The Bridge of the Denver was bathed in the red glow of the red alert status.  Logically Lt. Alexander Willis knew this was a simulation,  but the sensory imput told him otherwise and he felt his heart rate increase. 

“Aft shields are down,” Wills announced from his station next to Chapman.  “I’m reading transporter signatures.  Intruder alert!”

“I see them! Deploying security team Alpha now. Bravo and Charlie on hot standby.” Beth calls out as she taps on her console to give the orders to the security teams. She, in recent weeks, had restructured the security division onboard, using and training them more as military police officers rather than “security.” Because of the size of the ship, all members were trained as if they were a SWAT team; they were capable of handling intruders or of simply buying time. Beth took a moment to breathe before addressing the shields problem. Even though she knew it was just a simulation, it did not feel any less real. “I see the shield problem. Switching to backups, starting shield regeneration. Firing diversionary phasers!” She exclaims as she hits the present fire controls on her console. Muttering to herself, she walks her through the procedure and curses out the enemy she was fighting.

The hum of a transporter beam marked the materialization of a group of Jem’Hadar beaming onto the bridge.  Alexander already had his phaser in hand and he fired at the closer of the enemy. 

Robert Jeter stood off in the shadows at the back of the bridge, hidden from the direct line of sight of all three department chiefs. He glanced down at the PADD in is hands, and twisted his mouth into a small smile. The reaction times were definitely improving, and they were doing well with the simulation so far. Looking up, he saw the combat team of four Jem’Hadar beam finished beaming onto the bridge. As he watched Alexander shoot one the moment, the soldier materialized, dropping him.

The rest of the bridge crew, personnel from the alpha shift, showed their skill and ducked behind consoles and out of the line of sight while grabbing their own phasers. Not all were fast enough, and the Jem’Hadar were able to catch two of the crew with shots from their disruptors, stunning them.

Beth instinctively hit the bridge panic button on her console, turning on all the lights on the bridge and locking all the bridge executive functions, releasable only with the confirmation of the Captain and First Officer together. She fired back, hitting one of the Jem’Hadar soldiers. Weapons fire was directed toward her, so she ducked down again, firing back in between volleys. 

Alexander took a shot in the shoulder.  He stumbled backward and fell to the deck.  He took aim one last time as the blackness closed in on him, and the beam went wide missing. 

Crawford suddenly felt as if everything was moving too fast for him.  He wasn’t sure what had just caused him to lose focus as all hell had broken loose around him.  He’d managed to do the minimum on the operations console, but when the invasion had happened, he’d frozen.  Peter had taken a grazing blast and was about to fire back when Alexander took a hit as well.  In the moment, Crawford felt very much like a rookie. And he wasn’t sure how to feel about any of that.

Jeter frowned as he watched Alexander stumble back after being hit by the weapons fire from the Jem’Hadar. Any boarding action would have injuries; it was to be expected. He stepped forth, ignored by the Jem’Hadar, and spoke, “Computer end program.”

The program froze, and a moment later, everything vanished save the officers. Several groaned and began to sit up after they had been stunned by the weapon’s fire. “Good job, everyone,” Jeter said, “Chapman, quick thinking on locking out the bridge functions; the last thing you want is to allow the boarding team to gain control of the bridge. Willis, fantastic reaction speed. If everyone moved that quickly, the Jem’Hadar would be down before they realized what happened; just don’t forget to get yourself to cover.”

Crawford didn’t speak, nodding along with the conversations as his mind raced to sort out what had happened.  Had he lost his confidence? Lost his concentration?  There was any number of causes, and his mind was working to diagnose and address whatever it was as quickly as he was able.  He’d need to get to a console privately, that was for sure.

Looking around at the junior officers, Jeter nodded towards the door. “Have a think about these drills and have a debriefing with your department heads to discuss thoughts and changes to your actions,” he said before turning to look at the senior team, “As I said already, great work. A marked improvement in reaction times. Is there anything you would like to add?”

“Chief, if I may?” Beth speaks up with her hand raised. “I would like to schedule another round of these in a week after I have had a chance to review the data from this simulation. I have a few ideas on how to decrease response time while increasing force effectiveness.”  

Jeter nodded in Beth’s direction, “I am happy to run these continually if need be. I wil schedule another round of these in 5 days.” He glanced over at Crawford with an expressionless face and made a note speak to him when he had a chance. He had appeared to freeze which was unlike the young man.

“Unless anyone has anything else, I think we can call it hear. If you have anything you wish to speak about to me you know where to find me,” Jeter said. “Computer arch.”