were similar weapons from Earth, Andor, Vulcan. Rihannsu scimitars and Klingon bat'leths. Some lesser known blades that did not look any less impressive nor deadly.

"You are free to choose your weapons," Rhiana continued as she half-turned and gestured towards the display.

Thyra walked over to the weapons display under Rhiana's watchful eye. Thyra picked out two Odinskus daggers and slipped one into each boot, then selected a pair of Andorian hrisals that she attached at the waist on her back with the hilts pointed outward for ease of drawing. She tied a baldric over her left shoulder and under her right arm with the attached basket-hilted rapier's grip within reach over her should. A Klingon d'k tahg was clipped to her right hip. Finally, she grabbed a small oblong shield from the Romulan weapons and a medium-sized Odinkus axe that could be wielded as either a one or two-handed weapon. Satisfied with the arrangement of her armaments, she turned to the Vulcan security chief and said, "I am ready, ma'am."

"You will address me as 'sir'," Rhiana corrected in a non-accusatory tone. "You will make your way through the cargo area as quickly as you can, starting here," she indicated a gap between two rows of containers, "And ending there," she added, gesturing at a similar gap a few metres further away before she pulled out a small device from a pocket in her uniform trousers. "I will measure the time, so I suggest you run. Go."

On the Commander's order, Thyra immediately dropped the oblong shield and was off like a shot. But rather than enter the maze at the indicated starting point, she veered away at the last instant, jumping into the air and hooking her battle axe on the top edge of the cargo container like a hook. With a secure climbing point and her momentum, she had little trouble lifting herself up onto the top of the containers leaving the axe with its edge point imbedded.

She scanned the organization of the containers and quickly spotted the route through the maze. Curiously, there didn't appear to be any dead ends, though the arrangement would tend to force the navigator toward the outer edge. Her assessment complete, Thyra begun racing along the edge of the shortest route through the maze, leaping over gaps and checking for enemies.

It was curious, she thought, even corners that were excellent points to ambush someone navigating the maze were empty. Perhaps this test was about something other than combat. She gave a mental shrug and dismissed the thought as she negotiated her way along the back edge of the maze.

She turned the final corner and sped along the top of the cargo container, finally leaping down into a three-point stance at the mouth of the exit point the Commander had indicated. Once she steadied herself, Thyra stood erect and looked towards the Commander for her evaluation.

Rhiana observed Thyra's actions, first directly and then watching the video stream from a PADD. Since this was a holodeck and not a real cargo hold, having cameras embedded throughout the towers of containers and the ceiling had been an easy command.

She observed in silence, never correcting or admonishing not even commenting any of the other woman's actions. When the young crewman exited the non-maze, Rhiana stopped the timer, then looked at Thyra. "That was an adequate time. I expect you to be faster in the second round. Go."

This time once she had pulled herself up on top of the cargo containers, Thyra pivoted towards the exit and crossed in a matter of seconds. She wondered at the purpose of the exercise if she wasn't presented with any opponents to fight. Vulcan did love their mind games, she thought.

Rhiana raised her eyes off the PADD she was holding. "Again."

Two seconds later, before she could reach the entry of the maze, an adversary appeared and jumped Thyra from behind, bringing his arm around her throat and trying to throttle her. She could not see which species he was, but he was taller and heavier than her. His grip was not absurdely strong, but it was not weak either.

Ironically, Thrya felt relieved that the commander had finally given her an enemy to fight as she reflexively tightened her neck muscles to protect her airway. As it was, she had only a couple of dozen seconds before the restricted blood flow to her brain would cause her to lose consciousness. She had to act quickly.

Willing her hands not to grab the assailant's arm, she instead reached further behind her to latch on to whatever she could. She felt cloth in one hand and hair in the other. Then with a slight bend of her knees, she pushed backwards while pulling hard with her hands. The maneuver lifted her assailant off of his feet and Thyra used the leverage she had to flip the attacker over her head and on to his back.

The flip caused the attacker to release his grip on Thyra's throat and once he was one the ground, she gave him a powerful punch to the larynx.

He let out a gargled sound of agony and disappeared a second later.

But almost instantaneously, another attacker appeared. Gender unknown. They were wearing what looked like the armor of a knight from medieval Earth, including a helmet that covered their face. Their stature was of medium height and appeared bulky. The person was holding a one-handed sword in their right hand and stooped for a brief moment to easily pick up the shield Thyra had abandoned previously.

They moved lightly enough, as if the armor was not as heavy as it should have been. Swiftly moving in Thyra's direction, they brandished the sword and attacked her, aiming to sever the crewman's head from her body.

Their decision to retrieve the abandoned shield gave Thyra more than enough time to assess her opponent. Long sword, shield and heavy armor. They would swing in long, cutting arcs. Thyra drew the rapier from scabbard at her back, discarding the baldric and sheath. She was ready for the first swing, ducking under the blade with practiced grace.

Thyra gave ground as she studied her opponent’s attacks. The knight’s backswing telegraphed their intentions and Thrya dodged, ducked, or sidestepped out of the way of the blade. The few times that the knight attempted a thrust, Thyra was easily able to parry the sword although her own ripostes failed to penetrate the plate mail.

This would require a different tactic, Thyra decided. After yet another sweep of her opponent’s blade, she drew the Klingon d'k tahg in her off-hand. On the next attack, she ducked under the swing and rolled behind her opponent.

Springing to her feet, Thyra observed that there was a gap in the armor behind the knee. It made sense. The knight would need to be able to bend their knees unobstructed by armor.

Thyra bided her time waiting for the proper strike. When it came, she caught the long sword’s foible with her rapier’s forte, pushing the knight’s sword against their body and shield. Thus unable to protect themselves against the d'k tahg, Thrya dropped to a knee and plunged the Klingon knife into the knight’s popliteal fossa. The knight dropped to the ground as their right leg collapsed.

Despite the wound not being fatal, the knight disappeared a second after he touched the ground. At the same time, two more adversaries arrived. They wore no visible armour, but they were Klingons, dressed as typical members of the Defense Force and armed with a bat'leth each. They did not hesitate in attacking Thyra, apparently not with the goal of killing her, not immediately at least, but rather to push her towards the entry of the mace.

Thyra smirked as she countered the half-hearted blows of the simulated Klingons. Real warriors would have been more of a challenge. It was clear that these holograms didn't intend to hit her but it did take a while for Thyra to realize that they were trying to herd her into the maze. Fine, she thought, if that is what the Commander wants.

She feinted a thrust towards the face of the warrior on her left, causing him to pull his bat'leth into a defensive stance, than swept her rapier across the body of the second. It was a wild, careless swing that had little chance of striking. The second warrior easily avoided the blade leaping backward.

Sufficiently disengaged and with her opponents on the defensive, Thyra turn and ran into the entrance of the maze.

The two Klingons pursued her into the maze, though one of them stayed near the entrance, blocking it. The other continued after the crewman and was quickly close enough to her for a vicious attack with the sharp points of the bat'leth aimed at her torso.

At the same time, a Humanoid, clad in non-descript clothes and without visible armour, rounded the nearest corner at a run. He was holding two dangerous-looking daggers and began attacking Thyra as soon as she was in reach. His skilled moves seemed to have as a goal to seriously hurt or kill her.

There was no playfulness at all in the attitude of the two attackers, nor any hesitation in their movements. The space they had for the fight was very limited, but that did not seem to bother either of them. But then, they were hologrammes. They were, of course, not programmed to be considerate. Nor fair.

Thyra quickly assessed the humanoid in front of her. The daggers gave them an advantage over the Klingon bat'leth in these tight quarters. Although barely within range, the Klingon hologram was not able to swing its weapon effectively. The daggers were the greater threat at the moment but her rapier gave her superior reach. She would be able to strike before the daggers got close.

She didn't slow her speed but continued her headlong rush towards the new opponent. She extended her arm to stretch the weapon as far to he front as possible. The hologram attempted to parry with one blade but with a twist of wrist, Thyra dropped the tip of her rapier under the parry and thrust home against the daggerman's chest. The point of rapier penetrated her opponent with satisfying ease.

Not satisfied, she released the rapier and dropped her shoulder, catching the humanoid under the ribs. The hologram let out a gasp of air, while Thyra used their combined momentum to flip it over her back and into the path of the oncoming Klingon.

She turned slightly a tossed the d'k tahg at the Klingon, not really caring if she hit. She wanted an additional distraction to occupy her pursuer while she pulled the two Odinskus hand axes from her back. With a leap and a push off one of the cargo containers composing the maze, she turned to face the oncoming Klingon.

The Klingon was just behind her and thrust the bat'leth with the sharp double-ends in her direction, timing it precisely to stab her when she was still in mid-air.

Thyra blocked the thrust of the bat’leth with a well-timed swing of one axe. She wondered how the Klingon hologram avoided the collision with the daggerman.

As the Humanoid disappeared like the previous hologrammes, two more arrived. Humanoid women this time, one with black throwing stars and the other with axes matching the pair Thyra was wielding. While the woman with the axes quickly approached Thyra, the first one began to throw the stars at the crewman at a realistic cadence, as any well-trained Human might be doing. One hit the axe-woman hologramme, but continued one its path as if nothing had happened. The axe-woman continued unphased as well.

Thyra dodged away from the first throwing star but the second, the one that should have been blocked by the axewoman, caught her in the left shoulder as she swung to parry the axewoman’s swing. Hot pain began to radiate from the arm that had been hit. So that is how the computer is cheating, she thought as she fended off another thrust of the bat’leth.

The blows of the holograms grew more frequent as she alternated defense between the bat’leth and the axes while doing her best to anticipate and move out of the way of the hail of throwing stars. Then the inevitable happened. She missed a shallow slice of the bat’leth and the weapon split a small tear across her thigh. Thyra bellowed in agony as she swung wildly in the Klingon’s direction, catching him across the chest.

The simulation froze before the Klingon could react. The throwing stars were held in mid-air, one or two almost close enough to touch Thyra. The axe-woman had her weapons at ready as well, but the blow never came. Instead, the simulation disappeared, leaving behind some dull pain from the injuries Thyra had sustained.

"You appear to have forgotten that the goal of this exercise was for you to cross the maze," Rhiana stated as she closed the few meters of distance that lay between the two of them. "I expect you to reach that objective eventually. Now report to Chief Warrant Officer B'Rala for assignment and further training. Dismissed."

She had crossed the maze, twice. But not in the manner that the Vulcan head of security had anticipated. There was the rub. Those in authority did not like it when their subordinates showed initiative in a manner that made the senior look silly. Even Vulcans had egos.

Still, Thyra was satisfied with her performance as she replaced the weapons on the hologram weapon rack. She had defeated several opponents using a variety of styles and had only been overcome when the holoprogram had altered the laws of physics in favor of her enemies. As her mother had taught, prestige was in the effort, not the result.

[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis
Second Officer / Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Crewman Thyra Kevensdotter
Security Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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