Holy s---. That had worked. It had actually freaking worked! She'd beaten the unbeatable and lived through it. It was giddying, it was awesome and then she had Captain Kirk himself congratulating her. This was the best. Day. Ever. "Rivers sir, reporting for duty."

Ignoring Bones arguing and grinning at Spocks irritated tone she was officially on cloud nine. Nothing could top this moment. Unless, yeah maybe that would be even better. Standing slowly and turning to face Kirk, she first saluted then offered a hand, wanting to shake the most legendary Star Trek characters hand and really cement the moment. "I couldn't have done it alone sir, everyone on the bridge deserves recognition."

"Humble? Can't say I would have pegged you for the type but fair point, congratulations to everyone, we made it through together." Taking the offered hand and shaking it, he gave her a more than interested once over.

The bottom of her stomach dropped out. Oh no, she'd forgotten that little factoid. Abort, abort all systems. "T.....thank you," raising her voice slightly trying to gain her mentor's attention, "How did we fare in the instructors eyes?" The pleading eyes in Gawain's general direction spoke volumes.

More than one complaint of protocol and chain of command could be heard, and one voice saying something about jumped up cadets but Spock's cut through them all. "The cadet may require additional training with regards to the proper procedure but it cannot be denied she found an inventive solution to an impossible situation. That should be commended." As emotional as usual, the words still filled her with pride.

"The results of the test will be discussed among the staff, you are dismissed cadets."

>> "Rivers sir, reporting for duty. I couldn't have done it alone sir, everyone on the bridge deserves recognition."

Well Alice certainly found her footing fast enough. Being a gamer genius was one thing - being liked by the rest of the crew was another. Although she was certainly being liked by at least one of them, Kirk, who was giving the blue-eyed girl all kinds of appreciative looks. Gawain was very much amused, but when she gave him a pleading glance, he decided the whole thing had gone far enough. He said a few words to get the instructors going, and Spock was the one that reached a conclusion first (obviously).

>>"The cadet may require additional training with regards to the proper procedure but it cannot be denied she found an inventive solution to an impossible situation. That should be commended."

>>"The results of the test will be discussed among the staff, you are dismissed cadets."

Gawain made his way down to the simulation room to find Alice.

"Good job, rookie. You broke the story. We're on our own now..."

Most likely, the story would meander its way back to the next significant plot point, and just go from there. But in the meantime, there was a whole lot of space to fill, and he was not sure how it would all work out. They just had to wait for the next scene change...

Waving off some of the attention the other cadet were giving her, she was a little in shock now that was she'd done had sunk in. She had just beaten a test nerds had been theorising over for longer than she'd been alive. That was, well kind of insane to think about.

Looking up at Gawain, she gave him a big grin, "Not my fault the test didn't take into account crazy. That's been one of my favourite theories on the internet on how to win and well," gesturing at the surroundings, "It worked." The guys on the forums would not believe her about this but now, in her head, she was in a small list of people who'ed ever beaten the test. She was a Star Trek Legend now.

"It shouldn't have too much of an effect. All it means is Bones doesn't need to infect the poor guy with a disease to get him on board the enterprise. I think." It was only as minor change, surely?

Well apparently there was no disciplinary hearing so the next scene was kind of new. Instead of being there when the distress signal came she didn't recognise the surroundings. That was weird enough without the people she was walking past calling out her name or congratulating her. "Gawain, I know you said we could interact but is this normal? Have I become a character in the movie?"

There was no way she'd made that big an impression, right?

>>"Not my fault the test didn't take into account crazy. That's been one of my favourite theories on the internet on how to win and well... It worked."

"Of course it has" Gawain chuckled. He was kind of proud of himself for guessing what movie his trainee would be the most excited about, but Alice proved a level of geek knowledge beyond his wildest expectations. Leave it to him to take a Trekkie into a Trek movie... She was having a blast. He made a mental note to talk to her later about keeping his movie-walking powers a secret. Otherwise he would never get any sleep at the Mansion ever again, and all of his favorite movies would never be the same...

>>"It shouldn't have too much of an effect. All it means is Bones doesn't need to infect the poor guy with a disease to get him on board the enterprise. I think."

"Well... good." the last thing Gawain wanted was to have to go through some similar treatment to get on board of the ship - because clearly, Alice was not going to let that chance pass, and they were also not getting out of here until the film ended. The next scene was definitely new, with people congratulating both Kirk and Alice, but nothing radically out of the ordinary (like, for instance, butterfly wings...).

>>"Gawain, I know you said we could interact but is this normal? Have I become a character in the movie?"

"Umm... yeah, kinda." he grinned "If anyone tries to hand you a red shirt, don't accept it. But Kirk seems to like you. Which means, the moment the alert goes off, you gotta report for duty... Right... about now. Let's go."

Things were going to move fast from here.

Well this was getting better and better. Being in the movie was one thing, but now she was a character in it. All it had taken was a dose of insanity and some healthy foreknowledge on how to handle situations. Now she just had to hope her body didn't fail her, not something she'd ever had to bank on before. That could be an issue in the long run.

"Right, yeah better get to role call fast. Can't miss being on the Enterprise. And trust me, if anyone tries to pawn a red shirt off on me they're getting the evils," she wasn't some nameless background person now. She was up there with Kirk.

Following the moving figures, it didn't take long until they were at the hangers, prepping their transport to the waiting ships. A quick grin to Gawain and she was in the group, waiting for her name to be called. One by one people were moved on, each getting their assignments, even Uhura had her little argument with Spock, which was really funny to see from the outside, damn she had that Vulcan wrapped around her finger. Even Kirk got his place on that legendary ship.

"Cadet Rivers, step forward," oh God, it was her turn, it was happening! "Assignment, second helmsman the Enterprise, probation period."

Probationary position? What did that mean? Was it bad and why was everyone staring at her? "Erm, clarification requested sir?" This might be bad, really, really bad.

"Due to the outstanding circumstances you have been given a position, but a hidden program was found in the test you defeated. You are firmly under suspicion for this, a hearing will be held on your return and any breaches of protocol will be grounds for immediate removal from service."

No, no, no, no they thought she was the one who had cheated, they just couldn't firmly prove it. They didn't believe she could have won without the program.

It was about time for everyone in this movie to get on board the friggin' ship. Some movies seemed longer on the inside than on the outside, and in this case, that was definitely true. Not that Gawain was not having fun. For once, it was not his own skin on the line, and he was not distracted by trying to babysit someone who was lost in the whole thing... he merely had to follow Alice, keep an eye on her progress, and periodically remind her that she was still inside a movie.

>>"Cadet Rivers, step forward. Assignment, second helmsman the Enterprise, probation period."

Well, that was that then. Alice did not look happy.

>>"Erm, clarification requested sir?"

>>"Due to the outstanding circumstances you have been given a position, but a hidden program was found in the test you defeated. You are firmly under suspicion for this, a hearing will be held on your return and any breaches of protocol will be grounds for immediate removal from service."

"That's right cadet." Gawain placed a hand on Alice's shoulder "And I'm her... er, probation officer. I'll keep a close eye on her. Let's go, Rivers, chop chop."

He ushered Alice aboard the ship before she could argue.

"Is it me, or does Kirk owe you twice now?" he smirked as they fast-walked "Oh, cheer up. Immediate removal. What are they gonna do, shoot you into space? If I wanted that to be an option, I woulda walked you into BSG..."

"Totally, taking the fall for his cheating after winning the test for him is BS. Seriously if he doesn't give me a commendation by the end of this I will slap him." Really, the cheek of it all was stunning and he kept conveniently quiet when his place on the enterprise was in danger.

Their trip up to the enterprise was quick and easy and they were soon underway, not just underway she had a front seat view to the show. Even with the little incident over shadowing this moment it was still, well jumping to warp in the enterprise. Hard to not be internally screaming about the whole thing.

"Captain Pike sir, that signal is exactly the same as the one on the day my father died." Oh wait, yeah. They were kind of responding to an emergency signal, one that was a trap for an entire fleet. A little bit of back and forth and some terse comments from Spock with him being generally Spock but unlike the movie, the Captain was convinced pretty quick, they even got a message out to warn as many ships as possible.

"Helmsman, prepare for evasive maneuvers and drop warp early. We need space to move, Weapons prep everything and be ready for broad spectrum defensive fire. Red alert, all active crew to stations."

Ooo, this was going to be good, the ships would have a chance with a fight and this time the federation had a secret weapon. Alice knew exactly where the ship full of black-hole juice was. This was a chance to save Vulcan.

>>"Totally, taking the fall for his cheating after winning the test for him is BS. Seriously if he doesn't give me a commendation by the end of this I will slap him."

"Looking forward to that." Gawain grinned, ushering Alice onto the bridge. He was not nearly having as much fun as his trainee was, but it was still a lot of fun, especially now that the real action was about to start. He wondered what would happen now that Alice was a named character, but he was still only one foot in the story. Someone was bound to notice him on the bridge... Maybe.

>>"Captain Pike sir, that signal is exactly the same as the one on the day my father died."

>>"Helmsman, prepare for evasive maneuvers and drop warp early. We need space to move, Weapons prep everything and be ready for broad spectrum defensive fire. Red alert, all active crew to stations."

Oh, right. Evasive maneuvers.

Gawain went flying the moment the ship changed course, bursting out of warp. It was almost comical, since falling all over the place was textbook Trek, except this fancy new version added the much-needed seatbelts... which Gawain would have worn if he had been sitting in an actual seat. Since he wasn't, he landed face first on the floor, then rolled until he came to a stop at Uhura's feet. "Hey." he waved, looking at her upside down, then managed to pull himself into the empty chair next to her. "Rivers' probation officer. Don't mind me..."

Sulu had the controls annoyingly. She'd proven herself in that damn test and now she was sitting on the sidelines just watching thanks to some. Well, she had weapon control but with Vulcan so close by she just couldn't cause a black hole. That'd be a bad idea. If she could save the planet, that'd be a damn success in her eyes. What she needed was a few good shots at the drill.

They only took some light hits to the shields this time, easily having the space to dodge the projectiles and not hemmed in inside the debris field. Which was actually a little smaller than she remembered from the movie.

The warning had worked!

"Sir, our ships are taking heavy losses and our weapons don't even appear to be doing any damage." Oh, right yeah. They were still out gunned agaisnt a future ship, filled with much more powerful missiles and already tearing through most of starfleets' ships. So the warning wasn't helping much and they were still drilling into Vulcan. Christ they were just ignoring most the ships buzzing around.

"Captain, getting troubling readings from Vulcan. Large scale geological disruptions from a central point. Directly under the ship." Yep, that was still an issue. There had to be away she could convince them to target that right?

The whole situation had taken a new turn, and yet it was still going sideways. How many ways were there to lose a fight? Or a planet? Sure, it was not a real planet, at the end of the day, but still, Gawain knew Alice was going out of her way to save it anyway.

>>"Captain, getting troubling readings from Vulcan. Large scale geological disruptions from a central point. Directly under the ship."

Oh, right. The big drill thing making the big whole thing for making the big boom thing. Gawain peered through the window, then walked over to look at Alice's control panel, and give her a side glare.

"You're not thinkin' of doing what I think you are thinkin' of doing, right?" he muttered. The last thing he wanted to do was to jump out of a freakin spaceship.

Keeping eyes on the screen, she gave Gawain a side long smile, "God no, trust me there is no way I am jumping out of a space ship into low orbit. At all." Plus, someone had to pilot and with Sulu gone, well she had the reins. Good chance to put her skills to the test agaisnt a real opponent. This was the boss mission and if she could crack the fight here and now, the movie would be short indeed.

A lot of discussion and planning went on behind her as she kept up with the readings and the plan was made. Captain Pike turned to Kirk, "Take whoever has combat experience and do it, we'll keep the ship distracted in the mean time." Thank god they'd saved some ships, having Pike not on the Romulan ship made this all so much easier.

With Sulu offering his help and the controls firmly in her hand, she quickly had a plan forming. Taking out the ship over the planet was a very bad idea, but if they could cause the drill to fail and drive it off with the remains of the fleet, well they'd have a chance.

Orders given and plots coursed she was finally given the go ahead she was eager to hear. "Rivers, defensive combat maneuvers. I've been told you're good at being unpredictable, keep it that way and confuse the hell out of them. Weapons, concentrate fire on engines and weapons ports. Communication, relay the plans to the rest of the fleet."

Cracking her knuckles, a wild grin was on her face. This was the real deal, time to really see what the enterprise could do.

>>"God no, trust me there is no way I am jumping out of a space ship into low orbit. At all."

"Well... good, then." So, Alice proved herself to be a better tactician than he'd initially expected. Sure, she began with telling him she was not the combat type of person, and her powers supported strategy more than physical action, but it was good to see that geeking out over the movie did not cloud her judgment too much.

>>"Rivers, defensive combat maneuvers. I've been told you're good at being unpredictable, keep it that way and confuse the hell out of them. Weapons, concentrate fire on engines and weapons ports. Communication, relay the plans to the rest of the fleet."

Kirk asked for people who had combat experience. Sulu got up, and Alice did not hesitate in taking over the ship. Rookie was flying the Enterprise like she was born to do it, and nobody was batting an eye. Uhura was relaying messages. The heroes were suiting up. Well, the heroes, and Bob (or whatever the redshirt's name was). Gawain sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, what the hell... did you say combat experience?"

Wait, Gawain was going to jump out of the ship? That was insane! He did know how close a call that was, especially if he got the red suit. That was like guaranteed plot death. Too bad she couldn't say anything, the Romulan ship might be ignoring the fleet for the most part but they still had weapons trained and firing when they got too close.

With her hands full she couldn't wave off her trainer but she was sure a tried and tested X-Man could take care of themselves. Christ he must have trained to fight people with strength mutations anyway, so it wasn't the worst disadvantage that the aliens were tougher. Alice, on the other hand, had a ship to fly.

Maneuvering such a large ship was tough, given the wrecked ships in the way and other members of the fleet this was by far the most stressful exercise yet, but she could do it. Zipping between one round of missiles and the next she was getting a feel for the pattern of them. How many fired and how quickly. It was just like learning a bosses move set! Time for a good old fashioned gamers staple, exploit that pattern.

"Captain, if our weapons can't hurt it I reckon theirs can. If we hit the missiles just as they exit it's shield maybe we can do some damage." Screw proper porcedure right now, screw the probation, she had a plan.

Yup, Mirror was about to jump out of a space ship. What's the worst that could happen?...

In this case, there were really no stakes that high. Worst case scenario, he would miss the landing, get sucked in by the drilling beam, and the movie would end then and there, which would be uncomfortable for him, and disappointing for Alice... but not exactly a tragedy. Still, Gawain was determined to work himself up into the cast of named characters too - which meant that he had to talk someone into giving him a blue suit, instead of a red one. It took some convincing, since these Trek people were very fond of their color coding, but eventually, the fateful red was out of the picture.

And then they jumped.

It felt real, and pretty overwhelming, in all senses of the word. Gawain followed Kirk's cues, even though the guy was, technically, also doing this for the first time - but since he was bound to make the landing, Gawain stuck to him, hoping for the best, even when it looked like they were plummeting straight into the drill beam.

And then they, somehow, made it. Gawain landed and stumbled, and threw himself to his knees to keep from toppling the wrong way.

"So far... so good..."

"It's a small target, how the hell do you think we'll be able to hit them with the scatter?" It was a fair point, but it wasn't a random scatter. There was a pattern, in all the chaos it was hard to see but it was there. Were they blind or something, to not see it like she did?

Well whatever, she could do it, maybe. All she needed was a chance, so luck and someone ready to transport their crew mates back up from the drill if something went right. Or very very wrong. "I can sir, there's a cycle to the shots and I'm getting a hang of it. If we can hold on a little longer I can start calling targets. Just be ready to get our jumpers transported back if we hit the ship. The enemy might ditch the drill if they take a hit."

The ship was hers, the enemy was hers, time to really have fun. Bucking and weaving between salvo's, all the time her feel for the missiles getting sharper and sharper, she was soon judging when they were coming and from what part of the ship. She was close, so damn close to knowing when to fire.

Of course that meant she'd misjudged something. Badly.

A hit rocked the ship, downing their shields and taking out a chunk of one of the living quarters. Casualty numbers streamed in, how many dead, how many wounded but she barely heard it. She'd gotten those people killed. Her. They might not be real, it might be just a film but that didn't change anything. She'd messed up and because of that people had died.