Remove ads

Paradise Lost

Reader mode
Lirana said:
Like that planet full of gangsters where they forgot a communicator?

.....What ever happened to those guys anyway?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Y'know the Orion syndicate that's supposedly powerful enough that the Federation et. al. haven't just zapped the lot of 'em? Yeah, it's actually the O'Ryan Syndicate, and they want a piece of the action.
 
Hiver said:
I immediately regret this decision!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is why you send automated probes, damnit!

Hiver said:
Hull integrity at forty percent. Hull... intact-ish. I think.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
...What does hull integrity even mean in this context? :confused:

Hiver said:
U.S.S. Enterprise. NCC-1701.

We all just stared at it for a very long moment before I slowly sat down my avatar in my chair. "We are so fucked."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Now Star, it's already been established that most of the weird stuff didn't actually happen to the Enterpri-

Hiver said:
The U.S.S. Enterprise-C once... Wait... That was real?!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
After evaluating the evidence, my above objection is retracted. You are indeed fucked, Star.
 
Remove ads
31
  • Threadmarks
    • I could immediately identify everyone on the screen.

    Captain James T. Kirk. Commander Spock. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura. Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu. Ensign Pavel Chekov.

    I ran full facial recognition software. Yep, it was them alright. No beards or other facial hair either. That's a good sign.

    "This is Captain James Kirk of the United Earth Starship Enterprise. Please identify yourselves."

    Oh yeah! I had forgotten that the Federation members used to build their own ships instead of unified Starfleet designs!

    Captain Mason stood up with a smile. "This is Captain Alexander Mason of the United Federation of Planets starship Dancing in Starlight. I apologize, Captain Kirk. It seems that we have gotten a bit lost."

    There was a pause as Kirk glanced over at Spock before turning back to the screen. "So it would seem. Never seen a Federation ship like that before."

    "That's because she is not built yet." the Captain explained. "Nor are we from this universe. We passed through a... fissure by accident while studying it. It dropped us off here. We are currently conducting repairs and waiting for the fissure to stabilize again so that we can attempt to return to our own universe and time."

    "I see. Is... there something we can do to assist you?"

    Captain Mason smiled at that. "I doubt that, Captain Kirk, but we do appreciate the offer. I would like to extend an invitation to yourself and your senior staff however."

    "We would be honored."

    "We stand ready to receive you." Captain Mason said with a nod. "Mason out."

    I closed the connection and looked over at him as he turned to me and shook his head.

    "I never expected to meet the James Kirk." He said and chuckled. "Well... it's not our Kirk, but likely as close as we are ever going to get."

    ...That depends on how annoying that vortex is going to be on the way back.

    Shran grinned briefly and then tapped his combadge. "Ensign Ajan, please report to transporter room two. Bring a history book."

    "...Commander? Uhm... yes sir?"

    I raised an eyebrow at Shran and asked: "No more warning than that?" as he closed the channel.

    "He'll figure it out."

    Rolling my eyes before I gave Captain Mason a wary look, I wondered: "...Dress uniforms?"

    He smirked. "Under the circumstances, I suppose we can skip that."

    Best Captain!


    XXXXXXXXXXX


    Eclipse Phase and Dreamwalker were quite pissed that they were not invited for the first meeting. They could watch with my internal sensors, but the actual physical bodies there had to be limited.

    Captain Mason, Commander Shran, Ensign Ajan and my avatar were the only ones waiting in the transporter room.

    There we are: the transporter beam activating on the direct coordinates. Catching the beam, I ran a scan for weapons and hazardous materials before allowing the transport onto my transporter pad.

    Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, Doctor McCoy and an ensign security officer in a red shirt I didn't recognize.

    I managed to not grin as I kept a firm transporter lock on all four of them. That was a fun joke I remembered from the sim. Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Ensign Redshirt go on an away team. Who is going to die?

    Mason stepped up, offering his hand. "Captain Kirk."

    "Captain Mason." Kirk answered and returned the handshake. "I must say, this is a most amazing ship."

    I smiled happily at that and said; "Thank you, Sir.", which got me a slightly curious look from the visitors.

    "Allow me to introduce some of my senior staff." Mason said, dropping the handshake. "This is Commander Shran, my first officer. Ensign Ajan, first contact specialist and Dancing in Starlight, my ship."

    Kirk gave me a surprised look. "Ship?"

    I nodded and smiled. "Yes, sir. I am the Federation Artificial Intelligence, Dancing in Starlight."

    Spock looked me up and own before raising an eyebrow. "Fascinating."

    Don't ask for an autograph, don't ask for an autograph! Damn it, Starship, you are a professional! Act like it!

    Kirk nodded and then turned to at his people in turn. "I would like to introduce Commander Spock, Doctor McCoy and Ensign Larson."

    Mason smiled. "A pleasure. May I interest you in a tour of the ship?"

    "We would appreciate it." Kirk said and moved along. "I am surprised that you are so... willing to show us around. We have regulations to preserve the timeline. I would assume that you would have the same."

    "We have." Captain Mason agreed. "Timetravel is a rare natural phenomenon that has never been replicated via artificial means, but we do have regulations about it. However, as this is a different universe from our own, they do not apply. This is technically a first contact situation."

    "Artificial Intelligence?" Commander Spock asked me as we followed along.

    I nodded. "Yes, Commander."

    He raised an eyebrow. "Are all future Starfleet ships equipped with an artificial intelligence such as yourself? In your universe, of course."

    "Yes, sir. There are a total of three of us on board. Me and two smallcraft."

    "Most intriguing."




    AN// All the thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Hoyden said:
    Did they just travel to canon?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I don't think so. NX-01 was a United Earth ship, but NCC-1701 had mentions of Starfleet and the Federation. Of course, in TOS and the earlier movies, the relation between Starfleet and the Federation isn't very well established. So it might be more of something closer to canon than Star's timeline.
     
    32
  • Threadmarks
    • James Kirk rubbed his chin, looking around the park. To see something like this, even so small, on a spaceship was strange. It seemed like a waste of space even on a ship this massive.

    He looked around and saw that their hosts had moved away, giving them some privacy.

    "Mr Spock, your opinion?" he asked as he turned to his half Vulcan first officer.

    "I find it intriguing, Captain." Spock answered, "While they are not from our future, it is most fascinating to see a possible way the Federation and Starfleet might evolve in."

    McCoy scowled, "Yeah. As pets to a machine!"

    Spock shook his head, "It seems to be a partnership, Doctor. Apparently they succeeded with their M-5 multitronic unit where we failed."

    James looked around with a thoughtful look. Nobody could argue that it wasn't a amazing ship. But there were things that were just... wrong.

    No people on the bridge, if it could even be called that. Just some chairs in an illusion of open space. The computer did everything.

    It was like the M-5 all over again.

    A computer should not have that kind of power. They were meant to take orders, not give them.

    There was a sound of static and suddenly the computers human image was standing next to Spock, "Excuse me, Sirs." it said, "Before you continue, I would like to inform you that I hear and see everything on board. With the way I function this is an unavoidable necessity, at least in public areas such as this park. If you would like, I can show you to a private area with a privacy switch that shut down all sensors in the room. You will be able to talk privately there."

    "You watch everything everyone do?" McCoy asked, his eyes slightly wide.

    The computer nodded, "In public areas only, Doctor. Everyone needs private spaces, it was something we insist on. We AI insist on it that is. There are things when seen can not be unseen."

    "And everyone is fine with this level of... surveillance?" James said with a frown, "It seems intrusive."

    She shrugged, "Not really. A lot of people don't like it. There have been resignations from Starfleet over it since we were installed across the fleet. Sadly, it was necessary."

    "Necessary in which way?" Spock asked, "What threat would require such a extreme action?"

    She crossed her arms, looking to the side, "I'm not at liberty to say. That is something you should ask Captain Mason."

    Kirk frowned and then nodded, "I see. We will make sure to do that then."

    Nodding, she then turned to Spock. "The M-5 experiment was actually a failure for us as well." she explained, "Very little to none of my design come from that project. At most it served as a example on what not to do."

    "I see. You are not a multitronic design? If that is a question you can answer."

    She smiled at him, "I'm about three generations of computer design technology more advanced than that, Commander. We have not used duotronic computers at all for over a hundred years. Multitronic was mostly skipped in favor of optronic systems. I'm two generations further than that. We used bioneural gelpacks for a while, but they turned out to have vulnerabilities that was not really worth it."

    "Fascinating."

    Kirk rubbed his chin. He liked to consider himself a intelligent man, but that was mostly just words to him.

    "What kind of hardware do you use?" Spock asked and she shrugged.

    "I run on a Quantum Core." She said and held her fingers up about four inches apart, "I'm about this big."

    "And you run a ship this size?" McCoy asked with a frown.

    She nodded, "Yes, Doctor. With no problem. I am made to interface with any Federation computer system as well as be able to adapt to new systems."

    "Would you object to a logic problem?" Kirk asked thoughtfully. Let's see how smart she really is.

    Dancing in Starlight shook her head, "Not at all, Captain. Ask your question."

    "This sentence is false."

    She stared at him for a short moment before the hologram started to sparkle and loop, "Error! Error! Error! Err..." she said before she returned to normal with a giggle, sticking her tongue out at him, "I'll go with true. I'm just fucking with you. Come on, Captain, I thought it would be something difficult."

    "You do not act in a manner of other artificial intelligence we have encountered," Spock observed. "You act almost... human."

    "That's because you have never run into a real AI before, Commander Spock. At least if your discoveries match the ones the Enterprise made back in our universe. What you have run into are VI."

    Spock raised a eyebrow, "VI?"

    She nodded, "Virtual Intelligence. It acts like an AI and can even pass the turing test. But it doesn't have free will and is unable to adapt to new situations. It might be the smartest thing in the universe at managing a ship or colony or something but ask it to figure out how to..." she trailed off and then shrugged, "..Make a sandwich and all you get is error messages. That kind of logic bomb would work great on a VI." before she got a cocky grin, "On a true AI? Not so much. No way Starfleet would put something with that kind of vulnerability in full production. We are actually counted as a full member species in the Federation. I'm as much of a person as you are. I even have a girlfriend."

    "I see."

    A girlfriend?

    Kirk looked her over discretely. Huh. Didn't quite see that one coming. Too bad. She was definitely the best looking computer he ever seen.

    "Oh, and I would like to relay Captain Mason's invitation for dinner in the senior officers dining hall," She said with a smile. "It is scheduled a hour from now. There are VIP quarters set up in case you would like to freshen up first."

    Kirk nodded, "I think that sound like a great idea. If you would direct us there?"

    "Of course, sir. If you would please follow me."

    As they followed the projection, Kirk glanced around and shared a look with Spock. They had to find out as much as they could in case this second Federation turned out to not be who they said they were.

    This ship was amazing, but why did anyone need to drag three and a half thousand people, mostly civilians at that, around the galaxy?



    AN// Many thanks to beege for betaing this section.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • BTW, how many of you think that Dominion is actually supplying/controlling the berserkers?

    "They are working with, not over, the lesser beings! LI-BE-RA-TE, LI-BE-RA-TE, LI-BE-RA-TE!"
     
    This post begs a Cotinuum clip response. Sadly i am posting through my phone and have horrible data connection, so I'll just leave you with this response.

    Li-be-rate! Li-be-rate! Li-be-rate!
     
    So, I feel like this may have been mentioned but...

    Is the federation, or at least certain member species such as humanity, shifting over to a more mobile, space-based preference in living in response to the Berzerker threat and their attack on earth?
     
    KyleDaScourge said:
    So, I feel like this may have been mentioned but...

    Is the federation, or at least certain member species such as humanity, shifting over to a more mobile, space-based preference in living in response to the Berzerker threat and their attack on earth?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I don't think so just yet. Their industrial capacity is too busy with warships and defenses to build habitat stations. Though I wouldn't be surprised if a large spaceborn culture were to appear afterwards who don't consider a place safe unless it's capable of warp, or at least impulse travel.
     
    33
  • Threadmarks
    • The room was dead silent. None of our quests were moving, they simply looked at Captain Mason with various expressions of horror on their faces.

    Even Spock seemed disturbed.

    Kirk was the one to recover first. "Earth is dead?"

    Captain Mason nodded. "Mostly. It can be re-terraformed and there is still some habitation under shield domes, but the biosphere is essentially dead. Over three billion people were killed in the attack."

    "My God..." McCoy whispered. "And the war is still going on?"

    I nodded. "The Berserkers have yet to be defeated, Doctor."

    "Computers fighting computers as people suffer."

    "Doctor," Shran interrupted, "Star and the rest of her kind are the reason we are still alive. The research to make the Berserkers might not have come into Romulan hands if they had not been invented, but without them we would never have stood a chance. What if the Romulans had figured out AI first? The last war against the Romulans was a bad one and that one was fought without AI. Without the threat of Federation AI's like Star, there would not have been a peace treaty. Not so soon or perhaps not at all."

    It hurt because Doctor McCoy was not wrong.

    That was essentially what it was. AI vs AI. And as we fought tooth and nail, ripping, tearing... people died.

    I hate them. I hate the Heretics with all my being. It was a scary feeling. Before the war started I didn't think I was capable of that kind of... that level of anger.

    Kirk shook his head, turning to Captain Mason. "Is there any possibility they might come to our universe?"

    Mason frowned in thought. "It's possible but currently unlikely. The fissure is on the far side of the Federation from the former Romulan Empire. At least on our side. It is also currently too unstable to allow anyone through and there will be weeks before that is possible. Once we return through, it might be possible to collapse it completely. Star?"

    I nodded in agreement. "It wouldn't be difficult. It would cause quite a bit of damage to subspace so we had best be some distance from it, but it can be done without too much difficulty."

    A strong gravitation charge when it was weakened from a ship passing through should do it. If not we could cobble together a subspace explosive, that would certainly disrupt the thing... if be illegal. But better that than risking the Berserkers managing to get out of our universe.

    Nothing on this side would be able to stand up against them.

    "Good," Kirk agreed with a nod. "While you are here, I don't suppose you would be interested in a cultural exchange?"

    Ajan smiled. "That would be quite interesting," he said before turning to Captain Mason. "Sir, we could offer the crew of the Enterprise shoreleave."

    "I think that's a great idea," Mason agreed. "We will be sitting here for a week or more anyway. I see no reason why we couldn't take on some guests if they wish to have a look around."

    "I'll pass on word to the crew," Kirk agreed before he sighed, "Word about Earth is going to be disturbing to them."

    I nodded. "I wish I could see it again. But I suppose that will just have to wait until we have fixed ours."

    And we were going to.

    If it so took five thousand years, we would return Earth to it's original glory. Ecosystem and everything.


    XXXXXXXXXX


    Running a scan of surrounding space, I recorded as much as possible. This really was an incredibly amazing thing. An entire new universe to explore.

    Or at least it would be if I dared to go somewhere. But no, we had to guard the portal vortex rift thingy. I discovered it, I get to name it.

    Not only to guard against possible other people(or worse, Berserkers) coming through, but also against locals wandering by, spotting the thing and fucking about with it, causing it to collapse. Last thing we need is to be trapped here.

    I had discussed the matter with the Captain as well as the other AI's on board. We really were going to destroy it when we got back to the other side.

    We considered keeping it open and attempting to stabilize it for use as a bolthole in case we start losing the war or if the Borg come knocking in force. But the risk was simply too high.

    That didn't stop me from firing probes in basically every direction imaginable though! It was really interesting seeing the differences. Several stars here were missing!

    I couldn't help but wonder why they existed back home and not here. As for the historical divergence between here and back home, it seemed to have been somewhere about two hundred years ago. Up until then there was a complete match between our records.

    Exactly what was the first divergence was we had no idea quite yet.

    I idly watched Enterprise float a couple of kilometers away. She looked tiny. A crew of only a couple of hundred. Last time I saw a Constitution class was... Actually, there are none still in service. There is one still operational in Mars orbit as a floating museum, the 'U.S.S. Renaissance', but that was the only one I knew of. It just did tours around the system.

    "Oh! Hey! Girls! I found it!"

    I shifted my attention to Eclipse Phase and opened a channel back to her, "Huh?" as I opened a conference call with Dreamwalker as she joined in.

    "I found it! The Divergence!" Eclipse Phase said with a grin. "Check Apollo 13."

    Digging into the history files, I did a check against ours.

    ...Oh.

    "They didn't make it," I said after about a tenth of a second. "That's the earliest change you found?"

    She nodded. "Mhmm. Well in human history that is, other than some stars missing but none of those had life anyway that we know about. I'm working on Vulcan now."

    "...Am I the only one worried about the fact that there might be a star eating monster around?" Dreamwalker said hesitantly. "I mean, it sounds silly, but we kind of have stars missing."

    I paused at that thought and then shook my head. "It's a good thing we don't plan to stick around then. Just in case."

    "Besides," Eclipse Phase added, "We know there is only one being allowed to eat Star."

    I gaped at her as the Runabouts both burst into giggles before I rolled my eyes and cut the channel.

    Ugh. Subcraft.

    Those two seriously needed to get laid.



    AN// Many thanks to beege for betaing this section.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top