The Voyage Without

[Hiver]

I flew. Across clear blue skies.

An open landscape of galaxies beneath, above a large golden sun. I could feel its cold heat against my wings and my back and I looked up.

The golden light expanded into fractals, covering the universe, lines and dots and golden lights in an infinite web.

The light faded slowly, revealing a white wall, shining and polished, golden inlay of galaxies and stars. It shifted and threw me forward towards one of the stars. The star shone in the black as gold spread out from a dot, wrapping around it, covering it, flowing out and into a cover around it.

I flew forward, an opening parting before me and I was inside, flying above green forests, blue waters, white structures and a golden sun above.

I glanced up at the sun above before looking down.

And I saw them.

The stars. All the billions of stars making up the galaxy, they all stretched out beneath me. I floated in empty space before the small galaxy and I took it in my claws, wings spreading and curling as I wrapped them around it, gathering up Andromeda and the little satellite galaxies as well. Sagitarius, Canis Major dwarf...Triangulum as well joined the rest and I curled up all around them, watching their shimmering lights turning golden beneath my gaze.


I jerked awake and there was a crashing sound as I knocked something over, looking around with wide eyes.

"Wha-" I asked before slowly blinking. I knew where I was, I was in Voyager's sickbay. Several biobeds had been moved aside and a sleeping pad my size had been put on the floor.

The EMH walked out of the doctor's office and said something.

I had no idea what it said, it was nothing but gibberish.

"What?"

"Terat legetu?" it asked.

I blinked, "What?"

"How are you feeling?" he asked with a frown, picking up a tricorder, running it across my head. It was a bigger than normal unit, the modified one somewhat capable of dealing with my bones.

"...Confused," I admitted, "How did I get here? What happened?"

"With great difficulty as I understand it," the EMH said, "You're not easy to move when unconscious. As for what happened, you triggered an alien device."

I slowly nodded, "I remember that. It..." I looked down at my paw, seeing no damage, "It flowed into me."

"It did more than that, I'm afraid," the EMH said and tapped on a console on the wall, showing a scan of my head, "I still don't know what it is made of, but it seems to be some sort of smart matter."

I stared at the image. It seemed to be showing my brain structure, "Like borg nanoprobes?"

"No, whatever this is makes borg nanoprobes look like wooden playing blocks," the EMH said, "From what we have been able to discover, it seems to be literally smart matter. Somehow programmed and altered at a subatomic level. We think at the very least we can't get a good reading of what it's made of. It seems to change."

"...What is it doing?"

The EMH sighed, "We don't know. But I did manage to get a direct scan of your brain by entering through the back of your nose."

Gak! I hated that thought!

It tapped on the console again and it zoomed in, "The alien smart matter has completely merged with your neural structure, covering every cell and cell to cell connection in a fine web. It's through your entire brain and down to your brain stem."

I stared at it in mild... okay, fuck mild, it was fairly extreme horror and my claws sunk clean into the deck, "How do we remove it?!"

The EMH shook its head, "There is no way to do so. This is not only spread through your neural structure, it's literally surrounding every single cell. I couldn't even take samples, I couldn't cut any of it."

I don't exactly remember what happened next.

The next thing I remember at all is lifting my head off the floor. The sickbay was... in less than pristine condition. I was back on the deck, no sleeping pad this time, but now there was the slight shimmer of a restraining field across my body. Not only that, but somebody had welded a pair of bands across each foreleg and onto the metal deck. My head was all I could move.

I wasn't alone. Dinah was standing next to Captain Janeway a couple of meters away.

"Lieutenant," Janeway asked, "Do you understand me?"

"Yes," I answered, taking a deep breath to push the terror and fury away, "I understand you, Captain. Did anyone get hurt?"

She shook her head, "No. Lieutenant Nivara thought to flood the sickbay with a sedative gas before you managed to breach it. What happened?"

I swallowed, "The EMH explained what happened. I... I think I panicked..."

"That's our thought as well," Janeway agreed, "How are you feeling now?"

"There are things in my brain," I growled, claws digging into the deck as I glared at it, "I... I don't like things being done to me!"

A hand touched the side of my head. I blinked at Dinah, I had not even noticed her move.

"Zeph," she said gently from well within biting distance, "Deep breaths."

I did as she told me and took a deep breath.

"You know as well as I do that what is on you, can't really restrain you," Dinah told me quietly but seriously, "It's enough to let somebody get out of the room in case of danger, but nothing more. You are too big, too strong and have too many sharp bits to lose control."

Taking another deep breath, I then nodded slightly.

"I can't have you panicking on me, alright?" Dinah continued, stroking along the bridge of my snout, "People would get hurt. Me among them, because I'm not moving. I trust you not to hurt me."

I took another deep breath before letting them out, "I understand," I told her. I was still... afraid. Much more so than when we faced the Borg, but there were things in my head and someone had CHANGED ME AN-

I took another deep breath, letting it out again before I nodded and turned my closest eye to her, "Thank you."

"Zephyr," Janeway said, "The alien material, is it doing anything? Do you feel any different?"

Did I?

"I don't think so," I admitted, "I'm not sure I would be able to judge it, but don't think my reaction has anything to do with the material itself. It's my personal history that... I still have some trauma from when I arrived, I think."

"Understandable," Janeway agreed, "Try to get some sleep for now. We'll send an engineering crew down to conduct repairs."

"Thank you, Captain," I said before I blinked, "...How long was I out?"

"You've been sedated for a couple of hours," Dinah answered for her, "As for how long you were unconscious... three weeks."

I looked at her and then Janeway, "No wonder I'm hungry."

"I'll get you something," Dinah said and pulled back, "Just try to rest, okay?"

"What about the world where it was found?"

Janeway shook her head, "We went there. We didn't find anything. They even gave us exact coordinates to where they found it and we investigated their old mine. No sign of anything else."

I sighed and dropped my head onto the floor, "...I'll sleep now."

Janeway nodded to me, "Good night, Lieutenant. Rest up."

Shifting position slightly beneath the restraining field, I waited until the door closed before I pulled my legs free of the metal with a couple of sharp tugs.

Much more comfortable.

Sleep took a while.

But eventually I dreamed of golden stars.

 

[Hiver]

I had been released to my cabin.

Still not back on duty, but at least I was no longer confined to sickbay. I just laid there, staring across the room at my screens showing ship status.

All systems nominal.

As nobody knew what the alien… whatever it was… had done to me, it was clear that nobody knew if I was under alien influence.

I didn't know if I was under alien influence either.

The door beeped at me.

I ignored it, watching the readings of the warp field. Nominal readings. Within parameters. Within regulations.

Less than I would like. It fluctuated slightly. Likely some sort of interference from one of the plasma conduits in one of the nacelles.

Need to have somebody look at that if I ever get back on duty. I should report it in any case.

I'll do that as soon as I get the energy to speak.

…And while I'm at it, I should get somebody to check the gravity plating in my quarters. The one over by the window was fluctuating slightly.

Beep.

I ignored the door.

The door opened away with a warning beep of a security override and Dinah walked inside. She just stepped inside before stopping and leaning her back against the wall. She crossed her arms as the door closed.

I ignored her.

She seemed content to simply wait, watching me.

She stayed for thirty minutes, twenty two seconds before she pushed off the floor and walked over to me and dropped onto the sleeping pad next to me, leaning her back against my side.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Go away."

"No, I don't think I will. I'm your friend, Zeph. And right now, you need a friend."

I felt a rumble of a growl build as I shifted my head enough to glare at her, "Go. Away."

"No."

Snorting, I closed my eyes and did my best to ignore the annoying monkey. Naturally, she didn't let me and I soon felt a touch at the top of my head.

I growled at her again but she didn't go away.

…Damn it, she's not going to leave, is she…

"...What do you want?" I finally asked, opened my closest eye again to glare at her.

Dinah frowned slightly, "Zeph, I want you to talk to me. Something very traumatic happened to you. We don't have a counselor onboard or they would be talking with you. But we don't. What you do have, is me. I'm your friend and I want to help you."

"Go away."

"No."

I growled deeper, "Go away or you might get hurt."

Dinah smiled slightly, "You wouldn't hurt me. Hell, you're so careful never to hurt anyone you're always thinking about every movement you do. You don't even turn your head too fast in fear it may hurt someone."

"I. Might. Not. Be. Me."

"If you weren't, you wouldn't be warning me. And there is little these walls could do to stop you."

I slowly let my breath out in annoyance, "I'm not a human, I don't need your-"

"What would your counselor at the academy say?" She interrupted me. I rumbled another growl at her. But I couldn't really argue with her.

Counselor Quack would have told me something stupid like 'It helps to talk about it' or 'Talk at me'. I would argue, I would complain and in the end he would end up being right.

Bastard.

"What do you want to talk about?" I finally asked with a sigh.

"Whatever you wish to talk about," Dinah said, stroking the top of my head, "The fight in the forest, the recent events, being stuck in the delta quadrant. Anything that bothers you."

I blinked at her in slight surprise, "...Why would the fight in the forest bother me?"

Dinah frowned at me, "You killed people. Not at range, not hidden by a ship's hull. By claw, jaw and then… fire. Even seeing such a thing can fuck you up. Even seeing that sort of violence could get people to drop out of Starfleet. We had several classes about how to handle that sort of thing in my security training. Hell, we have yearly mandatory courses on how to deal with that sort of trauma."

I shook my head slightly, "Does not bother me at all."

She looked at me curiously, "Zeph, you're always careful not to hurt anyone. I know you would feel horrible if you accidentally injured someone."

"And I would," I agreed, "I hate the idea of someone getting hurt because I was careless."

"I'm confused."

"That's because you're a tribe focused primate," I told her, raising my head to look her in the eye, "I may have the memories of having been human, but I'm not."

Dinah nodded, raising a hand to rest on the tip of my nose, "Explain it for me?"

"They were prey, intruders. They were trying to take, injure what was mine. They were…" I said and tilted my head in thought, "Intruders in my territory in a way."

Dinah looked thoughtful, "The shuttles?"

I snorted, "The planet, the star system, the ship, the crew. You."

That got an eyebrow raised, "Me?"

"You are mine," I told her plainly, "As is everyone onboard. The very stars and the void between them are mine, the worlds and everything on and in them," I explained before I snorted against her hand, "...At least, that's what my instincts keep telling me."

Dinah regarded me for several moments before she nodded, "I didn't know you were territorial."

"Somewhat."

Now she looked amused, "You're claiming ownership of the galaxy and everything in it."

I grumbled at her, "I don't see the point in saying it, it should be obvious to everyone with eyes. It is to me at the very least."

"So… what about the… Klingons?" she asked, leaning against my side, crossing her arms.

"What about them?"

"They also claim quite a bit of territory."

I eyed her curiously, "So?"

"Isn't that also territory being taken from you?"

I snorted in annoyance, "No, of course not. They're also mine. Why would it bother me?"

"You do realize how this sounds, right?" she asked me seriously.

"Of course I do," I grumbled, putting my head down next to her, "I grew up with human morality and ethics. But I'm not human, my brain and brain chemistry are not human, nor are my instincts."

Dinah rested a hand on the bridge of my snout, nails scratching along the scales, "Makes me wonder how your species ever get along with anyone, let alone between each other."

"I might not be a species."

"No, I'm fairly sure you are a species," she said thoughtfully as I half closed my eyes at the scratching, "There is too much background stuff for it to just be a coincidence."

"Perhaps," I admitted before I sighed, "And I'm not my instincts. I know very well that the galaxy does not belong to me, nor does anyone here. People are not property. I actually hate slavers."

"Despite what your instincts say?"

"Correct. Such as you don't live in caves nor go running after antelope waving pointy sticks," I said, opening my eyes to look up at her, "I am simply explaining why I have no problem with my actions. Ethically, they were trying to kill us. Morally, they started it. Practically, there was no practical way to incapacitate them without risking others or myself. Legally, self defense against pirates. Mentally, I am a territorial apex predator. In short, I have no issues regarding those actions. While I regret the need, I see no issue with having hunted them. "

Dinah slowly nodded, "I guess that makes sense."

"...Correction," I admitted after a second, "I have one regret."

"Oh?"

"I now know what Kazon tastes like," I growled, "I could have lived a very long and happy life not having learned that."

"You ate one!?"

"No, but I did bite one," I said in disgust, "I would never eat something that disgusting."

"Ew," Dinah said with a small shiver.

"...I'm sorry if knowing that makes you afraid of me," I said after a moment, "You're my friend, Dinah. I don't wan-"

Dinah shook her head and then smacked the tip of my nose hard! I blinked and raised my head in surprise and she stuffed her right hand into my muzzle.

"Whuu?" I asked, carefully not moving my jaw as she poked at my tongue.

"You just spent ten minutes explaining why you're extremely careful not to hurt anyone," she said with a frown, "And I've known you since pretty much the first day at the academy. You're literally the safest person onboard for me."

I pulled my head back, opening my muzzle wide and careful with my teeth, using my tongue to push her hand away before I glowered at her, "That was dumb. As I said, I might not be me."

"Yeah, like it was any more dangerous than sitting next to you, or being across the ship from you," she pointed out before relaxing, crossing her arms again, "Now, want to talk about the rest?"

I sighed, "...No. What I want to do right now is sleep."

Dinah nodded, "But we are going to talk about it," she told me firmly before starting to get up.

"...Fine," I finally agreed as she started towards the door, "Dinah?"

She stopped and turned to me, "Yes?"

I pushed myself onto my paws and moved up to her, "...Same goes for you. If you want to talk about something, anything… I will listen. Thank you."

"Thanks, I wi-"

I gave her a big lick from the chin to the top of her head.

"-ill," she finished before she shuddered and made a disgusted sound, "Stop that!"

I meanwhile worked my jaw and tongue again, trying to get the taste out of my mouth. She was wearing makeup again.

Damn, that tasted horrible!

 

[Hiver]

The EMH handed me my oversized PADD, "Please complete these cognitive tests."

Taking the PADD, I put it onto the floor before laying down, tail a bit curled to keep it from pressing against one of the biobeds. Then I flexed my right paw and caused the claw covers to deploy from the vambrace around that foreleg.

Then I got to work.

A week.

A week I had spent off duty in my cabin as we waited for whatever the fuck was in my brain to do something. Anything. So far, as far as we could tell, all it did was hug my neurons.

Why anyone would make something that insanely advanced and not have it do anything, I had no clue. But quite frankly, I have been out of commission for a month.

We're short staffed as is and simply can't afford having me just laying around doing nothing like somebody's pet iguana.

Even if I had to admit that getting to sleep in for once had been kinda nice. I even managed to get some reading done.

What's more, if this whatever it was didn't liquify my brain, I'd end up clawing my own eyes out if I ended up not having anything to do for seventy years.

So it has been decided by Captain Janeway and Commander Tuvok that we'll take as many tests as necessary and then let me get back to work.

Hence, this cognitive test.

My sixth test today actually. The first ones had been knowledge tests, math, physics, engineering... basically academy exams. Real easy stuff.

With some luck, this will be my last one.

It was also really easy. Basic logic, cube rotation, some fourth dimensional stuff. Pick the next in the pattern puzzle and the usual things normally used to measure how good you were at taking cognitive tests.

Okay, that's unfair.

They were a lot more scientific than the ones I remember back from my time. The concept of something as stupid as IQ had been disproven even back then, but the testing methodology for some sort of baseline was not completely flawed.

I had done these sorts of things plenty at the academy and during my time at the institute..

This one however, seemed especially easy. Which I suppose makes sense, they were measuring if my brain worked, not trying to see if I'll overheat or something.

Tapping the last image with a covered claw to confirm the shape of a fourth dimensional pyramid passing through a two dimensional plane at 50%, I looked up while watching EMH, "Completed."

He nodded and took the PADD when I handed it over before returning to his office.

The door to the sickbay opened and Captain Janeway walked inside. She smiled when she spotted me, "Lieutenant. How are you feeling?"

"Captain," I said and pushed myself up to sit, retracting the claw covers before putting my paw onto the floor, "If this continues much longer, could I be allowed to requisition a big wheel to run in? Maybe one of those water bottles that hang from the ceiling?"

She grinned, "I'm sure something could be arranged."

"I'll be fine as soon as I can get back to duty," I admitted, "I don't feel any different than before I think. And I want to get my cabin repaired."

That made one eyebrow go up, "Repaired?"

"One of the gravity platings by the window fluctuated," I sighed, "I had not noticed until now. Not a lot, but it shifts up and down by a hundredth of a standard gravity with the frequency of the plasma power."

That made her other eyebrow join the first, "You can feel that?"

"Yes?"

"What's the gravity in here?"

I shifted my wings to mimic a shrug, "9.80 meters a second square. Shipboard standard according to regulation. No fluctuations."

"Ah, Captain," the EMH said as it exited the doctor's office, "Just the person I wanted to meet. If you'd come with me, please?"

"Should I not be in this conversation?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Just a minute," the EMH said with a smile, "There are matters I need to discuss with Captain Janeway first."

I snorted in slight annoyance but let it go. I really need to see what can be done about safely adjusting its personality matrix. The EMH was a sealed program so messing with it was risky, it wasn't meant to be field adjusted. It was blackboxed just to keep someone from messing with such a sensitive program.

But maybe a translation layer could be safely added? Not sure anyone ever done anything like that before but I think it can be done. Wouldn't even be that difficult, just send the input/output through a specially adjusted holographic matrix.

Hmm.

I need to tinker with the concept some, I'll poke around a bit next time I get some free time.

"Lieutenant," Janeway said as they exited the doctors office, "One final test," she said and held her PADD out, "What's the answer to this equation?"

I glanced at the PADD. A string of numbers in different bases and a mix of operators, "The answer is twelve in base three."

Captain Janeway nodded and looked at her PADD before looking back at me again, "Lieutenant, you passed every test."

"Thank you, Captain. Does that mean I can get back to work?"

Janeway frowned, "You misunderstand me, Lieutenant. You passed every test with flying colors, even the ones you're not meant to pass. Nobody could have passed some of the ones mixed into the last cognitive test you did, not without the aid of a computer. Now you solved an equation using a mix of sixteen different numbers in different bases, some of them non-integers. With barely a glance."

I tilted my head, "Captain, I have done a lot of cognitive tests, especially during my time at the institute. I'm pretty good at them."

The EMH walked up and tapped at a console, bringing a screen online to show several graphs, "These are the scores of your previous tests on file."

I nodded, "Looks familiar. As you can see, each time I take one, I have scored better than the last as I get better at taking them. That happens with everyone."

"Actually, no", the EMH said, "You were quite a bit above average intelligence before."

I looked at it, "Were?"

The EMH nodded and tapped a couple of buttons, "This is your latest score."

A new dot appeared at the top of the screen. I nodded, "So the tests are broken."

"I thought that as well," Janeway said, "Which is why I gave you a spot test."

"Anyone in Starfleet could have solved that," I protested, "We're literally learning that stuff in grade five."

"Not non-integer bases," Janeway said, "And not that quickly," she tapped on her PADD and turned it around to me, "Solve this, please."

I sighed in annoyance and glanced at it again, "Warp factor 8.3," I answered before I frowned, "Wait, that's a warp field calculation." I had done warp field calculations by claw before, but I always needed something to write on and like an hour to work. They were seriously complex math.

I had not even done the calculations this time, I had just looked at the calculation and known the answer.

"That's..." I started to say before I blinked, "...Really strange."

"I think we just figured out what the alien device is doing," Janway agreed, "It's an intelligence enhancer."

"I don't think so," I said as I looked at my test results, "I'm not sure I'm any smarter than before. It does not seem to tell me why it gets the answer, I just get the answer itself."

Which could be really dangerous. But who the hell had something like this laying around for close to seventy million years, how did it possibly survive for that long, and why did it react to me?

Oh, now you don't have any answers for me.

Isn't that just convenient.

 

[Hiver]

"So... super intelligent?" Dinah asked as she studied me.

I eyed her, "What else is new?"

That got me an amused look, "Keep telling yourself that. So?"

"Not quite," I said with a sigh, "I wish. That would have been much simpler."

Dinah frowned, "So... no building a wormhole drive and getting us home by next week?"

"Unfortunately no," I admitted, "And before you ask, I tried. We have done a lot of testing and so far, results are... inconclusive and frustrating."

She picked her mug off from the table, "Explain?"

We were in the rear lounge. It was one of the main relaxation areas of the ship, as far aft as you could go in the lower hull. I didn't come here that often, there were too many tables anywhere but by the window and I didn't feel comfortable taking up everyone's view.

"Okay," I said and looked for the right explanation. The alien supercomputer in my brain of course refused to help, "Say I look at an equation. I instantly know the answer."

"Okay," she agreed with a nod.

"But I don't know how I got there," I continued, "Which is useful, don't get me wrong, but a lot less useful than you'd think."

Dinah slowly nodded, "Look at any unsolved math proofs so far?"

I snorted in annoyance, "Yes. And I did solve a bunch. But as I have no clue 'how' I got to that answer, that does not help anyone!"

"Don't we have a theoretical physicist onboard?" Dinah mused.

"Harren," I conformed, "Super focused on his theories, completely useless for actual work. I talked to him, disproved three of his theories and he went off to sulk on deck fifteen."

Dinah frowned slightly but nodded, "So... it lets you do math?"

"No, it gives me the answer. Not even give me the answer, I just have to be presented with something and I know the answer, fully formed, like I knew it all along," I sighed, "Maybe I can finagle the thing by going through things step by step. Which could be useful, but... it feels like something is broken or like I'm doing something wrong."

"How come?"

"Because somebody built something that lasted seventy million years, out of materials we can't even begin to explain how it works, to integrate with a neural system and... it's a fancy calculator?" I asked, shifting my wings in annoyance, "I feel like I'm sitting at the pilot's seat in a warp capable starship and all I'm doing is playing with the calculator application that also lets me know how gravity is around me."

She nodded, "On the bright side, your brain didn't melt."

"On the bright side, my brain didn't melt," I agreed and rubbed the side of my neck with a paw.

"...I was terrified when you collapsed," Dinah said quietly, "I have lost... a lot of friends already."

I nodded, "I'm sorry."

We were quiet for several long moments and she sipped her drink, looking out towards the stars behind us.

"It reacted to you," she finally said, "Nobody else. That thing was made by your people."

I snorted, "That's a leap of logic."

"Not really," she said with a small smile, "I've been thinking about it. You're fairly smart and learn quickly. What could an entire civilization of Zephyrs do with a million years to work?"

"Growl at each other and get in fights over hunting grounds?" I suggested.

Dinah grinned briefly, "Maybe. But I think you're smart enough to realize that working together is advantageous in the long run, even if you're a solitary species. You're willing to put up with us monkeys after all."

"We do think my human memories may be a moderating influence," I pointed out.

She nodded, "True, but I can tell people annoy you. Even back at the academy."

I shifted my paws slightly, "...A little," I admitted, "But at least some of it is from the fact that when people are around, I always have to be so very careful with everything. I can rip my way through a ship's deck, compared to that even Klingons are pretty squishy."

"Decks don't move out of the way, we're not made of glass, Zeph. We won't break if you bump into us."

I eyed her, "You might. And I'd rather not take the risk. Almost all of my self defense training was in how not to murder my opponent by accident."

Dinah smiled a bit, "So back on duty?"

"Tomorrow," I agreed, then sighed, "I have been away too long as is. I haven't... gotten angry-"

"Had a panic attack."

I glared at her, "Gotten angry, since I first discovered what had happened. I don't feel good about it but there is nothing I can do about it. So I might as well get back to work and stop moping around."

"While we're on the subject, my sonic shower has been acting up," Dinah said, "It seems to be on or off, it's not taking any settings changes."

Letting out a sigh, I nodded, "I'll send someone to look at it tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"...Anything I missed while I was indisposed?"

Dinah shrugged one shoulder, sipping her coffee again, "Some, nothing special. We did stop to study a nebula the Captain thought was interesting. We also gathered some deuterium while we were at it. Other than that, it's mostly gossip you have no interest in."

"Good to know the buggies were not part of a Kazon trap at least," I admitted, "I was getting worried."

Dinah shook her head, "No, they were actually super upset that you got hurt while a guest of theirs. Not only did they help get you back to the shuttle, but they gave us so much supplies as an apology that we had to fill half the corridors on deck forteen to store it all. Kinda wish they were around in the alpha quadrant, they seem like really nice people."

"They did," I admitted, "Who knows, maybe we'll return here some day and they can join."

"That'd be nice."

 

[Hiver]

I only kept half an eye at the meeting, keeping Huginn's viewpoint at a corner of my visor as the rest of the senior crew discussed diverting course to investigate a proto star system.

Instead I was focusing on the pretty simple math problem before me.

1782x89

158598

I sighed and wiped the screen. Damn it. The answer came automatically. What's worse, it didn't pop into my vision or get shoved into my mind or anything external. I just looked at it and knew what the answer was.

Which made it insanely hard to ignore.

What I was trying to do was to find an off switch. Yes, knowing the solution was useful, but knowing how I get there is often just as important, if not more so!

Alright.

Listen here you stupid piece of ancient crap. Do not give me the answer for the next calculation.

Got it?

198x33

6534

Damn it!

"Mister Zephyr, what do you think?" Janeway asked,

I called the view to fill mine and I shook my head, Huginn copying my movement, "Sure. Why not. Let's divert course and check out every random anomaly. I'm not the one that already risks dying of old age before we reach the alpha quadrant."

Silence.

"...Apologies," I said after a moment, "That came out harsher than I intended."

"Not that you don't have a point, Lieutenant," Chakotay said from the comm screen on the wall, "Can we really afford to divert course for anything but useful resources?"

Janeway looked thoughtful for several long moments before she spoke, "Our situation is a unique one for many reasons. But in the end, we're still Starfleet. Our original mission has always been to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations. We have our own mission, our own goal of reaching home. But I think we also have a duty to the Federation, to Starfleet to explore what we can on the way. We're the first ship in this sector of space, who knows what can be found. Perhaps even something to aid our journey."

"We're not Starfleet," Chakotay said and shook his head, "But in this case, the system is only half a day out of our course. And we might as well use the time to fill up our deuterium tanks."

"Plenty of that in a proto-star system," Paris agreed.

Janeway nodded, "Set a course, Mister Paris. Dismissed."

Everyone got up and started to leave. I had Huginn remain and Janeway paused as the door closed after Dinah who glanced back into the meeting room before disappearing out of view.

"My apologies, Captain," I said, "You're correct, we should take advantage of our situation while we can."

Janeway leaned slightly against the table, her arms crossed as she watched my drone, "Are you feeling alright, Lieutenant?"

"Just frustrated, Captain. Trying to get the stupid thing in my head to do what I want it to and it's not cooperating. I should not allow it to interfere."

She nodded, "We still don't know what it does. What are you trying to make it do?"

"Not tell me answers to any math problem I see, or at least tell me how it got there," I admitted, "Without knowing how it got there, the answer itself is often useless. So far, it's not cooperating."

The Captain nodded and then hesitated slightly, "I had been meaning to talk to you, Lieutenant," she said after a moment, "Commander Tuvok brought to my attention that he has gotten several complaints about you."

I stared at her in surprise through Huginn before I nodded, "I have been irritable lately… and I know I have been getting worse," I admitted. It was likely Paris, "I will do better."

She shook her head, "While I don't doubt people would appreciate it if you were less so, it's understandable. The complaints are regarding your treatment of the Doctor."

Divide by zero.

"What?" I asked after a second. What doctor, all the medical staff were dead.

"The complaints state that you treat the Doctor like a machine," Janeway said before raising a hand before I could answer, "I know he's an hologram."

"It is a machine," I protested, "It's literally a database managed by a self referential generative algorithm and a personality overlay matrix. Other than the information he's loaded with and the medical subroutines, it's identical to... I don't know, Orion Pirate Mook number three on the holodeck!"

Janeway just shook her head, "I know what an EMH is," she sighed, "Just... be politer."

I sighed, "...Yes, Captain. What else, protests outside my quarters when I wipe the storage of my drones to install a new software version? They use the same technology. A murder trial next time somebody shoots a hologram on the holodeck?"

She shook her head, "Just be more polite to the Doctor. Especially during off hours."

"It should be off during its off hours! Every minute it's online is one minute less it can be useful later!"

"He."

I growled. This is so damn stupid, next thing people will be thanking doors for opening for them, "Humans anthropomorphize things way too easily. It's an algorithm and a database. If it looked like a floating ball of steel tentacles ending in instruments we would not be having this conversation."

Janeway looked thoughtful, "Maybe. Maybe not. I have seen studies where people give their cleaning robots names and would rather have them fixed than a new one if the old one is damaged."

"Just because it looks like you and talks like you and seems to think it does not make it a person," I grumbled, "And playing along with the delusions will not do any of you any favors, sir. Sooner or later the EMH will need to be disabled or have its storage wiped to prevent matrix degradation. It will be reset back to standard operating parameters at least once a year or it will start to break down in three or so at most at current rate of usage. Less if it keeps being left on."

"Just... go along with it, Lieutenant. It's not just one person thats complained," Janeway said, sounding tired.

This is so damn stupid.

"Yes, sir," I answered anyway. She was the captain. Now I likely won't be allowed try to reprogram the damn thing either.

Damn primates packbonding to everything that moves and some that don't.

 

[Hiver]

"Everything showed as green," I told Harry Kim as he took the PADD I held out to him between a pair of claws, "But be careful out there, Ensign."

He nodded, "We will be, sir," he agreed and then walked over to join the rest of the away team by Shuttle One. They were heading down to one of the barely formed planets to investigate a dilithium deposit.

If we could pick up some extra crystals while we could, that would be great. They didn't exactly grow on trees and this was exactly the right environment to find some. They mainly formed in neutron star collisions, or rather the aftermath of them.

Early on in a star system's development there tended to be a bunch floating around, fairly easily accessible.

Well, comparably at least.

So we were sending an away team down to check that sensor contact. Hopefully Lieutenant Paris, Ensign Kim and Crewman Winters will be able to bring some back. And without scratching my damn shuttle.

And hopefully without Paris fucking something up and getting them all killed.

I snorted and turned away, heading for the exit. It was a mistake giving him an important posting, good pilot or not. But, not my decision, that was up to the Captain.

Our brand new, used to be science officer, captain.

Still, I couldn't really argue with the results. So far, she's done a pretty good job. So had Commander Tuvok for that matter, but the Vulcan was something like a hundred years old, so not like he was inexperienced. He just wasn't in Starfleet for some of it.

He even spent some time teaching at the academy at some point before I was there.

Archery for the survival courses out of all things, but still technically a teaching spot. Now that was a weapon I would never be able to use, bow and arrow. Which is kinda sad, I bet I could fire a real big and strong one, they were mostly limited by how weak humans were after all.

How would that even work, maybe I could design something that would work? Just as a challenge, it would hardly be practical. How would I even hold it? In my mouth likely, but how would I then pu-

I stopped by the corner a second before crewman Jamesson rounded it,

"Oh, sorry sir," she said, quickly dancing aside before she ran into me, long limbs flailing. She was tall for a human woman, tall and thin and wore her light brown hair in a kind of... I could only describe her chosen hairstyle as a poof. She was assigned to engineering, delta shift.

"No worries, crewman," I said, "But please be careful, it may be a bit more damaging running into me than the average person you meet."

She nodded, large hair wobbling, "Yeah, no kidding, sir. You look like you could lift a shuttlecraft."

"I'm more meaning my hard scales and high mass, it would be closer to colliding with a low speed ground vehicle than a person," I pointed out, "And I haven't lifted a shuttlecraft yet. Well, not really anyway."

Her eyebrows went up, "Not yet?"

I chuckled, "I may have slid one along the deck once or twice when I needed to shift it a bit rather than enter and use the controls."

"Wait, really? Even a small shuttle weighs tons!"

"It was pretty heavy," I admitted, "And it wasn't more than maybe ten centimeters."

It was also more putting my weight against it and pushing than outright lifting.

"That's... actually pretty impressive."

"Thank you. So please be careful."

"I will, sorry sir!" she said with a smile and moved to the side before heading past, big hair swaying like some kind of sea plant. I looked after her for a moment. I had no idea how she lived with that thing, it had to be getting in the way.

I knew for a fact that she spent most of her shifts in Jefferies tubes.

Finally I shook my head and headed towards engineering.

Lieutenant Carey looked up from a console when I entered, "Chief, we're about halfway done with those two drones."

I nodded as I moved up to him, "Any issues?"

"Not specifically," he admitted, shaking his head, "I'm a bit unsure about the looks."

I tilted my head, "What about it?"

"They look..." he started and then frowned, "...you're aware of the uncanny valley, right?"

Oh for...

I sighed, "Too human? Too not human?" I asked, "I thought I had it right."

I had based the design on what I remembered from that Will Smith movie, figuring it was good enough. It worked for people watching in any case.

Uncanny valley, why do humans even have that feature?

Carey shook his head, "Not sure, but they are something."

"Damn it," I grumbled, "Fine, what do you think will help the most? Full fake skin like a Soong android or just clearly non-human faceplate?

"Getting above the valley is a lot harder than beneath it," Carey admitted, "I think you had it right with Huginn and Muninn."

They were sculpted in a non-human somewhat draconoid shape.

I nodded, "Alright, let's try with a blank faceplate like a helmet. Structurally there is no real difference, just slight adjustment in sensor positions. Mainly to accommodate a third image sensor."

"Why a third?"

"Binocular vision is good, trinocular vision is better. Especially for depth perception and such," I said and shifted my wings in a slight shrug, "And does not take any more to implement. And with them not needing to be visible for aesthetics, much easier to implement."

Honestly, the only reason Huginn and Muninn are even bipeds is because Federation ships, stations and facilities were made for bipeds. Quadrupedal designs are clearly superior and much more stable to boot.

Maybe time for a redesign, they only really needed to be able to switch between normal mode and bipedal mode.

Maybe I could even give them a proper draconoid form too.

Sure, I'll put that on my 'to do' list behind everything else.

 

[Hiver]

I was personally in the meeting room, one paw resting on the edge of the table.

We had lost contact with the away team soon after landing.

"We know where they landed," Dinah said and pointed at the screen on the wall showing the shuttle sitting on the ground of the planetoid, "But sensor conditions are not great. We have the shuttle on optical sensors, but anything else is a wash."

"Any chance of modulating the sensor arrays?" Janeway asked, turning her head in my direction.

I shook my head, "In this case, it wouldn't help. The issue isn't one of calibration, there's a soup of radiation in this system. A lot of it overlaps with the readings of Federation technology and lifesigns so we can't effectively filter it out. So unless they come back on comms or return to the shuttle, the only way to find them is to go down there."

Janeway glanced at Tuvok.

"In practice, we only have two logical options," Tuvok said, "We send a second team down to investigate, or we wait."

Sometimes the hardest thing to do was nothing. And often it was the right thing to do as well.

In this specific case, I don't know.

"There is a third option," I supplied, "We could launch another survey probe. This one to land on the surface. That could verify if the comm outage is because of something on the surface or because the away team is in danger."

"If they're in danger, that would delay rescue by the better part of an hour," Dinah pointed out.

I nodded, "If there is danger, they may already be lost. And a probe would let us avoid losing more people."

Janeway was staring at the screen before she finally nodded once, "Commander Tuvok, assemble an away team. Launch as soon as possible."

"Acknowledged, Captain," Tuvok said and got to his feet, "Lieutenant Navari, with me," he said and left, Dinah quickly moving to follow.

I drummed my claws once on the table, studying the screen.

"You don't agree, Lieutenant?" Janeway asked.

I shook my head, "Not at all, sir. There are three options, all of which are valid. All of which could be right or wrong. Which to choose is a judgment call and reality will prove if it's the correct one or not."

Janeway got to her feet, "What would you have chosen?"

I turned my head to her, "To send an away team down to investigate."

She nodded and then headed out onto the bridge. Getting up, I followed her, moving along the left side of the bridge to take the normally unoccupied science station. That was usually routed to Ops so it was free for me to take.

I connected my visor to it and sat down, reaching over the chair and deploying the claw protector on my right paw to tap a couple of buttons, bringing the crash site up on the main viewer. Even at maximum zoom, it was only barely possible to make out the shuttle through the haze of the primitive atmosphere.

Some adjustments to the filters made things a little clearer, but not much.

"Tuvok to Bridge."

"Bridge here," the Captain answered.

"We're launching now. Estimated time to arrival, twenty four minutes, thirty seconds."

"Understood, keep an open comlink."

Then there was nothing much to do but wait. Secondary bridge team went about their business. I knew some of them by name, most by look. I didn't spend a lot of time on the bridge to be honest.

I made a mental note to actually put some effort into learning people's names outside engineering. There were only so many people onboard after all.

I should use flashcards or something.

As we waited, I kept an eye on the sensor readings from the surface, carefully adjusting the calibration and filters.

Despite what I said, there was a tiny chance I might be able to spot something.

I didn't.

"Tuvok to Voyager. Landing now."

On the main viewer, the second shuttle was set down by the first one.

"Exiting shuttle to investigate shuttle one."

It was just about possible to see four dots moving out of the second shuttle, two of which moved over to the first one and disappeared inside.

"Shuttle one is clear," Tuvok's voice said, "No trace of the away team. We are beginning our search."

"Not a comm system error," Ensign Kelkeen said from the Ops console, "Not if we have contact with the second team."

"Agreed," I said, giving him a nod, "Unless it's a local phenomenon. Be careful, commander."

"Acknowledged. Proceeding with caution."

As we watched, the dots split into pairs and started to move away from the two shuttles in different directions. We really needed to speed up the drone production. If they could have a pair of drones with each group, that would greatly increase the safety of the away team.

The drones may be dumb as a bag of bricks, but they could at least walk ahead and get destroyed first.

Once they're through onboard testing, I'm going to create a policy to present to the Captain that each member of away teams are to be accompanied by a supporting drone at all times.

"Captain, incoming signal from the Val Jean," Ensign Kelkeen said.

"On screen."

The image of the surface was replaced by Chakotay and I brought it up in my visor instead.

"Captain Janeway," he greeted her, "Any issues? We detected you sent down another shuttle."

Janeway nodded, "Captain Chakotay," she answered, "We have lost contact with the away team. We've sent down a second team to locate them."

"Is there anything we can do to assist?"

She shook her head, "Not at this time. It's most likely just a communication malfunction."

Chakotay smiled, "We'll move into orbit so we can assist if necessary. Val Jean, out."

He closed the channel and I eyed the sensor contact of the Val Jean move across the system. They passed Voyager and then deliberately slid into an orbit ahead of us.

Which was either a deliberate action to put themselves into a worse tactical position to keep us at ease or a trap.

No. That didn't make sense for this to be a Maquis plot.

Even if they somehow managed to capture Voyager with me onboard, they wouldn't have enough people to fly her effectively. Not for any real time anyway.

Hell, there's a lot more of us than them and we're still critically short staffed!

Even if Chakotay had not thought of that, I knew Torres was way too smart not to have.

So I dismissed that from my mind and refocused on the sensors from the surface.

"Janeway to Tuvok."

Silence.

"Voyager to away team, respond."

I felt a soft growl rumble through my chest and I pulled away from my console, "Fine, if you want something done," I said and headed towards the turbolift.

"Lieutenant," Captain Janeway said, "Give them a minute."

"We might not have a minute and I'm not as squishy as they are."

She raised her hand, "Just... give them a minute."

I growled softly but half turned to look at the viewscreen. The two shapes of the shuttles sat on the surface of the to-be planet. A flick of eyes in my visor caused it to zoom out slightly.

We waited. Time dragged out. One minute. Two. Five.

A dot could be seen moving, seemingly appearing from nowhere, "Crewman Yu to Voyager."

"Voyager here," Janeway said, "Report."

"We found the missing away team, Captain," he said, "The dilithium signature is in a cave system and they were caught in a cave in. The walls seem to refract sensors and completely block comms. The entire area is highly unstable."

"Is anyone hurt?"

"Ensign Kim and Crewman Winters, sir. We're trying to find a way to dig them out without collapsing the entire structure," he said before he paused, "...Crewman Winters is pinned, we think his suit may be breached."

That rock did have an atmosphere, but absolutely nothing in it was good for humans.

"Acknowledged," Janeway answered, "Proceed with caution."

 

[Hiver]

Life in Starfleet in general is pretty safe, despite the environment we usually operate in.

Sure, there are dangerous situations, but that's why we have regulations, training and the best equipment available in the Federation.

It's still one of the more dangerous jobs in the Federation, at least compared to the core planets. Out on the fringe is a different matter: they face much of the same stuff we do, just with worse gear.

There are some tough parts of the job. Hours can be long, work can be hard, not just challenging. Immense pressure as people rely on you not to get them killed.

All of which meant that even with everything involved, a lot of people that graduated didn't last their first year. Leaving the service.

Something like twenty percent actually.

But all of that was on you. You fuck up, you live with the consequences.

I was currently doing something much, much harder. I watched from orbit as my only real friend this side of the galaxy struggled to keep others and herself alive.

And there was not a thing I could do to help, I couldn't even reach her.

...Or see her, really, they were inside that cave.

So all I could do was my job.

Because everything else I said still applies. I'm chief engineer. If I fuck up, we might all die.

So I kept the situation going on in a corner of my visor and got on with it.

And with it, I mean reading the endless stream of reports from different engineering teams in three different shifts. All of which I had to at least be aware of. Then there was the constant streams of logs from every system on the ship.

Yes, it alerted me if there was an issue, but I had spotted stuff before that could have developed into one, so I liked eyeing through at least the most important ones.

"Chief?"

I cleared my visor and turned my head, "Yes, mister Carey?"

"The first of the drones is complete," he said, glancing at his PADD, "Initial tests and diagnostics showed green. What do you want to do with it?"

I shook my head, "How about you try it out?"

"Sir?"

"Try it, it's why we're making them. Have it follow you, give it orders to do stuff. Best way to stress test a new system is to use it in as realistic conditions as possible. Just remember it's not smart, but if uncertain, it should ask for direction."

He slowly nodded, "Alright then. Let's see what he can do," he said and wandered off again.

I looked after him.

He?

Oh damn it, the humans are going to start anthropomorphizing the drones, aren't they?

Next thing I know, I need to be nice to the replicators or someone will complain.

I'm so glad I don't have that kind of mirror neurons, it's so dumb.

I glanced at the sensor readings. Shuttles still on the surface. Nobody in sight. The cave in must have been a pretty big one, they had been down there for eight hours now. The shuttle had even been up once to get more equipment, among others a portable force field emitter to reinforce the cave.

I wanted to be down there to help, but even if I did fit in that cave, if it was that fragile I would likely just be in the way.

So instead of being dumb, I got back to work.

Over two hours later, I glanced at the sensor readings as I got an alert above movement. Dots were moving out of the area of the cave and towards the shuttles.

One, two... seven. Entire rescue team and original away team seemed to be moving under their own power.

More or less. Three of them were very close together.

Two helping a third?

I pushed myself onto my paws and looked around until I spotted Carey and the drone. The drone was standing by a workbench, disassembling what looked like a power regulator as Carey was watching closely.

"How's it going?" I asked while I approached.

Carey glanced back at me with a small shrug, "It'll take some getting used to. They're smart enough, but have zero initiative. I can tell it to disassemble a power regulator without saying how, but it can't take the leap that I might want it repaired."

"And it can repair it."

He nodded, "When I then directed it to find the fault and repair it, it did replace the faulty component correctly. And then needed to be told to assemble the device again."

I snorted, "Mine is a bit better, but they're a prototype that relies on neural gel packs for fuzzing. These are the production model meant as personal assistants for people that have mobility problems and other simple tasks. They're not meant to be independent."

Carey studied it, "Even so, I can tell they'll be useful. They might not replace a crewman, but if you can hand him something to do and then trust him to do it, that saves a lot of time. Even if it's only things like, "Disassemble, repair and then assemble this device"

Him. That was fast even for a human.

"When I get approval for a managing unit running on the ship's computer, they'll gain a bit more independence. That'll have the processing power for more complicated instructions," I said and shifted my wings, "Away team is returning. I thought servicing the shuttles may be a good test."

"How did they do?"

"Not sure," I admitted, "But everyone seems to be moving more or less under their own power."

Carey slowly nodded, "Good," he said and then looked at the drone, "Okay, put that down now, Zero. Follow me, we're going to work on the shuttles."

The drone put the part it was holding down and turned to face him, "Command understood."

"Zero?" I asked him.

"Index starts at zero," he said with a shrug, "And it's the first one we finished."

I studied the drone. Humanoid, with a face shield looking face on a metal head. It was mostly painted black and white, but shoulders had been colored yellow for ship services. It even had a little Starfleet logo where the combadge would be. I had only specified they should be painted some sort of color in the schematics.

Humans.

"Alright," I agreed, "Let's go see what's broken."

 

[Hiver]

I laid on the deck, looking out the window next to me at the star streaks in the warp field. It was the middle of ship night and the lounge at the rear of the engineering hull was completely empty.

We were back on course, the away teams back onboard.

We had broken orbit soon after they landed in the shuttle bay. The only real casualty was Crewman Winters who had gotten his right leg beneath the knee crushed. He was currently in the sickbay having his bones repaired. His suit had also been breached, but the emergency system had done its job and flooded the breached limb with foam that plugged the rips.

The rest had some bruises.

I'm glad they all made it. But it reminded us all that this was all very dangerous. That was meant to be a simple mission to gather some dilithium crystals.

So far we have been attacked or had something bad happen at every single place we visited.

We have been here several months and… it's a wonder we have not lost more people already. We're not getting any more people.

At least not fast enough to keep numbers up.

We had to be more careful.

There was the sound of the door opening and closing. I didn't need to look who it was, I recognized that scent everywhere.

Coffee and a hint of cinnamon mixed with the usual human smells.

"Coffee, black," a voice said and there was the hum of the replicator. Then soft footsteps approached.

"Lieutenant."

I finally turned my head to look at her, "Captain," I greeted her.

"You're up late," she said with a small smile, holding her coffee cup, looking out the window.

"Says the woman ingesting a stimulant," I commented, turning to look out the window again.

That got a small chuckle, "A fair point."

The sound of sipping on hot liquid, "Thinking?" she asked.

"I never stop," I said and turned my head back in her direction, "Can't afford to. My critical 'to do' list is longer than I am and always growing faster than it can be completed. Captain, do you mind if I make an observation?"

She motioned towards me with her cup, "Go ahead."

"We don't have enough people. Even if everyone capable onboard starts now and breeds as fast as possible, we'll not have enough numbers to keep the population up. And we're undermanned as is. The drones will help, but it's not enough. They're an assistant, not a replacement for a trained crewman."

Janeway's lips pursed slightly in thought, "I'm not saying you're wrong," she admitted, "But I don't know what we can do about it."

She sipped her coffee again.

"Hence, thinking," I snorted, "I can't improve the crew," legally anyway, "but I might be able to improve the drones. I'm trying to figure out how the hell he did it."

"Who?"

"Soong," I growled, "Noonen Soong and his accursed positronic matrix. He took the secret to his grave, but he made several. It can be repeated. If it was solved, it would solve our problem."

Janeway smiled, "Good luck. The best scientists in the Federation have worked on that since Data was first discovered. As far as I know, no real progress."

"Hence, my annoyance. I have some sort of super computer in my head, it might as well be useful for something other than solving equations. Which isn't nothing, but it seems like such a waste."

"Any luck with that?"

I growled softly, flexing my claws, "No."

"Well, keep at it. It may take a while for you to get it, but there is a Daystrom award in it for you if you do figure it out," Janeway said, saluting me with her coffee cup.

"I have nothing but time," I sighed, "But my original point is that we have to be careful. The first drone is complete, the second will be finished in a couple of days. Once the pilot project is finished, I believe that every away team member should have one assigned to them at all times when away from the ship. Worst case, they can get between them and danger. They may be as dumb as a sack of hammers, but the construction is based on a Soong style android. They're as strong and fast as Data. Both useful on away teams"

Janeway looked thoughtful and slowly nodded, "I think that's a good idea. If they work."

"They work," I said and shifted slightly, "But people need to use them within their limits. I'm working on a holodeck training course."

"Good."

I nodded, "But I need to stress this. These are not a replacement for a crewman. Not even with a manager. They're for extremely routine tasks such as picking heavy things up and carrying them. Extremely routine maintenance. They can do more advanced things, but for that they require direct supervision by somebody with an actual brain."

Janeway nodded, "Even so, that will offload our people quite a bit. Those tasks take up quite a lot of time for the lower ranks."

"Hence, drones," I agreed and then got to my paws, "And on that note… For now I need to get some people to do extremely menial things to the plasma conduits."

 

[Hiver]

I had found a use for the alien supercomputer in my head.

More useful than giving me answers to equations anyway, any calculator could do that, just a bit slower.

I wasn't even trying when I discovered it. I had been reviewing the deuterium consumption log for the warp core, just scrolling through the raw data looking mostly for outliers that usually signified sensor issues when I realized something.

I understood it.

No, I mean, I know what the numbers all meant, I did that before too. It's just a number that's taken every hundredth of a second of how many deuterium atoms are fed into the warp core.

But I understood the trend as well as if I was staring at a graph.

I did some testing too.

Had the computer generate a thousand numbers linked to dates, between one and one hundred. It scrolled across the screen once and then I drew out the graph for it on a PADD.

Compare it to the computer generated graph.

It was accurate to the limit of my claw coordination. So apparently it also helped with memory somehow.

Which was kinda scary to be honest. The question was... was it evolving and unlocking more features or had I simply missed that it did that?

No clue which. Hard to do a trend from one datapoint, even with this thing in my head.

At least it was actually somewhat useful. Getting ideas of a numerical trend with just a glance is damn useful.

"Navari to Zephyr."

"Zephyr here."

"I'm coming off shift. Lounge?"

I hesitated, eyeing the console before I answered, "Sure. Be there in a bit."

"See you then. Dinah, out."

Eyeing the console, I then got up and stretched as much as I could without knocking someone over in the close confines of engineering.

Then I headed for the door.

The lounge was a lot more crowded with howling monkeys than I prefer, but I spotted the one I was looking for by the far wall, sitting by one of the tables with a cup of hot tea of some sort before her, reading on a PADD.

I slowly made my way over to her, careful not to squish any of the monkeys, Huginn trailing along silently behind me.

Dinah glanced up when I got close, "Hey, how's things in engineering?"

I snorted and moved to sit across from her, carefully curling my tail to keep someone from tripping over it, "Well enough I suppose. I do kinda miss when I wasn't chief engineer however."

That earned a raised eyebrow, "How come?"

"Too much administrative crap," I admitted, "Half my day is spent reading or writing reports or assigning tasks, half of what's left is reviewing logs or sensors. I barely get my claws dirty anymore."

Dinah grinned, "I know what you mean. I knew it was bad, but not how bad until Tuvok made me chief of security," she said before she snapped her fingers and pointed at me, "That reminds me! I was meaning to ask you about the dragon sim."

I tilted my head in question, "Dragon sim?"

"Yeah, it was making the rounds a couple of years ago while you were out of contact. I was meaning to ask if you know anything about it, but then forgot."

"What is it?"

Dinah picked up her teacup, "It's a security practice simulation. You're meant to escort a VIP, but instead of a VIP exiting the shuttle, it's a dragon armed with various explosives, a phaser helmet... sounds familiar?"

I couldn't help but chuckle, "I should have known," I admitted, "Wattson likely sent the recordings to Starfleet. It was an exercise I did when I served on the Yamaguchi. Lieutenant Wattson was the chief of security and he wanted to shake things up. Security wide exercise on the holodeck for a 'VIP reception' drill. Had me play OpFor with the goal of disabling the ship. How did you do?"

Dinah smirked, "Caught a plasma charge to the face."

"Yep, that'd do it," I agreed, "So apparently someone saw the recording and thought it was a good idea to make a training sim from it?"

"Yeah, and it cheats too," Dinah sighed, "Not as bad as a certain sim, but the computer always has an answer to whatever you tried."

I nodded, "Sounds fun."

"Yes. Fun is the word I was looking for," she said with a roll of her eyes, "But yeah, similar thing in security. I may spend most of my shifts on the bridge, but it's mostly admin stuff or running tactical sims on my console."

"Are we getting old? Is that it?"

Dinah grinned, "I'm getting old, you have a few thousand years left until then."

"It's not the years, it's the mileage. And we have a couple of lightyears right now."

"Ain't that the truth," she admitted and then groaned, "Damn it, I shouldn't feel like that. I'm not even thirty yet."

I chuckled at her and flexed my claws against the carpet, "I have a vague idea about that, by the way."

"What, me getting old?"

"No, about getting bored. A cross training program, getting people to rotate duties more."

"Not exactly standard practice."

"No, but we're not in a standard situation," I pointed out, "And we don't have a replacement crew coming. If we lose somebody, we can't expect for somebody from the rest of the fleet to be assigned to the ship. Someone else has to do that job."

Dinah looked grim, nodding, "...And it will be much better and smoother if they're already familiar with it."

"Correct. But it will also help keep people from getting bored."

She slowly nodded, "I think it's a good idea, it is difficult to get working. I mean, I have the same basic engineering classes as everyone else, but I'm not sure how useful I'd be in engineering."

"It has its issues," I admitted, "But learning new skills is good and it will keep people busy."

Dinah frowned a bit but nodded again, "Well, we have nothing but time," she admitted, "Gonna propose it?"

"Thinking of doing so at the next senior staff meeting. Thinking to start with something pretty easy, just switching some crewmen around to start with?"

"Start with lower level stuff," she mused, "That's a good idea, Zeph. It'll mean more work for everyone else though, keeping an eye on the new guys. Including us."

I snorted, "Burden of command?" I suggested and got a smirk in response as she sipped her tea.

"Oh, by the way," I then added as I suddenly remembered something, "I got the preliminary design for that slugthrower you were interested in. Hologram prototype is in the file Alpha-Gamma-Lima-One. I slotted it into your programs."

"Alpha Gamma Lima One?"

"Automatic Gauss Launcher, MK1," I clarified, "I had some holograms test it for ergonomics and such, but I can't exactly wield it myself, so try it out and let me know of any issues before we build a couple for real."

"Will do."