AN1// This is a continuation of Division and the first part in the series can be found here Not...
Rifts
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AN1// This is a continuation of Division and the first part in the series can be found here Not Quite SHODAN (ST SI)
Some things can only be properly expressed by purring, I'd discovered. That wasn't anything I really realized before picking a Caitian avatar.
A strong backrub, chocolate, the corona of a star.
The reason I felt like purring like a housecat this time was the last one. The outer corona, to be clear. I could actually feel the photon pressure on my sunside, plasma, radiation and base particles whirled and slid across my shields and it felt great.
I have no idea how I would describe the feeling to a non-ship. It was a pretty amazing feeling to be right next to a massive star and feel its fury slide across me. I couldn't stay here forever, my shields were at maximum and holding, but there was a limit to how long that would last.
But I could handle it for a day or so and it was not a feeling I got to experience often. And the way the particles spun and danced was so pretty.
"Ivy, do you have a ETA on those readings of the core you wanted?" Drake asked as he walked inside the common room/recreation room/messhall.
I looked up from the book, a collection of Vulcan love poems, and flicked my left ear. "Oh, about two hours ago."
I still liked to read a physical book from time to time. Was nice.
Pausing, he looked over at my avatar, pulling his gaze away from the PADD he had been studying as he walked. "...Why are we still inside the star?"
"Oh please, we are barely by the edge." I countered with a smile and a one-shoulder shrug. "It feels neat."
"Ivy."
Sighing, I nodded. "Fine, moving away. It really was no danger, though, I kept a close eye on my shields."
"I still feel better knowing that if something happened to them, we wouldn't all instantly die." He sighed and moved to sink down on the couch.
"I was being careful." I pouted and scooted to give him room, curling up slightly as I pulled my legs beneath myself.
"I know." He said and scratched behind his ear, making the ear chain jingle slightly. "Just makes me nervous."
I nodded. I really could see why.
"Well, we are on the way now. Course set for HT-361527. I'll engage warp as soon as I'm sufficiently far away from the star." I said as I watched the star slowly fall behind, the particles around me slowly thinning out to the normal solar wind.
Oh well, we'll find another star that deserves a deep core scan at some point and I can do it again. That star had been interesting. It had a highly abnormal amount of gold in it. Almost half a percent by mass. Which was pretty insane.
"Ready for the drill tomorrow?" I asked him as I closed the book, putting it down on the couch.
Drake sighed and crossed his arms. "Yeah. Not a fan of it, but it's important that we can handle it if it happens."
I nodded. Tomorrow at four in the morning I would simulate a complete AI failure. I would cut power to everything but the basic systems and not answer to anything while they worked to get the ship stable and working.
Thinking of my own death like that was a bit morbid, but I wanted to be sure that if something went wrong with my cores or if some sort of natural phenomenon disabled me while leaving them untouched they would be able to make it somewhere safe.
While I didn't even have a bridge, the holodeck doubled as one when needed, but I did have an engineering section. There were consoles there that could be used to pilot the ship in an emergency. This kind of drills were important, just like any other damage control or combat drill.
So everyone would know what to do and when during a emergency.
Adjusting my robes, I got up, brushing my hair back. "Going to warp now. And now I'm going to go take a shower."
"Enjoy. I'm going to see if I can talk the replicator into giving me something to eat."
"Not going to dinner?"
Drake shook his head. "Too busy, just going to bring some food back to the armory and check with you if the scans were going to cause a delay on the drill. We still have tons of plans to draw up and equipment to check."
"Ah, well, don't overdo it. If you are exhausted when we get there, I'm not letting you go down until you rest."
"Don't worry, Kitty. I know what I'm doing." He answered with a easy smile, making his way over to the replicator.
We were on our way to a newly discovered M class planet for a survey mission. We were specifically looking for a primitive sophont species that's not getting futher than fire yet. The plan was to set up a small observation post on the planet during the stay which should be relatively easy to do and hide. Problem was that the planet in question was going through its giant lizard phase right now.
Or in this planet's case, giant marsupials.
Nodding, I left the common room towards my set of quarters. I did trust Drake to know what he was doing, there was a reason that I picked him for my away team expert and not just because he was one of my best friends. He knew his stuff.
Entering my quarters, I closed the door behind me before undoing the belt and allowing the robe to slide off so I could hang it up by the door.
One drawback with a Caitian avatar was the limits on what kind of clothes you could really wear. They tended to be uncomfortable as they pulled on your fur when you moved. According to Hriss and my other Caitian friends there really only three options.
A: Suck it up and try to ignore it. Most caitians in Starfleet did this because of the uniform requirements. It really wasn't comfortable.
B: Wear something so tight it couldn't move. That way it wouldn't pull on the fur anywhere near as much. I wasn't very big on this idea as it would mean walking around in basically a catsuit however, but you could at least wear it under normal clothes. Even though I was the science version of a warship, I was still a warship, so I had one I could have on under the normal uniform to make it more tolerable to wear when I had to.
C: You did the Caitian thing and went for loose, soft robes or nothing at all. This was the one I went with most of the time. It was my hull, I could walk my avatar around in nothing but the fur if I wanted to. I didn't though, I kept some clothes on whenever I was outside the quarters for the comfort of my crew. The style I wore the most was a Caitian design, it reminded me a bit of a Terran kimono, ending a bit above the knees and lacking sleeves.
Being made of Tholian silk, the grey robe was about the softest thing I had encountered and while really thin, it still wasn't see-through and was rather durable for what it was. It was the most comfortable thing I owned so I tended to wear it a lot.
Space warped around me and I stepped it up to a thousand c as I cleared the outer edge of the system, reality warping around me. As nice as it was to drink in the warmth of a star's corona, it felt good to stretch my wings again.
AN2// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Some things can only be properly expressed by purring, I'd discovered. That wasn't anything I really realized before picking a Caitian avatar.
A strong backrub, chocolate, the corona of a star.
The reason I felt like purring like a housecat this time was the last one. The outer corona, to be clear. I could actually feel the photon pressure on my sunside, plasma, radiation and base particles whirled and slid across my shields and it felt great.
I have no idea how I would describe the feeling to a non-ship. It was a pretty amazing feeling to be right next to a massive star and feel its fury slide across me. I couldn't stay here forever, my shields were at maximum and holding, but there was a limit to how long that would last.
But I could handle it for a day or so and it was not a feeling I got to experience often. And the way the particles spun and danced was so pretty.
"Ivy, do you have a ETA on those readings of the core you wanted?" Drake asked as he walked inside the common room/recreation room/messhall.
I looked up from the book, a collection of Vulcan love poems, and flicked my left ear. "Oh, about two hours ago."
I still liked to read a physical book from time to time. Was nice.
Pausing, he looked over at my avatar, pulling his gaze away from the PADD he had been studying as he walked. "...Why are we still inside the star?"
"Oh please, we are barely by the edge." I countered with a smile and a one-shoulder shrug. "It feels neat."
"Ivy."
Sighing, I nodded. "Fine, moving away. It really was no danger, though, I kept a close eye on my shields."
"I still feel better knowing that if something happened to them, we wouldn't all instantly die." He sighed and moved to sink down on the couch.
"I was being careful." I pouted and scooted to give him room, curling up slightly as I pulled my legs beneath myself.
"I know." He said and scratched behind his ear, making the ear chain jingle slightly. "Just makes me nervous."
I nodded. I really could see why.
"Well, we are on the way now. Course set for HT-361527. I'll engage warp as soon as I'm sufficiently far away from the star." I said as I watched the star slowly fall behind, the particles around me slowly thinning out to the normal solar wind.
Oh well, we'll find another star that deserves a deep core scan at some point and I can do it again. That star had been interesting. It had a highly abnormal amount of gold in it. Almost half a percent by mass. Which was pretty insane.
"Ready for the drill tomorrow?" I asked him as I closed the book, putting it down on the couch.
Drake sighed and crossed his arms. "Yeah. Not a fan of it, but it's important that we can handle it if it happens."
I nodded. Tomorrow at four in the morning I would simulate a complete AI failure. I would cut power to everything but the basic systems and not answer to anything while they worked to get the ship stable and working.
Thinking of my own death like that was a bit morbid, but I wanted to be sure that if something went wrong with my cores or if some sort of natural phenomenon disabled me while leaving them untouched they would be able to make it somewhere safe.
While I didn't even have a bridge, the holodeck doubled as one when needed, but I did have an engineering section. There were consoles there that could be used to pilot the ship in an emergency. This kind of drills were important, just like any other damage control or combat drill.
So everyone would know what to do and when during a emergency.
Adjusting my robes, I got up, brushing my hair back. "Going to warp now. And now I'm going to go take a shower."
"Enjoy. I'm going to see if I can talk the replicator into giving me something to eat."
"Not going to dinner?"
Drake shook his head. "Too busy, just going to bring some food back to the armory and check with you if the scans were going to cause a delay on the drill. We still have tons of plans to draw up and equipment to check."
"Ah, well, don't overdo it. If you are exhausted when we get there, I'm not letting you go down until you rest."
"Don't worry, Kitty. I know what I'm doing." He answered with a easy smile, making his way over to the replicator.
We were on our way to a newly discovered M class planet for a survey mission. We were specifically looking for a primitive sophont species that's not getting futher than fire yet. The plan was to set up a small observation post on the planet during the stay which should be relatively easy to do and hide. Problem was that the planet in question was going through its giant lizard phase right now.
Or in this planet's case, giant marsupials.
Nodding, I left the common room towards my set of quarters. I did trust Drake to know what he was doing, there was a reason that I picked him for my away team expert and not just because he was one of my best friends. He knew his stuff.
Entering my quarters, I closed the door behind me before undoing the belt and allowing the robe to slide off so I could hang it up by the door.
One drawback with a Caitian avatar was the limits on what kind of clothes you could really wear. They tended to be uncomfortable as they pulled on your fur when you moved. According to Hriss and my other Caitian friends there really only three options.
A: Suck it up and try to ignore it. Most caitians in Starfleet did this because of the uniform requirements. It really wasn't comfortable.
B: Wear something so tight it couldn't move. That way it wouldn't pull on the fur anywhere near as much. I wasn't very big on this idea as it would mean walking around in basically a catsuit however, but you could at least wear it under normal clothes. Even though I was the science version of a warship, I was still a warship, so I had one I could have on under the normal uniform to make it more tolerable to wear when I had to.
C: You did the Caitian thing and went for loose, soft robes or nothing at all. This was the one I went with most of the time. It was my hull, I could walk my avatar around in nothing but the fur if I wanted to. I didn't though, I kept some clothes on whenever I was outside the quarters for the comfort of my crew. The style I wore the most was a Caitian design, it reminded me a bit of a Terran kimono, ending a bit above the knees and lacking sleeves.
Being made of Tholian silk, the grey robe was about the softest thing I had encountered and while really thin, it still wasn't see-through and was rather durable for what it was. It was the most comfortable thing I owned so I tended to wear it a lot.
Space warped around me and I stepped it up to a thousand c as I cleared the outer edge of the system, reality warping around me. As nice as it was to drink in the warmth of a star's corona, it felt good to stretch my wings again.
AN2// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
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Grey Rook
Genuine Nerd
- Location
- The Quantum Foam
She's a Hiver SI who decided that she liked being a lesbian starship better than a straight human male.
Silverias
Seeing is Believing
- Location
- Squiddy Places
Yes, but I meant compared to the normal protag of this series.
Ivy is the fork of Star from the last story.
- Pronouns
- she/her
You're a starship, Ivy. Holographic clothes.
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
That could bring a whole new dimension to 'wardrobe malfunction'.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
I'm not, but YAY! More Hiver AI!
Mind, Saint was pretty fun to romp along with, too. But I do enjoy your AI stories
Mind, Saint was pretty fun to romp along with, too. But I do enjoy your AI stories
Itsune
Eldritch horror, Ship's Cat, Emergency Gunner.
- Location
- Somewhere in King County Washington
Technically, all of the Federation AI are Hiver AI, and about half of them prefer to be female, so that is not enough information.
It's called sunbathing, Ivy. I'm pretty sure most of the girls, Caitian, AI, or otherwise, get how you feel.
I drifted through space, tumbling softly on three axis as my crew struggled to get everything going manually.
Of course, normally if the AI simply disengaged they could simply flip a couple of switches and everything would work of the normal computer. But what fun would a drill be if showed the best possible scenario?
So I simulated a complete main computer crash. Secondary sub processors only. Complete AI shutdown. Even my avatar was laying on the floor in the corridor. I think I managed to do the death scene justice.
"Try it now!" Merilyn called out from inside the maintenance hatch.
No AI meant no maintenance bots, meaning Merilyn Wallace, my chief engineer hard to do some crawling through ducts herself to get at simulated errors. Luckily she was a rather tiny woman so it was easier for her than most.
"It say Error 69: Something went wrong," the rather unfortunately named Daniel Danielson, one of her assistants called back into the jefferies tubes, unable to see her from one of said maintenance bots having collapsed in the middle of it, barely giving Merilyn space to squeeze past.
"What!? Who the hell wrote these!? That's not helpful!" Merilyn yelled back before she snarled to herself and crawled further into the tube, "Maybe there is another break further down the line."
They they kept trying to track down the error to get the main computer to stop sprouting gibberish at them, Doctor Hiroki Yamamoto was looking quite cross with the entire situation as he went over supplies in sickbay and getting ready for possibly wounded.
He was a man in his fifties, tall and lanky, really thin. Which was kinda amusing considering he was also the ships chef. I had checked, he eats as much as everyone else on board, but some people have those genes I guess.
"Would it hurt you to leave the lights on!?" He growled at the ceiling and I mentally grinned in amusement. A rather sarcastic man the nice doctor.
A power surge apparently blew every light in sickbay, not including the weak red emergency lights so he was now doing inventory with flashlight.
Despite his grumbling and complaining beneath his breath, he was doing a good job and was actually well ahead of where he should be despite the lack of normal lighting. He was a good doctor. His bedside manner however... might need some work at times.
My biggest problem was my lead scientist. An andorian woman named Jhita Zh'azaaqar. She was mostly looking bored about the entire situation and while she was technically gathering up the science staff and assisting engineering with what needed to be done, she did it with one eye on the novel on her PADD and one eye on the readings on the screen in front of her.
Normally I would be kinda pissed about that, but she were technically doing her job and she knew it was not a real emergency and not like those readings needed her complete attention. Even so, I needed to have a talk with her about that kind of thing.
The command conduit read as repaired, so I gave them access to the main computer. Now there was just a couple of steps to get back to manual control.
All in all, I think the crew would get a 'pass, but improvement needed' rating on this exercise. At least they didn't waste time trying to get my avatar operational. If the entire ship went down like this, my avatar would likely be completely fried as well. A quick check where she fell to see if she would reboot and then off to do something more important.
I should schedule another exercise like this in a couple of months. Maybe throw in some other complications like... let's say failing life support so they need to prioritize a bit more.
A subspace vibration pulled my attention and I tuned in to the channel even if it was rather full of static, "...is the USS 'Enterprise' We were hit by a ion storm and I have suffered heavy systems damage. My warp and impulse drives are down and my lifesupport is unstable. We require immediate assistance."
Hmm. She was kinda cute actually. Her chosen avatar was a human in her early twenties, shoulder length brown hair, command uniform. Rather... stacked. Reminded me of back when I was Star.
"USS 'Enterprise' this is the LOU 'Roll for Initiative' responding to your distress call. I'm on my way." I sent back to her.
She didn't answer, instead she simply repeated her message again.
Well, if she was hit by a ion storm, it was no wonder her systems were fucked up, including her receiver and transmitters. The static and distortions fit for that kind of damage.
Starting to power everything up and returning to normal status, I formed a hologram in engineering, "Sorry guys, I'm afraid we have to cut this short." I explained at the confused looks I was getting, "I'm getting a distress call from the USS Enterprise." I said before I explained what had happened.
"What class is she? Wait, the Enterprise is a Island, right?" Marrilyn asked as she crawled out of the maintenance access.
"The USS Enterprise is a Island class vessel." I confirmed and brought a hologram up in the middle of the air, "Crew of over three thousand people."
Drake slowly shook his head, "...And what exactly are we going to do about that? I mean, if she has taken that much damage..."
"Help provide power for one thing." I told him, "And my systems are working perfectly, I may be way smaller, but we should do what we can to help her."
"Hey, I didn't say we shouldn't go, just that I was unsure what we COULD do to help."
He had a point really. I had a crew of sixty. If pure cubage, I would have fit inside the hangar of a Island class ship even if my shape was all wrong. There was really only so much we could do to help, the Enterprise was just so big.
I nodded, "I know. But we should still try. Everyone, get your departments ready. Yellow alert. Just for fun, I think we will treat this like a hot rescue in a combat zone."
Couldn't hurt. I really think the distress signal was genuine, but getting disabled by a mine or something in the middle of a pirate trap would just be embarrassing after everything I have lived through so far.
AN// Unbetaed due to no volunteers. If you see anything that need to be fixed, please PM it to me and I'll fix it when I can.
Of course, normally if the AI simply disengaged they could simply flip a couple of switches and everything would work of the normal computer. But what fun would a drill be if showed the best possible scenario?
So I simulated a complete main computer crash. Secondary sub processors only. Complete AI shutdown. Even my avatar was laying on the floor in the corridor. I think I managed to do the death scene justice.
"Try it now!" Merilyn called out from inside the maintenance hatch.
No AI meant no maintenance bots, meaning Merilyn Wallace, my chief engineer hard to do some crawling through ducts herself to get at simulated errors. Luckily she was a rather tiny woman so it was easier for her than most.
"It say Error 69: Something went wrong," the rather unfortunately named Daniel Danielson, one of her assistants called back into the jefferies tubes, unable to see her from one of said maintenance bots having collapsed in the middle of it, barely giving Merilyn space to squeeze past.
"What!? Who the hell wrote these!? That's not helpful!" Merilyn yelled back before she snarled to herself and crawled further into the tube, "Maybe there is another break further down the line."
They they kept trying to track down the error to get the main computer to stop sprouting gibberish at them, Doctor Hiroki Yamamoto was looking quite cross with the entire situation as he went over supplies in sickbay and getting ready for possibly wounded.
He was a man in his fifties, tall and lanky, really thin. Which was kinda amusing considering he was also the ships chef. I had checked, he eats as much as everyone else on board, but some people have those genes I guess.
"Would it hurt you to leave the lights on!?" He growled at the ceiling and I mentally grinned in amusement. A rather sarcastic man the nice doctor.
A power surge apparently blew every light in sickbay, not including the weak red emergency lights so he was now doing inventory with flashlight.
Despite his grumbling and complaining beneath his breath, he was doing a good job and was actually well ahead of where he should be despite the lack of normal lighting. He was a good doctor. His bedside manner however... might need some work at times.
My biggest problem was my lead scientist. An andorian woman named Jhita Zh'azaaqar. She was mostly looking bored about the entire situation and while she was technically gathering up the science staff and assisting engineering with what needed to be done, she did it with one eye on the novel on her PADD and one eye on the readings on the screen in front of her.
Normally I would be kinda pissed about that, but she were technically doing her job and she knew it was not a real emergency and not like those readings needed her complete attention. Even so, I needed to have a talk with her about that kind of thing.
The command conduit read as repaired, so I gave them access to the main computer. Now there was just a couple of steps to get back to manual control.
All in all, I think the crew would get a 'pass, but improvement needed' rating on this exercise. At least they didn't waste time trying to get my avatar operational. If the entire ship went down like this, my avatar would likely be completely fried as well. A quick check where she fell to see if she would reboot and then off to do something more important.
I should schedule another exercise like this in a couple of months. Maybe throw in some other complications like... let's say failing life support so they need to prioritize a bit more.
A subspace vibration pulled my attention and I tuned in to the channel even if it was rather full of static, "...is the USS 'Enterprise' We were hit by a ion storm and I have suffered heavy systems damage. My warp and impulse drives are down and my lifesupport is unstable. We require immediate assistance."
Hmm. She was kinda cute actually. Her chosen avatar was a human in her early twenties, shoulder length brown hair, command uniform. Rather... stacked. Reminded me of back when I was Star.
"USS 'Enterprise' this is the LOU 'Roll for Initiative' responding to your distress call. I'm on my way." I sent back to her.
She didn't answer, instead she simply repeated her message again.
Well, if she was hit by a ion storm, it was no wonder her systems were fucked up, including her receiver and transmitters. The static and distortions fit for that kind of damage.
Starting to power everything up and returning to normal status, I formed a hologram in engineering, "Sorry guys, I'm afraid we have to cut this short." I explained at the confused looks I was getting, "I'm getting a distress call from the USS Enterprise." I said before I explained what had happened.
"What class is she? Wait, the Enterprise is a Island, right?" Marrilyn asked as she crawled out of the maintenance access.
"The USS Enterprise is a Island class vessel." I confirmed and brought a hologram up in the middle of the air, "Crew of over three thousand people."
Drake slowly shook his head, "...And what exactly are we going to do about that? I mean, if she has taken that much damage..."
"Help provide power for one thing." I told him, "And my systems are working perfectly, I may be way smaller, but we should do what we can to help her."
"Hey, I didn't say we shouldn't go, just that I was unsure what we COULD do to help."
He had a point really. I had a crew of sixty. If pure cubage, I would have fit inside the hangar of a Island class ship even if my shape was all wrong. There was really only so much we could do to help, the Enterprise was just so big.
I nodded, "I know. But we should still try. Everyone, get your departments ready. Yellow alert. Just for fun, I think we will treat this like a hot rescue in a combat zone."
Couldn't hurt. I really think the distress signal was genuine, but getting disabled by a mine or something in the middle of a pirate trap would just be embarrassing after everything I have lived through so far.
AN// Unbetaed due to no volunteers. If you see anything that need to be fixed, please PM it to me and I'll fix it when I can.
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- Location
- Over the hill and far away
ooooh, alternate reality Enterprise from subspace shenanigans!
Also if nobody is able to copy edit this by tomorrow I'll give it a shot. Well... depending on my call volume tomorrow
Also if nobody is able to copy edit this by tomorrow I'll give it a shot. Well... depending on my call volume tomorrow
Same problem you've had for all the non-beta'd writing I've ever seen from you. That "say" should be "says".
Subject-Verb Agreement | Grammar Rules
Any time you have a single subject ("it", "he", "Ben") you should use the matching singular verb ("does", "says", "runs"). Any time you have multiple subjects ("we", "animals", "people") you need to use plural verbs ("do", "say", "run").
- Location
- Dodging chaos dragons in Limbo
Hooray for bingereading... just over 24 hours of since I started the series. I was hooked rather quickly, it was a great read. Glad to see more of it!
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
This should be either 'with a flashlight' or 'by flashlight'. Other than that, I didn't notice anything more than what Lagrange pointed out.
That said, I am going to laugh if, by the time they get there, the Enterprise is all fixed and no longer needing assistance.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Bear with me, first time I've done this...
Sorry if this isn't the sort of editing you normally would like; I don't do this much these days.
edit: Also, my calls were dead when I started this, but naturally everything blew up as soon as I was working.
Sorry if this isn't the sort of editing you normally would like; I don't do this much these days.
edit: Also, my calls were dead when I started this, but naturally everything blew up as soon as I was working.
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"How long until sensor range?" Drake asked as he walked onto the holodeck/bridge , adjusting the collar of his uniform.
I didn't insist on uniforms most of the time. Wear whatever you want as long as it doesn't get in the way, we are not Starfleet. But during official stuff, like interacting with a bunch of said Starfleet, I wanted us to look professional and not like a bunch of pirates.
Sadly, that meant I had to dress my avatar up as well. First that absolutely skintight catsuit to keep it from tugging on my fur and then the uniform over that.
...Admittedly, that was one of the reasons I didn't insist on uniforms for daily ship life.
I was moving through space at about point seven kilolights, cloaked as I ran my sensors across space, primarily in the direction the Enterprise would appear in.
That was one thing that was different from Starfleet and most other Federation societies. We didn't use the Warpscale. We just did multiplications of Lightspeed, which was much more practical than saying Warp 7.12312121.
Not like more precision was actually needed when speaking out loud, and it's not like I didn't have the exact numbers in my head anyway.
A pair of blips popped up on my forward sensors. One Island class on low power levels and one much smaller Keldon class vessel.
Cardassians. Hmm.
"Now." I said and crossed my legs, the tip of my tail flicking back and forth in thought, "And the Enterprise is not alone. There is a Cardassian capitalship with them, Keldon class. If they are there to assist or not is yet to be seen."
"Cardassians? What are those bastards doing out here?" Drake asked with a frown as he moved to drop down on the chair next to mine.
"No idea. But we will find out."
A while later I dropped out of warp and continued on impulse, shifting around the scene as I scanned with passive sensors.
Man, the Enterprise had taken a beating. The damage was consistent with an ionstorm though and focused mostly on the outer hull and her nacelles. She must have run nose first into one hell of a storm.
That was the problem with them. They disrupted Warpdrive inside them and were also really difficult to see while you were in warp. The first warning you might get was your warp drive collapsing and then you had like twenty minutes until the storm itself hit.
The Keldon was sitting next to her, navigational shields only and its weapons were not charged. It seemed like they were actually there to help and not to loot classified technology.
"It seems like it might actually be on the up and up." I finally said, "The Cardassian ship is not ready for combat and the Enterprise has not taken any damage. I'm not reading any weapons fire onboard either ship."
"I don't trust them."
I folded my ears back, my tailtip lashing slightly, "Neither do I. Last time I did, they blew up my Captain." as I shifted behind and above the Keldon where it had the least weapon arcs before decloaking and raising shields. I kept my weapons unpowered however and didn't lock sensors on the ship.
It took almost ten seconds before Enterprise opened a channel and when I responded it was revealed why exactly, she had to wait until her bridge crew could catch up.
"USS Enterprise, this is the LOU 'Roll for Initiative' responding to your distress call." I said with a smile, "You look like you took a big hit."
Captain Riker nodded as he stood up, "Thank you, Roll for Initiative. At this point we appreciate all the help we can get."
Hmm, he was kinda good looking in a older human kind of way. I rather liked the way the slight grey in his beard accented things.
Enterprise's avatar, likely holographic, had been sitting in the second in command's chair next to him and smiled at me in turn, "We have some help already, but we wouldn't mind more. Life support is stable, but my warpdrive is shot."
I frowned at that and turned my eyes from Captain Riker to her, "Can it be fixed here? I thought the Island class was self sufficient."
Riker shook his head, "It's meant to be, but with this much critical systems damage it's not. The entire warp system has taken critical damage."
Ouch.
"Casualties?"
Enterprise shook her head, "Luckily, no-one has died yet. I have some heavily wounded and some are still touch and go. Lost about half my cores from power surges, but the backups and protections worked. Next time I see Marvin, I'm going to pin him against the wall and kiss him."
I grinned at that and nodded, "We will help where we can. But I'm a kinda small ship with a small crew. I don't think I can even tractor you at warp."
"You can't." Enterprise agreed, "But if done right I think you and the Glorious Dawn could."
Riker nodded in agreement, "We were about to have a meeting with Captain Tolek. I would like to extend a invitation to the meeting to you and your second in command. If you could assist us in getting to the closest starbase, we would be thankful."
"Of course. Give us a moment and we will beam over. Roll for Initiative, out."
Cancelling the viewscreen hologram, I looked to the side at Drake, "...Is this going to be a problem?" I asked with a earflick. He had been really quiet during that conversation.
Drake let out a slow breath and then shook his head, "No. I don't need to like it, but I can be in the same room as a Cardassian. Just don't expect me to be happy about it. I still think they are going to stab us in the back at some point."
"Possibly." I agreed, "But it's just as possible that they will not. You can't judge somebody by their species."
"I know." He sighed before he shook his head, "Well, let's get this over with."
AN// Big thanks to FPSCanarussia for betaing this section.
I didn't insist on uniforms most of the time. Wear whatever you want as long as it doesn't get in the way, we are not Starfleet. But during official stuff, like interacting with a bunch of said Starfleet, I wanted us to look professional and not like a bunch of pirates.
Sadly, that meant I had to dress my avatar up as well. First that absolutely skintight catsuit to keep it from tugging on my fur and then the uniform over that.
...Admittedly, that was one of the reasons I didn't insist on uniforms for daily ship life.
I was moving through space at about point seven kilolights, cloaked as I ran my sensors across space, primarily in the direction the Enterprise would appear in.
That was one thing that was different from Starfleet and most other Federation societies. We didn't use the Warpscale. We just did multiplications of Lightspeed, which was much more practical than saying Warp 7.12312121.
Not like more precision was actually needed when speaking out loud, and it's not like I didn't have the exact numbers in my head anyway.
A pair of blips popped up on my forward sensors. One Island class on low power levels and one much smaller Keldon class vessel.
Cardassians. Hmm.
"Now." I said and crossed my legs, the tip of my tail flicking back and forth in thought, "And the Enterprise is not alone. There is a Cardassian capitalship with them, Keldon class. If they are there to assist or not is yet to be seen."
"Cardassians? What are those bastards doing out here?" Drake asked with a frown as he moved to drop down on the chair next to mine.
"No idea. But we will find out."
A while later I dropped out of warp and continued on impulse, shifting around the scene as I scanned with passive sensors.
Man, the Enterprise had taken a beating. The damage was consistent with an ionstorm though and focused mostly on the outer hull and her nacelles. She must have run nose first into one hell of a storm.
That was the problem with them. They disrupted Warpdrive inside them and were also really difficult to see while you were in warp. The first warning you might get was your warp drive collapsing and then you had like twenty minutes until the storm itself hit.
The Keldon was sitting next to her, navigational shields only and its weapons were not charged. It seemed like they were actually there to help and not to loot classified technology.
"It seems like it might actually be on the up and up." I finally said, "The Cardassian ship is not ready for combat and the Enterprise has not taken any damage. I'm not reading any weapons fire onboard either ship."
"I don't trust them."
I folded my ears back, my tailtip lashing slightly, "Neither do I. Last time I did, they blew up my Captain." as I shifted behind and above the Keldon where it had the least weapon arcs before decloaking and raising shields. I kept my weapons unpowered however and didn't lock sensors on the ship.
It took almost ten seconds before Enterprise opened a channel and when I responded it was revealed why exactly, she had to wait until her bridge crew could catch up.
"USS Enterprise, this is the LOU 'Roll for Initiative' responding to your distress call." I said with a smile, "You look like you took a big hit."
Captain Riker nodded as he stood up, "Thank you, Roll for Initiative. At this point we appreciate all the help we can get."
Hmm, he was kinda good looking in a older human kind of way. I rather liked the way the slight grey in his beard accented things.
Enterprise's avatar, likely holographic, had been sitting in the second in command's chair next to him and smiled at me in turn, "We have some help already, but we wouldn't mind more. Life support is stable, but my warpdrive is shot."
I frowned at that and turned my eyes from Captain Riker to her, "Can it be fixed here? I thought the Island class was self sufficient."
Riker shook his head, "It's meant to be, but with this much critical systems damage it's not. The entire warp system has taken critical damage."
Ouch.
"Casualties?"
Enterprise shook her head, "Luckily, no-one has died yet. I have some heavily wounded and some are still touch and go. Lost about half my cores from power surges, but the backups and protections worked. Next time I see Marvin, I'm going to pin him against the wall and kiss him."
I grinned at that and nodded, "We will help where we can. But I'm a kinda small ship with a small crew. I don't think I can even tractor you at warp."
"You can't." Enterprise agreed, "But if done right I think you and the Glorious Dawn could."
Riker nodded in agreement, "We were about to have a meeting with Captain Tolek. I would like to extend a invitation to the meeting to you and your second in command. If you could assist us in getting to the closest starbase, we would be thankful."
"Of course. Give us a moment and we will beam over. Roll for Initiative, out."
Cancelling the viewscreen hologram, I looked to the side at Drake, "...Is this going to be a problem?" I asked with a earflick. He had been really quiet during that conversation.
Drake let out a slow breath and then shook his head, "No. I don't need to like it, but I can be in the same room as a Cardassian. Just don't expect me to be happy about it. I still think they are going to stab us in the back at some point."
"Possibly." I agreed, "But it's just as possible that they will not. You can't judge somebody by their species."
"I know." He sighed before he shook his head, "Well, let's get this over with."
AN// Big thanks to FPSCanarussia for betaing this section.
this sentence might flow better if you change 'drive' to 'field'.
I thought Rifts referred to the leadup of the Federation splitting in two when the Division is discovered.
Itsune
Eldritch horror, Ship's Cat, Emergency Gunner.
- Location
- Somewhere in King County Washington
What? no AAA? State Farm? Progressive Insurance?So, stop me if you've herd this one. A Feddie, a Jovian and a Cardassian are stuck on the side of the road...
Hmm, Rifts... The possibilities.
Ok, We'll call for a tow, but you will have to file for Charity service with Our carrier.
I doubt that any of the three of them piloting a Glitterboy, a SAMAS, or the SDF-1* will be the punchline of said joke.So, stop me if you've herd this one. A Feddie, a Jovian and a Cardassian are stuck on the side of the road...
Hmm, Rifts... The possibilities.
The first two are from Palladium's Rifts RPG; the third is from their earlier Robotech RPG and the anime that spawned it... and is both a ship and a giant robot, depending on the choice of the crew. Because 'out-of-context problem' defines the relationship the Jovians have with the rest of the universe.
"So how are you feeling?" I asked Enterprise as we gathered in the holodeck-like environment.
"Frustrated." Enterprise sighed and frowned, "I hate being damaged." before she smiled slightly, "Thanks for coming to the help, Roll for Initiative."
"I use Ivy for short." I said with a grin as I stepped up for a hug.
Enterprise hugged back and then shrugged one shoulder, "I don't really have one. I'm always Enterprise or ship."
That got her a bit of a surprised look, "Really? No nickname?" That was unusual, it was usually impossible to stop that kind of thing from developing.
She actually blushed slightly, "No. None."
I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion.
Enterprise finally sighed, "...Princess."
I couldn't help but let out a giggle at that, "Princess!?"
She just sighed and ran a hand down her face, "It was a reception for a diplomatic group from the Tasoka. I was wearing this kind of long flowing dress and most of the evening their prince was flirting with me. Captain Riker commented later that it might have been because I looked like a princess. It stuck."
I just grinned happily at that. That was so cute!
"So... Caitian avatar. That's rare." Princess commented with a smile as she looked me over.
"Mmm. When I left Starfleet I felt it was time for a change. I have several Caitian friends so I figured I would give it a try." I explained and did a small spin for her, not that it mattered much, my image was wearing the same uniform as my actual avatar that was on its way to one of her conference rooms.
Enterprise nodded, "That was total bullshit by the way. The Prime Directive is not meant to kill your initiative and what you did was justified."
"But I wasn't the Captain. It wasn't my call, it was hers." I sighed, my ears folding to the sides, "But that's over now. I'm happy with the way things are."
"...How are things in the Jovian Fleet? How does it differ from Starfleet?"
"Actually quite a lot. Nobody orders you around really. Unless there is a emergency we are free to do what we want. I see something interesting, I head over there and take a look. Not that some ships don't have captains, it's all decided on a per ship basis." I explained before I grinned at her and winked, "Though, I think those ships might just enjoy being ordered around. There 'does' tend to be a higher than normal rate of romantic relationships between them and their captains compared to Starfleet."
That got another blush from the Starfleet vessel and she cleared her throat, "I see."
"So, shoot me over your damage report." I said, switching to business, "Getting your own Warpdrive up and running would be ideal."
"It would." Enterprise agreed and transmitted it over, "Look at this."
I cringed at the list, "Ouch."
There was a lot of damage there, more than my initial scans. She had lost the majority of her warp coils and even more importantly both Warpcores were damaged. The safeties had worked and the cores had flushed, all the antimatter tanks had been dumped. If that was all the damage, she could have repaired it herself in a couple of months and just need a refueling.
But it wasn't. Half the systems onboard was damaged if not outright burned out.
"Damn, what kind of storm did you run into!?"
Enterprise shook her head, "Never seen anything like it. It Hurt, I could feel it burn through the systems, taking out core after core. Everything connected to the main grid just burned out. I'm currently running on the subcraft and avatar cores, replacing them into the system."
"I'm so sorry."
"Space is dangerous. It happens. It's why we have backups." She said and then smiled sadly, "According to my engineering crew I need a month in drydock. I agree. The Island class is made to be self sustaining, but..."
"That doesn't account for what is basically heavy battle damage." I agreed, "Yeah, we need to get you somewhere for heavy repairs. Though, I think you might actually be able to repair everything if it was really needed. Nothing here but the antimatter is something you don't have the facilities to make."
"Yeah, if I had two years and a asteroid belt to work with!" she exclaimed and threw her arms into the air, "Sadly, I have neither."
"If I was a bigger ship I would have suggested rigging my warpcore into your system to get you moving and you could tractor me, but... I'm just too small for that to work."
Sitting next to the Enterprise, I couldn't help but being reminded that I used to be that big once. Damn, I used to be massive. No, seriously. She was ten times my length. Her shortest axis was over twice as long as my longest.
Then again, I was technically a warship and she... well, was not. She still had the turrets of one, but she was a indefinite length exploration vessel.
Still sexy though. Wonder if she has someone? Likely does with the size of her crew. Oh well, something to keep a eye out for.
"Yeah, that wouldn't work. But working together you and the Cardassians should be able to tractor me to Starbase 51. If we can reach Warp 3 it should only take a couple of weeks."
"We have to see what they say about that." I answered and scratched behind my right ear, "But if they don't agree, I'll stick around and cover your back until somebody big enough to actually move you shows up. Did you get an answer from someone else?"
She shook her head, "No, would you mind relaying a message? I think my long range transmitter is too damaged, I know my receiver is."
"Sure thing, shoot it here and I'll send it along."
AN// Unbetaed. PM and I'll fix.
"Frustrated." Enterprise sighed and frowned, "I hate being damaged." before she smiled slightly, "Thanks for coming to the help, Roll for Initiative."
"I use Ivy for short." I said with a grin as I stepped up for a hug.
Enterprise hugged back and then shrugged one shoulder, "I don't really have one. I'm always Enterprise or ship."
That got her a bit of a surprised look, "Really? No nickname?" That was unusual, it was usually impossible to stop that kind of thing from developing.
She actually blushed slightly, "No. None."
I narrowed my eyes at her in suspicion.
Enterprise finally sighed, "...Princess."
I couldn't help but let out a giggle at that, "Princess!?"
She just sighed and ran a hand down her face, "It was a reception for a diplomatic group from the Tasoka. I was wearing this kind of long flowing dress and most of the evening their prince was flirting with me. Captain Riker commented later that it might have been because I looked like a princess. It stuck."
I just grinned happily at that. That was so cute!
"So... Caitian avatar. That's rare." Princess commented with a smile as she looked me over.
"Mmm. When I left Starfleet I felt it was time for a change. I have several Caitian friends so I figured I would give it a try." I explained and did a small spin for her, not that it mattered much, my image was wearing the same uniform as my actual avatar that was on its way to one of her conference rooms.
Enterprise nodded, "That was total bullshit by the way. The Prime Directive is not meant to kill your initiative and what you did was justified."
"But I wasn't the Captain. It wasn't my call, it was hers." I sighed, my ears folding to the sides, "But that's over now. I'm happy with the way things are."
"...How are things in the Jovian Fleet? How does it differ from Starfleet?"
"Actually quite a lot. Nobody orders you around really. Unless there is a emergency we are free to do what we want. I see something interesting, I head over there and take a look. Not that some ships don't have captains, it's all decided on a per ship basis." I explained before I grinned at her and winked, "Though, I think those ships might just enjoy being ordered around. There 'does' tend to be a higher than normal rate of romantic relationships between them and their captains compared to Starfleet."
That got another blush from the Starfleet vessel and she cleared her throat, "I see."
"So, shoot me over your damage report." I said, switching to business, "Getting your own Warpdrive up and running would be ideal."
"It would." Enterprise agreed and transmitted it over, "Look at this."
I cringed at the list, "Ouch."
There was a lot of damage there, more than my initial scans. She had lost the majority of her warp coils and even more importantly both Warpcores were damaged. The safeties had worked and the cores had flushed, all the antimatter tanks had been dumped. If that was all the damage, she could have repaired it herself in a couple of months and just need a refueling.
But it wasn't. Half the systems onboard was damaged if not outright burned out.
"Damn, what kind of storm did you run into!?"
Enterprise shook her head, "Never seen anything like it. It Hurt, I could feel it burn through the systems, taking out core after core. Everything connected to the main grid just burned out. I'm currently running on the subcraft and avatar cores, replacing them into the system."
"I'm so sorry."
"Space is dangerous. It happens. It's why we have backups." She said and then smiled sadly, "According to my engineering crew I need a month in drydock. I agree. The Island class is made to be self sustaining, but..."
"That doesn't account for what is basically heavy battle damage." I agreed, "Yeah, we need to get you somewhere for heavy repairs. Though, I think you might actually be able to repair everything if it was really needed. Nothing here but the antimatter is something you don't have the facilities to make."
"Yeah, if I had two years and a asteroid belt to work with!" she exclaimed and threw her arms into the air, "Sadly, I have neither."
"If I was a bigger ship I would have suggested rigging my warpcore into your system to get you moving and you could tractor me, but... I'm just too small for that to work."
Sitting next to the Enterprise, I couldn't help but being reminded that I used to be that big once. Damn, I used to be massive. No, seriously. She was ten times my length. Her shortest axis was over twice as long as my longest.
Then again, I was technically a warship and she... well, was not. She still had the turrets of one, but she was a indefinite length exploration vessel.
Still sexy though. Wonder if she has someone? Likely does with the size of her crew. Oh well, something to keep a eye out for.
"Yeah, that wouldn't work. But working together you and the Cardassians should be able to tractor me to Starbase 51. If we can reach Warp 3 it should only take a couple of weeks."
"We have to see what they say about that." I answered and scratched behind my right ear, "But if they don't agree, I'll stick around and cover your back until somebody big enough to actually move you shows up. Did you get an answer from someone else?"
She shook her head, "No, would you mind relaying a message? I think my long range transmitter is too damaged, I know my receiver is."
"Sure thing, shoot it here and I'll send it along."
AN// Unbetaed. PM and I'll fix.
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- Location
- In a hole in the ground there lived a...