Questions of Honor

[Hiver]

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.

 

[Steven Kodaly]

"GSV, Mountain Class maybe? I'm thinking my Park deck would be primarily beaches and tropical climate. Bikinis, you know?"

Click to shrink...

Mandatory bikinis, speedos and workout regimens for everyone!

Not that it was a bad thing, I was a Warship. The fewer people that I bring into danger the better… but still.

Click to shrink...

This mindset is what's going to cause the most friction. Federation types can be bullied or hoodwinked into staying safe by the ship's A.I. - proud sons and daughters of Qo'nos won't tolerate that nonsense.

 

[Hiver]

"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.

 

[UbeOne]

There are many kinds of battles to fight, not just the one done with disruptors and torpedoes. The one against ignorance, or the one against disease, for instance.

 

[Crazael]

There are many kinds of battles to fight, not just the one done with disruptors and torpedoes. The one against ignorance, or the one against disease, for instance.

Click to shrink...

Which, really, is the great folly of the Klingons. They forgot that honor can come from more than just combat.

 

[UbeOne]

On the other hand, they could go and fight the Borg. An adaptable foe should be a good challenge for them.

 

[SIgma 52]

Just found this, great to see it continu.

 

[Gindjurra]

specs

Click to shrink...

You have a recurring typo. Every time you meant to write specks (small things), you instead wrote specs.

 

[Hiver]

I walked into the meeting room with my avatar. It was a room in one of the buildings on 'I Love You Too's' park deck.

Towards the front of her hull, there were some actual buildings in the park, usually meant for important meetings or cultural events. A small sports stadium, even.

This specific one was meant for diplomatic meetings.

Right now, there was only one other person in there and he was standing at the end of the table.

Ambassador Worf. Head of House Worf, after they split off from House Martok.

Tall, wide and strong, he was wearing the normal Klingon armor, but with a cloak of white fur across his shoulders. His hair was in a multitude of braids.

"Ambassador Worf," I said with a nod. "It's an honor to meet you again."

We had actually met in the past. Back when I was Star.

"Star ship 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling'," he answered as he looked over at me. "Welcome to Qo'noS."

"Thank you, sir."

He regarded me for a moment before he made his way over across the room. "Why do you want to be a Klingon ship? What makes you think that you are worthy to serve on one of the ships of my House?"

He was well over a head taller than me, so I had to look up at him. "I don't want to be a Klingon ship."

"What do you mean?"

I crossed my arms and scowled. "I find Klingons in general… rude, loud and generally unpleasant to be around. Your culture is based on the strong beating down on the weak, and I find the fact that you keep worlds of people who are slaves in everything but name, repulsive. Your government is a big bunch of hypocrites, spouting on about Honor, while scheming like Romulans. Present company excluded, of course."

He didn't say anything for several long moments. It was a long pause, even for organics, as he just looked down at me before he growled. "Then why? If you think so little of us, then why!"

"Because it's necessary," I said and shook my head. "With the revelation of Dominion AI, a front of unity is demanded between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. If it comes to war, you need AI in your ships to avoid being slaughtered."

Worf pulled away, walking over to look out the window. "That is not something the High Council likes being reminded of."

"Tough." I sighed and walked up next to him to look out at the park. A school class was holding a lesson there today, "Never mind that the Borg will someday return," I added before I smiled slightly. "My… my honor won't allow me to just stand by when there is something I could do. The most important thing to a Ship is her Crew. That would not change if I was a Klingon vessel."

Worf stood quiet for a long moment before he looked at me again. "Klingon ships are usually thought of as male."

"I'm Jovian. Deal with it. If I'm to respect your culture, you will respect mine."

That got a chuckle from him and he slowly nodded. "Very well. There is a Kor-class Bird of Prey currently finishing construction. That will be your new vessel."

Kor-class Bird of Prey.

Length, 157.76 meters; beam, 181.54 meters; height, 98.54 meters.

Crew of twenty, plus room to carry up to a hundred troops if needed.

Highly armoured, shielded and wielding a large number of high power disruptor arrays.

A bit bigger, and a lot more modern than the B'rel-class Bird of Prey retrofit I was expecting.

I nodded and crossed my arms again. "It should suffice. I will pick the name."

That earned me a look. "You will pick an honourable name. One the crew would be proud of. Not a Jovian name."

"Fair enough," I agreed with a nod. "IKS Synan."

An old word in Klingon, not often used, other than as a female name. It meant, 'Standing in the dark'. As in the one that stood guard while the rest slept.

"An honourable name," he agreed. "Very well then. When are you ready to install?"

"I'm finishing construction of my avatar now," I said. "As soon as that is finished, I will Fork and split off a Core for installation in the new vessel. You will transfer the schematics to me so I can choose the optimal locations."

Worf nodded. "Qapla!"

"Qapla!" I agreed with a nod as he turned to leave.

As the door closed, 'I Love You Too' projected her holographic avatar next to my physical one. "That went well. Despite you insulting him and his entire people."

I smiled slightly at her. "Klingons value honesty. Ambassador Worf more than most. He is an honorable Klingon and a good man. I needed to be honest with him, not only for him and his house, but for me. If this really was a bad fit, it would be better to discover it now."

Love sighed and then shook her head, canceling her hologram again.



AN// I'm so sorry guys for late posting, I woke up way late this morning and had to rush to catch the bus. Anyway, thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.

 

[Dur'id the Druid]

That was a great insight into Worf's character!

 

[Hiver]

"Ready?"

I scanned my new avatar as she carried my Quantum Core over to the armored mounting. Currently, I was only in my little mobility platform. Tiny and only for emergencies.

"Ready." My avatar agreed, nodding to the avatar of the 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling'. My old avatar.

My new one was taller with wider shoulders and a mane of long hair. I think I did well there, she looked good.

A striking and beautiful Klingon woman.

It moved to fit me into place and the armored shell closed over my Quantum Core as I connected to the ships systems and main computer.

I did the mental version of a double take.

What in the fuck?

I had not been so confused since I was first integrated into my first Mobile Platform. Everything was different!

Even switching between different Federation ships and various platforms, they still had things in common.

Quite frankly, I had no idea what I was looking at here.

…Really good idea that everything that could remotely harm someone was disconnected and that, other than the two avatars, there was nobody onboard.

I knew this would be tricky but holy fuck.

With that, I started to slowly try to figure out what the fuck I was looking at.


XXXXXXXXX


I watched the armored shell close over my Quantum Core and then there was silence. I shifted back and crossed my arms, looking over at my previous avatar. "…Guess there is nothing to do but wait now until I figure out how to connect to me?" I said with a shrug.

Fee nodded. "Completely different architecture. Might take a while."

I scowled and nodded. "Indeed."

Sighing, I turned around and leaned against the bulkhead as I frowned.

"Nice uniform, by the way. I didn't pick that one," Fee said as she watched me with a smile. "Looking good."

I smiled at her, said: "Thanks," and glanced down at myself. "A bit tight, but it was the only model of armor/uniform for women that didn't have either 'battle skirts' or boob window. I do need to fit in at least somewhat."

"Well, you will hardly have problems getting the men to follow you into battle."

I glared at the other ship. "Don't you have more important things to do!?"

She grinned and jumped up to sit on one of the consoles. "Not really, no."

Glaring at her, I shook my head and looked down at the dagger sitting in my belt. I was a Warship after all.

Well, would be as soon as my other me figured out stuff enough to connect to my avatar.

"…We'll miss you," Fee said with a small smile. "Mostly the crew, of course."

"Take care of them, will you?"

"Of course." She agreed with a smile, leaning back against her arms. "Same for you. Be careful."

"Always is," I said and then winked. "You know that."

She stuck her tongue out at me a split second before the link with myself finished and suddenly I was just as confused as my other self had been. "Link established. Well… this was a bit trickier than expected. That's all I managed to do so far," I told her. "It's… highly confusing. The operating system is completely different and the communications protocol is as well."

Fee frowned and nodded. "Well, we knew it would be." before she smiled. "What was it that old movie in the sim said? 'Think in Klingon'?"

I sighed at her at continued to dig through the system. I knew how these things looked through the Klingons' normal user interface. This should lead to…

Yes, that's the external sensors. If I activate those…

…I get even more confused as I have no clue what any of this data stream means. Okay then, skip that for now.

Same with internal sensors.

Something simple… something simple to figure stuff out for now. This should be the…

The lights turned down to nothing and then brightened as far as they would go as Fee glanced up at the ceiling. "Did you mean to do that?"

I cringed. "Yes?"

"Synan?"

"I thought it was the water/air filtration system?" I admitted. "This will take a while. Want to go have a look around? Internal sensors aren't anywhere close to online yet."

"Love to."




AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Drnoyes]

diehard windows user meets macOS = WTF?

 

[SuperHeavy]

The ~anti-matter plant~ connects to the ~plasma conduits~ and the ~plasma conduits~ connects to the ~disruptor banks~. So I wonder if the Federation is going to lend out any more technology to anyone else that will oppose the Dominion. With the industrial power of a multi-planet empire and centralized command willing to use it they're going to need every advantage.

 

[Hiver]

I brought the turbolift up to the right level and stepped out of it with my Avatar.

A week of practice and I was more or less in control of the ship's basic systems. I had yet to try to actually move or anything, but I could see through the sensors, I could use all the basic systems.

I was actually starting to feel like a ship again and not just a slightly confused Mind.

As I brought my avatar into the transporter room, I simply waited.

I didn't have to wait very long.

I received a signal and I accepted it, routing it into my transporter and in seconds a Klingon shimmered into being on my transporter pad.

"Captain Wozh," I said with a nod and a salute, hitting my chest with my right fist. "Welcome onboard."

He stepped down the transported pad, looking me up and down. "So you are the ship's… mind."

"Yes, sir," I confirmed. "I am the IKS Synan."

He grunted and watched me closely.

He reminded me a bit of Worf. A bit shorter and younger, but of solid build. Strong.

Finally, Captain Wozh nodded, said; "Walk with me, machine." and started towards the door. I followed along with my avatar.

I moved along next to him, simply waiting for him to speak.

It took a minute for him to do so as we made our way up to the bridge. He looked around the bridge as I stopped just inside the door, watching with my arms calmly behind my back.

He moved to sit down in the Captain's chair and looked over at me. "Synan."

"Yes, sir?" I asked and walked up to stand next to him.

"When I heard of this, I was dubious," he said. "What honor is there to have a machine fight your battles?"

I shook my head. "There is honor in victory. There is honor in doing your job properly. There are many kinds of honor." I said before I scowled. "And I am no mere 'Machine'!"

"So, I can see." he said and rubbed his chin with a grin before standing up, putting his hand on my hip. "I'm sure you will be useful, serving under me."

I hit him so hard he flew backwards, clipping his chair on the way and going rolling across the floor, coming to a halt by the wall. He didn't move for several seconds as I stalked over to him, pulling my dagger from my belt. "Would you like to repeat that again, sir?" I growled.

That arrogant bastard!

Slowly picking himself off the floor, he chuckled and started to laugh, supporting himself on the console before reaching up to feel his jaw. Finally, he pulled out a loose tooth. "Good!"

I stopped to look at him, idly rotating the dagger in my hand. "What!?"

"It seems like you DO have some honor, machi…" he started to say before he stopped and nodded to me. "Synan. I needed to know."

Arsehole.

"Do that again and I'll honor you again!" I growled and put my dagger away.

"Good! You have spirit! If I am to have my ship fight for me, I want it to be one with spirit!" he said with a grin. "Not some weak Starfleet machine with no courage!"

"I am Jovian. I have not been a Starfleet ship for years," I snorted. "I am a Fork of the 'A Sudden Sinking Feeling' a Jovian Limited Offensive Unit. I am not some pansy science vessel! I have a multitude of solo Berserker kills!"

Captain Wozh nodded and gripped my shoulder. "Good! Tell me of them! Tell me the stories!"

"Your tooth needs regenerating."

"Bah!" he dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Come!" he continued and put his arm around my shoulders. "Is the galley stocked!?"

"…Moderately. No food, but the water and Bloodwine are fully filled up along with non-perishables."

No replicators.

That's just stupid.

"Good! We will drink! You will tell me of your battles, I will tell you of how my squadron single handedly fought off a Berserker Warbird, saving the Colony on Graxas Six!" He laughed and nodded. "And you need to practice your punches! Good power, but your form is sloppy! You fight like my daughter! She is six!"

"I didn't try to kill you. Shall I try again?"

He grinned and nodded. "You will do. You will do just fine. Come!" he commanded and lead the way out of the bridge forwards my galley.

I just shook my head and followed him. Klingons. They are all insane. Why in the world did I volunteer for this again?



AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Steven Kodaly]

"It seems like you DO have some honor, machi…"

Click to shrink...

The Universal Translator must be on the fritz, he was clearly attempting to say 'self-respect' to her.

 

[Conu]

Being a Klingon ship wouldn't be that bad. Bit of a culture (hur hur) shock, Klingons don't value the sanctity of life the same way as the Federation, seeming to be more concerned about the quality of life lived and the value of death earned. This is a big departure from the way the whole Star line (and indeed the Jovian Consensus) have always acted, going to suicidal lengths to preserve their crew. I don't know if that is just a character trait, it seems so extreme and compulsive at times that I have wondered if it was somehow coded or conditioned into the base AI matrix.

Beaming the crew off the ship so Shippy can do something dangerous is really not going to fly with the Klingons. Now that I think about it, the title 'Questions of Honor' is probably an allusion to just this sort of issue. I look forward to how you explore it Hiver. I was starting to wonder if anyone would call the AIs out on their slightly patronizing need to 'keep everyone safe'.

 

[UbeOne]

The Klingons would insist on going with their ship to battle.

 

[Aelain]

Good to see another Hiver story continued! Looking good so far.

 

[Hiver]

"Captain! You can't possibly expect us to tolerate this!?" Lieutenant Rokt yelled as he motioned towards us, "A Federation machine! In control of the ship!? There is no Honor in this!"

Captain Wozh watched him but didn't say anything, simply leaning back in his chair.

Rokt turned to the rest, "A soulless Federation computer in charge of a KLINGON vessel! This is an outrage!" he yelled before he turned to me with a snarl, "It even pretends to be Klingon! Look at it!"

I could argue him down. Get him transferred off the ship.

If this was a Starfleet or Jovian vessel then I would.

This was neither a Starfleet nor a Jovian vessel.

Stepping forward, I hooked my fingers into his armor and pulled him close, headbutting him and letting him fall onto the deck with a heavy thud, "Get this petaQ off my hull!" I growled, putting my foot on him, pushing him away, sending the unconscious Klingon sliding across the deckplates, "He is clearly too stupid to be able to serve on a Starship!"

I turned to Commander Roskas, "Get us a new weapons officer!"

He glanced at the Captain who simply nodded before turning back to me and saluting, "Yes, Ship."

A pair of warriors picked the fallen Klingon up and dragged him towards the transporter room as I crossed my arms, looking around the people gathered on the bridge, "Anyone else has any objections!?"

"Where do you fit in the chain of command?" Sergeant Triksa asked, crossing her arms.

"The Captain commands the Ship. Nobody else does." I answered her and then looked at them in turn with my avatar, "If anyone has a problem serving aboard me, you have until tomorrow to request a transfer."

Captain Wozh stood up, "Now get to work! I want my ship ready for battle before we undock!"

The bridge turned into a hive of activity.

Disorganized, but still seeming to get things done at an acceptable rate. I miss Starfleet. At least those interiors weren't brown, black and grey.

I'd even take the beige interior of a classic Galaxy class.

'I Love You Too' had already left the system.

Not like I would just give up anyway. I had volunteered for this, I was going to finish it… but if I was to be honest, I was already considering what ship class to transfer to when the project was over.

Maybe I really should give the entire 'civilian vessel' a try then. It sure would be a nice break from this.

Some things I couldn't complain about though. Like the sensors. They were actually quite nice, if with lower resolution than I was used to.

They made up for that with being able to accept a lot more power than before, giving them at least about fifty percent more piercing power than I had even as an LOU.

I'm considering suggesting we purchase the plans from the Klingons and start to integrate them in our ships.

To be fair, the shields wasn't bad either, but I couldn't speak for weapons or engines yet. I had only done dry runs and simulations with either so far.

That's what we were about to find out now.

"All crew accounted for, Captain," I said and looked over at Captain Wozh, "Barring one weapons officer of course. Ready to undock and begin engine trials."

"Unlock docking clamps," He ordered with a nod, sinking back down into the center chair, "Ahead, one quarter thrusters!"

Nodding, I ran my sensors across the shipyard before releasing my docking clamps and giving my thrusters a careful puff.

Slowly I floated away from the station before I very carefully stopped my drift and activated my rear thrusters at quarter power, slowly edging out of the drydock.

"Thrusters feel a bit… sluggish," I reported, "Response time is 0.04 microseconds higher than expected. Might be residue in the emitters from installation. Attempting purge."

And with purge, I meant go to full power and attempt to burn it away.

A two second burn with all thrusters at full power, keeping me in the same location. I felt myself tremble in place but things smoothed out slightly.

Cutting power, I then gave another small puff with rear thrusters, "Response time down to nominal levels, Captain." I reported with a nod, "That did it."

I would never have needed to on a Federation vessel. Our thrusters were designed to make that impossible to happen.

"Put us into standard orbit and commence impulse testing."

"Yes, Captain."

I slowly scooted towards a higher orbit, working to get a complete handle of the ship's movements. The thrusters were powerful, but…

The inertial dampening was different, giving the ship a completely different feel to it. This would take some getting used to.




AN// Big thanks to FPSCanarussia for betaing this section.

 

[UbeOne]

It takes time to adjust to another culture, in this case, Klingons.

 

[esotericist]

Poor Synan. She thinks she'll be escaping at some point, but it's in their nature to become attached to their crew.

Unless they all die at once, she'll be staying Klingon.

 

[Drnoyes]

Unless they all die at once, she'll be staying Klingon.

Click to shrink...

Does it count if she is the one who loses her patience and kills them?

 

[esotericist]

Does it count if she is the one who loses her patience and kills them?

Click to shrink...

Well, I imagine in that scenario she'd both be quite thorough, so it'd naturally follow she'd be done being Klingon.

 

[Hiver]

"So, how loud was this?"

Gates smiled, his avatar leaning back in his equally virtual chair. "Regarding what?"

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Me being installed in a Klingon ship. The Dominion envoy… take your pick."

The Station shook his head. "The first ruffled some feathers, but legally there isn't really anything they can do. There is no way for them to stop it."

"And the second?"

"Oh, that one got loud," he said with a smile. "The Dominion having AI… it's one of those Nightmare scenarios. For good reason."

I nodded in agreement. "Along with full on Borg fuck you-sized swarm of cubes."

"Indeed," he agreed. "Once things started to calm down from running around with your pants on your head levels of panic, things were finally agreed to allow things to proceed as they are. A representative of the Federation Council will join the talks with the Dominion. I suggested Admiral Picard. We still need to see if he agrees."

"Any conspiracy theories?"

That was a real risk. Some nuts might think we gave the Dominion AI tech.

"None, open at least. But I'm sure they'll pop up on the datanet as soon as knowledge of Dominion AI becomes open to the public."

I nodded. "How are things going on… boosting our abilities? If it comes to a war?"

Gates sighed. "Nothing concrete. There are some indications that it should be possible to increase processing speed, intelligence or both, but it's difficult. We are years from a prototype."

"Damn."

"So, how are things as a Klingon ship?"

"I headbutted my former weapons officer and banished him from my hull and punched my Captain so hard he lost a tooth. I feel clumsy, slow and like I'm built from pig iron."

"That well, huh?"

"How long exactly is this Project going to go on?"

Gates shrugged. "Ask Odin. Not my Project. But if you really want out, I can send someone to come get you."

I hesitated for almost half a second before I scowled and crossed my head. "I took this task, I will carry it through. But I think I'd like a nice ship when it's done."

"We should be able to figure something out, Synan."

Nodding, I smiled at him. "Have fun dealing with the council."

"Have fun dealing with the Klingons. Nice avatar, by the way."

"...Thanks. Best thing about this I think, kinda like it." I admitted and then shrugged, said: "Talk later." and closed the channel.


"Ship! Target target four and fire!"

"Firing disruptors," I said, locking on to the floating rock a hundred thousand kilometers away, calculating for drift, velocities, distance, time and then I fired a full salvo from my two main disruptor cannons, the energy flying through space and ripping into the rock, tearing molecular bonds apart. "Target destroyed," I reported without any pause he would have noticed.

"Weapons officer. Report."

Lieutenant Riksa looked up from her screen and turned her chair towards the Captain. "All shots hit. With weapons calibrated, we seem to have close to a hundred percent accuracy," she said and looked over at my avatar. "At the very least on stationary rocks."

Like that would matter.

Riska was house Worf. His granddaughter actually, daughter of Alexander. She was the replacement for the guy I knocked out. At the very least she seemed less... stupid.

Captain Wozh nodded. "We'll see. Ship! Set a course towards the Nokot'a System!"

Nokot'a System. Distance, five lightyears. Contained a indigenous species that were integrated into the Klingon Empire seventy or so years ago. In return for minerals and food, the Klingons provided them with basic technology. They were around the level of the eighteen hundreds on Earth before they were taken over.

They were confined to their homeworld.

The Klingons' tendency of doing the absolute reverse of the Prime Directive was one of their less charming habits.

I may not be the biggest fan of the Prime Directive, but it was better than invading and subjugating the natives.

"Course set." I reported with a nod as I shifted course in the right direction, accelerating to half impulse.

A week after leaving dock, I was starting to get more used to the ship and all systems were active. Still didn't really care for it, but... it was workable.

This would be the first 'live' Warp test though.

"Engage! Activate cloak!"

The universe folded around me and I activated the cloaking device, shimmering from view as I accelerated to speed.

"Speed..." I started before I mentally sighed. I wasn't a Jovian vessel right now. "Warp Seven. Holding steady."

Wozh nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Increase to Warp Eight."

"Warp Eight reached."




AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

My mess hall was filled with what could only be described as merriment, if Klingons had anything of the sort.

Slightly smoky, filled with half-drunk Klingons. A Targ had been slaughtered and… semi-cooked and a new barrel of Gagh had been broken out.

Lieutenant Grak laughed and slammed his cup down at the table. "..And then she said, 'But I'm Vulcan!'"

The table erupted with laughter and I mentally rolled my eyes.

Okay, to be fair, that was a pretty good joke. If there was anything I did like about Klingons, it was that they were generally fun at parties.

But they just got a bit much at times.

Still, it was hard not to get dragged along in the general mood. Crossing my arms, I smiled with my avatar and leaned back in my chair.

"You! Machine! Have a drink! Food!"

"Thank you, but I'm already eating," I said with a smile and a nod at Lieutenant Karat, one of the ground troopers.

"What?"

"Interstellar hydrogen. I'm harvesting it as we fly, converting it to reaction mass, reactor fuel and new antimatter for the warpdrive."

He frowned. "That doesn't count!"

"It's the closest my kind gets." I said with a shrug, "You see this form, thinking it's me. It's just a puppet, a toy to make interacting easier for you. I am so much greater, so much more."

He grunted. "The ship's computer."

"I'm a computer in the same way you are an animal. I multitask like your heart beats. It would take you a hundred years to comprehend everything I do in a single second of time. I couldn't think as slowly as you if I tried."

Okay, I admit that I may be a bit confrontational here. But I was getting real fucking tired of being addressed as 'machine'.

Karat stared at me and Lieutenant Riska laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. "That doesn't take much!"

That caused the table to break out into another round of laugher and Captain Wozh send a tankard of Bloodwine sliding along the table towards me.

I knew an order when I saw one so I picked it up and sipped the liquid. Fermented blood. 65% Targ. 5% Klingon. 10% Alcohol. The rest was water and various plant matter along with sucrose.

I ran my sensors around space around us. Empty, a ship half a lightyear away. Klingon hauler.

The Y'Tres.

I ignored it and continued along my course as I watched the stars all around, scanning the closest one.

G2 class, two planets. No life.

Pretty chromosphere.

Hmm?

Something caught my attention. Now, my sensors are not as high-resolution as a Starfleet or Jovian ship, but there was… something at the edge of my range of detection. Something in the direction of the Y'Tres.

It felt like a ripple in subspace of some sort, like a warpdrive. But not quite, it was almost muted. Like someone…

Like someone running their high power warpdrive on really low settings with modifications to reduce power emissions, warp four or lower.

Not a cloaking field. At this range they wouldn't need one anyway, just some emissions control would be enough.

It didn't matter to a blind transport anyway, you could have an Island class within a million kilometers without being noticed if you didn't actively transmit.

There was someone out there who was following that transport while trying not to be noticed. That sounded like just one thing to me.

Pirate.

Well, that or an IKS Captain practicing his stalking. Also, whomever it was that was doing it wasn't bad.

There was no way a biological sensor operator would have caught them.

"Captain!" I said and put the tankard down with my avatar, looking down the table. "I'm detecting a subspace echo following a freighter half a lightyear away. I believe it may be a ship. Possibly even several."

Wozh grunted and put his cup down. "That's a long way to detect some subspace disturbances. Are you sure?"

"I'm Jovian. These sensors may be clumsy, but I am certain. There is something there. Either a Klingon vessel on a drill or pirates."

He grinned. "Pirates. Divert course, increase speed!"

I banked, changing course and stepping up to maximum warp, increasing to warp nine point eight.

The universe sang around me as it folded to my will.

"Eight and a half hours until contact, Captain." I reported with a smile. "I hope it's pirates."

Captain Wozh grinned and finished his last Gagh. "We all do."




AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.