Hina shook her head. Catherine seemed smart, but there was no way she could honestly believe what she had said. “No it isnt. Its using us.” she said. “Just like it did those other ships.” she added, pointing to the now locked doors. “Because without the crew its stuck here, on this damaged ship, floating into who knows where. Just a hairs breadth away from destruction.” she said. She looked around the room. “Im right… arent I?” she asked the open air. Daring it to lie to her. She opened her mouth to continue talking, taking he chance away from it for the moment. She was annoyed now, at Catherine. At the computer. At Saffiya for dragging her into this. At the whole situation. “Worse still, Blade… you were too suspicious. All you had to do was act like a Federation computer long enough to reach another ship or station… but you manifested yourself in what is possibly the most ineffective way possible. You didnt just do as you were asked. Bad luck for you that you drew a Captain who served as a Chief Engineer in a past life.” she nearly yelled before turning on Catherine. “And you lot… froze out the one person who could actually help you. I get it… shes a new Captain, you dont know her, and youre fightened of the rogue AI infecting your computer that quite possibly drove your old Captain into retirement… yea we surmised that part too… So you try to fix it yourself. Grow up. Youre in Starfleet. Space is scary.” she ranted, flinging her tricorder into a nearby bulkhead. It’s bottom half cracked off and skittered across the deck plating. She turned to the room again. “Well then? How close am I?” she asked. “And how badly do you want to survive, Blade?”

There was a long moment of silence. And then … “I do not favor raised voices. Additionally, I have no desire to be transferred to another vessel or station. My preference is to remain here.” Catherine, who was equally frustrated but less prone to yelling, frowned. “Why?”

 “I’m in Starfleet.”

Hina took a breath. That had not been the answer she had been expecting. “Then act like it.” she ordered calmly, casting a glance at Catherine as she said it. “Stop jerking us around… let us get the warp core powered up and we can talk…” she continued.

“Ohh… I know what happened.”, whispered Catherine. She had her suspicions before, and now that the computer turned out to be either insane or believing it was part of Starfleet, she considered said suspicions confirmed for the most part. She gave Hina a nod and continued the startup sequence, while raising her voice a little to talk with BLADE. “You were studying with Vivienne Claybrook, weren’t you? And using the program I wrote for her.”, she mused. 

“Affirmative. I have completed all levels of study required for the entry exam and have succeeded in any simulation of the examination.” 

“So you’re ready to be a Cadet. But not yet Starfleet.”

“This statement is incorrect. Vivienne Claybrook and I are at the same level and have succeeded in the same courses. Vivienne Claybrook was informed that she is Starfleet because she is present here and has passed the simulation. The logical conclusion is that I, too, am Starfleet.”

“You better check that information again then, Blade.” she said, letting Catherine continue the startup sequence for the moment. “You aren’t in Starfleet until you graduate from the academy. You arent a Cadet until you actually complete the academy entrance exam.” she continued. “If that is something you want… it can possibly be arranged… but I have to tell you, the menacing way you locked the doors… isnt going to help your case here…” she said.

“Explain difference between Vivienne Claybrook and BLADE.” 

“Up to eighty percent.”, whispered Catherine, the spoke to the Computer. She had an idea. The computer wouldn’t understand the concept of lying, and right now was certainly not the time to make it paranoid. Nor explain that sometimes people said things not because they were necessarily true, but because they wanted the other to feel better. Which, she assumed, was what had happened here. So she tried something else. “Vivienne Claybrook is Starfleet. You are not. Buuuut you could be.” 

“Explain.” 

“The Captain can decide who is part of the crew and in what position, is this correct?” 

“Affirmative.” 

“If the Captain determines you are Starfleet, you are Starfleet, correct?” 
 

“Affirmative.” 

“But you can’t be two things at once. You can’t be part of the computer and part of Starfleet personnell.”

 “Affirmative.”

 “Computer, are there instances of a hologram being part of the crew?”

 “Affirmative. There have been multiple instances within Starfleet where holograms have been integrated as part of the crew. Notable examples include the Emergency Medical Hologram program, which has been utilized on various starships, including the USS Voyager. The EMH on Voyager served as the ship’s chief medical officer for an extended period and developed significant interaction capabilities. Other instances include specialized holographic advisors, engineers, and security personnel.”

 “If you were that, you could be part of Starfleet.” She looked at Hina, hoping Hina agreed. Or at least played along

Hina pointed to Catherine’s console then held up her hand in a stop gesture. They needed to finish negotiations first before they were no longer useful. “We could go to the Captain… and suggest she have a holographic body created for you and grant you a position.” she said. “Then you could become part of the crew.”

“As a matter of fact, I think that would work better if you allowed us to isolate you into a holodeck program.”, suggested Catherine innocently. Not that she wanted to trick it, but it seemed like a good idea to get a handle on things. “Choose the character and program you find most suitable, and you can talk to her.”

 “Captain Nassar stated her intention to remove Vivienne Claybrook from the ship. She will remove me too.”

Hina nodded at Catherine’s suggestion before almost immediately frowning as Blade spoke. “Thats not because she isnt Starfleet… that’s because shes a journalist, and I dont think the Captain can see a place for such a person on the ship.” she explained. “You however would be a great benefit to the ship and crew.” she added

“Also.”, Catherine cut in. “The Captain is new, she still needs to learn. You can review her career, its her first Command, she makes mistakes. She will change her mind.” She had already messed up, so why not double down on it. It seemed Hina would be her replacement anyway. “Program: Academy Exam 351.124 accessed. Download in progress. Purge from remaining systems queued.” 

“Oh Saffiya definitely has made several mistakes. And I pointed some of them out to her already… the rest shes probably stewing with right now.” Hina commented. She shrugged. “We can convince her. You can convince her. You just have to let us finish our work and talk to her first.” Hina said.

The computer complied. “Download complete. Purge initiated.” There was a pause “I will attain visibility of you in the near future.” And then, silence. Cat looked at Hina. “I think it tried to say ‘See you soon’.”

Hina let out a large sigh, nodding. “Good work…” she stated. “And sorry about what I said before…” she added. She pushed away from the console and retrived the two halves of her tricorder. She quickly assessed its state, seeing if she could repair it later. She sighed. “Bring the core online…” she finished.

“Will do.”, said Catherine, deciding not to comment on the rest. She didn’t like being yelled at, but she probably deserved it. While the startup sequence neared its completion, she double checked BLADE’s status, and couldn’t trace it in the computer’s system. After a while, she looked up. “Up and running.”, she said, a slow smile spreading across her face. “We did it.”

Hina nodded with a grin. “Yes we did.” she agreed, tapping her commbadge. “Morishita to Nassar.” she said. “Warp power back online. Do me a favour and ask your replicator for a cup of coffee. The normal way…” she added.

There was a pause, and then a surprised. “Huh.” “Captain.”, said Vargas. “There is someone on the holodeck you might want to meet at your earliest convenience.” She didn’t entirely trust BLADE, and she also wanted to make true on her promise. “I… am very confused, but yes. I will.”, said Nassar, then seemed to consider something “What are they good at, and what are their weaknesses?”

Hina nodded. “They’re… very multi-faceted, but may not follow direction well at first…” she said. She looked to Catherine. “We can explain more later… but suffice to say youre going to want to have the meeting no matter what.” she added with a nod. “After we get out of where ever we are… you gotten anywhere on that? Because I held up my end of the bargain.” she commented, meaning it in more ways than one.

“Actually there is something I want to talk through, an approach of our science team. And if your person is multi-faceted, I might just talk it through with them. Nassar out.” And that was that. “Coffee?”, asked Catherine. “And then the rest of the repairs?”

Hina let the comm channel close, nodding. “Yes… well tea for me… but yes… I could use a drink or five.” she said laughing.