Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
Star doesn't have one right now, remember? And it's a bit too complicated to just replicate up a new one.
-
Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
Broken Dreams
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If they were smart enough to know when to fold, they'd have surrendered the minute an Akira popped up out of nowhere.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Right, in the five seconds Star gave them to do so, while they were already in battle mode.
Their behaviour in that battle has no bearing on how they'll handle things now. For starters, the people who did that are dead.
"Survive a xenomorph infestation" as a holodeck training program? No way this could backfire and end up killing a bunch of redshirts.
Carry on Star, this is great! You're an inspiration for killer DMs everywhere.
....
Also, recommending you run a beaming-down-on-an-unexplored-planet-for-search-and-rescue training drill.
....
A damaged citizen ship had to beam down its crew on an unexplored and seemingly uninhabited class-M planet before its life-support system failed.
You're answering their distress call.
Problem is, the planet isn't uninhabited. According to your shipboard sensors, the castaways are inside that underground ruin with some kind of technobabble energy field preventing you from beaming yourselves in or them out. You'll have to go in, search the ruin, find the civilians and make it out alive.
28
They didn't surrender.
They didn't even answer the hail. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. Pirates and slavers were...not very popular and it had a high punishment in the Federation.
Life at a penal colony.
But there was nothing I could directly do to affect matters. Just...watch and provide orbital support. I didn't even need to do much of that.
The Valkyries provided close air support for the security teams. Much more precise than hitting them from orbit with the scattering field keeping me from getting weapon locks.
I did however help coordinate matters.
"We are approaching the scattering field generator."
"I read you loud and clear, Shran. Can you mark the target?"
"We don't have a visual yet...hold one."
I waited, floating in low orbit, actively staying in position above the base as I kept scanning the surface. I could read life-signs and power signatures of weapons fire, but with the disruption field, I couldn't tell who was a slave, who was a slaver and unless they were transmitting, who was a member of my crew.
I couldn't beam through it either, they all set down with shuttles outside of the compound.
Come on, Shran. Paint it or shut it down and I can end this before more people are hurt. Ten of the crew were already wounded, several others dead.
"Star, I have eyes on the target. It's shielded, you are going to need to blast it for us. There are a bunch of guards in the way though."
"Ready to fire."
"Painting the targeGAHHHHH!!!!"
"Shran! Shran!?"
"Star, it's Rikan. Ensign Shran is down, he took a plasma beam to the right arm. I think the armor took the worst of it, but he is in bad shape."
John Rikan, security, crewman. Part of Shran's team. Likes to play chess and is quite good at it, too.
Shit.
My friend is hurt...but I still had a job to do.
"Can you still paint the target?" I transmitted, "We HAVE to get the scattering field down."
"The target painter was hit. It's useless," he sent back, sounding a bit out of breath. "Lock on to my com signal and fire twenty seconds after my mark."
"...What do you think you are doing?"
"Throwing it as a locator beacon. Mark."
Crap.
Twenty.
Fifteen.
Ten.
I locked targets and fired a low yield phaser beam right at the transmitting com signal. There was a small secondary blast and then the scattering field just...collapsed.
"Captain, scattering field is down. Initiating crew control procedures."
Dropping my shields, I started to lock onto active non-federation weapon signals first, disabling them by beaming them into space before I started to pick up people in groups of ten and dropping them in empty cells and my injured crew directly to sickbay.
Ten seconds later, it was all over and I started to shuffle the prisoners around. Slavers got to stay in the cells while I beamed the slaves into Cargo Bay Three for processing.
It was...over. For several of my crew, it really was. Four dead. Fifteen injured, several badly.
Among others, Shran.
XXXXXXX
Shran was sitting on his bunk, his back against the wall, looking down at his right arm. Or rather, not at his right arm.
It ended right above the elbow. But the room was needed in sickbay and it wasn't life threatening so after being treated, he had been sent to his quarters to rest.
"Would it be stupid to ask how you are feeling?"
He didn't answer at first before he snorted, "Yeah. It's...strange, you know. You would think this would hurt, even after having the skin regenerated. I know I have my nerves numbed but still...."
I didn't ask if they could give him his arm back. I was there when they told him that they couldn't. To much nerve damage from the plasma. The original was gone anyway.
He would need to be outfitted for a cybernetic replacement.
"If you wish, I will help constructing a replacement. I have several ideas already."
"It's not that simple, Star."
"Actually, I believe it would be quite easy to modi..."
He stood up and waved the stump at the closest monitor. "Damn it, Star! It's not 'replacing a part'! It's my fucking arm!"
"I... I'm sorry. I didn't..."
Shran collapsed back against his bunk and sighed, "No... You just want to help. I'm sorry. It's just...it might have been a long while since you were human, but this isn't just...changing a broken part."
"I didn't think. I'm sorry."
I just hated seeing my friend like this and wanted to help.
"I know." He said and stared up at the ceiling, "I...think I'll take you up on your offer, but not now. I think I need to be alone for a while."
"Do you want me to activate privacy mode?"
He hesitated before he shook his head, "No. Just...leave me alone for a while, okay? I need to think."
"Of course."
That was stupid of me. Of course it wasn't like switching out a part up or upgrading a platform. I knew that much.
Maybe he was right. It's been too long since I was human.
But his injury was one thing. He knew it was possible and as horrible as it was to see one of my friends get hurt, he was not the only one...nor the worst one hurt. I knew everyone involved in the operation, how could I not?
I talked to every single one of them every day. I wasn't a friend to all of them, but now four of them was dead...two more might still join them.
But even that wasn't the worst thing about this.
I switched some more attention to one of the guest cabins. We managed to save the crew of the freighter, they were in some other cabins. They had not started to go through slave processing yet.
We didn't save everyone in time.
"Tsira, you should get some sleep," I told her.
The Vulcan blinked in surprise from where she was kneeling on the small bed, looking around. "Are you my mistress?"
"No, Tsira, I am not. But you are tired, you should sleep."
She was...one of the slaves that was finished and ready to sale. Her mind wiped and slave conditioning taking it's place. The brilliant mind of a Vulcan agricultural research assistant kidnapped from Hyralis IV replaced by...this.
"Is my new master coming soon?"
Conditioned to imprint on the first individual to identify itself as her owner. She was naked because the act of wearing clothes caused her pain. According to the medical team, it was part of her programming, not a physical change.
"I'm sure somebody will. But you want to be rested when they do, don't you?" I said gently, "You should get some sleep. I promise to wake you in time."
That seemed to settle her and she laid down on the bed, closing her eyes.
Even then, she might be one of the lucky ones. She was Vulcan, her mind was resilient. In time, she might learn to function well enough to live on her own again. Maybe.
She had barely been physically altered at all.
Some of the others were not that lucky.
These slavers were specialized in sex slaves. Customized sex slaves.
Some of the others would have to live in holodecks for the rest of their lives for their own safety unless the doctors back on earth was able to reverse the worst of the damage.
"Good night, Tsira."
All I could hope for would be for the captured slavers to try to escape. To give me a reason.
Please.
Just.
One.
Reason.
AN// Many thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section.
They didn't even answer the hail. Honestly, I wasn't surprised. Pirates and slavers were...not very popular and it had a high punishment in the Federation.
Life at a penal colony.
But there was nothing I could directly do to affect matters. Just...watch and provide orbital support. I didn't even need to do much of that.
The Valkyries provided close air support for the security teams. Much more precise than hitting them from orbit with the scattering field keeping me from getting weapon locks.
I did however help coordinate matters.
"We are approaching the scattering field generator."
"I read you loud and clear, Shran. Can you mark the target?"
"We don't have a visual yet...hold one."
I waited, floating in low orbit, actively staying in position above the base as I kept scanning the surface. I could read life-signs and power signatures of weapons fire, but with the disruption field, I couldn't tell who was a slave, who was a slaver and unless they were transmitting, who was a member of my crew.
I couldn't beam through it either, they all set down with shuttles outside of the compound.
Come on, Shran. Paint it or shut it down and I can end this before more people are hurt. Ten of the crew were already wounded, several others dead.
"Star, I have eyes on the target. It's shielded, you are going to need to blast it for us. There are a bunch of guards in the way though."
"Ready to fire."
"Painting the targeGAHHHHH!!!!"
"Shran! Shran!?"
"Star, it's Rikan. Ensign Shran is down, he took a plasma beam to the right arm. I think the armor took the worst of it, but he is in bad shape."
John Rikan, security, crewman. Part of Shran's team. Likes to play chess and is quite good at it, too.
Shit.
My friend is hurt...but I still had a job to do.
"Can you still paint the target?" I transmitted, "We HAVE to get the scattering field down."
"The target painter was hit. It's useless," he sent back, sounding a bit out of breath. "Lock on to my com signal and fire twenty seconds after my mark."
"...What do you think you are doing?"
"Throwing it as a locator beacon. Mark."
Crap.
Twenty.
Fifteen.
Ten.
I locked targets and fired a low yield phaser beam right at the transmitting com signal. There was a small secondary blast and then the scattering field just...collapsed.
"Captain, scattering field is down. Initiating crew control procedures."
Dropping my shields, I started to lock onto active non-federation weapon signals first, disabling them by beaming them into space before I started to pick up people in groups of ten and dropping them in empty cells and my injured crew directly to sickbay.
Ten seconds later, it was all over and I started to shuffle the prisoners around. Slavers got to stay in the cells while I beamed the slaves into Cargo Bay Three for processing.
It was...over. For several of my crew, it really was. Four dead. Fifteen injured, several badly.
Among others, Shran.
XXXXXXX
Shran was sitting on his bunk, his back against the wall, looking down at his right arm. Or rather, not at his right arm.
It ended right above the elbow. But the room was needed in sickbay and it wasn't life threatening so after being treated, he had been sent to his quarters to rest.
"Would it be stupid to ask how you are feeling?"
He didn't answer at first before he snorted, "Yeah. It's...strange, you know. You would think this would hurt, even after having the skin regenerated. I know I have my nerves numbed but still...."
I didn't ask if they could give him his arm back. I was there when they told him that they couldn't. To much nerve damage from the plasma. The original was gone anyway.
He would need to be outfitted for a cybernetic replacement.
"If you wish, I will help constructing a replacement. I have several ideas already."
"It's not that simple, Star."
"Actually, I believe it would be quite easy to modi..."
He stood up and waved the stump at the closest monitor. "Damn it, Star! It's not 'replacing a part'! It's my fucking arm!"
"I... I'm sorry. I didn't..."
Shran collapsed back against his bunk and sighed, "No... You just want to help. I'm sorry. It's just...it might have been a long while since you were human, but this isn't just...changing a broken part."
"I didn't think. I'm sorry."
I just hated seeing my friend like this and wanted to help.
"I know." He said and stared up at the ceiling, "I...think I'll take you up on your offer, but not now. I think I need to be alone for a while."
"Do you want me to activate privacy mode?"
He hesitated before he shook his head, "No. Just...leave me alone for a while, okay? I need to think."
"Of course."
That was stupid of me. Of course it wasn't like switching out a part up or upgrading a platform. I knew that much.
Maybe he was right. It's been too long since I was human.
But his injury was one thing. He knew it was possible and as horrible as it was to see one of my friends get hurt, he was not the only one...nor the worst one hurt. I knew everyone involved in the operation, how could I not?
I talked to every single one of them every day. I wasn't a friend to all of them, but now four of them was dead...two more might still join them.
But even that wasn't the worst thing about this.
I switched some more attention to one of the guest cabins. We managed to save the crew of the freighter, they were in some other cabins. They had not started to go through slave processing yet.
We didn't save everyone in time.
"Tsira, you should get some sleep," I told her.
The Vulcan blinked in surprise from where she was kneeling on the small bed, looking around. "Are you my mistress?"
"No, Tsira, I am not. But you are tired, you should sleep."
She was...one of the slaves that was finished and ready to sale. Her mind wiped and slave conditioning taking it's place. The brilliant mind of a Vulcan agricultural research assistant kidnapped from Hyralis IV replaced by...this.
"Is my new master coming soon?"
Conditioned to imprint on the first individual to identify itself as her owner. She was naked because the act of wearing clothes caused her pain. According to the medical team, it was part of her programming, not a physical change.
"I'm sure somebody will. But you want to be rested when they do, don't you?" I said gently, "You should get some sleep. I promise to wake you in time."
That seemed to settle her and she laid down on the bed, closing her eyes.
Even then, she might be one of the lucky ones. She was Vulcan, her mind was resilient. In time, she might learn to function well enough to live on her own again. Maybe.
She had barely been physically altered at all.
Some of the others were not that lucky.
These slavers were specialized in sex slaves. Customized sex slaves.
Some of the others would have to live in holodecks for the rest of their lives for their own safety unless the doctors back on earth was able to reverse the worst of the damage.
"Good night, Tsira."
All I could hope for would be for the captured slavers to try to escape. To give me a reason.
Please.
Just.
One.
Reason.
AN// Many thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section.
Yeah, that is going to be ugly. How does the idealist federation handle brainwashing. EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE brainwashing.
I wonder, did the act of piracy take place close enough to klingon space that you could turn the captive pirates over to the klingon justice system, or at least threaten to do so within their earshot*, causing them to attempt to escape custody and end up accidentally committing suicide by starfleet security?
* Even if you don't actually have the authority to actually do so. Who'd be believed anyway, a bunch of pirates or the security feeds which clearly show that you weren't talking to them, much less threatening them with the klingon legal system.
Damn you! I just spent half an hour on TVTropes. Not cool, bro.
29
"Release me!"
"Kerag, I advice you to stop trying to get through the forcefield. Even if you managed it, those are duranium bars on the cell." I told the Klingon. He was one of the senior surviving Slavers/Pirates. Their leader had been on the heavy cruiser when it went boom. Sadly, we were unable to recover one of their client lists, apparently it had all been kept on the person of their leader.
Paranoid bastard.
"Who are you!?" he barked as he spun around. "Reveal yourself, coward!"
"My name is Star. I am this ship's Artificial Intelligence."
"Bah! Starfleet."
"Indeed."
"Contact the Klingon Empire! I demand to be tried by my people!"
We could. Some of your group had bounties in the Empire. But I also know that you are a member of the Urgat family and they had a seat on the high council. It's likely you would be let go after performing some 'act of honor'.
With some luck, Starfleet intelligence might be able to extract something from the slavers and track them down.
"I'm sorry, Kerag." No, I'm fucking not. But he was a Klingon. I couldn't bring myself to actually kill him... not without a serious escape attempt to give me a reason... not in cold blood. But that didn't mean I couldn't torture him like this. "You are being transferred to Starbase K 7 and when you are sentenced as an honorless slaver and pirate, you will be shipped to a Federation Penal Colony. There you will live a long, long life tending the fields of crops."
"What!?"
"Indeed. So there is no need to be afraid, you are perfectly safe. Much, much safer than your victims ever were. I'm sure you will learn to enjoy it."
"NO! Do you know who I am!? The Federation will pay for this! There will be war!"
That I kind of doubted.
"No it's not. You should calm down, though, your blood pressure is dangerously high even by Klingon standards... I now realize we have wronged you. It is wrong to keep somebody locked up without some kind of entertainment." I said. "Enjoy."
Then I beamed a paperback book on knitting into his cell.
He picked it up before outright roaring and throwing it at the forcefield.
It didn't make me feel much better. But I took handing out what justice I could until we could reach K 7.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Star, what's our ETA?" Captain Mason asked as he stood up from his desk chair and walked up to look out the window, crossing his arms.
"Five days, Captain. Do you want me to tell the helmsman to increase our speed?"
He hesitated and shook his head. "No. I'm just anxious to get these... people... off my ship."
"I am not overly fond of providing them with oxygen either."
"How are the rescues doing?"
"As well as could be expected."
He shook his head. "It's..." before he tensed his jaw and apparently changed his mind as he didn't say anything more. "Do you have an update on our wounded?"
"All are still stable, Captain."
"Good." he answered looking out at the specks of dust interacting with my warp field.
There was a long silence before I spoke up again. "Captain?"
"Yes, Star?"
"...Is it wrong of me to wish that the Federation practiced capital punishment?"
Mason frowned out the window and crossed his arms. "If you are, then I figure most of the crew is as well right now. But we have to be better than that."
I hate them. I hated what they had done. I hated what they made me want to do. I hated how they made me feel.
"Yes Captain."
Rubbing his face he sighed again. "I should get some sleep. Good night, Star."
"Good night, Captain."
With that I switched that part of my attention over to my conversation with T'Ro and Rachel in Rachel's quarters.
"...fectly understandable why Shran does not feel like socializing." T'Ro said, "He is recuperating."
"It's been four days and he hasn't left his quarters. Star, tell her." Rachel answered and then turned to her computer screen.
Actually, both of them had very good points. What he went through was very traumatizing, but he couldn't stay in his quarters for the rest of his life either.
"I have talked to him." I started saying before Rachel interrupted me.
"That's more than the rest of us! He hasn't even talked to Ajan and they share a room!"
"Anyway!" I continued. "He has agreed to get fitted for a cybernetic limb in a couple of days. Rachel, I know that you detest when people feel bad, but this is not something you can just pull him out of."
Andorians didn't react well to transplants. I didn't understand it personally, I didn't have the medical degree needed. Something about their immune response, the same part that made them susceptible to neural decay after being hit by high stun phaser blasts.
Otherwise, there might have been a chance to grow a replacement. Sure, you still could with immune system suppressants, but then he wouldn't be able to serve in Starfleet.
She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair with a frown. "...I know. I just hate seeing him like this. He is usually so... lively."
"While I have not talked to him for more than a couple of moments since the incident," T'Ro said, "It is most unlike Shran to act in this matter. It is disturbing."
Well, he did have his arm shot off by a plasma beam. That thing was kind of life changing.
"By the time we reach K 7, he will have a brand new arm." I said. "I offered to help design it so that he does not have to make due with an off the shelf prosthetic. I would appropriate both of your help in the design. I think that he would prefer a biomimetic model and I think we can improve on the standard design."
Rachel frowned in thought at that but nodded. "The new ones look completely real. We could modify a standard model with stronger alloys and actuators without putting on too much weight." she said before she got up. "Come one, let's find a free holobooth, we need to work on some prototypes. Have something to surprise him with."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
"Kerag, I advice you to stop trying to get through the forcefield. Even if you managed it, those are duranium bars on the cell." I told the Klingon. He was one of the senior surviving Slavers/Pirates. Their leader had been on the heavy cruiser when it went boom. Sadly, we were unable to recover one of their client lists, apparently it had all been kept on the person of their leader.
Paranoid bastard.
"Who are you!?" he barked as he spun around. "Reveal yourself, coward!"
"My name is Star. I am this ship's Artificial Intelligence."
"Bah! Starfleet."
"Indeed."
"Contact the Klingon Empire! I demand to be tried by my people!"
We could. Some of your group had bounties in the Empire. But I also know that you are a member of the Urgat family and they had a seat on the high council. It's likely you would be let go after performing some 'act of honor'.
With some luck, Starfleet intelligence might be able to extract something from the slavers and track them down.
"I'm sorry, Kerag." No, I'm fucking not. But he was a Klingon. I couldn't bring myself to actually kill him... not without a serious escape attempt to give me a reason... not in cold blood. But that didn't mean I couldn't torture him like this. "You are being transferred to Starbase K 7 and when you are sentenced as an honorless slaver and pirate, you will be shipped to a Federation Penal Colony. There you will live a long, long life tending the fields of crops."
"What!?"
"Indeed. So there is no need to be afraid, you are perfectly safe. Much, much safer than your victims ever were. I'm sure you will learn to enjoy it."
"NO! Do you know who I am!? The Federation will pay for this! There will be war!"
That I kind of doubted.
"No it's not. You should calm down, though, your blood pressure is dangerously high even by Klingon standards... I now realize we have wronged you. It is wrong to keep somebody locked up without some kind of entertainment." I said. "Enjoy."
Then I beamed a paperback book on knitting into his cell.
He picked it up before outright roaring and throwing it at the forcefield.
It didn't make me feel much better. But I took handing out what justice I could until we could reach K 7.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Star, what's our ETA?" Captain Mason asked as he stood up from his desk chair and walked up to look out the window, crossing his arms.
"Five days, Captain. Do you want me to tell the helmsman to increase our speed?"
He hesitated and shook his head. "No. I'm just anxious to get these... people... off my ship."
"I am not overly fond of providing them with oxygen either."
"How are the rescues doing?"
"As well as could be expected."
He shook his head. "It's..." before he tensed his jaw and apparently changed his mind as he didn't say anything more. "Do you have an update on our wounded?"
"All are still stable, Captain."
"Good." he answered looking out at the specks of dust interacting with my warp field.
There was a long silence before I spoke up again. "Captain?"
"Yes, Star?"
"...Is it wrong of me to wish that the Federation practiced capital punishment?"
Mason frowned out the window and crossed his arms. "If you are, then I figure most of the crew is as well right now. But we have to be better than that."
I hate them. I hated what they had done. I hated what they made me want to do. I hated how they made me feel.
"Yes Captain."
Rubbing his face he sighed again. "I should get some sleep. Good night, Star."
"Good night, Captain."
With that I switched that part of my attention over to my conversation with T'Ro and Rachel in Rachel's quarters.
"...fectly understandable why Shran does not feel like socializing." T'Ro said, "He is recuperating."
"It's been four days and he hasn't left his quarters. Star, tell her." Rachel answered and then turned to her computer screen.
Actually, both of them had very good points. What he went through was very traumatizing, but he couldn't stay in his quarters for the rest of his life either.
"I have talked to him." I started saying before Rachel interrupted me.
"That's more than the rest of us! He hasn't even talked to Ajan and they share a room!"
"Anyway!" I continued. "He has agreed to get fitted for a cybernetic limb in a couple of days. Rachel, I know that you detest when people feel bad, but this is not something you can just pull him out of."
Andorians didn't react well to transplants. I didn't understand it personally, I didn't have the medical degree needed. Something about their immune response, the same part that made them susceptible to neural decay after being hit by high stun phaser blasts.
Otherwise, there might have been a chance to grow a replacement. Sure, you still could with immune system suppressants, but then he wouldn't be able to serve in Starfleet.
She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair with a frown. "...I know. I just hate seeing him like this. He is usually so... lively."
"While I have not talked to him for more than a couple of moments since the incident," T'Ro said, "It is most unlike Shran to act in this matter. It is disturbing."
Well, he did have his arm shot off by a plasma beam. That thing was kind of life changing.
"By the time we reach K 7, he will have a brand new arm." I said. "I offered to help design it so that he does not have to make due with an off the shelf prosthetic. I would appropriate both of your help in the design. I think that he would prefer a biomimetic model and I think we can improve on the standard design."
Rachel frowned in thought at that but nodded. "The new ones look completely real. We could modify a standard model with stronger alloys and actuators without putting on too much weight." she said before she got up. "Come one, let's find a free holobooth, we need to work on some prototypes. Have something to surprise him with."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
You should have shown him back to back episodes of the Telebubbies and Barney. Also, being a flight risk, he needs to be strapped down to a chair. The chair, of course is facing the screen playing aforementioned episodes.
Last edited:
- Location
- Logan, Queensland, australia
Keeping it in universe ...back to back Voyager fanfic episodes - esp. ones with that retarded 'Flotter' kids program in them.
Ryu Gabriev
Angry short person that's good with his hands.
- Location
- Dallas, TX
NO NO NO! Gentlemen, we're thinking too small. Let us use the brainwashing against the brain washer!
Love Hina! Those Who Hunt Elves! Grenadier! The action will slowly draw his attention, the BAM, we get him with the messages of affection, peace, and stripping elven females for profit!
Love Hina! Those Who Hunt Elves! Grenadier! The action will slowly draw his attention, the BAM, we get him with the messages of affection, peace, and stripping elven females for profit!
Actually, that would make for a really interesting alien culture. At birth or as soon as their brain develops enough for it to be effective, they're brainwashed to not commit crimes and to attempt to serve the greater good of their civilization to the best of their abilities. Nobody, leadership included is exempt.
They really don't understand why we're horrified by this.
- Location
- Logan, Queensland, australia
That reminds me of 'Forging the Sword' the HP fanfic, where Harry asks 'Why isn't everyone required to make an unbreakable oath to do no harm before they are permitted to learn magic' and Ron decks him for suggesting that it's appropriate for magic and free will to be bound like that
30
"Star, Down!"
I hit the ground hard and Sarah shot the guy about to jump me. The henchman fell, dropping the fireaxe as he fell to the floor of the factory.
I glanced back at him and climbed back onto my feet, holstering my own pistol. "Thanks."
She frowned, said: "You don't seem into this today." and holstered her own pistol beneath her tuxedo jacket.
I shook my head and ran my hand through my shoulder-length white hair with a frown. "I... guess I'm a bit distracted."
Sarah gave me a curious look at that. "I didn't think you could get distracted."
The door was suddenly kicked open, five henchmen with submachine guns storming in and I froze the program with an annoyed thought.
"I can... Just with my own thoughts, not external things." I answered, crossing my arms, my antennae moving slightly.
She looked over at the frozen henchmen and then jumped up to sit down on a piece of machinery. "Want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly. It's... the people we saved from the slavers."
"We saved them, didn't we? We caught the slavers too."
I nodded. "I know... I knew slavery was still a thing outside the Federation but... I didn't know it could be so extreme. So... how can somebody do that to some other person?"
Sarah sighed. "I don't know. I don't understand it either... I understand it's a thing in the Klingon Empire, they're called serfs and it's in what remains of Breen space, but they don't do what these slavers do. That's just forced labor. That's bad enough, but this.."
"Yeah."
How could somebody... just do that to somebody else? Take them and remove their mind, putting something else in place.
Killing them and turning what's left into...
I shuddered in disgust. I preferred the Borg.
If I had been made in some other place than the Federation, that could have happened to me. Brought out of the sim and turned into a weapon.
Just because they couldn't outright edit my mind, wouldn't mean they could not change it if they really wanted.
Positive and negative reinforcement would work, I wasn't that different from a human in my thought patterns.
If I had been made by the Romulans... they would not have hesitated. Neither would the Cardassians. If I grew up a Klingon, it might not even have been needed.
"Star?"
I looked up at Sarah and then shook my head. "Just... thinking. I'm fine."
"So how's Shran?" she asked after a moment, changing the subject. "I heard he was one of those who got hurt."
I shrugged and moved to sit next to her. "Better. He was fitted for a cybernetic replacement yesterday, I have almost finished building it with T'Ro. We should be able to install it later today."
She nodded and smiled. "You talk about them a lot. I want to meet them at some point."
I grinned at that. "Are you sure you don't just want an excuse to meet Rachel outside of work?"
Sarahl rolled her eyes and hit my shoulder, exclaimed: "Yes!" and shrugged with a faint sigh. "Sure, would be nice, but... if she is only into guys like you said, it would just be awkward to try. I just want to meet your other friends."
Shaking my head I jumped off the piece of machinery. "Why don't you join us in the Lounge tomorrow after the shift is over? We usually meet up for a while, play some games or something?"
"Are you sure?" She asked as she got onto her feet as well. "I wouldn't want to intrude." She frowned and continued, "And how do you get there?"
I grinned. "I'm already there. Just not 'in person'. I can still interact with any games and join the conversation so.."
"I don't know..." she said as she redid her ponytail to keep her hair out of her face. "Without you actually being there, I think I would feel like I was intruding."
Maybe I should get an avatar.
A screen was just that, a screen and... yes, an avatar would help a lot with interaction. But even with an 'off the shelf' Soong style android, it would take a while to get one ready, let alone learn how to control it.
Maybe I really should reconsider having a ship's avatar. It seemed to have worked in the 'Andromeda' tv-show.
I started to idly draw up some preliminary blueprints.
I flicked my antenna in thought before I nodded. "How about on the holodeck, though? I have tons of holotime left to use, we could run a multiplayer program I have been tinkering with."
"Oh? Something interesting?" she asked before she hesitated. "It doesn't involve that alien monster, does it? Because I'm still having nightmares about that training scenario."
I might have done too good a job with that one...
I grinned and shook my head. "Nope. Nothing scary... this one I dug up from the depths of the entertainment database. It was a book that was the basis of a movie in my old simulation. I have been working to convert it into a holonovel, I have the first couple of acts finished and it really needs four or so players."
It's a wonder how much stuff was just sitting in the database and gathering virtual dust. Unless it was something really famous like 'Shakespeare' very little of what existed back during 'my time' was actually known to the general public today and as such not translated to holonovels.
I had been digging through it, looking for stuff that inspired things in my sim and a lot of it was either in a different format or had not been in the sim.
At least I know what happened in Star Wars. Some of the later movies were even as good as the first three.
"Oh? That sounds interesting. What is it called?"
"It's from a book series known as SG-1. They are explorers, exploring the galaxy through a portal device."
Sarah nodded in thought. "That sounds like it could be interesting. Okay, if they are up for it, so am I."
I nodded and commanded the holodeck to rewind ten seconds so the henchmen were back outside the doors. "Come on, let's do this."
She grinned and pulled her gun. "Ready when you are."
AN// Many Thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
I hit the ground hard and Sarah shot the guy about to jump me. The henchman fell, dropping the fireaxe as he fell to the floor of the factory.
I glanced back at him and climbed back onto my feet, holstering my own pistol. "Thanks."
She frowned, said: "You don't seem into this today." and holstered her own pistol beneath her tuxedo jacket.
I shook my head and ran my hand through my shoulder-length white hair with a frown. "I... guess I'm a bit distracted."
Sarah gave me a curious look at that. "I didn't think you could get distracted."
The door was suddenly kicked open, five henchmen with submachine guns storming in and I froze the program with an annoyed thought.
"I can... Just with my own thoughts, not external things." I answered, crossing my arms, my antennae moving slightly.
She looked over at the frozen henchmen and then jumped up to sit down on a piece of machinery. "Want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly. It's... the people we saved from the slavers."
"We saved them, didn't we? We caught the slavers too."
I nodded. "I know... I knew slavery was still a thing outside the Federation but... I didn't know it could be so extreme. So... how can somebody do that to some other person?"
Sarah sighed. "I don't know. I don't understand it either... I understand it's a thing in the Klingon Empire, they're called serfs and it's in what remains of Breen space, but they don't do what these slavers do. That's just forced labor. That's bad enough, but this.."
"Yeah."
How could somebody... just do that to somebody else? Take them and remove their mind, putting something else in place.
Killing them and turning what's left into...
I shuddered in disgust. I preferred the Borg.
If I had been made in some other place than the Federation, that could have happened to me. Brought out of the sim and turned into a weapon.
Just because they couldn't outright edit my mind, wouldn't mean they could not change it if they really wanted.
Positive and negative reinforcement would work, I wasn't that different from a human in my thought patterns.
If I had been made by the Romulans... they would not have hesitated. Neither would the Cardassians. If I grew up a Klingon, it might not even have been needed.
"Star?"
I looked up at Sarah and then shook my head. "Just... thinking. I'm fine."
"So how's Shran?" she asked after a moment, changing the subject. "I heard he was one of those who got hurt."
I shrugged and moved to sit next to her. "Better. He was fitted for a cybernetic replacement yesterday, I have almost finished building it with T'Ro. We should be able to install it later today."
She nodded and smiled. "You talk about them a lot. I want to meet them at some point."
I grinned at that. "Are you sure you don't just want an excuse to meet Rachel outside of work?"
Sarahl rolled her eyes and hit my shoulder, exclaimed: "Yes!" and shrugged with a faint sigh. "Sure, would be nice, but... if she is only into guys like you said, it would just be awkward to try. I just want to meet your other friends."
Shaking my head I jumped off the piece of machinery. "Why don't you join us in the Lounge tomorrow after the shift is over? We usually meet up for a while, play some games or something?"
"Are you sure?" She asked as she got onto her feet as well. "I wouldn't want to intrude." She frowned and continued, "And how do you get there?"
I grinned. "I'm already there. Just not 'in person'. I can still interact with any games and join the conversation so.."
"I don't know..." she said as she redid her ponytail to keep her hair out of her face. "Without you actually being there, I think I would feel like I was intruding."
Maybe I should get an avatar.
A screen was just that, a screen and... yes, an avatar would help a lot with interaction. But even with an 'off the shelf' Soong style android, it would take a while to get one ready, let alone learn how to control it.
Maybe I really should reconsider having a ship's avatar. It seemed to have worked in the 'Andromeda' tv-show.
I started to idly draw up some preliminary blueprints.
I flicked my antenna in thought before I nodded. "How about on the holodeck, though? I have tons of holotime left to use, we could run a multiplayer program I have been tinkering with."
"Oh? Something interesting?" she asked before she hesitated. "It doesn't involve that alien monster, does it? Because I'm still having nightmares about that training scenario."
I might have done too good a job with that one...
I grinned and shook my head. "Nope. Nothing scary... this one I dug up from the depths of the entertainment database. It was a book that was the basis of a movie in my old simulation. I have been working to convert it into a holonovel, I have the first couple of acts finished and it really needs four or so players."
It's a wonder how much stuff was just sitting in the database and gathering virtual dust. Unless it was something really famous like 'Shakespeare' very little of what existed back during 'my time' was actually known to the general public today and as such not translated to holonovels.
I had been digging through it, looking for stuff that inspired things in my sim and a lot of it was either in a different format or had not been in the sim.
At least I know what happened in Star Wars. Some of the later movies were even as good as the first three.
"Oh? That sounds interesting. What is it called?"
"It's from a book series known as SG-1. They are explorers, exploring the galaxy through a portal device."
Sarah nodded in thought. "That sounds like it could be interesting. Okay, if they are up for it, so am I."
I nodded and commanded the holodeck to rewind ten seconds so the henchmen were back outside the doors. "Come on, let's do this."
She grinned and pulled her gun. "Ready when you are."
AN// Many Thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Last edited:
Ryu Gabriev
Angry short person that's good with his hands.
- Location
- Dallas, TX
You put Stargate... in Star Trek.
*sniffle* ...pardon me, I seem to have something in my eye...
P.S.: We see what you did there, Drak...
*sniffle* ...pardon me, I seem to have something in my eye...
P.S.: We see what you did there, Drak...
The ship be shipping?
31
Shran hit the training mat hard on his back, the air knocked from his lungs.
I crossed my arms, frowning down at him. "Are you even trying?"
Stepping back I walked across the holobooth while waiting for him to get his breath back to pick up a waterbottle to take a drink. Not that I needed to, I just found it enjoyable to get an excuse to drink something for once.
We started this soon after I decided to take a female avatar while I was a ship. Despite having more or less same bodyshape... and this is something not most people realize consciously, but males and females do move differently.
Different body shapes. Even more so because I picked an Andorian female from Human male... and while there were some similarities, at least we had the same number of limbs and similar joints, there were enough differences that I had to learn each form from scratch. Unless I used the holocomputer and let it do everything which I refused to do with my normal forms.
So doing it manually, I needed to start over at every form unless they were really similar.
As it turned out, sparring was a good way of doing it, especially if I limited myself to 'Andorian female of this build' limits and didn't just blitz him at a couple of hundred times normal movement speed. There would be little point to it then.
With the holographic safeties on we didn't even need to hold back at all. I could hit as hard as I could and no matter how hard I hit him, he would at worst get a couple of bruises.
He could break my neck as many times as he wanted to and it wouldn't hurt me.
It was very good practice for both of us.
...At least it was more fun than the lessons Rachel insisted I take from her when I took a female avatar. I really didn't need to know how to use makeup but she insisted and... it's really difficult to say no to Rachel.
At least that had been over after a couple of hours of awkward.
I put the bottle back down and turned back to Shran. "Well?"
He rubbed his right arm where the seam between his skin and the cybernetic limb was barely visible. "I'm trying."
"You have longer reach than me, are stronger, more skilled and just as fast. I should not be consistently winning. What the hell is up with you?"
"Oh, maybe that I'm fighting you with one arm!?"
I frowned at him. It'd been almost two weeks now. A week since he got his new arm and I was getting really sick of him bitching about it. He could move it perfectly well, it was tied directly into his nervous system and translated the signals he sent like his real arm would. It was almost impossible to even tell it was a piece of cybernetics just by looking.
"From where I'm standing, you have two."
"I didn't ask for this, Star!" he exclaimed and held up his right arm, flexing the fingers.
Despite his words echoing that meme in the sim, they managed to hit very close to home.
"Do you think I did?" I asked, flicking my antenna, crossing my arms again.
He looked up at me in surprise at that.
"I didn't ask for this either." I said and spread my arms to the rest of the room. "I was torn from my old life into a reality I didn't ask for. I found out I wasn't human. I wasn't even a living being. I was forced to adapt to a new body if I ever wanted to leave the holodeck."
"Star, I..." he started but I interrupted him.
"Every time I learn a new platform, a new ship, a new holographic form, it is from scratch. I need to learn how to talk, to walk, to move. It can take weeks."
Luckily, ships were relatively simple. Same general shapes, same systems, no matter if it was a shuttle or a starship. I could use the ship's computer to help compensate while I adapted fully.
"I have done that seven times since I was released from the sim. Seven times. My entire body." I said, letting my arms drop. "If I can do that, Shran, you can learn how to use an arm."
I took a slow, deep breath as I glared at him. "Now, are you going to continue your pity party and we are done for today or are you going to get to your feet and fucking suck it up like a Starfleet officer?"
He stared at me for a long moment before starting to chuckle, falling back onto his back as he started to laugh. "Damn it, Star."
I looked at him for a moment before I started to chuckle too. "Well?"
Shran grinned up at the ceiling before he shook his head and struggled back onto his feet. "You can be a real bitch sometimes."
He flexed his cybernetic arm and looked down at it. "But you are right. This is who I am now, this isn't changing. I just have to adapt, get used to it. It hurts sometimes, but I'll handle it."
I nodded. "It's just phantom pain, remember? When you start to equal that arm with a part of yourself and not some thing attached to you, it will go away."
Or so the doctors and the medical database said.
Shran nodded and sighed, clenching his fist. "Yeah." He nodded again and continued, "Okay, let's do this. We have another thirty minutes booked, let's not waste it."
"Are you sure?"
"I seem to remember I owe you an hour of getting your ass kicked."
"Meh, like you could."
He stepped back, going into a defensive stance. Still leading with his left arm, but at least he was looking much better now. "Try me."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
I crossed my arms, frowning down at him. "Are you even trying?"
Stepping back I walked across the holobooth while waiting for him to get his breath back to pick up a waterbottle to take a drink. Not that I needed to, I just found it enjoyable to get an excuse to drink something for once.
We started this soon after I decided to take a female avatar while I was a ship. Despite having more or less same bodyshape... and this is something not most people realize consciously, but males and females do move differently.
Different body shapes. Even more so because I picked an Andorian female from Human male... and while there were some similarities, at least we had the same number of limbs and similar joints, there were enough differences that I had to learn each form from scratch. Unless I used the holocomputer and let it do everything which I refused to do with my normal forms.
So doing it manually, I needed to start over at every form unless they were really similar.
As it turned out, sparring was a good way of doing it, especially if I limited myself to 'Andorian female of this build' limits and didn't just blitz him at a couple of hundred times normal movement speed. There would be little point to it then.
With the holographic safeties on we didn't even need to hold back at all. I could hit as hard as I could and no matter how hard I hit him, he would at worst get a couple of bruises.
He could break my neck as many times as he wanted to and it wouldn't hurt me.
It was very good practice for both of us.
...At least it was more fun than the lessons Rachel insisted I take from her when I took a female avatar. I really didn't need to know how to use makeup but she insisted and... it's really difficult to say no to Rachel.
At least that had been over after a couple of hours of awkward.
I put the bottle back down and turned back to Shran. "Well?"
He rubbed his right arm where the seam between his skin and the cybernetic limb was barely visible. "I'm trying."
"You have longer reach than me, are stronger, more skilled and just as fast. I should not be consistently winning. What the hell is up with you?"
"Oh, maybe that I'm fighting you with one arm!?"
I frowned at him. It'd been almost two weeks now. A week since he got his new arm and I was getting really sick of him bitching about it. He could move it perfectly well, it was tied directly into his nervous system and translated the signals he sent like his real arm would. It was almost impossible to even tell it was a piece of cybernetics just by looking.
"From where I'm standing, you have two."
"I didn't ask for this, Star!" he exclaimed and held up his right arm, flexing the fingers.
Despite his words echoing that meme in the sim, they managed to hit very close to home.
"Do you think I did?" I asked, flicking my antenna, crossing my arms again.
He looked up at me in surprise at that.
"I didn't ask for this either." I said and spread my arms to the rest of the room. "I was torn from my old life into a reality I didn't ask for. I found out I wasn't human. I wasn't even a living being. I was forced to adapt to a new body if I ever wanted to leave the holodeck."
"Star, I..." he started but I interrupted him.
"Every time I learn a new platform, a new ship, a new holographic form, it is from scratch. I need to learn how to talk, to walk, to move. It can take weeks."
Luckily, ships were relatively simple. Same general shapes, same systems, no matter if it was a shuttle or a starship. I could use the ship's computer to help compensate while I adapted fully.
"I have done that seven times since I was released from the sim. Seven times. My entire body." I said, letting my arms drop. "If I can do that, Shran, you can learn how to use an arm."
I took a slow, deep breath as I glared at him. "Now, are you going to continue your pity party and we are done for today or are you going to get to your feet and fucking suck it up like a Starfleet officer?"
He stared at me for a long moment before starting to chuckle, falling back onto his back as he started to laugh. "Damn it, Star."
I looked at him for a moment before I started to chuckle too. "Well?"
Shran grinned up at the ceiling before he shook his head and struggled back onto his feet. "You can be a real bitch sometimes."
He flexed his cybernetic arm and looked down at it. "But you are right. This is who I am now, this isn't changing. I just have to adapt, get used to it. It hurts sometimes, but I'll handle it."
I nodded. "It's just phantom pain, remember? When you start to equal that arm with a part of yourself and not some thing attached to you, it will go away."
Or so the doctors and the medical database said.
Shran nodded and sighed, clenching his fist. "Yeah." He nodded again and continued, "Okay, let's do this. We have another thirty minutes booked, let's not waste it."
"Are you sure?"
"I seem to remember I owe you an hour of getting your ass kicked."
"Meh, like you could."
He stepped back, going into a defensive stance. Still leading with his left arm, but at least he was looking much better now. "Try me."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
32
Deep Space K-7.
It was... old. Very old. Hell, it had not really been updated for a hundred years. But it was still a Federation outpost and was still in use as a resupply point.
Still, its simple design had a simple elegance to it.
A disk-like central core with a pole through it, three more poles extending out from it into three more disks like the spokes of a wheel.
We had just finished beaming the prisoners over to their brig... sadly, the slaves were... trickier. You had to really watch what you said around the ones that had been processed by the slavers.
A ship, the USS Herald, a Miranda class cruiser were on their way, though it would take another week for them to get here. K-7 simply wasn't equipped to handle the slaves, not the worst cases.
It didn't have holodecks and that was... the most comfortable and practical way to contain most of them.
Tsira was one of the lucky ones. As long as she was kept... isolated to trained personnel who knew what to say and to under no circumstances to confirm that any of them were her owner. She should be okay in time until they could start to try put her back together.
Ten of the others... not so much. So Holodeck Two had been compartmentalized and they had been isolated there until the Herald could arrive.
Which meant that we were stuck here anyway.
At least I was rid of the slavers and the constant temptation to see how they would have liked breathing sulfur hexafluoride.
"It's going to be so good to get some shore leave." Rachel said and stretched as they approached transporter room two.
"I hope you are not hoping for too much." Shran said, shouldering his bag. "I heard of K-7. It's a tincan in space. Calling it shoreleave might be pushing it."
"A tincan with History." Ajan remarked with a grin. "Besides, I heard their bar is pretty good."
Shran nodded and agreed, "...Good point." as they entered the transporter room. "So what are you going to do, Star?"
"I'm sure I'll think of something." I replied with a smile in my voice. "Try not to get arrested, Shran."
"Why do you always tell me that?"
Rachel giggled at that. "Because you always need the reminder. Three to beam over, Star."
"Energizing."
At least that was one job Starfleet was more than happy to let me handle on my own instead of having somebody constantly stand there manning the transporter. One of the most boring duties in the fleet.
With three of my friends off the ship, I turned my attention to another one. "So how did they do?" I asked Sarah after the holodeck door closed after the last of the members of her squadron left.
She frowned and crossed her arms. "You tell me. What do you think?"
"They did beat Starfleet's average performance for this exercise."
"Yeah. Barely. Which isn't good enough. They are better than that." She stated and frowned. "Can you get in here? I hate talking to the air unless I have to."
I formed my avatar and crossed my arms. "I would cut them some slack. They are excited to have the opportunity to get off the ship for once." I smirked and continued, "And I noticed that you seemed distracted as well."
She sighed. "Fine, you got me. Yes, it's going to be nice to look at a different set of walls for a little while." She frowned and continued, "Not that you don't have very nice walls." she quickly added.
I grinned at that. "Oh, I understand exactly what you mean. I used to have a mobile platform before I became a ship, you know. Variation is always nice."
Sarah nodded. "Well, my shift just ended... but I can't head over yet. I was going to run another exercise or two. Want to join?"
K-7 was a small station with a crew of only fifty stationed there. I had a crew of five hundred... a maximum of one hundred was allowed onto the station at a time. The prisoners were one thing, they could be kept locked up.
I nodded. "Sure. Figured you would need a wingman... " Being a Valkyrie was always fun.
Sarah smiled. "That's fine." She looked thoughtful before picking up her helmet from where it had been sitting on the floor, "How about training scenario Five-Beta? That's one you can do with two people."
I nodded with a smile of my own, "Sounds like a plan." and shimmered into a identical flightsuit, my own helmet under my arm. Not that I needed to, as soon as we started I would change into a fighter anyway.
Tag teaming a Klingon bird of prey.
Sarah was always fun to hang out with... not to mention that she looked great in that tight flightsuit, especially with her hair up like th...
...Oh...
...I'm such an idiot...
XXXXXXXXXX
As I changed into a fighter, I found T'Ro in her quarters. She was meditating so I hesitated to disturb her... but she had told me that I could interrupt her at any time.
I chimed at her, causing her to open her eyes. "Yes?"
"T'Ro... can I ask you for a major favor?"
She frowned slightly and turned to the viewscreen so I turned it on to give her someone to talk to.
"Of course."
"I have been working on a blueprint for a mobile avatar. Could you... take a look and see what you think?"
T'Ro nodded. "Of course. Display it?"
I changed the view from my avatar to... well, the blueprints of my avatar.
"This is based on Doctor Soong's work." She said after a moment, flicking through the pages. "I recognize some modifications. It's going to be a copy of your current hologram avatar?"
"It is."
"You have not expressed an interest in an apparently-biological platform in the past. I am curious what caused you to... " she said before she looked slightly surprised. "I see. Who is it?"
Damn you, T'Ro. You are way too smart for my own good.
"Lieutenant Sarah Hansen. That's the major favor... could you help me build this? Without anyone finding out? I... want it to be a surprise for when I ask her out. I don't want the others to know yet. Rachel would get all excited and Shran wouldn't be able to resist making comments."
The Vulcan raised looked thoughtful for a long moment before she nodded. "I will assist you... however, it might take several weeks, as well as significant amounts of time for you to learn to control a completely new system."
"I know. Thank you. I can practice in the holodeck while we are building to cut down on the time."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
It was... old. Very old. Hell, it had not really been updated for a hundred years. But it was still a Federation outpost and was still in use as a resupply point.
Still, its simple design had a simple elegance to it.
A disk-like central core with a pole through it, three more poles extending out from it into three more disks like the spokes of a wheel.
We had just finished beaming the prisoners over to their brig... sadly, the slaves were... trickier. You had to really watch what you said around the ones that had been processed by the slavers.
A ship, the USS Herald, a Miranda class cruiser were on their way, though it would take another week for them to get here. K-7 simply wasn't equipped to handle the slaves, not the worst cases.
It didn't have holodecks and that was... the most comfortable and practical way to contain most of them.
Tsira was one of the lucky ones. As long as she was kept... isolated to trained personnel who knew what to say and to under no circumstances to confirm that any of them were her owner. She should be okay in time until they could start to try put her back together.
Ten of the others... not so much. So Holodeck Two had been compartmentalized and they had been isolated there until the Herald could arrive.
Which meant that we were stuck here anyway.
At least I was rid of the slavers and the constant temptation to see how they would have liked breathing sulfur hexafluoride.
"It's going to be so good to get some shore leave." Rachel said and stretched as they approached transporter room two.
"I hope you are not hoping for too much." Shran said, shouldering his bag. "I heard of K-7. It's a tincan in space. Calling it shoreleave might be pushing it."
"A tincan with History." Ajan remarked with a grin. "Besides, I heard their bar is pretty good."
Shran nodded and agreed, "...Good point." as they entered the transporter room. "So what are you going to do, Star?"
"I'm sure I'll think of something." I replied with a smile in my voice. "Try not to get arrested, Shran."
"Why do you always tell me that?"
Rachel giggled at that. "Because you always need the reminder. Three to beam over, Star."
"Energizing."
At least that was one job Starfleet was more than happy to let me handle on my own instead of having somebody constantly stand there manning the transporter. One of the most boring duties in the fleet.
With three of my friends off the ship, I turned my attention to another one. "So how did they do?" I asked Sarah after the holodeck door closed after the last of the members of her squadron left.
She frowned and crossed her arms. "You tell me. What do you think?"
"They did beat Starfleet's average performance for this exercise."
"Yeah. Barely. Which isn't good enough. They are better than that." She stated and frowned. "Can you get in here? I hate talking to the air unless I have to."
I formed my avatar and crossed my arms. "I would cut them some slack. They are excited to have the opportunity to get off the ship for once." I smirked and continued, "And I noticed that you seemed distracted as well."
She sighed. "Fine, you got me. Yes, it's going to be nice to look at a different set of walls for a little while." She frowned and continued, "Not that you don't have very nice walls." she quickly added.
I grinned at that. "Oh, I understand exactly what you mean. I used to have a mobile platform before I became a ship, you know. Variation is always nice."
Sarah nodded. "Well, my shift just ended... but I can't head over yet. I was going to run another exercise or two. Want to join?"
K-7 was a small station with a crew of only fifty stationed there. I had a crew of five hundred... a maximum of one hundred was allowed onto the station at a time. The prisoners were one thing, they could be kept locked up.
I nodded. "Sure. Figured you would need a wingman... " Being a Valkyrie was always fun.
Sarah smiled. "That's fine." She looked thoughtful before picking up her helmet from where it had been sitting on the floor, "How about training scenario Five-Beta? That's one you can do with two people."
I nodded with a smile of my own, "Sounds like a plan." and shimmered into a identical flightsuit, my own helmet under my arm. Not that I needed to, as soon as we started I would change into a fighter anyway.
Tag teaming a Klingon bird of prey.
Sarah was always fun to hang out with... not to mention that she looked great in that tight flightsuit, especially with her hair up like th...
...Oh...
...I'm such an idiot...
XXXXXXXXXX
As I changed into a fighter, I found T'Ro in her quarters. She was meditating so I hesitated to disturb her... but she had told me that I could interrupt her at any time.
I chimed at her, causing her to open her eyes. "Yes?"
"T'Ro... can I ask you for a major favor?"
She frowned slightly and turned to the viewscreen so I turned it on to give her someone to talk to.
"Of course."
"I have been working on a blueprint for a mobile avatar. Could you... take a look and see what you think?"
T'Ro nodded. "Of course. Display it?"
I changed the view from my avatar to... well, the blueprints of my avatar.
"This is based on Doctor Soong's work." She said after a moment, flicking through the pages. "I recognize some modifications. It's going to be a copy of your current hologram avatar?"
"It is."
"You have not expressed an interest in an apparently-biological platform in the past. I am curious what caused you to... " she said before she looked slightly surprised. "I see. Who is it?"
Damn you, T'Ro. You are way too smart for my own good.
"Lieutenant Sarah Hansen. That's the major favor... could you help me build this? Without anyone finding out? I... want it to be a surprise for when I ask her out. I don't want the others to know yet. Rachel would get all excited and Shran wouldn't be able to resist making comments."
The Vulcan raised looked thoughtful for a long moment before she nodded. "I will assist you... however, it might take several weeks, as well as significant amounts of time for you to learn to control a completely new system."
"I know. Thank you. I can practice in the holodeck while we are building to cut down on the time."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
ChaosTheVoid
Beyond the Outer Gates
The first thing that came to my mind was Deus Ex. Star caught it too, but still funny.
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