A State of Being: Star Trek K/S fanfic 4/?
Title: A State of Being
Fandom(s): Star Trek AOS
Characters: Kirk, Spock, Bones, the whole Enterprise crew really. Girl!Kirk )sorry is you don't like kirk as a girl, personally I think kirk as a girl kicks major ass!!!
Pairing(s): Kirk/Spock-slow burn/angst: obviously, but this story will cover multiple pairings throughout
Rating: NC-17 but only because of language so far and some triggerish themes
Summary: Kirk's journey through the Academy and beyond. How Kirk became the beloved captain that everyone knows. Kirk may seem immortal and perfect to everyone on the outside, but she's only human after all. How Kirk met her crew and definitely how she started falling for Spock before she really even knew she could love someone like that.
Genre: Angst, Adventure, Slash, Het, Romance, Hurt/Comfort ... (slightly A/U only because this story describes that Kirk and Spock met well before that fateful hearing, it also gives new meaning to that hearing)
Warnings: Triggers for sure. Mentions of non-con rape/ abuse, tragedy-both personal and widespread.
Wordcount: ~6500 ish
Prologue: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/533.html
CH 1: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/982.html
CH 2: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/1055.html
CH 3a: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/1377.html
CH 3b: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/1760.html
CHAPTER FOUR:
Jennifer ran through possible simulation scenarios as she walked alongside Commander Spock toward the simulation lab from the mess hall. He could throw probably anything at her, but as it was going to be in the simulation lab and this was Starfleet Academy, which meant that hopeful graduates would be serving on a starship, Jennifer deducted that whatever situation he would throw at her would entail some sort of programming crisis on a starship. She just didn’t know exactly what that would be.
She had three practical exercises to go through and exactly six hours to do them all in. Six hours until she would find out if her programming rating would increase or decrease. Six hours she had to survive, no, thrive, in the world of code and electronics before she could breathe again. Six hours until she would find out if she could best a Vulcan.
Jennifer might be nervous, but she wasn’t going to back down.
Commander Spock said nothing the entire roughly five minute walk from the mess hall to simulation lab 4. Jennifer almost wished he would have made small talk, it would have helped with her nerves, almost. When they arrived at the simulation lab the commander held his hand up to a biometric lock and doors hissed open. Simulation labs were highly secure, as some of the most expensive equipment for training was kept in them. There were three types of simulation labs at Starfleet Academy. The one Jennifer would be taking her practical exercises in this afternoon was a Starship Bridge lab.
Jennifer walked into the simulation lab ahead of the commander and took in her surroundings. The lab was a pretty accurate replica of the bridge of a standard starship, right down to the captain’s chair in the middle of the bridge which was facing a view screen. Jennifer took this all in and imagined, that someday she would be sitting in that captain’s chair, possibly even the very same one, participating in a command simulation.
“You will take the station directly behind the captain’s chair on the rear wall.” Commander Spock spoke finally bringing Jennifer out of her mental musings.
“Right.” Was all she could think to say, taking one last look around the replicated bridge before walking to the station the commander had designated for her.
Nothing was turned on yet, save the lights in the room, however, Jennifer was still taking in the glorious feeling of being on a bridge of a starship, even if it was just a simulation lab in reality. She looked over her station, memorizing the layout. It was not so different than the layout she was used to on the ships MACO used. It was a standard large display screen layout in front of her face and another on the counter perpendicular where she would rest her hands, used for typing in codes, doing algorithms, and using commands. It was reminiscent of an ancient touch-screen laptop but on a much larger scale with much more computing power and capability. Tied into what would be, if it weren’t just a simulation lab, a ship’s computer system.
“Computer,” the commander spoke once more, “prepare simulation: advanced programming exam practical exercise one, Cadet Kirk, Jennifer, authorization code Spock Alpha Charlie 2-2-5-6.”
The stations all powered on and ran through a startup cycle, Jennifer noticed, careful not to touch anything just yet.
“Advanced Programming Exam exercise one prepared for Cadet Kirk, Jennifer, Stardate 2258.358 authorized by Commander Spock.” The computer acknowledged, giving the current Stardate.
“Cadet Kirk, I will now inform you of your simulation scenario and the policies regarding the practical exercises. You will then inform me of your understanding of said scenario and policies, following which I will announce the beginning of your first exercise and start the timer for this portion of the exam.”
“Understood, sir.” Jennifer said, not standing up from her station. She didn’t understand why he had to say that and why he couldn’t just have started off with the explanation of the scenario. She already knew the policy for the exam, but maybe he had to say it aloud so the computer would capture him telling her.
“Computer, commence recording of exam parameters.” Commander Spock instructed the computer, apparently it was so, Jennifer thought, officially the exam needed to have a recording of both the proctor and the student taking the exam acknowledging the parameters.
“Cadet Kirk, for the purpose of this portion of the Advanced Programming exam you will be given in total six hours to complete all of three practical exercises. If at any time you wish to end the exam before completion you may state so. The practical exercises are divided into three parts, you may take as long as you wish to on either portion of the exercises provided you do not exceed the six hour total time limit. You may also take a ten minute break in between each portion, however, your timer will still run. If you complete the practical before the timer has run out, you will state that you are complete, I will then acknowledge said statement and the computer will record verification of competition. There will be three timer warnings given prior to the end of six hours. The first timer warning will sound at thirty minutes, the second at ten minutes, and the third at five minutes. The last ten seconds will be counted aloud by the computer. If you do not state completion before the countdown reaches zero you will not receive credit for the exam and will not receive a grade. If this happens your programming level will be decreased to a rating level 4 and you will be required to take the intermediate programming course as well as the advanced programming course and exams to increase your rating level once again. Do you understand what I have said thus far?”
Jennifer almost choked. She knew what he was saying, he had told her before, but it was real now. It was being recorded for record, and she couldn’t back out.
“I understand, sir.” She replied, consciously trying to make sure her voice was calm and steady.
“If you do not wish to continue this exam, please state so now. Your rating level will remain at level 5. Do you wish to proceed?”
“I wish to proceed, commander.”
“Very well. The scenario for your first practical exercise is simple. You are the senior programmer aboard Starship Simulator 4 when the ship encounters a spacial anomaly which begins to cause error messages within the ship’s computer system.” The commander finished, looking to Jennifer for verification that she understood the vague scenario.
“Understood, commander.” Jennifer replied, curling her hand into a fist behind her back, trying to reign in disappointment at the first scenario. It seemed too simple to her, and not like something she would be able to fix by anything other than simply moving away from said anomaly. However, Jennifer mused to herself, the situation would probably escalate into something much more complicated once the practical started. It was the Advanced Programming exam, after all.
“For the purposes of this exam I will remain in the simulation to observe you, and fill in the role of any other officer should such a role be required. I will note, however, that while serving in such capacity, as would your classmates were any here, each role is severely limited. This is an exam to test your skills as a programmer and programmer only. I will also, as your proctor, respond to situations with specific prompts should a reason to give said prompts arise. Do you understand?”
“Yes, commander.”
“Very well. At this time Cadet Kirk you have acknowledged and verified understanding of the policies, parameters, and the beginning scenario of the practical exercises for the Advanced Programming Exam. This has been recorded and logged into the simulation’s computer for record in your academic file. You may take and ready your station. The test will begin in thirty seconds.” Commander Spock announced, probably the last of scripted material the computer needed to record.
Jennifer turned around facing her designated station. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, holding it for just a moment before audibly exhaling. Yes, she was nervous, but she knew she could at least pass the test. Did she maybe want to at least tie score with the commander? Of course, but if she even passed the test she would still increase her rating by at least another level, hopefully, and still be able to say with pride that she had passed the advanced course’s exam without first taking the course itself.
“10, 9, 8,” the computer began the test countdown at ten seconds and continued. “3, you may begin the first exercise now.”
“Ships’ computer reports error readings in cargo bay 2. Environmental systems have been activated and temperature is decreasing. This could pose a serious threat to the animal life we are currently transporting.” Jennifer heard Commander Spock announce evenly, scripted. So the test had begun.
“Got it.” Jennifer took to her station, moved her fingers on the data input console and fixed the problem before it had a chance to get worse. According to the simulation the animals that the Starship Simulator 4 were transporting required a seriously high temperature climate with almost 100% humidity. If the temperature were to drop drastically enough, the ‘simulated animals’ would then start to die quickly, the humidity only making a drastic change in temperature more dangerous.
Jennifer raised the temperature of the pretend cargo bay once more, ran a quick diagnostic remote scan of the cargo bay’s environmental systems, finding a stray line of code which she quickly fixed.
“Environmental controls returned to normal.” She announced. The whole process had taken her less than four minutes.
“What was the issue?” Commander Spock asked, knowing full well exactly what the problem was. Jennifer thought that the vocalization of issues and solutions was probably just as much a part of the practical as the actual hands on work she would have to be doing.
“There was a stray code error message. I ran a quick level 4 remote diagnostic through the environmental control system for the cargo bay with a level 2 code patch routine following the scan. Once the line of stray code was found, it was quickly patched, fixed, and then returned to its normal operational standard. The stray code was caused by an earlier input error, which any single person could have accidentally done, but I haven’t ruled out foul play yet either, and then mutated once the environmental control system of the cargo bay was activated and altered to conform to the needs of the animal species currently residing in the cargo bay.”
“Understood.” Commander Spock replied, not giving Jennifer a clue as to whether or not she had passed the first part of the first practical exercise. “There is another report of an error message. Environmental systems in both sick bay and multiple crew quarters have been altered and no one has been able to counteract the affects of the alterations.”
“On it.” Jennifer replied. So it is an attack after all. Jennifer typed furiously on her console. “Running rapid level 2 diagnostic on all environmental systems ship-wide with virus scan and elimination sub-routine followed by a level 1 code patch.” She waited as she watched her display screen wiz past lightning fast, pausing for less than a second every few seconds. A normal level 2 diagnostic would take hours. A rapid level two went through most of the steps as a normal level 2, but skipped over areas that wouldn’t be needed to be checked when looking for a bug or virus. The specificity of Jennifer’s version of a rapid level 2 diagnostic focused on finding erroneous code within systems and then highlighting said codes which would then be eliminated and patched if necessary.
Still, a rapid level 2 diagnostic would take a bit of time. About twenty minutes worth of time, actually. So Jennifer had time to work on another quick code routine. One which would, if necessary purge the computer system entirely. She would have to reinstall basic systems, such as life support, if the backup life support system ended up needing to be purged too, and quickly, but she would be able to do that. Always have a contingency.
“The rapid level 2 diagnostic found multiple erroneous codes within a fraction of the environmental systems. Each code has been erased, written over, and patched. Running a second rapid level 2 diagnostic just to make sure the first one caught everything.” Jennifer said, reading the report finally when her display screen had flashed ready. She’d just finished the crude system wipe code that would purge everything in the ship’s computer, saving it, and putting it on standby for when she would need to use it. She didn’t think ‘if’ because she knew it would most likely come to that point.
Jennifer hesitated for a moment, pondering how to go forward. She turned around to face the commander who was currently observing her from the captain’s chair.
“Sir, I have a question about the exam, if it is allowed.”
“I may not be able to answer the question, cadet, but you are permitted to ask.”
“The work that we do in each of the three exercises. Is it saved and carried over to the next exercise?”
“As your grade is dependent on each exercise collectively and each pertains to the other, yes. Any work you do in this exercise will be carried over to the next exercise.”
“All I wanted to know, thanks.” Jennifer turned back around and got to work. She decided she needed to back up the ship’s computer system, effectively duplicating them. But first she had to create an entirely new space within the program to allow for a back up to be retrieved since she did not have an external area with her, and probably wasn’t allowed to have on either, or she would have been given something prior to the beginning of the exam. “I going to run a rapid level 2 diagnostic throughout each of the ship’s systems, just to make sure there will be no more error messages happening.”
“Are you concerned that other systems might be affected?” Commander Spock prompted, causing Jennifer to turn and face him, and she noticed his eyebrow was raised in questioning.
“Honestly, yes. From what I saw of the rapid level 2 diagnostic of the environmental systems it was no accident of simple code error mistake. It was a pre-meditated attack, designed to be triggered when the environmental settings were altered in any one of numerous areas.” Jennifer turned back around and continued to speak, but also to work on her coding.
“If the attack had been allowed to progress, the environmental systems themselves would have overloaded causing a massive temperature drop throughout the ship. Which would then possibly lead to life support issues. The erroneous code found with the rapid level 2 diagnostic showed a simple yet affective mutating virus, much like a physical cancer. It had to be found, irradiated, and removed. There is no way of knowing if the virus had mutated and spread to other systems in the ship without first scanning the entire ship. Just like if you find cancer in part of the body, through a directed and focused MRI or something, you won’t know if it’s spread to any other part of the body without first conducting the same or at least a similar scan of the entire body.”
“A correct deduction on your part Cadet Kirk, and quite an accurate analogy. The exam, however, is still running, so I suggest that you concentrate.”
“Right.” Jennifer blushed a bit. Half because she had been complimented, well from what she could tell anyway, by a Vulcan, and half because she had, if only for a moment, forgotten she was taking an exam and was once again flush with nervous energy.
She needed to duplicate every system, every tiny bit of coding, and store it in a place within the system that would be protected from the crude wipe, but first she would need to eliminate all threats to the system before duplicating it. That would take time. She decided to do so anyway.
Jennifer got to work. Systematically inputting commands for a rapid level 2 diagnostic of every system the ship had, which would take time, but not as much as a full level 1, which she would prefer to do, but didn’t have enough time within the exam parameters to perform. After each system was commanded to start the rapid level 2, it would then be followed by the same process she’d used with the environmental systems. Since she knew she didn’t have to scan that system again, she decided to duplicate and move the programming for that system to what she was now calling the “safe zone”.
The safe zone she created had actually been a stroke of genius, or so Jennifer thought. The protection it offered was generally better than what the ship’s systems had programmed currently, and it didn’t take much time to set up, relatively speaking. She’d done this sort of thing before, in MACO, but usually she’d had the hardware to upload a specific program in place. She didn’t have that now, so while the commander was under the impression that she was pouring over the results of the secondary environmental diagnostic, she was in fact working on her ‘safe zone’.
Jennifer decided that since she did not have her ‘safe zone’ hardware with an already coded program that she would have to pull from the ship’s own systems and safeguards and modify those to effectively create her safe zone and then test it out. It would take time, but not as much as one might think. The creation of the safe zone, with the aid of already pre-established coding just needed to be manipulated or added to would only take about fifteen to twenty minutes. By which time another system within the ship’s computer would have been scanned, cleaned, and rebuilt, ready to be copied and compressed for transfer into the safe zone.
Which is exactly what happened. When another twenty two minutes went by in silence, Jennifer thought it was odd that no other error messages were being vocalized, but she kept working. The safe zone was created and Jennifer could now compress and send over duplicates of the environmental and primary life support systems programs into the safe-zone, free of any viruses or errors. It was just when the broad level 2 diagnostic was beginning to start on the shield systems that another error message decided to make its self known.
“Multiple weapons systems malfunctions. Phaser banks will overload in approximately three minutes and seven seconds.” The commander announced and this time Jennifer had caught it before he gave her the prompt. She knew what to do. It wasn’t…. strictly protocol, but it would work and she would have more time.”
“Shunting power from warp reactor coil 3 to weapons systems conductor.” Jennifer started, knowing she wasn’t completely allowed to do so, she could almost feel Commander Spock start to open her mouth before she spoke again. “I’ve activated a fast acting subroutine to use the water from the cooling system to flow into the weapons array conduit and cool it, thereby cooling the entire system enough to restart power from the warp reactor coil. The 3rd coil is in need of repair, I’m seeing data that suggests it’s been knocked loose. Engineering will need to fix that before I can give power back to the phaser banks. I’m rerouting excess power through to the shields to prevent another overload in the power transfer conduit.”
Jennifer thought the moment of silence was the commander second guessing her decisions. Apparently he approved.
“The coil has been repaired and is back in place. Ready for power transfer.”
Jennifer moved her fingers deftly over the console, looked up at the display screen and sighed in relief. “Power has been restored to the proper place. I shifted my diagnostic program to start on the weapons systems. It will be repaired, well considering the work I already did, within about five minutes, duplicated and ready for the safe zone in ten.”
“The first exercise is now complete. There are a total remaining four hours and nine minutes for the next two exercises, do you wish to continue now or take a ten minute break? Remember your timer will continue to run.”
“Let’s continue then, shall we, Commander?” Jennifer remarked gleefully. Her adrenaline was pumping now. It was going to get chaotic, disorderly, and horrible before the exam was over. Jennifer thrived in chaos.
She remembered what one of her medic friends in MACO told her once. That it was her job, the friend’s, to make order out of chaos. Chaotic order. But that Jennifer could just continue to get right on by without any help from her, because she had seen her in chaos and crazy. Jennifer did more than thrive, she took chaos by the reins and rode that bitch until she was too exhausted to run anymore. That’s what MaKenna had said all those years ago. Jennifer remembered that swiftly, before she was caught up once more in the exam.
“The exam shall continue. You will now enter into the second exercise of the practical portion of your exam. Begin.”
Jennifer resumed carefully watching her station. Who only knew what would happen during the second portion of the practical? Jennifer kept a careful watch on all the data codes that were streaming across her display screen, waiting for the next error message or crisis while simultaneously configuring the latest system scanned and cleaned to be compressed and duplicated into her safe zone.
Jennifer was waiting for it, she was waiting so long that nearly half of the ship’s computer had been able to be scanned, duplicated, and sent into the safe zone before something happened.
“Life support systems failing.” Commander Spock stated calmly, as if that wasn’t a big enough issue.
The only thing was, Jennifer had scanned, fixed, duplicated, and already sent the life support programming data into the safe zone. Something else was effecting it.
“How long until complete failure?” She asked, calmly in return, trying to match the commander’s emotionless tone. If this had been a real situation, she didn’t think she’d be able to remain that calm… that cold.
Jennifer didn’t know why she’d asked, however, because she pulled up the data from the life support system and could see the predictions for herself. It wouldn’t be long.
“Primary life support will reach complete failure in fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds. The secondary system will become active five minutes before oxygen depletion levels reach an unsafe limit of sustainment, however, if the problem has reached the secondary system, life support as a whole will reach complete failure inside of twenty-two minutes eighteen seconds.” Jennifer looked at the data she was receiving and noticed that, while not as precise of calculations, she had reached the same general conclusion.
Before she could even think about programming a complete wipe and restart of the life support systems from her clean program within the safe zone though, another system had started fail.
“Shield degradation has started to fall.” The commander prompted.
“Alright, I am going to wipe the primary life support system and do a total restart on it. Bringing secondary life support system online now.” Jennifer said as she typed furiously on the touch screen of her console. “Secondary life support system activated. Primary life support system in emergency wipe and clean.”
“Shield degradation has reached fifty percent.” Commander Spock prompted coldly.
“Wiping primary shield system programs, bringing secondary hull force fields online now.” Jennifer said, typing away yet again. The primary life support system had just completed its full wipe and was starting to reboot when yet another problem arose.
“Secondary life support system now reaching critical failure rates. Oxygen depletion will reach unsafe limits in five minutes.” Commander Spock said.
Think, Jennifer, think. What can you do to extend the oxygen levels in the secondary system long enough to have the primary program finish re-initializing procedures?
“What areas of the ship are currently not in need of life-support?” She asked while simultaneously trying to figure it out, finishing the code for primary shield wipe and clean.
“Decks 3, 8, 12, and 15 are currently not housing any life forms in need of life support systems.” The commander answered.
“Rerouting life support from decks 3, 8, 12, and 15 to those in need, giving us an extra two and a half minutes of life support. The initializing procedures for the primary system should finish by that time.” Jennifer stated. The primary shield system had just finished its wipe and clean procedure. It was time to reinitialize the program.
“Hull breach imminent on deck 18 section A.” Commander Spock prompted.
Jennifer knew that there wasn’t a force field around section A that could be lifted to protect the hull breach in that area on its own, so she decided to do something that wasn’t exactly protocol.
She typed furiously, bringing up the warp field code data and looked hard at it. It was dangerous, but she had to do something until the primary shield system came back online fully.
“Extending secondary warp containment field to deck 2 section A.” There wasn’t a program already in existence for this, she had coded it herself. She would have to flush the area with a radiation inoculation by air via the environmental system that had been cleaned already, just to be safe. It was lucky that the warp core was right next to section A on deck 18.
“Cadet Kirk, that is not the protocol.” Commander Spock warned.
“Well, protocol isn’t going to save the engineers working in that section now is it? It’ll work. It’s only for a couple of minutes until the main shield system is back online.” Jennifer retorted, not caring how disrespectful she sounded.
“The possible radiation would-“ Jennifer turned around and cut the commander off before he could finish his statement.
“Is not going to be a problem because I initiated an air inoculation effectively neutralizing any possible secondary radiation leaks. It’s not like I’m extending the primary warp core containment field. The program will work. Is working, if you would like to take a look at the data.”
Commander Spock lifted the display PADD once more, the one he was using to control the simulation and provide prompts from. Jennifer noticed his raised eyebrow, which at this point she had become accustomed to, but realized it was raised in some sort of disbelief that her program had worked. The hull breach would not happen, the secondary containment field had provided enough force to neutralize the breach while the air radiation inoculation had effectively neutralized any secondary radiation spill from extending the second containment field. The engineers were safe, both from a hull breach and a radiation dose, none the wiser.
“Primary shield systems have been restored.” Jennifer announced once the process had been completed. She duplicated the program and sent the copy into the safe zone. “Restoring secondary containment field to original parameters.”
There were only three more systems to be scanned, patched, and duplicated for copy transfer to Jennifer’s safe zone. She still hadn’t found the main virus, which is what she guessed was causing all the malfunctions, but she had a feeling in order to pass the third practical she would need to.
On a whim Jennifer decided to tell the commander this assumption. “I only have three more systems to scan through, but I’m going to assume that there was a main virus that was somehow installed into the ship’s main computer, as so many different systems have been affected. I’m coding a program to search for the original virus that has mutated into each system and to destroy it. I’ve already erected more firewall defenses on the systems that have been compromised, so they shouldn’t be again, unless the virus is extremely smart and can work through the new defenses.”
“The second exercise is now complete. You have two hours and fifteen minutes remaining. Do you desire a ten minute recess?”
Jennifer turned around once more and looked hard at the commander. So she’d finished the second exercise early then, which could only mean the third was going to be grueling. So far nothing had happened that she couldn’t fix or counteract. There had to be a reason so many people failed the exam, but she just couldn’t think of one.
“No, commander, I would like to continue with the exercise.”
“Very well. The third and final practical has now begun.” She noticed that the commander pressed his finger to the PADD he currently held in his hand. He’s been controlling the exam the entire time, she thought.
Jennifer turned around to face her console once more. No emergency had immediately sounded off just yet, so she began to focus on the systems that were still in need of being scanned, patched, and duplicated. The first of the three remaining systems had just started its scan. It was the ship’s computer firewall defense system. It would take much longer to scan through and patch this program due to its sheer size alone. The cyber defense system was incorporated into each and every electronic system throughout the ship, down to the locking codes on the crew’s quarters. It would also take longer to patch, Jennifer knew, because somewhere there was a mistake, or a weak point, that had allowed whatever virus that was affecting each system into the ship’s main computer in the first place.
Jennifer knew that this would take time, so, after the first twenty minutes had gone by in silence, and the program was still running she decided to inform the commander of what she was doing. “I’m currently running a rapid level 2 diagnostic on the ship’s computer’s defenses. I’m also running the virus scanning program I coded, it should locate the main virus and destroy it.” She’d turned around in her chair and was now waiting for the commander to say something, anything.
He simply looked up at her and nodded.
When another thirty minutes had passed and the scan was almost done on the main computer defense program, Jennifer thought that the final exercise was going to either be really boring, or extremely hectic until the last minute.
The virus scan program had yet to find anything, and it had been through most of the ship’s systems already. Somehow, someone had managed to implement a nasty virus bent on destroying the enterprise from within, yet no trace of its original origin had been found. Only mutations when the virus had affected a system. Even tracing hadn’t brought anything up yet. Jennifer was starting to wonder. If something like this had happened in the real world, onboard a real starship, what would the damage be like?
The defense systems had been thoroughly scanned and patched now. Jennifer realized, that while the normal amount of firewalls and nets for any bad things had previously been enough, it was obviously not good enough now. A virus had definitely penetrated the system some way or another. She needed to add some… extra defense before she would duplicate the defense system.
The translation matrix was next. While she had prioritized most of the programs to be scanned, patched, and duplicated by a need basis, the defense system had to be put almost last purely for the fact that she knew something was wrong with it. With only the translation matrix and the computer’s public library systems to scan and clean, Jennifer was feeling pretty good about having her back up plan in place. She wasn’t, however, feeling good about the reason she felt she needed the backup plan in the first place.
Jennifer moved through the various programs and scans, not really noticing how much time had passed when suddenly the commander prompted her once again.
“Self destruct sequence has been activated. Ship will self destruct in five minutes.” It wasn’t Commander Spock’s voice that sounded. It was the intercom. Jennifer thought he must have pushed another simulation control button.
Fantastic.
“Sir, the self destruct sequence was not initiated by the captain. Am I to assume that it was the result of the virus?” Jennifer asked, impossibly calmly.
“Cadet, I shall remind you that this is a test. Be that as it may, I shall tell you the prompt, as you have no student placeholders for positions, it was not the captain that started the self destruct sequence, nor any person or crew theoretically assigned to this ship.”
“Right. On it.” Jennifer replied and got to work pulling up the destruct program. If it was not intentionally activated then she only had a few minutes to deactivate it. Theoretically the captain would give his code to deactivate it.
“Captain’s deactivation code?” She asked.
“Sierra Delta 9657.” The commander replied evenly. Jennifer had a feeling it wouldn’t work, but she tried it anyway.
“Deactivation code not accepted.” The ship’s computer. Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Four minutes, fifteen seconds until self destruct.” The computer’s voice sounded.
Think. Think, Jennifer, think. What can shut off the self destruct activation if not the captain’s code?
Jennifer typed furiously, then realized all systems had been scanned, cleaned and patched, then duplicated and put into the safe zone.
It was time for a big decision. One, that if done wrong, could potentially kill the entire theoretical crew and destroy the ship surely as the self destruct activation key would.
“Wiping ship systems now.” Jennifer announced. She would have to restart the computer and restore life support and environmental systems first before the air and temperatures reached critical levels then restore the function of all other systems. She had less than four minutes now to accomplish the purge.
“All systems shutting down. Begin purge of computer stores.” Jennifer said, right before she pulled out the data chip which held her safe zone and the compressed programs of the entire ship’s systems. She really hoped this would work. The program she had created during the ‘quiet time’ of the exam should wipe every system, purging wherever the virus came from and the virus itself.
Everything went black, the backup generator power did not even turn on. The simulation bridge was completely dark. Everything was wiped.
“Cadet, what-“ the commander started to speak.
“I’ve inserted the clean systems now.” Jennifer said, cutting the commander off mid-sentence. It had taken her only a moment to reinsert the chip which was programmed to restart power to the ship as soon as it was entered. Thankfully, Jennifer had seen to add in an active routine that would access the power system of the ship to re-start all power and bring on life support and environmental systems first automatically. “Life support and environmental systems back online. All other ship systems restarting now. Self destruct sequence has been nullified and the virus, which was apparently according to the new data readouts inserted through the ship’s public library access terminal 3 has been eradicated.”
Jennifer turned around to face the commander.
“I believe I am complete with the exam sir.” She flashed a wild grin. She had to be. The self destruct sequence was meant to be the final and ultimate test, surely.
“I believe you are, Cadet Kirk. You have finished with precisely 22.8 minutes remaining. The second best time recorded to date.” Commander Spock announced, an eyebrow raised. “However, I would say that your method of defeating the self destruct sequence was not as dignified an option as it could have been.”
“And just how does one choose a dignified option in which to nullify the self destruct sequence when the captain’s code was not an option?”
“Simple. You could have created a command code override algorithm.” Commander Spock replied evenly.
Jennifer stood up finally. “That would have taken too long...” Jennifer paused for a moment to consider it anyway, “for me at least. This was the best way. The virus was also destroyed during the purge.”
“It may have been crude, however, it was, as you say, effective. Considering your written test results from earlier, the overall time spent during the practical portions of the exam, the thoroughness of your diagnostic program given time constraints, and your ability to program around and or fix any and all issues that arose during the exam period, I have calculated your passing score at 98.5%. Congratulations, Cadet Kirk, you now hold the second highest score for the advanced programming exam.”
“The first being you, I gather, commander?” Jennifer replied, trying and failing to fight a glorious smile at her success.
“Yes. Had you overlapped the life support and environmental systems during the purge, you may have very well achieved a higher score, however you did not. Thus, you allowed for the risk that should the main computer purge complete and your secondary systems not upload properly, a lethal affect.”
Jennifer stopped smiling immediately. Commander Spock definitely knew how to kill a good mood, or at least so she thought.
“But I passed, right, with at least a 98%, so that means I’m credentialed for a level 7 rating, right?”
“That would be correct.” The commander stated, staring towards the door of the simulation lab, motioning for Jennifer to follow. “I will send your results to the proper credentialing authorities and you should receive a notification no later than 0900 tomorrow with your updated information. This will also be updated in your personnel file.”
On the other side of the door, once Commander Spock had powered down and locked the simulation lab, Jennifer spoke.
“Commander, thank you.” She said softly.
“What exactly are you thanking me for, cadet?” He replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Making me take this exam. I’m glad I did. So, thanks.”
The commander continued to look at Jennifer with a raised brow for a moment before speaking, as if to consider what she had said.
“Your gratitude is unnecessary and illogical. You were clearly qualified to take the exam and had the time. It was only logical to provide you an opportunity to do so. Furthermore I did not make-“
“Illogical or not I appreciate it, commander, and thank you. I’ll uh, I’ll get going now. Time to eat again.”
The commander’s eyebrow rose again, “you are dismissed then, cadet.”
Jennifer nodded, “commander,” then turned around and almost ran, she’d spent enough time as it was around the man… Vulcan. Sometimes she almost liked him, others she couldn’t stand him. One thing she was certain of, however, regarding the Vulcan commander, Jennifer was going to stay as far away from him as possible.
Fandom(s): Star Trek AOS
Characters: Kirk, Spock, Bones, the whole Enterprise crew really. Girl!Kirk )sorry is you don't like kirk as a girl, personally I think kirk as a girl kicks major ass!!!
Pairing(s): Kirk/Spock-slow burn/angst: obviously, but this story will cover multiple pairings throughout
Rating: NC-17 but only because of language so far and some triggerish themes
Summary: Kirk's journey through the Academy and beyond. How Kirk became the beloved captain that everyone knows. Kirk may seem immortal and perfect to everyone on the outside, but she's only human after all. How Kirk met her crew and definitely how she started falling for Spock before she really even knew she could love someone like that.
Genre: Angst, Adventure, Slash, Het, Romance, Hurt/Comfort ... (slightly A/U only because this story describes that Kirk and Spock met well before that fateful hearing, it also gives new meaning to that hearing)
Warnings: Triggers for sure. Mentions of non-con rape/ abuse, tragedy-both personal and widespread.
Wordcount: ~6500 ish
Prologue: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/533.html
CH 1: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/982.html
CH 2: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/1055.html
CH 3a: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/1377.html
CH 3b: http://jpenn93.livejournal.com/1760.html
CHAPTER FOUR:
Jennifer ran through possible simulation scenarios as she walked alongside Commander Spock toward the simulation lab from the mess hall. He could throw probably anything at her, but as it was going to be in the simulation lab and this was Starfleet Academy, which meant that hopeful graduates would be serving on a starship, Jennifer deducted that whatever situation he would throw at her would entail some sort of programming crisis on a starship. She just didn’t know exactly what that would be.
She had three practical exercises to go through and exactly six hours to do them all in. Six hours until she would find out if her programming rating would increase or decrease. Six hours she had to survive, no, thrive, in the world of code and electronics before she could breathe again. Six hours until she would find out if she could best a Vulcan.
Jennifer might be nervous, but she wasn’t going to back down.
Commander Spock said nothing the entire roughly five minute walk from the mess hall to simulation lab 4. Jennifer almost wished he would have made small talk, it would have helped with her nerves, almost. When they arrived at the simulation lab the commander held his hand up to a biometric lock and doors hissed open. Simulation labs were highly secure, as some of the most expensive equipment for training was kept in them. There were three types of simulation labs at Starfleet Academy. The one Jennifer would be taking her practical exercises in this afternoon was a Starship Bridge lab.
Jennifer walked into the simulation lab ahead of the commander and took in her surroundings. The lab was a pretty accurate replica of the bridge of a standard starship, right down to the captain’s chair in the middle of the bridge which was facing a view screen. Jennifer took this all in and imagined, that someday she would be sitting in that captain’s chair, possibly even the very same one, participating in a command simulation.
“You will take the station directly behind the captain’s chair on the rear wall.” Commander Spock spoke finally bringing Jennifer out of her mental musings.
“Right.” Was all she could think to say, taking one last look around the replicated bridge before walking to the station the commander had designated for her.
Nothing was turned on yet, save the lights in the room, however, Jennifer was still taking in the glorious feeling of being on a bridge of a starship, even if it was just a simulation lab in reality. She looked over her station, memorizing the layout. It was not so different than the layout she was used to on the ships MACO used. It was a standard large display screen layout in front of her face and another on the counter perpendicular where she would rest her hands, used for typing in codes, doing algorithms, and using commands. It was reminiscent of an ancient touch-screen laptop but on a much larger scale with much more computing power and capability. Tied into what would be, if it weren’t just a simulation lab, a ship’s computer system.
“Computer,” the commander spoke once more, “prepare simulation: advanced programming exam practical exercise one, Cadet Kirk, Jennifer, authorization code Spock Alpha Charlie 2-2-5-6.”
The stations all powered on and ran through a startup cycle, Jennifer noticed, careful not to touch anything just yet.
“Advanced Programming Exam exercise one prepared for Cadet Kirk, Jennifer, Stardate 2258.358 authorized by Commander Spock.” The computer acknowledged, giving the current Stardate.
“Cadet Kirk, I will now inform you of your simulation scenario and the policies regarding the practical exercises. You will then inform me of your understanding of said scenario and policies, following which I will announce the beginning of your first exercise and start the timer for this portion of the exam.”
“Understood, sir.” Jennifer said, not standing up from her station. She didn’t understand why he had to say that and why he couldn’t just have started off with the explanation of the scenario. She already knew the policy for the exam, but maybe he had to say it aloud so the computer would capture him telling her.
“Computer, commence recording of exam parameters.” Commander Spock instructed the computer, apparently it was so, Jennifer thought, officially the exam needed to have a recording of both the proctor and the student taking the exam acknowledging the parameters.
“Cadet Kirk, for the purpose of this portion of the Advanced Programming exam you will be given in total six hours to complete all of three practical exercises. If at any time you wish to end the exam before completion you may state so. The practical exercises are divided into three parts, you may take as long as you wish to on either portion of the exercises provided you do not exceed the six hour total time limit. You may also take a ten minute break in between each portion, however, your timer will still run. If you complete the practical before the timer has run out, you will state that you are complete, I will then acknowledge said statement and the computer will record verification of competition. There will be three timer warnings given prior to the end of six hours. The first timer warning will sound at thirty minutes, the second at ten minutes, and the third at five minutes. The last ten seconds will be counted aloud by the computer. If you do not state completion before the countdown reaches zero you will not receive credit for the exam and will not receive a grade. If this happens your programming level will be decreased to a rating level 4 and you will be required to take the intermediate programming course as well as the advanced programming course and exams to increase your rating level once again. Do you understand what I have said thus far?”
Jennifer almost choked. She knew what he was saying, he had told her before, but it was real now. It was being recorded for record, and she couldn’t back out.
“I understand, sir.” She replied, consciously trying to make sure her voice was calm and steady.
“If you do not wish to continue this exam, please state so now. Your rating level will remain at level 5. Do you wish to proceed?”
“I wish to proceed, commander.”
“Very well. The scenario for your first practical exercise is simple. You are the senior programmer aboard Starship Simulator 4 when the ship encounters a spacial anomaly which begins to cause error messages within the ship’s computer system.” The commander finished, looking to Jennifer for verification that she understood the vague scenario.
“Understood, commander.” Jennifer replied, curling her hand into a fist behind her back, trying to reign in disappointment at the first scenario. It seemed too simple to her, and not like something she would be able to fix by anything other than simply moving away from said anomaly. However, Jennifer mused to herself, the situation would probably escalate into something much more complicated once the practical started. It was the Advanced Programming exam, after all.
“For the purposes of this exam I will remain in the simulation to observe you, and fill in the role of any other officer should such a role be required. I will note, however, that while serving in such capacity, as would your classmates were any here, each role is severely limited. This is an exam to test your skills as a programmer and programmer only. I will also, as your proctor, respond to situations with specific prompts should a reason to give said prompts arise. Do you understand?”
“Yes, commander.”
“Very well. At this time Cadet Kirk you have acknowledged and verified understanding of the policies, parameters, and the beginning scenario of the practical exercises for the Advanced Programming Exam. This has been recorded and logged into the simulation’s computer for record in your academic file. You may take and ready your station. The test will begin in thirty seconds.” Commander Spock announced, probably the last of scripted material the computer needed to record.
Jennifer turned around facing her designated station. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, holding it for just a moment before audibly exhaling. Yes, she was nervous, but she knew she could at least pass the test. Did she maybe want to at least tie score with the commander? Of course, but if she even passed the test she would still increase her rating by at least another level, hopefully, and still be able to say with pride that she had passed the advanced course’s exam without first taking the course itself.
“10, 9, 8,” the computer began the test countdown at ten seconds and continued. “3, you may begin the first exercise now.”
“Ships’ computer reports error readings in cargo bay 2. Environmental systems have been activated and temperature is decreasing. This could pose a serious threat to the animal life we are currently transporting.” Jennifer heard Commander Spock announce evenly, scripted. So the test had begun.
“Got it.” Jennifer took to her station, moved her fingers on the data input console and fixed the problem before it had a chance to get worse. According to the simulation the animals that the Starship Simulator 4 were transporting required a seriously high temperature climate with almost 100% humidity. If the temperature were to drop drastically enough, the ‘simulated animals’ would then start to die quickly, the humidity only making a drastic change in temperature more dangerous.
Jennifer raised the temperature of the pretend cargo bay once more, ran a quick diagnostic remote scan of the cargo bay’s environmental systems, finding a stray line of code which she quickly fixed.
“Environmental controls returned to normal.” She announced. The whole process had taken her less than four minutes.
“What was the issue?” Commander Spock asked, knowing full well exactly what the problem was. Jennifer thought that the vocalization of issues and solutions was probably just as much a part of the practical as the actual hands on work she would have to be doing.
“There was a stray code error message. I ran a quick level 4 remote diagnostic through the environmental control system for the cargo bay with a level 2 code patch routine following the scan. Once the line of stray code was found, it was quickly patched, fixed, and then returned to its normal operational standard. The stray code was caused by an earlier input error, which any single person could have accidentally done, but I haven’t ruled out foul play yet either, and then mutated once the environmental control system of the cargo bay was activated and altered to conform to the needs of the animal species currently residing in the cargo bay.”
“Understood.” Commander Spock replied, not giving Jennifer a clue as to whether or not she had passed the first part of the first practical exercise. “There is another report of an error message. Environmental systems in both sick bay and multiple crew quarters have been altered and no one has been able to counteract the affects of the alterations.”
“On it.” Jennifer replied. So it is an attack after all. Jennifer typed furiously on her console. “Running rapid level 2 diagnostic on all environmental systems ship-wide with virus scan and elimination sub-routine followed by a level 1 code patch.” She waited as she watched her display screen wiz past lightning fast, pausing for less than a second every few seconds. A normal level 2 diagnostic would take hours. A rapid level two went through most of the steps as a normal level 2, but skipped over areas that wouldn’t be needed to be checked when looking for a bug or virus. The specificity of Jennifer’s version of a rapid level 2 diagnostic focused on finding erroneous code within systems and then highlighting said codes which would then be eliminated and patched if necessary.
Still, a rapid level 2 diagnostic would take a bit of time. About twenty minutes worth of time, actually. So Jennifer had time to work on another quick code routine. One which would, if necessary purge the computer system entirely. She would have to reinstall basic systems, such as life support, if the backup life support system ended up needing to be purged too, and quickly, but she would be able to do that. Always have a contingency.
“The rapid level 2 diagnostic found multiple erroneous codes within a fraction of the environmental systems. Each code has been erased, written over, and patched. Running a second rapid level 2 diagnostic just to make sure the first one caught everything.” Jennifer said, reading the report finally when her display screen had flashed ready. She’d just finished the crude system wipe code that would purge everything in the ship’s computer, saving it, and putting it on standby for when she would need to use it. She didn’t think ‘if’ because she knew it would most likely come to that point.
Jennifer hesitated for a moment, pondering how to go forward. She turned around to face the commander who was currently observing her from the captain’s chair.
“Sir, I have a question about the exam, if it is allowed.”
“I may not be able to answer the question, cadet, but you are permitted to ask.”
“The work that we do in each of the three exercises. Is it saved and carried over to the next exercise?”
“As your grade is dependent on each exercise collectively and each pertains to the other, yes. Any work you do in this exercise will be carried over to the next exercise.”
“All I wanted to know, thanks.” Jennifer turned back around and got to work. She decided she needed to back up the ship’s computer system, effectively duplicating them. But first she had to create an entirely new space within the program to allow for a back up to be retrieved since she did not have an external area with her, and probably wasn’t allowed to have on either, or she would have been given something prior to the beginning of the exam. “I going to run a rapid level 2 diagnostic throughout each of the ship’s systems, just to make sure there will be no more error messages happening.”
“Are you concerned that other systems might be affected?” Commander Spock prompted, causing Jennifer to turn and face him, and she noticed his eyebrow was raised in questioning.
“Honestly, yes. From what I saw of the rapid level 2 diagnostic of the environmental systems it was no accident of simple code error mistake. It was a pre-meditated attack, designed to be triggered when the environmental settings were altered in any one of numerous areas.” Jennifer turned back around and continued to speak, but also to work on her coding.
“If the attack had been allowed to progress, the environmental systems themselves would have overloaded causing a massive temperature drop throughout the ship. Which would then possibly lead to life support issues. The erroneous code found with the rapid level 2 diagnostic showed a simple yet affective mutating virus, much like a physical cancer. It had to be found, irradiated, and removed. There is no way of knowing if the virus had mutated and spread to other systems in the ship without first scanning the entire ship. Just like if you find cancer in part of the body, through a directed and focused MRI or something, you won’t know if it’s spread to any other part of the body without first conducting the same or at least a similar scan of the entire body.”
“A correct deduction on your part Cadet Kirk, and quite an accurate analogy. The exam, however, is still running, so I suggest that you concentrate.”
“Right.” Jennifer blushed a bit. Half because she had been complimented, well from what she could tell anyway, by a Vulcan, and half because she had, if only for a moment, forgotten she was taking an exam and was once again flush with nervous energy.
She needed to duplicate every system, every tiny bit of coding, and store it in a place within the system that would be protected from the crude wipe, but first she would need to eliminate all threats to the system before duplicating it. That would take time. She decided to do so anyway.
Jennifer got to work. Systematically inputting commands for a rapid level 2 diagnostic of every system the ship had, which would take time, but not as much as a full level 1, which she would prefer to do, but didn’t have enough time within the exam parameters to perform. After each system was commanded to start the rapid level 2, it would then be followed by the same process she’d used with the environmental systems. Since she knew she didn’t have to scan that system again, she decided to duplicate and move the programming for that system to what she was now calling the “safe zone”.
The safe zone she created had actually been a stroke of genius, or so Jennifer thought. The protection it offered was generally better than what the ship’s systems had programmed currently, and it didn’t take much time to set up, relatively speaking. She’d done this sort of thing before, in MACO, but usually she’d had the hardware to upload a specific program in place. She didn’t have that now, so while the commander was under the impression that she was pouring over the results of the secondary environmental diagnostic, she was in fact working on her ‘safe zone’.
Jennifer decided that since she did not have her ‘safe zone’ hardware with an already coded program that she would have to pull from the ship’s own systems and safeguards and modify those to effectively create her safe zone and then test it out. It would take time, but not as much as one might think. The creation of the safe zone, with the aid of already pre-established coding just needed to be manipulated or added to would only take about fifteen to twenty minutes. By which time another system within the ship’s computer would have been scanned, cleaned, and rebuilt, ready to be copied and compressed for transfer into the safe zone.
Which is exactly what happened. When another twenty two minutes went by in silence, Jennifer thought it was odd that no other error messages were being vocalized, but she kept working. The safe zone was created and Jennifer could now compress and send over duplicates of the environmental and primary life support systems programs into the safe-zone, free of any viruses or errors. It was just when the broad level 2 diagnostic was beginning to start on the shield systems that another error message decided to make its self known.
“Multiple weapons systems malfunctions. Phaser banks will overload in approximately three minutes and seven seconds.” The commander announced and this time Jennifer had caught it before he gave her the prompt. She knew what to do. It wasn’t…. strictly protocol, but it would work and she would have more time.”
“Shunting power from warp reactor coil 3 to weapons systems conductor.” Jennifer started, knowing she wasn’t completely allowed to do so, she could almost feel Commander Spock start to open her mouth before she spoke again. “I’ve activated a fast acting subroutine to use the water from the cooling system to flow into the weapons array conduit and cool it, thereby cooling the entire system enough to restart power from the warp reactor coil. The 3rd coil is in need of repair, I’m seeing data that suggests it’s been knocked loose. Engineering will need to fix that before I can give power back to the phaser banks. I’m rerouting excess power through to the shields to prevent another overload in the power transfer conduit.”
Jennifer thought the moment of silence was the commander second guessing her decisions. Apparently he approved.
“The coil has been repaired and is back in place. Ready for power transfer.”
Jennifer moved her fingers deftly over the console, looked up at the display screen and sighed in relief. “Power has been restored to the proper place. I shifted my diagnostic program to start on the weapons systems. It will be repaired, well considering the work I already did, within about five minutes, duplicated and ready for the safe zone in ten.”
“The first exercise is now complete. There are a total remaining four hours and nine minutes for the next two exercises, do you wish to continue now or take a ten minute break? Remember your timer will continue to run.”
“Let’s continue then, shall we, Commander?” Jennifer remarked gleefully. Her adrenaline was pumping now. It was going to get chaotic, disorderly, and horrible before the exam was over. Jennifer thrived in chaos.
She remembered what one of her medic friends in MACO told her once. That it was her job, the friend’s, to make order out of chaos. Chaotic order. But that Jennifer could just continue to get right on by without any help from her, because she had seen her in chaos and crazy. Jennifer did more than thrive, she took chaos by the reins and rode that bitch until she was too exhausted to run anymore. That’s what MaKenna had said all those years ago. Jennifer remembered that swiftly, before she was caught up once more in the exam.
“The exam shall continue. You will now enter into the second exercise of the practical portion of your exam. Begin.”
Jennifer resumed carefully watching her station. Who only knew what would happen during the second portion of the practical? Jennifer kept a careful watch on all the data codes that were streaming across her display screen, waiting for the next error message or crisis while simultaneously configuring the latest system scanned and cleaned to be compressed and duplicated into her safe zone.
Jennifer was waiting for it, she was waiting so long that nearly half of the ship’s computer had been able to be scanned, duplicated, and sent into the safe zone before something happened.
“Life support systems failing.” Commander Spock stated calmly, as if that wasn’t a big enough issue.
The only thing was, Jennifer had scanned, fixed, duplicated, and already sent the life support programming data into the safe zone. Something else was effecting it.
“How long until complete failure?” She asked, calmly in return, trying to match the commander’s emotionless tone. If this had been a real situation, she didn’t think she’d be able to remain that calm… that cold.
Jennifer didn’t know why she’d asked, however, because she pulled up the data from the life support system and could see the predictions for herself. It wouldn’t be long.
“Primary life support will reach complete failure in fifteen minutes and forty-two seconds. The secondary system will become active five minutes before oxygen depletion levels reach an unsafe limit of sustainment, however, if the problem has reached the secondary system, life support as a whole will reach complete failure inside of twenty-two minutes eighteen seconds.” Jennifer looked at the data she was receiving and noticed that, while not as precise of calculations, she had reached the same general conclusion.
Before she could even think about programming a complete wipe and restart of the life support systems from her clean program within the safe zone though, another system had started fail.
“Shield degradation has started to fall.” The commander prompted.
“Alright, I am going to wipe the primary life support system and do a total restart on it. Bringing secondary life support system online now.” Jennifer said as she typed furiously on the touch screen of her console. “Secondary life support system activated. Primary life support system in emergency wipe and clean.”
“Shield degradation has reached fifty percent.” Commander Spock prompted coldly.
“Wiping primary shield system programs, bringing secondary hull force fields online now.” Jennifer said, typing away yet again. The primary life support system had just completed its full wipe and was starting to reboot when yet another problem arose.
“Secondary life support system now reaching critical failure rates. Oxygen depletion will reach unsafe limits in five minutes.” Commander Spock said.
Think, Jennifer, think. What can you do to extend the oxygen levels in the secondary system long enough to have the primary program finish re-initializing procedures?
“What areas of the ship are currently not in need of life-support?” She asked while simultaneously trying to figure it out, finishing the code for primary shield wipe and clean.
“Decks 3, 8, 12, and 15 are currently not housing any life forms in need of life support systems.” The commander answered.
“Rerouting life support from decks 3, 8, 12, and 15 to those in need, giving us an extra two and a half minutes of life support. The initializing procedures for the primary system should finish by that time.” Jennifer stated. The primary shield system had just finished its wipe and clean procedure. It was time to reinitialize the program.
“Hull breach imminent on deck 18 section A.” Commander Spock prompted.
Jennifer knew that there wasn’t a force field around section A that could be lifted to protect the hull breach in that area on its own, so she decided to do something that wasn’t exactly protocol.
She typed furiously, bringing up the warp field code data and looked hard at it. It was dangerous, but she had to do something until the primary shield system came back online fully.
“Extending secondary warp containment field to deck 2 section A.” There wasn’t a program already in existence for this, she had coded it herself. She would have to flush the area with a radiation inoculation by air via the environmental system that had been cleaned already, just to be safe. It was lucky that the warp core was right next to section A on deck 18.
“Cadet Kirk, that is not the protocol.” Commander Spock warned.
“Well, protocol isn’t going to save the engineers working in that section now is it? It’ll work. It’s only for a couple of minutes until the main shield system is back online.” Jennifer retorted, not caring how disrespectful she sounded.
“The possible radiation would-“ Jennifer turned around and cut the commander off before he could finish his statement.
“Is not going to be a problem because I initiated an air inoculation effectively neutralizing any possible secondary radiation leaks. It’s not like I’m extending the primary warp core containment field. The program will work. Is working, if you would like to take a look at the data.”
Commander Spock lifted the display PADD once more, the one he was using to control the simulation and provide prompts from. Jennifer noticed his raised eyebrow, which at this point she had become accustomed to, but realized it was raised in some sort of disbelief that her program had worked. The hull breach would not happen, the secondary containment field had provided enough force to neutralize the breach while the air radiation inoculation had effectively neutralized any secondary radiation spill from extending the second containment field. The engineers were safe, both from a hull breach and a radiation dose, none the wiser.
“Primary shield systems have been restored.” Jennifer announced once the process had been completed. She duplicated the program and sent the copy into the safe zone. “Restoring secondary containment field to original parameters.”
There were only three more systems to be scanned, patched, and duplicated for copy transfer to Jennifer’s safe zone. She still hadn’t found the main virus, which is what she guessed was causing all the malfunctions, but she had a feeling in order to pass the third practical she would need to.
On a whim Jennifer decided to tell the commander this assumption. “I only have three more systems to scan through, but I’m going to assume that there was a main virus that was somehow installed into the ship’s main computer, as so many different systems have been affected. I’m coding a program to search for the original virus that has mutated into each system and to destroy it. I’ve already erected more firewall defenses on the systems that have been compromised, so they shouldn’t be again, unless the virus is extremely smart and can work through the new defenses.”
“The second exercise is now complete. You have two hours and fifteen minutes remaining. Do you desire a ten minute recess?”
Jennifer turned around once more and looked hard at the commander. So she’d finished the second exercise early then, which could only mean the third was going to be grueling. So far nothing had happened that she couldn’t fix or counteract. There had to be a reason so many people failed the exam, but she just couldn’t think of one.
“No, commander, I would like to continue with the exercise.”
“Very well. The third and final practical has now begun.” She noticed that the commander pressed his finger to the PADD he currently held in his hand. He’s been controlling the exam the entire time, she thought.
Jennifer turned around to face her console once more. No emergency had immediately sounded off just yet, so she began to focus on the systems that were still in need of being scanned, patched, and duplicated. The first of the three remaining systems had just started its scan. It was the ship’s computer firewall defense system. It would take much longer to scan through and patch this program due to its sheer size alone. The cyber defense system was incorporated into each and every electronic system throughout the ship, down to the locking codes on the crew’s quarters. It would also take longer to patch, Jennifer knew, because somewhere there was a mistake, or a weak point, that had allowed whatever virus that was affecting each system into the ship’s main computer in the first place.
Jennifer knew that this would take time, so, after the first twenty minutes had gone by in silence, and the program was still running she decided to inform the commander of what she was doing. “I’m currently running a rapid level 2 diagnostic on the ship’s computer’s defenses. I’m also running the virus scanning program I coded, it should locate the main virus and destroy it.” She’d turned around in her chair and was now waiting for the commander to say something, anything.
He simply looked up at her and nodded.
When another thirty minutes had passed and the scan was almost done on the main computer defense program, Jennifer thought that the final exercise was going to either be really boring, or extremely hectic until the last minute.
The virus scan program had yet to find anything, and it had been through most of the ship’s systems already. Somehow, someone had managed to implement a nasty virus bent on destroying the enterprise from within, yet no trace of its original origin had been found. Only mutations when the virus had affected a system. Even tracing hadn’t brought anything up yet. Jennifer was starting to wonder. If something like this had happened in the real world, onboard a real starship, what would the damage be like?
The defense systems had been thoroughly scanned and patched now. Jennifer realized, that while the normal amount of firewalls and nets for any bad things had previously been enough, it was obviously not good enough now. A virus had definitely penetrated the system some way or another. She needed to add some… extra defense before she would duplicate the defense system.
The translation matrix was next. While she had prioritized most of the programs to be scanned, patched, and duplicated by a need basis, the defense system had to be put almost last purely for the fact that she knew something was wrong with it. With only the translation matrix and the computer’s public library systems to scan and clean, Jennifer was feeling pretty good about having her back up plan in place. She wasn’t, however, feeling good about the reason she felt she needed the backup plan in the first place.
Jennifer moved through the various programs and scans, not really noticing how much time had passed when suddenly the commander prompted her once again.
“Self destruct sequence has been activated. Ship will self destruct in five minutes.” It wasn’t Commander Spock’s voice that sounded. It was the intercom. Jennifer thought he must have pushed another simulation control button.
Fantastic.
“Sir, the self destruct sequence was not initiated by the captain. Am I to assume that it was the result of the virus?” Jennifer asked, impossibly calmly.
“Cadet, I shall remind you that this is a test. Be that as it may, I shall tell you the prompt, as you have no student placeholders for positions, it was not the captain that started the self destruct sequence, nor any person or crew theoretically assigned to this ship.”
“Right. On it.” Jennifer replied and got to work pulling up the destruct program. If it was not intentionally activated then she only had a few minutes to deactivate it. Theoretically the captain would give his code to deactivate it.
“Captain’s deactivation code?” She asked.
“Sierra Delta 9657.” The commander replied evenly. Jennifer had a feeling it wouldn’t work, but she tried it anyway.
“Deactivation code not accepted.” The ship’s computer. Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Four minutes, fifteen seconds until self destruct.” The computer’s voice sounded.
Think. Think, Jennifer, think. What can shut off the self destruct activation if not the captain’s code?
Jennifer typed furiously, then realized all systems had been scanned, cleaned and patched, then duplicated and put into the safe zone.
It was time for a big decision. One, that if done wrong, could potentially kill the entire theoretical crew and destroy the ship surely as the self destruct activation key would.
“Wiping ship systems now.” Jennifer announced. She would have to restart the computer and restore life support and environmental systems first before the air and temperatures reached critical levels then restore the function of all other systems. She had less than four minutes now to accomplish the purge.
“All systems shutting down. Begin purge of computer stores.” Jennifer said, right before she pulled out the data chip which held her safe zone and the compressed programs of the entire ship’s systems. She really hoped this would work. The program she had created during the ‘quiet time’ of the exam should wipe every system, purging wherever the virus came from and the virus itself.
Everything went black, the backup generator power did not even turn on. The simulation bridge was completely dark. Everything was wiped.
“Cadet, what-“ the commander started to speak.
“I’ve inserted the clean systems now.” Jennifer said, cutting the commander off mid-sentence. It had taken her only a moment to reinsert the chip which was programmed to restart power to the ship as soon as it was entered. Thankfully, Jennifer had seen to add in an active routine that would access the power system of the ship to re-start all power and bring on life support and environmental systems first automatically. “Life support and environmental systems back online. All other ship systems restarting now. Self destruct sequence has been nullified and the virus, which was apparently according to the new data readouts inserted through the ship’s public library access terminal 3 has been eradicated.”
Jennifer turned around to face the commander.
“I believe I am complete with the exam sir.” She flashed a wild grin. She had to be. The self destruct sequence was meant to be the final and ultimate test, surely.
“I believe you are, Cadet Kirk. You have finished with precisely 22.8 minutes remaining. The second best time recorded to date.” Commander Spock announced, an eyebrow raised. “However, I would say that your method of defeating the self destruct sequence was not as dignified an option as it could have been.”
“And just how does one choose a dignified option in which to nullify the self destruct sequence when the captain’s code was not an option?”
“Simple. You could have created a command code override algorithm.” Commander Spock replied evenly.
Jennifer stood up finally. “That would have taken too long...” Jennifer paused for a moment to consider it anyway, “for me at least. This was the best way. The virus was also destroyed during the purge.”
“It may have been crude, however, it was, as you say, effective. Considering your written test results from earlier, the overall time spent during the practical portions of the exam, the thoroughness of your diagnostic program given time constraints, and your ability to program around and or fix any and all issues that arose during the exam period, I have calculated your passing score at 98.5%. Congratulations, Cadet Kirk, you now hold the second highest score for the advanced programming exam.”
“The first being you, I gather, commander?” Jennifer replied, trying and failing to fight a glorious smile at her success.
“Yes. Had you overlapped the life support and environmental systems during the purge, you may have very well achieved a higher score, however you did not. Thus, you allowed for the risk that should the main computer purge complete and your secondary systems not upload properly, a lethal affect.”
Jennifer stopped smiling immediately. Commander Spock definitely knew how to kill a good mood, or at least so she thought.
“But I passed, right, with at least a 98%, so that means I’m credentialed for a level 7 rating, right?”
“That would be correct.” The commander stated, staring towards the door of the simulation lab, motioning for Jennifer to follow. “I will send your results to the proper credentialing authorities and you should receive a notification no later than 0900 tomorrow with your updated information. This will also be updated in your personnel file.”
On the other side of the door, once Commander Spock had powered down and locked the simulation lab, Jennifer spoke.
“Commander, thank you.” She said softly.
“What exactly are you thanking me for, cadet?” He replied, raising an eyebrow.
“Making me take this exam. I’m glad I did. So, thanks.”
The commander continued to look at Jennifer with a raised brow for a moment before speaking, as if to consider what she had said.
“Your gratitude is unnecessary and illogical. You were clearly qualified to take the exam and had the time. It was only logical to provide you an opportunity to do so. Furthermore I did not make-“
“Illogical or not I appreciate it, commander, and thank you. I’ll uh, I’ll get going now. Time to eat again.”
The commander’s eyebrow rose again, “you are dismissed then, cadet.”
Jennifer nodded, “commander,” then turned around and almost ran, she’d spent enough time as it was around the man… Vulcan. Sometimes she almost liked him, others she couldn’t stand him. One thing she was certain of, however, regarding the Vulcan commander, Jennifer was going to stay as far away from him as possible.