“The day’s work is never really going to end, is it?!” muttered Sophia. “Wait, I don’t even know if it’s day or night or whenever it changes. I’m stuck on a bloody ship for crying out loud! All these newbies are going to make me rip off my own hair one day,” sighing deeply, Sophia tried to regain her cool and finish her “paperwork.“ 

“Having newbie troubles, I see?” said Natalie. When Sophia heard this voice, she blushed deeply and squeaked, “Commander!”. Slowly moving her head to look back, the commander was smiling amusingly at the sight of her being frustrated. “May I join you?” asked Natalie, “of course, Commander! Feel free to join me,” said Sophia, though still blushing over her embarrassment at being too loud when complaining. 

“Have you taken any breaks, Chief? Just a single one would even do,” asked Natalie, concerned for Athena’s chief of operations. “I must say though, you have done a good job training the newbies with your department personnel,” complemented Natalie. “It’s really nothing, Commander, and no, I have yet to take a break,” sighed Sophia while massaging her head.

“Let’s go take a quick break, shall we? How about a trip to the holodecks?” Sophia just nodded her head and thought, “sure why not, I could take a break.” Walking together through the decks of the Athena, they met several officers and enlisted personnel and greeted them accordingly, with some ensigns asking Natalie some questions they had.

Reaching the doors of Holo deck 1 aboard the Athena. The two officers were still not sure what to choose for the holo-program. “What should we choose?” asked Sophia. Natalie replied, “Uhhmm, how about this? Let’s have a challenge, shall we? We’ll both enter the same programme in the agreed-upon novel and chapter.” Sophia was thinking about it and agreed to the terms, “Sure, why not? It could be fun.”

They spent a few moments thinking about which novel they would use, and they both certainly had a lot of ideas. Sophia first thought about using Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and Natalie’s reaction was one of surprise: “Macbeth, really?” Natalie’s eyebrows rose up and she questioned Sophia’s choice of novel. “What? I like Shakespearean texts,” said Sophia defensively about her choice of text. 

They spent a few more minutes bickering and arguing over the agreed-upon text and what they would use for the Holo decks. They finally came to an agreement on one novel. “What about Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray?” asked Natalie. Taking a few moments to think, Sophia then agreed with Natalie’s choice of text: “Sure, the Vanity Fair is one of my favorites by Thackeray, so why not?”

Seeing that they have both agreed on a novel, which of course was Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. They began to think of the chapter they would start with: “What chapter would we start with, though?” asked Sophia, curiously scratching her head. “How about this? Let’s add a little twist to this programme of ours. You know Becky Sharp, right?” asked Natalie. “Of course I do! I’m offended that you even asked me that.” “Anyways, since she’s the main protagonist of the novel and a so-called “villain or enemy,” but that’s beside the point since the novel’s actual “enemy” is not any of the characters but vanity itself.” taking a deep breath, Natalie began speaking once again. “So basically, the challenge I set forth to you, should you choose to accept it, is to use the theme ‘My Enemy is My Friend’ which means we have to befriend the character, and how it ends will be entirely up to us together.”

“This should be fun! But what chapter will we enter into?” asked Sophia. “I’m thinking about entering into the start of chapter 47, the chapter is named “Gaunt House,” if I’m not mistaken. Humming and nodding her head, Sophia agreed and said, “Chapter 47 was a good chapter, if I still remember it correctly.” “So that’s it? Have we decided on something that we both agree on?” asked Natalie. “Yup, we have come to an agreement.” Going to the computer, Natalie pressed some buttons, and the Holodeck was prepared. The computer then replied promptly with, “Programme complete; enter when ready.”

Entering the holo decks, Sophia and Natalie first looked around the scene. Looking around, they both saw the same scene: a Londonian mansion. They both thought and asked the same thing in their minds: “Isn’t this Lord Steyne’s mansion?”. They were both indeed correct; this was Lord Steyne’s mansion. They started exploring the streets until they bumped into a particular character. The protagonist of the whole story is Miss Becky Sharp. “My deepest apologies, ladies; I wasn’t looking where I was going,” said Becky Sharp. “It’s quite fine, miss,” said Sophia. “No, our deepest apologies also, miss; we weren’t looking as well,” said Natalie. Looking at the woman in front of them, they both thought to themselves, This is Becky Sharp. “I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself; I’m Becky Sharp.” introduced the protagonist of the story. “No worries, I’m Sophia Hayland, and this is my friend Natalie Kurtz.” Sophia takes the lead and introduces both of the officers to the protagonist.

They both continue to banter with the protagonist and become friends with her. The three of them went back to Becky’s place and had tea there, getting to know each other better. After some time with Miss Sharp, the two officers then brought up a very interesting discussion with the protagonist. “Have you heard of Lord Steyne?” asked Natalie to the protagonist of the novel. “Ahh yes, Steyne, you’d expect a Lord to be faithful to his lady but apparently not. It is a common practice here to have mistresses. Why have you heard of such a rumor? A rumor that could be used against them?” Becky asked, starting to get suspicious of the two officers. “I have heard rumors that the Steyne Mansion has several apartments in which Lord Steyne and his friends use it as a place to bring their mistresses,” said Sophia. “What is in for me, and what is it in for you ladies?” asked Becky. “We just need to get rid of Steyne and his likes, his political likes, which could bring down several of his friends also,” said Natalie.

After considering and chatting for a few more minutes, Becky thought to herself. “This could boost my popularity and money. Seducing Steyne and getting his secrets while destroying him should be fun.” After considering for another moment, Becky finally answered, “I think we have come to an agreement. You ladies provide me with the information I need, and I’ll deal with Steyne.” “Pause programme,” shouted Natalie. The entire scene around the two officers stopped. “What was that for?” Asked Sophia, confused as to why Natalie paused the programme. “I mean, it’s going well for now, but we have to stick to the plot, or do we change it in the slightest to make it interesting for us?” asked Natalie. “Hmm, probably bring a few changes, like bringing down Steyne and his friends, perhaps?” Inquired Sophia, still thinking of a better ending for Chapter 47.

Before they continued the program, though their combadges were not visible to the programme. On both of Sophia’s and Natalie’s combadges, the captain of the Athena spoke, “Senior Staff meeting at conference room three, zero-eight hundred hours. Seeing that it was almost zero-eight hundred hours, they decided to end it in the meantime and get back to the programme when they had the time. “Computer, save and end programme,” said Natalie, while both of the officers were walking out of the holodeck to the conference room.