Ballard

Ballard operates as a shipboard educational officer and junior Starfleet lieutenant responsible for assessing and placing children aboard the Enterprise. She conveys Lal’s flawless test results and placement history with procedural calm, then opens a shutter to expose Lal sitting apart from the other children — a quiet, devastating tableau that turns abstract assessment into an urgent ethical problem. Ballard navigates institutional duty and humane concern, delivering facts cleanly while making the social stakes visible to senior officers who must decide Lal’s future.