Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
Kind of hard to recover whn the entire front end of the saucer was shattered by torpedoes, right?
Division
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Kind of hard to recover whn the entire front end of the saucer was shattered by torpedoes, right?
Last edited:
22
Luke slowly started coming to and the first thing he noticed was that his head wasn't hurting. The second was that his mouth felt like something had crawled in and died in it.
"Ugh." He coughed and opened his eyes before quickly closing them again against the bright lights. Did it finally get him?
It didn't smell like a hospital. Was this heaven?
You would think heaven would feel nicer.
"You are awake," a female voice said softly before something touched his lips. "Here, drink. Carefully."
Cold water touched his lips and he swallowed before the glass was pulled away.
"Not too much yet. You are still recovering."
"Whe—gh!" he started to ask before he was interrupted by a sudden cough.
"You are in sickbay. My name is Rommie," the voice explained and he forced his eyes open again to look up at her where she was standing next to his bed.
To his surprise, she looked young. Even younger than he was. Red, shoulder length hair and wearing some kind of uniform. Black with teal shoulders.
"Who are you?" he asked after a moment.
She smiled slightly. "That's where things might get a bit complex, Mister Tasker. I think we should focus on your recovery for now. My name is Andromeda, Rommie if you like."
"There is no recovery. Inoperable."
Rommie smiled a bit wider. "Sorry, but I'm afraid that's not quite true. Our doctor is quite skilled and was able to remove the tumor."
Luke stared at her for a moment before he struggled to sit up. "That's a mean joke. My dad took my to the best specialists in the world."
"No joke, Mister Tasker. You are quite cured. I'm afraid there are... other complications, however," she said as she helped him sit.
He felt weak, steadying himself against the bed as he looked around. The place didn't look anything like any hospital he had ever been in.
Several beds around the outside of the room, medical tools... or what looked like medical tools... was on trays in several locations.
"Where am I?"
"You are in the sickbay of the ship Andromeda," Rommie explained. "I'm one of the officers on board."
Last thing he remembered...he was in the hospital after another fainting.
"Ship... Where is my dad?"
She frowned at him and then sighed, "There are some things that you need to know. There is no easy way to say this. Are you aware of cryogenics?"
"...Isn't that freezing people? Talked about it a couple of times," he answered before he stared at her. "Wait..."
Rommie nodded. "I'm afraid so, Mister Tasker. There is no way to say this in a easy way, but...you died."
"...Oh..."
He just felt somewhat numb. "...How long? Is my dad here? Is he old?"
"...I'm sorry, Mister Tasker, but it's been about four hundred years."
"F-four..."
His mind was reeling. Four hundred years...
"...No, that's impossible."
"It's very possible. I'm sorry. You were not aware you were signed up for a cryonics program?"
"I...no. I know my dad talked about it, but he was always into spaceships and science fiction. I just thought he was trying to make me feel better."
Luke stared at the wall. Frozen...for four hundred years. What? It seemed...surreal. Like something from one of those bad scifi movies his dad liked to watch.
Four hundred years. It was just too much.
"I'm really cured?"
Rommie nodded, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the next bed. "According to Doctor Fook, your scans are clear and the illness as well as the worst effects of the cell toxins and remains of the cryonic freeze have been repaired."
"Shouldn't he be here for this?"
She grimaced slightly. "It was decided that it was best I talk to you first. Let you adjust little by little. Captain Montgomery is on her way, she wish to talk to you as well."
He slowly nodded. "Captain. Yeah. You said this was a ship?"
"It is," Rommie agreed before the door opened and another woman walked in, this one older, perhaps mid-thirties walked in. About average height with long blonde hair pulled back in a braid. She was wearing a similar uniform to Rommie, but with red shoulders, and pants instead of a short skirt.
"Ah, welcome back to the waking world, Mister Tasker," the newcomer said with a smile, crossing the sickbay as she offered her hand. "Captain Hannah Montgomery of the U.S.S. Andromeda."
"Thank you.... American ship?"
"Eh...no. How much have Rommie been telling you."
"That I am in the future. That I'm cured."
"There are some more things you need to know."
AN// A bucket of thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section.
"Ugh." He coughed and opened his eyes before quickly closing them again against the bright lights. Did it finally get him?
It didn't smell like a hospital. Was this heaven?
You would think heaven would feel nicer.
"You are awake," a female voice said softly before something touched his lips. "Here, drink. Carefully."
Cold water touched his lips and he swallowed before the glass was pulled away.
"Not too much yet. You are still recovering."
"Whe—gh!" he started to ask before he was interrupted by a sudden cough.
"You are in sickbay. My name is Rommie," the voice explained and he forced his eyes open again to look up at her where she was standing next to his bed.
To his surprise, she looked young. Even younger than he was. Red, shoulder length hair and wearing some kind of uniform. Black with teal shoulders.
"Who are you?" he asked after a moment.
She smiled slightly. "That's where things might get a bit complex, Mister Tasker. I think we should focus on your recovery for now. My name is Andromeda, Rommie if you like."
"There is no recovery. Inoperable."
Rommie smiled a bit wider. "Sorry, but I'm afraid that's not quite true. Our doctor is quite skilled and was able to remove the tumor."
Luke stared at her for a moment before he struggled to sit up. "That's a mean joke. My dad took my to the best specialists in the world."
"No joke, Mister Tasker. You are quite cured. I'm afraid there are... other complications, however," she said as she helped him sit.
He felt weak, steadying himself against the bed as he looked around. The place didn't look anything like any hospital he had ever been in.
Several beds around the outside of the room, medical tools... or what looked like medical tools... was on trays in several locations.
"Where am I?"
"You are in the sickbay of the ship Andromeda," Rommie explained. "I'm one of the officers on board."
Last thing he remembered...he was in the hospital after another fainting.
"Ship... Where is my dad?"
She frowned at him and then sighed, "There are some things that you need to know. There is no easy way to say this. Are you aware of cryogenics?"
"...Isn't that freezing people? Talked about it a couple of times," he answered before he stared at her. "Wait..."
Rommie nodded. "I'm afraid so, Mister Tasker. There is no way to say this in a easy way, but...you died."
"...Oh..."
He just felt somewhat numb. "...How long? Is my dad here? Is he old?"
"...I'm sorry, Mister Tasker, but it's been about four hundred years."
"F-four..."
His mind was reeling. Four hundred years...
"...No, that's impossible."
"It's very possible. I'm sorry. You were not aware you were signed up for a cryonics program?"
"I...no. I know my dad talked about it, but he was always into spaceships and science fiction. I just thought he was trying to make me feel better."
Luke stared at the wall. Frozen...for four hundred years. What? It seemed...surreal. Like something from one of those bad scifi movies his dad liked to watch.
Four hundred years. It was just too much.
"I'm really cured?"
Rommie nodded, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the next bed. "According to Doctor Fook, your scans are clear and the illness as well as the worst effects of the cell toxins and remains of the cryonic freeze have been repaired."
"Shouldn't he be here for this?"
She grimaced slightly. "It was decided that it was best I talk to you first. Let you adjust little by little. Captain Montgomery is on her way, she wish to talk to you as well."
He slowly nodded. "Captain. Yeah. You said this was a ship?"
"It is," Rommie agreed before the door opened and another woman walked in, this one older, perhaps mid-thirties walked in. About average height with long blonde hair pulled back in a braid. She was wearing a similar uniform to Rommie, but with red shoulders, and pants instead of a short skirt.
"Ah, welcome back to the waking world, Mister Tasker," the newcomer said with a smile, crossing the sickbay as she offered her hand. "Captain Hannah Montgomery of the U.S.S. Andromeda."
"Thank you.... American ship?"
"Eh...no. How much have Rommie been telling you."
"That I am in the future. That I'm cured."
"There are some more things you need to know."
AN// A bucket of thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section.
Ryu Gabriev
Angry short person that's good with his hands.
- Location
- Dallas, TX
Why do I get the feeling you're about to ship together Luke and the ship?
If yonder Luke changes his last name to Skywalker as a result...
- Pronouns
- she/her
"Finally! Someone new who appreciates my memes!" - every ship in Starfleet.
23
Entering the outskirts of the Vulcan system, I headed in-system, slowly stepping down my warp speed as I talked with Vulcan Gateway about getting me a flight path.
All the way in-system I was challenged by weapon satellites and defense structures. Not to mention having passed through triple-redundant tachyon sensor grids.
We are never going to let another Earth happen again.
Ever since we picked up our passenger, we had been in talks with Starfleet about what to do. The current plan was to transfer him to U.S.S. Meridian for transfer back to Sol.
Luke Tasker, or Luke as he liked to be called, was currently in one of my two VIP quarters. Those had been some difficult conversations. I was actually not sure what had been more difficult for him to absorb. Being in space, being in the future or 'surprise, aliens!'.
Dropping out of warp I moved towards standard orbit around Vulcan, shutting down my weapon systems before hitting the range limit.
As naked as I felt with them completely offline, I would like it even less if I were targeted by those big nasty weapon satellites and even if they didn't blow me out of the sky for it, they would definitely pull me from the ship.
The time when any ship, Starfleet, civilian or other was allowed with active weapons above a populated Federation world without a clear reason for it was over. There were, of course, exceptions like those weapon satellites. They were under Vulcan Gatesway's control after all or they wouldn't be very effective...
A freighter forgot to deactivate its turret when entering Mars orbit a couple of months ago. The senior crew got put under arrest and as I understand it, was asked some very pointed questions. They were finally released, but with a big mark on their trading license.
And that was a civilian ship. Those are armed with pop guns.
Still, I couldn't help but feel naked without my weapons online. It wasn't just powering and unpowering like normal. It was completely shutting them down which is a completely different procedure and took quite a few seconds to do.
"Standard orbit achieved, Captain." I reported, leaning my holographic avatar back in the seat on the bridge. "All systems standing down. Chief Engineer Xass requests to know if it would be possible to take the warp core offline for a full inspection of my warp systems before we continue."
Hannah glanced up from the summery of a request from stellar cartography on her PADD before she nodded. "Approved. We should go over all your systems while we are in orbit. System diagnosis is good, but I would like eyes on everything. You are basically a new ship, after all."
I nodded. "I agree. It might delay our departure date a couple of days, however."
"Our mission isn't time sensitive, so it will be fine. I'd rather take a couple of days and do it right rather than have something important break down weeks away from the closest ship."
I grinned at that. "That would be rather suboptimal." I remarked. "Xass agrees, even if there is some grumbling from the engineering crew."
That was a ton of extra work. If it was to be finished in anything resembling a timely manner, It would mean double shifts for a week even if the entire crew pitched in.
I may be a small ship by most standards, only a hundred and eighty meters from front of my hull to the rear of my nacelles, but that's still quite a few systems to check, millions of meters of cables and circuitry.
Honestly, it took a week on pretty much any ship no matter the size as larger ships came with larger crews.
"Good. How is our passenger doing?"
"...As well as can be expected."
XXXXXXXXXX
I chimed the VIP quarters. Luke Tasker looked up from the PADD he had been reading. It was a basic history summary on what he had missed combined with practice for learning the user interface of a PADD. It was pretty simply, but took some getting used to.
It was a program that been dug out of the database just for this kind of situation. There were a lot of things in the database that were situational.
"Uhm... yes?" He asked as I chimmed again.
"You may wish to look out of your window, Luke." I said and formed a hologram close by the door.
Scooting off the bed, he got up and crossed the room. "Why?" he asked as he reached to press the button to untint the windows. He'd asked how to do that earlier, he found the starfield flyby effect distracting.
I smiled and had my hologram cross the room to stand next to him as I crossed my arms, rolling slightly in space to align the window with Vulcan. "Look."
Turning from my hologram, he looked out the window, staring at the planet below. He seemed speechless.
"That is the planet Vulcan, the homeworld of the Vulcans." I explained. "Have you reached First Contact yet?"
"... I... yeah. After world war three they were the first aliens humanity met." He said quietly. "The Doctor is one."
I nodded, "Yeah. So what do you think?"
He was silent for a moment. "It looks like those pictures of Mars."
"Mmm. Vulcan is a rather dry planet." I agreed. "So how are you doing?"
"...I'm okay."
That, I kind of doubted.
"Captain Montgomery wants to discuss some matters with you in a bit." I said. "Arranging transfer back to Sol for you for one thing."
He looked at me. "Transfer?"
"To the U.S.S. Meridian. She is an Intrepid-class vessel and is heading in the right direction."
"...I can't stay here?"
I frowned faintly at that. "You would have to discuss that with the Captain, but I think it really would be better for you to return to Earth. There are experts on what happened to you there. I'm a small ship, there isn't that much room on board and we are heading for a mission that might last years. I'm afraid that even if you stay, you would sooner or later get horribly bored."
"Please. I just need..." He started to ask before he stopped, unable to continue.
I knew what he meant, though. He needed to absorb, react, adapt. He needed something solid to hold on to.
"You would need to discuss the matter with Captain Montgomery." I repeated. "Personally, as long as you agree to talk to Doctor Fook as well as with experts over subspace as long as we remain in range, I have no objections." I finally sighed.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
All the way in-system I was challenged by weapon satellites and defense structures. Not to mention having passed through triple-redundant tachyon sensor grids.
We are never going to let another Earth happen again.
Ever since we picked up our passenger, we had been in talks with Starfleet about what to do. The current plan was to transfer him to U.S.S. Meridian for transfer back to Sol.
Luke Tasker, or Luke as he liked to be called, was currently in one of my two VIP quarters. Those had been some difficult conversations. I was actually not sure what had been more difficult for him to absorb. Being in space, being in the future or 'surprise, aliens!'.
Dropping out of warp I moved towards standard orbit around Vulcan, shutting down my weapon systems before hitting the range limit.
As naked as I felt with them completely offline, I would like it even less if I were targeted by those big nasty weapon satellites and even if they didn't blow me out of the sky for it, they would definitely pull me from the ship.
The time when any ship, Starfleet, civilian or other was allowed with active weapons above a populated Federation world without a clear reason for it was over. There were, of course, exceptions like those weapon satellites. They were under Vulcan Gatesway's control after all or they wouldn't be very effective...
A freighter forgot to deactivate its turret when entering Mars orbit a couple of months ago. The senior crew got put under arrest and as I understand it, was asked some very pointed questions. They were finally released, but with a big mark on their trading license.
And that was a civilian ship. Those are armed with pop guns.
Still, I couldn't help but feel naked without my weapons online. It wasn't just powering and unpowering like normal. It was completely shutting them down which is a completely different procedure and took quite a few seconds to do.
"Standard orbit achieved, Captain." I reported, leaning my holographic avatar back in the seat on the bridge. "All systems standing down. Chief Engineer Xass requests to know if it would be possible to take the warp core offline for a full inspection of my warp systems before we continue."
Hannah glanced up from the summery of a request from stellar cartography on her PADD before she nodded. "Approved. We should go over all your systems while we are in orbit. System diagnosis is good, but I would like eyes on everything. You are basically a new ship, after all."
I nodded. "I agree. It might delay our departure date a couple of days, however."
"Our mission isn't time sensitive, so it will be fine. I'd rather take a couple of days and do it right rather than have something important break down weeks away from the closest ship."
I grinned at that. "That would be rather suboptimal." I remarked. "Xass agrees, even if there is some grumbling from the engineering crew."
That was a ton of extra work. If it was to be finished in anything resembling a timely manner, It would mean double shifts for a week even if the entire crew pitched in.
I may be a small ship by most standards, only a hundred and eighty meters from front of my hull to the rear of my nacelles, but that's still quite a few systems to check, millions of meters of cables and circuitry.
Honestly, it took a week on pretty much any ship no matter the size as larger ships came with larger crews.
"Good. How is our passenger doing?"
"...As well as can be expected."
XXXXXXXXXX
I chimed the VIP quarters. Luke Tasker looked up from the PADD he had been reading. It was a basic history summary on what he had missed combined with practice for learning the user interface of a PADD. It was pretty simply, but took some getting used to.
It was a program that been dug out of the database just for this kind of situation. There were a lot of things in the database that were situational.
"Uhm... yes?" He asked as I chimmed again.
"You may wish to look out of your window, Luke." I said and formed a hologram close by the door.
Scooting off the bed, he got up and crossed the room. "Why?" he asked as he reached to press the button to untint the windows. He'd asked how to do that earlier, he found the starfield flyby effect distracting.
I smiled and had my hologram cross the room to stand next to him as I crossed my arms, rolling slightly in space to align the window with Vulcan. "Look."
Turning from my hologram, he looked out the window, staring at the planet below. He seemed speechless.
"That is the planet Vulcan, the homeworld of the Vulcans." I explained. "Have you reached First Contact yet?"
"... I... yeah. After world war three they were the first aliens humanity met." He said quietly. "The Doctor is one."
I nodded, "Yeah. So what do you think?"
He was silent for a moment. "It looks like those pictures of Mars."
"Mmm. Vulcan is a rather dry planet." I agreed. "So how are you doing?"
"...I'm okay."
That, I kind of doubted.
"Captain Montgomery wants to discuss some matters with you in a bit." I said. "Arranging transfer back to Sol for you for one thing."
He looked at me. "Transfer?"
"To the U.S.S. Meridian. She is an Intrepid-class vessel and is heading in the right direction."
"...I can't stay here?"
I frowned faintly at that. "You would have to discuss that with the Captain, but I think it really would be better for you to return to Earth. There are experts on what happened to you there. I'm a small ship, there isn't that much room on board and we are heading for a mission that might last years. I'm afraid that even if you stay, you would sooner or later get horribly bored."
"Please. I just need..." He started to ask before he stopped, unable to continue.
I knew what he meant, though. He needed to absorb, react, adapt. He needed something solid to hold on to.
"You would need to discuss the matter with Captain Montgomery." I repeated. "Personally, as long as you agree to talk to Doctor Fook as well as with experts over subspace as long as we remain in range, I have no objections." I finally sighed.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
There's an awful lot of emotional importance to the first friendly face you see when waking up from death.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
You know, I'm kinda surprised it's not regulation to simply keep the person in the cryopod and send them off to somewhere they can get specialized help. It just seems like the sensible thing to do when you know it's going to be a huge shock to a person when they wake up.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
There's also the small matter of Earth itself undergoing significant terraforming and reconstruction after recent events. Has anyone actually told Luke about that?
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
It's probably included in the history primer he's been reading.
I hope Luke's not the kind of person who skips to the end of the E-book. That'll probably be a really big surprise without knowing all the context and minor details that lead to that event.
24
Hriss pushed out from the service hatch to stare at my holo avatar, "You are kidding, right?"
We were almost done completely going over every single system I had on board. My actual avatar was over on Vulcan Gateway with Captain Montgomery, we were scheduled for a meeting with Admiral L'Set in a couple of minutes.
Shifting my holographic avatar down to sit with my back against the panel next to her, I shook my head as I crossed my legs, "Nope. Never tried rock climbing. I know they offered it back at the Academy, but I didn't really get much into sports."
The Caitian shook her head and then scooted back in, taking a tool along, "You have to give it a try. It's focusing, relaxing and challenging at the same time."
I frowned slightly, "Relaxing?"
"Yeah. Just you, the rock and the view. All the troubles in the world just go away."
"...I would think hanging on for your life just remove any relaxation from it."
That got a laugh from her, "That's what safety equipment and holodecks are for. Honestly, I prefer climbing in the holodeck as then I can skip all the rope, harnesses and anti gravity belt."
"I guess I can see that."
"I have holodeck time booked for next week, right?"
"Mhmm, Thursday at eighteen hundred."
"You should join me, I'll give you some pointers." she said before she hmmed, "There. How's that?"
I nodded, "Sure we can do that. And yeah, I think that did it. I'm reading the relay properly again. That's the last one in the lab."
Letting out a sigh, she scooted back out and got onto her feet, "Damn, it's been a while since I did this much technical work."
"Well, hopefully you won't need to do it again anytime soon." I chuckled and got my hologram up as well, "Most of your staff is finished as well."
She nodded and then bent down to press the cover back in place, "How are we doing over all?"
I shrugged one shoulder, "Okay. We are mostly done to be honest so we should finish at our planned deadline. I have a good crew."
Hriss grinned, "Damn right you do. Now if we are done, I'm going to go grab a shower, there is only so much of crawling around in machinery I can do before my fur start to protest."
"Hey! Are you saying I'm dusty!?" I exclaimed in mock outrage.
She just laughed at me.
XXXXXXXXXX
I raised a eyebrow in slight surprise as we entered Admiral L'Set's office only to find two more people present. A man wearing a uniform with red shoulders and the rank of commander. The second was a AI avatar with a asian look and long black flowing hair, wearing command uniform as well, a dagger riding on her hip.
Warship then.
Hmm. She was cute. But what are they doing here? This was going to be a one ship mission.
"Captain Montgomery, Andromeda." Admiral L'Set said and got up to round the table, offering her hand. She was a older Vulcan, her grey hair cut short, "Welcome."
We shook hands and exchanged greetings before she turned to the other two, "May I introduce Commander White and Sensor Ghost from the Ethical Terraforming Investigation Section. There have been a adjustment to your mission."
ETIS.
I only knew who they were because I had transported a squad of them before during the Romulan war. It was a carefully kept secret, but their name had nothing to do with the work Section did.
They were black ops, a part of Starfleet Intelligence.
My Captain also shifted slightly at the names, "And what can we do for ETIS?"
It was a command level secret. A 'need to know' one. And unless you were the captain, AI, first officer and possibly chief of security on a ship carrying one of their groups... you didn't need to know.
Commander White smiled slightly and got up to offer her his hand for a shake as well, "Nothing drastic. You can just continue on with your mission like planned, you just need to drop Sensor Ghost and us off at a spot in your planned flight path."
Hmm.
Our flight path didn't bring us past anything remotely important. The closest interesting part of space would be...
Tholian space.
That's not good.
I turned to look at Sensor Ghost only to find her watching me in return. She raised a eyebrow with a small smile.
'Figure it out?' she transmitted.
'Tholians. I know, I know, Top Secret need to know. I just don't like it.'
'Don't worry, it won't be a problem for your crew, just drop us off at the closest part of your normal course.'
Yeah, I know. If ETIS was involved in the first place it was something really important for Federation Security.
Captain Montgomery shook his hand, "I'm sure we might be able to accommodate you assuming Sensor Ghost is small enough. Rommie is just a Nova, not a lot of space."
Sensor Ghost smiled from her seat, "I'm the size of a Runabout. It's going to be a close according to the schematics, but I should be able to squeeze in?"
I smirked at her, "I'm sure we can. Just need to move the shuttles to the side and I should be able to fit you in. Hopefully it won't be too tight for you, just be careful, you might be a bit big for me."
Every non-AI in the room rolled their eyes, including the Vulcan.
AN// This is what happen when nobody volunteer to beta.
We were almost done completely going over every single system I had on board. My actual avatar was over on Vulcan Gateway with Captain Montgomery, we were scheduled for a meeting with Admiral L'Set in a couple of minutes.
Shifting my holographic avatar down to sit with my back against the panel next to her, I shook my head as I crossed my legs, "Nope. Never tried rock climbing. I know they offered it back at the Academy, but I didn't really get much into sports."
The Caitian shook her head and then scooted back in, taking a tool along, "You have to give it a try. It's focusing, relaxing and challenging at the same time."
I frowned slightly, "Relaxing?"
"Yeah. Just you, the rock and the view. All the troubles in the world just go away."
"...I would think hanging on for your life just remove any relaxation from it."
That got a laugh from her, "That's what safety equipment and holodecks are for. Honestly, I prefer climbing in the holodeck as then I can skip all the rope, harnesses and anti gravity belt."
"I guess I can see that."
"I have holodeck time booked for next week, right?"
"Mhmm, Thursday at eighteen hundred."
"You should join me, I'll give you some pointers." she said before she hmmed, "There. How's that?"
I nodded, "Sure we can do that. And yeah, I think that did it. I'm reading the relay properly again. That's the last one in the lab."
Letting out a sigh, she scooted back out and got onto her feet, "Damn, it's been a while since I did this much technical work."
"Well, hopefully you won't need to do it again anytime soon." I chuckled and got my hologram up as well, "Most of your staff is finished as well."
She nodded and then bent down to press the cover back in place, "How are we doing over all?"
I shrugged one shoulder, "Okay. We are mostly done to be honest so we should finish at our planned deadline. I have a good crew."
Hriss grinned, "Damn right you do. Now if we are done, I'm going to go grab a shower, there is only so much of crawling around in machinery I can do before my fur start to protest."
"Hey! Are you saying I'm dusty!?" I exclaimed in mock outrage.
She just laughed at me.
XXXXXXXXXX
I raised a eyebrow in slight surprise as we entered Admiral L'Set's office only to find two more people present. A man wearing a uniform with red shoulders and the rank of commander. The second was a AI avatar with a asian look and long black flowing hair, wearing command uniform as well, a dagger riding on her hip.
Warship then.
Hmm. She was cute. But what are they doing here? This was going to be a one ship mission.
"Captain Montgomery, Andromeda." Admiral L'Set said and got up to round the table, offering her hand. She was a older Vulcan, her grey hair cut short, "Welcome."
We shook hands and exchanged greetings before she turned to the other two, "May I introduce Commander White and Sensor Ghost from the Ethical Terraforming Investigation Section. There have been a adjustment to your mission."
ETIS.
I only knew who they were because I had transported a squad of them before during the Romulan war. It was a carefully kept secret, but their name had nothing to do with the work Section did.
They were black ops, a part of Starfleet Intelligence.
My Captain also shifted slightly at the names, "And what can we do for ETIS?"
It was a command level secret. A 'need to know' one. And unless you were the captain, AI, first officer and possibly chief of security on a ship carrying one of their groups... you didn't need to know.
Commander White smiled slightly and got up to offer her his hand for a shake as well, "Nothing drastic. You can just continue on with your mission like planned, you just need to drop Sensor Ghost and us off at a spot in your planned flight path."
Hmm.
Our flight path didn't bring us past anything remotely important. The closest interesting part of space would be...
Tholian space.
That's not good.
I turned to look at Sensor Ghost only to find her watching me in return. She raised a eyebrow with a small smile.
'Figure it out?' she transmitted.
'Tholians. I know, I know, Top Secret need to know. I just don't like it.'
'Don't worry, it won't be a problem for your crew, just drop us off at the closest part of your normal course.'
Yeah, I know. If ETIS was involved in the first place it was something really important for Federation Security.
Captain Montgomery shook his hand, "I'm sure we might be able to accommodate you assuming Sensor Ghost is small enough. Rommie is just a Nova, not a lot of space."
Sensor Ghost smiled from her seat, "I'm the size of a Runabout. It's going to be a close according to the schematics, but I should be able to squeeze in?"
I smirked at her, "I'm sure we can. Just need to move the shuttles to the side and I should be able to fit you in. Hopefully it won't be too tight for you, just be careful, you might be a bit big for me."
Every non-AI in the room rolled their eyes, including the Vulcan.
AN// This is what happen when nobody volunteer to beta.
Hoyden
Hugbot v0.28
- Location
- UK
It looks ok at a glance, but I'm almost always ok to take a crack at looking things over.
Even the Vulcan groaned at that! Bad, bad, bad.
- Location
- Software
25
"Would you look at that." Lieutenant Drake remarked, crossing his arms as he watched Sensor Ghost slowly enter my shuttle bay.
There wasn't much clearance. She passed through the open doors with a total of a decimeter of free space on either side.
Sensor Ghost was all kinds of sexy. The size of a runabout, she was clearly not one. Her IFF transmitter might say she is a Danube runabout named 'Lunaria', but it was false. She was all smooth curves, no visible warpdrive, her impulse engines were covered as much as possible.
She was aerodynamic, covered with a matte black hull material that seemed to absorb my scans. If it wasn't for her IFF, I wouldn't had spotted her at a hundred kilometers. Not unless I was specifically looking for her.
Even sitting in my shuttle bay she was hard to see on anything but visual light. I had no idea what class she was, but I could tell that she was top secret.
Settling down, I engaged the locks, locking her docking clamps down before starting to close the doors behind her. Triple redundant force field or not, keeping the doors closed when they didn't need to be open was good practice.
Ghost lowered her ramp and a a small group of people exited. Three men and Sensor Ghost, one of whom I recognized as Commander White.
All of them were in pretty normal civilian clothing, no insignia or ranks. Ghost had picked a simple red t-shirt and a pair of rather nice tight leather pants.
"Sir." Drake greeted them as we went to meet them. "I am Lieutenant Drake, I'm the chief of security on the Andromeda. I have been directed to show you to the Captain's readyroom."
White nodded. "I'm White. This is Brown and Blue." he stated, motioning to the other two. All three of them carried themselves like soldiers, before nodding at Sensor Ghost. "And Lunaria."
Going for a theme here, are we?
"The shuttlebay is secure?" he asked.
Drake nodded. "Yes, sir. Shuttlebay is under lockdown, Rommie won't let anyone else inside. As far as the rest of the crew knows, you and your men are transporting volatile materials for terraforming. Shuttlebay is off limits for safety reasons."
"Good. Let's get going, then."
I smiled at the Ghost as we took up the rear, exiting the shuttlebay as I locked the doors behind us. "Well, are you not a pretty thing."
She grinned. "Like what you see, huh?"
"Mhmm. I would ask what kind of hull material that is if I didn't knew you couldn't answer. What class are you, if you can say that?"
"Chameleon class."
I giggled. "Figures."
She winked and hip-bumped me with a grin.
I decided to be the mature one and stuck my tongue out at her.
Ghost grinned. "Hey, do you practice Unlimit?"
Unlimit, a growing and currently very much evolving AI avatar martial arts style. It was way too dangerous to practice with anything but another AI.
It was basically using your avatar to its limits against someone else who did the same. Speed, reaction time and perception all ramped up to the max.
At those speeds and with that much force behind the blows, it became much more about managing your momentum and inertia than anything else. As such it involved a lot of flips and stuff.
It looked spectacular but was tricky to do so a growing spectator sport had grown around it. Several former ROU's had started a full league of it.
Of course it had been invented by a bored warship. Who else would have? I think it was the 'Pretty Pink Princess' who started the entire thing.
I nodded. "Yeah, but I have not practiced in months. Before I Forked off Dancing in Starlight I used to practice with the Runabouts. I'm not that good, though."
"Cool. Wanna practice later? I try to take the opportunity whenever I get the chance."
"Mmm. Sure thing. But I think you just want an excuse to get me into something tight."
Ghost grinned. "Do I need a excuse?"
"Maybe..."
Hmm. She was cute and I did like her. It would never last, but we could have some fun while she was on board.
"Lunaria?" White said, looking back at us.
Sensor Ghost smiled. "Coming." she answered before she winked at me. "Talk to you later." she said over her shoulder as she made her way over to them with decidedly more sway in her hips than was strictly necessary.
'Switching to subspace' Her shipself transmitted to me.
'Sounds good.'
I'm not too proud to say that I did watch quite closely. I couldn't quite help but blush as the last thing she did before entering the readyroom was to wink at my avatar over her shoulder.
Damn it. She caught me. As she knew she would.
"Wow." Drake said, crossing his arms as he looked at the door. "Now that's a hot ship."
I nodded and then frowned, shooting him a look. "What, and I'm not!?"
"Have you seen you?" He answered with a grin. "But unless you changed your mind on me asking you out..."
"Sorry, still not into men."
"See? You are look, don't touch. Her I might have a chance with."
I grinned at that as Sensor Ghost and I continued our half discussion, half innuendo conversation over subspace. "I wouldn't bet on it. I saw her first."
"We'll just have to see who she picks."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
There wasn't much clearance. She passed through the open doors with a total of a decimeter of free space on either side.
Sensor Ghost was all kinds of sexy. The size of a runabout, she was clearly not one. Her IFF transmitter might say she is a Danube runabout named 'Lunaria', but it was false. She was all smooth curves, no visible warpdrive, her impulse engines were covered as much as possible.
She was aerodynamic, covered with a matte black hull material that seemed to absorb my scans. If it wasn't for her IFF, I wouldn't had spotted her at a hundred kilometers. Not unless I was specifically looking for her.
Even sitting in my shuttle bay she was hard to see on anything but visual light. I had no idea what class she was, but I could tell that she was top secret.
Settling down, I engaged the locks, locking her docking clamps down before starting to close the doors behind her. Triple redundant force field or not, keeping the doors closed when they didn't need to be open was good practice.
Ghost lowered her ramp and a a small group of people exited. Three men and Sensor Ghost, one of whom I recognized as Commander White.
All of them were in pretty normal civilian clothing, no insignia or ranks. Ghost had picked a simple red t-shirt and a pair of rather nice tight leather pants.
"Sir." Drake greeted them as we went to meet them. "I am Lieutenant Drake, I'm the chief of security on the Andromeda. I have been directed to show you to the Captain's readyroom."
White nodded. "I'm White. This is Brown and Blue." he stated, motioning to the other two. All three of them carried themselves like soldiers, before nodding at Sensor Ghost. "And Lunaria."
Going for a theme here, are we?
"The shuttlebay is secure?" he asked.
Drake nodded. "Yes, sir. Shuttlebay is under lockdown, Rommie won't let anyone else inside. As far as the rest of the crew knows, you and your men are transporting volatile materials for terraforming. Shuttlebay is off limits for safety reasons."
"Good. Let's get going, then."
I smiled at the Ghost as we took up the rear, exiting the shuttlebay as I locked the doors behind us. "Well, are you not a pretty thing."
She grinned. "Like what you see, huh?"
"Mhmm. I would ask what kind of hull material that is if I didn't knew you couldn't answer. What class are you, if you can say that?"
"Chameleon class."
I giggled. "Figures."
She winked and hip-bumped me with a grin.
I decided to be the mature one and stuck my tongue out at her.
Ghost grinned. "Hey, do you practice Unlimit?"
Unlimit, a growing and currently very much evolving AI avatar martial arts style. It was way too dangerous to practice with anything but another AI.
It was basically using your avatar to its limits against someone else who did the same. Speed, reaction time and perception all ramped up to the max.
At those speeds and with that much force behind the blows, it became much more about managing your momentum and inertia than anything else. As such it involved a lot of flips and stuff.
It looked spectacular but was tricky to do so a growing spectator sport had grown around it. Several former ROU's had started a full league of it.
Of course it had been invented by a bored warship. Who else would have? I think it was the 'Pretty Pink Princess' who started the entire thing.
I nodded. "Yeah, but I have not practiced in months. Before I Forked off Dancing in Starlight I used to practice with the Runabouts. I'm not that good, though."
"Cool. Wanna practice later? I try to take the opportunity whenever I get the chance."
"Mmm. Sure thing. But I think you just want an excuse to get me into something tight."
Ghost grinned. "Do I need a excuse?"
"Maybe..."
Hmm. She was cute and I did like her. It would never last, but we could have some fun while she was on board.
"Lunaria?" White said, looking back at us.
Sensor Ghost smiled. "Coming." she answered before she winked at me. "Talk to you later." she said over her shoulder as she made her way over to them with decidedly more sway in her hips than was strictly necessary.
'Switching to subspace' Her shipself transmitted to me.
'Sounds good.'
I'm not too proud to say that I did watch quite closely. I couldn't quite help but blush as the last thing she did before entering the readyroom was to wink at my avatar over her shoulder.
Damn it. She caught me. As she knew she would.
"Wow." Drake said, crossing his arms as he looked at the door. "Now that's a hot ship."
I nodded and then frowned, shooting him a look. "What, and I'm not!?"
"Have you seen you?" He answered with a grin. "But unless you changed your mind on me asking you out..."
"Sorry, still not into men."
"See? You are look, don't touch. Her I might have a chance with."
I grinned at that as Sensor Ghost and I continued our half discussion, half innuendo conversation over subspace. "I wouldn't bet on it. I saw her first."
"We'll just have to see who she picks."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
You can read all about it here, in the definitive work; If You Give a Robot a Sex Drive, by Laura Numeroff.
Seriously though it does sound like a interesting field of study.
26
"Normal rules?" Sensor Ghost asked as she lead the way into the small gym. It was the middle of ship night so it was empty. Even the second shift was currently either eating or doing other things so we would get it on our own for a while.
Which fitted me just fine, I was likely really rusty.
"Sounds good." I agreed, "Submission or incapacitation. But let's try not to break something, you will need your avatar for whatever it is you are doing."
I had chosen the same kind of thing I used to wear as Star when I sparred with Shran. A sports bra and a pair of somewhat lose fitting white pants. Easy to move in and comfortable.
Ghost however had chosen to wear what could only be described as a very formfitting and as such rather distracting black bodysuit.
"Agreed." she nodded as she put her hair into a quick braid, "What level are you?"
"Last I checked I ranked around the thousand mark. I'm a exploration ship, I didn't get much practice really other than with my runabouts back before I forked." I said with a shrug.
"Hey, thousand isn't bad for a science vessel."
Considering the fact that this special style of fighting could only really be practiced between two AI avatars, it ended up being mostly stations and ships that spent a lot of times in groups or in systems that got better at it. Which mostly meant warships.
Sure, it helped to practice with holograms but it simply wasn't the same. As good as they were, they didn't rank up against a proper thinking opponent.
"Ready?"
I nodded and took a ready stance.
Then she was on me, her first punch aimed straight at my nose. Pushing off with my right foot, I threw myself to the side, one hand lowering to turning it into a one hand stand as I kicked out for her.
She flipped out of the way in turn as I pushed off the floor back onto my feet before throwing myself in her direction.
This entire way of fighting was rather unique. Our avatars were so strong and fast for our weight and size that it was more about managing our momentum and inertia than anything else.
Ghost smirked and jumped straight over me, flipping to put her feet against the ceiling and then attacking from above.
I was just about able to dive out of the way but she still managed to wing my side with her food, sending me sprawling across the mat on the floor until I came to a halt against the well.
"Point to you." I said, brushing my hair out of my eyes as I rolled back onto my feet.
"And you are not half bad. Best science ship I ever gone up against." Ghost said with a grin as she stretched with her arms above her head in a rather distracting manner, "I'm three hundred rated, you should be higher than thousand. At least low nine hundred."
"You are faster than I am."
She grinned at that, "Well, my avatar is military grade. Stronger, faster, tougher. I'm limiting myself to your speed though."
I raised a eyebrow at her, "Oh really?"
"Mhmm."
I rushed at her, going into a slide and a kick upwards. She easily avoided it, dodging to the side, turning it into a roll back onto her feet as I span back up onto mine as well.
Grinning, she moved.
Raising my hand, I grabbed her wrist, turning her punch into a throw with a twist and a spin and it was her time to go sprawling.
"My point."
"One, one." Ghost agreed as she got up again.
She approached slower this time, but her kick almost caught me by surprise, I was just barely able to duck out of the way, her follow up punch thought didn't miss, catching me in the shoulder spinning me around.
Twisting with it, I turned the spin into a kick only to meet only air as she dove back out of the way. No you don't!
Moving after her, I grabbed for her shoulder only for her to duck out of range, her hand brushing against my wrist. Moving to avoid being grabbed, I pulled away but it was too late.
Her fingers wrapped around me and pulled hard, spinning and pulling me closer, her foot hooking behind my ankle.
I went down and she landed heavily ontop of me, pinning me to the floor with my arms above my head.
"Two to me." She said with a grin down at me, "And I have you pinned."
Letting out a sigh, I nodded, "You win."
Damn, I thought I actually had a shot there.
Ghost smiled down at me, "You were good... for a science ship. You over extended at the end though. Should have opened the distance after you avoided my strike."
I smirked up at her, "For a science ship? I spanked you pretty bad for a while there. If I got regular practice, you wouldn't had stood a chance."
"Spanked me, hmm? Is that so? So which one of us are pinned to the floor?" she answered with a smirk of her own.
"..."
Ghost smiled at my silence before her tongue touched her lips and she leaned in to kiss me.
Flirting was one thing but... eh, screw it. I need this.
Locking the doors, I kissed her back.
Which fitted me just fine, I was likely really rusty.
"Sounds good." I agreed, "Submission or incapacitation. But let's try not to break something, you will need your avatar for whatever it is you are doing."
I had chosen the same kind of thing I used to wear as Star when I sparred with Shran. A sports bra and a pair of somewhat lose fitting white pants. Easy to move in and comfortable.
Ghost however had chosen to wear what could only be described as a very formfitting and as such rather distracting black bodysuit.
"Agreed." she nodded as she put her hair into a quick braid, "What level are you?"
"Last I checked I ranked around the thousand mark. I'm a exploration ship, I didn't get much practice really other than with my runabouts back before I forked." I said with a shrug.
"Hey, thousand isn't bad for a science vessel."
Considering the fact that this special style of fighting could only really be practiced between two AI avatars, it ended up being mostly stations and ships that spent a lot of times in groups or in systems that got better at it. Which mostly meant warships.
Sure, it helped to practice with holograms but it simply wasn't the same. As good as they were, they didn't rank up against a proper thinking opponent.
"Ready?"
I nodded and took a ready stance.
Then she was on me, her first punch aimed straight at my nose. Pushing off with my right foot, I threw myself to the side, one hand lowering to turning it into a one hand stand as I kicked out for her.
She flipped out of the way in turn as I pushed off the floor back onto my feet before throwing myself in her direction.
This entire way of fighting was rather unique. Our avatars were so strong and fast for our weight and size that it was more about managing our momentum and inertia than anything else.
Ghost smirked and jumped straight over me, flipping to put her feet against the ceiling and then attacking from above.
I was just about able to dive out of the way but she still managed to wing my side with her food, sending me sprawling across the mat on the floor until I came to a halt against the well.
"Point to you." I said, brushing my hair out of my eyes as I rolled back onto my feet.
"And you are not half bad. Best science ship I ever gone up against." Ghost said with a grin as she stretched with her arms above her head in a rather distracting manner, "I'm three hundred rated, you should be higher than thousand. At least low nine hundred."
"You are faster than I am."
She grinned at that, "Well, my avatar is military grade. Stronger, faster, tougher. I'm limiting myself to your speed though."
I raised a eyebrow at her, "Oh really?"
"Mhmm."
I rushed at her, going into a slide and a kick upwards. She easily avoided it, dodging to the side, turning it into a roll back onto her feet as I span back up onto mine as well.
Grinning, she moved.
Raising my hand, I grabbed her wrist, turning her punch into a throw with a twist and a spin and it was her time to go sprawling.
"My point."
"One, one." Ghost agreed as she got up again.
She approached slower this time, but her kick almost caught me by surprise, I was just barely able to duck out of the way, her follow up punch thought didn't miss, catching me in the shoulder spinning me around.
Twisting with it, I turned the spin into a kick only to meet only air as she dove back out of the way. No you don't!
Moving after her, I grabbed for her shoulder only for her to duck out of range, her hand brushing against my wrist. Moving to avoid being grabbed, I pulled away but it was too late.
Her fingers wrapped around me and pulled hard, spinning and pulling me closer, her foot hooking behind my ankle.
I went down and she landed heavily ontop of me, pinning me to the floor with my arms above my head.
"Two to me." She said with a grin down at me, "And I have you pinned."
Letting out a sigh, I nodded, "You win."
Damn, I thought I actually had a shot there.
Ghost smiled down at me, "You were good... for a science ship. You over extended at the end though. Should have opened the distance after you avoided my strike."
I smirked up at her, "For a science ship? I spanked you pretty bad for a while there. If I got regular practice, you wouldn't had stood a chance."
"Spanked me, hmm? Is that so? So which one of us are pinned to the floor?" she answered with a smirk of her own.
"..."
Ghost smiled at my silence before her tongue touched her lips and she leaned in to kiss me.
Flirting was one thing but... eh, screw it. I need this.
Locking the doors, I kissed her back.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
I remember this from the previous chapter, almost word for word. You may want to change it up some, possibly integrate it into an internal monologue/narration.
spun