I'd offer, but I have this odd tendency when editing stuff to forget I'm editing stuff, read it, move along to the next thing to read, and come back hours later realizing I forgot to edit.
Dreams of Starfire
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
I looked around the briefing room as I listened to Commander Rorick go through the mission parameters.
The mission was relatively simple.
Head down to the planet to discuss mining rights with the local colony. Normally things would have been simple enough if not for two things.
One: the mineral in question, Telxinite, had several properties that was quite rare. For one thing it had a very nasty habit of disrupting transporters which meant taking a shuttle down. It was also quite valuable and rare, being not only impossible to replicate, but also very useful in Warp Core casing alloys. Yes, other minerals could do the job, but not as efficiently.
Two: the by far largest deposit was beneath one of their largest towns. This was an old colony as well, Humans from before the formation of the Federation. They never joined either.
Meaning that it would take a lot of negotiation to get them to allow mining rights.
"Their spaceport is at the west end of the town. From there we will be taking one of their ground transports to the palace." The Commander explained, drawing out the route on the screen. "Once there..."
I nodded with the rest and started going over a preliminary systems check in the hangar. I could use several platforms at once, but quite frankly I didn't like to.
Yes, I could do it, but it wasn't enjoyable, it split my attention. Still, having my systems in order when they got to me would be efficient so I could stand the annoyance. At least I didn't get the double vision thing if I didn't activate my shuttle optical sensors.
My job on this mission was to basically to be the cab driver.
Fly down, drop them off and then sit at the landing pad to wait for them to return. Honestly, quite boring... but there was a keyword in that sentence.
Fly. I got the opportunity to fly.
Well fucking worth sitting on a landing pad for a couple of hours. Not like I didn't have a database full of games to help me pass the time.
"Winter." Commander Rorick said, bringing my attention back to him as I kept flipping mental switches, checking readings. "While this mission is very unlikely to become hostile, it's not a Federation colony. I need you to be able to lift off at a moments notice."
"Affirmative, Commander." I said with a nod.
XXXXXXX
"This is a very strange feeling." Ambassador Anderson said as I lifted off from the hangar deck, starting to slowly slide forward towards the air shield while closing my rear hatch.
"It did take a little getting used to not having somebody physically at the controls." Lieutenant Gordes said and leaned back in the 'pilot seat' as he crossed his arms, "But Arcadia is good at what it does."
Anderson frowned slightly, the slightly overweight, brown-haired human glanced around. "I'm not sure you should refer to Ensign Winter like that, Lieutenant."
"It is actually I that insist on it, Ambassador." I said as I slid past the air shield and suddenly I felt the anvil-like pressure of the atmosphere slip free of my hull. Oh,that felt good.
The burning heat of the system primary was to my right as I slowly started to descend towards the planet.
"I am not a he, I am a ship. Technically, she would be more accurate than he with human naming schemes when it comes to ships." I continued.
"But he still referred to you with the name of the shuttle, not your name, Ensign." Anderson said, looking slightly confused.
That had actually taken some time for them to get used to as well. But when I was a ship, I was a ship.
"When I am acting as Ensign Winter, then my name is Winter." I explained. "I am a ship now." Ships are cool. "My name is Arcadia."
That concept was a bit complex for some people to understand. But it was perfectly clear to me. I may have taken a bit too much inspiration from the Culture books back in my sim, but I liked it.
And as the first multi-form adaptable AI, I could pick what I wanted to be like. If it didn't fit perfectly to their 'normal', then so be it.
Starfleet is about variation and understanding.
"You picked the name as well? It's a bit unusual..." He asked with a frown as I started to approach the atmosphere.
Feeling the first wisps of atmosphere slide across my hull, I suppressed a mental sigh. Such a short time in space.
Well, atmospheric flight was fun too.
As for the name, it caused a whole heap of problems when I picked it. For one thing Starfleet Ship Registry really wasn't set up to handle ship names more than a couple of words long so a Culture name wasn't going to work.
So I had to settle for Arcadia, even if I did get them changing things around to be able to be able to register longer names in the future.
Not all ship names were in English after all even if it was the most common language in the Federation.
"I did, actually. Do you like it, Ambassador?" I asked as I slowly turned in an arc, getting in communication with the local flight control tower to have them guide me towards the landing pad.
"It is... unusual."
"Five minutes to touchdown." I reported as I passed over the edge of the 21st century looking city far below.
"Alright people." Commander Rorick said from his seat. "While the Noral colony is friendly, it's not a Federation planet. Stick together, remember diplomatic away team protocols and try not to insult somebody. Arcadia, keep your hatch closed while we are gone."
"Affirmative, Commander."
Like I would let some backwater dirtsiders finger my controls.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
The mission was relatively simple.
Head down to the planet to discuss mining rights with the local colony. Normally things would have been simple enough if not for two things.
One: the mineral in question, Telxinite, had several properties that was quite rare. For one thing it had a very nasty habit of disrupting transporters which meant taking a shuttle down. It was also quite valuable and rare, being not only impossible to replicate, but also very useful in Warp Core casing alloys. Yes, other minerals could do the job, but not as efficiently.
Two: the by far largest deposit was beneath one of their largest towns. This was an old colony as well, Humans from before the formation of the Federation. They never joined either.
Meaning that it would take a lot of negotiation to get them to allow mining rights.
"Their spaceport is at the west end of the town. From there we will be taking one of their ground transports to the palace." The Commander explained, drawing out the route on the screen. "Once there..."
I nodded with the rest and started going over a preliminary systems check in the hangar. I could use several platforms at once, but quite frankly I didn't like to.
Yes, I could do it, but it wasn't enjoyable, it split my attention. Still, having my systems in order when they got to me would be efficient so I could stand the annoyance. At least I didn't get the double vision thing if I didn't activate my shuttle optical sensors.
My job on this mission was to basically to be the cab driver.
Fly down, drop them off and then sit at the landing pad to wait for them to return. Honestly, quite boring... but there was a keyword in that sentence.
Fly. I got the opportunity to fly.
Well fucking worth sitting on a landing pad for a couple of hours. Not like I didn't have a database full of games to help me pass the time.
"Winter." Commander Rorick said, bringing my attention back to him as I kept flipping mental switches, checking readings. "While this mission is very unlikely to become hostile, it's not a Federation colony. I need you to be able to lift off at a moments notice."
"Affirmative, Commander." I said with a nod.
XXXXXXX
"This is a very strange feeling." Ambassador Anderson said as I lifted off from the hangar deck, starting to slowly slide forward towards the air shield while closing my rear hatch.
"It did take a little getting used to not having somebody physically at the controls." Lieutenant Gordes said and leaned back in the 'pilot seat' as he crossed his arms, "But Arcadia is good at what it does."
Anderson frowned slightly, the slightly overweight, brown-haired human glanced around. "I'm not sure you should refer to Ensign Winter like that, Lieutenant."
"It is actually I that insist on it, Ambassador." I said as I slid past the air shield and suddenly I felt the anvil-like pressure of the atmosphere slip free of my hull. Oh,that felt good.
The burning heat of the system primary was to my right as I slowly started to descend towards the planet.
"I am not a he, I am a ship. Technically, she would be more accurate than he with human naming schemes when it comes to ships." I continued.
"But he still referred to you with the name of the shuttle, not your name, Ensign." Anderson said, looking slightly confused.
That had actually taken some time for them to get used to as well. But when I was a ship, I was a ship.
"When I am acting as Ensign Winter, then my name is Winter." I explained. "I am a ship now." Ships are cool. "My name is Arcadia."
That concept was a bit complex for some people to understand. But it was perfectly clear to me. I may have taken a bit too much inspiration from the Culture books back in my sim, but I liked it.
And as the first multi-form adaptable AI, I could pick what I wanted to be like. If it didn't fit perfectly to their 'normal', then so be it.
Starfleet is about variation and understanding.
"You picked the name as well? It's a bit unusual..." He asked with a frown as I started to approach the atmosphere.
Feeling the first wisps of atmosphere slide across my hull, I suppressed a mental sigh. Such a short time in space.
Well, atmospheric flight was fun too.
As for the name, it caused a whole heap of problems when I picked it. For one thing Starfleet Ship Registry really wasn't set up to handle ship names more than a couple of words long so a Culture name wasn't going to work.
So I had to settle for Arcadia, even if I did get them changing things around to be able to be able to register longer names in the future.
Not all ship names were in English after all even if it was the most common language in the Federation.
"I did, actually. Do you like it, Ambassador?" I asked as I slowly turned in an arc, getting in communication with the local flight control tower to have them guide me towards the landing pad.
"It is... unusual."
"Five minutes to touchdown." I reported as I passed over the edge of the 21st century looking city far below.
"Alright people." Commander Rorick said from his seat. "While the Noral colony is friendly, it's not a Federation planet. Stick together, remember diplomatic away team protocols and try not to insult somebody. Arcadia, keep your hatch closed while we are gone."
"Affirmative, Commander."
Like I would let some backwater dirtsiders finger my controls.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
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Sorain
The eternal DM
- Location
- Nexus, looking down over all there is.
And now I'm hearing everything he says in that voice... it's a good thing.
Of course not! Arcadia is a shuttle of wealth and taste, she has standards!
Edit:
Yeah, I'm gonna throw my argument in as well. It's something of an in joke for Winter and only Winter's friends who ask about it. Plus it's practical for a pile of reasons. I at least loved it to death.
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- Location
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm just wondering how paranoid Arcadia is ... is the shuttle body armed? Do they have the 'heavy duty body' on board, you know, just in case. Heck, do they have the Geth body, just in case they need to get out and around for some reason. I'm thinking, if they can do custom upgrades to the shuttle body, some dedicated small drones that it can deploy internally or externally would be useful. Hands are almost always useful.
Oh, and not that it counts, but I have to say, I'm another vote for the mini-reaper body ... even if the sphere has tractors and can fake being a culture drone (yay, effectors), there is something to be said for manipulators (and a last ditch mobility system) that weird local physics is less likely to break ... because it's not like that ever happens in ST.
As a variant term for their bodies, Transhuman Space uses the term 'shell' for situations like this, not sure if that's a bit of slang they want to try and use.
I will say, it's a lot of fun to see somebody who's really diving into the "I'm not human, let's see how far we can take this." thing.
Oh, and not that it counts, but I have to say, I'm another vote for the mini-reaper body ... even if the sphere has tractors and can fake being a culture drone (yay, effectors), there is something to be said for manipulators (and a last ditch mobility system) that weird local physics is less likely to break ... because it's not like that ever happens in ST.
As a variant term for their bodies, Transhuman Space uses the term 'shell' for situations like this, not sure if that's a bit of slang they want to try and use.
I will say, it's a lot of fun to see somebody who's really diving into the "I'm not human, let's see how far we can take this." thing.
ellipsis
Journeyman Mad Scientist
- Location
- The L4 Lagrange point
You should save the really good ship names for when you get to pilot something larger. The Federation wouldn't really know what to make of a starship that named itself the General Disregard for Convention or some other suitably Culture-esque name.
And does it have a Sovereign voice modulator for "aggressive negotiations"? Or just plain intimidating the heck out of people. If he can't have the Reaper body he might as well go for the Voice...
- Location
- Australia
From Hiver's post-before-last, if it's the same one, it's a Type 8 shuttle, armed with the optional pair of phasers: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Type_8_shuttlecraft
And does it have a Sovereign voice modulator for "aggressive negotiations"? Or just plain intimidating the heck out of people. If he can't have the Reaper body he might as well go for the Voice...
I don't think a stock Type 8 would, but it would certainly be easy enough to add a loudspeaker and the voice modulation would be even easier.
Weero
Taijiquan Initiate
Or just outright Out of Context Problem.
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
IIRC, all shuttles are armed. Not enough to be remotely a threat to anything bigger than another shuttle even with an AI letting them aimdodge incoming fire, but enough that bringing a shuttle to an infantry fight is pretty much the same as bringing a tank to gunfight.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
That is one of the unfortunate things about Star Trek. They never seemed to be willing to give ships decent names. But, I suppose you could always have a private ship named something Culture-y. I'd probably go with something about the size of a runabout or the Delta Flier, just so I could keep it on whatever ship I happen to be stationed on.
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- Location
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Pair of phasers ... okay, so he's got weapons, cutting tools, cooking systems, and random zap covered ... needs a proper deflector dish[1] though for the full USS Make Shit Up fun and games.
I have to agree with @Crazael that a runabout would be a good next step for him, though I can see Starfleet be twichy about long-range FTL, micro-torps, and all the other amusements those bring along.
[1] I can never remember if those shuttles are FTL capable or not[2], but even it does have warp capability and the associated navigational deflector systems, you seem to need a highly visible dish for proper treknobabble bullshit.[3]
[2] In my defence the writers could never seem to make their mind up about it either.
[3] Also Hiver does have a tendency to make the rules for the settings he's running around in more coherent to make for a better writing experience, so I'm expecting to see less 'bullshit of the day' shenanigans anyway.
I have to agree with @Crazael that a runabout would be a good next step for him, though I can see Starfleet be twichy about long-range FTL, micro-torps, and all the other amusements those bring along.
[1] I can never remember if those shuttles are FTL capable or not[2], but even it does have warp capability and the associated navigational deflector systems, you seem to need a highly visible dish for proper treknobabble bullshit.[3]
[2] In my defence the writers could never seem to make their mind up about it either.
[3] Also Hiver does have a tendency to make the rules for the settings he's running around in more coherent to make for a better writing experience, so I'm expecting to see less 'bullshit of the day' shenanigans anyway.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
I wasn't thinking a runabout specifically, but something the size of one. Basically, just big enough to carry around cargo or a few biologicals in reasonable comfort when you want to bring friends along.
Hmm. What about the Raven? The ship 7 of 9's parents used to spy on the Borg? That class of vessel.
- Location
- Wellington, New Zealand
- Pronouns
- He/Him
On one hand, using something that's a somewhat modified Runabout has the advantage of 'off the shelf' parts, and presumably Starfleet ships (that are big enough to expect to dock a Runabout at all) have bays with a ship of that exact size in mind, including all the standard connections for refuelling and so forth.
On the other hand, replicators make 'off the shelf parts' a bit of obsolete idea, and if they bring the plans along, then whatever Starfleet ship/base/whatever they are dealing with can make whatever is needed on the fly. It's never defined how much this stuff can get replicated though, or is practical to replicate. I don't think they can replicate up a Runabout, or even a shuttle, as needed for example, which implies that a mixture of scale and hard to replicate components (warp core?) would lead to spare parts being a thing.
Ah, the joys of world-building in an established setting.
Seriously though, a standard Runabout is fairly good for them, they are a somewhat modular system to start with, and a nice size. What I don't know, and I don't think the series ever say, is if Runabouts are ever used as smallcraft by starships. It's not like a Galaxy class doesn't have room for them, but I don't think we see Runabouts as part of their standard load-out.
All of which is getting more and more off-topic, so I should stop now.
You know, sitting on a landing pad was not that bad. Sure, I could have remoted my Geth body in orbit from here quite easily... hell, I could have gone along with the Diplomatic team even.
But then again, it could have caused unnecessary tensions.
So basically I was sitting on the concrete landing pad in the sunshine, shields down and everything locked up tight.
There were people moving about, working on their own craft on other landing pads. Quite frankly, the locals were not very interesting.
It was a human colony after all, if a non-federation world.
Annoyingly enough I had been ordered to keep active scans to a minimum. It would be impolite to ping the entire space port the entire time I was sitting here, wouldn't it?
Wasn't the largest space port, but the planet had a population of a couple of tens of million so there was some movement around the system... and this was the largest city on the planet.
So while I could spend some time ship and people watching with my passives while waiting for the away teams scheduled report ins and making my own hourly data bursts to The Andromeda... well, there was only so much people watching I could do before I became bored with the entire affair.
At least if I was a actual starship I would have waited in orbit and have much more to actually do, even when waiting.
But no, I was a shuttle for now. Warp capable and armed shuttle, but still a shuttle.
Which meant that I was left on the landing pad, in atmosphere. With nothing to do but play some games and work on scripts for holobooks.
To actually create them I needed a holodeck, but I could do the basic scripting 'by hand' to make it faster when I did get holodeck access.
Sure, I could likely have crafted the entire thing with the help of the shuttle computer, but quite frankly making holodeck programming from scratch without a holoceck was more trouble that it was worth. Better just write the script for it.
"Shuttle Arcadia, It's Commander Rorick. Talks is proceeding like projected. Anything to report."
"No, sir. Situation nominal." I sent back to his comm badge before returning most of my attention to my writing.
You know... I knew the star fleet was not all excitement. Hell, I liked it nice and safe. But this was kind of boring.
Well, at least I had a lot of free time.
A man walking onto the landing pad brought my attention from my attempt of passing the time.
Medium tall, a bit on the thin side. Short blond hair, wearing a workers jumpsuit like the rest of the people working on the other ships.
He had a companion that followed him onto the landing pad. A bit shorter and thicker. Also blond.
"Krause, are you sure about this?" the smaller man asked the taller one. "This is The Feds, they will discover it."
"We can't let those dictators let them tear our world apart. You know they will." Krause said as they approached. "They will do anything to appease their Federation masters. We have to stop this deal before it get of the ground."
"I know, I know... but this?"
Krause stopped and put his hand on my hull and he let out a slow breath, "The Revolution would never be a peaceful one, you know that, Johan. They will never give up the power they have. Now keep a look out."
With that he glanced around before getting down and crawling in under me.
Not that that kept me from noticing when he planted a powerful explosive charge beneath me.
If I had been using active sensors I would have detected that thing across half the space port. With passives... I didn't pick it up on scans before he pulled it from his bag. I should have at this close range.
Must have been shielded in some way.
Makes sense, he did get it past security somehow.
I did a full passive scan of them. Voice prints, facial recognition. Something to turn over to the authorities. I could have captured them in my transporter buffer, but quite frankly, without knowing exactly what would trigger that bomb, I didn't want to risk something giving of that much energy.
Besides, when sitting on as much Telxinite a beam up with leave about as much left of them as if I turned my phaserbanks on them.
Most likely it was either remote detonated or pressure triggered to go of when I left atmosphere, but I didn't really feel like risking it when I was outright sitting on what from the energy signature of the bomb was about the equivalent of about five tons of TNT.
Did I dare signal for help?
Did the bomb have something to keep me from using a active scan on it? Would it set it off?
I probed it the best I could with passives, running the energy signature of the power cell through the computer to try to get a shadow image of the detonator and internal structure of the bomb.
I didn't... detect anything special. It looked like the detonator was attached to a battery linked to what I could only assume was a detonator linked to a containment unit holding warp plasma.
Yeah, that would make a boom if handled wrong. Even worse, that size of boom was plenty enough to get through my hull when under my shields like this. If it breached AM storage, the entire space port would go up.
I couldn't just sit here. Should I warn the workers on the landing pad next to mine? If I did and it was remote triggered, somebody might press the button.
Couldn't do that.
Had to risk the scan. I activated my active sensor suit to get a full picture of the inside of the bomb.
Nothing happened.
Oh. The trigger was a pressure sensor. When I hit the upper atmosphere it would initiate a reaction in the contained warp plasma, creating a detonation powerful enough to turn me into a very find cloud of shrapnel. Make sense, they didn't want to explode their entire space port.
Well, we couldn't have that, now could we?
I activated my transporter and beamed the bomb up before simply letting what I got degrade harmlessly in my transporter buffer while I hailed the Andromeda. I can beam the resulting mess of atoms down when I get into orbit again.
Then I activated my subspace transmitter.
"Captain Stonewall, This is Arcadia. We have a situation..."
AN// Many thanks to kinglugia for betaing this section.
But then again, it could have caused unnecessary tensions.
So basically I was sitting on the concrete landing pad in the sunshine, shields down and everything locked up tight.
There were people moving about, working on their own craft on other landing pads. Quite frankly, the locals were not very interesting.
It was a human colony after all, if a non-federation world.
Annoyingly enough I had been ordered to keep active scans to a minimum. It would be impolite to ping the entire space port the entire time I was sitting here, wouldn't it?
Wasn't the largest space port, but the planet had a population of a couple of tens of million so there was some movement around the system... and this was the largest city on the planet.
So while I could spend some time ship and people watching with my passives while waiting for the away teams scheduled report ins and making my own hourly data bursts to The Andromeda... well, there was only so much people watching I could do before I became bored with the entire affair.
At least if I was a actual starship I would have waited in orbit and have much more to actually do, even when waiting.
But no, I was a shuttle for now. Warp capable and armed shuttle, but still a shuttle.
Which meant that I was left on the landing pad, in atmosphere. With nothing to do but play some games and work on scripts for holobooks.
To actually create them I needed a holodeck, but I could do the basic scripting 'by hand' to make it faster when I did get holodeck access.
Sure, I could likely have crafted the entire thing with the help of the shuttle computer, but quite frankly making holodeck programming from scratch without a holoceck was more trouble that it was worth. Better just write the script for it.
"Shuttle Arcadia, It's Commander Rorick. Talks is proceeding like projected. Anything to report."
"No, sir. Situation nominal." I sent back to his comm badge before returning most of my attention to my writing.
You know... I knew the star fleet was not all excitement. Hell, I liked it nice and safe. But this was kind of boring.
Well, at least I had a lot of free time.
A man walking onto the landing pad brought my attention from my attempt of passing the time.
Medium tall, a bit on the thin side. Short blond hair, wearing a workers jumpsuit like the rest of the people working on the other ships.
He had a companion that followed him onto the landing pad. A bit shorter and thicker. Also blond.
"Krause, are you sure about this?" the smaller man asked the taller one. "This is The Feds, they will discover it."
"We can't let those dictators let them tear our world apart. You know they will." Krause said as they approached. "They will do anything to appease their Federation masters. We have to stop this deal before it get of the ground."
"I know, I know... but this?"
Krause stopped and put his hand on my hull and he let out a slow breath, "The Revolution would never be a peaceful one, you know that, Johan. They will never give up the power they have. Now keep a look out."
With that he glanced around before getting down and crawling in under me.
Not that that kept me from noticing when he planted a powerful explosive charge beneath me.
If I had been using active sensors I would have detected that thing across half the space port. With passives... I didn't pick it up on scans before he pulled it from his bag. I should have at this close range.
Must have been shielded in some way.
Makes sense, he did get it past security somehow.
I did a full passive scan of them. Voice prints, facial recognition. Something to turn over to the authorities. I could have captured them in my transporter buffer, but quite frankly, without knowing exactly what would trigger that bomb, I didn't want to risk something giving of that much energy.
Besides, when sitting on as much Telxinite a beam up with leave about as much left of them as if I turned my phaserbanks on them.
Most likely it was either remote detonated or pressure triggered to go of when I left atmosphere, but I didn't really feel like risking it when I was outright sitting on what from the energy signature of the bomb was about the equivalent of about five tons of TNT.
Did I dare signal for help?
Did the bomb have something to keep me from using a active scan on it? Would it set it off?
I probed it the best I could with passives, running the energy signature of the power cell through the computer to try to get a shadow image of the detonator and internal structure of the bomb.
I didn't... detect anything special. It looked like the detonator was attached to a battery linked to what I could only assume was a detonator linked to a containment unit holding warp plasma.
Yeah, that would make a boom if handled wrong. Even worse, that size of boom was plenty enough to get through my hull when under my shields like this. If it breached AM storage, the entire space port would go up.
I couldn't just sit here. Should I warn the workers on the landing pad next to mine? If I did and it was remote triggered, somebody might press the button.
Couldn't do that.
Had to risk the scan. I activated my active sensor suit to get a full picture of the inside of the bomb.
Nothing happened.
Oh. The trigger was a pressure sensor. When I hit the upper atmosphere it would initiate a reaction in the contained warp plasma, creating a detonation powerful enough to turn me into a very find cloud of shrapnel. Make sense, they didn't want to explode their entire space port.
Well, we couldn't have that, now could we?
I activated my transporter and beamed the bomb up before simply letting what I got degrade harmlessly in my transporter buffer while I hailed the Andromeda. I can beam the resulting mess of atoms down when I get into orbit again.
Then I activated my subspace transmitter.
"Captain Stonewall, This is Arcadia. We have a situation..."
AN// Many thanks to kinglugia for betaing this section.
They should definitely have given Winter/Arcadia more leeway on using active sensors.
Typos:
Typos:
"off"
"that", "would"
"off"
"fine"
noahgab1133
Fluffy?
trying to bomb a sentient ship? congratulations meatbags. you failed spectacularly!
- Location
- Germany
Activating the transmitter before hailing the Andromeda might be a good idea.
Grey Rook
Genuine Nerd
- Location
- The Quantum Foam
I'm here, as always.
I believe the problem with the reaper was limited throughput. Putting the ball inside the reaper would not help in any way.
Sorain
The eternal DM
- Location
- Nexus, looking down over all there is.
'let those' 'let them' One of those has got to go.
I suspect that was meant to be 'off' the ground.
It has two detonators?
Other then that, most fun!
I waited, sitting in the sun on the landing pad, this time pulsing my active sensors once every five seconds.
A eternity for me as I had shifted to full time-accelerated perception, as expanded as in flight, easily enough for me to be able to detect any further biological threats.
Safety or not, people having tried to blow me and my crew up or not... that left me horribly, horribly bored as I waited for word back from Captain Stonewall about what to do. There was only so much I could do while waiting as I had almost five seconds to pass between sensor pulses and keeping a firm lock on the away teams combadges.
So I spent some time studying the local star with my limited sensors. Stellar mechanics was not exactly my real interest... when you had seen one star, you had seen most.
But it was still pretty and passed the time.
"Arcadia, this is Stonewall. Proceed to the government palace. The away-team needs immediate pickup. They are not under fire, but considering the circumstances we are pulling out."
"Affirmative, Captain." I answered as I spun my shields and engines up to maximum, jumping off the landing pad to the startled screams of the crews working on the ships on the other pads.
Ignoring the screaming from the air traffic control tower I easily avoided a heavy cargo shuttle coming in for landing as I flew out over the city, quickly losing altitude.
Spinning around, I moved below roof level, moving along one of their main streets, keeping my speed below two hundred kph. That should keep me out of the arc of fire of any weapon able to take me down.
The risk of actually taking AA fire was pretty minimal, but considering the bullet I'd already dodged I really did not feel like taking any chances.
Easy to handle when perceiving the world at twenty times human normal... and not fast enough to leave a rain of shattered glass behind me.
Leaving half their capitol in shambles would be what my diplomacy teacher back at the academy would call 'a bad job'.
"Commander Rorick, I am approaching your position." I reported as I started to get closer to the government buildings.
"Arcadia, pull around and land on the west side of the building. We are being evacuated that way."
"Affirmative, Commander." I answered as I swooped up, doing a tilted Immelman loop to rise above the rooftops and down on a crossing street. Much easier than trying to take a sharp corner.
Quickly bleeding off speed I took another corner, spinning around as I located the right spot, lowering my ramp as I landed outside the building, weapons and transporters hot.
Just because the stupid minerals kept me from beaming anything safely didn't mean they couldn't be used against a threat.
Using transporters like that was way the fuck against Starfleet regulations, but if it came to one of my crew being shot versus a hostile being turned to assorted atoms, atoms they were and I would take whatever punishment was given to me later.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Commander Rorick was the first one out through the doors, local security forces fanning out to each side, weapons raised to keep them covered.
Some kind of disruptors. Klingon design?
Not unusual, they were some of the most common weapons in the quadrant, being sold everywhere and very rugged.
The AK-47 of this century if you like.
Ambassador Anderson was the next one out through the door, Lieutenant Gordes following him, his stunner raised and trying to look in all directions at once.
Well, at least they had a single weapon with them, even if was just a stunner. Basically a training phaser without all the utility. Just a stun setting.
"Commander! What is going on!?" Ambassador Anderson demanded as Gordes herded him onto my ramp and I started to raise it, taking to the air before they were even off it.
By the time Rorick could answer, I was already out along the closest street, staying low and fast... as fast as I could without wrecking stuff. Stay close to the earth to avoid anti air emplacements until I'm under the horizon.
While it was very unlikely that the terrorists had any kind of heavier anti-air ordnance than possibly a shoulder launched missile, I'm wasn't taking any fucking chances and treated this like a combat launch under fire.
"Arcadia was attacked." Rorick explained before I took over. Why had the Ambassador not been told already? Did they just grab him and pull him from the meeting?
"I was approached by two men. They planted an explosive device with an approximate explosive power of five to ten tons of TNT beneath my hull." I explained as I exited the city, speeding up to just under the speed of sound now when there was less chance of me breaking something.
"A bomb!"
Yes, a bomb, JC.
"There is no danger, Ambassador. As soon as they left, I beamed it up. I will dispose of it properly once we reach orbit."
That caused him to frown. "But I thought transporters didn't work here."
"They don't." Gordes said, holstering his stunner. "Well, you can beam things up, you just don't get anything usable back when you beam the item down again."
"In these circumstance it was quite ideal." I said as I started to accelerate under full power, starting to climb as fast as I could.
The Andromeda was moving in orbit on an intercept course, the other shuttle was approaching from above as well to move into formation.
I re-energized the bomb... or rather the cloud of atoms that used to be the bomb as we exited the atmosphere, moving towards the Andromeda.
"Arcadia to Andromeda. We are on an intercept course. ETA: Two minutes."
"Roger that, Arcadia. Proceed to dock."
I swung around the Andromeda and quickly went through docking procedures, swinging around as I entered the forcefield to land rear ramp first.
As my temporary crew started to disembark I let out a small mental sigh.
I did it.
My first real combat operation and I got everyone home safely.
If I had nerves, that would have been wracking them.
As the landing clamps latched onto the sides of my lower hull I powered down my engines, turning my perception speed down to something more humanlike as I allowed myself to mentally relax.
Bloody hell, that was close.
A small amount of additional pressure at a section at the rear of my hull pulled my attention from my thoughts.
"Are you okay, Arcadia?" Rachel asked as she walked up my ramp into my passenger compartment.
"I... Yes. Mostly. I think I scraped some paint off the lowest parts of my hull when I landed on the planet."
She sat down in my pilot's seat and tapped a couple of buttons to bring up a diagnostic tool. "That's not what I mean and you know it."
"I'll be fine. Just a bit tense." I said as the ship computer gave her the info she wanted. Like I said, all readings were nominal.
"I heard what happened. I was worried." She said, leaning back in the pilots seat.
"I'm fine, Rachel. There was never that much danger." The hell there wasn't.
We are moving a mobile platform onto me for the future. Sometimes not having arms is a disadvantage. Even with transporters.
It was quite amazingly stupid that I didn't think of it before. Pure fucking arrogance that I didn't think I would still need hands in a emergency.
I need to find a new design for my transfer platform to add manipulators and I need to always bring my Geth platform with me.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
A eternity for me as I had shifted to full time-accelerated perception, as expanded as in flight, easily enough for me to be able to detect any further biological threats.
Safety or not, people having tried to blow me and my crew up or not... that left me horribly, horribly bored as I waited for word back from Captain Stonewall about what to do. There was only so much I could do while waiting as I had almost five seconds to pass between sensor pulses and keeping a firm lock on the away teams combadges.
So I spent some time studying the local star with my limited sensors. Stellar mechanics was not exactly my real interest... when you had seen one star, you had seen most.
But it was still pretty and passed the time.
"Arcadia, this is Stonewall. Proceed to the government palace. The away-team needs immediate pickup. They are not under fire, but considering the circumstances we are pulling out."
"Affirmative, Captain." I answered as I spun my shields and engines up to maximum, jumping off the landing pad to the startled screams of the crews working on the ships on the other pads.
Ignoring the screaming from the air traffic control tower I easily avoided a heavy cargo shuttle coming in for landing as I flew out over the city, quickly losing altitude.
Spinning around, I moved below roof level, moving along one of their main streets, keeping my speed below two hundred kph. That should keep me out of the arc of fire of any weapon able to take me down.
The risk of actually taking AA fire was pretty minimal, but considering the bullet I'd already dodged I really did not feel like taking any chances.
Easy to handle when perceiving the world at twenty times human normal... and not fast enough to leave a rain of shattered glass behind me.
Leaving half their capitol in shambles would be what my diplomacy teacher back at the academy would call 'a bad job'.
"Commander Rorick, I am approaching your position." I reported as I started to get closer to the government buildings.
"Arcadia, pull around and land on the west side of the building. We are being evacuated that way."
"Affirmative, Commander." I answered as I swooped up, doing a tilted Immelman loop to rise above the rooftops and down on a crossing street. Much easier than trying to take a sharp corner.
Quickly bleeding off speed I took another corner, spinning around as I located the right spot, lowering my ramp as I landed outside the building, weapons and transporters hot.
Just because the stupid minerals kept me from beaming anything safely didn't mean they couldn't be used against a threat.
Using transporters like that was way the fuck against Starfleet regulations, but if it came to one of my crew being shot versus a hostile being turned to assorted atoms, atoms they were and I would take whatever punishment was given to me later.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Commander Rorick was the first one out through the doors, local security forces fanning out to each side, weapons raised to keep them covered.
Some kind of disruptors. Klingon design?
Not unusual, they were some of the most common weapons in the quadrant, being sold everywhere and very rugged.
The AK-47 of this century if you like.
Ambassador Anderson was the next one out through the door, Lieutenant Gordes following him, his stunner raised and trying to look in all directions at once.
Well, at least they had a single weapon with them, even if was just a stunner. Basically a training phaser without all the utility. Just a stun setting.
"Commander! What is going on!?" Ambassador Anderson demanded as Gordes herded him onto my ramp and I started to raise it, taking to the air before they were even off it.
By the time Rorick could answer, I was already out along the closest street, staying low and fast... as fast as I could without wrecking stuff. Stay close to the earth to avoid anti air emplacements until I'm under the horizon.
While it was very unlikely that the terrorists had any kind of heavier anti-air ordnance than possibly a shoulder launched missile, I'm wasn't taking any fucking chances and treated this like a combat launch under fire.
"Arcadia was attacked." Rorick explained before I took over. Why had the Ambassador not been told already? Did they just grab him and pull him from the meeting?
"I was approached by two men. They planted an explosive device with an approximate explosive power of five to ten tons of TNT beneath my hull." I explained as I exited the city, speeding up to just under the speed of sound now when there was less chance of me breaking something.
"A bomb!"
Yes, a bomb, JC.
"There is no danger, Ambassador. As soon as they left, I beamed it up. I will dispose of it properly once we reach orbit."
That caused him to frown. "But I thought transporters didn't work here."
"They don't." Gordes said, holstering his stunner. "Well, you can beam things up, you just don't get anything usable back when you beam the item down again."
"In these circumstance it was quite ideal." I said as I started to accelerate under full power, starting to climb as fast as I could.
The Andromeda was moving in orbit on an intercept course, the other shuttle was approaching from above as well to move into formation.
I re-energized the bomb... or rather the cloud of atoms that used to be the bomb as we exited the atmosphere, moving towards the Andromeda.
"Arcadia to Andromeda. We are on an intercept course. ETA: Two minutes."
"Roger that, Arcadia. Proceed to dock."
I swung around the Andromeda and quickly went through docking procedures, swinging around as I entered the forcefield to land rear ramp first.
As my temporary crew started to disembark I let out a small mental sigh.
I did it.
My first real combat operation and I got everyone home safely.
If I had nerves, that would have been wracking them.
As the landing clamps latched onto the sides of my lower hull I powered down my engines, turning my perception speed down to something more humanlike as I allowed myself to mentally relax.
Bloody hell, that was close.
A small amount of additional pressure at a section at the rear of my hull pulled my attention from my thoughts.
"Are you okay, Arcadia?" Rachel asked as she walked up my ramp into my passenger compartment.
"I... Yes. Mostly. I think I scraped some paint off the lowest parts of my hull when I landed on the planet."
She sat down in my pilot's seat and tapped a couple of buttons to bring up a diagnostic tool. "That's not what I mean and you know it."
"I'll be fine. Just a bit tense." I said as the ship computer gave her the info she wanted. Like I said, all readings were nominal.
"I heard what happened. I was worried." She said, leaning back in the pilots seat.
"I'm fine, Rachel. There was never that much danger." The hell there wasn't.
We are moving a mobile platform onto me for the future. Sometimes not having arms is a disadvantage. Even with transporters.
It was quite amazingly stupid that I didn't think of it before. Pure fucking arrogance that I didn't think I would still need hands in a emergency.
I need to find a new design for my transfer platform to add manipulators and I need to always bring my Geth platform with me.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.