Starseeker

[Hiver]

Going through the wormhole was all I expected it was from watching it open and I was still in awe of the beautiful sight when we exited the other side and I couldn't stop smiling happily as I scanned the space around me.

Empty space. The Wormhole on the Gamma Quadrant side was in deep space, nowhere near a star. No wonder the Dominion didn't find it.

But now they knew where it was.

I immediately spotted the large armed space station floating a couple of hundred thousand kilometers from the mouth of the wormhole.

The Dominion. Well, the New Dominion as it was generally called but it was still the same old Dominion with a new coat of paint.

After the Prophets erased that massive fleet rolling through their living room, the war was pretty much... sputtered out. The fact that Doctor Julian Bashir created the cure to the illness ravaging the 'Great Link' changed things.

It was a natural illness, not something cooked up by some shadowy 'Section 31'. They didn't exist, the closest Starfleet had was Starfleet Intelligence.

At least as far as I knew.

Still, having it cured by a 'Solid' changed their minds a bit. Oh, they were still very territorial and had multiple genetically engineered slave races. But they were not actively hostile to the Federation anymore.

However, according to the peace treaty Federation ships had the right to cross Dominion space as long as they stayed out of Dominion systems and stayed under escort.

"Captain, we are being hailed by the Border Station."

Mason nodded and got up, adjusting his uniform jacket before he nodded, "On screen."

I answered the hail, bringing the Vorta up on screen.

She smiled and bowed slightly, spreading her arms, "The Dominion welcome our Federation friends," she said. "I am Administrator Versila. May I please ask your purpose in Dominion space?"

The Vorta was wearing a white, tight dress, long brown hair set up in a complicated hairstyle.

"This is Captain Mason of the USS Starseeker. I thank you for your warm welcome and extend a greeting of my own. As for our purpose, we seek to cross Dominion space, with your permission. Transferring our planned flightpath now," Mason said before giving me a nod.

I sent the information he requested, leaning back in the seat to the right of the center chair as I crossed my legs, pretending to tap on my armrest console. No need making it overly obvious I was not actually a Trill.

"I see," Versila said, checking her console. "Yes, I have the information now. Captain Mason, your flightpath is approved. I am diverting your escort to you now."

She was indeed. A pair of Jem'hadar fighters undocked from the station and headed our way. Powerful, nasty things. About the same size of a Defiant, they didn't have quite as much firepower, but still more than enough to handle a normal Luna class ship. The Dominion's technology was almost as powerful as the Federation's.

"Is there anything else we can do for our Federation friends, Captain Mason?" Versila asked with a smile.

"Not at this time, Administrator. My thanks to you and the Founders."

"The Founders are wise in all things. A safe journey, Captain," Versila answered with a smile before cutting the connection.

The Captain glanced at me and I nodded, "Channel is closed."

He sighed and walked over to sit back down in his chair, looking over at Janeway, "I always disliked talking with the Vorta. They always feel so... fake."

She smiled, "That's because they are. They are made to be perfect diplomats, negotiators and administrators."

It was the first time I saw one in 'Person' or interacted with the Dominion at all. Honestly, it was a pretty chilling thing.

The Vorta, the Jem'hadar... in a way, they were a biological version of what I could have been if the Federation been a bit more evil.

Really, that seemed to be what the Dominion was. A kind of dark mirror of the Federation. A bunch of species working together. Not for peace and improvement for all, but for the glory of the Founders.

It was kind of sad. But there was nothing I could do about it.

Hell, they didn't even want something done about it. They were more than happy to worship the Founders like gods.

That's what they were made to do.

"Star, set a course and confirm it with our escorts."

"Aye, Captain." I answered and idly started to swing around in space, sending a message to the lead of the two Dominion ships to make sure we both had the same flight plan loaded.

Getting confirmation I turned to the center seat, "Confirmation received. Ready to jump to warp at your orders, sir."

He smiled and nodded, "Activate," and by the time he had stood up, I had jumped up to warp seven, the maximum sustainable cruising speed of the Jem'hadar fighters.

"Warp seven reached. Time to exit of Dominion claimed space... three weeks, four days, two hours."

This was going to be boring as all fuck. Our path took us through empty space, not a single system was planned to get closer than a light year from it. The terms of the treaty gave Federation ships permission to cross Dominion space under escort. But they didn't want us anywhere near any of their planets or installations if they could help it.

Oh! Porthos is waking up!

Well, I guess there are ways to pass the time.




AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

The door opened for me and I walked into Rachel's quarters at her acknowledgment. She was kneeling on the floor.

"Sit, Porthos." she ordered, holding a small treat in her hand.

The beagle laid down. Then he sat up. Then he stood on two legs before sitting down again, giving her a expectant look.

'Did I do it right? You usually ask for one of those! Come on! Give me candy!'

I had problems not laughing as Rachel sighed and tried again, "Lay down." she commanded and he laid down, so he got a treat this time.

"Having fun?" I asked with a grin, dropping down to kneel next to her, offering Porthos my hand.

Rachel nodded, "Trying to train him. It's going okay, I guess." she answered as the puppy hesitantly nosed at my hand, "Porthos, you know Star. I don't get why you are always so hesitant, you play with her every day."

I grinned at that and then carefully scratched behind his ears, "But we don't."

"...You do. In his cube."

I smiled and nodded, "But that's clearly not me. I smell completely different. This me has a completely different smell than hologram me in the cube, which smells like an actual trill. Dogs are a scent oriented species. I may look and sound the same, but if I don't smell right I'm a different person." I said before I leaned forward, rubbing firmer, causing the puppy to lean into the touch, "Who is is a good little scent focused symbiotic lifeform? You are! Yes you are!"

Even if he was not too sure of my avatar, Porthos was not one to say no to a good ear rub and put his weight into it.

Rachel giggled before she frowned, "Symbiotic lifeform?"

"Culturally." I explained, "Humanity and wolves formed a symbiotic bond... they provided sensors and warning, you provided brainpower, muscle and food."

"Huh." she said after a moment, "I suppose you are right."

I smiled and pulled a dog treat from my pocket and snuck it to Porthos.

Heh. In a way, I had a similar relationship to my crew as wolves formed with early humans. I provided sensors, support and muscle. They provided extra brainpower and kept me alive.

I could fake being really, really smart. It's hard not to when running at a hundred times faster than they did with close to perfect memory. Especially when I had a ship's computer to offload stuff on.

In raw brainpower though at the same speed as the rest of the crew? Rachel was just as smart as I was and T'Ro left us both in the dust.

I could just cheat.

"So what's up?"

Sighing, I shook my head and reached to throw Porthos' ball, causing the dog to scramble after it as it bounced off the wall, "Nothing really."

She grinned and threw the ball again when he returned with it, "You are bored."

"A bit? I mean, I know its only been a week, but this area is fairly well mapped and it's not like I can use my active sensors overly much for deep scans. Sure, stellar cartography is happy enough but..."

I really didn't want to upset our genetically engineered friends escorting us through their space. So I played good, following the treaty to the letter. Active scans kept to a minimum and just following the flightpath.

Rachel smiled, "Just another couple of weeks. Why don't you write a holoprogram, that's always fun."

"Both holodecks is busy." I sighed, "Besides, My latest is more 'skill' than story so I can't even really tinker with the script without a holodeck."

"Ah, more of Shran's taste than mine then."

Well, he did like the proto-Dark Souls I made before. It was nowhere near the original, just a large castle filled with enemies, not even the large, difficult ones.

The new one I was working on was a much more accurate representation. It took 'a lot' of doing digging into historical archives on earth to find the source material used to make the game in my sim. It didn't help that it was actually a book series and not a game like I was searching for. It wasn't even called 'Dark Souls', but 'Last Flickers of Fire'.

But I managed to track the damn thing down and was slowly translating it into holonovel format whenever the holodecks were free. Usually I could get about a hour a day done.

"Mmm." I answered with a nod, "Still, you might like the story."

Even as sad as it was.

Rachel shook her head in amusement and then got up, "Come on, I'm hungry. What does the chef have on the menu today?"

"For omnivores, there is a variation on a Vulcan stew. From the crew's reaction, it's quite spicy." I answered as I hesitated before rubbing Porthos' ears, "The vegetarian option might be more to your liking in this case. It's a creamy pasta dish."

She nodded, "That does sound better." and then she stood up straight again, "Stay Porthos. I will be back in a hour or so."

"No cube?" I asked as we headed for the door, the puppy padding along.

Rachel shook her head again, "He has to learn to spend time both alone and among different people." before she stopped and looked down at him, "Stay." she commanded and he sat down.

She quickly gave him a treat before letting the door close and lock between them.

"Don't worry, I'll keep a eye on him." I told her with a smile at her nervous look.

She sighed, "I know. Next week it's time to start to let him properly socialize too. Bring him to the mess hall and all that. Take walks along the halls and such things. Get him used to more people than just my friends. It's going to be good for him."

"It will. Now come on, I can hear your stomach from here, let's get you fed before you start eating the furniture."

That earned me a slap on the shoulder before she grinned, "Shran and T'Ro going to meet us there?"

I shook my head, "Not this time. Shran is running his team through a tactical drill in holodeck two and T'Ro is waist deep in one of my port pod sensor arrays. It's been giving fuzzy readings and we have been having trouble tracking down the error. She finally got fed up with the diagnostics coming up with nothing so now she is pulling the entire unit."

"Oh well, just us today then. You know, when we all have the same shifts, I somehow assumed we would have our freetime during the same times. Silly me."




AN// A bucket of thanks to Alleydodger for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

I did a slow, happy roll as the Jem'Hadar fighters broke off and reversed course as we exited Dominion claimed space. Dominion 'Conquered' space ended two weeks ago. This was just an area where they had the occasional colony and patrol.

Now we were out of that area as well.

I couldn't quite help myself and did a happy S turn, just glad to not just blindly follow a course. Going to full active sensors, I scanned space around me before moving to more or less our planned direction, shifting it a couple of degrees for a slightly denser patch of hydrogen.

Omnomnom.

I chimed Captain Mason to report in. He was currently off duty and was in holodeck one.

"Mason here."

"Just want to report that we just left Dominion claimed space and the Jem'Hadar turned back, captain. Not even a goodbye."

"Good. You can come in if you want."

Hmm?

I connected to the holodeck computer and formed my avatar before looking around. There was a forest, the weather was sunny, but it seemed to be a late spring day. Warm without being hot.

To the west there was a small lake and there the Captain was sitting, his back against a tree, a simple fishing rod in his hand.

Walking over to him, I looked around again, "This is nice."

He glanced up at me before returning to looking at his float, "I like to think so. Join me for a while? We are still on course?"

"Yes, sir," I answered before shifting to sit down next to him, crossing my legs, watching the float, "more or less. Our hydrogen supply is slightly low after that course through Dominion space, I diverted about five degrees towards a thicker patch of space to refill."

"Good. Keep a eye out, this is unexplored space. Only a few probes have been out here before."

I smiled at that, "I am, sir. Stellar cartography is already giddy at the readings I'm getting them."

No Starfleet vessels have been this far out before.

We were truly going where no man has gone before.

Shifting some of my sensor scans towards a small nebula three lightyears away, half a lightyear from my planned path, I did a deeper scan.

Hmm. Primarily hydrogen, some helium. Trace amounts of heavier elements. Slight anomaly in gold amount, slightly high above baseline, but not unusually large.

Not especially interesting. I changed the sensor focus towards the closest star instead, continuing my scans.

A long moment passed, nothing could be heard in the holodeck but the wind and birds and the soft sound of water against rocks. The float bobbed in the small waves.

"...I'm sorry, sir, but I am having trouble seeing the attraction of fishing."

He grinned at that and pulled the hook from the water, reaching to pull the worm from it before reaching for a new one from the can next to him, "It's about as far as you can get from being a Starfleet captain. It's... calm. Relaxing. Lets me clear my head without any real distractions. But there is still some amount of excitement. Will I get something or will I not?"

I slowly nodded.

I guess that made sense. Almost meditative, wasn't it?

"Sorry for disturbing you."

Mason shook his head and tossed hook and float back out, "I don't mind, Star."

There was another long moment of silence as we watched the float before he frowned slightly, "You know... I don't think I ever asked what you do on your free time."

I shrugged, "I don't really have freetime as such. I do try to get recreational activities in when I can though. It help that I can do everything at once."

He nodded, "So what do you usually do?"

"Currently, I'm playing a game of chess with Crewman Tas in the messhall for example and sitting here, watching for fish to bite with you. For example."

And about a dozen other minor recreational matters.

The Captain smiled at that, "Who is winning?"

"I am. Mate in three moves. Only way to get out of it leads to check mate in five. He is good for somebody who only picked the game up a month ago, but I have been playing with Lieutenant T'Ro since the Acadamy. She is better. It helps that his telepathy is rather useless against me."

Bethazoids have a rather big trouble 'not' using their special abilities. They could see peoples' surface thoughts and emotions as easily as a human could see what your haircolor was.

"I see."

"Other than that.. I like holonovels. Both playing and writing. I usually slip some time in to write when nobody is using one of the holodecks, saving my actual holodeck time to play. I know it's not technically according to regulation, but I can always save and shut down in a couple of seconds if anyone wants it."

He slowly nodded, "Yes, I do remember Kathryn mentioning that once."

"It is a interest Commander Janeway and I share, even if our preferred genres differ," I answered with a shrug before I spotted something with a smile, "You have a bite!"

Mason started and quickly reeled the line in, revealing a small perch wiggling on the hook. He grinned and removed it from the hook before tossing it back into the water and reaching for the can of worms.

...Did he practice catch and release on a holodeck? I mean, it was one thing out in actual nature but on the holodeck, it seemed kind of pointless.

"So what kind of novels do you write?" He asked as he tossed the hook back into the water.

"Oh, uhm," I started to explain, "Mostly adaptations from media I remember from back in the sim so far. It rarely lines up with the actual source material I find in historical archives so it takes some digging to even find. I use that as a baseline to translate it into holonovel form. Makes it accessible for more people."

"Would you mind if I tried something you written at some point?"

I shook my head, "Not at all, sir. I would recommend 'Firefly', it's a bit of a classic."

"Never heard of that one."

I wasn't surprised. It was one of those that had kind of gotten lost in time. Some like 'Star Wars' actually still had a cult following even if it wasn't well known.

"I think you would like it," I answered with a smile. "Speaking of which... I have a suggestion. How does 'movie night' for the crew once a week sound? We could set up a projector in the messhall, show a classical movie once a week."

Well, three times a week. Once per shift so everyone that wanted had the opportunity to watch it.

He hmmed and slowly nodded, "Not a bad idea."

"I was thinking we could start with a good classic, like 'Alie..." That's how far I got before a massive subspace disturbance just shook the ship and my warpfield collapsed.

"Light damage to warp engines. Warpdrive, offline." I reported as I shut the holodeck down, "Weapons are offline. We were hit by a powerful tachyon beam the moment I dropped out of warp. Went straight through my navigational deflector shielding. Weapon command pathways, offline. Weapons offline. Tactical systems compromised. I am limited to rear torpedo tubes only."

That beam hit straight on my saucer section and caused a overload in every forward weapon power relay. Every fuse I had in that entire system blew.

Running full shields all the time was simply too much of a power hog to be practical. It would have stopped the beam, but... with no way of knowing it was coming...

The Captain picked himself of the floor, "The source?"

"An asteroid five million kilometers away... a ship just lifted off from the surface on a intercept course."

"Red Alert."



AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

"Captain, they are not responding to hails. Thirty seconds to intercept."

Mason frowned, "Keep our course. On screen."

To save time, I had beamed him directly to the bridge.

I brought it up on screen as I crossed the arms of my hologram, seemingly leaning back in my chair.

The alien vessel was... menacing looking. Crescent shaped, the ends of the crescent pointing backwards. The hull was painted black.

"Anyone else don't like the look of that?" Shran asked as he leaned against his console.

Captain Mason slowly nodded, "Hail them again."

I opened another channel to them, "Unknown alien vessel, this is the Federation Starship Starseeker. Please respond."

I waited several long moments before I shook my head, "No answer, sir."

He rubbed his chin and glanced at Janeway before he turned to my holo avatar, "Tactical assessment?"

"They are too far out," I answered after a second. "But from their intercept course, speed and refusing to answer to hails and with the 'unexplained' drop out of warp? Nothing good for us. It's larger than us. If it's built like a Klingon battlecruiser, it might be significantly better armed than we are. But for a definite analysis, they have to get closer. My guess? Heavily armed."

Janeway looked at the viewscreen, "Could we outrun them?" she asked.

"I believe so. I think warp eight would pushing their engines from their warp geometry. That is assuming we can get my warp engines online."

Mason shook his head, "Hold position. For all we know, we might have violated their boarders and they are coming to check us out."

The alien ship dropped out of warp a couple of thousand kilometers straight ahead and I said urgently, "Captain, they are charging weapons. I'm detecting a weapons lock! High powerlevels! Detecting Polaron beam arrays and photon torpedo launchers."

That fucking bucket outgunned us by at least five percent! Their weapons might not read as very powerful, but they had a lot of them, that ship was at least twice as big as I was.

How the hell did they get weapons like that?!

"They are hailing us," I continued.

"On screen."

The other bridge was dimly lit, centered on the center seat. The alien in the center seat was carrying a sword over his shoulder, a heavy weapon on his hip.

I ran a check against known alien species. Unknown.

Humanoid, tall and pale, looking very sturdy, four horns on his head, curling around his skull, almost like a natural helmet and his teeth were sharp.

"Starseeker, I am Leader Kuran of the Kuran Clan Corsair Bloodletter. Your ship is now ours. Lower your shields and prepare to be boarded or we blow your hull out of space and pick through the remains."

Yeah, no.

"I am Captain Mason of the Federation Starship Starseeker," the Captain said as he stood up, "We are not looking for a fight. We are on a peaceful mission of exploration. If we entered your space by mistake, we would be more than happy to..."

"Surrender," Kuran answered him with a grin, "We outgun you. Our shields are more powerful. Surrender your ship and we will spare your crew. There is a moon two lightyears away where you should be able to survive."

I wouldn't be so sure about that. From their weapons readout, they might outgun me, but only by five percent. I would still hammer them to scrap... At least if my weapons were still online. Damn it!

Mason looked back at us and mouthed 'Trojan'.

Oh. I see.

Yeah, that would work.

Very well, motherfuckers. You want to play? We can fucking play.

The Captain turned back to the viewscreen before he nodded, "Very well. If I have your word my crew will be spared."

"You do. Drop your shields. Prepare to receive boarders."

Mason glanced back at me and nodded.

I sighed and pretended to tap at the console in my armrest as I dropped the shields, "Shields down, sir."

With our weapons still offline, they dropped their shields safely and started to beam over troops.

Their shields spun down. There would only be a window of a couple of seconds, they would raise them again as soon as their troops were onboard.

More than enough.

I did a full scan of their ship. Two hundred people on board in total. Half of them armed, both males and females. I also detected young. Well, he said it was a clan ship. That meant families.

Others, both male and female clustered up in locked rooms.

Prisoners or slaves. I hate slavers.

As fifty of their troops started to materialize all over the ship I ignored them and instead went to work.

First order of business.

Carefully I beamed out the power couplings for their shield generators, making sure they wouldn't go up again.

Then I went to work on systems of secondary importance. Weapons, engines, forcefields. I kept beaming out power couplings until I had reduced the pirate vessel to a drifting hulk.

With that done, I changed my task to redirect their incoming boarders to their cargohold while picking out their prisoners and dropping them in our brig to sort through later.

As soon as the pirate boarders were safely beamed in, I disabled their transporters. Once that was finished, I started to go to tertiary goals, starting to disable system after system until they were left with just their gravity net, life support and one functioning fusion reactor to power it.

I couldn't help but smirk as I stood up, brushing an imaginary speck of dirt off my hologram's shoulder, "Target neutralized. Engagement time... two point three seconds. Your orders, sir?"

I left their short range transmitter left online so we could see Kuran and his bridge crew panic on their bridge as everything they had went dark before he turned back to the screen, "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Mason grinned, "I believe I was getting ready to accept your surrender."




AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

"Captain, I can't thank you enough for saving us." the older alien said and bowed. He was wearing a set of robes that had likely been quite expensive once. "They captured our ship weeks ago on our way back to the colony with supplies. They talked about ransoming us back."

Mason nodded. "We are glad we were able to help, Elder Laest." he answered. "Would it be possible to turn the pirates in to local law enforcement?"

Not that we could bring them all. We didn't have the room.

But we could put a transponder on the hulk and then give the position to what passed for local police. If it had been up to me, I would have simply left them there after disabling their last transmitter and reported their position to Starfleet when we returned.

In two years or so.

I hate pirates.

He smiled. "Yes. Our colony does have a small presence. We only have a couple of thousand people, but we do have some representatives. If you can drop us off there, we can put you in contact with the rest of our people."

The Mesoan species which Elder Laest was a member of was a rather small humanoid species. Elder Laest himself only stood a meter tall with large floppy ears.

He actually looked quite a bit like a bat.

"Good." Mason said with a nod. "We should reach the coordinates of your colony in about six days."

If the pirate clan had not had children on board I would personally have been rather happy to skip reporting them somewhere and just leave them. But at least they had air and water for months, we left their life support systems online, after all.

"I should get back to my crew, Captain Mason." Laest said and bowed slightly. "Honor to you and your clan."

"And honor to you, Elder." Mason answered. "Crewman Willens will escort you back to your quarters."

The nine prisoners had been quartered in our VIP suites. We only had five of them, but they were more than happy to gather up in one of them rather than spread out. Apparently the living area in their freighter had been smaller than one of our VIP quarters.

Laest left the captains ready room and I spoke up. "We have discovered some matters about the alien database we gathered from the 'Bloodletter', Captain. It's not good."

I beamed their computer core out and we had been working on breaking their encryption on a portable computer. There was no way in hell you connected an unknown piece of technology to the ship's actual computer.

"So what were you able to dig out of it?"

"Lieutenant Commander Sleeman and I have been able to crack some parts of the encryption, confirming my scans. The weapons and shield systems were definitely Dominion military issue... if a couple of generations old. Lieutenant Shran agrees with my assessment that they were likely a Dominion sponsored raider. " I said and sighed. "My guess, sir? They sponsor privateers to disrupt their neighbors, keeping them weak until they can get around to expanding in this direction."

He nodded slowly. "Any information from Starfleet Intelligence about this? Do you think they targeted us specifically?"

"Nothing in my database sir, not what I have access to, anyway. Keep in mind, though, I only have active access to information up to the level of Lieutenant. And no, I think we just were passing through their 'hunting grounds'."

Things with higher classification than that, I still technically had clearance for, but only if I ran across it when somebody else was accessing it. It was just as classified then, I just got to know about it and not tell anyone. Some stuff I did have access to, though, such as reports from Starfleet Intelligence that was not of 'critical' level of classified. At least when it came to stuff in the area of space I was in.

For one thing, they had to go through the main computer when I received them, meaning I had access that way.

But actually digging into the databanks for old stuff received before I was installed? I had access to maybe sixty percent of the database.

"I'll do some searches." Mason answered with a nod. "Though I doubt we will find anything. We are the first Federation ship this far out. As soon as we finish decoding their database, I want it loaded into one of our message probes and launched."

We didn't have the subspace communication range. Not that it mattered, the Dominion didn't like people deploying bases in their space.

Instead we had a very limited supply of warp-capable messenger probes. The size of a class nine probe, they had limited sensor ability and were instead able to travel at warp six for months to bring information back. Fully capable of reaching Deep Space Nine.

They were even stealthed. Not cloaked, but full energy dampening and energy scattering to match a full starship.

But we only had three of them and couldn't make more.

However, this was clearly information Starfleet Intelligence would have wanted. It indicated that while the Dominion might have turned less hostile and more neutral, they were still clearly looking to spread, at least in this quadrant.

If they were doing that, they might still be eyeing the wormhole with hungry eyes.

"Acknowledged, sir. At the speed we are breaking the encryption, we should have it fully decoded in a week or so. We will be able to add all our other results as well with space left over."

I knew for sure I wanted to send a recording of passing through the wormhole to the rest back on Earth.

He turned to his console and started his research as I switched that amount of attention to something completely different.

"Star. Is your avatar free?" T'Ro asked a second after flipping her privacy switch off.

"Not currently. I am working with Sleeman to decrypt the pirate database, but I'm more helping in the intellectual sense. Are you feeling any better?"

She went to sickbay this morning and was immediately logged as 'On medical leave' in the records. Sickbay is another one of those areas I had no view of, the privacy switches set to 'on' unless manually turned off. They even had a small separate computer so they could search for things without me knowing about it.

Some things was just private... and secondly, even as an AI, there is some things that you can not unknow once you know them.

I was a bit worried, though, as she didn't tell me if it was serious. It likely wasn't, if it was serious, she would tell me.

Right?

"No. But there is a matter I wish to discuss with you. I believe however, it will be better to talk about it 'in person'."

"I'm on my way."





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

 

[Hiver]

I pressed the button next to her door before walking inside at her 'enter', "T'Ro?"

She had seemed... different when I saw her on the way back and forth from the sickbay this morning, but she didn't want to say what was wrong.

I was worried.

"Here," she answered and got up from where she had been meditating by a small candle. She was wearing the same grey silk pajamas she usually wore for bed. She looked... bothered. Her hair was not its usual immaculate straight shoulder length style. She looked like she had just gotten out of bed.

"..Are you okay?" I asked and moved closer, "Your body temperature is two degrees higher than your standard."

She smiled slightly which surprised me in of itself, "That is to be expected."

I frowned slightly and let the door close behind me as I walked up to her, "T'Ro?"

"Don't worry," she said and sighed before she shook her head and turned to me fully, "How much do you know of Vulcan physiology?"

"Very little, actually. Not personally, I could dig into the database, but personally? Not much. Enough to practice first aid," I explained before I frowned, "... Are you saying this is normal?"

T'Ro nodded, "Normal enough," she said, "Have you heard of the Pon Farr?"

Oh. Oh!

That explained a lot.

"I have," I said, "Is that what's..."

She looked at me in surprise, "You have? Outside medical personnel that have to know about it, we try to keep it... quiet."

I nodded. "I learned about it in the sim," I explained softly, "I... don't know how much of it is accurate."

T'Ro took a slow deep breath and bit her lower lip softly, "Sometime between age thirty and fifty we experience our first Pon Farr. In simple terms, it is our mating period even if it is not species wide at once. Individuals of both genders have it. It is the only time we can conceive children," she explained, "After the first time, it reoccurs once every seven years."

"That matches what I know. More or less," I said and reached up, brushing her hair out of her eyes. T'Ro was almost thirty three years old. She was older than the rest of us when we entered the Acadamy. Not that you would notice with Vulcans. She would look like she was in her early twenties for the next fifty years.

She smiled slightly, "There are... more things. Unless we find a mate, the combination of hormones will cause brain damage and finally death. An... evolutionary effect. Those unable to find a mate, die off and stop competing for resources in the harsh landscape of Vulcan. The longer the week goes on, the more we lose our logic, our reason. Our grip on our emotions. In the past, it was not uncommon to kill for a mate. To completely lose control... even what little we had before Surak."

That also matched what I knew somewhat.

Vulcan personnel... three males. One in engineering, One in bio sciences. One in stellar cartography. Cross checking interests and what I knew about them personally.

It hurt, but if that was what my best friend needed, that's what she got.

"How is it usually solved on Starfleet vessels?" I asked her softly.

T'Ro shook her head, "Unless there is a suitable mate on board, it is usually solved with a combination of suppressant drugs to suppress the need for emphatic contact and use of the holodeck. I declined the holodeck."

I blinked in surprise, "...You have chosen a mate then?"

"I have." she answered, looking down at me before reaching up to trail a finger along the spots running down my temple.

Reaching up I took her hand, "T'Ro... I didn't think Vulcans did..."

She smiled softly, "As a rule, same sex relationships are not common. They do not procreate the species and as such are illogical. However, since I have no desire to procreate, that point is moot. It is also irrelevant as you are not female."

I had tried so very hard not to feel like this for her. I didn't think it was possible that she might feel the same.

"...I'm not male either..." I answered, holding her hands, suddenly very aware of how close she was, I could feel her breath against my face as I looked up at her. She was almost a inch taller than me and while normally it wasn't noticeable... now it really was.

T'Ro nodded, "I know. But is irrelevant." she said, "It is you that I love. Star the artificial intelligence. The ship. My best friend. Not your avatar, whatever you decide it should be."

I swallowed and licked my lips, looking deep into her eyes, "I love you too... but... if your mind is affected by this, I shouldn't..."

I didn't get any further before she moved the last couple of inches and kissed me before breaking the kiss after only a moment to rest her forehead against mine.

Oh. I didn't expect that she would taste like raspberry.

"It is my logic that is affected, not my emotions. They are the same as ever, just less controlled," she answered quietly as she let go of my hands, sliding her arms around my waist, letting me do the same.

"..I just don't want you to regret this," I whispered back as I held her closer, "I want this so bad... but not if it hurts you."

T'Ro smiled gently and slid her hand up to pull my hair tie off, releasing my long hair, "I wont. I have wanted it to be you for a long time," before she slowly turned us slightly.

"Do I have to... Is there some kind of ritual for...?"

"I think we can figure something out" she answered playfully before hooking her ankle behind mine, causing us to collapse onto her bed.

"Eep!"


XXXXXXXXXXX


Alexander Mason sighed and leaned back in his chair, flicking the console off as he put his arms behind his head, looking up at the ceiling of his ready room.

Nothing in the secure files about Dominion sponsored pirates.

Seemed like they really did need to use that message probe. He frowned up at the ceiling as every light in the room suddenly flickered for several seconds.

"Star, report. The light in here just flickered," he ordered. Was there a problem with the power supply?

There was half a second before she answered, "I'm aware, sir. It was a shipwide problem. The main computer misinterpreted a sensory reaction from me as a command. I have already fixed the bug. It won't happen again."

Alexander frowned at that, "Anything I need to know about?"

"No sir. I really, really rather that you didn't."

If he didn't know better, he could have sworn his ship sounded embarrassed.





AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

I slowly scanned the skies as I shifted my course slightly for a denser stretch of hydrogen. A couple more days until we reach the Mesoan colony.

Other than that, this area of space seemed to be like most others, nothing especially pulling my attention even if stellar cartography was happy.

As was xenobiology at the idea of getting to grab samples from the Mesoan colony world. Not that we would stay for long. We had a week in orbit planned as we dropped off the former pirates' prisoners and the location of the pirates' hulk.

T'Ro stirred in my arms and I smiled as I watched her slowly wake up. She looked amazingly adorable when sleeping. I didn't think she could look any cuter until now when seeing her wake up.

She was like a kitten.

Smiling, I brushed her hair out of her face softly with a finger. "Good morning."

She shifted softly, nuzzling against my shoulder. "Good morning," she answered before she yawned and relaxed again.

"Feel better?" I asked her, holding her a bit closer. "Your body temperature is back to normal."

"I am," she answered and sighed softly. "I feel better too. The Pon Farr is over."

I nodded and stroked her hair softly. "Seven years until next time."

"Indeed," T'Ro said before rolling her eyes and giving me a look. "You don't need to wait seven years to do this again," she said, "Vulcans enjoy recreational sexual activity as much as any other species."

Yay.

Blinking slightly, she struggled to sit up. "Lights," she ordered and I turned them up to dim for her before she asked, "What time is it?"

"Ten minutes to seven," I said with a grin as I stretched out, watching her happily.

Best. Day. Ever.

"I'm going to be later for my shift...," she started to say as she got up only for me to pull her back down onto the bed.

"Oh no, you are not. You are on medical leave for a week, remember?"

She frowned at me. "But my condition have subsided. I am fit for duty."

I smiled and nodded. "You are. But I also happen to know you are overworked and have not taken more free time to make up for what was lost getting my mission pod up and running. Take a couple of days and relax. Let the rest of the engineers do some of the work."

T'Ro raised a eyebrow but settled down. "You simply wish for me to stay in bed with you."

"That's just a bonus."


XXXXXXXXXXX


Rachel glanced up at the ceiling as she left the shuttlebay. "Star?"

"Yes, Rachel?" I asked happily.

"How is T'Ro doing?"

"Quite well."

If I had used my avatar to answer that one, I would have been blushing at that double entendre.

Quite well indeed.

I had never been as grateful for my ability to do a lot of things at once while still keeping each process unaffected by the others as now.

If not, there might have been something significantly more embarrassing than some flickering lights due to a translation error.

"Could you have your avatar meet me at her quarters if she feel well enough? I need to talk to both of you, face to face."

Uh oh. Visitors right now would be bad.

"...How about we meet at the mess hall in half an hour instead? T'Ro haven't had more than a light breakfast yet."

Rachel hesitated and frowned slightly. "If she feel up to it?"

"She have already fought the bug off." I answered, keeping to the cover story. "We will be there."

"Okay, it's a plan. I'll go pull Shran away from his office."



"T'Ro? You awake?" I asked with a smile, running my finger along the tip of her ear.

"I am now," she muttered and stirred, opening her eyes.

I smiled. "Sorry...but as much as I would like to stay here for the next week, we likely should get moving to get you something to eat. Rachel wants to meet us in the mess hall in thirty minutes anyway."

She yawned and then struggled up to sit on the edge of the bed. "...I am getting hungry."

"Not surprised. There is just enough time for a shower before we have to go," I said with a grin as I scooted to get up before taking her hand and pulling her onto her feet as well.

She nodded. "I believe we do." She looked down on the floor next to her bed. "...Sorry about your uniform."

I grinned and pulled her close, stealing a small kiss. "Don't worry about it. It was time to replicate a new one anyway. Now get going with that shower or we will be late."

T'Ro raised a eyebrow at me. "You need one as well."

"I guess I do...," I said and glanced down at myself. While I didn't sweat or anything like that, well....

I smelled Vulcan.

"Share to save time?" I then asked with a smile.

Thankfully it was a sonic shower. Not as soothing as a water one, but it was significantly faster, no drying needed either.

"Logical."

We ended up being half a hour late.




AN// Many thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

"Hey, sorry for being late." I said with a smile, sitting down by the window table next to Rachel as T'Ro went and picked up some food. "We were delayed."

Shran raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure how that is even possible. You control the transporters."

I gave him a look at that. "That doesn't mean I'm going to beam my avatar all over the place."

T'Ro joined us, putting her tray down before sitting down and sitting down next to Shran, giving her stirfry a poke. "Is this spicy?"

Rachel shook her head. "Not really. A bit salty, but not too much. I could eat it so give it a try. Feeling better?"

"Much," T'Ro answered and tried some fried tomato. "You are right, it is not bad."

Rachel glanced at Shran and then turned to me. "We kind of need to talk to you about something. We think this has kind of gone on long enough."

I grinned and crossed my arms, giving T'Ro a bit of a smug look before I turned to Rachel. "I already know."

That earned me a surprised look from both of them. "..You do?" Shran asked.

I nodded. "Yep. Been suspecting for weeks now but T'Ro didn't believe me."

Rachel gave me a strange look at that, "...What?"

"You and Shran dating of course!"

They both kind of gaped at me, but Rachel was the one to recover first. "What!? No! No! Just no!"

I frowned at them, "What?"

T'Ro just sighed and ate a piece of a carrot. "I told you."

"Well... yeah, but it fit!"

Rachel facepalmed. "Okay... rewind. What made you think Shran and I were dating?"

"Well... you do spend a lot of time in each other's quarters, lots of the time with the sensors off."

"We were trying to find out a way to...!" She started before she shook her head. "Okay, forget that for the moment. That's not what I wanted to talk to you two about."

Shran shook his head and interrupted her, turning to T'Ro. "When are you and Star going to admit your feelings for each other and get together? You have been dancing around each other for years."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yesterday."

Rachel stared at her before turning to me. "Yesterday."

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah. We are kind of dating now."

Rachel stared at me before choking out a frustrated sound, dropping her head against the table.

Shran just looked amused as he shook his head. "All that planning on trying to get you two together.."

T'Ro nodded. "Indeed." She turned to me and continued, "And I told you they were not together."

I looked at Shran. "Are you sure?"

He grinned, "Oh yeah. Besides, she isn't my type."

Rachel lifted her head from the table to look at him in surprise. "You have a type? And while you are not exactly mine either, why not?"

Shran nodded. "Yeah. Sorry Rachel, you are a great friend and all, but..."

"So what is your type? I seen you ask tons of women out." She asked and frowned as she sat up fully.

He grinned. "Honestly? Our of you three, if I had to pick who to ask out, it would be Star."

I gaped at him. "What!?"

"Got to love a woman who can kick my ass." He answered with a grin. "Besides, have you seen yourself? Total babe. Right, T'Ro?"

She glanced at him before looking at me. "...Agreed."

Stupid automatic emotional feedback.

While it made my avatar much more realistic looking, it made it very hard not to blush.

He shrugged. "If you had any interest in men, I likely have at least tried to ask you out years ago, no matter if you sound like my sister or not. Come on, Star, I would be surprised if half the crew doesn't have at least a small crush on you."

Half the crew!?

"...Sorry... I'm still not..." I managed to say before he nodded.

"Yeah, I know." He said with a grin and shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "But face it, you are hot."

Rachel gave me a amused look. "Yeah, you kind of have yourself to blame for that."

I pouted and crossed my arms.

What was I supposed to do, have an ugly avatar?

"So... Mission accomplished?" Shran asked. "T'Ro and Star are together and I managed to get Star to blush. I count that as a win."

Rachel gave him a look. "We didn't do anything."

He rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Like I said in the first place. I did tell you we should just leave it alone and they would work it out."

She sighed. "...Fine, Okay, you were right."

I grinned and shook my head. "So, you guys want to do something? None of us have any shifts until tomorrow." I asked as T'Ro finished her meal.

T'Ro looked thoughtful and pushed her empty plate away. "Holodeck if it's free?"

Rachel nodded. "Sounds good to me. Any ideas?"

I shook my head and smiled. "I bet we can find something. Holodeck two is free for the next two hours."




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

 

[Hiver]

I watched the planet far below. The colony was a small one, just a couple thousand people, but xeno-sociology was happy. So was xeno-biology.

A entire new biosphere on an M class planet.

Well, borderline M class, almost class L. The most habitable areas of the planet was like savannas on Earth, the rest was outright desert.

While savannas might have been where humanity evolved, it was hardly a very hospitable place. Only thing that saved it from a L classification was that it had local wildlife and not just plants.

We had already dropped off the information about the pirate hulk and rescued traders but we had been granted permission to stay for the rest of the week so we had plenty of time for our research.

"Star?"

"Yes, sir?" I answered, shifting some attention to Captain Mason's ready room. He was standing by the window, looking out at the planet below.

"There is a matter I need to discuss with you."

"Of course, sir," I answered. "What do you need?"

He nodded. "...Can you bring your avatar here? I feel like I should do this 'in person'."

"Yes, sir."

Wonder what that was about. Normally, he didn't bother if he just wanted to discuss something, he just talked to the air if I didn't activate one of the screens.

It was rare that he asked for my avatar.

In any case, I walked there in under five minutes before I walked inside. "Sir."

He nodded and motioned to the chair across his deck. "Please, have a seat," he said and walked to sit down at his desk.

I frowned and moved to sit down, crossing my legs.

Mason sighed. "I am... concerned," he started, "about your relationship with Lieutenant T'Ro."

"In what way?"

"While you and she technically have the same rank, because of your Starship specialty rank, you are effectively in the same position as a ship's captain or second in command. It's generally considered a bad idea to date somebody in your direct chain of command."

I frowned. "I didn't know Starfleet had regulations about that."

Actually, I know we didn't. I checked!

He shook his head. "We don't. However, this is still a problem you need to face. Can you treat her like just another member of the crew?"

"Sir... just because we just got together, don't mean my feelings for her are new. Things in that department have not changed. I also think my situation is a bit different as well. I know everyone on board on a personal level. Every time there is a away mission, every time somebody gets injured and is sent to sickbay...every time it's a good friend that's in danger. I...have already sent her on dangerous missions."

Mason frowned. "And to order her to almost certain death to save the rest of the ship?"

That question made me freeze.

Never. Never. Never. Never.

"I have already demonstrated I'm willing to die for..."

"That's not what I asked," he said, cutting me off. "Would you...order her into a radiation filled jefferies tube to save the rest of the ship and crew?"

"...No, sir. I wouldn't," I finally answered. "I would tell her what was needed to be done and what was at stake. If we survived anyway...she would never forgive me if I didn't tell her. I would hate myself for it, but I would tell her."

Mason watches me for a long moment before he slowly nodded. "That question...that lesson...is one of the lessons everyone who wants command of their own ship have to answer. Would they sacrifice the life of a friend to save the ship?"

Getting up from his chair, he walked up to put his hand on my shoulder. "That question gets many times harder when it's a lover or family member on the line. While there is no regulation about it, there is a reason why ship captains...while we might have families on board...it is almost always as civilians."

That....

That made a lot of sense. Fuck.

"Star, I care a lot for you. I imagine this might be how it feel to have a daughter even if I will likely never find out for sure," he said and gave my shoulder a soft squeeze. "I know this hurts to think about and I hate doing that to you, but I need you to know about the possibility."

"...Yes, sir."

I suddenly felt very much like crying.

Letting go of my shoulder, he smiled down at me. "Star...," he said and I looked up at him before he continued, "Despite what I just put you through, I am glad you found somebody who makes you happy. And I very much hope that it is a question you never have to face for real. You deserve better than that."

"Thank you, sir," I said quietly and stood up, drying a tear I was not even aware had leaked out. Why did we add tear ducts anyway?

I hesitated for a split second. "..Would it be inappropriate to ask for a hug?" I then asked.

He smiled at that. "Normally, yes, but I believe I might make an exception this time."

I hugged him tight before letting go and stepping back. "...Thank you," I said before I frowned. "Wait, what do you mean you would likely never have a daughter?"

Mason shook his head. "I'm a Starfleet captain. I spend ninety nine percent of my life in deep space and I won't date a member of my crew... for exactly the reason we discussed."

I did a quick check. "Over half of captains in Starfleet are married."

"And how many got married after reaching the rank of captain?"

...Oh.

"Less than five percent of that... But that don't mean it's impossible."

He smiled. "No, but it does put the odds against me."

I grinned at that. "So... as a semi-adopted daughter/starship, is that permission to set you up on blind dates when we get back to Earth, Captain?"

"Not on your life."



AN// Many thanks to Rastamon for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

I deflected the punch and tried to grab his arm but he avoided it, stepping in for a legsweep but I jumped back out of the way only to find my head jerked back sharply, and I span around as he gripped my throat with his other hand.

I couldn't get leverage so he threw me onto the ground, his knee hitting my back to the left of my spine snapping my ribs as he pinned me down.

"Ow," I sighed.

Damn it! I might have to turn the speed up slightly again. He isn't getting faster, but he is getting better at reading me.

Maybe I should try to learn some other style or something, there are holo trainers I could use when the holodeck is free.

Shran slowly started to catch his breath before he got off me, giving my braided hair a flick, "I told you this was a bad idea to have in a fight."

Sighing again, I reset my hologram to undamaged condition before I sat up, "I know, I know. But how often is it that I have to get into hand to hand combat? Especially with somebody able to match the strength and speed of my actual avatar?"

"Even so," he said, "You are at a disadvantage from your short reach. Giving your opponent a additional advantage is a bad idea."

"I didn't pick this avatar for fighting," I answered as I got up, brushing some non-existent dust from my shoulder.

We were both wearing similar things, a white martial arts outfit, white lose fitting pants. He was wearing the 'jacket' part as well, but I usually skipped that in favor of a sports bra.

"As T'Ro can testify to," he said with a grin, earning himself a glare and causing me to turn my speed up two steps instead of one.

Somebody just earned himself a bit of a arse kicking.

I raised my eyebrow, "Ready for another round?"

He nodded and rolled his shoulders, "We should have time for one or two more. Want to do weapons later?"

"Blades?" I asked with a frown and then shook my head, "Not a fan. I don't see much point to them to be honest other than possibly knives as a backup to phasers."

I'm sure close range weapons had their place, they were at best a backup to a actual phaser and not really useful for me even as a backup.


XXXXXXXXXXX


I leaned back to avoid Shran's punch before catching his arm and letting myself fall, turning as pulled him into a throw.

He landed easily and rolled onto his feet again and I frowned slightly as I stood up straight again.

Catching his breath he held his hand out. "Computer, Bat'leth," he ordered and one shimmered into place in his hand, "Thinking deep thoughts?" he asked.

I raised a eyebrow, "What make you think that?"

"No witty comment when you finally managed to throw me," he answered with a grin, giving the Klingon weapon a couple of test swings.

Huh.

I sighed, "Talking with the Captain."

He nodded, "Heavy subject?"

"..You could say that."

"Wanna talk about it?"

I shook my head and crossed my arms as I leaned my back against the wall, "Not particularly. Thanks, though," I answered as I watched the bat'leth before changing subject, "I don't understand why so many like those."

Shran shrugged, "It's a versatile weapon. Can stab, slash, chop. Heavy enough to use as a bludgeon weapon if they are wearing armor and you can easily preform a two handed block if needed."

"Human Swords can do most of that too," I said, letting him start going through his routine.

Sure bat'leth's were versatile weapons, but I also found them clumsy. You needed a certain amount of mass to really use them effectively or they were just too heavy. It was not a matter of strength, but of inertia and even if you had the mass, you needed a certain strength to use it right.

Shran was barely heavy enough to use it even if he was strong enough. I could not without cheating a lot with my holo avatar, even my actual avatar didn't weigh much more than a normal Trill of my size would.

"So... movie night tonight?" he asked as he finished and walked over to his water bottle.

I nodded, "Yep. This time it's a comedy. I have actually not seen this one." Some sort of parody documentary about the Apollo program. I didn't think it existed in the sim, but apparently it was supposed to be quite funny, trying to put all the conspiracy theories about it in one movie. Even the conflicting ones.

He hesitated for a second before he spoke up again, "Do you know if Crewman Ryan will be there?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I think she has been looking forw..." I started to say before I stopped.

Crewman Veronica Ryan. Aeroponics. Liked singing and was one of the people taking the self defense course Shran was teaching. About the same height as my avatar, blond and with large... assets.

I stared at him for a long moment before I exclaimed, "..Your type is big tits!?"

"Petite women with big tits. Get it right," he said with a grin before he laughed at my expression. "Just messing with you, Star. I'm not quite that shallow. Yes, I find her physically very attractive, but it's her humor and smile that make me want to ask her out. Think she will accept?"

She did have a good sense of humor and I had to agree with him about her smile. Quite pretty.

That didn't stop me from having the holodeck make a pillow for me just so I could whack him in the face with it.




AN// A bucket of thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.