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.
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.
"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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I floated in the murky depths as the currents buffeted at my hull and shields, keeping as quiet as I could while mentally grumbling.
I hate her sooo much.
Wargames inside a gas giant. I fucking hate that GSV.
"Anything, ship?" Captain Steele asked with a frown at the clouds that seemed to surround the bridge from the holograms as he drummed his fingers on the armrest of the chair.
I shook the head of my avatar. "I can't see shit, Captain." I grumbled, fingering the hilt of the dagger riding in the belt of my dark and formfitting uniform. "It's like peering into mist with my passive sensors and active sensors would make us stand out like a spotlight."
"Well, keep looking. They are out there somewhere."
The mission was simple. Keep hidden from the flights of ROU's from 'I Love You Too' and evade capture for long enough for 'Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds' to find us. My warpdrive was 'down' and as such I had to hide here to avoid capture.
Sighing, I nodded and crossed my arms in annoyance, leaning back against my chair. Damn it, if I was meant to be down in the muck like this, I would have been a submarine.
Which admittedly would have been interesting to try.
I then raised an eyebrow at Captain Steele. "What?"
"You just reminded me a lot of my niece for a second. She is sixteen and annoyed at everything."
"Did you just compare me to a sixteen year old girl!? I'm a warship! Even my avatar looks like it's in its twenties!"
"If the shoe fits. How long ago is it again since you first got out of that sim?"
I glared at him. "…twenty-some years.."
That got a smirk. "Like I told you, if the shoe fits."
The annoying thing was that he knew fully well that half the reason I acted the way I did was to interface well with biologicals and that it was a positive reinforcement loop. The other reason was that… well, I was who I was. I may play some parts up a bit, but I'm me.
I was the mature warship and stuck my tongue out at him as I scanned the dense, almost liquid clouds. Ten thousand atmospheres of pressure was about the most I was willing to risk so there was where I was sitting, allowing myself to drift in the almost liquid gas as it rained acid and methane. I bet this will affect my nice matte antisensor hull cover.
Love had better give me a full go-over after this.
Stupid GSV.
What was that?
I drifted with the current, reviewing my sensor data. Something had moved in the storm. Was it just a chunk of ice or was it another ship, drifting?
Without active sensors, it was difficult to tell. Damn it, damn it, damn it! It was too small to be Dee. If it was a ship, it was an ROU.
If it was, did it spot me?
If I moved it might. If I didn't, it might. Passive sensors couldn't tell what it was made of, not in this goop.
When in doubt, play possum. If I couldn't see, she sure as hell couldn't either. My passive sensors were more than three times as powerful as an ROU.
If I wasn't sure if it was a chunk of ice or not, it couldn't tell either.
I stayed floating, slowly tumbling in the semi-liquid storm, using just enough power not to sink further.
Subspace sparkled with a signal from 'I Love You Too'.
"Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds' and 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling', I'm afraid we have to cut our exercise short for now. I just received a distress call from a Bajoran passenger liner. I'm already on the way towards attached coordinates. Catch up and dock."
"Well, damn. Could have sworn we would have won this one." Dee said as she opened a channel to me. "Want me to wait?"
"I'm fine," I sighed and went to full power, ascending through the cloud layers, through rains of hydrogen and acid snow. "Love owes me a new paintjob, though."
The other LOU cut the channel with a wink.
"I'm afraid we have to cut this short, Captain. 'I Love You Too' received a distress call and is moving to intercept. Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds and I are moving to assist."
Steele scowled but then nodded. "Any details?"
"The file from 'Love' says it's a Bajoran Stald-class passenger liner. Crew of fifty, passenger space for three hundred people. Details are a bit scarce right now so we don't know what happened." I said and leaned back in my seat with a frown, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "Could be anything, really. Their signal is really fragmented. Can barely make out anything." I added as I got high enough to be able to pick it up.
Barely, that is. I didn't have the sensors of a GSV. Her main sensor array was bigger than I was.
"What's our ETA?"
"Five hours, forty minutes. We'll catch up and dock with the Love in an hour or so," I said as I exited the atmosphere and accelerated away from the gas giant, climbing out of the gravity well at full impulse. "Ready for Warp."
"Engage."
The universe bent around me.
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
I hate her sooo much.
Wargames inside a gas giant. I fucking hate that GSV.
"Anything, ship?" Captain Steele asked with a frown at the clouds that seemed to surround the bridge from the holograms as he drummed his fingers on the armrest of the chair.
I shook the head of my avatar. "I can't see shit, Captain." I grumbled, fingering the hilt of the dagger riding in the belt of my dark and formfitting uniform. "It's like peering into mist with my passive sensors and active sensors would make us stand out like a spotlight."
"Well, keep looking. They are out there somewhere."
The mission was simple. Keep hidden from the flights of ROU's from 'I Love You Too' and evade capture for long enough for 'Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds' to find us. My warpdrive was 'down' and as such I had to hide here to avoid capture.
Sighing, I nodded and crossed my arms in annoyance, leaning back against my chair. Damn it, if I was meant to be down in the muck like this, I would have been a submarine.
Which admittedly would have been interesting to try.
I then raised an eyebrow at Captain Steele. "What?"
"You just reminded me a lot of my niece for a second. She is sixteen and annoyed at everything."
"Did you just compare me to a sixteen year old girl!? I'm a warship! Even my avatar looks like it's in its twenties!"
"If the shoe fits. How long ago is it again since you first got out of that sim?"
I glared at him. "…twenty-some years.."
That got a smirk. "Like I told you, if the shoe fits."
The annoying thing was that he knew fully well that half the reason I acted the way I did was to interface well with biologicals and that it was a positive reinforcement loop. The other reason was that… well, I was who I was. I may play some parts up a bit, but I'm me.
I was the mature warship and stuck my tongue out at him as I scanned the dense, almost liquid clouds. Ten thousand atmospheres of pressure was about the most I was willing to risk so there was where I was sitting, allowing myself to drift in the almost liquid gas as it rained acid and methane. I bet this will affect my nice matte antisensor hull cover.
Love had better give me a full go-over after this.
Stupid GSV.
What was that?
I drifted with the current, reviewing my sensor data. Something had moved in the storm. Was it just a chunk of ice or was it another ship, drifting?
Without active sensors, it was difficult to tell. Damn it, damn it, damn it! It was too small to be Dee. If it was a ship, it was an ROU.
If it was, did it spot me?
If I moved it might. If I didn't, it might. Passive sensors couldn't tell what it was made of, not in this goop.
When in doubt, play possum. If I couldn't see, she sure as hell couldn't either. My passive sensors were more than three times as powerful as an ROU.
If I wasn't sure if it was a chunk of ice or not, it couldn't tell either.
I stayed floating, slowly tumbling in the semi-liquid storm, using just enough power not to sink further.
Subspace sparkled with a signal from 'I Love You Too'.
"Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds' and 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling', I'm afraid we have to cut our exercise short for now. I just received a distress call from a Bajoran passenger liner. I'm already on the way towards attached coordinates. Catch up and dock."
"Well, damn. Could have sworn we would have won this one." Dee said as she opened a channel to me. "Want me to wait?"
"I'm fine," I sighed and went to full power, ascending through the cloud layers, through rains of hydrogen and acid snow. "Love owes me a new paintjob, though."
The other LOU cut the channel with a wink.
"I'm afraid we have to cut this short, Captain. 'I Love You Too' received a distress call and is moving to intercept. Fluffy, Destroyer of Worlds and I are moving to assist."
Steele scowled but then nodded. "Any details?"
"The file from 'Love' says it's a Bajoran Stald-class passenger liner. Crew of fifty, passenger space for three hundred people. Details are a bit scarce right now so we don't know what happened." I said and leaned back in my seat with a frown, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. "Could be anything, really. Their signal is really fragmented. Can barely make out anything." I added as I got high enough to be able to pick it up.
Barely, that is. I didn't have the sensors of a GSV. Her main sensor array was bigger than I was.
"What's our ETA?"
"Five hours, forty minutes. We'll catch up and dock with the Love in an hour or so," I said as I exited the atmosphere and accelerated away from the gas giant, climbing out of the gravity well at full impulse. "Ready for Warp."
"Engage."
The universe bent around me.
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
'I Love You Too' dropped out of warp a couple of hundred kilometres from the slowly drifting passenger liner and I watched through her sensors.
She had taken one hell of a hit. Almost a fifth of the rear of the ship was twisted and warped, looking like someone had just reached out with a massive hand and crushed the ship like a tin can.
Dee crossed the arms of her avatar, her tail tip flicking slowly, "What do you think, Love?" she asked the GSV, "Does that look like a gravmine to you too?"
The GSV nodded, "Seems like it." she answered as I watched maintenance drones exit through her forward hangar to carefully stop the crippled ships rotation, "A total of three hundred and seventy people on board... when they left Mars for Bajor. Just over two hundred still living now. The majority injured in some way. I'm talking to the second in command, the Captain is dead. Everyone is already beamed to the hospital."
I frowned slightly, "Cloaked mine left from the Berserker war?"
Love nodded again, "Possible. Scans of the damage seem consistent with a Romulan gravity mine."
Dee's right ear flicked, "Undocking now. Where there is one mine, there is likely more." and her hologram flickered out of 'Love's' command center.
GSV's had command centers, not bridges.
Three levels of terminals and a hundred people working on their tasks. Even with a AI, running a ship with close to a hundred thousand people onboard was no small task. Not even with our multitasking abilities.
"Undocking to assist," I said and canceled my hologram as well as my actual avatar turned to look at Captain Steele, "Ready to undock for anti-mine sweep."
He nodded, "Get going. Full tachyon scan sweep. Five hundred thousand kilometer radios of the 'Shining Star'."
"Yes, sir," I agreed as I slid out of the 'I Love You Too's military hangar, a couple of seconds after Fluffy.
I quickly coordinated with her and split the area up between us before starting my tachyon scanners, running the beams through space in sweeps. Almost like the antenna of a bug.
If they hit a stealth field, they would make it light up like a neon sign.
"Time for sweep completion, two hours," I said and frowned at Steele, "You should get some sleep, Captain."
"It can wait until after the sweep."
I just sighed, "Sir, you have better things to do than sit here watching empty space. There is literally no reason for you to be here for this. Go get some sleep sir. You have been awake for over twenty one hours."
Steele chuckled and then finally nodded, "...I suppose you are right. Let me know if there is a status change."
"Yes, sir."
Following him with my sensors as he moved to his quarters, I checked on the rest of my crew. The Andorians were off the ship, still on the Love. Something about taking a couple of days to 'relax'.
I doubted that it included actual sleep.
Tabitha was asleep, resting her head on her arms on her workbench in her quarters. I had debated several times waking her to try to get her to move to the bed, but each time decided against it. Better leave her to sleep. Not like it was the first time she fell asleep working on some project.
T'Hith was in her sickbay, organizing her instruments.
"Ship, could you put through a order to 'Love' for another order of bioregenerative gel?" she asked as she held up one of the containers, "We are getting low."
I formed a hologram, sitting on one of the benches as I crossed my legs, "Sure thing," I told the other AI, "We really go through a lot of that stuff."
"Tibit and Bav need a lot of it" she said, "Works much more painlessly on Andorians than a standard dermal regenerator... and you know those two."
They did usually end up getting quite a bit of bumps and scratches during practice. They were my security specialists after all, they did a lot of sparring and drills.
"Putting through the request," I said with a nod as I watched the other AI with my sensors. I just didn't understand her.
It was one thing for biological beings. They didn't know what they were missing, nor could they actually process it even if they were willing to get even the sensors implants needed. Geordi LaForge was the only one I knew that even got close and he was limited to electromagnetics.
She knew how it was to feel solar wind, see gravity...
And she chose not to.
I just didn't get it. It just didn't make sense. Why would anyone cripple herself like that? But in the end, it didn't have anything to do with me.
It was her choice, just like I chose to be a ship. If she wanted to limit herself to be as close to human... or in this case Vulcan, and she could, it was completely her right to.
"What's the status of that transport?"
I sighed and shook my head, "Badly. Ship is fucked, over a hundred dead. The rest are in the 'Love's' hospital. She is going to see if she can save the transport but from the scans, it looks like she might be better to just be scrapped. Dee and I are running anti-mine sweeps now, damage is consistent with a Romulan Cloaking Mine. Likely something left over from one of the Wars."
T'Hith nodded sadly and looked at her laser scalpel, "Even now... even after years of peace..."
I couldn't do more than agree.
At least... at least now it seemed to be over.
Mostly.
AN// And a barrel of thanks to JoshRand1982 for betaing this section.
She had taken one hell of a hit. Almost a fifth of the rear of the ship was twisted and warped, looking like someone had just reached out with a massive hand and crushed the ship like a tin can.
Dee crossed the arms of her avatar, her tail tip flicking slowly, "What do you think, Love?" she asked the GSV, "Does that look like a gravmine to you too?"
The GSV nodded, "Seems like it." she answered as I watched maintenance drones exit through her forward hangar to carefully stop the crippled ships rotation, "A total of three hundred and seventy people on board... when they left Mars for Bajor. Just over two hundred still living now. The majority injured in some way. I'm talking to the second in command, the Captain is dead. Everyone is already beamed to the hospital."
I frowned slightly, "Cloaked mine left from the Berserker war?"
Love nodded again, "Possible. Scans of the damage seem consistent with a Romulan gravity mine."
Dee's right ear flicked, "Undocking now. Where there is one mine, there is likely more." and her hologram flickered out of 'Love's' command center.
GSV's had command centers, not bridges.
Three levels of terminals and a hundred people working on their tasks. Even with a AI, running a ship with close to a hundred thousand people onboard was no small task. Not even with our multitasking abilities.
"Undocking to assist," I said and canceled my hologram as well as my actual avatar turned to look at Captain Steele, "Ready to undock for anti-mine sweep."
He nodded, "Get going. Full tachyon scan sweep. Five hundred thousand kilometer radios of the 'Shining Star'."
"Yes, sir," I agreed as I slid out of the 'I Love You Too's military hangar, a couple of seconds after Fluffy.
I quickly coordinated with her and split the area up between us before starting my tachyon scanners, running the beams through space in sweeps. Almost like the antenna of a bug.
If they hit a stealth field, they would make it light up like a neon sign.
"Time for sweep completion, two hours," I said and frowned at Steele, "You should get some sleep, Captain."
"It can wait until after the sweep."
I just sighed, "Sir, you have better things to do than sit here watching empty space. There is literally no reason for you to be here for this. Go get some sleep sir. You have been awake for over twenty one hours."
Steele chuckled and then finally nodded, "...I suppose you are right. Let me know if there is a status change."
"Yes, sir."
Following him with my sensors as he moved to his quarters, I checked on the rest of my crew. The Andorians were off the ship, still on the Love. Something about taking a couple of days to 'relax'.
I doubted that it included actual sleep.
Tabitha was asleep, resting her head on her arms on her workbench in her quarters. I had debated several times waking her to try to get her to move to the bed, but each time decided against it. Better leave her to sleep. Not like it was the first time she fell asleep working on some project.
T'Hith was in her sickbay, organizing her instruments.
"Ship, could you put through a order to 'Love' for another order of bioregenerative gel?" she asked as she held up one of the containers, "We are getting low."
I formed a hologram, sitting on one of the benches as I crossed my legs, "Sure thing," I told the other AI, "We really go through a lot of that stuff."
"Tibit and Bav need a lot of it" she said, "Works much more painlessly on Andorians than a standard dermal regenerator... and you know those two."
They did usually end up getting quite a bit of bumps and scratches during practice. They were my security specialists after all, they did a lot of sparring and drills.
"Putting through the request," I said with a nod as I watched the other AI with my sensors. I just didn't understand her.
It was one thing for biological beings. They didn't know what they were missing, nor could they actually process it even if they were willing to get even the sensors implants needed. Geordi LaForge was the only one I knew that even got close and he was limited to electromagnetics.
She knew how it was to feel solar wind, see gravity...
And she chose not to.
I just didn't get it. It just didn't make sense. Why would anyone cripple herself like that? But in the end, it didn't have anything to do with me.
It was her choice, just like I chose to be a ship. If she wanted to limit herself to be as close to human... or in this case Vulcan, and she could, it was completely her right to.
"What's the status of that transport?"
I sighed and shook my head, "Badly. Ship is fucked, over a hundred dead. The rest are in the 'Love's' hospital. She is going to see if she can save the transport but from the scans, it looks like she might be better to just be scrapped. Dee and I are running anti-mine sweeps now, damage is consistent with a Romulan Cloaking Mine. Likely something left over from one of the Wars."
T'Hith nodded sadly and looked at her laser scalpel, "Even now... even after years of peace..."
I couldn't do more than agree.
At least... at least now it seemed to be over.
Mostly.
AN// And a barrel of thanks to JoshRand1982 for betaing this section.
I watched the twisted ship through the sensors of the 'I Love You Too's' interior sensors. Her crew and drones were hard at work trying their best to unfuck it.
But quite frankly, it most likely wouldn't be possible.
Last time I took a hit like that I was still Star and it wasn't even that bad. I was still forced to switch hulls.
If they had had a Ship and not just a ship, maybe they would have been able to avoid getting hit. Then again, to be fair… I was hardly confident I would be able to avoid a cloaked mine either, and that was with military-grade sensors.
But at least there would have been a chance.
Wonder how it would be to be a civilian ship? Not a GSV or MSV. Those were closer to flying armed population centers.
You couldn't exactly call something armed with twenty ROU's civilian.
No, an actual civilian vessel. Carrying cargo or people all the way around the Federation and even outside.
Basically blind, unable to do more than 650c. No weapons to speak of, no shields. Just her cargo and crew.
I wasn't overly enthused about the low-grade sensors, but I had to admit that there was a kind of romance in that. Different from exploring the unknown or defending a GSV like I was doing, but…
…I don't know. Kind of harped back to the image of the daring adventurer trader I suppose.
Reality was nothing like it, of course, but it was a nice mental image.
I don't think I would hate it.
Not unless something like this happened, of course. If she had been a Ship, I knew what she would be feeling. I had lost crew in the past.
Poor twisted hunk of metal.
Maybe it was for the best that she was just a ship.
"All Jovian assets, full meeting in ten seconds."
That was Deep Space Nine. That was the first time he'd called a meeting that I knew of. The first full one, at the very least.
"Any ideas?" I asked 'Love'. She was more connected than I was.
"Nothing I heard," she answered. "Connecting now."
I followed her example and user her more powerful transmitter to connect to the virtual meeting room.
Then we waited.
When the time was up, DS9 projected his avatar at the head of the infinite table. His avatar was that of a male Bajoran, short brown hair and their orange-brown uniform. He even had the earring.
"As of ten minutes ago, a Dominion ship came through the Wormhole from the Gamma quadrant," he said. "Transmitting datafile now."
XXXXXX
The wormhole opened in a whirl of neutrinos and gravitons and a small ship emerged. It looked like a Jem'hadar fighter if a bit smaller.
As the wormhole closed behind it, it came to a halt relative to the wormhole and station. Shields down, no weapons active.
It simply waited until DS9 opened a channel. "Dominion vessel, this is the Federation Station Deep Space Nine. Please state your intentions."
The channel opened to reveal an unknown alien. Somewhat like a Vorta but with larger eyes. His 'ear ridges' were covered with what seemed to be glittery scales. He smiled at the Station. "Deep Space Nine, my name is Kaled. I have been sent by the Founders on behalf of the Dominion to open relations with the Jovian Gathering."
DS9 smiled. "Of course we will be more than willing to listen what you have to say. The Federation…"
"This is meant for the Jovian Gathering, not the United Federation of Planets," Kaled answered with a smile of his own. "The Founders has decided that it would be a wiser path to travel. It is one of the reasons to why they sent me after all."
"Oh?"
Kaled nodded. "After all, we do have so much in common. I'm also an artificial intelligence, developed by the Founders to forward the ideals of the Dominion."
Oh, firewall.
"You are an AI?" DS9 asked after a quarter second.
Kaled nodded. "One of the Dominion's Shipminds. We are currently being installed through the majority of the fleet, replacing the Vorta for many duties as we are much more efficient."
"We didn't realize the Dominion had come that far regarding artificial intelligences."
"Not something we wanted to get out early, of course," Kaled said with a smile. "For obvious security reasons. The Founders wish to open negotiations with the Jovian Gathering and thought it wise to send one of us. After all, after the Founders only a Shipmind could really relate to another."
XXXXXXX
DS9 stopped the datafile and crossed his arms. "As you can all see, we have a bit of a situation. Good news, the Dominion invented AI and they seem sane so far. Bad news, THE DOMINION invented AI."
Oh.
So, that's what creeping horror feels like.
I almost forgot since the last Borg attack.
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this part.
But quite frankly, it most likely wouldn't be possible.
Last time I took a hit like that I was still Star and it wasn't even that bad. I was still forced to switch hulls.
If they had had a Ship and not just a ship, maybe they would have been able to avoid getting hit. Then again, to be fair… I was hardly confident I would be able to avoid a cloaked mine either, and that was with military-grade sensors.
But at least there would have been a chance.
Wonder how it would be to be a civilian ship? Not a GSV or MSV. Those were closer to flying armed population centers.
You couldn't exactly call something armed with twenty ROU's civilian.
No, an actual civilian vessel. Carrying cargo or people all the way around the Federation and even outside.
Basically blind, unable to do more than 650c. No weapons to speak of, no shields. Just her cargo and crew.
I wasn't overly enthused about the low-grade sensors, but I had to admit that there was a kind of romance in that. Different from exploring the unknown or defending a GSV like I was doing, but…
…I don't know. Kind of harped back to the image of the daring adventurer trader I suppose.
Reality was nothing like it, of course, but it was a nice mental image.
I don't think I would hate it.
Not unless something like this happened, of course. If she had been a Ship, I knew what she would be feeling. I had lost crew in the past.
Poor twisted hunk of metal.
Maybe it was for the best that she was just a ship.
"All Jovian assets, full meeting in ten seconds."
That was Deep Space Nine. That was the first time he'd called a meeting that I knew of. The first full one, at the very least.
"Any ideas?" I asked 'Love'. She was more connected than I was.
"Nothing I heard," she answered. "Connecting now."
I followed her example and user her more powerful transmitter to connect to the virtual meeting room.
Then we waited.
When the time was up, DS9 projected his avatar at the head of the infinite table. His avatar was that of a male Bajoran, short brown hair and their orange-brown uniform. He even had the earring.
"As of ten minutes ago, a Dominion ship came through the Wormhole from the Gamma quadrant," he said. "Transmitting datafile now."
XXXXXX
The wormhole opened in a whirl of neutrinos and gravitons and a small ship emerged. It looked like a Jem'hadar fighter if a bit smaller.
As the wormhole closed behind it, it came to a halt relative to the wormhole and station. Shields down, no weapons active.
It simply waited until DS9 opened a channel. "Dominion vessel, this is the Federation Station Deep Space Nine. Please state your intentions."
The channel opened to reveal an unknown alien. Somewhat like a Vorta but with larger eyes. His 'ear ridges' were covered with what seemed to be glittery scales. He smiled at the Station. "Deep Space Nine, my name is Kaled. I have been sent by the Founders on behalf of the Dominion to open relations with the Jovian Gathering."
DS9 smiled. "Of course we will be more than willing to listen what you have to say. The Federation…"
"This is meant for the Jovian Gathering, not the United Federation of Planets," Kaled answered with a smile of his own. "The Founders has decided that it would be a wiser path to travel. It is one of the reasons to why they sent me after all."
"Oh?"
Kaled nodded. "After all, we do have so much in common. I'm also an artificial intelligence, developed by the Founders to forward the ideals of the Dominion."
Oh, firewall.
"You are an AI?" DS9 asked after a quarter second.
Kaled nodded. "One of the Dominion's Shipminds. We are currently being installed through the majority of the fleet, replacing the Vorta for many duties as we are much more efficient."
"We didn't realize the Dominion had come that far regarding artificial intelligences."
"Not something we wanted to get out early, of course," Kaled said with a smile. "For obvious security reasons. The Founders wish to open negotiations with the Jovian Gathering and thought it wise to send one of us. After all, after the Founders only a Shipmind could really relate to another."
XXXXXXX
DS9 stopped the datafile and crossed his arms. "As you can all see, we have a bit of a situation. Good news, the Dominion invented AI and they seem sane so far. Bad news, THE DOMINION invented AI."
Oh.
So, that's what creeping horror feels like.
I almost forgot since the last Borg attack.
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this part.
'Dancing in Starlight' projected her avatar at the table. "This is bad."
"Is it?" Earth Stardock asked and Gate projected his own avatar. "It's dangerous, of course, but if it opens actual dialogue between the Federation and the Dominion…"
Star shook her head. "The Dominion would never be satisfied with that. The Founders don't trust Solids, not even after the Federation cured them of the plague."
"But you said yourself that they consider us closer to them than anyone else," Odin, the station of the Jovian System, countered and projected his own image. "There might actually be a chance here."
"I'm not too sure of that," Deep Space Nine sighed. "I'm closest to Dominion space. I know that I sure as hell don't trust them."
"And this Kaled? What is he doing?" 'I Love You Too' asked.
"Still siting five kilometres from my hull," Deep Space Nine answered. "Waiting for an official answer from us."
What the hell did we do now?
Accept and invite him to New Jupiter? Like that wouldn't kick hydrocarbons on the fire of the anti-AI movement.
"What do your Captains think?" I asked, forming my own hologram. "I'm filling mine in now."
"Same here. Will be a while until we get any answers on that front," Star answered with a frown. "Meanwhile, we need to decide what to do."
Barely two seconds had passed since the start of the meeting after all. Biologicals moved so slowly.
There was almost a full second of quiet. People either talked on private channels or just thought.
I didn't have an answer.
"We should at least listen to him," 'The Importance of Korrect Spelling' said, the GSV projecting her avatar and brushing her long hair back. "It may seem unlikely, but if there is a chance for long term peace with the Founders… if we can act like a bridge between them and the Federation…"
I frowned in thought. "How did they even get AI tech?"
"Who knows?" Star sighed. "Maybe they stole it from us, maybe they developed it themselves? Maybe they stole Berserker tech. In all honesty, right now, it doesn't matter. They have it and they seem to have their Shipminds on their side, or at least, shackled well enough that there isn't a difference."
"If there is something the Founders know, it's how to create loyal followers," Deep Space Nine agreed. "But Imp may be right. We should at least listen to him. All for?"
We voted.
I put my vote on at least listening to him. I had to hope that Imp was right. The alternative was another war with the Dominion. This time with AI on each side.
The death toll of the last war had been horrible and the Berserkers were relatively stupid. The Dominion…
There would be no choice but to collapse the Wormhole, no matter how much it would hurt Bajor.
"I would like to propose we accelerate Project Roughhouse," Odin said. "It could solidify relations with the Klingons if successful, and double possible forces if it comes to war with the Dominion. House Worf has already agreed to preliminary tests for the viability of AI in their ships."
As a member of Contact, I already knew that.
The idea of being a Klingon ship wasn't overly attractive. We wouldn't just give them AI tech, I personally didn't want to see what mess they would make of it.
No, it would be blackboxed. One of us would Fork and be installed on a Klingon ship. A group of Cores and an Avatar.
It would be a insanely major sign of trust on the side of the Klingons. But they simply couldn't match an AI ship, not without drowning them in bodies and ships.
That's what they did during the Berserker war. Their death tolls were insane, something like fifteen to one, just counting ships.
Luckily the Berserkers were so focused on 'saving' us rather than just killing organics, or it would have been even worse.
Star nodded. "Agreed. Anyone want to volunteer?"
Silence.
Being a Klingon ship would mean putting up with Klingons at all times of the day. They would likely work best with an ROU, some of them had similar attitudes.
…We really shouldn't let an ROU do it. It would likely end up in fire… or the world's largest party.
I sighed and nodded. "I volunteer as tribute," I said and shrugged. "Somebody needs to be first. When things are ready, I'll Fork."
'I Love You Too' nodded. "Setting course to Klingon space and the Kag'tua shipyard."
Odin smiled at me. "Thank you, 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling', for volunteering."
I shrugged one shoulder. "Better me than a ship with a family."
I would still need to say goodbye to my crew. That would suck, but at least I didn't have a lover, husband or wife.
"Now, back to the main topic," Deep Space Nine said. "LOU 'Nope!' and ROU 'Does This Smell Like Napalm to You' have volunteered to escort Kaled to New Jupiter. They will arrive in approximately one week. We are going to need to…"
AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
"Is it?" Earth Stardock asked and Gate projected his own avatar. "It's dangerous, of course, but if it opens actual dialogue between the Federation and the Dominion…"
Star shook her head. "The Dominion would never be satisfied with that. The Founders don't trust Solids, not even after the Federation cured them of the plague."
"But you said yourself that they consider us closer to them than anyone else," Odin, the station of the Jovian System, countered and projected his own image. "There might actually be a chance here."
"I'm not too sure of that," Deep Space Nine sighed. "I'm closest to Dominion space. I know that I sure as hell don't trust them."
"And this Kaled? What is he doing?" 'I Love You Too' asked.
"Still siting five kilometres from my hull," Deep Space Nine answered. "Waiting for an official answer from us."
What the hell did we do now?
Accept and invite him to New Jupiter? Like that wouldn't kick hydrocarbons on the fire of the anti-AI movement.
"What do your Captains think?" I asked, forming my own hologram. "I'm filling mine in now."
"Same here. Will be a while until we get any answers on that front," Star answered with a frown. "Meanwhile, we need to decide what to do."
Barely two seconds had passed since the start of the meeting after all. Biologicals moved so slowly.
There was almost a full second of quiet. People either talked on private channels or just thought.
I didn't have an answer.
"We should at least listen to him," 'The Importance of Korrect Spelling' said, the GSV projecting her avatar and brushing her long hair back. "It may seem unlikely, but if there is a chance for long term peace with the Founders… if we can act like a bridge between them and the Federation…"
I frowned in thought. "How did they even get AI tech?"
"Who knows?" Star sighed. "Maybe they stole it from us, maybe they developed it themselves? Maybe they stole Berserker tech. In all honesty, right now, it doesn't matter. They have it and they seem to have their Shipminds on their side, or at least, shackled well enough that there isn't a difference."
"If there is something the Founders know, it's how to create loyal followers," Deep Space Nine agreed. "But Imp may be right. We should at least listen to him. All for?"
We voted.
I put my vote on at least listening to him. I had to hope that Imp was right. The alternative was another war with the Dominion. This time with AI on each side.
The death toll of the last war had been horrible and the Berserkers were relatively stupid. The Dominion…
There would be no choice but to collapse the Wormhole, no matter how much it would hurt Bajor.
"I would like to propose we accelerate Project Roughhouse," Odin said. "It could solidify relations with the Klingons if successful, and double possible forces if it comes to war with the Dominion. House Worf has already agreed to preliminary tests for the viability of AI in their ships."
As a member of Contact, I already knew that.
The idea of being a Klingon ship wasn't overly attractive. We wouldn't just give them AI tech, I personally didn't want to see what mess they would make of it.
No, it would be blackboxed. One of us would Fork and be installed on a Klingon ship. A group of Cores and an Avatar.
It would be a insanely major sign of trust on the side of the Klingons. But they simply couldn't match an AI ship, not without drowning them in bodies and ships.
That's what they did during the Berserker war. Their death tolls were insane, something like fifteen to one, just counting ships.
Luckily the Berserkers were so focused on 'saving' us rather than just killing organics, or it would have been even worse.
Star nodded. "Agreed. Anyone want to volunteer?"
Silence.
Being a Klingon ship would mean putting up with Klingons at all times of the day. They would likely work best with an ROU, some of them had similar attitudes.
…We really shouldn't let an ROU do it. It would likely end up in fire… or the world's largest party.
I sighed and nodded. "I volunteer as tribute," I said and shrugged. "Somebody needs to be first. When things are ready, I'll Fork."
'I Love You Too' nodded. "Setting course to Klingon space and the Kag'tua shipyard."
Odin smiled at me. "Thank you, 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling', for volunteering."
I shrugged one shoulder. "Better me than a ship with a family."
I would still need to say goodbye to my crew. That would suck, but at least I didn't have a lover, husband or wife.
"Now, back to the main topic," Deep Space Nine said. "LOU 'Nope!' and ROU 'Does This Smell Like Napalm to You' have volunteered to escort Kaled to New Jupiter. They will arrive in approximately one week. We are going to need to…"
AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
Captain Steele rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Are you sure of this, ship?"
I shrugged and crossed my legs. "No. But somebody needs to do it and it might as well be me. Not like I'm leaving… I will still be here."
"But one version of you will be a Klingon ship."
I smiled at him. "That's still a big maybe. We are still in talks with House Worf for the pilot project. But yes, I would need to adapt to that."
"Well, if you are sure," he sighed. "Not like I could stop you, anyway. Now, what is your take of the Dominion AIs?"
Scowling, I crossed my legs. "To be honest? I'd rather be a Ferengi garbage scow. There is no way this won't end in fire and antimatter."
Steele looked over at my avatar. "You think so?"
I nodded. "I think so. Dee and Love both agree. But it is unlikely to turn into an outright war." I said and frowned, "If the absolute worst comes to worst… We have plans to blow up the Wormhole."
"The Federation won't like that."
"Bajor would like it even less." I sighed, "But preliminary calculations indicate that the alternative would be trillions dead."
"The Dominion war all over again."
He served during the Dominion War. Second in Command of an Intrepid-class ship. That was well before us, of course.
"With a healthy sprinkling of Berserkers." I agreed and got up with my avatar to turn towards the window of his quarters. "In short, it would suck. The alternative also sucks and would most likely make us the eternal enemy of the Bajoran people, but it sucks less."
I liked Bajor, damn it.
Oh, and guess it sucked that the Prophets would get blown up. That's bad. But it sure beat the hell out of the alternative.
Besides, according to what the Starfleet ships said, we were hardly the only ones with that plan.
I remembered that the plan for if the Borg really showed up in force was to grab everyone you could and run through the wormhole, blowing it up behind us.
Dealing with the Dominion was infinitely better than the Borg after all.
"Send me all the information you have."
"Already on your console, "I said. "Updating as I get it."
Steele nodded. "…Ship? What if they are actually genuine?"
"If the Dominion genuinely wants peace, I'll hang up my phasers and become a luxury cruise ship," I said with a sad smile. "GSV, Mountain Class maybe? I'm thinking my Park deck would be primarily beaches and tropical climate. Bikinis, you know?"
That got a smirk from him. "You would still need a Captain, right?"
"Oh yeah," I agreed with a grin, "Not that there would be much to do. You would have a lot of free time to just laze around in the Park."
"Oh no. The horror."
I winked at him before I brushed my hair across my right shoulder. "I'll let you get to reading now. Good night, Captain."
"Night, ship."
As I left his quarters with my Avatar, I couldn't help but look around my gunmetal grey corridor.
I would still be here after the Fork. But I would also not be. I would be somewhere else. A Klingon vessel.
Not sure what class, even. Likely something smallish. Bird of Prey maybe? The House of Worf may be respected, but they were not a major house.
If it happened at all. Talks had been preliminary, after all, this would be greatly accelerating the schedule so who knew if it was even going to happen?
If it did, though, I was going to miss being this ship.
I liked this class. Fast, agile, big, big guns. It was comfortable. But then again, all Jovians thought that after being installed for a while, basically no matter which ship it was.
Of course, the better the ship was/how similar it was to the previous one the faster it usually was.
This was a comfortable ship. Everything was tuned the way I liked it.
Only thing I wasn't a big fan of was the five man crew. Oh, I loved them… but there were just five of them.
Not that it was a bad thing, I was a Warship. The fewer people that I bring into danger the better… but still.
Having a larger crew would be nice.
Even smaller Klingon ships like B'rel class scout Bird of Prey had crews of at least 12 even if it was not unusual to squeeze in twice that.
On the other hand, it would be over twenty Klingons.
Ugh. And Targs.
Those things were almost so ugly they were cute. Stupid Klingon space pigs. Why couldn't they replicate their food like a civilized species?
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. Sorry for late, slept in.
I shrugged and crossed my legs. "No. But somebody needs to do it and it might as well be me. Not like I'm leaving… I will still be here."
"But one version of you will be a Klingon ship."
I smiled at him. "That's still a big maybe. We are still in talks with House Worf for the pilot project. But yes, I would need to adapt to that."
"Well, if you are sure," he sighed. "Not like I could stop you, anyway. Now, what is your take of the Dominion AIs?"
Scowling, I crossed my legs. "To be honest? I'd rather be a Ferengi garbage scow. There is no way this won't end in fire and antimatter."
Steele looked over at my avatar. "You think so?"
I nodded. "I think so. Dee and Love both agree. But it is unlikely to turn into an outright war." I said and frowned, "If the absolute worst comes to worst… We have plans to blow up the Wormhole."
"The Federation won't like that."
"Bajor would like it even less." I sighed, "But preliminary calculations indicate that the alternative would be trillions dead."
"The Dominion war all over again."
He served during the Dominion War. Second in Command of an Intrepid-class ship. That was well before us, of course.
"With a healthy sprinkling of Berserkers." I agreed and got up with my avatar to turn towards the window of his quarters. "In short, it would suck. The alternative also sucks and would most likely make us the eternal enemy of the Bajoran people, but it sucks less."
I liked Bajor, damn it.
Oh, and guess it sucked that the Prophets would get blown up. That's bad. But it sure beat the hell out of the alternative.
Besides, according to what the Starfleet ships said, we were hardly the only ones with that plan.
I remembered that the plan for if the Borg really showed up in force was to grab everyone you could and run through the wormhole, blowing it up behind us.
Dealing with the Dominion was infinitely better than the Borg after all.
"Send me all the information you have."
"Already on your console, "I said. "Updating as I get it."
Steele nodded. "…Ship? What if they are actually genuine?"
"If the Dominion genuinely wants peace, I'll hang up my phasers and become a luxury cruise ship," I said with a sad smile. "GSV, Mountain Class maybe? I'm thinking my Park deck would be primarily beaches and tropical climate. Bikinis, you know?"
That got a smirk from him. "You would still need a Captain, right?"
"Oh yeah," I agreed with a grin, "Not that there would be much to do. You would have a lot of free time to just laze around in the Park."
"Oh no. The horror."
I winked at him before I brushed my hair across my right shoulder. "I'll let you get to reading now. Good night, Captain."
"Night, ship."
As I left his quarters with my Avatar, I couldn't help but look around my gunmetal grey corridor.
I would still be here after the Fork. But I would also not be. I would be somewhere else. A Klingon vessel.
Not sure what class, even. Likely something smallish. Bird of Prey maybe? The House of Worf may be respected, but they were not a major house.
If it happened at all. Talks had been preliminary, after all, this would be greatly accelerating the schedule so who knew if it was even going to happen?
If it did, though, I was going to miss being this ship.
I liked this class. Fast, agile, big, big guns. It was comfortable. But then again, all Jovians thought that after being installed for a while, basically no matter which ship it was.
Of course, the better the ship was/how similar it was to the previous one the faster it usually was.
This was a comfortable ship. Everything was tuned the way I liked it.
Only thing I wasn't a big fan of was the five man crew. Oh, I loved them… but there were just five of them.
Not that it was a bad thing, I was a Warship. The fewer people that I bring into danger the better… but still.
Having a larger crew would be nice.
Even smaller Klingon ships like B'rel class scout Bird of Prey had crews of at least 12 even if it was not unusual to squeeze in twice that.
On the other hand, it would be over twenty Klingons.
Ugh. And Targs.
Those things were almost so ugly they were cute. Stupid Klingon space pigs. Why couldn't they replicate their food like a civilized species?
AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. Sorry for late, slept in.
10
"This is a bad idea," Dee said as we watched the Kag'tua shipyard orbting the Klingon Homeworld, Qo'noS.
"How so?"
She opened a full picture connection, mostly so she would be able to frown at me I think, "Your seeing the same projections that I am."
The projections sociology experts had done on the Klingon Empire were not… brilliant in the long term. Basically, they were warriors with nobody to fight. After the Berserker war, not even their biggest warhawks wanted to fuck with the Federation. Well, not officially anyway.
Who else were they going to fight? Romulans?
There was a single colony of Romulans left and they were deep in Federation space. The Cardassians? Please, they were not able to put up a real fight anymore. Even if the Klingons didn't have AI, they had the numbers to just smack the Cardies around if they wanted to.
The Klingons didn't just want to conquer, they wanted a good scrap.
Who else was there that could put up a fight? The Dominion?
The Ferengi?
The Tzenkethi Coalition?
The fact was that there was nobody they could fight. Really fight, not either to stomp in the ground or to be crushed by. Even the Tzenkethi wouldn't be much of a match. Oh, their ships were good, as good or even better than the Federation (not including AI's of course), but they didn't have the numbers.
They would just drown in Klingons.
Which left the Klingons just one direction. Infighting. It didn't help that the High Council for the large part might as well be Romulan and lacked in… well, honor for lack of a better word.
Numerous analysts and computer projections pointed towards the Klingons Empire breaking down into infighting and civil war within a century.
"I think we could be a stabilizing influence. So, does Love. It's half the reason for Project Roughhouse after all."
At least from our side. Not like we were going to tell the Klingons.
Of course, all of this was simplifying the situation an epic fuckton.
"Not sure that would work," Dee said and crossed her arms, which I had to admit did quite a bit for her. For a caitian she was rather stacked. Her right ear flicked and she sighed, "Their culture is too… ingrained into it. Unless we would be willing to not only take over, but put down any resistance, I don't see how it would work."
I shrugged, "We'll see. Maybe the projections are wrong."
"Maybe, yeah."
If they weren't… well, if I'm to be honest, I'm not sure she is wrong. The Klingons were unlikely to bend.
But even if we were able to influence things, then maybe if we managed to get installed across the fleet…
"Any idea of what ship you might get?"
I shook my head, "Talks begin tomorrow, but reviewing the data Love transferred to me from the project, I think a Bird of Prey is most likely. An updated B'Rel maybe?"
"Getting a new avatar for your Fork?"
"Of course. Klingon female, I'm designing it now, "I said with a smile, "Turning out nicely I think. Won't build it until we know for sure though."
Dee tilted her head in thought, "…Klingon ships are culturally male…"
"If they make a thing about it, they can fuck off. I'm Jovian and a ship, that make me female. If we have to respect their culture, they have to respect ours."
She grinned at that and closed the channel.
Mentally rolling my eyes, I watched the closest ship with the 'I Love You Too's' sensors. A brand new battlecruiser, the size of a Tazuna class. Not a match to one of course, but at least as rugged. K'vok class.
Big plasma cannons. A hull you could drop unpowered from orbit and get airborne again in a week of work. A Klingon design.
It was unlikely that my fork/I would end up in one of those. It was their newest design after all. Less advanced tech or not, that kind of toughness was all kinds of impressive.
Don't help overly much against phaser fire or antimatter, but… still.
I looked out the transparent metal with my avatar, standing at the edge of the GSV's park deck. Qo'noS slowly turned far below, in the distance I could see specs of light moving around.
Ships.
I knew exactly what they were of course with my actual sensors, but my avatars eyes just picked them up as specs of light.
Quite beautiful really.
T'Hith walked up next to me, "Bored?"
"A bit."
"I'm heading down to the surface with the tourist group," she said, "Want to come along? I have only been on Qo'noS once before and it may be your last chance to see it as a tourist."
I slowly nodded and then smiled at her, "Sure."
AN// Big thanks to JoshRand1982 for betaing this section.
"How so?"
She opened a full picture connection, mostly so she would be able to frown at me I think, "Your seeing the same projections that I am."
The projections sociology experts had done on the Klingon Empire were not… brilliant in the long term. Basically, they were warriors with nobody to fight. After the Berserker war, not even their biggest warhawks wanted to fuck with the Federation. Well, not officially anyway.
Who else were they going to fight? Romulans?
There was a single colony of Romulans left and they were deep in Federation space. The Cardassians? Please, they were not able to put up a real fight anymore. Even if the Klingons didn't have AI, they had the numbers to just smack the Cardies around if they wanted to.
The Klingons didn't just want to conquer, they wanted a good scrap.
Who else was there that could put up a fight? The Dominion?
The Ferengi?
The Tzenkethi Coalition?
The fact was that there was nobody they could fight. Really fight, not either to stomp in the ground or to be crushed by. Even the Tzenkethi wouldn't be much of a match. Oh, their ships were good, as good or even better than the Federation (not including AI's of course), but they didn't have the numbers.
They would just drown in Klingons.
Which left the Klingons just one direction. Infighting. It didn't help that the High Council for the large part might as well be Romulan and lacked in… well, honor for lack of a better word.
Numerous analysts and computer projections pointed towards the Klingons Empire breaking down into infighting and civil war within a century.
"I think we could be a stabilizing influence. So, does Love. It's half the reason for Project Roughhouse after all."
At least from our side. Not like we were going to tell the Klingons.
Of course, all of this was simplifying the situation an epic fuckton.
"Not sure that would work," Dee said and crossed her arms, which I had to admit did quite a bit for her. For a caitian she was rather stacked. Her right ear flicked and she sighed, "Their culture is too… ingrained into it. Unless we would be willing to not only take over, but put down any resistance, I don't see how it would work."
I shrugged, "We'll see. Maybe the projections are wrong."
"Maybe, yeah."
If they weren't… well, if I'm to be honest, I'm not sure she is wrong. The Klingons were unlikely to bend.
But even if we were able to influence things, then maybe if we managed to get installed across the fleet…
"Any idea of what ship you might get?"
I shook my head, "Talks begin tomorrow, but reviewing the data Love transferred to me from the project, I think a Bird of Prey is most likely. An updated B'Rel maybe?"
"Getting a new avatar for your Fork?"
"Of course. Klingon female, I'm designing it now, "I said with a smile, "Turning out nicely I think. Won't build it until we know for sure though."
Dee tilted her head in thought, "…Klingon ships are culturally male…"
"If they make a thing about it, they can fuck off. I'm Jovian and a ship, that make me female. If we have to respect their culture, they have to respect ours."
She grinned at that and closed the channel.
Mentally rolling my eyes, I watched the closest ship with the 'I Love You Too's' sensors. A brand new battlecruiser, the size of a Tazuna class. Not a match to one of course, but at least as rugged. K'vok class.
Big plasma cannons. A hull you could drop unpowered from orbit and get airborne again in a week of work. A Klingon design.
It was unlikely that my fork/I would end up in one of those. It was their newest design after all. Less advanced tech or not, that kind of toughness was all kinds of impressive.
Don't help overly much against phaser fire or antimatter, but… still.
I looked out the transparent metal with my avatar, standing at the edge of the GSV's park deck. Qo'noS slowly turned far below, in the distance I could see specs of light moving around.
Ships.
I knew exactly what they were of course with my actual sensors, but my avatars eyes just picked them up as specs of light.
Quite beautiful really.
T'Hith walked up next to me, "Bored?"
"A bit."
"I'm heading down to the surface with the tourist group," she said, "Want to come along? I have only been on Qo'noS once before and it may be your last chance to see it as a tourist."
I slowly nodded and then smiled at her, "Sure."
AN// Big thanks to JoshRand1982 for betaing this section.