[[Memory Challenge - - <>]]

Posted on Mon Jan 13th, 2020 @ 2:35am by Lieutenant Carter Smith

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Lieutenant Smith's Quarters
479 words - 1 OF Standard Post Measure

Carter was in his quarter's, looking out through the window, watching the stars streak past as the ship moved through space at warp.
He had gone through a lot of personal issues the last couple of months.
The nightmares of the Jem Hadar soldiers that had boarded the ship, from the illusions the crew was subject to.
The attempt he made to abandon ship and leave his crewmates behind.
The Jem Hadar nightmares still haunted him.

Then came the drinking....heavy drinking....every day.
Then, finally, the suicide attempt.
He'd been undergoing therapy since he's recovery from his attempt.

But today, he just stood in front of the window....remembering something in his past.

He was standing on a beach, it was a cloudless sky. The sun was warm against his skin, the water cool as it lapped over his toes.
He was 11 years old. His parents, home on leave, were there, as well as his brother Matthew and his twin sister Jennifer.

It was his sister and his birthday. His parents had given him a quarter scale model of a Federation warp core and engine room. He also was given a holographic program that allowed him the experience of being in an actual engine room...down to the problems that may come up. Carter had always been fascinated by how things work, even as an infant. When he was older, his father gave him manuals of obsolete engine designs, so he could learn.
Jennifer was crazy about writing, so their parents gave her an antique pen to write with.

Carter had always been interested in Earth's space program, from the early Mercury series to the moon landings and the Mars landing. He had constructed models of the ships.....the Mercury capsule...the Gemini series...the Apollo....the space shuttle and the international space station.
He also had a model of Cochrane's warp ship, the Vulcan ship that made First Contact, and all the warp ship's that Earth developed.

A tent had been setup for the to get out of the sun and enjoy cake and ice cream. Each child had their own small cake. Matthew liked chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. Jennifer liked vanilla ice cream and angel food cake and Carter strawberry ice cream and cake.

The next day, Carter's father took him to the academy where he was able to try out his new holographic program.
His first 3 attempts resulted in the destruction of the ship.

After 3 attempts, he was required to take a remedial engineering lesson, given by a qualified instructor.
On his 5th attempt, he prevented an overload that would have blown out half the relays on an NX-Alpha class ship.

On his final attempt, he stopped a warp core explosion by shunting main power through the ship's deflector's in an Constitution class ship.

The instructors, and his father, were very impressed.

-end-