Starseeker
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Part 21
The inside of the runabout was... trashed. There had been fighting.
I glanced down at the tricorder, focusing the scanning on just the small ship. That's much clearer... one lifesign, human, forward compartment.
Erratic but strong lifesigns.
"Hello? I'm Lieutenant Star. Are you alright?" I called out, slowly moving through the small cargo bay, "We are here to rescue you?"
Jumping over a fallen cargo container, I almost landed in a pool of green fluid.
I frowned and knelt down, running my tricorder over it.
Vulcan blood.
Well, that's not a good sign.
"Captain. My avatar has run into definite signs of violence inside the runabout. I have one human lifesign in the piloting compartment. Proceeding further in."
"You can't get a lock on the lifesign?" Mason asked thoughtfully.
"Not safely without a transponder."
With that, I continued over to the closed door to the living section of the small ship and shifted the phaser in my right hand to press the button while also relaying the same information to Shran.
Nothing.
That's strange, it should have power even with the small ship shut down. Putting the tricorder back into my belt, I knelt down again to pull a fallen container out of the way only to see a hole in the service hatch so I quickly pulled it away.
Like I thought, it was dead. No power... and somebody had shot the manual release.
The hell?
Fine then.
Backing up, I flipped my phaser to full power and took aim where I knew the locking mechanism was before I shot the hatch three times.
Thumbing the phaser back to heavy stun, I dug my fingers into the edge and pulled hard, slowly forcing it open.
The inside of the small living compartment was smoky, but that was just to be expected considering I just melted parts of the hatch.
I glanced down at my left hand and sighed.
Damn, need to redo the surface layers on the fingertips. They simply were not as durable as my structural elements and had torn slightly where I gripped the door.
The door to the cockpit was open, some light shooting in through the windows, partly lighting up the area.
"Hello?" I called out ahead, pulling out my tricorder. The human lifesign should be somewhere around here.
That's when somebody burst out from the cockpit, screaming bloody murder.
Not that it was too fast for me to react.
He was covered in blood, both his own and others, both red and green. Other than the blood, he was naked.
He was wielding a heavy metal pipe in his hands and swinging it up for a powerful strike as he screamed his head off.
I took a quarter or so second to take this in, comparing him to personnel records of the away team.
Doctor Anderson. Xenobiology, specialization in botany.
What in the world happened to him?
Before he had even emerged fully from the doorway I raised my phaser and shot him in the chest and he folded like a sack of potatoes, falling and coming to a stop by my feet, out for the count.
I quickly knelt down and did a tricorder scan.
His vitals was weak but stable.
"Captain." I reported, "I have found a... survivor. There is something really strange going on here and I would like to recommend a level five quarantine in sickbay."
Meanwhile I informed the medical personnel and Shran of the same things.
Janeway and Mason shared a worried look before he nodded, "Beam him up as soon as quarantine procedures are in place."
That didn't take long, it mostly involved putting up forcefields and the medical team getting in environmental suits.
A minute later, I put a transporter transponder armband on him and beamed him directly to sickbay.
"Shran to Star, get back out here. We found a body."
"One moment," I answered and entered the cockpit of the runabout. Oh, there was another one. A second human, Ensign Leslie. He was dead.
Damn it. That's almost the entire team. Just one missing.
"I found another. Ensign Leslie is dead as well," I reported to him as I reached to tap the console, turning the runabout back on. Or tried.
The computer had a password lock on it.
What the hell had been going on here?
Well, I didn't have time to try to break it manually. Instead I pulled out a portable datalink I had in my belt and plugged it in and I connected to it to start to hack the thing as I turned and headed back outside, stepping out into the sunshine to see Shran and the rest of the team going over the campsite outside.
"Shran... I believe we have a problem." I said with a frown.
He nodded, "Yeah. Until we are sure whatever the hell happened here is not a biological contamination, we are not going anywhere than possibly a quarantine chamber."
AN// A big barrel of thanks to Avernus for betaing this part.
I glanced down at the tricorder, focusing the scanning on just the small ship. That's much clearer... one lifesign, human, forward compartment.
Erratic but strong lifesigns.
"Hello? I'm Lieutenant Star. Are you alright?" I called out, slowly moving through the small cargo bay, "We are here to rescue you?"
Jumping over a fallen cargo container, I almost landed in a pool of green fluid.
I frowned and knelt down, running my tricorder over it.
Vulcan blood.
Well, that's not a good sign.
"Captain. My avatar has run into definite signs of violence inside the runabout. I have one human lifesign in the piloting compartment. Proceeding further in."
"You can't get a lock on the lifesign?" Mason asked thoughtfully.
"Not safely without a transponder."
With that, I continued over to the closed door to the living section of the small ship and shifted the phaser in my right hand to press the button while also relaying the same information to Shran.
Nothing.
That's strange, it should have power even with the small ship shut down. Putting the tricorder back into my belt, I knelt down again to pull a fallen container out of the way only to see a hole in the service hatch so I quickly pulled it away.
Like I thought, it was dead. No power... and somebody had shot the manual release.
The hell?
Fine then.
Backing up, I flipped my phaser to full power and took aim where I knew the locking mechanism was before I shot the hatch three times.
Thumbing the phaser back to heavy stun, I dug my fingers into the edge and pulled hard, slowly forcing it open.
The inside of the small living compartment was smoky, but that was just to be expected considering I just melted parts of the hatch.
I glanced down at my left hand and sighed.
Damn, need to redo the surface layers on the fingertips. They simply were not as durable as my structural elements and had torn slightly where I gripped the door.
The door to the cockpit was open, some light shooting in through the windows, partly lighting up the area.
"Hello?" I called out ahead, pulling out my tricorder. The human lifesign should be somewhere around here.
That's when somebody burst out from the cockpit, screaming bloody murder.
Not that it was too fast for me to react.
He was covered in blood, both his own and others, both red and green. Other than the blood, he was naked.
He was wielding a heavy metal pipe in his hands and swinging it up for a powerful strike as he screamed his head off.
I took a quarter or so second to take this in, comparing him to personnel records of the away team.
Doctor Anderson. Xenobiology, specialization in botany.
What in the world happened to him?
Before he had even emerged fully from the doorway I raised my phaser and shot him in the chest and he folded like a sack of potatoes, falling and coming to a stop by my feet, out for the count.
I quickly knelt down and did a tricorder scan.
His vitals was weak but stable.
"Captain." I reported, "I have found a... survivor. There is something really strange going on here and I would like to recommend a level five quarantine in sickbay."
Meanwhile I informed the medical personnel and Shran of the same things.
Janeway and Mason shared a worried look before he nodded, "Beam him up as soon as quarantine procedures are in place."
That didn't take long, it mostly involved putting up forcefields and the medical team getting in environmental suits.
A minute later, I put a transporter transponder armband on him and beamed him directly to sickbay.
"Shran to Star, get back out here. We found a body."
"One moment," I answered and entered the cockpit of the runabout. Oh, there was another one. A second human, Ensign Leslie. He was dead.
Damn it. That's almost the entire team. Just one missing.
"I found another. Ensign Leslie is dead as well," I reported to him as I reached to tap the console, turning the runabout back on. Or tried.
The computer had a password lock on it.
What the hell had been going on here?
Well, I didn't have time to try to break it manually. Instead I pulled out a portable datalink I had in my belt and plugged it in and I connected to it to start to hack the thing as I turned and headed back outside, stepping out into the sunshine to see Shran and the rest of the team going over the campsite outside.
"Shran... I believe we have a problem." I said with a frown.
He nodded, "Yeah. Until we are sure whatever the hell happened here is not a biological contamination, we are not going anywhere than possibly a quarantine chamber."
AN// A big barrel of thanks to Avernus for betaing this part.
tarrangar
Fat arctic chicken
Unless the Dyson sphere entirely lacks ores instead of just having sparse amounts, a technical civilization could develop by being nomadic and recycling all metals, while collecting more as they travel.
And fossil fuel lack isn't really a problem in the dyson sphere, since they can get endless amount of lumber without problems, meaning they can easily power everything by steam until they discover electricity.
such a civilization would probably evolve very differently from one on a normal planet with their tech being very focused on only using minimal metal but it could work.
Part 22
Chief Medical Officer Alina Abramov rested her head against her hands and sighed, running her hands through her short greying hair. "Star, run a comparative analysis on the alien molecule against the scans taken by the away team during the original survey. Maybe something has changed since then."
"Running analysis now." I answered, starting to go through the data.
Doctor Anderson was sedated under full quarantine procedures. He seemed normal... other than the insane fear, anger and outright rage.
His body was flooded with adrenaline. If just left to his own devices, his heart would explode in a couple of days.
Sedating him was the only way to get him to calm down.
We did find an alien substance in his brain tissue. Well, a lot of it, really. The problem was that we didn't find the corresponding molecule down on the surface around the base site.
Which meant that the current away team that was down there was stuck down there if we couldn't find out whether it was infectious or not and who it could affect. I could beam them up into quarantine, but it was better and just as risky for them to stay down there to help in the investigation.
That included my avatar. I was dreading the decontamination procedure for it, it would take hours to make sure it was completely clean. I might even need to replace the outer layer if we didn't find out what had happened.
"Sorry, doctor. No clear match." I finally reported. "I don't understand how it's possible. Closest is some pollen but it's less than a thirty percent match to the substance."
She shook her head. "It could be anything. Migrant insects, they stopped somewhere along the way and got infected there..."
"Not according to their flightplan or shuttle log." I interjected.
Doctor Abramov motioned in agreement before she continued. "For all we know, it might be something in one specific room in one of those ruins. Can we send down more away teams?"
"We only had ready environmental suits for two more teams. We are making more, but it's taking time, Doctor."
Even if you could replicate the parts, you still needed to put the things together.
She sighed and crossed her arms, looking out the window of her office towards the bed with Doctor Anderson. He was still sedated and trapped behind two levels of forcefields.
"Maybe if..." She started before she frowned in thought. "Could it have been a combination of factors?"
"Two different substances?" I asked. "But it was the only one that showed up as not belonging."
"Yes, but..." the Doctor said and reached to turn on her console. "We have been looking for sources of that molecule, right? What if we have been missing the obvious? Run a comparison between the molecule and human neurotransmitters."
"Running now."
The mood in Shran's awayteam was not the best. They had all given up their weapons to the rest of the away teams and been split up.
One member of the original research team was also missing and if she was as aggressive as Anderson...
I was standing guard on top of the runabout for the best possible field of fire and we had set up a forcefield fence around the campsite.
Hmm? That's interesting...
"Doctor, I think I have found a match. Here," I said and pulled it up on her screen. "Somatostatin is a large part of the molecule. Well, part of Somatostatin."
She frowned. "That don't make much sense. Maybe if..." she said and stapped on her screen. "There. See that?"
"...That's substance part of the pollen we scanned. Or close, it's not a complete match. I'm not sure how I missed that."
"Part of it, at least. They breathed in the pollen, the substance was released into their bloodstream and reacted to their Somatostatin to form a new substance! As for how you missed it, you are not a trained medical professional."
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Good thing is, " Doctor Abramov explained to the senior staff. "It only affect humans. And now that we are aware of the cause, we should be able to find a counter agent. The away team is clear to return from the surface after a decontamination, it's not infectious. The safest thing is to confine Ensign Andrés to sickbay, possibly sedate her until we are able to find that cure. For all we know, it might even flush out of their system completely when they don't get constant new doses of the pollen. Doctor Anderson is already showing significantly lower amounts."
Mason sighed and rubbed his chin. "...Very well. But why didn't the earlier research teams run into this?"
"For several reasons." I answered him, my holographic avatar seemingly sitting in a chair by the table in the briefing room, "Primarily two... location and time. The flower in question seems to have a ten year reproduction cycle and it has not been found anywhere close to the research base."
Commander Janeway looked thoughtful. "Star, arrange the beam ups. Despite your diagnosis, Doctor, I would still prefer if the entire away team, human or not, spent a couple of days in sickbay, just to make sure."
Abramov nodded. "It couldn't hurt, I suppose. I don't think we missed anything, but better safe than sorry."
"What about Ensign Baldrick? Any ideas on how to track her down?" Mason asked. "Star?"
"I'm sorry, sir. None of the away teams have been able to track her. According to the readings on Doctor Anderson, if she is infected as well, she would be dead by now. Her heart would have given out under the strain. If this was a normal world, I might have been able to use my sensors to track for human lifesigns... but that's a big might, sir. Even without the disruption from the local sun, that's a lot of life down there. It's like finding a needle in a needlestack."
He sighed. "Very well. We will continue the search for another twenty-four hours, just in case."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
"Running analysis now." I answered, starting to go through the data.
Doctor Anderson was sedated under full quarantine procedures. He seemed normal... other than the insane fear, anger and outright rage.
His body was flooded with adrenaline. If just left to his own devices, his heart would explode in a couple of days.
Sedating him was the only way to get him to calm down.
We did find an alien substance in his brain tissue. Well, a lot of it, really. The problem was that we didn't find the corresponding molecule down on the surface around the base site.
Which meant that the current away team that was down there was stuck down there if we couldn't find out whether it was infectious or not and who it could affect. I could beam them up into quarantine, but it was better and just as risky for them to stay down there to help in the investigation.
That included my avatar. I was dreading the decontamination procedure for it, it would take hours to make sure it was completely clean. I might even need to replace the outer layer if we didn't find out what had happened.
"Sorry, doctor. No clear match." I finally reported. "I don't understand how it's possible. Closest is some pollen but it's less than a thirty percent match to the substance."
She shook her head. "It could be anything. Migrant insects, they stopped somewhere along the way and got infected there..."
"Not according to their flightplan or shuttle log." I interjected.
Doctor Abramov motioned in agreement before she continued. "For all we know, it might be something in one specific room in one of those ruins. Can we send down more away teams?"
"We only had ready environmental suits for two more teams. We are making more, but it's taking time, Doctor."
Even if you could replicate the parts, you still needed to put the things together.
She sighed and crossed her arms, looking out the window of her office towards the bed with Doctor Anderson. He was still sedated and trapped behind two levels of forcefields.
"Maybe if..." She started before she frowned in thought. "Could it have been a combination of factors?"
"Two different substances?" I asked. "But it was the only one that showed up as not belonging."
"Yes, but..." the Doctor said and reached to turn on her console. "We have been looking for sources of that molecule, right? What if we have been missing the obvious? Run a comparison between the molecule and human neurotransmitters."
"Running now."
The mood in Shran's awayteam was not the best. They had all given up their weapons to the rest of the away teams and been split up.
One member of the original research team was also missing and if she was as aggressive as Anderson...
I was standing guard on top of the runabout for the best possible field of fire and we had set up a forcefield fence around the campsite.
Hmm? That's interesting...
"Doctor, I think I have found a match. Here," I said and pulled it up on her screen. "Somatostatin is a large part of the molecule. Well, part of Somatostatin."
She frowned. "That don't make much sense. Maybe if..." she said and stapped on her screen. "There. See that?"
"...That's substance part of the pollen we scanned. Or close, it's not a complete match. I'm not sure how I missed that."
"Part of it, at least. They breathed in the pollen, the substance was released into their bloodstream and reacted to their Somatostatin to form a new substance! As for how you missed it, you are not a trained medical professional."
XXXXXXXXXXX
"Good thing is, " Doctor Abramov explained to the senior staff. "It only affect humans. And now that we are aware of the cause, we should be able to find a counter agent. The away team is clear to return from the surface after a decontamination, it's not infectious. The safest thing is to confine Ensign Andrés to sickbay, possibly sedate her until we are able to find that cure. For all we know, it might even flush out of their system completely when they don't get constant new doses of the pollen. Doctor Anderson is already showing significantly lower amounts."
Mason sighed and rubbed his chin. "...Very well. But why didn't the earlier research teams run into this?"
"For several reasons." I answered him, my holographic avatar seemingly sitting in a chair by the table in the briefing room, "Primarily two... location and time. The flower in question seems to have a ten year reproduction cycle and it has not been found anywhere close to the research base."
Commander Janeway looked thoughtful. "Star, arrange the beam ups. Despite your diagnosis, Doctor, I would still prefer if the entire away team, human or not, spent a couple of days in sickbay, just to make sure."
Abramov nodded. "It couldn't hurt, I suppose. I don't think we missed anything, but better safe than sorry."
"What about Ensign Baldrick? Any ideas on how to track her down?" Mason asked. "Star?"
"I'm sorry, sir. None of the away teams have been able to track her. According to the readings on Doctor Anderson, if she is infected as well, she would be dead by now. Her heart would have given out under the strain. If this was a normal world, I might have been able to use my sensors to track for human lifesigns... but that's a big might, sir. Even without the disruption from the local sun, that's a lot of life down there. It's like finding a needle in a needlestack."
He sighed. "Very well. We will continue the search for another twenty-four hours, just in case."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Part 23
As beautiful as the inside of the Dyson sphere was, I could not help but be relieved when the massive door opened and the tractor beams latched on and pulled me outside and it all was over.
Yes, the inside was beautiful, but it limited my scans to the inside of the sphere. I couldn't see a thing outside it. The gravity fields of the sphere even completely scrambled subspace signals.
At least we got the base up and running enough that we could unload everything we had carried for them by the time we left.
"Set course to Deep Space Nine," Captain Mason said as he got up from his chair. "Maximum cruise."
I nodded with a smile as I happily scanned the skies around us. Pinging Starfleet for a information update I quickly plotted the course.
"Course set for Bajoran system. Engaging at Warp seven point five."
...Of course it would be on the wrong side of the fucking sphere...
Jumping to warp three, I started to scoot around the thing without extending my turn radius out too much. As soon as I had a clear line for the Bajor system, I punched it up to Warp Seven point Five.
It was so good to see stars again. Even the feeling of random atoms interacting with my warpfields and giving off small radiation bursts was amazingly pretty.
Even more so than the small 'moving stars' effect in visible light everyone else could see.
"Mister Shran, you have the bridge." Mason ordered and headed for his ready room.
Shran rounded the railing and walked up to sit down in the Captain's chair, looking for all in the world like he did that every day.
I had my hologram glance around at the others manning the other consoles, just for show, before I leaned in, "Like taking the center seat?" I asked him quietly.
He grinned briefly, "One day, I will have my own," as he checked the latest reports from all departments on the screen monitor.
"I don't doubt it."
I really didn't. Yes, he might be a bit... Shran... when off duty, but he really was good at his job. If he didn't have his own command in five years, something, somewhere was very wrong.
Another five years of experience? Age thirty? Yeah, I could see him having his own center chair.
I already had a note in my file for a possible consideration for promotion to Lieutenant-Commander. So did Shran. We were not supposed to know that, but they were entered into my computer after I was installed.
Something Captain Mason knew that I knew. He didn't even use privacy mode on his ready room when doing it. Not that it would have helped as it went through the computer.
Personally, I didn't care overly much. I was a Starship. My rank was equal to the second in command's.
Shran however did show some good instincts during the war. He could lead, hell, he was chief of security.
"Star?"
I shifted attention to a part of the ship I normally actively avoided. The holodecks, in this case specifically, holodeck two. The holodeck computer was a independent system just because I really, really didn't want to know what goes on in there. Also, it made holodeck problems a hell of a lot more interesting as I couldn't tell what was happening beforehand as I would otherwise.
The holodeck is meant to be private without an invitation. The computer for the holodeck was however set to alert me so I could patch in in case somebody wanted something.
"Yes, Commander?"
"Come in here for a moment?"
Connecting to the holodeck systems fully, I formed a avatar before looking around. The program was simply known as Janeway 231-A.
The inside was much more descriptive. A old English house in Victorian style, fireplace, old furniture that looked somewhat new, lots of dark wood. Book shelves. The sun was streaming in through the half open window.
"Commander," I said with a smile. Commander Janeway was wearing a period accurate dress and was standing by the couch. I looked around and then down on myself for a second before sending the holodeck system a command, changing my current avatar to fit in better.
A second later I regretted that decision as I was introduced to the concept of a corset.
How the hell could people wear these!?
Janeway looked like she was trying not to smile at my apparent discomfort, "I believe there is a small problem with the holodeck," she instead said.
I frowned at that, running a level five diagnostic, "I'm not getting any errors, Commander."
She raised a eyebrow and pointed at the couch. I frowned and walked around it to look, seeing two young children dressed in period accurate outfits sitting there. However, there was something wrong...
"Ah," I finally said, "I take it they are not meant to be Denobulans."
"No. No they are not. And the program just gives me a error and shuts down when I tell it to change it."
I nodded. That should not be happening, but it sounded more like a software error than a hardware one.
"One second, I'll have a look," I said as I dug into the code of the program. A couple of seconds later, I found the issue.
"I see," I said, "The species files have been corrupted," before I grinned in amusement. "You are lucky in a way, they were one number off being Tholians. I assume everyone is meant to be human?"
Janeway gave me a look, "That would be period accurate, yes."
Oh, haha.
"Copying species file from another program, all other files checking out, including personality and physical features. That's why they look a bit mutated, not meant for Denobulans. Resetting program and..."
The holodeck shimmered, everything, including my avatar fading out for a second before it rebooted, "...and done!"
"Thank you, Star," Janeway said with a sigh, "I prefer to keep the content of this program as private as possible and not involve an engineering team."
I smiled at that, "Don't worry, Commander. If it's something I'm good at, it's keeping people's private business private, kind of a necessity in my position. Although, I have to admit I don't understand the need for corsets. I never knew they were 'this' uncomfortable."
That caused her to smile, "Period accurate," she said, "I'm not a fan either, but I want my period dramas to be accurate. Even if it come with a bit of backpain," before she shook her head in amusement. "And it's Kathryn."
"Sir?"
"We have served on the same ship for a long time, Star. We have effectively the same rank. I would like to think we are friends. When off duty, I'm Kathryn."
"...That's going to take some time getting used to."
"I imagine it will."
"Well... Kathryn..." Damn that felt strange, "I'll leave you to your holonovel."
"Thanks for the help."
"No problem."
AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.
Yes, the inside was beautiful, but it limited my scans to the inside of the sphere. I couldn't see a thing outside it. The gravity fields of the sphere even completely scrambled subspace signals.
At least we got the base up and running enough that we could unload everything we had carried for them by the time we left.
"Set course to Deep Space Nine," Captain Mason said as he got up from his chair. "Maximum cruise."
I nodded with a smile as I happily scanned the skies around us. Pinging Starfleet for a information update I quickly plotted the course.
"Course set for Bajoran system. Engaging at Warp seven point five."
...Of course it would be on the wrong side of the fucking sphere...
Jumping to warp three, I started to scoot around the thing without extending my turn radius out too much. As soon as I had a clear line for the Bajor system, I punched it up to Warp Seven point Five.
It was so good to see stars again. Even the feeling of random atoms interacting with my warpfields and giving off small radiation bursts was amazingly pretty.
Even more so than the small 'moving stars' effect in visible light everyone else could see.
"Mister Shran, you have the bridge." Mason ordered and headed for his ready room.
Shran rounded the railing and walked up to sit down in the Captain's chair, looking for all in the world like he did that every day.
I had my hologram glance around at the others manning the other consoles, just for show, before I leaned in, "Like taking the center seat?" I asked him quietly.
He grinned briefly, "One day, I will have my own," as he checked the latest reports from all departments on the screen monitor.
"I don't doubt it."
I really didn't. Yes, he might be a bit... Shran... when off duty, but he really was good at his job. If he didn't have his own command in five years, something, somewhere was very wrong.
Another five years of experience? Age thirty? Yeah, I could see him having his own center chair.
I already had a note in my file for a possible consideration for promotion to Lieutenant-Commander. So did Shran. We were not supposed to know that, but they were entered into my computer after I was installed.
Something Captain Mason knew that I knew. He didn't even use privacy mode on his ready room when doing it. Not that it would have helped as it went through the computer.
Personally, I didn't care overly much. I was a Starship. My rank was equal to the second in command's.
Shran however did show some good instincts during the war. He could lead, hell, he was chief of security.
"Star?"
I shifted attention to a part of the ship I normally actively avoided. The holodecks, in this case specifically, holodeck two. The holodeck computer was a independent system just because I really, really didn't want to know what goes on in there. Also, it made holodeck problems a hell of a lot more interesting as I couldn't tell what was happening beforehand as I would otherwise.
The holodeck is meant to be private without an invitation. The computer for the holodeck was however set to alert me so I could patch in in case somebody wanted something.
"Yes, Commander?"
"Come in here for a moment?"
Connecting to the holodeck systems fully, I formed a avatar before looking around. The program was simply known as Janeway 231-A.
The inside was much more descriptive. A old English house in Victorian style, fireplace, old furniture that looked somewhat new, lots of dark wood. Book shelves. The sun was streaming in through the half open window.
"Commander," I said with a smile. Commander Janeway was wearing a period accurate dress and was standing by the couch. I looked around and then down on myself for a second before sending the holodeck system a command, changing my current avatar to fit in better.
A second later I regretted that decision as I was introduced to the concept of a corset.
How the hell could people wear these!?
Janeway looked like she was trying not to smile at my apparent discomfort, "I believe there is a small problem with the holodeck," she instead said.
I frowned at that, running a level five diagnostic, "I'm not getting any errors, Commander."
She raised a eyebrow and pointed at the couch. I frowned and walked around it to look, seeing two young children dressed in period accurate outfits sitting there. However, there was something wrong...
"Ah," I finally said, "I take it they are not meant to be Denobulans."
"No. No they are not. And the program just gives me a error and shuts down when I tell it to change it."
I nodded. That should not be happening, but it sounded more like a software error than a hardware one.
"One second, I'll have a look," I said as I dug into the code of the program. A couple of seconds later, I found the issue.
"I see," I said, "The species files have been corrupted," before I grinned in amusement. "You are lucky in a way, they were one number off being Tholians. I assume everyone is meant to be human?"
Janeway gave me a look, "That would be period accurate, yes."
Oh, haha.
"Copying species file from another program, all other files checking out, including personality and physical features. That's why they look a bit mutated, not meant for Denobulans. Resetting program and..."
The holodeck shimmered, everything, including my avatar fading out for a second before it rebooted, "...and done!"
"Thank you, Star," Janeway said with a sigh, "I prefer to keep the content of this program as private as possible and not involve an engineering team."
I smiled at that, "Don't worry, Commander. If it's something I'm good at, it's keeping people's private business private, kind of a necessity in my position. Although, I have to admit I don't understand the need for corsets. I never knew they were 'this' uncomfortable."
That caused her to smile, "Period accurate," she said, "I'm not a fan either, but I want my period dramas to be accurate. Even if it come with a bit of backpain," before she shook her head in amusement. "And it's Kathryn."
"Sir?"
"We have served on the same ship for a long time, Star. We have effectively the same rank. I would like to think we are friends. When off duty, I'm Kathryn."
"...That's going to take some time getting used to."
"I imagine it will."
"Well... Kathryn..." Damn that felt strange, "I'll leave you to your holonovel."
"Thanks for the help."
"No problem."
AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.
Grey Rook
Genuine Nerd
- Location
- The Quantum Foam
Your imagination can be a real bitch at times. I know what that feels like, bro.This was nice.
...
Why am I now imagining fifty shades of grey as holonovel?
I need a hug.
Part 24
Hmm?
What's that?
"Lieutenant, I am receiving a distress call." I informed Shran where he was sitting in the center seat. It was the middle of 'ship night' and he was pulling a second shift again. Anything for some time in 'The Chair' I suppose.
He looked up from his PADD with a frown. "Distance?"
"Three point two lightyears."
"On screen."
"...is is the Independent freighter 'Quick Buck' requesting assistance. Our warp drive is damaged and we are dead in the water. This is the..."
The message started to repeat so I shut the viewscreen off. "Should I divert our course?"
The meaning of the question was twofold and he knew it.
Should I wake the Commander or Captain? Shran was the senior officer on the bridge. He had the authority to order course changes. But if they didn't agree, he might end up in hot water.
Shran was silent for a long second before he nodded. "Divert course and open a channel."
It took them a few moments before they answered, revealing an older human man, short grey hair on his slightly balding head.
"I'm Lieutenant Shran of the USS Starseeker." Shran said. "We are responding to your distress call."
"Lieutenant," he answered and nodded. "Andrew Stonesward, Captain of the Quick Buck. Thank you, I was worried the wrong types would find us but we didn't have much choice since our warp coils blew."
"Do you have any injuries?"
Stonesward shook his head. "Thank the makers nobody was killed in the blast. We have some burns, but no permanent injuries. The worst damage was to engineering and our hydroponics bay, one deck up. I'm sending our damages now."
I put it up on Shran's armrest display, he looked at it for a moment before he nodded. "I think we might be able to do something to help, but we need to inspect the damage first. We will be with you in a about thirty hours."
"Thank you. Quick Buck, out."
"Star, do we have what they need in storage compared to their list?" Shran asked as he flicked through the list.
"Mostly. I believe that while the warpcoils we have stored can not be mounted directly, I think that they can be adapted to their system. They might not be able to get up to faster than warp two, but it will get them moving. The 'Quick Buck' is a heavy cargo carrier of 'Caterpillar' class, capable of shifting two hundred million metric tons. She is longer than a galaxy class by over fifty percent and significantly bulkier. Quite frankly, our parts are not big enough to really fit on her properly. So while we should be able to get her moving, it will be slow, even compared to her normal speeds."
He nodded, "Good. Inform engineering."
"Already on it."
XXXXXXXXXXX
I dropped out of warp a couple thousand kilometers from the Quick Buck and moved in under sublight as I scanned her.
Yep, engineering accident alright. She was on reserve power and leaking driveplasma.
And she was a big, ugly, beast. Consisting of three squished-together spheres, she lacked the elegant flowing shapes of most other Federation ships. She was a civilian design.
Her nacelles seemed almost... tiny... compared to the rest of her bulk. Even at peak power, it would take her almost ten minutes to form a warpfield able to move her. Her maximum speed was warp five and it would take her most of a day to reach it, her warpdrive built for efficiency rather than performance.
Hell, at peak efficiency, she used only slightly more antimatter than I did.
I slowly shifted position, taking a parallel orbit about hundred kilometers to her port side, feeling rather tiny next to her.
Rather silly compared to a Dyson Sphere, but for a ship, she was massive.... and someone had painted the poor thing forest green.
She looked like she was covered in moss.
Captain Mason leaned back in the center seat. "Star, your analysis?"
"Heavy damage to her engine section, but I'm not seeing any further danger to the ship and her course is clear. Her antimatter tanks are empty and somebody flushed her core. The safeties worked or we would be looking at debris right now. She is on fusion power only."
"Good. At least we don't have to try to pull that monster into a stable orbit around something."
"Captain, they are hailing us." I reported as I got a signal from the crippled ship. "They are ready to receive our engineering teams."
He nodded and pressed a button on his armrest. "Bridge to Engineering. Are the awayteams ready for transport?"
It didn't take long for Sleeman to answer him.
"Yes, sir. Just gathering the last parts now. Five minutes."
I would of course keep a transporter lock on all of them at all times and my avatar was already ready to go. They might need some heavy lifting.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
What's that?
"Lieutenant, I am receiving a distress call." I informed Shran where he was sitting in the center seat. It was the middle of 'ship night' and he was pulling a second shift again. Anything for some time in 'The Chair' I suppose.
He looked up from his PADD with a frown. "Distance?"
"Three point two lightyears."
"On screen."
"...is is the Independent freighter 'Quick Buck' requesting assistance. Our warp drive is damaged and we are dead in the water. This is the..."
The message started to repeat so I shut the viewscreen off. "Should I divert our course?"
The meaning of the question was twofold and he knew it.
Should I wake the Commander or Captain? Shran was the senior officer on the bridge. He had the authority to order course changes. But if they didn't agree, he might end up in hot water.
Shran was silent for a long second before he nodded. "Divert course and open a channel."
It took them a few moments before they answered, revealing an older human man, short grey hair on his slightly balding head.
"I'm Lieutenant Shran of the USS Starseeker." Shran said. "We are responding to your distress call."
"Lieutenant," he answered and nodded. "Andrew Stonesward, Captain of the Quick Buck. Thank you, I was worried the wrong types would find us but we didn't have much choice since our warp coils blew."
"Do you have any injuries?"
Stonesward shook his head. "Thank the makers nobody was killed in the blast. We have some burns, but no permanent injuries. The worst damage was to engineering and our hydroponics bay, one deck up. I'm sending our damages now."
I put it up on Shran's armrest display, he looked at it for a moment before he nodded. "I think we might be able to do something to help, but we need to inspect the damage first. We will be with you in a about thirty hours."
"Thank you. Quick Buck, out."
"Star, do we have what they need in storage compared to their list?" Shran asked as he flicked through the list.
"Mostly. I believe that while the warpcoils we have stored can not be mounted directly, I think that they can be adapted to their system. They might not be able to get up to faster than warp two, but it will get them moving. The 'Quick Buck' is a heavy cargo carrier of 'Caterpillar' class, capable of shifting two hundred million metric tons. She is longer than a galaxy class by over fifty percent and significantly bulkier. Quite frankly, our parts are not big enough to really fit on her properly. So while we should be able to get her moving, it will be slow, even compared to her normal speeds."
He nodded, "Good. Inform engineering."
"Already on it."
XXXXXXXXXXX
I dropped out of warp a couple thousand kilometers from the Quick Buck and moved in under sublight as I scanned her.
Yep, engineering accident alright. She was on reserve power and leaking driveplasma.
And she was a big, ugly, beast. Consisting of three squished-together spheres, she lacked the elegant flowing shapes of most other Federation ships. She was a civilian design.
Her nacelles seemed almost... tiny... compared to the rest of her bulk. Even at peak power, it would take her almost ten minutes to form a warpfield able to move her. Her maximum speed was warp five and it would take her most of a day to reach it, her warpdrive built for efficiency rather than performance.
Hell, at peak efficiency, she used only slightly more antimatter than I did.
I slowly shifted position, taking a parallel orbit about hundred kilometers to her port side, feeling rather tiny next to her.
Rather silly compared to a Dyson Sphere, but for a ship, she was massive.... and someone had painted the poor thing forest green.
She looked like she was covered in moss.
Captain Mason leaned back in the center seat. "Star, your analysis?"
"Heavy damage to her engine section, but I'm not seeing any further danger to the ship and her course is clear. Her antimatter tanks are empty and somebody flushed her core. The safeties worked or we would be looking at debris right now. She is on fusion power only."
"Good. At least we don't have to try to pull that monster into a stable orbit around something."
"Captain, they are hailing us." I reported as I got a signal from the crippled ship. "They are ready to receive our engineering teams."
He nodded and pressed a button on his armrest. "Bridge to Engineering. Are the awayteams ready for transport?"
It didn't take long for Sleeman to answer him.
"Yes, sir. Just gathering the last parts now. Five minutes."
I would of course keep a transporter lock on all of them at all times and my avatar was already ready to go. They might need some heavy lifting.
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
Genre savyness
- Location
- Logan, Queensland, australia
Forest Green? Or Romulan Green....
Because it's always a trap. Normal stories have conditioned you to be quite biased in situations like this. After all, it would be background material if it wasn't interesting. Just a foot note. The fact that it's actually being told at all means that something interesting happened and the lowest hanging fruit for such situations is enemy action. However, given how Hiver has been writing this -as a very slice of life fic- it's entirely possible that the problem, while more significant that it seems, may not actually involve "man vs man" conflict at all.
pheonix89
Wants to be Seven Of Nine
- Location
- North American Plaguelands
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It could be a trap. However, the odds that someone can come up with a stealth system that can hide the trap on a crippled frieghter from the sensor array of an AI-controlled heavy science ship are quite low. Which means the trap would need to be a cloaked ship. And we've see what trying decloak surprises on HAIver gets you - torpedoes to the face before your shields are up.
- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Not all traps rely on big guns, though. Could easily be a hostage scenario- kidnap Star's people and materials, threaten to harm them unless Star does what you say. Her course is easy to predict when she's just running science missions, after all. Nothing classified about it at all.
Wouldn't work out very WELL for the hostage-takers, but they don't know that 'til they try.
Wouldn't work out very WELL for the hostage-takers, but they don't know that 'til they try.
Richardson
CAN YOU HEAR THE PEOPLE SING?
- Location
- Yes
I vote for negative space wedgie.
Why am I now imagining fifty shades of grey as holonovel?
I need a hug.
Because if things weren't going to go horribly wrong, it would have been mentioned as "We arrived at Bajor later than intended, having had to go slightly out of the way to help a freighter who'd blown her Warp coils." with no more detail added. Somthin's gunna go wrong.
Part 25
"It's ready. Push it into place now," T'Ro said and shut down her hand welder and stepped back out of the way.
You would think Engineering on a ship this massive would be large. But no, it actually wasn't. Instead they had two small ones, one for each nacelle. They actually had two warpcores as well, one for each nacelle.
It was their port warpcoils that had blown and they didn't have the replacements for all the components.
I nodded and ducked into the narrow space as she pressed against the other wall, barely giving me enough room to squeeze inside and suddenly making me very happy to have a small female avatar instead of a bulky male.
For this, the narrow space was not actually a problem, more like an advantage. With the physical strength of my avatar, footing was the biggest problem. Strength is useless unless you can use it and while my avatar might be about six times as strong as a human, it didn't have any better footing or leverage.
I quickly checked the warpcoil over, "Are you sure this will fit?"
T'Ro nodded, "I modified it. But even then, it will be a narrow fit, it's not made for this kind of mounting. You need to force it into place."
Nodding, I put my shoulder and hands against it before putting my foot against the bulkhead behind us and pushing. It slowly shifted, scraping into place before I stepped back, "How's that?"
She pulled her tricorder and did a scan while shifting to look it over visually, "No damage... it's lined up good. I just need to weld it in place. Thank you."
"No problem," I answered and moved out of the way, climbing back out of the hole.
At least I was using the standard away team suit and wasn't wearing a skirt or this would have been a bit more embarrassing. Still, at least I was useful. Getting that thing into place manually would have been difficult and needing several jacks.
Actually, it was kind of funny. Physically, my avatar was the smallest person in the away team. T'Ro was the second shortest and she was a inch taller than me. The engineering crew on the freighter didn't know I was an AI so when I forced open a stuck hatch, their faces were pretty funny.
Sitting down on the edge of the manhole, I looked down, watching T'Ro work before I looked to the right at the Klingon in a grey engineering jumpsuit as he finished the welding, resealing a plasma conduit.
He noticed me watching him as he flipped his welding shield up, "What?"
"Sorry, I was just surprised to see a Klingon on a Federation freighter. I'm curious," I answered with a shrug. Tragas was actually the chief engineer and quite skilled. Hell, with the right parts, he and his small engineering crew would have been able to do this themselves.
With us helping, it was just a lot faster.
He grinned, "Not all Klingons are willing to fight and die for the false honor of the council."
"I take it you don't agree with them then?" I asked and got up, brushing the dust off my uniform. Yeah, this is getting put back into the replicator when we get back. There is no saving it.
You would think that something with as few moving parts as a ship engine room would not be full of grease, but you would be wrong. There was more of them that you would normally think and this stuff had a tendency to spread everywhere by contact unless you kept cleaning it up.
...There was normally a lot of cleaning going on.
Here though, a lot of those spaces had not been cleaned for months. A lot of dust had managed to gather.
"Let's just say I put more value on what I consider honorable than what honor they assign to me."
...Considering the Klingons I met so far, I couldn't help but think he had the right idea.
I nodded, "None of my business. If it works for you."
"Your curiosity is understandable," he said and shook his head. "Most Klingons find more honor in destruction than creation."
"I'm finished," T'Ro reported and I quickly got up out of the way before helping pull her back up on the deck.
She gave me a nod in thanks before turning to Tragas, "That was the last warp coil. We should be ready for the first engine tests as soon as my team finishes going over the command pathways."
"As soon as those are done, we can transfer some of our antimatter to the Quick Buck," I continued, crossing my arms, "...I hate shifting antimatter around. It's fine as soon as it's actually inside a ship, but actually moving it between vessels?"
"Nobody like working with antimatter. Not if you have anything in your head," Tragas grumbled before wandering off. "Now where did that lazy Tellarite go with my tricorder? Colv! Where are you?!"
I shared a look with T'Ro before shrugging.
Civilians. Klingons. Traders.
Take your pick.
T'Ro shook her head and folded her tricorder up, putting it back in her belt, "What time is it?"
"About time to beam back," I answered, "At least if we want to have time to grab a shower before the dinner."
Captain Stonesward had invited Captain Mason and his senior staff to a get together as a thank you for coming to their rescue.
I guess that could be nice and all.
T'Ro nodded, "Yes. Just let me just check the status of the rest of the team to make sure they don't have any problems first."
"Sure thing."
AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.
You would think Engineering on a ship this massive would be large. But no, it actually wasn't. Instead they had two small ones, one for each nacelle. They actually had two warpcores as well, one for each nacelle.
It was their port warpcoils that had blown and they didn't have the replacements for all the components.
I nodded and ducked into the narrow space as she pressed against the other wall, barely giving me enough room to squeeze inside and suddenly making me very happy to have a small female avatar instead of a bulky male.
For this, the narrow space was not actually a problem, more like an advantage. With the physical strength of my avatar, footing was the biggest problem. Strength is useless unless you can use it and while my avatar might be about six times as strong as a human, it didn't have any better footing or leverage.
I quickly checked the warpcoil over, "Are you sure this will fit?"
T'Ro nodded, "I modified it. But even then, it will be a narrow fit, it's not made for this kind of mounting. You need to force it into place."
Nodding, I put my shoulder and hands against it before putting my foot against the bulkhead behind us and pushing. It slowly shifted, scraping into place before I stepped back, "How's that?"
She pulled her tricorder and did a scan while shifting to look it over visually, "No damage... it's lined up good. I just need to weld it in place. Thank you."
"No problem," I answered and moved out of the way, climbing back out of the hole.
At least I was using the standard away team suit and wasn't wearing a skirt or this would have been a bit more embarrassing. Still, at least I was useful. Getting that thing into place manually would have been difficult and needing several jacks.
Actually, it was kind of funny. Physically, my avatar was the smallest person in the away team. T'Ro was the second shortest and she was a inch taller than me. The engineering crew on the freighter didn't know I was an AI so when I forced open a stuck hatch, their faces were pretty funny.
Sitting down on the edge of the manhole, I looked down, watching T'Ro work before I looked to the right at the Klingon in a grey engineering jumpsuit as he finished the welding, resealing a plasma conduit.
He noticed me watching him as he flipped his welding shield up, "What?"
"Sorry, I was just surprised to see a Klingon on a Federation freighter. I'm curious," I answered with a shrug. Tragas was actually the chief engineer and quite skilled. Hell, with the right parts, he and his small engineering crew would have been able to do this themselves.
With us helping, it was just a lot faster.
He grinned, "Not all Klingons are willing to fight and die for the false honor of the council."
"I take it you don't agree with them then?" I asked and got up, brushing the dust off my uniform. Yeah, this is getting put back into the replicator when we get back. There is no saving it.
You would think that something with as few moving parts as a ship engine room would not be full of grease, but you would be wrong. There was more of them that you would normally think and this stuff had a tendency to spread everywhere by contact unless you kept cleaning it up.
...There was normally a lot of cleaning going on.
Here though, a lot of those spaces had not been cleaned for months. A lot of dust had managed to gather.
"Let's just say I put more value on what I consider honorable than what honor they assign to me."
...Considering the Klingons I met so far, I couldn't help but think he had the right idea.
I nodded, "None of my business. If it works for you."
"Your curiosity is understandable," he said and shook his head. "Most Klingons find more honor in destruction than creation."
"I'm finished," T'Ro reported and I quickly got up out of the way before helping pull her back up on the deck.
She gave me a nod in thanks before turning to Tragas, "That was the last warp coil. We should be ready for the first engine tests as soon as my team finishes going over the command pathways."
"As soon as those are done, we can transfer some of our antimatter to the Quick Buck," I continued, crossing my arms, "...I hate shifting antimatter around. It's fine as soon as it's actually inside a ship, but actually moving it between vessels?"
"Nobody like working with antimatter. Not if you have anything in your head," Tragas grumbled before wandering off. "Now where did that lazy Tellarite go with my tricorder? Colv! Where are you?!"
I shared a look with T'Ro before shrugging.
Civilians. Klingons. Traders.
Take your pick.
T'Ro shook her head and folded her tricorder up, putting it back in her belt, "What time is it?"
"About time to beam back," I answered, "At least if we want to have time to grab a shower before the dinner."
Captain Stonesward had invited Captain Mason and his senior staff to a get together as a thank you for coming to their rescue.
I guess that could be nice and all.
T'Ro nodded, "Yes. Just let me just check the status of the rest of the team to make sure they don't have any problems first."
"Sure thing."
AN// Many thanks to Avernus for betaing this section.
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
Ah, always nice to see Klingons outside of the stereotypical warrior role. You can't have your glorious battle if your weapons are busted and your warp core blows up from under you now, can you?
Respect your engineers: they keep your shit running so you can wreck other people's shit.
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