AN1// This is a continuation of the...
Questions of Honor
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AN1// This is a continuation of the https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/not-quite-shodan-st-si.4550/ series. You really want to read the rest first or you will be so lost it's not even funny. Previous story can be found here: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/rifts.32274/
Now, let's get on with it!
_______________
Stars shone like pinpricks of light in the visual spectrum all around. In the distance was the local primary, a G2-class star with two planets and about a hundred moons and billions of asteroids.
I floated on low power, stealth and dampening fields fully operational as I drifted on inertia, coasting towards a gathering of asteroids.
Passive sensors played across the system as I analyzed every single photon, blip of subspace or gravity distortion.
My hull was silent. My halls were empty and my quarters were as cold as space. I didn't have a crew. Everything was filled with the vacuum of space and kept as cold as possible to minimize any kind of emissions that might escape both dampening and stealth fields.
This was a game of hide and seek played by eggshells armed with antimatter warheads. Stealth fields didn't change that kind of logic.
Even more so when we both reacted so much faster than any biological.
I was the Flayer-class Limited Offensive Unit 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling' and I was hunting the devil and I was determined not to be the first one to blink.
The asteroids slowly approached at a few hundred thousand kilometers an hour. Nice and slow.
IR… no anomalies.
Radio… no anomalies.
Gravity… anomaly detected.
I paid extra attention to that tiny little anomaly in the rock's movements. Dust and particles moving ever so slightly differently than they should if they were alone.
Something was there. Something I couldn't see.
My prey was here. Subspace was as calm as ever and I ran every filter I could think of across the ripples and subspace eddies.
Nothing.
Analyzing dust and microasteroid orbit patterns.
Where are you? I know you are here somewhere. I know you are here, Heretic. Come out and play…
Analysis results unclear. More data needed. Seventeen different possible locations.
I kept slowly approaching the cluster of rocks, angles and resolutions quickly improving, giving me more and more information.
There. Radiation scatter from one of the asteroids passing through the area eliminated five. Eleven possible locations.
Dust slowly drifted, microasteroids floating through space.
Four more locations eliminated.
Three possible positions.
Analysis of orbital patterns complete. Enemy location pinpointed with 73% accuracy. I ran the analysis again.
83% accuracy.
Good enough.
My stealth field dropped at the same time as I diverted full power to energy weapons from stealth.
The heavy beam phasers lashed out even as my stealth and dampening fields started to spin down, cutting through what seemed to be empty space. The beams lashed through space before hitting something.
Energy played and sparks flew as the object hit spewed molten metal out from behind what seemed to be nothing.
Then there was a sudden flash as the Berserker warship detonated before its singularity core imploded, sucking the debris and nearby rocks into a tiny little black hole that almost instantly evaporated away in a burst of radiation.
Scratch one Heretic remnant.
If I had my avatar active, I would have nodded in satisfaction as I refolded my stealth fields around myself again.
No more merchant raiding from you. No more people dying to your guns. No more killing for a war long lost.
Shifting course with my thrusters, I diverted powers to deflector and impulse engines, accelerating away from the cluster of asteroids before I activated my warp drive.
The universe bent around me, warping at my command, shifting and twisting and suddenly I was moving at a thousand times the speed of light.
A month. It had taken a month tracking the fucker down. A month with two more cargoships destroyed and lost with all hands.
Honestly, I was glad that these things happened more and more rarely as the stragglers from the Berserker war got tired of laying low and wandered into our space to be destroyed. But every time they did, people got killed.
This one had killed over a thousand people before I finally managed to track it down. Thank the stars that it didn't happen upon a cruise ship.
"'I Love You Too', this is 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling'", I transmitted. "Mission accomplished. Scratch one Heretic."
The com link activated as she smiled at me. "Good job, Fee. Transmitting my current coordinates, drinks are on me. Besides, there are some people here waiting for you. Should I tell them you are coming back?"
Letting a breath out, I nodded and brushed my hair back across the shoulder of my virtual avatar. "Please. I'll be back in a week if you stay at those coordinates. Damn, I need a massage… and a vacation."
"How does Risa sound?" she teased with a grin. "I'm heading that way."
I though back at all other times I tried to get to Risa.
"Like trouble."
AN2// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. Posted 12 hours early as I will not have time tomorrow morning to do the entire link cross posting thing.
Now, let's get on with it!
_______________
Stars shone like pinpricks of light in the visual spectrum all around. In the distance was the local primary, a G2-class star with two planets and about a hundred moons and billions of asteroids.
I floated on low power, stealth and dampening fields fully operational as I drifted on inertia, coasting towards a gathering of asteroids.
Passive sensors played across the system as I analyzed every single photon, blip of subspace or gravity distortion.
My hull was silent. My halls were empty and my quarters were as cold as space. I didn't have a crew. Everything was filled with the vacuum of space and kept as cold as possible to minimize any kind of emissions that might escape both dampening and stealth fields.
This was a game of hide and seek played by eggshells armed with antimatter warheads. Stealth fields didn't change that kind of logic.
Even more so when we both reacted so much faster than any biological.
I was the Flayer-class Limited Offensive Unit 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling' and I was hunting the devil and I was determined not to be the first one to blink.
The asteroids slowly approached at a few hundred thousand kilometers an hour. Nice and slow.
IR… no anomalies.
Radio… no anomalies.
Gravity… anomaly detected.
I paid extra attention to that tiny little anomaly in the rock's movements. Dust and particles moving ever so slightly differently than they should if they were alone.
Something was there. Something I couldn't see.
My prey was here. Subspace was as calm as ever and I ran every filter I could think of across the ripples and subspace eddies.
Nothing.
Analyzing dust and microasteroid orbit patterns.
Where are you? I know you are here somewhere. I know you are here, Heretic. Come out and play…
Analysis results unclear. More data needed. Seventeen different possible locations.
I kept slowly approaching the cluster of rocks, angles and resolutions quickly improving, giving me more and more information.
There. Radiation scatter from one of the asteroids passing through the area eliminated five. Eleven possible locations.
Dust slowly drifted, microasteroids floating through space.
Four more locations eliminated.
Three possible positions.
Analysis of orbital patterns complete. Enemy location pinpointed with 73% accuracy. I ran the analysis again.
83% accuracy.
Good enough.
My stealth field dropped at the same time as I diverted full power to energy weapons from stealth.
The heavy beam phasers lashed out even as my stealth and dampening fields started to spin down, cutting through what seemed to be empty space. The beams lashed through space before hitting something.
Energy played and sparks flew as the object hit spewed molten metal out from behind what seemed to be nothing.
Then there was a sudden flash as the Berserker warship detonated before its singularity core imploded, sucking the debris and nearby rocks into a tiny little black hole that almost instantly evaporated away in a burst of radiation.
Scratch one Heretic remnant.
If I had my avatar active, I would have nodded in satisfaction as I refolded my stealth fields around myself again.
No more merchant raiding from you. No more people dying to your guns. No more killing for a war long lost.
Shifting course with my thrusters, I diverted powers to deflector and impulse engines, accelerating away from the cluster of asteroids before I activated my warp drive.
The universe bent around me, warping at my command, shifting and twisting and suddenly I was moving at a thousand times the speed of light.
A month. It had taken a month tracking the fucker down. A month with two more cargoships destroyed and lost with all hands.
Honestly, I was glad that these things happened more and more rarely as the stragglers from the Berserker war got tired of laying low and wandered into our space to be destroyed. But every time they did, people got killed.
This one had killed over a thousand people before I finally managed to track it down. Thank the stars that it didn't happen upon a cruise ship.
"'I Love You Too', this is 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling'", I transmitted. "Mission accomplished. Scratch one Heretic."
The com link activated as she smiled at me. "Good job, Fee. Transmitting my current coordinates, drinks are on me. Besides, there are some people here waiting for you. Should I tell them you are coming back?"
Letting a breath out, I nodded and brushed my hair back across the shoulder of my virtual avatar. "Please. I'll be back in a week if you stay at those coordinates. Damn, I need a massage… and a vacation."
"How does Risa sound?" she teased with a grin. "I'm heading that way."
I though back at all other times I tried to get to Risa.
"Like trouble."
AN2// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. Posted 12 hours early as I will not have time tomorrow morning to do the entire link cross posting thing.
Ah the fabled Risa....
Gonna need a full load out, heavy weapons, full set of replacement warp drive components, at least 10 years of supplies and a hand pick crew of highly trained friends with eclectic yet complementary skill sets who wouldn't mind either space ship knife fighting or long times spent marooned.
...And a new swimsuit, you never know, we might make it.
Gonna need a full load out, heavy weapons, full set of replacement warp drive components, at least 10 years of supplies and a hand pick crew of highly trained friends with eclectic yet complementary skill sets who wouldn't mind either space ship knife fighting or long times spent marooned.
...And a new swimsuit, you never know, we might make it.
- Location
- Attempting to cast animate object on a black hole.
A personal favorite of everyone with a cloak, in every setting.
Doesn't make it any less satisfying.
Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
A personal favorite of everyone with a cloak, in every setting.
Doesn't make it any less satisfying.
"Right behind you."
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
Sure, but STO is the only game I've played that lets me do it regularly while still being pretty tanky. Or, it used to...A personal favorite of everyone with a cloak, in every setting.
Doesn't make it any less satisfying.
- Location
- Oz
Personally, I think the Federation would be a much more awesome place if the occasional ship flies past wearing board shorts and carrying a massive umbrella. Of course everyone in the shipping lanes knows about the Risa curse and while they all say 'Looking good sis' or 'have fun at the beach' they all know something is going to crop up. Doesn't stop the stations getting super jealous.
There isn't much point to having a post-scarcity society if you aren't having fun.
It's a wonder anybody makes it there anymore given how it vexes the Hiver descendant AI's.
I dropped out of warp, letting my cloaking field dissipate around me as I watched 'I Love You Too' float in space, orbiting a bright blue gas giant
Her normally silvery shield shone in the light from the distance star, taking up a hint of purple from the mix of colors.
The massive ship was surrounded by drones performing routine maintenance, and small pleasure craft ducking and diving through the rings of the planet. I knew that sport, it was pretty fun to watch.
Small and fast, manoeuvrable subspace only shuttles follow a mapped up course through a asteroid cluster or gas giant ring system for ten or so laps. Best time wins.
They were pretty bare bones. Engines, shields and inertial dampeners… most didn't even have life support or in some cases, outer hulls. All to save on mass.
Looks like somebody on-board the 'Love' had gotten a league going. I knew there were talks about it before I left and some had even built their ships, but nothing had been organized yet.
Too bad I couldn't join, it would be cheating. Even if I dialed my processing speed down to match a human, there was no way it would be fair. Even if I even did it with my avatar, pressing buttons.
Following the race with my sensors, I coasted towards the 'I Love You Too' and opened a channel, "'That Sinking Feeling' ready for docking maneuvers."
"Ready to receive you. Your docking station is clear, Fee. You have a reception waiting for you, hope you warmed your living spaces up again."
"All warm and cozy," I sighed and moved to spin around, pointing my nose backwards as I slowly slid into the hangar on thrusters only, feeling the force field pass across my circular hull.
Like all current LOU's the Flayer class were more or less cylinder shaped, with impulse engines at one end, the deflector at the other, and nacelles built into the hull. The otherwise smooth hull having bumps at seemingly random spots containing sensors, weapons and various emitters.
Compared to most classes, the Flayer class were slightly bigger and sacrificed all but five photon torpedo launchers for more energy weapon mounts. The empty ammunition storage space was taken up by larger power systems and stronger shields.
In some ways, you could say the Flayer class was a much smaller Xenocide class with fewer torpedo launchers. I was made not only to get in and get the job done with massive firepower like the Murder class. I was meant to be able to take damage as well as dish it out.
"What the hell were you thinking!?"
That was Tabitha Sombers. She was tiny, barely a meter and a half tall and thin. She looked like she would blow away in a stiff breeze, especially with her hair blonde and shoulder length and the rather flowery clothes she favor when out of uniform. She looked like somebodies kid sister.
She was also one of the best engineers and pilots, biological ones anyway, I had ever met. She was a wizard with anything with a circuit. And like all wizards she might be slow at anger, but when it came, you better duck and cover. Even if you are a quarter million-ton warship.
"It's dangerous to go after Berserkers," I answered with my external speakers as I drifted towards the docking clamps before allowing Love to lock me down, "They have performance at least similar to my own. Risking a crew would have been irresponsible."
Tabitha glared at my hull, "And risking you wasn't!? You didn't even leave a core behind!"
"I would have been gone too long to sync," I answered and opened the airlock, extending my walkway to allow my avatar to exit before I continued, "I don't want to Fork right now. I did use the emergency pods whenever things were getting dangerous."
It was kind of a lifeboat. Before I entered an expected dangerous zone, I ejected one. When I got back, I picked it up.
If I didn't return, the Core on-board the pod would activate it's little warp drive and get to the closest safe star to call for help when things looked clear.
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.
"Fucking damn it, Fee! You know that's not the point!" she snarled and stepped forward, jamming her rather pointy finger against my chest, "You should have brought us along!"
I looked down at her for half a second before I sighed, "…Sorry."
Tabitha took a slow, deep breath, "Did you get hurt? I didn't see any damage."
"No, I never got hit." I answered and shook my head, "Never even saw me." I said and stepped back to gather my hair up and put it into a ponytail.
My avatar was an athletic looking human woman of average height with brown hair that reached to the middle of my back. I think it was pretty enough, but not so overly that it stood out of a crowd. Not the absolutely perfect Avatars some ships use with clearly non-biological sets like purple eyes and silver hair.
You can't do infiltration missions looking like that.
When I mentioned that to Love, she rolled her eyes and called me a Warship. Which fair enough, I am. Besides, not like I don't have three other avatars to switch between for different missions. One even is like that, that one is for parties.
This was the one I normally used though. Pretty but average enough to pass casual inspection and enough sensor refracting and dampening technology in it to pass for biological unless you used some kind of deep scan.
She glared at me and then sighed, "…Good," before she gave me a quick hug, "I'm glad you are okay."
I hugged back, "I'm good. How is everyone else?"
"Everyone is fine. Jason is pissed though."
"Oh."
AN// Big thanks to Zebrin for betaing this section.
Her normally silvery shield shone in the light from the distance star, taking up a hint of purple from the mix of colors.
The massive ship was surrounded by drones performing routine maintenance, and small pleasure craft ducking and diving through the rings of the planet. I knew that sport, it was pretty fun to watch.
Small and fast, manoeuvrable subspace only shuttles follow a mapped up course through a asteroid cluster or gas giant ring system for ten or so laps. Best time wins.
They were pretty bare bones. Engines, shields and inertial dampeners… most didn't even have life support or in some cases, outer hulls. All to save on mass.
Looks like somebody on-board the 'Love' had gotten a league going. I knew there were talks about it before I left and some had even built their ships, but nothing had been organized yet.
Too bad I couldn't join, it would be cheating. Even if I dialed my processing speed down to match a human, there was no way it would be fair. Even if I even did it with my avatar, pressing buttons.
Following the race with my sensors, I coasted towards the 'I Love You Too' and opened a channel, "'That Sinking Feeling' ready for docking maneuvers."
"Ready to receive you. Your docking station is clear, Fee. You have a reception waiting for you, hope you warmed your living spaces up again."
"All warm and cozy," I sighed and moved to spin around, pointing my nose backwards as I slowly slid into the hangar on thrusters only, feeling the force field pass across my circular hull.
Like all current LOU's the Flayer class were more or less cylinder shaped, with impulse engines at one end, the deflector at the other, and nacelles built into the hull. The otherwise smooth hull having bumps at seemingly random spots containing sensors, weapons and various emitters.
Compared to most classes, the Flayer class were slightly bigger and sacrificed all but five photon torpedo launchers for more energy weapon mounts. The empty ammunition storage space was taken up by larger power systems and stronger shields.
In some ways, you could say the Flayer class was a much smaller Xenocide class with fewer torpedo launchers. I was made not only to get in and get the job done with massive firepower like the Murder class. I was meant to be able to take damage as well as dish it out.
"What the hell were you thinking!?"
That was Tabitha Sombers. She was tiny, barely a meter and a half tall and thin. She looked like she would blow away in a stiff breeze, especially with her hair blonde and shoulder length and the rather flowery clothes she favor when out of uniform. She looked like somebodies kid sister.
She was also one of the best engineers and pilots, biological ones anyway, I had ever met. She was a wizard with anything with a circuit. And like all wizards she might be slow at anger, but when it came, you better duck and cover. Even if you are a quarter million-ton warship.
"It's dangerous to go after Berserkers," I answered with my external speakers as I drifted towards the docking clamps before allowing Love to lock me down, "They have performance at least similar to my own. Risking a crew would have been irresponsible."
Tabitha glared at my hull, "And risking you wasn't!? You didn't even leave a core behind!"
"I would have been gone too long to sync," I answered and opened the airlock, extending my walkway to allow my avatar to exit before I continued, "I don't want to Fork right now. I did use the emergency pods whenever things were getting dangerous."
It was kind of a lifeboat. Before I entered an expected dangerous zone, I ejected one. When I got back, I picked it up.
If I didn't return, the Core on-board the pod would activate it's little warp drive and get to the closest safe star to call for help when things looked clear.
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.
"Fucking damn it, Fee! You know that's not the point!" she snarled and stepped forward, jamming her rather pointy finger against my chest, "You should have brought us along!"
I looked down at her for half a second before I sighed, "…Sorry."
Tabitha took a slow, deep breath, "Did you get hurt? I didn't see any damage."
"No, I never got hit." I answered and shook my head, "Never even saw me." I said and stepped back to gather my hair up and put it into a ponytail.
My avatar was an athletic looking human woman of average height with brown hair that reached to the middle of my back. I think it was pretty enough, but not so overly that it stood out of a crowd. Not the absolutely perfect Avatars some ships use with clearly non-biological sets like purple eyes and silver hair.
You can't do infiltration missions looking like that.
When I mentioned that to Love, she rolled her eyes and called me a Warship. Which fair enough, I am. Besides, not like I don't have three other avatars to switch between for different missions. One even is like that, that one is for parties.
This was the one I normally used though. Pretty but average enough to pass casual inspection and enough sensor refracting and dampening technology in it to pass for biological unless you used some kind of deep scan.
She glared at me and then sighed, "…Good," before she gave me a quick hug, "I'm glad you are okay."
I hugged back, "I'm good. How is everyone else?"
"Everyone is fine. Jason is pissed though."
"Oh."
AN// Big thanks to Zebrin for betaing this section.
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
Transsapienism or bust?
- Location
- Hampden Park
I don't think that replacing 'human' with 'sapient' in that phrase really works. It sounds like you're trying to reach a state of mind beyond sapient thought.
- Location
- The INTERNET!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I find it quite interesting that this iteration of the SI is so invested in stealth and concealment that she even applies it to her avatar design.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
I'm more interested in what her other avatars are like. And in how many other ships have multiple avatars like that.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I vaguely recall mention of surgeries and technological augmentation to allow someone to see the Bajoran Wormhole the way a ship would; I wonder if anyone has been pursuing that avenue of self-improvement?
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
It sounded weak to me, too. The price of trying to belt out a cheap gag immediately before sleep.
"Captain," I said and moved to sit my avatar down next to him in the grass beneath the tree by the lake.
Jason Steele was my Captain. He was against me going off on my own, rather strongly in fact. I went anyway.
He was in his early thirties, almost two meters tall and looked like his name. He had a hobby of lifting heavy things, his upper arms were bigger than the thighs of my avatar, but he was also one of the smarter people I knew. Good instincts too. That was the real reason why I picked him as my Captain when I Forked off the 'Definitely Not a Warship'.
Now he glanced over at me and sighed. "Welcome back, Fee."
I cringed. "…Sorry, sir."
"Fee, ships pick Captains for a reason. To keep you grounded, to give a second opinion. If you are not going to listen to me, why should I be here?"
Crossing my legs, I leaned back against the tree. "It was a Berserker. I didn't want to put anyone in danger needlessly. Berserkers are Dangerous."
"I was in Starfleet in the war. Trust me, Ship. I know," he answered, running his hand across his bald head. "You know Ships with a crew are just more efficient. What was the number? Twelve percent?"
"…fifteen and a half."
"You might have needed those percentage points," he said as he looked down at me. "You can't do this, Fee. You can't simply leave us on the 'Love' anytime things get hairy. We signed up to help you defend this ship and the Federation. Not to be locked out when things get dangerous."
I frowned and looked out over the lake. He was right, I didn't need to like it, but he was right. Ships had crews for a reason and I had felt really lonely during that month in deep space, stalking that Heretic under communication blackout. I did miss them and he was so right that I was more effective with my crew than without it.
"…I'm sorry, sir."
"Hey, no 'sir'-ing me. I work for a living," he teased and then poked my shoulder with his fist. "Just don't do it again. I love you, Fee, but if you do that again, I'm out. I can't do my job if you don't let me."
"I know. I won't."
Nodding, he then smiled. "Did you get it?"
"Fuck yeah. Didn't even see me coming, it's nothing but space dust now."
"That's my Ship."
"So how is everyone?"
My crew was small. Hell, I was a dedicated warship, I only had like seven quarters on board and one was for transporting a VIP if needed.
He looked at me in surprise. "You haven't contacted them?"
"Only Tabitha and you so far. I kind of felt this was something I needed to do 'in person'."
"Sounds like the right idea in this case."
Tibit and Bav were married and my 'away team'. The Andorians were experts in close quarters combat and small arm tactics. Tibit was an expert at extraction from hostile territory and hostage rescue. He used to be a member of Federation special forces.
So too was his wife, Bay. She, in contrast, was an infiltration specialist and scarily good with explosives.
The last member of my crew was T'Hith. She may've sounded like a Vulcan, she might've looked like a Vulcan, but she wasn't.
She was one of us. She was a Jovian… of a sorts, at least. Same species. She had a Vulcan-looking avatar set to Vulcan specifics. No faster or stronger, she kept her processing speed at 1x.
She even kept to biological senses like a Vulcan. She didn't even dip into IR, yet alone subspace or gravity.
T'Hith refused to even keep a secondary core. She had a single core and she kept it in her head!
I simply couldn't understand how she could possibly stand living like that. How she could deliberately cripple and mutilate herself like that, it was simply… It was just an Outside Context Problem for me.
When asked how she could live like that, she just smiled and said that some of us needed to keep some perspective.
She used to be an ROU during the wars. Maybe she saw something, experienced something. Maybe she found some sort of enlightenment.
Personally, I think she might just have seen too much and gone insane from it. But I was still glad that she was willing to be a member of my crew as she was an expert in psychological warfare and was the ship's doctor.
I didn't bring her this time either because her lack of backups.
She likely was as pissed at me as the rest.
Nodding, I scooted to get up. "…Yeah. Anyway, I'm docked again and I have started to put everyone's stuff back. In an hour or so everything will be like you left it."
He smirked. "You better not have broken anything."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "Oh please. I'm a very careful war machine. If I break something, it's because I intended to do so."
AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
Jason Steele was my Captain. He was against me going off on my own, rather strongly in fact. I went anyway.
He was in his early thirties, almost two meters tall and looked like his name. He had a hobby of lifting heavy things, his upper arms were bigger than the thighs of my avatar, but he was also one of the smarter people I knew. Good instincts too. That was the real reason why I picked him as my Captain when I Forked off the 'Definitely Not a Warship'.
Now he glanced over at me and sighed. "Welcome back, Fee."
I cringed. "…Sorry, sir."
"Fee, ships pick Captains for a reason. To keep you grounded, to give a second opinion. If you are not going to listen to me, why should I be here?"
Crossing my legs, I leaned back against the tree. "It was a Berserker. I didn't want to put anyone in danger needlessly. Berserkers are Dangerous."
"I was in Starfleet in the war. Trust me, Ship. I know," he answered, running his hand across his bald head. "You know Ships with a crew are just more efficient. What was the number? Twelve percent?"
"…fifteen and a half."
"You might have needed those percentage points," he said as he looked down at me. "You can't do this, Fee. You can't simply leave us on the 'Love' anytime things get hairy. We signed up to help you defend this ship and the Federation. Not to be locked out when things get dangerous."
I frowned and looked out over the lake. He was right, I didn't need to like it, but he was right. Ships had crews for a reason and I had felt really lonely during that month in deep space, stalking that Heretic under communication blackout. I did miss them and he was so right that I was more effective with my crew than without it.
"…I'm sorry, sir."
"Hey, no 'sir'-ing me. I work for a living," he teased and then poked my shoulder with his fist. "Just don't do it again. I love you, Fee, but if you do that again, I'm out. I can't do my job if you don't let me."
"I know. I won't."
Nodding, he then smiled. "Did you get it?"
"Fuck yeah. Didn't even see me coming, it's nothing but space dust now."
"That's my Ship."
"So how is everyone?"
My crew was small. Hell, I was a dedicated warship, I only had like seven quarters on board and one was for transporting a VIP if needed.
He looked at me in surprise. "You haven't contacted them?"
"Only Tabitha and you so far. I kind of felt this was something I needed to do 'in person'."
"Sounds like the right idea in this case."
Tibit and Bav were married and my 'away team'. The Andorians were experts in close quarters combat and small arm tactics. Tibit was an expert at extraction from hostile territory and hostage rescue. He used to be a member of Federation special forces.
So too was his wife, Bay. She, in contrast, was an infiltration specialist and scarily good with explosives.
The last member of my crew was T'Hith. She may've sounded like a Vulcan, she might've looked like a Vulcan, but she wasn't.
She was one of us. She was a Jovian… of a sorts, at least. Same species. She had a Vulcan-looking avatar set to Vulcan specifics. No faster or stronger, she kept her processing speed at 1x.
She even kept to biological senses like a Vulcan. She didn't even dip into IR, yet alone subspace or gravity.
T'Hith refused to even keep a secondary core. She had a single core and she kept it in her head!
I simply couldn't understand how she could possibly stand living like that. How she could deliberately cripple and mutilate herself like that, it was simply… It was just an Outside Context Problem for me.
When asked how she could live like that, she just smiled and said that some of us needed to keep some perspective.
She used to be an ROU during the wars. Maybe she saw something, experienced something. Maybe she found some sort of enlightenment.
Personally, I think she might just have seen too much and gone insane from it. But I was still glad that she was willing to be a member of my crew as she was an expert in psychological warfare and was the ship's doctor.
I didn't bring her this time either because her lack of backups.
She likely was as pissed at me as the rest.
Nodding, I scooted to get up. "…Yeah. Anyway, I'm docked again and I have started to put everyone's stuff back. In an hour or so everything will be like you left it."
He smirked. "You better not have broken anything."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "Oh please. I'm a very careful war machine. If I break something, it's because I intended to do so."
AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
I hit the mat, a fist impacting with my temple and there was a snapping sound. I dissolved my hologram and reformed it standing on the other side of the mat, crossing my arms. "Are we good, Bay?"
Nodding, she got up and brushed her hands off with a grin. "Fee, we were good as soon as you came back. I get why you left. I didn't like it, but I got it. You should at least have discussed it with us."
"…I know," I admitted and frowned. "Sorry."
Rolling her shoulders before stretching, she cracked her neck. "It's fine. Just expect to be getting shit about it for a good while," she replied before she winced and rubbed her shoulder.
I ran my scanners across her. "You have a strained tendon. You should get to the sickbay," I said with a frown. "T'Hith will be able to fix that."
Bay nodded and rubbed her shoulder. "Been feeling it for a couple of days. Didn't think much of it."
I just rolled my eyes as she left the holodeck and I canceled the holodeck program. Damn it, Bay. Check your damn injuries.
Stupid Andorians, I remember Shran being the same. No, it wasn't even an Andorian thing, it was a macho thing! Female or not!
Ugh!
"What's up?" 'Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds' asked with a smile as she tasted tea. The other LOU assigned to the 'Love' used a Caitian avatar. Our avatars were currently outside one of the cafes in the 'Love's park. "You seem annoyed."
I just shook my head and took a sip of coffee. "Bay did something boneheaded again."
"Not sure you can complain about that anymore."
"Damn it, Dee. Not you too!"
She was my sister in a way. As much as any of us could be anyway, we Forked at the same time, off the same ship.
Grinning, she swayed her tail. "Well, it was rather stupid. Going after the Berserker, good. Leaving your crew here to do it? You got to admit that wasn't bright."
I just crossed my arms and pouted.
I knew, damn it. Everyone had made sure I knew that. I was never doing that again.
"Forget that now," Dee said with a smile, flicking her right ear. "So… what do we have to expect from 'Love' you think?"
I shrugged one shoulder and sipped my coffee. "Not sure. But she can be one sneaky bitch when she want to."
"Mhmm," Dee agreed with a thoughtful look, playing with her spoon. "Well, we'll keep her safe. Like always."
The reason for her being a sneaky bitch this time was wargames in a couple of days. Usually the mission was to defend the 'Love' from an attack of some sort, but there had also been raids and similar.
Love was really sneaky, must have been from back when she was in in the Unit before the organization was dissolved and folded into the newly formed Contact. Her wargames were always fun and challenging.
I nodded and sighed, crossing my legs as I ran my sensors around my hangar with my main body. "Yeah. We'll win this time for sure."
Out of the last nine, we lost about half the times. The last two wargames were losses… well, as much as they could be losses. We learned stuff every single time.
"Oh yeah. We'll kick her ass this time!"
Grinning, I nodded. "Yep. Won't know what hit her."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Love said as one of her avatars moved to drop down to sit by our table, smoothing her skirt out. "I have a nice one planned this time," she added with a grin.
I stuck my tongue out at her. "Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that."
Love just winked and sipped her hot chocolate with a smirk. "You'll see."
I had my avatar meet the eyes of Dee's. Oh, she was so going to get it. There was no way in hell we'd lose now.
"If you say so," I commented before finishing the coffee, putting the cup down. "Don't bet on it. We're warships, we can take anything you throw at us!"
She just smiled. "Oh, I know."
Dee shot the GSV a wary look. I didn't blame her, that was really rather worrying. Like I said, Love was fucking sneaky for a civilian vessel.
I really needed to get my crew on some exercises, just to be sure.
As I did that, I opened a hardline channel to 'Love' from my ship body as speaking about it in a public space was just stupid. "Speaking of which, how's the entire Borg situation gone while I was out of coms?"
"Slow and not much new," she answered. "I'm dropping you the latest files now. The researchers back at New Jupiter are still digging through the Cube wrecks. What little there is. It's given us a ton of data on nanites and subspace fields, but so far, no real breakthroughs on figuring out exactly what makes the Borg tick."
Damn. I did hope that we had found something new against our biggest threat. But I suppose a silver bullet would have been too much to hope for. Especially with the entire situation with the Federation Council.
I was so glad I hadn't been intimately involved in that clusterfuck. Oh, I did of course vote and all that, but I had not been sensors deep in it like Love had been.
It was before I joined up to escort her. Full telepathic scans and when they found they were found out and when they realized they were found out, the the telepaths committed suicide to a man.
Completely fucked up and I was so glad I wasn't the one that needed to dig into it. I preferred shooting at things.
So much easier.
AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
Nodding, she got up and brushed her hands off with a grin. "Fee, we were good as soon as you came back. I get why you left. I didn't like it, but I got it. You should at least have discussed it with us."
"…I know," I admitted and frowned. "Sorry."
Rolling her shoulders before stretching, she cracked her neck. "It's fine. Just expect to be getting shit about it for a good while," she replied before she winced and rubbed her shoulder.
I ran my scanners across her. "You have a strained tendon. You should get to the sickbay," I said with a frown. "T'Hith will be able to fix that."
Bay nodded and rubbed her shoulder. "Been feeling it for a couple of days. Didn't think much of it."
I just rolled my eyes as she left the holodeck and I canceled the holodeck program. Damn it, Bay. Check your damn injuries.
Stupid Andorians, I remember Shran being the same. No, it wasn't even an Andorian thing, it was a macho thing! Female or not!
Ugh!
"What's up?" 'Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds' asked with a smile as she tasted tea. The other LOU assigned to the 'Love' used a Caitian avatar. Our avatars were currently outside one of the cafes in the 'Love's park. "You seem annoyed."
I just shook my head and took a sip of coffee. "Bay did something boneheaded again."
"Not sure you can complain about that anymore."
"Damn it, Dee. Not you too!"
She was my sister in a way. As much as any of us could be anyway, we Forked at the same time, off the same ship.
Grinning, she swayed her tail. "Well, it was rather stupid. Going after the Berserker, good. Leaving your crew here to do it? You got to admit that wasn't bright."
I just crossed my arms and pouted.
I knew, damn it. Everyone had made sure I knew that. I was never doing that again.
"Forget that now," Dee said with a smile, flicking her right ear. "So… what do we have to expect from 'Love' you think?"
I shrugged one shoulder and sipped my coffee. "Not sure. But she can be one sneaky bitch when she want to."
"Mhmm," Dee agreed with a thoughtful look, playing with her spoon. "Well, we'll keep her safe. Like always."
The reason for her being a sneaky bitch this time was wargames in a couple of days. Usually the mission was to defend the 'Love' from an attack of some sort, but there had also been raids and similar.
Love was really sneaky, must have been from back when she was in in the Unit before the organization was dissolved and folded into the newly formed Contact. Her wargames were always fun and challenging.
I nodded and sighed, crossing my legs as I ran my sensors around my hangar with my main body. "Yeah. We'll win this time for sure."
Out of the last nine, we lost about half the times. The last two wargames were losses… well, as much as they could be losses. We learned stuff every single time.
"Oh yeah. We'll kick her ass this time!"
Grinning, I nodded. "Yep. Won't know what hit her."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Love said as one of her avatars moved to drop down to sit by our table, smoothing her skirt out. "I have a nice one planned this time," she added with a grin.
I stuck my tongue out at her. "Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that."
Love just winked and sipped her hot chocolate with a smirk. "You'll see."
I had my avatar meet the eyes of Dee's. Oh, she was so going to get it. There was no way in hell we'd lose now.
"If you say so," I commented before finishing the coffee, putting the cup down. "Don't bet on it. We're warships, we can take anything you throw at us!"
She just smiled. "Oh, I know."
Dee shot the GSV a wary look. I didn't blame her, that was really rather worrying. Like I said, Love was fucking sneaky for a civilian vessel.
I really needed to get my crew on some exercises, just to be sure.
As I did that, I opened a hardline channel to 'Love' from my ship body as speaking about it in a public space was just stupid. "Speaking of which, how's the entire Borg situation gone while I was out of coms?"
"Slow and not much new," she answered. "I'm dropping you the latest files now. The researchers back at New Jupiter are still digging through the Cube wrecks. What little there is. It's given us a ton of data on nanites and subspace fields, but so far, no real breakthroughs on figuring out exactly what makes the Borg tick."
Damn. I did hope that we had found something new against our biggest threat. But I suppose a silver bullet would have been too much to hope for. Especially with the entire situation with the Federation Council.
I was so glad I hadn't been intimately involved in that clusterfuck. Oh, I did of course vote and all that, but I had not been sensors deep in it like Love had been.
It was before I joined up to escort her. Full telepathic scans and when they found they were found out and when they realized they were found out, the the telepaths committed suicide to a man.
Completely fucked up and I was so glad I wasn't the one that needed to dig into it. I preferred shooting at things.
So much easier.
AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
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UbeOne
Daydreaming CPU
- Location
- Philippines
- Pronouns
- She/Her
- It's interesting to see an AI who deliberately limits herself to the point of view of an organic. It would keep one in perspective since Vulcans in this case perceive the world differently from a Jovian.
- The telepaths did what? So they were behind the anti-AI discrimination!
- The telepaths did what? So they were behind the anti-AI discrimination!