Character Perspective: Sullivan

I sat with my fists clenched as we all settled into the seats of a large conference room at the rear of the Kirk building.

The simulation had “officially” ended forty-five minutes after the destruction of our ship when the DRAKE reported the location of the Orbital body. The monitors around our simulated ship direct us all back to the elevator and up to the main level.

Commander Allen was staring down at us from the end of the table, one hand resting the other darting over a keyboard and causing a screen behind him to light up.

“What was your first mistake?” He asked without any preamble.

“It was-“ I started, ready to own up for my Accelerator’s failure.

“I gave vague orders Commander,” Curtis interrupted. “We rushed into things head first because we got off track by the idea of a hostile ship and thus, we didn’t properly formulate a plan.”

“We also didn’t maintain a perfect communication system, we mostly communicated over the intercom when we probably could have used station radios and kept open channels going,” Vicky said. She had a notebook open ahead of her and she was already diligently taking notes.

“I put Doc in the Rail-Rifle cockpit when I probably would have been a better shot,” Ty added.

“Guys,” I said once it was clear nobody else was going to say anything, Commander Allen still hadn’t spoken, and I was sure he was still waiting for my response. “It was my fault. My accelerator plan backfired, and I didn’t consider that they’d be able to reverse the bug onto us, it’s why our systems were draining and why they were able to hide from our radars… I’m willing to bet they used our ship’s relay to hide from the MEGALODON as well. I probably got both of our ships destroyed.”

“Your first mistake,” Commander Allen finally said, “Was not listening to instructions. In Dean Williams trial introduction, he made it clear that opening your communications channels was at your own discretion, it was a warning even before you were informed of the Parasitum’s existence and one you did in fact partially pick up on.”

“I asked why we hadn’t been told about them, I still don’t necessarily agree with the answer we were given either, sir,” Curtis spoke up and I looked over to see his jaw had set slightly. “This entire trial feels like it was a no win situation where we were set up for failure from the get-go.”

“You were set up for failure, Captain,” the Commander finally stood up straight, a board pulling up behind him on the screen.

Ship

Command

Planning

Communication

Accomplishment

Final Rank

DRAKE

41

32

49

50

A+

NEUTRINO

30

15

25

25

B-

MEGALODON

28

20

15

0

C-

“This is the Base Evaluation Assessment from your trial and how each trial will be scored, video feeds from your Sim-Ship are monitored by the training teams and scores are assigned based on a combination of Star Launch protocol and ingenuity,” he explained. “Each column has a maximum of 50 points with the exception of the Accomplishment field, this one gets scored based on the various objectives you complete.”

“So then, what did we get 25 points for in Accomplishments?” Novarod asked. He looked nearly as nervous as I did yet he hadn’t done anything wrong, so I wasn’t sure if that’s just who he was.

“Though your ship was destroyed in the process, Ms. Reagan’s final shot did in fact destroy the Parasitum, which itself counts as one of the accomplishments of this trial,” Commander Allen answered immediately. “She is also the primary reason you’re planning score is not rock bottom due to her constant communication with the Bridge team and with the Neutrino’s AI system. While Sullivan did have a plan, never once did he communicate it back to Captain Curtis before going through with it, this is on both of you two and I advise you all to get more comfortable with active and constant communication. Understood?”

“Aye, sir,” I said, hearing Curtis echo it only a second behind me.

“But why were we set up for failure sir, the scoring system is nice to see, I just don’t understand the point of it all,” Curtis questioned. “Had we been properly prepared for the Parasitum, we might have had more time to-“

“Time to what? Plan? You all weren’t on that bridge for five minutes before Sullivan started experimenting. Nothing had gone wrong, there hadn’t been any wrenches in play, you all heard of a new variable and decided to pivot from the years of training and simulated practice you have gone through for a single change that had not even directly engaged you yet,” the Commander said, “You were set up for failure in the sense that you were given a distraction, and both you and the MEGALODON fell victim to that distraction.”

“But sir, with all due respect we were told that points were available for destroying or disabling the Parasitum,” Vicky said as she flipped through her notepad. “I feel like that’s just lying to us for the sake of lying.”

“The DRAKE knew of the Parasitum’s existence and knew exactly where they were from the offset of the trial. To be fair, they were closer at the time, so their pulse hit them early on, but they did not make the mistake of creating an untested link between their ship and the Parasitum. They could have turned and attacked, but they stayed focused on the primary objective of this trial,” he explained further.

“Then shouldn’t they be docked points for not assisting their fellow Star Launch ships?” Vicky asked.

“Second, you were told from the start that there were other ships in the region, you had a lock on the MEGALODON early, and you did not reach out to them to formulate a plan until the Parasitum had already engaged, do not begin to tell me that you or your Captain were immediately concerned with establishing a communal channel,” the Commander shot back, and Vicky retreated into her chair.

“At the end of the day then, this was still my fault that we messed this up so badly though,” I said with a sigh.

“The point of the trial was to see how you worked when you were taken outside of the confines of the plan. This isn’t the military, you didn’t just go to boot camp before coming up here, each of you have spent years in your respective fields already, learning the best methods, learning how to integrate them with simulations,” the Commander said as he moved to walk around the table slightly. “Have you ever tested your Accelerator against a ship frequency like that before?”

“No sir,” I admitted. “I had considered it in theory but never had the opportunity to test it in a fashion like this.”

“And are you going to test it that way again?” he asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Well… probably sir,” I answered honestly. “Science is made up of failures, hundreds of them sometimes and it’s how we refine and strengthen the process. I’ve never had a failure stop me before, I don’t see why I would let it this time. Though I’ll probably see if there’s a non-trial version of that simulation I can run and test the Accelerator on until I get the rotation and frequency correct.”

The Commander had a very clear smirk on his face now and was nodding his head, “Correct answer. You all can beat yourself up over this failure, you can bet your asses I will be drilling you twice as hard for it, but at the end of the day you need to take every victory and every defeat to heart. Look back at your actions, look back at what worked and what didn’t. Then refine. You all are a team, the trust you showed on the ship, while detrimental at the start like this, is important to have. Captain, it is good of you to trust that your crew can handle their positions, but the buck stops with you, and you will see harsher scoring on your personal report for this trial than the others based on that.”

“Understood sir,” Curtis responded with a curt nod.

“Then this debrief is dismissed. Your personal report files will be available on your dorm displays after Dinner mess tonight. Classes will begin tomorrow morning following Physical Training at 0630,” Commander Allen said returning to his keyboard and striking a few keys before the display went dark. “Go try to relax a bit. But no desserts for anyone since you guys messed up so badly,” he said, though I could have sworn I saw him wink as he turned his head away from us.