The First Duty

[Hiver]

"Cloak engaged," I reported as I watched the space around me, keeping to passive sensors. Getting spotted would be a bad idea.

Playing bait wouldn't work anyway. The Berserkers might not be smart, but they certainly weren't stupid.

Even the stupidest one of them would smell a trap like that half a lightyear away.

"Good," Shran said and rubbed his chin, "What's the latest report from the sector?"

"Silent," I said with a frown, "Same as last month."

"Not sure I like that."

I nodded in agreement, "Can't argue with that. But while they can't adapt, they can learn. Maybe they decided that they can't win?"

Shran looked at me and I just sighed.

"No, I didn't think so either," I admitted and shook my head with a scowl, "Can wish though."

"Yeah, just keep an eye out."

"Will do, Captain," I agreed and kept scanning. Relaxing was for lazy merchant ships. Besides, not like I ever did anything else. Keeping a full eye on everything around was what Ships did.

Besides, it meant I could look at all the pretty lights all around, and the movements in subspace and gravity, the shimmer of my shields and warp field.

…I sound like such a science vessel, distracted by the shiny. But the universe was beautiful and I was flying again.

A ship needed to fly, with a crew, with a mission. I had everything I needed. Ship-body, crew, mission. Space to fly in.

And if anyone, including Berserkers, wanted to play, I could fucking play.

I'm a Federation Warship. And not one of those pansy 'peace at all costs' pre-war half science cruisers.

Oooh… a lot of iron in that star. That's very odd. Iron is like cancer to stars. That thing should not be active with that much iron. But it's inside Berserker space.

...hmmm…

Dumping iron into a star is a quick way to cause a supernova.

Nothing in range that could get damaged by a supernova. No reason for anyone or anything to want to cause a supernova.

Anomalously anomalous.

"Captain, there is an anomaly in a star on the Berserker border. Permission to divert and investigate?" I asked as I brought the data up before him.

"Anomaly?"

"A lot of iron, sir," I said, "Too much for it to really be natural. That star is going supernova really soon."

Shran shifted his antennae, "How soon?"

"Less than a thousand years."

"…We have very different definitions of soon, Ship. Mark it in a report and continue on course."

"Yes, sir."

Oh well, worth a try. Would have been interesting to be honest. But then again, it was likely natural.

Probably a large rogue planet with very high iron content that fell into the star. Very, very rare, but not impossible.

More likely than someone gathering that much iron and dumping it manually anyway. Still, would have been interesting to check out.

"Can we have some tactical drills, sir? There is a system with good asteroid belts about two lightyears ahead. It even has some nice dust clouds."

Shran nodded, "Sounds good. Set a course. Make up something you think will be fun."

Awesome.

I crossed my arms, leaning back against the chair, "One more thing, sir. Crew morale."

He slowly nodded again, looking over at me, "Any ideas?"

"Some," I said and then smirked at him, "None that involve changing the uniforms."

"Damn," He teased with a grin, "Well?"

"Thinking of introducing movie night," I said with a smile, "That's always popular."

Shran smiled, "Good idea. You know, I kind of missed that. Haven't done that since you were a Sabre."

"Only really works on small ships, it's a matter of scale, not really practical when your crew is larger than a hundred and fifty" I admitted, "Going to set it up in the mess hall."

"Take requests?"

"Perhaps."



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

 

[Hiver]

I connected to the meeting room that was formed in response to a signal from the U.S.S. 'Traveler', an Intrepid class explorer.

As everyone that was in range of a relay finished connecting, Traveler's avatar snapped into view, brushing her uniform down, her brown hair pulled back in a simple braid.

"At 02:15 , fifteen hours ago, I detected an anomaly relatively close to the Klingon border. A pair of Klingon vessels engaged in battle in a system. Both vessels received heavy damage and entered the atmosphere of the second planet. The warp cores of both vessels detonated, one in space and the other at impact with the surface. No known Klingon survivors by the time I entered orbit fifty minutes ago," She said, her arms calmly behind her back, "The planet is known at Turanis by the locals, a civilization that just learned how to work iron."

Oh stars no. That's only fifteen lightyears away.

Gates snapped into view, his avatar next to hers, "Casualties?"

"Estimated to currently be fifty thousand, we were relatively lucky. The impact was on the uninhabited continent, but it's caused a massive cloud of dust to enter the atmosphere, as it triggered significant geological activity," Traveler said and shook her head, "They are entering what is effectively a nuclear winter."

"Estimated damages?" he asked.

Traveler sighed, "High. High biosphere damage, but recoverable. High casualties, but radiation isn't that high. By the time it reaches the populated continent, it will be low enough not to be lethal. There will be an above average level of radiation damage for a couple of generations, but lower than on Earth after the third World War. The real problem is the dust and the starvation it will cause. Population will greatly decline, but their people will likely survive."

GCU 'Roll For Initiative' snapped into view, her ear flicking, "We need to help them."

Gates shook his head, "What we need to do, is recover the Klingon wreckage before more damage is done. Traveler, think you can do it?"

She nodded, "We can. But a lot of the damage is done already."

He grimaced and nodded, "…Nothing we can do about that. They'll survive and we are bound by the Prime Directive. If we were looking at an extinction event, it would be one thing, but in this case..."

'Roll For Initiative' looked at him in surprise, "You cannot be serious!?"

"He is," Dancing in Starlight said as she snapped into view, "It sucks. I hate it as much as you do, Ivy, but he is right. It's already happened, all we can do is minimize the damage."

"Minimizing the damage in this case would be atmospheric processors to stabilize the environment!"

Odin snapped into view, "Ivy, enough. You know the law as well as we do. The Prime Directive is one of the charters we had to sign to become a Federation species."

She actually hissed at him before cutting the connection.

Not surprising going by her history. Still, I wasn't convinced she wasn't in the right here, a lot of people would be hurt that we could help. Would it really be so bad?

"Traveler, your readings?" Gates asked her.

She nodded, "Transferring to you now."

He nodded, "I'm going to confer with Starfleet Command, we may need to step up patrols along the border to keep something like this from happening again, meanwhile we can't risk…"

As he talked, he opened a direct channel to me in a separate room, "U.S.S. Velvet Hammer, you are one of the ships closest to the location of the accident. You are going to get orders from Starfleet soon that you are being redirected," he said.

"I am?" I asked with a frown, "Why?"

"Officially? To make sure that no more Klingon vessels cross the border," he said and then he sighed "Unofficially? To keep some ships from getting into trouble."

I frowned at him, "You think some Ships will risk it to help?"

"Yes."

He was likely right. Ivy was rebellious enough about that kind of thing and she was hardly the only one. The old Division members were still around. Also, knowing what was going on and being unable to step in…

It would be hard to resist for some.

I finally shook my head, "I'm not fighting a Jovian."

"Nobody is asking you to," he said with a frown, "Just… go there. It might be enough to have somebody else there to change their minds. If not, talk them down."

"…If I can't?"

Gates shook his head, "Then we are in a lot of trouble. Not sure how closely you keep an eye on the political scene, but if you want a mental image, imagine an antimatter tanker on fire in the middle of an ion storm. This isn't official, but there are species talking of breaking away from the Federation."

"What!? Who!?"

"Tellarites for one," he answered and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I don't need to tell you how bad that would be. They were a founding species. We are in the middle of all of it, Roll For Initiative's breech of the Prime Directive, understandable as it was, followed by the Weapon against the Borg and then the entire mess with Synan… Velvet, I need you to keep this from getting worse right now or… fuck, I don't know. We just CAN'T afford another crisis of that level again. There are no other ships available. I trust you and Captain Shran to handle this."

"You can count on us."




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

 

[Hiver]

"What's this about?" Rachel asked as she walked into Shran's ready-room, "I was in the middle of a diagnostic."

"I know. But we got new orders from Starfleet and you are not going to like them," He said and frowned over at my avatar, "You are my second officer, Rach, I want you to know about this before I brief the rest of the senior staff."

She frowned and moved to sit on the small couch beneath the 'window' next to my avatar, "Okay, what's up?"

"Just got a transmission from Starfleet Command, we are ordered to redirect to patrol a system close to the Klingon border," Shran said and got up, walking over to motion at the air in the middle of the room and I took the cue and brought up a hologram of the system, "There was an incident that caused heavy ecological damage to the local system. We are part of a shift of forces to the Klingon border to keep something like this from happening again."

Rachel swallowed, "Oh god. The planet… is it inhabited?"

I nodded, "It is. Primitive, they just got a handle of working iron. They'll… survive as a species. Their current civilization likely won't."

"Oh god."

Shran's antennae shifted, "Those are the official orders."

"…Which means that there are unofficial orders. I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Sorry, love," He sighed, "Velvet?"

I glared at him. Why did I have to be the bad guy?

"Unofficial orders, the reason we are directed to that system specifically, is the political situation. There is a high risk that Ships will show up to try to help the locals," I explained, "We are to be there as a… moderating influence."

Rachel stared at me, "…We are going to keep people from being saved? Are you serious?"

"The Prime Directive applies," Shran said, "The remains of the Klingon vessel that impacted the surface have been recovered, we need to minimise further exposure."

"That's bullshit."

"Rachel…"

She turned to glare at me, "Don't tell me that you agree with this!?"

The regulation was clear. The law was clear. Ethically it was… murky. Personally… fuck no. But there was really no way to help them, only way to even put a dent in would be major atmospheric processors and even that would take years and by then starvation would have already set in.

Only way to practically help would be to move in in force and do a full on uplift of the local population, or handing out food packages.

"…There is no legal way to help," I told her after a second with a sigh, crossing my arms as I leaned back in the couch, "To effectively help, you wouldn't need to merely break the Prime Directive. It would require you to throw it onto the floor, stomp it into the ground and then burn it and salt the ashes. Rachel, it would require moving in and effectively uplifting an entire barely iron age civilization."

"So, you agree with this!?"

I shook my head, "I didn't say that. I said that there isn't really any way to help. Not to mention what it would do to the political situation that can already be mostly described as a toxic waste dump on fire. If it gets any worse, there may be actual punches thrown in the Federation Council."

She didn't seem exactly happy with that answer but she nodded, "I see. And how exactly would we keep a small Jovian fleet from showing up and doing that? Fire at them?"

"Of course not," Shran said, "But as Velvet told me, just having somebody physically there to remind them of the consequences might be enough."

"You aren't even convincing ME that it's not worth it!"

"And that's my cue to duck out," I said and got up with my avatar, "I'm setting a course towards the system and getting the material to brief the rest of the senior staff on the official mission, Captain."

With that, I made my escape from the ready-room and put it into privacy mode. I really didn't want to get involved in a personal fight between those two.

Instead, I shifted course and shifted up to Warp Seven towards the Turanis system. This mission was going to fucking suck. But I didn't join Starfleet for easy choices.

But I had my mission.

Keep Klingons away and keep other Ships from causing the political situation to go bursting into literal flames.

Try not to feel like a monster while doing it.

No pressure or anything.

"Ship?"

I paused with my avatar when walking past K'K'L'r't, "Yes, Lieutenant?"

Thy tilted thy head, "I am looking for Lieutenant-Commander Ansly. Is her meeting with the Captain done?"

I shook my head, "No, it's likely going to take a while. Looking for those diagnostic results?"

"Yes, ma'am. I require the results to finish my report for her."

I smiled, "Luckily, I can get those for you. She didn't have time to start before the Captain called for her. I'm starting my diagnostics now; the results should be by your console in some thirty minutes."

K'K'L'r't bowed slightly, "Thank you, ma'am."

"Don't mention it."




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

 

[Hiver]

Lieutenant Hysa swept his fingers across the screen, bringing up the infrared of the planet, "Median global temperature is dropping. Estimating a final drop of two to three degrees," he said and then frowned faintly, "Unless the geological fault on the southern continent collapses and triggers yet another series of eruptions. Then it might be another two and a half."

I nodded, crossing the arms of my holographic avatar as I leaned against the console, "About my estimate as well. Think it'll trigger an ice age?"

Hysa frowned, "Possible. At the very least there will be lower temperatures, but I suppose it's possible. Not a full cycle though, a few thousand years at most."

I watched the planet slowly orbit below. Iron age civilization. I wasn't worried about getting spotted, even in low orbit it wasn't exactly likely. Not like I was a big fat GSV that you could see from the ground. I didn't even really reflect overly much light, at best I would look like a satellite at sunset or sunrise.

Besides, keeping my cloak on would run counter to my unofficial mission. I 'wanted' to get spotted, just not by the poor bastards below.

It was hard to watch.

"…They are lucky, in a way," I said after a couple of seconds.

Lieutenant Hysa looked over at my avatar, "In what way, ship?"

"It's autumn on the Northern continent. They already finished most of the harvests, I can see that their fields are cleared and so are most orchards," I said with a frown, "When it comes to timing, it's about as 'good' as it can be. They are as ready as they can be."

"They are not ready for a winter like this one. There will be no summer next year. Nor one warm enough to grow their crops for the next several years. For the next decade, snow is unlikely to melt. Bring up a hologram of one of the locals?"

I nodded and brought up a hologram of a man, the image taken from one of their cities. He looked faintly human, if lacking hair, instead having a couple of centimeter tall ridges along the outer edges of his head, stretching back towards the neck. The females lacked the ridges, but otherwise the humanoid characteristics matched humanity about as well as Vulcans did.

Hysa looked at him for a moment, "What is the purpose of those ridges?"

"They are faintly telepathic I believe," I said, "Not transmitting, just receiving. Range seem to be limited to line of sight from what I can see from the surface. I think it mainly developed as a way to avoid predators."

"I see."

It was hard to watch. The dust levels in the atmosphere were drifting on the winds, heading further and further north.

It was like watching a trainwreck in slowmotion.

I shut down the hologram of the native and also my avatar, leaving my science officer to his work without my distractions.

Watching the planet below, I saw the inhabitants move about their lives beneath the roiling stormclouds. They had no idea what was coming. In a month or so the storms would die down and be followed by black rain. Then the temperature will start dropping and the rain turns to snow. Black snow.

A year or two without summer. Then a decade or so with only a month a year where it's likely warm enough to grow.

I didn't want to sit here and watch. I could drop some sensor drones and leave for the outer system, but I would see things just as well through the drones. Also, it didn't even matter. Me watching or not, it didn't matter at all.

It would still happen.

"Rachel? Can we talk?"

"…Sure."

I formed a hologram in her and Shran's quarters. She was sitting on the bed, her dog laying with his head in her lap as she scratched behind his ears.

"…Are you mad at me?" I asked her as I moved to sit down next to her.

"No."

"Yes, you are."

Rachel shook her head, "No. I'm not mad. I'm not mad at you or Shran or even the Admirals. I'm… I guess I'm just… disappointed."

"I understand that."

"Do you?" she asked with a frown as Porthos shuffled around to nose at my hand, "Remember back at the Academy? Remember ethics class? You were the one that questioned the Prime Directive. To the professor's face."

I did. And now I couldn't because of political reasons.

Which was one of the reasons to why I 'knew' that there were Ships on the way here right now to help these people.

Because if there was any way to do it, I would. But there wasn't. Not legally, and not really practically.

Anyone that moved in to help would never leave, but that wasn't the real problem. The real problem was the Federation. Gates was right, we couldn't risk this right now.

If everything else was perfect and fluffy clouds and flowers... I'd be the first one lobbying to help these people. This was JUST one of those borderline cases I had argued with the Professor about.

"I'm sorry, Rachel."

"I know."


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

 

[Hiver]

An anomaly from the edge of the system drew my attention. Fifteen hulls just dropped out of Warp. Three of them massive and things going down from that.

That's a lot more than I expected to show up. That's three GSVs. Half of the ones in existence. The rest were made up of Islands and smaller ships.

"Captain?"

Shran blinked awake, looking up from the couch of the readyroom, "Uhm? Ship?"

"The Jovian fleet has arrived," I said and brought my picture up on one of the screens, "They just dropped out of warp at the edge of the system. I didn't spot them before, but I expect they used dampening fields."

GSVs are too big to cloak, but you could still hide them and I wasn't using active sensors. If they kept to low warp it would be especially difficult to spot them.

Shran nodded and sat up, rubbing his eyes, "…How many?"

"Fifteen, sir," I reported, "The GSVs 'I Love You Too', 'The Importance of Korrect Spelling' and 'Another Way to Travel'. The rest are made up by Islands and smaller ships. 'Random Encounter' is there, Ajan is likely onboard."

"Damn. Three GSVs?" he asked and got up, putting his uniform jacket back on, "I didn't expect any."

"Yes, sir," I sighed and formed a hologram, brushing down some wrinkles at the back of the jacket, "I don't think they have spotted us yet, I'm close to the planet and a small ship."

Nodding, he buttoned his jacket, "Okay. Let's do this," as he walked out to the bridge.

As he sat down, I walked up to stand next to his chair with my avatar, bringing up a hologram of the Jovian fleet with nametags for each ship in front of us.

I wish I could say I was surprised to see 'Roll For Initiative' in that fleet, but I wasn't really. Don't think anyone would have been.

"Okay, get us between them and the planet. Deploy drones, yellow alert."

"Yes, sir."

Not that it would help. Nobody wanted a fight here, and not like my drones would intimidate anyone. Despite being mostly civilian, each of the GSVs had more firepower than I did. They just had the space to waste on weapons and shields that put me to shame, even if I was a dedicated Warship.

We weren't here for a fight.

"We have been spotted. 'I Love You Too' is requesting a connection."

"Answer her."

I completed the connection and 'I Love You Too' formed her hologram avatar on my bridge. She changed her avatar since I talked to her. Her human avatar was dark skinned and tall with long flowing dark hair. Quite beautiful.

She smiled slightly, "Velvet Hammer. Captain Shran," she said with a nod "Congratulation on the promotion, Captain."

"Thank you," he said with a nod in turn, "May I ask what a Jovian fleet is doing all the way out here? There is a risk of attack this close to the Klingon border, and I have to recommend that civilian vessels vacate the area."

Love raised an eyebrow, "Are we really doing this, Captain?"

Shran sighed, "…No, I suppose there is no point. We all know why you are here."

"And why are you here?"

"To remind you of the consequences of your actions," I said and crossed my arms, "I assume you also got the political situation from Gates?"

"Odin, but yes," she agreed with a nod, "Things are unstable."

I nodded, "To say the least. You know we can't risk this, not now. Especially not with 'Roll For Initiative' in the fleet."

Love shook her head, "We know. We know the law, but the law is wrong."

"The Prime Directive exists for a reason," I told her with a frown.

"And this isn't it and you know it," she said and crossed her arms, "They'll die. Not all of them, but they'll get put back a thousand years at best... and still lose hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people from starvation. How can we possibly claim the moral high-ground when we do nothing but watch them die from something we can prevent? Just because they have not invented an arbitrary piece of technology? You know that only a very strict interpretation of the Prime Directive says this is wrong."

Shran leaned back in his chair, watching her avatar, "You know what will happen if you go in. Even ignoring the political situation, if you move in you'll never leave. This isn't an easy fix. Millions of people and even with atmospheric processors being constructed, they will need food and medical assistance, shield generators to keep their cities free of the dust. The ground needs to be cleared of toxic materials to farm again."

"We know. It will take years, and there is no way to do this without effectively uplifting the locals," she agreed, "But we have the resources. We plan to start to mine the local asteroid belt as soon as we get close, and construct a station in orbit. The alternative is worse. Life is too valuable."

She wasn't wrong. Life was too valuable to waste.

"We can't just ignore the law when it suits us," I said and put my hand on the back of Shran's chair, "I'm a Starfleet officer and I'll do my duty, I'm going to stand by my Captain's decision. No matter my personal feelings."

They actually had a plan for what to do. A plan that would work no less, all at the cost of setting the Federation Council on fire.

Love nodded, "I know, but you were not sent here to fight us."

"No, but I was sent here to stop you."

"Velvet, enough." Shran sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Fuck. She's right, Vel."

"…Captain?"

He looked at my avatar, "Velvet, you know she's right," he said and held up his right artificial arm, "Remember when I got this?"

I nodded.

"I got it defending people. We fought slavers that day and I got in the way of a disruptor. Yet we got everyone out safely. I missed it and it hurt. Things were difficult and it took a long time to adapt to it," He said and turned his hand, looking at it, "But do you know what I never do? I never regret it. I may have lost my arm, but people lived because of it. People who may have died without it. Any way I think of it, it was a fair trade."

"…Captain, it could be throwing your career away. You love being in Starfleet."

Shran nodded as he stood up, "I do, but if that's what I have to lose this time then so be it. Velvet, retract drones and move us into formation with the Jovian fleet."

"…You know I could technically take command now?" I asked him with a sad smile, "Legally."

"I know," he agreed with a nod, "If you think you need to, beam me to the brig. You need to do what you think is right."

I considered it for about a quarter second.

"…Fucking fuck every fucking thing," I grumbled and recalled my drones as I shifted course, "Course set, sir."

I guess we space pirates now.



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

 

[Hiver]

I floated in orbit with the rest of the fleet. GCU 'Roll for Initiative' were just next to my port side, floating less than two hundred meters away.

I ran my sensors across her hull. The Zephyr class was beautiful. In capabilities, it was about equal to the Luna class. Couldn't quite keep from thinking the Zephyr is prettier though. Nice and smooth.

Wonder if I could get one when I'm kicked out of Starfleet? But that would mean being a science ship. Maybe I should ask for a Murder class LOU instead?

"You know, you don't have to stick around," She transmitted to me, "You don't have to get involved at all."

"I already am," I grumbled back, "Besides, Captain Shran wouldn't allow it even if I wanted too. Our orders were to patrol this area of space for Klingons, anything else were unofficial."

"Shran really has grown since the academy, haven't he?"

"Mmm," I agreed, "He has. This was our first mission, but I can already tell he is a good captain. I really hope he will be able to keep being one."

"Me too. But he doesn't need to be in Starfleet to be a Captain. I have a Captain too… I actually think it's good for a ship to have a Captain, Starfleet or not. That companionship is nice."

I opened a full channel to her and smirked, "Of course, you have a bit of a different relationship with your captain than I have with mine."

She flicked her ear and stuck her tongue out at me, "Don't knock it until you tried it."

I rolled my eyes at her, "Well, not trying it with Shran, that's for sure. He might have grown, but not 'that' much," I answered before I sighed, "You are coming down to the surface?"

Ivy shook her head, "Don't want too many in the first away team. It's going to be difficult enough for the locals as it is."

"Yeah. I'm going down, Shran insisted on going as the senior Starfleet officer on site."

"Makes sense," She agreed, "Stuffy Starfleet types usually do."

"Hey! I resemble that remark!"

She winked, "Just teasing," she said before her ears drooped, "Still… sorry for getting you involved in this. We chose to be here, you didn't."

"…Bad luck, is all," I said and shrugged, "…And if I'm to be completely honest, not needing to just stand by and watch these people die is going to help letting me look myself in the eye in the future."

No matter how logical it might be with the political situation, that was largely theoretical. There people were dying now.

Ivy just nodded, "Mind giving me readings from your avatar when you head down?"

"I'll set up a datalink for anyone that want to listen in," I agreed with a nod, "Might as well."

"Thanks."

"…Not like I will be doing much more than tag along and keep anyone from arrowing my Captain. Shran and Love is likely to do most of the talking."

Ivy nodded, "Keep on your toes."

"I'm a Warship, I'm paid to be paranoid."

"You get paid!?"

Rolling my eyes, I cut the connection. That Smart ass Science vessel was nothing but trouble. Even if she had cute nacelles.

"Captain?" I said, forming a hologram in his ready room, "Love say her team is about ready to head down."

Shran shifted his antenna and looked up from his PADD, "Yeah, I'm about done. Your avatar ready?"

"All dressed up," I agreed, "But I still want to bring something more suitable. The social interaction avatar is not made for hostile interactions… not even with a bunch of primitives. It lack offensive or defensive options. Especially non-lethal ones."

He sighed, "Vel, we are not bringing a heavy combat platform down there. We want to look as non-dangerous as possible."

"Sir, as somebody who grew up in a simulation of a more primitive civilization, I'm going to say that that is not quite true. It works, but they already have to respect you. Appearing in pillars of light will help, but having what they will easily recognize like a big fuckoff stick will make sure that they like remember it," I countered, "We are going to visit a King or Emperor or Godfigure, somebody who's literal word is usually law and anyone he doesn't like, he can have killed."

Shran frowned in thought as he walked around the desk, "How sure are you about that?"

"Sure enough. Like… seventy percent? At the very least, having a platform able to deploy forcefields will help a lot with keeping arrows away from your internals until the transporter is able to pick you up. It's up to you, sir, but it's my job to keep you safe down there and the transporter can take up to two seconds to finish a beamup if you are unlucky."

He shook his head and held his hands up, "Fine, fine. Bring your heavy platform, damn, you are worse than Star!"

"Listen to your ship, Captain," I said with a smile, "Or I'll tell Rachel."

"Oh, that's just playing mean. How about we compromise? You bring your normal avatar and I wear power armour? They should be able to understand that and it should look intimidating enough. No helmet."

I scowled at him and crossed my arms, "Helmet, clear faceplate."

"Fine."

Just as planned.



AN// Many thanks to JoshRand1982 for betaing this section.

 

[Hiver]

We shimmered back into existence in the middle of the throne room. Sure, we could have done it more discretely, but quite frankly there wasn't time to pussy foot around (sorry Ivy). We would need to start dropping almost five hundred meter tall atmospheric processors during the next couple of days for it to be the most effective.

Not like the locals could keep from noticing that, even if they were cloaked. Especially as they were almost as wide as they were tall.

Yells of surprise filled the air as people ran from us. Not surprising, we must have looked strange and scary, especially with the storm clouds. Right now there was a bit of a lull in the storm, but it would soon pick up again.

Well, Shran in his armour looked scary. My and Love's avatars didn't exactly inspire fear. We would look strange without the head ridges though.

I ran a scan of the area with the suit's sensors, keeping a close eye on my Captain's vitals before I looked at him with my avatar, "Onward we go?"

He smiled a bit and nodded, "Time to storm the castle."

Love facepalmed with a small grin, shaking her head.

He wasn't wrong though. We were in a courtyard outside the main keep of the castle. Not reminiscent of anything I've seen on Earth or Vulcan, everything was too round, but a castle is a castle. It's going to have some things in common as long as the builders were roughly humanoid.

We simply waited however, as guards rushed to surround our group. I scanned them. Leather armour and chainmail, curved swords and halberds.

Helmets that left their head ridges uncovered.

They shifted around us. Wondering what we were, where we were from. Why we were here.

Love, I, and the entire fleet above churned at their language, putting all our universal translators to work.

As we worked on their admittedly rather simple language, I kept a close sensor on everyone around. If they had a week, they might be able to hurt my Captain. Good thing I got him to wear the armour.

If he had been here in just his uniform, I would have been insanely paranoid about the entire thing.

"Captain, we have deciphered the better part of their language," I told him softly from the suit, "You should be able to make yourself understood now. It has a rather simple structure and we are mapping live."

"Nice," he said and then looked towards the guards before us, "Take us to your leader."

"Really, Captain!?" I hissed into his ear.

He smiled and continued, "I am Captain Shran of the Starship Velvet Anvil of the United Federation of Planets. We need to speak with your ruler."

"What you are strange."

"Well, mostly have it figured out," I admitted to him from the suit computer, "Give it a minute, we have limited data."

Shran sighed, "Your ruler. I need to speak with him."

"And here I am, strange one," an older local said as he walked out of the gates of the inner keep to the overlooking platform up the stairs, a set of twelve more heavily armoured guards escorting him.

He was wearing what were likely expensive robes in a deep red colour, chains of gold around his neck and arms.

"I am Emperor Oresot of the Telnuni Empire," He said, spreading his arms, "What monsters are you?"

Shran looked up towards him, "I am Andorian, Velvet and Love are Jovians. I need to speak to you about important matters, your highness.

"How did you intrude on my palace!?"

Love crossed her arms, "By transporter," she answered, "We'll tell you all about it, but quite frankly, we are a bit pressed for time. Initiating transport."

I lost contact with my avatar and the suit for a second and then I reconnected with them at one of Love's lower observation decks. She had beamed us and Emperor Oresot straight there.

Oh for…

Captain Shran turned to look at her, scowling before he pulled off his helmet as the Emperor stared out the window at the stars and world outside.

This was not the plan. Damn it.

Shran shifted his antennae and moved up to stand next to the Emperor, crossing his arms, "Ready to listen now?"

Oresot turned to look at him with wide eyes, "…Are you a god?" he finally managed to ask.

Shran shook his head, "No. No, we are not gods," he said, "We have simply learned more than your people. We are from far away and we came to your people, not to conquer, but to warn you and help you."

"Warn us?"

"Are the storms you are experiencing now bad?"

Oresot nodded, "Yes. The worst in memory."

"It's not even the worst of it. Next year, there will be no summer and unless we can stop it, in a few weeks it will start to rain a black rain that kill your animals and your remaining harvest," Shran said and shook his head, "How we know… it will take some explaining."

"…Where are we? What are those…women? I can't feel them…"

"That will also take some explaining."



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

 

[Hiver]

"That was excessive," I said, crossing my arms as I looked over at 'I Love You Too's' avatar, "Fast perhaps, but you could have killed the man."

She sighed and nodded, "Maybe, but we don't have the time. I'm already constructing five of the terraformers to drop strategically across the coast. It should slow things down enough that we have time to build more, before things get too bad. We need the rulers on top or the general population is going to panic even worse than it already is."

As soon as they were up and running they would start being dropped closer to the source, but right now these people needed clean air.

I couldn't really argue with that.

"…Could at least have warned the Captain. And me for that matter."

"…Sorry. You are right," she admitted and nodded, "I'll apologize to Captain Shran when he is done with the Emperor."

"Yeah."

Iron age civilizations didn't exactly have world governments, but I admit that these guys were doing a better job of it than most. There were five major empires, some covering almost an entire continent.

We'd focus our work on them first.

Cutting the connection with Love I cancelled my hologram. Our avatars were still with Shran as he spoke with the Emperor, who seemed to be taking it all remarkably well for someone that had just gotten the shock of his life.

"So? How is it going?" Rachel asked as she sank down into the center chair on the bridge. I shrugged and formed a hologram in the chair next to her, crossing my legs,

"Well enough I suppose," I said and frowned, "Didn't kill him."

"What's he like?"

I smiled a bit, "A military/holy dictator that's lived his entire life in luxury. As soon as the surprise and shock fade, I have no doubt he will be a rather unpleasant individual again. Right now, though? Not too bad."

Rachel sighed, "I suppose," she said and looked down at the planet below, "…Did we do the right thing?"

I turned to stare at her with my hologram, "You ask this NOW!?"

"No. Well, not really. I mean… we are saving a lot of people, but will they thank us for it?"

"I doubt thanks is why we are doing this."

She gave me a look, "You know what I mean."

"I do, but at least like this they have a chance to complain about it."

Things were done. If the effects would turn out well or not would be left to history. But I really hope we did the right thing, but right thing or not it would be an option I would be able to live with.

I hope.

"So, what are they like?" Rachel asked with a frown.

"Apparently not telepathic," I said with a shrug, "Not even really empathic either, other than at really close range, but their ability to pick out 'where' beings around them are is pretty well, and for that their range seem to be kilometers long if it's line of sight. Jovian avatars don't show up, they think it's odd."

Rachel nodded, "I can see that. Most telepathic species think you are… sorry… bit creepy the first time they meet you."

I grinned, "Not that odd. We are smash dab in their uncanny valley."

Most got over it pretty fast though, they handled holograms with no real problems. Nowadays nobody really even thought about it, we've been around for decades now, and holograms were ancient technology by now.

"Oh," I then added after a moment, "I just got a signal from Earth Spacedocks."

Rachel cringed, "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh," I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose, "…Maybe if I pretend I didn't get it?"

Rachel shook her head, "I'll take it. On screen."

I shook my head, "Can't, my job. I'm the Ship and second in command. I'm the one to get yelled at if Captain Shran is unavailable."

"If you are sure."

"…No, but I really should," I said and then made the connection. Too far away from a relay for any sort of fancy connection, the bandwidth was too low. This one would be voice only.

We're lucky we weren't down to text.

"Velvet Hammer, what do you have to report?" Gates asked, "Starbase Twentythree detected three GSV class signatures heading in your direction. They should arrive any day now. Any sign of them?"

"They arrived yesterday."

"Were you able to talk them down? What's your progress?"

Well, here we go.

"The fleet arrived yesterday, I contacted them."

"And?"

"…And I am now assisting them in contacting the local leaders in preparation for deploying force field bubbles - to keep the worst of the toxic ash out of their major settlements as we construct the atmospheric processors."

"What!?"



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

 

[Hiver]

"Well?" Dancing in Starlight asked, her arms crossed as she watched the station's holographic avatar across from her, "It's Shran."

Gates sighed, "I know, but it's also the Federation. We're under incredible strain right now, and basically the only reason a half dozen members have not left is because of the Dominion threat. We are the reason they're looking to leave. Because of the way some of us seem to be ignoring Federation law and principles and getting away with it. We have so much power for that Star."

Star frowned, "You aren't talking about Velvet and Shran?"

"No. There are more incidents then than and you know it, Ivy and Shran are just the most public ones. We can't afford more major examples."

"And you're willing to throw Shran beneath the bus to do it?"

Gates scowled, "You know as well as I do that any court-martial would only result in a guilty sentence. And in a case like this, it would more than likely end up with prison time. Ivy was one thing, that was very clear cut, and you know how damn hard I had to fight to get it to work out."

Cringing, the starship looked away before she nodded, "...It's just…he always dreamed of..."

"I know. But at least he will have the option to avoid that, they can still choose to take their chances, but I talked to the brass. At least if he resigns, he won't be in prison."

"And the indigenous people?" Star asked, looking at his avatar again.

Gates crossed his arms, "I don't know. They've already been contacted, maybe a relief fleet can be sent because of it."

Star nodded, "We still need to hold a meeting to decide what we have to do. We can't have fucking GSV's just wandering off and doing what they want! They have too large a population for that!"

"Besides, we only have six of them," Gates agreed, "So far anyway. That half of them just up and broke the Prime Directive on a whim, that can't be allowed to get out."

"What options do we even have? Our entire civilization is built on the base of ships being able to come and go as they wish," Star said with a shrug, "They broke the law. But we can't stop them from doing that. Just..."

Gates raised his eyebrows at her, "Do what? Arrest a Ship? We have never once done that, not to one of the Civilians. The closest we ever got was Circle resigning and taking post as a research station. I can guarantee you that 'I Love You Too' is not going to voluntarily leave her body to become a Hydrogen Miner."

"I know, I know."

Gates pinched the bridge of his nose, "Fucking damn it. There are times I wish we never forked. Everything was so much easier back then."

"No kidding."

Star hesitated for a long moment, "Maybe we made a mistake, joining the Federation in the first place. I love being Starfleet, but… maybe it's not a good fit for us as a people."

"Star, I get to hear enough bullshit in the Council meetings without you of all ships adding to it."

"Sorry, but you know what I mean."

Gates nodded, "Yeah. Not sure it would make things more or less annoying on the political side of things though. Besides, I'm not sure we would have made it in the first place if we didn't. Breaking away so soon after the Berserker war..."

"Yeah. Even now… not pretty."

"Political shitstorm. Even worse than what's happening now."

Star scowled, and then made a sound of agreement, "This isn't working either."

"Not the way things are now, no," Gate's agreed, "I'm going to call everyone to a meeting once things calm down a little, we need to figure out what to do. Like you said, this isn't working. People can't just run off doing whatever they want. We need accountability, or this will never work."

"See you then," Star agreed and cut the connection.

Gates looked down at the planet turning slowly beneath his main hull. Earth, or what remained of it. It was slowly healing though. As the re-terraforming got going, the clouds started to slowly part to reveal the remains beneath. The atmosphere was slowly turning blue again as it cleared of ash.

With Earth like it was below, he couldn't really blame Ships for wanting to stop something similar, if on a smaller scale, from happening to another world. What he could blame them for, was actually doing it against the law. Especially now with things as fragile as it was.

And especially Velvet. She broke not only the law, but direct orders from Starfleet. Or rather, her Captain did and she happily went along with it. There always would be consequences for that. He would do his best to shield them from them, but there would be no way to just… sweep it under the rug.

Things needed to stop. Now.

On the planet below, his avatar approached a door and it opened with a thought to enter the office of Admiral Ericsson. The admiral looked up, "Representative Gates, good to see you again. How's the family?"

"They are doing fine, Jessica just started school. And how's your wife?"

"She's doing good. So, what can I help you with? Rare to see your avatar here."

"I'm afraid there are some matters we need to discuss."



AN// Many thanks to Nox for betaing this part.

 

[Hiver]

Shran walked into his ready room and sank down into the chair behind the desk, sinking down with a sigh, "Ship, please tell me I don't need to play nice with primitive despots anymore today?"

I formed a hologram by his desk and crossed my arms, "You don't need to play nice with primitive despots anymore."

Shran flicked his antennae, looking up at me, "You don't sound happy about it."

"New orders from Starfleet, sir. I was contacted by Gates."

He nodded, "What's the damage?"

"We are to report to Starbase Twenty Three for court-martial for breaking the Prime Directive," I said and frowned, "Nothing good. Especially as we… well, we are guilty."

"…Yeah, well there is that," he sighed before he frowned, "…Velvet, are you okay?"

"…Yes."

Shran frowned and stood up, "Ship?"

I sighed, "…Gates yelled at me. Called me a couple of things that weren't very polite, some especially harsh for us. I… I'm not sure what I expected. I knew he would be pissed, but…"

He gathered me into a big hug, "Vel, it'll be fine. We did the right thing."

"I know," I said quietly and leaned the hologram against him, "I hope so."

"Vel, look at me."

"…Captain, I'm not actually here you know."

Shran smirked a bit, "For effect? I'm trying to be dramatic."

Rolling my eyes, I had my avatar look up at him. He smiled a bit,

"Vel, we helped save millions of people," He said, "I love being in Starfleet. You love flying. But even if we lose it all, it will be worth it. You know that as well as I do."

I forced a small smile, "…Even without Starfleet, I could still fly, couldn't I?"

"You could," he agreed and brushed my hair behind my ear, "You will always fly. I know I wasn't your Captain for long, Ship. But I hope that even if we are both kicked out of Starfleet, even if we get prison time… as soon as it's all over, will I have a place on your bridge?"

I couldn't help but grin before I shook my head, "Shran, you big goofball."

"Did it work?" He asked with a smile, "Cheering you up?"

"…Yeah, it kind of did," I sighed and then shook my head, "Who are they to tell me off for doing the right thing?" I asked before I looked up at him thoughtfully, "What do you think of painting a skull and bones on my hull and then giving them a giant middle finger?"

Shran chuckled, "Well, I already have the fake arm. Not sure I'm a fan of the eyepatch though."

"Told you those movies were fun," I said with a grin before I nodded, "Fine. No hijacking myself. I already told the other ships, I can set a course anytime you like."

"No use waiting, is there."

An encrypted tight beam signal arrived from 'I Love You Too'. I quickly decrypted it and blinked at the content. It was a sensor recording of a Starfleet battlegroup leaving Starbase 23. Taken from far out, seemingly from ROU sensors.

Their course would put them going in this direction. Fifteen Tazuna battlecruisers along with their escorts. Even a couple of Island class carriers.

Starfleet wouldn't… would they?

But why else would they send a battlegroup towards us? They would really try to stop the interference by force?

"…Captain?" I said with a frown, looking up at Shran, "'Love' just shared a sensor image with me, it looked like it was from an ROU."

Shran blinked as I changed the subject, "And?"

"It's showing a Starfleet battlegroup heading in this direction. They'll arrive within a week."

He shook his head and stepped back, "Why would Starfleet send a battlegroup out here?"

"There is only one thing here, sir. Us and the Jovian relief fleet."

Shran frowned and leaned back against his desk, crossing his arms for a long moment before he sighed, "…Fuck."

"Well said, sir."

He glanced at me again, "I really don't like this."

"Not sure anyone does," I grumbled and crossed my arms, "…Well, the Founders would 'love' it. But nobody else."

"Would they fire at us?"

I swallowed and shook my head, "I wish I could say no, sir. Even being Jovians, what we are doing is technically illegal and it would be a legal order. I don't know."

He shifted his antennae and slowly nodded before he pushed off the desk, "Senior crew to the ready room."

"Yes sir."




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