BobtjeNORMALguy
Color From Beyond
- Location
- Lost in time and space
No its still Paranoia
Paradise Lost
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Well... Yeah, but no one complains until its creepy or you inconvenience them, so its ok.
BobtjeNORMALguy
Color From Beyond
- Location
- Lost in time and space
So what your saying... is that Star needs to go full Yandre on her crew?
Ouch. That's currently going to be a bombshell to hear. Bad news indeed to hear your homeworld was bombarded. Though I suppose A.I.s saving the Federation might make sense(since practically speaking without them the Berserkers would steamroll over them) as she was just saved by them herself.
@Hiver
I look forward to your stories so much that I've decided to become a supporter of your patreon. Hope you're able to continue stories like this for a while.
@Hiver
I look forward to your stories so much that I've decided to become a supporter of your patreon. Hope you're able to continue stories like this for a while.
No, no.... Just like two thirds. Stop when its still endearing. As far as they are capable of perceiving anyway.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You tell the audience what the first advance is, but fail to specify the second. While it can be inferred from context to be the next set of text, it seems odd to start using a list format (first) and not complete it (second, lastly, etc.), especially since the list goes on for more than the two items originally specified.
This exchange is somewhat confusing; who is speaking when? It appears that Star speaks the first line, followed by her Caitian friend using the next two lines - the confusing part being that the Caitian's segment has an unnecessary line break.
Welcome to
Somehow, for a Halloween (or other federation equivalent), I could imagine Star faking this, if the situation is calm enough. The tricky part would be setting it up so the uniforms could be swapped... and making sure everyone gets the joke.
Or setting up a Paranoia-inspired campaign of holonovels... HoloCYOAs?
26
Mentally humming to myself I dug into the Poking Stick's main computer, going through damage reports and modification documentation.
I'd volunteered to put a summary together for Rachel and her crew during the night. After six years, it was quite a lot of data.
My avatar was also in the hangar for when I needed actual eyes on stuff.
I could have used some maintenance drone, but as good as they were, they were not great climbers. Besides, T'Ro was already asleep.
Sighing, I looked up at the hull taking up most of my hangar bay. The large ship looked somewhat like an oversized Danube runabout, but the nose was a mass of mining equipment. The rest of the ship looked like a box with nacelles.
A brown box with nacelles that was covered with a thin film of asteroid dust.
Stepping up, I put my hand softly on the hull, feeling the coarse surface. "What have they done to you, you poor thing." I said softly with a small frown.
The damage to her warpdrive had been the least of it, actually. She would just have needed new warp coils.
The rest was modifications they'd cobbled together to survive that dusty hellhole of a system. Power bypasses, engine modifications, gravity plating, shield modifications. Modifications to be able to run the majority of her life support on electric power from the solar panels.
Poor girl.
She might not be an AI, but all those error signals going through her primitive computer could only be seen as a kind of pain impulses.
Now, this was just me anthropomorphizing the Poking Stick, I was just as susceptible to that as any human, but in a way she was the animal version of me.
She kind of reminded me of a dog that got hurt trying to protect her master.
"What are you doing?"
I glanced back at the man approaching across the hangar deck. Civilian clothing, almost two meters tall, short graying hair, a pair of glasses resting on his nose.
Talbot Anderson. Chief engineer on the Poking Stick.
"Just talking to her, Mister Anderson." I explained as I lowered my hand, turning to face him. "The girl has been through a lot."
He sighed. "That she has. But she held together. Well, mostly."
"Can't blame her for that."
Maybe your shoddy maintenance.
Anderson chuckled and shook his head. "No, no we can't. We had extra warpcoils, just not enough to replace all of them. Hit a subspace pocket as we entered the system. Caused a chain reaction, blew every single warpcoil."
I nodded. "Yeah, that would do it."
At least on a civilian ship. They were not as sturdy as a Fleet ship. She was not made for that kind of punishment.
It was a one in a million to happen though.
"Don't worry." I added with a smile. "We will get her put together again."
"You fleet types always were good at that." He agreed as he walked up next to me, looking up at her hull. "I have talked to ships in the past. This is the first time one has answered."
"So what do you think so far?"
"So far, I quite like the experience." He said with a grin. "So what is it like, being a ship?"
"It's nice. I get to fly among the stars. Feel the solar wind against my hull. Explore the universe with a couple of thousand of my friends." I said before I frowned. "A bit less fun lately."
"Always knew the Romulans would be more trouble." He sighed. "Killed my brother in the last war. He worked on a trade ship... Floating Profit. They disappeared on the way to their destination." He shrugged and continued; "At least... it was thought it was the Romulans. I don't know. For all I know, they hit the same kind of subspace hiccup we did."
I did a database search. Floating Profit.
Medium transport, lost in the Lastar sector seven years ago. Carrying agricultural equipment to a new colony.
There had been a number of ships lost in that sector. Known Romulan raider activity.
"Data supports the hypothesis that it was a Romulan raider." I agreed with a nod. "I just reviewed it."
"Just like that, huh?"
"I do have most of the database in my head, sir." I confirmed with a nod. "Sorry."
Anderson shook his head. "It was what the report said. Made peace with it a long time ago. So what do you make of the Poking Stick?"
"Good ship. She did her job." I said with a smile, looking up at her. "Got you all safe. Now it's our job to take care of her."
He nodded. "We should start with her power systems."
"Those are a real mess, but... yeah." I agreed. "That is the best end to start in. Everything expands from there. I'm putting together a summary for the engineering team to save time. I assume everything is in the documentation?"
"It should be." He agreed. "I'm a bit of a stickler for things like that. Come on, I'll show you."
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
I'd volunteered to put a summary together for Rachel and her crew during the night. After six years, it was quite a lot of data.
My avatar was also in the hangar for when I needed actual eyes on stuff.
I could have used some maintenance drone, but as good as they were, they were not great climbers. Besides, T'Ro was already asleep.
Sighing, I looked up at the hull taking up most of my hangar bay. The large ship looked somewhat like an oversized Danube runabout, but the nose was a mass of mining equipment. The rest of the ship looked like a box with nacelles.
A brown box with nacelles that was covered with a thin film of asteroid dust.
Stepping up, I put my hand softly on the hull, feeling the coarse surface. "What have they done to you, you poor thing." I said softly with a small frown.
The damage to her warpdrive had been the least of it, actually. She would just have needed new warp coils.
The rest was modifications they'd cobbled together to survive that dusty hellhole of a system. Power bypasses, engine modifications, gravity plating, shield modifications. Modifications to be able to run the majority of her life support on electric power from the solar panels.
Poor girl.
She might not be an AI, but all those error signals going through her primitive computer could only be seen as a kind of pain impulses.
Now, this was just me anthropomorphizing the Poking Stick, I was just as susceptible to that as any human, but in a way she was the animal version of me.
She kind of reminded me of a dog that got hurt trying to protect her master.
"What are you doing?"
I glanced back at the man approaching across the hangar deck. Civilian clothing, almost two meters tall, short graying hair, a pair of glasses resting on his nose.
Talbot Anderson. Chief engineer on the Poking Stick.
"Just talking to her, Mister Anderson." I explained as I lowered my hand, turning to face him. "The girl has been through a lot."
He sighed. "That she has. But she held together. Well, mostly."
"Can't blame her for that."
Maybe your shoddy maintenance.
Anderson chuckled and shook his head. "No, no we can't. We had extra warpcoils, just not enough to replace all of them. Hit a subspace pocket as we entered the system. Caused a chain reaction, blew every single warpcoil."
I nodded. "Yeah, that would do it."
At least on a civilian ship. They were not as sturdy as a Fleet ship. She was not made for that kind of punishment.
It was a one in a million to happen though.
"Don't worry." I added with a smile. "We will get her put together again."
"You fleet types always were good at that." He agreed as he walked up next to me, looking up at her hull. "I have talked to ships in the past. This is the first time one has answered."
"So what do you think so far?"
"So far, I quite like the experience." He said with a grin. "So what is it like, being a ship?"
"It's nice. I get to fly among the stars. Feel the solar wind against my hull. Explore the universe with a couple of thousand of my friends." I said before I frowned. "A bit less fun lately."
"Always knew the Romulans would be more trouble." He sighed. "Killed my brother in the last war. He worked on a trade ship... Floating Profit. They disappeared on the way to their destination." He shrugged and continued; "At least... it was thought it was the Romulans. I don't know. For all I know, they hit the same kind of subspace hiccup we did."
I did a database search. Floating Profit.
Medium transport, lost in the Lastar sector seven years ago. Carrying agricultural equipment to a new colony.
There had been a number of ships lost in that sector. Known Romulan raider activity.
"Data supports the hypothesis that it was a Romulan raider." I agreed with a nod. "I just reviewed it."
"Just like that, huh?"
"I do have most of the database in my head, sir." I confirmed with a nod. "Sorry."
Anderson shook his head. "It was what the report said. Made peace with it a long time ago. So what do you make of the Poking Stick?"
"Good ship. She did her job." I said with a smile, looking up at her. "Got you all safe. Now it's our job to take care of her."
He nodded. "We should start with her power systems."
"Those are a real mess, but... yeah." I agreed. "That is the best end to start in. Everything expands from there. I'm putting together a summary for the engineering team to save time. I assume everything is in the documentation?"
"It should be." He agreed. "I'm a bit of a stickler for things like that. Come on, I'll show you."
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Unlikely prediction: one of the local AIs resigns its commission and joins the Poking Stick's crew, or forks and does so, possibly due to falling in love with one of them.
Poking Stick is a good ship name, after all.
Edit: Yes, a new ship appeared and I'm already shipping Star with the ship. Ship Star with every ship, until all shipping is confusing.
Poking Stick is a good ship name, after all.
Edit: Yes, a new ship appeared and I'm already shipping Star with the ship. Ship Star with every ship, until all shipping is confusing.
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- Location
- Logan, Queensland, australia
...if All ships are star, then....
'My God, it's full of stars'
They'd probably call themselves The Stick
I think USS Full of Stars is already a thing in this fic.
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27
The party was going pretty well.
A bit of a celebration for the rescue of the Poking Stick's crew. It had been a couple of days since we picked them up, but we wanted to wait, give them time to acclimatize a bit and unwind.
Being stuck on a little ship like that for years must have been a nightmare. I'm surprised they didn't kill each other.
Then again, they all had private quarters and could get away from the rest when they wanted to.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than the last timeone for several reasons. While it was dress uniform, it was also held in my largest holodeck. Which meant I could use a holographic avatar to get around the worst annoyance with high heels.
I still hadwore them of course, I just didn't need to use my actual avatar which made it less uncomfortable, as I could change the center of balance and adjust the legs on the fly on a hologram.
All in all, it was a lot nicer. Besides, despite the fact that there was a requirement for dress uniforms, it was a lot less formal than normal as there was no stuffy diplomats around.
Also, as it was in my holodeck, no bloody bombs!
The environment I picked for the occasion was a french castle. Lots of marble all around and a large garden.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The party was basically drop in. The entire crew was invited. Only requirements was dress uniform for starfleet personel and formal wear for the civilians.
Okay, quite a lot of people had decided not to show or to hold their own events. There was a large barbecue going on in my park for example.
I couldn't quite suppress a small smirk as I watched Captain Mason sitting by one of the tables close to the buffet table, conversing with Captain Daniels.
They seemed to be getting along.
It just so happened that Captain Daniels guest room turned out to be the one closest to Captain Masons. Just a couple of corridors away. Pure chance of course.
I would strongly deny anything else. And it just made sense all three got a seat at the Captains Table. Pure chance Daniels ended up seated right next to Captain Mason.
Or at least that's what I would say if anybody asked.
Smiling to myself, I headed out of the main room onto the balcony overlooking the garden to T'Ro where she was leaning against the railing, looking out over it.
Moving up to her, I leaned against the railing as well, "Enjoying yourself?"
"Indeed." she agreed, "Quite enjoyable."
"Not really my thing either." I said with a grin, "But for a formal event, not too bad." Before I changed the sky of the holodeck to match our current position with a wave with my hand, filtering out the entire 'star streak' effect to remove the feeling of moving.
That made the moon disappear though and it got darker so I put it back in the sky, increasing the size by twenty percent.
There. That's better.
"Nice." T'Ro said and shifted a bit closer to me.
"It is." I agreed, taking her hand softly and she gave mine a squeeze in turn as I glanced at her with a smile, "You know... I control the holodeck, it would be rather easy to..."
"No."
I grinned at that. Oh well, worth a try. There was always later.
T'Ro gave me a look, "You are as bad as Shran sometimes." she said softly before looking thoughtful, "Where is Shran anyway?"
I shrugged one shoulder, "Left maybe twenty minutes ago. He said something about playing poker. He and a couple of others, Rachel among them joined him at his quarters."
He had been here more than long enough to be polite to duck out.
"Wanna get out of here?" I asked her, "I mean, 'I' should stay, but my avatar is already back home."
"...What do you have planned?"
"Oh nothing..."
"Star..."
I sighed, "Fine. Just a small dinner and such. I'm glad you didn't have too much here."
Her lips twitched in a small smile, "That sound nice."
Blushing softly I shrugged, "I rather like cooking for you. Replicated ingredients or not."
"I'll see you there then." T'Ro said and gave my hand a squeeze before she walked towards the entrance.
I glanced after her with a smile before leaning against the railing again and I couldn't help but do a happy roll.
Perfect evening.
At least for us. How many died today in the war? The next update from Starfleet was scheduled for a couple of days from now. We would find out then.
How many of my friends didn't make to tonight? Is Data still alive? Geordi? Admiral Picard?
Defiant?
Great, that's my good mood ruined. Shaking my head, I turned and walked back into the party. There was nothing I could do about it anyway. Right now I was just thankful my crew was safe.
...Let's keep it like that, shall we?
I kept my active scans going.
AN// Big thanks too Kyceraza for betaing this section.
A bit of a celebration for the rescue of the Poking Stick's crew. It had been a couple of days since we picked them up, but we wanted to wait, give them time to acclimatize a bit and unwind.
Being stuck on a little ship like that for years must have been a nightmare. I'm surprised they didn't kill each other.
Then again, they all had private quarters and could get away from the rest when they wanted to.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than the last timeone for several reasons. While it was dress uniform, it was also held in my largest holodeck. Which meant I could use a holographic avatar to get around the worst annoyance with high heels.
I still hadwore them of course, I just didn't need to use my actual avatar which made it less uncomfortable, as I could change the center of balance and adjust the legs on the fly on a hologram.
All in all, it was a lot nicer. Besides, despite the fact that there was a requirement for dress uniforms, it was a lot less formal than normal as there was no stuffy diplomats around.
Also, as it was in my holodeck, no bloody bombs!
The environment I picked for the occasion was a french castle. Lots of marble all around and a large garden.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The party was basically drop in. The entire crew was invited. Only requirements was dress uniform for starfleet personel and formal wear for the civilians.
Okay, quite a lot of people had decided not to show or to hold their own events. There was a large barbecue going on in my park for example.
I couldn't quite suppress a small smirk as I watched Captain Mason sitting by one of the tables close to the buffet table, conversing with Captain Daniels.
They seemed to be getting along.
It just so happened that Captain Daniels guest room turned out to be the one closest to Captain Masons. Just a couple of corridors away. Pure chance of course.
I would strongly deny anything else. And it just made sense all three got a seat at the Captains Table. Pure chance Daniels ended up seated right next to Captain Mason.
Or at least that's what I would say if anybody asked.
Smiling to myself, I headed out of the main room onto the balcony overlooking the garden to T'Ro where she was leaning against the railing, looking out over it.
Moving up to her, I leaned against the railing as well, "Enjoying yourself?"
"Indeed." she agreed, "Quite enjoyable."
"Not really my thing either." I said with a grin, "But for a formal event, not too bad." Before I changed the sky of the holodeck to match our current position with a wave with my hand, filtering out the entire 'star streak' effect to remove the feeling of moving.
That made the moon disappear though and it got darker so I put it back in the sky, increasing the size by twenty percent.
There. That's better.
"Nice." T'Ro said and shifted a bit closer to me.
"It is." I agreed, taking her hand softly and she gave mine a squeeze in turn as I glanced at her with a smile, "You know... I control the holodeck, it would be rather easy to..."
"No."
I grinned at that. Oh well, worth a try. There was always later.
T'Ro gave me a look, "You are as bad as Shran sometimes." she said softly before looking thoughtful, "Where is Shran anyway?"
I shrugged one shoulder, "Left maybe twenty minutes ago. He said something about playing poker. He and a couple of others, Rachel among them joined him at his quarters."
He had been here more than long enough to be polite to duck out.
"Wanna get out of here?" I asked her, "I mean, 'I' should stay, but my avatar is already back home."
"...What do you have planned?"
"Oh nothing..."
"Star..."
I sighed, "Fine. Just a small dinner and such. I'm glad you didn't have too much here."
Her lips twitched in a small smile, "That sound nice."
Blushing softly I shrugged, "I rather like cooking for you. Replicated ingredients or not."
"I'll see you there then." T'Ro said and gave my hand a squeeze before she walked towards the entrance.
I glanced after her with a smile before leaning against the railing again and I couldn't help but do a happy roll.
Perfect evening.
At least for us. How many died today in the war? The next update from Starfleet was scheduled for a couple of days from now. We would find out then.
How many of my friends didn't make to tonight? Is Data still alive? Geordi? Admiral Picard?
Defiant?
Great, that's my good mood ruined. Shaking my head, I turned and walked back into the party. There was nothing I could do about it anyway. Right now I was just thankful my crew was safe.
...Let's keep it like that, shall we?
I kept my active scans going.
AN// Big thanks too Kyceraza for betaing this section.
Ship shipping - Ship Hard: Shipception
Ship really shipping - Ship Hard 2: Ship Harder
Edit: Stay tuned for the last part of the trilogy: Ship Hard 3: It's A Good Day To Ship
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Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
Watch as Mason quits and leaves Shran in command.
28
The door to Shran's quarters opened and Rachel exited, shrugging on her uniform jacket as she started down the corridor before she froze for a second.
"Star?"
I formed a hologram next to her and smiled. "Yes, Rachel?"
"Not a word. Ever. Never. Happened."
I smiled a bit wider. "A word about what? I have no idea what you are talking about. Privacy mode was engaged all night."
"Exactly! I fell asleep on the couch! That's all!" She said as she reached up trying to get her hair in order as she walked along the corridor towards her quarters and I followed along.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Sure.
"I see." I said as I walked along. "So... how was the couch?" I asked with a teasing grin.
Her cheeks turned slightly red, temperature variance by half a degree.
She entered the turbolift and gave my hologram a look. "Stop that! Nothing happened!"
"Nothing is quite loud."
"...Loud?"
"Mhmm. Privacy mode was engaged, but I still have sensors in the corridor, you know. Don't worry, nobody else noticed, not everyone has my audio sensors. Besides, I discreetely redirected people to other hallways during the... busiest periods."
Rachel covered her face with her hands as she groaned, turning even redder. "Oh god... This is revenge for bothering you about T'Ro, isn't it?"
I grinned playfully. "Maybe a little."
"It was a one time thing, okay! Not happening again." She groaned, lowering her hands.
"That bad, huh?"
That earned me a look. "No! It wasn't bad! Actually, he-" she started before she glared at me. "Stop that! Didn't I say not a word?!"
Smiling, I shook my head. "You are the one talking, not me."
Rachel sighed. "...We are just friends. I'm not even sure what happened. I stayed and we talked after the poker game and... Well... things just kinda evolved..."
"Ah."
She sighed again and rubbed her forehead. "...I really should talk to him about it... shouldn't I?"
I shrugged. "Up to you."
There was silence for a moment before Rachel looked over at my avatar again. "Star... thanks for directing people away."
"No problem." I answered with a smile of my own before it turned playful instead. "You know... those rooms are actually pretty soundproof. You would need to get pretty loud to..."
"AugH!"
I giggled at her. "Oh, relax. Nobody would care." before I shifted closer and continued; "So... are you okay?"
Rachel kept blushing but nodded. "...Yeah. I don't regret that it happened, but I really should talk to Shran about it. I mean, I'm not sure it will ever happen again or if it will turn into something more, but it was... nice."
"A bit more than nice if you go by the sound levels."
"Star!"
XXXXXXXXXX
With that little disaster headed off at the pass, we bypassed what was likely weeks of those two walking on eggshells around each other and awkward silences.
Besides, Rachel had earned some teasing. She did enough of it about me and T'Ro. I would poke Shran some as well, but it would just encourage him.
Better let Rachel handle this one.
Everything was good. I did a small happy roll as I kept scanning the skies for attackers. Hmm, that star is pretty. Unusual spectrographic scan. Lots of iron in the chromosphere.
I marked it as 'check this out!' for the astrophysics lab and continued scanning the void all around. Subspace was calm, just random bursts of messages moving to their destinations. Faint ripples of warpdrives too far away to identify as specific ships.
Most people think space is empty.
For visible light, it really is. Mostly, anyway. For anything else... no way. I was swimming in a whirling, pulsing orchestra of light and motion.
...What in the fuck is that thing?
A... knot of gravity. It was like somebody had sneezed a hole in the universe, straight through subspace and everything.
Not a black hole or even a wormhole even if it had some things in common with that second one. I did a full scan, at least as much as I could while in warp at almost a lightyear's distance.
Huh.
I did a check against the database. Nothing. Some kind of spacetime/subspace anomaly. A brand new one as well.
Awesome! Let's go poke it!
I beeped the captain's quarters. Privacy mode was engaged so I couldn't just form a hologram like normal. Which, considering the circumstances, was probably for the best.
There were several eternally long seconds before he pressed the button to answer.
"Mason."
"Captain, I am detecting a spacetime anomaly about a lightyear away. Permission to change course to investigate."
"...Granted."
"Estimated time of arrival, just over ten hours. Enjoy your morning, sir. Hope I didn't wake you, Captain Daniels."
There was a couple of seconds of silence before she answered. "...I was already awake, Star. Thanks for asking."
"You are welcome, Ma'am.
Life was good.
AN// All the buckets of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
"Star?"
I formed a hologram next to her and smiled. "Yes, Rachel?"
"Not a word. Ever. Never. Happened."
I smiled a bit wider. "A word about what? I have no idea what you are talking about. Privacy mode was engaged all night."
"Exactly! I fell asleep on the couch! That's all!" She said as she reached up trying to get her hair in order as she walked along the corridor towards her quarters and I followed along.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Sure.
"I see." I said as I walked along. "So... how was the couch?" I asked with a teasing grin.
Her cheeks turned slightly red, temperature variance by half a degree.
She entered the turbolift and gave my hologram a look. "Stop that! Nothing happened!"
"Nothing is quite loud."
"...Loud?"
"Mhmm. Privacy mode was engaged, but I still have sensors in the corridor, you know. Don't worry, nobody else noticed, not everyone has my audio sensors. Besides, I discreetely redirected people to other hallways during the... busiest periods."
Rachel covered her face with her hands as she groaned, turning even redder. "Oh god... This is revenge for bothering you about T'Ro, isn't it?"
I grinned playfully. "Maybe a little."
"It was a one time thing, okay! Not happening again." She groaned, lowering her hands.
"That bad, huh?"
That earned me a look. "No! It wasn't bad! Actually, he-" she started before she glared at me. "Stop that! Didn't I say not a word?!"
Smiling, I shook my head. "You are the one talking, not me."
Rachel sighed. "...We are just friends. I'm not even sure what happened. I stayed and we talked after the poker game and... Well... things just kinda evolved..."
"Ah."
She sighed again and rubbed her forehead. "...I really should talk to him about it... shouldn't I?"
I shrugged. "Up to you."
There was silence for a moment before Rachel looked over at my avatar again. "Star... thanks for directing people away."
"No problem." I answered with a smile of my own before it turned playful instead. "You know... those rooms are actually pretty soundproof. You would need to get pretty loud to..."
"AugH!"
I giggled at her. "Oh, relax. Nobody would care." before I shifted closer and continued; "So... are you okay?"
Rachel kept blushing but nodded. "...Yeah. I don't regret that it happened, but I really should talk to Shran about it. I mean, I'm not sure it will ever happen again or if it will turn into something more, but it was... nice."
"A bit more than nice if you go by the sound levels."
"Star!"
XXXXXXXXXX
With that little disaster headed off at the pass, we bypassed what was likely weeks of those two walking on eggshells around each other and awkward silences.
Besides, Rachel had earned some teasing. She did enough of it about me and T'Ro. I would poke Shran some as well, but it would just encourage him.
Better let Rachel handle this one.
Everything was good. I did a small happy roll as I kept scanning the skies for attackers. Hmm, that star is pretty. Unusual spectrographic scan. Lots of iron in the chromosphere.
I marked it as 'check this out!' for the astrophysics lab and continued scanning the void all around. Subspace was calm, just random bursts of messages moving to their destinations. Faint ripples of warpdrives too far away to identify as specific ships.
Most people think space is empty.
For visible light, it really is. Mostly, anyway. For anything else... no way. I was swimming in a whirling, pulsing orchestra of light and motion.
...What in the fuck is that thing?
A... knot of gravity. It was like somebody had sneezed a hole in the universe, straight through subspace and everything.
Not a black hole or even a wormhole even if it had some things in common with that second one. I did a full scan, at least as much as I could while in warp at almost a lightyear's distance.
Huh.
I did a check against the database. Nothing. Some kind of spacetime/subspace anomaly. A brand new one as well.
Awesome! Let's go poke it!
I beeped the captain's quarters. Privacy mode was engaged so I couldn't just form a hologram like normal. Which, considering the circumstances, was probably for the best.
There were several eternally long seconds before he pressed the button to answer.
"Mason."
"Captain, I am detecting a spacetime anomaly about a lightyear away. Permission to change course to investigate."
"...Granted."
"Estimated time of arrival, just over ten hours. Enjoy your morning, sir. Hope I didn't wake you, Captain Daniels."
There was a couple of seconds of silence before she answered. "...I was already awake, Star. Thanks for asking."
"You are welcome, Ma'am.
Life was good.
AN// All the buckets of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Like the runabout said, she's almost painfully Starfleet.
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Showing a capital-grade science ship AI a completely new type of Negative Space Wedgie is like showing a biologist a completely new species that's totally unlike anything seen before. This is like being the guy who discovered/documented the platypus.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
Isn't star travelling at warp 5 or 6? If it's only a lightyear, the travel time should be minutes, not hours.
You do not approach these things quickly. The slower you move the more time you have to fix shit when you find out that the Brakes no longer work in the vicinity of the negative space wedgie.
Endymion
An Operator will be with you shortly.
Star Irwin: Crikey, now see here, this is a mysterious new phenomena. What were going to do is stalk up on it real slow like. My crew seems to think that it might be poisonous, or potentially anti timelike in nature! Lets poke it with the main deflector!
Anyone else suspecting that one of Star's science vessel offshoots is named the Really Long Poking Stick?
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
No, but there is a Ten Foot Pole.
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
Project: Get Captain Laid: SUCCESS!
bobnik
Memetic Warfare Specialist.
Naw. The REALLY clever monkeys use eleven foot poles.