Scary Lessons

Posted on Tuesday 14 August 2018 @ 21:53 by Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D.

Mission: Academy Days
Location: =/\= Earth, Starfleet Academy =/\=
Timeline: 237609.13
820 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Cadet Sophomore John Barstow sat in his security tactics class as the room filled with the other Cadets reporting for the early morning class. Barstow had come in as a starfighter pilot, however, tactical, helm, operations, basic engineering and basic security skills were all required for his flight certification. This was due to the cockpit being like a single or 2 person Bridge, the pilot needed to know how to run all those systems themselves and had to be prepared for being on the ground conducting repairs alone, or worse, SEAR- Search, Evasion, Resistance and Escape- not to mention guard duties as needed, which was where the security training came in.

The bell rang and everyone scurried to find a seat as Commander Samantha Edwards entered the room wearing a gold Starfleet uniform, "ladies and gentlemen, today we have a special subject I want to cover," the brown eyed woman started and looked around the room, pausing for effect, "the Borg," she said finally.

There were a few gasps and mumbles about how if certain Cadets ever met the Borg they'd wipe them all out. John just shook his head, even at just 19 he knew that the ones who thought that way were the first to fall because they rushed in without thinking.

"Hey, shut your pie holes people," Edwards said and pulled her raven black hair to tighten her ponytail in annoyance, "you'll find all that bravado will have you being the distractions your crewmates need to get away while you're being assimilated, then you better hope one stops and shoots you," she said with a scowl that made the Cadets wilt and-belied her attractiveness, "now, we have a special guest here today, Captain Elo Shon of the USS Thunderchild. The Captain has faced the Borg as a pilot, security officer and while in command," Samantha said and motioned the rugged looking man over.

The Andorian Captain stepped out of the shadows slowly and walked over to the podium, "thank you, Commander," he said with a smile and then turned to face the class.

Gasps filled the room as he did, scars all over his dark blue skin and his right eye missing, replaced by a prosthetic. He looked around the room and took a breath, "take a good look, Cadets, this is what will happen if your lucky with the Borg. I was an Ensign in charge of a security squad on the USS Polyneices at Wolf three five nine," he started, "we were an Excelsior class starship and it was my second tour on her. The Borg attacked and took out half the fleet in just minutes, we were the unlucky ones. The Polyneices was disabled, the Bridge was destroyed, taking the command officers with it and we were boarded," Shon said, his black eyes getting a distant look and trailed off momentarily.

"They were relentless, for every one we managed to take down three more appeared. We had phasers and rifles that modulated frequencies, but, we only managed four shots each before we had to go hand to hand. We knew about the possibility, but, we weren't prepared for having to use sharpened pieces of titanium and what ever else we could get our hands on to defend ourselves."

Barstow sat forward as the man talked, the Andorians antenna twitching as he went through the memory. Then the Captain pulled up a holo on the large viewscreen. The old style alert klaxons could be heard and the red alert light ominously blanketed the debris and smoke filled corridor. Hiding in the debris was a younger Elo crouched behind a bulkhead as a group of Borg came slowly up the corridor, unafraid and not in a rush. A group of security and command division officers jumped out, led by Shon, and opened fire. The first few Borg fell, sparks shooting out from where they'd been hit. However, the second line of Borg marched forward, protected by green shielding. The offers looked at each other before charging forward, some using their riflles as clubs and others grabbing whatever debris was near them.

Within seconds screams were heard, so loud they started overloading the audio. The Cadets covered their mouths or looked away as the officers were either beamed away by the Locutis cube or assimilated on the spot and thrown to the deck writhing in pain. Ensign Elo Shon was knocked back after ripping out the tubes in one Borgs head. He cried out as blue blood shot against the deck plating and the video stopped. When the lights came up again Shon looked out at the now scared Cadets, "if you ever encounter the Borg run the other way. If you can't, make damn sure you take the lessons we teach you today to heart or you will ennd up part of the collective. Now, this is a Borg....."


Cadet Sophomore John Barstow
Fighter Operations Cadet
Starfleet Academy