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    • Crossing my arms, I looked out of the window at the star-streak effects of Star's warp field.

    Even if I had started to try to wear more civilian clothing when I was Star, it felt... weird to not be in uniform.

    Frowning to myself, I picked at my t-shirt.

    Not like I was on duty, so I could get away with not wearing a uniform.

    Dreamwalker and I were to leave in the morning. So far, things had been going well enough. I said goodbye to most people on board and I had been able to avoid...

    "Stella."

    I closed my eyes. T'Ro.

    Almost made it. I bet Star had something to do with it.

    "T'Ro." I answered softly as she moved up to stand next to me, looking out the window. "Please... do not take this the wrong way, but I do not wish to see you."

    "Star believed that you should." she answered quietly. "Stella... look at me."

    Half turning, I met her eyes before I quickly looked away. "It hurts."

    T'Ro reached out gently and stroked my cheek. "I know. I am sorry, Stella."

    Sniffling softly, I pulled her into a tight hug...as tight as I could without risking breaking something. "I'll miss you so much."

    She held me in turn, running her fingers through my hair as I rested my head against her shoulder. "I know. Promise me that you will find somebody new. Not at once, but eventually. You deserve someone who can see you the way I do."

    I pulled back slightly and gave her a weak smile. "Eventually. I promise."

    Something told me it would take a long while. I couldn't see this pain fading anytime soon.

    T'Ro nodded. "Good. I... was worried when it became clear you were avoiding me."

    "I just knew it would hurt even worse if I talked to you. I had planned to leave a message before I left." I confessed before I sighed. "I didn't mean to worry you. I'm sorry."

    Her lips twitched in one of those tiny smiles of hers and it was all I could do not to kiss her. Instead I looked out at the stars.

    "Take care of Star."

    "Of course. Stay in contact, I want to know how you are doing."

    Sighing softly, I faced her again and moved close, giving her a small kiss on the cheek. "I will. Goodbye, T'Ro."

    "Goodbye, Stella."

    I looked after her as she left before I blinked a couple of times, my eyes burning as I turned back to look out the window, crossing my arms again. "I should punch you, you know." I told the empty air.

    Star formed a hologram next to me. "You needed that and you know it. Besides, you would have done the same thing if our positions were reversed."

    The worst thing? I knew she was right.

    Damn it.

    "...You could have shut down." Star said after a long moment. "After the crash to keep the remerge time as long as possible. It would have been possible then. Nobody would have blamed you if you did. James could have handled himself after you woke him up."

    "...I could have. Everything went well this time, but what if it had not? Our prime responsibility is to keep our crew safe." I answered quietly, looking at her. "What if it the preliminary survey of the moon had been wrong and there were... flying piranha spiders around or something. What if I was turned on again when you arrived and he had been killed? What kind of ship would I be if I put my own wishes over the lives of my crew? I may not had been able to help much, but I could still keep watch when he slept and offered advice."

    Star frowned at me and sighed, shaking her head.

    She knew I was right.

    "This sucks." Star said after a moment.

    "...Yeah. Yeah it does. Badly." I chuckled softly before I looked at her again. "Take care of T'Ro?"

    "Of course."

    I smiled sadly at her. "Get going. I think that might have been as difficult for her as it was for me."

    "Are you sure?"

    Nodding I swallowed before I hesitated. "...What is Rachel doing? Is she busy?"

    Star shook her head. "She is in her quarters, tending to one of her plants. Why?"

    "I think I'm going to go cry on her shoulder for a while." I admitted.

    Star gave me a sad smile and shimmered out of existence.

    Glancing out at space again, I shook my head and headed towards the turbolift, the doors opening for me and I stepped inside.

    I paused for a second to mentally pick the floor before I sighed. Oh yeah. I wasn't a ship. Like I could really forget, blind and deaf as I was.

    Seriously, how could humans live like this? I can't even see subspace or gravity. Gravity! Come on!





    AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
     
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    • It would be interesting if she have a romantic relationship with a civilian, that way we get an anti AI or normal outsider perspective. Of course Stella might be involve with Starfleet in some way or she could become private detective in a noir feel.
     
    Grey Rook said:
    Agreed. Having to depend on just five senses instead of the ten or so a properly equipped ship has? It's a wonder she hasn't gone insane from sheer understimulation yet.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Ten? Trying to imagine just how crippled a ship would have to be in order to be so limited.

    HUMANS have over ten**, after all. :D


    **exact count is in dispute, but 'over ten' is pretty readily supportable
     
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    • "Thanks a lot for the ride, Dreamwalker." I said with a smile. "And even more for the sensors."

    She shared her exterior sensor feed with me for the trip.

    The Runabout grinned and pulled me into a tight hug. "It's nothing."

    I squeezed her tightly before letting go. "I'll stay in contact, okay?" I told her with a smile as I shut down my link to her computer, taking a last look at the medium container freighter 'Five Aces' that was floating in space a couple of kilometers away, looking mostly like a scaffolding core, five hundred metes long with containers attached to it. One end held some sensors and a deflector while the other end held all the engines and living quarters.

    "I'll miss you."

    "Yeah, I'll miss you too. But I have to say, you are a lot cuter like this." she teased and ruffled my hair.

    "Damn it, will people stop doing that!" I complained and reached up to get it in order again. "I was bad enough when Captain Mason was the one doing it!"

    Dreamwalker grinned at me. "So you should have picked a less cute avatar. Even with the species difference, you look like Dancing in Starlight's little sister."

    I shot her a annoyed look before I sighed and gave her a quick hug. Then I stepped back onto her transporter pad. "Ready for transport. Bye, Dreamwalker."

    "Bye, Stella. Enjoy the rest of the trip."

    The interior of Dreamwalkers tiny transporter bay was replaced with white sparkles before the destination faded into view.

    Ugh, I hate going through transporters.

    The room was five times five meters and grey was the most common color. But the color was hardly the most surprising thing about it.

    The surprising part was the person that was there to meet me.

    "Welcome on board the 'Five Aces'," Sarah Hansen said with a smile. "I'm..."

    "Sarah?"

    She looked mostly like I remembered her. Older of course, it'd been... stars, it'd been almost eight years. She had changed some, her red hair had been cut short for one thing.

    She paused in her speech as I said her name. "...yes... Do I know you?"

    ...Dreamwalker, you bitch. You knew!

    I nodded and slowly stepped off the transporter pad. "My name is Stella, I'm a direct fork of Star."

    Her face lit up in a grin in recognition as she stepped up to pull me into a hug. "Star!"

    I hugged back tight and sighed. "...Stella now. I missed you."

    "I missed you too, shippy." Sarah said and slowly let go. "Sorry, things got so hectic during the war and... well..."

    "Drifted out of contact." I said with a small shrug. "Didn't help that I spent more than two years away from the comms network before then, over in the Gamma Quadrant."

    "Mmm."

    I then blinked at her. "Wait a moment... the hell are you doing here!? You are the last person I would have expected to see."

    Sarah smiled sadly and shrugged one shoulder. "Not much room for fighter pilots in the new Starfleet. I'm first officer on the Five Aces now."

    "...I'm so sorry..."

    That was our fault. She loved to fly as much as we did. But with the war... non-drone fighters were phased out.

    She crossed her arms and gave me a look. "That's hardly your fault." she said before she shrugged. "I don't even disagree with the decision. You saw the casualty reports from fighters trying to engage Berserker ships, right? It was just insane, you would be safer sticking your hand into a blender. And less likely to get injured."

    I just nodded. At least non-AI ships could take a couple of hits. Fighters just went up like popcorn when hit. There was a reason we switched to massed remote-controlled drones instead.

    "So... I resigned when the war ended." Sarah continued with a sad smile. "I joined Starfleet to fly, so... what else was I going to do? Work in Engineering? Study flowers? Me, my wife and three others in the squadron pooled our resources and bought the Five Aces with a loan from Starfleet. At least this way I get to fly."

    "Ah... Well, I bet the cargo shuttle out there can pull some Gs."

    She grinned at that. "Hell yeah! When not lugging one of those containers around, it has more grunt than my old fighter! Nowhere near as maneuverable, but I bet it would leave it in the dust when it come to sublight acceleration."

    "Cool." I said before I paused as I caught up with her previous statement. "...Wait a millisecond. Married!?"

    Sarah smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Samantha Jones. She used to be my wingman. Now she is the Captain of the Five Aces... I'll introduce you, I think you will like her."

    "Congratulations!" I said with a grin. "And I bet I will."

    Well, my month just kept getting better. Crash into a moon, be unable to re-merge, have to effectively break up with T'Ro, limited to an avatar and now when I ran into my first crush, she was married.

    ...My life officially sucks. Let's see how else the universe can kick me in the head before the month is over.

    "Stella, how are your sensors?" Sarah suddenly asked with a thoughtful look. "Maine, the ship I served on during the war, her avatar really hated being cut off from the ship proper. Something about not getting enough information."

    I smiled slightly. "Honestly, it kinda sucks. I feel blind and deaf like this."

    She nodded and pushed off the console she had been leaning on. "Come on, let's see what we can do about getting you a feed from the Ace's external sensors. I need to show you your quarters and introduce you to the rest of the crew too."

    ...I felt like tearing up...




    AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
     
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    • "...So there she climbs out of this entirely wrecked fighter," Samantha laughed waving her hands. "I swear, the only thing holding that damn thing together was the paint! I have no idea how she got out of that one without a scratch. And the first thing she said when the emergency team rushed to her aid was..."

    "Get me another one, I saw where the last ship went." Sarah chuckled with the air of somebody who had heard the tone of somebody who had heard it a thousand times before. "To be fair, I did have a concussion at the time."

    I laughed at that mental image, taking a sip from the amber liquid in the glass. Some kind of synthehol. Not that I cared, but that was what the replicator had given me.

    I mostly drank it because they did.

    I had expected to dislike Sam simply because she was with Sarah, but... I couldn't bring myself to it. I liked her. She was a human, the same age as Sarah and as tall as I was... well, short might be a better word. She was smart and even beautiful, even if I personally preferred long hair instead of shaving my head like she did.

    Though, I suppose I couldn't argue it wasn't practical. There was a reason that I had picked a bit of a shorter style this time after all. Long hair did have a tendency to tangle and get stuck.

    Sam nodded. "Well, we did get the last of the pirates, at least. That was just before the war..."

    She kind of trailed off.

    Nobody really liked to talk about the Berserker War. Everyone had lost somebody to it. Most likely several someones.

    Especially not people in Starfleet.

    "So, Stella... any funny stories?" Sarah asked, changing the subject.

    I swirled my drink my my glass as I crossed my legs. "Oh, plenty. How about this... when I was in the Gamma Quadrant, we ran into a small, three star-system empire. They were the Empire of Quillian and their ambassador came on board for a week. The problem was that..."

    Oh. Hello there, pretty.

    A ship just decloaked next to us a couple of dozen kilometers outside the warp field. Defiant class... Starfleet then.

    Wonder how long until the guy on bridge duty sees it.

    Another reason I actually couldn't help but like Sam. She allowed me exterior sensor access to her ship. She didn't need to do that.

    Oh, the sensors were pretty crap, it's a container ship, not a science vessel. But one eye was better than being almost completely blind.

    I think I would always be thankful for that.

    "...they refused to eat anything replicated! They believed that it ruined your sense of taste and made you addicted to it."

    Sam frowned and looked at the drink in her hand. "You know... I'm not entirely sure he is wrong. About the sense of taste, at least. Non-replicated food does taste odd. Remember when we were past Abato Colony and visited my family?" she asked Sarah, "Mom's meatballs just didn't taste the way I remembered."

    I shrugged. "It's possible. I know there have been studies made on it, but the engineers insist you should not be able to tell the difference. Honestly, I couldn't say for certain. I know what the scans say about it, I don't taste the same way as organics."

    It was a mix of analysis and simulation. It was close, but I knew that it was not identical. And for some reason it REALLY didn't like strawberries, they tasted vile.

    "Bridge to Jones. Captain to the bridge."

    She looked up with a frown, putting her glass on the table after draining it. "Wonder what it is now?"

    I shrugged. "Defiant class, been flying next to us for a couple of moments or so on a parallel course. She is likely doing a contraband scan."

    Sam raised a eyebrow at me. "And you didn't warn us?"

    "What, and not see how asleep the watchman was?" I countered with a grin, taking a sip of my drink. "For the record, he is not that bad, it was barely a minute before he noticed the sensor blip."

    "A minute!? He didn't notice a fucking warship flying next to us for a minute!?"

    Apparently that didn't reassure her.

    "...It's a pretty small warship?"

    Sam snarled at that and stalked off in the direction of the bridge.

    "Oops." I said after a moment, looking at Sarah. "I didn't mean to get him in trouble."

    She sighed and shook her head. "Dumbbell has had problems like that in the past. He has a tendency to get bored with staring at sensor readings shift after shift. It wouldn't be that bad if he actually remembered to set the alarm to warn him if there are any changes, but he sometimes forgets..."

    Okay, then he kind of did deserve to be yelled at by his Captain for that.

    "Should we go to the bridge?" I asked with a small frown.

    She nodded and got up. "Better. The ship might want to talk to you."

    Getting up from the couch, I followed them out into the corridor and up to the left along a set of stairs to the bridge overlooking the top of the container ship.

    "Permission to enter the bridge?" I asked as we got close.

    Sarah gave me an amused smile and then nodded. "Granted."

    The bridge was actually kind of cramped for a ship this large with only two work stations, one of those being the pilot's chair.

    The guy, Dumbbell was standing to the side, looking like he had just been yelled at... which he probably had been. The name fit, he looked like he spent most of this time off duty working out.

    Sam was in the pilot's seat, bring the escort up on screen. "Defiant... such a pretty ship."

    "It really is." I agreed.

    ...Wonder if I could get to fly one? I doubted it.

    The ROU's that were upgrading to real ships were all over those. There was probably a waiting list.




    AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this part. And stop poking him about it. If you have time to do that, why don't you try betaing instead? Why should he do all the work?
     
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    • Hiver said:
    AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this part. And stop poking him about it. If you have time to do that, why don't you try betaing instead? Why should he do all the work?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The best response I could give would be to make a Fate/Stay Night joke about Authors and their Betas, but this is Star Trek. Completely different universe.

    Plus, I'm not certain of my own beta capabilities, so I shouldn't offer to assist. (Though I don't think I poke betas; that poking stick HURTS.)
     
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    • The U.S.S. 'You Call That a Knife?' offered to bring me with them to Mars, but I declined. The orbital mechanics were such that we were going to pass by Mars anyway on the way to Titan, so they could drop me off there anyway. So I chose to spend another day with my new and old friends instead.

    "I'm having a bit of a Deja Vu here." I chuckled softly as I stopped in front of the transporter pad. I had already said goodbye to the rest of the crew as Sarah walked me to the transporter room.

    "Just reversed roles." She agreed with a sad smile. "Well... we will be in-system for a week. Get some shore leave and check out the sights. We have to hang out some more."

    I nodded in agreement, putting my bag on the transporter platform before I stepped up and pulled her into a hug. "We should."

    "Let's not keep out of touch for that long again." She whispered as she hugged back.

    Nodding again, I gave her a squeeze before I let go to smile at her. "Promise. And you should give Star a call as well, she misses you."

    "I will, I promise." she said with a smile of her own before stepping back and walking over to the transporter controls. "If she is still in known space."

    I grinned at that and walked over to shoulder my bag again, getting onto the transporter pad. "She should be. We were on our way to a humanitarian mission, it shouldn't have finished yet so she should be in range of a comm relay."

    "I'll give her a call then."

    Sighing to myself, I looked around and then smiled slightly. "One ready for transport."

    "Bye, Stella. Hopefully I'll see you after unloading. Energizing."

    "Bye, count on it!"

    White shimmers of the transport was all around, depositing me onto the other transporter pad and I was at once greeted by an avatar.

    "Stella, welcome on board the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards." he said with a smile before he frowned. "Sorry about the circumstances. That's always rough."

    I nodded. "Yeah... thanks, Marvin." I replied as I walked down from his transporter pad to give him a quick hug.

    His chosen avatar was that of an Andorian other than the fact that he was colored green. Of course he towered over me as well, but that was more because my chosen avatar was short than because he was particularly tall.

    "Come on, let's find you a set of quarters." he answered and hugged back. "Let's get you settled in and then start going through your options."

    I blinked up at him in surprise. "...There are options? I figured I would need to wait in line just to get a construction ship or something."

    "Of course." he said and dropped the hug with a smile. "Even with a lot of ROUs wanting actual ships, there are some classes that are far less popular. Especially older and larger ships that are getting refits. Even during the war, not all ships got refitted for AI's, especially those with little in the way of combat ability. There was only so much docktime around so we had to prioritize new ships." he snorted and continued, "Hell, half of the 'AI refits' we did for older ship classes was just installing a data bus for the core to hook into. They upgraded to new and more adapted ships as soon as they could."

    "Oh."

    Well, that did make sense.

    "So hulls, I've got." Marvin said with a grin. "Depending on what you decide on, it might be a wait time or we might be able to get it done in a couple of months, depending on the size, class and availability of dry docks."

    "...Thank you."

    He nodded. "But that's for in a bit, I'll compile a list of options for you to apply for. Let's get you settled into a room for now, I'll see if I can scare up a Runabout for you to inhabit once you've picked a ship. It can't be comfortable to just use an avatar."

    "It's not, really. It's not just the sensors, it's having a single core. One accident and I'm boned." I grumbled, crossing my arms.

    "Just like everyone else."

    "...Yeah."

    That was a sobering thought.

    "Come on, let's find you a set of quarters." Marvin said and gave my shoulder a slap.

    Nodding, I followed along to the closest turbolift. "Have you rebuilt this dock?" I asked as I looked around.

    Marvin nodded. "Completely new interiors about a year ago. Do you like it?"

    I nodded. "Mhmm. Reminds me of the Galaxy class. I like the red accents along the walls by the ceilings."

    "Thank you."

    Hmm.

    "...I assume all Defiants are taken."

    That got a snort from him. "Every time the construction of a new one is laid down, we are buried under a flurry of applications to be her AI. But with the war over, there is a very limited need for more Defiants. That class is about full already, Starfleet isn't building many more of them. Sorry."

    "Guess that would have been too much to hope for."

    There was a reason that they were popular, especially among former ROU's. They were the closest you could get to one of those houseflies on crack and still have a crew. Besides, they were amazingly fun to fly, I had tried one on the holodeck before.

    "Relax, we will find you something you like. Don't worry."




    AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
     
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    • "Here we go." Marvin said as we entered the observation lounge and I followed along next to his avatar, his actual one this time, overseeing one of the dry docks. Outside mechanical arms and workerbees along with drones and actual personnel were constructing what looked to be a new Intrepid.

    My quarters had been nice and comfortable, if somewhat small. Meant for exactly what they were being used for now. A visiting AI needing a new ship.

    Walking over to the windows, I crossed my legs, looking outside down on the hull.

    "New ship?"

    Marvin nodded, "Despite the newer Luna class, there is still a demand for the Intrepid. While there is some overlap with their mission profiles, there are things the Intrepid is better at, such as long term deployments."

    "Mmm."

    The Luna could do them, but the slightly smaller Intrepid did have a larger crew/space ratio. More holodecks and such as well which meant that it was simply more comfortable for the crew. Especially the fully AI integrated version that could get by with a even smaller crew or carry a larger research staff and less engineers.

    It could also land and work as a temporary research base in planets that had environments that didn't like transporters, something the Luna couldn't do.

    "So, what do you have for me?" I asked as I looked sideways at him.

    He smiled and turned away from the window as a hologram appeared in the middle of the room, "There are some options. I think these might be the best ones available. Let's start with this Galaxy class."
    Turning, I looked at the hologram in surprise, "Galaxy!?"

    "Yeah. She got smacked hard during the defence of earth. She took enough infrastructure damage that it wasn't worth repairing her at the time, but four months at a shipyard could get her back up and running along with getting a AI retrofit in place."

    "...Marvin, she is missing half her saucer section."

    "Most essential systems are in the engineering section. Hell, she will fly like she is right now if you put a new warpcore in her."

    "How about no. That's a graveyard, not a ship."

    How many died when she was cored like that? She should just be allowed to rest.

    "...Yeah, that's what I figured. Just thought I would just take the chance to save her from being scrapped." waving his hand, he shifted the hologram to a Nebula class ship, "The U.S.S. Triton. She was on a deep space stellar cartography mission when the war started. She returned to Federation space six months before the end of the war. With such a old ship, she was one of the first ones in the class built, it was decided it was better to mothball her than refit her until now. There is nothing really wrong with her, she is just... outdated. A full refit and she can be back exploring the unknown again."

    Nebula class.

    That's a nice ship.

    Shine her up a bit, brush off the rust, new warp engines, shields, weapons and sensors. Fix her up for AI control...

    Not a bad pick.

    "That one looks good."

    "It is. I'll mark it down as a maybe." He agreed with a nod.

    "...So why has nobody claimed it yet? What's wrong with it?"

    He shrugged with a smile, "She is a relatively large and slow ship. Most AI's looking for new ships right now are ROU's. The majority would rather stay as a demilitarized ROU without a crew than be that big and slow."

    Bah. ROUs are a bunch of primadonnas like all fighter pilots. I used to be a Island class. I can handle that.

    "I can handle that."

    Nodding, Marvin continued, "You should recognise the next ship."

    The hologram shifted to show a Nova class.

    "...Wait, is that..."

    ...Wow...

    Marvin nodded, "The U.S.S. Andromeda. Nova class refit. We did our cadet cruise on her."

    "What is she doing here?" I asked, slowly walking around the hologram.

    He smiled sadly, "Mostly a victim of bureaucracy. The Nova class have limited offensive and defensive abilities compared to the ships she shares a dry dock size with Defiants, Sabres and ROUs. When she got damaged during the war, it was decided to transfer her crew and AI over to other ships while waiting for a slot in the repair queue. But other ships always had higher priority so she kept getting bumped back."

    "..The crew? Captain Stonewall?"

    Marvin shook his head, "His Defiant went down in defence of Vulcan. So did the Andromeda AI, she transferred to that ship as well."

    I closed my eyes for a second before I slowly nodded. Damn it.

    "Her." I finally said, opening my eyes looking at the hologram again, "That is my new ship."

    "You are sure? Even after her retrofit, there will be larger and more capable ships on the list. There is a damaged Luna on here."

    Smiling softly, I slowly nodded, "Yes. Yes I'm sure." as I looked at the hologram before turning to his avatar, "My name is Andromeda. I am a Nova class science vessel. It's where this started... it felt Right."

    Marvin slowly nodded, "Very well. I'll file your application to be her AI. I should be able to run it past Starfleet HQ in a day or two, but that's mostly a formality.Welcome to Mars, Andromeda."



    AN// Many thanks to Hoyden for betaing this section.
     
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    • Taking over the body of a dead version of yourself and assuming its name does come across as sort of creepy. o_O

    Other than that sort of macabre aspect of the choice it does seem slightly unassuming.

    Most often in stories when captains end up being assigned to new a ship like this it ends up one that is often special in some way: A rust-bucket with character, an experimental design that nobody ever made work right, a ship that is extremely slow and big or fast and small or otherwise makes it at first appear as a bad choice. Of course later in the story whatever set the ship apart and made everyone dismiss her as a bad assignment turns out to be the one thing that will make it to be just the right vessel for the job at hand or the captain with his strategic genius will find a way to leverage its specialness into and advantage.

    With Stella's choice of becoming the Andromeda there seems to be mostly sentimental factors involved and nothing that set the ship apart from most of the other ships otherwise.
     
    I can just see it, 1000 years later, the Andromeda is the oldest ship still flying, pretty much the whole thing being repaired or replaced at sometime or another, and having been host to dozens of AI.
     
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