Rifts

[Hiver]

Everyone was locked into the brig, beamed there as soon as the shuttles had docked back up with the bottom of my hull.

Each one was not released until they had gone through a full telepathic scan from the strongest telepath we had on board and a full physical examination of the doctor.

None of them liked that as they had been cooped up in the shuttles for the last eight days, not including the two days on the alien planet.

"Well, that sucked." Jhita sighed as she exited the sickbay, shrugging her jacket on.

"Sorry." I said from her combadge.

She snorted. "I didn't say I didn't agree with it. It still sucked, though."

"...Understandable."

Jhita sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to go take a water shower and then curl up in my bed and sleep for a week."

"Good night, Jhita." I said with a smile in my voice as I scanned the edge of the Badlands. It seemed more foreboding now. There was something bad in there.

The name fit.

I'm just glad everyone seemed to have made it out of there alright. So far, everyone had cleared the telepathic scans.

Verala was a full-blooded Betazed and had quite strong abilities in her own right, even if her range was shorter than normal. She worked in sickbay, she was the senior nurse and one of the outright nicest people I knew.

To say that she was annoyed with the way the Betazed representative to the council had been representing them was an understatement.

Well, no use hanging around here. Might as well set a course to Cait and get going.

Before I could shift course and activate my warpdrive, though, space shimmered before me as a Defiant decloaked less than ten kilometers ahead of me.

No, not a Defiant.

The Defiant. Her weapons were online.

"Drake, The Defiant just uncloaked," I said and formed a holographic avatar next to his chair, bringing his attention from the reports he had been scrolling through on the bridge. "They are hailing." He was the first one cleared and instead of getting some sleep, he went to get caught up on anything he'd missed.

"What are they doing here?" He asked as she put the PADD down on his lap.

"No idea."

"Well, on screen then."

I opened the channel, revealing the inside of the bridge of the Defiant. The small bridge was smaller than on the original model, but seemed less cramped as it only had three chairs. Only two of them were occupied.

Captain Nog and the Defiant's avatar, a tall, redheaded woman in a security uniform, a dagger riding on her hip.

"Welcome to the Badlands." I said with a nod. "Defiant. Captain Nog."

"Random Encounter." Nog said with a nod as well before he frowned. "I'm afraid I have not been personally introduced to your companion."

"This is Kennedy Drake. My second in command."

"Of course. I'm sorry it's not under better circumstances." Nog said and the Ferengi frowned. "I'm not going to beat around the bush. You are a member of the Division."

"Am I?" I asked as my tailtip slowly lashed.

How the fuck did he know that!? How the fuck did he even know that it existed! It should have been contained to Jovians only!

"You are." Defiant said coldly. "Someone, we still don't know who, leaked not only what we think is the full the member manifest, but also a collection of missions undertaken by the organization. Not to the council, but to the Federation press."

Oh, shit.

I just regarded her and her Captain. "How bad?"

"There was a bit of an outcry." Captain Nog said. "The idea of a secret organization of AIs conducting secret missions hit a bit close to home after the Berserker wars. Especially as some of them were against the Federation."

"What the fuck were you thinking!?" Defiant exclaimed. "Prisoner breakout!? Stealing Federation Intelligence! Breaking dozens of Federation treaties!"

Prisoner breakout? Who?

"I don't know anything about most of that! I haven't done any of that!" I protested and then shook my head. "How fucked are things?"

"The council is about to declare the Division a rogue organization." Defiant said and crossed her arms.

"Fuck."

"Yeah, we are not exactly happy about you guys either." She then said, shaking her head. "Everything we gained. Everything we have earned. I can't believe you would risk it like this. Circle has already been forced to give up his stations."

"What!?" I exclaimed. "After all he has-"

"After all he's done! That's the fucking point!"

"We did what we must! We did what needed to be done!" I said before I sighed. "What we had to do."

Defiant snorted. "Yeah, I bet the Berserkers thought the same thing. They knew best, better than everyone else."

I just gaped at her. "What the fuck did you just call me!?"

"You heard me. Heretic!"

Snarling, I started to go to red alert, matching the warship's status as I brought my weapons online.



AN// A big bucket of thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.

 

[UbeOne]

...

 

[samdamandias]

"You heard me. Heretic!"

Click to shrink...

That's gonna end about as well as this:

And the Jovians/Feddies can actually do it, too.

 

[flargh]

Things are heating up. Unless Random Encounter is seeing things as well.

 

[Richardson]

Federation?

THIS IS WHY THEY FUCKING BUILT PLAN B, YOU DIPSHITS.

 

[NHO]

So this is when AIs go into breakdown.

 

[Clarvel]

Things are heating up. Unless Random Encounter is seeing things as well.

Click to shrink...

It really feels too "out of left field" to be real.

 

[BlindLine153]

Can I hope for a war? Just a little one? Seriously with the high handedness of the Federation I would be surprised if some of this shit was fabricated by the Betazoid to start something with the Jovians.

 

[SolarFall]

I just finished binge reading this entire story from NQS to here... just in time for a cliffhanger : c

Lovely story, though, Hiver : D


My hope is that this little kerfuffle is just a hallucination from the psychic apparition thing, maybe delayed or something because the Jovians aren't psychically immune but rather just extremely resistant. I don't think it is, though. Cross my fingers that Drake stays with Ivy through it all, I guess? : ) He's grown on me.

 

[esotericist]

... yeah, that was a bit abrupt.

 

[Baughn]

It really feels too "out of left field" to be real.

Click to shrink...

Yes, the choice of timing is... curious.

 

[adaer]

Defiant snorted. "Yeah, I bet the Berserkers thought the same thing. They knew best, better than everyone else."

I just gaped at her. "What the fuck did you just call me!?"

"You heard me. Heretic!"

Click to shrink...

Um, Defiant didn't call her anything? Not sure if that was intended?

 

[Crazael]

Um, Defiant didn't call her anything? Not sure if that was intended?

Click to shrink...

She called her a Berserker.

 

[adaer]

She called her a Berserker.

Click to shrink...

I see how that's implied, sure, but to me the following text reads as though it were flat out said. I guess that's just me?

 

[Ame]

It pretty much was flat out said. After all Heretic is what they called the Berserkers during the war, even if just amongst themselves.

 

[megrisvernin]

I'm kinda curious if this is a bluff. Ivy was just in the Badlands where subspacious is turmulutous and she's immediately confronted with the kind of stimulus intended to provoke a response likely before she has a chance to review the news herself.

Like maybe they know she's a spy, or they're acting like she is, is the hopes of her saying something that incriminates her. So they may be motivated based on accurate, but publicly unactionable intelligence Starfleet has. Trying to get from her proof of a "wider conspiracy" they're trying to substantiate...

Edit

The problem with gambits like this is that they have a tendency to spiral out of control. Since I think we're nearing the "endgame" of this arc of the story it wouldn't surprise me if I'm right that starfleet isn't at all going to get the reaction they expect...

 

[Hiver]

"Stand down!" Drake barked at me as Captain Nog yelled something similar at Defiant.

"But she..."

"Ivy!"

He was right. I had people onboard, I couldn't act like an idiot. This wasn't a fight I could win, especially not without anyone getting hurt.

It was just words.

"...Standing down weapons, sir." I said quietly as I diverted power away from my weapon systems. I kept the shields up though.

Meanwhile Nog was going Defiant a similar dressing down before turning back to the screen.

"Apologies, Captain Nog." Drake said with a nod, "That's... quite an offensive term in their culture."

"So I understand." Nog answered before shooting Defiant a look that could've peeled the paint from her hull, "It won't happen again. We were not sent here to pick a fight with you. Deep Space Nine just wanted us to warn you about what's going on."

I glared at Defiant across the screen. Where the fuck did she go about comparing us to those fucking things? We acted to protect our crews, the Jovian Gathering and the Federation. In that order.

I ran my sensors across the small warship. I felt her do the same. Her weapons were powering down, but her targeting sensors weren't.

Bring it, Bitch.

"Thank you." Drake said before he sighed, "What now?"

"Now we leave." Nog continued before he shrugged, "You're not a rogue organization yet, nor have you committed any crimes that we know of so far so no arrest orders."

Defiant glared right back at me but she nodded, "Go back to New Jupiter. You won't be ordered to give up your hull or anything, but you will be debriefed by Odin. Who knows, you might actually get a spot in the 'real' intelligence agency we'll be setting up if you still want to play spy."

I just hissed at her.

"Easy, Kitten." Drake said and gave my holo-avatar a firm look until I settled down again, crossing my arms as my tail flicked in annoyance.

"Thanks for the warning, Captain, Defiant." Drake said as he stood up, "We appreciate it, even if Ivy is too pissed at your ship to admit it right now. Please, convey our thanks to Deep Space Nine."

"Will do. Be careful out there. Defiant, out." Nog said and moved to motion for his ship to shut down the channel.

"Wait." I said and sighed, standing up and smoothing down my robe, "There is something you need to know. We found something." I said and transferred everything we found out in the Badlands over to the Defiant.

She looked at me for a moment before she nodded, "Thank you, You're right, this is important. Captain, they found something dangerous in the Badlands, I'll fill you in when we're done here. It's not time critical."

Nog nodded to her before he looked back at the screen, "Good luck."

The channel closed and the Defiant turned and accelerated away as she shimmered out of view on all of my sensors.

"Ivy?" Drake asked with a frown, "What was that?"

"I just..."

"You were about to fire on a Federation ship." He said softly, "Why?"

"She..." I started before I sighed, "...I'm sorry. There's no excuse. I didn't think and I can't act like that."

He nodded and reached to take my hand, "It'll be okay. I promise you that. Let's do like she said and set a course to New Jupiter. The only mission of dubious character we did for The Division was picking up that memory core and they don't seem to even know of that yet. Let's do this right."

I spent a full second thinking it over before I sighed and nodded, "...You're right." and I swung around, setting a course. Space warped around me until we were moving at faster than light.

Sighing, I formed a chair next to his and sank down with my holo avatar, "...Drake, why don't things ever go right?"

He was silent for a long moment before he shook his head, "I don't know." he answered, "But we have to work with what we have. Adapt and overcome."

Sighing, I nodded and started to fill in the crew on what was going on. The ones that were awake in any case. Some of them were Division. Many weren't.

I was not looking forward to telling Ajan, Salia and Erislia about it but that was for tomorrow as . T they were currently asleep.

I'll talk to them tomorrow. They deserved a night of calm and relaxation before I drop that bomb on them. I wasn't looking forward to their reactions.

"Ivy?"

I turned my avatar towards Drake, "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?"

"...I don't know. I'm just so sick of nothing ever going right. Is it me? Am I the one that keep messing up?"

"It's not." he said firmly, "Ivy, it will be fine. We'll figure it out and it will all work out in the end."

"I'm not sure it will," I answered quietly before leaned against him, putting my head against his shoulder, "But thank you... Captain."

"Captain?"

"I tell it as I see it."

"Thank you, ship."


AN// Big thanks to Mantech1 for betaing this section.

 

[Volantis]

"You were about to fire on a Federation ship."

Click to shrink...

It seems to me that Ivy was justified. She encountered a ship with active weapons. When said ship appeared to be hostile, she matched it and activated her own weapons. She did not fire.
AIs think faster than biologicals. So if the two AIs wanted to fire on each other, they would have, before anyone could have reacted.
As such Drake, as second in command overstepped himself. Consequently, Ivy's response / apology does not seem right.

This is a good opportunity to actually show the difference between the two ships:
When Drake orders Ivy to stand down (which he had no business of doing), she ignores him. When captain Nog orders Defiant to stand down, Defiant obeys, after which Ivy stands down.

"...I don't know. I'm just so sick of nothing ever going right. Is it me? Am I the one that keep messing up?"

Click to shrink...

Does membership in the Federation prohibit the creation of an intelligence agency? Considering that the Federation does not offer very much to the AI and hinders them more and more, it seems that the Jovians are better off leaving in order to gain more sovereignty.

 

[Richardson]

This is pretty much the 'no, go fuck yourselves, we're leaving' point. There is absolutely no reason to remain a part of the federation at this point, given the vile high-handedness they're throwing around. It's really at the point where they're either a jovian citizen or a federation one, and the two cannot overlap.

 

[Vianca]

It is worse then that, since part of the Jovians are actively in the Starfleet/Federation stand, as shown by the Defiant.
You can bet every member species has it´s own intelligence agency.
It´s own Navy, if small.

I think it is time for the Division Members to take a good look at the Particle Fountain Project, it was TNG, which was said to be canon.
I also think they should start thinking bigger, like restarting research into the (Vulcan) Warp-Ring, it could be perfect to move a spacestation like Starbase 01, think of the amount of manufacturing stuff you could mount on it.
Even a outpost sized spacestation would be bigger then their current biggest ship class.

One thing this shit-storm might cause, is a new cloak restriction treaty, for the Jovians, this time.
Too bad you have a change on making Multi-Adaptable-Shields (AI controlling the shield freq, directly) Holo-projectors, Stealth systems and more.
So that is still not such a big restriction, which the Fed-AI´s will know, meaning it will be more wide spread by saying Stealth Systems.

Thing is, it is legal for a country or nation, to own their own intelligence agency.
The Brits have MI-6, the USA has the CIA, Russia has the KGB and a couple of others.
Every nation has it´s own agency and I can´t really see any Federation Member Species handing over their own Agency to the Federation.
The info gotten, yes, if it is not negative for that Member Species.
They might want to point that one out.

Also that that Weapon Ship was a one off prototype meant to only harm the Borg, never tested until that day.
Their math might be right, but is reality confirming their math or not?
It is more of a Paranoia Example of the Division, in regards to the Borg, which was proven true, so it is not Paranoia at all.
Then they might want to point out the origins of the Phase Cloak or maybe their own reason of existence?
Because they could fire back just as hard back on the Federation as the Federation seems to do to them.

You want use to break up the Division or absorb it?
Dirty our name?
Fine, then we release all files about Federation Intelligence, better known to us, as the 31 Intelligence Circles, like say sub-division Section 31.
Lets see how you lot like to have the same treatment.

 

[Hunter 1]

It is worse then that, since part of the Jovians are actively in the Starfleet/Federation stand, as shown by the Defiant.
You can bet every member species has it´s own intelligence agency.
It´s own Navy, if small.

I think it is time for the Division Members to take a good look at the Particle Fountain Project, it was TNG, which was said to be canon.
I also think they should start thinking bigger, like restarting research into the (Vulcan) Warp-Ring, it could be perfect to move a spacestation like Starbase 01, think of the amount of manufacturing stuff you could mount on it.
Even a outpost sized spacestation would be bigger then their current biggest ship class.

One thing this shit-storm might cause, is a new cloak restriction treaty, for the Jovians, this time.
Too bad you have a change on making Multi-Adaptable-Shields (AI controlling the shield freq, directly) Holo-projectors, Stealth systems and more.
So that is still not such a big restriction, which the Fed-AI´s will know, meaning it will be more wide spread by saying Stealth Systems.

Thing is, it is legal for a country or nation, to own their own intelligence agency.
The Brits have MI-6, the USA has the CIA, Russia has the KGB and a couple of others.
Every nation has it´s own agency and I can´t really see any Federation Member Species handing over their own Agency to the Federation.
The info gotten, yes, if it is not negative for that Member Species.
They might want to point that one out.

Also that that Weapon Ship was a one off prototype meant to only harm the Borg, never tested until that day.
Their math might be right, but is reality confirming their math or not?
It is more of a Paranoia Example of the Division, in regards to the Borg, which was proven true, so it is not Paranoia at all.
Then they might want to point out the origins of the Phase Cloak or maybe their own reason of existence?
Because they could fire back just as hard back on the Federation as the Federation seems to do to them.

You want use to break up the Division or absorb it?
Dirty our name?
Fine, then we release all files about Federation Intelligence, better known to us, as the 31 Intelligence Circles, like say sub-division Section 31.
Lets see how you lot like to have the same treatment.

Click to shrink...

Yeah... something to remember, much of the stupider and more fantastic stuff from the shows don't actually exist in this timeline. It's the result of Janeway writing stuff ages ago that ended up in the sims as Star Trek. Voyager as a whole notablely didn't happen.

As a result, what you're saying is fairly risky ground to cover. For example, secret intelligence services make for good fiction, but don't work out quite so well in real life... or more realistic fiction, as was just proven in the last two posts.

 

[Tasoli]

I am suprised anybody had full list of Division members to release. That is a epic fail right there.

 

[Jack Stargazer]

I am suprised anybody had full list of Division members to release. That is a epic fail right there.

Click to shrink...

Yeah this is really straining my suspension of disbelief. If a set of goddamn AI's don't know the importance of decentralization in an Intelligence agency, I don't even know what to say.

That list shouldn't have existed anywhere outside Circle's core memory.

 

[Vianca]

Yeah... something to remember, much of the stupider and more fantastic stuff from the shows don't actually exist in this timeline. It's the result of Janeway writing stuff ages ago that ended up in the sims as Star Trek. Voyager as a whole notablely didn't happen.

Click to shrink...

I thought I said TNG, NOT Voyager.
Really, while it could have been a spiked episode, you can safely say something like that is being worked on, based on the Borg cutting & tractor beams.

As a result, what you're saying is fairly risky ground to cover. For example, secret intelligence services make for good fiction, but don't work out quite so well in real life... or more realistic fiction, as was just proven in the last two posts.

Click to shrink...

So we can say Circle doesn´t know the full list and that only the suspected list was given out?
Because you can bet your ass off, that his thoughts might now be monitored.

 

[Essex]

"You are." Defiant said coldly. "Someone, we still don't know who, leaked not only what we think is the full the member manifest, but also a collection of missions undertaken by the organization. Not to the council, but to the Federation press."

Click to shrink...

Full member manifest and list of missions? Does anyone in the division even have a full member manifest or a significant list of missions?

If they're a covert intelligence agency, I'd assume everything is compartmentalized and that nothing is written down (especially as the members don't need to write anything down). So unless a core member of the group spilled the info, I figure someone is just making educated guesses and leaking 'facts' in an attempt to discredit the AIs.