Remove ads

Rifts

Reader mode
Please ignore the whining. You are doing a good job.

Without a time frame passage refference, Reprecussions of the "new/old history deviation" needs time to propprogate.

I'm Sure the Vulcan High Counsel will send Some ships to propperly Assay, and analyse the site of discovery.

Either that or an Unregistered, Modified, Genesis Torpedo. ...
 
Gruntjerka said:
No discussion on the recently acquired Vulcan history? DIS-A-PPOINTING!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Ivy picked up Pacifica's distress signal mere hours after sending the information to Circle and the Vulcan Science Council and it's been less than a week since then and they are still outside of the subspace comms network. And Ivy isn't gonna bring it up because she still believes it is best left forgotten.
 
Crazael said:
Ivy picked up Pacifica's distress signal mere hours after sending the information to Circle and the Vulcan Science Council and it's been less than a week since then and they are still outside of the subspace comms network. And Ivy isn't gonna bring it up because she still believes it is best left forgotten.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Also, she decided to let the science council decide if it should be disseminated or not. Even ignoring her personal feelings, it would be inappropriate for her to gossip about it.
 
Remove ads
39
  • Threadmarks
    • "Ivy, can we talk?" Erislia asked as she glanced up at the ceiling and I activated the screen in their VIP quarters.

    "Of course. What's up?" I asked with a smile. She, Salia and Ajan were all in their temporary VIP quarters.

    "We need to talk to you, but in person. Can you come over?"

    I blinked at her and then nodded, "Okay, sure. I'll have my avatar by in five minutes or so."

    "Thanks Ivy."

    I closed the screen back down and mentally frowned. Wonder what that was about?

    Getting up from where I had been reading my book in my quarters, I put on my robes and left, stretching with a small yawn as I headed down a couple of decks and to their quarters. It was kinda late in ship night so there was no one else around.

    Even in space, keeping a regular night and day cycle was healthy for most biological beings. Even if my 'night shift' was not that much less active than my day one, there tended to be less people in the corridors.

    Stopping outside their quarters I ran my fingers through my hair before announcing myself with a small beep of the door and waiting for the 'enter'.

    When Ajan yelled out, I walked inside with a smile and a flick of my ears, "Hey guys. What's up?"

    Erislia glanced at Ajan and he sighed before he nodded to her and got up, "Ivy... how are your quarters?"

    I titled my head in question, "Huh?"

    "What I mean is, do you have any free, family-sized quarters?"

    "Uhm... sure. Four of them. Why do you ask?" I said with a shrug, looking between them.

    Ajan shrugged, "There is no easy way to say this, but we are resigning from Starfleet."

    I just gaped at him, "What? Why!?"

    He smiled slightly, "It's just time for something new. It was great while it lasted, but let's face it. My career has stalled completely. I just barely made Lieutenant. Shran is a full on Commander and well on his way to his own ship. T'Ro is about to be promoted to Commander and Rachel is a Lieutenant-Commander. Star would be a Captain if she didn't want to keep being a ship. I'm not as driven as Shran, nor as smart as T'Ro or even as good at handling people as Rachel. I'm not likely to rise any higher."

    "Ajan... you are plenty smart," I protested.

    The Trill nodded, "Yeah... just not good enough. Let's face it, Ivy. I have stalled. It's time for a change and... well, I suppose I'm asking for a job."

    I frowned at him and looked over at Erislia who shrugged. "I'm an enlisted crewman. My career is about as good as it's going to get unless I go back to the academy," she said and smiled at me. "And I'll follow my husband. But he is right, it's time for a change."

    Salia put her hand up, "I'm not actually Starfleet at all. I'll miss our friends, but..."

    I sighed and nodded, "Are you sure?"

    Ajan nodded, "We are, we have talked about it for months. We just didn't know what to do instead."

    Erislia put her arm around his waist and leaned against his side, "We still want to travel and see new things. So a planet or station wouldn't be right."

    "I actually suggested a frontier planet," Salia said and got up from the couch. "We could explore the wilderness and it would be better for the kits to grow up beneath a sky, but... well, none of us really have the experience for anything like that."

    Ajan nodded, "Also, hardly safe for young ones."

    I blinked at them, "...Kits?"

    "We want children," Ajan confirmed. "Which is a bit of a problem."

    Yeah, no kidding. Trills and Caitians were not exactly cross-fertile. While it was possible for some species, especially with medical science... no. That was simply not happening.

    "Yeah," I agreed with a nod. "There are options...."

    Salia nodded and flicked her ears, "Mmm. Yeah, everything from genetic modification of Ajan's cells to donors to adoption."

    "We picked the last option," Erislia explained and sighed. "...After the Berserker war, there are a lot of children that need a family."

    ...Shit.

    Yeah. It was sadly quite true. A lot of people died in the war... but even more people were left behind.

    I sighed, "...Are you sure? Not about the adoption, but about moving onto me? Even if you quit Starfleet, there has to be better options. I'm not a large ship, Erislia. I'm an exploration ship. I'm going to go far into the unknown. Can be dangerous."

    "We know," Ajan confirmed with a nod. "We want that," he said before he smiled. "Well? Is there room for us on board?"

    I slowly shook my head with a smile. "Of course there is. I'm sure Jhita needs more people for xenosociology. I know there are places for you two as well," I continued to Erislia and Salia. "Engineering could use more people as so can aeroponics or... a lot of the other ship services if you'd rather do something else."

    "Thanks Ivy," Erislia said with a smile and walked up to hug me and I hugged back before I flicked my ears and looked over at Ajan. "...Have you talked to Star and Captain Mason about this yet?"

    He shook his head, "Wanted to talk to you first."

    I nodded.

    Ajan would stay. One of my original friends and two of my almost as old friends were going to stay!



    AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Technically, Only Ivy is Division, on her ship, as far as she knows. At least it hasn't come up otherwise, so far.
     
    The Way I see it,

    Ivy is the Division agent. However, The Division gaves Ivy no set Mission, just a Link for Intel, and "Go do what you do, and tell us about it when you think it's Important. "

    (She Could have sent a copy Of her Find.)
     
    Last edited:
    Transreal Cloud said:
    That is explicitly not true we saw earlier in this story that her senior staff are all division people.


    Ajan is a friend sometimes it's harder to keep secrets from friends.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Ivy is friends with just about everyone onboard. Also, their friendship never lead to her breaking confidentiality before. I see no reason for it to start now.
     
    40
  • Threadmarks
    • "Careful... careful..." Merilyn said as she slowly lead the guiding of the new warp core up through the ejection port of the Pacifica. Drones and crew from all three ships carefully moved through the process of putting the new warp core into place.

    It was a tricky process as there was very little room.

    While my maintenance drones were very similar to Star's, she and the crew from the Pacifica made my crew stand out clearly. My engineering crew were in all in armored, powered, AI-assisted suits. Meanwhile, Star's crew were all in standard Starfleet suits.

    Of course, their suits didn't cost as much as some of the cheaper shuttles to manufacture. But if it saved even one of my crew from getting hurt, or worse, killed, then I and most other ships thought it well worth investing in the raw materials.

    "Star, a little to the right," T'Ro instructed and one of Star's drones shifted a bit to the side, gently pulling the hundred ton floating paperweight a few degrees closer.

    "Impressive," Captain Rosenberg said from where he was standing in Star's closest observation deck, overseeing the entire operation. Captain Mason was standing next to him and on Mason's other side was Star's avatar. My own was back in uniform over the tight undersuit and standing on Captain Rosenberg's other side.

    I frowned and shrugged, "We are being slow, it's a tight fit."

    "Only compared to a Station and his crew," Captain Mason protested. "They have a lot more practice for this kind of operation. We are still ahead of estimate compared to the guidebook."

    Star sighed and crossed her arms, "Sir, those were written before AI. They counted on this being done by hand and with shuttle tractor beams, not AI-assisted teams of drones, engineers and shuttles."

    Captain Mason raised and eyebrow at his ship, "There is a thing such as too modest you know."

    "That's strange," I said with a smirk. "I didn't know Star knew what modesty was. I know what you wear to dates."

    "Hey!"

    Mason just shook his head in amusement.

    Captain Rosenberg blinked and then looked at Mason, "I must admit... I never really interacted directly with ship AI before. Mostly just with the male stations. They never seemed to be this... animated."

    I flicked my tail and turned my big amber eyes at him in annoyance. Nobody talks shit about the stations! They deserved all the credit in the world for everything they did for us.

    "Ever spend some personal time just talking to one?" Mason asked with a smile. "Because you'll find that every Jovian, in the fleet or otherwise, is a real personality."

    "I can't say I have. It has always been in a professional capacity," Rosenberg admitted and shrugged, giving me a nod. "It seems I was wrong."

    Flicking my ears I then nodded, "I understand."

    I guess that was understandable. Star smiled slightly at me and I flicked my ears, turning my avatar back to look out the window.

    "Going to yell at him?" Star asked over subspace link as we worked with our crews to get the new core into place.

    "...No. Not really. I may have made a sarcastic remark though," I admitted. "He was being rude."

    "Any particular station you were angry on behalf of?" she teased, a smile in her voice.

    I snorted, "Not really. Just in general... Stations are why we can fly, live the way we do. Without Stations... we would never have made it through the Berserker Wars. Billions upon billions would have died... and without Gates wrestling control of the defense grid, Earth would have been a complete writeoff and then they would have moved on to lay waste to Luna!"

    "Ivy. I know," she sighed. "You don't have to be so defensive at all times."

    I mentally cringed, "...Sorry."

    "It's fine. How're Ajan, Salia and Erislia settling in?"

    "Well enough," I said and then mentally frowned. "Star..."

    "I know. I talked with them and... I'm sad to see them go. But I get why they want to. I'll miss them a lot."

    I knew exactly how she felt. It always sucked when crew left, but with them it was even worse. Ajan was one of our first friends. I was ecstatic that he would be staying with me. Not to forget Erislia and Salia. I loved them too, but Ajan was one of my first friends. We went to the academy together. There was a lot of memories there.

    "Have you decided where the going away party is going to be?"

    "Mmm. I talked with Salia about it. We are going to combine it with the general party on the Pacifica after we are done with the repairs and have her refueled again. We'll have our own small gathering afterwards just with friends," Star explained. "You are invited."

    "Thanks Star."

    "You can bring a date if you like.

    I sighed, "...I would if I could."

    "Who knows, maybe you'll meet someone there."

    I couldn't help but smile to myself with my avatar as the warp core disappeared from that angle and entered the Pacifica's hull, guided by engineers and drones. "Thanks Star. Odds are that they will be from you or the Pacifica if I do. I already know everyone on board me. So I would need to leave them the next day. Makes me feel a lot better."

    "...You are just a big ball of positivity aren't you?"

    "No, she is a dROU. Over by Vulcan I think, running courier duty?"


    AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • 41
  • Threadmarks
    • I looked out across the plaza of the Pacifica. Just like old Earth cruise liners the Starliner class was like a mix of a mall, city and resort in space.

    Hundreds, thousands of people were wandering around and I leaned my avatar against the railing as I overlooked the open central area. It was kind of impressive, actually. Five decks high and it stretched across almost the entire center third of the ship with stores, restaurants and what not in four levels on the sides with a fake holographic sky of what things looked outside as the ceiling.

    As I watched the general party I couldn't help but wonder how it would be to be a cruise ship like this. People coming and going all the time.

    Just wandering back and forth across the Federation, visiting exotic sites. Might actually be kinda nice. Not as exciting as exploring space, but much safer and I bet you could meet just as many strange new people like this.

    Hearing movement behind me through the music, I flicked an ear in that direction before turning my head to watch Drake as he leaned against the railing next to me. "Hey there. Come here often?"

    I snorted in amusement. "First time, actually. You?"

    "Same." He said before he grinned. "So... we are leaving tomorrow. Any plans yet?"

    I shrugged one shoulder. "I thought about going back to system survey, but I'm thinking the crew have earned some R'n'R. So I'm thinking we head back into the Federation. Get back in contact with the network and see if there is anything that needs doing."

    "Any specific destination in mind?"

    "I don't know. Depends on wether there is anything specific that needs doing. If not... maybe Risa? I never did get to visit there, things always go to hell as soon as I set the course."

    Drake grinned at that. "So how about you don't. Anywhere else nice?"

    He had a bit of a point there. "What do you have in mind?"

    "I don't know. Bajor is nice?"

    I smiled and flicked my ears at that. "Feel homesick?"

    He turned around and leaned back against the railing. "Not as such. It would be nice, seeing my parents again, though. But it is a nice planet."

    I nodded. "It is. It's not that much further than Risa either."

    I did enjoy the other times I visited Bajor... and it would give me a chance to see the Wormhole again and I would always take any excuse to do so. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I wasn't a major fan of the fact that it was that close to Cardassian space or the Dominion, but it was unlikely that any of them were going to try to pull something. The Cardassians were mostly non-hostile right now and the Dominion seemed content to sit on their side of the galaxy for now.

    "Bajor sounds fine." I agreed with a nod.

    "Now... may I have this dance?"

    I made a quick decision. "A bit later? There is something I need to talk to you about."

    He frowned slightly. "What's on your mind?"

    I shrugged one shoulder again and crossed my arms over my, rather ornate, red and silver robes. "...I'm a ship."

    "So I noticed."

    Rolling my eyes, I then smiled. "Not that. It's just..." I sighed and looked up towards where I knew that my hull was floating. "I miss things. From when I was Starfleet."

    "I do too, Kitty."

    I smiled at him and nodded. "I know. You know what one of those things are?"

    "What?" He asked and turned around, resting his arms on the railing as he watched my avatar.

    "I miss having a Captain. I miss... that special relationship of trust. As close to absolute as you can get. I have not had that since Hannah."

    "...Ah." He said quietly and looked down at the crowd below. "Yeah. Yeah, I get that."

    "I want that again." I said and tilted my head as I watched him. "Want the job?"

    He blinked at me. "Me?"

    "You. I trust you, Drake. You are intelligent and skilled."

    "Ivy... I'm..." He said before he sighed. "...by the prophets..." he breathed before he shook his head. "...you better pick someone else."

    "Why?"

    "Ivy, even back in Starfleet... I was just a Lieutenant. I'm not qualified to be Captain, I don't have the experience nor the training for a role like that."

    "Kennedy, you have grown a lot since then."

    He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It's... Ivy, you have no idea how much this... I can't. It wouldn't be fair to you or the crew. Like you said, you need someone you can trust. Not just personally trust, but trust to be able to have the experience and ability to perform when needed. I can't do that. Ivy, I'm sorry, but I can't do that to you."

    I folded my ears to the sides sadly and then nodded. I didn't like hearing it, but maybe he was right.

    "Oh."

    "Sorry."

    I smiled slightly at him and flicked my tail. "It's fine, I did kinda drop it into your lap without warning. But you do just realize what this mean, right?"

    "Huh?" He asked with a frown and I smirked at him,

    "You just have go through training until you are ready."

    Drake stared at me for a long moment before he chuckled and nodded with a grin. "For you, Ivy? Anything. Set up any training simulations you want." He said before he offered me his hand. "Now, how about that dance?"

    Smiling, I took his hand. "Love to."



    AN// Big thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this part.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • 42
  • Threadmarks
    • "Hey Circle."

    "Ivy," he said with a nod over the subspace link. "How are you?`"

    "Well enough. Got some work done," I answered and shot over a backup of my files of what's happened since the last contact.

    "So I see," he said and crossed his arms with a frown. "Ivy... I really wish you had not found that Vulcan ship."

    I cringed, my ears flicking back, "That bad?"

    Circle shook his head, "...No. But it's causing quite a bit of controversy in scientific circles. Some claim it's a fake, others say that it's an intentional attack on Vulcan society. Of course... these are outliers. The 'Fake' claims less so than the latter. For the people that know about it, the general consensus seems to be 'wait and see for a proper excavation and investigation to finish'. "

    "That was always going to happen," I said with a shrug. "But I only sent in what I found. Nothing more, nothing less. We left the site as undisturbed as we could. Only thing I left behind was a marker in orbit so it would be easy to find."

    The station sighed. "I know. Starfleet is mounting a full archaeological expedition to it now," he said and frowned. "And they better find the same thing as you did or all hell is going to break lose."

    "...Shit."

    "Yeah. Which is why I asked a pair of LOUs and a handful of ROUs to watch the location under cloak until the expedition arrives," he said dryly. "Because that would be really good ammo for our opponents if they arrived and found nothing. Or worse, find that it was faked."

    "Sorry, but I won't hide wha..."

    "I'm not asking you too," he interrupted with a smile. "I just kinda wish you had better timing sometimes. We have enough trouble internally right now without handing our opponents at the Council even more things to beat us over the head with. Gates has a difficult enough job as it is."

    "Internally?"

    "Scramble code 5652."

    I blinked as his signal suddenly went completely encrypted and I quickly entered the same decryption code to bring it back, "What?"

    "It's not something we should discuss over a standard encryption, that's all," Circle said with a frown. "It's just that there is a lot of noise here about the subspace weapon."

    "Still?"

    "Not about the weapon specifically, but the fact that it was made and installed without the general Jovian government knowing about it. Plan B and myself are suffering quite a bit of criticism about it, but because of the size of the project, people think there were more involved."

    "Damn."

    "Yeah." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Look, you were not involved. But you are Division. What are your thoughts about it?"

    "I don't know. I mean, I see their point. A banned weapon of mass destruction was not only researched, but built and mounted on a ship without even being put up to a vote. That's just not how our government works."

    "I know." He sighed before he shrugged, "I think it'll blow over in time, but it's better to just lay low right now and not make things worse. Should it fall, it will fall on me and Plan B."

    I scowled, "That's really fucked up. You and B getting shit for saving millions of people."

    "It's not that we did or even how we did it, but that we had what we needed without anyone knowing. You know that perfectly well, Ship."

    "...Yeah," I sighed. "But still. It might be time to let the rest know that The Division exists. Everyone has intelligence agencies, that we do shouldn't be a surprise."

    "You really think so?"

    "It may be the only thing to make things calm down. The public doesn't need to know, just us."

    Circle sighed, "I'll think about it and talk it over with the others." He shook his head, "We did what we must."

    "Because we can."

    The station grinned briefly, "Indeed. But it's for us that're a bit closer to home to handle. You just focus on yours, Ivy."

    "Anything in particular?"

    He shook his head, "Nothing in your direction. I wouldn't mind some more eyes on the Tholians right now, their borders have been strangely silent for weeks. But Starfleet Intelligence is already on that."

    I didn't know we had eyes inside SFI. Not direct ones at least, since I picked up that Berserker memory bank I knew we had contacts, but not enough to know that much.

    "The Tholians always were isolationist xenophobes," I said with a shrug. "It's not that strange."

    "True, but this is extreme even for them. Nobody has seen any of their ships active for weeks."

    That was strange. If there was anything the Tholians were, it was ready to defend their space. If it wasn't for the fact that they liked completely different worlds than almost everyone else and that they didn't really expand, preferring to terraform planets in their own space, they would be the biggest threat in the quadrant.

    They were not as big as the Klingons or even the Cardassians, but their technology was about as good as ours. Worse in some places but better in others, we were still not sure how they made those webs between their ships.

    Of course, they also lacked AI so if it came to a fight, we would murder them. Never mind the fact that even without AI, the Federation greatly outnumbered them.

    "That is strange. What are they up to?" I asked with a frown. "...Although, I have to say it has an unpleasant sense of déjà vu about it."

    Last time something like that happened was just prior to the Romulan/Berserker war when the Romulan Empire went silent.

    "Hence the great interest," Circle said. "But I doubt the Tholians would be stupid enough to try to repeat the Romulans' mistake."

    "Let's hope so. We have enough trouble as it is."


    AN// Big thanks to Pietersielie for betaing this section.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Hiver said:
    "The Tholians always were isolationist xenophobes," I said with a shrug. "It's not that strange."

    "True, but this is extreme even for them. Nobody has seen any of their ships active for weeks."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    ...That's worrisome. What could the Tholians be up to that would require pulling back all their patrol assets?
     
    Which story should I write next? I'm about as far into both but need to chose which one to continue now or I'll fall behind.

    Only two options this time I'm afraid. Which story?
     
    Nice. For next story, please do the Planeswalker. More interested in the upcoming intrigue there than another 'slice of life' kind of story like the MLP one. :)
     
    Steven Kodaly said:
    ...That's worrisome. What could the Tholians be up to that would require pulling back all their patrol assets?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Since we know zilch about Tholian Biology, and the only other non-CHON and non-AI race we know about lays eggs...

    Mating season?

    The Local equivalent of midwinter holidays?

    They, are sentient Crystal Entities, so possible Resonant Harmonic Collapse?

    They discovered our public internet access, and want nothing to do with our perveted desires?

    Borg TMIFSH moment?

    Space is Cold, and Dark, and Deep and they finally went home to sleep.
     
    Aren't the Tholians in contact with themselves in multiple parallel universes? The Tholians might not like it, but they may have decided to just abandon this universe entirely.
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top