Josh Herrick
Lieutenant Josh Tobias Herrick is a human officer of the Federation Starfleet currently serving as the Chief Engineer aboard the USS Octavia E Butler.
| USS Octavia E Butler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Josh Herrick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pronunciation | j-AH-sh h-EH-r-ih-k | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Chief Engineer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Lieutenant | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Species | Human | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gender | Male | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pronouns | He/him | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DOB | 237308.01 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Age | 28 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birthplace | San Francisco, Earth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer ID | O240005JH3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Explore this record by selecting section headers. Alternatively, expand the full record.
Personal Details
Appearance
Photo Gallery
In Uniform
Arcade JOPA Outfit
Awards Ceremony
Bio data:
- Height: 6 feet
- Hair: Dirty blonde
- Eyes: Dark Hazel
- Notable markings: Scar tracing the spine of his back from an engineering accident
Quarters
History
Born in 2373 on Earth, in the city of San Francisco, near Starfleet Academy.
Grew up with an interest in engineering, influenced by his father's career, and developed a passion for holodeck adventures, often creating his own immersive scenarios based on popular novels and historical events
At age:
- 12, he joined a junior Starfleet club, where he learned basic skills and protocols. Although introverted, Josh began forming friendships with other teens aspiring to be Starfleet cadets.
- 16, Josh began seriously considering a career in Starfleet, inspired by his father's work and his experiences in the junior Starfleet club. He started focusing on the necessary subjects and developing his skills.
- 18, helped retrofit an existing starship in spacedock for several months, under a project led by his father.
- While the ship never left the Sol system, he gained valuable practical experience of day-to-day engineering operations and routine problems engineers face in the field.
- 20, enrolled in Starfleet Academy with average academic performance, majoring in engineering like his father and also taking the command track.
- 26, graduated Starfleet Academy with average marks in his engineering and command courses, but with strong recommendations from his instructors for his dedication and attention to detail. Specializations in: Replicators, Warp Systems, Holodeck Simulations, System Design and Programming. Posted to the USS Oumuamua.
- 27, while serving aboard the USS Octavia E Butler, made permanent Chief Engineer.
Goals
Professional:
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Personal:
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Relationships
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William Herrick, age 52 and born on 234902.14, is a Commander in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, stationed at the Utopia Planetia shipyards in the Sol system. He leads one of the refit crews that overhauls Starfleet vessels. He hails from Earth and is married to Laura Herrick. His strong work ethic and dedication to Starfleet were ultimately the contributing factors for Josh to apply to the academy. He regularly sends engineering focused texts to Josh to help him broaden his knowledge. With a regular 5 on / 2 off rotation, he returns to Earth each week to spend time with Laura. | ||
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Laura Herrick, age 49 and born on 235207.23, is a skilled chef and restaurant owner on Earth. She was originally born on Luna (Earth's moon) and relocated to San Francisco upon marrying her husband William. Her restaurant, the Lunarium, is unique given is open from sunset to sunrise and specializes in Lunar cuisine. Both her parents, Royce and Rita, are now deceased. Laura instilled a love for home cooked meals and instilled the virtue that that the value of anything in life is the journey and experiences along the way — not just the end result. | ||
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Emily Herrick, age 31 and born on 237006.06 is a Lieutenant in Starfleet's science division, working as a botanist. While Josh usually keeps a variety of plants as more of a botany hobbyist, she aggressively pursued it as her career. Now, she specializes in cataloguing and identifying the traits of new and unusual flora on yet-to-be-colonized planets. | ||
| Starfleet Relationships | |||
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Lieutenant Corelli was Josh's first 'boss' after graduating the Academy. Josh's worst fear came true of having a terrible first day, getting caught in an explosion in a jefferies tube with the man, with both men needing to get treated in Sickbay. However, through this event and while they were posted together, Kammus showed how compassion, perseverance and humor, can bring an officer from good to great. Even though he has since transferred to the USS Ronin, he's made a positive and lasting impression of leadership. | ||
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The two officers first met in the sensor pod section of the USS Oumuamua, where Eli found Josh struggling to cope with his claustrophobia (unbeknownst to Eli at the time). After Eli forced Josh to report to Sickbay, which created a great deal of animosity from Josh, they discovered that Josh was also radioactive — a potentially life saving visit. Now, as Herrick enters his next career step as the Acting Chief Engineer, he has to put aside his hard feelings and maintain professional courtesy. | ||
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The pair first met on a shore leave excursion gone wrong, a trip to Paradiso — a name that did not reflect that strange creatures the away team encountered. After narrowly escaping with their lives, the pair met again at a going away party for Kel, Corelli, Rox, Vomek and Perez. Something sparked in Josh's mind, somehow he knew the man, and now is trying to figure out how. A recent encounter in mess hall where Josh tried to push for more information from the man led to an explosive reaction, creating distance between them. | ||
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After being mandated to undergo counseling after a severe panic attack during a routine maintenance shift, he wasn't sure how much he should reveal to the counselor he just met. But, through her thoughtful questions and patience, he started to open up about the traumatic experience he had as a child. Now, they're working together on his rehabilitation to make sure that he doesn't jeopardize himself, his fellow crew or the ship. | ||
Service Record
Awards, Citations and Ribbons
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- For award descriptions, see: Awards and Service Ribbons
After Action Reports
The Octavia E. Butler (OEB) arrives at Cheyd'lang, a quiet area on the far spinward side of the Dominion's former sphere of influence. While the planet is currently not warp capable, their heavy industry made them desirable to the Dominion who gave them warp capabilities until their withdrawal after the end of the war. With a request from the Cheydalanga for assistance, the OEB has been instructed to answer the call.
Wishing to understand more of the UDP's influence in these affairs, and especially what they might have done to the Cheydalanga to make them reach out to Starfleet for assistance, Rouiancet has put out a call to the UDP to send envoys to meet aboard the Octavia E. Butler to explain and, perhaps, lead to a joint meeting with the Cheydalanga, and is joined by Colonel Greaves, Lieutenant Herrick, and Ensign Yinn.
After recording her Captain’s log, Rouiancet paces the floor of the Bridge and wonders why the United Dominion of Planets (UDP) has contacted the Cheydalanga, though Greaves says if he were then, he’d try tie in every single former Dominion member he could. He voices a wish to know more about the Cheydalanga, and Rouiancet wonders if scans can verify a heavy industry present on the planet and whether the UDP could be interested in annexing that industry for themselves while Greaves wonders if they should look to the past for answers. He also asks if their just a ripe target and the UDP is taking advantage of the political and social instability of a possible civil disconnect to swoop in on.
Herrick asks if Starfleet has considered incorporating the UDP into it as he checks out the orbital defence systems and finds they have been stripped of their power systems. He then wonders if they should monitor planetside communications, while Yinn suggests they launch a probe and bring it alongside some of the defunct orbital defences to hide it. As the UDP vessel hails them, Herrick connects the call and Luriaa, a Vorta commander, greets them - and recognises Greaves from security footage. She agrees to come to the OEB and meet them face to face.
Before they leave, Herrick plays a broadcast he discovered that was sent over the entire planet involving a conversation about the Intercessor regarding the ‘true way’ and the King’s Path. Greaves notes it could have been a covert signal to other path members and asks if there were weapons or military grade movements and Rouiancet wonders if this means the group plans a large-scale mobilisation. The commanding officer asks Herrick and Yinn to monitor the situation on the planet. They meet Captain Luriaa and her first, Freya, in a room and she immediately discusses the matter at hand - their reason for their presence. They tell her they’ve been invited by the Cheydalanga and asks about their own reasons. Herrick also inquires as to what significance the Chey’d had during the time of Dominion rule. Luriaa and Fraya mention they are willing to offer friendship to those who wishes, and Luriaa further reminds them that they are native members of the quadrant and understand the needs of residents in the area.
After going back and forth, Rouiancet agrees to disagree and Luriaa expresses willingness to broach the Cheydalanga together with them. Greaves reluctantly backs down a little, but Yinn passes along a written message that they are unable to communicate with the away team. Not wanting to let the UDP know about this, he suggests a joint venture to meet with the King’s Path when Arlill connects through the comms and asks to move the ship into a different orbit to find the away team, alerting the UDP representatives to their predicament. Rouiancet gives permission, then asks if Luriaa would be willing to help find the missing team. She agrees, and they determine to meet in a half hour to head down to the planet.
As they separate, Rouiancet asks her officers for their thoughts on the meeting. Greaves is reluctant and continues to voice suspicions. Yinn, however, wonders if they should take a more moderate route and reminds them that those in the UDP were once under the thumb of the Dominion and perhaps are too hasty to compare the two. Herrick suggests its’ time to find facts, and Rouiancet states she’ll ask for a slight delay as she wishes to connect with Etan and Promontory. Rouiancet, Herrick, Winters and Yinn await for the arrival of Captain Luria and her First, Fraya. After briefly speaking with the bridge, she tells the transporter chief to initiate. The UDP representatives appear, and Luriaa immediately suggests that Fraya assist in finding the lost away team while she and Rouiancet meet with the Intercessor. Rouiancet wants to focus on meeting the King’s path and getting her people out from the mines, and Luriaa decides to go along with it. Before they leave, the receive a message from the King’s Path thanking them for the gifts and asking where they should send the Starfleet share of minerals? Rouiancet isn’t sure what they mean and orders the chief to transport them to the planet.
After beaming down, Luriaa states the ‘gifts’ likely mean their missing crew members. Rouiancet is unhappy with this revelation and admonishes Luriaa for not telling her before they beam down, to which Luriaa indicates she was not giving the opportunity. As they are conversing, Herrick’s tricorder reveals movement and seconds later, two tank-like vehicles appear and a voice, that of Cheydalanga resident, Achi’Trinot, demands to know why they were there without permission. Rouiancet and Luriaa both call out to say they arrived at the invitation of the king’s path. A door in a tank opens and a Cheydalanga appears wearing face paint. Herrick states that they were the ones who brought the new workers and the Cheydalanga says they will send compensation and if terms are unacceptable, they can be improved. Herrick states the Starfleet workers give more output and they could send more. Rouiancet is perturbed by the reference of her people as property and is unable to determine Luriaa’s decision to speak in such a manner. Herrick catches on and finally so does Rouiancet, and they press forward in the hopes that they’ll have access to the mines. Before they can speak further, however, they are knocked over by an explosion and when they rise, a new Cheydalanga, slimmer and fuzzier with a shorter beak that’s a little more mouthlike, naturally wrinkled faces, and fuzz on their bodies that thickens on their head appears. Luriaa shares with the officers that this is the Mongar, then asks who they are speaking with while Yinn keeps her hand on the trigger of her phaser.
When Achi’Trinot realises it’s the Mongar, he tells the visitors not to trust them. Rouiancet realises they are an opposing faction and wonders if they could be made allies, or if not, the confusion might allow them a chance to escape. Winters has similar thoughts but voices them. Dolmeni’Dolce, the leader of the Mongar, takes Achi’Trinot prisoner. Since the Mongar have the upper hand, and they have no treaty yet with either faction, Luriaa suggests he surrenders, but Achi’Trinot is defiant and dares Dolmeni’Dolce to try and kill him. Herrick pulls out his tricorder and explains it’s just a scanning device, but there’s too much interference. He asks if they have a way of cutting through it. In the chaos of the situation, Rouiancet finally suggests that they split up and the Mongar allow them to speak separately. She takes Fraya and Yinn to speak privately with Achi’Trinot while Luriaa is accompanied by Herrick and Winters to speak directly with Dolmeni’Dolce. They inhabit two tents. Luriaa is accompanied by Herrick and Winters to speak directly with Dolmeni’Dolce (Mongar leader). The UDP continues to insist that they are not the Dominion. Dolmeni’Dolce suggests that the crew who were taken to the mines are already dead.
With the revelation of the actions of the King's Path and other groups on Cheyd'lang, Rouiancet orders the return to the ship, Now, the team is at the beginning of what may be a refugee crisis, as slaves are liberated and seek other places to go, especially those who are not Cheydalanga and don't count the world as their home. Lt Commander Promontory takes Lts Stendhal and Herrick to deal with a burgeoning refugee crisis. Stendhal suggests a triage system and making sure they keep everyone calm. With an evacuation capacity of 3,000, Promontory doesn’t want to overload the ship, and Stendhal suggests they distribute refugees between other ships in the area. Herrick notes that while their spacecraft are space worthy, they are not able to achieve interstellar travel and it would take months or years to find a new home. Promontory wonders if they could help with that. Stendhal also suggests they learn more about the nuances of their culture to aid in communication and they carefully coordinate relief efforts to make sure everyone had access to basic needs. Herrick wonders if there might be concerns of aggression and if utilising an already established hierarchy might help in making quicker decisions. Promontory notes the refugees were trying to escape such a situation, but realises it might be helpful, so suggests they organise the refugees and have one representative for every fifty. He also wonders if Port Coray or Port Loray might not be valid destinations. Stendahl thanks one of the next steps should be to identify colonies or planets that might have a compatible culture that would welcome the refugees. But they mention of using the ports as a transit station of sorts, she also reminds them that they have dealt in slaves which could have a negative impact on the refugees. She also suggests they try to establish support networks with the local governments on the ports to help the refugees after Starfleet withdraws. Concerned about the complicated logistics, Herrick suggests they get operations involved when an argument begins to break out. One of the refugees steps forward and stops them before it escalates, and Herrick notes they may have one of their first representatives. The group goes down to the floor to talk to her and find out her name is Donda. She tells them they could use more showers, as people wish to get clean.
Promontory tells Herrick to requisition all holodeck facilities to speed up the initial intake and processing and Dona notes that fear of what’s going to happen next has everyone uneasy. She also tells them she’s a Teplan, and after the withdrawal of the Dominion, her people went to the stars to explore, but she found herself become a slave on Cheydalanga. Promontory asks if she’d be willing to function as a representative to organise efforts to help the refugees. The group congregates in the Mission Specific Module with her and a Chey’d named Berto’Valliroca along with another former slave named Kzzich to discuss the situation and help organise efforts. Kzzich complains there isn’t enough room and Herrick suggests they offer places like the lounge and arboretum to increase the quality of life while they are there.
When asked about plans, Herrick indicates those who are not from Cheyd’lang will be returned to their home planets, or they’ll need to integrate into a new society. Berto’Valliroca stresses that his people need a place where they can continue mining, as it is part of their culture, tradition, and honour and it is the method they are able to use to attain the afterlife and demands action. Stendhal reassures them and encourages them to be united in the plan to create a future where every individual can thrive. The group takes a break and the officers come together. Herrick is concerned that they can’t take time to pick up groups everywhere, and the situation isn’t as simple as simply dropping people off at ports. Promontory asks Stendhal to reach out to the Intercessor about the people who wish to return to the mines and asks Herrick to touch base with the higher ranked officers. He finds out there’s discussion about who refugees will go with, Starfleet or UDP.
Herrick wonders if some would care to settle down in the Alpha or Beta quadrants. A yellow alert interrupts their conversations and Promontory says they should get their guests secured. Berto’Valliroca complains they are left in the dark as to the reason for the yellow alert, demands to know the cause, accuses them of treating the refugees like prisoners, then demands he and the others are returned to the mines as it is the only semblance of home they have. Through it all, Stendhal remains calm, but Promontory states Berto is welcome to return, and he hopes the Cheydalanga doesn’t get shot out of the sky.
They head the shuttle bay and Promontory tells the refugees they are safe, and the alert is because they are in negotiations with some Cheydalanga factions. He asks Herrick to handle logistics and stresses the importance of Stendhal’s counselling skills in that situation. Kzzich says he and his people will make their own way out and go onboard some of the Cheydalanga ships that have arrived. As time progresses, the Octavia E. Butler has helped the evacuated refugees to safe harbors. Among those are Seytoxal, a resort world where much of the crew has spent time; the Esh-o system, where temporal incursions were thankfully at a minimum; and Port Coray, the independent trading station. The final group of refugees will disembark with the Butler's crew at New Bajor during shore leave.
Josh heads out on the shuttle Nichols for an away mission to Alpha Brenkelvi II accompanied by Toxin Arlill, Arturo Maxwell, and Etan Iljor (1); their purpose to investigate a low-level energy field. Equipped with visual recording devices (VRDs), the team begin to explore the area, noting readings that seemed somewhat typical to the Bajoran orbs. 1. The Mass Optical Orthogonal Monitoring and Oscillating Object (MOOMOO) starts to pick up signs that could be construed as lifeforms, as well as the general direction of the readings towards the ancient ruins that were estimated to be over 65,000 years old. Before the MOOMOO could complete its scans, it overloaded, and an explosion was narrowly avoided thanks to Arlill's skill (2).
After heading into the ruins, the away team saw intricate carvings and geometric patterns etched into the surface of the stone. Scans revealed sprawling tunnels kilometers below the planet's surface. As they pressed further on, they encountered skeletal remains from 50-60 years prior, with no indication on what had led to their demise. Without any immediate danger, they continued deeper into the complex. Josh stepped on a floor plate, a booby trap that when triggered closed the path back (3). Each room they encountered had triggers, either for traps or to reveal doors. After entering one room, the team found an orb that, when the commander waved his arm toward it, a temporal phenomenon occurred with multiple images of the same arm reached out and then syncing up. As chronitons surged in the device, the orb expanded and touched Josh - and he, and the rest of the away team, saw images hooded figures with ridged noses (4), perhaps due to an overload. Given what they'd seen, the team started suspecting a Bajoran influence on the planet, but it was unclear how that would be possible so many eons ago (5).
As they continued, Arlill incidentally triggered a trap, narrowly escaping with his life. This action also revealed another corridor for them to progress through, which led to an opulent room 150 meters in length, containing large intricate carvings of the sun and moon; and various statues and more skeletons - suspected grave robbers (6). Scans of the statues revealed they were over 100,000 years old. After another switch triggered by Arlill, an opening led to a more ornate room. As the away team checked in with the {USS|Oumuamua}, there was difficulty permeating the stone. The ship shared reports of visions, that the ship's captain, Ossa V'Airu was injured, and they were taking a defensive position. With Sherlock in command of the ship, Etan continued to press on to find answers. As they worked to improve comms the chamber took them downward and deeper into the complex (7).
Through some ingenuity between Arlill and Herrick, after the descent had completed, they were able to check in with the other away team (Katsim Peri, Avander Promontory, Alexander Brodie) on the planet, 60 kilometers away from them. Their update was brief, that they were continuing to investigate signs reminiscent of ancient Bajoran. As the comms closed, Josh noticed, to his shock, the form of Commander Voss, the man who gave his life to protect Josh as a child (8). The form had pointed to an area on the wall, and a symbol glowed and intensified when anyone got closer to the symbol. The room descended further, and as it reached the next level, Etan saw the form of his grandmother, guiding them to go deeper in the tunnel. As they followed her into the next chamber, which was 5-10x times larger than the opulent one they’d discovered. Countless light panels coated the ceiling and walls, which when combined, created the familiar glow that was in the other caverns. (9).
As they scanned the newly revealed area, it was determined that the location was 250 million years old. Herrick and Arlill bridged off to interface with a terminal. (10). Their first attempt to interface with the device was unsuccessful, resulting in a melted tricorder. A second attempt was more successful, revealing over a goopbyte of data. Most of it was in the ancient and unreadable language, so Josh suggested loading the Universal Translator program from the tricorder to take advantage of the processing power (11). The reaction to this development was Arlill getting possessed by some unknown being; only indicating that the away team's questions were not right. After the being left Toxin's body, after mentioning that the body was imperfect, Arlill's conciousness took over. He mentioned a memory of home, with a strange man also indicating the questions asked were not right. The commander indicated that all signs seemed to be trying to get the team to reach the control room in this cavern, that they were being led somewhere. The team would need to rope climb to reach their destination (12).
After some precarious tightrope walking, the team made it to the other side. The cavern on the other side had large and rosy, pink spires that twisted and curved, they seemed both ancient yet futuristic, an almost timeless quality. At the centre was a massive sphere, but the more Josh tried to look at it, the harder it became — it made his brain hurt. Sensors had detected a void there- because it is and is not inside our universe all at once. As Max accidentally touched one of the walls, he was flung away. Luckily, he was mostly uninjured, and through a new entrance, they found a room of ancient computers and the ghost that Josh had seen earlier, Commander Voss. Screens displayed different images people in the various chambers they'd gone through. (13).
It was discovered that each of the away team saw an image of a close relative, exactly where Josh had seen Commander Voss. Arlill worked to download the data, and from what he could tell, it looked like a historical encounter (14). As Josh hooked in the VRD to the alien computers to see what additional data the VRD picked up, it seemed to somehow be able to pull more than the VRD had been originally programmed to detect. As the download continued, the ghosts directed them to go through another passage and to yet another large, gigantic chamber. There was a crowd before him his folks, his grandparents, his sister, and many other family and friends. As the team scanned these people, they discovered chroniton-based beings. The beings couldn't speak, instead using Federation Sign Language, with Arlill verbally interpreting for them. (15).
Josh pushed the beings for more information, wanting to understand what their purpose was. The beings indicated that they were lonely; that in the past, many civilizations would visit them to see ancestors that had passed on. Almost like a living memorial. Then, the mood shifted in the room. The beings didn't understand the actions of the Oumuamua, an image of the ship telepathically broadcast to the away team - the beings wanted answers on why the ship's deflectors were activated, the (16). It appeared that the ship was gathering chronitons, and that it had been attacked. The beings shared that they were part of the moon, indicating that the damage had come from the moon itself, inhabited by The Scourge that only sought out destruction. The beings that the away team had met on Alpha Brenkelvi II were bound to the planet. If they left, they would cease to exist. Despite Josh's attempts to convince the commander to go back to the ship, they were not in transporter range and kilometers beneath the crust. Answers would need to come first. When Etan asked who created this place, he wasn't able to get a clear answer until a disembodied but melodic voice chimed in(17).
As the being came into existence, an ethereal being and almost reptilian bi-ped creature. The being introduced themselves as Na'Shaala (a Manraloth) and that it had been millions of years since they had corporealized (18). Arlill had begun work on reestablishing communications with the {USS|Oumuamua}, and as he worked, fire fight was exchanged between the moon and the ship above. After Arlill's repairs, the Commander got in contact with the ship and was able to get a status update and telling Sherlock that she'd need to retreat if the battle turned against them (19). The old autmated defense platform of the Scourage proved not enough for the Oumuamua and were dispatched easily and now the away team needed help returning home. They turned to Na'Shaala, asking if they could do anything.
Na'Shaala mentioned that they could, but at the expense of not being able to return to their own realm, and in a moment later despite the initial protests, the team was transported above the surface (20. While they couldn’t raise the other away team, they were able to get a hold of the ship that apprised them of their success and that they'd be ready to welcome them home (21). It was unclear exactly what the future would hold for Na'Shaala, or for the other 'spirits' that resided on Alpha Brenkelvi II, only time would tell.
Post-landing, the team broke into 2 groups; Rox and Herrick went in search of supplies while TK and Nilsen stayed back to effect repairs - with the comms array down, they would be out of contact until they returned. As Rox and Herrick started to get to know each other better while they walked towards the settlement, they encountered strange tricorder readings and an abandoned dwelling. During their investigation they heard strange screeches but were unable to attribute them to a source (7). The pair decided to head back to the shuttle, and as they made their way back, contact had been reestablished. On their journey back, they, Josh got a view of the lizard-man hybrid monster, which hastened their pace. They were able to make it back to the shuttle, narrowly escaping the clutches of the monster, and returning back to the {USS|Oumuamua} (8).
Following the trip to Paradiso, Herrick attended his second JOPA meeting, where he realized he had yet to pull a prank on one of the senior officers. There was only 1 notable member that had missed the boat in JOPA history, and he didn't want to be the second. During this meeting, each of the JOPA members received custom bowling shirts, with Herrick's reading Ensign and (in almost microscopic font) Chief Explosion Officer. They wished Promontory in his final meeting, having recently been promoted to Lieutenant and parties with rounds of bowling — where Josh discovered this sport was not his forte (9|10|11|12|13).
A few days later, Herrick suffered a panic attack while performing maintenance on the sensor pod. Kovacs had unintentionally run into him, and after assessing the man's appearance, informed him he would either need to visit sickbay or get reported. (14). Upon his visit to the Sickbay, where Josh had not attributed the issue to his claustrophobia, additional tests were run — where it was discovered by Kel that he was radioactive (15). Additional scans revealed that he, along with Kel and potentially Corelli had picked up a photo-activated radionuclide (16). Kel, along with Miash and T'Larn, worked to identify exactly how to remediate it, coming up with a combination of the transporter and several subsequent regeneration sessions. Corelli had joined midway through the procedure, and all three officers had effectively gone through the process. However, when it came time to enter the small chamber, Herrick figuratively shoved Kovacs into the booth. While Kovacs underwent his procedure, he caught up with the chief to try (rather unsuccessfully) to learn more about the Nautilus and its mission until the time it was his turn to undergo cellular regeneration (17|18|19).
Given the medical team's observation on his claustrophobia, Herrick was ordered to report to mandated counselling. At his first session, he met Brzezinski and Salo for the first time (20). Rivka was quick to offer exposure therapy, which caused a negative reaction from both Salo and Herrick and let to her being escorted out of the counseling session. Upon Salo's return, she had a more patient approach to therapy, where Josh revealed the source of his claustrophobia. At the age of 7, a combination of poor maintenance and a ship-wide power loss, led to a turbolift failure that had killed the father of his friend. The man had protected Josh and his sister, Em, during it's crash but it led to his demise. It had taken over an hour for rescue teams to arrive; and during that time, the man's eyes were open and glazed over (21|22). This was the first time that Josh had opened up about this experience to anyone, and Salo recommended weekly counselling sessions following this first productive one (23).
With this shore leave came the notable departures of Kel, Corelli, Perez, Rox and Vomek. Josh had been put in charge of pulling together a farewell video for their departure which highlighted different favourite moments as a farewell message from the {USS|Oumuamua} crew. During the party, he ran into the first officer, Etan (24) where the two briefly caught up before joining a larger group containing Sherlock, Maxwell and Nilsen (25). After some brief small talk, the team chatting about forming a small sports club with the interim name of OASIS (26|27) as a way to blow off steam and get to know each other with each group member exited at the prospects. While Josh didn't have a chance to bid the departing crew farewell, he hoped his going away video had done them justice (28).
As the party progressed, Josh realized that he knew Lhandon somehow. It hadn't been clear exactly how he knew the man, and he was left with more unanswered questions after trying to do preliminary digging. The opening of the new operations centre had provided him an opportunity to ask deeper questions, but Nilsen had not been willing to share much detail — however, a friendship had started to form between the men. He was left wondering if this was the same ensign who had been highly publicized in the FNS (29|30).
A week after the farewell party was the awards ceremony, where Herrick receive a promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade, as well as the Legion of Merit and Captain's Commendation for his service during the Esh-o mission. The recognition and quick promotion had caught him off guard, but he gratefully accepted and had told the Commodore that he wouldn't let her down. It would be an interesting shift, where a more junior engineer would be leading a whole department, but he was willing to take on the challenge (31)
Before their next mission began, Josh had invited Lhandon Nilsen to have lunch with him; attempting to get to know the man better and ultimately determining how he knew the officer (32). However, things escalated quickly as Herrick mentioned a news article that flashed up on the PADD with Nilsen accusing him of acting on behalf of a gossip reporter (33). After he stormed off, his roommate and new Chief of Ops Toxin Arlill, came to investigate what exactly had happened. The Bolian/Tellerite hybrid explained that Nilsen has a complicated past and not to push so hard, which led Josh to pursue his own investigation rather than trying to extract it out him (34). As he continued on, he wondered, was he hurting the man in the spirit of trying to satisfy his curiosity (35).
With the immediate crisis on board solved, and a quick shower later, Josh was sent with an away team along with Kammus Corelli, Anton Richards, and V'Len Kel to assist with a dire emergency - the nebula was having ill effects on a remote Esh-o mining colony (9]. With TINFOIL hats in addition to the injections from the Doctor, the team was now in a more emotionally stable position. As the shuttle flew towards the colony, warning lights went off several times on the shuttle, seeming faulty at first. As they got closer, they also detected that the nebula had been dissolving the colony and started exploring options like tractor beams to separate the healthy and 'infected' portions of the asteroid the colony sat upon (10|11). Just before landing, the shuttle's fuel lines had reported being compromised and the away team was forced to make an emergency landing (12).
While the shuttle had crashed into an arboretum in the colony, the team had made it through relatively unscathed and Josh had his first encounter with the Esh-o kind (13). The away team and Esh-o leaders explored options, evacuation being unviable, they elected to try splitting the asteroid using mines (14). As power fluctuations rippled through the colony, the team took on the task of investigating them as well (15). When they entered the mines and proceeded to the main core reactor, they encountered a fierce and winged beast. Josh and the away team worked to subdue the beast, trying to calm the Esh-o's plea to kill it, and narrowly escaped with their lives (16|17). After gathering some more volunteers to strategically place mines at points that would break the asteroid apart, the rode the compact mine carts, where the tight quarters caused Josh's claustrophobia to flare up, to reach and place the mines in strategic positions to split the asteroid, but before they could finish, they were held up by shapeshifters and barely escaped (18|19|20|21).
Making it back to the surface, they struggled with options to get the shuttle off the ground, relying on several crew members that had absconded with worker bees to rescue them. While the explosion had worked, it hadn't created enough distance between the two pieces of rock, and they needed to think of options fast (22). When it seemed like all hope was lost, the experimental ship with the designation Nautilus appeared and both the shuttle and worker bees were transported aboard. As the team emerged from their vessels into the large bay, they witnessed a holographic twin of an experiment running aboard another Nautilus from a parallel universe. The 'real' Nautilus that the team was one was tasked with preventing the other ship from causing a cataclysmic explosion that would wipe out life, and the holo-version had encountered difficulties with their holo-safeties, potentially putting the crew at risk. However, the other ship appeared to be unsuccessful in its attempts, and with the crisis passes, the 'real' Nautilus returned the away team back to the USS Oumuamua (23|24).
To aid in bonding with fellow lower deckers, Josh was invited to the JOPA where he met many of the junior officers he'd be working with in the future and was encouraged to pull a prank on one of the senior officers but wasn't quite sure what might be an appropriate one that wouldn't land him in too much hot water (13|14|15|16). After his recovery, there was an attempt by an officer from Humanoid Resources, Lieutenant Commander Klaaf, to put him on report for a Form B-74-Tango following the incident in the jefferies tube, but he was quickly dispatched by Commander Etan Iljor (17|18). He also had a brief run in with the Charles Tyber, a security officer onboard who seemed unable to wake up from a deep slumber, and luckily kept his life (19|20). The crew finished shore leave with an awards ceremony, where there many officers were decorated for the achievements on the mission previous to Josh coming aboard.
Postings
Starfleet Service Record
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Medical Information
 Josh Herrick
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PSYCHIATRIC HISTORY
SUBSTANCE USE HISTORY
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PHYSICIANS' NOTES
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Academy
Josh enrolled in the academy in 2393, shortly after his 20th birthday. Like his father, he chose the engineering path, but elected for a 5-year program that included command courses, a future career goal for the young man, followed by a one-year cadet cruise.
After his first semester was completed, he was contacted by an academic counsellor regarding his grades and overall performance. Based on their discussion, a joint decision was made to extend Herrick’s program by an additional year so that he could drop down to four courses a semester; this resulted in a notable improvement in his grades.
While in his second year at the academy, the computer flagged a moment of high emotional distress during a training simulation and auto-referred him to one of the on-site counselors. Through their discussion, it was noted that he suffered from a mild case of claustrophobia and was presented coping techniques — he made it through the rest of the program without incident.
While Josh didn’t necessarily excel at any one area of courseware (no honors), it is noted that he obtained specializations in multiple domains, including: Replicators, Warp Systems, Holodeck Simulations, System Design and Programming. There have been comments noted in his official records that there was a concern with alcohol abuse with the man, however there was no material impact to his interpersonal relationships or academic performance so it was not investigated further.
Linked records available for viewing: Academy Transcript | Diploma
