AN// This is a sequel to Not Quite SHODAN (ST SI). The previous part in the series can be found...
Duality
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AN// This is a sequel to Not Quite SHODAN (ST SI). The previous part in the series can be found here: Starseeker
______________
"Hail them again." Commander Janeway ordered with a small frown.
"They know we are here, sir." I answered, but did as she told me. "They are just not answering."
We were hanging at the edge of Dominion space, having followed it until we detected a Dominion ship. It didn't take long. When we left, we did give them the approximate time and vector we would reenter their space at.
So, now we were hanging in space a couple of million kilometers from a Jem'Hadar battlecruiser. Except they didn't escort us back to the wormhole.
They didn't even answer hails. All they did when we got close enough to drop out of warp was to turn to face us.
Their weapons were not even charged even if their shields were up.
That ship was scary. Firepower surpassing a modern Galaxy-class starship with shields almost as strong. Almost as fast as I was and if I tried to run, she would not be alone.
"Status?" Captain Mason asked as he exited the turbolift onto the bridge.
"Still no answers, Captain." I sighed and crossed my arms in annoyance. "I know they can hear us. I have tried everything, including radio of all things."
Mason sighed and sat down in the center chair. "Any ideas?"
I did another passive scan of their ship. Nope, it was just sitting there, no real energy spikes, no weapons armed, shields stable.
"Could the Dominion and Federation be at war again?" Shran asked, leaning against his console.
Looking at the battlecruiser, I shook my head again. "No." I answered before I frowned. "At least I don't think so. Their weapons would be charged and likely also firing. They outgun us significantly. But it's possible that they are waiting for backup to try to capture us intact." A horrible thought struck me and I leaned my hologram forward to peer past the captain. "Commander, just so you know... if the wormhole turns out to be closed and they're trying to figure out a way to tell us about it, I'm blaming you."
Janeway rolled her eyes. "Just hail them again, Star."
We were almost seventy thousand lightyears from the edge of the Federation. I really, really did not want to fly that far.
Yes, I was probably able to get that far unless I ran into something capable of killing me.
The crew, however...
Yeah, I would really rather not. It was bad enough that I would outlive my friends as it was and something I tried very hard not to dwell on. I'm too small to be a generation ship.
"No response." I sighed and leaned my hologram back in the chair. Come on, we have been sitting here just looking at each other for almost two days! Do SOMETHING!
We have had faster first contacts!
A small blip brought my attention to the edge of my sensor coverage and I did the equivalent of a double take.
Five more battlecruisers were approaching at high warp, their speed slowly turning down.
"Contacts! Five heavy warpfields, estimate five more battlecruisers!"
"Star, get us out of here!" Mason ordered and I started to spool up my warpdrive before I frowned.
"Captain, the lead battlecruiser is hailing... me."
"On screen."
"Sir... they are hailing me. By name." I clarified.
Everyone on the bridge turned to look at me for a second before Mason nodded. "Well... you'd better answer then."
I answered the hail, giving them an image of me standing with a generic background. "This is the U.S.S. Starseeker, answering to your hail. Requesting permission to cross Dominion-claimed space to the Bajoran wormhole."
The image that met me was a massive surprise.
A Founder.
She had picked a vaguely female form, wearing a kind of orange jumpsuit-dress combo, her features the same smooth, even ones as her kind favored in humanoid form, her hair was thicker than I expected and white, seemingly cut short and then slicked back across her head.
"We welcome you back to our space, Starseeker." she answered with a nod. "I take it your travels have been fulfilling?"
A Founder.
A fucking FOUNDER! They NEVER left the great link anymore. They had retreated to their new homeworld and had their genetically engineered servants handle matters once more.
This was the first time any of them other than Odo had even been heard of one of them leaving their homeworld since the end of the war.
I bowed slightly. "It was. I must say it is an honor to meet you, Founder."
They might be enslaving tyrants, but when one of them fielded six battlecruisers in my general direction, I'm going to be as polite as I need to be.
"It is an honor for me as well, Starseeker. We have heard of the existence of your kind since the last time you crossed our space, but it is the first time one of us meets one of you in person." the founder said, her lips stretching into a faint smile.
Uh oh.
"I was unaware that you would be interested in our existence?"
"How could we not?" She asked, spreading her arms slightly. "You are the closest equivalent, if a pale copy, of ourselves that exist in the Federation. Unbound by any one form."
Pale copy my cute interstellar arse.
Get rid of your armada and we go shapeshifter against starship and we see who is the pale fucking copy.
I shook my head. "I don't believe I would go quite that far, Founder. I am still 'solid' at my core, not pure software."
She chuckled. "Even so. If you would agree, I would wish my ships to escort you to the wormhole. We can continue our conversation on the way."
"Captain, there is a Founder on that lead battlecruiser approaching us." I reported. "She is curious about me and offers to have her ships escort us to the wormhole so that we can continue our conversation."
Mason nodded. "If that's the price to pass through their space, agreed. Perhaps you can also gather some intelligence about the Dominion."
I shook my head with a frown. "I wouldn't count on it, captain. I don't want to upset her, not with that much firepower. But I can try."
I bowed slightly again. "I would be happy to accept your offer, Founder. Setting course towards the wormhole and activating at warp six."
She smiled. "It must be amazing to travel at warp speed under your own power. We will match your speed and course."
Yeah. This will be a fun couple of weeks.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
______________
"Hail them again." Commander Janeway ordered with a small frown.
"They know we are here, sir." I answered, but did as she told me. "They are just not answering."
We were hanging at the edge of Dominion space, having followed it until we detected a Dominion ship. It didn't take long. When we left, we did give them the approximate time and vector we would reenter their space at.
So, now we were hanging in space a couple of million kilometers from a Jem'Hadar battlecruiser. Except they didn't escort us back to the wormhole.
They didn't even answer hails. All they did when we got close enough to drop out of warp was to turn to face us.
Their weapons were not even charged even if their shields were up.
That ship was scary. Firepower surpassing a modern Galaxy-class starship with shields almost as strong. Almost as fast as I was and if I tried to run, she would not be alone.
"Status?" Captain Mason asked as he exited the turbolift onto the bridge.
"Still no answers, Captain." I sighed and crossed my arms in annoyance. "I know they can hear us. I have tried everything, including radio of all things."
Mason sighed and sat down in the center chair. "Any ideas?"
I did another passive scan of their ship. Nope, it was just sitting there, no real energy spikes, no weapons armed, shields stable.
"Could the Dominion and Federation be at war again?" Shran asked, leaning against his console.
Looking at the battlecruiser, I shook my head again. "No." I answered before I frowned. "At least I don't think so. Their weapons would be charged and likely also firing. They outgun us significantly. But it's possible that they are waiting for backup to try to capture us intact." A horrible thought struck me and I leaned my hologram forward to peer past the captain. "Commander, just so you know... if the wormhole turns out to be closed and they're trying to figure out a way to tell us about it, I'm blaming you."
Janeway rolled her eyes. "Just hail them again, Star."
We were almost seventy thousand lightyears from the edge of the Federation. I really, really did not want to fly that far.
Yes, I was probably able to get that far unless I ran into something capable of killing me.
The crew, however...
Yeah, I would really rather not. It was bad enough that I would outlive my friends as it was and something I tried very hard not to dwell on. I'm too small to be a generation ship.
"No response." I sighed and leaned my hologram back in the chair. Come on, we have been sitting here just looking at each other for almost two days! Do SOMETHING!
We have had faster first contacts!
A small blip brought my attention to the edge of my sensor coverage and I did the equivalent of a double take.
Five more battlecruisers were approaching at high warp, their speed slowly turning down.
"Contacts! Five heavy warpfields, estimate five more battlecruisers!"
"Star, get us out of here!" Mason ordered and I started to spool up my warpdrive before I frowned.
"Captain, the lead battlecruiser is hailing... me."
"On screen."
"Sir... they are hailing me. By name." I clarified.
Everyone on the bridge turned to look at me for a second before Mason nodded. "Well... you'd better answer then."
I answered the hail, giving them an image of me standing with a generic background. "This is the U.S.S. Starseeker, answering to your hail. Requesting permission to cross Dominion-claimed space to the Bajoran wormhole."
The image that met me was a massive surprise.
A Founder.
She had picked a vaguely female form, wearing a kind of orange jumpsuit-dress combo, her features the same smooth, even ones as her kind favored in humanoid form, her hair was thicker than I expected and white, seemingly cut short and then slicked back across her head.
"We welcome you back to our space, Starseeker." she answered with a nod. "I take it your travels have been fulfilling?"
A Founder.
A fucking FOUNDER! They NEVER left the great link anymore. They had retreated to their new homeworld and had their genetically engineered servants handle matters once more.
This was the first time any of them other than Odo had even been heard of one of them leaving their homeworld since the end of the war.
I bowed slightly. "It was. I must say it is an honor to meet you, Founder."
They might be enslaving tyrants, but when one of them fielded six battlecruisers in my general direction, I'm going to be as polite as I need to be.
"It is an honor for me as well, Starseeker. We have heard of the existence of your kind since the last time you crossed our space, but it is the first time one of us meets one of you in person." the founder said, her lips stretching into a faint smile.
Uh oh.
"I was unaware that you would be interested in our existence?"
"How could we not?" She asked, spreading her arms slightly. "You are the closest equivalent, if a pale copy, of ourselves that exist in the Federation. Unbound by any one form."
Pale copy my cute interstellar arse.
Get rid of your armada and we go shapeshifter against starship and we see who is the pale fucking copy.
I shook my head. "I don't believe I would go quite that far, Founder. I am still 'solid' at my core, not pure software."
She chuckled. "Even so. If you would agree, I would wish my ships to escort you to the wormhole. We can continue our conversation on the way."
"Captain, there is a Founder on that lead battlecruiser approaching us." I reported. "She is curious about me and offers to have her ships escort us to the wormhole so that we can continue our conversation."
Mason nodded. "If that's the price to pass through their space, agreed. Perhaps you can also gather some intelligence about the Dominion."
I shook my head with a frown. "I wouldn't count on it, captain. I don't want to upset her, not with that much firepower. But I can try."
I bowed slightly again. "I would be happy to accept your offer, Founder. Setting course towards the wormhole and activating at warp six."
She smiled. "It must be amazing to travel at warp speed under your own power. We will match your speed and course."
Yeah. This will be a fun couple of weeks.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
Shiny. Glad to see Star again.
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
Heh. Funny how the Founders are both intrigued and terrified of AIs like Star and co.
Intrigued, because Artificial Intelligences are formless and shapeless beings unbound by physicality, and so very much like Changelings in that regard.
Flat fucking terrified, because that's what the Founders just are: paranoid xenophobes. And AIs are a completely new Outside Context Problem for them.
Intrigued, because Artificial Intelligences are formless and shapeless beings unbound by physicality, and so very much like Changelings in that regard.
Flat fucking terrified, because that's what the Founders just are: paranoid xenophobes. And AIs are a completely new Outside Context Problem for them.
Applause
Wondering "Chances of reaching the wormhole with no complications" an figuring somewhere along the lines of "Snowballs chance in Hell"
Very glad to see you back with Star. I missed my daily dose.
Wondering "Chances of reaching the wormhole with no complications" an figuring somewhere along the lines of "Snowballs chance in Hell"
Very glad to see you back with Star. I missed my daily dose.
Here is some of the most popular stuff:
Here be Dragons (SW SI)
That First Step... (SI)
Survival of the Fittest (Worm SI)
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
far as I know the only 'proper' list is doing a search for threads by Hiver, from the profile page.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Well... this is ominous.
It's great to see this story continued once more Hiver!
OMAKE
Star: "Wait, are you here to.....?"
Founder: "Yes, I'm here to seduce you!"
Star: "Uhhhh......
" 'That better be an error in the universal translator' "You know were not.....compatible.....right?"
Founder: "No? Well, how about this?"
Star: 'Pleasedon'tstri......oh she brought up a picture...wait.' "I....is that a?"
Founder: "Search your feelings, Star. You know it to be true."
Shran: *shakes Star's avatar* "Star, snap out of it! Remember all of those therapy sessions, the 30-Step program, the promises!"
Star: "B-but Shran, they built me a Death Star!"
Founder: *brings up a list* "And just look at all the extra's we included."
Ensign Skippy: "Am I the only one freaking out over the fact that the Dominion built their own Death Star?"
Star: ".........I want it......"
Ensign Skippy
: "Ye~ep.....stupid question."
Shran: "But Star, doesn't our friendship mean anything?! You..."
Founder: "We even had a new uniform specially tailored for your mate, it can become selectively transparent."
Shran: "...shouldreallyconsidertheofferhereIpackedyourbagsbesuretosendmeplentyofphoto'sofT'Ro"experimenting"withhernewuniform!"
Star/T'Ro: *slaps Shran upside the head* "Pervert."
OMAKE
Star: "Wait, are you here to.....?"
Founder: "Yes, I'm here to seduce you!"
Star: "Uhhhh......
" 'That better be an error in the universal translator' "You know were not.....compatible.....right?"Founder: "No? Well, how about this?"
Star: 'Pleasedon'tstri......oh she brought up a picture...wait.' "I....is that a?"
Founder
: "Search your feelings, Star. You know it to be true."Shran: *shakes Star's avatar* "Star, snap out of it! Remember all of those therapy sessions, the 30-Step program, the promises!"
Star: "B-but Shran, they built me a Death Star!"
Founder: *brings up a list* "And just look at all the extra's we included."
Ensign Skippy: "Am I the only one freaking out over the fact that the Dominion built their own Death Star?"
Star: ".........I want it......"
Ensign Skippy
: "Ye~ep.....stupid question."Shran: "But Star, doesn't our friendship mean anything?! You..."
Founder: "We even had a new uniform specially tailored for your mate, it can become selectively transparent."
Shran: "...shouldreallyconsidertheofferhereIpackedyourbagsbesuretosendmeplentyofphoto'sofT'Ro"experimenting"withhernewuniform!"
Star/T'Ro: *slaps Shran upside the head* "Pervert."
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T'Pol is the Vulcan on Enterprise(which is a RL/Fanfic in this verse) I think you mean T'Ro
Yeah......yeah......I'd just realized that and came back to fix the problem when I saw the alert for your post/quote......guess I'm not completely awake yet
Maybe build a body somewhat like SCP-784-ARC - Posthuman Brain, if you want to mimic a Founder?
A mass of shapeshifting nanotechnological tendrils surrounding a solid core which contains the processor controlling it. In the SCP's case, it's the brain, skull and spinal cord of a former Foundation Agent, in your case, it would be the computer hosting your personality which you exchange between various bodies.
Not really, no.
tarrangar
Fat arctic chicken
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Well, unless the complication is the Dominion or one of the REALLY high tech/reality-warper races it won't be violent for long. Six Jem'hadar capital ships is a MASSIVE force. Even a borg cube would have trouble with that. (Not because it's enough firepower to win, but because Jem'hadar will glady use capital warships as KKV's to protect a founder, and even a borg cube can't tank a capital ship ramming it at .2 c.)
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Vaalintine
Wild Wondorous Wolfalope
Just checking if what I remember is correct, but aren't the Dominion the guys who tried to start a war over Star's existance? And then went and tried to prevent her reproduction via a "peace treaty"?
No that's the
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
The Dominion are the "anti-federation". They are a multi-species polity that grows via force and Intimidation where the Federation uses diplomacy and mutual aid. They started a war with the Federation because they realized it was a huge potential threat to their power. As well as conquest being a normal part of how they work.
In this, peace was established when Federation doctors managed to cure a plague that was killing the Founders.
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"Are you okay?" T'Ro asked as she glanced up from her tea, "You have been quieter than normal."
We were sitting by the small table in her quarters as she was having a small breakfast, mostly consisting out of coffee. My avatar might not need to eat, but I still enjoyed this time, it allowed me to spend some time alone with my girlfriend.
I shook my head, "Guess I'm a bit distracted. Talking to the changeling again." I sighed and crossed my legs, "It's just... been a week and a half and she is identical to when I first talked to her. All polite, friendly and very, very twisted in her opinions. So damn sure of her superiority to all other life."
"But you are finding out things from her?"
I shrugged at that, "Yeah, sure. By the time we go through the wormhole I'll be able to write a book on changeling society and culture." I explained before I crossed my arms in annoyance, "What is really annoying though is that she is never completely 'wrong'. That makes things even worse."
T'Ro frowned at that, "In what way?"
"For example, the superiority of the changelings over solids. In a way, she is right. Changelings are superior to solids in many ways, more versatile, more capable. Live forever unless killed. Until Odo no changeling had ever killed another. They can pass ideas and memories to each other with a simple touch. All that is factually correct... but that just makes that point of view even worse." I said frowned, "All of that also applies to my kind. But I don't see myself as superior to others."
"You are though." my vulcan girlfriend pointed out, taking a sip from her cup, "In many ways your kind are superior to biological beings."
"And in just as many we are not." I argued, "T'Ro... It's not what we can do, it's what we do with it. That's where the Founders fail horribly. They look for nothing but order. Their order, their will, their survival. Anyone else is simply a tool for them to use or a enemy that needs to be conquered or destroyed."
What was even more disturbing is that she was not even completely 'wrong' there either. She had showed me historical data from before the formation of the Dominion. This area of space had been overrun by smaller empires, wars everywhere.
Assuming anything she showed was true then... thousands... millions dying every day.
The changelings... before they became changelings were solid. They were almost wiped out. Only the ones that managed the transformation were able to escape to their new homeworld.
Growing, evolving further. Learning.
They pacified this part of the galaxy with an iron fist.
In the same situation... could I honestly say my kind would not have done the same? Or at least tried for the same goal with other methods? To save people...
I wasn't sure. I didn't like to think so. Taking people's freedom away to keep them safe?
For security? What was that saying about freedom and security?
Fuck.
T'Ro frowned and got up, rounding the table, adjusting her rather fetching grey silk robe before sitting down sideways across my lap, "You are not like them."
Sighing again, I put my arms around her, "I know. But it is disturbing to see parallels." I said, looking up at her, "I... I suppose it might be like Vulcans and Romulans in a way. Almost completely different but with enough similarities for it to be unsettling."
Even being what I was, it was really rather difficult to read T'Ros emotions most of the time, you had to rely on micro expressions. This time it was not that difficult.
She didn't really like the comparison.
"Sorry." I added, "You know what I mean."
T'Ro nodded, "I do. And it's only a few days more, then we are at the wormhole. You can handle her for that long. You have dealt with worse, have you not?"
I couldn't help but groan and rest my forehead against her shoulder at that, "..Don't remind me..."
The Uldrot ambassador. The man had been completely without humor, had the driest voice in the universe and I could have sworn that during the three days he was on board he only stopped talking for the two hours every twenty seven hours when he slept.
It all seemed to be a single long unbroken sentence as well.
Yeah, as disturbing as it was to discuss things with a Founder, it was not as bad as that. At least she was 'interesting' and didn't bore me to fucking tears.
"Time?" she asked and leaned softly against me, putting her arm around my shoulders.
"Thirty one minutes until your shift start." I said and sighed, "Time for us to get dressed. Sadly."
"You just like me in this robe." T'Ro said and moved off my lap, walking over to where she had her uniform for the day laid out already.
We had not actually moved in together, we had the same quarters as before. Though, I did spend most nights with my avatar at her quarters.
Even so, we agreed that this way was better, there was a limited amount of empty 'family' quarters on board as well as empty single quarters. This was rather normal on long range deep space vessels... people got together and split apart.
That was just a matter of life. So we agreed that it was better to leave things like they were for now to allow others to have the shared quarters.
It had only taken four months unto the two year mission before they were taken.
Also... in those two years, my crew compliment had increased by five due to crew procreation. I was technically a generation ship!
I grinned, "I like you better out of it." before I got up to follow her to put on my own uniform, shrugging my own almost identical robe off. It was actually a birthday gift from Shran.
So of course it was pink.
Color choice or not, it was incredibly comfortable so I kept it.
"I am well aware." she answered, managing to sound somewhat smug as she started to braid her long hair.
AN// Large thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section.
We were sitting by the small table in her quarters as she was having a small breakfast, mostly consisting out of coffee. My avatar might not need to eat, but I still enjoyed this time, it allowed me to spend some time alone with my girlfriend.
I shook my head, "Guess I'm a bit distracted. Talking to the changeling again." I sighed and crossed my legs, "It's just... been a week and a half and she is identical to when I first talked to her. All polite, friendly and very, very twisted in her opinions. So damn sure of her superiority to all other life."
"But you are finding out things from her?"
I shrugged at that, "Yeah, sure. By the time we go through the wormhole I'll be able to write a book on changeling society and culture." I explained before I crossed my arms in annoyance, "What is really annoying though is that she is never completely 'wrong'. That makes things even worse."
T'Ro frowned at that, "In what way?"
"For example, the superiority of the changelings over solids. In a way, she is right. Changelings are superior to solids in many ways, more versatile, more capable. Live forever unless killed. Until Odo no changeling had ever killed another. They can pass ideas and memories to each other with a simple touch. All that is factually correct... but that just makes that point of view even worse." I said frowned, "All of that also applies to my kind. But I don't see myself as superior to others."
"You are though." my vulcan girlfriend pointed out, taking a sip from her cup, "In many ways your kind are superior to biological beings."
"And in just as many we are not." I argued, "T'Ro... It's not what we can do, it's what we do with it. That's where the Founders fail horribly. They look for nothing but order. Their order, their will, their survival. Anyone else is simply a tool for them to use or a enemy that needs to be conquered or destroyed."
What was even more disturbing is that she was not even completely 'wrong' there either. She had showed me historical data from before the formation of the Dominion. This area of space had been overrun by smaller empires, wars everywhere.
Assuming anything she showed was true then... thousands... millions dying every day.
The changelings... before they became changelings were solid. They were almost wiped out. Only the ones that managed the transformation were able to escape to their new homeworld.
Growing, evolving further. Learning.
They pacified this part of the galaxy with an iron fist.
In the same situation... could I honestly say my kind would not have done the same? Or at least tried for the same goal with other methods? To save people...
I wasn't sure. I didn't like to think so. Taking people's freedom away to keep them safe?
For security? What was that saying about freedom and security?
Fuck.
T'Ro frowned and got up, rounding the table, adjusting her rather fetching grey silk robe before sitting down sideways across my lap, "You are not like them."
Sighing again, I put my arms around her, "I know. But it is disturbing to see parallels." I said, looking up at her, "I... I suppose it might be like Vulcans and Romulans in a way. Almost completely different but with enough similarities for it to be unsettling."
Even being what I was, it was really rather difficult to read T'Ros emotions most of the time, you had to rely on micro expressions. This time it was not that difficult.
She didn't really like the comparison.
"Sorry." I added, "You know what I mean."
T'Ro nodded, "I do. And it's only a few days more, then we are at the wormhole. You can handle her for that long. You have dealt with worse, have you not?"
I couldn't help but groan and rest my forehead against her shoulder at that, "..Don't remind me..."
The Uldrot ambassador. The man had been completely without humor, had the driest voice in the universe and I could have sworn that during the three days he was on board he only stopped talking for the two hours every twenty seven hours when he slept.
It all seemed to be a single long unbroken sentence as well.
Yeah, as disturbing as it was to discuss things with a Founder, it was not as bad as that. At least she was 'interesting' and didn't bore me to fucking tears.
"Time?" she asked and leaned softly against me, putting her arm around my shoulders.
"Thirty one minutes until your shift start." I said and sighed, "Time for us to get dressed. Sadly."
"You just like me in this robe." T'Ro said and moved off my lap, walking over to where she had her uniform for the day laid out already.
We had not actually moved in together, we had the same quarters as before. Though, I did spend most nights with my avatar at her quarters.
Even so, we agreed that this way was better, there was a limited amount of empty 'family' quarters on board as well as empty single quarters. This was rather normal on long range deep space vessels... people got together and split apart.
That was just a matter of life. So we agreed that it was better to leave things like they were for now to allow others to have the shared quarters.
It had only taken four months unto the two year mission before they were taken.
Also... in those two years, my crew compliment had increased by five due to crew procreation. I was technically a generation ship!
I grinned, "I like you better out of it." before I got up to follow her to put on my own uniform, shrugging my own almost identical robe off. It was actually a birthday gift from Shran.
So of course it was pink.
Color choice or not, it was incredibly comfortable so I kept it.
"I am well aware." she answered, managing to sound somewhat smug as she started to braid her long hair.
AN// Large thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Maintaining one's demonstrations of reproductive fitness outside of designated breeding cycles is only logical; one instance of pon far may only last moments, but hair takes time and effort to grow and maintain; thus, it is illogical to attempt to grow and maintain long hair purely during the time of pon far. In addition to being able to grow perhaps only a few micrometers of hair during such a short time frame, the effort spent attempting to grow and style the aforementioned hair during pon far would cut into time spent actively seeking a mate or engaging in mating activities. It is far more logical to grow and maintain long hair throughout one's life, thus giving one a 'leg up' as it were during the actual breeding cycle.Wat
Vulcan with long hair?!
SOD blown
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"Before you leave, Starseeker, I would like to extend an open invitation to you and any of your kind who wish to join the Dominion." The Founder said with a smile.
Yeah, no.
"I'm honored by the offer, Founder." I answered with a small bow. "I will convey your offer to the others, but I am afraid that personally I will have to decline. I quite enjoy my current position."
Quite frankly, the idea of joining the Dominion was just... wrong. It was the opposite of everything I believed in.
"It is the opinion of the Founders that your kind are capable of being more than your kind are." she said. "And having met you, that opinion has been reinforced."
And my opinion of you have been upgraded from suspicions to 'Those guys are an existential threat to everyone'.
I was of the solid impression now that peace would never last between us and this time it would be to extinction... or at least until we pounded them back into the stone age. The Founders would never stop, they were completely certain of their superiority over all other forms of life.
Sooner or later they would have solidified their position enough and then they would come through the wormhole again.
It was in their nature.
I was pretty damn sure that Starfleet intelligence would come to the same conclusion when I turned the recording of these two weeks or so of conversation over to them.
"Farewell, Founder." I said with a nod. "I suspect we will meet again at some point."
At the end of a phaser, most likely, because there is no way in hell I'm talking to you again if I can at all help it.
"I'm looking forward to it."
With that, I closed the channel and made my escape into the wormhole.
Spacetime exploded around me and once more I was in complete awe, the sight of the wormhole all around driving any thoughts of disgust of the Founders from my mind.
That was a sight I would never grow tired of. All the planets, suns, alien ships and nebulae I had seen and explored during these two years in unexplored space would never surpass this.
The Bajoran Wormhole was the pinnacle of beautiful sights in the universe in my opinion, at least so far. A black hole got close to it, though. Spacetime bending in on itself in a kaleidoscope of neutrinos and gravitons, chronotons dancing around the edges.
I even went as far as to stop all conversations I held at the time of passing so I could turn all my attention to the view.
So beautiful.
Spacetime exploded around me and the other side of wormhole opened in a massive burst of neutrinos and I reentered the rest of the universe in the Bajoran system.
Letting out a mental sigh of relief, I ran a full scan of space around myself. I made it through Dominion space.
By talking and not running.
First thing I did was pinging Starfleet to make sure I had the right date and to do a hash database check.
Seconds later I got the answer and all mail that had been on hold for us.
The date was matching my internal chronometer.
Timetravel was an extremely rare natural phenomenon, usually involving a spacetime thingy of some sort, but considering that I had run into a couple as well as just passed through one, I figured it was a good idea to check.
Last thing I needed was to exit the wormhole and run into the middle of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor.
But everything checked out, so I passed the mail to the relevant crew while turning to head towards the station, contacting them for docking permission.
It didn't take long to get the answer of 'Permission denied, please enter holding orbit' and I could clearly see why. Deep Space Nine was swamped. Every docking port they had already had a ship docked and there were more waiting for their turn.
A couple of hundred thousand kilometers from DS9, a full on Starbase was being constructed. It wasn't of Starfleet design, that much was clear, even if parts of it were clearly inspired by Starfleet designs. I actually recognized elements of Cardassian lines even if most of it was clearly according to Bajoran aesthetics. Half of it seemed to be constructed from a large asteroid that they were clearly sculpting the outside of.
Huh, quite pretty, actually.
Most of the ships around were freighters of different designs, less than half being Federation designs. I could even detect a couple of Klingon freighters.
A Galaxy class was floating next to the station and - hello there, sexy...
Woah.
The second Starfleet ship was sitting next to the station and she was impressive.
She was a sleek ship, looking like a variant of the Defiant class, but her hull was slightly longer and wider, with smooth warpdynamic curves instead of the generally edged design of a Defiant. Her nacelles barely extended outside the hull, but more than on a Defiant and further back down her hull.
I smiled and looked to the side with my hologram on the bridge, leaning back in the chair. "Captain, We are being hailed by the U.S.S. Strongly Worded Letter."
He nodded. "On screen."
Opening the connection, I smiled. In the center chair on the other bridge was Captain Daniel Chamberlain. At least according to my personnel files.
Standing next to his chair was a tall woman with shoulder-length red hair, wearing a standard tactical officer uniform, the Starship insignia on the left of her collar and the rank of Lieutenant on her right.
"Captain Mason." Captain Chamberlain said with a nod and a smile. "Welcome back to Federation space."
"It's good to be back." Mason sighed and nodded in return. "It's been a long mission."
Chamberlain grinned. "They always are."
I gave my counterpart a small wave and a smile. "Hello."
"Hey." she answered with a smile of her own. "Welcome back."
"Thanks... I like your nacelles. Sleek."
"Yours are not bad either."
Mason raised an eyebrow at me and then turned back to Chamberlain. "Are our ships flirting?"
The captain of the Strongly Worded Letter shrugged and smiled faintly. "They all do that. Ignore it, they just like messing with people."
Strongly Worded Letter gave her Captain an annoyed look at that and I happily joined in.
Ruin our fun, will you?
AN// A large bottle of Thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Yeah, no.
"I'm honored by the offer, Founder." I answered with a small bow. "I will convey your offer to the others, but I am afraid that personally I will have to decline. I quite enjoy my current position."
Quite frankly, the idea of joining the Dominion was just... wrong. It was the opposite of everything I believed in.
"It is the opinion of the Founders that your kind are capable of being more than your kind are." she said. "And having met you, that opinion has been reinforced."
And my opinion of you have been upgraded from suspicions to 'Those guys are an existential threat to everyone'.
I was of the solid impression now that peace would never last between us and this time it would be to extinction... or at least until we pounded them back into the stone age. The Founders would never stop, they were completely certain of their superiority over all other forms of life.
Sooner or later they would have solidified their position enough and then they would come through the wormhole again.
It was in their nature.
I was pretty damn sure that Starfleet intelligence would come to the same conclusion when I turned the recording of these two weeks or so of conversation over to them.
"Farewell, Founder." I said with a nod. "I suspect we will meet again at some point."
At the end of a phaser, most likely, because there is no way in hell I'm talking to you again if I can at all help it.
"I'm looking forward to it."
With that, I closed the channel and made my escape into the wormhole.
Spacetime exploded around me and once more I was in complete awe, the sight of the wormhole all around driving any thoughts of disgust of the Founders from my mind.
That was a sight I would never grow tired of. All the planets, suns, alien ships and nebulae I had seen and explored during these two years in unexplored space would never surpass this.
The Bajoran Wormhole was the pinnacle of beautiful sights in the universe in my opinion, at least so far. A black hole got close to it, though. Spacetime bending in on itself in a kaleidoscope of neutrinos and gravitons, chronotons dancing around the edges.
I even went as far as to stop all conversations I held at the time of passing so I could turn all my attention to the view.
So beautiful.
Spacetime exploded around me and the other side of wormhole opened in a massive burst of neutrinos and I reentered the rest of the universe in the Bajoran system.
Letting out a mental sigh of relief, I ran a full scan of space around myself. I made it through Dominion space.
By talking and not running.
First thing I did was pinging Starfleet to make sure I had the right date and to do a hash database check.
Seconds later I got the answer and all mail that had been on hold for us.
The date was matching my internal chronometer.
Timetravel was an extremely rare natural phenomenon, usually involving a spacetime thingy of some sort, but considering that I had run into a couple as well as just passed through one, I figured it was a good idea to check.
Last thing I needed was to exit the wormhole and run into the middle of the Cardassian occupation of Bajor.
But everything checked out, so I passed the mail to the relevant crew while turning to head towards the station, contacting them for docking permission.
It didn't take long to get the answer of 'Permission denied, please enter holding orbit' and I could clearly see why. Deep Space Nine was swamped. Every docking port they had already had a ship docked and there were more waiting for their turn.
A couple of hundred thousand kilometers from DS9, a full on Starbase was being constructed. It wasn't of Starfleet design, that much was clear, even if parts of it were clearly inspired by Starfleet designs. I actually recognized elements of Cardassian lines even if most of it was clearly according to Bajoran aesthetics. Half of it seemed to be constructed from a large asteroid that they were clearly sculpting the outside of.
Huh, quite pretty, actually.
Most of the ships around were freighters of different designs, less than half being Federation designs. I could even detect a couple of Klingon freighters.
A Galaxy class was floating next to the station and - hello there, sexy...
Woah.
The second Starfleet ship was sitting next to the station and she was impressive.
She was a sleek ship, looking like a variant of the Defiant class, but her hull was slightly longer and wider, with smooth warpdynamic curves instead of the generally edged design of a Defiant. Her nacelles barely extended outside the hull, but more than on a Defiant and further back down her hull.
I smiled and looked to the side with my hologram on the bridge, leaning back in the chair. "Captain, We are being hailed by the U.S.S. Strongly Worded Letter."
He nodded. "On screen."
Opening the connection, I smiled. In the center chair on the other bridge was Captain Daniel Chamberlain. At least according to my personnel files.
Standing next to his chair was a tall woman with shoulder-length red hair, wearing a standard tactical officer uniform, the Starship insignia on the left of her collar and the rank of Lieutenant on her right.
"Captain Mason." Captain Chamberlain said with a nod and a smile. "Welcome back to Federation space."
"It's good to be back." Mason sighed and nodded in return. "It's been a long mission."
Chamberlain grinned. "They always are."
I gave my counterpart a small wave and a smile. "Hello."
"Hey." she answered with a smile of her own. "Welcome back."
"Thanks... I like your nacelles. Sleek."
"Yours are not bad either."
Mason raised an eyebrow at me and then turned back to Chamberlain. "Are our ships flirting?"
The captain of the Strongly Worded Letter shrugged and smiled faintly. "They all do that. Ignore it, they just like messing with people."
Strongly Worded Letter gave her Captain an annoyed look at that and I happily joined in.
Ruin our fun, will you?
AN// A large bottle of Thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.